SCHMETE

[schmete]

January has concluded for 2016! Let’s take a look at what happened on my 3DS for the month!

13,192

32 titles

71h 06m

Pokémon Shuffle: 9h 16m

Little Battlers eXperience: 9h 03m

Pokémon Picross: 8h 11m

BOXBOY!: 8h 09m

SmileBASIC: 7h 33m

Wow, lots of play time this month! I didn’t miss a day of play! Pokémon Shuffle topped my list with over 9 hours of playtime. Not surprising, because I’ve been really taking advantage of the 5 plays per session. It lets me jump in and play for a few minutes at a time, then forces me out to either move on to another game or get back to my daily life. 

LBX was in a close second, though! Playing that game has been kind of a throwback to my younger days playing Custom Robo on Gamecube and Custom Robo Arena on DS. Some days I get home and lay on my tummy in bed while I play it - kind of like I used to do when I would get home from school! 

I’ve put it aside at this point, but Pokémon Picross made it to my #3 spot in January. Very fun game, but I don’t want to put up the cash to get rid of the free-to-play aspect yet. Eventually, but not yet.

Rounding out the Top 5 for January is BOXBOY! and SmileBASIC. Two titles with allcaps in them. BOXBOY! was pretty great. It has that HAL charm that the Kirby titles all have. Super recommended. And SmileBASIC popped in there because I was trying to dedicate some time to learning how to code. I made it a little ways, but had a hard time finding training materials that worked for me. I’ll return to it eventually, but I’ve set it aside for now.

Pretty fun month! I’m excited to continue on with LBX. I’m not sure what my Next Big Game will be, though. I was considering Final Fantasy Explorers, but I think that game won’t be worthwhile for the long term. Any suggestions? Let me know!

[schmete]

Medabots, what are you doing?

I’ve been killing time with Medabots - Metabee Version for GBA. I like Medabots, but I had no idea the GBA game had such insane dialogue. There is some weird stuff going on in Medabots. Most of this is as in-context as it is in the game. I have no idea. It’s a pretty fun game, though!  

Check out my full album of screenshots-so-far here.

[schmete]

I sort of forgot the 3DS kept track of all your play data internally in the built-in Activity Log application. But I remembered, thanks to a post by Japanese Nintendo detailing their log data for 2015. A fun idea! So I took a look at my Activity Log, and here’s what I found:

Yearly Totals

Total Playtime: 227h 49m

Titles Played: 52

Top 3 Games Played

Animal Crossing: New Leaf (41h 50m)

Super Smash Bros. for 3DS (32h 37m)

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (15h 52m)

Steps

Total Steps: 34,723

Most steps in one month: 10,395 (September)

Monthly Totals

Total Playtime by Month

Jan: 35h 20m

Feb: 32h 58m

Mar: 29h 35m

Apr: 18h 31m

May: 0h 0m

Jun: 11h 14m

Jul: 16h 57m

Aug: 24h 57m

Sep: 12h 25m

Oct: 0h 36m

Nov: 33h 26m

Dec: 11h 50m

Top Games by Month

Jan: Miiverse (13h 45m)

Feb: Animal Crossing: New Leaf (21h 56m)

Mar: Animal Crossing: New Leaf (12h 23m)

Apr: Super Smash Bros. for 3DS (8h 33m)

May: N/A (0h 0m)

Jun: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy (6h 28m)

Jul: Fantasy Life (7h 48m)

Aug: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (8h 2m)

Sep: Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX (7h 11m)

Oct: Pushmo (0h 31m)

Nov: The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes (15h 0m)

Dec: Pokémon Picross (5h 8m)

Cumulative Data

Steps Taken: 110,893

Titles Played: 89

Cumulative Play Time: 546h 43m

All data includes built-in applications (Mii Maker, eShop, etc.)

Some interesting data! My playtime definitely picks up around the Holidays, which is expected. I apparently didn’t touch my 3DS in May (QQ), but I set my  2015 record for most time played in January! The top 3 games doesn’t really surprise me, but it is a little odd that Super Smash Bros is #2, yet it only was monthly leader once in April with 8.5 hours. The biggest surprise isn’t really represented here - my total playtime for 2015 was 60 hours greater than both 2013 and 2014 (each around 160h)! I didn’t think I played that much more this year!

That was a fun look back at the year! Looking forward to even more data for 2016!

[schmete]

3DS Binge

I’ve been binging hard on my 3DS lately, thanks to the free-to-play claw machine game, Nintendo Badge Arcade. It’s a really clever idea, combining free-to-play monetization with a claw machine game, then adding an almost Animal Crossing-like collect and decorate mechanic. The loop is addictive, to say the least. I've spent a couple dollars, just to get an idea of how that feels, and I can't say it feels good. Just like a real claw machine, not every try nets a prize, so putting in real cash to not get digital prizes hurts. Thankfully, the possibility of a free has kept me coming back each day.

Nintendo Badge Arcade's rabbit mascot is super cute, too! It has a lot of personality - talking about games each badge comes from, making jokes, and discussing plans to play games in its collection. Thanks to the rabbit's enthusiasm, I've been coming back each day to play not just Nintendo Badge Arcade, but the rest of the games on my 3DS as well.

Those other games I've been playing are a mixed bag. Pokémon Picross has been my main obsession for the last week or so. I've run into the paywall at this point, but I'm pretty comfortable putting some money in, since there is a payment ceiling.

WarioLand 2 has been my other main timesink, starting as a New Year activity for myself (inspired by the rabbit's idea to play the original Zelda title for NYE). I enjoy Game Boy era platformers quite a bit, so I've been havinga lot of fun with this one.

My last game I've been playing is Pilotwings Resort. It's one of the few physical 3DS games I own. It's been a good game to have when I just need to relax and zip around Woohoo Island and enjoy the experience.

The 3DS has such a great library of games, and it's easy to get distracted with other games to the point of losing interest entirely (for me, anyways). I'm making an effort now to focus and try and beat games, so long as I'm not pushed away by frustrating difficulty or general lack of interest. I'm guilty of abandoning lots of games, so I'm trying to correct that. Call it a New Year's resolution or something, I don't know. Thankfully, these games are fun enough to stick with. And, of course, I'll surely keep coming back for that pink puffball...

[schmete]

Visiting an old, familiar place

Something recently inspired me to pick up my Game Boy Advance and start playing Pokémon Leaf Green. The game's counterpart, Fire Red, was a really important game to me. I think it helped me figure out who I was, and helped me become comfortable with being a somewhat “nerdy” kid in high school. 

I invested probably 150 or 200 hours into Fire Red in my first couple years of high school. I set my backpack on my desk during classes and train my monsters as discreetly as possible while my teachers would drone on about algebra or basic chemistry, or whatever it happened to be. By no means was I the premier Pokémon trainer in my school, or even my grade (that title belonged to a closeted trainer named Bryce Wolf), but I was certainly the most open about my love of the series. 

By some odd turn of events, I ended up at the forefront of a Pokémon revival across the school. My brother and I impulsively picked up Fire Red and Leaf Green at a local Hastings so we could relive one of our childhood pastimes. Our re-entry to the franchise carried on for years afterward, well into the DS lifetime, but no other game grabbed me as tightly as Fire Red did back then. 

Maybe it was all the support of my peers who showed some kind of passing interest in my obsession with what was, at the time, still considered a childish memory of a late 90s phenomenon. 

At this point, revisiting Kanto for me is like going back to your hometown you grew up in, after having moved away many, many years ago. I am familiar with the setting, comfortable. I have no desire to rush through things. I want to sit and stay a while. I want to explore the places I overlooked in the past. With my new perspective on life, the new layers of experience, I want to map the world I already know so well, as if I don’t know it at all.

[schmete]

flex cru

I recently got really into Nintendo's social media platform Miiverse. I like that it's sort of like twitter mixed with tumblr, without all the reposting (can't stand the reposting!!). I don't know why, but I drew a stupid looking guy doing a goofy pose and wrote a dumb thing on the top. And then I loled and decided I loved it. So I made a few more (including some on the newly released Flipnote Studio 3D!).

lol

[schmete]

XBox One

I missed the conference (completely forgot about it), but from what I've read, the One seems to be about on par with PS4. Or, they're about the same as PS3 and 360 are. Sure, they showed it as an entertainment device, but we already know it can play games. They basically did what Sony did and saved the stuff we want for E3 and got the boring stuff out of the way now. That aside, the updated Kinect is impressive. It has really improved since its introduction. The update on the controller is nice as well. Subtle design changes keep it fresh, without losing the comfort it already has. The improved D-pad is a much needed change as well. Overall, it seems like it wasn't a bad reveal. Some good stuff, some mediocre stuff, and some boring stuff. Box looks a bit odd, though, like it is split down the middle. I imagine the conference itself was pretty lackluster, but the news that came out of it was pretty decent, much like the PS4 event.

[schmete]

I made this video with my buddy Michel. It's a short film made using Minecraft (and a few mods). It was written, directed, and filmed entirely by myself. Michel helped with some set construction and controlled the character seen in the film. Watch and enjoy!

[schmete]

Mining and crafting... again.

I've been back into Minecraft after a long hiatus. I started hosting a server to play with my buddies, which ended up quickly only being me and my best friend Michel, despite having three or four other guys on there to begin with. Amazingly, I've dedicated probably close to forty or sixty hours in the server since I started it. 

Even more, I started shooting a short film within the game. I've got about a third of that shot so far, and have most of the next shoot planned out. It's hard to have someone 'act' in this kind of thing, though, because it takes a while to set up shots, and then it takes multiple shots of Michel doing the same thing over and over before we get it right. For me, it's very exciting. For Michel, based on how often he runs off to kill a sheep or pig he notices, it must be pretty boring. Luckily, he has a lot of downtime while I set things up to do his own thing. 

I wrote this whole film myself, but I'd like to get him to help me write and storyboard the next one. If things go well with this one and the finished product end up looking good, he might be down to do that, which makes me more motivated to get a really good finished product for the current film.

I'm quite excited about going through with this film. This will be the first video production I've undertaken all on my own, using all my own resources. What worries me the most is that I might not have a good enough editing software to do what I want. I'm so used to using Final Cut Pro at work, that I might have aspirations higher than I'm able to accomplish with the utilities I have at home. I'm sure I can make it work though. It shouldn't be a problem.

[schmete]

I recently started doing some Let's Play-esque videos, and I'm uploading them on my recently cleared YouTube page. It's a fun way to play games that keeps me focused, as well as helps me practice a good speaking voice (not that I have one - that's why I'm practicing). 

As of now, I only have a few runs of The Binding of Isaac, but I've got some new stuff coming up. If you're into video games, maybe check it out. 

[schmete]

10/31/2012

Yesterday marked the release of a handful of games that I'm interested in, namely Assassin's Creed 3 (and Liberation on Vita), Ragnarok Odyssey, and Zone of the Enders HD. I was having a tough time deciding which of those to buy, because I really wanted to start up a new video game. Assassin's Creed 3 was tempting, but I thought it might be a better thing to wait on and let a family member get for me at Christmas. Same went for Zone of the Enders HD, since I've played those games plenty of times. 

So, it came down to Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation and Ragnarok Odyssey, both on Vita. Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation runs on the same engine as its home console counterpart, so it would mostly be the same game, but cheaper and portable. Ragnarok Odyssey, on the other hand, is an online cooperative dungeon crawler similar to Monster Hunter. Neither had reviews up when I was going to the store to get one, so I had to decide blindly. 

I ended up getting Ragnarok Odyssey, because I didn't want the story driven game, and was mostly interested in a game I could sink some time to here and there. After playing it for a while, I can't say that it was the best choice. I don't think the game is bad by any means, nor do I think AC3:L would have been a /better/ choice, but I'm simply surprised at the overall quality, or lack thereof, the game has. 

Visually, it looks like a PSP/late PS2 game, but I can get past that. What is most odd is how little the game offers to the player in terms of upgrading their character. Characters don't level up, as far as I can tell, and upgrading equipment requires items that I haven't even come across yet, despite being a decent number of missions in. The lack of leveling isn't a surprise, since the game is basically a Monster Hunter clone, but what sets MH apart from Ragnarok Odyssey is that you can build better equipment if you are willing to put in the time, and risk your skin a bit on some more difficult missions. In RO, I feel as though many of the items required to upgrade equipment isn't even available yet, because missions are opened up one or two at a time, unlike MH, which opens five to ten at a time. 

Despite my issues with the game, I'm still enjoying it. I'm not sure how much of that enjoyment is sincere and not an attempt to push away from buyer's remorse, but I'm enjoying it regardless. I really bought it so I could play online with some people from a Vita forum I frequent. I don't have any kind of relationship developed with the people there, but I'm hoping I can create a few through this game, because this game would be a blast to play while killing time and chatting with buddies. With that, if you have the game, and would like to play online with me, you can add me on the PSN; my PSN ID is schmete. 

Oh, and Happy Halloween! Go watch Hausu!

[schmete]

10/28/2012

I got a little behind on anime. I did watch this week's Sword Art Online today, though. I actually am a little weirded out by the measures Kirito's sister is taking to get close to him. Taking on an alternate personality to stalk someone is too strange for me. I wonder how long it will be before Kirito figures out that's his sister. I've been playing more video games lately, which is why I've been missing anime episodes here and there. I've been trying to play more Dust 514, so I can get a better handle on the whole game, as well as build up my FPS skills. I'm getting better already, but I'm still an easy kill. Hopefully things will fall in place once I get some more skills and items that I want, since that will fit my play style better. Along with Dust 514, I've been playing rRootage on my iPhone. I played it way back when I had an iPhone 3G, and I just bought it again. It's the one bullet hell game that I have ever been interested in. Since I started playing it, I've been looking for a good bullet hell game to play on PS3, so I can use my MadCatz arcade stick with it, but I haven't found one that looks cool. Most of the games that are slightly close to what I want are just shmups, which focus more on shooting and less on avoiding enemy fire. I'm going to keep looking, but I might just end up getting a shmup for the time being.

[schmete]

10/26-27/2012

Man, I missed my first daily post 25 days into this. I've just been so busy, it's getting hard to dedicate the time to writing, as well as actually watching shows. I've been recounting this week's episode of Girls und Panzer throughout the day, trying to generate some interesting thoughts from it, since I didn't have the time to spend doing that yesterday. After spending most of today working through my thoughts, I haven't been able to come up with much. I have a feeling that's going to be more common, now that the shows I'm watching aren't brand new, and I've covered most of their basic themes. I hope that doesn't also mean each day will be of lower quality, but I can't promise anything. Now, onto the good stuff... The one major thing that I pulled from this week's Girls und Panzer that was really cool to me was how the girls drove their tank through the town before the match. It struck me as something they would do every time they have a match, eventually becoming a tradition, just because one girl doesn't want to wake up. I can imagine later classes doing the same as tradition, because it served as a unifying act that brought together the team and the town. I say that mostly because of all the people who started popping their heads out of their windows and commenting on how they were happy to see the tanks again. Zetsuen no Tempest had some cool character development this week. The backstory to Yoshino and Mahiro's friendship revealed that the two are more alike than they seem. Mahiro demonstrated compassion that we haven't seen before, and Yoshino's subtle revenge alludes to a potential vicious side of him. I'd like to see this utilized near the end of the series, and have Yoshino snap and go berserk on Aika's killer, whoever that may be. We actually got a little taste of that kind of that kind of breakdown in BTOOOM! this week, and it was the best thing that came out of the show so far. Finally seeing some real combat was a nice change of pace from previous episodes, and it exposed some vulnerabilities MAIN has. Though, it also catered to the idea that people who play combat-centric video games can't tell the difference between games and real life, which I don't think is a good stance to take. Outside of anime, I've been playing Infamous: Festival of Blood a lot. I actually finished it earlier today, but I'm still trying to get all the trophies. I have two left to get, and then I'm done, so there's not much left. Unfortunately, those trophies require me to play UGC levels, which have varying degrees of quality, and most often are a pain to complete. I've also been participating in the Dust 514 beta, which has been interesting. I suck at first person shooters, so I'm not great at it, but it has ideas that are cool enough to keep me playing. I think the game will really shine with a friend or two to party up with and execute some teamwork. It always surprises me how often people go out on their own in FPSs, when cooperative play is so much more effective.

[schmete]

10/25/2012

I've been super busy today, so I didn't really get to watch any anime. I did watch the new episode of Girls und Panzer, but I don't really have anything to say about it, nor have I had the time to even think about my thoughts. I simply watched it and moved on to homework. I'll try and get some thoughts down on that, Zetsuen no Tempest, and BTOOOM! tomorrow. 

Aside from anime, I purchased Infamous: Festival of Blood on PSN to get in the Halloween spirit (SPOOOKYYYY). I love Infamous, so it's fun to be playing again. Plus, it was on sale for $2.50, which was awesome. I haven't had much time to play, though, because of school and stuff. Hopefully my schedule will clear up soon!

[schmete]

10/24/2012

Magi is really starting to feel like a long-running shounen now. The gradual introduction of characters, powers, etc. matches like the long-running shounens that I've watched, in terms of pacing that is. My interest in the show is rising slowly with each episode. I still haven't been wowed enough to really be grabbed by the show, but I'm getting there. I don't really think I'll ever hit a point where that happens, at least not like I did with Shin Sekai Yori yesterday. I imagine my interest will steadily rise as I invest more time into it, and then I'll have followed the show for so long that my commitment will be what seals me into it. 

As you might have guessed by my not-too-excited paragraph above, this week's episode of Magi didn't really do anything for me. I can tell the show is still setting the stage for the entire series, so I'm not really knocking it for being somewhat boring at this point, but I'm definitely ready for things to get going. Still, the show does have character, and I've been enjoying the duo of Aladdin and Alibaba. 

We'll see how things improve next week for Magi. Since what seems to be the main antagonist was introduced this week, I'm hoping for some new conflict in the next episode, or at least some new character development. 

There was some heavy stuff on Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo today, though. Most of the episode carried a lot of heavy emotional weight, some of it hitting pretty hard. Shiina seriously gave Sorata a harsh reality check, and was surprisingly cold to him near the end, before she got in the bath. I didn't expect this show to be so emotional. 

I also didn't expect the art to be so beautiful. The art itself isn't necessarily that great, in fact, it's pretty basic. What really sets it apart is its color palette. So much of the art uses a dusky palette that blends warm and cool colors spectacularly. What's even better about that is how the colors are used to emphasize the more dramatic parts in the show. If you pay attention, you'll notice the dusk palette become much more prevalent when emotions run high. It happens a lot, so it isn't that hard to notice. As a byproduct of that, there are so many great shots in the show, I have a hard time choosing which ones to include here each week. 

It's funny, I usually have a hard time talking about the shows, but picking the images is easy; with Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo, it's usually the opposite. Though, I don't have a hard time finding images because they're scarce. Having so many great frames to choose from is what makes it difficult. Speaking of great frames, I'll close this out with a hilarious shot from today's Magi. Oh Alibaba, your face is so funny.

[schmete]

10/23/2012

All the confusion, subtlety, ambiguity, and overall lack of information in Shin Sekai Yori was, for the most part, cleared up in episode 4. Explaining the history of the setting four episodes in probably didn't benefit them too much, since the first three episodes were very difficult, if not impossible to follow, due to the lack of context to what was going on. Some people probably enjoyed that, and, to an extent, I did as well, but I can see it being a turn-off for some people. 

That said, the events that lead to where the show is are very interesting. As I suspected, there was a war that tore apart civilization as we know it. I was surprised to find that the decline of civilization started as close to the our current time, though. I assumed the False Minoshiro to be some form of futuristic technology developed closer to the middle of the millennium. Instead, it seems to be some kind of organism, for lack of a better word, created with PK. Since the show seems to be set in a time where there isn't any modern technology, and is in an era of early civilization, that's the only conclusion I can come up with. The fact that the False Minoshiro had a Shame Death failsafe programmed into it reinforces the fact that it was designed after the Dark Ages. 

All that aside, I'm glad we've been clued into what exactly is going on in Shin Sekai Yori, because it really is interesting. Political deception, inhumane social rules, and, presumably, an imminent overthrow of the societal structure are hard-hitting concepts that aren't often as well executed as Shin Sekai Yori has done already. My interest in the show has shot up significantly now. Oh, and I cant wait to see how this turns out:

[schmete]

10/22/2012

It's Monday, which means it's Talk About How Much I Enjoy My Little Monster Day! Just kidding! But, really, I can't get enough of that show. It is by far my favorite of the season, and will likely remain that way. I'd even say it has worked its way into my top 5 anime, which actually consists of less than 5 anime. 

My Little Monster does a great job appealing to the high school relationship angst that every person has when they're at that age. It's hard to not empathize with both Shizuku and Haru. The characters, despite their occasional outburst, have very real personalities. Even Asako and Sasayan have qualities that remind me of people I went to high school with, but simply played a supporting role in my life, which brings me to my next point.

The way the characters' thoughts and feelings are exposed is done in a way that reenforces their role in Haru and Shizuku's lives. Like I said before, Sasayan and Asako feel like friends, but never go so far as to really enter into and intimate friendship with Shizuku or Haru. That, in my case, is a pretty good reflection of the relationships I held with classmates in high school, and I'm continually impressed by how close to home the show hits. 

Yesterday, I forgot to mention that I checked out episode 3 of Teekyuu. It's nearly impossible to talk about, since the show is so hard to follow. The only part of the episode that stuck with me was Marimo's obsession with Yuri's pantsu - specifically her arrest in the conclusion. I thought that was pretty funny. 

Also, I have a bunch (3) of Crunchyroll 48-Hour All-Access Guest Passes! I figured I'd give one out for the next three weeks, and then once a month as I get them. So, here's this week's code: VD3E5G9978V - Enjoy!