Daniel Blackworth

"Listen to me, Clover. No matter what happens, you can never lose hope. You have to remember what's most important, and that's to have faith, and to have love. If you can remember all of those, that'll bring you good luck. Snake -- I mean, your brother--... He's not dead. He's alive, somewhere... I'm sure of it. You've just gotta believe in that..." - Junpei Tenmyouji from Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors

Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors is a Visual Novel game for the DS. It's story revolves on Junpei as he tries to survive the 'Nonary Game' along with 8 other people who were abducted with him, including his childhood friend. Choices and decisions are important parts of the game (these are found in the Escape the Room part and the Narration part) as they designate which of the 6 endings you will end up in. This is quite an enjoyable game as it has good replay value as you need to conquer at least 2 endings in order to get the full story of the game while 4 other endings reflect how being trapped in a ship with so many bad things going on ruin people and make them murderers. I loved the puzzles for their difficulty, the good aesthetics, and characters who were well written and had good motivations and backstories. You'll be shocked to know that everything in this game is connected in some way, and that it runs much deeper than you think.

[4/18/17]

"People change. And as the years go by, so do our environments. I think it’s alright for there not to be a "proper" way of living. But I do believe that instead of trying to be satisfied on just one answer and blocking out the rest, searching for more answers, despite the pain they may bring, is a much more honest way of living." - Harumi Shuntarou from Oyasumi Punpun (Thanks to @Tartar for recommending this)

Oyasumi Punpun has one of the most unique main characters in manga as it is a human illustrated as a bird, and yes, you heard that right. This manga follows the story of Punpun Onodera, as he goes through childhood until early adulthood, dealing with numerous problems in his life, such as his family problems, his obsession with his love interest, his really hyperactive mind (don't ask me what his thoughts are), and his teenage life. It is rather sad as it isn't one of those cheeful and lighthearted manga at all; instead, it highlights a protagonist with a negative outlook in life, which has been brought about by his circumstances in his childhood. Numerous people try to fix him, but he remains broken for most of the manga, and at several points, he tries to just give up with life. At least, later on, he starts to find a better life for himself, standing strong slowly but surely. It's a good read, overall.

[4/17/17]

Some other really good quotes:

"But once you grow old, you become afraid of even losing things without any value." - Yuichi Onodera

"Risks are just an unavoidable part of life. Even if you realize the danger, nothing's gonna come from always running away. That way, even when you die, you can be content that you gave it your all." - Nanjou Sachi

"It's fine even if you're useless right now. As long as you keep looking towards the future, I'm sure a day will come when you'll find your worth." - Nanjou Sachi

"True happiness only lasts for a brief time, so you better enjoy it while you can, right?" - Yuichi Onodera

I attended the first day of my Summer Debate Training and it turned out to be both enjoyable and insightful for me, even if I'm not exactly the outgoing type.

"It inspires me to see you work so hard and do such a good job! After all, running a farm by yourself can't be easy!" - Jeff from Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town

HM: Friends of Mineral Town requires a good amount of effort in order to succeed in it, but it provides good rewards if you do so. For those who don't know this game is a farming/dating simulation game wherein your character is asked to take care of a farm and in doing this, associate also with the townspeople and find a wife. There are other things you could do as well such as take care of animals, mine, and cook which make the game enjoyable if you're tired of farming. Additionally, interacting with the potential wives is interesting and I chose Popuri to be my wife in this game. Overall, although tiring and exhausting at some points, it still provides good fun for the patient and hardworking gamers out there.

[4/16/17]

Happy Easter to everyone! Hope you have a fun and good day!

"The young have confidence where the old have experience." - Apus Major from Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies

Dragon Quest IX was a rather extensive game as it featured a quite long story that involved meeting different kinds of people along the world map. The story involved three major groups: the Celestrians (the guardian angels of the humans), the Humans (one's who needed help from the MC after getting into predicaments due to greed), and the Gittish Empire (the big bad, but they only show up in the mid to late part of the story). I can't spoil much into the story since it is rather extensive and full of different ot lines, but I can say that the MCs goal in the whole story is to help out the humans in need, save the Celestrians, and defeat the Gittish empire. The gameplay and the different plot lines helped improve my experience of the game, and I did enjoy it a lot even if it took quite a few hours to complete it.

[4/15/17]