YouTube and Me

I've been pondering the next 'move' for my YouTube Gaming Channel after my fairly successful DXHR run.

The marathon part was a bit much, but it was actually pretty fun to have folks come and hang out for a while and talk Deus Ex.



The long-form continuous playthrough, though, has actually gained some traction, which surprised me. I can understand why it would be interesting to watch, theoretically, but I can't fathom someone actually setting aside the required 30 hours to do so. But, some folks are. Cool!

I like doing it, and I seem to slowly be finding a niche audience. Where do I go from here?

Well, I've been thinking about that, and here's kinda where I am:

01. In thinking about what I want to see more of on YouTube, I want to see:
   a. someone that doesn't scream in falsetto (or at all, really)
   b. someone that's committed to the roleplay of the character in-game, but not to their audience
   c. in terms of a long 'canon' playthrough of a game, mods that enhance the original vision of the game
   d. someone knowledgeable about the game's lore
   e. someone knowledgeable about the game's development
   f. someone that has well-founded opinions on the game, and that can communicate them in an intelligent, non-hyperbolic fashion
   g. someone that's cool and funny
02. I enjoy sharing some of my gaming with the world; for example, I'm enjoying playing DXMD for the first time by myself, and wouldn't enjoy sharing that with YouTube; conversely, my new 'MMO & Chill' streams are there for hanging out and socializing; what I did with DXHR was my second playthrough after five years, and that really enhanced the experience; it was technically my first playthrough of the Director's Cut; streaming subsequent runs of games that I know and love is fun, especially when I can balance, commentary, comedy, and knowledge
03. I think my channel, for me to stick with it, needs to have more than one 'product;' that's where the 'MMO & Chill' thing came from; I don't want to just be that guy that makes 15-20 streams for one game, and it's this really long, involved, intense thing
04. I think I might get away from, altogether, playing brand new games on the channel; there's a ton of people already doing that, and that's really not the way I enjoy discovering games
05. I think I'd really enjoy devoting my channel to not-new games; not really 'retro' games, though some of those might come up; I'm not one of those dickheads that believes that everything good stopped being made after year X. I love all kinds of games from all kinds of years, and fully believe that every year, the best games ever made are being made

So, with that in mind, I think this where we're going from here.

01. I'm going to have an ongoing series in which I'm playing through a game (or series), at least an hour a week. Probably more. I may even have two in parallel. It'll usually be pointed at an upcoming release, but not always. The series that are will be titled 'The Road to [insert upcoming game].' They'll always be subtitled 'Blaine vs [insert title of game or series that's being played].'
   a. in support of this, I will have done a lot of research on both the in-game lore, as well as the behind-the-scenes so that I can drop interesting knowledge bombs while playing.
   b. I'll install mods to crank up the visuals to their max prettiest. I may install mods that bring cut content back. I won't install the 'Skyrim Needed Thomas the Tank Engine' mods, unless that somehow suits the theme I'm going for.
   c. These will almost always be on a weekend night. I'm going to look into expanding my streaming schedule, but for now, this is what you get.
02. My other stream series will be Sunday mornings, and that will be my 'MMO & Chill' series. I'll rotate the following MMOs: Elder Scrolls Online (which was featured this morning), SWTOR, Guild Wars 2, Final Fantasy XIV, Star Trek Online, Guild Wars 1, and Neverwinter. I'll also try out others if enough people request them. The objective of this stream will be to just chill and do whatever in-game.
03. I don't have any other series planned yet.

I'm also part of a larger network of streamers called The 1UP Rejects, and we're slowly building a pretty decent catalog, with something for anyone. Give it a look. In particular, the Single-Player Multiplay is pretty cool. It's my buddy Marc and me each playing through DXHR, but totally differently. I dig the shit outta that.

So, here's what's coming next (for my channel):

Rest of 2016 + early 2017: The Road to Mass Effect Andromeda: Blaine vs the Mass Effect Trilogy
Later 2016: Blaine vs the KotORs
2017-2018: The Road to Dragon Age 4: Blaine vs the Dragon Age Trilogy
2017: add another weekly show (lemme know what you want)
2018: add another weekly show

The plan isn't super-aggressive, and that's intentional. I'm a husband, father, developer, writer, and too many other things right now to just set everything aside and do this, though I really enjoy this. The plan is to build up a bigger support structure for this over time, and we'll just see where it goes.

On that note, I could really use your help. Check out my channel. Watch my videos. Subscribe. Like. Donate. Comment. Share the videos. Please. And give feedback. Seriously. If it's constructive and/or praising, I really need both.

Here's a look at my first 'MMO & Chill' stream:

It wasn't as chill as I would've liked, but it still ended up being pretty fun.

I'm going to try and get started with my 'Road to Mass Effect' series today, but it may not happen. We'll see. I have a lot of modding to do with it first, and some of these mods are nearly the size of the base game install.

Anyway, give my stuff a look, lemme know what you think, and hit me with any requests.

Thanks!

-Blaine

FOOBA!!!

If you're wondering where I've been, it's fantasy football season, AND school for the wife and kids has started back up, so I'm fucking swamped every moment of every day.

However, if you really miss me, you can check out my recently-completed full play-through of Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Director's Cut on my YouTube channel.



I did pick up Mankind Divided, played about a half-hour, and then put it away until I really have time to play it. Maybe in about three weeks? We'll see.

I love and hate this time of year so much. I love that football is cranking up, that the MLB pennant races are heating up, that the fall video game release cadence has started, that the kids are back in school, but I despise the drain on my time. Ugh.

Anyway, this is all I got time for right now.

-Blaine

Deus Ex Marathon Weekend

First things first, here's all of Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Director's Cut that I've already played through. Give it a look. It's quite accidentally entertaining:



The Deus Ex series is very near and dear to my heart. I got the idea last month to replay the previous game, since a) I'd never played the 'Director's Cut,' and b) it'd be fun to stream my entire playthrough of a game. I'd always wanted to do that, and this was a chance.

What I didn't consider was how busy I am. An hour or two a weekend didn't cut it.

Thus, I'm going to try and play through the rest of it late tonight, all day tomorrow, and all day Sunday.

PLEASE come hang out and watch. PLEASE. I'm going to have fun with this, and it would mean a lot if folks came out, showed some support, and had a good time with me.

Here's the link to my live page.

I'll shoot something out on my Twitter later when I'm going live tonight, tomorrow, and Sunday.

I hope to see you this weekend! Happy Friday!

-Blaine

Videos & Heroes

Hey All,

I wanted to share some super coolness that came out this week. Some of my favorite people and franchises popped up on YouTube and I just gotta share.

First, Sven Vincke and Chris Avellone were on the PC Gamer Show, talking about the latest news, as well as Prey and Divinity: Original Sin 2.

I'm a huge fan of both both guys, and I LOVE that they're working together. I totally fanboyed out when I saw that they were going to be appearing together on the show. And it doesn't disappoint.

Next, THAT TRAILER hit Thursday night ...

Then, last night, Josh Sawyer showed up on Fallout: Off the Record. Again, I totally fanboyed out. Give it a look.

Very cool stuff.

Also, I jumped back into my Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Director's Cut playthrough last night, and I had a fun stream. Here's the playlist.



And that's it for now. I'll try to get my Star Trek Convention Megapost up tomorrow.

Thanks, and lemme know if there's anything else you wanna see me stream. And is there anyone from the old-school RPG scene of whom you're a big fan?

-Blaine

whatcha playin'? 2016/07/28

Maybe I'll start doing this every Thursday lunch. We'll see. I always like talking to people about what they're playing and why. I guess I originally got the idea from gaming podcasts, mainly 1UP Yours and CGW Radio. By the way, those were amazing podcasts when the mainstays of 1UP were still around (Jeff Green, Shawn Elliot, Mark McDonald, Shane Bettenhausen, Luke Smith, Garnett Lee, John Davison, etc.) Such great memories. And we can't forget about the 1UP Show. Changing subject, getting sad!

Anyway, this will be my last weekend in St. Louis for a couple weeks, since I'm traveling again next week. We're going to Vegas for the Star Trek 50th Anniversary Convention. Also, I'll be soliciting advice for that this weekend, but feel free to leave any in the comments right now, in regards to what to expect, and how to go about making sure I get to all the panels I wanna see.

Anyway, the weekend is nearly upon us. Whatcha playin' this weekend?

I'm eyeballing lotsa Wasteland 2. I think I've said it before, but I have a terrible habit of not really giving my full attention to games that aren't in my core series, and this was a victim. ADD like a muthafucka. Now that I'm making myself focus when I play it, I'm really enjoying the hell out of it. And this game features some REALLY tough decisions. I love it, and as a big fan of Fallout, I really appreciate both the similarities and stark differences.

Guild Wars 2's Living World Season 3 has kicked off, and I am nowhere near ready. I'm still pushing through Living World Season 2, and I still have Heart of Thorns waiting, sooo ... I'm gonna continue catching up. I adore this game, but I took like two years off from it to play other MMOs.

I'm going to do another episode of my Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Director's Cut: Lotsa Colons series this weekend. In this series, I'm replaying DXHR (but the Director's Cut for the first time) to get myself refreshed for Mankind Divided. It's a fun series, and it's been cool to compare and contrast the game with other games that have more recently come out.



I'm also excited to get back to SWTOR. I've recently switched to a new guild, after dealing with a dying one all here, and holy shit, having an active guild makes a huge difference. Also, the Dark vs Light event is awesome. I might stream more of it, though the fact that I can't monetize the SWTOR videos is annoying. Anyway, I love this game so damn much, and I'm so glad that they got it back on track after a couple years of slumming it with dumb stuff like macrobinocular missions and starfighter and other nonsense. Knights of the Fallen Empire, eventually, became awesome, and if they carry that into Knights of the Eternal Throne, that will be awesome.

I still want a proper expansion, though.

Also, if you wanna try SWTOR, hit up my referral link, please.

Last, I wanna continue more of Fallout 4: Vault-Tec Workshop. I had a good time with it earlier this week, even though that type of DLC usually isn't my kinda thing. I'm more stoked for the Nuka World expac that's coming, which will be the final release for Fallout 4. I just prefer more story-driven material than the 'more shit to do' DLC. However, the Vault-Tec stuff is pretty rad.

And I think that's it, for now. I really should poke at I Am Setsuna more, but, the more I think about it, the more it didn't make a great first impression. We'll see, though. Maybe I was just in a bad mood at the time.

So, what about you? Whatcha playin' this weekend?

-Blaine

Just Another Manic Monday

Man, I am just a monster on Monday mornings now. Yikes. I can kinda joke around, but I get so annoyed with people that aren't focused on the discussion at hand, and get pretty fucking dismissive about things that I see as irrelevant to what I am discussing at that moment. Wow.

That's like four work Mondays in a row in which I'm just not feeling like dealing with people. I usually roll my eyes at people that are like that, too. When did I become one of them?

Part of it, I think, is that, for the summer, I get up at 530AM Mon-Thurs to accommodate the family schedule. To accomplish that, I dose myself with various pain relief PM pills to help me get to sleep early, but then I'm groggy as hell in the morning, and I still haven't quite slept enough.

I dunno. On one hand, I need to get over it, but on the other, I'm OK with asking people to cut me a little slack at the front end of the week.

On the positive side, I did finish the main campaign for Dishonored, which was a really fun game. And about the right length.

Dishonored and Doom, both, have recently hit home for me just how important traversal can be for a game. A big part of the reason I enjoy them both so thoroughly is that movement is easy and fun. WASD + mouse look + context buttons are great, and when the first-person control constantly lands you where you were expecting ... man, it's just so satisfying. And the 'Blink' power. Ah. So wonderful. By the end, I was Blinking everywhere. I'd Blink up behind a dude, stab him in the neck, Blink to another dude, stab, and on and on. It was so awesome.

And yeah, I ended up with a pretty high Chaos level, but I felt justified. I didn't kill everybody, but I did take out the ones that I felt had lied to me and/or betrayed me. Or if they shot at me. Or if I couldn't take the chance of leaving them alive. You get the idea.

I then moved on to the first of the Daud DLCs (The Knife of Dunwall). I think I should've held off for at least a month or two, actually. One, Daud's jump is just waaay too floaty relative to Corvo's, and two ... it's weird right back in with lowered stakes. I dunno. Maybe I'll chill on it for a bit.

Otherwise, I got back into Shadowrun Dragonfall Director's Cut. Yeah, OK, let me explain.

So, I have this thing where I'll hit max-frustration breaking point with a game, in which I decide 'this is no longer fun, so why am I spending time with it? I'll come back when I figure out how to beat this part that's making me crazy.' Sometimes, it's a week, sometimes it's nine months. In this case, it was nine months.

So, yeah, I saw that game in my 'installed' list in the Steam instance on my ROG, thought about it, walked around the house doing a little picking up, and then it dawned on me that a) I needed to leave one party member way behind while b) drawing the enemy forces into a choke point, and it worked!

And, man, I LOVE games by Harebrained Schemes. These guys are so good at what they do. The writing, art, combat, strategy, lore, and world-building are all top-notch in their games. I can't wait to play more, and then jump over to Hong Kong.

Of course, now, I'm at that point where I have too many games all going on. Dragonfall, Dishonored: The Knifs of Dunwall, Witcher 3: Blood and Wine, a second playthrough of Dragon Age Inquisition, the four MMOs I juggle, and I still wanna do another playthrough of Deus Ex: Human Revolution before Mankind Divided comes out. I think I'm gonna chill on Daud for now, focus on Dragonfall and Blood and Wine, then maybe come back to Daud after DXHR is done again. We'll see.

Oh, and this is a separate post for another time, but I installed Pokemon Go to bond with my oldest son, and it's been a lot of fun doing something with him where he's the expert instead of me. It's made him really happy, and it's been a cool way to spend time together. More on this later.

You playing anything cool lately? Anything coming out soon for which you are crazy-hyped?

-Blaine

Oh, and I streamed some Final Fantasy XIV for no reason, but ended up having a great discussion with chat about what defines a 'Final Fantasy' game. Check it out, and feel free to chime in the comments.

Too Much Reality

I don't ignore social problems. I just don't have the same instant outbursts of vitriol that have become fashionable in this age. It's like there's a race to see who can have a strong opinion the fastest. Just not my cup of tea. I'm content to hang back, observe, see what happens, and then, if I need to, form an opinion. At this point, most of it just sounds like children screaming.

I also don't think that 'cops killing black men' is as simple a problem as it's portrayed. Were I to look at it more closely, I'm guessing I'd find that socioeconomic problems on both sides are in play, as well as psychological issues on the part of the police. There's probably also some conditioning that's happening that predispose the two 'sides' to antagonism toward each other.

Regardless, if I pull way back and look at the issue from the perspective of time and space, I see a) things really are getting better. It's hard to see when it's all up in your face, but things really are getting better, and b) social media warriors ... most of them make their platform look like idiots. Bring reason and manners to the table or get the fuck out. All caps and hyperbole don't help your case a bit. When's the last time you got your mind changed about a political stance because of a Facebook post or fucking bumper sticker?

Anyway, it's tiresome. Were there actual discourse involved, I might be interested, but it's millions of people all trying to shout over each other. It's a mess.

And frankly, I'm more focused on Juno and Jupiter right now.

Thus, I'm thinking about what I want to accomplish with the rest of the summer.

Off the top of my head ...

01) finish Blood and Wine
02) finish Dishonored
03) Play through Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Director's Cut (I played the original release, but feel a playthrough of this would be a helpful refresher for the next game in August)
04) Build a basic RPG in Unity with the ORK Framework
05) drop another 20 pounds
06) blog nearly every day
07) build a stable streaming audience

I think that's probably plenty.

Anything in particular you all wanna see me stream? I'm mostly PC gaming, and have a ton of properly modded shit, and a huge library, so I can accommodate nearly any request.

I'm also thinking about starting to toss some fiction up here. Not sure. Maybe a weekly serial? We'll see. I've got some cool original stuff that I've worked on over the years, and I won't lie, I have a pretty bitchin' Star Wars fan fic idea from the Old Republic era that I've been itching to work on.

Anywho, it's been a fucking hell of a week, and I'm ready to chill and stream.

Word. Thanks for reading. I hope reality stops harshing my buzz like immediately.

-Blaine