700 Posts

It's dangerous business, going out your front door.

Oh boy, there is it: the grand 700! Except, not actually 700 because I, once again, didn't see it coming and so am off by about a week, but facts are still facts; by the time this publishes it will join a list of at least 700 other blogs that I've already posted, proving once and for all that I have truly nothing better to do with my life and/or time. I have to be honest, I find the prospect just a tad tiring, although that may be the aftermath of catching hayfever this morning, everything feels just a little bit more tiring than it perhaps should. And yet, right now I'm sitting at nearly two years of continuous straight blogging writing down literally everything under the sun that has possessed even the slightest relation to gaming and my interests within that space, and though there have been some close calls over those years, some times when I'm literally writing and editing until a handful of minutes before midnight, somehow I've always managed to get this blog out before my self-imposed deadline. Perhaps that's worth some vague merit somewhere, I hope so...

With this stage in the life of whatever it is I'm doing with this here blog, I feel strangely more connected to the topics I touch on than I ever have before. Or at least, more connected than I remember being, seven hundred instances day-after-day has a tendency to blend in the ol' mind cage so I can't be positively certain of my exact feelings, but I think I'm getting right down to who I am and why I play games through the topics I'm covering recently. It ain't no great mystery, by-the-by, I'm just lonely and need some form of escapism, but in the vein of that contrived pomp which infects all writers I always felt there was some innate truth underneath that explicitly defies simple explanation. Something that could only be said through example, or if I was more a poet, through allegory. (Thank god I'm not a poet then) Maybe you're starting to see that truth written on the face of my touching upon Dragon's Dogma lately, a game I've ever attested to be underappreciated, or my very recent reviews of a game of tantamount import to be, Morrowind. 

Yes, those Morrowind reviews were actually very significant for me. Not because they were huge bloated affairs or anything, but because they really helped close a chapter that had been opened for far too long; having never finished Morrowind to start with, but also having never quite processed my journey into Elder Scrolls- the first fantasy property I ever properly loved. (I stand today a bonafide fantasy nut, so that origin's of quite some significance to a guy like me) Coming back to that game after so many years, and off of a whim, was like some great releasing of energy that has finally freed me from the curse. Of course, now I feel obliged to replay Oblivion and Skyrim and perhaps even give Daggerfall a third chance, because I never got into that game like I did Arena, so I guess I've opened myself up to a whole new prison.

One thing that's new for me in my personal interests, or if not *new* than at least evolved, is the fact that I'm really getting into tabletop roleplaying. Actually, that's a misnomer, I don't have friends, I'm more getting into watching other people play play tabletop roleplaying, because I just totally love the imagination that goes into it. I casually mentioned that I, for the first time ever, started watching Critical Role from the beginning and it's been a brilliant showcase in the way that improv fuels a lot of the D&D action. Of course, those are trained actors who've probably literally taken improvisation classes, but you see a lot of it in more casual set-ups as well, and I love to see that on-the-fly mile-a-minute storytelling and decision making; it's so fun as a viewer. (FYI; I don't recommend watching Critical Role from the beginning like me, for no over reason than I've queued myself up for watching more than 1000 hours of content which is likely going to take the next two years to get through, I don't wish this on anybody.)

Aside from that I've been strangely reticent on touching any of the new actually produced content which seems to be blowing up around me, probably because it's new game season and I have a tendency to get insular when a whole bunch of games I'm excited for are coming out and I don't want to be spoiled until I can play them a couple of years later. Bad Batch has, and may continue to, passed me by, Invincible is blowing up and I still know next to nothing about it; and Resident Evil 8 is out, so I'm in full hermit crab mode. Still, it makes me feel like the world of entertainment is passing me by, which just goes to highlight how the real world is doing the same. So I'm a tad more melancholic than usual of late, which- actually who am I kidding? I'm always melancholic, that's like my defining character trait. 'More so than usual', what a crock...

Alas, moving forward there are certainly a few new ideas I want to get around to, that are really just more excuses for me to try fun blogs like the ongoing series I'm doing with XCOM. (Still doing that by-the-way just need to work up a little courage) Just the sorts of blogs that give me an opportunity to talk about games that I like from a full nerdy perspective rather than being 'introductive' and 'surface level' all the time. Similarly, I'm exploring whether it might be fun to do a deep dive into Elder Scrolls lore tidbits, seeing as how much of a fan I am of those games and how that isn't exactly represented by it's presence on these blogs. The only problem in that regard being that there's just so much reading material on Elder Scrolls I'm almost guaranteed to always leave something behind. Then again, if I let that stop me, it's almost as though I'm saying Dark Souls is more approachable from a lore angle than Elder Scrolls, and that don't seem right at all.

I also want to start upping the presence of Star Wars on this blog, and that might just be because all these rumours of Star Wars Knights of The Old Republic are getting me hyped, or just because I can't quit Start Wars after all these years. Everyone I used to know who was big on Star Wars stuff has either moved on or just simply aren't in my circle anymore, so I don't really have anyone to geek out with, and if this blog has taught it anything it's that whenever I'm alone I can always keep myself company. The only debate for that is whether or not there's really any future in touching on Star Wars content, what with the constantly shifting cannon and Disney's seemingly active attempts to delete it's own consumer base systematically. At least we're getting more Mandalorian, thank god that show isn't finished yet or things would be dire.

So yes, I'm insulating, retreating into the things I know and building a fort out of it, but is that really so bad? Heck, there's enough folk out there who talk about things they know next to nothing about, and as much as I do enjoy doing that a bit myself from time to time, maybe a little shake-up isn't the worst possible thing in the world. Get real nerdy sometimes, talk about actually playing some of these games I love, get around to reviewing all my favourite/least favourite games. (the latter will be a sort list; I don't tend to keep games I hate around) And, most importantly of all, don't miss this month's recommended game like I did in April. Yes, that was a goof, I feel terrible about it. Whelp, there's one more status update done. Seen you in another hundred! (Also, not to self, stop writing 'folk' so much. I literally never say that in person, it's entirely exclusive to my writing persona and I don't get it. Wonder if Jungian Psychology can unravel that little mystery...)