Greetings...excuse me while I dust off this blog. A lot has happened in the past year. The last time I wrote I was finishing up a contract job and spent a long time job searching and generally enjoying other hobbies. I got a new job back in April and it's been a fun challenge. Finally I feel settled in and I'm doing very well.
I've been playing plenty of games as well.
Today I'll write about the one that's freshest in my memory, Amnesia: Memories.
No...not the horror - survival game series Amnesia Dark Descent but a Visual Novel/Dating Sim...anime style. Although...it might fit with the Amnesia series in some ways. Allow me to introduce the game.
Summary
You play as a young woman in her first year of college (university) whose memories were displaced by a clumsy, young spirit named Orion. He and the heroine (named by the player) are on a quest to recover her memories so the spirit can separate. They have about one month to do this.
There are 4 "worlds" to enter which follow a different storyline/scenario. (Basically it picks which guy you were dating before losing the memories.) Characters are slightly different but the same in each world.
Virtues...
Well...it's one of those more "innocent" dating sims where there's no sex or excess of mammaries.
Lots of focus on various relationship types and how memory affects them. Interesting in that way.
Also Truth and Lies.
Lovely anime style art. Very fancy. Although that chest piercing really got distracting.
I suppose there's lots of good advice about trust and personal safety. It illustrates what NOT to do very well.
It made me do math problems. Thank God it was multiple choice.
Just lots of interesting themes if you care to read into them. (And after much after thought as I squeal "Notice Me Sempai" to my cat while playing.)
Vices
MATH PROBLEMS WAAAH!?
Promotion of co-habitation.
Very passive protagonist prone to getting walked all over and taken advantage of. Well, there is the "amnesia".
An amnesia plot. Meh.
Rewarding abusive behavior. This always hurts me to see.
Spoiler: There's always one serial killer type of character in these kinds of stories. (Or at least some of them that I've been playing.) This one has 3. ^^ So easy to die by murder. So easy.
Lots and lots of sexual harassment. ...so painful to watch...
Other Thoughts:
So many I want to go through right now I'll break it up into the various "chapters" I've played so far.
Just so you know there will be spoilers to the story. I do think the game is enjoyable and worth a read if you are of appropriate age. If anything, the artwork is gorgeous.
So let me give a rundown of my play-throughs and reactions. (There's a playing card theme.)
Clover: Kent
The first plunge I took was in clover world since I had heard about the game from a Let's Play video and didn't like the world she picked. Went into this with NO pre-conceived notions about the characters. So the man that you "date" is Kent. A graduate student. Go figure I'd pick the oldest and smartest. I was generally enjoying the storyline going with my instincts on choices. Ended up getting a "normal ending" (yay for branching path stories.). The story itself was one of those trying to humanize a super robot nerd. In this playthrough you were given 10 word problems to solve during the game. I remember thinking "THIS IS THE WORST" why would you make me do math in a romance novel? It's so cruel! I question my choices in life! I got most of them right.
After you get to know Kent better there's a stalker/psychopath who is CLEARLY the murderer. Because...he threatens to do so. Despite that one factor, it was fairly light-hearted.
I felt pretty good about the game after that playthrough. I decided to just work my way through Spade World like the let's play with the intent of breaking up with the character.
Spade: Ikki
In this world you date playboy idol Ikki. One of those narcissistic womanizer tropes that is god's gift to woman kind because he so pwetty! (Personally eye tattoos and barrettes aren't a big attraction factors for me.)
Ikki is always followed around by a gaggle of girls that call themselves a fanclub. They threaten to kill you if you date Ikki for more than 3 months and your time is almost up. It did start getting a little dark in those scenes.
In the end I did manage to break his heart as I had planned.
Of course I went back to play for the other endings but next I went to Diamond World.
Diamond: Toma
Wow...this one threw me for the biggest of loops. Toma is a childhood friend who is like an older brother (that you want to jump). He treats you like a little sister. The storyline is pretty drastic and scary in an uncomfortable way. There's harassment, online bullying, and threats to physical safety. It was tense. But the scariest of them all is Toma himself. Early on he seemed safe enough. LESSON LEARNED THOUGH. Holy balls...at one point he locks you in a large dog kennel for your safety. OH and mickeys your drink. In trying to keep you IN, he makes you want to LEAVE even more. I was like WTFballs is this nonsense. Some of the potential responses were even MORE disturbing.
I was like POKE HIM IN THE EYES! FIGHT! You can win.
I got two bad ends right way. One ended in physical death the other in mental/emotional death.
Can't even. Had to calm down after that storyline. I tried replaying it over and over to attempt a different ending. Nope. The normal ending was best because Shin saves you and Toma leaves for good. Probably the best ending in that situation to be honest.
Heart: Shin
The kid with the pec piercing? (Is that really a thing? I kept wanting to cover it up. Looked uncomfortable. What if it snagged on a shirt or someone gave you a titty-twister?) Anyway, Shin is another childhood friend, who is a bit cold, arrogant but super observant. Don't judge a book by its cover...I ended up really liking his tough love attitude. Ended up getting a "normal" ending which was nice.
Also solving a mysterious crime that happened to you! Who pushed you off a cliff and nearly got you killed? (Oddly enough since I played this after Toma's line...ALWAYS SUSPECT HIM!) So a bit of investigation and logic. Also it was refreshing that he figures out about your memory loss pretty much immediately and helps you out.
I immediately played it again to see the bad endings. Because I'm like that. Ended up dead...twice! Once by the creeper who shows up in every world. And once by guess who...our favorite villain...Toma! Double homicide. You'd never think it too. So scary. SO SCARY!
The good ending was very sweet and satisfying. Not going to spoil that so enjoy.
Side note: You're in a band apparently. awesome.
Diamond Revisited: Toma...can you be gud?
Followed a walkthrough to see the good ending. Not super good. End up dating him DESPITE THE DOG CAGE. Even if it was to protect you from harassment from Ikki's fanclub which was getting dangerous. Like seriously dangerous. It's terrible that they think you were dating Ikki thus the overboard harassment. Toma tries to hide it from you to the extreme. /sigh/ Not very happy with that one. It was weirdly satisfying in away but not.
So off to Spade again to try the "good" ending.
I was a little harsh about Ikki before. He has a celebrity complex which is why I feel bad for celebrities. It's hard to tell who likes you for you and all that. Even though he acts sleazy...gets drunk...flirts a lot...you get through it and he's not that bad. But there is that co-habitation thing and suggestions of future sexy times. ...buuuuuugggghhhh....gross. Went back to play the ending where I was killed by fangirls. Yes...sweet death.
Toma was not fudged up in this one though.
HA HA kidding. One of the many bad endings he straight up kills you to protect you from the fanclub or something. Honestly I was skipping dialog just to see these endings in one night. Will actually read what he does but waaah...
Other bad endings are mostly just death and break up.
I liked the normal ending for this one though. Character moves back in with her parents and Ikki visits on the weekends. Appropriate.
Clover World: What could be bad about Kent?
Wanted to save his good ending for very last so I went through the bad endings. Again, one ends in murder in a hospital...thrown from the roof by the creepy killer in every world. Then there was a break up version too where you're put in a hospital and just get worse.
Finally the good ending. The best good ending IMO. Get to go to London and we get a proposal. A GUY WHO GETS IT?? WHAAAA? Squeeeeeee!
Final World: Joker World??
So this world opens up after you've seen all four good endings. It's one of those characters who screws up the timeline by traveling to all the worlds and turns out to be the reason why you've lost memories in the first place. Original boyfriend made a deal with a god (don't mess with spirits man.) in an effort to save girlfriend. Ends up that reality realizes he an anomaly in every world he goes to and kills him somehow unless he can kill you first. (SO this is why you can get murdered SO FAST in the other games.)
All the death endings (there are 7) are absolutely brutal. Just brutal. I was just getting through the choices to see the screens at this point and didn't really read much. Didn't like his character design. (stupid cop hat just didn't look like it sat right on his head.) But dying over and over yet not dying is kinda the worst and probably would make anyone a rampaging, murdering psychopath.
This is a long post so I'll wrap this up now.
Showing posts with label dating. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dating. Show all posts
Friday, September 11, 2015
Thursday, October 13, 2011
NCLB: How to Find your Soulmate without Losing Your Soul
Yesterday my dad sent me a book on dating that he had heard about on a Catholic news site. He asked me to give it a read and see if it was something my sisters would enjoy. So I started reading it and got through it in one night. That is because well...I started skipping things that did not apply to me personally. I skimmed and skipped quite a lot in this book because it was advice that simply did not apply to me, did not speak to me, or I had heard so often before in Youth Group Chastity talks.
So for me it had points, but the age for which this book is aimed is younger than I am, at least mentally.
Book Summary
The book is co-authored by a husband and wife, Jason and Crystalina Evert. There are 21 chapters with "secrets" and advice for women seeking love. They pull from talks they have given, email stories they have received, various behavior and scientific studies and their own experiences. The emphasis is on instilling virtue in young women when they date offering the Catholic alternative to the secular culture's ideas of love, sex and courting. The advice includes ten "guy" behavior traits to outright avoid to prevent getting hurt. It guides the reader through a process of building self-esteem, setting standards, and what love is suppose to be. There's nothing saccharine about the advice, it's very down to earth and supplemented well with stories from young women they received letters from or spoke to.
Much of the middle of the book is about "healing" and forgiving yourself if you failed to live chaste and want to turn over a new leaf. The authors themselves have admitted their failures many times but reassure the reader that they are not undeserving of love because of it.
The last third of the book is somewhat practical as well as spiritual advice about how to live a pure life. It includes a chapter on dressing modestly, how to break up, and bringing prayer and Christ into your life to help.
The Good Stuff
Some of the studies the book quotes were very interesting and I think will have a strong effect on the point the book sets out to make. Sharing stories from real girls does add a great dimension and context for the message of each chapter. It makes it relative to the reader by putting a personal touch on the chapter's topic.
It's not soaked with reprimands or "should haves", but offers an invitation for change, to raise the bar and practical ways to change your mindset about love and relationships. They save most of the "God Talk" to one or two specific chapters about renewing your spiritual life.
The Bad Stuff
There's not so much bad about the book so much as the fact that a book like this NEEDS to exist. It seems to me that the intended audience is a sexually active or formerly sexually active teenager or young adult. They come from broken homes and lack a good father figure.
That said, it means that the intended audience is a probably someone not very familiar with their faith or in a very bad spot. So for me it was disturbing that there seems to be this epidemic unloved women who have lost faith in true love.
For this reason, the book did not speak to me. I am not the books audience. I'm much older than the intended demographic and have luckily never experienced abuse. However, I have read a secular book meant for older women to regain confidence in dating and finding true love. Many of the secular books points were relatively the same advice but geared toward an older audience and introducing the concept of Affirmation.
Oh and there is one more kind of sour note that I will mention. Because of the intended audience, which seems to be broken young women who are sexually active, it feels like there are no virgins in high school or university. To me it ignored the virgin and made her/him feel like a non-existent entity or a relic of the past. I think I read one or two stories about a girl who was made fun of for her sexual inexperience and one about a woman from the 1940s retelling how she met her husband and virginity was a given. Luckily, much of the advice applies to any woman with low self-esteem. Only the presentation makes me feel like the authors were not writing to me.
Recommendation
I could recommend this book to someone in high school or university who feels in the target demographic. Even older women with a "young girl" mentality or a woman struggling with self-esteem issues. But a little part of me feels sorry that someone needs a book like this, but that is the world we live in.
However, many of the topics within the book come from chastity talks which can come off as condescending if you are living a chaste life. I recall those talks in high school and already knowing that I was doing good. And that may have fostered some form of arrogance in me and often I recall thinking like the proud Pharisee proclaiming to God "Look I'm not like that slut crying over there. I've stayed pure and chaste. Reward me!" Only to be reminded that like the Elder brother in the story of the Prodigal Son, "You are always with me. You have everything."
Basically as Jesus said, "It is not the healthy that need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Mark 2:17)
(Still, reassurance is nice every once in awhile. It's important for virgins to find role models and pray for strength from St. Joseph, St. Raphael and the Virgin Mary. And if you're feeling tempted, St. Mary Magdalene knows how you feel.)
For my sisters, I think they might enjoy parts of the book as I did, but we are VERY lucky to have a loving father who has remained faithful to mother for nearly 30 years now. We know what marriage and love looks like, we have the good example.
For me, it just encouraged me to return to some advice I got from the other marriage advice book about Affirmation but coupled more strongly to prayer.
Last Note
There were a couple of points where I wanted to punch the book in the face for talking down guys that play video games need to grow up. This may be a reflection on the industry but its still "common knowledge" that games are for children...despite us having games rated M for mature. But that is a rant for another day and done better by someone else.
Wow, I managed to tie games into this somehow. YES. Mission Accomplished.
So for me it had points, but the age for which this book is aimed is younger than I am, at least mentally.
Book Summary
The book is co-authored by a husband and wife, Jason and Crystalina Evert. There are 21 chapters with "secrets" and advice for women seeking love. They pull from talks they have given, email stories they have received, various behavior and scientific studies and their own experiences. The emphasis is on instilling virtue in young women when they date offering the Catholic alternative to the secular culture's ideas of love, sex and courting. The advice includes ten "guy" behavior traits to outright avoid to prevent getting hurt. It guides the reader through a process of building self-esteem, setting standards, and what love is suppose to be. There's nothing saccharine about the advice, it's very down to earth and supplemented well with stories from young women they received letters from or spoke to.
Much of the middle of the book is about "healing" and forgiving yourself if you failed to live chaste and want to turn over a new leaf. The authors themselves have admitted their failures many times but reassure the reader that they are not undeserving of love because of it.
The last third of the book is somewhat practical as well as spiritual advice about how to live a pure life. It includes a chapter on dressing modestly, how to break up, and bringing prayer and Christ into your life to help.
The Good Stuff
Some of the studies the book quotes were very interesting and I think will have a strong effect on the point the book sets out to make. Sharing stories from real girls does add a great dimension and context for the message of each chapter. It makes it relative to the reader by putting a personal touch on the chapter's topic.
It's not soaked with reprimands or "should haves", but offers an invitation for change, to raise the bar and practical ways to change your mindset about love and relationships. They save most of the "God Talk" to one or two specific chapters about renewing your spiritual life.
The Bad Stuff
There's not so much bad about the book so much as the fact that a book like this NEEDS to exist. It seems to me that the intended audience is a sexually active or formerly sexually active teenager or young adult. They come from broken homes and lack a good father figure.
That said, it means that the intended audience is a probably someone not very familiar with their faith or in a very bad spot. So for me it was disturbing that there seems to be this epidemic unloved women who have lost faith in true love.
For this reason, the book did not speak to me. I am not the books audience. I'm much older than the intended demographic and have luckily never experienced abuse. However, I have read a secular book meant for older women to regain confidence in dating and finding true love. Many of the secular books points were relatively the same advice but geared toward an older audience and introducing the concept of Affirmation.
Oh and there is one more kind of sour note that I will mention. Because of the intended audience, which seems to be broken young women who are sexually active, it feels like there are no virgins in high school or university. To me it ignored the virgin and made her/him feel like a non-existent entity or a relic of the past. I think I read one or two stories about a girl who was made fun of for her sexual inexperience and one about a woman from the 1940s retelling how she met her husband and virginity was a given. Luckily, much of the advice applies to any woman with low self-esteem. Only the presentation makes me feel like the authors were not writing to me.
Recommendation
I could recommend this book to someone in high school or university who feels in the target demographic. Even older women with a "young girl" mentality or a woman struggling with self-esteem issues. But a little part of me feels sorry that someone needs a book like this, but that is the world we live in.
However, many of the topics within the book come from chastity talks which can come off as condescending if you are living a chaste life. I recall those talks in high school and already knowing that I was doing good. And that may have fostered some form of arrogance in me and often I recall thinking like the proud Pharisee proclaiming to God "Look I'm not like that slut crying over there. I've stayed pure and chaste. Reward me!" Only to be reminded that like the Elder brother in the story of the Prodigal Son, "You are always with me. You have everything."
Basically as Jesus said, "It is not the healthy that need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Mark 2:17)
(Still, reassurance is nice every once in awhile. It's important for virgins to find role models and pray for strength from St. Joseph, St. Raphael and the Virgin Mary. And if you're feeling tempted, St. Mary Magdalene knows how you feel.)
For my sisters, I think they might enjoy parts of the book as I did, but we are VERY lucky to have a loving father who has remained faithful to mother for nearly 30 years now. We know what marriage and love looks like, we have the good example.
For me, it just encouraged me to return to some advice I got from the other marriage advice book about Affirmation but coupled more strongly to prayer.
Last Note
There were a couple of points where I wanted to punch the book in the face for talking down guys that play video games need to grow up. This may be a reflection on the industry but its still "common knowledge" that games are for children...despite us having games rated M for mature. But that is a rant for another day and done better by someone else.
Wow, I managed to tie games into this somehow. YES. Mission Accomplished.
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