Day 107: One more finished!

So the big news of the day is that registration has begun for this year's Osu! World Cup.  So far there are two teams entered; one representing Germany and the other representing Italy.  I of course, have started my analysis of the team members and will be making my predictions as more teams confirm their participation.  I am really excited, because this is the start of the competitive season and it will be my first competitive season.

Along with doing the analysis, I have thought about making a team intro video for the teams.  I saw one I liked back when the GTA V crews were recruiting new members.  I started on Italy's today.  I have it half finished.  I just have to add the other team members and then set some music at the silent parts.

In other news, I finished the main story quests in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.  So, I am going to count it as complete on the list.  And after that, I started a save file for Ape Escape 3.  I have already captured Monkey White, so I'm about 15% complete in the story already.  I still haven't put Xenosaga Episode I back in the games cabinet, because I intend to try finishing it sometime soon.  Maybe I will find an online strategy that is guaranteed to work and use it.

Well, that's all from me for now.  So, for the coming day, enjoy the games you play!

Michael, aka me3lingual, aka 情郎

Day 103: GTA V Final Review

Well, I set out to complete a game today, and I was successful.  I finished every story mission in Grand Theft Auto V.  The credits are literally rolling as I am typing this.  I am glad to have finished it, and to have finished any game.  It's been far too long since I completed a game.  Anyway, I really like the story of Grand Theft Auto V.  That, coupled with a good soundtrack and outstanding graphics, made this one of my favorite games ever.

I was surprised at how far the developers went to push the envelope when they made this game.  I never thought I would ever play a game where I would get to see the inside a person's skull.  And the nudity was something you don't normally see in video games either.  I am really surprised that GTA V didn't receive an AO rating rather than the MA rating it received.  This was probably the most adult-themed game I have seen in my life.

WARNING!!  SPOILERS!!

The last mission allowed me to do what I have wanted to do ever since I met Trevor, and that was to kill him.  I never liked his character, and I wanted to see him die so many times.  I never expected that I would get to burn him alive, though.  That was brutal.  Really brutal.  If I do play through this game again, I will probably choose Option C.  I will never choose Option A.  I mean, why would I kill myself?

Gosh, how long are these credits?  It's played through like four songs now.

Now that I have finished GTA V, I can mark it off the list and work on finishing other games.  I am really close to finishing Final Fantasy XIII.  I have been in the same spot in FF XIII for months.  I think it would be a nice weekend project for me.  And I am also close to finishing Xenosaga Episode I as well.  The only problem I have with finishing both of those games is that the enemies are very difficult to get defeat.  That's why I haven't finished them yet.  So I will be turning to the trusty Internet for help in that regard.  That's what it's there for, after all.

Well, that's all from me for now.  So, for the coming day, enjoy the games you play!

Michael, aka me3lingual, aka 情郎

Day 101: When I'm not playing video games...

I'm usually watching other people play video games.  I watch a lot of LPers on YouTube and Twitch.  And in today's entry, I thought I'd talk about some of my favorites.

First up is GypsyElder.  She is a member of a Final Fantasy forum I like to visit.  Watching her play Catherine got me interested in the game, and she also helped me out when I would get stuck in the puzzles.  She's much better at the game than I am.  She's conquering Babel, and I am struggling on Easy Mode.

Along with Catherine, she plays a bunch of other games as well.

Next is MageKnight404.  He is probably one of my favorite LPers on YouTube nowadays.  When I play Xenosaga Episode I, I almost always have his series on the game playing at the same time.  Right now in my playthrough of the game, I would be at his episode 94.  However, I am only up to episode 52 of actually watching his LP.  I really enjoy watching his live streams on Twitch as well.

And finally, I will mention some of my favorite series' to watch.  I like Josh Jepson's Fallout 3 LP.  It was another that I watch while playing the game.  And I enjoyed watching Donnabellez' LP of Katamari Damacy.  And though I can't stand NintendoCapriSun at all anymore, I really am entertained when I watch almost anything from TheRunawayGuys.

As for my gaming for today.  I work on completing Grand Theft Auto V.  Although for the amount of time I played, I didn't actually get a whole lot done.  I am 57.61% complete now.  I have finished all of the random events.  There are only three more strangers and freaks missions, and 24 story missions left to complete.  And it's only taken almost 31 hours to get this far.

And in Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift, I completed a few more missions. And after that, I passed a couple Clan Tests to raise my Clan stats.  I have each member of my party at Level 11-12.  Most have already learned all of the abilities of the starting jobs that I have access to.  I just have to find the items needed to add more advanced equipment from the bazaar.

Well, that's all from me.  So, for the coming day, enjoy the games you play!

Michael, aka me3lingual, aka 情郎

Day 100: I think I'm almost done.

I only have 26 missions left to complete in Grand Theft Auto V.  Overall, I am 52.78% complete.  I have almost all of the random events finished (13/14).  My brother walked in while I was playing and said that the graphics looked very realistic.  He liked how the vehicles looked like actual vehicles.  Anyway, my favorite part about the game is that you can switch between the characters.  It makes the missions fresh.  Rather than playing as one character for 50+ missions, you get to play as the three of them.  I will be glad when I finish the story.  Then I can devote more time to the online gameplay.

I am almost #27 in this month's osu!mania competition!  I have shortened the gap between me and the current #27 to only 14,505 points.  I had to play the annoying Mermaid Girl song about 15 times in order to get my score and accuracy up enough to where I would like it.  As for my overall rankings, they are at the same area they were yesterday.  I currently have second place on a song that was released today.  So, that's always cool!

Today I thought I'd try and play Final Fantasy VI and see how far I could get.  But then I thought about the games I am already playing, and I didn't want to add to the list.  I need to finish something before I start playing something else.

Well, that's all from me.  So, for the coming day, enjoy the games you play!  Also, the special side topic I was going to talk about has been pushed back until tomorrow.  I wasn't finished working on it, so I'm going to postpone it for now.

Michael, aka me3lingual, aka 情郎

Day 99: Anything but 666.

Well, I am now in 28th Place in this month's osu!mania monthly competition.  And I am only 1,570 points from passing #27.  As for my overall standings, that has improved as well.  I am #647 in the United States, and #11,467 in the world.  I spent a lot of time trying to improve on maps that I have a score of less than 950,000 points.  It is taking a while, considering I have over 3000 maps.  But I started the day as #666 in the country, and ended at #647; so it was a good day.  Also, I wanted to be anything other than #666.

The only other game I played today was Grand Theft Auto V.  I played both the story mode and online.  In Online, I am at Level 8 with 24,194 RP in the Ohio Moguls crew.  And in story mode, I have completed 43.41% of the game.  I still hate playing as Trevor, but I just get it over with.

I have an interesting side topic for tomorrow's entry, so you will have to come back for that.  I will try and not wing it like I usually do the side topics.  So, for the coming day, enjoy the games you play!

Michael, aka me3lingual, aka 情郎

Day 98: Rage Moment

I had a bit of a rage moment when I was playing Osu! today.  I kept missing only one note in every map I played, and so I would retry the maps.  Well, it became really frustrating, and I slammed both hands on the computer keyboard and broke one of the little tabs that elevate it to raise the angle of the keyboard.  So, now I am using some GBA game cartridges to adjust the angle of the keyboard to make typing more comfortable.  Why was I being so sore?  I was trying to raise my score in this month's competition.  I rank #29, and I am so close to moving up the list if I can just raise my score a little more.  The difference between me and #28 is only 15,588 points.  There is still a lot of points I could earn; 3,338,777 points to be exact.

In the end, I just did one of the maps that I don't have a near perfect score on, and I passed #28.  Now, I am 27,851 points below #27.  It looks like I will remain on the scoreboard for the rest of the competition, so I am not too worried about scrounging for the extra points.  I guess the rage moment was needed.  It had been boiling for so long, that it finally boiled over.  Now, I am as cool as ice water.

I played GTA Online today as well.  I am still ranked #6 in my crew.  I have 21,357 RP currently.  My specialty right now is racing.  And that's really weird considering I am horrible at racing in most other games.  I almost have enough money to purchase a house in the game.  I hope to do that soon.  My car is missing, and I don't know how to use the tracking.  That's something I want to do the next time I play.

I tried playing Xenosaga Episode I.  However, the battles are really difficult.  I tried different equipment to combat the attacks the enemies were throwing, but they are relentless.  And I tried fighting the Red King in Final Fantasy Tactics A2, but the battle was too difficult.  It doesn't seem fair that I can't use Black Magic spells, but the opponent can.  Oh well.  Maybe next time.

Well, that's all for now.  So, for the coming day, enjoy the games you play!

Michael, aka me3lingual, aka 情郎

Day 97: A short update.

I played Xenosaga Episode I today.  Today, I just wanted to get the rest of MOMO's Ether Abilities.  I read about their locations, and spent a long time looking for them.  But I did move to the second tower in the Song of Nephilim.  However, the battles are really tough, and I keep dying.

I completed a few more quests in Final Fantasy Tactics A2.  I have a new party member as well.  It's that Adelle character who I don't trust.  I think she's going to end up hurting the party again at some point.

I wasn't able to play GTA Online today.  I guess the servers were having problems.

Sorry this is so short.  But I am not feeling the best right now.  So, for the coming day, enjoy the games you play!

Michael, aka me3lingual, aka 情郎

Day 96: My True Thoughts on GTA Online

I finally got to play GTA Online today.  It is much better now that I no longer have to look at a loading screen, though I still have to look at one occasionally.  The jobs are fun, and I like how it is more based on the community aspect rather than "kill these people, drive these cars".  The competition is tough, but that's to be expected.  After all, the game sold millions of copies, and it seems like everyone is a pro at it compared to me.

In my current crew Ohio Moguls, I rank 6th out of the 12 players overall.  I have 10,050 RP.  I have done a Team Last Man Standing match (in which I was the first one dead), and a Deathmatch (in which I place 7th out of 10).

GTA Online is really fun.  I can see myself spending many nights playing this.  For more information about my crew's standings, just click and visit Ohio Moguls.

In other gaming news, Osu! is currently restructuring the Leader Boards for the overall modes.  For a while now, the Leader Boards have been cluttered with players who no longer play actively.  This new format removes the inactive players from the Boards.  If the inactive become active again, their standings will go back to where they were before (*adjusted for new rankings, of course).

Anyway, with this new system in place, I have been given a big jump to my standings in osu!mania.  I am ranked #648 in the U.S., and #11,522 in the world.  This is great for me, because it means that if I stay active and others become inactive, my ranking will naturally raise higher and higher because the inactive players will be removed from the list.

Unfortunately, that also means that until I become better at Osu! standard, I won't be back on that leader board until I rank on a map again.  It's the only mode of the game that I don't play well.

Finally, I completed a few more quests in Final Fantasy Tactics A2 today.  I have made it to the third area of the game (Baptiste something).  And I started to play The World Ends With You today as well.  I am not used to always using the stylus, so this game will take some getting used to.

Well, that's all for now.  So, for the coming day, enjoy the games you play!

Michael, aka me3lingual, aka 情郎