This Week’s Topics:
- Natalie deals with biannual Tax Hell
- Doubting some hot leaks
- Shrugging off the latest hotness
Rundown Preamble Ramble:
Akumako Framing Device GO!!!
Akumako: “Yo, Natz! Whatchu been up to?”
Well, it’s tax season, so I’m busy reeling my boss in to get extensions filed in time. We have three days until the deadline and have less than 20 extensions that need to go out the door. Which, according to my boss, means we’re in ‘good shape.’
The problem with doing this is not so much the work itself, as very few tasks are truly hard. Instead, the biggest problem with my boss’s three person firm is, surprisingly, keeping things organized. While I am a systematic and organized person, to the point where I cannot process things in the incorrect format, my boss… isn’t. He’s a chronic procrastinator with a penchant for making messes, over-investing in side projects, and ghosting people he doesn’t like.
Because of this, he has more or less put me in charge of organizing every outstanding task that our boutique three-ish person firm has to do. How do we keep things organized? Well, it is a mixture of using a workflow tool to keep track of incomplete returns and other miscellaneous tasks. An Excel spreadsheet to track billing, filing status, and return deadlines. Recording time via QuickBooks for billing purposes. And posting client updates via Yammer. All of which my boss only uses sometimes.
If that sounds like a redundant system with a lot of redundant or easy-to-forget work, you are correct, and it drives me absolutely NUTS. I cannot express how much I would like to work a job where there is an effective ticket system, and I have the ability to work my own hours. Meaning 3 or 4 10-hour-days a week, because that’s just more efficient.
I like working, I like getting things done, and it is downright STUPID that this guy is not using me to my full potential by throwing work my way or selling me to another firm. (By selling me, I mean sell the firm, and include a 5 year contract for my services.)
Instead, because my boss is such a mess, I have been put on standby for most of this week, and have been keeping myself occupied by working on Dragalia Lost V3 Re;Works, where I have made great progress in rebalancing the roster of adventurers. It’s still far from done, but I have drafts of new builds for all 298 adventurers, and am making strides with my ‘second draft’ balance changes. But alas, my work is going to halt when tax season ends, as someone has to review a BUNCH of TSF visual novels… while also studying to become an enrolled agent.
Akumako: “Damn, way to bite the hand that feeds you, ya inglorious self-styled diehard bitch! …And what about Verde’s Doohickey 2.0?”
I’ll work on that when I feel like it. The first two chapters have been drafted, but there are like 60 more to go.
A Supposedly Steamy Sega Sizzle Reel!
(A ‘Leak’ of Persona 3 Remake and Jet Set Radio Reboot Footage Surfaces)
Let’s see, what happened this past week in gaming? Well, there was some potentially leaked footage of the much rumored Persona 3 remake and the previously leaked Jet Set Radio revival. While some might find this to be akin to a confirmation, I tend to be far more… cynical about these things. During the 90s and early 2000s, software and hardware were so expensive that regular people did not have professional level tools for video editing, 3D modeling, and animation. Making a mockup took more skill, time, and craft, so it was easier to spot something when it was ‘real’ or not. Nowadays though, these professional level tools are widely accessible, and making a mockup of a leak is easier than ever.
Because of this reality, I tend to have more faith in words than images, if that makes any sense. I believe something said by an insider with a good track record more than a media file shared by an anonymous individual. I have been burned by fake images positioned as leaks too many times, and while video might seem more legitimate, what was shown here seems like something that a dedicated fan, or fans, could produce.
Speaking of Sega, there was also some buzz about how Sega has nearly finalized their purchase of Rovio, the folks who made Angry Birds. But that news came out Friday afternoon, and the acquisition is set to happen sometime next week, so… I’ll just talk about this acquisition when it actually happens.
Guess I’ll Talk About The Latest Hotness…
(An Obligatory Discussion of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom)
Next up, there was quite a bit of hubbub and hype about The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which received its final pre-release trailer this past week. I would comment on it, but I actually have not seen the trailer, or the preview gameplay demo released two weeks ago. Not because of spoilers or anything of the sort, like most people, but because of how I did not particularly enjoy my time with Breath of the Wild.
Part of it is because I found its progression system to be glacial. Part of it is because I found its world to be too damn big. Part of it is because the game mechanically discourages exploration early on, due to the importance of certain upgrades (better bombs, bigger inventory, etc.) But the biggest reason has to do with how conservative I am when it comes to playing games. I don’t like using something I might need later, and will take the most boring and least engaging approach if it uses the least resources.
Don’t believe me? Glance at the 70-ish hours of gameplay footage I recorded of Dragalia Lost where I do precisely that in the game’s roguelite mode. I play games in the most boring way possible.
As such, I know that I will not like Tears of the Kingdom, and that I probably will never like another Zelda game ever again. Which would be upsetting, if not for the fact that I have more or less accepted that I enjoy doing non-gaming activities about as much as playing video games. Writing stuff and working on spreadsheets is pretty much as fun as video games are to me. And after Pokémon Legends: Arceus, NEO: The World Ends With You, and the murder of my beloved Dragalia Lost, I’m content with this. With being someone who looks at and thinks about video games, but does not actually play them.
…Except for visual novels, because those are just so much more efficient.
I Don’t Have Anything Else To Talk About, So Here’s a Schedule!
- Late April or early May: Mice Tea Review (I am waiting for the 1.0 release out of early access before I play the game)
- April 27: Psycho Bullet Festival: The Odyssey of Abigale Quinlan – Episode Alternative (This has been done for a month)
- May: 2 or 3 Student Transfer Scenario Reviews. (As previously promised)
- May 18: Psycho Shatter 1985: Black Vice Re;Birth – The Day After (This has been done for a month)
- June 3: re:Dreamer Review #4
I have nothing else planned that I’m willing to share, but here’s hoping for the best…
Until next week, see ya!