Rundown (9/30-10/06) Backup Your Backup’s Backup!

Post published:10/07/2018
Post category:Rundowns
Reading time:6 mins read
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Something I really have not addressed in the 6 years I have been doing this (yes, really) is my stance on the physical vs. digital debate. The argument often seen here is between the permanence of physical goods versus the convenience of digital goods, with the arguments against each reflecting the alternative’s benefit. A la, physical goods can be cumbersome, and require install times and such, while digital goods are temporary licenses that could be revoked in many instances.
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Super Mario Odyssey Review

Post published:09/12/2018
Post category:Game Reviews
Reading time:11 mins read
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A grand globe-trotting journey best only taken once.
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Kamiko Review

Post published:08/29/2018
Post category:Game Reviews
Reading time:6 mins read
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Dash, run, and do it better next time.
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Rundown (5/06-5/12) The Glory of Employment!

Post published:05/13/2018
Post category:Rundowns
Reading time:5 mins read
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Like with most of my breaks between semesters, I have been working full time, though full time might be a bit of a stretch here, since I have actually worked from home in the evening and worked on Saturday as well. From writing checks, diagnosing PC problems, and setting up new PCs. According to my mother, this is the norm for most companies in my home country, where its full time employees are expected to try to better their employer even after normal hours of operation, in order to keep costs down for the employer and allow the employees to maintain their positions. I am actually quite fond of it if I may be fully candid, but then again I also like the idea of employees living in company mandated dormitories and company towns.
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Rundown (3/04-3/10) Stop Everything! Press-Switch is Out!

Post published:03/11/2018
Post category:Rundowns
Reading time:15 mins read
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So, a new build of Press-Switch came out, utterly surprising me, and as is always the case with releases of this game, or its sister title Student Transfer, it shot straight up on my priority list. Except this time I am actually going to review this latest build V0.5a, even though it is largely a revision that does not have most of the content, as, due to coding issues and a desire to change the introduction, the game needs to basically be remade. That would be enough to dissuade me in most cases, but screw it, I’ve wanted to review this game for almost 4 bloody years, and I’m gonna do it! At least, after I put out this massive Rundown.
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Rundown (1/28-2/03) Flowchart Nightmares Ahead!

Post published:02/04/2018
Post category:Rundowns
Reading time:4 mins read
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So, after thirteen months of dev time, the latest build of Student Transfer has been released, and going through it has become my first priority. I should have a review of the game up around the 14th, but more importantly, I have to work on another flowchart for the game. While I do enjoy mapping out a complicated series of choices in a visually appealing manner, this build seems particularly… nasty in the sheer spectrum of its choices. I mean, I honestly had to go into the game’s files just to figure out how the heck it all works.
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Rundown (1/14-1/20) Too Many Visual Novels!

Post published:01/21/2018
Post category:Rundowns
Reading time:4 mins read
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In case you have not noticed, for the past few months I have been reviewing a lot of visual novels on this fair little site, with the genre comprising nearly half of my reviews since halfway through 2017. Now, this was not really a conscious decision on my part, and has more to do with how I simply have a large number of visual novels on my list of games to review, and far fewer games of other genres. I have a number of reasons for this, such as visual novels being less prone to disinterest me after playing them for a brief while and less likely to suffer from notable technical issues, but the point is that I am going to keep reviewing a visual novel every other week for the foreseeable future.
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Rundown (1/07-1/13) Livin’ the Trans Life

Post published:01/14/2018
Post category:Rundowns
Reading time:7 mins read
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So, for the past two weeks I have been presenting myself as female whenever I go out, and doing so had felt rather.. odd to me. On one hand, I feel as if I am doing nothing different at all, seeing as how I started feminizing my voice years ago, and started altering my walking patterns several months ago. It truly feels as if I am doing nothing different as I was when presenting myself as male, except now I have a feminine, if swollen, face, and my hair is a bit longer and nicer. I guess you could say the change does not feel as massive as I initially thought it would, but that’s okay, considering I am more comfortable with myself than I have been in many, many years.
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The End of 2017!

Post published:12/31/2017
Post category:Miscellaneous
Reading time:11 mins read
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The obligatory year end post!
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Rundown (12/10-12/16) Let the Hiatus Begin!

Post published:12/17/2017
Post category:Rundowns
Reading time:3 mins read
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On December 16th, I underwent facial feminization surgery. Due to the intensive nature of the procedure and prolonged recovery time, this site will be entering a hiatus effectively immediately, lasting until sometime in mid-January, likely January 17th, 2018. Until then, the only thing I will post is a pre-prepared end of year post. I never wanted to pull a hiatus like this, but I sort of need to for recovery purposes. So until then, I’ll see you all later.
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Rundown (11/05-11/11) Sonic Team Made an Oopsie!

Post published:11/12/2017
Post category:Rundowns
Reading time:5 mins read
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Over the past week Sonic Forces came out, and the general reception of the game has been… pretty darn poor to be honest. From criticisms levied towards the barren level design, a story that does not properly take advantage of its premise and characters, and various underlying gameplay/technical issues that make the game less refined than Sonic Generations, which came out six years ago. It is a genuinely confusing state of affairs, especially because of how much time Sonic Team has had to invest in this game.
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Rundown (10/15-10/21) A Master No More!

Post published:10/22/2017
Post category:Rundowns
Reading time:6 mins read
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Over the past few weeks, there has been a distribution going on for the new legendary Pokemon, Marshadow, which was distributed at GameStop in the United States. Unfortunately, I missed my chance to visit one to get the mode needed to get the new Pokemon and preserve my complete Pokedex. Why is that the case? Well, I am not very mobile on my own (I cannot drive) and the task of asking my mother if I could stop by one of these stores was a bit too much for me, what with my social anxiety and such. I downplay it a lot, but my social anxiety and poor social skills makes it genuinely hard to do even basic tasks. I feel awkward so much as saying hello to someone unless they greet me first. (more…)

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Rundown (6/14-6/17) E3 2017: The Psycho Wars Shall Return

Post published:06/18/2017
Post category:Rundowns
Reading time:5 mins read
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Well, the week has passed and E3 2017 has ended, and before I know it, it will be E3 2018 and I will be doing this whole shebang all over again, except then I will be further along in my transition and be far more pretty. Normally not much news comes outside of the press conferences, but there were enough stories to justify a traditional rundown, so I’ll just get started. (more…)

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Rundown (5/28-6/03) Natalie Avoided Wasting a Bunch of Time!

Post published:06/04/2017
Post category:Rundowns
Reading time:7 mins read
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So, I did not talk about this last week, but I played a bit of Fallout 4 recently thanks to a free to play weekend deal. I was very critical of the game leading up to launch, objecting to a number of additions of changes made to the title, and after spending 4 hours with it, I feel that I was completely right to think that. The protagonist is severely limited by the inclusion of voice acting and a baked in backstory, the dialogue options are very poor at conveying the protagonist’s actual response, and the story begins with such a rapid and dramatic set-up that it all rings hollow. Then there are the overburdened crafting and town building elements that I know I would have invested 100 hours into if I actually purchased this title. (more…)

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Rundown (2/26-3/04) Welcome to the Future, Kid

Post published:03/05/2017
Post category:Rundowns
Reading time:9 mins read
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So, at GDC this past week, some Nintendo developers showed off Hyrule Wars From The Legend of Zelda, a scrapped concept for Breath of the Wild that had aliens invading the land of Hyrule, also called Legend of Zelda: Invasion. It’s a very peculiar concept to say the least, and featured concept art of what looks to be Ganondorf in a Metallica shirt, and concept sketches of Link in modern clothing riding on a motorcycle. I know people are giving Breath of the Wild all the felacio its bulbous appendage can handle, but I would be far more interested in playing a Zelda game with a differing aesthetic rather than one I am am more likely to hate than love due to mechanical changes that freak me the flip out. (more…)

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Rundown (2/19-2/25) Murder Your Family for Maximum Power

Post published:02/26/2017
Post category:Rundowns
Reading time:5 mins read
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You know what? Griffith from Berserk only did three wrong things. One, care for Guts enough so that he was torn apart over his departure. Two, rape the princess and steal away the virginity that the king hoped to steal with his musky old penis. Three, let Guts and Casca live when he could have easily killed Guts and Casca was rendered mentally retarded due to all of the demon rape. Everything involving him sacrificing his army and family for more power? That was a rational and well formed decision. It could be that I forgot some things, as it has been 5 years since I read the manga in full, but I don’t believe anyone who says they would not kill their family when they are unable to so much as lift a spoon to their mouth. (more…)

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Rundown (1/29-2/04) Simple and Clean Is the Way

Post published:02/05/2017
Post category:Rundowns
Reading time:6 mins read
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So, I was directed to a three hour unscripted lecture on the story of Kingdom Hearts. I watched it, and am almost amazed at how much the story resembles the slew of fan fiction that it inspired. It is the most contrived and convoluted thing I have ever seen go on for this long, and I am convinced that Square Enix lacks any sort of narrative editors and that Tetsuya Nomura should never, ever, be put in charge with the story for anything ever again. Now all of that incomprehensibility is inside me, and it will never leave. Anyways, there’s a bunch of news this week for some reason, and now I need to talk about it. (more…)

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Rundown (1/08-1/14) Switch It Up 2: The Electric Switcheroo

Post published:01/15/2017
Post category:Rundowns
Reading time:13 mins read
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Let’s do this nasty thing! (more…)

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Rundown (12/04-12/10) A Mostly Two Tone Rundown

Post published:12/11/2016
Post category:Rundowns
Reading time:7 mins read
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Seeing as how Final Fantasy XV has released to high praise from critics and fans alike, I got to thinking, when was the last time a Final Fantasy game was universally beloved and saw wondrous success? Well, the answer I came to is Final Fantasy X, a game originally released in 2001, 15 years ago. Since then, the series never had a wholly beloved mainline release, and modern entries steadily fell into mediocrity and mockery after experiencing the height of its popularity. (more…)

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Rundown (11/13-11/19) The Radiant Black Side of a Harvest Moon

Post published:11/20/2016
Post category:Rundowns
Reading time:4 mins read
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Oh this week was fun. I had my birthday, a new Pokemon game came out, I had a minor existential crisis, and I received my first major instance of stomach pain in… ever. Truly a week of ups and downs if there ever was one. Anyways, time for video game news. (more…)

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Rundown (10/23-10/29) Yare Yare Daze

Post published:10/30/2016
Post category:Rundowns
Reading time:5 mins read
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Sometimes, I start to lose all motivation for doing this, for writing about video game news, or even reviewing them. I think it is a self confidence issue, where I assume that the work I put out is bad, that nobody cares for it, and that the entire action is some sort of time wasting activity, even though I do enjoy writing about games at the end of the day. It’s just that… I don’t know. I’ll just shut up and talk about the Pokemons. (more…)

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Rundown (10/16-10/22) Switch It Up to the Ninth Generation!

Post published:10/23/2016
Post category:Rundowns
Reading time:6 mins read
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Rundown (5/31-6/06) The Japanese Localization Building-School

Post published:06/07/2015
Post category:Rundowns
Reading time:11 mins read
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In my dumb brain, companies like Idea Factory International, NIS America, Atlus, Aksys, XSEED, Sekai Project, MangaGamer, JAST USA, Carpe Fulgar, and anybody I’m forgetting all work in the same building located somewhere in California. The building is based off of the one blueprint that was used to build every high school in Japan circa 1950, and it is a complete mess. With random unlocalized games everywhere, old bootleg VHS tapes of “the hottest Japanimation”, a locker full of PSPs, this one incredibly disturbing classroom filled with full scale figures and body pillows, and dirty laundry that piles up every week until Jimmy clean up their blankets and graphic tees over the weekend. Then there’s Nana, who is just sad after spending three thousand hours a year playing everything this company produces, and is flat out disgusted by the tropes at this point. (more…)

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