Dropped: Gurumin - A Monsterous Adventure

well.... i can't say for certain (because i haven't tried Zwei or it's redundant sequel Zwei 2) but it seems like the only Falcom games i enjoyed are Ys and Legend of heroes (including the kiseki spin off that ditch the LoH part of the title)
Brandish literally gave me an anxiety attack and reminded me why i hate grid based dungeon crawlers and Roguelikes by mashing the two together
and now Gurumin has given me a massive headache... granted thats only minorly the games fault.

For whatever reason when i played it it started to flicker... at first it was like once a minute... i turned it off once it hit ever 15 seconds.
however i did experience enough of the game to base an opinion on.

So Gurumin is about a girl who sees monsters and since she desperately wants friends she follows them to her village (which is litterally on the other side of a hole in a wall)
one of the firends gets kidnapped and you go save him in the tutorial level... but then when you get back oh no the monster town is destroyed.

thats as far as i got before the headache said stop.

It's interesting that it's a fully voice acted game... but unfortunately it just reminded me of a really floaty 3d Zelda.
Full disclosure: I love the story and music when it comes to zelda... but the controls/combat/gameplay make me want to throw things out windows. so a floaty version of that just sounds like hell to me. i mean... taking a game i already don't like playing and making it worse.... nope.

But still it's pretty cool that Falcom did a far more kid focused game cause... well In Ys adol eats gods for breakfast and LoH... well lets just say that when i saw pixelated blood around a certain character in a tear of vermilion i was more then a little surprised... not to mention that half the stuff in trails would go over a kids head.
However this isn't the best attempt in my opinion cause wow is it trying too hard. "i'm so hip and cool, look at these dancing monsters"
There was a mechanic i was curious about when i saw screen shots because theres like a music bar on the top and i wondered if it was going to be like a rhythm combat game... would Gurumin be Falcom's answer to Rhapsody?
no... it just determines when you get a crit.
Also the music (so far) in this game sucks... i know Falcom Sound Team is better then this... and considering music seems to be such an important part i'm kinda annoyed that the music is as terrible as it is.
like it's not Ys 3 abandoned mine bad but it's not far off.  

In conclusion, i bought it on a whim cause i like falcom and didn't know what to expect and it ended up not being my cup of tea.
If you find Zelda too grounded or difficult maybe give this a try (though honestly despite my great distaste for playing zelda i made it more then 30 mins in.. can't say the same for this) but otherwise i can't really recommend it since it didn't appeal to me in any way shape of fashion.

Go play Ys instead.

I am a bit sad... this was supposed to last till Cold steel came out... okay i guess i will just have to tackle something else on my backlog.
Like vesperia
or SMT IV
or Moonlight witch... yeah i'll probably go with that.... stick to the Legend of heroes theme (even if the ghargav trilogy has little to nothing (so far) to do with the Kiseki line.
though i really should go with Vesperia....
oh i also have Fire emblem on Wii (the second one... can't remember subtitle right now)
i'll play something... probably.

Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky The Animation

About 2 years ago Right stuff had The Legend of Heroes anime on sale for like... 5 bucks.
even though at this point there was very little hope of it actually coming out... still i needed to bump up my order past the Min for international free shipping... and i seem to be determined to have all the Falcom Anime.

So i got it and i looked at it and said "no... i will not watch this until SC is out and i've beaten it." even if that meant never watching it.

Well yesterday morning i beat the game and i was going to watch it right away but i started running a fever and i figured... watch it later when i'm feeling better.

So this morning i woke up and felt worse and said Screw it... i've owned the dvd for 2 years... i'm watching it fever be damned.

So i look at the back.
81 minutes.
....
First chapter took me around 40 hours
Second Chapter took me just under 61 hours.
how do you cram 100+ hours of story into just over an hour.

Short answer... you don't.

The anime starts at the very end of First chapter (which is fine other then the fact that if you know nothing about this series then you have no idea who those characters are doing what they are doing and why it matters) and ends about halfways through Second chapter.

[major spoiler character] doesn't even show up... never even mentioned.
the best character (in my opinion) from the game... never seen.
[final conflict] never even hinted at...
yet the image on the disk and the main menu image... well lets just say it happens later.

Normally for anime adaptations of games you do need to be a fan.... for this adaptation i would argue that you need to have played both games to enjoy it... cause it will make no sense otherwise.

You know what would have been amazing? if this was a 2 cour show where there first 13 episodes were First chapter (or at least the first 8-10) and then the rest was second chapter. it would have worked really well and shown more of the lore.... and more of the major characters.

and yeah i was looking forward to this because the other falcom anime are really good.
granted.... Ys 1 anime is as long (if not longer) then a playthrough of the game.... and Ys 2 anime is probably the best use of showing the source myth in the series...

so i guess... the shorter the game the longer the anime?

Did i enjoy the anime? yeah.... the music was great and it made me laugh a lot but it's just going at breakneck speed to try and cram in the 30 hours it depicts.

But again... you can't enjoy it (hell i would argue you wouldn't understand anything) if you haven't played the games... so if you are curious first get these

Trails in the Sky First Chapter
Trails in the Sky Second Chapter

then you can look at getting the anime.
In fact just get those games anyways... they are good.

Ok time to pump myself full of cold medicine and sleep until i feel better.... Or try playing Gurumin... whichever my feverish brain lets me accomplish.

Trails in the Sky: Second Chapter

First:
Even though i know that no one on the Localization team will read this i have to say something with all my heart.
Thank you.
I had given up hope that this game would ever come out.
It was so big... it was released far past the PSP's lifespan in North America. the odds were against it... but now that i have not only had a chance to play it but actually beat it.... i'm just so happy it actually came out.

Second:
Falcom... stop making me emotional about harmonicas
in fact stop making me cry altogether... while i only got teary about 3 times i ended up with tears streaming down my face during at least 4 different parts.

Third:
I'm going to do my best not to spoil a thing... which means i can't say much of anything plotwise... so lets start this.

Trails in the sky Second chapter is about what happens the next morning after the events of First Chapter.
We follow Estelle Bright as she travels the land to try and help the people of liberl while also dealing with a shadowy organization.

yeah thats about... all i can say... well besides play the first one.. it deals with Estelle becoming a Bracer in order to protect the people of Liberl.

Quick story time,
due to the spoilery nature of the entire game I was getting a little frustrated that i couldn't talk about the game with friends (mostly because the friends who have already played it don't really wanna talk about plot elements). one day after a really... uh... swearing enduced plot twist happened i couldn't hold back anymore, i found the link on GOG and told my friend she should play this game.
Expecting a "whats it about" or "why" i was thinking of how i would convince her.
Her reply was "Sure"
so apparently all i needed to do was let people know... i guess thats a lesson i needed to learn.

Anyways back to Second chapter... I do want to talk about one character in particular.

Kevin.
Oh boy i adore Kevin.
I would love if Kevin got his own game.... he could go around with a nun (preferably with pinkish hair)
you could call it Trails in the Sky: The Third...
...
Ok so i don't want to be one of those people who are like "great thanks for SC.... wheres the third?"
I honestly thought i didn't care if the third never came out before i played this game... but i really love Kevin. I want to know his story and i know the chance of The Third coming out are slim to none... but still i think i will hold onto that slight hope.
Also just in the game Kevin was the best character... i thought it defensive crafts and s-break along with weak strength would make him useless but he saved me more then once... every time i could use him in my party i did.
If i had to pick a plot i liked as much as Estelle's story... it would be kevin...
*sighs*
oh well... i don't want to be greedy... i mean i want to be greedy but i don't want to get my hopes up for something that has such a small chance of being localized.
but... i will hold out that tiny hope (i mean the Vita Version was just announced... i can dream)

but yeah in the end this was my end time.

I believe FC was about 45, i would have to check my PSP... so yeah the games are huge and just packed with story.

I really loved every moment of the game, i adore all the characters and picking who i wanted in my party (aside from Kevin) was always a chore.. cause i just wanted everyone.

If you haven't played Trails in the Sky and you like JRPGs I highly recommend it... but start with the first one
https://www.gog.com/game/the_legend_of_heroes_trails_in_the_sky
It is also Available on PSN

Now i get to wait about a month till Trails of Cold Steel comes out...
and I can't even begin to describe how excited i am for it.

for now i figure i have a huge backlog of art to work on... also i need to draw some Fanart for trails.
Should be fun.

Edit:

. . .
Well that was unexpected...
Still I meant every word... i loved every second... I love that i'm getting my friends into playing it...
so once again Thanks you...

but seriously i didn't expect anyone to read it...

Anthem of the Heart

So it's nearly 1 AM... and normally i would write these the next morning cause i'm just too tired to bother....
However.
After the film we went to a Izakaya... which was delicious... however i am quite severely allergic to MSG.... which is pretty prevalent in most japanese/chinese/korean cuisine (At least in North America)
it didn't used to be this bad but a few years ago i went MSG toxic... which is like a sever hangover/fever that lasts days... ever since then i can't stomach the stuff at all.
However that experience taught me that putting a little cream of tartar in water and just drinking it down helps absorbe the MSG... so while i'm drinking my disgusting water... i can talk about the film.

Now i don't know why this film got treated the way it did in Canada but it was a little annoying.
There were only two showings for the entire country.... and we didn't get any freebies.
Also the theater was apparently sold out despite the fact that there were plenty of empty seats.

This film is made by the same Director as Ano Hana (aka oh god the tears) so i was expecting to be a bit misty eyed.... cause i'm the easiest person to make cry during a movie or book or game.
and while some moments tugged at my feelings nothing made me cry... nothing even made me teary...
This is just the definition of a feel good movie.

Without spoiling anything the film is about a girl who can't speak because when she does it causes her great pain... however singing seems to be okay.
Working together with a slpped together group they all work together to help make a community project a success.

And yeah i really enjoyed it.... best movie ever? no but just so much "feel good energy" where i would say if you have the chance to see it take it... i believe pretty much all the screenings end tonight or tomorrow though... so you may have to wait for a physical release.

The animation was lovely (i mean A-1 Pictures tends to have stunning animation no matter what) and very emotive. The music was great especially if you like musicals/classical music.... the final song being stunning on so many levels. The voice acting was solid... yeah i can't say i have any complaints about the film (other then only the one showing... and it wasn't terribly close)

oh well my gross water is done.... hopefully i don't get sick cause i do not have time for that right now... but yeah go watch it and feel good.

then go watch Ano Hana and cry..... then some toradora since thats the same director as well...