I fully expect to receive some flack for the comparatively low score I awarded this game...but I think I gave enough reasoning behind my decision. The survival horror element was a detractor from the experience, but not just because I dislike the genre. Rather, I felt the sudden jump from one genre to another was ill-conceived and lacking a necessary cohesion...muddling an already questionable story.
About this time last year my wife and I were finalizing our move into the new apartment and spent the final few nights in the old place sleeping on a blanket on the hard floor. Sometime in the morning I was still mostly asleep (though conscious of my surroundings) and I rolled over onto my stomach. In an instant I was waked by the most blinding pain I've ever felt and looked down at my extended leg to see something under the skin slide OVER my right kneecap from right to left. The pain was so intense I immediately burst into tears and attempted to get up in a panic. Then my leg contracted a bit and I found I couldn't fully extend or close it anymore...
...my wife was going to call for an ambulance because I couldn't move...but I begged her not to and mustered up the strength to hop down 2 flights of stairs on one leg (practically screaming all the while). Somehow I managed to fit myself into the car and we sped off to the hospital.
I was examined (and tortured) by a number of doctors, subjected to X-Rays, and an MRI, but no one could confirm what had happened nor what I saw with my own eyes. They did however tell me that the ligaments in my knees are abnormally 'loose'...and I am convinced that somehow the pressure I put on the hard floor while rolling over somehow forced that loose ligament over the kneecap like a rubber band.
Anyway...I went home to rest (there was nothing the doctors could do for me) and was left alone while everyone else went off to work. So there I laid in a real bed, slowly forcing my leg straight (per doctor's orders), a few degrees at a time every 15 minutes or so...
...after hours had passed I nearly had it straight...and after one more intense stretch...I saw that same ligament slide itself back to the right side and into it's original position. Instantly most of the pain subsided and I was left with a dull ache and some dried out eyes.
This experience left me in something of a state of shock, similar to post traumatic stress. A year later and I still cringe every time I bend my knee and I haven't gotten a full night's sleep because I am terrified of it happening again.
Why have I brought this up? Because my knee is starting to ache again...and the doctor's last words to me were if the aching comes back it's time for surgery. I have an uncle that went in for routine knee surgery a few years back and died on the operating table after an allergic reaction to the (can't remember the word in English...) sleeping medicine?
Needless to say I am terrified of the surgery but I may need it in coming years if this worsens...my knee aches all the time now and it's getting really frustrating not being able to stay healthy...
Has anyone had any experience with something like this...?
Hello all...it has been quite a while since we last spoke.
What have I done over the last 2 months? Well I'm glad you asked...
I am in Japan now. More specifically, I am now living in Hamamatsu. My girlfriend and I are currently staying together in the living space above the office until we save up a bit more yen for a new place (we just left the last place we were at because the neighbor was racist and terrified of me, the white devil). She complained and it became a mess so we said "f*** you, goodbye." I am working full-time now, both at the family's snack bar and main company (which makes sushi lunches for funerals). Those that haven't been to Japan will not likely know what a snack bar is...it's nothing horrible, just not for me. Mixing drinks is one thing, but actually having to hang out with customers at their table and whatnot and listen to the drunks hit on my girlfriend is a bit too much for me. Typically guys don't often work at these places, but I guess I am a pretty hot commodity since most of them have never had the chance to speak to a foreigner and jump at the opportunity. The other half jump at the opportunity to talk to my girlfriend...which I am not too pleased about. Luckily the two of us only work there once a week. The sushi is the job I really like. Eventually her mom will pass the company down to us, but right now we are still learning all the ropes. I haven't had a position of power in any of my previous lines of work and I kind of enjoy running people into the ground :-P
Anyhoo...we're officially getting married at the end of this month--->and I have to go all the way to the American Embassy in Tokyo next week (I just found out today), the closer consulate in Nagoya doesn't accept people from this prefecture...sigh...
In the meantime, I played through what I think in most of FFT (though haven't finished) and am currently playing Brave Story, which I actually really like. I saw all the less than stellar reviews and sort of wrote it off as a side project, but I am having quite a bit of fun with it, though it's quite simple really. I think I am near half-way at about 8 hours...and I've never been in danger of dying once yet so I guess it's on the short and easy side of things.
I went the whole of February and most of March without playing anything...and then one day my girlfriend was bored and asked about my DS (she hates video games). Well, she hasn't put it down since...she beat New Super Mario Bros. inside and out, ran Mario Kart into the ground, and is now destroying Phantom Hourglass. I have the JPN version of PH so she has no problem with the dialogue but I don't think she'll be able to do much with any of the other games I have for PSP or DS. She doesn't like music games so that takes care of Elite Beat Agents. It's cool now that I have an excuse to go look at games but she has yet to play an RPG and I wonder what she'll make of them. Anyway, that's how it is...
And I think I will leave it at that for today...it's 4:16am...I just got done with work...now time for some Brave Story...
