I get all the work for one week and am expected to have it finished by Sunday every week. That's all fine and dandy. The issue comes when my teachers decide to assign full on projects that we're supposed to do from home. Specifically one teacher does that and no, I'm not happy about it. I have other classes to work on too, but now I have to rearrange time to work on this stuff so I don't get swamped.
But it gets better! I'm enrolled in the Dual Enrollment program, which gives me college credits while I work in high school. It's a great program. But here's the kicker, the only reason I have to work in one class in particular is because I'm enrolled in Dual Enrollment. Our grades don't go down because of COVID-19 and how that affected schools. They can only go up, unless you're in Dual Enrollment, because colleges follow different rule sets. So I'm being punished for wanting to get ahead. Augh, this whole thing sucks!
I wanna go to Norway. That's the happiest place on Earth. Not Disneyland. Disneyland is closed right now ;-;
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I've been playing a lot of Code Vein recently. For those not in the know, Code Vein is an anime character creator with a Dark Souls-like game that came free with it. Ah, but I kid. It's a good game. Not on the level of Bloodborne, which the game does borrow from in the theming, or Dark Souls, which shares a lot of level design and aesthetics. It's just...good. But god DAMMIT some of these scenes are so heart wrenching!
SPOILERS FOR CODE VEIN! SKIP TO THE NEXT BOLDED LINE IF YOU WISH TO AVOID SPOILERS!
There's a scene where you find out that one of your companions, Mia, has a little brother Nicola. As it turns out, Nicola never actually existed. Or, not fully. He's a clone the real Nicola created to keep Mia company while he sealed himself away to protect her from the main villain of the game! He couldn't see her, hear her or know if she was alright because he was locked away. And Mia never knew the difference. It is heartbreaking to watch as Nicola tries to defend Mia from himself because he can't hold back the Queen much longer. He never even got to see Mia wake up from her death and revival because he volunteered to be a seal before she did. All of Mia's experiences as a Revenant with Nicola are actually experiences she faces alone.
Oh but it gets worse. Later, you find out that Mia and "Nicola" had a caretaker for a short time. A woman named Carmilla. Mia resents Carmilla because she felt that Carmilla was cold and uncaring toward the two children, and used them to service herself. As we find out from Carmilla's Blood Vestiges (Physical memories, essentially) this couldn't be further from the truth. Carmilla was a mother but lost her two children when the world ended. She died and became a revenant and eventually found her own group. Eventually, they all died. Carmilla basically gave up and waited out her own end until she met Mia and Nicola. They gave her purpose and she reaffirmed herself as a mother. The reason she was cold to the two was that she wanted to teach them to rely on themselves. Eventually, their base was attacked. Mia and Nicola thought Carmilla ran away so they stole her supplies and ran off themselves. In truth, just around the corner, Carmilla was fighting off invaders to make sure her new children got away safely. She gives her own life for the two and they're none the wiser until you find the memory. It is tragic because you don't even have to find those Vestiges! These scenes are entirely optional.
Each character has their own tragedy as well. Louis's older sister is the source of all Blood Beads because they're her tears and the main villain only happened because Louis couldn't bring himself to kill the villain while she was sick in a hospital begging for death, Yakumo is an abuse victim and got his friends killed, and you're killed by your own ally after defeating the main villain for the first time in the past.
Some of this is integrated into the plot: Mia and Nicola, your tragic backstory, Louis's sister and Yakumo's abuser. But other than that, it's all optional and I think that's a shame because the characters in this game are so good! But you miss a good 80% of it if you don't explore.
SPOILERS ENDED
The gameplay and story don't even come close to the character's arcs and that's a shame, because actually going through the Vestige sequences is SO DULL. You have to load in a Vestige, move throughout the scene manually while a voiceover reads over statues, and wait between 2-3 loading screens between each portion of memory. And every single scene is in this ghostly blue which is cool the first 3 times, and bland every time after. Not to mention, the SAME. DAMN. PIANO PIECE PLAYS OVER EVERY EMOTIONAL SCENE. Including every single Vestige scene! The song is good, but it's like The Final Toccata in Symphony of the Night. It plays so much that I get tired of hearing it! The game itself? It's okay. The plot is a bit confusing and the gameplay loop goes from satisfying to bullshit, but what else can you expect from anime?
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Speaking of anime, ya boy got a package yesterday! In it were two necklaces for Kingdom Hearts. Roxas and Sora. I'll show you.
Roxas (my favorite):
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Sora:
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Just realized you can see my feet in this picture. MY TOES AREN'T FOR SUCKIN.
I can't wait to wear these necklaces! They feel weighty, but not heavy and I love the stainless shine. I already wear the Roxas necklace everywhere I go and I might mail my Sora necklace to someone if she wants it bad enough. We'll have to see!
