Bad days and good weekends
Nov. 14th, 2007 03:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
missroseroseSo last Friday ended up being sort of an awful day. Part of it was spending most of the day in a state somewhere between denial and anger over the waterboarding thing, which sort of surprised me - I'm not the sort of person to fume over things for long periods. In this case, I think it might not have even been the torture so much as a general sense of helplessness over the entire debacle. Sure, I can post in my blog and I can tell people how pissed I am and I can write my congressperson, but exactly how far does any of that go? I have no power to start impeachment proceedings against the President (or anyone else involved) for violations of human rights, and those that do have that power are too busy picking at their toenails or arguing over highway funding or otherwise avoiding their constituents' eyes right now. All I can do is vote, and trust me when I say this next election can't come fast enough.
Other than that, I'd been putting the long distance billing off all week (yes, I know they told me last month was supposed to be the last time I'd have to do it by hand...guess that all got put off another month), so I had to work on that the whole day, and we all know how good of a mood that puts me in. Then, just for the cherry on the cake, I got a statement in the mail from Bartlett Hospital saying that I owed them another $174 for my Grand and Exciting Hospital Adventure, despite them saying before that insurance had already paid them and my account was zeroed out. (Further telephone investigation said that Premera had requested a refund, which the hospital was then passing on to me, but the person who could give me details wasn't in, and would I mind leaving a message so they could call me back? Which they didn't.) And none of this was helped by inadvertently missing lunch.
So on the whole, I was feeling pretty crappy by the end of the day. Fortunately, Brian took me to El Sombrero (the local Mexican place with the excellent salsa) where I devoured a basket of chips, two dishes of salsa and an entire burrito plate. After which I felt much better.
Deciding not to let any of that ruin my weekend, I proceeded to buy Eternal Sonata, a game I've been eyeing for a while, now. I've got to say that I'm fairly impressed so far. The only real negatives I've come across have had to do with the character design; the huge-eyed anime "Precious Moments" style is almost gratingly cutesy. In addition, Polka's voice actor uses a disgustingly saccharine-sweet tone; think Snow White with an extra dose of Sweet 'N' Low. Fortunately, once you're past the beginning of the story you don't hear as much from her, so it mostly fades into the background.
Those nitpicks aside, the game is enjoyable for numerous reasons. First and foremost is the art direction - the environments in which these characters interact are just amazingly detailed. Everything's rendered in a beautifully bright color palette, and while after playing Oblivion it feels strange to be unable to move the camera around, the backgrounds and surrounding areas are so beautifully detailed that you can forgive the designers for being unable to do a three-dimensional worldview. Because really, the playable areas need to be seen to be believed. I could link you to screenshots, but they don't do them justice. What makes them so beautiful is the constantly-shifting touches - the way the dappled sunlight through the trees moves as the leaves move, or the way a little chipmunk scurries across the roots of a tree on one side of the screen, or the dandelion seeds floating through the air. Backtracking is usually something I avoid at all costs in Japanese-style RPGs, but it's almost a joy in this game just to see the same area in different weather, or during a different time of day. The vivid colors and use of light and beautiful naturalistic style make the whole setting feel like an Impressionist painting come to life - which, I'm sure, was the point.
Equally detailed, if somewhat more whimsical, are the costume designs for the characters. I especially like Chopin's coat and top hat combination; I'm sort of tempted to make a Chopin outfit to wear at PAX next year, though all the little brass fittings would be somewhat tricky.
I should also mention the music - while Chopin's music does feature prominently in certain parts, the original score is a lovely complement to the game's sweeping visuals.
As for the gameplay, it does a remarkably good job of combining traditional J-RPG elements with a more modern, action-oriented battle system, the latter of which in a lot of ways feels like a much more fleshed-out version of what the system in Kingdom Hearts was trying to achieve - rather than lending itself to button-mashing, it requires some forethought to allow for best use of resources. But everything is more or less easy to use; it's just a matter of remembering which button to push when.
Gaming aside, the long weekend was nice, and I got the various issues from the previous week taken care of on Tuesday. The rest of the week looks pretty clear, and then next week Brian and I are headed to Anchorage to see my mum over Thanksgiving. So I'm feeling much better about things on the whole.
Also, my coworker David was in Seattle over the weekend and brought me back a copy of the Best-Buy-exclusive 31-track release of the soundtrack to Across the Universe. (The major release was missing two of the songs, and while you could get the whole thing on iTunes, I prefer purchasing physical albums for reasons I'm sure I've mentioned before.) I'd asked him to get it for me on Friday because I found myself wanting to listen to it, despite thinking before that it wasn't a movie I'd watch again. I'm halfway thinking that I might have been wrong, there - for some reason, the music (and visuals) have insinuated themselves in my mind as the cinematic equivalent of comfort food. Maybe it's the archetypal nature of the story, or the familiarity of the music, or something, but I might well pick it up to watch on days when I need reassuring that things will be okay.
Other than that, I'd been putting the long distance billing off all week (yes, I know they told me last month was supposed to be the last time I'd have to do it by hand...guess that all got put off another month), so I had to work on that the whole day, and we all know how good of a mood that puts me in. Then, just for the cherry on the cake, I got a statement in the mail from Bartlett Hospital saying that I owed them another $174 for my Grand and Exciting Hospital Adventure, despite them saying before that insurance had already paid them and my account was zeroed out. (Further telephone investigation said that Premera had requested a refund, which the hospital was then passing on to me, but the person who could give me details wasn't in, and would I mind leaving a message so they could call me back? Which they didn't.) And none of this was helped by inadvertently missing lunch.
So on the whole, I was feeling pretty crappy by the end of the day. Fortunately, Brian took me to El Sombrero (the local Mexican place with the excellent salsa) where I devoured a basket of chips, two dishes of salsa and an entire burrito plate. After which I felt much better.
Deciding not to let any of that ruin my weekend, I proceeded to buy Eternal Sonata, a game I've been eyeing for a while, now. I've got to say that I'm fairly impressed so far. The only real negatives I've come across have had to do with the character design; the huge-eyed anime "Precious Moments" style is almost gratingly cutesy. In addition, Polka's voice actor uses a disgustingly saccharine-sweet tone; think Snow White with an extra dose of Sweet 'N' Low. Fortunately, once you're past the beginning of the story you don't hear as much from her, so it mostly fades into the background.
Those nitpicks aside, the game is enjoyable for numerous reasons. First and foremost is the art direction - the environments in which these characters interact are just amazingly detailed. Everything's rendered in a beautifully bright color palette, and while after playing Oblivion it feels strange to be unable to move the camera around, the backgrounds and surrounding areas are so beautifully detailed that you can forgive the designers for being unable to do a three-dimensional worldview. Because really, the playable areas need to be seen to be believed. I could link you to screenshots, but they don't do them justice. What makes them so beautiful is the constantly-shifting touches - the way the dappled sunlight through the trees moves as the leaves move, or the way a little chipmunk scurries across the roots of a tree on one side of the screen, or the dandelion seeds floating through the air. Backtracking is usually something I avoid at all costs in Japanese-style RPGs, but it's almost a joy in this game just to see the same area in different weather, or during a different time of day. The vivid colors and use of light and beautiful naturalistic style make the whole setting feel like an Impressionist painting come to life - which, I'm sure, was the point.
Equally detailed, if somewhat more whimsical, are the costume designs for the characters. I especially like Chopin's coat and top hat combination; I'm sort of tempted to make a Chopin outfit to wear at PAX next year, though all the little brass fittings would be somewhat tricky.
I should also mention the music - while Chopin's music does feature prominently in certain parts, the original score is a lovely complement to the game's sweeping visuals.
As for the gameplay, it does a remarkably good job of combining traditional J-RPG elements with a more modern, action-oriented battle system, the latter of which in a lot of ways feels like a much more fleshed-out version of what the system in Kingdom Hearts was trying to achieve - rather than lending itself to button-mashing, it requires some forethought to allow for best use of resources. But everything is more or less easy to use; it's just a matter of remembering which button to push when.
Gaming aside, the long weekend was nice, and I got the various issues from the previous week taken care of on Tuesday. The rest of the week looks pretty clear, and then next week Brian and I are headed to Anchorage to see my mum over Thanksgiving. So I'm feeling much better about things on the whole.
Also, my coworker David was in Seattle over the weekend and brought me back a copy of the Best-Buy-exclusive 31-track release of the soundtrack to Across the Universe. (The major release was missing two of the songs, and while you could get the whole thing on iTunes, I prefer purchasing physical albums for reasons I'm sure I've mentioned before.) I'd asked him to get it for me on Friday because I found myself wanting to listen to it, despite thinking before that it wasn't a movie I'd watch again. I'm halfway thinking that I might have been wrong, there - for some reason, the music (and visuals) have insinuated themselves in my mind as the cinematic equivalent of comfort food. Maybe it's the archetypal nature of the story, or the familiarity of the music, or something, but I might well pick it up to watch on days when I need reassuring that things will be okay.
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no subject
Date: 2007-11-15 05:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-15 06:07 am (UTC)Yay for being able to pay it off! You should compare hospital bills with Adam. Poor guy had to have his appendix out...that wasn't cheap.