Beautiful
Ruin
Currently Playing
Girl Alone
Favourite Genres
Simulation, RPGMaker, Rhythm
Best Soundtrack
Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life
Recently Played
Walking on a Star Unknown
Wants to Play
Dogz 2: Fashion

9 September 2021

the other day, i stumbled upon a mobile game called Girl Alone. the basic idea is to rehabilitate a girl who spent her life trapped in a basement and introduce her to society. it's pretty cute and holds my attention well enough. the mini games get repetitive if i play for too long, but that's nothing that can't be solved by taking plenty of breaks!

i think the biggest appeal is the girl's character. she starts out very distrustful, oftentimes acting downright rude and dismissive. but with the player's persistance, she begins to open up. we get to learn a lot about her! my favourite detail is that she loves cats and, after she becomes confident enough to go outside, she visits to the park and the pet store every day to greet the animals. so cute.

i wonder how the story will progress and if there will be satisfying explanations for everything. i'm not expecting any genius twists, of course. even if there are some unanswered questions or loose ends, i won't really mind. i'm enjoying the game for it's charm and time-sink appeal. i also get massive nostalgia for the hours of my childhood spent playing anime-adjacent games on an old iPod.

here's a list of the ones i liked enough to remember, in case i ever wanna go back to them:

23 August 2021

August has been a wonderful month for gaming together with Twelve. recently, we played through Walking on a Star Unknown, an RPGMaker game from one of our favourite producers, Segawa. i really enjoyed the unique mechanics. there's no "traditional" combat to speak of, so you gather items in the overworld and collect money just by walking around. very cool.

i also really enjoyed the characters. my favourites were Corme, Toph, and Ophelia! and my favourite song was the one that plays from the gramophone... so pretty. like all Segawa games, the best part was the sidequests. apparently, there's so much to do that it'd be overwhelming to try and get everything on a first playthrough! that's why Twelve and i decided to shoot for the other endings another time. for my part, i'm satisfied with the ones we saw.

to measure it against END ROLL... it's certainly a more outwardly "happy" story. there's lots of sad and scary backstory, of course, but the main storyline is practically bursting with positivity in comparison. as for my personal opinion of each, i think they're both very, very neat! objectively, Walking on a Star Unknown has more replay value, but END ROLL will always be dear to my heart.

also, Twelve showed me a game she liked when she was a kid called Alice Greenfingers. i'm nuts about farm sims, and this one looks sooooo fun! it combines all the things i love about Harvest Moon with all the things i love about PC games... i think i'd like to play it sometime. so far, i've only watched Twelve play, but i bet i will have a great time making a big, big farm while thinking of her.

also also, we started to play the Hypnosis Mic fan-made RPGMaker Game called Shibuya Marble Texture. the graphics are so, so, so, so cute! even though it's rather unpolished, both Twelve and i laughed a lot at the dialogue and enjoyed the music. it seemed that the BGM was entirely composed of 8-bit recreations of HypMic songs. the remix of "drops" that plays on the title screen was my absolute favourite! it's so catchy that i just had to sing it while we took a break to cook french fries and dino nuggets.

i'm not sure if i want to finish the game when we have other fun things to do, but at the very least, i finally got Twelve to kin RamuGen with me >:+) ehehe, she and Gentaro really are a lot alike. i'll have to tell her more about him later~

1 August 2021

i spent the majority of the evening installing a virtual machine on my computer so Twelve and i can play Windows XP games. first up is a childhood favourite of hers: Learning in Toyland! it's so brightly coloured, with so many silly sound effects. i love how you can click on just about everything in old edutainment games and get a nonsensical reaction. fun!!

Twelve was playing for the most part, with me watching. she worked really hard to make me this valentine, and oh my gosh, i love it so much... i'm going to keep it forever. she's asked me to include the following statement: "i would have spelled out 'i love you' in full, but the game kept yelling at me to 'remove a piece of clip-art before adding a new one.'" i can ratify this. i also heard the annoying gopher berating the love of my life over stock images.

i hope we can play more old games soon! i wonder if Twelve would like Sim Town? or maybe we could look for that Reader Rabbit game that i played so much when i was little. surely, there are tons more games that she herself is looking forward to, as well. i hope that we can get everything to run smoothly!

23 June 2021

yesterday evening, Twelve and i started playing Dramatical Murder. since it's one of her favourite games, i bought her a physical copy of the official English release, which includes the soundtrack. the box is so very cute! even the CDs look charming! alas, neither of our computers have a disc drive, so we are forced to play the steam version. either way, it's been very fun so far.

i love how bright and colourful it is, contrasting with the darker story. personally i have never finished DMMD and don't remember any of the creepy/messed up parts, but i believed Twelve when she whispered to me "this game is really fucked up" during the opening sequence. once we finish, i'm excited to read all the problematic posts about it on tumblr.

for now, we're just starting out! Koujaku's route is up first, then Mink and then Clear. Noiz is last because he's annoying— also the only route i played in full back in 2014. why he was my first choice, i'll never be able to adequately explain. all i know is that he bored me and i stopped playing shortly after. nevertheless, it's been fun to talk with Twelve about how my taste in anime boys has evolved over the years. i love hearing about her favourites, too!

also, i quit my Love Nikki association today. i know that i haven't actually been journaling about my video game escapades since March, but i'm too lazy to play catch-up. to sum it up, hacking the game is way more fun than languishing over the items trapped behind paywalls. plus i barely even look at my phone anymore. why should i when i have an indescribably hot girlfriend to play Dramatical Murder with? whatever. this page is for Nidhogg fans only.

P.S. reminder to my future self to rip Aoba's ringtone off of the OST disc so Twelve and i can make it our ringtones for each other. God damn is it catchy.

15 March 2021

my Animal Crossing save file is all cleared out. in the past few days, i picked out my rare items and favourite DIY items to take along to the new island; sold everything in my storage except a few valuables i might give away; and collected lots of bells to fund the development of my next town. i think it's over 4 million bells! that's more than enough to get started with home loans and a few public works projects.

i'm really excited to choose a new map... i'll choose it based on the following:

i want to put my house near the ocean! so it's imperative the coastlines are nice. and since i don't want to have my home in the sand proper, i'd like to experiment with placing it near the little beach up north. it may be a bit awkward when Crazy Redd docks there and sends up plumes of black smoke from his tug boat, but it's worth it if i get to hear the ocean from inside my home. i love ocean sounds. they have a nice ambience in video games, too.

i wonder what fruit i will end up with? i like them all, but i think it'd be nice to have apples, peaches, or cherries as my native fruit. those are my favourites! and i always use my native fruit trees more decoratively than the others, so it'd be nice to see them around.

also, i just remembered there are native flowers, too! on my first file, it was pansies. i hope that this new island has roses, just because they are so cute and lovely. but i love all Animal Crossing flowers, so i'm not too picky.

i don't really care about my starter villagers, either. ideally i'd kick them all out because i hate the décor of the starter homes. why should five of my neighbours have such primitive decorations when everybody else has proper furniture?! it's just not fair to them.

anyway, i'm really excited to play! i will restart it this weekend. aah, i can't wait. and you know what? i think i will be picky about certain things, because i don't want to restart my game ever again! no matter how long it takes, i should try and get a perfect starting point so that i can play without any regrets. uwah, so exciting. i want to have fun soon!

11 March 2021

at last, i cleared Love Nikki chapter 7! since the last entry, i've also finished all the stages in chapter 8. for now, i just need to finish the corresponding Suit before i can move on. instead of being screwed by RNG, this time i'm slowed down by a lack of Arena coins. i hope that i can get some more soon, and quickly. i've been doing really well in the Stylist battles, though. i feel confident! right now, i'm in the top 3% of scorers.

and in the Competition sector, i'm also doing pretty well. this time, the theme is "Hi Lovely!" at first, nobody was voting for my outfit and it made me super frustrated and sad! but by chance, i unlocked a really rare wedding dress costume, and since then my score has really improved. last i checked, i was up towards the top 1/3. much better than being in the bottom 5%!

overall, Love Nikki is super duper fun. i'm really enjoying it! i've played every day for a whole month without any signs of stopping. i've even considered spending some Real Money on it, ahaha. but nothing concrete yet. i ought to balance my checkbook first.

and anyway, the main motivation for that is the current event, and i'm not sure how invested i am yet. it's a return of the Dream Dessert Event, with some pretty cute limited edition suits! since picking up the game, i've only dipped my toes in the time-limited events, playing what i could for free, because i thought my diamonds were better spent elsewhere. not sure why exactly i decided to give this one a try... maybe the outfits were just too adorable!

in any case, i've spent a majority of my diamonds to play the event. it's really fun! it's a 2v2 styling battle where the theme changes daily. i've had a pretty good track record so far. i want to unlock more and more of the suits and see how far i can go. however, i'll probably have to fork out some real cash for the certainty of unlocking everything. we'll see!!!

8 March 2021

Love Nikki is so frustrating right now. the final stage in chapter 7 requires the Sword Girl suit's top & bottom and it's taking me ages to collect the ingredients. i only need one more item and then i'll finally get to move onto chapter 8! i'll get to hear new music and discover new clothes!! and do the chapter 7 sidequests, too!

but it's taking forever and i'm so fed up with it. you can only play Princess Difficulty stages 3 times per day, and there's no guarantee that it'll drop the item you need... so it just drags on and on and on as i try to get these damn cowboy jackets. i'm completely at the mercy of RNG and that only makes it even more frustrating!

for the past couple days, there was even a drop rate boost on that chapter and i still couldn't get enough of them!!! it's sooo annoying that i actually spent the super valuable currency (diamonds) to get 3 more tries. and of course, i didn't get anything at all. i only need one more!!! oh my gosh, i'm so mad about it.

aside from that one specific stage, the only other way to get the item is through the gacha. lately i've been spending all my coins on it, even though the chances of me scoring one are pretty negligible. i just hate waiting through this. it's been an entire week, if not longer, with no story progression whatsoever.

luckily, there are a couple other things to do. i can keep myself busy with the Dreamland Institute substories, for the most part... augh, gosh. i feel a bit better after ranting about it. i really am much better off once i get out of bed. i'm probably a tad dehydrated. Love Nikki rage will do that to you.

7 March 2021

so apparently Nintendo is remaking Pokémon Diamond and Pearl! i just saw the trailer today. i'm not at all a fan of the art style. it looks ugly, more like a Free-to-Play iOS Pokémon knock-off than the newest instalment in the franchise. everything looks like overprocessed clay! even Floaroma Town was gross looking...

though Gen 4 was my first real foray into Pokémon, i definitely don't want either of these games. maybe i'll listen to the soundtracks when they come out, but i enjoy the soundfont most of all and Pokémon remakes tend to remaster those. we'll see, i guess.

in other news, i'll start playing Animal Crossing again soon! i wonder how i will decide to decorate my island in the end? i think it would be nice to have a sort of RPG-type theme, with cobblestone streets, iron fences, and cobblestone bridges. i want to make a residential area or two, and give all my villagers a yard suited to them.

of course, there will be plenty of room for more rustic decorations too. above all, i want to create a pretty plaza for the Museum. and put my home near the sea! not on the beach itself, though, so maybe up on the northern shore? eventually, Twelve will come to live on the island too... i wonder where she will want her house?

i want to have a really nice river, too, because fishing is my favourite activity. i want to make a perfect loop from shore to shore with a stop at Nook's Cranny on the way. i could spend hours just walking back and forth, in a circle, fishing and fishing all day... uwah, i love Animal Crossing.

i'm gonna go read some Love Nikki guides. i bet there are some tips and tricks that i don't know about!

5 March 2021

it turns out that the new Story of Seasons instalment, Pioneers of Olive Town, is a hot mess. apparently the Japanese fanbase are so disappointed by the glitchy, rushed product that they're review bombing the game. of the complaints, here are the ones that stuck out to me the most:

i've since cancelled my pre-order... maybe i'll look into Sakura: Of Rice and Ruins to fill the void? or just play Trio of Towns again. that game never does me wrong!! and Rune Factory 5 will come out eventually...

you know what? i just realised i will live to see Deltarune. that makes me very happy.

28 February 2021

been thinking about Undertale again. the music that plays in the CORE is so catchy... i really want to play the game with Twelve someday, if only so i can gush about the boss themes and characters. i can't wait to see the final boss fight in the normal ending again!!!

27 February 2021

only one more month until the new Story of Seasons game! i'm really excited to play it ^__+^ i can't wait to meet all the new characters and design my farm! it seems like we'll have lots of control as far as decorating goes. thank goodness, because the grid based decoration in Trio of Towns was way too clunky for my tastes. i really hope that i can get some cute items for my farmhouse, and nice clothes too!

in the meantime, i've been playing Love Nikki: Dress-Up Queen. today's styling competition theme is very broad: "Cloud Empire Moon" or something like that. in short, it means a far-east type of wardrobe with an emphasis on the ethereal nature of night... or at least that's how i interpret it!

the great thing about Love Nikki competitions— the ones where players vote for the best designs, anyway— is the open-ended aspect. i like to see everyone's different ideas, especially for themes where you could make a pun! for example, on Valentine's day, the theme was "Love Bugs" and a couple people seriously broke out their best insect-related items. i love it.

anyways, i hope that i can get a lot of votes to earn a good prize this time. i really need it since i'm having a hard time progressing in the main storyline. the next quest requires a really expensive recipe! so i will have to save up my materials and do well in the stylist arena if i want to move forward any time soon.

save and quit?