Quick note: Clannad is the name of a game. It is also the name of a band. I am referring to the game. Click the link.
Yes, the Giants lost the World Series. I'm going to curl up and mutter the names Felix Rodriguez and Dennis Eckersley for a few hours to remind myself that I will never, ever trust relief pitchers.
In other news, yes, ninja vs. schoolgirl! While I am quite aware of the sub-genres "schoolgirl ninja" or "girl in ninja school", this battle has defined much male gaming for the past decade. Are you Shinobi, who defines himself with a scarf as red as the blood he spills? Or are you Okazaki Tomoya, whose purpose in his digital life is to put the moves on a set of very small, very sad girls?
It's a matter of what your fantasy life plays out as-heroically or romantically, I guess. Which is part of why people like romance plots in their RPGs. Once suspension of disbelief is in place and people place themselves in the role of the hero-or the heroine, as the case may be-then you can imagine that you're saving the world _and_ getting the girl/guy/alien/robot-with-compatible-"equipment".
Well, okay, the other reason is probably that RPGs tend to be boring without any sort of major romance to promote character growth. Wild Arms 1 excepted, though there were a few threads of a romance in there.
Fred and I actually haven't talked about this much, so it's not really an issue. But it's funny to kick around the idea once in a while when he plays AIR and weeps like a candyless child on Halloween, while I poke people in the feet with Raphael, the only Soul Calibur character who has a shirt on. Yes, I admit that I play what the above SGD termed "wussy games" from time to time, but with a very specific purpose. I played Tokimeki Memorial 2 because in one of the storylines, you have to beat up hordes upon hordes of delinquents and their bosses. So the game consisted of pretty much kendo club, rest, take girl on a date to a location to where a fight will take place, kick ass, repeat. It's the same way in some ways with Bistro Cupid... and Comic Party was a special case because it's the funniest damn game I've played since Tondemo Crisis.
In other news, I just played through one game of Bistro Cupid. Next, I'm going to train the princess ninja schoolgirl (hey, I didn't design the characters) to become the greatest warrior chef in all the land! I haven't had such fun with such a weird game since I raised a warrior queen in Princess Maker. Kill, blood of my blood... wipe evil from this land!
Oh. And I saw Adaptation the other day. I can't describe it in anything less than "fucking best irony I've seen in years". A lot of people just plain didn't get it, but fuck them. It was a great movie, and if you don't get the joke it's your own fault for missing the blatancy of it all.
Out!