So Much For Inclination

And I had such high hopes for today...

I looked through my folders o' stuff for things I might turn into more T-shirt designs and drew a blank (pardon the pun)... I'm sure there was something I thought would be perfect over the weekend, but I've looked over the lot today, and nothing caught my interest.

Played a bit more Muramasa, as much for inspiration as to get closer to the end... Kisuke seems far harder to level-up... or maybe I should just stick with the swords that seem to do me some good, rather than upgrading as soon as possible..? In any event, I'm onto Chapter 5, and I've only just broken Level 20... which seems a bit crappy. I'm not particularly inclined to backtrack all the way, but that might prove necessary... after all, I have one sword conspicuously absent from Momohime's collection (most likely from an optional battle I haven't fought), and I'd rather not have the same with Kisuke.

The art is amazing, though, and the multiple levels of parallax scrolling in the background are truly incredible. It's quite embarrassing that I almost passed on it, not knowing that it was related to Princess Crown on the Saturn... but then, I wasn't aware of Odin Sphere - another game by Vanillaware, for Playstation - at all until I happened to find reference to an artbook for it online yesterday.

I also watched the last three episodes of Paranoia Agent today, and each one was a real WTF moment all to itself. Most of the third disc was side-stories or backstory with little main plot advancement. Those three episodes were interesting diversions, but of no real merit. The final three jump back into the story, but take it in completely bonkers directions in an attempt to tie up the loose ends of this short (13 episode) series. The true nature of Li'l Slugger is revealed, and then Tokyo is destroyed by some black viscous fluid. Guilt, it seems, can be a terrible thing. The end certainly isn't what I was expecting (or what I was hoping for) and I feel rather let down. It's not the usual botched rush-job ending - the series has been well-paced throughout - but it just seems that little bit too weird. Those hoping for a logical conclusion, as with Perfect Blue, will likely be similarly disappointed. It doesn't necessarily feel that the explanation given is the one they originally had in mind at the start of the story.

It occurred to me today that I should probably shop around for a converted Saturn, or I'll never be able to play the import games I have lurking around... A quick Google search turned up the usual suspects in the UK, neither of whom have any in stock. I may have to look into buying a standard Saturn and getting it converted myself... The only other alternative is to buy a Japanese Saturn and a step-down transformer, but then I can't play any of the US games I picked up along the way. Out of desperation, I looked up emulators, since even my machine should be plenty powerful enough to emulate the Saturn... but all I seem to get is the startup screen, occasionally a message about RAM which, invariably, I can't read, and then a blank white screen. Oh, and no sound... despite it supposedly being available... More investigation may be necessary.

Should have gone to the shops today, too... or at least gone out to empty my bins, but I just couldn't be bothered. Strange and troubling how I can go so quickly from doing constructive stuff to loafing about feeling sorry for myself.