Oh look A game not meant for us, Let's be assholes.

So this is gonna probably be really RANTY and might even go incoherent when i start raging like a madwoman but...i'll try to contain myself.

This started a few weeks ago when i was looking around for Hakuoki info and stumbled on a short blurb on Joystiq about it. 

The title alone made me want to punch something... "Sexy Warrior Dating Sim Hakuoki: Stories of the Shinsengumi Coming To North America" 

Um..what??

Hakuoki is NOT a "dating sim" but whatever, I continue reading this font of misinformation which mentions how Memories of the Shinsengumi is going to be released in NA in an article written a month after Memories of the Shinsengumi WAS released in NA and find this sentence: "The Hakuoki series is part of the otome (female market-targeted) visual novel subgenre, offering a harem of cuddly warriors for players to woo in a 19th century Japanese setting".

Again...what??

The entire "article" is only 3 paragraphs and the only info on it offered is some dismissive bullshit about wooing cute boys. Words can't describe how much that pisses me off. Did they even bother to glance at the game? I'm guessing not. 

no mention of the fact that it is based on actual history? That these "cuddly warriors" were real men fighting a losing battle at the cusp of the Meiji Restoration? Of course not, that would imply the game might actually have some depth and you just can't have that in a girly little dating sim can you?

Look, I'm not gonna bullshit, I'm not gonna say the game is an accurate  historical depiction of these men, I'm not going to say that you aren't gonna try and win the heart of one of these guys throughout the game. What I am going to say is that there is so much more going on in this game than a girl picking a cute boy to hook up with. 

I'm not going to review the game because I already did that but I will point out here that the "romancing" is a lot more low key than anything the words "sexy warrior dating sim" implies. 

You gain the affection of the men based on your choices throughout the game and those choices are NOT romantic. I'd say that more than gaining their love, you gain their respect. You decide who to follow into battle, will you even go into battle or stay behind. Will you stand up to the villain or do as he says? 

You don't go out for ice cream, the guys don't bring you flowers and candy and tell you you're pretty. Hell they could have cut the "romance" out and it would still be a fabulous story. 

So now that I've defended the game near and dear to my heart I want to move on to the second half of this and yes, I have a point to all this, bear with my rambling style (you should be used to this by now).

A couple days ago I was browsing Steam and saw a Barbie game on there and wondered...wtf? Some guys on my friend list even had it on their wishlist which made me doubly wtf? But you know, whatever floats their boat. I moved on...Til yesterday when a friend sent me a link to a video on Giant Bomb where they did a "quick look" of this Barbie game. Apparently this came about because Rock, Paper, Shotgun had already done a feature on it.

I read the article and got halfway through the video before I felt that if i didn't stop i'd go full blown apeshit and start throwing things. 

Let's get one thing out of the way, I love Barbie dolls, always have. I have never played a barbie game and probably never will. Do I think this Barbie Dreamhouse game is good? From what I've seen I wouldn't play it or like it. HOWEVER, the game is not made for me. That's the thing. It wasn't made with a person like me in mind. 

I could sit here and bash its graphics, the voice acting, the gameplay but ultimately that would mean nothing at all. I think that little girls that like Barbie would probably really enjoy the game. 

I'm not going to even go into the whole crap about how Barbie makes girls have body image issues because frankly i find that a crock of shit and that's a whole different can of worms. 

My problem with these 2 sites and their coverage of the game is the same as Joystiq's coverage of Hakuoki. 

You don't understand it, you don't care about it and yet you waste everyone's time with your bullshit. 

As I suffered through the video I listened to these jackasses make snide comments about EVERYTHING. But, you know, I watch Zero Punctuation, I'm used to snide. It was the fact that they were making these inane and unnecessary comments attributing bs to the game that really got me. 

In one part there's a challenge to put on the outfit pieces shown and while these guys sift through skirts and boots they make comments like:

"If you're not wearing the right shoes you're pretty much garbage" 

"Also never eat, eating is for losers." 

"there's gotta be some fat shaming in here somewhere." 

"Isnt the whole thing fat shaming?" 

"Well yes but I meant more direct."

Afterwards when Barbie is explaining that the whole point of that minigame was that when you're a model you have to chance quickly and that fashion sometimes goes out of style in a flash, she suddenly gets up and changes her outfit which leads to these comments from the guys:

"Who told her that?"

"Her stomach, it was just grumbling at her because she never eats...all you eat is ice cubes and cotton balls"

Afterwards they choose the Kitchen as the next room in the house for a minigame with these comments:

"Kitchen i'm sure there's a a lot of positive messages there" (heavy sarcasm)

"No man will love you if you cant make a meal"

Now stop right there...

Who is making a commentary on the unrealistic expectations of society? The game that has girls picking out shoes to go with their skirt and making cupcakes? Or the douchebags making misogynistic comments in an attempt to be witty?

I don't find the GAME insulting to girls, I find these guys mocking it insulting. 

Fuck you very much, seriously. This wasn't clever. It wasn't funny. It was a bunch of jerks making fun of something that CLEARLY wasn't meant for them.

And there it is...

These games, they're outside of the scope of your average gamer, particularly your average male gamer.

Do I think a game like Barbie Dreamhouse should be reviewed, covered, whatever on a gaming site? 

I don't really know, I mean, I think that for the most part the parents buying it and the kids playing it are probably not people that would frequent such places. However, I know sometimes I want to read up on an obscure game and its frustrating not to be able to find some info on it. 

I can say with certainty however that if someone IS going to put out some info on a game like this it should be done fairly and honestly. It shouldn't be done with the mindset where you are LOOKING to find insult, or to make a mockery of it. 

The Barbie game is kind of a "special case" because its so obviously meant to insult the game...Which makes me wonder why? Why so much hate and negativity towards it? Did it piss in their Wheaties?

The Hakuoki one to me is in some ways worse, because it just shows that no one gave a fuck. Its just a chick game, whatever. Look it has Bishies...and the word "Romance" on the back....yeah yeah..sexy warrior dating, chuck it in the bin and lets move on to COD and Ass Creed. Its kind of a slap in the face how dismissive they are of it. 

Once upon a time I was like that. I remember with shame how i used to make fun of my daughter for playing Imagine games. Now I know how she felt. Being told something she really likes is stupid and she should play "real" games. 

As an experiment for this blog I stepped out of my comfort zone and tried her Imagine games and...it changed me. Not only did I apologize to her and tell her that if that's what she wanted to play then that was totally cool but that experience made me branch out as a gamer. There are so many great games I've played, like Hakuoki for one, that I would never have touched 5-6yrs ago. I probably would have cracked insulting jokes like an asshat too. But I grew up.

I'm not saying you can't dislike a game, I'm not saying you can't give it a bad review. I'm saying that when your ONLY view is to cut it down then you need to leave it the fuck alone. 

I'm saying that because games are geared at little girls or women or little boys or pre-schoolers or whatever it may be that you aren't, it doesn't mean the game is complete and utter garbage. It means it isn't meant for you and you won't appreciate it the way the people it IS geared to will. 

*I apologize for this being so long and being so...EVERYWHERE...its just thit shit like this really drives me up a wall.*

Hakuouki-- Came for the Bishies, Stayed for the AMAZING story

So a while back when Persona 2 Innocent Sin was released on PSP when i went to order it one of the suggested games under it was Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom CE. I had never heard of it, knew nothing about it but the cover looked pretty cool and I'm a sucker for a CE. On a whim I ordered it.
When it came in I cracked that puppy open and the art book was full of pretty bishies, yay me! But, the thought of a Visual Novel type game didn't really interest me much. After a couple of weeks on my shelf though, curiosity got the best of me.

The game falls into a genre called Otome, basically games for females. The set up is a reverse harem situation, if you're not familiar with anime/manga a harem situation is where a guy is surrounded by numerous women, usually but not always to comedic effect. In this case its the opposite, one girl, numerous guys. BUT...get your minds outta the gutter!!

The premise of the game is simple enough, you are Yukimura Chizuru, a girl who dresses up like a boy to come to Kyoto and search for her missing father. Your "harem" are the heroic and handsome men of the Shinsengumi, the last Samurai corps in Japan before the Meiji Restoration began.
Chizuru ends up stumbling across the Shinsengumi during their patrols and is taken back to their headquarters where she becomes first a prisoner, then a member and eventually a love interest for one of the men. That's where you, the player come in.
You have 5 possible romantic choices within the Shinsengumi and 1 other...gentleman...that comes along later and there's pretty much something for everyone. The strong silent type, the guy next door, the douchebag, whatever floats your boat.

Harada Sanosuke, Todo Heisuke, Kazama Chikage, Okita Souji, Saito Hajime, Hijikata Toshizo

The game is divided into chapters. The first 3 are dedicated to establishing the story and from chapter 4 onward you focus mainly on the guy you've chosen. If you've shown no preference for any of the 5 Shinsengumi characters by Ch4 the game defaults to Kazama Chikage, the only person outside the Shinsengumi you can pursue a romance with and I use the word romance loosely...

I would like to point out that while the object of the game is to win the heart of one of these men the game REALLY isn't all that focused on romance or love. I know that doesn't seem to make sense, bear with me, I'm trying to write this without being totally spoilerific. and yes, I'll just warn you right now, there will probably be some spoilers but that doesn't matter much really does it? I'm sure that many readers have no intention of ever playing through this game because its "girly". That's really a shame because to be honest I came for the pretty boys but I stayed for the amazing story. No, not the romance. The story of the Shinsengumi.

You see, turns out the Shinsengumi were real. They probably weren't that damn pretty (ok, except for Hijikata...he really WAS pretty) and they certainly weren't that warm and fuzzy but they were real, and the story in the game and the battles that they fight, those happened for the most part. Sure the game adds a girl and some demons (I'll get to that) but the basics are true. 

So I mentioned Demons...

(the demon called spoilers will probably appear from this moment onward)

Amagiri Kyuju, Kazama Chikage, Shiranui Kyo

Not very long into the game the Shinsengumi raid the Ikeda Inn (this was a very famous battle and the one that really catapulted them to fame in Kyoto) and have a run in with 3 strange men. One of them I've already mentioned, he's the 6th love interest, Kazama. Turns out they aren't just ordinary men but demons. For the duration of the game they'll pop up trying to kidnap Chizuru and start some shit with the Shinsengumi. While they fight all the members, each guy has his own specific demon that likes to show up and start shit. For example if you chose Harada as your romance then you'll be seeing a lot of Shiranui Kyo, the demon with the gun and the badass tattoo. (while Harada is not my first choice in the Shinsengumi I have an unnatural obsession with his Oni (demon) rival so I really enjoy his route).

Why are they trying to kidnap Chizuru? Because Kazama wants babies..yeah, there's more to it but you'll have to just play the game to find out.

The demons do have other reasons why they clash with the Shinsengumi, mostly because Kazama is a colossal dick, but, also because of a substance called Ochimizu (water of life). This liquid transforms a man into a Rasetsu (Fury). Kazama finds the Furies offensive and mocks those of the Shinsengumi who become furies.

Furies...

Basically its like..demon/vampire lite. Just one calorie, not bad ass enough. The Furies are stronger, faster and heal quicker than a normal person. However, they crave blood and slowly go mad. They also have a weakness to silver bullets. (i thought that was werewolves...)

Throughout the story all but 1 of your romantic options in the Shinsengumi become furies for one reason or another. Interesting little aside on that...reading up on the actual history of the group, I realized that the game cleverly has 3 characters turn into furies at the same time their historical counterpart died. I felt that was a nice touch. 

Ok, so now you know all this stuff about the game except one key element...gameplay. 

Well, there really isn't any...

The game is text accompanied by images of the characters and is fully voiced in Japanese (and the voice actors do an AMAZING JOB) and has the occasional CG stills. Gameplay consists of making dialogue choices. For the most part your choices affect your relationship status with the men. Either they determine who's romance level grows or by how much it grows. If the person you chose becomes a fury in the course of the game, not only will you have to keep an eye on your romance level with them but on their corruption level as well. 

MAKEOVERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The corruption level is a gauge that goes up every chapter they are a fury. Since furies crave blood, when your SO has an..episode.. you'll be given a choice: Give him the blood he needs, give him medicine to suppress his bloodlust or make him suck it up and endure the pain until it passes. each choice has an effect on corruption with giving them blood lowering it most and making them endure raising it highest. If their corruption gets too high, its game over. If you do manage to keep their corruption in check but don't get their romance level high enough by the end of the game then its game over as well. 

That all sounds well and good but you just don't really care about a visual novel type experience you say. First, I'll say that I felt the same way til I actually sat down to play it and then I couldn't put it down.

Second, if you want something less romance-y and more action-y but...not quite as good...still pretty good but not AS good...you could try Warriors of the Shinsengumi.

I actually JUST got around to finishing this one yesterday. When I first bought it I didn't really get into it but I've been on a MASSIVE Hakuoki kick recently and decided I'd give it another go. Glad I did because I could NOT put it down!

Warriors still offers the same basic story as Demon of the Fleeting Blossom but in a Dynasty Warriors crispy crunchy hordes of random dudes getting beat down style. You again choose one of the 6 heroes and spam your way through 6 chapters of faceless peon ass beatings. Along the way you collect materials to craft buffs and such and to unlock extras in the gallery and costumes for free play. It also offers a second story mode which is an original scenario that differs from the main story called Chronicles. Everyone gets a shiny new battle outfit and free flowing hair! 

Its not a particularly difficult game and it can be repetitive but its a fun little hack n slash and for those that have played the previous game or watched the anime (I'm getting to that) they added 2 unlockable characters for skirmish mode, Nagakura Shinpachi and Sanan Keisuke. I personally love Sanan-san so it was great to play as him even if he didn't get his own story arc.

Ok well, you don't like visual novels or Dynasty Warriors but it still sounds kinda cool? Go watch the Anime! It runs through the entire story, the romance is minimal and only with 1 character and there's actual action and blood! But, have a box of tissues on hand...that shit gets SAD. I bawled my eyes out. (man, I'm such a girl)

Look, its like this....I tend to not be a very girly girl when it comes to games. I don't go out of my way to be or not be girly, its just the way I am. I know that games geared at females tend to be..subpar... for the most part. I don't think I've actually ever sought one out on purpose and most are things I'd recommend everyone stay far away from. However, if you look on the right side of the screen there, you'll see that one of my most popular posts is a review of another "girly" game, Style Savvy. I chose to review that game and these because they AREN'T what people expect in a "girl" game. they're well thought out, well implemented and enjoyable. They SHOULDN'T be limited to females. You guys...everyone should give these games a try. Its sad that the fact they are considered "female games" will for the most part limit the amount of people who will play them. So, have an open mind y'all. I wouldn't steer you wrong.

Oh and in case anyone wondered who my favorite Hakuoki hunk to romance was?

Saito Hajime

I like the strong silent type :p

My Rant about Collector's Editions

No, i'm not gonna bitch about price. Why? Cause enough people bitch about price. If I cant afford one, I don't buy it, or I wait and hope there will be some later on when I can afford it.

Prime examples of the waiting game?
Bioshock 2
Alan Wake
Deathsmiles
Catherine
Force Unleashed 2
Witcher 2 PC CE
Otomedius Excellent
Record of Agarest War Zero
Lord of the Rings War in the North

Those 2 I bolded, Italicized and underlined are 2 I just received last night. I will be taking pics of their contents and unboxing them during my next Youtube video which will probably happen tonight or tomorrow.
Those 2 right there, well one of them in particular has led to my current rant....



ok...publishers need to seriously figure this out...

NO MORE FUCKING PLAYING CARDS FOR CHRISSAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Look, I was down with the Fallout New Vegas ones, cause every card had an image, the backs were from all the different Casinos. Pretty sweet. of Course the down side of that is...who's gonna actually USE them to play cards? you dont wanna ruin those. So rather than using them or displaying them they sit in my CE box.

Then came Fable 3 CE...
What a lovely case. Appealed to the game and book collector in me. I open it and i love that little pull out drawer with that lovely guild seal coin (love it so much I'm planning on getting the Fable Guild Seal tattooed on my lower back..on the side, not  a tramp stamp.) and next to this coin?
Playing Cards....i carefully open the box and take the cards out to look at them and....only the face cards have images, the rest are standard cards...really?
Not only do they give me playing cards I'm not going to play with because...again...collector's item...but they half ass it with only the face cards having artwork, unlike the gorgeous cards that came with New Vegas.
Disappointed :(
There they sit, in their box, in the CE box.

Now..on the flip side real quick...I DID buy a set of Hakuoki playing cards that I will never play with probably because I love Hakuoki. but those were like $5...I'm actually thinking of buying a second pack so me and the kids CAN play cards with them and save one pack... The CE for the game brought a gorgeous artbook and a BEAUTIFUL soundtrack. Man, I can't rave enough about Hakuoki...

btw..new Hakuoki games has been announced and unlike Fleeting Blossom which was a choose your own adventure Otome game, this one will be an action game with actual combat. WOOT!!!!

ok back on topic....

Yesterday I open up my new games and Record of Agarest War Zero brings a lovely box lined with purple satin in which sit nestled 2 small boxes.
One, a set of collectible skill cards...for...well, to collect.
the other box contains...you guessed it..PLAYING CARDS!!!!!!!!!! and again, not the NV kind but the face cards have images only type. *sigh* Another set to sit in a box never to be used...At least the box is pretty?

Now..you might ask... Well Sihaya, No one made you buy the damn CEss right? So why bitch? Not only that BUT CEs tend to tell you what they contain in them before you buy them, so if you have a collection of playing cards its kind of on you.

And I would say, "Fuck you very much for being a smart ass" and after that I'd say "yes you're right..sort of..."

See I bought the above mentioned CEs for numerous reasons, playing cards weren't really factored into that.
What was it that led to me buying them?
Artbooks, Soundtracks, DLC, Making of Videos etc. However, those playing cards take up space and money that could have gone to something more...useful or at least aesthetically pleasing and displayable. So it bugs me.

I guess there's only one thing left to do...

Combine all the packs of playing cards I've gotten. finally learn Caravan and start gambling!

I need to start keeping a voice recorder or notebook by my bed

Last night before going to bed I totally had all this shit I wanted to write about hakuoki, woke up this morning and I can't remember any of it beyond "okita is a shithead."
Probably cause i'm  having a crap day. I'm ill and I'm like beyond broke and the one bill I couldn't pay is the one that gets directly pulled out of my acct...for twice what I have in there now. YAY.
Also, I decided best thing to do short of jumping off a bridge was kill many robots. So i'm taking my frustrations out by sucking balls at Binary Domain which is a surprisingly cool game. Well worth the $10 I paid for it when it was on sale on Amazon a while back.

So, tonight I'm about to do the unthinkable...Sell off some of my babies to the devil. By babies I mean games and by devil I mean Gamestop... QQ
God, I can't even begin to look at them and decide which ones to let go...Most of my collection is useless to take because they won't give me dick for them and the others...well ...they still wont give me dick for them ,but, I desperately need cash. Maybe I should sell my consoles too. No I'm not jesting or being melodramatic. I have 2 weeks before I see any income and my savings are all but depleted so I cant really do much to tide myself over.

On a plus...Tomorrow my Divorce will be finalized. Of course then after that I have 2 open houses at 2 separate schools for 3 kids happening all at once...brilliant planning by the schools. I better eat my wheaties.

So, sorry, I don't really like to bring a lot of my personal life here, cause stuff like this isnt what this blog is about, but, I feel like I've been totally slacking on this place and I don't want to do that, and I felt I had to explain  why I've been slacking off. Not just to you..but to myself if that makes sense.
so this is a really personal entry and probably one of the most personal aside from my original divorce announcement.

Its funny, $90 a month for my car insurance didnt seem so bad, til the date they withdraw it falls in the middle of me having money. somehow $90 might as well be $900 now.
No wonder Since the divorce drama and assuming the burdens of a house and its upkeep, 2 dogs and 3 children I lost 11 lbs. On one hand, Wow, I'm almost sorta skinny, on the other, I can't imagine stress is the best way to lose weight. Its not even intentional, lately I cannot eat. 2 bites and I feel sick to my stomach.

I was doing alright, making it work and then i thought I could breath a bit easier after surviving the past few months but...additional bills, kids needing school clothes, me needing car insurance and suddenly everything went to hell. Its my fault I know, I should have continued spending 2 hours a day working on balancing budgets and accounts but, I found myself so stressed from robbing peter to pay paul that I felt i needed to step back and focus on the things I was starting to NOT do because of my constant budget-fussing, like playing with the kids and the dogs and even just gaming or writing.

But here I am screwed because of all that. Can't even get a payday loan because i don't have a paycheck to show. I'm sure it will work our somehow once I sell off my games and maybe a console.