The State of the Gamer: 10/10/19

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 8 Comments

<–The State of the Gamer: 9/26/19           The State of the Gamer: 10/24/19–>

A weekly post updated every other Thursday detailing my current gaming projects.  I have an account at Grouvee, which is a site you can use to keep track of your backlog, so please feel free to friend me there!

What I’m Playing

Title: Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl
Series Title: Etrian Odyssey
System: Nintendo 3DS

Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium GirlDate Started: 6/30/19

So I kind of finished this!  I beat the final boss, which was actually easier than some of the optional bosses, but there’s still more game to go.  There’s a final floor of the labyrinth to complete, and I could challenge the final boss again once I reach the bottom in a harder battle.  I’m not sure if I’m going to do that.  I might just finish up mapping the labyrinth and doing all of the quests before I call it a game.  I’m currently trying to beat this lightning dragon, but I’m just not taking off enough HP per turn and eventually I run out of TP (the game’s magic point system), and none of the restoratives restore enough.  Like I said, this game is much harder than my Final Fantasy fare, but I like the problem solving opportunities it presents.  I wound up switching my main character back to a Highlander after watching a bit of a video on that fore mentioned dragon, since they were using techniques only a Highlander has and KILLING it, so I need to level my guy up again, possibly rest my Protector so I can put skill points into Volt Wall, and then see what Grimoire Stones I can mess around with.

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The State of the Reader: 10/9/19

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 4 Comments

<–The State of the Reader: 9/25/19         The State of the Reader: 10/23/19–>

A biweekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Books Obtained: 2

Currently Reading

Title: Faust
Author: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Date Added: August 24, 2014
Date Started: September 1, 2019

Faust by GoetheMedia: eBook/Kindle
Progress: 33%

Mephistopheles has finally shown up.  Now things are going to get interesting.

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The State of the Writer: 10/6/19

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 5 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 9/22/19         The State of the Writer: 10/20/19–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 0

Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 254,301
Prior Word Count: 254,387
Word Difference: -86
Status: Editing
Progress: Chapter 19 Third Edit

So I lied…again.  I was going to post Chapters 19 and 20 concurrently in order to fulfill the intention of my promised delivery of justice.  That is no longer true, because I want to get Chapter 19 out as soon as I finish it, leaving you all to wallow in anticipation for just a bit longer as you await this fabled retribution, or I would think this if I were even half as narcissistic as I claim to be when in reality I know you all have way better things to do than await my next chapter hahaha who am I kidding but seriously I’M WORKING AS FAST AS I CAN PLEASE DON’T HATE ME.

I thought Chapter 19 was going to be shorter, but it’s a decent length chapter in its own right even after truncation, and since I’ve already sorta edited parts of Chapter 20, it shouldn’t take as long to get that out *fingers crossed*

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The State of the Gamer: 9/26/19

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 9 Comments

<–The State of the Gamer: 9/10/19           The State of the Gamer: 10/10/19–>

A weekly post updated every other Thursday detailing my current gaming projects.  I have an account at Grouvee, which is a site you can use to keep track of your backlog, so please feel free to friend me there!

What I’m Playing

Title: Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl
Series Title: Etrian Odyssey
System: Nintendo 3DS

Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium GirlDate Started: 6/30/19

This game is much harder than the RPGs I’m used to (i.e. Final Fantasy, well after IV at least).  By the time I was at the same level there (60 or so) I was wrecking everything pretty easily and at least not needing to heal every battle, but Etrian Odyssey really makes you employ strategy.  I’m still getting one shotted by some enemies, especially since I changed my main character’s class from the original Highlander to Landschnecht (sword and axe user).  Doing so throws their level back down to 30, BUT you get the difference in skill points.  It lowered his HP though so a hard smack will knock him out.  I also rested my Protector, which makes you go down two levels, BUT you get all of your skill points back to redistribute.  I realized I could put more towards party defense so I can better shield every one.  I’m still struggling with two quest bosses, so I need to level up some more before I can take them on (they’re worth 50k ental, the game’s currency, a piece).  I believe I’m near the end of the main game, though, since I’m on stratum five out of six in Yggdrasil and there’s only one more floor of the Gladsheim facility.  I may replay it in Classic mode as opposed to Story, which lets you choose your classes like prior EO games.  My characters are in utter beast mode in Etrian Odyssey V.

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The State of the Reader: 9/25/19

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 4 Comments

<–The State of the Reader: 9/11/19         The State of the Reader: 10/9/19–>

A biweekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Books Obtained: 2

Books Finished: 1

Title: Traitor’s Blades
Series Title: Greatcoats
Author: Sebastien de Castell
Date Added: March 5, 2017
Date Started: August 26, 2019
Date Finished: September 25, 2019

Traitor's Blades by Sebastien de CastellMedia: eBook/Kindle

This story might have the most brutal twist of any I’ve ever read.  It was fucking fantastic, and I can’t wait to continue the series.

Currently Reading

Title: Faust
Author: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Date Added: August 24, 2014
Date Started: September 1, 2019

Faust by GoetheMedia: eBook/Kindle
Progress: 25%

I did not know this was written in (sort of) rhyming verse, but I’m not upset.  It gives it a nice flow.

Title: Kushiel’s Dart
Series Title: Phèdre’s Trilogy
Author: Jacqueline Carey
Date Added: February 21, 2012
Date Started: August 23, 2019

Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline CareyMedia: Hardback (Library)
Progress: 26%

This novel is like ASOIAF but less graphic and also told from one point of view.  A character literally talks verbatim about the “game of thrones” in reference to court politics.  There’s a reason for the dramatis personae in the beginning as well as the map; both of which I constantly refer to in order to keep up with who’s who and where’s where.

Title: The Hero With a Thousand Faces
Author: Joseph Campbell
Date Added: April 24, 2014
Date Started: December 3, 2018

The Hero With a Thousand FacesMedia: Hardback
Progress: 66%

“Society lapses into mistake and disaster.  The Little Ego has usurped the judgment seat of the Self.”  Campbell was a prognosticator.

I’m been drinking cider mimosas (apple cider and champagne).  It’s the perfect autumn contemporary to pumpkin spice as well as an alternative to regular OJ mimosas.  I’m kind of disappointed because I can’t find my favorite Halloween candy, mellowcreme pumpkins, in stores.  So I bought some from Amazon, and I don’t like them.  They’re Jelly Belly brand, and you’d think a company famous for its jellybeans would know how to make other candy (or…not?).  They kind of taste like orange slices (the candy) but with the consistency of the pumpkins, and I am not a fan.  The funny thing is Amazon had Brach’s brand available, but fancy TSN had to go with the more prestigious brand.  Live and learn I suppose.

What is your favorite Halloween candy?

<–The State of the Reader: 9/11/19         The State of the Reader: 10/9/19–>

The State of the Gamer – Update

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 2 Comments

No, I’m not abandoning this post.  I love gaming and talking about gaming too much, but what I am doing is moving it to Thursdays.  I had it on Tuesdays because that’s the day new games are released, but there’s really no reason my biweekly update has to mirror that.  Thursdays will work much better for my schedule as it’ll free up every Tuesday for much needed writing since I get a quiet apartment to myself.  Until this Thursday fellow gaming nerds!

The State of the Writer: 9/22/19

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 6 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 9/8/19         The State of the Writer: 10/6/19–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 0

Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 254,387
Prior Word Count: 254,472
Word Difference: -85
Status: Editing
Progress: Chapter 19 Second Edit

 

Okay, so I might have lied a little bit, though not intentionally, which means it’s not really a lie, is it?  It’s more like I gave the information I had at the time, and that information changed.  Chapter 19 will not featured one of my favorite and definitely most vengeful part of the story.  I decided to do some rearranging because I wasn’t thrilled with how the next chapter started, so I combined parts of Chapter 20 with the original Chapter 19, which means the beginning part of the latter is now going to be its own chapter, and Chapter 19 is now going to be Chapter 20.  If that doesn’t make any sense, don’t worry about it.  I’m planning to post both Chapters concurrently, so you’ll still get what I promised; in fact, you’ll get more 🙂

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