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amethyst73Wow, it's been too long since I've updated.
March has been.. difficult, at times. Every so often something pops up - the books I took with me when I went home to deal with Mom's death and the repercussions thereof, the fridge magnets that she liked, singing a piece in choir that I know was one of her favorites - that, well, Don't Help. The muscle tension that I've been carrying around for the past couple of weeks creeps up another notch, and I know I'm due for a spell on Huz's shoulder. I think I'll be kind of relieved once we're well into April. OTOH, I had a curious dream in which I'd made a blouse with white material for the torso, some kind of blue fabric for one short sleeve, and some completely different blue pattern fabric for the other short sleeve. (I'd gotten them as remnants, see...) And Mom criticized my design choice when I turned up wearing the blouse. Oh yeah, and there were all kinds of button pins (smiley faces, slogans, whatever) pinned all around the collar. I did have to admit that it looked rather strange.
Work continues well! I wish there were a sink in at least one of the two rooms I spend the vast majority of the time in. It would be really nice.
I got some work done on my car this past weekend. I'd asked them to check out a faulty automatic door lock, and when the company discovered that the door lock system was an after-market, not-my-car-brand part, they apologized and said they weren't allowed to work on it. But the guy who took care of the bill was nice enough to knock $30 off of the cost of the other repairs in apology. (Yes, I'm a loyal customer!) I'd been thinking pretty darn strongly about buying Okamiden for the DS, and since it's priced at $30... well, there you go. :)
Okamiden definitely has issues. Using the D-pad to navigate in a 3D environment works, but feels rather clunky compared to the original Okami's analog stick - especially since there are real-time attacks by weak enemies who have full freedom of motion and can come at you from any direction. Having to line yourself up to attack them effectively is annoying. Relatedly, camera control is not quite nonexistent, but close; there are several areas where you CANNOT control the camera angle at all. Inside a tiny village house, this isn't a problem, but within a more generously sized dungeon space, it's a bit unfortunate. The other annoying thing is that, like Okami before it, you're limited by - ugh! - save points. Really, Capcom? Really??? Why can't you just institute the 'save (almost) anywhere' mechanic that Zelda has successfully done for over a decade?? So much for it being a truly portable game, as the IGN review points out. (Yes, you can always sleep the DS. Mine's doing so right now. Annoying.)
On the plus side, it's freakin' ADORABLE. Okami's not the only deity to have had young, for one thing - the baby mice that appear to give you the Power Slash ability are too cute to be believed. Drawing with a stylus is finally the right way to control the Celestial Brush (though minor niggle: you can only draw a sun in the sky and have it work upon prompting - I haven't yet succeeded in drawing a random sun and had it work.) It's cute, and the story is promising. I'm looking forward to playing it more. :)
March has been.. difficult, at times. Every so often something pops up - the books I took with me when I went home to deal with Mom's death and the repercussions thereof, the fridge magnets that she liked, singing a piece in choir that I know was one of her favorites - that, well, Don't Help. The muscle tension that I've been carrying around for the past couple of weeks creeps up another notch, and I know I'm due for a spell on Huz's shoulder. I think I'll be kind of relieved once we're well into April. OTOH, I had a curious dream in which I'd made a blouse with white material for the torso, some kind of blue fabric for one short sleeve, and some completely different blue pattern fabric for the other short sleeve. (I'd gotten them as remnants, see...) And Mom criticized my design choice when I turned up wearing the blouse. Oh yeah, and there were all kinds of button pins (smiley faces, slogans, whatever) pinned all around the collar. I did have to admit that it looked rather strange.
Work continues well! I wish there were a sink in at least one of the two rooms I spend the vast majority of the time in. It would be really nice.
I got some work done on my car this past weekend. I'd asked them to check out a faulty automatic door lock, and when the company discovered that the door lock system was an after-market, not-my-car-brand part, they apologized and said they weren't allowed to work on it. But the guy who took care of the bill was nice enough to knock $30 off of the cost of the other repairs in apology. (Yes, I'm a loyal customer!) I'd been thinking pretty darn strongly about buying Okamiden for the DS, and since it's priced at $30... well, there you go. :)
Okamiden definitely has issues. Using the D-pad to navigate in a 3D environment works, but feels rather clunky compared to the original Okami's analog stick - especially since there are real-time attacks by weak enemies who have full freedom of motion and can come at you from any direction. Having to line yourself up to attack them effectively is annoying. Relatedly, camera control is not quite nonexistent, but close; there are several areas where you CANNOT control the camera angle at all. Inside a tiny village house, this isn't a problem, but within a more generously sized dungeon space, it's a bit unfortunate. The other annoying thing is that, like Okami before it, you're limited by - ugh! - save points. Really, Capcom? Really??? Why can't you just institute the 'save (almost) anywhere' mechanic that Zelda has successfully done for over a decade?? So much for it being a truly portable game, as the IGN review points out. (Yes, you can always sleep the DS. Mine's doing so right now. Annoying.)
On the plus side, it's freakin' ADORABLE. Okami's not the only deity to have had young, for one thing - the baby mice that appear to give you the Power Slash ability are too cute to be believed. Drawing with a stylus is finally the right way to control the Celestial Brush (though minor niggle: you can only draw a sun in the sky and have it work upon prompting - I haven't yet succeeded in drawing a random sun and had it work.) It's cute, and the story is promising. I'm looking forward to playing it more. :)
