Josey leads her own party

in the next installment of Dragon Lady; Josephine's Journal.

This is the first of a few chapters featuring my coworkers. Some without their cooperation. It should be pretty clear who cooperated and who didn't.

It's been lots of fun.

Vincent catches up

in the next chapter of Josephine's Journal: The Planet's Best Maki.

If you are just tuning in for the first time since Lucrecia's Legacy, the second book starts here.

And, of course, the beginning of the story.

I'm still trying to coax a review from my son-in-law. Not a writer, you know. We'll have to see.

Weekend Warrior

This was a real gaming weekend.

My son-in-law conquered Dirge of Cerberus. He really enjoyed the game and took exactly 28 days to finish it. Keep in mind that he works full time, does all his own home repairs, and has a rather large circle of friends that keeps his wife and him busy. Oh, yeah. He's married to my older kid, and I bet she runs him in circles.

Preliminary diagnosis. Good game. Lots and lots of very long video clips. He was also struck by the times that it seemed necessary to fight a (literally) endless parade of enemies. I did explain to him about "leveling up," how it was common in Final Fantasy, and he accepted that as a new concept.

So it was a real shoot-em-up, with an annoying tendency to bring in the hyper little cat. We've dubbed those parts the "stupid stuff." I printed out the earlier pan by my coworker (See a few posts below.) so we can get a more coherent review for a real post.

In the meantime, Josephine's Journal has another entry: Restoration. Additionally, my coworkers are really getting into the darned thing. Fortunately, it will not be necessary to alter the forthcoming chapters much. We need the characters, anyway. And they will provide artwork! A preliminary icon at right will be used when we rework the site next month.

The Morning After

New chapter to Josephine's Journal.

Dragon Lady from the first chapter.

Lucrecia's Legacy for background, if you are puzzled.

Final Fantasy XII

would be a very good starter game. I can see a new gamer simply playing it through to the end. Then he or she would wonder what all the extra "stuff" was about. Thus would a wonderful, longtime relationship start.

There is way, way too much stuff in this game. I should have finished it about 40 hours ago, but I keep moving along laterally into tangents. Sure as can be that anything familiar will result in a great weapon or something.

And I am almost certain that the end will come along as a disappointment, besides. Because of that, I have stopped seeking the extra Espers and I've stopped accepting new hunts. And if a side quest gets complicated (I should know by now that it is too easy to overthink these things) I leave it for later.

So I am about 2/3 of the way through and looking for the laboratory. There are so many threads left untied, it looks like I'm doing macrame. My husband asks about some of the side quests, and I tell him I'm saving them for later.

There won't be a later, this time around. I just want to finish the game while I still like it.

After weeks of being teased as a BlogGeek,

I am now succumbing to the very worst. Two fanfictions, except that the second story is not contained within a game. And my real-world tormenters are preparing to join me.

You will recall the scathing review of Dirge of Cerberus, written by my friend and coworker.

His external links can be found can be found here and here.

He will join Josephine in Nibelheim. As will another coworker, who will remain nameless, until she chooses otherwise. I'm punishing a third fellow-geek who began the torment. She's not slated until later, although you may guess which she is when the Nibelheim chapter publishes.

If you know any of these people, you will readily recognize them through their weapons and limit breaks, among other things. These characters are a few chapters away.

Right now: Jenova's Joke or Hojo's Revenge

If you are new to Josephine's adventures, you may wish to start with Lucrecia's Legacy.

Or maybe you didn't know that the second book is trickling out? Start from the first chapter of Dragon Lady.

Also, we will begin to illustrate soon. I am a huge devotee of fan art.

Very Busy with Final Fantasy XII

but not too busy to neglect Josephine's Journal.

New chapter here: Celebrations.

The experiment with Dirge of Cerberus is ongoing, although my current tester is purchasing a new home. Haven't seen him in a while. The last I heard he was a bit non-plussed by the Cait Sit chapter, same as everyone else.

Fairly warm winter day, cold beer, and my PS2.

Leave me alone. I'm busy.