The State of the Gamer: 3/24/22

<–The State of the Gamer: 3/10/22           The State of the Gamer: 4/7/22–>

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 Demoed

  • Edge of Eternity (Nintendo Switch) – I like this. The voice acting is excellent, and I’m already drawn into the story.  The demo does a great job getting you interested in the characters and making you care about them and their plight before ending. Their banter is really good and I’m cool with the battle system. It’s also an indie game and I always like supporting the smaller guys.
  • Oninaki – Another Squeenix action RPG. The battle system is totally doable and there’s a casual setting. I’ll definitely pick this up at some point, though I can understand the critiques about the MC.  He’s a stone cold jackass.  I understand the psychology behind it, but I’m hearing he doesn’t get much better throughout, which is a shame if they miss out on character development.
  • Yoku’s Island Express – This game is adorable.  I never thought you could make a game like this around the concept of pinball but then again why not?  Sonic the Hedgehog is pretty much that.  The music is bangin’, the graphics are adorable, and the gameplay is fun and intuitive.

What I Purchased

  • Palindrome Syndrome: Escape Room – $4.99 @ Nintendo eShop
  • LOST Sphear – $19.99 @ Nintendo eShop
  • Star Ocean First Departure R (Star Ocean) – $8.39 @ Nintendo eShop
  • I Am Setsuna – $19.99 @ Nintendo eShop
  • Final Fantasy X/Final Fantasy X-2 Remaster (Final Fantasy X/Final Fantasy) – $24.99 @ Nintendo eShop

Total: $78.35

Squeenix has all my fucking money! 😭

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The State of the Reader: 3/23/22

<–The State of the Reader: 3/9/22         The State of the Reader: 4/6/22–>

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.

Purchased: 3

Total: $12.97


Books Finished: 0


Currently Reading

Title: House of Sky and Breath
Series: Crescent City
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Date Added: March 7, 2021
Date Started: February 23, 2022

Cover of House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas (Crescent City)Media: Physical/Hardback
Progress: 7%

Slow progress is better than no progress at all.

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The Books of 2021

I’m following the same format from last year with some tweaks, because was 2021 really that different from 2020?  It’s all been just one continuous “year” hell state so let’s talk about books once more!


Favorite Book

This book hit every single one of my buttons: fallen angel/general turned slave/assassin with a half-human, half-fae lady is just the jumping (falling?) off point.  It really made me wonder if there was just a satchel of tropes that come with fallen/dark angel characters because I’m noticing patterns between this, Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter series, FFVII, my own writing, Constantine (the film), and a slew of other narratives with them.  Like wtf is going on?  It’s something I definitely want to research down the line.

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The State of the Writer: 3/20/22

<–The State of the Writer: 3/6/22         The State of the Writer: 4/3/22–>

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

Finished Projects: 0


Project: Story
Working Title:
The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 11,211
Prior Word Count: 11,215
Word Difference: -4
Status: Editing Chapter 1 and adding in macro edits from notes
Progress:
Chapter 2

I did add some words, but it looks like I cut out a few more than I did, which I’m totally okay with.  My note to myself is to just keep editing from where I left off, but I feel like I might need to so some organization sessions.  I just don’t like how my notes are currently on OneNote.  It probably doesn’t help that I have this both there and on Scrivener.  OneNote is mostly for “To Do” lists and reminders whereas Scrivener is for more honed and organized thoughts.  Because I can update OneNote on my phone and it’ll sync to the computer app and I haven’t figured out how to do that with Scrivener yet.

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The State of the Gamer: 3/10/22

<–The State of the Gamer: 2/24/22           The State of the Gamer: 3/24/22–>

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 Demoed

Nothing this time.


What I Purchased

  • 15in1 – $2.39 @ Nintendo eShop
  • Triangle Strategy – $59.99 @ Target

Total: $62.38


What I Finished

Nothing this time.


What I’m Playing

Title: Etrian Odyssey Nexus
Series: Etrian Odyssey
System: Nintendo 3DS

Cover of Etrian Odyssey NexusDate Started: December 25, 2021

A new labyrinth just opened up, but I haven’t been playing as much.  Other things have been cropping up, but I’m hoping to get some in tonight.

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The State of the Reader: 3/9/22

<–The State of the Reader: 2/23/22         The State of the Reader: 3/23/22–>

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.

Purchased: 2

Total: $25.98


Books Finished: 0


Currently Reading

Title: House of Sky and Breath
Series: Crescent City
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Date Added: March 7, 2021
Date Started: February 23, 2022

Cover of House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas (Crescent City)Media: Physical/Hardback
Progress: 5%

Maas knows how to make you care about someone in just a few pages.  The prologue concerns a character we’ve never met before, but what the author does with her is brilliant.  We were given a hint of what the world was like for humans, but with Sophie, it draws into brutal focus.

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The State of the Writer: 3/6/22

<–The State of the Writer: 2/20/22         The State of the Writer: 3/20/22–>

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

Finished Projects: 1


Project: Story
Working Title:
The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count:  11,215
Prior Word Count: 11,228
Word Difference: -13
Status: Editing Chapter 1 and adding in macro edits from notes
Progress:
Chapter 2

The word count went down because of the editing, and I’m already planning on cutting some more extraneous things out.  I know it’s weird to be editing when I just started drafting, but I’ve mentioned before I need to iron some things out prior to continuing.  I just can’t have it sitting “wrong” even though of course I’d fix it eventually.  I’m just like that lol.  If I know it’s wrong and it’s an integral part of the story, I have to fix it.

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The Broken Rose: Chapter 9 – Excursion

Update: This time there’s rain, and it looks amazing.  Like last picture update, I’m putting this in the midst of the chapter where it fits with the text, but of course you can see it see it at the sources here and here.


The Broken Rose Page

<–Chapter 8                                                                                                  Chapter 10–>

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII, its characters, and settings are all property of Square Enix so I can take no credit nor claim any ownership of that. I do take some credit for the story’s plot.
Banner Artwork Disclaimer:  The featured artwork for the banner is entitled White rose I and was created by the very talented Deviant Artist RemusSirion who was gracious enough to grant me permission to use it here.  The picture has been slightly altered from the original. All rights belong to the artist, and links are included for both the artist page and the work.

*******MAJOR CONTENT WARNING*******

Consistent and sustained graphic descriptions and mentions of rape/ sexual assault, sexual slavery/bondage, slavery, human trafficking, physical abuse, graphic descriptions of violence, mental abuse, emotional abuse, psychological abuse, body shaming, starvation, torture, forced pregnancy, forced childbirth, miscarriage, forced miscarriage, abortion, and other potential disturbing and triggering topics.


Accompanied by her protector, Aeris takes a walk through the Whispers, encountering various townsfolk until something even Sephiroth cannot control occurs.

A string of purplish colored lights growing smaller from right to left, from the right center to the left hand corner. The lights are against a dark background. “Chapter 9 Excursion” in white is in the upper middle above the lights.

The sun was still bright in the late afternoon as Aeris stood by burnished windows.  Daylight tinged clouds held the edges of dusk in a sky that was only half clear.  Apprehension jumped in the Cetra’s chest behind the raised clasped hands, coupled close with slight excitement much to her surprise.  Swathed in a white dress of soft layered skirts, its accents palest pink.  It was fuller in length coming down to mid-calf for this evening’s venture out. A bow of that hue was wrapped round her waist and tied with a flourish behind.  Aeris ran fingers along silk so smooth, though with silver it could not compare, but the Cetra still loved how the garb hid her stomach and all those hated lines.  Squeezing her fist, the maid forced that down and willed her breath to slow.  She was clothed.  She was safe.  She was here in the Whispers.  Beneath full protection and care.

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