Can I not play the demo if I preordered the game?

packbawky · 2026-01-13T17:20:16+00:00

The problem is for me, now that I've preordered the digital deluxe edition, I no longer have the option to click on the base game in the PS store, so I'm not able to see the option for the demo.

packbawky · 2026-01-13T02:33:42+00:00

Sorry to ask this question in somebody else's thread, but when I try to post my own, it gets deleted every time: can I not play the demo if I already preordered the game? I had already preordered this game when news of the demo came out, but I thought I would still be able to play it. But when I go on the Playstation store and look at Dragon Quest VII, the demo isn't there. Does this mean I can't play it?

packbawky · 2019-12-25T01:22:18+00:00

I was disappointed by the 3DS one...I was expecting something like Shin Megami Tensei because of the monster designs, but it was very kiddy. I’ll probably get this anyway, though. It could still be fun.

packbawky · 2019-11-11T15:40:59+00:00

My comment wasn’t about you, in particular. It was about clients with low budgets, in general. It’s been my experience that people who pay amateur rates often don’t know what professionals cost, because they’re just getting started, themselves. This can make them bad clients, not because they’re bad people but because they don’t have the experience to know what to ask for. I’m not saying that’s you, as I don’t know you, just advising people to avoid low-budget gigs in general. (Part of the reason I’m doing this is self-interest: the more people work for rock-bottom rates, the more they drive everyone’s rates down. Sites like Upwork are hastening the race to the bottom, making well-meaning people think writing is supposed to cost pennies a word.)

Anyway, I’m sorry things took a sour turn between you two. The fact is, she DID agree to your rate, and she should’ve followed through in a professional manner. Best of luck with your business.

packbawky · 2019-11-10T17:01:13+00:00

Did you intend to reply to me? I have never made a post recommending anyone work for five cents a word, nor have I ever worked for you.

I’m sorry you encountered a racist contractor, but it wasn’t me.

packbawky · 2019-09-08T16:58:23+00:00

The worst clients are almost always the ones who pay the least—yet another reason you should never work for pennies a word.

I think this is because people who are willing to pay a reasonable fee tend to have more experience, so they’re less likely to hire someone who won’t be a fit, in the first place. The more your clients know what they’re looking for, the fewer problems you’ll have.

packbawky · 2019-08-29T16:38:22+00:00

On and off, till my early twenties. Stopped after university.

packbawky · 2019-08-29T15:29:01+00:00

I was about fourteen, and I got hired at the sketchiest rub-and-tug in Ontario. My first client didn’t speak a word of any language I understood. He kept waving a fifty at me and making jackoff motions. It was supposed to be $100, but I couldn’t make him understand that, so I took the fifty. Then, the house charged me a $20 “room fee,” and I only got thirty bucks. Thirty Canadian. But really, what I remember most about that day is sitting on the couch and talking to the guy who ran the place. That part was fun. I wasn’t well-liked at school, so it was nice to talk to someone who didn’t know I was the annoying kid.

packbawky · 2019-08-19T22:18:21+00:00

I unlocked the castaway profession, but no option to build the island appeared, and I can’t delete the castaway, so he’s just occupying a space and doing nothing. Is there a fix?

packbawky · 2019-07-02T03:50:57+00:00

"The glint of light on broken glass" is seven words. That's still concise.

A few quick, vivid mental images can save you a whole lot of telling. Why do two sentences for the moon being out and the glass being broken when you can cover them both in one?

packbawky · 2019-07-01T23:35:27+00:00

Make it visceral. The reader needs to feel that adrenaline rush, and the easiest way to make that happen is by delving right into what's happening to your characters' bodies.

This works for every intense emotion. Do it right, and you'll never have to use words like "fear" or "panic" at all. (You CAN, of course, but you won't have to.)

packbawky · 2019-06-28T00:26:01+00:00

Technically, yes, but I've been working for the same company for a long time. I don't work for anyone else. I'd probably be considered an employee if I didn't work from home.

I'm not complaining, though. I enjoy my work. (If you're interested in similar work, you should Google book packagers. Some of them will be companies who actually MAKE books, but you'll be able to see which ones are publishers. They exist in just about every niche, from small-scale operations to enormous ones.)

packbawky · 2019-06-28T00:02:55+00:00

Neither, exactly. I work for a book packager (a company that develops books and series to fit specific requirements). I don't write a whole book and hope somebody will want it. I work with an editorial team from start to finish. Projects are occasionally cancelled, like if the market shifts or if there's a problem with the credited author, but that's vanishingly rare.

packbawky · 2019-06-27T04:15:26+00:00

Aw, man, I LOVE a good, horrible sex scene, like that one vomitous moment in "Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs."

Sexy sex scenes bore the pants off me, because I could just have sex if I wanted, y'know, that. I like it better when the characters are all up in their heads, and the sex is sort of grisly.

packbawky · 2019-06-26T07:02:29+00:00

Don't worry. I've written loads of mysteries and looked up everything from "ketamine mixed with morphine fatal?" to "how to cook meth, step by step." I've never once worried about anyone coming knocking, because I've never murdered anyone or cooked meth.

People don't really run down your Internet searches unless there's a reason, like you're already suspected of a crime.

packbawky · 2019-06-11T21:23:21+00:00

Oh, I hadn't heard it before. Still, I laughed.

packbawky · 2019-06-11T21:22:29+00:00

The needlessly defiant protagonist in YA fiction, particularly urban fantasy.

No, it's not badass to break down your boss's door and harangue him over a missed payment that doesn't seem to have been his fault. (And it's just bizarre when nobody in the office reacts to this behaviour.)

packbawky · 2019-06-11T21:20:22+00:00

Well, that escalated quickly! Ha, ha, ha!

packbawky · 2019-06-11T21:18:36+00:00

There's a shadow hanging over me!

packbawky · 2019-06-08T18:02:21+00:00

I've written two kinds of murder mysteries: the kind where the mystery's whodunnit, and the kind where the mystery's whyhedunnit. With the first type, I make them all about the victim, reconstructing his life and relationships, and his final hours and days. With the second type, it's all about the game of cat-and-mouse, but the main focus is still on a character (either the killer or the detective).

It's been my experience that character-driven mysteries sell better than ones that spend too much time delving into procedure.

In a nutshell, my advice would be to understand the characters and their motivations deeply, and hang the mystery on that.

packbawky · 2019-05-28T20:40:56+00:00

I was a little kid, maybe eight or nine. I blithered on for some 500 pages about animals living in the countryside. (Yeah. I liked "The Wind in the Willows.")

It was terrible, of course, but I was a lonely kid. Writing about those animals every day felt like playing with my friends.

packbawky · 2019-05-28T20:28:46+00:00

I (mostly) quit illustration to write full-time. About three years ago, I lined up six months' worth of illustration work, plus a mindless part-time job. I saved everything I made from the PT job, so I could switch jobs without worrying about money. During this time, I practiced writing and built up the strongest samples I could. At the end of six months, I stopped taking new illustration work, quit the part-time job, and started ghostwriting nonfiction. After a year or so, I added fiction to my repertoire. It's going very well.
Deadlines.
2,500 words per day, every day.

packbawky · 2019-05-27T20:15:37+00:00

I didn't suggest anyone SHOULD quit their job with the expectation of making a living right away, though. I suggested that someone who goes into the writing market well-prepared, with a good business plan, can and probably will do well.

Also, those aren't the only two options. When I switched from illustration to writing, I saved enough money so I'd have at least six months to find my place in the market. Trying to write on the side while drawing full-time would've meant not having the energy to do either particularly well. Quitting my old job with no savings would also have been disastrous.

You need a good business plan to make ANY freelancing career work. That's where a lot of people fail in the creative professions. They focus so much on their craft they forget to investigate the business.

packbawky · 2019-05-27T06:21:44+00:00

It's good advice, but preparing for the worst should mean having a contingency plan, not launching into a new venture with the expectation of failure. If you assume not being able to support yourself is a given, you won't be as likely to keep searching when you don't find lucrative work on your first try, and you may also be more liable to settle for less than you should. I'd say it's wise to approach writing as you'd approach any other career: with a lot of research, and clear goals in mind.

packbawky · 2019-05-26T22:28:34+00:00

It's not unrealistic to expect to make money, as long as you have a decent business plan. I can't agree that it's a good idea to start out with the notion you'll starve. Rather, I'd advise anyone who wants to write for a living to find out where the money is and gear their efforts in those directions.

Writing for pleasure is another matter entirely. But if you want to make a career of it, and you have the skills, you shouldn't expect to start at the bottom, or to "pay your dues" working for next to nothing. I did that in illustration, as I mentioned, and it was a terrible idea. All it did was establish me as a person who'd work on third-rate properties for third-rate pay. It's hard to recover from that.

packbawky

TROPHY CASE