Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii (The World is Still Beautiful)

I know I tend to talk a lot about video games, but this is a hobby blog and I do have other hobbies too! (You know, if you couldn’t guess from the occasional baking posts). Anyway, moving onto the actual subject at hand… I’m incredibly picky when it comes to things. It’s hard for me to say I like a genre because there’s really a lot more to it than that. In fact, the only games I was ever suggested that I ended up really loving were the Ace Attorney and Professor Layton series–where a friend got me the first three games of the former and the first game of the latter to get me to play. I’ve bought every other game since. As for Anime, I’ve only been suggested one which I really liked–Gosick. Any other suggestions have always been rather hit and miss for me.

For Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii, my curiousity was piqued after seeing these gifs of a scene:



Top Gif made by Izutsushi on Tumblr

I can’t tell you why exactly they piqued my curiousity, but they made me go and look up what exactly the Anime was and the brief information I could find made me want to actually watch it.

My general rule with Anime is to always watch the first three episodes as that gives you a good idea of what the Anime is about. If you’re still not interested after three episodes, you can stop. So, I started watching and despite some issues with certain lines, I found I really enjoyed it. All the characters have a lot of personality and characterization so even characters you may only see once have some kind of mark on you.

The premise is essentially that Livius, the King of the World, has asks for one of the daughters of the Rain Principality to be his wife for them to keep essentially living as they are (versus being conquered). Nike is “picked” and sent off and it’s about how the two find an understanding and emotional bond with one another. Even though it probably sounds overly romantic, it has a lot of humor as well and is presented well. It’s also one of the few Anime I’ve personally seen where the boy is the younger one (Livius is 15 during the events–12 when he is crowned King. Nike’s age is never said, but I’d expect her to be around 18) and also a good amount shorter (which is due to the age difference, but still). And while there is some “fan service” (something I’m personally not fond of in anything I really watch. I just don’t see the appeal.), it’s more aimed towards girls and never anything that bad (I believe the “worst” they show is butts and both were men).

It’s hard to really explain why I enjoyed it, but there was something really special seeing how the two eventually truly fell for one another and I constantly found myself looking forward to the next episode. I’m really sad it’s now over (but at least Sailor Moon Crystal starts this Saturday) and I REALLY hope it gets another season when the Manga gets further along. I’m happy the series covered the first arc too versus ending at kind of a weird place when the drama is only starting (I’m looking at you Gakuen Alice and Skip Beat!. The former’s manga ended recently and should hopefully be getting a sequel considering how it ended while Skip Beat!’s is still going). Regardless, it had a very conclusive ending which while I am happy for that versus weird cliff hanger thing, makes me wonder if they will bother with making a second season or not.

But seriously, LOOK AT THEIR HAPPY FACES:
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Aww T~T

The art style is really pretty to me. While I don’t care much for graphics in video games, I can be overly picky with art style in Anime and Cartoons (such as the new Powerpuff Girls show… it’s just too jagged T~T). CardCaptor Sakura is one of my favorites, but I never could get into Tsubasa because I felt the art style was just too “lanky” so to speak. That said, I can sometimes get over it–I did eventually read the Manga despite the Manga’s art style not appealing to me much and in my opinion, it got better as it went too. (Similarly, Detective Conan while the style never bothered me improved a lot both in the Manga and Anime as it went).

I wish I enjoyed the music in the show more. I want to specify that I mean more towards the vocal music though–all the Background music is great and fitting and I would completely listen to a soundtrack of just the background music. That said, I found the opening and ending themes just okay. I felt no need to listen to them after the first couple of times. Similarly, “Tender Rain” the main insert song is… I was never that fond of it–it was an okay song as well, but it being played so often, even if I understand why, actually made it kind of annoying. I really enjoyed the slower version Nike sang in the last episode though. I also loved her grandmother’s Farewell Song which I actually found really beautiful and that was the first vocal song in the series for me to really fall in love with. I would buy the soundtrack just for that song too. The entire scene it plays is incredibly heartwrenching and it just adds so much to it.

Anyway, if you like Anime with romance and bickering and stuff in it, I’d recommend at least looking at it! I’m going to continue looking forward to the manga for now as like I said, I really hope it gets a Season Season. I definitely think it deserves it.

Tomodachi Life: Because I am that happy about the outfit I just got

I’m still trying to get couples together, but it’s not going as well as I’d like and I’m running out of ideas for what to do. It doesn’t help that a good amount of them don’t even know the other and it’s rare that even when someone wants to set them up that they know both… Regardless, sometimes I get to try…

…but it rarely works out. It doesn’t help that Miis will only suggest 3 people for another Mii to meet with randomly out of who they know which makes things ever harder.

Despite that, Brock and Setsuna got married as did Victorique and Kujo:

Babies were also born! Jennifer and Zero had Celeste:

And Trent and Tomoyo had Piper:

I also got to see things I never really noticed when Marina was a baby such as the family having lunch and Celeste in her little high chair and this cute walking encouragement scene:

Also I love seeing different camera angles for things:

Anyway, it’s felt like ages since I’ve gotten something I’ve really wanted from a Mystery Bag so I was very happy to get this!:

I still really want this dress:
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But that’ll do for now.

I even watched another performance of Maybe Honey (incase you forgot how much I love it) to see how the dress looked:


If only I could remove the applause T~T

Anyway, looking forward to the two babies growing up and traveling the world! (And unlocking the camp site)

Tomodachi Life: Let’s give an update!

Even though I’ve been doing group entries versus daily stuff (I feel it works better that way), I’ve hit over 300 hours of playthrough which says a lot considering how quiet it gets at night. Regardless, it’s time to give an update on things that have been happening on Pink Sea Island recently!

For one, there’s been quite a bit of romance. Jigglypuff tried to get Mario and Peach together:

Tom Trent proposed to Tomoyo:

She said yes and here is Jennifer and Haruka as the Best Lady and Maid/Man of Honor respectively:

Meanwhile, Carlos proposed to Cooking Mama:

Akina and Syaoran went on a honey moon trip to Australia:

All settled in their new house:

And our newest dating couple, Subaru and Luna! Two other bachelors tried, but in the end Subaru’s asking of Luna to be his shooting star (so appropriate T~T) could not be turned down:

The couples already together have been doing nicely as well:


Which lead to…:

So Marina will be having a younger sibling soon!

Plus continued family bonding:

Wii U continues to be played all over the island because of course it does:

And completing winning a Match game because they cheat way too much:

Plus fun with the disposable camera:


Finally, the News Highlight Reel!:



Plus this special News Flash which got me a Golden Spoon:

I’ve also really close with treasures. Such as getting the Panda Plush due to a trip to China:



And with finally getting the Ruby Pendant…

…the only things I need are stuff that you get due to travelers (either sent off or returning) or from a Travel Ticket (I need them to go to Switzerland!). Once I get those three, it’s just the Special Food left!

We also have a few new residents on Pink Sea Island:

As a bonus note, I really love seeing the Miis just looking at the Ocean:

That and just how the sky actually changes depending on time of day in apartments with an open view to the sky or windows is just a really neat attention to detail thing and everything looks so pretty.

And to end this off, if you haven’t seen it yet and still want more Tomodachi Life, be sure to check out this video of various Nintendo Developers singing in Tomodachi Life about their upcoming titles coming out!

I’ve also uploaded various stream recordings from Twitch if you want to see more of Tomodachi Life in action :)

Note: I received the game early from Nintendo. Thank you, Nintendo! :D If you are interested in Tomodachi Life, you may want to look into picking it up!

Games I’m looking forward to most (for 2014)

While I already have a game list up with games that my fiancé and/or I are/is/am looking forward too, I wanted to talk a bit more about the ones I am personally looking forward to the most–ones I want to get on Launch Day/Preorder before they release. I’ll admit, I haven’t been preordering games as much lately due to the fact that:
1. The Nintendo World Store will often hold events the same day (or sometimes earlier–usually not more than a day before, though, I recall when Wii Sports Resort came out it actually had a special event in Times Square on a Thursday and you could also pick up the game–this event was amazing just for the record >>) and I’d rather pick up the game while enjoying the event. Of course, lately many of the events have been the following day and then I’m usually too busy playing the game to go so… (plus Saturday is usually our shopping day for the week)
2. There isn’t really good parking at most game stores and so I usually prefer to just preorder online to get things shipped. Similarly, while I’d like to preorder so I don’t have to worry about getting to events at the Nintendo Store super early, despite living in New York, Manhattan is still a bit out of the way to really find time to go all the way there just to preorder something.

But there is still a chance these could be pre-order games! I’m pretty sure some will…but only if I can guarantee they will be here on Day 1 :P And I don’t hear of any midnight launches. But yes, let’s get on with the list! Games will be listed by release date.

1. Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney – I love both series so I’m incredibly excited we are finally getting this one. While it was likely we would, the wait was still hard. I don’t understand why Europe ended up getting it so much sooner (I know there are differences between European and American English, but there aren’t that many–the only other thing I could think of is how Luke’s voice is redubbed… I mean, I guess the other voices, besides Professor Layton’s, could also? But I would think all the languages that PAL regions usually have would’ve caused it to take longer… regardless, I’m rambling now), but I’m still just happy we will be receiving it and it’s definitely a day-one purchase for me. I should probably catch up on my daily puzzles before this launches though–on the otherhand, the daily puzzles will still be going while it’s out…

2. Super Smash Brothers (Technically, 3DS as Wii U won’t be out for a few more motnsh after, but I’m going to just use this for both) – While Super Smash Brothers isn’t as high as many other games on this list, it’s still something I wouldn’t pass up getting the day it comes out. I really am excited to try out the Villager and Mii (though, I don’t expect them to beat out Kirby and Jigglypuff (please return, Jigglypuff) as my main characters) and possibly Palutena as well along with all the neat Amiibo things once they are out. I’m hoping my issues with Brawl won’t be in the 3DS/Wii U game, but I’ll try and keep positive regardless.

3. Fantasy Life – If you couldn’t tell by my entry about the game in general, I am REALLY looking forward to this. I expect to write quite a bit about my adventures as I play each day with my fiancé (if you think I’m not tag-teaming through the entire game with him, you are mistaken :P) and possibly some friends as well (I expect it to be the Link version, but just incase). I’m still not sure what class I want to start with (I’m leaning towards Sorcerer, but part of me wants to work on Clothes first, but it’ll be hard earning stuff if I can’t hit anything, and this is literally what I keep going back and forth with in my head. Right now, I’m thinking Sorcerer and then all crafting classes… but I’m still debating), but I’m looking forward to it regardless. I just hope using something I really like to wear won’t mess up my stats too much because as soon as I get a pretty Princess dress, that’s it. (I hope it comes in pink)

4. Pokemon Art Academy – While I’m not very good at the Art Academy games, something about this one really excites me. Most likely my love of Pokemon, but I like all the little tidbits they did to the game to make it related (such as a rival and the teacher dressing up like a Professor).

5. Pokemon Alpha Sapphire – Mostly because I really really really miss Secret Bases. I hope they (and customization) make a strong return, but for now, I’m just really excited. Plus, it has the first Mega Pokemon that I actually really like: Mega Diancie. Before, it was just Mega Gardevoir who I thought was pretty, but felt no desire to use, so it’s not to find one that I actually really would like to use in my team. I don’t really play Pokemon based on stats (thus why I’m not a fan of the Battle Frontier-like things) and just make a team of favorites I can get in the game while catching them all. Speaking of catching them all though–I hope I can get my motivation back for X/Y so I can finish my Pokedex before this game comes out. It feels unlikely though :/


I also hope some kind of photo feature returns.

6. LittleBigPlanet 3 – The new game that got my attention most at E3, there’s no way I couldn’t be looking forward to it. I want to finish up some of the extra level pack stuff on LBP2 before it comes out, but besides that I am just really anxious for another adventure–especially as my PS3 has fairly bad overheating issues and I can’t really justify getting a Playstation 3 Slim to finish up the one game so I’m just hoping that costumes will be able to be transferred like levels and things.


Having gotten every single DLC (minus the Week One Shirt due to the issue with it in North America, the Crown because I can’t do anything worthy of one, and one of the Beta Tester items) I can and made tons of outfits I really love, I really want to be able to keep using them.

7. Story of Seasons – The most recently released in the Farm Story/Harvest Moon line! Due to my love for the series, there really isn’t a reason for me to pass on it. That said, I am still mixed on some things! I think the graphics look really nice, but certain stuff I know will make me sad and the game requires a lot more time than usual–which while not necessarily a bad thing, I just don’t play longer than a certain time for my animals. I still expect to get the game right away and I’m definitely looking forward to it, but I think I’ll keep an eye on various things so I can get a good idea on how to get things done without stressing myself out.

8. Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley – Because more Farm games is not a bad thing :P I’ve already said quite a bit on this game, but in short: I can play without worrying/stressing and lots of customization and again, fun farm simulation with cute animals. I just hope there will be character customization as well along with lots of pink stuff :P (And I would like to see things look less-cube-y, but it’s not really a deal breaker for me)

Honorable mentions:

Sunset Overdrive – I don’t know yet if this will be a day one purchase or not, but I like the colors and customization is always cool, but I’m just not sure how much I will enjoy the shooting all the mutant monsters in the face yet. (The moving around definitely reminds me of a Sonic Adventure game though!)

The Witness – There really hasn’t been much information on it so I’m not even sure if Summer 2014 is still the date, but I’m still really looking forward to the puzzle-adventure game. Still unsure if I’ll get it on PS4 or PC, but I am leaning towards the former (unless the PC version comes out first)

Project Spark – Because who doesn’t like being able to create all kinds of neat things? :P Regardless, I tend to be awful with these kinds of things which is part of why it’s not a “definite” yet–it really depends on how everything works.

And that’s it for the 2014 games this year :3 And now to continue excitedly waiting to finally get to play them!

Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley Trailer!

I was pretty excited to see the trailer for Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley that was put up recently!

I have mixed feelings about how… cube-ish the game looks (A lot of people have said similar to Minecraft, but as I’ve never played Minecraft I don’t really want to say that). The customization looks really nice though and I hope that customization will also be applied to the farmers.

I didn’t find any of the, what seemed to be anyway, bachelors interesting though, but I feel I’ll hold off until I see more of them.

On a sidenote, I’m semi-hoping since Natsume is developing the game, maybe Animal Lifespans will be removed. It’s a feature I’ve really hated within each new game and really ruined a lot of the replayability for me so I’d love to see that gone.

(Also, the Narrator in the trailer is quite repetitive. Regardless, still very excited and looking forward to buying it! And forever jealous of those who got to go to E3 and get Natsume’s cute plushies T~T)

Edit: LOOK AT THIS TWEET. Or if you don’t want to click links: LOOK BELOW.
natsumeomg
yeeeeeeeeeeees. So incredibly excited about this!

For those wondering, I mostly played Console Harvest Moon’s (My first Handheld was Sunshine Islands which I wasn’t too fond of, but I did enjoy ANB!)–HM64 was my first and my favorite (With ANB coming in a close second–I think if it wasn’t for my few issues (Biggest being my animals–especially as it had my all-time favorite Bachelor–and the weird point limit on customization (I STILL HAVE ROOM, GAME T~T). If neither of those issues existed, I would’ve easily been playing the game just as long–I still need to get my child walking around but it’s a…very thin line. Kind of feel like playing now though). I loved the graphics a lot. Popuri is still my Best Friend, and it was just special to me. The horse plushie was cute, I loved all the special items you can unlock, the photo album was beautiful. I could go on about that game forever and I’m not ashamed to admit it :P Heck, I wish I had my N64 still up, I’d go play it right now.

But yes, moving on, that feature has just always been such a detriment for my enjoyment. I mean, I get it in a way. It makes it more challenging having to “start over” because an Animal may not give something anymore or may pass away, but you have this family who lasts (with the exception of A Wonderful Life), these pets that last, this Horse that stays with you, and all this other stuff and just I like having my cute little best cow friend forever.

So many games are all about becoming realistic as possible–“look how high gen these graphics are! I CAN SEE THE SWEAT ON HIS HEAD”, but when there’s so much sadness and things, sometimes it’s nice that I can just load up a game, sit in a barn with my Animals, and know everything will be fine.

Tomodachi Life: Fun with Ballads

If you’ve seen my livestreams or videos at all, you’ll know I really love the Ballads. Like this one which is pretty much the normal song with a slight change never fails to make me tear up. It’s so beautiful. I really don’t care how silly that sounds, I don’t know why, but wow does that song make me feel all warm and fuzzy just watching/listening to it (and I’m totally going to get it on my playlist SOMEHOW).

Anyway, getting to the point, I had decided to make one video with the Boat song from Lunar: Silver Star Story as I had a few requests for more songs between Jennifer and Zero and I thought it’d be nice with the Ballad:

And then I ended up with this in my head and couldn’t NOT do it:

I’ll admit, part of me was tempted to hit “STOP” right as the last note came to a close to signify everyone falling asleep, but I wanted to give Jigglypuff the concert she always dreamed of without feeling the need to draw on everyone’s faces.

As for the non musical things today…:

I really love the disposable camera. I kind of wish we could stumble onto the stuff it snaps ourselves though too.

I also finally saw Zero hanging out with his daughter!

Jennifer has hung out with her a lot, but it’s the first time I’ve caught him doing so. I hope eventually all 3 of them will hang out at once–for now, Jennifer was busy Blowing Bubbles on the tower:

A new species has appeared on Pink Sea Island:

Love Triangles still keep happening:

And Luigi just can’t catch a break:

Note: I received the game early from Nintendo. Thank you, Nintendo! :D If you are interested in Tomodachi Life, you may want to look into picking it up!

Bonus Note: My entry on Shared Miis now also features the QR codes for those who don’t want to go off to Nintendo’s site! Yay! :P

Tomodachi Life: Little Things (and a bit more Random updates)

One of the really neat thing about Tomodachi is the many little features it has, between how characters can react to various food and items, the various camera views when Miis are hanging out in various areas, how characters in love will react and look away when they’ve noticed you’re staring, and various little dialogue changes (Such as when playing a game like matching with a Mii, if their face shows up they will go on about how it’s them all excitedly), it makes the game feel a lot richer in a way.

While I always enjoyed these things, I never expected this kind of stuff as the baby grew too:

Different actions as they grow, their hair goes longer, the adorable carriage…

Even new Photos could be taken as they grew:

And it was fun seeing them take the baby out as well:

And as she got even older:




Even her Crib changed to a bed:

(Sadly, I forgot to check for new photos at this stage T~T I hope they have another kid soon!)

And once she finished growing, well…

I decided to keep her living in the Apartment–I figure I’ll have each first kid stay while the rest will move.

As for non-kid related stuff…

Mikayla and Solo playing baseball:

(This actually makes me super sad I can’t give more than 8 items though)

I found out my Mii’s second favorite food! (Grilled Cheese):

Look at her go

A game where I will forever be confused on how that ball is clean:

There’s been SO much fighting lately for some reason… Thankfully, Jennifer helped Shinichi and Tomoyo make up:

And eventually James and Hotaru made up despite their fight:

As did Jenny and Kuki:

Nike and Jigglypuff have had yet to make up though:

I also finally had several rooms I’ve wanted in stock:

Including the Castle Room!:


I wish there was a pink version.

Hotaru received a new purple room:

While Luna got a new dress:

As for love and family…


Yay for family bonding :D

And cute Carnival dates:

And…love triangles?

But yes, it’s still pretty eventful on Pink Sea Island.

I just hope more couples will get together soon!

Note: I received the game early from Nintendo. Thank you, Nintendo! :D If you are interested in Tomodachi Life, you may want to look into picking it up!

E3 2014 Final thoughts

Now that E3 2014 is officially over, I wanted to put some final thoughts! I see a lot of discussion on who “won”. Most people say Nintendo and while I do love Nintendo, I wouldn’t say that’s necessarily true.

To me, it’s actually a tie for the main three. I think they all did great presentations–they all got me excited about things and each had their ups and downs.

I would say EA and Ubisoft are the only ones who really “lost”–but I won’t go into this more as I’ve already spoken about it separately.

As for why I felt each won:
Microsoft – Got me hyped, made me actually want an Xbox One, and had a conference completely packed with games.
Sony – Had a new surprise game coming out this year that made me incredibly excited. And while it didn’t stay on games and two trailers really bothered me, it was still fairly solid and I was excited.
Nintendo – So many games I am looking forward to! Plus I loved how the announcements were done.

If I had to pick without caring for any games though and simply by performance, I’d probably end up giving it to Microsoft. The entire conference was about games, it got me hyped, the opening speech was great, and I was honestly impressed.

My main issue with Sony, ignoring previously mentioned trailers, is the latter half was kind of boring and with Nintendo, while I enjoyed it, it was just so short (plus I thought the cut from Legend of Zelda Wii U to Pokemon was very sudden and weird… AND WHERE IS JIGGLYPUFF T~T).

I know they had tons of stuff with the Treehouse and the Treehouse was amazing and I hope they continue it (Seriously Nintendo, please please please do), but I wish they had made the announcements they did during the Treehouse in the main show instead with the Treehouse just showing gameplay and interviews.

I am INCREDIBLY excited for Fantasy Life (And I hope many people will get it–be sure to check out the gameplay video on Nintendo’s Youtube if you haven’t yet!) and Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright, but both are games we also already knew were to come over (though, I will admit I was losing faith on Fantasy Life so it was definitely up their with LBP3). I also was hoping they’d have shown Story of Seasons (being done by XSeed) and Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley–even though I’ve seen a good amount of the former since it’s been out in Japan, there’s not too much beyond screenshots for the latter and I was hoping both would be shown since they are exclusive to the 3DS and coming out at the end of this year.

And that’s probably one minor issue I had with most of the stuff this year–SO much is for next year and it felt I added very little new to games coming out later this year I didn’t already know about. That’s not necessarily bad, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed ^^;

Regardless, I feel like everyone who watched won. I feel like everyone had something that made them excited so I don’t feel anyone failed in that sense and I hope every E3 can be as good as this one (just please stop with the zombies and incredibly depressing trailers T___T).

FANTASY LIFE!

So, they have been talking about it on the Treehouse today and Fantasy Life has been a game I’ve been waiting for since it was first announced in a Japanese Nintendo Direct. It was hinted to come over and I definitely looked up lots of info so even if I’m not learning much new (still some new things though), watching this has just renewed all my excitement for the game.

I don’t know if I will do something for it like I did with Animal Crossing: New Leaf and Disney Magical World or more like what I’ve done with Tomodachi Life just yet. I’m kind of leaning towards the latter, but whichever I do I’m just super super super excited and I can’t wait to play it. Definitely the game I am looking forward to most to come out T~T Not just for me, but also to play it multiplayer with my fiancé. We are going to have so much fun :D Should be a fun review to write together too <3 (Also, deciding on just 3 pets is going to be super hard) but yes, I needed to get all of this out of my system :P If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to watch the trailer!: