First, The 1UP Rejects is on hold at the moment. Short version - we started out too big and too aggressive. It'll be back, at some point.
For now, I'm back doing my own thing, starting this Friday!
So, I'm starting small, and I'll be streaming two nights a week, Thursday and Friday.
Thursday, I'll be streaming the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series from 2000-2300 (central US time). I'm already a few episodes in, and you can watch those below. The intent is that I'll play through KotOR 1 & 2, and if people want, a campaign in SWTOR afterward. The KotOR games are using a fair number of mods to update the visuals.
Friday, I'll be streaming The Witcher series from 2000-2200 (central) and various Elder Scrolls games from 2200 to whenever. I'm a few episodes into this one, too, and the intent is to play through all of The Witcher trilogy. These will also use several visual mods.
Aside from that, I'll pop in when I feel like it with some Final Fantasy or whatever I feel like.
Of note - the KotOR series will be moving from the 1UP Rejects channel to my own channel.
I'll be starting up this Friday, and I'm pretty stoked. I'd been having a blast playing through The Witcher before my spinal surgery, and I loved the game when I played it years ago.
But first, you need to get caught up!
And also, you should get caught up on my KotOR series!
And the Elder Scrolls bit will be fun, as well. I'll be bouncing between various entries in the series, maybe even in the same stream. We'll see.
And the random streams ... I don't stream much of games I've not played through before, but the 'random streams' will be either new games or MMOs. Not sure yet.
I think I'll also post in here sometimes, as well.
For the moment, I'm focused on work, family, and getting this side hustle going again. And let me know if you have stuff you want me to write or stream.
Also, as a reminder, I'm starting all of this back up on Friday (I'm going to the Cardinals home opener on Thursday.)
*HUGS*
-Blaine
Showing posts with label Star Wars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Star Wars. Show all posts
20180404
20170420
KotOR No More ... until mid-May
Hey ya'll. I'm putting the KotOR stream series on hold until mid-May. I need the time on Thursday and Friday nights for other things.
I'll be doing random, barely-announced streams at other times. I'll still stream Dawn of War III beta this weekend.
-Blaine
I'll be doing random, barely-announced streams at other times. I'll still stream Dawn of War III beta this weekend.
-Blaine
Happy Almost-Friday
I didn't post the last couple days, but I still wanna be your favorite bloggist.
Some shit got kinda dramatic in a few parts of life, and it was a couple days in which it was best if I avoided a medium in which I tell the world what I'm thinking about or what's going on.
It can be hard to maintain perspective at times, especially if you've got a history that's had some rather dramatic moments, but not in a while, if ya follow me. I thrive on being boring. I'm boring by design.
That being said, sometimes shit happens, and it's no one's fault. You can either keep it to yourself, or you can talk to someone. I encourage you to talk to someone. If you think you can't find someone to talk to, keep trying. You might be surprised. Just don't give up. It's worth it to keep trying.
While talking, make sure to listen, too. I had a good friend this morning throw something back at me from another perspective that really surprised me, and it was actually extremely helpful, and something I needed to hear.
When you feel like you're in crisis, clear your head, and really look around you. Your support network is bigger than you realize.
Anyway ...
I'm really stoked because Dawn of War 3 is out in a week, followed by Prey the next week, and I'm already backlogged by Mass Effect: Andromeda, Torment: Tides of Numenera, and Horizon Zero Dawn. Oh, and Elder Scrolls Online gets the Morrowind expac in June.
The good thing is that, after that, I've presumably got several months until anything interesting releases.
Regardless, this weekend, DoW3 is running an open beta that I'll be streaming on Twitch. I'm stoked to get in there and get my ass handed to me. I've loved the Dawn of War series for a long, long time, and I've loved Relic's ambitious and unapologetic approach. They drastically change the game with each numbered release, and that's kept the series fresh while also pushing the medium forward.
I'm not sure exactly what I'll be going live. I'm guessing probably Sunday? My weekends are back to being crazy for a while. Either way, I'll post to Twitter and probably here.
That KotOR Streaming Series
We're resuming the stream tonight and tomorrow night!
My last two episodes, the mic was fucked. I'm sorry. Thank the Maker for a friend that popped in and told me. That has been fixed, and we're resuming tonight!
I'll be going live around 8PM central both nights. Tonight, we start Tattooine, which is a really fun planet in KotOR.
Other Gaming Stuff
My gaming time, lately, is really cut down. That should alleviate once we into the second week in May. I think.
What little time I've had has been devoted, mostly, to Mass Effect: Andromeda, which I'm still really enjoying. I'm also squeezing in some Elder Scrolls Legends when I can, here and there. I hit a point the other night, though, where I really needed something else. I'm not a one-game guy. I'm just not. I fired up Torment for the first time in a month (I got frustrated by an unwinnable battle and Mass Effect hit), and fell right back in love. I was able to come at the battle another way, with no fighting, and move things forward. God, I love that game.
I think my goal is to finish Mass Effect and Torment before E3. We'll see. It would be fun to take the summer and do something different, which is play mostly PlayStation games. My family and I use the Xbox One constantly, but hardly ever touch the PS4, but it has two games I want to finish, which are Horizon and Uncharted 4.
I'm also giving thought to writing off console exclusives altogether. Console games are very inconvenient for me to play, and I really think I might just vote against them with my dollar. Not releasing every game on the device on which it was developed is just stupid. Not being able to take a game on the road or to work or mod it or any of that shit in 2017 is absurd, and I don't want to support it.
Anyway, that's all for now. Time for movie lunch at work.
Oh shit, and there's a new SWTOR release. I need to play that!
-Blaine
Some shit got kinda dramatic in a few parts of life, and it was a couple days in which it was best if I avoided a medium in which I tell the world what I'm thinking about or what's going on.
It can be hard to maintain perspective at times, especially if you've got a history that's had some rather dramatic moments, but not in a while, if ya follow me. I thrive on being boring. I'm boring by design.
That being said, sometimes shit happens, and it's no one's fault. You can either keep it to yourself, or you can talk to someone. I encourage you to talk to someone. If you think you can't find someone to talk to, keep trying. You might be surprised. Just don't give up. It's worth it to keep trying.
While talking, make sure to listen, too. I had a good friend this morning throw something back at me from another perspective that really surprised me, and it was actually extremely helpful, and something I needed to hear.
When you feel like you're in crisis, clear your head, and really look around you. Your support network is bigger than you realize.
Anyway ...
I'm really stoked because Dawn of War 3 is out in a week, followed by Prey the next week, and I'm already backlogged by Mass Effect: Andromeda, Torment: Tides of Numenera, and Horizon Zero Dawn. Oh, and Elder Scrolls Online gets the Morrowind expac in June.
The good thing is that, after that, I've presumably got several months until anything interesting releases.
Regardless, this weekend, DoW3 is running an open beta that I'll be streaming on Twitch. I'm stoked to get in there and get my ass handed to me. I've loved the Dawn of War series for a long, long time, and I've loved Relic's ambitious and unapologetic approach. They drastically change the game with each numbered release, and that's kept the series fresh while also pushing the medium forward.
I'm not sure exactly what I'll be going live. I'm guessing probably Sunday? My weekends are back to being crazy for a while. Either way, I'll post to Twitter and probably here.
That KotOR Streaming Series
We're resuming the stream tonight and tomorrow night!
My last two episodes, the mic was fucked. I'm sorry. Thank the Maker for a friend that popped in and told me. That has been fixed, and we're resuming tonight!
I'll be going live around 8PM central both nights. Tonight, we start Tattooine, which is a really fun planet in KotOR.
Other Gaming Stuff
My gaming time, lately, is really cut down. That should alleviate once we into the second week in May. I think.
What little time I've had has been devoted, mostly, to Mass Effect: Andromeda, which I'm still really enjoying. I'm also squeezing in some Elder Scrolls Legends when I can, here and there. I hit a point the other night, though, where I really needed something else. I'm not a one-game guy. I'm just not. I fired up Torment for the first time in a month (I got frustrated by an unwinnable battle and Mass Effect hit), and fell right back in love. I was able to come at the battle another way, with no fighting, and move things forward. God, I love that game.
I think my goal is to finish Mass Effect and Torment before E3. We'll see. It would be fun to take the summer and do something different, which is play mostly PlayStation games. My family and I use the Xbox One constantly, but hardly ever touch the PS4, but it has two games I want to finish, which are Horizon and Uncharted 4.
I'm also giving thought to writing off console exclusives altogether. Console games are very inconvenient for me to play, and I really think I might just vote against them with my dollar. Not releasing every game on the device on which it was developed is just stupid. Not being able to take a game on the road or to work or mod it or any of that shit in 2017 is absurd, and I don't want to support it.
Anyway, that's all for now. Time for movie lunch at work.
Oh shit, and there's a new SWTOR release. I need to play that!
-Blaine
20170414
Star Wars Celebration Day 2 is Over! KotOR time!!!
First, watch this:
Wow. Just wow. Gonna watch that several more times tonight.
Day two was awesome, and it's still just building to the big blowout. Yesterday morning, with the 40 Years panel, and today, with The Last Jedi panel and then the Carrie Fisher tribute, were probably the emotional peaks, but we're gonna dig into the games and the books and the comics and all that great stuff the next two days, and I can't wait. We've already found out about some Phasma comics and novel coming, as well as another Leia novel from Claudia Gray, which is awesome.
Tonight, though, very soon, in the next several minutes, in fact, we're gonna settle in for some KotOR and talk even more Star Wars. Join me at 9PMe/8PMc over on my Twitch channel.
Otherwise, I'll post some more video-watching spots in the AM and preview some of the action.
See ya shortly.
-Blaine
Wow. Just wow. Gonna watch that several more times tonight.
Day two was awesome, and it's still just building to the big blowout. Yesterday morning, with the 40 Years panel, and today, with The Last Jedi panel and then the Carrie Fisher tribute, were probably the emotional peaks, but we're gonna dig into the games and the books and the comics and all that great stuff the next two days, and I can't wait. We've already found out about some Phasma comics and novel coming, as well as another Leia novel from Claudia Gray, which is awesome.
Tonight, though, very soon, in the next several minutes, in fact, we're gonna settle in for some KotOR and talk even more Star Wars. Join me at 9PMe/8PMc over on my Twitch channel.
Otherwise, I'll post some more video-watching spots in the AM and preview some of the action.
See ya shortly.
-Blaine
Star Wars Celebration Day 2! Almost there!
Day 1 Thoughts
So, yesterday was an absolute blast. The '40 Years of Star Wars' panel was almost overwhelming in how emotional it got. It was an incredible experience, and one I will always remember. I think that's something that will never, ever be topped. I was a heaping mess by the end.
What's interesting about yesterday is that it seemed very much focused on the Lucas Era. The 40 Years panel, Ian McDiarmid, Ray Park, the surviving original cast, and more. It was all A New Hope through The Clone Wars.
I really liked that they did that, that they seemed to carve out a day just for those that are no longer with us in corporeal form, and those that do not have any more work with the franchise in the future. It wasn't something that they came out and said, but towards the end of the day, I began to pick up on the theme.
Yes, for those of you that are utterly pedantic, there were references and glimpses of post-Lucas stuff, but the focus was utterly on Lucas Era.
My previous post has the video of the 40 Years panel. Watch it, seriously.
Day 2 HYPE
Today, though, we're talking about THE FUTURE! MOSTLY!
First up! The Last Jedi panel! Watch below (and then it'll go totally dead after the live stream)!
Then, as soon as that's done, the day rolls on, with The Star Wars Show Live!
I cannot frakkin' wait. I REALLY HOPE The Last Jedi stream doesn't totally shit the bed, like the 40 Years stream did toward the end.
Either way, enjoy it, and I'll be back a little later with a wrap-up and to pimp tonight's KotOR stream, which will happen at 9PMe/8PMc, in which I'll be talking Star Wars and even more Star Wars.
See ya'll later! Enjoy the show!
-Blaine
So, yesterday was an absolute blast. The '40 Years of Star Wars' panel was almost overwhelming in how emotional it got. It was an incredible experience, and one I will always remember. I think that's something that will never, ever be topped. I was a heaping mess by the end.
What's interesting about yesterday is that it seemed very much focused on the Lucas Era. The 40 Years panel, Ian McDiarmid, Ray Park, the surviving original cast, and more. It was all A New Hope through The Clone Wars.
I really liked that they did that, that they seemed to carve out a day just for those that are no longer with us in corporeal form, and those that do not have any more work with the franchise in the future. It wasn't something that they came out and said, but towards the end of the day, I began to pick up on the theme.
Yes, for those of you that are utterly pedantic, there were references and glimpses of post-Lucas stuff, but the focus was utterly on Lucas Era.
My previous post has the video of the 40 Years panel. Watch it, seriously.
Day 2 HYPE
Today, though, we're talking about THE FUTURE! MOSTLY!
First up! The Last Jedi panel! Watch below (and then it'll go totally dead after the live stream)!
Then, as soon as that's done, the day rolls on, with The Star Wars Show Live!
I cannot frakkin' wait. I REALLY HOPE The Last Jedi stream doesn't totally shit the bed, like the 40 Years stream did toward the end.
Either way, enjoy it, and I'll be back a little later with a wrap-up and to pimp tonight's KotOR stream, which will happen at 9PMe/8PMc, in which I'll be talking Star Wars and even more Star Wars.
See ya'll later! Enjoy the show!
-Blaine
20170413
Star Wars Celebration Day One & KotOR!!!
Wow. What an incredibly emotional day. That opening 40th anniversary panel was just mind-blowing. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check it out below.
I'm man enough to admit that I was in tears for parts of it, that I was doubled-over in laughter for parts of it, and in awe for parts of it. It was beautiful.
Otherwise, the rest of the stream was just pure joy. Ian McDiarmid, Warwick Davis, Ray Park, and more were amazing to hear from, and Andi Gutierrez and Anthony Carboni are great hosts.
I'll be talking more tonight as I continue my KotOR stream/video series. Check out the current progress here or below.
I'm really having a great time replaying these games, and I love sharing my love for them, as well as a decent amount of knowledge. And I know a lot of you also love these games, so come hang out, talk KotOR, talk Celebration, talk whatever. It's a blast. We have some fun Dantooine stuff lined up for the weekend.
I'll be going live at 9PMe/8PMc. I hope to see you there!
-Blaine
I'm man enough to admit that I was in tears for parts of it, that I was doubled-over in laughter for parts of it, and in awe for parts of it. It was beautiful.
Otherwise, the rest of the stream was just pure joy. Ian McDiarmid, Warwick Davis, Ray Park, and more were amazing to hear from, and Andi Gutierrez and Anthony Carboni are great hosts.
I'll be talking more tonight as I continue my KotOR stream/video series. Check out the current progress here or below.
I'm really having a great time replaying these games, and I love sharing my love for them, as well as a decent amount of knowledge. And I know a lot of you also love these games, so come hang out, talk KotOR, talk Celebration, talk whatever. It's a blast. We have some fun Dantooine stuff lined up for the weekend.
I'll be going live at 9PMe/8PMc. I hope to see you there!
-Blaine
Star Wars Celebration - Day One Preview! Watch the show right here!
It's almost here! Star Wars Celebration!
You can watch everything for day one right here!
First up, we have the '40 Years of Star Wars' panel here or just below! This starts at 1100e/1000c.
Then, at 1230e/1130c, the day-long Star Wars Show launces! You can watch here or below!
It's gonna be a blast. I cannot wait. Aside from E3, this is maybe my favorite con every year. Hell, it's better than E3 in a lotta ways.
I'll be back later to write up some thoughts on the day's festivities. What are you most looking forward to today?
-Blaine
You can watch everything for day one right here!
First up, we have the '40 Years of Star Wars' panel here or just below! This starts at 1100e/1000c.
Then, at 1230e/1130c, the day-long Star Wars Show launces! You can watch here or below!
It's gonna be a blast. I cannot wait. Aside from E3, this is maybe my favorite con every year. Hell, it's better than E3 in a lotta ways.
I'll be back later to write up some thoughts on the day's festivities. What are you most looking forward to today?
-Blaine
20170412
It's almost Celebration time!
I'm super-stoked. Star Wars Celebration 2017 starts tomorrow!
I've watched the past two iterations online, and it was absolutely wonderful, as a Star Wars fan. I got to hear from the BIG names (Mark, Carrie, Daisy, Billy D, etc), as well as the smaller bit players, who were just as interesting (random Imperial Admirals, guys in alien costumes, etc). And let's not forget about the trailers and behind-the-scenes footage. And the video games. And the fandom.
Some time, I'm going to go, but it will not be this year.
Luckily, they're streaming the show online, and we'll have a steady feed. Obviously, not everything will be shown, since there won't be multiple live feeds, but enough that I'm really excited.
What, specifically, has me so pumped?
First, I'm pretty isolated in my level of passion for things. I'm always the most 'into' something of anyone with whom I'm close. People that exceed my level of passion for things like Star Wars or Star Trek or Dragon Age or whatever tend to have debilitating mental or social problems, and it's difficult for anyone to be close to them. I won't enjoy things like Star Wars at the cost of losing my job, my family, what's left of my physical condition, etc. Even I have boundaries.
ANYWAY, everyone that's close to me skews more 'normie,' and I know that they don't like hearing about what I love, so I spend a lot of time alone in my love for Star Wars. It's OK. I'm used to it, and it's not something that's destroying my life or anything. It's all good.
But the Celebration stream is a chance for me to revel in my love for Star Wars, and share it with my wife and kids, and let them get a taste of what it means for me.
Star Wars and Star Trek are woven into my life, and have been since as far back as I can remember. They've been constant companions, and while we've grown apart at times, or had difficult moments, we've always come back together.
I'd love it if Star Trek had something like the Star Wars Celebration stream. God, that would be amazing.
It's great getting to share the passion for a few days every year (except next year, apparently.)
Second, the announcements. Whether it be a new Marvel comic series, or a new novel (please bring back Karen Traviss), a new Star Wars game (please make another PC RPG), a Rebels announcement, or *GASP* a new film, I'm all over it. I've loved seeing this universe simplify, and then expand. I cannot wait to see what this year holds.
Third, the reveals. What do I mean? C'mon, guys. The trailer and/or footage.
I will never forget watching the "Chewie, we're home." trailer and sobbing, along with millions of other geeks. I don't know that we'll ever have a moment like that again, unless they bring back Revan from deletion.
The whole thing is just magical. It's a chance to connect directly with something that is a persistent source of joy and wonder. It's something that bridges my child brain and adult brain.
It's going to be so hard watching Mark lead the Carrie Fisher memorial (I can't believe I'm even typing those words), but it's something that I think we all need. I've certainly not totally reconciled my feelings on her passing, and every time I see her, it's like a lightsaber through the gut, but I'm ready to hear Mark talk about it. I hope it heals.
But, yeah, I'm excited to see any and all cast and crew, I'm excited to learn and see more about The Last Jedi, I crave more details on the Han Solo flick, and I wanna see anything else that's in the pipeline, especially if maybe, possibly BioWare has something fun to announce? Maybe?
So, keep an eye on the Star Wars YouTube channel, keep an eye on the Celebration site, and let me know what you're excited about!
May the Force be with you!
-Blaine
I've watched the past two iterations online, and it was absolutely wonderful, as a Star Wars fan. I got to hear from the BIG names (Mark, Carrie, Daisy, Billy D, etc), as well as the smaller bit players, who were just as interesting (random Imperial Admirals, guys in alien costumes, etc). And let's not forget about the trailers and behind-the-scenes footage. And the video games. And the fandom.
Some time, I'm going to go, but it will not be this year.
Luckily, they're streaming the show online, and we'll have a steady feed. Obviously, not everything will be shown, since there won't be multiple live feeds, but enough that I'm really excited.
What, specifically, has me so pumped?
First, I'm pretty isolated in my level of passion for things. I'm always the most 'into' something of anyone with whom I'm close. People that exceed my level of passion for things like Star Wars or Star Trek or Dragon Age or whatever tend to have debilitating mental or social problems, and it's difficult for anyone to be close to them. I won't enjoy things like Star Wars at the cost of losing my job, my family, what's left of my physical condition, etc. Even I have boundaries.
ANYWAY, everyone that's close to me skews more 'normie,' and I know that they don't like hearing about what I love, so I spend a lot of time alone in my love for Star Wars. It's OK. I'm used to it, and it's not something that's destroying my life or anything. It's all good.
But the Celebration stream is a chance for me to revel in my love for Star Wars, and share it with my wife and kids, and let them get a taste of what it means for me.
Star Wars and Star Trek are woven into my life, and have been since as far back as I can remember. They've been constant companions, and while we've grown apart at times, or had difficult moments, we've always come back together.
I'd love it if Star Trek had something like the Star Wars Celebration stream. God, that would be amazing.
It's great getting to share the passion for a few days every year (except next year, apparently.)
Second, the announcements. Whether it be a new Marvel comic series, or a new novel (please bring back Karen Traviss), a new Star Wars game (please make another PC RPG), a Rebels announcement, or *GASP* a new film, I'm all over it. I've loved seeing this universe simplify, and then expand. I cannot wait to see what this year holds.
Third, the reveals. What do I mean? C'mon, guys. The trailer and/or footage.
I will never forget watching the "Chewie, we're home." trailer and sobbing, along with millions of other geeks. I don't know that we'll ever have a moment like that again, unless they bring back Revan from deletion.
The whole thing is just magical. It's a chance to connect directly with something that is a persistent source of joy and wonder. It's something that bridges my child brain and adult brain.
It's going to be so hard watching Mark lead the Carrie Fisher memorial (I can't believe I'm even typing those words), but it's something that I think we all need. I've certainly not totally reconciled my feelings on her passing, and every time I see her, it's like a lightsaber through the gut, but I'm ready to hear Mark talk about it. I hope it heals.
But, yeah, I'm excited to see any and all cast and crew, I'm excited to learn and see more about The Last Jedi, I crave more details on the Han Solo flick, and I wanna see anything else that's in the pipeline, especially if maybe, possibly BioWare has something fun to announce? Maybe?
So, keep an eye on the Star Wars YouTube channel, keep an eye on the Celebration site, and let me know what you're excited about!
May the Force be with you!
-Blaine
20170411
KotOR III? KotOR HD? KotOR Online? WHAT IS IT?!?!
UPDATE 4/11 1338: Fuck my life. It's probably all a misunderstanding.
Original:
How funny that I've been running a weekly Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic stream/video series, and it looks like BioWare Austin might have something interesting to say about the series this weekend at Star Wars Celebration. This isn't a guarantee. They might make us wait all the way until E3, though that would really bum me out.
I've gone on and on about how much the Knights of the Old Republic games mean to me, and how they fundamentally changed gaming for me, so if this results in a new game ... holy shit, I will be in tears. Even if it's a reimagining of the original, so long as it's NEW, I'll be over the moon. If it's just a remake or a high-res version ... well, shit, watch the above video that I made. I can do that. I will not be excited about the same game, but prettier.
My understanding, though, is that this is, in fact, something new. Maybe a new version of KotOR that brings the game in line with what Disney wants for canon? That would be interesting. I can't imagine what they'd want to change, but whatever. I'm down.
Alongside this, for the last several months, we've been seeing KotOR creep into the canon anyway. From planets to ships to species, all unique to the Old Republic-era EU, they've been getting mentions or appearances in Rogue One, Rebels, and novels.
I think this might be real.
If it is, I actually heard about it last year, shortly before E3. I mistakenly assumed that it was going to show up at EA's presentation. When it didn't, I was VERY confused, as I had a pretty good source on it. We'll see, though. I hope it shows up this weekend. It's going to be so hard to restrain my enthusiasm, but this 'leak' is so well-timed. It might be a coincidence, but perhaps it's tehe Force ...
I've gotta temper my expectations, though. I need to be ready for nothing I care about to be announced at the gaming panel. Hey, at least I'll get to see stuff about The Last Jedi ...
... fuck, I just can't handle this. FUCK.
Anyway, it's movie lunch day, so I gotta split.
How about you? Do you want a new Knights of the Old Republic? Would you be OK with a remake? What do you want Disney to do with the Old Republic? Should they just make it all canon?
Also, if you wanna talk more about this live on my show, I'm streaming a KotOR playthrough on Thursdays and Fridays at 8PM central on my Twitch channel.
Lemme know! And may be the Force with you!
-Blaine
Original:
How funny that I've been running a weekly Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic stream/video series, and it looks like BioWare Austin might have something interesting to say about the series this weekend at Star Wars Celebration. This isn't a guarantee. They might make us wait all the way until E3, though that would really bum me out.
I've gone on and on about how much the Knights of the Old Republic games mean to me, and how they fundamentally changed gaming for me, so if this results in a new game ... holy shit, I will be in tears. Even if it's a reimagining of the original, so long as it's NEW, I'll be over the moon. If it's just a remake or a high-res version ... well, shit, watch the above video that I made. I can do that. I will not be excited about the same game, but prettier.
My understanding, though, is that this is, in fact, something new. Maybe a new version of KotOR that brings the game in line with what Disney wants for canon? That would be interesting. I can't imagine what they'd want to change, but whatever. I'm down.
Alongside this, for the last several months, we've been seeing KotOR creep into the canon anyway. From planets to ships to species, all unique to the Old Republic-era EU, they've been getting mentions or appearances in Rogue One, Rebels, and novels.
I think this might be real.
If it is, I actually heard about it last year, shortly before E3. I mistakenly assumed that it was going to show up at EA's presentation. When it didn't, I was VERY confused, as I had a pretty good source on it. We'll see, though. I hope it shows up this weekend. It's going to be so hard to restrain my enthusiasm, but this 'leak' is so well-timed. It might be a coincidence, but perhaps it's tehe Force ...
I've gotta temper my expectations, though. I need to be ready for nothing I care about to be announced at the gaming panel. Hey, at least I'll get to see stuff about The Last Jedi ...
... fuck, I just can't handle this. FUCK.
Anyway, it's movie lunch day, so I gotta split.
How about you? Do you want a new Knights of the Old Republic? Would you be OK with a remake? What do you want Disney to do with the Old Republic? Should they just make it all canon?
Also, if you wanna talk more about this live on my show, I'm streaming a KotOR playthrough on Thursdays and Fridays at 8PM central on my Twitch channel.
Lemme know! And may be the Force with you!
-Blaine
20170410
Happy Monday!
Welcome to Monday. I didn't get a lotta time here last week, which is too bad, because I like typing at you. It helps me organize my thoughts.
It was a decent weekend, if too busy (again.) This will get remedied soon. I had some great family time, took in a game at Busch, and got some quality time with Mass Effect: Andromeda, and had a couple really good episodes in my ongoing KotOR Twitch/YouTube series.
Mass Lemming Effect
I'm now 35 hours into Mass Effect: Andromeda and still don't hate it. In fact, I quite like it, actually. I've, on occasion, had a flickering scene. It's happened, I think, three times. Once, it was so bad, it lasted about ten seconds.
I know, I know, I shouldn't be snide. but the groupthink and lemming-like followers desperately wanting to pile on with hate for this game just really disturbed me. People were enjoying being dicks. I don't understand that.
Regardless, this is not a perfect game. A few lines have made me wince in how cliché they are, I started to feel a little side quest fatigue on Voeld, and I can see why most humans wouldn't be wowed by the story.
This is a mass-market game that isn't a mass-market game. It's a quiet, introspective experience, at least relative to the melodrama and bombast of the original trilogy (which I adored), and I think a lot of people have brought, and will continue to bring, the wrong expectation to the game. I listened to their marketing, and the message I got was 'you're not pew-pew military guy, you're now explorer guy.' That had me super-hyped, and that expectation has actually been exceeded. I deeply roleplay my games, at least the first time through (one of the reasons I won't stream games my first time through), and this has been feeding a deep fantasy of mine, which is to be a space explorer. I love it.
What's upsetting is that the me-too pile-on gangbang of negativity is gonna harm this series, and make development even more directed by loudmouth forum trolls. I don't believe that art should be made that way. I like this direction, and I like how bold it is. I'm enjoying the quieter, more chill atmosphere, and I like the mysteries in the game.
I love that when I hear a character talk about a sibling back home, they and I both know that sibling has lived and died long ago, and that's so hard to process. Everyone I ever knew and loved back home is long dead. I just can't even reconcile that, and it is such a powerful feeling when I roleplay my character.
And I've loved playing him super-logical. That's my ideal version of me, and it's farther from the real me than I'd like, but it's a great fantasy.
I wish more people had given this game a chance.
STAR WARS EVEN MORE STAR WARS
Star Wars Celebration is happening this Thursday through Sunday! I'm so excited!
There will be a live stream for those of us that have to work for a living. It'll be on the Star Wars YouTube channel!
I'm expecting a look at Episode VIII, Battlefront 2, a memorial to Carrie Fisher, a SWTOR announcement, possibly some new films announced, some new comics and books announced, and really, just a fun time. I can't wait to start watching! The last two I've watched have been an absolute blast!
Otherwise ...
Life has been INSANE since I got back from my annual Spring Training pilgrimage two and a half weeks ago. Work and family have both needed a lot from me, which is great, honestly. It really is great to be needed, but fuck, I am ready to chill out soon.
I can always tell if I'm totally overwhelmed by how long it takes me to get through books. If I take more than a few days on a 500-page novel, I am absolutely not having enough time. I've been reading the latest Witcher translation for the last two weeks, and it's 474 pages. There ya go.
And E3 is now just two months away ... YYYEEESSS ...
-Blaine
It was a decent weekend, if too busy (again.) This will get remedied soon. I had some great family time, took in a game at Busch, and got some quality time with Mass Effect: Andromeda, and had a couple really good episodes in my ongoing KotOR Twitch/YouTube series.
Mass Lemming Effect
I'm now 35 hours into Mass Effect: Andromeda and still don't hate it. In fact, I quite like it, actually. I've, on occasion, had a flickering scene. It's happened, I think, three times. Once, it was so bad, it lasted about ten seconds.
I know, I know, I shouldn't be snide. but the groupthink and lemming-like followers desperately wanting to pile on with hate for this game just really disturbed me. People were enjoying being dicks. I don't understand that.
Regardless, this is not a perfect game. A few lines have made me wince in how cliché they are, I started to feel a little side quest fatigue on Voeld, and I can see why most humans wouldn't be wowed by the story.
This is a mass-market game that isn't a mass-market game. It's a quiet, introspective experience, at least relative to the melodrama and bombast of the original trilogy (which I adored), and I think a lot of people have brought, and will continue to bring, the wrong expectation to the game. I listened to their marketing, and the message I got was 'you're not pew-pew military guy, you're now explorer guy.' That had me super-hyped, and that expectation has actually been exceeded. I deeply roleplay my games, at least the first time through (one of the reasons I won't stream games my first time through), and this has been feeding a deep fantasy of mine, which is to be a space explorer. I love it.
What's upsetting is that the me-too pile-on gangbang of negativity is gonna harm this series, and make development even more directed by loudmouth forum trolls. I don't believe that art should be made that way. I like this direction, and I like how bold it is. I'm enjoying the quieter, more chill atmosphere, and I like the mysteries in the game.
I love that when I hear a character talk about a sibling back home, they and I both know that sibling has lived and died long ago, and that's so hard to process. Everyone I ever knew and loved back home is long dead. I just can't even reconcile that, and it is such a powerful feeling when I roleplay my character.
And I've loved playing him super-logical. That's my ideal version of me, and it's farther from the real me than I'd like, but it's a great fantasy.
I wish more people had given this game a chance.
STAR WARS EVEN MORE STAR WARS
Star Wars Celebration is happening this Thursday through Sunday! I'm so excited!
There will be a live stream for those of us that have to work for a living. It'll be on the Star Wars YouTube channel!
I'm expecting a look at Episode VIII, Battlefront 2, a memorial to Carrie Fisher, a SWTOR announcement, possibly some new films announced, some new comics and books announced, and really, just a fun time. I can't wait to start watching! The last two I've watched have been an absolute blast!
Otherwise ...
Life has been INSANE since I got back from my annual Spring Training pilgrimage two and a half weeks ago. Work and family have both needed a lot from me, which is great, honestly. It really is great to be needed, but fuck, I am ready to chill out soon.
I can always tell if I'm totally overwhelmed by how long it takes me to get through books. If I take more than a few days on a 500-page novel, I am absolutely not having enough time. I've been reading the latest Witcher translation for the last two weeks, and it's 474 pages. There ya go.
And E3 is now just two months away ... YYYEEESSS ...
-Blaine
20170406
Happy Almost-Weekend
I've been a bad bloggist this week, I know. Shit got real busy at work, and I've had to work through lunch every day, or I've had to go watch Vikings with the team. Either way, I gotta figure out a way to be more consistent here, as I really do love writing at you.
Anyway, I'm back with KotOR in high-res tonight, so I'd love to see you come hang out with at 8PM central tonight AND tomorrow night on my Twitch channel!
Get caught up here or below!
Otherwise, I got a lot to talk about with ya'll. Soon. I promise.
I'll tell ya this, though. I hate being busy more than I do pretty much anything else. I despise it. So much. SO FUCKING MUCH.
Anyway, I gotta go eat dinner and drive my kids around, so I'll see ya'll tonight.
*HUGGLES*
-Blaine
Anyway, I'm back with KotOR in high-res tonight, so I'd love to see you come hang out with at 8PM central tonight AND tomorrow night on my Twitch channel!
Get caught up here or below!
Otherwise, I got a lot to talk about with ya'll. Soon. I promise.
I'll tell ya this, though. I hate being busy more than I do pretty much anything else. I despise it. So much. SO FUCKING MUCH.
Anyway, I gotta go eat dinner and drive my kids around, so I'll see ya'll tonight.
*HUGGLES*
-Blaine
20170324
Happy Friday! 2017/3/24
It's Friday! Yay!
Last night was a great first stream for my brand new KotOR stream series. We'll be going again tonight at 2000 central time. We'll continue to explore Taris in an effort to find Bastila, and it's going to be great. Carth and I have made some great progress.
As a side note, the game hilariously defaulted my character's name 'Warm Kyja.' I have no idea why.
Check out episode one here or below:
I'm excited to keep this series going! Like I said, 8PM central, and we'll go 90-120 minutes. I'll be streaming from my Twitch channel and then pushing to my YouTube channel.
I'm also planning to hit up more Mass Effect: Andromeda and Torment: Tides of Numenera. I'd also like to get back to Horizon: Zero Dawn, and I think I'm going to just do an hour a night of that. It seems like that kinda game. And since it's trapped on a console, it's hard for me to do much more than that.
So, what about you? Whatcha playin'?
My in-laws are also visiting. They're great folks. This isn't the best weekend for a visit, though, since we just got back from two weeks on the road, and are still settling back in. I'm not sure exactly how this ended up happening, but it did. I've also got a lot of stuff to do around the house, so ... not sure what people expect from me this weekend. Oh well.
Oh, and Rogue One released on digital today, so I'll be checking out some extras, for sure.
Otherwise, I'm starting up the year's yard work and household maintenance, so that'll take up some time, too. Like I said, I'd planned to get back into the swing of things, but I also don't want to blow off my in-laws and make them feel unwelcome, and I need to get some max chill time. So, we'll see.
How about you? Whatcha playin'? What's on your weekend docket?
-Blaine
Last night was a great first stream for my brand new KotOR stream series. We'll be going again tonight at 2000 central time. We'll continue to explore Taris in an effort to find Bastila, and it's going to be great. Carth and I have made some great progress.
As a side note, the game hilariously defaulted my character's name 'Warm Kyja.' I have no idea why.
Check out episode one here or below:
I'm excited to keep this series going! Like I said, 8PM central, and we'll go 90-120 minutes. I'll be streaming from my Twitch channel and then pushing to my YouTube channel.
I'm also planning to hit up more Mass Effect: Andromeda and Torment: Tides of Numenera. I'd also like to get back to Horizon: Zero Dawn, and I think I'm going to just do an hour a night of that. It seems like that kinda game. And since it's trapped on a console, it's hard for me to do much more than that.
So, what about you? Whatcha playin'?
My in-laws are also visiting. They're great folks. This isn't the best weekend for a visit, though, since we just got back from two weeks on the road, and are still settling back in. I'm not sure exactly how this ended up happening, but it did. I've also got a lot of stuff to do around the house, so ... not sure what people expect from me this weekend. Oh well.
Oh, and Rogue One released on digital today, so I'll be checking out some extras, for sure.
Otherwise, I'm starting up the year's yard work and household maintenance, so that'll take up some time, too. Like I said, I'd planned to get back into the swing of things, but I also don't want to blow off my in-laws and make them feel unwelcome, and I need to get some max chill time. So, we'll see.
How about you? Whatcha playin'? What's on your weekend docket?
-Blaine
20170323
KOTOR TONIGHT
I love Mass Effect: Andromeda. I know, I've said it a buncha times already, but I actually think about wanting to play it when I haven't played it in the last 24 hours, and that's unusual for me. That's kinda my litmus test for whether or not I love a game.
Still, I'm really excited to start my KotOR stream series tonight!
It's gonna be really interesting having those two games juxtaposed for a while, since KotOR came out of BioWare back in 2002, and MEA, also from BioWare, just hit. One can actually see the basic framework for the Mass Effect series in KotOR, since that dev team went right into the first Mass Effect from there. It'll be fun playing those side-by-side.
A big part of the reason that I'm so excited for my KotOR (1&2) stream series is 1) I haven't played them in several years, and 2) KotOR rescued gaming for me. I'd been a JRPG guy up to that point, but Japanese dev, especially roleplaying games, had gone a direction that I was not digging, and KotOR acted as the lifeline that I needed, and it led me to a much larger world.
Also, Star Wars is one of the things in this world of which I am the most fond. The Old Republic setting, in particular, really resonated with me. It's thousands of years prior to the films, which unshackled BioWare from having to work in or around the film lore. They went to the comics and referenced the Tales of the Jedi series, which is FANTASTIC AND YOU SHOULD READ, and this gave them a great jumping-off point.
There's also a great KotOR comics series called 'Knights of the Old Republic' (imagine that), and it is nearly as good as the games.
When I play through the first KotOR, I'll be playing only with a few mods that let me set the resolution to 1920x1080. When I get to KotOR2, it'll be heavily modded, so that I can play something that resembles a completed game. It'll be modded to support 1920x1080, but it'll also have the cut content restored and finished, some of which I've never seen. This is going to be a blast!
The schedule, right now, is Thurs and Fri nights at 2000 central. I'll probably also sneak in some weekend sessions when I can. I suppose adopting a more strict schedule could help my regular viewership. What do you think?
While I'm playing, I'll be dropping some fun knowledge about the development, the in-game lore, and my own personal stories about previous playthroughs, how I first heard about it, funny tangential stories, and the like. You're gonna love it, I promise.
I'll be streaming on Twitch, and then pushing it to YouTube after each stream is done.
So, again, that'll be tonight at 2000 central time. We'll start from the beginning, and it'll probably be the first time that a lot of you see KotOR in a modern resolution. Also, for those that are interested, it is going to be a canon playthrough. Our KotOR 1 protag is going to be a male, and the KotOR 2 protag will be female. I'm also going to try and make choices within the bounds of the canon. Well, the canon within SWTOR, anyway. As you may know, Disney deleted the expanded universe, including all the excellent Old Republic stuff.
Regardless, I look forward to seeing anyone that wants to hang out and talk Star Wars or KotOR tonight!
-Blaine
Still, I'm really excited to start my KotOR stream series tonight!
It's gonna be really interesting having those two games juxtaposed for a while, since KotOR came out of BioWare back in 2002, and MEA, also from BioWare, just hit. One can actually see the basic framework for the Mass Effect series in KotOR, since that dev team went right into the first Mass Effect from there. It'll be fun playing those side-by-side.
A big part of the reason that I'm so excited for my KotOR (1&2) stream series is 1) I haven't played them in several years, and 2) KotOR rescued gaming for me. I'd been a JRPG guy up to that point, but Japanese dev, especially roleplaying games, had gone a direction that I was not digging, and KotOR acted as the lifeline that I needed, and it led me to a much larger world.
Also, Star Wars is one of the things in this world of which I am the most fond. The Old Republic setting, in particular, really resonated with me. It's thousands of years prior to the films, which unshackled BioWare from having to work in or around the film lore. They went to the comics and referenced the Tales of the Jedi series, which is FANTASTIC AND YOU SHOULD READ, and this gave them a great jumping-off point.
There's also a great KotOR comics series called 'Knights of the Old Republic' (imagine that), and it is nearly as good as the games.
When I play through the first KotOR, I'll be playing only with a few mods that let me set the resolution to 1920x1080. When I get to KotOR2, it'll be heavily modded, so that I can play something that resembles a completed game. It'll be modded to support 1920x1080, but it'll also have the cut content restored and finished, some of which I've never seen. This is going to be a blast!
The schedule, right now, is Thurs and Fri nights at 2000 central. I'll probably also sneak in some weekend sessions when I can. I suppose adopting a more strict schedule could help my regular viewership. What do you think?
While I'm playing, I'll be dropping some fun knowledge about the development, the in-game lore, and my own personal stories about previous playthroughs, how I first heard about it, funny tangential stories, and the like. You're gonna love it, I promise.
I'll be streaming on Twitch, and then pushing it to YouTube after each stream is done.
So, again, that'll be tonight at 2000 central time. We'll start from the beginning, and it'll probably be the first time that a lot of you see KotOR in a modern resolution. Also, for those that are interested, it is going to be a canon playthrough. Our KotOR 1 protag is going to be a male, and the KotOR 2 protag will be female. I'm also going to try and make choices within the bounds of the canon. Well, the canon within SWTOR, anyway. As you may know, Disney deleted the expanded universe, including all the excellent Old Republic stuff.
Regardless, I look forward to seeing anyone that wants to hang out and talk Star Wars or KotOR tonight!
-Blaine
20170308
AppDev + Next Stream + Vacation
That GameCon Application ...
Yeah, so I kinda went crazy with the Game Con app I talked about yesterday. I wanted to just sketch out some SQL tables and basic design, and decided to just start rapidly prototyping, and ... well, I was amazed at how quickly I pulled together a working application.
I now have it so that it'll present one or more live streams on a page dynamically, based on the schedule you enter into it. Also, I built out a system that lets me just enter some basic info, and it builds the schedule out for me. I just give it a basic panel/demo name, the date/time for start and stop, and what instance of a convention with which it's associated, and the application handles the rest, so it'll cut between streams on a single page, or show them side-by-side if they overlap a bit (which I'm going to refine).
It also lets me input an upcoming instance of a con via a web interface. I seeded the repeating cons via a SQL script, and then built an interface that lets me then create instances of those cons at will.
Then, within those cons, I can enter some basic info for panels or demos that I want to see, and associate them with a stream provider, and I stored the iframe info for each of those streams in data, and blammo, we have what we need to just fire it up and kick back. It's pretty sweet.
I'm almost disappointed that I'll be so busy with travel and vacation during most of PAX East.
I'm also looking at creating Xbox One and iPhone versions of this for myself. I may even stand it up on Azure (where the DB already is), so that I can hit it from the web whenever I want.
I also built out some very rudimentary calendar and con-specific pages. The calendar is very simple right now, and will need a lot of refinement. The con-specific pages ... I'm still thinking over what to do, but they're intended as a 'stream firehose' (no pun intended), so that you can get a look at what's live from everywhere right now at the con. The PAX one has five streams on it, and I've been tinkering with the embed code that Twitch provides to really make it cool. We'll see.
Anyway, more on this to come. Still no plans to provide it to the public, but if there's interest ... eh, we'll see.
Also, if anyone cares, I built it entirely with the new Visual Studio 2017, which is slick as hell.
My Next Stream
I'm leaning toward KotOR 1 & 2. I really adore those games, and I know a hell of a lot about the Star Wars universe. Also, it's been a looong time since I really played through the games, so that'll be fun.
Any thoughts? Objections?
I'd also play them heavily modded, so that they're in 1920x1080, plus any other neat mods I can find. KotOR2 will also have a shitload of restored content mods.
I'm gonna target that to start toward the end of the month. That'll give me ample time to do some research and a little bit of scripting.
I think I'll do what I did for the latter part of my Mass Effect series, and live stream via Twitch, and then shoot it to YouTube. We'll see. I may live stream on YouTube Gaming, but I worry about limiting my audience. Of course, there's less competition over on YTG ... we'll see. It'll probably be Twitch, but I'm gonna research and think on it.
VACATION!!!
As I've been blabbing out, I'm heading to Spring Training soon, and then to Key West. I'm very excited, as it's always the most relaxing couple of weeks of my life. And I'll wrap it all up with a few days of Mass Effect Andromeda. AAAHHH ... cannot wait.
Sunshine, baseball, family, Torment, creative freedom, and Mass Effect ... awesome.
I'll still be posting almost daily while I'm there.
Anyway, that's all for now. *HUGS*
-Blaine
Yeah, so I kinda went crazy with the Game Con app I talked about yesterday. I wanted to just sketch out some SQL tables and basic design, and decided to just start rapidly prototyping, and ... well, I was amazed at how quickly I pulled together a working application.
I now have it so that it'll present one or more live streams on a page dynamically, based on the schedule you enter into it. Also, I built out a system that lets me just enter some basic info, and it builds the schedule out for me. I just give it a basic panel/demo name, the date/time for start and stop, and what instance of a convention with which it's associated, and the application handles the rest, so it'll cut between streams on a single page, or show them side-by-side if they overlap a bit (which I'm going to refine).
It also lets me input an upcoming instance of a con via a web interface. I seeded the repeating cons via a SQL script, and then built an interface that lets me then create instances of those cons at will.
Then, within those cons, I can enter some basic info for panels or demos that I want to see, and associate them with a stream provider, and I stored the iframe info for each of those streams in data, and blammo, we have what we need to just fire it up and kick back. It's pretty sweet.
I'm almost disappointed that I'll be so busy with travel and vacation during most of PAX East.
I'm also looking at creating Xbox One and iPhone versions of this for myself. I may even stand it up on Azure (where the DB already is), so that I can hit it from the web whenever I want.
I also built out some very rudimentary calendar and con-specific pages. The calendar is very simple right now, and will need a lot of refinement. The con-specific pages ... I'm still thinking over what to do, but they're intended as a 'stream firehose' (no pun intended), so that you can get a look at what's live from everywhere right now at the con. The PAX one has five streams on it, and I've been tinkering with the embed code that Twitch provides to really make it cool. We'll see.
Anyway, more on this to come. Still no plans to provide it to the public, but if there's interest ... eh, we'll see.
Also, if anyone cares, I built it entirely with the new Visual Studio 2017, which is slick as hell.
My Next Stream
I'm leaning toward KotOR 1 & 2. I really adore those games, and I know a hell of a lot about the Star Wars universe. Also, it's been a looong time since I really played through the games, so that'll be fun.
Any thoughts? Objections?
I'd also play them heavily modded, so that they're in 1920x1080, plus any other neat mods I can find. KotOR2 will also have a shitload of restored content mods.
I'm gonna target that to start toward the end of the month. That'll give me ample time to do some research and a little bit of scripting.
I think I'll do what I did for the latter part of my Mass Effect series, and live stream via Twitch, and then shoot it to YouTube. We'll see. I may live stream on YouTube Gaming, but I worry about limiting my audience. Of course, there's less competition over on YTG ... we'll see. It'll probably be Twitch, but I'm gonna research and think on it.
VACATION!!!
As I've been blabbing out, I'm heading to Spring Training soon, and then to Key West. I'm very excited, as it's always the most relaxing couple of weeks of my life. And I'll wrap it all up with a few days of Mass Effect Andromeda. AAAHHH ... cannot wait.
Sunshine, baseball, family, Torment, creative freedom, and Mass Effect ... awesome.
I'll still be posting almost daily while I'm there.
Anyway, that's all for now. *HUGS*
-Blaine
20170222
I wish they still made games like ...
I have a cycle that I repeat every so often, and I just noticed it. It seems that, every few years, I start to get nostalgic for a certain type of game, or even a certain game. Eventually, that gets busted up as I fall in love again, but I think I'm on the verge again.
Going into the PlayStation era, I was getting increasingly nostalgic for the OLD JRPGs like the original Final Fantasy, and I was pretty put off by the original Final Fantasy VII demo disc. Looking back, I chuckle, because I think I was hung up on some pretty insignificant shit. I think I get stuck on silly details. I'm embarrassed, but things like the enemies not being in a separate window, and the game was too flashy, and nonsense upon nonsense. I also hated the trend that things had been going with the characters being predefined instead of blank slates. Sigh ...
I'd been building up a bit of resentment for a while.
I ended up preordering the game and loving the hell out of it.
Jump to a few years later, when JRPGs were actually really starting to tank in the post-FFX world. Final Fantasy X had left me ... bewildered and despondent. It's not a bad game, but it's a bad Final Fantasy game. The things I liked about it were the battle system and oops, that's the end. The rest of it, for me was somewhere between bland and annoying.
Little did I realize, until years later, that all JRPGs heroes are supposed to sound barely pubescent and squeaky. That really soured the NES and SNES JRPGs for me, as I couldn't get that 'Tidus shriek' out of my head when I read the hero lines.
KotOR saved gaming for me. That game was such a breath of fresh air for me, and the perfect exit point. It really started my departure from console gaming and JRPGs. I was still a little bitter over the direction that things had gone from the amazing Final Fantasy IX to what Final Fantasy X was, but KotOR and western RPGs really saved gaming for me, and breathed new life into my passion for gaming.
However, the cycle started to repeat after that. Dragon Age: Origins was just as amazing for me, but I was disappointed that I couldn't stack actions in advance. Mass Effect wasn't Star Wars, and was a little too action for me. DA2, at least the PC version, still had the combat mostly intact, but I'll never forget the BioWare directive that 'every time you hit a button, something awesome happens' that had me retching my metaphorical guts out. ME2 was an action game with some RPG aspects. ME3 was actually a great game, up until the meaningless ending. DAI ... I loved it at the time, but it has degraded in quality for me with my second playthrough. It's just lotsa busy work, which wrecks the pacing and sense of immediacy.
Meanwhile, I've been loving games like Pillars of Eternity and The Witcher series, so I think I'm transitioning again, but man ... I'd love something like KotOR and Dragon Age: Origins again. There was just something about those games that suited me just right. This is the same damn feeling I used to have with FFVII (which now feels crazy limited.)
So, yeah, I'm definitely part of the problem. I'm one of those awful gaming enthusiasts that gets stuck on one game and is disappointed when another game isn't just a carbon copy (though I don't voice this in forums or harass developers.) Typically, I just push myself to adapt, and I think I've gotten better about it. I've spread out with games like Divinity: Original Sin, Deus Ex, Dishonored, Fallout, Elder Scrolls, etc. Yeah, I know your cutesy 2D platforming indie media darling isn't listed there, nor is your JRPG that is totally indistinguishable from any other modern JRPG, but I am trying them, especially the JRPGs, since I'd love to get back into that space.
I think Pillars is a step toward that One Game to Rule Them All for the next few years for me. And I'm looking ahead at Torment ... drool ...
I'm torn, though. I think it's OK to love what you love, but I also think we should always be looking to expand our horizons. I think a balance between the two is probably best. Most people I know go too far one way or the other, and I probably skew too far toward 'love what I love,' but I do have evidence that I do eventually evolve.
So, how about you? Are you part of the problem? How do you see your gaming tastes evolving? How have they changed?
Six days 'til Torment/Horizon Day, ya'll.!
-Blaine
Going into the PlayStation era, I was getting increasingly nostalgic for the OLD JRPGs like the original Final Fantasy, and I was pretty put off by the original Final Fantasy VII demo disc. Looking back, I chuckle, because I think I was hung up on some pretty insignificant shit. I think I get stuck on silly details. I'm embarrassed, but things like the enemies not being in a separate window, and the game was too flashy, and nonsense upon nonsense. I also hated the trend that things had been going with the characters being predefined instead of blank slates. Sigh ...
I'd been building up a bit of resentment for a while.
I ended up preordering the game and loving the hell out of it.
Jump to a few years later, when JRPGs were actually really starting to tank in the post-FFX world. Final Fantasy X had left me ... bewildered and despondent. It's not a bad game, but it's a bad Final Fantasy game. The things I liked about it were the battle system and oops, that's the end. The rest of it, for me was somewhere between bland and annoying.
Little did I realize, until years later, that all JRPGs heroes are supposed to sound barely pubescent and squeaky. That really soured the NES and SNES JRPGs for me, as I couldn't get that 'Tidus shriek' out of my head when I read the hero lines.
KotOR saved gaming for me. That game was such a breath of fresh air for me, and the perfect exit point. It really started my departure from console gaming and JRPGs. I was still a little bitter over the direction that things had gone from the amazing Final Fantasy IX to what Final Fantasy X was, but KotOR and western RPGs really saved gaming for me, and breathed new life into my passion for gaming.
However, the cycle started to repeat after that. Dragon Age: Origins was just as amazing for me, but I was disappointed that I couldn't stack actions in advance. Mass Effect wasn't Star Wars, and was a little too action for me. DA2, at least the PC version, still had the combat mostly intact, but I'll never forget the BioWare directive that 'every time you hit a button, something awesome happens' that had me retching my metaphorical guts out. ME2 was an action game with some RPG aspects. ME3 was actually a great game, up until the meaningless ending. DAI ... I loved it at the time, but it has degraded in quality for me with my second playthrough. It's just lotsa busy work, which wrecks the pacing and sense of immediacy.
Meanwhile, I've been loving games like Pillars of Eternity and The Witcher series, so I think I'm transitioning again, but man ... I'd love something like KotOR and Dragon Age: Origins again. There was just something about those games that suited me just right. This is the same damn feeling I used to have with FFVII (which now feels crazy limited.)
So, yeah, I'm definitely part of the problem. I'm one of those awful gaming enthusiasts that gets stuck on one game and is disappointed when another game isn't just a carbon copy (though I don't voice this in forums or harass developers.) Typically, I just push myself to adapt, and I think I've gotten better about it. I've spread out with games like Divinity: Original Sin, Deus Ex, Dishonored, Fallout, Elder Scrolls, etc. Yeah, I know your cutesy 2D platforming indie media darling isn't listed there, nor is your JRPG that is totally indistinguishable from any other modern JRPG, but I am trying them, especially the JRPGs, since I'd love to get back into that space.
I think Pillars is a step toward that One Game to Rule Them All for the next few years for me. And I'm looking ahead at Torment ... drool ...
I'm torn, though. I think it's OK to love what you love, but I also think we should always be looking to expand our horizons. I think a balance between the two is probably best. Most people I know go too far one way or the other, and I probably skew too far toward 'love what I love,' but I do have evidence that I do eventually evolve.
So, how about you? Are you part of the problem? How do you see your gaming tastes evolving? How have they changed?
Six days 'til Torment/Horizon Day, ya'll.!
-Blaine
20170221
MMOs and Time and Dollars and How Much Can I Really Enjoy Four of Them?
I love MMORPGs. I love the 'instant play' aspect, and I love getting to live inside their worlds. I love the community (usually.) Modern MMORPGs very much cater to the love of story that I have, plus they heavily feature math, which makes me swoon.
The problem is that there are too many that I like. I go through this every year or two, when I need to pare down, especially relative to the lack of free time that I have, and the fact that I mostly play gargantuan single-player RPGs.
So, here's what I have in rotation at the moment.
Star Wars: The Old Republic
This is my champion. Of any game I've ever played, I've put more hours into SWTOR than any other. I was in the beta, and fell in love HARD. I still play this pretty regularly. I adore this game. I've put over 1000 hours into it, and there's still a ton of content I've never played. This one stays, no matter what.
Yeah, I know, this game became fashionable to hate or loathe or whatever weird emotional assignment you tied to it, but it really is delightful, especially if you're a fan of the now-deleted Expanded Universe, specifically the KotOR stuff. This is a natural extension of it.
The free-to-play option is a good demo, but I'm a subscriber, and I feel just fine about that. The Knights of the Fallen Empire and Knights of the Eternal Throne mini-expansions were great. What this game needs is a proper expansion.
The Elder Scrolls Online
I had a bumpy ride with this one early on. Like SWTOR, I was in the beta for a long time, and it was decent, and then once the game launched, I decided to unsub for a time while they worked out some issues. At no point was it bad, but it had some problems that I wanted worked out before I came back. Eventually, I did, and really enjoyed it. I don't sub anymore, because it went buy-to-play, but I buy each of the DLC, and I've prepurchased the Morrowind expansion, which looks AMAAAZING.
What's interesting about this and SWTOR is that I approach each as a living single-player game. I'll group when I need to, and I belong to fairly active guilds, but I don't raid a lot. I do enjoy it when I do, but I'm fairly introverted, and MMOs are an OK way for me to brush up against being social.
I actually got my oldest son pulled in, and he's playing now. Once he's leveled, maybe we'll hit Cyrodiil together.
Guild Wars 2
This is another game in which I've been since the beta. I actually had some IRL friends playing with me for a while, but they've dropped out over the years, and I'm now the last man standing.
I finished the main campaign a while ago, and have been pushing through the Living World content, though I've hit a bugged dungeon, and have been waiting for it to be fixed so that I can continue. It is very frustrating, especially since I've enjoyed the game so much.
Guild Wars 2 is also the most fun 'just sit down and start playing' game that I play. It's just silky smooth.
The world is a hell of a lot of fun, too. Not only the lore, but the reactive elements, which, in my opinion, makes it the ultimate theme park MMO.
The lack of a subscription helps the enjoyment, too. I think the base game is F2P now, too.
Final Fantasy XIV
This is the tough one for me. I pay a sub for it, I used to really love Final Fantasy, I adore the combat and the mechanics of this game, as well as the structure of the world, but it has a few things that really bug me.
I play games that lack voice acting all the time, but FFXIV's flapping lips really bother me. I'd rather that there wasn't any camera work or anything, and that it just had textboxes over static images, or even handled it like the old SNES Final Fantasy games. The flapping lips just bother me.
This is a game that I really need to get more into. The above games were all 'my main game' for some period of time, which allowed me to really propel myself into the game. I've never done that with Final Fantasy XIV. I was even a launch day player, and got to enjoy the debacle of the original version of the game.
I've got Stormblood prepurchased, I've paid my sub through August, so I am going to try and really take the plunge.
Star Trek Online
I played the shit outta this when it first came out. I am absolutely nuts about Star Trek (and Star Wars), and this was my only connection to the franchise for a period of time. The Abrams fan fiction films were fun, brainless action movies, and we'll see if Discovery ever amounts to anything in spite of CBS. This is all I had for a while, and it was really enjoyable. The ship-to-ship combat is great, the ground combat has improved, but is still basically crap, but the game is a fun dip in the Star Trek universe.
I haven't been a subscriber in years, and I really barely play anymore, but I want to play more.
In Conclusion
So, that's five MMOs, plus my constant itch to fire up The Secret World again. I just checked, and holy shit, that's an expensive game to jump into right now and buy the full game.
It's too many, flat out, and I could use some help paring it down. I'd love your opinions. SWTOR and ESO are definitely sticking around.
On the flipside, I could also dial back the single player games that I play, to make more time for the MMOs. I dunno. Having too many quality games to play is a good problem to have, and a very, very first world problem. Still, it can be a fun discussion, and I'd appreciate any input ya'll have.
BTW, one week 'til Torment/Horizon Day!!!
Hit me!
-Blaine
The problem is that there are too many that I like. I go through this every year or two, when I need to pare down, especially relative to the lack of free time that I have, and the fact that I mostly play gargantuan single-player RPGs.
So, here's what I have in rotation at the moment.
Star Wars: The Old Republic
This is my champion. Of any game I've ever played, I've put more hours into SWTOR than any other. I was in the beta, and fell in love HARD. I still play this pretty regularly. I adore this game. I've put over 1000 hours into it, and there's still a ton of content I've never played. This one stays, no matter what.
Yeah, I know, this game became fashionable to hate or loathe or whatever weird emotional assignment you tied to it, but it really is delightful, especially if you're a fan of the now-deleted Expanded Universe, specifically the KotOR stuff. This is a natural extension of it.
The free-to-play option is a good demo, but I'm a subscriber, and I feel just fine about that. The Knights of the Fallen Empire and Knights of the Eternal Throne mini-expansions were great. What this game needs is a proper expansion.
The Elder Scrolls Online
I had a bumpy ride with this one early on. Like SWTOR, I was in the beta for a long time, and it was decent, and then once the game launched, I decided to unsub for a time while they worked out some issues. At no point was it bad, but it had some problems that I wanted worked out before I came back. Eventually, I did, and really enjoyed it. I don't sub anymore, because it went buy-to-play, but I buy each of the DLC, and I've prepurchased the Morrowind expansion, which looks AMAAAZING.
What's interesting about this and SWTOR is that I approach each as a living single-player game. I'll group when I need to, and I belong to fairly active guilds, but I don't raid a lot. I do enjoy it when I do, but I'm fairly introverted, and MMOs are an OK way for me to brush up against being social.
I actually got my oldest son pulled in, and he's playing now. Once he's leveled, maybe we'll hit Cyrodiil together.
Guild Wars 2
This is another game in which I've been since the beta. I actually had some IRL friends playing with me for a while, but they've dropped out over the years, and I'm now the last man standing.
I finished the main campaign a while ago, and have been pushing through the Living World content, though I've hit a bugged dungeon, and have been waiting for it to be fixed so that I can continue. It is very frustrating, especially since I've enjoyed the game so much.
Guild Wars 2 is also the most fun 'just sit down and start playing' game that I play. It's just silky smooth.
The world is a hell of a lot of fun, too. Not only the lore, but the reactive elements, which, in my opinion, makes it the ultimate theme park MMO.
The lack of a subscription helps the enjoyment, too. I think the base game is F2P now, too.
Final Fantasy XIV
This is the tough one for me. I pay a sub for it, I used to really love Final Fantasy, I adore the combat and the mechanics of this game, as well as the structure of the world, but it has a few things that really bug me.
I play games that lack voice acting all the time, but FFXIV's flapping lips really bother me. I'd rather that there wasn't any camera work or anything, and that it just had textboxes over static images, or even handled it like the old SNES Final Fantasy games. The flapping lips just bother me.
This is a game that I really need to get more into. The above games were all 'my main game' for some period of time, which allowed me to really propel myself into the game. I've never done that with Final Fantasy XIV. I was even a launch day player, and got to enjoy the debacle of the original version of the game.
I've got Stormblood prepurchased, I've paid my sub through August, so I am going to try and really take the plunge.
Star Trek Online
I played the shit outta this when it first came out. I am absolutely nuts about Star Trek (and Star Wars), and this was my only connection to the franchise for a period of time. The Abrams fan fiction films were fun, brainless action movies, and we'll see if Discovery ever amounts to anything in spite of CBS. This is all I had for a while, and it was really enjoyable. The ship-to-ship combat is great, the ground combat has improved, but is still basically crap, but the game is a fun dip in the Star Trek universe.
I haven't been a subscriber in years, and I really barely play anymore, but I want to play more.
In Conclusion
So, that's five MMOs, plus my constant itch to fire up The Secret World again. I just checked, and holy shit, that's an expensive game to jump into right now and buy the full game.
It's too many, flat out, and I could use some help paring it down. I'd love your opinions. SWTOR and ESO are definitely sticking around.
On the flipside, I could also dial back the single player games that I play, to make more time for the MMOs. I dunno. Having too many quality games to play is a good problem to have, and a very, very first world problem. Still, it can be a fun discussion, and I'd appreciate any input ya'll have.
BTW, one week 'til Torment/Horizon Day!!!
Hit me!
-Blaine
20170215
Time ... it is what it is ...
So, here we are, just less than three weeks from Torment/Horizon day. Game-wise, I've been hitting the unfinished classics pretty hard (Baldur's Gate & Morrowind), as well as a lot of ESO. It's been OK, but man, I am BURNING for something new and shiny.
I realized, this morning, that it's been a year and nine months since the last game about which I was insanely excited released. That was The Witcher 3. There's been some solid games since then, but 2016 was my (and this only my opinion about games that I like) JV squad in terms of releases. I'm fond of Deus Ex, Dishonored, Doom, XCOM, and all those type games, and I've really enjoyed the latest releases for SWTOR, ESO, and Guild Wars 2, but those all feel like snacks. Those are my second tier for games, and it's all I had last year.
Part of what caused this was Dragon Age: Inquisition, Pillars of Eternity, and The Witcher 3 all releasing in a six-month span, from 2014 November to 2015 May. It was wonderful and brutal.
I didn't even notice this 'problem' until I really started to think about my recent 'gaming malaise.' I am licking my chops, ready for something new and awesome.
Fucking Torment: Tides of Numenera. Bring that shit on, man. I'm actually taking the day off for it. It looks wonderful. Everything I've seen about it, and everything I've played of the demo tickle my soul.
Yeah, I know. Me not loving the same games you do can be a problem for some, and the fact that I only really get invested in RPGs triggers weird reactions in random folks, but I don't care. I tried some of the indie darlings, thought they were OK, and moved on. I didn't hate them, I thought they had good aspects, and that was pretty much the extent of my judgement. I didn't hate them, I didn't declare that other people shouldn't go crazy for them, I just thought they were OK. Relax.
And all of that is missing the point, anyway. I played a lotta shit last year, and none of it really ignited me. I had a very good time with Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, as well as Dishonored 2. I enjoyed some time with Doom and XCOM 2. I thought whatever 2D indie darling games they made me play were OK.
But man, no matter what I try, the only games that REALLY grab me are the ones that are huge investments with depth everywhere, from the systems to the lore to the story to the characters, to the world, etc. I love games that I can just throw myself at for months. I actually approach my job much the same way. I tend to chase after the 'huge project' work, rather than the little shit. I like deeply investing in things.
Again, as a side note, the fact that I've never finished an Elder Scrolls game still somewhat baffles me. Those games are ridiculously deep. There's just something about the actual mechanics and design choices that throw me occasionally. Most of this is aimed at Morrowind.
Also, in this drought, I did finally find my way into the Fallout Bethesda/Obsidian games. It took several tries over several years, but I finally pushed through Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, and adored them. Fallout 4 was very good, but didn't quite hit the mark that FNV did. I think part of it is that New Vegas was sooo good, and I played F4 like right after finishing it.
Anyway, I'm curious to see how this 2015/5/19-2017/2/28 stretch matches with other periods of time. It certainly feels like the longest I've ever gone. And like I said, it kinda snuck up on me. I knew last year was a 'B-team year' in terms of my favorite franchises and games, but the fact that you have to go back all the way to May in 2015 surprised me.
I'm not offering to do any actual research on the subject, but it really surprised me.
And then, after that, I've got Mass Effect: Andromeda three weeks later. And in those three weeks, I'm traveling for two of them. It's a good 'problem' to have, but goddam. I'll have Torment, Horizon, and MEA all queued up, and then I got Prey in May, and then the Morrowind expac in June, and then, I think, a long drought into winter. Good times.
What about you? You ever have a stretch like this? It's weird how my favorite games seem to cluster in terms of release. In theory, though, I should have a new BioWare game by 2018/3/31, and I have some Kickstarters that should be landing later this year and early next year (though I got money that says no way Obsidian hits 2018 Q1 with Pillars 2, and that's totally OK.)
Anyway, that's that. What about you? You ever have 'awesome game starvation?'
Also, get caught up on my 'The Road to Andromeda' Mass Effect series on YouTube here or below:
Thanks! I'll be resuming the playthrough tomorrow night!
-Blaine
I realized, this morning, that it's been a year and nine months since the last game about which I was insanely excited released. That was The Witcher 3. There's been some solid games since then, but 2016 was my (and this only my opinion about games that I like) JV squad in terms of releases. I'm fond of Deus Ex, Dishonored, Doom, XCOM, and all those type games, and I've really enjoyed the latest releases for SWTOR, ESO, and Guild Wars 2, but those all feel like snacks. Those are my second tier for games, and it's all I had last year.
Part of what caused this was Dragon Age: Inquisition, Pillars of Eternity, and The Witcher 3 all releasing in a six-month span, from 2014 November to 2015 May. It was wonderful and brutal.
I didn't even notice this 'problem' until I really started to think about my recent 'gaming malaise.' I am licking my chops, ready for something new and awesome.
Fucking Torment: Tides of Numenera. Bring that shit on, man. I'm actually taking the day off for it. It looks wonderful. Everything I've seen about it, and everything I've played of the demo tickle my soul.
Yeah, I know. Me not loving the same games you do can be a problem for some, and the fact that I only really get invested in RPGs triggers weird reactions in random folks, but I don't care. I tried some of the indie darlings, thought they were OK, and moved on. I didn't hate them, I thought they had good aspects, and that was pretty much the extent of my judgement. I didn't hate them, I didn't declare that other people shouldn't go crazy for them, I just thought they were OK. Relax.
And all of that is missing the point, anyway. I played a lotta shit last year, and none of it really ignited me. I had a very good time with Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, as well as Dishonored 2. I enjoyed some time with Doom and XCOM 2. I thought whatever 2D indie darling games they made me play were OK.
But man, no matter what I try, the only games that REALLY grab me are the ones that are huge investments with depth everywhere, from the systems to the lore to the story to the characters, to the world, etc. I love games that I can just throw myself at for months. I actually approach my job much the same way. I tend to chase after the 'huge project' work, rather than the little shit. I like deeply investing in things.
Again, as a side note, the fact that I've never finished an Elder Scrolls game still somewhat baffles me. Those games are ridiculously deep. There's just something about the actual mechanics and design choices that throw me occasionally. Most of this is aimed at Morrowind.
Also, in this drought, I did finally find my way into the Fallout Bethesda/Obsidian games. It took several tries over several years, but I finally pushed through Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, and adored them. Fallout 4 was very good, but didn't quite hit the mark that FNV did. I think part of it is that New Vegas was sooo good, and I played F4 like right after finishing it.
Anyway, I'm curious to see how this 2015/5/19-2017/2/28 stretch matches with other periods of time. It certainly feels like the longest I've ever gone. And like I said, it kinda snuck up on me. I knew last year was a 'B-team year' in terms of my favorite franchises and games, but the fact that you have to go back all the way to May in 2015 surprised me.
I'm not offering to do any actual research on the subject, but it really surprised me.
And then, after that, I've got Mass Effect: Andromeda three weeks later. And in those three weeks, I'm traveling for two of them. It's a good 'problem' to have, but goddam. I'll have Torment, Horizon, and MEA all queued up, and then I got Prey in May, and then the Morrowind expac in June, and then, I think, a long drought into winter. Good times.
What about you? You ever have a stretch like this? It's weird how my favorite games seem to cluster in terms of release. In theory, though, I should have a new BioWare game by 2018/3/31, and I have some Kickstarters that should be landing later this year and early next year (though I got money that says no way Obsidian hits 2018 Q1 with Pillars 2, and that's totally OK.)
Anyway, that's that. What about you? You ever have 'awesome game starvation?'
Also, get caught up on my 'The Road to Andromeda' Mass Effect series on YouTube here or below:
Thanks! I'll be resuming the playthrough tomorrow night!
-Blaine
20170202
Me vs JRPGs vs cRPGs (or however capitalization works now)
Confession time. Actually, I've confessed this before, but it still needs to be reviewed and analyzed, so whatever.
I started gaming in the 80s, and very quickly took to RPGs. There's always been something about living a great novel that has always appealed to me. I love my real life, but I also love the escapism and investing myself in another world that comes with a great RPG. I love the lore, the compelling narrative, the rich characters, the deep systems, all of it. It's really about all I play. I'm at a point now in which, if I venture into another genre, it feels shallow and almost pointless. There have been a few remarkable exceptions, but nearly every non-RPG game feels like something in which I cannot find something to invest myself. 2D platformers feel like me just pressing buttons while getting aggravated. Even a lot of the old classics feel like little more than nostalgic diversions that ring utterly hollow.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN I JUDGE YOU FOR LIKING WHAT YOU LIKE, SO TAKE A GODDAM BREATH.
However, that atrocity is not what I am here to confess.
My early RPGs were things like Ultima and ... Ultima, maybe? And some really primitive shit on Atari of which I can't remember the name.
All that got blown out of the water, though, by the first Final Fantasy. I remember reading about it in a Nintendo Power strategy guide. NP briefly went to a weird format in which every other issue was a strat guide for a game. I wanna say the others were Ninja Gaiden II (one of the great non-RPGs of all time) and some other shit. SMB3, maybe?
Anyway, I read the guide in advance of the game, fell in love with all the numbers and huge land masses, saved up my allowance, and then walked down to the local Wal-Mart and bought it. And fell madly in love. That was potentially the single-most life-changing gaming experience I've ever had. It really altered not only what kind of games I knew I loved, but solidified that I wanted to be a creative person for the rest of my life.
And I pretty much stuck with JRPGs through the 90s (Final Fantasy was released in the US in 1990.)
I did have a time in which I didn't play much. I took a break from gaming to have sex with girls, smoke weed, and get drunk, before I realized I could combine all that with my love of gaming.
Side note - of any man I know, I have the highest ratio of taste in great games to hot chicks I bedded in the 90s. I know that Final Fantasy VI was the best console game of the 90s AND I slept with a model in the 90s. Just sayin'.
As the turn of the century hit, JRPGs tanked. Or I outgrew them. Or both. Or I dunno. It all kinda peaked for me with Final Fantasy IX and Chrono Cross. They're both amazing games, and signal, for me, the end of an era. I've played great JRPGs since then, most notably Final Fantasy XII and Lost Odyssey, but the PS2/Xbox era was where I made a pretty drastic transition.
I can point at two games that caused this major disruption for me. First, Final Fantasy X, despite the great battle system, was a bad game, at least for what I need from a game. The characters, the story, the tone, and the world were all off-putting. The lack of a world map grated on me, but I accepted that Squenix was trying to on-board new fans, and I guess that was a thing or whatever. I actually really enjoyed FFX-2 a LOT more. Gone was the melodrama and incessant whining, replaced with a hilarious and lighthearted tone, which was vastly appreciated.
So, FFX was the first incident. The second was Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. I remember reading about it, probably in EGM, and thinking 'oh, it's not turn-based, so I don't give a fuck.' Then, I was over at a buddy's place in St. Louis, pulling bong hits, while he explained to me this amazing 'KoOR' game that his other buddy had, and how there were all these different choices that you could make, and it sounded pretty cool. So, a few nights later, I hooked up with this hot Puerto Rican gal in Chicago, and as we were stumbling down a street, I saw we were going past an EB Games, and decided 'fuck it,' and ducked in with her. I snagged an Xbox and a used copy of KotOR. We went back to my place, and proceeded to get loaded while I set up my Xbox and KotOR. I ended up stopping because I could tell I was gonna miss out on my first Latina if I didn't refocus. We went upstairs, had our fun, and then, afterward, when she was asleep, I snuck back down to start playing.
In my defense, I did have breakfast made for her, since I'd been up all night trying to find Bastila.
And KotOR really tipped the scales. From there, I got into Jade Empire, KotOR II, The Elder Scrolls, and then I shifted over to PC gaming during the PS360 era, and discovered the wonderful Piranha Bytes games, The Witcher, and more. I still buy every Final Fantasy that comes out. I played through X, X-2, XII, XIII, but haven't finished one since. I'm pretty lukewarm on FFXV. Honestly, most of it is that it's only on console (I play almost exclusively on a pretty spiffy laptop that I can take anywhere), and the characters are BLAH.
Looking back, though, it's funny, because I missed out on some of the best PC gaming ever. I wasn't on PC at the time that Baldur's Gate, Torment, Arcanum, NWN, and others were hitting.
And that's more or less my confession. I can't decide if I'm a fraud or not. I'm a nearly-40 PC gamer that has never played through a BioWare game that came out before KotOR. I'm sure some snide neckbeard is sneering at me as he reads this, but just remember. I had a better 90s than you did. I guarantee it.
Looking back over the years, I think my greatest RPG gaming experiences, and this is really another post for another time, are probably Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy VII, KotOR, Dragon Age: Origins, The Witcher, SWTOR, Pillars of Eternity, and probably something amazing that I'm not thinking of at the moment.
What about you? Have you swung both ways, in terms of JRPGs and cRPGs? What do you prefer? What are your favorites?
Videos
Here's some cool shit about video games from today.
Also, I am streaming today at 1630 and 2000 (central time) over on my Twitch channel. Not sure what we're gonna at 1630, maybe some Divinity: Original Sin 2, and then 2000 will be the resumption of The Road to Andromeda: Mass Effect 3. See ya tonight!
-Blaine
I started gaming in the 80s, and very quickly took to RPGs. There's always been something about living a great novel that has always appealed to me. I love my real life, but I also love the escapism and investing myself in another world that comes with a great RPG. I love the lore, the compelling narrative, the rich characters, the deep systems, all of it. It's really about all I play. I'm at a point now in which, if I venture into another genre, it feels shallow and almost pointless. There have been a few remarkable exceptions, but nearly every non-RPG game feels like something in which I cannot find something to invest myself. 2D platformers feel like me just pressing buttons while getting aggravated. Even a lot of the old classics feel like little more than nostalgic diversions that ring utterly hollow.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN I JUDGE YOU FOR LIKING WHAT YOU LIKE, SO TAKE A GODDAM BREATH.
However, that atrocity is not what I am here to confess.
My early RPGs were things like Ultima and ... Ultima, maybe? And some really primitive shit on Atari of which I can't remember the name.
All that got blown out of the water, though, by the first Final Fantasy. I remember reading about it in a Nintendo Power strategy guide. NP briefly went to a weird format in which every other issue was a strat guide for a game. I wanna say the others were Ninja Gaiden II (one of the great non-RPGs of all time) and some other shit. SMB3, maybe?
Anyway, I read the guide in advance of the game, fell in love with all the numbers and huge land masses, saved up my allowance, and then walked down to the local Wal-Mart and bought it. And fell madly in love. That was potentially the single-most life-changing gaming experience I've ever had. It really altered not only what kind of games I knew I loved, but solidified that I wanted to be a creative person for the rest of my life.
And I pretty much stuck with JRPGs through the 90s (Final Fantasy was released in the US in 1990.)
I did have a time in which I didn't play much. I took a break from gaming to have sex with girls, smoke weed, and get drunk, before I realized I could combine all that with my love of gaming.
Side note - of any man I know, I have the highest ratio of taste in great games to hot chicks I bedded in the 90s. I know that Final Fantasy VI was the best console game of the 90s AND I slept with a model in the 90s. Just sayin'.
As the turn of the century hit, JRPGs tanked. Or I outgrew them. Or both. Or I dunno. It all kinda peaked for me with Final Fantasy IX and Chrono Cross. They're both amazing games, and signal, for me, the end of an era. I've played great JRPGs since then, most notably Final Fantasy XII and Lost Odyssey, but the PS2/Xbox era was where I made a pretty drastic transition.
I can point at two games that caused this major disruption for me. First, Final Fantasy X, despite the great battle system, was a bad game, at least for what I need from a game. The characters, the story, the tone, and the world were all off-putting. The lack of a world map grated on me, but I accepted that Squenix was trying to on-board new fans, and I guess that was a thing or whatever. I actually really enjoyed FFX-2 a LOT more. Gone was the melodrama and incessant whining, replaced with a hilarious and lighthearted tone, which was vastly appreciated.
So, FFX was the first incident. The second was Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. I remember reading about it, probably in EGM, and thinking 'oh, it's not turn-based, so I don't give a fuck.' Then, I was over at a buddy's place in St. Louis, pulling bong hits, while he explained to me this amazing 'KoOR' game that his other buddy had, and how there were all these different choices that you could make, and it sounded pretty cool. So, a few nights later, I hooked up with this hot Puerto Rican gal in Chicago, and as we were stumbling down a street, I saw we were going past an EB Games, and decided 'fuck it,' and ducked in with her. I snagged an Xbox and a used copy of KotOR. We went back to my place, and proceeded to get loaded while I set up my Xbox and KotOR. I ended up stopping because I could tell I was gonna miss out on my first Latina if I didn't refocus. We went upstairs, had our fun, and then, afterward, when she was asleep, I snuck back down to start playing.
In my defense, I did have breakfast made for her, since I'd been up all night trying to find Bastila.
And KotOR really tipped the scales. From there, I got into Jade Empire, KotOR II, The Elder Scrolls, and then I shifted over to PC gaming during the PS360 era, and discovered the wonderful Piranha Bytes games, The Witcher, and more. I still buy every Final Fantasy that comes out. I played through X, X-2, XII, XIII, but haven't finished one since. I'm pretty lukewarm on FFXV. Honestly, most of it is that it's only on console (I play almost exclusively on a pretty spiffy laptop that I can take anywhere), and the characters are BLAH.
Looking back, though, it's funny, because I missed out on some of the best PC gaming ever. I wasn't on PC at the time that Baldur's Gate, Torment, Arcanum, NWN, and others were hitting.
And that's more or less my confession. I can't decide if I'm a fraud or not. I'm a nearly-40 PC gamer that has never played through a BioWare game that came out before KotOR. I'm sure some snide neckbeard is sneering at me as he reads this, but just remember. I had a better 90s than you did. I guarantee it.
Looking back over the years, I think my greatest RPG gaming experiences, and this is really another post for another time, are probably Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy VII, KotOR, Dragon Age: Origins, The Witcher, SWTOR, Pillars of Eternity, and probably something amazing that I'm not thinking of at the moment.
What about you? Have you swung both ways, in terms of JRPGs and cRPGs? What do you prefer? What are your favorites?
Videos
Here's some cool shit about video games from today.
Also, I am streaming today at 1630 and 2000 (central time) over on my Twitch channel. Not sure what we're gonna at 1630, maybe some Divinity: Original Sin 2, and then 2000 will be the resumption of The Road to Andromeda: Mass Effect 3. See ya tonight!
-Blaine
20160828
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
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
20160813
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
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
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