Update Two Hundred and Fifty-One: 9 November 2018
Connected Hearts
44 hours playtime, ~6 hours actual, 13 of 13 achievements
5/10
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
When I think about what makes a work ‘good,’ I find that it comes down to a really ephemeral question: does it have that somethin’? I haven’t been able to pin it down yet, but it makes the difference between something unbearable and something good but rough. In drawings, it’s a sense of rightness, of movement—even if the colors aren’t the best or some anatomy might be off. In movies, it’s when you get swept up in the story even if the sets leave something to be desired and maybe on sober viewing the plot doesn’t make the MOST sense. In visual novels - it’s Connected Hearts.
Connected Hearts isn’t good, but it has that somethin’, buried under a frankly very weak translation. I’d be interested to read it in its original language, if I could, to see perhaps the language was deft then. The ideas are good—not groundbreaking, but good—and it could really be a sterling free VN if it had a better hand in shaping its execution in English.
Unfortunately, that’s not what you get. I can’t recommend Connected Hearts, though I’m a little fond of it despite itself.
Life news update: Yesterday, I quit my job. While I had initially very high hopes for it, and while I learned a great many skills there, the workplace culture was just not a good fit for me and it was an increasingly unpleasant place to spend 8 hours a day in. I’m taking my ass back to therapy and resuming dog walking (hopefully!) in the meantime. I’m not incredibly thrilled at having an outside job going into winter, but honestly walking dogs outside part time is preferable than being locked in a room with toxic people. Onward and upwards!
Next up: Another long-ish otome game with beautiful visuals. How does it hold up after coming off of OZMAFIA!!?? let’s find out!
See you soon!
Doggies :D
I’m currently looking for a job, and I hope the one I find won’t be full of toxic people D: It’d be lame after nearly 6 months of unemployment. To start something, and have to leave.
Well, I held on for 5 months and put a shit ton of money away (appropriately called ‘Fuck You’ money, because I was able to tell them to go fuck themselves* and just leave) so that DID leave me with a set up where I made a cushion for myself give myself space and time to look for work.
I… really didn’t want to leave, and I really wanted to stay there for a couple of years just to buff up my resume, but it wasn’t the place to do that at, and I’ve got some idea on how to spin it going forward. The risk is, when you’re desperate for a job, you can disregard some red flags because you’re desperate for ANYTHING and you’ll say yes to ANYTHING… but then the real-life, day-in-day-out, 8-hours-a-day reality sets in. Then I had to contend with: Can I really stand this? How long can I stand it before I break?
I hope you get into a job that you like well enough and, most importantly, the people treat you with kindness and respect, Mskotor. I’m sending you them ‘get that job!!’ vibes.
*as much as my dad wanted me to tell them this, in reality I did not I was polite
I was on PhD that I dropped year ago or so. And only yesterday someone named thing that was irking me in people there. Gossip culture. I don’t care about gossips. And people that worked in “my area” (like 11 - 13 people) could gossip for hours. So I really didn’t fit in there.
I’m glad you’re secured for now, and can look for job. I hear constantly that I should accept any job, as job is job. But I don’t feel like doing something I dislike, just for the sake of getting minimal wage.
And don’t send me people, I won’t know how to take care of them :blobnervous:
Oh boy does THAT sound familiar. Gossip was the name of the game… except when I quietly vented to others about how intimidating the management was and how I wished I had more support. Then THAT was insubordination!
I feel ya, it’s a hard balance.
Oh no! I’m so sorry…there must be nothing worse than a toxic work environment. I’ve never really encountered that, but I know it’s quite common.
I’m actually about to resign from my job too. Believe it or not, I have the same basic job (IT, software development, etc.) since I was 21 fresh out of college. But at long last, it’s time to move on.
Awww, Trent, thank you.
I don’t want to think of myself as someone who caves easily, but there really was NO escape from it. We were all in one room, and I was constantly five feet from my manager at all times, subject to her whims (let alone the whims of the two owners, which were….)
I really hope one day I can find a job like you had, where I feel comfortable to stay for so long. It’s always great to recognize when it’s time to try something new.
someone who caves easily
From what little I know, I am just about certain this does not describe you!
You’d think, right? But working at that job really did make me a worse version of myself - I felt dumb and afraid all the time, and I would get scolded and treated like I was a misbehaving child for… making a commonplace error, like switching two numbers around every once in a while. Or get taught to do something one way, do it that way for months… then out of the blue get reamed for ‘how did you get it into your head to do that? Who told you to do it that way? We’ve NEVER done it like that.’
… It grinds down on a person.
Sounds like you made the right decision to leave. *hugs*
Other PhD student at that place ran to our supervisor, complaining I did something in a way supervisor shown me :hehe: As she decided I did it wrongly.
Of course only thing I heard few days later was “Oh she’s like that” from supervisor. You can “be like that” as 5 y/o kid which can’t control itself. Not 28 y/o “adult” woman, that run to supervisor to complain, as you did something in other way than she’d want to. She was bossy, not-self aware, “spotless” shit. Not someone I should be afraid of, or act on her every whim. Ugh.
At some point we were joking in this 13-person group, and gave everyone “pokemon nickname”. She get jigglypuff, as she was “puffing up” when you dared to note she did something wrong. She never forgave me, that I came up with this comparison.
God save me from people like that in the future D:
Oh nameless, one of my favourites, one of the latest sales I shelled out cash to get the extra dlc so will be replaying it again for who knows how many times now to experience them
Really? That’s heartening to hear! I’m starting in on it and the only downside is that the text is somewhat small. The art is lovely
Downside for me if interested not really any spoilers but someone might consider it a spoiler: My biggest pet peeve is the fact when you finish the endings it will show you pictures and Tei will spoil a photo for their bad end, while it doesn’t spoil much I could see someone slam them for revealing whats coming up if they havent finished it already. I cant remember if the others do I didn’t really pay much attention but when I noticed it with Tei i was like NO! Oh i just noticed they claim the game takes like 40 hours yet ive got 29 and that with reading it more then once. Im sure if I slowed down alot it could be 40 hours but no this shouldnt take you that long