Chapter 23, Draft 4: DONE.

Yeah, that’s how I should start these blog entries. Just hit you in the face with the chapter in bold followed by the status of DONE, BABY!

Funny thing back when I wrote draft 3: even though it’s the start of the book’s finale, I tossed out all of draft two and rewrote everything. It was almost a fit of madness. Because at this point Kim had read most of the book, her criticisms were mounting, and I was being driven to despair over the sheer amount of work that needed to be done. (Work that I have now completed.) But at the time it seemed like so much.

So all my feelings were UNLEASHED in this chapter. I put myself in the place of the protagonist and struggled against a seemingly-unwinnable situation! 😤

And here’s the summary of the chapter, in poem form!

Your plan is spoiled; your voice betrayed;

Your vic’try feast’s been unmade.

No path to win; nor to succeed.

Now you see where despair leads.

 

Despite how I made it sound, the chapter turned out great. I should allow myself to be overwhelmed by negative emotions again sometime. Can it be? Is art… PAIN?

Ha, I’ll try more personal suffering later. Now I want to talk about the games I got for Christmas. SPOILERS for any of the games listed in this blog’s title.

Persona 5 Tactica –

I played the original Persona 5 a couple of years ago on my Playstation 3. It’s a monster of an RPG; I took at least two breaks lasting a few months before I was able to beat it.

And why? The game ITSELF is broken up into months of the year, with you playing through ‘days’ as they happen. Watch a cutscene. Go back to your home. Go to bed. Wake up. Play baseball. Go to school. Go to bed. Wake up. Visit the dungeon. Go to bed. Are you even reading this paragraph anymore? I’m not! See what I MEAN!? WAKE UP! GO TO SCHOOL! ARRGH!

But Persona 5 Tactica is my kind of game! You play around with the same group of characters, but they get shunted off to another dimension at the very start! Trapped! They can’t go home! Much less go to their beds or school! Their only option is to fight their way out of this strange dimension. So what do you say, guys? Are you ready to rock!? 😁

No boring calendar nonsense here! You just play tactics levels, manage your party, and watch story cutscenes! It’s great!

The tactics gameplay is wild, too. You can knock enemies off ledges, use skills to move them out of cover, all sorts of things. And you can pick any character you want! None of that ‘forced main guy in your party’ nonsense.

And as an unmarried guy, I really felt the fear when the first boss came out:

Meet Marie: a deranged bride in a militaristic white dress. During the boss battle she tried to run your team over with her ‘JUST MARRIED’ tank while tossing explosive bouquets all over the place.

A little LESS horrifying than what I imagine marriage to be, but still frightening.

Cyberpunk 2077:

This game came out a few years ago, but I accidentally wrote ‘Cyberpunk 2099‘ on my Christmas list back then, so Santa got confused.

My brother got the game for me this year, so I fired it up. Good gameplay. Fun abilities. And there are even some jolly Christian quests you can partake in! Have a look:

So what happened is this criminal needs my help, right? He murdered a bunch of people and is set to be executed. While he was in prison, he repented of his sins and became a Christian.

So he wanted me to drive him around and apologize to all his victims’ families. He ALSO wanted me to meet him at a movie studio, nail him to a cross, say a prayer with him, and then have the entire thing filmed and beamed into peoples’ brains so that they can experience a crucifixion from his point of view, emotions, pain, and all.

And for some reason Keanu Reeves shows up as a digital construct in my character’s cybermind. C’mon, man. Don’t make this weird.

Mega Man Battle Network Collection:

Speaking of digital constructs, here’s Mega Man! I got some Nintendo e-bucks so I bought this collection of 6 games that originally came out on the Game Boy Advance. I had never played any of them, but I’m a fan of Mega Man so I thought I’d give ’em a try. Check out this picture:

In these games Mega Man is not an actual robot, but a ‘NetNavi’ computer program that is controlled by a little boy named Lan. The two hack into various devices to stop viruses by having thrilling card game battles. Very fun, even if there seem to be the occasional ‘wander around to find what NPC to talk to’ moments.

And look at this: there’s a message that comes up when you start the game.

Well shoot, if that doesn’t get you curious, what will? What ‘insensitive cultural depictions’ will I find!? Show me, so that I can take screenshots and post them for all to witness!

Ah, I think I found it.

Yes, you actually need to talk to this character and ‘free-style’ some lyrics so that you can borrow his whiskey. To catch a tarantula. ON AN AIRPLANE!

And you thought that Cyberpunk quest was bizarre.

I mean, I ASSUME this is what the Capcom disclaimer was talking about. There are also some people in a place called ‘Netopia’ that speak broken English, but that’s a fictitious country and they’re all depicted as different colors.

Then again, I’ve only made it to the second game at the time of this post. Maybe I’ll have something more hilarious next time! 😅

Look forward to it! Farewell for now!