Day 30 Fin

Leaving.

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Day 29

Nakano Broadway and Akihabara for one last shopping and eating trip. Bought some magazines featuring LiSA. Dinner at Mai;lish.

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Day 28 Christmas

Akihabara 2 maid cafes, maidreamin and @home again. @home is better.

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Day 27

Ueno-hirokoji and Akihabara.

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Day 26 LiSA

Woke up at 7, left by 730. At Makuhari at 9. Huge line for 930 goods. Lucky nothing sold our and was even able to get LiSAnta that I missed in Gifu.

At (croquette sandwich?) with delicious vanilla (custard?) drink and ramen.

Got in the wrong line even though I asked, but it got me to the front of the rear standing. Pillar in the way, but no big deal, center stage is still visible.

Setlist
Shirushi
Rising hope
Gift gift
Risky
Empty mermaid?
Rally go round?
Egotistic shooter?

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Day 25 Tokyo Skytree

Rest. Laundry. Tokyo Skytree at night.

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Day 24 Ghibli museum, Nakano Broadway

Ghibli museum was cool. Was fascinated how they animated real life objects. The short was Koro's Big Day Out. Cool kits in the gift shop.

Nakano Broadway was on the way home. Spent too much money on keychain and tiny figures.

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Day 23 Hobby Round 14, Joypolis,Gundam, Shabu Shabu

Tokyo Big Sight. Sweet ass building.
Cool figures. None I wanted to buy. Initial D arcade game in a car, super hard. Huge Gundam statue was cool, and I don't even like Gundam.

Boys night out. Shabu shabu. Tiny bar. Then cute girl bar.

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Day 22 shinyurigaoka, yomiuri land, yaki niku

Went to amusement park that was illuminated. Ate sushi from conveyor belt. 1.5 hrs of yaki niku and booze. Awesome.

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Day 21 nikko to tokyo

Saw some temple and shrine in nikko. Train to Asakusa for shopping, then Akiba for more shopping.

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Day 20 hike around chuzenji

Day in nikko, saw kegon and ryuzu falls.

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Day 19 off to nikko

Ueno park, Shinjuku, then we're off to Nikko.

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Day 18 setagaya, shibuya

Went to Setagaya Boro-ichi (Fair) and ate a bunch. Then to Shibuya and Harajuku.
Met a friend in Harajuku.

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Minor Annoying things about japan

1. Waiting for the pedestrian cross signal when there are no cars.
2. Bikes ride on the sidewalk or wherever is convenient for them.
3. Garbage is sorted into a tremendous amount of categories at your home. Public garbage cans are sparse.
4. All mail packages require you to be there to receive them. If you miss it you can schedule a time you're home for redelivery or pick them up at the post office.
5. All them damn coins, too many, similar sizes.

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Day 17 back to Tokyo

Finally back in Tokyo. Traveling around Japan was fun, easy with the JR Pass, but tiring. Need to be back at home base, aka the apartment in Asakusa.

Gotta start eating out at restaurants again, no more conbini food.

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Day 16 LiSA

LiSA tonight !!
Bought goods, 2 of Items Were sold out, SHOULD Have Been there Earlier, I HAD time. Maybe its for the better. Did not need tickets to the show, Which seems weird, but good to know.

Holy crap, amazing. Better than when I saw her in America. Small live house, or rock club. Not as close as I was in Boston, but could still see clearly. Being taller than everyone finally has an advantage. (I still hit my head on a daily basis here in Japan).

The Japanese is crowd is super energetic and engaging. I came prepared with a glow stick this time. Super fun but tiring. So hot. Some people were dripping wet, you could see the moisture in the air literally. So glad I had earplugs. Why are concerts so loud, lol. Wish she could sing all acoustic versions, her voice is beautiful. She sounds just as good live ad she does on CD. She played weird keyboard kazoo thing and even guitar, never seen that before.

Made a friend waiting on line, cute japanese girl. Wish I knew Japanese. Thank goodness for google translate.

It was a good day. 10 more days until Makuhari Messe, 2nd LiSA concert, Mega Speaker.

Eager to go back to Tokyo, I do not want to go home though.

Wish i could remember the songs she played. Maybe I could find a setlist online. Memory is somewhat fresh so here's something.

Setlist I CAN Remember:
Crossing field
Rising hope
Oath Sign
ID
Gift Gift
Mr Launcher
Rally Go round
Doctor

I think:
Crow Song
Best Day best way
Rock mode
Im a rock star
shirushi
L. MIRANIC
Kimochi Factory

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Day 15 Gifu

Breakfast was more normal. Off to Gifu.

Tried to get scalped tickets for LiSA x cinema staff but couldn't. Met someone else who did. Damn.

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Day 14: half way through -ish maybe

Off to Himeji to see the castle and stay in a ryokan.

Castle was cool, free. Ryokan was weird, they didn't really speak any English, but managed. Room was nice, onsen was cool. Would do it if it was public though. No idea what I was eating.

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Day 13 afternoon in Nara

Tried Family Mart fried chicken. Holy crap was that good, way better than KFC. Soft and oily, yum. Need to try more hot conbini food.

Off to Nara, not much to see but went for the deer park. Deer roaming around, you can buy crackers to feed them, watch out because they will swarm, one kept headbutting me for food. Some old temples.

Food in Osaka. Kushikatsu and yakiniku.

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Day 12 day trip to kyoto

Bought some knives. Ate miso ramen. Middle schoolers asked for interview. Fushimi inari. Back to osaka for udon.

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Day 11 off to osaka

Bullet train to osaka from tokyo, easier than expected. Went to Pokémon center, then food. Ate takoyaki again, better and less fishy. More raw inside. Gyoza. Okonomiyaki was delish, on top with that beef bowl. Won another senjougahara in ufo game. Damn me.

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Day 10, shibuya,akiba

Ate curry in shibuya, very different but good. All sauce and egg. Did some shopping.

Then to akiba, ate some curry, more traditional but not quite. Chicken thigh katsu was good though.

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Day 9 Akiba, Steins;Gate Locations

Back in Akihabara. Visited May Queen Nyan-Nyan, Mai:lish irl. Less over the top than the touristy cafes. Like a normal place but with maids.

 Some otaku too, they talked to me about anime. Maids were super cute. Their English was not too good but their attempts were super charming. Hamburg was like Salisbury steak. Saw some SG cosplayers, Okabe and Daru. Would go back.

Already visited coin lockers and UDX.

Beef bowl was amazing.

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Day 8 i guess

Has it been 8 days or have I miscounted? Visited Ueno park, pretty, temples and shrine. And a zoo. Then to Rikugien Gardens. Trees light up at night.

Tried KFC. It was good, not really different. Very thin bread coating. Fries were not good.

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Day 7: I might as well live here

Sweet breakfast again today. Man I missed sugar. I did not know when I booked the apartment that Asakusa was known for Japanese sweets. Headed to Akiba again because I love it.

I went to a maid cafe and it was awesome. It is calledhome, I went to the first floor. The maids were all super cute. They could tell I am otaku and talked to me in (broken) English. The food was okay. I ordered omurice , did not quite look like it SHOULD, but the maid Drew a bear and it WAS super cute. I'm thinking I SHOULD Go back on Christmas though it'll probably BE super busy. I think I ' ll try maidreamin next.

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Day 6: Chichibu Festival

So many food stalls. I ate kurage and Takoyaki and
Zaku zaku and taiyaki and yakisoba and what I think was imagawayaki with a strange green filling. With warm sweet sake. Yum.

Girl kept staring at me until I smiled at her, then she came up to me to practice English.

And floats.
And.
Fireworks on way home that shook the train.

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Day 5

Knees hurt. Relax. Conbini food.

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Day 4: Losing track of days

Tokyo DisneySea in the nighttime, so what to do during the day? AKIHABARA. Second time here, still not nearly enough. Amazing how many stores they can pack into these small spaces. Japanese really know how to utilize space efficiently. If you're into something nerdy or techy, there is literally nothing you can't find here. 90% of the things I order online can be found in this one small district, plus many more I never seen nor sought out.

Tired of walking. Ate a delicious crepe. Had Mos Burger, kurage sandwich. It was good, not great. Want to try rice patty but it needed meat.

Those who said short lines at Tokyo DisneySea at night lie. Unless its a bad ride.

Ate a smoked chicken leg and a sausage gyoza bun.

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Day 3: Shinjuku

Headed to Shinjuku to see the Robot Restaurant show that evening. While waiting, hit up some arcades, visited Shin-Ōkubo, japan's Koreatown.

Kabukicho is part of Shinjuku, gets kinda sketchy (for Japan) at night, but that's where the robots are.

Robot show was totally bonkers. Too loud. Looked like it was cobbled together at times (though so many costumes, would like to meet who made them), but the performances were really good. Think of a live performance of an 80s Japanese B-movie cross JRPG,  complete with lousy effects, cheesey dialogue, lasers, and monster battles. I think I even heard Attack on Titan music at one point. Didn't eat, sushi bento no thanks. Totally awesome, would definitely recommend, one of those things truely that can only be seen in Japan, mostly gaijin, but even some Japanese people came. No need to book early shows online, get tickets at door,  not even close to full. Not sure about late shows or weekends.

Ate melon bread and pudding (like an anime school girl) and they were delicious.

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Day 2: kaminarimon, sensoji, Akihabara

There was a fair (festival?) featuring food from Fukushima. Ate a whole bunch. Visited the temple, drew for luck. Highschool girls interviewed gaijin for school. Headed to Akihabara. Ran into hobby shop right outside train station. Of course had to buy stuff, I'd be broke if I lived near one, all the paints and supplies for any kit or model in one place. Proceeded up and down many stores. Animate. Sofmap. Gamed in Taito and Sega arcade. UFO machines are addicting, they know what they're doing. Not enough time, need to go back.

Tried calpis, was delicious.

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First meal in Japan

So I had planned to eat at BK while here in Japan because I heard it's different. I didn't now it be my first bite of food after stepping off the plane, but it turned out it was literally right outside the subway exit where I was supposed to meet with up with my apartment renter and I had some time to kill, so... It was good, actually it tasted really good after traveling for so long to get here. The differences: I can't recall what Whoppers taste like in America because its been so long, but it definitely wasn't smothered in this much ketchup and mayo (they taste different btw: the ketchup tasted less sweet and more tangy, and we already love Japanese mayo back home). The proper way to eat a burger in Japan isn't to unwrap the whole thing but just enough to bite (i.e. how we eat burritos) and know I know why. Good thing I packed napkins. I think its so saucey because the patty is drier, but again, hard to remember.

Also tried Pocari Sweat from a vending machine in the airport (like Gatorade).

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Platinum Watch #61: Life is Strange (PS4)

PSN Level: 29 - 28%

Life is Strange was a 5 part episodic game that started coming out earlier this year in January and now almost 10 months later it has ended. Unlike I usually do with the Telltale episodic games, I marathon through all 5 episodes after they came out in about 2 days, and I loved it.

I was sold on this game when they described it as living the life of a teenage girl who get time manipulation powers. Then it fell by the wayside as other games were coming out, but I did buy the season pass and install each episode as it was released. With the last episode hitting recently, it was the perfect time to start playing. I am so glad I waited for them all because once I started, I couldn't put it down. If they ever make a Tales from the Borderlands season 2, I will definitely wait for them all to be released because I love season 1. That being said, I will continue playing Minecraft story mode as they come out. 

So after playing through and re-watching Steins;Gate, I've been eager to consume more excellent time travel stories. Much like Steins;Gate, apart from well done time travel, this game really makes you care for the characters (and their potential deaths).Though not as emotional as Steins;Gate, I did shed tears during this game, notably the end. One reason why I keep comparing Life is Strange to Steins;Gate (SG) is because the essential time travel story is the same: discover time travel, save a life, grow attach to that person throughout the story, horrible consequences ensue due to your time travel, and at the end you must choose between fixing the timeline or saving the person you love. So I did see the ending coming to an extent, but unlike in SG, you can't have your cake and eat it too. Even as I chose what I knew was the wrong choice to selfishly save my best friend, I couldn't bring myself to sacrifice her (though apparently that ending is a bit better). And my "wrong" choice I figured was unpopular turned out to be almost split according to the global statistics.

What I love about making choices in this game compared to the Telltale games is there is no timer, so you can think about how your choice may effect future events. There were many times where I hesitated, or contemplated for minutes on end, weighing my choices. The other good thing is due to Max's time manipulation powers, you can go back and change your choice after you hear the characters dialogue and see the end of the conversation. If it didn't end how you like, you can go back, but Max usually hints after a conversation how your choices can affect the future, so even with rewinding time, you never know if you are making the right choice. One of the most stressful moments happened when the game took away your powers and had you literally talk someone off a ledge.

The gameplay was at it's best when they throw you in a location and you must look through items all around you to help you make better choices during conversation (along with more bits of story). Thinking back on it, it is very reminiscent of a Quantic Dream game: investigating a mystery (Heavy Rain) and making choices as a young female character (Beyond: Two Souls). Putting all the pieces of evidence that we gathered onto a board to find a location of a suspect was also a fun aspect. I could use a whole game being a private dick with Chloe by me side! 

I totally fell for the best friend character Chloe. It didn't hurt that she was voiced by Ashley Burch a.k.a Mayuri and many other characters in games and anime. The voice cast was awkward at times. It took a while to get used to the Max's (the main character) shy slow monotone talking but by the end, I thought the voice actor was great. It is good to note most of the voice actors do multiple characters in the game. 

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Platinum Watch #60: Tales from the Borderlands (PS4)

PSN Level: 29 - 14%

This has to be my favorite Telltale game they ever made, including the old school point-and-click games like Monkey Island. It is by far the best of their new, visual-novel / choose-your-own-adventure games. 

I played the past borderlands games, but never really paid attention to the story, more just the setting. And the setting is cool. I would much rather expand on this universe via a Telltale game (TTG) than a core Gearbox game. The writing and storytelling is great, and is made even better by the amazing voice cast. The game has seriously emotional heart wrenching scenes, and characters can and will die. But that's all stuff we have seen in the more recent TTGs like The Walking Dead for example . What Tales from the Borderlands introduces is comedy. This game has some seriously laugh out loud moments, rare in any game to me. They also have super cool opening sequences set to music, and maybe even slo-mo. There is a finger gun sequence in episode 3 or 4 that is my favorite thing in any game in recent memory.

This series also has a way to make the player feel attached to non-human characters. It started with LoaderBot (which enamored the internet more than me), and moved on to Gortys, played by Ashley Johnson, who is too cute and funnier than any other character in this game. (Side note: both may be better and more liked than their previous robot claptrap)

One gripe is how they take away a heavy moment toward the end with what seems almost like magic, but ultimately fits in the Borderlands universe.

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Platinum Watch #59: Uncharted Drake's Fortune Remastered (PS4)

I am a huge fan of the Uncharted series for PS3. I am super pumped for the fourth iteration on PS4. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune was my first platinum trophy. It's also my 59th.

So this remaster puts Uncharted 1, 2, and 3 on 1 disc for PS4 labeled The Nathan Drake Collection. The game is the same as it was ~8 years ago. The trophy list is largely the same, with minor tweaks. For some reason, many of the kill trophies were made more difficult, for example, kill 50 enemies (instead of 20) using stealth, which is not required to use throughout the game, made it even longer to farm than it was before. They also introduced speedrun trophies for the new speedrun mode, which sounds like a pain for anyone who isn't into speedrunning, but lucky (or wisely) they were very lenient in the required times.

Crushing difficulty, which is one step above hard, is unlocked from the start for the first time in the series. Being a veteran of these games, I jumped right into crushing, and despite hearing it had the hardest crushing mode of the 3 games. It was borderline infuriating. My poor long term memory must have erased my past run-through of crushing from existence, or I am exponentially less patient/slow-reflexed than I used to be. On many occasions, coming out of cut-scenes left me mostly dead before I can begin moving the character. Although crushing can be extremely frustrating, fun can be found treating the rooms almost like puzzles; needing to memorize where enemies come from and how best to use ammo provided a good challenge.

This being the first game in the series, it definitely holds up as a game (albeit not on crushing), but it is clearly the weakest of the 3 by a fair margin. Of the 3, it has the slowest opening. It really takes a while to get into anything fun besides story. It is less clear where to traverse versus sequels. There aren't any big, memorable set pieces. Thank god for shoulder swap. I can't remember if it was in the original game but before I turned it on in the options menu, the game would decide what side the gun was on when Drake pops out of cover, and it could be the difference between life and death. Also in the options menu was the ability to use L1/R1 buttons like all PS3 games used to for shooters, but the PS4 controller may have improved L2/R2 buttons, the L12/R1 are far worse leaving either option unsatisfying.

I don't know if/how the graphics were improved, but the game look really good. The iconic Uncharted camera is here from the beginning, providing both a cinematic feel and a clear path for the player to focus on. There also seemed to be a bunch of tweaks in the options to change how it looked (I vaguely remember this in the original, not sure if they added any), but I didn't use any because they were all locked and I wasn't going to do another play-through.

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STEINS;GATE Visual Novel vs Anime

After playing through Steins;Gate on PlayStation 3, I couldn't get enough so I started re-watching the anime with English dub. I just finished episode 12 and these are my thoughts so far. After spending ~35 hours listening to the Japanese cast, I learned to prefer them over the English cast. The English cast is still really good, especially Okabe and Daru, but I vastly prefer the Japanese voices of Mayuri and Kurisu. Hearing the Asuna's voice come out of the Part Time Warrior also takes me out of the experience.

I like the localisation into English that was done for the dub, over the anime subs, but I MUCH prefer the dialogue from the game. Okabe's "mad scientist" act is appropriately labeled as chuunibyou, though I never thought of it like that before the VN (visual novel). The anime used the term OTP. one true pairing, referring to Kurisu's bickering with Okabe, which I never heard of, but the subs for the anime called her tsundere, which I did understand. The anime, and even more so the dub, I think, doesn't give you such a clear picture that the group is really otaku. I never thought of Mayuri as otaku, but she is obsessed with cosplay. Whenever you see her sewing in the lab, she is making costumes for cosplay. Okabe has chuunibyou, 8th grade syndrome. Kurisu reads @channel, aka 2chan, in secret and is embarassed by it. Daru is clearly a nerd in both adaptations.

The biggest thing that bugged me, and pushed me to write this post, was Kurisu crying over Okabe yelling at her over his name in the anime. In the VN, she acts strong all the time and is always calm. She is seen by us and Okabe to be serious and objective, except for 2 serious moments, which are made more impactful because it appears out of character (really she puts on a front and hides her emotions). But the anime she cries twice (out of fear?) which makes her look weak (and Okabe looks terribly mean).

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Platinum Watch #58: Steins;Gate (PS3)

PSN Level 28 - 84%

Since I played Virtues Last Reward for PS Vita a couple of years ago, I have been immensely jealous of the slew of visual novels on consoles in Japan. When one comes to the US on a PlayStation console, I buy it. I was doubly excited when Steins;Gate was announced, having seen the anime and attempting to play the PC fan translated version (didn't enjoy playing on the PC).

The anime was one of my favorites. I "marathoned" the English dub when it came out. Though, before playing through the game, I remembered very little of it. Playing through the game was like experiencing it for the first time again. And it was amazing.

I remember liking the English dub, and since beating the game, I started re-watching it. The voices are great, and the localization is excellent. But I also love the Japanese cast, especially the female leads.

Mixed in throughout the game is a bunch of science terms, and many otaku/2chan memes, many of them parodies of real life media. Luckily, the game provides an excellent index, adding the entry when the word is used. Be sure to read all of them because they can and will be used again in the future dialog. The game seems to cater more toward the otaku fans than I remember the anime doing, or I am just understanding more of the references now.

I think all of the endings were heart wrenching. Getting 80% of the endings(there are about six or seven) is easy. The other 1 or 2 need to follow a specific text thread starting in earlier chapters. Responding to texts is an interesting way to engage the player. but they require you to choose between about 1-3 seemingly random words to respond to. And once you choose the word and write out the new text, I can't see any way to back out to pick a different word and am forced to just send it. I would prefer to preview all responses before picking one because this random replying means you can miss small details about other characters, or the bigger deal, a whole story thread required to get the better endings. I strongly encourage anyone to play through all the endings, using a guide when necessary, to see the true ending. This ending, the same from the anime, is so much more impactful after seeing how much the MC (main character) went through to get there.



After finishing, I am struggling to find more English translated media from this franchise, hoping more will come to america soon.

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Platinum Watch #57: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

PSN Level 28 - 38%

A couple years ago, I platinumed Ni No Kuni. I ended up loving all 85 hours I spent with that game. It was the first RPG I completed in probably a decade, since Pokemon Crystal. I tried picking up other RPGs (both Japanese i.e. Final Fantasy VII and western i.e. Fallout 3) during that decade, but they never appealed to me. But I picked them back up after Ni No Kuni, and slowly I am liking them more and more.

My first trophy in the game Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was on 8/1/2012. I played about 5 hours and put it down. I remember liking the combat, but RPGs were still a bit overwhelming for me back then. Nearly three years later, I picked it up where I left off, put another 60 hours in, and got the platinum trophy. And there are still many side quests that I did not complete. After about 50 hours of any game, I am usually satisfied; any time spent over that is usually monotonous and boring for me. Though I enjoyed it thoroughly, this game was not different.

The combat was really fun. It played like a good action game which I am always fond of but added in all the RPG elements I am starting to enjoy. It really is to bad the developer went bankrupt and never got to make the MMO this game was supposed to introduce. The pacing of the experience growth was perfect, never needing to grind, and (playing on hard) was fun and never frustrating.

In every RPG with inventory management, I always end up constantly being full or encumbered. I stopped playing Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Fallout 3 solely for that reason. I have to pick everything up to keep or sell, and always keep redundant weapons. This game started off the same, so I hunted down inventory expansions until I maxed it, and leveled up a skill that let me part of the cost of an item or weapon when destroying it that way I didn't need to visit the shop to sell my junk so often. A neat feature this game has, (I've seen it in Borderlands too), is send an item as junk and sell or destroy all junk at the same time. Unlike in Borderlands, there is not an option to set an item as a favorite, which would have made item management even easier. The player shared stash is in one of 4ish player houses, but it would have been more convenient to have a stash in more places, even if I had to buy the house. By the end of the game, I didn't know what to spend my $2,000,000 on. Another positive was the unlimited saves the game lets you make, and it always keeps a recent auto-save, one after the tutorial, and one after the final boss.

Some negatives are the environments and dungeons often use the same layout re-skinned (or maybe even exactly the same) and could get confusing. Also, better quest management would be good. After so many side quests build up, 50+, there is no recommenced level, though they are in the order received or updated. Also, having the map up while selecting the quest so you can pick something close would also be preferable to switching between the 2 menus.

But all in all, it was a fun game, and a pretty easy platinum trophy if you have 65 hours.

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COMPLETE: Lisa Statue Work-in-Progress (WIP)

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Published: 4/21/2015

In my post about my dislike of Crayola air dry clay, I have photos of a statue work in process.

Inspiration was from the concert Tee from LiSA at Anime Boston.

Coming home from a trip to Boston, I felt really inspired by LiSA to pursue creative outlets. I think its fair to say I am obsessed with anime statues, but how could I get a LiSA statue?? I'll make one! Never having done this, I'd say I did a fair job sculpting. Unfortunately, the clay I bought is crap, so I am going to attempt to mold and cast it to have a resin statue to paint. Wish me luck!

Updated: 4/25/2015

It is clear that I don't really know what I am doing. What an utter mess. After successfully creating a dump mold of her arm (had to cut the arms off for the molding process, made 1 mold to be used for both arms and fused to the body after casting). Waiting for it to dry now, I am a bit worried about the top layer not being mixed well enough to dry, in about 6 hours I might have a runny mess on my hands.

So, every way i have seen for creating a 2 part mold involves using clay as a base and pour silicone for the top part of the mold. One guy in YouTube comments mentioned suspending the model on cured silicone blocks and then pour the rest in up to the half way point. (Side note, it is really hard not to get silicone on top of the model using this method, hope it peels off later.) I know why it is not recommended, air bubble rise to the surface under the model and your cast will have bumps. Not only and I lazy, but I am not sure I would'n't mess up the model (made out of shitty clay). 

The worst part is that 2.8lbs of silicone, Smooth-On Oomoo 30 (30 min work time; 6 hour cure time), was just enough for half the mold. So I am going to need another week and $30 to ship out another trial kit. To be continued... 

Updated: 5/8/2015

So the second half of the mold worked out pretty well, I was better prepared for the silicone, everything mixed well, and the whole second batch of silicone was the perfect amount. Once cured, it was a bit hard to separate the 2 sides of silicone, I used the super sealer and ease release the kit came with. Next time I would try vaseline for an easier release. The mold was pretty rough, I did not clean up the lines at all, and all the detail of the clay was there, for better or worse.

I would recommend measuring in some way how much resin you need. I estimated, but made too little. I then lifted the mold up but it began spilling out of the mold from the bottom (next time tighter rubber bands). So I quickly mixed up a new batch before the old started to harden, and it worked out, but I made way too much and wasted material. Better too much than too little though.

After de-molding, a bit on the face and hair didn't quite cure. It was still soft and a bit of the hair fell off. Maybe the 2 resin parts needed to be mixed better. Even the next day it was soft, but several days later it was hard like the other parts. Since the original clay model was so rough, along with air bubbles from not being able to roll the resin in the mold, it took quite a bit of sanding, bondo, and putty to clean up the piece (thank goodness for my dremel and accessories). The arms, molded separately needed to be pinned and attached. Next step, priming and painting...

Updated: 6/14/2015

Finally finished, after a long process. Priming, pinning and painting went pretty smooth. Most of the painting was done by brush, which I dislike, but overall it came out pretty good. I am happy with the base colors too once I decided what looks good. 

To make the Lisa lettering, I bought Super Sculpey (learned my lesson about buying good clay), but it seemed to be old as it was rock hard. After some 20 minutes with canola oil and a hammer, I had workable clay. Baking in the oven took longer then expected, though I feel even if I took it out sooner it would have hardened when cool. I took the colors from the logo behind LiSA at Anime Boston.

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DIY Monitor Backlight

After I installed LEDs in my my latest GK, I had a bunch of left over parts, so I measured out 4 strips, soldered them together, and wired it to a switch mounted to the front of the monitor. After an hour or 2, it was secured to my monitor via the built-in adhesive backing. Simple but fun, and I got to practice my soldering.

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Kuroyukihime Death by Embracing Garage Kit Completed

Project Page: e2046
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This was a fun build, especially coming off off the previous Asuna kit. I had to put off working on my LiSA statue because I wanted to get this done by the end of the month, and it turned out to be my quickest build. At first it looked daunting because the kit consisted of about 60 pieces, but the simple color scheme made it easy and enjoyable. Painting mistakes were very forgiving being it was mostly robot parts and they are heavily shaded to look like light. I think it turned out really well, very similar to the official version.

This was my first time with a kit with clear pieces. Having no transparent paint, I mixed food coloring to Future to make the orange pieces on the bottom. It worked fairly well, comes out a bit too light and took about 3 coats. The purple pieces where a fiasco to themselves. Turns out it is really hard to mix the correct, bright purple paint I needed. I had to purchase a fluorescent violet color by Createx, not transparent because it was unavailable on Amazon, Createx are usually thinned ok, but this one is thick! I have a feeling it is old because of the layer of dust that came on it. But after thinning and mixing I got the right balance and the pieces kind of look transparent. However, once finished, getting the clear base on and glued was quite the nightmare.

All my previous attempts at shading skin were done the same way. I sealed with Future, than applied the pastel shading. The problem was the pastel never stuck well enough, and the shading was barely visible. This time I decided to use a different technique: to paint a dark color where I wanted shading first, then apply the skin color over it. I found that I had much more control over the final color using this method. As a last minute thought, I wanted to add color to the face (i.e. blush on the cheeks) so I did the pastel shading BEFORE applying a Future coat and it worked way better, though any pastel you applied was pretty much there permanently, so be very careful.

The shading of the orange on the black, to make it look like light was coming from the base, was easy to do. I hope it accomplishes that effect, but to add oomph, I added LEDs inside the base, powered by batteries or DC input. This was my first time working with electronics and soldering, so I went the easy route and used an LED strip. The only downside was not being able to get orange in the small size led 3528, so red will have to do. I also found out I have no idea what I am doing when it comes to soldering. I watch maybe 2 videos on YouTube, and those guys made it look easy. I got it done, but the solder joints are an ugly mess. Maybe it just takes practice.

The sealer I have been using was Future floor polish, and to get a matte finish, another coat of Future mixed with Tamiya flat base. But as I found out during my previous Asuna kit, getting the right mix of the two can be a difficult task; to much flat base and it has a milky effect, not enough and it is still glossy. I decided to try Galeria Matte Varnish recommended on several blogs and forums. I coated a few pieces as a test, and it did nothing. After a few minutes of research, I realized it need to be shaken before use. A thin coat will be rid of most gloss, a thicker coat rids nearly all, with minimal to no effect on the color. Until I glued the pieces the next day, and they developed a white firlm only near where super glue was used. With a careful touch, it seem most can be buffed off, though not in small crevases that are out of reach.

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Platinum Watch: #56 MotorStorm RC (PS3)

So I downloaded MotorStorm RC for the PS3 today. I remember really liking it on Vita, even platinum it on the handheld. It was $2.00, basically 80% off, so why not play it again. Turns out, through no means of syncing saves or anything, all the trophies popped. In short, I accidentally bought my 56th Platinum trophy (unlike when I did it for DC Universe online for PS4, that was completely intentional).

P.S. I had to re-download my Vita MotorStorm game/save to fix a sync issue to get that last DLC silver trophy

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Platinum Watch #55: Driveclub

After many hours (2.5 months), I finally got my platinum trophy in Driveclub thanks to the season pass and all the DLC they've continued to release post-launch. I am so glad I didn't grind to achieve any of the long term trophies because I had the DLC. It took some waiting for new content each month, but I like it the game too much to tarnish my time with it.

Here's hoping the studio behind the game, Evolution (makers of MotorStorm), survive after the abysmal buggy launch of this game.

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Asuna KOB Outfit Garage Kit COMPLETED

Product Page: e2046
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My third and latest garage kit (GK) is Asuna from Sword Art Online in her equipment from the guild Knights of the Blood in Aincrad. I love Asuna but this GK was a royal pain.

First off, white is the most unforgiving color. It takes many coats of paint to feel really white. I am a messy painter so it is really hard to keep it pristinely white. Cross contamination from my hands was a big issue. Also, many dust specs and fibers are noticeable in the dried paint. I have not figured out how to avoid dust sticking to paint to some degree but it usually isn't noticeable on other colors. I do not want to work with white clothing in the future, aside from the already purchased Saber (will be shown at a later date.)

Besides there being 60+ pieces (too many), many being really small, Asuna has many dark colors like silver and red as highlights to the white uniform. Painting freehand has been a real challenge, and as a newbie to get straight lines is almost impossible. I bought paint pens to try to help, but that only worked for larger areas. Any mistake is blatantly noticeable and really hard to cover up with white.

The paint pens I bought are Extra Fine Sharpie Oil-Based Paint Pens. The pens worked really well for small and quick touch ups, but not as well as for what I hoped, which was painting precise and small areas. The were small crevices that even the pens couldn't reach. The tip is more like a pen than a marker tip. Think felt tip, but the tip is hard plastic. Using the pens for extended periods means you have to push the tip down, into the body of the pen to get more paint. But not too hard/long or paint will spill out and make a mess.

This was my first kit that didn't come with a base. Thanks to a cheap dremel, pinning the figure to the base was not a problem. Paining it however was. This is the first base I made using wood so there were some difficulties possibly because it was wood and not resin but also because it was cheap wood. A while back I purchased about 6 wood bases of different shapes and sizes from an online craft store called Sunshine Discount Crafts.

The first problem was priming to wood. It seemed to soak up paint like a sponge, so the airbrush and usual priming paint was making little progress. Thanks to amazon, 2 days later I had a $3.89 can of Rust Oleum 280715 American Accents Ultra Cover 2X White Primer Spray Paint, which actually worked really well. I assume that all wood will react the same to the airbrush vs spray paint, but a real drawback of buying cheap wood was how hard it was to cover up the defects of the wood. Sanding made little difference; next time it might be a good idea to putty and sand the wood before painting, but at that point, it is better to just buy more expensive bases that might not need that treatment. I have one so I am curious to try it on a future model.

Liquitex Soft Body is the white paint I bought for the last kit, after the Badger Spectra-Tex ran out. I was happy with the set of Badger paints, minus the white. It was the only color that was super goopey and collected to the bottom. Shaking didn't work and needed manual stirring. It was a pain so back to amazon to find a new white. I settled on Liquitex knowing I had to thin it for an airbrush, I admit to not doing enough research. I only ever used it mixing with other paints until this model. Mixed it is okay, but straight white is not good for airbrush mainly because it is so hard to clean from the airbrush. It also sprays real slow, possibly because I use a .2mm nozzle or a low psi, neither of which I felt like switching because I like the way it is set right now.

This was my first time using Bob Smith 151 Insta-Set 2oz Accelerator for fast drying superglue. I saw Adam Savage using it in a Tested.com YouTube video building a replica rifle from a movie. I've used the baking soda trick, but this stuff is awesome. Almost instant drying when joining 2 pieces, one with glue on it, the other with accelerator. The only downside is it makes it even easier to glue your fingers to things. I lost some skin the this stuff on more than one occasion. I think if it came with a brush along with the spray cap it would be easier to use.

The one thing I feel I really nailed on this figure was the hair color. Asuna's hair, in the books, is described as chestnut brown. I don't really know what this means, because in real life, chestnuts are really dark, but in the anime, her hair is a dark orange. The first pass of her hair was a very vibrant orange, and it might have stayed that way but when sealing with a future/tamiya flat coat, there was too much tamiya and it left a white discoloration forcing me to repaint. Luckily I did, because the next coat was dark and used a lot of brown nailing her look.

Overall, I am disappointed with this build, not because it looks bad, but because I know I could do better. From, assembly in the wrong order, to repainting, to glue drips, to sloppy paint lines, I wish I had done a better job with my favorite character. On the upside, I have another Asuna kit, only about 20 pieces, to tackle and improve on in the future.

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Lisa Anime Boston 2015

Friday April 3rd 2015, LiSA had a concert performance at Anime Boston.
Friday April 3rd 2015 was one of the best times I've had in a long, long time.

Thanks to YouTube and Sword Art Online, I have been aware of LiSA for a while. When I found out she was coming to perform in America, a few hours from home, I had a trip planned within the week. And it couldn't have come at a better time. For the past few months, my mood has been in a bit of a funk. I had little motivation to do anything and my overall demeanor was grumpy. But that changed when I left for Anime Boston on Thursday the 2nd of April.  The weeks leading up to the convention, I played LiSA music nonstop. I even re-watched Angels Beats now knowing she was Yui's singing voice from GirlDeMo.

The performance was phenomenal. I waited in line for over 5 hours, my seats would've been better were it not for so many line cutters, but its hard to complain about the second row. LiSA's voice is what really attracted me to her music. Her voice is powerful and full of emotion that crosses the language barrier. My only complaint of the concert was the band was too loud, I wanted to hear her voice louder, but that is what I get for being so close to the stage. I wouldn't trade that though, she was close enough to look at us in front right in the eyes. It was an amazing experience. Her panel and getting a picture with her the next day was icing on the cake.

I was so excited I have crazy eyes. Right before the picture she commented on my hat saying "Su-pa-man", it was adorable :)

Aside from needing a vacation and some time to myself, coming home I was happier and more cheerful I felt motivated to do what I want and focus on improving myself and my life. That is because of LiSA. Its been a couple of weeks since then, and I can't stop thinking about that weekend. I hope I get the chance to see her again soon, even if it takes me farther from home.

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White Crayola Air Dry Clay

Do not buy this clay. Do not use this clay. 

I wanted to make a figure I could paint, but I've never sculpted before. I watched literally a couple of videos and decided to give it a shot. I am not an artistic person by any means. The best I could do is sloppily replicate something I've seen. Having little confidence in creating something from nothing, I decided to not buy Super Sculpey, a clay that needs to dry in the oven, possibly in layers as to not have a raw inside. Instead I bought the cheap, air dry clay for babies by Crayola.

First off, it is super hard to work with for the purpose of sculpting a statue. It is too soft to be able to mold precisely. I ended up doing it in stages and waiting for it to dry similar to the Sculepy method I read about. What was not foreseen was how the clay cracks when it dries, especially if it is too thin/small. But even the thick pieces are brittle. It is super easy to break a fully dried 1.5" thick piece. What I wanted was a statue I could sand, drill, and paint and did not get it.

To fix this, I am going to attempt to cast this out of resin from a silicone mold. I don't know if it is possible with this clay, nor have I ever attempted it before on any material. It could be a total disaster, but I am sure to post about it in the future.

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Senjyogahara Hitagi Garage Kit COMPLETED

Product Page: e2046
My Gallery

My second GK(garage kit) build is Senjougahara from Bakemonogatari. She was the first character to introduce the concept of tsundere to me. I am super happy with it. I think the colors are spot on, they're even better in person. This kit has over 50 pieces, a huge jump over my first model. I am especially proud of how the floor turned out, totally worth doing it twice. The kit actually came with a different configuration, so the torso and hands come off with magnets to give it interchangeable skirts. (Pics of that in the gallery above.)

All the little pieces of stationary were a complete nightmare, but they're what make it so special. This pre-painted PVC figure is so expensive it kept me from this model for so long. Future floor polish worked great to make the transparent pieces virtually clear. The same shading for the hair and body was used as the first one, dark/light coats and pastels respectively.

**note: I know the difference in spelling of her name on this page. The title indicates the way it was posted on the product page, I recognize the second spelling in the body as correct.

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Platinum Watch: #54 Apotheon

Apotheon is the 54th game I got 100% of the trophies in. If you think that is a lot, I've been earning trophies on PlayStation system since they were introduced in 2008 with Super Stardust HD. If you don't think it's that many, I only earn the platinum in games I really enjoy.

I ended up really liking this game, though in the beginning I was doubtful. When I heard it had Metroidvania elements, I winced. I generally like 2D games where there is a clear path of what to do. It took many hours to adjust to clearing objectives in Mercenary Kings, and I never got much further into that game. Maybe it was the setting in Apotheon that kept me playing, with a very similar setting and story to God of War. It wasn't until about 2 hours in and many internet searches that I understood most of the intricacies of this game. I feel they could have done a better job explain things such as the shield bash mechanic, weapon durability, or the stamina bar. The combat gets really fun, though on Warrior (normal, default) difficulty gets easy as you get stronger, by the end I felt invincible and didn't even use a majority of available items and potion buffs.

That was the good, now on to that bad. Selecting the weapon or item you want is a HASSLE. There is no quick select. You need one. Period. Then there's technical issues. There is about a 20% chance opening a chest for awesome items, and is a required trophy, that the game will crash. This happen countless times and ended up with me saving before and after each chest. Which work most of the time unless I was in combat or the room is spinning. That leads us to the second tech issue. After saving in the spinning room, I would spawn in a wall, outside of geometry keeping my in the game and would result in instant death. Luckily the game has a good auto-save feature with 3 saves to revert back to a safe save. But this want the only time it happened, Half a dozen other times enemies hit me through walls, I even swam through one unable to get back in. Items would also become unreachable this same way. The issue left many feeling of unfairness while play.

All that aside, in 11 hours*, this is a great and fun Platinum.

*I will fully admit I used a well known glitch to skip the extra play-through on Olympian difficulty. I am bad at games, I like to feel powerful. The extra challenge on higher difficulties was of no interest to me.

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Kashiwazaki Sena Garage Kit COMPLETED

Product Page: e2046
My gallery

This was my first garage kit build. Overall I am very happy with this kit. The was virtually nothing wrong with the kit when it arrived such as broken pieces or bubbles in the resin. A common complaint of e2046 is the over sanding of seam lines, but those complain might be old or too picky because there was a bit, but it wasn't a big deal.

I believe this is my first 1/7 scale figure because it is by far the biggest figure on my shelf. I am very happy with the colors, though I wish the top coat had less gloss. The body is shaded with pastels, but it is hardly noticeable. The hair is shaded with dark and light airbrushed acrylic paint. The base has a layer of 60 grit sandpaper and painted to look like she is at the beach. Recently I added shells to the bottom to further the beach look.

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Unity Web Player test - Space Shooter Tutorial

This was a test to see if I could embed future unity projects here. Success.
 

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Hitachi 115005 Rotary Tool Accessory Kit, 200-Piece

I purchased this kit for some sanding bits for the cheap rotary tool I bought. Has more than enough for some mild use making garage kit models. Does not include cutting or drilling bits but I have small drill bits from an old hand drill.

Product Page : Hitachi 115005 Rotary Tool Accessory Kit, 200-Piece

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SE - Rotary Tool - Cordless, Rechargeable, Variable Speed

Although it is for pet care, this rotary tool is perfect for soft resin found in garage kit models and it even has variable speed. All for under $9!

 

Product Page : SE - Rotary Tool - Cordless, Rechargeable, Variable Speed

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