Author: ohnoitsjade

Jade has been gaming since the fateful day she was given a Sega Master System II. She'll now play anything for a chance at a platinum trophy, and is partial to a JRPG or several.
30 Days Of, 30 Days Of: Gaming

30 Days Of: Gaming, Day 2

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Day 2: Your favourite character

I have spent far too long thinking of the answer to this question, and I don’t think there’s a singular answer that I can give.

The immediate answer that jumped into my head was Prompto, from Final Fantasy XV, but that’s probably because I’ve been in FFXV hell ever since I started the game back in December and there’s been little else that’s run through my head since. Prompto is the best of the chocobros, the one who makes me laugh the most, the one who I feel I relate to the most and the DLC I’m most looking forward to.

Thinking further back, I would also cite Chiaki Nanami from Danganronpa 2 as one of my favourite characters. On a personal level, I relate to her a lot; any character that’s socially inept and obsessed with video games resonates a lot with me (see also: Kozume Kenma from Haikyuu!!). She’s a key part of Danganronpa 2, and the game would be much poorer without her in it. I’ve even cosplayed her in the past!

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Going back a bit further in time, I’d probably give Crash Bandicoot the title of my favourite character, purely for nostalgic reasons. There’s nothing relatable about him, but I have the greatest memories of playing as him in games, so he has to get some recognition somehow!

2017 challenges, Challenges

2017 Challenges: New ‘Old’ Films

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So, I’ve finally put together this list. That’s the hard part out of the way, right?

  1. E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial
  2. Die Hard
  3. Psycho
  4. The Godfather pt. 2
  5. Silence of the Lambs
  6. Rocky
  7. Gone With The Wind
  8. Schindler’s List
  9. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
  10. American Beauty
  11. GoodFellas
  12. Reservoir Dogs
  13. Good Will Hunting
  14. Dead Poet’s Society
  15. The Usual Suspects
  16. L.A Confidential
  17. Lost In Translation
  18. Watchmen
  19. Garden State
  20. Leon
  21. The Terminator
  22. V For Vendetta
  23. Taxi Driver
  24. The Pianist
  25. Donnie Darko
  26. The Sixth Sense
  27. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
  28. The Princess and the Frog
  29. The Matrix
  30. Inglourious Basterds
30 Days Of: Gaming

30 Days Of: Gaming, Day 1

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Day One: Very first video game

Way back in 1993 (ish), ma and pa saw fit to buy me my first games console; a Sega Master System II. With it, I inherited a whole bunch of games from the brother-in-law of my aunt, but these were mostly beyond my skill level and didn’t have a whole lot in there to keep a four year old captivated.

It was the built-in Sonic The Hedgehog which I spent most of my time playing, and I also have the fondest memories of. When I first got the console, I would use my arms to try and control the game. Going right meant that I would pull my arms as far to the right as possible, often pulling the controller out of the console. If I had to jump, I would fling my arms in the air, also pulling the controller out of the console. Thankfully, I grew out of that habit!

Here’s a picture of me enjoying a spot of Sonic, complete with mid-90’s decor and adorable pyjamas.

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30 Days Of

30 Days Of

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2017 isn’t just a year for challenges, I also want to make it a year of improvement.

It’s not really a secret that I’ve kind of neglected this blog in the past (despite paying out for a domain name), and this year is the year I turn that around! I also want to improve my writing. This idea came to me the other day whilst browsing Twitter (though I have also seen and participated in something similar on Tumblr in the past, just a picture version).

The concept of a 30 day challenge is usually that there is a theme, and then 30 questions which the participant answers based on that theme. Normally the answers are pictures, or quite short, but I’m going to use them as prompts to write a short article, therefore creating quick content and (hopefully) improving my writing skills in the long run! And my readers get to find out all sorts of useless information about me! Everyone’s a winner!

First up is “30 Days of Gaming”. The questions are below, and I’ll be posting answers every day at 8pm.

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2017 challenges, Challenges

2017 Challenges: January Recap

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I’d like to be able to tell you things are going well, but I’m not in the business of lying. Let’s find out just how poorly things are going!

Make 10 new cosplays (including one entirely from scratch)
To be honest, I feel like I should be panicking a bit more about this target, but con season isn’t even here yet. I say that, but I’m actually attending MCM Midlands in two weeks time, so maybe I am in the business of lying after all. What I mean is, MCM London in May is my first ‘big con’ of the year, the first one that’s not just a day event, and that’s where I’ll put the wheels into motion for my first new cosplays of the year. I’ve got something planned for each day (including the one cosplay from scratch), so I have just over four months to pull it all together! As it stands, I’ve made no new cosplays, though I have got a variation on one of last years together, but I’m not counting that for the purposes of this challenge.

Watch 30 anime series
Failure breeds failure, it turns out. This year so far, I’m ashamed to say I’ve watched no new anime. I do have my reasons for this, and they can all pretty much be attributed to Kuroko No Basuke. My relationship with KNB feels really weird at the moment. When I’m watching it, I love it, and I want to watch more and more, but it’s just getting to the point where I actually put it on that I’m struggling with. For this reason, I decided not to start any new anime until I’d finished it, simply because I know I’ll never go back to it and I really do want to finish it. I’m about 8 episodes from the end, so looking forward to wrapping it up and making some headway on this one!

Platinum 12 games
Can you sense a theme? I’ve also not made any progress with this one. In the interest of saving money, I want to platinum as many games as I already own before I go trawling for some new ones. I’ve recently finished the main storyline of Final Fantasy XV (expect more on that another time), so I’m going to aim for that to be the first platinum of the year.

Watch 30 new ‘old’ films
Finally! A challenge I’ve done something on! My last post mentioned that I’d recently watched E.T for the first time, and this counts towards this portion of the 2017 challenges. Where I am failing is making the whole damn list in the first place, which I will definitely get to soon!

Watch 60 films at the cinema
Now we’re talking. So far this year, I’ve seen 7 films and you can track which ones on Twitter, either by following me or by viewing the hashtag #cs2017challenge. I’m keen to get as far ahead with this one as possible, as I know later in the year I’ll trail off.

Clear the gaming backlog
Damn Jade, back at it again with the weak resolve. Unless you can count Final Fantasy XV towards this one, I’ve made no progress. Once again, I haven’t even made the list of what I’m trying to clear! I will though. Very soon!

Challenges

First Watch: E.T

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2017 seems to be the year for catching up with things. Currently, I write for a couple of websites, one of them being Filmoria, a film and TV focused website. As part of our regular features, we’re participating in a feature called “I’ve Never Seen”, similar to my proposed (yet unnamed) feature where I watch a list of (yet undecided) films I’ve never seen and write a brief review.

Last week was my turn, and I watched E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial for the first time! So, for my first entry in my series, please follow this link and find out what I thought of E.T!

2017 challenges, Challenges

2017 Challenges: The Beginning

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So, with 2016 out of the way (finally, amirite?), I’m now looking ahead to 2017. I’ve learnt a lot about myself over the course of the past year (mostly that I definitely can’t cram as much into a year as I thought I could), so with that in mind, and all the reflecting out of the way, it’s time to set some 2017 challenges!

Coming to you this year with a brand new hashtag (#cs2017challenge), how many of the films, TV shows and games can you name in the 2017 Challenge logo?

Make 10 new cosplays (including one entirely from scratch)
I did really well with cosplay last year (8!), and I got a sewing machine for Christmas. I’ve decided I want to majorly up my game, so I’m going for double figures and the condition that one has to be completely made from scratch. I also really want to make an awesome prop, but we’ll see how we go with that one!

Watch 30 anime series
I have a couple of series I need to finish off (Dream Festival and Kuroko no Basuke), and then it’s on with the new series. This year I’m refining my rules – mostly because there’s no way I’m watching all of Black Butler and it not counting because I’ve watched the first episode, so as long as I’ve watched three episodes or less of a series, then it counts towards this years total! I’m also hoping to write a quick review of each series as I go as review practice.

Platinum 12 games
Last years target of 24 games seems a bit optimistic now, especially considering all of the other challenges going on at the same time, so this year I’ve reduced the total to just one platinum a month. I will be writing platinum reviews for each game I manage!

Watch 30 new ‘old’ films
I have a few films which when I say I’ve never seen, people are always shocked (E.T and Die Hard to name a couple). In the next week or so I’ll be compiling a list of 30 of these films, and watching them over the course of the year. I’ll be writing up my impressions of these films in an as yet unnamed feature.

Watch 60 films at the cinema
Look, we all know I failed hard at this one in 2016, so I’m reducing my total by 20 to give myself a chance. I’ll be writing reviews where I can, and logging my progress on Twitter under the challenge hashtag.

Clear the gaming backlog
My gaming backlog is shameful, and growing by the month. My aim for the year is to finish every game I own, and try to catch up with the releases I’ve missed. I’ll update this post with a proper list of which games this entails when I get a chance!

Film Reviews

Review: Assassin’s Creed

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Historically, movie adaptations of video games have got a bad rep. Perhaps the translation of game to movie doesn’t quite mesh, changing an interactive activity into a passive one, or maybe it’s simply because the majority of attempts have been terrible. There are, of course, exceptions to the rule, so where does Assassin’s Creed fit into the spectrum?

Read the rest of my review at Filmoria.

2016 challenges, Challenges

Looking back on the 2016 Challenge: The failures

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So, as I may have alluded to in a previous look-back post, I didn’t manage to achieve all aspects of my challenges. Rather than give those challenges the satisfaction of having their own post, I’ve decided to lump them all in one shameful sitting (because no-one likes having to reflect on failures).

As a reminder, the remaining challenges were:

  • Watch 80 films in the cinema
  • Watch 30 anime series
  • Platinum 24 games (and subsequently to get more platinum trophies than a friend of mine)

To say I’ve done badly on these things would be an understatement.

Here’s how I ended the year:

  • 49 films watched in the cinema
  • 15 anime series watched
  • 7 platinum trophies obtained (and a draw with my friend)

Let’s not dwell too much on this, as it’s very shameful and I’m very disappointed in myself. I may have overestimated myself, so lessons have been learnt on that front for the 2017 challenges list. Onwards!