like a star, like a firefly

It's been a little over two weeks now since I actually did it, but I finally beat Tales of Vesperia! \o/

I'm so happy to have finished this game at long last. I've had such a fun time with it, even if I did miss out on some stuff thanks to the game being infamous for having a lot of easily-missable sidequests and whatnot. There were a good amount of missables I did get to see, though!

Now I just want to write some manner of ficlet for Rita/Estelle before I fully move on to a different game, because that's my OTP by far. I have a decent enough idea for it, but I need to get my writing muse into gear so I can actually do it...

As for what game I want to go for next, I might replay Star Ocean 1 through the R version on the Switch. Yes, yes, I talked about potentially getting right back into the SO series about a year ago and ended up not doing it at the time, but this time I've actually been thinking about Ioshua and Erys again after all these years, and there's no motivator for replaying a game quite like having feelings about favourite characters. Whether I replay it now or end up shelving it for another time again, at least it's a relatively short game -- which, if I do start the replay sooner rather than later, would make it possible for me to finish a playthrough before The Hundred Line releases near the end of next month.

Speaking of upcoming games, a new Nintendo Direct just got announced for tomorrow, which is a bit of a surprise to me considering we're getting the Switch 2 Direct next week. Makes me wonder what they'll announce now, near the end of the first Switch's life... No, I do not have clown makeup on, unlike a good chunk of the rest of the Fire Emblem fandom. I'll laugh if we actually do get the much-rumoured Genealogy remake after all this time, but I'm not betting on it at all.

It's my birthday today, so let's blog about happy things!

First up, I seem to have started the year in a CLAMP kind of mood, and I'm largely chalking that up to the fact I picked up the TV anime of Magic Knight Rayearth on Blu-Ray in a sale. I'd seen the OVAs (radically different as they are) and read the manga before, but this is my first time seeing the TV version. So far I've finished the first set, which puts me seven episodes into Part 2.

Once I've finished watching Rayearth, including revisiting the OVAs afterwards, I'm thinking of rewatching the X movie and finally watching the TV version of that all the way through while I'm on a bit of a CLAMP kick.

Secondly, I resumed playing Tales of Vesperia again a few days ago, for the first time in nearly six years! I'd been meaning to come back to it for ages, so it's just as well I finally did so. ^^; I'm hooked on it all over again, and I still love this cast. Estelle remains as cute and loveable as ever, Yuri remains as great a protagonist who's easy on the eyes as ever, and Rita remains as gay and tsundere as ever.

I've just hit the Sands of Kogorh now, and I'm aiming to at least get as far as I originally did in the 360 version (Mount Temza, according to my own notes) before I remotely think of putting it aside again.

I still swear Rita's blushing a little when she's telling Estelle to be careful of slip hazards early on in the Shaikos Ruins.

I love this yuritastic tsundere, and I haven't even got back to the point where the ship really comes into its own yet. #^^#