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. ;-)