30 Insights of a Diluted Mind

No need for a fancy intro. Time to dive right in. Here’s 30 Insights that are brewing around in the ol’ brain these days.

1) For whatever reason, I’ve been feeling a very strong creative itch and I’m definitely pushing myself to scratch it. I’ve been very complacent lately and haven’t allowed myself to do much from a creative standpoint but lately I’ve been craving it. The more I consume of others’ work, the more I feel I want to do my own. I’m REALLY trying to keep it simple, but that’s easier said than done.

2) My ‘life-work-free time’ balance is stronger than it’s ever been, which I think is playing in to my desire to get back into my creatives. The only issue is that I’ve been spending a lot of time at the office doing design work and using a mouse quite a bit, so any after hours work on a computer at home is putting some serious strain on my wrist, and the pain just doesn’t feel worth going through. Not an ‘excuse’ but something I’m cognizant of as I delve back into my creative ways.

3) I have a lot of things on the go right now; I’ve been working on the latest episode of my ‘The History of WWE Video Games” series, which has been slower than I thought, but nothing that I’m getting discouraged about. It’s a much bigger project in scope than I imagined it would be, and I’ve already thought about how I can change it moving forward to suit a better flow.

4) One of those ideas is to combine games into a single video, rather than giving each release it’s own episode. For example, the WWF Game Boy games aren’t exciting by any stretch and there’s only so much to say, so I need to decide whether I lump those games into a single episode or not. Problem is, I’m trying to be as chronological as possible with this series, so combining games doesn’t play into that. Plus, I think I’d rather have a shorter video and give its own focus, so...not sure what I’m going to do there.

5) About a year ago, I played and finished Kirby’s Adventure for the NES for the first time. Before it, I had only ever played Kirby’s Dream Land (Game Boy) and Triple Deluxe/Planet Robobot (3DS). As I played it, I was really sucked into the charm of the game and it’s simple, yet challenging, nature. I captured the entire play through and recently wrote a script, so I may produce a short video on that at some point.

6) Much as I enjoy the wrestling series I’m doing, I do want to change it up from time to time so that I don’t get burnt out of the subject matter. Hence, the potential of a Kirby video. As far as what takes priority in the creative ‘to do’ list...I’m not sure. I just need to make sure that if I start one, I finish it.

7) One element of my video script writing that I’m really trying to change is allowing it to have more of a ‘personal’ feel, rather than a ‘review’ tone. Much as any review or retrospective on a subject has some form of an educational component, it’s the personal touch that makes each review different. Therefore, rather than voice a script that is more like reading a Wikipedia entry, I’m going to challenge myself to put more of a ‘Wally’ vibe on them moving forward.

8) I recently added an Instagram account! YAY! I’m so 2010! I’ve never had any use for it before, but thought it might be another way to interact with people, and maybe put some specific things on there, rather than on Twitter. We’ll see. It might get old quick, but I’m willing to give it a chance. You can follow here, if you’d like. I have a whopping TWO followers as of writing this, so feel free to add to that.

9) I would REALLY love to try my hand at streaming, but I’m finding it harder and harder to try and accomplish. It’s challenging enough to find a small window to voice a script or a podcast with my three kids kickin’ around. By the time they’re in bed and I have time to voice, it’s usually late and it’s tough to do. Or...when I finally get a window to voice, I’m too tired to do anything. Plus, I’d hate to be in the middle of the stream and have one of my kids pop into the room and interrupt or something of that nature. I know, it sounds like a lot of excuses, so maybe I should just bite the bullet and get to it.

10) I actually DO have a Twitch page. I put it together with the best of intentions, but I don’t have OBS set up or anything so I’m going to have to revisit that again, or just stream without any fancy backgrounds or anything of that nature. We’ll see. Again, if you’re interested, you can follow me on Twitch.

11) I’m working on a bigger colab project with a few of my favorite online personalities and I’ve since had to change my focus. I know that’s incredibly vague, but I don’t want to give away all the fun details. Let’s just say a specific game I was going to discuss seems to have gotten the attention of another, and I’d rather not double-up on the same title, so I’m trying to find another. I think I’ve found it though, so I’ll be starting on that this week too. #RiseFromYourGrave

12) I’ve fallen into the wrestling/hockey video game playing trap again. WWE and NHL games are consuming most of my game time these days. On one hand, I try to tell myself not to beat myself up by playing them fairly exclusively since I enjoy them so much, but I also know that if I could just shelve them, even for a few weeks, I’d experience so much more of my collection that I’ve been eager to dive into.

13) A couple of months ago I started playing Persona 4 Golden on the PS Vita. I had purchased it a few years ago and had never gotten around to playing it. It’s been a weird experience thus far as I’ve had moments where I can’t put it down and others where just thinking about playing it again makes me roll my eyes.

14) It may have more to do with the high school ‘sim’ aspect of relationships, girlfriends and mundane tasks and the story that seems to drag out longer to allow for said relationships to form...I dunno. It’s good...and it’s interesting to see where some of these relationships go, but it seems (at times) that’s all the game is. And then, BAM, you’re back to fighting and whatnot. Like I said, I’ve enjoyed what I’ve played of it, but I’m already 45 hours in and I’m pretty sure I have that much more to go. I’m not sure I have it in me.

15) As my interest in P4G started to fade, I jumped into a SNES RPG that I’ve wanted to play forever and have finally given some attention to: Lufia II. I’m only about 8 hours in, but it reminds me what I love about 16-bit RPGs so much. I know that random encounters and turn-based fighting aren’t very popular these days, but the sprites and music are enough to keep me zoned in for the long haul.

16) The original Lufia is one of my all-time favorite games, and I managed to finish it a few years ago. It was one of the more satisfying experiences of my gaming life and not because it’s a spectacular task by any stretch, but because it was a game I had rented so much as a kid and sunk many, many hours into and never got the opportunity to see it through. Lufia is in my top ten, I think.

17) Speaking of top ten...Over the past year or so, Pam (@jasyla_ on Twitter) has been releasing her top 100 favorite games of all time and it’s been a really enjoyable watch. Releasing in five game increments, Pam’s diverse tastes in games and broad span over the years has been a fascinating series that I’ve really enjoyed because it covers so many games that I’ve never played before. It’s led to me compiling my own top 100, but my list isn’t as sexy as I thought it might be.

18) I shouldn’t be surprised though. I really didn’t play many video games between 2002 and 2010, and there’s a couple of generations in there that I completely missed out on. When I look at my list, it’s either retro 8 and 16-bit or completely modern. I know it’s incredibly difficult to narrow things down to 100, especially when you continue to play games that continually get released. Since I started writing it, I’ve added a few games into the list and moved some off. It’s not an easy task and I don’t know where and when to cut it off. Either way, I love Pam’s idea for a series and hope to start my own before the end of 2018.

19) Pam’s also been very influential in promoting other YouTubers and promoting some smaller creators that were close to personal milestones, such as subscriber counts. It’s inspired me to make a video on some of my favorite ‘Tubers to help spread the word about some of these peeps. I wrote a piece a couple of years ago about some of my favorite creators, of which Pam was included, but damned if I can find it now. Regardless, it’s definitely something I want to do.

20) You know what’s a really fun, stupid game? Golf Story. I watched a small trailer for it and immediately bought it for my Switch. I recently finished it and it was instantly placed in my aforementioned top 100. In a nutshell, it’s a golfing RPG with wonderful sprites and really enjoyable writing. I’m a big fan, and will recommend it any chance I get.

21) A ton of people have been sharing their thoughts on Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon so I won’t go into great detail. All I will say is that it was a very fun throwback to Castlevania games of yore and I will definitely dive into the other modes in the near future. Ton of fun.

22) I have the Kingdom Hearts Remix (1.5) that I bought a couple of years ago, determined that I was finally going to dive into the series,. To date, I haven’t touched it yet because the whole process seems confusing as hell. I suppose I could play the remix, but I also bought Dream Drop Distance (3DS) during a Black Friday sale on the cheap years back and haven’t touched it because I discovered it wouldn’t make sense without having played previous games in the series. But trying to find out which games to play in which order...I eventually just gave up. It’s still wrapped in plastic. I may never play it.

23) I know that seems a little much, but look at the title of the latest Kingdom Hearts release:

"2.8". "Final Chapter Prologue". Doesn’t that title just say it all?

24) Outside of two games that were given as gifts, every purchase I’ve made for my Nintendo Switch have been digital. I know some are extremely wary about an all-digital future, and I know that I even had my own apprehensions about buying digital titles exclusively. For example, buying physical allows for the ability to re-sell, which has been a really nice perk with a good portion of my collection that I’ve shipped off to fund additional purchases. That said, not having to worry about the storage space for all of the games I have on my Switch has been really nice too. Plus, no additional storage needed while carrying it on the go. I may end up regretting this decision down the road, but for now, it’s been great.

25) I get excited for E3 every year, and I make no apologies for it. I don’t yearn for a specific release like some do, nor do I get upset if something doesn’t get announced the way I want it to. I just like seeing the excitement around new games and ideas for the future. There’s usually only a game or two I ever see that I think, “Ooooh! I’d really like to play that!” but I still enjoy watching the presentations.

26) Of course there’s always the slough of people every year that have to publicly state how much they hate E3 or that people ‘shouldn’t get excited’ or ‘prepare to be disappointed’. Listen, if something makes someone happy, let them enjoy it. Don’t be a dink about it. If it’s not your thing, make it easier for everyone; don’t comment, and say nothing.

27) Getting back to digital game releases, I know a lot of people prefer physical due to licenses and the very real possibility that games can disappear suddenly and with little to no reason, lost to gamers forever. Some state preservation, some just don’t want to lose something they paid good money for. I get it. And I totally understand that.

28) I’m like that with video game commercials/trailers. Now, the likelihood of most of these disappearing is pretty slim compared to an actual game release, but I still enjoy re-watching old game trailers and commercials to see how games are being pushed/influenced on consumers. It’s why I’ve got a hard drive full of old video game commercials and trailers that I’ve snagged off of YouTube over the years. Everything I’ve downloaded is still available online for the most part, but it’s about preservation. Too many things are long thought lost these days.

29) Every time I post a blog, I make sure to mention how much I miss podcasting. I figure, eventually, I’ll keep posting it enough to actually follow up with something.

30) As always, thanks for taking the time to read this. I’m as consistent as a Canadian summer, but I appreciate those that have stuck around or continue to come back. Thanks.