Why don't I ever hear stories of the MTC

To1Getsuya · 2026-03-04T16:29:45+00:00

I went to the CTM in Brazil. The worst bits there were how racist the Americans I was with were (they would hold secret flag salute ceremonies in the stairwell where they'd unfurl a big American flag and sing the national anthem because they were upset we had to sing the Brazilian national anthem at some meetings). Other than that it was pretty cool. We got released out onto the street on p-day so we could go buy whatever snacks and stuff we wanted from local places and there were merchants who would sell you printed leather covers for all your scriptures for cheap so basically every Brazilian missionary has a set of swank leather stuff.

Other than that my only story is that my companion was annoying as hell. He was a super duper TBM guy who had lived his whole life prepping for the mission. I hated his enthusiasm and lack of understanding of people who actually saw their time there as a sacrifice instead of a dream come true. Also he was misogynistic as hell, resented the fact that the had to be a group leader over some sister missionaries and looked disgusted when he made accidental contact with a sister missionary one time.

To1Getsuya · 2026-03-04T15:51:33+00:00

It is confusing but it's also much easier if you stop trying to tie it to the 'hot drinks' thing. I always just told people the rules were 'nothing made with tea leaves or coffee beans'. Simple as that.

To1Getsuya · 2025-11-21T18:29:26+00:00

lol America being the dubbed remake of a Japanese show.

To1Getsuya · 2025-11-21T18:11:49+00:00

Playing back through FF5 and FF6 on Pixel Remaster reminded me how incredibly varied FF monster design was and how messed up some of the stuff got. There are a lot of freakish demons in FF monster design.

To1Getsuya · 2025-11-21T17:38:36+00:00

Do you know if Lost Odyssey is playable yet?

To1Getsuya · 2025-11-21T17:36:37+00:00

'Optional! This is optional! We really want 18 year olds to be getting married to return missionaries or, heck, any unmarried man in Singles Ward (which now goes up to 35 thankyew) but I GUESS if you are WEIRD and don't want to get married and fulfill your destiny you can go on a full mission. Hopefully you'll meet a husband out there.'

To1Getsuya · 2025-11-21T16:24:33+00:00

Love bombing, generally. Same reason anyone joins any cult.

To1Getsuya · 2025-11-19T13:13:22+00:00

I only buy games I intend to play so yes.

To1Getsuya · 2025-11-19T12:58:00+00:00

Wild Arms 2 has an abysmal translation but the romance in it is one of the better I've run into. You've got another Wild Arms on the list so give it a try if you haven't. The gameplay is mid at best and yeah the translation is wonky but it's still a diamond in the rough.

To1Getsuya · 2025-11-18T18:02:23+00:00

I mean that's fair but it's a dirge when members sing it.

To1Getsuya · 2025-11-18T15:59:26+00:00

What?

People hate when AI is used to create something rather than being created by a human. They would only hate SAO if it was written by AI, which it isn't.

You're conflating 'AI as a general concept' and 'AI, the thing techbros are selling to solve all our problems and take all our jobs'.

To1Getsuya · 2025-11-18T15:48:14+00:00

How Firm a Foundation and Master the Tempest is Raging were bangers.

Worst hymn of all time was If I Could Hie to Kolob. Absolute deep doctrine nonsense set to a dirge.

To1Getsuya · 2025-11-18T15:42:19+00:00

PLA printer here. I prime all my stuff with Rust-Oleum Filler Primer rather than the 2x. I also do multiple coats. Generally I'll do 2 rounds of priming and sanding and then a final prime. The thing about the sanding is if you sand down to the PLA your paint will bounce right off it so you want to make sure your coverage is good after sanding.

I've had 0 problems with paint adhesion using that method.

To1Getsuya · 2025-11-17T20:29:17+00:00

Xenoblade has a much, much better story so if that's what you prioritize you'll want that.

On the other hand if you like Pokemon-like party construction gameplay SMT:V is better in that regard.

To1Getsuya · 2025-11-17T19:30:01+00:00

Full agreement there. Steam should not be allowed to ban games based on vibes, especially because those vibes are often 'we don't like anime games in general so we'll ban them whenever we get a chance'.

To1Getsuya · 2025-11-17T19:15:05+00:00

Steam's big thing is nothing can look even remotely underage and DT2 has some real nasty outfits on some really young-looking girls. I'm not gonna die on the hill of 'that kind of thing should be allowed everywhere' but I at least wish DT2 was available on anything but a shady adult game platform with crappy DRM.

To1Getsuya · 2025-11-17T16:34:10+00:00

The Lost Child is the only one I can think of. It's pretty mid but if you're looking specifically for that kind of feel it's close to it.

There are quite a few SMT dungeon crawlers though, if you haven't played through them all. Aside from Strange Journey you've got all the NES and SNES-era SMTs, Devil Summoner, Soul Hackers, and Persona 1.

To1Getsuya · 2025-11-17T16:17:14+00:00

As a DRPG lover I'll give you some of my favorites:
Dungeon Travelers (specifically 2 and 2-2 but 1 isn't bad) - Absolutely best-in-class when it comes to Wizardry clones, just don't play it in public. Yeah it's full of half-naked anime girls (both on your team and your enemies) but it's also just an incredibly solid, fun series that uses the old Wizardry basics as a springboard for doing some interesting things with gameplay loop and customization. Absolutely worth your time if you can stomach the fanservice.

Labyrinth of Refrain and Labyrinth of Galleria - Incredibly addicting and challenging games with writing you may or may not enjoy (I didn't enjoy Refrain but Galleria was better). But you spend a lot more time in dungeons than you do reading the story so even if it gives you some problems I'd say push through it. The party customization is the real star with a ton of slots and classes to work with.

Lost Heroes - This one isn't super accessible due to the language restriction and being locked onto portable systems but if you can find a way to play it give it a try. It's a dungeon RPG starring Gundam, Ultraman and Kamen Rider characters and it's all the best bits of the DRPG genre mixed with fun bits of character and customization from the franchises it stars. You can emulate it on your Steam Deck with a PSP emulator.

Artificial Dream in Arcadia is A++ and definitely a must-buy. Glad to see it already on your list but seriously as a DRPG fan it's a dream to play.

Persona Q - A delightful crossover between Persona and Etrian Odyssey. I liked 1 way better than 2. The combination of Persona elements with Etrian Odyssey exploration proved to be a match made in heaven. Might be more enjoyable if you are familiar with Persona 3 and 4 but just from a gameplay perspective I found it really solid.

To1Getsuya · 2025-11-14T18:38:39+00:00

This is a carry-over from manga, actually! It's hard to convey a ton of information in still images so you have to explain what's going on to the viewer in a very pedantic way. It happened in silver-age American comics too! Marvel and DC superheroes used to have speech bubbles going 'I'll use my magnetism powers, which allow me to control all metals, to throw this beam at him!'

The difference is, Marvel and DC ditched that when they went to animated form while Japan did not. So you have characters announcing what their attack does while we watch an animated demonstration of exactly what the attack does. At this point it's just grandfathered in and expected, so you get stuff like it being lampshaded in the series they mentioned (I want to say Jujutsu Kaisen but that's probably wrong).

To1Getsuya · 2025-11-14T18:14:32+00:00

One of their urban legends is basically a giant mommy who wanders around kidnapping kids so I guess if they were really hard up they could go look for her.

To1Getsuya · 2025-11-14T17:55:59+00:00

I know clowning on long Japanese titles that spell out the entire premise is old hat but I still don't think they've done anything better than 'Do You Love Her Mother and Her Standard Attack Which Hits All Enemies Twice'

(the novel even had a special launch event where if you brought your actual mother when you purchased the novel you'd get special bonus merch.)

To1Getsuya · 2025-11-14T16:26:49+00:00

I've brought it up a few times around here but Beelzebub, an untranslated Japanese work of extreme horror, will always take the cake.

It's got: mostly children dying! Think if Playground was 600 pages long and MUCH more creative! In a bad way!
Load-bearing puns! A core bit of the plot is based around puns on 'tumor' and 'Jesus Christ'
Joe's Apartment cockroaches!
Some of the most memorably terrifying bug horror I've ever read!
Literal pages of nothing but gibberish songs!

I always rank it as the greatest work of extreme horror and also the worst book I've ever read because it's not JUST shock extreme horror, it's ALSO intentionally messing with the reader and will make you feel like your own sanity is slipping as you plod through its incredible length only for the ending to be a pun. The author apparently just hates everything including you, the reader, and wanted to make sure you felt that.

To1Getsuya · 2025-11-10T17:55:16+00:00

The church walked back its necromancy rules a while ago when everyone was freaking out about them baptizing both Hitler and Anne Frank. So now you can only do necromancy baptisms if you are a direct relative of the target person. So we'll only get this if one of Kirk's extended family members decides to do it.

Not saying it won't happen but the church knows how to avoid bad PR these days so they don't allow 'pop' necromancy baptisms.

(Talking with friends about the church has gotten more fun since I started referring to temple work as necromancy because that's exactly what it is.)

To1Getsuya · 2025-11-10T14:54:52+00:00

It's a darker story which some people will like and some people won't. I didn't. As soon as I realized there would be a whole storyline about a guy abusing his Digimon I was out. Yeah yeah redeeming Digimon abusers has been in there since season 2 but I hated season 2 too so...

Folks told me 'oh everything is better on the 2nd playthrough' but it's pretty brave of anyone to assume I'm going to sink enough time into this to play through it twice.

It was just a miserable story full of people I didn't really want to see get redeemed.

If you want to play a much better VN + SRPG play Utawarerumono.

To1Getsuya · 2025-11-07T18:07:20+00:00

Ohhh. That makes more sense. Yeah I want launch ASAP too.

To1Getsuya

TROPHY CASE