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June 23rd, 2009
10:18 am - Cool It Atlus...
I can't keep up! =( Devil Survivor, Knights in the Nightmare, Dark Spire. They just keep putting out DS games and I've barely played the ones I got last year. Otanarama is the only one I finished (on normal... barely). Still working on Etrian Odyssey. I saw credits, but that unlocks an additional 5 floors and the first one is pissing me off, since it's full of teleporters that send me back to the beginning.
Getting away from Atlus, Black Sigil looks like a nice retro-Final Fantasy-like RPG. I need to look for some impressions on it to see if it's any good.
This just means that I need to play my DS more. I tend to pick up games like these right away, since I have no idea how quickly they become hard to find.
Been spending my time playing Front Mission 4, Hotel Dusk. And Thief 2 fan missions, of which some new ones just got released. There's hundreds of these things with more still getting made. It inspired me to try making one myself. =)
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September 19th, 2008
11:24 am - Been a while...
The server with all my work on it is down, so I'm quite bored. What's new with me..?
Been working at home for the past month. Broadband options weren't very good for me. No DSL available and I didn't really want to deal with getting Comcast. That left me with EVDO or satellite. I went with Sprint EVDO, getting a USB modem. I now have it plugged into a Cradlepoint wireless router. Working out pretty well. Just recently got the Wii online. Had a rather stupid problem with that. First thing I did once up was to check where our scores sit in the ranks in Geometry Wars Galaxies. Mine aren't anywhere near the top. =)
Got the Wii back in July. I've played through Metroid and Twilight Princess. Working on Super Mario Galaxy. Though I also distract myself a lot with Geometry Wars, Mercury Meltdown and Smash Brothers. Working from home means that my DS isn't seeing as much use, even though I had bought a large batch of games with the Atlas logo on them. The one that's been getting the most play is Otanarama, though the gap between normal and hard difficulties is HUGE!
I haven't been feeling like I have a whole lot of patience due to the ways things have been at work. As such, I didn't spend any time over the summer on figures. =( I've got a simple one that has most of the prep work done on the workbench now. Maybe I can get it primed in the next couple weeks so that I can get something done this year.
I haven't taken any vacation. I need to, since I'm going to lose some, but I don't know what to do with it.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/sad.gif) bored
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May 28th, 2008
06:16 pm - Getting back to normal...
Things suddenly slowed down at work. Amazing. Now I should have time to goof off and still get stuff done that needs to get done. =) I'm slowly doing catch up and should be around more...
I've got a new kit in progress. Cloud is quite complex. I know I've had it sitting around for a long time, but I'll still be working on it slowly cause I want to do it right and not resort to any shortcuts, but I don't want to burn out on it either. So, now I have Etna from the Disgaea games pinned up. The pins were holding better for the picture than I thought they would while working on getting them in. Yay.
( Here's a picture )
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October 2nd, 2007
08:07 am - Took long enough...
I have successfully cured Sugar of her zombie affliction. =)
( Condition: Cute )
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August 25th, 2007
11:39 pm - Vacation Photos
I finished the write-up of my vacation.
Photos have been scanned and uploaded.
I'd say they're what one would expect from a $10 disposable camera. =P I will want to bring a digital camera on the next. The one I've been using is actually my dad's, so I didn't want to bring it with. I'd feel more shitty than if it was my camera and something happened to it. For my own, the Canon Powershot S series looks good. Any other suggestions?
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August 20th, 2007
09:32 am - Travel Log
Indecision made me cut my vacation plans short to just one week, rather than the two weeks I was planning on at first. Basically, rather than jumping into a six day hiking trip, I thought I should try a shorter one first to see how I fare and if I like it. So, I only went hiking on Tuesday. In the end, I fare quite well, just like I had thought I would, and I love it! =) I'm definitely going back to see more of the park. I didn't bring a digi-cam, but I did buy a one-use camera, so I'll put up some pictures once I get them developed. I want to buy a good outdoors use digi-cam that can take attachments to bring on future trips. I traveled to Glacier National Park and Seattle by Amtrak, since I wasn't in a real hurry to get anywhere. I can't say I'm likely to do that much more for those future trips. The problems weren't Amtrak's fault, but they were still annoying. I'll go over the trip in more detail in the sections below in the next couple of days as I have time. Gotta catch up now. =)
( Getting there on Amtrak )
( The hike! )
( Seattle )
( Getting back on Amtrak )
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July 25th, 2007
08:18 am - -
I wasn't planning on getting the new Harry Potter book right away, but my parents came across a copy of it and got it for me as a birthday gift. So, I'm reading it now. Yay! =)
Plan to pick up Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80's in the next couple of days. Best Buy is advertising it for $40, which is a bit better to swallow than the $50 I've seen elsewhere. I can't help but feel a bit ripped off, but I'll get it anyway. More songs to play is a good thing, since I've hit a wall with the 2 games.
( Here's some Sugar. )
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July 16th, 2007
08:41 am - More new games
Been a while since I last walked down to the local mall. I was surprised to see the pizza place on the way had closed down. It still had Christmas decorations in the windows. And there's a bunch of new buildings on the way. The mall itself hasn't changed much, but the crazy place now has 2 GameStops. I went to get some supplies for my Sugar and upcoming Etna models: new brushes, paper clay, wire mesh, more white paint. Annoyingly, I forgot to check if they had any EZ Water.
Since I was there, I went over to one of the GameStops. Checked if they had a Wii available. Nope. Then bought Odin Sphere and Grim Grimoire for the PS2. Since these are Atlas and NIS releases, I figured I wouldn't want to wait too long to get them, since they usually have limited runs. Both were developed by Vanillaware, a company that came out of nowhere. It's nice to see a company go back to making stuff in 2D and it looks very nice. Here's some quick descriptions:
Grim Grimoire: An RTS. A Japanese RTS? I think that's a first. This one has a side view of the action that takes place on multiple floors of the tower rather than the overhead view of the *Craft games. You place runes, gather mana and summon stuff that you use to go beat on the other guy's stuff. As far as story: You're a new student at a magic academy that is in the tower of an old evil Archmage. The seal on the Archmage's soul is broken and everyone dies. Then the week starts over and I guess the story will continue along to solve the mystery of who breaks the seal with everyone dying several times along the way.
Odin Sphere: This one is a brawler. Bunches of enemies show up and you beat them senseless by mashing on the square button. There's some special moves, too. When enemies are defeated, their souls are released as something called Phozons, which you can absorb to level up your weapon. Or you can plant a seed which will absorb to Phozons and produce fruit, which you eat to recover health and gain character experience. It's pretty difficult. The first stage boss kept kicking my ass. I'm not that far in, so I don't know what else there is to the game. I've been focusing more on Grim.
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July 11th, 2007
08:48 am - Things to do...
...in Seattle? I've got a couple destinations in mind, but am wondering if anyone has some lesser known places that I should check out. I'm planning on leaving on August 11th and will be back on the 27th, so I need to get my planning done and reservations made soon. Which week I'll be in Seattle depends on which hiking tour I decide on.
For the hiking, I'm looking at Glacier Park now. There are 2 tours that I am looking at. One that I know is available, but I'm not sure if I'm going to take it. The chalets with no electricity doesn't bother me. The no plumbing kinda does, though. =P The other tour I need to call and check on availability. Both are 6 day tours. I suppose I could do the 3 day chalet tour, but I'm looking to spend more time out in the park. I still need to buy my equipment and supplies, too.
As for the Olympic Peninsula, I'll leave that for some other time. Probably not next year, though. I'm going to start planning early for doing some touring in Europe next year. =)
On a different note, I've been working on my Sugar model. Since I don't get any feedback on the completed models, I haven't bothered with putting up any progress on it. Does anyone care?
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June 15th, 2007
08:54 am - Vaca~a~ation
Man, do I need one. I didn't take any vacation last year. And my current projects are really starting to get to me. So, I'm starting to plan. But, what to do?
AX? No. That's much too soon to be able to plan now.
So, how about Otakon? I considered it, but it doesn't really seem worth it. I'm just not that much into anime anymore, so the whole con circuit isn't all that interesting.
PAX or E for All? Meh. I'm not sure what kinds of crowds those would draw.
So, after some more thought and some looking around the intertubes, I've decided on doing something like this. Going out hiking sounds like fun. As the weather has gotten nicer, I've been walking from the train station to the office, which is somewhere between 3 to 4 miles, so I'm up for some long treks. =)
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May 21st, 2007
08:17 am - Game Stuff
Dear Death,
Fuck you.
Signed,
Aggravated Castlevania Player
Seriously, lately the Castlevania bosses feel like punishment for progressing in the games. They're not fun.
So, I've been picking up new games for the DS and PC. Ouendan 2 is on it's way. =) And here are some other recommendations:
Puzzle Quest
An RPG, Bejeweled hybrid. All actions you can do in the game are done on a Bejeweled board. In combat, you alternate moves on the board with the enemy you are fighting. Matching colors gives you mana that you can use to cast various spells. You can also match skulls, which do direct damage, gold coins or purple experience stars in order to gain extra after the battle. There's a whole lot of other stuff, as well, that I haven't gotten to: training mounts, sieging cities, crafting items.
Etrain Odyssey
Old school. Build a party of 5 out of 9 different classes, (though right now only 7 of those are available to me), then enter a first person dungeon crawler, much like Bard's Tale, Wizardry, or many old D&D games. As you explore, you can draw the map on the DS touch screen, which is neat. I'm hooked on this game. I thought Squaresoft managed to kill my interest in RPG's, but apparently, it's just new ones that I hate now. This game manages to make it feel like I really am on a quest of exploration and discovery, rather than being some detached spectator to a crappy story. It also doesn't hand hold. It is difficult. There are these mini-boss type enemies called FOE's that wander around and have a representation in the dungeon. I was able to sneak my way past all of them on the second floor and third floors, but then was blocked and told to head back to town. I get into a random battle, which aren't too bad. Defeated 2 of the 4 enemies when one of these FOE's wanders into the battle. Luckily, you can run away from them, since this thing smacked me for more damage than I had hit points. Ouch!
On the PC, I'm enjoying S.T.A.L.K.E.R., an FPS/RPG hybrid, with a great atmosphere. A second disaster had hit Chernobyl and now a whole lot of weird shit is going on in the area. The game could have used a little more polish, as there are some annoying things about it, but it's still quite enjoyable.
Can't wait for BioShock. Couldn't care less about StarCraft 2.
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May 10th, 2007
08:21 am - *ahem*
I have one thing to say about Freya by The Sword:
Graaaaaaa-ahhhhh!
Well, playing less Guitar Hero will mean that I have more time to do stuff like
( this )
On which I'm cleaning up lumpy putty that stands out on the gray primer, like
( this )
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April 18th, 2007
March 26th, 2007
08:34 am - Bleh.
No tax refunds for me. =( I owe the state a measly $1.37. How annoying.
I started to put Miharu together, but noticed some primer still showing on the metallic purple piece. I didn't paint the entire underside. Oops. I went ahead and started layering on coats to finish, but was getting annoyed that it wasn't looking the same. I didn't think I had a different shade of that. Eventually, I remembered that I was supposed to paint the metallics on top of a coat of black and not on the white primer. So, yeah of course it's going to look different. Double oops. Going to be a couple more days til it's finished, then. I want to look more closely at the upper arms, since I didn't really see the pastels that I had used there. I may want to just use a quick wash through the panel lines there to draw them out more.
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March 19th, 2007
08:24 am - Casino Soccer 2
I finally spent the $100 gift card I got from work, since it was going to expire at the end of month. I picked up Rogue Galaxy, which seems like it'll be cool, though I didn't try it for very long. I also got Hotel Dusk, which I won't get to try until my trip home today. I'm not sure how much power my DS has left in it, though, as I haven't recharged it lately. And finally I picked up Xenosaga Episode 2, which is the one I've started playing through. It's been a while since I finished episode 1, but luckily there's enough recap information in 2 that I was able to remember most of what happened. Too many skills available to me all at once... I don't know what to take, so I'm probably going to end up just hoarding skill points until I need a certain skill. My impressions so far sum it up as: It's more Xenosaga.
I need to get my taxes done. I've been meaning to do them for the past 2 weeks. =P
In my last post, I mentioned that I would have progress pics for Miharu, so here they are:
( Miharu Progress )
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March 13th, 2007
08:23 am - *yawn*
I am so worn out. When the weekend comes around, the only thing I feel like doing is sleeping in. So, that's what's been happening. I feel rested then, but Monday the cycle repeats.
The big project at work may have contributed some to this. I didn't feel stressed at all about it, though, since I didn't have any problems following my time estimates. It's live now and working well, so things have calmed down. No big deadlines are looming. Yay!
With the weather finally improving, there's an end in sight to my work on Miharu. I have been doing quite a bit of work on that the past few days. I screwed up in doing the glossy parts first and had to mask those, which isn't easy. Some of the edges may be getting a flat coat, but that probably won't make much of a difference since they're really small areas. I applied the pastels, perhaps a bit too heavy in a few places. All of the pictures I quickly snapped last night were crap, so I'll follow up on this later.
I... um... 'borrowed' Painkiller from a co-worker and have been playing that. The level design is quite good, if a bit random. At least I'll never know what to expect next. It's quite fun... except for the bosses, anyway. Why is it so hard to make a decent boss fight in an FPS?
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February 14th, 2007
January 10th, 2007
09:42 am - Dinks, Plonks and a Dented Head
Ugh. Dealing with gaps during assembly of painted pieces can be a real pain in the ass.
( Read More )
I finally managed to complete Guitar Hero 1 on hard. Kind of, anyway. The last 2 songs were a series of dinks, plonks, purposely skipped notes that usually screw me up worse when I try to play and using star power after it is available to save my sorry butt from failing. In other words, I didn't play them very well and just lucked out. Some more practice is in order. =)
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November 10th, 2006
10:01 am - Trog...wha?
I was getting bored 5 starring all of the songs in Guitar Hero 2 on easy yesterday, so went to medium and 5 starred the first song there and got a chunk of cash to spend unlocking stuff. There has been much excitement about Trogdor being a bonus track, so I decided to find out what that's about. So, uh... yeah. What's the deal with Trogdor? I should have unlocked the Voivod or Freezepop songs.
I picked up Guitar Hero 2 because more songs = more gooderness. I can bounce between the two when I get stuck on stuff. As for the first game, I still have to 5 star one song on easy, but I don't particularlly like No One Knows, so I'm not in any rush to do that. Unfortantely, I still have to suffer through it on medium. And I've also got Bark at the Moon kicking my ass on medium. Can't even get that one started good. =(
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October 27th, 2006
08:24 am - Ow
- annoyances
* Miharu's eye is smoothed out, I think. Will look at it tonight when dry.
+ annoyances
* Pain. I was late and tried to run, pushing past people going the other way to try to catch my train last night, lost my balance and ended up flat on the ground. The little cuts and scrapes on my left hand aren't too bad, but my left knee rather hurts. I don't have a problem moving it, so I don't think it's anything major. I thought it was weird, since I usually have a pretty good balance, then realized later that the 3 or 4 Corner Bakery napkins on the ground were most likely what I slipped on. And I JUST missed the train... foiled by some carelessly dropped napkins.
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