Rest Hard

I've worked for 17 days straight. There was at least thirty minutes committed to the menial task of work each day. This past weekend was a long overdue break. I've finally got 48 hours of uninterrupted peace. I think I've earned it.

I didn't know how much I needed it until I finally got it. I guess this makes up for taking two weeks off for vacation several months ago. If you work hard, you also gotta rest hard. All things in equal measure.

Breezy Walks

Today was a reprieve from the heat. I daresay it was great weather. The sun was blazing red from behind a cloudy haze. I'm not sure if it was natural cloud cover or smog. The first part of the trail was peaceful with wildlife out in full force. It was like walking in a Disney forest with critters and birds cheering me on.

Where was everybody? And as soon as I thought that, people showed up. I love me a long lonely desolate stretch of no people. I usually take it easier on Saturday by walking instead of running. This lets me appreciate my speed. I don't realize how fast I run until I'm walking. It takes forever to get anywhere this way.

The weather truly was a far cry from the last time I ran. Before, the tiniest sliver of sunlight barely peeking over the horizon was enough to get me sweating. Today's haze did a remarkable job of dulling the heat, even if it was slightly humid. It was so breezy, I decided the run the last half of the route. That felt nice!

Hyperdimension Neptunia Part 2

Re;birth has a feature where you can add stronger enemies to existing dungeons. They're not really stronger enemies though. They're more like an extra boss. Even though I'm ten levels higher than I was when I cleared the dungeon, they can regenerate everything I throw at them. I need to be 20+ levels to beat these stupid things.

And this is after I got to level 25 and unlocked my first EXE move, which I thought was amazing since I could one shot normal bosses. Just when I thought I've reached the next level, there's always something more powerful around the corner. The game just does not want me to become beast. Ever since Persona 3, I don't feel like a JRPG truly starts until after 20 hours in, so there's still more to come. I'll destroy everything in due time. Just you wait.

Hyperdimension Neptunia

After 3 months of sitting on the 64gb card I bought from Japan, I finally filled it up with all the PS Vita games I've been collecting digitally over the years. I recently started up Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth and after clearing the first dungeon, I thought this game was going to be a piece of cake.

Then they started throwing one shot kill enemies at me. I've died more in one hour than I have in all of Tales of Xillia 2, and I've already logged in over 10 hours in that one. Here I thought I was in for a nice and relaxing romp through a parody of the console wars. Joke's on me. At least grinding is easy.

This is really the first proper JRPG I've played on the Vita and I can see why the genre is such a great fit for the system. Just jump in, grind out a few levels, and continue. I could certainly use this kind of simplicity given the constraints of my current day schedule. Hopefully it won't take me forever to beat the game.

Now back to grinding...

Pokemon a Go Go, Baby

Pokemon Go is a bona fide phenomenon. It always seemed obvious that the instant Pokemon goes mobile, it'd explode. It'll be interesting to see how it evolves from here but they sure got their work cut out for them, even if they're raking in millions by the minute.

My interest isn't piqued since I don't have the hardware for it (no data and old phone) and since the mainline entries can barely retain my attention, I don't think a stripped down mobile friendly version will be any more engaging. That said, I can see its immense impact by just walking outside.

There's a trail that I've been running ever since I got back from Japan and I've never seen it as packed as it was today. The ratio of people walking with their eyes glued to their phones shot up exponentially and there is no other reason than Pokemon Go. I think this is a good thing. The more reasons to be active the better.

I just hope its not some temporary trend that peters out in a couple months. Nintendo are pretty good at this kind of thing, and considering the return on investment they're getting, I'm sure they have their best minds on it. Maybe once I upgrade my hardware I'll get in on the craze. It's never too late to try to catch 'em all.

A Jaunt Through History

I'm one of the lucky few invited to the Battlefield 1 closed alpha. Launch day destroyed me. I played from afternoon to 7 the next morning with nary a break in between. My productivity was lost to say the least. There are things I like and don't like.

The first thing that jumped out to me was how hard it was to see. Sunlight, smoke, fog, and all sorts of visual noise get in the way frequently. Since spotting is nerfed, I don't have as many markers to help me sort foe from friendlies.

In BF4, I spent half my time staring at the radar. Hardly anything shows up on it in BF1 -- at least when I first jumped in. My teammates seem to have gotten better at spotting as the days passed, but the minimap still lacks a lot of information that I'm used to seeing. Since live fire no longer shows up on the map, I have to use my eyes and ears to get a bead on the situation.

Map knowledge is paramount. I'm a lot better at checking the usual hiding spots but for those uninitiated, prepare to be killed from every conceivable angle. It took a lot of deaths to acquire familiarity with the terrain, and even then, I'll get flanked from some random direction every now and then.

One thing I don't like is the increased auto aim. It's almost Call of Duty levels of snap on. As a longtime console BF veteran, I'm used to no aim assist. Hell, I got my start in online console gaming with Socom, so I'm disappointed with the level of aim assist in BF1. It levels the skill gap significantly. Before, I would routinely take out guys who get the drop on me only because my aim is superior, but I no longer have that advantage.

So far I like it, but I don't love it. I hope things will be tweaked for a smoother game experience when the beta releases.

Overdramatic

K-dramas are too long and J-dramas are a bit short. J-dramas seem to have a little give at the end but I can't be mad at being left wanting more. Means they did a good job. On the other hand, K-dramas go on and on forever.

Having just finished Single Dad in Love with an ending that is equal parts ballsy and bullshit, I am left with a profound sense of disappointment and a sneaking suspicion that I have wasted this entire 4th of July weekend on low tier filler.

Whelp, no use crying over spilled milk. Them's just the breaks. All I know is that I should be damn weary about starting any new shows from now on. The sunk cost fallacy ends up costing far more than if I just quit cold turkey, but with my strong duty of seeing things through to the end, the winning move is to not play.