Spending too much money this year….more than the last 4 years put together in fact :/ 1000$ on a new computer [...]]]> So much for the “no more limited DD” and “no more 2nd hand DD”. I got Nimii Haruka that I lost the Volks lottery twice on, and NEARLY just about got Sakuya as well.

Spending too much money this year….more than the last 4 years put together in fact :/ 1000$ on a new computer in January, 1300$ for the plane ticket in February, 900$ for most of the hotels for my May vacation and 1000$ for Haruka, and $300 Volks orders, and 100$ Taobao wig order in march, a few outfits for Feena, a stand, various other shit like eating out on the occasion…it all adds up :/

Have a Haruka, and a good day. Assuming I can even get most of my other orders, April will hopefully be a lot better than March was (which was pretty goddamn lousy).

 Well OK, I opened it… Perhaps we were all being a bit overzealous there.

I know, its been covered to death already, and nobody reads my blog anyhow, but I’ll still post it all the same. Here’s my Mass Effect 3 Review! Enjoy the [...]]]>

"Open it! Open it! Lets play!!"

 Well OK, I opened it… Perhaps we were all being a bit overzealous there.

I know, its been covered to death already, and nobody reads my blog anyhow, but I’ll still post it all the same. Here’s my Mass Effect 3 Review! Enjoy the photo, its the happiest bit of this article.

If there is one word that can describe Mass Effect 3 after playing it twice, is “Simple”. Too simple in fact, most of the promised stuff was never delivered, day 1 DLC of something central to the game, literally next to nothing to do but scanning fetch quests (that aren’t even missions) outside of the main story. The ending, while everyone complains how bad it is, at least they didn’t give a bullshit reason for the whole reaper invasion. But again, its WAY TOO SIMPLE. There was supposed to be 10+ endings, what you get is 3 with minor variations in the ending video, mainly in  terms of colour choices done in 10 minutes in after effects. There is also basically no epilogue with what happens to the major characters afterwards, Shepard’s quest to save the galaxy might be over, but what about all those other people along the way? Not even so much as a spoken line or a piece of artwork afterwards.

To its’ credit at least, the musical score is by far the best of the 3 games, given they brought in a composer with movie score experience this time. The game definitely looks markedly nicer than the first 2 games, the UI is better than it has ever been, a good thing, given how far they’ve come from Mass Effect 1, and the weapon upgrade path has the best balance of 1 and 2′s. The combat system itself is much more refined than either of the previous games, and between Soldier and Vanguard classes, its worth playing at least a 2nd time.

I played the game twice, back to back, doing absolutely everything possible, did a few of the major choices differently, but used the same imported character I’ve kept since the first time I played Mass Effect 1. The difference being the first time I played as a soldier class, the second as a vanguard, which provides a very different style of gameplay.

Its a shame Bioware dropped this one, and I don’t even think you can blame this one on EA for once, its just a result of Bioware trying to be too mainstream, and sucking at it. A damn shame for what could have become a legendary hallmark series remembered by gamers as something everyone has to play at least once in everyone’s lifetime as a gamer. Instead, what people will probably remember is how it represents the downfall of what was once one of the last good game studios and a lesson to how to ruin people’s expectations and your own reputation by pretending to be a politician by promising things you don’t deliver. (Yes, I just compared Bioware to politicians.)

Oh well, as I had said before, this ends an era for me, of looking forward to games coming out. There might be a surprise or two, but I certainly won’t be looking forward to anything. Its time for me to move onto other things that bring satisfaction as well as entertainment.

Story: 5/10  – Its probably pretty evident why I gave it this score if you read above. At least they give you a picture of Tali as a semi-troll, instead of a total troll of not showing you her face at all

Sound: 8/10 - Same for this rating, the soundtrack is at least memorable in parts

Gameplay: 8/10 - Combat is noticeably improved, once you get used to a slightly clunky cover system that gets you killed sometimes

Freshness Rating: 3.5/10 - Lets be honest, it IS still the same old, only made worse by the fact they turned the game into a Gears of Shit style cover shooter. So not only did they change it, they didn’t try to improve what they changed it to.

Overall: 5/10 - What a disappointment, a sentiment pretty well echoed throughout the internet. Even if they resort to some bullshit DLC to attempt to fix the ending, the entire game feels so dumbed down that no amount of DLC could really fix the game as it should have been.

Its been a fun time, video games. Its time to move on from you, as you have become so watered down after becoming mainstream that I can no longer taste the individuality and the flavors that made you unique. Perhaps you may surprise me down the road again, but for now, its time to move on to other things.

The second batch of hands arrived yesterday, this time from Volks International rather than the USA site because they didn’t get restocked ~_~… And with EMS shipping rather than…well, you know, the unmentionable. I was thinking Feena might look a bit silly with the DDH-09 option hands, but its really [...]]]>

The second batch of hands arrived yesterday, this time from Volks International rather than the USA site because they didn’t get restocked ~_~… And with EMS shipping rather than…well, you know, the unmentionable. I was thinking Feena might look a bit silly with the DDH-09 option hands, but its really not so bad!

Now Feena can actually hang onto that sword! Though I was a bit worried she’d tip forward and jab my camera or my hand, but she didn’t.

I recently recovered one of my swiped TY Beanie Babies I had from years ago from my brother (he used to take a lot of my things for no apparantly good reason). And so I decided to give him to Feena as a pet! His name is Rocket the Blue [...]]]>

I recently recovered one of my swiped TY Beanie Babies I had from years ago from my brother (he used to take a lot of my things for no apparantly good reason). And so I decided to give him to Feena as a pet! His name is Rocket the Blue Jay. Enjoy the photos!

First OSTER 2 weeks ago,  now the Baguettes Ensemble, having a live this weekend, this time without even airing it on nicovideo. What event do I miss next? Why do I even ask the question? its my lot in life after all.

But hey, it COULD be worse I suppose…I could be in some [...]]]>

First OSTER 2 weeks ago,  now the Baguettes Ensemble, having a live this weekend, this time without even airing it on nicovideo. What event do I miss next? Why do I even ask the question? its my lot in life after all.

But hey, it COULD be worse I suppose…I could be in some other shitty country, though Harper is trying his darnedest to make us feel like we should be in another country some days.

P.S. I do have the livestreamed OSTER project concert from nicovideo if anyone REALLY wants me to upload it somewhere….but I probably will be spared the trouble since nobody looks at this blog ANYWAY.