"Sure, people don’t think alike. We don’t know what’s going through the other guy’s head. But we can TRY to find out, right? Expand our worlds through each other. Maybe that’s a better way to go-- the real way to enjoy each moment."

This journal is mostly for silly, incomplete artsy and writing things, and various writing and gaming talk. All my (usually) complete art, stories, icons, etc. can be found at inktrain under the *tenshinoakuma tag.

Sorry, no anon commenting any more; I keep getting hit by spambots.

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[ Ask Joshua ]

( Master list of roleplaying journals )

Mrrrphhh, I haven't been checking my flists lately, and I think that's partially because I feel like I want to be a hermit while simultaneously craving interaction right now. Quite an ambivalent state of affairs. I think I'm feeling stressed since I'm showing the same signs as I used to, which is a bit odd since I'm actually surprisingly on top of my university work this semester.

Looking back over some of the peer assessment things I've done for my course, I've sort of come to the realisation that I'm pretty bad at giving compliments and praise. That's something that's going to need to change soon. I also feel creatively drained ever since I started this course. I'm not sure if that's because I've been putting most of my energy into analysis (for both my coursework and for RP) meaning there's not much left for creating, or if that's because I channel all my creativity into RP instead.

There's a couple of late pictures I need to draw for people once I get over the inertia. I need to update a few lists, too. I know there's a certain set of Dissidia ficlets I need to catch up reading up on |3a

I've also been wanting to write DDS fic for some time now, but I find the duology surprisingly hard to write for. Here's a snippet of something I've been working on every once in a while since mid April.

( and the fantasy )

( Also because I feel like not sleeping, muse strength meme. )

This entry was originally posted at http://tenshinoakuma.dreamwidth.org/179103.html.

I watched Chip's In Progress LP of Bastion. I played the Steam demo of it (and promptly died multiple times; maybe if I used a game pad instead..?). I got impatient and spoiled myself on TVTropes. I'm listening to the soundtrack right now.

I am definitely getting this game.

And the soundtrack, too, because it's phenomenal.

It is, like, everything I love all packaged into one neat little $15 package. Beautiful art, flexible gameplay, aurally orgasmic soundtrack, heartpunching story told in by an excellently voiced narrator. It hits a lot of my aesthetic pings! Holy crap the Kid is really cute * A*

If you're interested in Bastion, the game (and its demo) is available on Steam! Or you could start watching the first episode of Chip's Bastion LP. Or you could listen to the soundtrack (for free!) at bandcamp. But seriously, look at how cute the Kid is.

This entry was originally posted at http://tenshinoakuma.dreamwidth.org/178705.html.

I'm really enjoying my course! I'm actually putting in an effort into my studies and reading the textbooks and stuff, which makes me really tired because I've been slacking off for years so getting back into decent study habits is an arduous process. I'm currently saving on money by borrowing textbooks from the library, since people generally don't recall books if they're already on loan during the university semester.

However, I'm working off a previous edition textbook to the one prescribed by the university, and while it contains all the same content, what I didn't realise was that the chapters were rearranged.

So when I did the online quiz based on Chapter 3 of the child development textbook, I was SO CONFUSED when it was on families (socialisation, structures, influences, etc.) instead of physical development.

s-sob.

GRANTED in hindsight, there were lots of warning signs that the chapters in my textbook weren't matching the prescribed textbook but still |||OTL



Also, I meant to make a post regarding the stuff that went down during Chinese New Year but it's just been so long and it resolved well so... I don't know. And it occurs to me that I STILL have not made that Singapore post I meant to make last year after I visited.

This entry was originally posted at http://tenshinoakuma.dreamwidth.org/178424.html.

I keep forgetting to hand in the paperwork so I can actually get paid by my uni 8|a I... also need to check if I need to renew my police clearance hurk.

...Ahaha omg looking at these unit outlines I'm getting kind of nervous and going WHY AM I DOING TEACHING AGAIN? asdf;lkj Biggest hurdle is getting over my shyness and self-esteem/confidence issues. My life choices /)_(\;;

( Anyway this stuff is irrelevant to you guys. I have fewer on campus hours than I had when I was doing engineering yet I suspect I'll be a lot more busy... )

This entry was originally posted at http://tenshinoakuma.dreamwidth.org/178128.html.

So, even though I've said previously in chats that Okamiden is an alright game, I've slowly come to realise that I really don't like Okamiden. Maybe I'm judging too early, because I haven't even hit 10 hours on Okamiden, but this is, what, an Action-Adventure game, not a JRPG. I don't think it's wrong to expect Okamiden to get to the exciting stuff faster than, say, Persona 4.

( Anyway, here is far too much tl;dr about game mechanics + some story things and how these contribute to how I find Okamiden incredibly tedious to play. )

This entry was originally posted at http://tenshinoakuma.dreamwidth.org/177681.html.

asdf;kljasd;fkljdsf I'll... shut up with all this DDS brain vomit I swear.

( /facehands )

This entry was originally posted at http://tenshinoakuma.dreamwidth.org/177604.html.

Quick brain dump on Serph. And RP as well I suppose.

( Some DDS2 spoilers )

( On RPing and playing a quiet character. No spoilers. )

And by quick brain dump I mean tl;dr :|a

This entry was originally posted at http://tenshinoakuma.dreamwidth.org/177263.html.

( I know it's late, but Happy Lunar New Year! )

I know some of us have had not-great starts to 2012, but that doesn't mean the rest of the year will be not-great! Here's to a year of the dragon!

For the record, this picture was an experimental piece in colouring and used a limited palette. It's supposed to be Huang Long from DDS1 but... I kind of forgot to reference later on whoops.

This entry was originally posted at http://tenshinoakuma.dreamwidth.org/177090.html.

I have been playing Kingdom Rush during meals and it is all your fault, sinnatious. I keep... not progressing the campaign because I want to beat the Challenges ha ha.

That said, it's been ridiculously hot here. I will not be surprised if our electricity bill this month is through the roof. I try not to use the air con unnecessarily but seriously it's really, really hot here. Supposedly the past week has been the hottest week Perth has had in 47 years? Either way, we're getting 30C temperatures at night. Day time is high 30s-low 40s. What happened to the sea breeze we're supposed to get at 5PM? Global weather patterns are really crazy these days.

Situation in Malaysia has stabilised. Well, all things end eventually.

I... still haven't finished the Chinese New Year picture I was working on. I'll get back to that, though DDS is kind of consuming everything I do. I think the games strike a nice balance between serious and funny, difficulty, WHAT IS EVEN GOING ON, references, and GAME THAT IS SILLY YOU ARE SO SILLY. I'd really like to LP these games some day, though probably with subtitles rather than voice .///.

This entry was originally posted at http://tenshinoakuma.dreamwidth.org/176807.html.

Circumstances happened which means Mum is overseas and I'm the only one here until Feb 3rd. Considering I have almost zero cooking ability, this has lead to interesting things. Like having a bit of left over rice, and then since I was at the shops, buying a tub of already cooked curry. And then realising I have more curry than rice, meaning I'd have to cook more rice to finish the curry, but then I'll have rice left over-- Anyway, not doing too badly, except I already forgot to water the plants and with water restrictions, I won't be able to water them until Monday... w-whoops.

This was going to be a LET'S TRY AND MAKE SENSE OF DDS post but while I was making icons for brightwing I got sidetracked and ended up rewatching all of DDS2's cutscenes (instead of doing the last bit of cleaning for CNY). Which was like. ALL THE FEELINGS ALL OVER AGAIN. MOSTLY SAD ONES.

Which makes me all the more determined to make things happier for the (future) DDS cast at vatheon. So I guess here is a list of (happy) things I want to at least attempt to make happen (brightwing you can add to this list if you want ♥ ):

- GO TO THE BEACH * A* And play beach volleyball. And get attacked by a crab in the sand.
- RECRUIT THE RESIDENTS OF VATHEON TO BUILD A LUXURY CRUISE LINER TO SIT OUT ON THE OCEAN. It doesn't have to go anywhere, it just has to be there. <-- this is the big one!!
- Build a sandcastle!
- Introduce actual food and drink into their lives omg. Learn how to cook? (which I need to do myself...) This can only end badly.
- Cultivate a hobby of some sort. SERPH WILL FOREVER BE BAD AT VIDEO GAMES THOUGH.
- GO SERPHING-- I MEAN. GO SWIMMING.
- Gather a new harem

Also brought to you by a friend of mine:

ten: also i'm making a list of happy things i want to do [with serph] in vat
friend: EAT PEOPLE/NPCS
ten: HAPPY THINGS
ten: OMG
ten: EATING PEOPLE ISN'T A HAPPY THING

Unless you're Heat, of course.

This entry was originally posted at http://tenshinoakuma.dreamwidth.org/176628.html.

I am tanked on hot chocolate and coffee despite not usually drinking either, and it took me about 1.5 hours to get home, which gave me plenty of time to think. I guess it doesn't really help that I was reading a health thing that basically says I need to exercise more (the rest of the stuff I already do so...), which is totally true.

So I was thinking.

I've always said that one of my horrendous weaknesses is that I'm really bad at organising my time in real life. I take a lot longer to do things that shouldn't take very long at all because I spend a lot of time putzing around and being generally inefficient about what I do. (Of course this post itself is a little ironic because I'm doing this instead of going out and doing the things I need to do...)

But anyone who's seen me play turn based JRPGs knows I am damn good at what I do, and I take minimal time to complete these games with minimal grinding. Basically, I'm really efficient at turn based RPGs! So... why shouldn't I apply the same efficiency I put into video games into my real life? There's no reason not to. A lot of the same principles apply. Planning ahead, doing things early for greater payback later, reshuffling plans if something comes up... this is something I live and breathe in video games.

Come on, me. Let's put all those hours I sunk into video games and apply them to life.

This entry was originally posted at http://tenshinoakuma.dreamwidth.org/176311.html.

I've been helping mum learn how to use her laptop, and how to use Microsoft Word, though most of the latter she's been learning from online tutorials I printed out for her.

As someone who's used computers for most of my life (I still remember when he had a computer that booted from a floppy disc, and it was one of those 8-inch ones, too), a lot of these things are like second nature to me. Double click to open files. Single click to navigate to this directory. Double click to navigate to this other directory. Stuff that's really simple for me is difficult for mum. There's a lot of complicated stuff in using computers that, as a user who is familiar with at least the basic workings of one, I didn't really appreciate until mum had come to me, confused about a section of the tutorial. I don't notice these 'inconsistencies', but mum does. Stuff that's really simple and straightforward for me, really is not for her. And it takes a lot of thinking to come up with an explanation (a lot of questioning of why) that she can understand and remember.

I think it's a good lesson for when I become a teacher.

( Comparing leadership/friendship/teamwork as presented in DDS with Purse Owner. Some DDS spoilers. )

This entry was originally posted at http://tenshinoakuma.dreamwidth.org/176008.html.

Are you tired of me yet? Because there's only going to be more to come.

Actually I'm starting to wonder if the DDS fandom on tumblr is going to know me as 'drawer of stupid DDS pictures' because I keep drawing silly pictures as I play the games (none of these images are spoilery). I kind of wish summoning Yu Narukami was actually a thing, though. I think doing askjoshu4 and gameblogging dds2 with art has done good things for my art.

Anyway! I finished DDS2! Like. a few days ago. It took me about 30 hours, but unlike DDS1, I didn't go do all the optional bosses. DDS2 hits you hard in your FEELINGS, that's for sure. I do think the ending was a little too profound for me, so next time I play it, I'm going to grab mum and make her sit down and explain stuff to me.

( I'm going to talk about a few things, starting with how to skip the gimmick to DDS1's final boss. )

( Some non-story comparisons between DDS1 and DDS2 + other random Serph notes )

This entry was originally posted at http://tenshinoakuma.dreamwidth.org/175801.html.

OKAY let's see how well this goes considering I am half asleep and I still haven't actually finished the final dungeon! Again, SPOILERS for Digital Devil Saga.

( Urgh guys stop regurgitating items you ate by accident and KEEPING them, that's just gross. )

WOW okay these essays have been pretty incoherent. I think it's because DDS kind of overwhelms me with ALL THE FEELINGS.

This entry was originally posted at http://tenshinoakuma.dreamwidth.org/175514.html.

LET'S BEGIN 2012 WITH CHARACTER ANALYSIS, YEAH? YEAH. Because this is what I do; write tl;dr posts about fictional characters.

I'M. ALMOST DONE WITH THE GAME but apparently I couldn't wait that long to do this. Of course, SPOILERS abound.

( The problem with lineface protags is that it's hard to tell whether they're being dumb on purpose or being genuinely derp. )

ALSO, I MISS THE FIRST GAME'S MANTRA GRID ; A;

On a completely different note, I did an Art Improvement Meme. Now you can see what a terrible artist I was in 2003! I can only thank/blame radio_aspen for the quantity I draw now.

This entry was originally posted at http://tenshinoakuma.dreamwidth.org/175130.html.

Stealing from sinnatious! Mine's going to be pretty boring since some stuff simply doesn't apply to me ahaha.

( And this is what I did instead of putting away the Christmas tree/tagging/writing tl;dr Serph analysis )

If there's one thing we've learned from all this, it's that Ten apparently goes through life in a daze. That's something I need to work on this coming year, I think.

This entry was originally posted at http://tenshinoakuma.dreamwidth.org/175066.html.

NO. NO NO NO.

I CAN'T TAKE DIGITAL DEVIL SAGA 2 ANY MORE.

STOP TEARING MY HEART OUT.

I complete a dungeon in about 2-3 hours, usually less. The first heartbreak started yesterday. Then there was today. And because I spoiled myself, I know that every dungeon hereafter is going to be heartbreak until the final dungeon.

Every.

Single.

One.



This entry was originally posted at http://tenshinoakuma.dreamwidth.org/174803.html.

APPARENTLY.

YOU CANNOT BE AWESOME AND DEAL OVER 9000 DAMAGE TO HIM BEFORE HE SUMMONS PIXIE AND AHARABAKI.

BECAUSE THEN THE DEMI-FIEND MEDIARAHANS HIMSELF.

THE DEMI-FIEND MEDIARAHANS HIMSELF

I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW HE COULD DO THAT BECAUSE ALL THE FAQS AND VIDEOS SAY IT'S PIXIE/PARVATI WHO WILL DO IT. Pixie not mediarahaning is a side effect of the Red Star method, after all. BUT NO. APPARENTLY THE DEMI-FIEND CAN HEAL HIMSELF AND THAT IS HOW I DIED.

I THINK THE REASON NO FAQ MENTIONS THIS IS BECAUSE NO ONE DEALS THAT MUCH DAMAGE TO THE DEMI-FIEND IN SUCH A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME. That and it's such a small window of opportunity to put him under 9k HP while he has no demons summoned.

And then in a later attempt, my entire party dies from a Mamudoon despite everyone having Death Resistance. I'm starting to think my friend is very good at jinxing optional boss fights. WE HAD A VERY PRODUCTIVE CHRISTMAS. No, really, we did. We made some cute papercraft decorations and chilled and then found a praying mantis chilling on my driveway.

/yeah I basically went and did the fight again because I'm a masochist apparently but it is so much fun.

This entry was originally posted at http://tenshinoakuma.dreamwidth.org/174489.html.