VISIONS OF MANA IS HERE!!

 It actually arrived yesterday via the Day Zero edition on Steam, and so I had put a solid three hours into it before exhaustion from work finally claimed me.

The game is absolutely beautiful, retaining that charming fairy tale look and feel that the series has had ever since it made its jump to the SNES with Secret of Mana. The music is again, mindblowing and is something I cannot wait to get the soundtrack for. Hiroki Kikuta being back at the helm just feels so right.

There's so much to do and see, and with a world that has as much history and lore built up in it as the Mana series does, and my being just an absolutely giant fan of it all, I can't help but want to run through every thicket of trees or peak around every corner.

The fact that I'm sitting here now at my PC writing this and the last chapter of season 2 of Last Tail is out of shear necessity as I want it done before September begins. But trust me, after I finish writing this, I'll be right back at Mana along with Dante's Peak playing on my TV.

100%ing Final Fantasy IV

In trying to kill some time while waiting for Visions of Mana(next week!!), I picked Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster back up the other day to finally finish it, and assuming there wasn't going to be a whole lot of let work, potentially earning the Completionist achievement. 

Only took about 11 hours beginning to end. May tackle 3 next. 

Covid, again

Been a good few years since my last known infection, but here it is once again ravaging my immune system and making a puppy out of me!

Okay so that last part is a huge exaggeration. I feel a little crummy and my legs hurt, but it's nowhere remotely close to the awful state the first infection had put me in. Couldn't taste, couldn't smell, I got out of breath easily. It was pretty bad overall, though I have felt worse in the past with different sorts of viruses.

The really sucky part is that I once again have the brain fog and can't concentrate, and the chapter of Last Tail I started writing last night is really important, but I cannot get myself to focus on it in the slightest. 

So, I am just going to lay in bad all day today, put a pot of homemade chicken noodle soup on the stove and just watch a bunch of contagion themed films. 

Starting with none other than The Thing! 

An Angler's Tale - #5: It Was Nice While it Lasted

 

Despite the entry title, there won't be any sort of bewildering complaints or self-loathing here. This is more of a self-reflection and a reminder of why I spend the money I spend on my fishing gear.

As per my previous post about having happened across a really nice Daiwa reel at, what I felt was a steal. I quickly bought it and put it to use along with some nice fluorocarbon. Okay, nothing too bad there. I got out onto the river and made a few casts to get a feel for the thing and thought it had some nice action and a fast retrieve.

But upon the NEXT trip out. Yesterday, after work. the crap really hit the fan when I snagged and tried snapping the string with a good pull. Fortunately, the Daiwa rod itself held up amazingly well(which I'm relieved 6-foot casting poles with cork handles aren't easy to come by), but the line had somehow cut a line straight through the pool, creating a crevice that now anything the thing is reeled, the line basically tangles itself around the spool, making it unusable.

Now, had I been in the same mindset that I was just a week and a half ago, I'd probably have given up on fishing altogether after that. Down both $40 on the reel and the $13 for the line thanks to the place I bought it from's terrible return policy. 

All was not lost, however, as I still had Zebco to fall back on. In particular, my Omega Pro, which I bought for myself a few years ago as a birthday gift. The reel has held up amazingly well, and while it does make some noises during retrieval, they're just noises and don't relate to any actual issues from within the device itself.

The reel itself is a beast when it comes to build quality. The only knock I can make against it is its retrieval speed, but it has held up over the years and has once again returned to being my main reel and will continue to claim that title until I either upgrade to the 2023 model or it ultimately falls apart somehow.

Reel: Zebco Omega Pro30 (2012 model)
Pole: Daiwa Crossfire 6'
Line: Berkley Trilene XL Smooth Casting 10lb Mono