Also There's A Character Who Speaks Entirely In Mathematical Puns.
Might keep a record of Episode Start to Shirtlessness time throughout this series of Merlin. The first and second episodes of the fifth series each took under six minutes to bring a shirtless man onto the screen. I'm expecting the excuses for the knights to remove their shirts to get flimsier and flimsier. OH NO, A MAGICAL FIRE THAT BURNS UP ALL CLOTHING WHILST LEAVING FLESH INTACT IS SPREADING THROUGHOUT CAMELOT.
I've started playing The World Ends With You! It is a magnificent game. It's also scarily addictive; I popped it into my DS for the first time on Saturday, thinking 'well, I'll play for an hour or so, see what it's like', and regained awareness of my surroundings four hours later.
The trouble is that I'm not actually very good at it. I love the style and I love the dialogue and some of the plot developments have genuinely shocked me (THAT THING NEKU DID AT THE END OF DAY TWO), but the battle system is hellishly confusing. You have to keep so many factors in mind! I am completely incapable of concentrating on both DS screens at once.
In fact, you have to keep quite a lot of factors in mind whether you're in battle or not. I tried explaining The World Ends With You to th_esaurus and realised as I was speaking how ridiculously complicated that game is. SO YOU CAN READ PEOPLE'S MINDS AND IMPLANT IDEAS IN THEIR HEADS AND SOMETIMES THEY'RE POSSESSED BY INVISIBLE MONSTERS YOU HAVE TO DISPATCH AND YOU CAN EAT FOOD AND THEN YOU DIGEST IT BY FIGHTING BATTLES AND WHEN YOU'VE FULLY DIGESTED IT YOU GET STAT BONUSES AND YOU CAN ONLY EAT A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF FOOD PER REAL-TIME DAY AND YOU CAN WEAR CLOTHES TO BOOST YOUR STATS BUT ONLY IF YOU'RE BRAVE ENOUGH AND YOU CAN BEFRIEND SHOP ASSISTANTS SO THEY'LL GIVE YOU MORE ABILITIES AND YOU NEED TO BE AWARE OF WHAT'S TRENDY IN THE AREA YOU'RE IN BECAUSE EQUIPMENT MADE BY CURRENTLY POPULAR BRANDS WILL GET STAT BONUSES AND DURING BATTLE YOU CONTROL ONE CHARACTER ON ONE SCREEN WITH THE STYLUS AND ANOTHER CHARACTER ON THE OTHER SCREEN WITH BUTTONS AND YOU NEED TO PULL OFF THE RIGHT COMBOS TO GET STARS TO ALLOW YOU TO PERFORM YOUR BEST ATTACK AND
At one point, I failed to pay attention to trends and got into a boss fight that was rendered impossible because my equipment was too uncool. This is exactly what would happen if I found myself in the Reapers' Game in real life.
Joshua and I have got off to a bad start. So far, I don't like him much, although perhaps that's rooted in sympathy for poor Neku's frustration. Joshua can be amusing, at least; I particularly enjoy the fact that, when Joshua and Neku perform their Fusion attack, Neku calls 'Follow my lead!' and Joshua answers 'Screw that!' (EDIT: Except, er, it's actually the other way around. I can't tell voices apart.)
I actually assumed from my first glimpse of Joshua, in the opening video, that he was a villain. He was white-haired (well, ash-blond, close enough) and pretty and looked a bit smug, which in a Square game is roughly as subtle as writing 'I'M THE VILLAIN' on one's forehead in the blood of the innocent. I hadn't counted on him being my white-haired, pretty, slightly smug ally. I suppose that doesn't necessarily preclude his turning out to be the villain, but I can't help feeling that if he actually had evil designs he'd make more of an effort to ingratiate himself with Neku, rather than treating him with unveiled contempt. He's a very Draco Malfoy figure, actually.
Perhaps I'll come to like Joshua more when I know him a bit better? It took me a while to warm up to Neku, come to think of it, and I'm really quite fond of him now.
The day before beginning The World Ends With You, I finished Justice for All, the second Ace Attorney game. The last case of the game was, for various reasons, my favourite. Some of these reasons were perfectly acceptable (Pearl, who is adorable, travels with you for the investigation, being adorable). Some were more worrying; for example, Phoenix tried to bring von Karma tulips when she was in the clinic. She mocked him. I found myself grinning like an absolute fool.
Am I - am I 'shipping this? Am I actually 'shipping Phoenix Wright and Franziska von Karma? Why am I 'shipping this? This is such a bad idea.
I've started playing The World Ends With You! It is a magnificent game. It's also scarily addictive; I popped it into my DS for the first time on Saturday, thinking 'well, I'll play for an hour or so, see what it's like', and regained awareness of my surroundings four hours later.
The trouble is that I'm not actually very good at it. I love the style and I love the dialogue and some of the plot developments have genuinely shocked me (THAT THING NEKU DID AT THE END OF DAY TWO), but the battle system is hellishly confusing. You have to keep so many factors in mind! I am completely incapable of concentrating on both DS screens at once.
In fact, you have to keep quite a lot of factors in mind whether you're in battle or not. I tried explaining The World Ends With You to th_esaurus and realised as I was speaking how ridiculously complicated that game is. SO YOU CAN READ PEOPLE'S MINDS AND IMPLANT IDEAS IN THEIR HEADS AND SOMETIMES THEY'RE POSSESSED BY INVISIBLE MONSTERS YOU HAVE TO DISPATCH AND YOU CAN EAT FOOD AND THEN YOU DIGEST IT BY FIGHTING BATTLES AND WHEN YOU'VE FULLY DIGESTED IT YOU GET STAT BONUSES AND YOU CAN ONLY EAT A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF FOOD PER REAL-TIME DAY AND YOU CAN WEAR CLOTHES TO BOOST YOUR STATS BUT ONLY IF YOU'RE BRAVE ENOUGH AND YOU CAN BEFRIEND SHOP ASSISTANTS SO THEY'LL GIVE YOU MORE ABILITIES AND YOU NEED TO BE AWARE OF WHAT'S TRENDY IN THE AREA YOU'RE IN BECAUSE EQUIPMENT MADE BY CURRENTLY POPULAR BRANDS WILL GET STAT BONUSES AND DURING BATTLE YOU CONTROL ONE CHARACTER ON ONE SCREEN WITH THE STYLUS AND ANOTHER CHARACTER ON THE OTHER SCREEN WITH BUTTONS AND YOU NEED TO PULL OFF THE RIGHT COMBOS TO GET STARS TO ALLOW YOU TO PERFORM YOUR BEST ATTACK AND
At one point, I failed to pay attention to trends and got into a boss fight that was rendered impossible because my equipment was too uncool. This is exactly what would happen if I found myself in the Reapers' Game in real life.
Joshua and I have got off to a bad start. So far, I don't like him much, although perhaps that's rooted in sympathy for poor Neku's frustration. Joshua can be amusing, at least; I particularly enjoy the fact that, when Joshua and Neku perform their Fusion attack, Neku calls 'Follow my lead!' and Joshua answers 'Screw that!' (EDIT: Except, er, it's actually the other way around. I can't tell voices apart.)
I actually assumed from my first glimpse of Joshua, in the opening video, that he was a villain. He was white-haired (well, ash-blond, close enough) and pretty and looked a bit smug, which in a Square game is roughly as subtle as writing 'I'M THE VILLAIN' on one's forehead in the blood of the innocent. I hadn't counted on him being my white-haired, pretty, slightly smug ally. I suppose that doesn't necessarily preclude his turning out to be the villain, but I can't help feeling that if he actually had evil designs he'd make more of an effort to ingratiate himself with Neku, rather than treating him with unveiled contempt. He's a very Draco Malfoy figure, actually.
Perhaps I'll come to like Joshua more when I know him a bit better? It took me a while to warm up to Neku, come to think of it, and I'm really quite fond of him now.
The day before beginning The World Ends With You, I finished Justice for All, the second Ace Attorney game. The last case of the game was, for various reasons, my favourite. Some of these reasons were perfectly acceptable (Pearl, who is adorable, travels with you for the investigation, being adorable). Some were more worrying; for example, Phoenix tried to bring von Karma tulips when she was in the clinic. She mocked him. I found myself grinning like an absolute fool.
Am I - am I 'shipping this? Am I actually 'shipping Phoenix Wright and Franziska von Karma? Why am I 'shipping this? This is such a bad idea.