Dameon From start to finish Video

I'm going to call this an experiment, i don't know if i'll ever do it again and if i do i have no idea where i'll find music i'm allowed to post since my friend's (JPEX5) songs don't go on much longer then 6 mins and cramming over an hour into that amount of time makes things very quick.

So... for a while now i've wanted to post something on my youtube channel.
one major problem.
I'm the biggest chicken when it comes to committing to something like that...
apparently it's super easy to write shit down after watching a show and just walk away... whole different thing to actually make a video with editing and all that lovely stuff.

I figured... why not start small... i may not be comfortable appearing infront of a camera or letting you guys hear my voice yet but showing sped up versions of my process work... that shouldn't be too tricky.

First i tried live stream but the quality of the video it saves is... well it was less then stellar.
Then i did research on different programs for a week and settled on one that was a reasonable price and seemed to do what i needed it to.

now because this was an experiment i didn't want to try to do it with a piece that i knew was going to take 3 hours so i picked a bust i did a while back, i figured it would be between 1-2 hours, most likely around 1:30.

I brought it into Sai, launched the program and got to work.

Lineart: Around 30 mins
Flat colour: around 5 mins
Rendering: about 1 hour

I love when i know how long things will take.  And that wasn't me working fast, if anything i was taking my time.

Then i brought it into premier.... and remembered Premier is a piece of garbage and lamented about Final cut and how much i missed it (granted i haven't used it since i was 11 but still.... and yes i edited shit as an 11 year old... i wanted to make a movie when i was a kid so my parents let me borrow the camera after i wrote a script... then my dad taught me how to edit... i was a strange child, the movie was terrible though)

Since i didn't wanna spend any more money on this experiment just yet i brought it into Windows movie maker which pretty much worked perfectly i just need a bit more customization then it allows... but for this it was fine.

Anyways.... i've blabbed on enought... trying to put this off cause my nerves are getting the best of me once again.

For the record... this was way harder to submit then i thought it would be... but still... here you are.

(also sorry it moves around so fast... i only wanted to use the one song cause i'm silly that way)

so... yeah.... i'm gunna go curl up in a ball and pretend i never did this.
Hope you enjoy

Figure Photoshoot: Sailor Moon Mugs

i'll be honest, when i hear people talk about nostalgia i honestly do not understand what they mean. The way i hear people describe the feeling reminds me more of the stuff i like now as opposed to the stuff i enjoyed as a child.

so time to head over to dictionary.com and get a definition.

*reads it and tilts head* okay so, when i first moved across the country i felt this... but then i went back a year later and was quickly reminded that even in that short time I had changed... my friends had changed... we were no longer the same people... and that sense of homesickness or nostalgia vanished.
for the most part at least... I still refer to myself as being from there despite having lived on both sides of the country for almost equal amount of time... i think it's the view... i do miss the view quite a bit... but would i go back? no... i see that being very unlikely. still maybe that is a form of nostalgia?

I think Nostalgia (in the sense of yearning for the past) doesn't make sense to me cause most people like looking back on their childhood as a happier simpler time. I don't.

But i'm not completely unaffected by nostalgia goggles... i just react to it differently then those i know (or at least differently then i see it described by people).

The way i react to nostalgia is i'm a sucker for merchandise... you show me some cute sailor moon or cardcaptor sakura stuff and if the price is right i will eat it right up.

I know most people will defend the stuff they are nostalgic for by saying "it's a product of the time" or "you had to be there" which is fine but i also believe you have to be able to look at thing with older eyes and be willing to see the potential for flaws... you can criticize something and still enjoy it.
As an example watching sailor moon now yeah... some of the morals are a bit wrapped in 90s mentality, the animation for some of the episodes are just terrible and as the seasons go on the monsters get more and more sexualized and the majority of the monsters of the week are women or very effeminate men. Does that make the show bad? no... it just shows me i have changed a lot from when i was 7... but it does remind me that even though i loved sailor moon as i kid it wasn't perfect and that is okay.

I have a feeling i got way off topic here
here are the cute sailor moon mugs

*squeals* they are just so adorable! now that could be my version of nostalgia.... or my love of Cats... but i just think these mugs are so cute.

I was so happy when i happened to get them and for a really decent price.
however... when you look at promo stuff for them you do realize scale...
heres a pic of them next to a normal (8oz) mug

yeah.... they are a little small.
but still so cute!
i'll probably never use them (again cause they are tiny)

So yeah i guess what the long ramble was about was "i don't get nostalgia... unless nostalgia is what makes you buy cute things... then i totally get it... but i don't think that's what it's about.. .cause thats not what people talk about when they mention it so now i'm all confused and trying to figure out what it means but here are some cute mugs Yay"

Also that used to be a colour changing mug in the center... but one day my autistic brother was trying to be helpful and he did the dishes by putting things in the dishwasher... the colour changing aspect of the mug melted off and yeah... now it's just an 8-bit heart.
but thats okay i still like it and i'm always happy when my brother takes initiative and tries to be helpful.

anyways sorry to ramble... yay cute mugs~

Fusé Memoirs of a Huntress

see that accent in the title? thats the only place i will type it... yes i have the capabilities to type it in every time but i wont.
a) cause i'm stubborn
b) cause it's a pain in the ass to either switch my keyboard to french Canadian or figure out the alt shortcut.
c) cause it doesn't need to be there.

The reason that there is an accent on the E in Fuse is cause an english speaking person will most likely read it as Fuse (as in to fuse one thing to another) which isn't wrong, thats what the word is meant to be but since in japanese vowels are always pronouced a certain way (Ie. E sounds more like A) so the easiest way to convey that is with the little accent.
but it is completely unnecessary... especially since the word is meant to be fuse and the kanji for it is person and dog fused together.

to clarify: i'm not annoyed that thats how they translated the title... just annoyed at languages in general.... and figured i should explain why i'm being subborn about typing Fuse.

So... Fuse Memoirs of a Huntress is a movie released by NIS America. A little under two hours long it's about a Girl in the mountains who happens to be a huntress. After her Guardian dies she gets a letter from her brother asking for her to come join him in Edo.
deciding that it would be better to be with her remaining family she heads out.
the problem is that she can't read or write so when she gets lost she immediately gets lost.
after wandering around for a bit she happens to bump into a man with white hair and red eyes.... and he promptly steals her gun so she follows him to get it back.
this fate encounter is what the rest of the story is based on.
between being mistaken for a boy constantly she also learns about this Fuse hunt.... humans who can change into Dogs... they kill without discrimination to consume human essence and her brother called her to town thinking her skills could earn them money.

however after they manage to hunt one down, she realizes that they may not be the monsters everyone describes them as. She is conflicted about how she has spent her life and how she will spend the rest of it.

The good:
it's a very pretty film... the character designs aren't the prettiest but consideringthe setting and story it all works.
the music and voice acting is all very good. Hiroshi Kamiya is in it for a little so that always is good in my books.
The story while a bit long and extremely japanese wasn't difficult for someone like me who knows a little about some japanese Myths/stories (mainly Hakkenden in this case)... they tell you everything you need to know to get the gist of the underlying story. if you know a bit more about the story in question you do get a little more from it but it's not essential which is very impressive.

the not so good:
it's a little long and common with Japanese films they have a different sense of pacing then a western audience does so some things that could have used more focus are quick and other things that could be a bit shorter are long.

The lost in translation:
damn there are a lot of cultural references and i'm positive i didn't get them all so i'm sure i missed something. so yeah you may need some external learning to enjoy everything.

that being said i did enjoy it quite a bit. NISA boxsets are just so lovely and i am happy to add another one to my collection.

the only way i think you can watch it is by owning the blue ray so here is the link.

but yeah it's a very sweet movie...
you know what other sweet movie i'd love to see NIS America put out?
Hotarubi no Mori e.
i know it's only 40 mins.... i would throw all my money at them if they did this (not that i don't already throw a lot of money at them... i mean... Nagi Asu, Eccentric family, pilots love song, cardcaptor sakura, toradora dub.... just take all my money...)

but yeah, good movie.

[Edit] Atelier Meruru Plus: The Apprentice of Arland

Scroll down for the Edit

even though Arland is just a kinda side note in this particular game...

Also if thats the bad end... well it wasn't as bad as i expected? *gets to after the credits bit* Hey! i really did work hard game... no need to be such a jerk about it *pouts*
My stats by end game

AKA: i suck at getting people to come into my town... i don't know what i was doing wrong... i felt like i was doing all the Dev quests but apparently not good enough... i think part of the problem was i didn't use the Homs as well as i could have... and i didn't get the travelers shoes till pretty much end game...

well that and one other thing... but i'll get into that later.

Meruru is the Princess of Arls, but being a princess is boring and dumb and they are going to merge with Arland in 5 years anyways! So why bother with all those silly royal teachings.... it's dumb and stuff.
That all changes when Totori, an alchemist comes to town... suddenly Meruru wants to be a world famous alchemist too...
great, but her butler and dad have one condition.
She has to get 100 000 people to join the town (which i think starts out at like.... 1000) before they merge with Arland

me: oh i can do that. (spoilers no i can't)

The good:
The game is similar to Totori but a lot of stuff has been streamlined and the presence of the overarching goal is always in your face, you don't have to wait for a silly little random event to move the plot forward.

the map is a bit smaller... or at least it comes out in full circles more. which i liked.
it also doesn't just throw a million new places at you off the bat, you actually have to go and clear the area before you can move onto the next which was welcome cause in totori it was way too easy to find yourself outmatch by everything.

The alchemy is better explained and also has more stats (at least that i noticed) so again... nice to know what chance i will have of being successful.

There are a lot of familiar (and may i add very pretty) faces, I was so happy that i got to pick between 4 pretty boys. There were more characters? okay well Totori is actually pretty Over powered if you have her staff from having a totori save file on your game... not that i'm complaining since her presence was really nice until Sterk arrived and then she was booted from the party so quickly.

The character development for almost everyone (more on this in a bit) is really good... i particularly adore the banter between Rufus and Sterk.

The not so good:
The music... what the hell happened? i mean some song are good, but the song for undeveloped areas and caves? made me want to turn off the game. I loved ALL the music in totori so for me to dislike most of it in this game really confused me.... ugh the tutorial music was probably the worst.... that the recorder (as in the instrument) away from the composer.

The difficulty... this game is both insanely easy and stupid hard... the battle system is way better then Totori... like leaps and bounds better.... but the progression of gettign people is so hard, most quests only give you 10 points for beating them... you pretty much need 100 to get anything done and that only tends to net you 1000 people.... again the goal is 100 000
if you beat some bosses they get you 80-100 pts but they aren't easily... i couldn't do any damage to the end... and the dragon in the volcano also went undefeated by me.
 Some quests do give you more people upon completion but it's usually 250-500.

you do gain people over time if you are popular though... so you have to do tavern quests... which net you money but no points... most of the time i just did the report now stuff and picked a few hunts that i knew would be in the area i was going.

The Frustraiting:
i wont say it's bad but when i found out i was annoyed.
okay so in Totori the way i played was i would synthesize till i was out of mana, then i would go explore till my bag was full or my health was low... then i would go back to the workshop and Synthesize... repeat.
I could pull this off cause I'm pretty sure while i was at the cauldren i got health back slowly... if she didn't she would get health and mp back with walking to destinations... i think i rested 3 days with totori until i found out i could do that.... yeah not the case with meruru.
she doesn't gain health when synthing..... and it feels like she doesn't gain mp or health with walking... you HAVE to rest (or what i'm going to do this time and have a Hom making something with MP recovery) well resting takes time away from getting people into town and yeah... very very very annoying.

The bad:
Meruru.... i didn't hate her... but i sure didn't like her.
every single line is either her whining or telling more interesting characters not to fight or being the dumbest person in this entire game...
she was a princess obsessed with the outside world and then alchemy and then who cares about developing her further, she's only getting more people into town cause if she doesn't then her dad wont let her be an alchemist.
even her bad end... she isn't mad at herself for failing.. .she's resting in bed bored that no one has given her a more direct goal... she doesn't think "not going to let that stop me from making this kingdom... erm... republic the best it can possibly be."
She is nowhere near as interesting as Totori... maybe the normal end or true end have her a bit more developed but that apathetic bad end didn't leave me feeling like "next time i'll do better so she doesn't have to feel sad"

Will i play again?
maybe? i technically don't feel like i beat it... yes i play through the entire game but i didn't win.... also when i realized i couldn't win i started making equips as stupidly powerful as i could manage in the little time i had left... so mentally i was telling myself this isn't over yet.
but i may take a glance at a guide to see the pace i'm supposed to be working at.... cause my pace was no good.
and yeah lots of MP and HP recovery... screw resting.

I did like the game, i really did but so far even with all the improvement i think i enjoyed Totori more.
Also i just heard today that we are going to get Rorona plus... so yeah i'll get to play the game that started off this trillogy.... and more sterk.... yay~

hopefully i get to play other gust games too in the future... may cave and get a ps3 if i can find it cheap. (i don't wanna spend too mcuh when i know i am getting a ps4 eventually)

[EDIT] 

So i originally 'beat' this game on May 6, it's May 10th now and i managed to get a proper ending.
not the ending i was hoping to get but i'll discuss why in a bit.

First somethings i noticed in my first play through that i completely forgot to mention
for the most part the music isn't terribly good.... but as you progress through the game some areas get better and better music with more orcestraition and it's a nice way to show growth over time.

Okay so i have a confession.
I didn't play much differently this time in comparison to my first time playing.
Instead i relied on massively overpowered equipment and a few basket upgared that i'm positive are the reason i beat the game this time... mainly the travellers shoes. the amount of time you save is key to actually winning the game. I did go back and forth less then my other play through but again thats cause i didn't take any damage while adventuring so i didn't have to go back.
but otherwise the only thing i did differently was get the homs to do almost all my work (except devs cause they can't do those)
my alchemy level was terrible but i was able to make it work in the end.

but i am still annoyed.
i was really close to getting true ending but i couldn't beat this final boss area which i'm pretty sure is nessicary both for points and items you get
so when i went for a different ending i failed in getting that... then i went for the hot-spring ending and i didn't have enough points.
in the end i got the rich nation ending which is okay but yeah thats was a lot of work.

i did manage to get 2 character endings... so that was pretty fun

all in all i still think Totori is better story wise but this game does some things pretty well
i do look forward to rorona in july even if it means i may need a new memory card.

i wanna trying playing muramasa rebirth again but i don't know if my wrist is ready for it... so yeah may be mostly talking about anime in the future.

anyways as you can tell it's a pretty quick game but what i would suggest is getting to a point where yo ucan make basket equips , make the shoes and secret bag an maybe the gloves and then get the bad ending and play from the begginning with those bonuses... it really did help.

Figure Photoshoot: Returning a name

so, we have established i like Natsume's book of friends a little too much
ok good..
so not too long ago (at least from writing this, it'll post two weeks later so... yeah) i saw a really nice figure of a pose i haven't seen Takashi do... well kinda.
there is another figure of him about to return a name but this is him actually giving it back with all the wind effects and whatnot.
and to make it that much more pretty his Kimono is red... which is my favorite colour if you couldn't tell

BTW Nintendo friend code: 2750-1325-2848
Vita friend thingy: Raichana (cause i'm super creative like that *sarcastic*)

But yeah i saw the preview and i knew i wanted this figure and then when i saw it for a decent price i scooped it right up.
and it was so worth it.... even with the terrible CAD to Yen conversion.

i just love the movement, the post, the pop of colour... this figure makes me watch to sculpt something. it's just so pretty (at least in my opinion but again we have established i like this show a little too much... making these post has made me wanna rewatch even though i just rewatched a month ago)

some detail shots~ I especially love the gold detailing on the Kimono, just makes me happy.

i did try taking a picture from the other angle but it just didn't look as nice as these ones.
but this next shot is my fav of the batch.

okay now i need to stop grinning like a fool.
next will either be mugs or a nendo... not sure yet. i do hope you enjoy these pictures (even though it really does show i enjoy this too much... oh well)

Atelier Totori Plus: The Adventurer of Arland

I don't think it would have changed anything but i was so damn close to beating this one big bad boss and ugh... ran out of time.

But i'm getting ahead of myself.

So There is a sale going on to celebrate golden week and quite a few games i wanted to try were on the list.

I had played another gust game and even though i loved it to bits it was glitchy as hell and i worried the other hand held gust games would share it's fate.
Still there were two games in the same series there.
just cause i like shortening stupid long titles... i had to pick between Totori and Meruru.
i knew there was a third game in the series but ithasn't come out here on vita yet (though hopefully soon?)
i had no idea what order the games were in and one of my friends told me to get Meruru, he felt it was the better (or perhaps less stressful) of the two available titles.
so then i went to twitter and mentioned i was on the fence about it and @TaylorsShelf told me that if i were new to the series i would probably enjoy Totori more as it was his fav of the series.
I then mentioned that i kinda wanted to play them in order (which again... i didn't know) and he told me Totori was actually before meruru.
oh.... well don't i feel like a dummy.

So i got Totori (which the title always looked like sotori, i dunno the first t looks odd [nitpicking]) and started playing.
well... i started playing like.... an hour later, the problem with DL only titles (especially RPGs) is that they are really big and my connection is great for being wired... not so great for wifi.
so i played the other game i got... hurt my wrist a bit but bought time to start playing Totori.

and it was just a wave of happiness when i turned it on.
It had most of the stuff i remember loving from Mana Khemia. it had a similar look (well it's a bit more moe) and sound and just overall feel.
the alchemy was great (though some of my fav features from MK were not there) the story was good and the pace felt very natural.

It wasn't perfect, i hate to break it to you gust but breast do not jiggle like that... also some of the costume choices were just... odd... i dunno of anyone who would wear a translucent skirt. (theres quite a bit of... odd sexualization of characters but it's almost entirely limited to the still art, the extra loading screen image probably being the worst of what i saw [and you have to beat the game to see it], so if your uncomfortable with that then just be warned before you jump into the title.)
but if my biggest complaints are stupid visual crap then i am really grasping at straws.
well i do have another complaint.
that stupid timer.... why... why does it need to exist... MK had a timer too but... i dunno if felt more regimented so i never was freaking out on "am i doing the right thing? do i need to be triggering something else? why isn't sterk in my party yet" (he was easily my fav but you don't get the extension.)
ok one more complaint.
the combat...
but not the combat... more like... i would go into an area and be like "cool they look small and cute and i can probably win-- oh they are murdering me... damn... ok retreat!"
then i would go into a different area and it would be "oh no thats a pallet swap of the thing that murdered me..." so yeah i was really diligent about getting better weapons and armor but i never felt like i was getting stronger or accurately able to judge if an area was too tough.
so when i was facing evil smile and it was just.... not even funny how little damage i did to him cause i barely trained cause i hated fighting cause i couldn't find a good way to do it.... and besides the alchemy was more fun.

Still the story is basically Totori is the daughter of a great adventurer who vanished many years ago. she wants to follow in moms footsteps and even find her since she had to be alive somewhere.
this means becoming an adventurer, however Totori is fairly week and her only good point is that she is an alchemist. with help from friends she goes on her adventure.

now there are two... well i guess three time limits.
1. you have to not sleep through the day that you are supposed to leave down to get your license (i wanna restart the game just to see this with my own eyes...) but i wont realyl count it cause you would have to actually know to sleep through it.

2. once you get your permit you must hit a certain rank in 3 years. if you fail you get your license taken away and you get the bad ending.

3. after getting an extension you have to up your license again (though not really? looking at the conditions for the normal and true ending maybe that has nothing to do with anything anymore) and you also really need to start figuring out what happened to you mom, if you fail to do that in 2 years it's bad ending.

I ended up getting the normal ending and after looking at the requierments for the true ending.... i don't see how that would be possible without a guide.

but dammit i'm curious! the normal ending was fine but kinda lack luster... and i love to the big boss of the game with 3 days before games end so there was no way of getting strong enough in time.

The problem with me is that even if new glam plus is added (and it is though you only keep money and equipment) i almost never replay a game.
ever.
the only reason Ys is an exception is cause every time i replayed it was either part of the game or on a different system (ys 1&2 on ds vs Computer; ys3 on psp vs computer; ys origins cause you have to beat it three times so i guess that doesn't count)
i don't know why but when i'm done i wanna move on to the next thing in the pile. i don't know if this game is going to be any different... but i kinda want to try again... ugh i'm just conflicted cause i'm worried the true end (and subsequently the shop and chim and character ends) wont be worth it... i'm sure they will be.... but i did already buy meruru and i kinda wanna give it a try.

Still... in the end i love this game, it's extremly cute and bright and colourful and even though it has some darker moments it's pretty upbeat for an RPG.
there is a bit of randomness to the game which kinda sucks... you have to hope things will trigger and doing that without a guide is tricky.... i got very close to getting 1 character ending. but i died to the thing that would haveing given me the last event.
but you have to do that for 6 characters, 2 shops and the chims (which i never figured out how to make more of... i had water of life but yeah... only ever had the one) in order to get true end and yeah... unlikely that i will have that kind of patience. (because i am lazy)

Okay... i'm rambling cause i'm tired and it's getting late.
if you are curious about the game i say give it a try, the sale price is 20 bucks and after it goes back to 40 i still think it's worth it.
I personal had the most fun making weapons since it was just me going "how many status debuffs can i fit onto one piece of metal (well 5 is the max but you have to actually watch for things to be able to add everything you want) and at one point i actually managed to make Totori a tank, nothing did any damage, i lost effectiveness by games end but it was great while it lasted.
oh well, i'll probably starrt playing Meruru in the morning. *sighs* this is the problem with not working for the moment... too much time on my hands for video games... i feel so unproductive sometimes.

Saving Mr. Banks

stupid movie making me tear up in front of my family... there is nothing that i hate more then crying in front of others...

anyways the main thing i wanna mention is that i enjoyed the way the film was told.... but i found the story of how the book was pulled from real life events far more interesting then the making of the film adaptation. I find the idea of "writing what you know" to be a fascinating one especially when it's applied to a more fantastical setting.

Also listening to her read through the script.... it made my entire family cringe cause we all have read many scripts and some of us have even written a few.

The acting is wonderful but i mean when you have that many talented people it's impossible to go wrong.

my only issue is the portrayal of the writer of the book.... i'm sure in real life she was probably worse but wow... they do not make her very likeable. they try, they try really hard but she really does just come across as mean half the time.  so it makes the ending feel a bit... unresolved? it's hard to explain.

actually i do have one other issue but it's not with the film
The trailer gives away everything
the best lines
the major plot points
everything.

Please, if you ever make a trailer, don't give a point by point version of the plot... you want to have people be intrigued by what they see, you want them to want to know more.
if you tell them everything in a 2-5 minute trailer then they will just wait to see it cheaper cause 12-25 bucks to go to a movie theater (hell where i live they try to claim that 30+ per ticket just to have VIP seating and booze is worth it) is just too expensive.

Did i like the movie? Yep, not planning to watch it again but i enjoyed it.
If you like Mary Poppins or Disney in general then you'll probably find the story interesting (even if it's most likely romanticized) and you may even get a few laughs.

so yeah see it if you get the chance.