Updates and freebie news

There’s been a lot going on here. As you may have guessed, Mom and I had plans for last Christmas, but we ended up setting them aside when she had an emergency visit to the hospital. Thankfully, she came out it a lot better off than when she went in, even had some concerns allayed. She’s recovering quite nicely.

Christmas was unsurprisingly quiet, but pleasant. We pretty much took things slow. New Year’s Eve went the same way; the most exciting events of the night were home-made egg nog and a movie.

I’ve been on a huge Kingdom Hearts kick lately. I had been given the handheld games over the years, but hadn’t gotten around to playing them until now, because I didn’t know that they were fully fledged sequels and hadn’t been too thrilled with Chain of Memories. Birth by Sleep was interesting, fun, and answered several questions raised by the first three games. The story was a bit dark, but given its nature, that is to be expected. 

I’ve finally finished 358/2 Days. It’s pretty much an answer to the fans’ question “What happens when a new guy/gal is introduced to the Organization?” The answer seems to be that the poor sap gets showered in catty remarks and sarcasm, if they like him… or ends up running for her life if the Organization decides that she’s not human “enough” to respect. Roxas REALLY didn’t enjoy working for Xemnas. Needless to say, it probably explains Sora’s fury when he encountered Organization XIII’s remaining members; his anger was Roxas’s (and maybe Ventus’s?) anger. 

I played Birth by Sleep before playing 358/2 Days. Some scenes in 358/2 have a much more powerful punch if you play the games in that order. I think that Roxas really DID have a heart of his own, possibly two – specifically his own newborn heart, plus Ventus’s (hehe, does that make him a Time Lord?). He could have also just been Ventus, who would have been thoroughly disoriented from being forcefully separated from Sora when Xemnas/Xehanort found him.  

There are a few oddly realistic details in this colorful fairytale. However that's a topic for another day.

Speaking of which, all of that left me with a strong urge to build a few things, including a keyblade. 

I haven’t forgotten about the freebies. The two uniforms are pretty much together. I had to set back the release date because, in addition to the aforementioned hospital visit, the motion controls needed a serious overhaul. My original plan involved more body handles than these two currently have and came out very badly. I removed all but one handle and supplemented it with morphs. The tunics use the same maps. That should give you more options. You’ll see what I mean. :)

In any case, the Kunzite uniform is done and I’m fine tuning the other suit.( I will need to post an update, but it’s pretty much functional and you’ve been waiting a very long time) There are other goodies to enjoy, too. :) I wanted to post this stuff two months ago, but better late than never, right?