A bed of roses

 I made a promise to myself to work on the novel this week.  I did that on Monday...  Yesterday I had work stuff to deal with and today I'm here...

So, I wouldn't normally spend my early mornings doing work stuff but I had the second session of my CPD course all morning and some stuff that HAD to be done as early as possible - which ended up being before breakfast.  If it hadn't been for the course, I would have done it around 10am.  And it isn't very often that kind of thing happens.

Today - well, it's been a while since I updated this with any regularity and writing is writing.

Tomorrow, we get back to the novel!

Sunday night I did something I don't think I've ever done before - I rage quit a game.  I've given up on games that were just too hard for my brain to process (shadowing that stupid car in LA Noir...; trying to fight multiple enemies behind crates when I and my sidekick are out in the open in Uncharted..., to name two) but I've never got to the point where I either quit the game or throw the controller out of the window before.  Until KH.

So, last post I was talking about how the final boss was a bit tricky and I needed to level up a bit more.  So, back to the coliseum I went and played several more rounds of the Phil Cup (with some Pegasus and Hercules - and even getting to the point where I was beaten to a pulp by Cerberus in Hades - oh, and getting sliced in two in a single hit by Sephiroth in Platinum) until I was level 59.  I returned to the boss and defeated the first Anselm and the stupidly easy shadow thing (why even put that in there?) and the very much tougher second Anselm - by which point I was level 60.  Then came ANOTHER Anselm, with extra heads and goodness knows what.  I did some damage but not enough - and from watching YouTube I was going after the wrong part of the monstrosity anyway.  So, I had a decision.  I COULD have done some MORE levelling and then done ALL of the previous forms AGAIN in the hopes that I would then be strong enough to defeat the final-final boss (and if not repeat the whole bloody cycle) - or I could watch the ending on YouTube and move on with my life.

I chose the latter.

I played KH on easy.  I played the whole game.  The only keyhole I didn't find was in the Hundred Acre Wood (DON'T get me started on those mini-games!).  This should have got me to a level where I could have a decent shot at the final boss.  In FF12, for example, playing the whole game without sidequesting AT ALL will get you to a point where the final boss is a challenge but definitely doable.  I did a little bit of level grinding and sidequesting, and he wasn't much of a struggle at all.  AND if I did want to level grind, there was a huge variety of things for me to do and different enemies to face.  KH is distinctly lacking in variety of that sort, probably not helped by my hack and slash approach to fighting - finesse is definitely not part of my arsenal :D - I must admit, but my point remains.  In thinking about the things I hadn't done - some chests I couldn't reach, for example - I really couldn't find anything that made me want to dive back in.

Oh, and the biggest problem I had with the whole thing?  Can anyone say 'rehash of FF8 plotline without even giving the girl any possibility of saving herself'?!?!

Sorry for the very long rant!  I have now moved on to KH2 and have a whole new load of irritants.  Why doesn't Fujin only speak in capitals?!  Why is Seifer dressed like Snow (although at least now I know how to pronounce his name!)?!  And where's his swagger and nobility - they've reduced him to being just a bully (although my gamer colleague assures me this will change).  I've got to the Struggle tournament but haven't taken part yet.  I'm set to 'Beginner', which means I only get the 'normal' ending but I can live with that. 

Oh, but Christopher Lee does the voice of the baddy.  I had a tear in my eye listening to him.  RIP, Saruman.

My new phone is proving useful for getting rid of emails that I don't need to read and/or reply to, and for skimming through facebook.

OK, that's all for now.  Bye DW!