To Tumblr or Not to Tumblr...

To Tumblr or Not to Tumblr...  that is the question of the moment.  I've been considering moving my blogging efforts over to tumblr but I'm not sure about it yet...  I think I'm going to try it out over there for a few weeks and see how I like it before I make up my mind.  I couldn't get an account registered with bloodviolet so I had to go with my alternate name blackpaura ; it's here but I've only made like 3 posts so far messing around with it.


http://blackpaura.tumblr.com/

All Through the Night by Connie Brockway

All Through the Night by Connie Brockway
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I had the Audible audio book edition of this book.  Let me first say it was sort of hard to judge some parts of the book because I kept getting distracted by the narrator.  She was fine doing the female voices but when she was trying to do the sexy male voice it just threw the story for me.  I though it varied from inappropriate to just creepy sounding.  Yeah, no.

I liked the idea of female thief prowling the streets of Regency London while be pursued by the secret service agent, but it just didn't deliver as much excitement as I was craving.  It turned out to be a pretty standard issue  historical romance.  I thought it was a good read but not a keeper for me.


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Sims 3 Recolors

Well, here are some odds and ends -- left-overs from my July color pallet on the far right there...  That's the t-shirt from the free set they just released, base game jeans, shoes and animal ears from the store.

The other three sims are dressed in colors I've chosen for my August color pallet.  I'm pretty fond of those shades of green and that golden-orange...

I'm thinking maybe I should try installing the Into the Future pack again and try out those display pedestals again.  my first attempts at making a dress shop were pretty frustrating to say the least.

Here's my studio if you want to download them.

The Sims 4 Rewards

Well, I received another promo for the Sims 4 today.  Apparently if I choose to purchase and register Sims 4 I can get a colorful assortment of plumbob statues and an truly ugly llama / freezer bunny / plumbob thing....  I just don't think that's going to be enough incentive for me to crack out my wallet to the tune of $79.96... that's the current price listing on Amazon for The Sims 4 Premium Edition.  Sorry, but there are just too many other games I'm interested in picking up at the moment; and I can buy most of those for under $20 each.  I'm waiting for a massive price drop. The Sims 4 Rewards is our way of saying thanks. Learn more.  E-mail look funny? View it online.

Your Reward is Waiting!

Introducing The Sims™ 4 Rewards, our way of saying thank you for playingThe Sims 3. You've earned bonus digital content in The Sims 4 by owning and registering The Sims 3 PC Game and Expansion Packs.  Learn More

Sensual Phrase Vol. 2 by Mayu Shinjo

Sensual Phrase, Vol. 2 by Mayu Shinjo
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I gotta say I did not enjoy this volume of Sensual Phrase.  I really found a lot of issues with this one.  You know how sometimes you just enjoy the quirky things and tropes that go on in manga and they turn out to be fun?  Well, that isn't one of those times.  The behavior of the characters in this volume is really over the top, and ridiculous.  Everything happens way too fast, and the overblown drama spoils the mood.

Oh, and there is one of the worst manga tropes, the evil caucasian foreigner.  It really comes across as racist, xenophobic, and the real crime, unimaginative.

Oh, well there is hope for redemption I guess.  I have fifteen more volumes to go, and this opinion is only based on the content of this volume.  It may hold up better by the end of the series.


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Death Sworn by Leah Cypess

Death Sworn by Leah Cypess
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well, I finished Death Sworn by Leah Cypess today, and I really liked it.  I got it as a recommendation for liking   and  
.  I feel like it really held up as being similar in tone and content to those series, but that isn't to say the stories are the same.

It's pretty obvious at the end of the book that this is apparently the first in a series.  It has enough closure to the story to make it a satisfying enough read on it's own but there are quite a few dangling plot threads that I can only assume will be picked up in following books.

I guess this would fall into the category of young adult fantasy.  It has some light romantic themes but thankfully is lacking in the endless pages of angst ridden longing and insta-love.  To which I can only proclaim, Hurrah!  I'm looking forward to the next book.

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Sims, Sims, Sims...

There's a new free set over in the Sims 3 Store called Fashionable Fitness Set that has 11 items in it.  There are two new hairstyles for adult female sims in it, and that's all I really play with anyway.  So I installed that into my game and looked at it yesterday but then ended up not really doing anything but puttering around in CAS while I listened to my latest audio book again.  

That actually is what I like best about Sims 3 anyway... I can just mess around building lots or recoloring clothing for hours.  I do actually play too; but I'd say 50% of the time I just recolor or build.

Here's a pic of my latest recolors in my July color pallet, the sim in the middle has one of the hairstyles from the Fashionable Fitness Set.  I like it, I think it's pretty cute.

As always the recolors are here if you want them.

Oh, and if you somehow missed it SimsVIP had an article up about the Sims 2 Complete Collection being offered free for something like a week to anyone who wants it.  Here's a link to that post that had all the details in it.

Sims 3 Lazy Evening

I was having a lazy day today with my audiobook and Sims 3 game.  I made a few more recolors that match that batch I did a few days ago...  I also worked on a remodel of one of the starter homes, but I'm slow at that kind of thing so it will take me a few sit ins to finish it.  Here's a pic of the clothing recolors and the house I'm working on:

 

If you want these recolors of course you can download them here from my studio.

Yeah, that starter home needs a lot of work... I'm not sure after looking at this that I'm feeling the bushes too much.  Yeah, again it needs a lot of work...

Mononoke Kiss+ : Checkpoint of Doom

 

Well on Mononoke Kiss+ I've played the Main Story of Raizo to Chapter 11 Episode 3 and the Checkpoint of Doom appeared...  Yes there is a checkpoint that takes 11 passports to go through... I've gotten 3 through normal gameplay.  They conveniently have the passports available in an 11 pack, isn't that sweet of them?

This 11 pack of passports costs 1,000 coin.  You have to buy coin, you can't earn it in the game.  100 coin is roughly $1 -- It can vary a little because of the way coin is sold, you get it a little cheaper if you buy a big enough amount.  Anyway, you get the idea right?  If you buy the passports to go through this gate is costs $10!!

My big problem with this is you have no way of knowing if this is the last checkpoint or not.  How many more of these do you run up against?  I'm not complaining about expecting to get a free game, I really don't mind paying for my games but this is a special type of wallet rape isn't it?

So I guess the game company is betting against your impatience to finish the story.  It's only $10 dollars right?  Untill it's only $15, and so on, and so on.  Well, it's not a money trap I plan on falling into.  -_-

The good news is this is one of the games that actually has a pay upfront version.  Yay!!!  The cost for Raizo's story on that is $3.99!  Yes, $6 dollars cheaper than buying checkpoint passes for the Checkpoint of Doom on the "Free" version of the game.  So, I think I will be going that route when I feel like finishing the story.

Sensual Phrase Vol. 1 by Mayu Shinjo

Sensual Phrase, Vol. 1 by Mayu Shinjo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well, well... Sensual Phrase is a little on the naughty side.  It's not repulsively graphic but it's definitely got a lot of teenage angst and hormones going on.  I think I probably should have known that by the title alone.  I liked the first volume, good thing I guess; since I've already bought almost the whole series.

No time is wasted getting Aine would be lyricist; and rock star Sakuya together.  In fact it's a bit too fast for me and I wish a little more time had been taken with it but it is what it is.  I knew it had to be a bit older than I first thought because they use both a pager and a tape recorder in one part of the story.  After checking it I saw that it was originally printed in 1997 in Japan and got its english translation in 2004.

The story looks promising enough and I already have them so I'll continue reading this series.


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Random Recolors for Sims 3

Although it's been awhile some of you might remember that I like to use the random button in create a sim to select things to recolor when I'm bored.  Here are some outfits I did this morning using the same color pallet.  There is a headband, 2 pairs of shoes, 3 pants, and 3 tops.  All of them should mix and match pretty well.  If you like them you can get them out of my studio on the Sims 3 Exchange:

http://www.thesims3.com/userExchange.html?selectedAsstType=all&persona=bloodviolet

Shall we date?: Ninja Love+

Ok!  So for whatever reason I was finally able to get this game to work today and I got to play it for awhile before I ran out of points to do anything with.  I've got to say I absolutely love the character design for Kotaro Fuma.  That little frown is great!  Love it!

These games have really been fun so far.  I still haven't gotten to the end of any of them yet.  I also haven't paid any money to play; so I'm still not sure if you can even get a good ending without paying for it but I'm enjoying it.

Link to the game in the Google Play store:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nttsolmare.game.android.nlp&hl=en

Sandy Shoals Sea Shanty

Messing around with Sims 3 today.  I found that there's a new featured look in the Sims 3 Store called the Sandy Shoals Sea Shanty.  The only new thing is the lot that comes with the set but I got it for free because I already had all of the items in the set.  It's a house with enough beds to sleep eight sims.  I really quite liked it and it's perfect for the way I've been playing at the moment.  Here are some pics of my sim Finn checking it out:

Click this to go to the set in the Sims 3 Store.

Shall we date?: Lost Island+

Oh, well there is another new otome game out called Lost Island+.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to play anything but the prolog on it because it kept freezing up on my tablet.  Maybe you'll have better luck than I did.  I guess this one will join Ninja Love+ and Magic Sword+ as being games that I just can't currently play.  Very sad.  This one looked so different than other games I've played too.  Looks like you get trapped on an island with zombies!  Yikes!!  Oh well...  ;-(  ...  I may try putting it on my actual cell phone and see if it works that way...

Link to the game on Google Play:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nttsolmare.game.android.losef

Oh, my code for this game is Ki1VNpVxMq if you need one to get the free game items.

The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection

Well, It seems that The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection is already in my Origin account.  I haven't played Sims 2 in a long time.  Thought I would go ahead and start an install on it.  You need about 13 gigs of free space to install it, I forgot the exact amount.  I see that they also put a faq up.  According to Origin; The Ultimate Collection includes The Sims 2, as well as every single The Sims 2 expansion pack and stuff pack.  This would be great news for me as I lost half of my Sims 2 games one of the times I moved.

Oh here's a link to the Origin Fac:

http://help.ea.com/en/article/the-sims-2-ultimate-collection-faq/

No news yet on if this is going to be a for sell item on Origin or not.  I know a lot of people are wanting it.  I would think it would be, but who knows with EA...

dUpLicity ~Beyond the Lies~ is up on Steam Greenlight

Please help get dUpLicity ~Beyond the Lies~ on Steam:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=286451321

The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection

Another e-mail from origin came today.  This one for The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection, that I am apparently getting for free, whatever the Hello Kitty it is, because googling it yields no pertinent results

The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection is yours for free! If you are having trouble viewing this email, please click here.

THE SIMS™ 2 ULTIMATE COLLECTION

Dear Origin gamer, Your current version of The Sims 2 will lose technical support on July 22, 2014. We want you to have the most up-to-date version of The Sims 2 in your collection, so you will see a brand new addition to your Origin library: The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection. This is the most up-to-date version of The Sims 2 and the version that is still supported by Origin. It also features a lot more content than you may already have in your current version of The Sims 2. The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection will appear in your Origin library automatically. You'll need to download and install it to your computer to play it. You're free to continue playing your existing version of The Sims 2, but please note that it is an older edition of the game that will soon lose technical support. To continue receiving support on your progress of The Sims 2 — including Sims characters, houses, etc. — you will need to transfer your save files of The Sims 2 to the Ultimate Edition. To learn more about backing up your data, please visit http://help.ea.com/en/article/backing-up-your-sims-2-files/. Once you've migrated your Sims' lives to The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection, you can better organize your Origin game library by hiding your previous version of The Sims 2. Click on the tile for The Sims 2 in your Game Library for the option to hide it. If you need additional directions, we've got you covered. Thanks for your continuing passion for The Sims. — Team Origin

Sims 3 Island Paradise

Ok!  Previously I was unable to play the Island Paradise expansion on my pc with all the other expansion packs installed with it.  So I've decided to try just playing with this one expansion pack installed and adding store sets as I want to play with them.  I did go ahead and installed all the swimwear and tiki sets from the store.  So far so good.  Cross your fingers for me I really want to be able to play with my sims again. ;-)

Demon Love Spell, Vol. 1 by Mayu Shinjo

Demon Love Spell, Vol. 1 by Mayu Shinjo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So freakin' cute.  I just smiled the whole way through this one.  I want a pocket sized demon boy of my own to play with.


View all my reviews

Shall we date?: Mononoke Kiss+

Ok, so I think I've gotten a little addicted to the Shall we date? series of games.   This one is called Mononoke Kiss+, it's the free version of the game.  You can see from the screenshots what it looks like on my tablet.  I wish the game took advantage of the whole of the screen when you were in story mode but it has a large amount of black area under it.  You kind of get thrown into the story on this one so it's kind of hard to formulate an opinion yet on the storyline.  

Haruka - Beyond the Stream of Time - A Tale of the Eight Guardians

I just finished watching Haruka - Beyond the Stream of Time - A Tale of the Eight Guardians on Hulu last night.  For some reason I feel like I've watched this series at some point in the past but then again I'm just not sure about it.  I liked it, but I guess I'd say it's pretty standard anime fare.  Nothing really stands out and makes you go WOW! if you know what I mean.  It's based on a popular otome game that I really wish was available in english.

It's a little similar to Fushigi Yuugi but without the length to really get in depth with the characters and no really satisfying conclusion at the end.  I wish it had been about twice the length and they had taken the time to flesh out the story with some interaction where the lead female really got to know all of the guys.  It feels a bit rushed and short; but still it's worth a watch if you have the time.

http://www.hulu.com/haruka-beyond-the-stream-of-time-a-tale-of-the-eight-guardians

Stylish Level Checkpoint on Ninja Assassin+

Oh no! Say it isn't so!  I'm not Stylish enough?  Noooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!

;-(  So, I've hit a Stylish brick wall in Ninja Assassin+; and can't go any further with Soji's storyline at the moment.  Darn it!  I was really into this one too.  So there was nothing to do but switch from Soji to Aoi and start reading his story line.  Sorry Soji, don't think of me as a cheater, ok?

Really though, I'm liking Aoi too now.  I actually laughed out loud at some of the dialog from him.  I wonder how long I will be able to play the game without forking over any money to advance the story.  We shall see!

The Sims 4 Create A Sim Demo

I got an email today reading:

Hello bloodviolet,

As a dedicated The Sims™ 3 player, we're inviting you to try an early version of The Sims 4 Create A Sim Demo. The purpose of this trial is to perform a number of system-related tests in preparation for our game launch and to gather your feedback on our new game. 

You have been specifically selected for this trial because of your experience with The Sims 3 and because you have opted-in to receive communications from EA. 

The Sims 4 Create A Sim Demo will be available to download in your Origin™ “My Games Library” starting on July 10. 

Please note that this demo is still software in development and does not represent the final quality of the game. The Sims 4 Create A Sim Demo is only available on PC. 

Everyone here at The Sims Studio looks forward to your participation and feedback. We hope you have fun creating all new Sims! 

— The Sims Studio

Anyway, I went and downloaded it and messed around with it a little bit.  I'm going to have to say -- Not impressed as far as sim creation goes.

I was really spoiled with the create a style feature from the Sims 3 so the very limited clothing options depress be quite a bit.  You do get a few color options with each clothing piece but it's really just so inferior to Sims 3 in this regard.  The skin and makeup look ok, they seem pretty similar to what sims looked like in the Sims Medieval; but I don't know what's up with the hair meshes in this.  Seriously? Yuck!  They look like play doh to me.

I also tried to mess with the grab and pull molding that's supposed to be so great and one of the selling points.  Turns out; for me anyway it's really not that easy to use.  I couldn't manage to do anything much with it.  Sliders were so much easier to adjust.

The game play for the Sims 4 may turn out to be awesome and I'll probably get it sooner or later; but right now I know I'm not going to pre-order or shell out for this game until there is a major price drop or a few expansion packs come out for it.  90% of the enjoyment I derived from Sims 3 is in being able to design things in game to suit my personal taste and that just doesn't seem to be what they are going for this time around.

A few days into Angel or Devil+

I'm now at  the Main Story - Ruvel Chapter 3, Episode 6 and the story is progressing at a snails pace.  So far the plot is a real snoozer.  I'll let you know how it progresses.

I do really like those hooded robes the reapers wear though.  Why aren't hooded robes in fashion?  I want to wear one without people looking at me strangely...

I've also been noticing a few spelling errors here and there.  Not good when you are playing a game that is basicly reading.

Oh on the off chance someone is looking at this and wants an invitation code mine is FKfc83ibBU

Solstice

Here's an image from the press release kit for the upcoming game Solstice by MoaCube.  The game is up on Steam Greenlight right now so please go there and vote for it!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=277470652

You can also watch a preview trailer and read more about the game.  These releases are a big deal if you enjoy visual novels because there just aren't a huge amount of releases in English.   

Shall we date?:Angel or Devil+

Here's a screenshot from my tablet of the third Shall we date? game I've installed on my tablet called Shall we date?:Angel or Devil+.  As you can see it's quite pretty but the story, for me, is very bland.  Maybe it gets better as you get into it but based on this as an introduction I wouldn't be willing to pay very much to play it.

There are three character choices, an angel, a demon, and the reaper Ruvel whom I decided to go with.

Maybe in the future I should start writing down the choices I make in these games?  I hadn't been doing that before but maybe I need to now.  I've gotten quite lazy lately though so it might be too much effort for me to put out.

Shall we date?:Ninja Assassin+

So, I decided to install another of the free to play Shall we date? Series onto my tablet.  This time I chose Ninja Assassin+.  I'm feeling this one I think.  I love all the character designs and it seems like it may have an engaging story line.  The format on this one takes advantage of the whole of my tablet screen, which is good.  Seems like most of the games in this series have the same sort of gameplay thing where you have to wait every 4 hours to play unless you do the microtransactions.

It seems that some of the NTT Solmare Corp games come in both a free to play version and one where you pay for the character storylines you want.  I'm not really sure what I think about it.  I kind of go back and forth which way is better.

More about this when I've played it more...

Enchanted in the Moonlight

Here's a new game for android devices called Enchanted in the Moonlight.  It's another otome game.  So far only the path for Miyabi the Kitsune is available.  The cost for the main story is $3.99.   The epilogue is $1.99.  Then another part of the story for $3.99 and an epilogue to that story not yet available.  I like this format better than some of the ones I've looked at.  So that should give you some idea of the cost to play the game.  So I'm guessing something like $12-$15 dollars for each character path if you want to play the game fully.  Making the total price of the game about $70 to $90!! That's super expensive, IMO!

The good so far is that it is visually very beautiful.  It has ambient music that plays.  There is a lovely intro video.  However the story itself isn't the most engaging thing I've ever read.  I'm on chapter 6 of 13, so I'll give another update when I've finished it.

It seems to be an awful lot like the manga Black Bird by Kanoko Sakurakoji.  The tengu character is the next one listed to be released...SOON!  Whatever amount of time that turns out to be...  so more comparisons to that can be made later.

GameStop Raid

I just made a GameStop raid to pick up some new-to-me games on the cheap.

For my PSP I got:
P3P Shin Megami Tensei Persona 3 Portable
Generation of Chaos
Phantom Blue The Hermuda Triangle

For Nintendo DS:

LostMagic

For PS3 a brand new copy of:

Hakuoki: Stories of the Shinsengumi - PlayStation 3 Standard Edition

Yay me!  It's game time!

Can't wait to play Hakuoki, I've been holding off on watching the anime and ovas until I could play through the game.  Not sure when I'll play the others but they were all really cheap, so even if I don't end up liking them I'm not out much money and I can pass them along to a friend or something.

Shall we date?: Scarlet Fate+

I just started to play Scarlet Fate+ on my android tablet a few days ago.  I really can't tell too much about it yet.  Its a free to play game if you want to play about 10 to 15 minutes a day, otherwise it seems to be full of microtransactions.  A real bummer.  I would love to have this for my PSP or Steam account, you know?  The graphics are beautiful but I'm concerned about the cost involved in playing it.  I just love these type of dating games though...  I let you know more about how I feel about it after I've played it a little more.  Here is a link to the game info from the Idea Factory site:  http://ideafintl.com/games/999.html

Sims 3 Collection Files and a General Update

I've got some bad news for those of you who used to come here for collection files for Sims 3 Store Sets...  I've had a lot of problems with my game and I won't bore you with a long post about it but in the end; it seems that I have completely lost all of the files I made.

So, I'm very sorry to anyone who comes here looking for the files but I just don't have them anymore.  I don't even have the game installed on my pc at the moment because of all the trouble I've been having.  It looks like my pc just can't run the game with all of the expansions and store sets installed at the same time so I've kind of lost interest in playing at the moment.

I know that I will go back to playing the game when I'm able to get a new computer but I kind of feel like that's unlikely until Christmas or early next year.  I still haven't been able to really play the last two expansions because of my pc issues.

Anyway, if anyone has the files that had downloaded them before, please feel free to redistribute them as you like.  I made them for the community to enjoy and I don't care if you repost them  elsewhere.

Hoping to make time to blog more often in the future.  I have a lot of fun interests I like to talk about. ;-)