Project Updates

Just an update on what I've been working on lately:

Writing

Wandering from Death: My one openly ongoing Slenderblog.  I'm largely in the development phase for my plot at the moment, but I've got ideas.

Warrior, Wizard: a short story about, well, a warrior and a wizard (or, more accurately, "mage").  The two become close friends but are both forced to deal with their feelings of inadequacy as their growths differ.

Operation Stirling: A collaborative Slenderverse project that is currently remaining secret.  Let's just say that I'm finally starting to get to the meat of my part of the project, though.

I've also reacquired a ladybug bucket hat, so my "DaLadybugMan" persona can finally get back on camera and do some reviews I've wanted to.  I'm leaning towards House of Leaves for the first one.

In addition, I'm also occasionally working on A Terrible Fate, my Zelda fanfic, and a commentary for Don't Shoot The Messenger, though those are less frequent.

Reading

I'm currently reading Chronicles of the Black Company, a compilation of the first three Black Company books.  I'm also picking back up on reading the Trigun manga and have managed to find the first two copies of Video Girl Ai (by the same guy who did I"s, one of my favorite manga), though acquiring the rest of both series might be difficult as the former is fairly expensive and the latter is pretty hard to find.

Watching

I've finally decided on an order to watch the shows I'm catching up on in.  Top priority is ABC's Once Upon a Time, an entertaining (if not fairly campy) show about a town in Maine where storybook characters are living with their "Happily Ever Afters" taken away and no memories of their former life.  Kind of like LOST if LOST had magic OH WAIT

The next two on my list are Trigun, which is about a gunslinging pacifist on a desert planet, and Fullmetal Alchemist, which is about...a kid who's an alchemist, I guess.  A hotheaded alchemist working at his craft under the government.  There's obviously more to both shows, but that's the best I can put their concepts.

Playing

I finished Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, and was excited to transfer my info and launch into the sequel, Radiant Dawn.  Then I found out that my disc was one of the ones that didn't recognize Easy Mode saves (since the PoR "Easy Mode" came about when the translation was made easier; it didn't exist in Japan).  I COULD play Radiant Dawn anyway, but I want those few bonuses I get from transfering a PoR file over, dammit!  So basically, I'm going to have to pay through all of PoR again.

I've also gotten my hands on No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle.  I've beaten the first three (of 10) bosses in the former, and so far I'm not particularly impressed.  I'll stick with it, though.  See if it improves.

Gaming Ramblings: Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones: No Benchwarmers!

I've recently legally acquired a copy of Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (after having played some of it on an emulator less than fully legally) and have been playing that, going through Ephraim's route.

I've actually never beat The Sacred Stones (or Blazing Sword (just "Fire Emblem" in America), though I have beat Shadow Dragon) because of, well...I guess because of how I always want to play. I'm a fan of the Pokemon series (Pokemon Crystal was the first game I ever owned), and you tend to get better Pokemon if you raise them from the ground up.  Add in the fact that the more powerful units tend to be experience thieves (I'm looking at you, Seth), and I always want to raise all my units evenly.  The lowest-leveled characters were always in, the highest were out.  The problem is that Fire Emblem doesn't do one specific thing that a lot of other RPGs do: Grinding.  Most RPGs require grinding, and many people see that as a bad thing.  However, in Fire Emblem, when there's no ability to grind, you run into problems--in this case, the fact that you have to leave some characters on the bench.  You just can't raise everyone.  And since it's natural instinct to make sure you carry your entire team the whole way, well....

And in The Sacred Stones, it is...actually almost possible.  With the skirmishes and the Tower of Valni, it's possible to gain infinite experience.  Unfortunately, weapons in Fire Emblem also break after a certain amount of uses.  You just can't get enough money to support raising an entire army. I suppose it's possible, but it's incredibly difficult.

I learned from Shadow Dragon, where, in order to do the bonus chapters (many of which require you to have 15 or fewer living units to unlock in a game that tends to throw two or three additional units your way every chapter), I was forced to let units die.  Not even let them die, but specifically try to get them killed!  So now I'm trying to raise a smaller team.  I.e., not raise everyone.

Who is this team on this runthrough?  Ephraim (I kind of have to, as he's my Lord and I can't choose to not send him out), Colm (I love thieves, though Matthew from Blazing Sword is much better offensively), Neimi, Amelia, Ross, Natasha, Marisa, Joshua, Franz, L'Arachel, Tana, Cormag, Ewan, Lute, Artur, and Knoll once he joins (I'm a fan of magic users and Mages in particular, if you couldn't tell), with Gerik, Kyle, and Garcia filling in on occasion.  Oh, yes, and also Eirika when she rejoins as well.

Anyway, wish me luck with that, I guess!  I'll update with thoughts and the like once I'm done with the game!