also late but I really like the current color scheme! spooky time (:

@Galaxian: I'm roughly a week late, but got it! I'll do that

I've never heard of that title, but I know the feeling of revisiting childhood games. It's kinda nostalgic, and it's interesting to look back and see what kind of things interested us when younger. 
If you decide to talk more about the game, I'm looking forward to it :D.
I hope you're doing well too! Remember to take little breaks and drink water :>

Where did November go :^)
Thanksgiving is next week and that feels so fake,,,, I need to write more :^)))

also help I somehow got dragged back into the Zero Escape pit and ended up going through ZTD in like 5 days
Still haven't finished VLR but maybe I'll go back to it some day,, I think originally I dropped it because the radical-6 plotline was somewhat a slap in the face due to current events but I might be able to handle it now
still love the random game theory discussions thrown in for no good reason, thank you Uchikoshi for whatever this franchise is
in terms of more spoilery thoughts

I went into ZTD with a vague knowledge of what happens (like, it takes after 999 but before VLR; there's something about a snail; Delta is the new Zero; and that Phi is the daughter of Diana and Sigma) but honestly despite the.... sometimes strange writing choices, I enjoyed it
The entire thing with how it was a "decision" game and not a "nonary" game completely got me, and considering that I've had something similar pulled on me before I can't believe I didn't catch it until later. The Q/Sean thing also got me, I genuinely didn't realize what was going on until the reveal and then it was just a big "OHH" because suddenly everything made sense about Q team and why other teams always acted so odd in regards to them
The only thing is that the ending felt too fast? I get why some people would call it unsatisfactory (especially if you went through VLR properly) but my main issue is how Delta gets like 10 minutes of screen time, it would have been nicer to have more time with him although I guess that limited time makes sense considering the context of the reveal. My other thing is how everyone goes "oh noooo we can't SHIFT and put ourselves from another timeline into a situation that means immediate death!" like??? guys you've been doing that all game what do you mean you can't do that now (especially you, Carlos; and that's not counting those timelines where you may or may not have caused a global pandemic). I will say though, the entire scene where they all go "yeah!! we'll all work to stop that terrorist together" did make me laugh because it's so out of place and yet not out of place at all. All and all I think my thoughts towards this game are: it's a fun plot twist (although a bit infuriating if you don't catch any of the foreshadowing), but the execution probably could have been better
That being said there's definitely a few things that kinda threw me off; mainly the excessive violence and gore? the tone of this game is pretty dark as is, but there's a bunch of scenes go "oh. yikes" with how brutal/uncomfortable they were. It's all pretty gruesome, which is only amplified by the overall atmosphere. It's not a major complaint, especially since all the death fits into the themes of the game but it's definitely not for the faint of heart. The other thing is Akane :/ She was fine most of the time but her actions in certain timelines (mainly, the one with the AB game where Carlos betrays Junpei) felt really out of place? Also any time she tried the innocent act, it just felt pretty uncomfortable because by this point in time you know that this woman was willing to put 9 people in danger just to save herself (granted, they weren't supposed to get hurt). I guess if anything my complaint is the disconnect between her character and her actions? 
ZTD!Junpei was fantastic on the other hand. Yeah, he was a jerk, (a very big jerk) but he had good reason to be, I feel. Unlike Akane, he never really defaulted on his morals and managed to stay consistent throughout the game as a cynical, disillusioned young adult in contrast to Akane's lofty idealism and Carlos's.... goofy Carlosness. In a game with such a wild cast of characters, a normal cynic like Junpei is pretty necessary to keep the balance.
I guess while I'm talking about the characters I'll touch upon the rest.
I have nothing revolutionary to say about Eric. His backstory is pretty sad, and it makes sense why this guy is almost always the first one to break, but yeah he gets frustrating sometimes. I will say though, some of his actions make a lot more sense in retrospect when you realize Sean wasn't Q, and his English VA really did do him well. Just really wish he wasn't angrily waving a weapon and threatening Sean in most timelines.
Mira is.... a character! Her entire serial killer thing did throw me off at first, but she does do her job as the problematic one. Genuinely you never know what she's going to do, and while she's just as violent as Eric (even more so, in certain cases), at least she respects Sean. Just.... don't kickstart a pandemic, please.
Carlos is so goofy but I love him. I do wish he got more screentime (although arguably he did get a lot anyway), but his entire deal with being a firefighter and saving his sick sister really made me like him
Sean is great, love the robot child. His entire existential crisis did suffer from the wacky pacing that the rest of the game had, but overall he was probably the most enjoyable part of Q team. Love how in the epilogue he just casually breaks Mira out of prison so that she can atone. The story with the child was ): though
Diana, Sigma, and Phi kinda get grouped together because they all made pretty similar appearances in VLR (although I hadn't finished it yet). As a group, they were probably my favorite, although sometimes they had weird moments

Late but Happy Thanksgiving to you too, Time!

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unrelated but this week (month?) on Autumn reads random things and rambles about them we have a book called Live a Thousand Years: Have the Time of Your Life by Giovanni Livera and,,, it was certainly a book!

For background:
I found a copy of the book in one of our old bookshelves yesterday while searching for something my little cousin could play/read, and realized that I have never read it, so of course I decided to start reading out of curiosity. In terms of length, it probably didn't take me more than an hour in total to read; it's a pretty short book, and it's very easy to read, too. I will be completely honest: I wasn't sure whether the book was supposed to be fiction or a self-help book until I started the first chapter, since the synopsis on the cover doesn't talk about the plot at all, and simply mentions how it will "teach you" and "provide solid strategies" how to make the most of your time. Now that I have read it, I can say that it's supposed to be a fictional story. And it is, for the most part: the author is just very, very blunt about the lessons within it, because the lessons are the important [art.

The book's narrative is simple, following the journey of Nick, a busy salesman, as he searches for the twelve "Chimes" that will restore the flow of time back to normal after Max, and old man calling himself the "Time Keeper", stops the (literal) sands of time for everyone else in order to teach Nick a lesson (or twelve) on how to "increase" his lifespan. It's very predictable, and each of the chapters follow the same general structure as Nick finds the chime/lesson of that chapter.

In all honesty, the plot has a decently interesting premise, but the execution... is not. My main complaint can be tied back to the lack of proper characterization that Nick (and Max, but he's not as important) had. The story is essentially all about Nick's change in character, but he subscribes to Max's philosophies incredibly early on in the story, making some of the chapters seem pointless, as if they're just there so that the author can impart their lessons on the reader.

Speaking of the lessons: I meant it when I said the author is very blunt. Every chapter concludes with one of the 12 chimes, which literally spell out the main ideas within that chapter. The characters themselves also speak about the lessons, and personally I felt that some lessons were better written than others. (The fear and forgiveness chapters were probably the better ones, while ones like the learning and work ones were... not great). 

And I guess I'll just go talk about the characters again. They're all very shallow, but that's fine; this book wasn't meant to be read for its plot or characters. Nick is the only character with a proper backstory or motivation, and even then, he's lacking in a few areas. You get a sense of what his life is like, and the entire subplot with his estranged father was probably the best part of the plot, but other than that, he's a flat character. He does grow throughout the novel, although this growth is rather immediate and not gradual. Max is also rather flat, with his main personality trait being his cheesy humor. All of the side characters practically have the same personality as Max (Nick also grows to have the same personality), which does get grating when most of the dialogue takes shape as a really bad joke or pun. 

I know most of this was complaining, but it wasn't all bad? The book is simple, but it could be worse. Its lack of complexity means that the author could easily impart the lessons in the book, which although cheesy, do somewhat have their merit. It's also a very quick and easy read, which works considerably in its favor; had it been any longer, I probably would have dropped it. I do find the execution to be somewhat disappointing, but it really could have been worse. I don't know if I'd really recommend it though? If you just want something to read, there's probably better options, but if you wanted to read a self-help book disguised as fiction, there's Live a Thousand Years. 

//

anyway now I will stop rambling about books that I read to procrastinate ): 
though ngl rambling/reviewing things is kinda fun, maybe when I become free from college apps I might consider doing these more formally (in say, video format or something, for example)

Snow!!
Happy December, Autumn :D

Super late but happy new year everyone!
Here's hoping this year will be better :^)

//

in other news: guess who's (relatively) free from college applications! can't wait to see how long it takes for senioritis to kick in
I was already feeling it in December but boy I know it's going to really get me in like March

Oops

Good luck with those collage apps though. How is it like writing them?

In other news: please stay safe guys!! 

Shoot that seems tough. I suppose maybe I should look to make more time during the summer, even if I'm pretty packed with extracurriculars and a summer job and stuff

Nah, stress is good for the character. It's not for the body but good for the character. I'll def be at least looking into collages at that time.

But I need to focus on my grades rn, so maybe I'll think about that later

Thanks for the luck!

in other news, I've been reading moby-dick recently (and will be for a while, it's incredibly long)
it's for english class but it certainly lives up to its reputation

it's reputation being, melville constantly oscillating between narrative, philosophy and random whale/boat facts
melville I get you wanted to share all of your research on whales with the readers but also was it necessary to have a a whole chapter talking about random facts and nothing else please
 

Updated my signature so that it fits the new theme! Will I be more active? I'll try :^)

Time wrote:

Sooo is Moby-dick good or bad?

I'm only on chapter 80 out of like 135 in total but it's.... something?
Labelling it as either "good" or "bad" doesn't do it justice, I feel

Is it really long, kind of dry, and does it make you want to scream at Melville and/or Ishmael from beyond the grave at certain points? Yes. (Melville, we get it. You like whales and ships and you want to explain every little detail about them.) Does the book have some parts that are extremely dated and make you cringe while reading it? Yes. Does it have some well-crafted metaphors and vaguely interesting philosophical musings? Also yes.
Am I enjoying it? Hard to say. Since I have to read the book for my English class, I'm basically forced to read around 3 or so chapters every day, which means that sometimes I can't always give the text the full attention it deserves (in other words, I skim); maybe if I were reading this on my own time I'd have stronger feelings about it? I definitely don't hate it, but I wouldn't say it's close to my favorite, either. I will say though: I'm not really a fan of most of these characters; Queequeg and Ahab are the only ones I care about, everyone else I'm either indifferent or I just don't like them

All I can say is that Moby-Dick is an experience; there's simultaneously so much in it while also having nothing
Maybe my opinion will change as I get closer to the end? But for now that's the best way I can describe my feelings on the book

Time wrote:

Hmmm, so it's best to say it's complex?

Haha yeah, that's probably the best way to put it