I've heard great things about the game and that it's a challenging experience. There must be a new definition of challenging that I'm unaware of. Challenging was having to go though a stage in some Mega Man game three, maybe even four times before getting it down. In Dark Souls, I'm making eight or more runs against each area or boss. That's not challenging. That's poor game design. Unless your targeting your game to masochist.
Here's my reasoning for straight up calling this game out. Please keep in mind that I've tried looking at it from a different point of view. Maybe I'm just really bad at it and sore over losing so much. These points make me think otherwise.

Perhaps the most glaring flaw are the combat mechanics. Many times I feel I'm fighting against the clunky and slow animations instead of playing the game. Sometimes when I want to kick, I'll attack (and vice versa). Parrying isn't as sharp and accurate as it could be. I found that the window of opportunity is too small despite what an enemies animation looks like.I got some enemy attacks down to a science, but eventually I just stopped bothering because trying to learn that narrow 'sweet spot' for a new opponent's moves meant dying more times than I'd like.
Another major problem is just how unresponsive the controls can be. In the heat of combat I'm mashing the attack button, but when I stop, he'll belt out another swing anyways even though I stopped mashing before the end of the previous attack. I also hate that I can't interrupt my attacks or my healing animations. When I press that button to block or dodge, I mean it! Stop what you're doing, and get out of the way. That's probably my biggest complaint.

I don't like how vague the game is about, well... Everything. From where you're supposed to be going to what items do. I tried using an item that was supposed to give me humanity and it did nothing. I tired using a fire keepers soul and it didn't seem to do anything. Of course, after looking up a guide I know what to do with it, but should I really need to consult a guide for this?

The whole thing about dropping experience when you die and having to run back to get it is just a mechanic to make the game more difficult. There is no reason for this to happen except to force another hindrance on the player. What it boils down to is that instead of asking themselves "does this make the game more fun?" the designers said "how can we make this more difficult?" or perhaps they didn't bother asking these questions at all. I would find that hard to believe, for the game clearly displays a great amount of effort was put into it. I believe they chose to make it a difficult game instead of a fun game.

What bothers me most is that I want to enjoy this game, but taking out a big boss after countless tries just gets less and less rewarding, and it makes me feel that I should be doing something better with my time.

I'm happy for you if you enjoy this game. It just means we have different definitions of fun.

(For those wondering, I didn't get particularly far in the game. I reached the first Titanite Demon and decided to stop playing after how much trouble I had beating it. Then I found out I should have rang the bell first and thought that maybe I was just farther ahead than where I should have been. Nope. Those gargoyles don't mess around. I think I'm done with the game for good now.) Update! I beat the gargoyles with the aid of that Sun Knight. There's no way I would have been able to do it without him.

Tags: games

It has been a wonderful Lenten season and I feel very strong and refreshed. I've completed reading The Chronicles of Narnia. It was inspiring and uplifting. I find the stories so engaging that I sometimes forget that they were written for children. That is the magic of Lewis. This series of books can only fully be experienced when read as a child, then as an adult, and final in old age. I remember my Father would read them to me, and I loved looking at the cover art. If only I still had those hard bound copies.

I sang karaoke at The Bar with Stephanie a few nights ago. She was excited to, but then hesitant, and would only do it if I sang too. Singing karaoke is completely out of character for me, but it was near closing and and there were only about five people to act as our audience. Don't stop believin.

My friend Jesus will be moving west on the 16th and we plan on having a going away party for him on Saturday. This will be a little difficult for me to attend as it is Easter weekend, but I'll make it. Jesus is a great friend who I hope to stay in contact with. He is a very talented coder and we could do great things.

I have more to update on concerning my new story and my major goal of acquiring a prototyping machine. Everything is coming closer together, though I'm getting impatient. I'll explain next time.

It was a wonderful birthday weekend. Peter was back in town and Stephanie threw a nautical themed party for me where we fired off the potato gun and enjoyed an amazing squid and lobster shaped cake. I wish that Peter and I had gone to the lake that evening. It was a beautiful night with a warm wind blowing, but I was just too tired. I really should have forced myself to go.

I'm honestly getting a little tired of updating this journal. My victories in life just don't seem worth writing about, but I'll continue because I'll enjoy looking back on these entries one day. Even now I enjoy going back to read some of my earlier posts. Time seems to blend my memories too seamlessly these days, and I've been trying to get out more often to break the daily grind. Another reason why I wish I had made it to the lake. It would have been another noteworthy event in my timeline. One of few.

I needed to do two emergency casting sessions last week because I sold out of hearts. Luckily, I had already gotten a new kiln a few days before. The old blue kiln finally broke for good. I'll miss that particular piece of equipment. I have memories of it from when I was very young, seeing it in my dads small shop at the house on Vally View. He got that, along with some other casting supplies, from a dentist. I can remember my first casting session with those tools. I had modeled a couple of wax figures as I was very much into painting and collecting miniature fantasy figures. One was a knight. The other a monster. Both were successfully cast in silver and I still have them to this day (I should take pictures of them soon).

I feel a creative spirit coming back to me again. I've been working on a new jewelry design and I've started writing a new story. I stopped working on the story about the old king for too long and lost where it was going. I love what I have so far, but it was starting to feel sloppy trying to write for it again. I'll pick it back up some day, but for now I am fervently inspired to work on this new story. Its about four young boys in search of magic swords to save a kingdom. It will be aimed at young adults and you might think it a bit drab or over done by that simple description, but there is a great deal more to it. The idea came to me from a song called Singring and the Glass Guitar, and I have also begun reading through The Chronicles of Narnia again, which will help in terms of the style of writing I'm going for. Once I get more on paper, both with words and image, I will begin posting a blog to record my progress.

Tags: jewelry

Expect to see my heart and skull pendants up on shanalogic.com soon. I've been eying a couple of entry level RP machines lately and intend to get one before the end of the year. I'm going to make this happen.

Christmas was nice. Got a TG-16 and a sweet new video camera that can do slow motion! Check it:

I've also started playing Skyward Sword. My hopes were set high for this one with everyone calling the best Zelda game ever made. So far I'm not having much fun with it. I'm about an hour and a half in and believe I have finally gotten through what must be the tutorial part of the game. Too much story and too many 'yeah, I get it' moments. In LTTP we started in an exciting and moody setting, had a sword within the first five minutes of game play, and were already navigating our way through a dungeon to rescue a princess! In Skyward Sword it took me half an hour to get a weapon and then I'm just killing bats and slime things with it.
Just a few initial thoughts. It makes me worry that I'm getting too old for the franchise.

Tags: games, jewelry, myjewelershop

My sister got a new puppy the day before Halloween. A Maltese who she named Bella. I was against the idea of a new dog, but as it turns out, a new dog is exactly what our family needed right now. I remember the first day we got Bella Stephanie and I played with her outside. Everything felt young again.
The holiday season has been going well. Online sales are the best I've ever had this time of year. I'm pushing forward and trying an ad on Reddit which should run tomorrow. My expectations are that I will not be able to keep up with demand. This worries me greatly as inventory is already low, even with a successful casting session tonight. But I need to do this. The ultimate goal now is to focus on turning my online sales into a reliable source of income. I have one year to do this.

All of my casting videos have been posted now. Here is the final part:

Tags: jewelry, myjewelershop, the jewelers shop

I posted part one of my casting documentary to YouTube last night. It's been so long since I've worked on any type of video project, and it felt good to finally have something new to upload to my youtube account. The next two videos are almost done. I just need to add some music to them.




I've re-printed my 8-bit heart pendant which now has more defined facets and less visible build layers. I've also printed a new piece featuring a panda as a self sizable ring. It is designed to look like it is hugging the wearer's finger. Once I have them ready for sale I intend to start advertising my work on a larger scale by purchasing ad space on a few popular websites. My online shop has come a long way without advertising. I hope that with the help of a few ads out there business will boom.
In personal news, I went to a local haunted house with my sister and her friend Chris. The town did a pretty good job of everything (so many strobe lights!) and we even went on a hayride. Too many mosquitoes out though. New England saw snow today while I deal with mosquitoes in this humid swampland.

Tags: jewelry, the jewelers shop

I don't think I like the internet any more. I've been starting to realize that a lot of the sites I frequent have turned into places for children. Deviantart is now all about the anime, Reddit is full of memes everywhere, and I can't log into face book without being bombarded by post which are nothing more than mind farts that most all of us pass throughout the day without a need to tweet or otherwise bother someone with.

I feel good today. I was questioning why all morning until I remembered that it's the first day of October. I'm sure subconsciously that has a great deal to do with my uplifted frame of mind which has been so dark as of late, as October is my favorite month of the year. My way of thinking feels young again.
I did a great deal of writing last night on a novel that I started about two years ago. I'm about half way through, and have become quite dedicated to working on it. It's an Iron Age fantasy with the Arthurian base of a King's connection to the land. It has also been greatly influenced by the writings of Robert E. Howard.
Some of you might remember that I was speaking with Hard Rock a while back about a couple of pendant ideas. They said they were more interested in having them as pin's. It's been over a year since then, so I took it upon myself to create one of them.
The King of Rock.

Yeah. Hard Rock turned that down.

I've also created a new 8-bit themed pendant; a Slime from Dragon Warrior. The wax is done, and I should be casting on Wednesday.

We have been without our dogs for about three weeks now. I think I better understand what it means to be haunted. Sometimes I'll hear a scratching, or the sound of toenails clicking. Other times when I come home I still expect to see them there in the kitchen waiting for me. It is better that they are gone though. Muffy was so old in age that it was painful to listen to her coughing, and Shania was never the same after she became terribly sick one winter. The house smells fresh again, and it's nice not to have to worry about them any more.

Well, there goes my good mood.

Tags: jewelry

I'm a little disappointed in my visit. I've been here for ten days and for a trip that I planed to get some work done, I have little to show. I have a total of three finalized pictures and unless I go anywhere tonight, those three are going to be all this time around. The lack of photos this trip is mostly to blame on that fact that new locations were not visited. I'm getting tired of the old site of Peaked Mt. and the Orchards. I even made a second trip to the orchards but came back without a single shot! Photographing in Rhode Island was fun. Some night time photography on the beach is something I've been wanting to do for years, but I did not stay long enough. As previously mentioned, I would like to go on my own sometime as not to be rushed. Minnechaug Mt. was to be a new site to visit today but there was car trouble and instead I sat here at the house packing to leave tomorrow.
So now I'm here typing this, wishing there was more time. I wanted to work more on my new novel which I've been struggling with lately. I might have written a paragraph during these past ten days... I wanted to work on new jewelry designs and improve on the website, but some other distraction arose. I spent a good deal of time with friends and I am grateful for that time, but I spent no where near the amount of time with friends this visit as I have in past. I'm just trying to remember where the time went.

It's always difficult to leave. I almost fear going back to the old routine. There is a more permanent solution that I have been considering. All I would like to say right now is that November marks the one year anniversary of the shop's opening, and I only have a two year lease.

Tags: north

I am back in New England and my visit has been refreshing. John, Peter, and I went to the lake, Peaked Mountain, and the orchard all in one evening. It was spectacular and I got a couple of good photos out of it. While at the orchard we heard the strong pounding of hooves retreating from us. It is a place with many deer and other large animals.

On Thursday I went to Rhode Island with Peter, Kev, and John. We arrived at night and had a grand feast, then walked to Fisherman's Beach. There were a couple of camp fires going, one of which was abandoned so we took advantage of the dwindling fire and I took some pictures. I never seem to get the chance to take time with my photography at the beach. I would just like to go on my own for a change.

I made for the orchards again on Saturday hoping to capture some wild life. I am amazed that we made it so far in the dark on that first night out. Everything was over grown and the official path had a fallen tree on it, toppled by the tornado last week. The only hint of deer was from powerful stomping somewhere in the unkempt orchard field, and I left the place without photos, for the view has already been captured and I need new sights.

Tonight I visit my Grandmother and baby Henry. It will be good to see everyone. Tomorrow I will try to make it to Minnechaug Mt.

Tags: north
Current Location: United States, Connecticut, Enfield