When it was originally described to me first one eyebrow was raised, and then the other. Then my face had no where to go, and so my eyebrows fluctuated back and forth. I eventually got my hands on it, and was actually surprised.

Turns out it didn’t suck!

Synopsis

You’re a spoiled Princess (Elise) with romantic notions of having an adventurer boyfriend.

Yes, this is actually a key story element. In fact, it is the catalyst for the whole damned story.

Anyways, you decide to whine to your father until he throws a huge ball and invites all of the adventurers and blue blood to the ball. There she falls for an adventurer who she thinks is the bomb digity. A humorous scene unfolds where they talk and fall madly in love, only to end up being a day dream. The reality is that the adventurer wants nothing to do with your spoiled, prissy butt, and mentions that you have no idea what it’s like out in the real world.

He then takes off, and the Princess’s mind is blown completely. So completely that she decides that she’s going to cut her hair, put on some stylish outside clothing, and go off to become an adventurer herself. The King, thinking that his daughter will surely be killed, hires the lands greatest hero, Nero. Nero’s job is to create quests around the Princess to give her the illusion that she’s adventuring. Actors are hired, and the hilarity begins.

That is until an actual enemy starts to watch the Princess, worried that she could be a threat.

Mechanics

My World, My Way have three major sections:

• The first is the over-all world map, which is sectioned off into 4 quadrants. You can only visit one at a time.
• The second is a grid system of land-tiles for each town/area. There are a collection of areas within each quadrant. Each land tile has a set amount of enemy encounters, and have their own attributes (plains vs forest vs farm field etc.).
• The third are dungeons, which are located within certain areas. The dungeons are a 3rd person 3/4 view of the Princess, and you navigate the hallways fighting monsters that you come across.

The quests work in one of two ways. Either you are collecting things (which can be found either in dungeons or by searching the land-tiles), or you are killing things (in either dungeons or land-tiles). The result is that you get a gate key or crest (or both) and away you go to the next area. Very straight-forward, and after the first few times of doing it, very boring. There are side quests which usually involve you killing a million of a certain enemy to find an item to return. The rewards are usually worth it though.

Where the game actually starts to show some true originality (other than the solid script and light humor) is in the stats available to the player:

• Speed: How fast you are (what order you will fight in battle… most of the time), and how often your attacks will hit.
• Will: How strong your magical attacks are, and how strong your magical defense is.
• Strength: How strong your attack is.
• Constitution: How high your defense is.
• HP: Your health. If this hits zero, you’re dead. Actually, not dead, but you take a penalty; half of your Money, or half of your Experience earned that day. Refresh your health by sleeping or by using a potion / elixir.
• MP: Your magic. You use these to cast magic. Refresh your magic by sleeping at an in, or consuming a magic potion.
• PP: Your Pout Points. Now this is an interesting addition. Being a spoiled princess, you can pout to get what you want. This translates into the actual world. You can use your pout points to change the terrain, make enemies weaker, find more items, gain more experience, and more. The only way to refill your pout points is to sleep at an inn. Trust me when I say that they are by far the most useful thing you can have.

Now you gain stats naturally through leveling, but unlike most games, the stat increases from your levels are minimal at best. You get most of your upgrades by eating foods at the local Inn. You will end up spending a good amount of coin on food. You won’t get far without it.

Words from the Wise

It took me a good while to play through this game (44 hours)  and so I think I am qualified to give advice on how to get through this game faster than I did.

Upgrade your stats: I cannot enforce this one enough. Upgrading your stats will make your life easier all around. concentrate on strength and defense at the start, later on add to your wisdom and speed. Speed only needs to be around 100 by the end of the game, so it’s not nearly as important as the others. everything else should be at least 130 by the time you get to the final battle. To make your life easier, I’d even try to get your strength and Will to around 150. Failing that, use the Might spell.

Upgrade your Pout Points: You will use these more often than you think, and it’s in your best interests to make sure you get this number high. I had over 300 by the end fight, which is all I ended up needing.

Fight every battle: On the tile maps, fight in every square. If you can pout for more experience and money, do it. It speeds everything up and makes fighting more worth it. I was level 69 when I got to the final map, that was 10 under the recommended. On that map, you’ll feel it. I ended up grinding my character to level 86 just to have a chance in the final fight.

Make enemies harder in dungeons: You are more likely to fight singular enemies in dungeons, and they are naturally a little higher in level than those above ground. When you are trying to upgrade your mimic buddy stronger parts, this is the best way to do it. On top of that, you get more experience and money for your effort.

Do all the side quests: You’ll get better loot and spells from the side-quests than you ever will from simply fighting through the map (the final dungeon is an exception).

Pay attention to the end of battles: You’ll end up getting a partner that can mimic enemies. The menu shows up at the end of battles randomly, and if you are blindly mashing the A button (like I was) you end up taking body parts that you really didn’t want.

Overall

It’s not as girly as you’d think. Other than being about a spoiled princess and having armor available to wear called “Princess Boots” and the like, it’s not all that girl-driven. The box art is more girl-oriented than the rest of the game.

The music was solid, the artwork was fantastic (and reminded me a lot of Professor Layton), and the graphics were about as good as you would expect for a DS. Good pixel art, and fairly decent 3D work.

As for the fun factor,  My World, My Way is fun for the first three quarters. When you get into the final area the story gets much lighter, and it feels more like a grind-fest. Hell the final battle couldn’t be any more anti-climactic if it tried. Considering how difficult that final battle was, I was a little shocked that I actually had to walk out of the dungeon myself. I was expecting a cut scene or something. When you get the final gate key, you go home, have a 5 minute conversation, and then the credits roll.

My World, My Way has absolutely no re-play value. It’ll eat away your time when you play through it the first time, but that’s about it. The writing is solid, and the humor is light, but enjoyable. You’ll smile through most of the dialogue, and you’ll even enjoy the short but sweet ending.

If you’re forced to grind for 8 hours in the final area like I was, the game will lose much of its appeal, and you’ll be wishing a painful death on the developers of the game. That’s partially my fault though. I was trying to fly through the game, and I was hoisted by my own petard.

Worth playing through once, but I expect to see a lot of used copies of this game sitting in the shelf at your local Gamestop.

6/10

Datarock is easily one of my new bouncy favorites. The only way I can describe them is disco acid pop. There’s probably a better way of explaining them, but that’ll work for lack of the creation of new words.

As an aside, I want to apologize for the title of this post. I’m using the normal format, but their first album is actually called “Datarock Datarock” so it makes for some crummy article titling.

Track Listing:

1. Bulldozer
2. I Used To Dance With My Daddy **
3. Computer Camp Love **
4. Fa-fa-fa **
5. Princess
6. Sex Me Up
7. Nightflight To Uranus **
8. Ugly Primadonna
9. Maybelline
10. Laurie
11. The Most Beautiful Girl **

**Clear Favorites

If ever there was music to be played at a club, remixed for clubs, and then have those remixes remixed 3 more times, then Datarocks debut album “Datarock Datarock” is exactly that music. Much of the album is bouncy almost to the point of fault. Much of it makes you want to get up and dance until you seizure. Even some of the more subdued tracks are prime candidates to have the crap mixed out of them.

This mixibility makes for an interesting listen. Everything is drum machines, 8-bit sounds, synths and guitars. I guess that’s understandable considering the band is officially comprised of two people (I’m aware the Wiki mentions a third person, but the official site does not, so I’m going with that). When you only have two people, you have to get creative with your tools. They do that alright; with some interesting beat combinations Datarock manages to bring a unique feel to many of their songs. There’s a personallity to each track, and I think that that takes a lot of talent.

Another major boon for this album is the lyrical application. When you can successfully write about ones computer camp love affair in a hip hop style, you are reaching a lyrical level that makes my heart glow. The only people I’ve seen do what Datarock does with their writing are bigger names like Jason Mraz or Cobra Starship. If you pay close enough attention to actually hear what the singer is saying, I can guarentee that you will be well-rewarded. The fact that ‘Maybelline’ actually has the “maybe she’s born with it” slogan within it is proof of this.

My biggest issue with the whole album is that it’s pretty much impossible to listen to the entire album in one sitting without wanting to take a hammer to either you or your musical device. I know that sounds harsh – probably because it is – but hear me out. The big issue with the album is that it all starts to sound like noise after a while; things blend and the magic is lost. You start to phase it out because that’s what your brain DOES with excess noise.

Great for single tracks, well-written and unique. I’m waiting for them to have some remix albums come out.

6/10

When a dad beats up his daughter, he does not necessarily go to jail. But when a guy beats up a dad for beating up his daughter, they both go to jail. It is very confusing.

Perry’s Gram used to say that the L in his name stood for ‘Lucky’, and he is just that. While playing the lottery, which he did every week, Perry finds himself 12 million dollars richer. Now everyone wants to be his friend, his family, who never talked to him otherwise, wants him to hand it over to a family trust.

Perry, with the guidance (of a sort) of Gram, his friend Keith, his boss Gary, and Cherry the Convenience store clerk, Perry slowly works to improve his life. He starts working through his lottery list which includes a big tv, a trip to Hawaii, Fixing up Yo (Keiths beaten up Toyota Truck), and so on.

He starts moving up at his job (a local fishing store) by giving good advice to the owner, and helping the sales grow. He gains respect from those he works with, as well as the locals. As his family applies more and more pressure on Perry, he decides what to do with the money.

I didn’t like the writing style of this book. I tried and I tried, and even now the writing still bugs me. I know it’s supposed to be written as a narrative from Perry, but it’s just so … simple. Things are repeated multiple times, the sentences are short and mundane, and there are no less than a bajillion references to “they would not like that.” I refuse to explain that further. If you read the book, you’ll know what I’m talking about. The chapters are short and much of the story is … boring. There’s a lot of filler in which the nuggets have to shine through in order to be recognized.

Having said all that, I enjoyed Lottery. It’s not ground-breaking, nor will it win any awards in my book. It isn’t going on my favorites list by any means, but I liked it all the same. It’s a real underdog feel-good everyone gets theirs sort of story that you just want to read sometimes. It made me laugh, it made my sad, and it made me smile. It hooked me by the end, and that’s the important part. Once I got past the fluff, there was a really good story beneath it all.

If you’re in the mood for an underdog book, this is the one to read. Everyone gets what they deserve, it makes you warm and fuzzy on the inside, and it comes with one of the best hedgestone message ever: “Don’t be smart”

6/10

Mr. Muller, let me show you and endless trail of sunsets. Let me save you.
Excerpt from The Electric Church

Our anti-hero, Avery Cates, is a gunner: a gun for higher, assassin, hit man, or all-around kill-for-cash sort of dude. He’s 27 and doesn’t know how he got as far as he did. He’s hired by the corrupt upper-class to stop an up and coming religion: The Electric Church. Rumors have been spreading that the EC has been forcibly gaining converts, but due to regulations the SSF (The System Pigs, as they are lovingly referred to) can’t legally do anything about it. They call in Cates to try and assassinate the head of the EC.

I found it really difficult to get past some of the dialog in this book. There was simply that much swearing throughout it that I found it hard at times to actually get into specific scenes. I can understand having some, or even moderate amounts of swearing, but when you have at least one a sentence for an entire page, it gets a little old.

Another problem I had was how shallow much of the book really was. There was a lot of depth put into how crummy the world has become, but very little is put into those who exist in it. The population of the slums is described – repeatedly – as “The Gray Masses.” I could deal with that, but even the main characters lacked the depth I usually expect from them. You had a dude with mental powers, a super tech, the anti-hero, the smooth criminal, and the git’r dun twins. Honestly they couldn’t have been much more cookie cutter if they tried. Even the antagonists were straight-forward. Evil bribed cop, sketchy church, The Fuzz, The Sociopath, the list goes on. Everyone was so… typical, that it really got to me. The only character development happened near the end of the book, and it was too little too late for me.

My complaints aside, it was an entertaining read. The internal banter of Averys’ mind put a smirk on my face more often than not. The repeated idea of “of course this is happening, because my day hasn’t hit rock bottom quite yet” is completely at one in The Electric Church. I enjoyed the fact that even as one action scene is toning down, another one is coming around the corner to kick the bejesus out of Avery.

It’s also interesting to read the subtle transformation that Cates has throughout the book, and though I say I saw it coming, it was still well done. I also appreciated that by the end of the book, the only thing driving Cates was spite. It’s not often you read about how the main character is going to finish what they started “just be-fucking-cause.”

If you’re a fan of the Cyberpunk genré and don’t want anything too dark and depressing, this is a pretty good option. It’s not the best example I can think of for Cyberpunk, but it was an enjoyable read. I don’t know if I could do it again simply because of the curse-dense dialog and shallow development of the characters.

6/10

1. Civil Twilight **
2. Hymn of the Medical Oddity
3. Relative Surplus Value
4. Tournament of Hearts **
5. Virtue the Cat Explains Her Departure **
6. Elegy for Gump Worsley
7. Sun in an Empty Room
8. Night Windows
9. Bigfoot
10. Reunion Tour **
11. Utilities

**Clear Favorites

I wish I could say I listened to indie music more, and that I was well versed in it. Truly I wish I could, but the fact of the matter is I am an outsider to the genré and as such, my opinion here is literally just that: opinion. I’m not saying that all my other music reviews are based on scientifically music-based fact, but at the very least I know what I like and dislike and can compare it to something. The closest thing I can compare The Weakerthans’ new album, Reunion Tour, would probably be The Shins or Bright Eyes. Please don’t send me hate mail for being unable to notice the subtle differences that separate these artists. I don’t see them and I don’t really care.

I listened to the album a couple times through, and i sort of realized that many indie music singers don’t sing so much as talk in tone. It’s neat for the first little while, but gets old after 3 or 4 tracks. Would it kill them to actually sing one or two? You know, just to shake it up a little? This point alone is enough for me to strip out any tracks I didn’t like and fling the others into nothingness. Even my favorite tracks are only favorites in true comparison to the other ones. The only ones I truly liked would be Civil Twilight Reunion Tour and Tournament of Hearts. Somewhat depressing really, since I can tell this is a solid album in some sense.

To try and bring an upswing to this review, I have noticed that if I am not focused on the album itself, it does make fairly good background music, so long as you keep it lower then the conversation volume. That would probably explain why I’ve heard Civil Twilight in coffee shops. It’s pleasing and simple, and doesn’t require the listener pay too much heed to it. I know that’s not much of a compliment, but let me clarify. What I’m trying to say is that this album is fairly quiet and laid back and I will admit makes fairly solid background work music. I have found in the past that this album will come on and I’ll be 8 songs in before I realize what I’m listening to. In that respect it’s a great album.

Though I will give this album a rating, it really comes down to a personal preference. I can’t really bash it for being what it is, but I can state that it was not within my scope of regular listening. Does that make it a bad album? Hell no, but it’s not going to be on my favorites list.

6/10

1. Collapse
2. Typical
3. After We Have Left Our Homes
4. Noticed **
5. Without It **
6. Polite
7. Stare at the Sun
8. Obsolete **
9. Break the Same
10. You Are Mine **
11. Picture
12. Stall out

**Clear Favorites

The piano and drums are featured heavily throughout the tracks, though I use ‘heavily’ in a loose sense. What I mean to say is they are the featured instruments throughout their debut album. The whole thing tends to remind me of a cyberpunk film nóir (someone tell me if I used the wrong character there) Adding to the point is the fact that many of the tracks don’t even feature singing; they’re purely instrumental.

One thing that can start to grate on you is the fact that the singer sounds the exact same in every song where he does sing. Some people may not mind or even notice this, but for people like me who have a horrible habit of skipping artists for variation… well it gets sort of old. Like I said, you need to be in the mood to listen to this one.

As an aside, I almost favorite-ed the second track “Typical” as it is a fairly solid track but ironically, I found it rather typical-sounding in and of itself. It’s a good track, but just didn’t make the cut for me.

It’s a fairly laid-back album and you really need to be in the mood to listen to it. I suggest either driving your car around metropoli (what the hell is the multiple for metropolis?) in car commercials, or when you otherwise need to be very calm and reflective. I’m glad I have the album, but only for certain tracks. Hell, three don’t even qualify as tracks in my book. Being all under 1:30 they’re just long interludes as far as I’m concerned.

6/10

I finished the book with the same feeling that I’ve felt after reading every other new adventure story so far (Winner Takes All, The Clockwise Man, The Stone Rose, The Art of Destruction, and The Nightmare of Black Island): Typical. The Clockwise is a possible exception, but not by much. All these stories, though good, seem like they were rejects for the show for simply not exhibiting enough strength. They’re not bad by any means and I enjoyed each of them in differing ways. What I am saying is that I have yet to read a new adventures that can compare to the old series.

Maybe it’s unfair to compare these novels to the likes of “The Shadows of Avalon,” “Blue Angel” and the “Interference” duet. The problem is that it’s generally hard when you’ve read so many of them. I figure that they are toning these first ones down to help appeal to the younger audience, and I can respect that. What I would like is just something with a bit more soul. I’ve read books that have permanently changed the way I view the Doctor. None of the new ones have come close to that. They all seem like we’re watching the surface façade of his character. The Price of Paradise is no exception to the rule, which disappointed me somewhat.

It is a well-written story, and I would totally suggest it for teaching literary practice, for a class to read, or to introduce Doctor Who novels to someone. That’s about it though. There is no foreshadowing, no deep secrets brought to light that we didn’t already know about.

6/10.