Month: December 2015

Goals for 2016

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Here’s hoping this will be a short post because I need to work on one of those goals this very night.  I’m trying to look at them as more goals than resolutions.  This is by no means a complete list, but these are the specific ones I’ve compiled.  I also want to make steps towards my various cosplays though I don’t have them on the list.  I’m breaking these up into sections based on what they’re about.

Here goes.

Writing

  • Finish, edit, and post The Broken Rose – this is my WIP, another FFVII fanfiction
  • Reedit and submit The Threads of Sorrow – this is my original and (only) published short story.  I want to reedit and resubmit it to more well known journals since it’s currently languishing in a relatively unknown international one.  At this point I don’t even consider myself a published writer and thinking about it for too long makes me sadder.
  • Write at least two of the planned and noted ASOIAF and FFVII (A Song of FFVII ) comparative essays – the massive amount of notes have been sitting in OneNote for over a year; it’s time to do something with them.
  • Audio record Northern Lights – technically not writing but connected to writing, I’ve been planning this recording process for a while.  I may need to get some better equipment besides just my iPhone, which is surprisingly not a bad recording device.

Reading

  • Finish Paradise Lost – about halfway through
  • Finish The Mystical Qabalah – it’s been an over ten year project.  It’s time to make an end so I can read more interpretations of the esoteric system.
  • Read The Poetic Edda
  • Read The Rape of Lucrece – both this and the above are necessary for my numerous, planned FFVII essays/metas
  • Read/Review at least one book every two months – I made a goal last year to read a book a month.  That did not work out so I’m going to try every other month.  I used to read so many, many books, but adulthood and life have sapped any hopes of that.

Life

  • Find a therapist – it’s far past time.  That’s all that needs said.
  • Figure out what current physical malady is plaguing me – too much to get into right now
  • Lose 50 lbs
  • Get last two tattoos

Those are my goals for now.  I reserve the right to change and/or update them at any time.

Now I must work on The Broken Rose.

Until later.

Child of Light

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Spoilers are marked.

I convinced my husband to download Child of Light not long after its release date of April 30, 2014. It was a late birthday present. The instant I saw the trailer, I knew I had to own this game.

Even now after finishing, this still gives me chills. I love, love, LOVE fairytales and Child of Light is reminiscent of Snow White, which is one of my favorites. There are also shades of Sleeping Beauty (Disney’s version named the princess “Aurora,” too) and Pan’s Labyrinth, as well.

So…this review shall be in three parts, and in three parts shall be this review.  Gameplay and music and best of all story shall all be showcased for you.  For now I present Child of Light without any further ado.

Gameplay
Child of Light is a 2D platforming, puzzle RPG developed by Ubisoft Montreal (which is exactly why all of the French names now make sense) and published by Ubisoft. It was released for PS4, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PS Vita.

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Final Fantasy Friday: Final Fantasy II Review

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Final Fantasy Reviews

<–Final Fantasy (I) Review                                          Final Fantasy III Review–>

This is the part of a long-term project to play and review/analyze all the Final Fantasy games.  Whenever possible, I will play the original version, but in cases where it’s not available and/or there are time constraints, I’ll use a port and/or watch a Let’s Play, both of which contingencies will be indicated in the review.  Ideally, I will attempt to play a portion so that I can remark more accurately on the gameplay experience.  These will be long-form reviews with detailed plot analyses, so please be wary if you do not want spoilers.

Welcome to the second installment of Final Fantasy Fridays where I have undertaken the momentously arduous, albeit enjoyable and enlightening, task of reviewing ALL of the Final Fantasies. Now I’m aware it has been six months since I posted my review of Final Fantasy (I) (um…obviously not here since I just updated that, but,eh, see the foreword above), and at this pace it will take me five years to merely go from I to X, but I was busy with editing my FFVII fanfiction Northern Lights, so the time was not spent in vain. I will attempt to up my play/review rate, but I make no promises against distraction when writing needs to be done.

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Final Fantasy Friday: Final Fantasy (I) Review

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Final Fantasy Reviews

Final Fantasy II Review–>

This is the part of a long-term project to play and review/analyze all the Final Fantasy games.  Whenever possible, I will play the original version, but in cases where it’s not available and/or there are time constraints, I’ll use a port and/or watch a Let’s Play, both of which contingencies will be indicated in the review.  Ideally, I will attempt to play a portion so that I can remark more accurately on the gameplay experience.  These will be long-form reviews with detailed plot analyses, so please be wary if you do not want spoilers.

 

Final Fantasy I Cover

Quick note: I really, really tried to find just an original Final Fantasy banner, but to no avail, which is why the one you see above has sprite characters from later games.  I hope you won’t judge me too harshly.

First a little history lesson of the now very ironic title. Final Fantasy was created by Hironobu Sakaguchi in 1987, first published in Japan by Square (now the infamous Square Enix). It was so named because it was to be the failing company’s “final” fantasy, but was so successful that it revitalized the corporation and allowed it to stay afloat. Sakaguchi readily admitted that he was not really good at making video games, but he knew how to tell a story. Nearly three decades later, you would be hard pressed to adequately disprove that. With music composed by Nobuo Uematsu and character designs by Yoshitaka Amano

Seriously, look at this

Seriously, look at this

you (retroactively) can’t go wrong.

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The 26 Days of Advent: 12/25/15

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Christmas is the end of Advent and the beginning of Christmastide, though some believe that sunset on Christmas Eve is the end of Advent and the start of it.  The general consensus puts the Eve still in Advent, though I suppose a decent conclusion would have the day balanced between.

Christmastide is 12 days, which is where the 12 Days of Christmas comes from.  I wish there actually were 12 days of Christmas.  It would make all the build it so much more satisfactory.

Though this is the end of Advent and my postings are called The 26 Days of Advent, I thought that Christmas was too important to not give it a song.  I believe you will find it appropriate.

Thank you all who followed along with this for the duration.  I hope you have a Happy Holiday and a Happy New Year 🙂

The 26 Days of Advent: 12/24/15

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Merry Christmas Eve!  Tis the night before the big show.  For those of your who are believers, this would be the evening before the joyous occasion (though you should really do some research since he was more than likely not born in December, but I digress).  To celebrate that is one of my favorite Loreena McKennitt songs “Let Us the Infant Greet.”

I had to look up the lyrics to the final verse of this.  The language is a bit old fashioned, and I couldn’t quite decipher it.  Thank God for the Google.  See I can be religious 😉

The 26 Days of Advent: 12/23/15

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Not nearly enough Trans-Siberian Orchestra was used in this Advent extravaganza, and I absolutely adore this song though it was not always so.  “Good King Joy” is one of those tunes that doesn’t hit its peek until around the middle.  The beginning is a passably fair version of “Joy to the World,” but then around 3:00, the melody changes and we hear a very famous guitar played by the exquisitely talented BB King (RIP) who sings, and that’s why this is one of my favorite TSO songs.

The 26 Days of Advent: 12/22/15

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So I made the error of not spreading out my artists.  This is another Robert Shaw and my favorite version of “Adeste Fidelis.”  If there’s a rendition of a song in Latin, I’m going to prefer the Latin.  This is fact.

This is…not quite the version I have on my phone, but it’s the closest I could find.

The Editing of Northern Lights – All of the Tangents vs. Chapter 6

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Note: This is the Editing Blog for my FFVII fanfiction Northern Lights (which you can find at the end of that link).  I will be discussing a myriad of topics along with my frequently tangential and harried editing process.  You should be able to garner some enjoyment and insight from this without having read the story and/or without prior knowledge of the original game, but if you’re a fan of paranormal romance and/or dark fantasy, you may find it to your liking.  The story will be spoiled in this editing examination, though I will do my best to mark spoilers for any other narratives I mention.  Thanks for your interest and enjoy!

<–Revelations and Sweetness for Chapter 6     The Two Day Long Finale of the Rest of Chapter 6–>

10/4/14
“Child, tuck yourself in bed.  Let me tell a story…”

This is from Child of Light.  I just finished playing a little bit more of that game, and it is nothing less than beautiful.  It’s my other play/review project.

Which I have finished and have a review for here.

If you have the means, please play it.  The battle system is the Grandia II engine and the soundtrack is the loveliest of the lovelies by Coeur de Pirate.  I’m listening to it right now.

Grandia II I’ve played, but never Grandia (I).  Perhaps I should put on that on my play/review list.  I’ve been a bit lacking in my FFII playing lately, but that shall be remedied this weekend.  My husband is participating in a fundraising tournament called Extra Life.  The link is there, but by the time anyone will be possibly reading this, 2014 will be long over and 2015 half told, but the event does occur every year, and it’s quite a noble cause.  You seek donations to help kids battle diseases, essentially earning them an…extra life.  I love puns on a good day, but especially when we’re talking about saving children.  I have a soft spot in my heart for the innocent, but back to Extra Life; on a specific day you play games for 24 hours after you’ve garnered your donations.  Any and all games are acceptable: video games, board games, card games, tabletop RPGs, etc.  Any and everything so long as you do it for 24 hours.  So yes, a very worthy cause, and I highly encourage you, noble readers, to at least education yourselves on it. As such I will have the apartment to myself this weekend, and after my errands are run and done, I shall play Final Fantasy and Child of Light to my heart’s content.  Perhaps I shall be super ambitious and catch up on all of my blog posts, but for now I sip my coffee and listen to the soundtrack to Child of Light on the Tube of You whilst editing and blogging for you.

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