No spoilers, as I am all of an hour into the game, so it's just mechanics and whatnot. The gameplay isn't turn-based like Nocturne - rather, it's real-time in a style very similar to the Secret of Mana/Seiken Densetsu games, although the battle screen is seperate from the field screen. I, personally, love it. I actually did enjoy the strategy Nocturne incorporated into the turn-based system, but real-time is where it's at for me. The two SNES Seiken Densetsu games are big favorites of mine (although I still need to finish them - stupid save files getting deleted).

The art-style is a little less stylistic than Nocturne, but more detailed in the environments - I think I'm going to enjoy the setting (1930's Tokyo), and they've done a good job fleshing it out with buildings and NPCs all over. It seems a little less overtly occult/religous in it's themes than Nocturne, and more historical, but I'm not quite far enough in to tell - I don't really mind either way.

And I gave the player character a non-lame name (is Raidou Kuzunoha a title? A name? An honorary name? I don't know), as opposed to my demi-fiend - Seichiro Makoto. Yami fans will get the first name, although I had to modify the spelling to fit the spaces, and the last name is the last name of the guitarist from a Japanese psychedelic band called Acid Mothers Temple that my brother likes.

Also, bitchy cat-demon FTW. Seriously, Gouto is like Mogget. I love him.

Someone make me put down the tag system. I was totally just digging up my Isaac and Raphael post to toss at Julie, but then I discovered that I hadn't tagged it, so I started going on a tagging spree. And then I decided that it would be a good idea to tag all the drama (oh noes!!1!) posts so I could laugh at my own stupidity. Other stuff got tagged along the way, but it was mostly the drama stuff. So, if you want to read back and laugh at me being a whiney passive-agressive bitch, tag is here (and god knows _I've_ been laughing at myself - I may be a major fuck-up in someways, but at least I can laugh at myself). Or if you want genuine amusement (versus F_W-style amusement), it can be found here. Less posts, and there's some classic quotes in there.

I should sleep. Why am I not asleep?

Merry Christmas to all my friends (and a Happy Holidays to those of you who don't celebrate Christmas). Mine was rather low-key - my mom had to work, so we didn't get around to presents until six o'clock. Gift certificates from various relatives, a really nice wool blanket and silly bumper sticker from my dad (the blanket was made at the farm he works at parttime), sewing supplies and a new sewing machine from my mom, and a nice coat from one set of grandparents, and this fish-thing that moves to music from the other. It's a bit silly, but kind of entertaining.

Anyway, hope everyone else had a nice Christmas! I'm sorry I haven't got my cards and such out, but they will be in the mail in the next couple of weeks (Audrey, you still need to send me those references if you want the cookies XD;)

The longer I'm here, the more I want to stay out in Vancouver next summer. Because honestly, there isn't much left for me here. All my friends have split up and moved on to new lives, this city is _still_ a shithole with no real public transit, and while I love them, I can't deal with my parents for four months, I think. I may see about coming home for a couple weeks in May or something (re-checked scheduling, probably going to miss AB - I'd have to have all four of my finals in the first four days of exam period), but that, as well as me staying out there is largely dependent on finding a job, and what job I find.

Which means of course I'm worrying already about the job-hunting, but there's time.

So, I forgot to mention part of my adventures Friday - in my rush and worry about my bags, I managed to leave my brother's Christmas present, the vinyl single of Franz Ferdinand's 'The Fallen' on the 424 bus. I waited for the next couple of buses (the 424 is the airport, and runs a short loop) with no luck. Well, having left things on buses and trains in the past, to have them disappear into oblivion within fifteen minutes, I had resigned myself to never seeing the record again.

Still, I called Translink's Lost Property office today just in case, and miraculously, someone had turned it in. The woman on the phone took down my name and number, and said they'd hold it until January 15th. My faith in humanity has been restored.

Grades are in, mostly - so far I have a 72% sessional average, which, if not fixed, is Very Bad - my first choice major, Microbi, had an admission average of 82% last year, and my second choice, Cell Bio and Genetics is 75%. Granted, I'd have the second right now if not for the fucktard of a Bio prof and his totally arbitrary marking scheme - I think he basically wants us to reproduce his lecture notes from memory, because while my final wasn't perfect, it was better than a 56%.

Deep breaths. I will not look at the whole elephant, just start eating.

I made my connecting flight in Vegas, but my luggage did not, because US Airways is made of fail. It's coming on a flight tonight, so I'll have it tomorrow morning. My Leon cosplay stuff arrived fine, and is awesome, but more on that later, and my copy of PS2!RE4 is here too. WIN.

It's a bit weird being home - it feels like it's been both forever, and no time at all. The house is almost exactly the same, but some random furniture has been moved, so it's a little strange.

...Over at the blog

Yes, finally. I know it's really simple, but I liked the image a lot, so bah. And I finally updated the sidebar, too.

(And I am totally having one of those moments where I consider switching back to blog entirely)

Dear Jack,

Your first-aid skills suck, but you are forgiven because it worked anyway and because that was really hot. Please, feel free to do that again some time.

Love,
Me

(Bonus points to the handful of people who know which Jack I mean, because God, are there a lot of them XD; )

After like an hour of fiddling with screentone effects and what-not, I totally decided to scrap my previous plan for a new blog layout and start over. The moral of this story? Nocturne art, while pretty, does not work with any style other than super-clean. The Hitoshura layout has exactly two fonts, one of which is Times New Roman, and no special effects or brushes at all - I should have done the same with this Isamu screencap from the start. Ah well, I like where it's going now, so all is well.

Also, did some checking, and Ally can (and possibly does) have a CA driver's license, which is a truly terrifying thought, and my MA driver's license is totally valid here as long as my study permit is, and if I were to permanently move here, I'd basically just have to surrender my old license for a BC one. Hooray!

Back to editing and Torchwood (it's like the X-Files with more gay and cute Welsh butlers).