requisite "hey I still exist" blog post
Hey, it's been a while.
I do, in fact, still exist. Still playing some games here and there, still dealing with ulcerative colitis, still petting cats. I did have some anxiety brain problems as evidenced by the last blog post just being about how my anxiety brain turns to baseball trivia, but things have mellowed out a bit.
Mostly, I've just been trying to get through a bunch of 2025 games that I haven't finished yet before me and my friends discuss Game of the Year stuff. We chat it out and come to a consensus GOTY list, but we also tend to do individual lists and stuff as well. We used to host them on Giant Bomb, because they had a really convenient list feature, but they've locked that behind the premium subscription, which most of us have dropped since Giant Bomb isn't really the same as it used to be. No disrespect to Ryckert, Grubb, and Minotti, but... They're not really what I came to Giant Bomb for.
So I guess the list will be posted and managed here, since it's a convenient website for long writings for me. In terms of games that have been played recently for consideration: I streamed all of Ninja Gaiden 4 on YouTube and had a really good time, that game is a lot of fun. The plot isn't necessarily anything to write home about, but it did actually surprise me in terms of something that I was bracing for and never happened, which I did enjoy, at least.
I also streamed the back half or so of Avowed, as well as the beginning of Act 2 of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 on Twitch. I've kind of decided the weekends are going to be "I try to finish up some games on Twitch" days, if I have the energy for it. I ended up kind of adoring Avowed, Obsidian really nails the whole "choice based RPG" genre for me. I never felt railroaded in Avowed, it always seemed like there was an option for what I wanted to do or say in every situation, which was really nice. People have said a whole lot about Clair Obscur, and I probably don't have too much more to add to that conversation, but it is really enjoyable, in fact.
On the health front, I have to go in for another blood test next week because for whatever reason the lab only did half of the tests they were supposed to do when I first had this test done like 3 months ago? I don't know. It's kind of annoying but what are you gonna do. Been having some aggressive diarrhea but that's kind of par for the course, seeing as I have an infusion coming up next week.
I also started DM'ing a tabletop game for some friends of mine, which has been a whole lot of fun. I'm kind of riffing on Super Mario Sunshine, which is an odd concept but my friends have been running with it and it's been way more interesting than my kind of general outline has lead it to be. My main thing is that I have got to be better at pulling names out for random NPCs way better than I have been. I don't know why I just end up freezing when I try to think on my feet and add in a new NPC and then people will (quite obviously) be like "Oh, and what's your name?" and I just end up going "Uhhhhhhhhhhh... it's.... hang on.... let me pull up a name generator.... uhh...." I'm sure it's one of those things that you get better at with practice.
Anyway, I think that about covers it. Requisite "right I have a blog and should probably write more often" post completed.