This day I had planned a whole day for us in the Old Town. Arguably my favourite part of any town/city. First off we went to Edinburgh Castle where we proceeded to spend a little over 3 hours. I've previously been to the Castle but it was a lot of fun to see everything again and to watch Toni's reactions. The castle is oooooold, like 850 years old and still one of the most impressive buildings in the city. And since it's on a hill it can be seen from pretty much anywhere in the city *queue a multitude of pictures of the castle from every angle*
After three hours at the castle we moved on to the next place on my list: St Giles Cathedral, which was cool but looked pretty much like cathedrals everywhere. The most unique part was the chapel of the Thistle. Photo permit cost £2 so we decided to not take any photos.
Right after that we went across the street to The Real Mary King's Close and booked a tour for Sunday. I tried to book it via their website before we left home, but it wouldn't work for some reason, and then we went to have dinner at a burger place close by, which is where I tried haggis for the first time. My burger included all the ordinary things: beef and onion rings, but also a haggis fritter. Knowing what it's made of I expected the taste and texture of fried liver. Couldn't have been more wrong. It's juicy and spicy and I really liked it ♥
After dinner we walked down Victoria Street on our way to Grassmarket and there we found a Harry Potter shop. So I had to go inside. And spend a bunch of money. We walked through Grassmarket, up the stairs of the Vennel and past the remains of the Flodden Wall and George Heriot's school, before coming up to the Greyfriar's Bobby statue and the Greyfriar's Kirkyard. After a quick look around the kirkyard we walked down Candlemaker Row and along Cowgate until we got to the South Bridge Vaults, where we grabbed a drink at Bannerman's; a rock bar.
After the drink we walked back to the hotel for a quick change of clothes and then we took the tram/walked back to St Giles Cathedral to meet up for the City of the Dead walking tour. I really, really recommend this one! It started off as a history walk along Old Fisherman's Close and Cowgate before the tour brought us to Greyfriar's Kirkyard and the spooky part began. We got the story of the Mackenzie Poltergeist and the Covenant's Prison (the world's first concentration camp), and while most of the tour had been about building tension through words there was one single orchestrated jumpscare towards the end. The tour guide made a point of explaining that the café where JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book overlooked the kirkyard and that she got a lot of inspiration for names from the gravestones. I found James Potter, Moody and Scrimgeour on the stones. According to the tour guide there was a gravestone with the name Thomas Riddle Esq. but although I followed her instructions to the letter I couldn't find it. I suspect it may be in the fenced-in area, and by then the light was so bad that I couldn't see what any of the stones said. (The tour may be scarier in the autumn and winter when it's actually dark during the tour).
When we walked back to the hotel I found said café and we stopped for pictures. I had tea there during my last visit 10½ years ago ^^
We finished the day with a drink in the hotel bar, before going to bed just after midnight completely exhausted.
Most of this day was spent travelling. To even get to the airport in Stockholm it takes us 1½ hours by bus and train. Everything went as smoothly as you would expect to check in and go through the security. We decided to eat before boarding the plane and found a place that looked good, but was dreadful. The burgers we got made McDonald's seem decent. Anyhow. One disappointing burger later we went to the gate and watched the rain pour down before it was time to get on the plane.
Mandatory George Carlin for every plane ride:
We landed in Edinburgh exactly on time and our bag was already rolling around on the baggage claim by the time we got there. Smooth!!!
We got on the tram from the airport to the city and Toni's head was swivelling around trying to look at everything at the same time. I was mostly just looking at the mountains, because honestly those are the only things that don't 100% exactly like home :P When the tram made the turn into Haymarket my heart made a leap I recognised every inch of that street ♥ I previously spent 3 weeks in Edinburgh in November of 2008. 10½ years and I recognised every inch. I was so happy.
We got off the tram and the hotel I had booked for us was directly across from the tram station. Perfect :) We checked in without any issues and after dumping our bags we decided to go to one of the bars in town.
The bar is called The Voyage of Buck and it's a theme bar. The theme is the voyages of a late 19th century person called Buck and every cocktail is inspired of is travels. The cocktail menu is several pages long. I ordered fancy cocktails for us both and they were probably the coolest drinks we've ever had. Mine had pearl glitter in it so it looked like some sort of shimmering potion, while Toni received edible Legos for his drink xD
Our experience of the bar was that the drinks were really cool and the whole atmosphere of the place was amazing, but the staff could've been a bit more service-minded. They made it clear when we arrived that we were to sit down and then they would come to get our drink orders. Except they seemed more interested in hanging out at the bar and talking between themselves rather than making sure their guests got what they needed/wanted. So concept was amazing - staff needs improvement.
When we had finished our drinks we decided that we wanted something to eat and managed to find a KFC that was open late. We went there and then brought the food back to the hotel room and had an extra dinner there before going to bed.
I first tried to play this game in 2013, but I was too much of a noob back then and I kept getting stuck on the QTEs because I just couldn't time them properly. This year I decided to try again. Hopefully something had happened to my skill in the past 6 years. I watched Toni play it back in the day so I wasn't new to the story.
The first thing that struck me was how old it suddenly looked. I played it on High and I remembered it as this beautifully gorgeous game, and now it looked old. Funny how time does that.
I went for 100% completion and got it. The story was still really cool and I loved the environments in the different areas of the island. While I remembered the big strokes of the story I had forgotten the details so things like Roth's death and Whitman's betrayal still came as major surprises to me.
Apart from being a really cool-looking game, what really drew me to this game was the Japanese influenced mythology of the story. That really got me and I enjoyed every piece of Japanese-y thing the game threw at me.
This game paces its action perfectly, but when there's action it's ACTION! So much of it omg. The QTEs are never boring and a lot of the time I sat wincing at every new injury Lara sustained, especially when you missed a beat during the QTEs and had to watch Lara die in the most gruesome ways. 10/10 would miss again.
The challenges were nice and mostly easy and just gave me all the more reason to keep running around in all the stunning areas.
This game is an amazing reboot and I'm really looking forward to playing the two sequels now.
I was very curious about this game when it was first released, but I mostly am whenever something with vampires shows up.
The game starts off with an exteremely generic story, but the story is so open-ended that you can decide it for yourself. I started off wanting to try my best to be a good guy, but the more I got to know the citizens the more I felt like "You all suck. You're horrible people." So I decided to let my good-guy vampire doctor become the villain and just slaughter everybody. I love that you can become the villain and not being stuck being the good guy like most games do. The turning point came after I was forced to kill my sister.
The game's strong point is definitely its NPCs. Talking to them, finding out their backstories and helping them with their needs/requests is the backbone of the game. The romance that popped up midway felt forced and I was quite happy when she broke it off after discovering that my vamp doc no longer was the innocent little newborn vamp that she'd have to protect and nurture.
The lore in this game is quite deep and I really enjoyed discovering the bits and pieces of it scattered throughout the game.
The only bad thing I can think of is the combat that felt a bit clunky, but imho it wasn't game-breakingly clunky. It was a bit odd, but not odder than you could get used to it.
All in all I thoroughly enjoyed this game and I could definitely see myself playing through it again at a later point as a 100% good guy who doesn't kill anybody.
I've been curious about this game for quite some time and I finally decided to download the trial and play that. The game was incredibly cute, but I wasn't sure about the fighting (it seemed clunky) or the fact that there's sometimes voice acting but not always and the PC is always mute. It was so jarring to me.
But after getting to around lvl 15 I decided that I liked the game enough to actually buy it. The base game story is looooooooooong. Exceptionally long and it doesn't go by any faster with the constant distractions in the shape of dungeons, side quests and omg-you-can-be-every-class-on-the-same-toon-imma-do-everything!
Because the base game story is so goddamn long it also takes forever to actually get things happening. Most of the time it's just running all over the continent to fetch stuff or talk to different people. It's not until the attack on the HQ that things actually start to happen, and by then your character has passed level 40 (the end of the base game comes around level 50). From being some of the most boring content, the main story picked up towards the end and became totally epic!
Earlier on, when it became time to choose which Grand Company you wanted to belong to I chose the pirates and moved my home point from Gridania to Limsa Lominsa. Mainly because Merlwyb is totally badass and she's the main reason my little archer girl is going to be a machinist so I can run around and shoot guns too!
Funnily enough, none of the Scions really grew on me during the game although those were the characters with which you spend the most time. Most of them seemed a little bit too high and mighty. I wanted to like Minfilia and Alphinaud but they were just way up there with their attitudes. Yda is probably the only one I actually came to like the most. Smart but aloof.
My favourite regions to explore became La Noscea quite early on. I've never been much of a fan of desert areas in any game so Thanalan was mostly out. Gridania was very cute, but seemed a bit generic. La Noscea was absolutely stunning and no other regions had me stopping every few seconds to get screenshots. Except maybe Mor Dhona, but it's so small.
Despite all its faults FFXIV grew on me, and although I'm still not entirely comfortable with the fighting mechanics the game has grown on me enough that I'm really looking forward to continue on playing Heavensward and Stormblood and later on Shadowbringers.
We left home early in the morning on the 4th. Packed ourselves into the car and rode south. The trip usually takes around 6 hours with time for a few rest stops and this year was no different. All the way down we had heavy clouds and rain and the closer we got the more nervous we got that this was the year the weather would be crap all week long. But once we got really close the weather cleared up. And then we spent the whole week in perpetual sunlight without a cloud in sight (except for the last day).
This year we had bought a new tent so ofc it took us forever to put it up, but now we know how it's done so next year it will be quick and easy again :D During the time we put up the tent I managed to burn my shoulders, which meant tank tops were out of the question for the rest of the festival. Lucky I also brought t-shirts! The rest of the first day was then spent drinking, singing and generally having a good time in the camp. The first night is always special because that's when people move around the most and there are always random guests showing up at the camp, staying for a beer or two or a song or two and then moving on. The most wtf moment of today was that the song Space Unicorn came on exactly the same moment a dude walked by wearing a unicorn onesie.
This year we had only managed to get 3-day tickets instead of our usual 4-day tickets, so the next day went in pretty much the same style as the first day. Woke up around 7.30 and crawled out of the tent due to "I'm meeeeeelting!" and then went to buy breakfast and a 1 litre water bottle. Alcohol then recommenced around 11am when the water bottle was empty and the party kept on until around midnight.
The third day, which was Thursday, was when we could finally enter the festival area! :D For the first concert of the year we split up. Most of us wanted to see Powerwolf, but I wanted to see Three Days Grace. I wanted to see Powerwolf too, but they've been here twice in the past five years and Three Days Grace never comes to Sweden. So Three Days Grace it is! The concert was amazing and afterwards I went to buy t-shirts and food and then met up with the guys in the camp again.
A few hours later we went back inside the area and saw Amon Amarth, which is probably my favourite concert this year. Just so good ♥♥♥♥
Right after Amon Amarth was Tenacious D. Every year there is a disappointment, I'm just so sad that it had to be Tenacious D this year. The sound was off, the skits they made on stage had school play quality and there was zero interaction with the crowd. Songs like Beelzeboss and Tribute that should've been given sing-along songs got barely any response. Just such a disappointment. And we were standing pretty close too! We didn't stay for the whole thing. Def Leppard would've been cool to see but I only know one song by them so I skipped it.
Friday was mostly party all day long. We went inside in time to catch the last few songs by ZZ Top. We bought turkey legs for dinner and got some weird stares while we munched like cavemen :D
The main attraction for me today was Disturbed. It's been 10 years since I last saw them live and I was so excited. It was so so good!!! But it was obvious that the death of Linkin Park's Chester had taken a big heavy toll on Draiman. He was a lot skinnier and looked much older and more tired than he usually does, there was a big tribute to Chester and all the other rock icons who've died in the past few years during their concert, as well as a rally for awareness for mental illness. Disturbed are so amazing ♥
We decided to skip Kiss. It would've been cool to see but we were told Paul Stanley's voice couldn't carry the songs anymore. Also we were too tired. The sun had been so relentless every day and it was finally taking its toll on our energy. We went back to camp set on going to bed early but somehow ended up partying some more.
Saturday was the last day and only one of us (from our road trip gang) had something they wanted to see today so he got to decide at what point we were leaving. In the end he decided to skip his band so we packed up our stuff and left the festival at 4pm. It's the earliest we've ever left the festival, but arriving home at 9pm felt amazing and gave us the time to unpack and shower before falling into bed.
Milisen blir klar och RP börjar bygga en svinstia. Index uppträder. RP har hört rykten om en märklig farkost som enligt ryktena sägs innehålla en skatt. RP bestämmer sig för att åka dit i Arkens gummibåt.
Danko leder vägen och plockar upp lite patroner och artefakter (sakletar-talang) och RP anländer till platsen efter åtta timmar. På platsen ser den en rostig gammal roddbåt. I roddbåten ser de en död man som är skjuten med ett flertal pilar. Från båten går en stig. Index känner zonen och ser ett fotspår som har en hyfsat mänsklig form, men det skulle isf vara en väldigt konstigt formad människa.
De följer stigen lite avsides och kommer ut och får syn på en metalltub som ligger på stranden. Kvark förstår sig på och förstår att det är en atomubåt från forntiden. Danko bestämmer sig för att springa upp på den och då attackerar reptilmänniskor. Danko misslyckas med att fly och blir spetsad av en treudd. Han blir bruten och Index vårdar honom. Kvark använder sin mutation och skjuter projektiler på dem och alla fem faller ihop och dör (It's super effective!) Jony går fram till ubåten. Danko käkar. Innan de kommer fram till ubåten, så kommer ett stort fartyg fram ur dimman på vattnet. Det är ett gammalt kryssningsfartyg. Från båten hörs ett bom och sedan ett bom till i skogen. Index gömmer sig bakom en sten. Danko och Kvark gör samma sak. Jony hoppar till båten. Han träffar skrotpiraterna på båten och de presenterar sin ledare Ossian. De förklarar läget och piraterna följer med Jony tillbaka till stranden. På stranden förhandlar de under en längre tid och under tiden kryper ett flertal reptilmänniskor ut ur ubåten och börjar skjuta på piraterna. Medan de skjuter så fortsätter fler reptiler att krypa ut ur ubåten och det blir snart uppenbart att reptilerna är fler än piraterna. RP bestämmer sig för att hjälpa reptilerna. Ossian drar sig tillbaka från striden.. Index springer efter och hugger med sin katana. Kvark krypskjuter Ossian som faller ner död.
Fullt ut krig. Kvark blir bruten men reptilerna dödar majoriteten av piraterna. Index helar Kvark och Kvark springer rakt in i striden och skjuter projektiler på resten som faller ner. Efter striden sänker reptilerna sina vapen men de är fortfarande misstänksamma. Jony vill prata med dem men måste förstå förstå sig på för att förstå deras språk. Han lyckas och reptilerna presenterar sin ledare Dante. Jony förhandlar med Dante som förklarar att han är villig att ge dem det som piraterna var ute efter om de gör honom en tjänst. Reptilerna föds alla som honor men ledaren är alltid hane - en hona som bytt kön och utmanat den förre ledaren. Dante vet att en hona har gått iväg för att göra det nu och han vill att de dödar henne innan hon utmanar honom. RP går med på detta.
Kvark reparerar alla vapen och äter mat. De går ner i ubåten och hittar Septina. Danko går på med sin katana men missar. Septina går tillbaka med sin motorsåg. Danko tar 3 skada. Index boostar Danko. Kvark förstår sig på och får reda på Septinas stats. Jony slår med slagträ och Septina tar 4 skada. Danko attackerar med sin motorsåg och Septina är död. De lootar rummet för skrot och går sedan ut igen. Dante håller in sdel av avtalet och ger RP dykutrustning, kikare, sjökort, rökgranat, och torpederna om de kan få loss dem. Torpederna har rostat fast och både Jony och Danko försöker. Danko pressar och lyckas få loss dem. Kvark bär en och Danko den andra. RP lootar de döda piraterna. Sen tar de Rammaren (piraternas skepp) tillbaka till Arken.
This is a smartphone otome game tbh. I played it for the first time in 2017 and for my first time I did it all on instinct and I chose my responses as how I personally preferred to answer and I ended up with Yoosung. The guys in the game represents all the common tropes/stereotypes of otome games, but tbh I actually really liked the whole mystery/detective/thriller theme to the game that's underneath all the dating stuff.
When I played Yoosung's story it became obvious that 707 was the heart of the story, which usually means getting his ending would mean getting the true ending. Unfortunately for me 707 was part of the Deep Story, which only unlocked after getting to the ending of the three characters in the Casual Story. At the time in 2017 this felt like too much of a hassle, but here I am two years later and now I've spent two weeks with this game playing through all the routes!
Casual Story
The game starts with you finding a phone with a messenger app and a person shown as Unknown in the chat room asks you to go to a certain apartment and give this phone back to its owner. He can't do it himself for whatever reason. If you persistently decline this invitation you'll get a bad ending. Be the gullible fool and go along with his proposition and you find yourself in an apartment chatting to 6 guys and 1 woman. All of whom are part of an organisation called the RFA (Rika's Fundraising Association) who does charity work and funraising events. The messenger is confidential and you've been allowed access by a hacker. Nobody knows why, but since the messenger and a lot of the information held by the RFA is confidential everyone suspects foul play. But since you're now in and have access to all of this information you get enrolled as the new party coordinator and tasked with organising a new RFA party. The first one in 2 years. The last one was held before Rika, the founder and former party coordinator, killed herself.
Yoosung: Yoosung is a 21-year-old college student who absolutely loves gaming. He's representing the young and cute trope. He's very innocent, very sensitive and very emotional. Basically he's very young. And throughout most of his route he's a fun and happy person, until it becomes apparant that the PC is in danger and he steps up, mans up and grows up a lot in a few short days. He joins 707 on his personal quest to find the hacker responsible for everything and while doing so Yoosung finds a lot of questionmarks concerning 707´s past and current life. Questions that makes the player keep on playing to find the answers. Yoosung is a cousin to Rika and they were very close. He was more devastated than most when she killed herself and so a lot of the things that get uncovered while playing has a very big effect on him.
Zen: Zen fills the trope of the super-handsome narcissist. He's a budding actor and model and his romance is by far the steamiest and most passionate and lovey-dovey. I had absolutely the most fun playing his route. Except for the actual romance parts this route plays out pretty much exactly the same as Yoosung's route when it comes to the main story. The main difference being that while Yoosung and the PC don't get to meet until the actual party, the PC actually gets to meet Zen and stay with him while things are at their most dangerous. Zen's personal story is one of celebrity scandal and how he decides to deal with it. It seems exaggerated at times, but perfectly fit the image that tabloids try to sell us every day IRL. In every single other route from Zen's, Zen always makes sure to ask the PC if she's being treated well and that nothing untoward is being done to her. He's 100% gentlemanly with her both in his own and everyone else's paths, and still manages to be the steamiest and most passionate route of them all.
Jaehee: Jaehee takes the spot for the friendship ending. Most otome games have a friendship ending, but I don't understand why since nobody I know plays these games to find a friend. Jaehee is overworked by her boss and with the PC's help she manages to break out of it and quit her job and start doing something she really enjoys. Jaehee is my spirit animal, but her route is the safest and most boring to play. It also plays out exactly like Yoosung's route where the main story is concerned.
Deep Story
The Deep Story starts off the same way as the Casual Story but soon changes rhythm and becomes more fastpaced, while keeping a lot of the core elements from the Casual Story. It also offers a lot more clues to what's really going on in the background concerning V, Rika and, of course, 707.
Jumin: Jumin is the rich boy trope. As I didn't get a bad ending I can't be sure, but his path gives me hostage situation vibes, and it feels a bit like mild Stockholm Syndrome or setup for abuse to play his path. I like Jumin in the other characters' paths, but in his own he becomes possessive, suspicious and overbearing. What happened to the Jumin I know and like? This isn't him! The main story in Jumin's route offers shock value as the final pieces of the puzzle start to fit together.
707: Seven, my sweet adorable Seven. I was right in thinking that it all came down to Seven in the main story. In Seven's route he decides to come over to the apartment once things become dangerous and spend most of the route in the same room as the PC. However he's reluctant to let himself fall in love or even be loved due to his life situation. It all comes together in the end. Seven is funny and a total joker and also a complete genius. When he loves he loves deeply, but never sacrificially so. Seven's route ties together the main story and it all falls into place. This route is 100% worthy of being the true ending and this is absolutely my favourite path of them all.
Another Story
This is unlocked after you complete the Deep Story. This is an alternate version of events which takes place 2 years earlier. Only 6 months after Rika's death. Many of the events in this version are the same as in the original version but they play out completely different. The PC is approached in a messenger by a hacker originally called Unknown, but who later goes by the name of Ray. Ray claims himself to be a game developer and would like her to go to a certain place and stay there while she's testing a game. The objective of the game is to host a party and to romance the guys in the game. She's added to the messenger and things go from there, with the added twist that the PC is convinced that all the people in the messenger are pre-programmed AIs until the game's 4th day.
V: V fits yet another trope; the pained one. He has a pained past in being Rika's fiancé up until her death. But he's involved in so many complicated things that he's keeping hidden from the other members of the RFA. Getting him to open up and confide in the PC is hard work. He's very philosophical and artsy and tbh I got sick and tired of reading all his philosophical ramblings. But beneath that he's very sweet, but unsure how to go about life and love. Rika was his only previous experience of love and as both the Deep Story and this route tells us Rika was mentally ill and V unequipped to deal with it properly. It feels very rewarding to finish this route and get him to move on and be happy.
Ray: Ray is dangerous and mentally disturbed due to the circumstances of his life. Which is another trope. Ray suffers from a split personality, but both personalities are aware of each other. Ray's route plays out pretty much exactly like V's route but from the opposite perspective. Ray is an odd option for a romance. One personality is childlike and invokes the desire to shield and protect, while the other is aggressive and threatening. The incessant care of the PC brings the two personalities together and basically cures him and lets him become a whole person. He's an interesting character, but really an odd choice for a romance option and I much prefer him the way he is in 707's path.
I decided to not play any of the DLCs because I actually regretted playing Another Story. 707's path was a perfect ending to the game and in hindsight I would've preferred to keep it that way.
