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Boring thoughts on Diva Project 2nd:
Stuff I like:
Kokoro: bonus mode kicks in as the robot chants "thank you" DRAMATIC
Love List Koushinchuu: BOING BOING, EVERYTHING IS OKAY, OCTOPUS ALIENS
VOiCE -DIVA MIX-: Also dramatic
The one with the moon about death
Stuff I wish would jump off a bridge and go AWAY:
Hajimete no Koi ga Owaru Toki: *vomits saccharine*
I changed my mind about:
World is Mine: This is not a song about a powerful princess, it's about a girl begging to be noticed and then falling for a guy who has the very basics in human decency. She said she was going to give up cake and pudding---I AM ON A DIET, I CAN'T EVEN FUCKING STAND TO HEAR IT.
My favorite:
Tengajuu Arabesque, because it sounds 80s (especially when Meiko sings it in her red dress). This is the first song I ever played perfectly on extreme difficulty.
So we see here a preference for fantasy, and general indifference for that which is せつない. Is Hajimete no Koi~ even sad? Am I supposed to care about yet another stupid confused teenager? The song itself says that everything went down like a TV show. Yeah, so not only have I seen this before, I am old enough so that pining for teenage bullshit is nnnnot quite right. If you like a guy and it's awkward, just say that. If he left on a train, quit pouting and call him on his goddamn cell phone. And seriously, JUST SAY HATSUKOI!!! Ewwww.
I kind of don't get why Miku gets so much freaking attention. All of the other vocaloids have some little hint at personality, like "Kaito likes ice cream (so put your nendoroid in a haagen-dasz cup)" or "Ruka can also be an octopus". What I have on Miku that is mostly unique is "Miku sings songs like a girl in middle or high school." Um? Being robots, couldn't any Vocaloid wield a leek? Aren't they all kind of nuts about music and singing? Don't they all just sing what you put in their mouths? They are all silly, this I know.
And yet Miku is The One who gets a song about developing consciousness, singing too fast, and growing wings. And most of the costumes, too! ??? Dude, make someone else sing :|
I finished the Estelle novel (I really really pick at light novels) so I thought I would describe and summarize (mostly the original material).
There is actually not a great deal of original material. The book follows Estelle from the beginning of the game up through Zaude, with a lot of stuff left out between that and Myorzo. It's clear that pains have been taken to remove stuff that is not about Estelle, and to shorten that which had to be left in, but I felt REALLY antsy about when she was visiting the Leviathan guild hideout with the party and she was observing Yuri having a very depressing time. It was boring. I don't really mind that Yajima Sara's writing is bland (it's really easy to accept, and I agree with her characterization, and she writes about the stuff I want to read), but in this book it was really stretched, too.
At the beginning of every chapter are some thoughts straight from Estelle's head, possibly ones she writes after the game, or ones she plans to. She discusses her feelings on being exposed to the world, experiencing betrayal and witnessing terrible crimes, and of course finding lots of wonderful people and things to care about.
Most of the original stuff comes at the beginning of the book, which is a description of Estelle's childhood, her life in the castle, and how she met Flynn. Estelle met Flynn when Flynn escorted her to the palace library (in his helmet). She was nice to him and he got extremely twitterpated dor hor hor. Later on, Flynn used one of his days off to research something in the library, and since Estelle had READ EVERYTHING she helped him find it quickly. They had a little laugh about how they both seem to think dead leaves are possible bookmarks, and then they just kept running into each other. Eventually Estelle overheard two knights discussing that someone wanted to kill Flynn, and she made it her mission to help him.
Estelle seems to have grown up in a suite where her parents lived. Her father died in a war when she was young, and her mother died of illness. There's no real description, other than it's sumptuously appointed, and there is always a little caged birdy. No aviary, just a cute chirpy thing in a cage and OBVIOUS METAPHORS SLAMMING US ON THE HEAD. Interestingly, Estelle never had to ask for this pet bird, and if one died, it would be replaced before she could ask for it. It was one of the few animals she had seen in the palace.
Estelle had named all of these birds Remilia after a character in a book she read. It was a series of children's books about a boy on an adventure, and Remilia was a girl he met in the first town he visited. Estelle liked Remilia, but Remilia was never mentioned after the first book. (Spoilers: to fix this situation, in the next novel, Estelle retires to live in Haruru and writes fanfic.)
Estelle discovered her powers when she was too young to know any better. It was the emperor's birthday gala, and she was in attendance. One of the entertainments involved killing fish---she healed them by wishing it after the rest of the partygoers walked away to do other stuff. Her mother, who was there, rushed her back to their room, and immediately slapped on the blastia bracelet she had thankfully obtained recently. Estelle didn't get it at all, she mostly noticed that her blastia was shiny, but that her mother's brooch was just the best ever. Also, there were fireworks.
Estelle's mother seemed to want Estelle to be a normal person without any natural healing powers because it's a pain to have powers. When Estelle was eight, she knocked over a plant in the library, and also hurt a ladybug. Without even thinking about it, she healed the ladybug and the plant, and then her mother and the old librarian guy came running to help her. Apparently she sort of sensed that her mother did not want her to emphasize healing powers by fixing plants and bugs, so she just didn't tell anybody and pretended that the fall didn't damage the plant. This also is why she also never healed any of her pet birds when they died or were about to die---she wanted to behave the way her mother wanted her to, and her mother must have had a part in installing the first bird while Estelle was still very young.
This book is notable because it made me REALLY NOTICE what a freaking marshmallow bunny rabbit Yuri is :| Yes, I see that he is a badass and hot, but that's a defense. He's really a super idealistic fluff ball who just wants everybody to be okay, and he probably suffers terribly with the idea that being a serial killer is the way to get shit done in his world. This is why I like Vesperia, because it shows the nice, idealistic, and slightly naive people of the world getting their way and winning. :3 Compare Phantasia, where the party is assisted by the entire world in fighting an alien; Symphonia, where the idealist has to fight another idealist who he actually kinda agrees with; and Abyss, where, well, one sheltered person gets thrown into a party of five very cynical and/or hardened characters hacking their way through a depressing world and kills the biggest cynic ever.
This is turning into another rant entirely, but how many times have I wondered why Luke didn't just summon a butt-ton of books to read? Get a taste of the outside world, learn something for once, pass the time. He wasn't purposely kept illiterate, either, because he had to keep that journal. (I can't imagine an illiterate nobleman in that world, anyway.) Whhhhich means he was probably just a sillypants who didn't care for that which he thought of as "yucky studying, I never saw a fish so there's a bunch of fillets swimming in the ocean." That's okay, but it means that playing a game with Estelle has been extra gratifying for me. Raised in a castle? Rich as hell? Candidate for ruler of half the civilized world? Sheltered? Nice, and sensitive? Thunderstruck at the sight of the ocean? All yes, and she gets along fine.
Stuff I like:
Kokoro: bonus mode kicks in as the robot chants "thank you" DRAMATIC
Love List Koushinchuu: BOING BOING, EVERYTHING IS OKAY, OCTOPUS ALIENS
VOiCE -DIVA MIX-: Also dramatic
The one with the moon about death
Stuff I wish would jump off a bridge and go AWAY:
Hajimete no Koi ga Owaru Toki: *vomits saccharine*
I changed my mind about:
World is Mine: This is not a song about a powerful princess, it's about a girl begging to be noticed and then falling for a guy who has the very basics in human decency. She said she was going to give up cake and pudding---I AM ON A DIET, I CAN'T EVEN FUCKING STAND TO HEAR IT.
My favorite:
Tengajuu Arabesque, because it sounds 80s (especially when Meiko sings it in her red dress). This is the first song I ever played perfectly on extreme difficulty.
So we see here a preference for fantasy, and general indifference for that which is せつない. Is Hajimete no Koi~ even sad? Am I supposed to care about yet another stupid confused teenager? The song itself says that everything went down like a TV show. Yeah, so not only have I seen this before, I am old enough so that pining for teenage bullshit is nnnnot quite right. If you like a guy and it's awkward, just say that. If he left on a train, quit pouting and call him on his goddamn cell phone. And seriously, JUST SAY HATSUKOI!!! Ewwww.
I kind of don't get why Miku gets so much freaking attention. All of the other vocaloids have some little hint at personality, like "Kaito likes ice cream (so put your nendoroid in a haagen-dasz cup)" or "Ruka can also be an octopus". What I have on Miku that is mostly unique is "Miku sings songs like a girl in middle or high school." Um? Being robots, couldn't any Vocaloid wield a leek? Aren't they all kind of nuts about music and singing? Don't they all just sing what you put in their mouths? They are all silly, this I know.
And yet Miku is The One who gets a song about developing consciousness, singing too fast, and growing wings. And most of the costumes, too! ??? Dude, make someone else sing :|
I finished the Estelle novel (I really really pick at light novels) so I thought I would describe and summarize (mostly the original material).
There is actually not a great deal of original material. The book follows Estelle from the beginning of the game up through Zaude, with a lot of stuff left out between that and Myorzo. It's clear that pains have been taken to remove stuff that is not about Estelle, and to shorten that which had to be left in, but I felt REALLY antsy about when she was visiting the Leviathan guild hideout with the party and she was observing Yuri having a very depressing time. It was boring. I don't really mind that Yajima Sara's writing is bland (it's really easy to accept, and I agree with her characterization, and she writes about the stuff I want to read), but in this book it was really stretched, too.
At the beginning of every chapter are some thoughts straight from Estelle's head, possibly ones she writes after the game, or ones she plans to. She discusses her feelings on being exposed to the world, experiencing betrayal and witnessing terrible crimes, and of course finding lots of wonderful people and things to care about.
Most of the original stuff comes at the beginning of the book, which is a description of Estelle's childhood, her life in the castle, and how she met Flynn. Estelle met Flynn when Flynn escorted her to the palace library (in his helmet). She was nice to him and he got extremely twitterpated dor hor hor. Later on, Flynn used one of his days off to research something in the library, and since Estelle had READ EVERYTHING she helped him find it quickly. They had a little laugh about how they both seem to think dead leaves are possible bookmarks, and then they just kept running into each other. Eventually Estelle overheard two knights discussing that someone wanted to kill Flynn, and she made it her mission to help him.
Estelle seems to have grown up in a suite where her parents lived. Her father died in a war when she was young, and her mother died of illness. There's no real description, other than it's sumptuously appointed, and there is always a little caged birdy. No aviary, just a cute chirpy thing in a cage and OBVIOUS METAPHORS SLAMMING US ON THE HEAD. Interestingly, Estelle never had to ask for this pet bird, and if one died, it would be replaced before she could ask for it. It was one of the few animals she had seen in the palace.
Estelle had named all of these birds Remilia after a character in a book she read. It was a series of children's books about a boy on an adventure, and Remilia was a girl he met in the first town he visited. Estelle liked Remilia, but Remilia was never mentioned after the first book. (Spoilers: to fix this situation, in the next novel, Estelle retires to live in Haruru and writes fanfic.)
Estelle discovered her powers when she was too young to know any better. It was the emperor's birthday gala, and she was in attendance. One of the entertainments involved killing fish---she healed them by wishing it after the rest of the partygoers walked away to do other stuff. Her mother, who was there, rushed her back to their room, and immediately slapped on the blastia bracelet she had thankfully obtained recently. Estelle didn't get it at all, she mostly noticed that her blastia was shiny, but that her mother's brooch was just the best ever. Also, there were fireworks.
Estelle's mother seemed to want Estelle to be a normal person without any natural healing powers because it's a pain to have powers. When Estelle was eight, she knocked over a plant in the library, and also hurt a ladybug. Without even thinking about it, she healed the ladybug and the plant, and then her mother and the old librarian guy came running to help her. Apparently she sort of sensed that her mother did not want her to emphasize healing powers by fixing plants and bugs, so she just didn't tell anybody and pretended that the fall didn't damage the plant. This also is why she also never healed any of her pet birds when they died or were about to die---she wanted to behave the way her mother wanted her to, and her mother must have had a part in installing the first bird while Estelle was still very young.
This book is notable because it made me REALLY NOTICE what a freaking marshmallow bunny rabbit Yuri is :| Yes, I see that he is a badass and hot, but that's a defense. He's really a super idealistic fluff ball who just wants everybody to be okay, and he probably suffers terribly with the idea that being a serial killer is the way to get shit done in his world. This is why I like Vesperia, because it shows the nice, idealistic, and slightly naive people of the world getting their way and winning. :3 Compare Phantasia, where the party is assisted by the entire world in fighting an alien; Symphonia, where the idealist has to fight another idealist who he actually kinda agrees with; and Abyss, where, well, one sheltered person gets thrown into a party of five very cynical and/or hardened characters hacking their way through a depressing world and kills the biggest cynic ever.
This is turning into another rant entirely, but how many times have I wondered why Luke didn't just summon a butt-ton of books to read? Get a taste of the outside world, learn something for once, pass the time. He wasn't purposely kept illiterate, either, because he had to keep that journal. (I can't imagine an illiterate nobleman in that world, anyway.) Whhhhich means he was probably just a sillypants who didn't care for that which he thought of as "yucky studying, I never saw a fish so there's a bunch of fillets swimming in the ocean." That's okay, but it means that playing a game with Estelle has been extra gratifying for me. Raised in a castle? Rich as hell? Candidate for ruler of half the civilized world? Sheltered? Nice, and sensitive? Thunderstruck at the sight of the ocean? All yes, and she gets along fine.