More Last of Us.

I am starting to get a glimpse of how great the characters are in this game. We're at the beginning of Joel and Ellie's bonding and I'm excited to see what is to come. Meanwhile Bill was a fleeting character, but nonetheless a memorable one.

Sadly the difficulty of the game is still holding back my enjoyment of the experience, somewhat. I mean crafting is fun, especially now Joel's all kitted out with holsters all over the place and he's got shotguns, arrows and 2x4s all strapped to his back but I'm starting to appreciate and even enjoy navigating through levels without raising a finger as the game is so fucking hard when it comes to being forced to fight. About the only real satisfaction I get from fighting is the power of the bow and arrow as a stealth weapon.

Honestly, the little glimpses into Joel's life in the twenty years since the cold open is probably the only truly fresh part of this game. If I was to have one truly major flaw with the title other than the punishing difficulty is just how bland and generic it all is. It throws twists at every angle and pretty much all of them have already been seen before, and in games and movies I already love. Maybe it wants to be a homage, but it isn't doing a great job, especially with the hype around it.

last night in preparation for the new sailor moon anime I decided to go back to playing Sailor Moon: Another Story on the SNES emulator since the only way to play it in English is via the fan translation. I had a save file for it already, but its been way too frackin long since I last played, so I started a new save file. plus, I had forgotten the story and how to use the sailor senshi in various combos and such, so it was just easier to start over instead of figuring stuff out from the old chapter 4 save file.

Been working on both Kirby Triple Deluxe and Mega Man Xtreme on the 3DS. So far I have the Copy Room for KTD and am struck filling up Sub Tanks in MMXtreme since energy drops are RARE for some reason in this game.

When I have time I'll recharge the 3DS and play some more. They're great games.

I've been playing Mario kart 7 with my friends in preparation for Mario kart 8.
Gonna use Peach in that game just like 7.

The awkwardness of the controls kinda killed the fun of it, despite how great the story is. Seriously, the stealth portions of the game are frustrating because of that.

I've been playing Zelda Wind Waker HD, it is amazing. Never played the original, but I really love the Wii U upgrade!

Well, finally got around to playing the Citadel DLC for Mass Effect 3.

It all feels VERY different from the rest of the game and DLCs. You can tell everyone involved really wanted to give the cast, and series, a grand sendoff. Everything from the interactions between characters to the callbacks to events and one-off jokes from all the way back in 1, it's all handled with care and hits you right in the emotion organs.

So i restarted Professor layton and the last specter and haven't really played the first chapter yet.
I finished the prologue chapter.

Another work week is over so I can sit down and enjoy some more Last of Us.

The brief moments of peace where you can just discover the world with Ellie are entertaining. I originally hated the level design where it was basically a linear corridor disguised as an open space but those rooms with "nothing" in them eventually become prompts for dialogue exchanges which show the growth of Joel and Ellie as characters and the growth of their bond also.

World and character building are clearly the games focus. One sequence finds Joel and Ellie witnessing the brutal murder of two civilians, unlike all the toku I watch Joel isn't meant to be a hero and as such he tells Ellie there is "nothing they can do" and they simply watch. Likewise though, the Hunters that murder the civilians simply see the people, and the killing, as really no different than perusing a supermarket.

In another moment I was being chased through alleyways by Hunters and some military grade machine gun. Blasting my way forwards to the next bit of cover, there was a moment where a Hunter pleaded with me to stop shooting, and I didn't even think before I fired my next shot which killed him.

These moments both paint a vivid picture of the Last of Us world, and how different it is from ours, despite existing in the shell of the familiar. All of this was done through play too, there was no need to prerender these or ground them in some paragon system. It is able to make you think about moral choices and care about what you're doing by appealing to you as a human, not by offering shiny incentives. I really dig that.

Even the difficulty didn't seem as bad as I remembered it being. The stealth is still clunky, the odds are still unfairly overwhelming but for some reason the checkpoint system now doesn't make me restart whole conflicts? I wonder if the game adapted to me struggling.

There's a few reasons I like the ninja job in Bravely Default. One of those reasons being the design of the costume for Tiz.
http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2...FFtizninja.jpg
As you can see the oni mask almost looks like a certain imagin.