#since I was emulating on vita anyway

[sometipsygnostalgic]

I'm playing The Force Unleashed… for Nintendo Switch.

You would think it was a port of the Xbox 360 version, like how the PC port is, but actually, no - It's the first ever attempt to port the Wii version.

The Wii and PS2 version of Force Unleashes is a different beast to the Xbox 360 game. The "last gen consoles", as they were at the time, didn't have the graphical capabilities of the 360 and PS3, so they had their own special game.

What makes this earlier gen version of the game special is how different it is. The opening mission on Kashyyk is at night instead of day, the ship operates as a hubworld in itself, there are lots of missions that were missing from the 360 version, there are some missions NOT in this version, and there is a Multiplayer Versus Mode.

It also used motion controls, specifically on the Wii version. This made the game a bit easier than the PS2 version with its unforgiving button commands.

I have turned off the Switch motion controls for now, because they are not nearly as smooth as the laser pointer Wii controls were back in the day. Also I am no longer 12 years old.

The company responsible for the Wii version also did this Switch port. They added some HD textures onto the SD models. I think that this has the weird effect of making some characters like Darth Vader too shiny, but there's nothing outrageous about it. At least they didn't do a FF10 and replace all the models with poorly designed HD versions.

The game has much clunkier combat than its Xbox 360 counterpart, but The Force Unleashed was never a 10 out of 10 game anyway. It looked absolutely gorgeous at the time, and still looks nice, but if you replay the HD version today you can see most of the issues.

The story has a higher reception on the Wii version, which is probably why this Switch port is worth a visit if you haven't played the game in a long time.

The definitive edition might actually be the PSP port, which had everything from the Wii version, as well as special cinematic missions from the star wars universe where you could play as Anakin vs Dooku, and some special challenge modes.

It's not likely you'll find a PSP to play this on, so it might be worth emulating the game. Especially if you have a steamdeck or a modded PS Vita. It might be one of the best PSP ports of all time, since that console usually got inferior versions of games.

For now, I'll use the switch version to scratch my itch.

[lildoodlecat]

I don't remember if I said on here already but I'm just playing as many tales games as I can in release order rn ✨✨

Or, well, approximate release order. Seeing as I just finished Destiny DC (2008) and am now jumping back to Eternia lmao

I wanted to try the Director's Cut version right after the original to compare but tbh I'm not sure I remembered enough of original Destiny to have accomplished that sjxkdk especially since it took me so long to play. BUT!! i had fun so it's cool

Anyway I was originally gonna play Eternia's ps1 US release since I acquired the discs, but you may recall that Cloud Strife FF7 killed my sexy backwards compatible PS3 a while ago.. and I've yet to replace it </3

So that leaves me with two options:

emulate the ps1 release on my laptop (basically the same experience since I use a PS3 controller and connect to the TV via HDMI cable)

Emulate the PSP release on my hacked Vita (allegedly the better version??? Also undub option)

I was definitely considering the vita option since I do like jp voices for the earlier games but I wonder if I wanna stick to what my experience would've been if I could still play the physical discs I got yk?

Tho of course there's the secret option 3 where I get around to buying a PS2 and then just play the discs anyway sjxkd which I plan to do eventually anyway so maybe?? But consoles are expensive.. hmm

[2112austin]

2112's Rant Time™ #1.

This is gonna be a maybe semi-regular thing where I just talk about random shit and what not. For today, I wanted to rant about Sly Cooper and how Sony does not give a flying fuck about the series anymore.

As of today, it has been 10 YEARS, 8 MONTHS, AND 20 DAYS since Sly 4 came out. Since then, a movie was teased (and most likely cancelled, then turned into a TV show, then most likely cancelled again), and the original trilogy was released on the PS Vita (a decently okay port tbh, although emulating the PS2 versions or the PS3 versions on a Steam Deck is the far better way to play them portably IMO). The PS3 versions were also put on PS Now, then on PS Premium last year for the series 20th anniversary. And that's pretty much all they did within the last 10 years (apart from cameos in other games and merch).

I don't wanna sound entitled when I say this, but good fucking god can Sony just DO SOMETHING WITH THE SERIES?? Like honestly I am on my knees BEGGING for something new. Sly 5, the movie becoming a real thing, a VR spinoff game for PSVR 2, or even A WAY TO PLAY THE ORIGINAL GOD DAMN GAMES NATIVELY ON PS5 WITHOUT HAVING TO FUCKING STREAM THEM, I don't care. JUST SOMETHING. ANYTHING. It's like they actually do not care about the series. And it's not a thing where "Oh they're all about them cinematic experiences and what not", because the Ratchet and Clank series is THRIVING, so they obviously care about having a franchise like that still hanging around. I just wish Sly was one of them. Hell, bring back Jak and Daxter. Have all 3 of the PS2 Mascots back. But Sony's not gonna do that anytime soon. Do I wanna be proven wrong? Yes. But I won't...

Anyways, that's all my schizo ranting for now. Tune in next time where I talk about something completely different... Or rant about Sly 4's story and how it's not that great.

Also reminder that if you want a friend to talk about Sly Cooper with for hours on end, I'm your guy.

[owlixx]

GBA Wishlist

Okay so I’m thinking about picking up a GBA so I can play those games on a real console instead of emulated. I had a silver and then a blue GBA SP as a kid. I’m torn between a modded original GBA or an SP, especially the triforce design. Anyways, I wanted to list some games I’d actually play on a GBA and figured I might as well post it online to look back on later, not sure if the notes will even make sense to anyone but me. Feel free to add recommendations. Also I had so much fun making this list that I’m thinking about going through and doing a similar list for the DS, 3DS, GameCube (on my WiiU), Wii (on my Wii U), Wii U, PS3, PS1 (on my PS3 or Vita), Vita, PSP (on my Vita) since those are the consoles I can currently play on original (or close enough) hardware.

Big hitters:

* Advance wars - 1 and 2, never really tucked into them past the tutorial before and having a real GBA would really force me to take them nice and slow.

* Fire emblem - multiple, I could even grab a fan tran of FE6

* Drill dozer - doubt I’d have rumble on a flash cart but this would have a lot more charm on a physical gba

* Pokémon mystery dungeon - again, I think I’d have more patience with this slow game on a real gba

* Chain of memories - been meaning to play this anyways

* FF5-6 patched - fan patched because of the audio, but I think these have exclusive content on a GBA vs snes/ps1 and I wanna play these games on a non-modern screen

* FF Tactics Advance - again, just feels more charming on a small screen

* MM battle network - been meaning to play these anyways

* NES Classics - not the best way to play these games, but kind of a novelty

* Super Mario advance 1-4 - would be so funny to play the Wii U rom of SMA4, but also I grew up with that game

* Kuru Kuru Kururin - always one I use to test a new emulator setup, easy fun

* Tony Hawk - had a recent Tony Hawk phase, these ones are supposed to be good

* Doom - novelty

* Game and watch gallery 4 - great for testing/pick up and play

* F zero/Mario kart - again, very pick up and play

* Mario golf advance tour - loved the gba Mario tennis and I should play this one too

* Wario Land 4 - had a wario land phase recently and stopped mid-3

* Golden Sun - I did actually do the first hour or so on Wii U but this game belongs on handheld

* Warioware - the definition of pick up and play

* Minish Cap - I feel like this game is good enough to be worth playing removed from the original console so it’s doubly worth playing on a real one

* Mother 3 - Cmon, this one is a gimme. Playing the fan Tran on a real GBA would be such an own on Nintendo

Lesser:

* Swordcraft Story - started this on vita, pretty cute

* Banjo Kazooie/Pilot - because I played nuts and bolts as a kid

* Bit generations - don’t have the ROM’s currently but I love a simple game

* Boktai - patched for the sensor but cmon it’s Hideo

* Bomberman - they made so many of these for GBA

* Bookworm - I’m a simple man

* Car battler joe - I always see this mentioned

* Starfy - fan trans

* Various SNES ports (DKC) - I had DKC as a kid but also there’s sooo many snes ports

* Dr Mario & Puzzle League - pick up and play

* Yugioh - I had one as a kid and got into these recently

* GTA - I think this one is a GTA3 prequel?

* Various fighting games (MK, GG, Tekken, SF) - novelty

* Jet grind radio - even if just for the music

* Finding Nemo - had as kid

* Lady Sia - seen on lists

* Sabrewulf - rare! And seen on lists

* That one xcom game (rebelstar) - I mean, I do like xcom

* LttP - never played it, I should look up version differences first

* Lego Star Wars - had as kid

* Return of the king - seen on lists, seems better than it should be

* Magical vacation - fan Tran, from Hazel’s video

* Pac-Man - various here, pick up and play

* Polarium - polarium DS is cute

* Puyo - pick up and play

* Zone of the Enders - I’ve been meaning to play this and the 2 main games

* Denki blocks - cute puzzle game

* Gunstar super heroes - kind of a shmup, I stan treasure honestly

* Sword of mana - I think this is a remake of the first game? So it’s safe to start here?

* Sigma star saga - read about this in Nintendo power as a kid, seems like a shmup rpg hybrid

* Hamtaro - nobody will shut up about how good this game is for some reason

* Pinball of the dead - seen this one praised a few times

* Chu chu rocket - I wasn’t convinced until I saw that it had 2500 user created levels

* Tactics Ogre - surprised to see this so high on metacritic when I didn’t know it existed before

* Ninja Five O - no one will shut up about this game

* Various racing games

* Asterisk and obelisk XL - impressively 3D

* Harvest moon - maybe the tiny screen will finally convince me to have the patience to farm

* Activision Anthology - again, just for the novelty

Replay:

* 3 Castlevanias - only actually beat Aria

* Mega Man Zero - hard, maybe too hard

* Sonic Advance 1-3 - had 3 as kid, love these

* Kirby - didn’t beat amazing mirror, wouldn’t mind trying to 100% nightmare

* Metroid Zero Mission/Fusion - classics. Perfection.

* Pokémon RSE/FRLG - always due for a replay

* Pokémon pinball - my go to testing game

* Mario tennis power tour - never did beat hard mode. And it’s been a while

* Mario Vs donkey kong - played as kid

* Klonoa - very pick up and play

[gamesception]

So, coming off of Metroid Dread, I was inspired to go back to revisit the series roots. I never actually beat the original Metroid before. I played it a bunch when I was little, but I was too young for it, never really got anywhere or did much. Didn't help that I've always had a terrible head for directions, and the original game doesn't have an in game map. Going back to it now, the only area I had trouble navigating was Norfair, which is a bit of a maze. Coming back as an adult I was actually able to appreciate how kindly Brinstar eases you into the game, with it's relatively few columns and rows, each conveniently color coded.

I probably could have managed better if I was a bit older, but by the time I was old enough for it Super Metroid was out, eclipsing the original altogether, as it did with much of the public consciousness since it was one of those SNES sequels that was sort of a soft reboot, just doing the same concept as an NES original only better.

But yeah, I did play the original a lot when I was little, and it left a really strong impression in my mind. It just felt so completely different from everything else. Kraid's lair in particular, especially its theme music, really creeped me out in a way that was somehow also really intriguing. Going back to the game now, with the benefit of save states, I can say that the thing that really held me back as a kid - even more than the lack of a map - is the agonizingly slow process of refilling your energy & missiles when you get low. Every time you die you respawn at the start of the current area, but with 30 health and no missiles. Even after picking up just a couple energy tanks and a few missiles, the process of getting back to healthy if you die, or even if you are brought to low health and survive, can take like 10 solid minutes of farming bugs out of tubes. It's obnoxious.

I only even got through the game now by abusing save states so I only had to do that a couple times. By the end of the game I had 700 health and 250 missiles, and you can only recharge that 5 health or 2 missiles at a time from enemy drops, and enemies only drop anything at all like half the time. I died like half a dozen times on the way to Mother Brain, and another half dozen against Mother Brain herself, and if I had had to spend like 10 to 15 minutes farming resources instead of just loading a state each time, I absolutely would have quit before beating her.

That aside, though, it really is a neat game worth looking back at. Particularly in terms of that 'experience of exploration' bit I talked about before. Items and upgrades aren't spread out over an expected sequence or carefully doled out as rewards for tricky gameplay puzzles, they're just out there in the world. Hidden items are actually hidden - behind illusionary walls or acid pits, or rooms only accessible through breakable blocks in the floor or ceiling.

When I got the high hump, or the varia suit, it felt like a Discovery. By comparison, Most of the abilities in Metroid Dread (or Zero Mission & Fusion, which I played in the run up to Dread's Release)? Abilities you typically get after defeating a boss on a directed progression path? They don't really feel like discoveries, instead they feel like rewards. Rewards are still fun and feel good to get, so that's not inherently a change for the worse, but while it's a subtle difference, imo it's still a pretty important one.

Metroid IS still clunky as hell, with twice the jank. Movement isn't great, rooms are repeated over and over, and it sorely needed a faster way to refill your health and ammo. But if you can get past all that, yeah, it's worth revisiting. You can really feel the roots of the genre, particularly in how the high jump boots and ice beam open up otherwise inaccessible paths. And as much as the genre has grown, there's also elements that were strong in this initial outing that were subsequently lost along the way, and maybe deserve to be dusted off & given another look.

If you do, and you're not concerned with 'original experience', there are romhacks that address some of the more troublesome aspects, in particular adding a map to the pause screen and a save feature that refills health so you don't have to do farm tube bugs every time you restart or die. Honestly, I don't think this obscures the great parts of the experience, so if you're curious about the original game but are worried about it's off-putting nature, I'd definitely recommend trying something like this: romhacking.net/hacks/1186/

Or maybe this if you want some a bundle of aesthetic updates and some slightly revamped boss fights while you're at it: romhacking.net/hacks/1988/

I haven't personally tried either of those hacks yet, but they both seem to be worth looking at if you're curious about the original metroid but want a somewhat a slightly more refined presentation and some QoL fixes.

Unfortunately the official remake, Zero Mission for the GBA, is essentially a completely different game, much more derived in its design. Zero Mission is a good game and a great introduction to the 2d platform Metroidvania genre and the Metroid series in particular. But in re-imagining the original from the ground up it looses a lot of NES Metroid's distinguishing features, both good and bad, so it's kind of useless if you're specifically trying to examine the origin and early evolution of the franchise.

[re-scanningblue]

DRAMAtical Murder Masterpost type thing (Links to buy things and a general introduction to what DMMd is)

So... since information on DRAMAtical Murder tends to be scattered and/or outdated, I'm making this. It's not necessarily needed, but hopefully it'll help someone, and it'll also satisfy my weird need to archive and compile things(?) lol. This will cover what DRAMAtical Murder even is, to how to play/purchase the game, to other links + resources for existing fans. This is mainly just… links to purchase things. So many links. If you have any suggestions, additions, or if something is incorrect, please let me know! If you have any questions at all, feel free to send me an ask or message- I will answer as best I can. A note about the links- links to sites where the item is unavailable are not included here. So there were other sites where things could be purchased, but are now not available, so I excluded them. I tried my best to check that all items were still available to purchase and that they were also official links (Although some of them I kind of couldn’t tell). If something becomes unavailable or a link doesn't work or etc, please let me know. Also, please be aware that as DMMd is an 18+ game, some links may contain adult content. Otherwise, is this post late by like 7 years? Yes. Moving on. 

Firstly...

What is DRAMAtical Murder?

DRAMAtical Murder (DMMd) is an r18 Boys Love Visual novel created by Nitro+CHiRAL back in 2012. It has 4 character routes, with a 5th unlockable one. All the routes have 2 endings each, a good and bad ending- with the exception of 1 who has multiple bad endings (Noiz). There was a sequel/fandisc released in 2013 with DRAMAtical Murder re:connect, a SFW PS Vita port in 2014 with DRAMAtical Murder re:code (with the explicit content cut out and an extra route added), and an Anime adaptation in the same year. There was also a stage play adaptation in late 2019. There was a fanmade translation patch released for DMMd and DMMd re:connect on AarinFantasy forums, which is how many fans experienced the game in English. It was only in recent years that DMMd, and other Nitro+CHiRAL games would get an offical English translation by JAST BLUE. Nitro+CHiRAL has released other BL games, with Togainu no Chi, Lamento, and Sweet Pool. Their most recent release is Slow Damage, which will be getting an offical English release as well. I encourage you to support and purchase the official release if you are able to. As the game is now out officially in English, there will be no links or etc to the patch in this post.

Here is one plot summary (Technically from the Anime but the other ones I found were google translate quality); The story takes place many years in the future where the game "Rhyme," a virtual fighting game, is incredibly popular and people possess "AllMates," convenient AI computers. Aoba leads an ordinary life, working at a junk shop and living with his grandmother on the island of Midorijima. Unlike his friends, he doesn't participate in Rhyme, nor does he belong in a gang. However, when rumors of people disappearing spread, Aoba finds himself needing to unravel the mysteries behind the island in order to protect his everyday life. So, basically, DMMd is a BL Visual novel. Like all Nitro+CHiRAL games, DMMd contains content some may find triggering- just as a small warning. Otherwise, and this is coming from a huge fan- I personally think DMMd is amazing. The characters are wonderful, their backstories are unique and makes them feel fleshed out and give the DMMd world more life, in a way- the music is incredible and really… there is nothing quite like DMMd, it's so wonderfully strange and great. I promise you it's so much more than just the explicit stuff. ...But again that's just me. Not everyone will like it and even some fans will not see it the same way I do, but anyway.

How can I play the game?

For the Japanese version; There are two versions of DMMd; the original, and the Windows 10 version. The original isn't sold anymore to my knowledge, however that version should still work on Windows 10. Please note you will need to set your system Locale to Japanese or use something like Locale Emulator/NTLEA to play the game, or it will not work. Setting your actual system Locale to Japanese may cause problems, so keep this in mind. For the English version; Simply use the links provided below to purchase the official English release of the game! Here are the links to purchase the games, including physical and digital copies. Some links may not work for English users, a VPN may be needed. It may also be possible to use a Proxy/Package forwarding service depending. DRAMAtical Murder; (ENGLISH) (JAST USA, uncensored) https://jastusa.com/dramatical-murder (Steam, censored) https://store.steampowered.com/app/1481080/DRAMAtical_Murder/ (Uncensor patch for the Steam version) https://jastusa.com/dramatical-murder-dlc-steam (Note that this patch is NOT needed if you bought the game from the JAST USA store) (J-List, uncensored physical copy) https://www.jlist.com/category/games-computers/visual-novels/blue003le

(JAPANESE) (Nitroplus Store, digital) https://nitroplus.ecq.sc/np02077.html (DMM, digital) https://dlsoft.dmm.co.jp/detail/hobe_0436/ (DMM, digital (English)) https://dlsoft.dmm.co.jp/en/detail/hobe_0436 (DMM, physical) https://www.dmm.co.jp/mono/pcgame/-/detail/=/cid=1064apc12971/ (Amazon, physical) https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B07S8BQ7KB (Stellaworth, digital) https://www.stellaworth.co.jp/shop/item.php?item_id=GcCnYq1PYdc Here is the page for DMMd on JAST BLUE's website, which has the same links to purchase it in English; https://jast.blue/dramaticalmurder.html

What about DRAMAtical Murder re:connect?

re:connect is the fandisc/sequel to the original. It has mainly the short stories that add to the original endings, both good and bad. It also has more stories that can be unlocked like Aoba’s backstory, and what happened afterwards with Mizuki. It also includes minigames and the April Fools jokes N+C did before re:connect was released. JAST BLUE has not confirmed a translation will happen for re:connect, but there is still the fan translation released on Aarinfantasy forums. If there is any news on JAST BLUE and re:connect, I will update this post. As said before, there is no Windows 10 version of re:connect, although it should work fine on Windows 10 regardless. Below are the links to purchase it. DRAMAtical Murder re:connect; (Nitroplus store, digital) https://nitroplus.ecq.sc/np00947.html (DMM, digital) https://www.dmm.co.jp/mono/pcgame/-/detail/=/cid=1064apc10368/ (Amazon, physical) https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00BB6X522 (Stellaworth, digital) https://www.stellaworth.co.jp/shop/item.php?item_id=zsKBDBKLWK0 (Stellaworth, digital (Comes with CD bonus(?)) https://www.stellaworth.co.jp/shop/item.php?item_id=KDaAgAaaDxK As before, please note you will need to set your system Locale to Japanese or use something like Locale Emulator/NTLEA to play the game, or it will not work. Setting your actual system Locale to Japanese may cause problems, so keep this in mind.

Then what about DRAMAtical Murder re:code?

re:code is the PS Vita port of the original PC release. It cuts out the explicit content, censors some CGs for a 15+ rating, adds new CGs and even some new scenes, and adds an entirely new route; the Morphine route, aka the Mizuki route. re:code also addressed some plot-holes that were in the original. Here are the links to purchase re:code; DRAMAtical Murder re:code; (Playstation store, digital) https://store.playstation.com/ja-jp/product/JP0169-PCSG00420_00-DRAMATICALMURDER (Amazon, physical) https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00LIQQAI6/ You can purchase and play the physical copy with no issues. For digital copies it’s a little trickier. Here is a guide to downloading Japanese games on your PS Vita; https://kotaku.com/how-to-play-games-from-the-japanese-psn-on-your-non-jap-5983578 ^ Note that this is not a problem with physical copies. re:code is not in English and hasn't been confirmed for an official English localization, but there is a fan translation of the Morphine/Mizuki route that's exclusive to re:code, by shinocchidesu. You can read it here; https://shinocchidesu.net/post/162356717914/dramatical-murder-recode-morphine-route They have also shown the main differences between the original and re:code routes. You can also watch the gameplays uploaded by FancyPotatoCake on YouTube here whilst using the fan translation if you want; https://www.youtube.com/user/SuRi00ReUp/playlists +For the Morphine/Mizuki route, the actual route starts on part 7, at around 21:00 onwards. It’s unlikely that re:code will get an official English translation, but then again- DMMd is, and it’s been like 7 years since that came out, so maybe. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The stage play

In late 2019, there was a stage play adaptation of DMMd, featuring all the routes as separate performances. You can purchase them on the following sites and stream it for up to 60 days before needing to purchase it again; https://www.dmm.com/digital/top/stage/dmmd/ https://mirail.video/title/3290017 The above sites won't let you purchase unless you use a VPN. If you cannot use the link, you can download recordings of the streams here; https://misaki01.tumblr.com/post/190765753950/dl-brain-crash-theater-dramatical-murder-all Please follow the rules listed on the post and read everything carefully. As for stage play translations, you can find more information on them here; https://hkdmmd.tumblr.com/post/622736646854574081/dmmd-stage-play-translations (Thank you again <3)

The drama CDs

There have been various drama CDs for DMMd. The drama CDs (or in this case, BLCD) is essentially the same as the Visual novel, except it’s purely audio. The same voice actors from the VN are in the drama CDs. The bonus CDs; Some of the CDs were included as a special pre-order bonus, with different CDs from different sites. I’m unsure if these are able to be purchased anymore, unless it’s second-hand. You can see various links for the CDs here; https://dmmdresources.tumblr.com/cds There were also a series of "after" drama CDs, which are set after re:connect. (And in my opinion, are extremely important for understanding the routes and their backstories better. I highly recommend listening to them!) The majority of the CDs can be found on YouTube, some also have English subtitles. Shibaface on Tumblr has translated all the main "after" CDs here; https://shibaface.tumblr.com/tagged/translation You can also view the same translations here as documents; https://1drv.ms/f/s!AqrTMWbLX7u5mANJd60_3W2WuK6g Below are links to purchase the "after" CDs. (Note there is no CD for Mizuki or Virus/Trip) Nitroplus store; Vol. 1 (Koujaku) https://nitroplus.ecq.sc/np01072.html Vol. 2 (Clear) https://nitroplus.ecq.sc/np01073.html Vol. 3 (Mink) https://nitroplus.ecq.sc/np01088.html Vol. 4 (Noiz) https://nitroplus.ecq.sc/np01092.html Vol. 5 (Ren) https://nitroplus.ecq.sc/np01117.html Stellaworth; Vol. 1 (Koujaku) https://www.stellaworth.co.jp/shop/item.php?item_id=9is2020Suus Vol. 2 (Clear) https://www.stellaworth.co.jp/shop/item.php?item_id=ymGUcUc6PPc Vol. 3 (Mink) https://www.stellaworth.co.jp/shop/item.php?item_id=kHl8O8OhTkh Vol. 4 (Noiz) https://www.stellaworth.co.jp/shop/item.php?item_id=NGI1C1CnCY1 Vol. 5 (Ren) https://www.stellaworth.co.jp/shop/item.php?item_id=pM94i4i9QZZ Animate shop; Vol. 1 (Koujaku) https://www.animate-onlineshop.jp/pd/1277805/ Vol. 2 (Clear) https://www.animate-onlineshop.jp/pd/1277806/ Vol. 3 (Mink) https://www.animate-onlineshop.jp/pd/1300886/ Vol. 4 (Noiz) https://www.animate-onlineshop.jp/pd/1302829/ Vol. 5 (Ren) https://www.animate-onlineshop.jp/pd/1316647/ CDJapan; Vol. 1 (Koujaku) https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NCVC-3?s_ssid=e45cae5f00f7db5600 Vol. 2 (Clear) https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NCVC-5?s_ssid=e45cae5f00f7db5600 Vol. 3 (Mink) https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NCVC-7?s_ssid=e45cae5f00f7db5600 Vol. 4 (Noiz) https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NCVC-9?s_ssid=e45cae5f00f7db5600 Vol. 5 (Ren) https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NCVC-11?s_ssid=e45cae5f00f7db5600

The Side stories

There were various side stories as well, most of them being posted onto the Nitro+CHiRAL staff blog, but there was also a small book released. The main one released as a book, was the Summer Side Stories. It's set after the re:connect good ends. (As a side note, I believe the "after" drama CDs are set after these side stories, or all the side stories- sort of making those CDs the "final chapter" in the DMMd world but… I could be wrong lol) For buying the Summer Side Stories; https://nitroplus.ecq.sc/npo926.html https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00UPW8PXC Here is an English translation for the Summer Side Stories (In PDF format); https://dmmd-support.tumblr.com/post/106543447780/download-click-here-the-team-belatedly-wishes Birthday side stories; Noiz; (Original post) https://www.nitrochiral.com/staffblog/2012/1554.php (Translation by ancestralmask) https://ancestralmask.tumblr.com/post/27089560151/translation-noizs-birthday-2012 Mink; (Original post) https://www.nitrochiral.com/staffblog/2012/1582.php (Translation by memera) https://memera.tumblr.com/post/32354840550 Koujaku; (Original post) https://www.nitrochiral.com/staffblog/2012/1575.php (Translation by ancestralmask) https://ancestralmask.tumblr.com/post/29734654910/translation-koujakus-birthday-2012 Clear; (Original post) https://www.nitrochiral.com/staffblog/2013/1626.php (Translation by memera) https://memera.tumblr.com/post/45398166319 Ren (+ Aoba); (Original post) https://www.nitrochiral.com/staffblog/2013/1659.php (translation by ayuuria) https://ayuuria.tumblr.com/post/48594080767/422-short-story-aoba-and-rens-birthday Valentine Side stories; *The original posts were only up from the 14th to the 17th before being deleted. I was able to find them on the wayback machine however, so I linked those. Noiz; (Original post) https://web.archive.org/web/20130217035515/http://www.nitrochiral.com/staffblog/2013/02/130214_1620.php (Translation by Goldpanner) https://khenglish.wordpress.com/non-kh-translations-naruto-dmmd/dmmd-index/a-chocolate-for-you-noiz/ Mink; (Original post) https://web.archive.org/web/20130217035525/http://www.nitrochiral.com/staffblog/2013/02/130214_1622.php (Translation by memera) https://memera.tumblr.com/post/43304242958 (Translation by Goldpanner) https://khenglish.wordpress.com/non-kh-translations-naruto-dmmd/dmmd-index/a-chocolate-for-you-mink/ Koujaku; (Original post) https://web.archive.org/web/20130217035509/http://www.nitrochiral.com/staffblog/2013/02/130214_1619.php (Translation by daikonjou/Radish) https://daikonjou.tumblr.com/post/43299281733/koujakus-valentines-day-short-story-translation (Translation by Goldpanner) https://khenglish.wordpress.com/non-kh-translations-naruto-dmmd/dmmd-index/a-chocolate-for-you-kojaku/ Clear; (Original post) https://web.archive.org/web/20130217035519/http://www.nitrochiral.com/staffblog/2013/02/130214_1621.php (Translation by memera) https://memera.tumblr.com/post/43313231988 (Translation by Goldpanner) https://khenglish.wordpress.com/non-kh-translations-naruto-dmmd/dmmd-index/a-chocolate-for-you-clear/ Ren; (Original post) https://web.archive.org/web/20130217035534/https://www.nitrochiral.com/staffblog/2013/02/130214_1623.php (Translation by memera) https://memera.tumblr.com/post/43309191246 (Translation by Goldpanner) https://khenglish.wordpress.com/non-kh-translations-naruto-dmmd/dmmd-index/a-chocolate-for-you-ren/ Virus/Trip White Day story; (Original post) https://web.archive.org/web/20130315074127/https://www.nitrochiral.com/staffblog/2013/03/130314_1635.php (Translation by memera) https://memera.tumblr.com/post/45356275326

Soundtracks + music CDs

There were various soundtracks and music CDs released, I've linked the ones I could find still available down below. DMMd period. (re:connect soundtrack); https://nitroplus.ecq.sc/np00978.html https://www.stellaworth.co.jp/shop/item.php?item_id=6U1GnG117cG https://www.animate-onlineshop.jp/pd/1205096/ https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/GRN-34?s_ssid=e4180f5f04cf223975 SLIP ON THE PUMPS (Anime opening song); https://www.animate-onlineshop.jp/pd/1271072/ (Includes opening video) https://www.animate-onlineshop.jp/pd/1271073/ https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/AVCA-74528?s_ssid=e417ce5f04cf43f261 https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/AVCA-74529?s_ssid=e417ce5f04cf43f261 (Includes opening video) Rasterize Memory (Anime ending songs); https://www.animate-onlineshop.jp/pd/1277006/ https://www.animate-onlineshop.jp/pd/1277005/ (Includes ending animation sequences) https://www.stellaworth.co.jp/shop/item.php?item_id=LWoxrxrxDLK https://www.stellaworth.co.jp/shop/item.php?item_id=QjZ3S3S3FQj (Includes ending animation sequences) https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/AVCA-74531?s_ssid=e417ce5f04cf43f261 https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/AVCA-74530?s_ssid=e417ce5f04cf43f261 (Includes ending animation sequences) engage+ment ("after" drama CDs ending songs); https://nitroplus.ecq.sc/np01118.html https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B01ABAPBLG *The re:code soundtrack, append music re:cord, was only sold with the limited edition version of re:code. *I can't seem to find shape.memory.music (the original game's soundtrack) being sold anymore. *retro.game.music (original soundtrack in 8-bit) isn't sold anymore.

General merch + Proxy/Forwarding services

I didn't list all the merch available, because… there's a lot. You can buy general (official) DMMd merch from these sites; (Nitroplus store) https://nitroplus.ecq.sc/work/dramatical-murder.html (Nitroplus Store (English)) https://nitroplus-global.ecq.sc/work/dramatical-murder.html ^ Note that the English version doesn't have all the items found in the Japanese site. (Animate shop) https://www.animate-onlineshop.jp/animetitle/?aid=2508 ^ This is where the stage play bromides are being sold, alongside some other DMMd things. (Bromides being pictures of the actors, basically) (CDJapan) https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/ ^ You can search for DRAMAtical Murder here. I don't see a lot of extra items still available though. *Just to mention, the r18 Morphine Aoba figure is now sold on J-List. That's the only DMMd merch on there currently (until DMMd releases in English I assume, as the physical copy will likely be sold on J-List too). You can of course also use stuff like Amazon and Ebay, but I believe the sites listed above are the only official sites. Some sites don't deliver outside of Japan. For stuff like that, you can use a Proxy or a Forwarding service. I won't go into detail about them here, but be sure to research them carefully (Especially since some countries won't allow some items and may add extra fees as well). You can also get a lot of merch second-hand too, of course. But beware of bootleg merchandise. It can be pretty easy to see when an item is a bootleg, but often bootlegs can look almost as good and official as the real thing. Below are some guides on how to spot a bootleg; https://solarisjapan.com/blogs/news/ultimate-guide-bootlegs-fake-anime-figures https://animegami.co.uk/blog/how-to-spot-a-bootleg-counterfeit-figure-by-animegami/ These mainly apply to figures, but still.

Extra stuff

A couple of extra miscellaneous links because why not. 100% save data for DRAMAtical Murder (Not re:connect); https://cadavaberry.tumblr.com/post/20877649750 ^ Useful for if you want to replay Ren's route, but don't want to replay all the other routes to unlock it since you keep losing your saves (aka me). *If you haven't played before, please play the routes and don't use this to skip any! You'd really be missing out in that case I feel. A generally amazing resource for so many different DMMd things; https://dmmdresources.tumblr.com/ (That's all I have for right now but I may add stuff later, oops.) I would like to say a huge thank you to all the translators and everyone who has contributed in one way or another to help with letting people like myself enjoy DMMd. This isn't exactly the post for thanks, but anyway. Thank you all. (｡’▽’｡)♡ I hope this helped at all!! If anyone would like any more information on anything else DMMd-related, you're more than welcome to send an ask or message. I won't be able to answer everything but I will certainly try, haha.

[kumoriyami-xiuzhen]

Hakuoki Reimeiroku Saito Final Chapter

have i ever mentioned how i’m a masochist when it comes to this stuff? like, i will freely admit how i actually don’t like translating and doing more unnecessary work, but I when I do something for myself, I tend to want a certain degree of quality.... which is why i decided i’d do some video editing for this... a decision that I really regret now though i can say that it’s something that i know hate more than photoshop lol. 

after i finished my yuugiroku 2 vid, i figured i might as well try to install Visual Novel Reader to see if that could offer me better visual and audio quality for this... but before I finished installing it, I went and checked what videos were available that I could use for assets and found a video made through vnr had about the same audio quality as to ppsspp... along with videos from someone other psp emulated version of this... which i then clipped for audio. 

between visual and audio quality... i’ll pick audio any day so after deciding that i’d be using some of the less grainy audio i found along with my ppsspp footage... i set to work trying to layer the tracks.... but since the audio didn’t match the visuals’ timing, I had to manually cut pieces of my screencap video up so that it matched the audio timing, while also making sure that the visuals looked like they were still continuous (damn  circle icon which wouldn’t go away and caused problems)... on top of which, i had to deal with removing a number of random black screens that would just flash on screen for less than a second when i ran reimeiroku through the ppsspp emulator.... then i also had to find the song that plays towards the ending of this cuz the audio i had cut before the end of my screencap vid which was also a pain because i couldn’t find the damn thing anywhere on youtube so i had to go find the game rip audio (thankfully i have a site for that. also in the game, that song doesn’t naturally fade out and i manually added in that effect cuz i felt like it and thought it was better than the audio just cutting off) so i could put that in and align it so that track matched the audio timing for the vita audio track.... and then i also had to do something about the interval where i had to increase and decrease volume since the end kept sounding off no matter what i did....tho i kinda think the video still sounds off in 2 places.

once i got all the damn visuals and text properly lined up, i gave up on having to deal with the the stupid circle icon in that was originally in the bottom right hand corner since i got pissed enough seeing it and cuz it was no longer continuously in motion so I decided to remove it entirely along with the auto-play icon (at this point im on about version 10 of the video).

then, to cover up the right side of the video, i figured that’d i’d just stuck up an image over top of that section.... but after several tries i gave up on that since every damn picture i imported regardless if that was a screenshot of the game or a screen capture of the video from the editing software itself, nothing would match the colour of the text box for some infuriating reason... which ultimately led to me redoing everything so i didn’t have the stupid text box then stringing together clips between those stupid bouncing icons to erase the damn thing entirely though i thankfully didn’t worry about the auto-play icon the second time around....

however, doing that in itself posed a whole new problem since what i could effectively clip was less than >0.5 seconds each time to create cropped video layers that would hide that stupid icon, and my comp reaaaaaallllly started to issues when i did more of this and when i copied and pasted too many of those millisecond clips together... it got to the point where i was waiting 15 minutes for about 4 seconds of copied hide-the-damn-icon-video-clips (or about 8 hours for 40 seconds worth)... which pretty much crippled my computer..... 

this resulted in me having insane amounts of segments that looked entirely like this^, which occurred whenever there was an icon to hide... or text shake for some reason.... which caused me to create +20 openshot files for editing...(btw this is 138 tiny clips over the span of 6 seconds)

in the end, over the course of a fucking month, which i can honestly say that me finishing this for today was a complete coincidence (i barely managed to finish Warframe’s Scarlet Spear event cuz of how bad this was lol), i lost count of many versions of this video I made sometime after I reached version #32, openshot crashed on me at least 15 times (gave up counting that too), and my laptop crashed twice.... 

after i finally finished my video, i thankfully didn’t spend that long on subtitles but it took me far longer than i’d have liked to get the damn positioning right since potplayer is annoying when it comes to single lines and i had to guess and check the positioning almost every other time for some strange reason whenever i had a single line... which was never a problem when i had 2 or 3 lines of text... but editing was a slight hassle cuz i wanted the text used to be as accurate as possible... and i checked 3 reimeiroku tls of this chapter and the JP mtl of a bunch of sentences just to be sure. 

anyway, thanks to doing all of this unnecessary torture, i am absolutely never going to ever be repeating this experience ever again even if someone pays me because video editing is a serous pain in the ass and I hate it more than photoshop (also why the hell does ppsspp have so many issues with reimeiroku when compared to yuugiroku 2)!!!

also, learned my lesson and didn’t write this post this after staying awake til an ungodly hour lol. my attention to basic grammar plummets like a rock if i stay up past 4 am.... so i decided to write out all my grievances beforehand.... and put my video for this at the very bottom cuz im terrible like that and want everyone who sees this to deal with a massive wall of text xD! suffer! suffer as i have dammit lol!

enjoy the fruits of my damn labour! i’ve passed the point of caring if there are errors in this so keep anything you notice to yourself!! goddammit i noticed something wrong that i couldn’t ignore... namely the chapter name and my credit.... fixed that now.

on a final note, it’ll probably be more than a year before I touch Reimeiroku again because of my commitment to what I am able to translate for SSL so don’t ask lol.... 

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Persona Fandom Problems: Guide to legally buying Persona games so Atlus can see the money

So I guess I’ve heard this is a problem in the Persona fandom as a whole (aka both old and modern Persona fans) within the last few months (or at least I’ve seen complaints within the last few months)? So fans are demanding certain Persona *insert thing* but they don’t actually legally buy/support the thing when it comes out for....whatever reason. Is this really a thing? Like I don’t want to believe it (or at least believe it’s as rampant as it really is) but if that’s the case....well....now you know one of the reasons why I’m making this post. The other is that, more recently, I have seen people complain about how they can’t support these games so Atlus sees the money so they have to turn to emulation, which I’m not shaming you (you do you, I don’t know your situation), you can emulate but.....you can/have the ability to still buy these games in a way that Atlus (or I guess *insert game*) can still get the support. And fun fact, sometimes there are summer sales which can make the games go down in price even more, so yay you support the game and you save some money! So yeah not saying you HAVE to support them, but this is showing that you still have the ability to support them if you can......and tbh money speaks volumes for businesses so this is also to show how you can make your voice heard (aka if you want a P1/2 remake, you should probably buy the digital copies). (last note: inb4 someone says Atlus is financially alright now, yes that’s true but this is more for wanting your voice heard, not trying to keep Atlus from going under, financially they are fine but again.....you want remakes of a game you want? You probs should back it up by buying the game). 

Note if it’s bolded, it’s roughly how low the game has gone on sale on the PSN during an Atlus Summer day PSN sale(from what I can remember/find old archives of said sales) or other place if specified, otherwise the sale listed is the current price of the game digitally at the time of this posting. Also note this is mostly for the USA people (but I wouldn’t be surprised if the prices were translated to roughly the same amount outside the US), but since 90% of the stuff on this list is digital and Sony, and Play-Asia exists, it shouldn’t be that hard to make a USA account and get a USA PSN card off of Play-Asia (or other 3rd party website) so like it’s do-able outside the US....it’s a hassle but just an FYI that this post isn’t 100% alienating anyone outside the US. Anyway moving on. (Under the cut for the list)

If you have a PS3 only:

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (PS1 classic, $3.99/9.99)

Persona 3 FES (PS2 classic, $5.99/9.99)

Persona 4 (PS2 classic, $5.99/9.99)

Persona 4: Arena (PS3, $14.99)

Persona 4: Ultimax (PS3, $19.99, or if you have PS+ during the month it was free, then it is free for you and you save about $20).

Persona 4: Arena Story mode (Ultimax DLC, $9.99, aka you get the story of Arena and Ultimax for $29.98 instead of $34.98) 

Persona 5 (PS3, $19.99)

(PS3′s can cost around $80, rough total cost off all games[P4U+Arena DLC story only, aka not including P4A’s game itself)): $65.94/79.94 +$80= $145.94/159.94

If you have a PSP and a PS3 (*see explanation below, PSP games below listed only):

Persona 1 (PSP, $/19.99)

Persona 2: Innocent Sin (PSP, $/19.99 )

Persona 3 Portable (PSP, $/19.99 )

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (PS1 classic, $3.99/9.99)

(PSP’s can cost around $70+PS3′s $80..... All games together= $63.96/69.96+70+80= $213.96/219.96, a lot but on the bright side, you’d probs just need one P3 game and you’d have access to roughly most titles in Persona between the two consoles)

If you have a Vita or a VitaTV (and a PS4 or PS4 controller**):

Persona 1 (PSP, $/19.99)

Persona 2: Innocent Sin (PSP, $/19.99 )

Persona 3 Portable (PSP, $/19.99 )

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (PS1 classic, $3.99/9.99)

Persona 4 Golden (Vita, $/19.99 )

Persona 4: Dancing All Night (Vita, $/24.99 )

Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight (Vita, $39.99)

Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight (Vita, $39.99)

(Vitas are about $150 at gamestop, but you can maybe get them for under $100 online. Luckily the vita has access to almost all the Persona titles, and is probs one of the best consoles to invest in for Persona, of course the games will run up a decent penny until they either A) go down in price mainly P3/5D, or B) there’s a sale.....so what’s listed now might get cheaper later....also the fact you don’t need to buy all the games all at once. All the games+at max GameStop costs is...... $188.92/190.92+150=$338.92/340.92)

If you have a PS4

Persona 5 (PS4, $19.99)

Persona 4: Dancing All NIght (PS4, Bundle only it seems, $100 on PSN and has gone as low as $49.97 new at Gamestop, but for 3 games for about $50 that’s pretty good)

Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight (PS4, $59.99, individually it has gone on sale new at Gamestop but I don’t know how low)

Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight (PS4, $59.99, individually it has gone on sale new at Gamestop but I don’t know how low)

Persona 5: The Royal (coming soon)

PS1 retro console:

Revelations: Persona (has other games too, $19.99/59.99, the $19.99 price is at Best Buy at the time of this posting/making of posting). [probably the cheapest way to pick up P1 if you don’t mind playing the half finished butchered version......tho unlike the digital sales, I don’t know if Atlus is seeing royalties on sales of these]

For 3DS:

Persona Q1 (3DS, Nintendo Shop has it for $19.99)

Persona Q2 (3DS, $29.99/39.99

(I think the cheapest system is a 2DS Original preowned at Gamestop for $59.99....tho again you might find it cheaper online, with the games that’d be $49.98/59.98+59.99=$109.97/119.97)

*The reason you need a PS3 with your PSP, it is because Sony shut down the PSN shop for the PSP, BUT you can still get games digitally for those games via downloading it through your PS3 into your PSP. (also fun fact, the PSP games dropped from like $30-40 to $20 which used to be it’s summer day sale price but who knows it could go down more if Atlus feels like it).

**PSVita TV needs a PS4 controller

***Only did prices of PS3, PSP, PSV, and 3DS cause I know they are older and some people might not know the cheaper prices

*****I only listed the prices of consoles for people who might not own them, not saying you HAVE to buy the consoles but it’s there so you have an idea of what you are looking at (also not listed for the PS3, a bunch of MegaTen games are available in the PS2 classic store too: DDS1, DDS2, Raidou 1, Raidou 2, and SMT3 for about the same prices as the PS2 P3/4 games. So it’s a great way to get into the other MegaTen games too along with the 3DS). 

****** “I want to buy these games digitally but I don’t want to buy the console right now” fun fact, you can make a PSN account online and just buy the games from your computer! And if you ever get a console for said game, you can always log in with that account and ta-da you have a game to play! Not saying you HAVE to do that either, but in case people were wondering if they could.....well now they know. 8U

[shoelacecollection]

Substrates, Reviewed

At least in my humble opinion.

Paper Towels/Butcher Roll/Newspaper

Pros: -Economical -Easy to find just about anywhere -If Newspaper, Recycling! -Easy to replace when soiled -Will fit any enclosure of any size -Humidity neutral -No dust Cons: -You will burn through entire rolls so fast -Have to replace all of it every single time there’s a deposit -Snakes tend to burrow under it and then go to the bathroom there instead -If they get under there they will move your temperature probe around -I’m talking about you, Joshua -Humidity neutral: can mold easily in humid situations -Cannot be burrowed into, which some species won’t appreciate

Verdict: Great for quarantine and snakes like Joshua who waste huge amounts of substrate if given the chance with their... bathroom habits. A good choice for larger snakes or just about anyone, really, but take note for humidity lovers and burrowers. That said, while Lucy was in quarantine, I maintained her on paper towels without any mold issues. Constant Vigilance, my dears!

Shredded Aspen

Pros: -Usually easy to acquire -Relatively affordable -Not the dustiest option -Fantastic for burrowers like Matilda, Worm, and Orange Juice -Holds tunnels well -Can be spot-cleaned -Clumps like cat litter around waste -Can come in bulk sizing! -Multiple sizes available from tiny slivers to big wood chips

Cons: -Still dusty -Should prophylactically freeze it before use -Will mold when damp -Did I mention the dust -Takes a lot of space to store while it’s not being used -Gets expensive quickly if you have a snake named Joshua and must replace all of it regularly -I am literally coughing sawdust over here from deep-cleaning Matilda’s house -I’m not sure how renewable it is

Verdict: Fantastic for burrowing snakes, use the hell out of it for most everyone personally. As long as they don’t need daily dampenings like Lucy and the Newdle, it’s a great option in my opinion, especially since you can even find it at the walmart.

Shredded Pine: Shittier aspen. Just buy the aspen.

Cedar: If you want a dead pet, go for it.

(Isn’t that a little harsh?) No. (Cedar oils are a respiratory and skin irritant and literally immersing an animal in it with no way to escape is a recipe for disaster. Please don’t buy the bulk bags at walmart for dogs and horses either. Same with Pine, EXCEPT for the kiln-dried stuff.)

Carefresh (and other products)

Pros -Recycling 2: Electric Boogaloo -Next to no dust -Comes in lots of colors, including rainbow! -Another great option for burrowers -Holds tunnels well -Can be spot cleaned (doesn’t clump as well though) -Easy to find just about anywhere -Relatively affordable -Soft -Can also be bought in bulk! -As an absorbent product, you can scoop out the damp parts without having to replace all of it when Joshua manages to tip over his water bowl

Cons -It’s going to mold if it gets wet -Still takes a lot of space -Costs a little more than aspen in my experience -The colorful one costs even more -Doesn’t hold tunnels or clump quite as well -It’s still expensive to replace en masse -Will make you want to color-code your snakes’ enclosures, requiring more substrate than usual Verdict: I use this for corn snakes in particular because it’s fun and more forgiving to work with than Aspen when it comes to their antics and bathroom frequency. It’s probably good for most (CAVEAT EMPTOR) colubrids in that regard, garters and really BIG colubrids notwithstanding. IMO Carefresh and Aspen are fairly interchangeable between each other in their function. Protip: put one half Carefresh, one half Aspen in a Sand Boa enclosure. The texture change is pleasing.

Sand

Pros: -Fuck sand Cons: -Fuck sand -Also IT’S FUCKING DUSTY -AND STUPIDLY HEAVY -AND EXPENSIVE

Verdict: Fuck sand. (It irritates your snake’s eyes, cloaca, and mouth. Ingesting it can be dangerous. Vita-sand is some bullshit. Crushed walnuts aren’t even real sand and are also shit. As an enrichment item in limited exposure it’s not the worst thing on earth, but IN MY OPINION fuck sand.

Hemp: I WISH I COULD BUY IT HERE

Cypress Mulch/Forest Floor/et al

Pros: -This one doesn’t mold as much -Cheaper than orchid bark -Can find at most pet stores -Not the dustiest thing out there -Great for anything that needs higher than average moisture requirements -Often comes damp

Cons: -From what I understand, Cypress isn’t harvested in a sustainable fashion? Someone fill me in. -Sometimes has... things. Freeze it before use. -Harder to buy in the same kind of bulk that one would buy aspen/carefresh in -Trust me, dry it out some before use -It’s really heavy compared to other things mentioned

Verdict: Great for moisture-lovers, maybe not great for the environment, and it’s heavy and damp so use can be a pain. Pretty mold-resistant though.

Coconut Fiber/Coir/Eco-Earth et al

Pros -It’s everywhere -You can buy it in huge compressed bricks -Still cheaper than orchid bark -Moderate dust depending on cut -Comes in a variety of textures -Fairly mold resistant due to coconut being naturally antifungal in nature -Pretty easy to get ahold of -Can even emulate soil if needed, holds tunnels well -Potentially more sustainable than cypress mulch Cons -Compressed bricks can be used up quickly; bags take a lot of space -Personally, the finely-ground stuff molds on me worse than aspen (however, I know that’s not universal!) -The fine stuff can also be pretty dusty until it’s rehydrated -Can sometimes hold too MUCH moisture -Ivo was kept on it and it stained her scales until she shed, so potentially not a good fit for light-color snakes. Verdict: Caveat emptor about the mold, but tons of people use this for tropical animals of all sorts and it’s probably the go-to for anything in need of high humidity retention.

Orchid Bark

Pros -I think this stuff is indestructible. It never breaks down -Caveat emptor once again, but I’ve not gotten mold on it so far -Comes in a variety of cuts from big chunky pieces to tiny flakes -Probably the ultimate substrate for moisture requirements -Also great for growing actual orchids (and for planted terrariums by proxy, though be sure to set up a water table) -Burrowable -Can be bought in bulk Cons -It’s so goddamn dusty it’s almost as bad as fucking sand -It’s heavy as hell -It gets on everything when you spread it -It will stain shit -I don’t think anyone but Josh’s Frogs even carries outside of the gardening world -It’s expensive as hell compared to just about everything -If you have to replace it often, god help you -You can buy it in bulk because that’s ALL you can buy it in -Enjoy your completely excessive crop-sized bag of wood chips -The bag has little ventilation holes so as it sits in your freezer it covers everything in a fine layer of grit -IT GETS ON EVERYTHING YOU LOVE -It can’t hold tunnels for shit -Small pieces get everywhere, big ones are like mulch and hard to burrow through, the medium size is what I affectionately refer to as “wood gravel” -THE FUCKING DUST Verdict: Unfortunately I am forced to swear by this pain in the ass. I’ve never had it mold on me. This stuff resists breaking down better than anything I’ve ever met. Despite being overpriced and a huge inconvenience, it’s been a boon for Lucy, and I can’t go back to other products now. It’s like a really good waffle iron. You only need it for one thing, and it’s probably overpriced for a single-use item, but it’s really good for that one specific thing, and so you buy one anyway. I have to recommend it because I have a bag of it sitting on a shelf RIGHT THERE.

Gravel: I hate you.

Those are all the ones I have experience with, this isn’t a particularly good list, but it’s 4am and I just cleaned Matilda’s house, so I felt inspired to yell about snake bedding. I’m sure I forgot some things, so let me know about it if I did, or tell me your experiences with things I might not have liked. Unless they are sand.

Fuck sand.

As always I speak purely from a snake perspective, and those in the amphibian, invert, and lizard-world naturally have different views on all of this! And I can only speak for my own experiences, too; I don’t claim to speak for the majority whatsoever!

Thank you for reading if you read this~

[tearasshouse]

Mostly vidya ramblings pt 3C

Previous post here.

Right, software time. A cursory glance at my PSN Profile will show that I’ve met my personal quota of getting the platinum in at least 10 PlayStation titles over the year, with a few PC titles sprinkled in for good measure since hey, I have access to a Windows machine again (though it’s not exactly a games machine, unless your definition of a “gaming rig” is something with a 15W Core i3 and modest laptop Radeon graphics). While I didn’t start out meaning to rank these games, I find I have a tendency to do so anyway and while I’m certainly not saying these games are outright bad, they were absolutely lower on the rung, so I’ve dubbed this part “C” (again, no disrespect to the devs or any who rate these games higher than I do; these are just my personal assessments). These are OK games.

The Darkness 2 (Steam)

Enjoyable, somewhat! I put this down like, ages ago when I picked it up for a song on PC, feeling it was too basic and uh “console shootery” at the time. Often times, having restrictions placed upon something can net great results, and hamstrung as I am by my less-capable hardware, I’ve only been picking up Steam games that could run on lower end hardware, or anything released prior to say, 2015. Surprisingly this runs at something stupid like 200 FPS on my machine with V-Sync off and all settings on High at 1080p, so go figure. Anyway, it’s a short and enjoyable shooter. I don’t know anything about the comics upon which the game(s) are based, but Jackie is a likeable character, the Darkness powers are fun enough, the locations are varied, the supporting cast surprisingly interesting and the plot was actually pretty cool too, with a major sequel hook that we’ll probably never get. 

Ori & The Blind Forest (Steam)

It sorta hovers a bit below 60fps while running at 1080p, but it’s all just a bit reductive when one spends more time looking at the framerate counter than playing a game, no? The blessing and curse of PC gaming I suppose. Anyway, as a Metroidvania the game is a bit annoying. As a piece of interactive fiction, it’s too saccharine and feels like a B-tier Dreamworks production for children which, I suppose shouldn’t be a knock against the game but I have to say --  wasn’t my cup of tea. Reminds me a bit of Child of Light by Ubisoft -- gorgeous to look at, benign if not frustrating to play (those escape sequences can piss off), and young gamers would probably find more to like in the...emotional tidbits than most adults.

Crysis 2 (Steam)

So apparently this got delisted off Steam but now it’s back up or something with EA deciding to put their back catalog on the platform or something? Anyway, like this list implies, Crysis 2 is an okay game, nothing more and nothing less. The nanosuit energy depletes a bit too quick for my liking, and you’re really made to feel like a badass only some of the times, in quick and short bursts, not unlike BJ in the new Wolfenstein games by MachineGames (any more prolonged exposure to hitscan weapons and other bullshit will quickly send you to the loading screen). Thing is, I don’t want to feel like a badass only some of the time? I mean, you put a ripped supersoldier type doing the Badass Looking Back At the Viewer Pose on the cover and I expect to be able to do certain things without stopping for a breather every 20 seconds, ya know? If you’re going to give me the power fantasy, commit to it. Or, find ways to keep the flow up and reward mastery to make players earn said fantasy (something the new DOOMs  have done and why those have been so successful). I certainly don’t envy game devs for having to balance this shit, but id Software showed you one way of how you might do that while the Crysis games and those of their ilk just feel slow and unrewarding. 

Quantum Break (Steam)

Really surprised I was able to get this running on my PC but hey, it runs on the Xbox One so how hard could it be? I dearly love Remedy’s games, even if they’re a bit straightforward at times and you get the feeling they’d rather be in the business of non-interactive fiction than games making at times. Well here is a TV show hybrid! Made exclusively in partnership with Microsoft as part of their TV & STREAMING, TV & STREAMING, SPORTS & STREAMING strategy of the 2010s. I didn’t care for the plot, nor the endless email / audiobook / loredumps scattered around, nor the characters, any of it. I will say the final stage with the super high tech offices was a delight (boy wouldn’t I love to live the corpo life in such beautiful, clean office environs). Lance Reddick was a treat as always. Peter “Littlefinger” Baelish shows up to do a thing. Yeah, it’s a Remedy joint through and through. 2019′s Control was such a highlight for me that I’ll take any kind of prototype-y take on it (and QB certainly feels like a rougher, worse version of Control, at least mechanically).

Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs / Dear Esther: Landmark Edition (Steam)

These titles were certainly...things that I installed onto my PC and sat through... Yes. Look, I’m not one to dog on walking simulators, and I know the devs have faced tough times recently but I still feel these are acquired tastes and could be appreciably improved in too many ways to name. Of the two, Dear Esther is the one I’d rec because at least that one was quite pleasant to meander around in while Amnesia left me disappointed that I’d wasted my time, physically sick with its subpar performance and muddy graphics, flaccid with its stodgy plot and left absolutely disappointed that I’d wasted my time on such a bizarre and confusing payoff towards the end. Chinese Room, I mean this in the most constructive way possible: maybe try a different type of game next time.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein (GOG)

I remember putting in some decent time into the DEMO version of RtCW’s MP mode, being amazed at the time by the particle effects, with child-me just running around the D-Day map with the flamethrower out. Anyway, years later and I finally played the SP campaign. It’s maybe better than Allied Assault’s? It feels more consistently entertaining anyway. Hell I think I like these boomer shooters better than MachineGames’ recent efforts (which isn’t saying a whole lot because I find those games just merely okay). I promise you I’m not just being a crotchety old fart.

Ys: Memories of Celceta (PS Vita)

I’d been playing through this over the spring on my Vita TV, before it bit the dust eventually and I’ve been meaning to go back and wrap up the cheevos. I was a bit lukewarm with Oath in Felghana (my first Ys), but could definitely see the appeal in the series, as boss rush games aren’t really my cup of tea (ie. it’s the journey and not the destination of say, a Souls game that is the meat for me). Definitely a game that would benefit from a 60fps refresh and cleaner graphics than what the Vita can provide. I’ve already got a copy of Ys 8 in shrink wrap and have my eyes set on emulating Ys Seven or grabbing the GOG version. A game where action is king and story or character development is secondary; I would prefer more of the latter to make this more of a JRPG and less of a “predominantly Japanese action game with superficial RPG elements”.

Catherine: Full Body (PS4)

I paid $70 for this on day one and I’ve gotta say... should’ve waited for the price drop. I’m a somewhat lapsed Atlus mark, and I still hold the original Persona 5 as my no. 1 in the PS4′s lineup (with Dragon Quest XI possibly being a tie), yet I bought this knowing it wouldn’t really be for me. Why? High difficulty in a genre I don’t play, like at all, a relatively short clear time (in itself not an issue and frankly welcome these days HOWEVER...), and a somewhat unsatisfying payoff despite being a supernatural romance thriller. I bought this as seed money for Atlus’s P.Studio/Studio Zero, in the hopes that Project Re: Fantasy will knock my socks off just like the latter day Persona games have. Because in spite of the contents not really appealing to me, it’s still supremely well made, and it’s not everyday that games like these get made, so there you go. Look, if I could go back in time and put this money towards 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, I probably would, but then the Catherine steelbook is ever so pretty... 

Tearaway Unfolded (PS4)

The OG game is one of the most charming little 3D platformer/collect-a-thons out there, and as far as children’s games (or er, “games that also appeal to children”) go, more of these and less of those please (your Child of Lights and Oris). I’d go as far as to say the OG version is better than the PS4 version, though the PS4 version is also quite good. Really, if I wasn’t going for that stupid Misplaced Gopher trophy, this would probably be an easy shoe-in for the B-tier list, but I place this demotion firmly at Media.Molecule’s feet. That cheevo is cursed.

The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories (PS4)

I’d almost forgotten about this! If that doesn’t qualify for making the C-tier list then I don’t know what else does. I only know of Swery65′s qualities through osmosis, having watched the 2BF’s legendary LP of Deadly Premonition and the gone-too-soon D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die. He’s an interesting person with interesting ideas but crucially, as a game dev, his output is just... kinda mediocre? If not outright bad? Case in point with this game. It looks and runs like garbo; it plays like garbo; the character designs are cute; the dialogue is pretty good; there is a wonderful and gradual “twist” to the main character that was super spoiled for me when people were discussing and promoting it (like, that is my bad, but also internet discourse on any kind of entertainment media is just *fucked*); there’s a lot of semi-colons in this sentence so I’ll stop here. 

And the balls to charge like, what, $40+ for the game on PSN?? I’d gotten it for way less on a sale but in a day and age when $1 could buy you 3 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and MS might also throw in a curio like this in there just to fill in the gaps, it makes you wonder if these kinds of games can ever turn a profit, especially when the end product is this jank. And these are commercial goods, make no mistake, any aspirations to being an art piece or social critique notwithstanding, so that also brings to the fore the whole aspect of pricing games, relative value, production and marketing costs, blah blah.

IF you like something different, can appreciate games made on a shoestring budget with arguably bad gameplay and technical deficiencies, but has...heart? Then look no further to the output of this man. The most C-worthy of all the titles listed here. 

[hidewari]

As Darth Vader would say: "I find your lack of Persona games disturbing!" But on a more serious note, how come? I personally think you would enjoy them (with all the over the top shipping involved in the fandom and their enjoyable characters)! Additionally, in terms of rhythm games, I'd recommend the Persona dancing games, lol. They are extremely ridiculous, but very entertaining nonetheless. (My antisocial self finally managed to send someone an ask! I'm so proud.~)

I have actually tried to get into Persona games, but I feel like I tainted my own experience unintentionally.

You see, a few years ago I saw Persona 4 somewhere online and decided that I wanted to try it out. I walked into a game store and saw a pretty PS3 box sitting on the shelf with “Persona 4″ written across it so I picked it up and bought it. I took it home and started playing it and God, was it boring. The amount of text was absolutely insane and I had skip over half of the text because it was totally irrelevant and convoluted and the gameplay was so, so lacking. But here’s the thing; I later discovered that I wasn’t playing Persona 4, I’d actually picked up Persona 4 Arena instead, and I’m told that game is significantly lower in quality OTL

So I guess Persona 4 is actually on PS2 which means I’m unable to play it since I don’t own that console (’: (Though I do actually own a Rise Kujikawa figurine simply because she looks amazing 👀)

I do have the original Persona game installed on my PSP emulator and I tried to play it but it was virtually unplayable (though I’ve also heard through the grapevine that that game is generally not considered very good.)

I have played Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers on 3DS but I didn’t get very far into the game because I was playing a few other games at the time and I guess I just forgot about it.

I have been recommended Persona 5 a few times now, and I was going to try it but it’s so expensive and I’m just not affluent enough to spend that much money on a series I’m not super eager to get into, so I’ll probably try it out once I can find it somewhere cheaper.

Also, as a side note, it probably doesn’t come across that way on my blog (since I stan a bunch of ships on here) but I’m perhaps surprisingly really not that big on shipping. I find it pretty difficult to get into ships unless I’m SUPER into the series (probably the reason my only ships are from TG and Fire Emblem rip)

But anyway yeah, I might try out Persona 5 if I can find it anywhere cheap (I’ll probably have to go for the PS3 version instead of the PS4 version because of the price). As for Dancing All Night, I actually watched a few clips from P4DAN quite a while ago because I heard they featured a really beautiful Miku model in that game and I loved the song she appeared in and was interested in playing it but I don’t have access to a PS Vita so that’s off the table too )’:

[valtharr]

I wanna play the castlevania games, and i found a site that i can play the NES/SNES games on. but where do i play the others? do you have any helpful links for those of us who don't own the relevant consoles? thnx!

well, first of all, define “not owning the relevant consoles”, because...well, since the NES, there has been a Castlevania release for every major console and handheld. even if there wasn’t a new release (like for PS Vita or anything after the Wii/360/PS3 era), there was a download available. If you own something from the DS or 3DS family, you already (technically) have access to arguably three of the best games in the series. The fan favorite (and I my opinion slightly overrated, but still very good) Symphony Of The Night originally came out on PS1, can therefore also be played on PS2, and was re-released for PSP as part of “Dracula X Chronicles” and as download on both PSN and Xbox Live. Even on PC, you have the spin-off “Lords of Shadow” trilogy, with Lords of Shadow, Mirror of Fate and Lords of Shadow 2. As of right now, the first two games are available dirt cheap as part of the Halloween Sale on Steam. Be advised though, that they’re very different from the main series in both tone and gameplay.

I know I didn’t answer you question so far, but I want to emphasize buying the games currently available for download, especially for the people who got into Castlevania through the Netflix show, because as a game series, Castlevania is pretty much dead, and buying these games might show Konami that people are interested in the series and that there’s a potential profit in making new games.

Anyway, for the games that you could only get used, therefore not giving Konami any money anyway, there’s always sites like Emuparadise. Get an emulator, download the ROM, play.

[solartranslations]

Hi there! I had a few questions one is how do i get arcana famiglia game? also i was wondering if you were gonna get farther in luca's route? He's my fav and id love to play his route on game >

Okay, so the original version isn’t available on CDJapan anymore and I’m not sure Amazon.jp will ship games outside of Japan (I tried ordering my Owari no Seraph game from there and it wouldn’t let me).

But, the PS Vita version is called Arcana Famiglia Ancora and that is available on CDJapan. I’d recommend getting this one anyway since it has some extra stuff and upgraded graphics. Otherwise it’s the same thing.

You can order it here: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/VLJM-35307

There are probably other sites that sell it, but this is the one I usually use.

Your other option is to physically go to Japan and try to find it. It is kind of an older game though, so I’m not sure how easy that will be. I’m actually going there on vacation there this May so I can let people know if it’s still available.

You can also try searching for the rom online and use an emulator, but I won’t link that here.

And yes, I am still working on Luca’s route. I’m just on hiatus because of essays. April 13 is the earliest I can start translating again.

Hope that helps!

EDIT: Actually CDJapan has this proxy shipping feature now and you can get the PSP version that way from them. I still recommend Ancora though. But, this might make it possible to get the Vascello Phantasma and Festa Regalo sequels from them since they are also not available normally.

[kumoriyami-xiuzhen]

Hakuoki Yuugiroku 2 - Hajime Sakura Epilogue English subs

I’m slightly annoyed at my piano. and musescore. Lol. i hate timing and theory. 

Anyway, i did this on a whim to kill time.... threw this together after screen-capping this video of yuugiroku 2 through the usage of ppsspp emulator after i started playing around with the emulator video/image quality settings since i felt that it was too much work to even considering how to google capturing ps vita footage... unfortunately i couldn’t find a video of this segment from the vita version of the game so i couldn’t replace the audio in this video with a better quality version... oh well? 

honestly, making subtitles for game footage isn’t really something that i’m interested in doing more of in the future... though i’ll make an exception for saito stuff (haha yeah im super biased). I might do one for the final chapter of Saito’s Reimeiroku route since I already have that translated tho it still needs a few edits, but that won’t be done anytime soon since I haven’t even started the game and because I don’t want to use a video published by someone else right now.

on a side note, i missed a line in my original translation of my text post of this, and i gave up with trying to position the subtitles since i just couldn’t get them the way i wanted..... also the image i have as the video thumbnail is my screenshot from the vita game.... and i left 2 errors in the video... ahaha... oops. also i need sleep lol. my end notes were so terribly written.

p.s. if you haven’t seen my video post for the Hakuoki Zuisouroku Shimabara After Story drama link is here (it didn’t show up under either hakuoki/hakuouki tag).