Just got all rare blades in Xenoblade 2... is this going to be my favorite game of all time?

Another reason for me to stay healthy and fit: To contain my will!

If I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing, I'll be depressed.

It's already the end of February... I have so many drafts it's driving me nuts.  The past two months I finished: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, NieR: Automata, Star Ocean V, and Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door, but I had no time to put up a review or any retrospective piece on any of these because homework.

Final Fantasies

Last month I finished three Final Fantasies.

I didn't start any of them, I merely continued my old save file from years ago, and thanks to the Final Fantasy wiki, I was able to trace my way back into the story, kind of.  There was no way that I was going to let all my grinding go to waste.  Anyways, these are my opinions of these games, Final Fantasy V,  Final Fantasy VIII, and Final Fantasy XII. 

I was a bit over 20 hours into Final Fantasy V when I continued it (FF Anthology on the Playstation edition).  I left off at the start of "the other world..." My last save was in 2002.   

Of all Final Fantasies I've played, this is the most difficult.  I do not think I would be motivated to finish this game if it hadn't been backlogged all these years or if I did not have the Bradygames strategy guide.  I would say that the difficulty of this game is frustrating.

If you do not have the right classes mastered or the right abilities equiped, there is no way for you to win certain battles.  I know I would have died a lot if it wasn't for the strategy guide. It doesn't matter how much you grind in this game, it all comes down to having the right abilities and jobs for certain boss fights.  For instance, there's a boss in which all of your characters would have to spam lightning damage or the boss uses this special missle thing that wipes out your party within a set amount of time.  Normally I would have each character a different class, but certain circumstances forces you to make all your characters the same class spamming the same ability.

Anyways, that is my only problem with that game.  Other than that, the ending was solid, as the ending featured sprites never seen during the playthrough.  I thought that was pretty cool.  Also, I think Butz is the first character who had sort of a rebellious personality, plus having three close friends, who were all female! 

So overall, I think it's a good game for its time.

I stopped FFVIII probably around 2010.  I stopped at the final dungeon, and I do not remember my adventure at all.  I probably stopped because I did not understand the junction system. 

But after a few internet searches and experiments, I finally understood that the game is just a standard FF, it's just that grinding is different.  It's all about Drawing. I was told to keep my characters at a low level, and so I did, which was why the final boss was a bit easy for me.  I did a ton of preparation, just drawing all the best spells towards the end. I don't have that much to say about this game because all I did was beat the final boss, and that was that.  I couldn't see the ending though, my Playstation kept freezing towards the end, so I had to watch the ending on Youtube.  

FINAL FANTASY XII

Honestly, my favorite one of the three.   I continued my 40+ hour playthrough but this time, my approach is treating it as an Open World game and it changes so much.  I stopped playing before because I was stuck at this Bomb King boss, but it wasn't until later that I found out that it was an optional boss. 

Story-wise, I forgot what happened.  Throughout the game, I was thinking "who are you?"

Yeah... who are you?!?!

Who's this guy?

Are you that guy's cousin?

I tend to like political stories and that's what this game was supposed to be.  But about almost two months later, I recall absolutely nothing.  I heard there was some shady backscrene stuff going on in its production process, and because of that, to support the real people involved I bought Last Story and Mad World (original writer for FFXII) for the Wii, because I feel kinda bad for liking it as much as I have. 

I knew it would have been SO MUCH better if the producers allowed Yasumi Matsuno to do whatever he wants.  So, Final Fantasy XII joins Tales of Phantasia and Xenosaga Episode I in a pile of games that could have been great if it kept its original writers.

Anyways, Final Fantasy XII, I only remember it being a fun open world game, one month later. It was all about gameplay for me.

I also couldn't see the ending of the game, my game froze for this ending too!  So I had to watch it on Youtube.  My disc also has a problem starting up, and for that reason, I am not going back to do any of the sidequests.

This year's Christmas was one of the best in a long long time.

Keyakizaka46 Appreciation Post

This post is long overdue...

Well, I haven't finished Final Fantasy V yet.  I stopped playing it because of pyramid. And then I got distracted.  Well, not really distracted, I just found a gold mine, because I came across a website that had all of Keyakizaka46 videos subbed in english.  I've been a fan of them for a little over a year now, and I want to say this, that Keyakizaka46 is my favorite music group EVER.

When people asked me who my favorite band is or whatever, I would have normally answered ZONE, but Keyakizaka46 does it all, at least, everything that I want in a music group.  They are not your typical idols who's songs center around happy love smile joy (ZONE didn't either), their songs are about deep societal conflict cool something something hiphopdance move cool!

First, I want to commend their MANAGEMENT.  They are doing a fantastic job.  They really do contrast with AKB48, where during Senbatsu Sousenkyo you can feel the tense atmosphere, members may dispise one another, and members would do anything they can to be on top.  Anyways, this is a Keyakizaka46 post, so I will not talk about AKB48.  Since their 1st single debut in 2016, to their fifth single, they always kept the same Senbatsu line-up.  Sure, they switch member's places and stuff but it all works as all members experience the front row.  Management does a great job in keeping Keyakizaka46's image as an idol family and not a silly competition.  Also, another reason why I love Keyakizaka46's management is their treatment to Imaizumi Yui.  She had health problems, I think the fame got to her and she wanted to rest, she was probably mentally exhausted and missed her family.  Well, management allowed her to do so, and even included her solo song in their album while she was away.  And they also did not drop her from Senbatsu.  Big props to Keyakizaka46's management!!

*Puts on glasses* Ah yes, I can see that Keyakizaka46's management is totally awesome!!

Next, their songs are the best.  They have a variety of songs, their debut single was basically about dejecting the establishment, fourth single, about strength and being yourself, blah blah blah, it is too subjective to force my music onto you poor people, but yeah, their songs are relatable to me. Not only that though but I love the ballad songs as well.  I sing along Imaizuimi Yui's Himawari song from time to time especially when I just want to sing something really loud when I am by myself.  I am glad they did not release their songs ten years ago, especially Otona wa Shinjite Kuranai otherwise I would have surely killed myself during those years.

And of course, their choreography to go along with the songs iare the best. I never seen an idol group with choreo that surpasses everything I've seen in America's Best Dance Crew.  My favorite ones are of course, from most favorite, are Otona wa Shinjite Kurani (stage version, not MV version),  Dare no Koto wo Ichiban Aishiteru (A SakamichiAKB song actually), Fukyouwaon, Silent Majority, Kaze ni Fukarete, Hiraishin, Kataru Nara Mirai wo, Gensuyoubi no Asa Skirt, and Eccentric. They are all choreographed by the same person, swag master TAKAHIRO, who did dance training in New York.

I like to call myself a Keyakizaka46 DD, but if I were to choose an oshi, it would be TAKAHIRO.  Just kidding.  It would probably be Imaizumi Yui, because I feel like I know her the most.  Another thing I love about Keyakizaka46 are the members.  If you want to learn more about them, definitely watch Keyakitte Kakenai (Tsuchida and Sawabe are the best idol group MCs that I ever seen).  What I love about them the most... is I think how they all interact with each other, how they are all friends.  I can feel the love the members have for one another, unlike AKB48.  It is not all business.  Not just that though, they really inspire me to not give up sometimes.. I look up to these young members, like the strength of Moriya Akane, the creativity of Nagasawa Nanako, the coolness and Pokemon playing Shida Manaka.  I think of Oda Nana often and how she makes time for herself to read, and blah blah blah I can go on and on.  Yone-san, and Harada Aoi's study habits, Sugai's words of wisdom, tsundere Risa, resilient Rika.  They inspire me to be a better person, a better citizen in a self-interest society.

So yeah, I love Keyakizaka46!!!!!

Ew Nature

At first, I was thinking that it would be a great idea to just live outdoors, like in a tent in my backyard.  If you live in California's Bay Area you would think of earthquakes often.  And it is not the earthquake that kills people, its the buildings... well, I guess if the earth really cracks and you fall in, that's a different story, but really, its the buildings that fall on you.  Anyways, I thought it was a good idea.  When I think of tents, I think of nature, and blah blah the beauty of nature and how we're supposed to be one with the earth and that it's supposedly our natural habitat...

(but if it's natural, why are we not living there at this moment?  Because we're aliens and we do not belong in this world! We have to create our own habitat because we're not suited for this planet's main habitat!)

But, something else confirmed my thoughts, about nature.  I was in the kitchen and I saw the neighbor's cat in my backyard.  Usually I would think awwww kitty! Nope, not this time, for the first time ever, I saw that it was chasing something, and I knew that it was a small cute mouse.

It was the first time I ever saw something like it.  I just stared in panic out the window, the cat even took the mouse in its mouth and let it go, and kept chasing it, swiping its claws at it.  I know they could have been playing, but at the same time, the cat could easily just step on the poor guy.

This poor guy could have been Hanpan...

Or even Munchie.

I decided to go out and try to chase the cat away, while doing my best to avert my gaze from the mouse.  I did not want to see the mouse, though I did see the mouse.  The first time I ever saw a walking mouse.  It had those round ears like Mickey Mouse.

Well, I went out, chased the cat away from the mouse... and went back in the house and watched TV, because I did not want to be reminded of how disgusting it could have been.

It is so disgusting.  Animals eating each other... nature is sick.

Then I think again...  burgers, meatloaf, chicken... how I eat a lot of animals everyday... I am more sick than nature...

So I'll stay inside, and hope the buildings collapse on me, as repentance.