steeznson

My copy is arriving on Saturday - it seems that the days of ordering on Amazon and occasionally getting games a day early has passed.

I was a fan of the base game and I don't think the story was as bad as some people made it out to be. However I am excited for the new story that they are promising with the Vengeance route. Getting hyped up seeing the positive reviews coming through!

I have been replaying SMTIV:A this week in the run up to the release to keep me occupied. Had taken a detour into the Devil Survivor series most recently so it has been nice returning to the mainline gameplay.

What are you all thinking about the release this week? Any hopes for the new title? Fears?

Apologies for the slightly skewed picture. I actually own this artwork. A close family friend has been collecting 19th Century Japanese woodcuts his entire life, and he gifted this one of a wedding scene to my wife and I when we got married.

More details about the work. The artist Kunisada lived from 1786 to 1864 and he shared a studio / teacher with the (perhaps more famous) artist Kuniyoshi. This work was published by Hayashiya Shogoro in 1850.

The work depicts a Kabuki theatre scene; traditional Japanese theatre. Actors are playing the roles of Aburu-ya Oshin and Fukuoka Mitsugi in the play Ise Ondo. In this scene the couple are getting married.

I guess punditry isn't working out for him with his current image woes. Couldn't find an english source for this one.

Heard the editor being interviewed on Radio4 Today Programme this morning. This 90s throwback is bizarre. Do people really think there will be demand from this after the initial novelty?

I read a couple articles this morning and the "journalism" reads like a Sunday Sport article.

Interesting thought experiment - since the magazine is online only - are the nonces going to have to print out the magazine now to leave it in shubbery for kids to find? Those reddit threads where every man over the age of 40 seems to have a story about finding porn mags in bushes always had a creepy undertone. I'm not sure that the 'porn fairy' commenters sometimes refer to was a very savoury character.

Playing Hellblade 2 at the moment myself. Personally I'm fortunate not to need any of the accessibility features but I found this review to be a fascinating read.

The reviewer also compares the accessibility options to some other recent AAA releases in this reddit comment.

In terms of my opinion of the game: I've only got the Series S version so it's not the full fat graphics but even then they are stunning. I think some of the negative reviews were from people wanting it to be a different type of game, however, if you are aware it is basically a walking simulator with Punchout combat every so often then the story and world takes centre stage. The world is similar to God of War (2018) but grittier and focusing on other aspects of Scandi mythology. I think I like this world more.

Tohou Artificial Dream In Arcadia is hands down the best SMT-clone I've ever played. It's extremely cheap, got it for a fiver. Devs are regularly updating it. The gameplay is closer to SMT1/2 than anything else I've ever played. Clearly a labour of love from the devs.

EIF tickets are so much more expensive this year. They used to be cheaper seeing the opera during the festival than during the rest of the year due to subsidies from the arts councils. This year it is more than double the price! A ticket for Carmen in the upper circle with a restricted view was more than £100.

Granted, I did have a concession for being under 25 at the time, but I saw La Boheme at the festival a few years ago for £15. In some good news they've raised the concession age threshold to 30 this year but not sure how large a discount it applies.

FWIW I still think that the quality of the EIF is worth the price. Comedy shows in the Fringe can be like ~£25 these days and the quality is extremely variable. Will probably only go and see my mate's show at The Stand this year

Free Fringe can have hidden gems but I've ended up being trapped in some extremely awkward shows with 3 other audience members before. Might be a while before I spin that paeticular roulette wheel again lol.

Tuipulotu is such an asset. Great interview with him and excited to have his brother joining Edinburgh. Hope they got that supposed nonsense with Dave Cherry sorted out!

Interesting story since it's my old school. From what I've heard the headmaster can't be arsed dealing with these difficult parents anymore and is retiring.

My wife was a teacher and she believes the school made the right call since it sounds like the family were not coping with their child's needs and needed extra support.

Rumour from the school is that the child had socially transitioned but the parents were not aware of this until their other child informed them. Mother is currently campaigning on twitter and name dropping all of the teachers involved in an unpleasant manner.

One interesting angle is that this is a private school so the parents probably feel that they ought to be able to dictate exactly how the school ought to handle the situation. At the end of the day they are still a school though with a duty of care to the students. They need to follow government regulations assiduously and at the time the guidelines were clear.