...all this time...

Truly, I’ve been extremely busy since April, and even more so since August. But, what was consuming my time finally ended, and my life has freed up dramatically.

It’s weird to have free time. So weird that I am determined to fill it. I

recently met up with a friend about a new artistic project. I want to make videos or start a podcast or something. Art that I can do regularly, quickly, and socially.

Writing a novel can be very lonely work, and my long-term vision is not rewarding in the short-term. I mean to publish a book (by whatever means, is to be determined), but what that equates to is that I cannot show my book to the world to consume. I don’t have people reading and telling me what they think of my book (besides my beta-readers, but that’s different). 

For artists, engagement with an audience is a reward, and it’s one I haven’t been feeling since my focus has been on writing novels that I have to keep mostly secret. A long time ago,

I used to write songs and I was the lead singer of a band. I could play a show or write a new song and feel the reward of engagement with people. It doesn’t take months to pick up a guitar and play as it does to write a novel.

So, that’s where I’m making plans. I’m beginning a project that will allow me to create art that is quicker to produce, gets me socially active, and is easy to send out for people to engage with. It’ll probably be on YouTube or in a podcast form.

My novel, meanwhile, is still going really well. I’ve been working to make it perfect, and as a teacher, the notion of Christmas break excites me.

Thanks for keeping up with me! You can find me @Oxyborb on Twitter.

Oxyborb.com Video Game Reviews

Yooka-Laylee
 
Horizon: Zero Dawn


Everybody's Gone To The Rapture


Splatoon


Rocket League
 
Batman: Arkham Knight


The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Mario Kart 8

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS

I bought a camera and I'm geeking out

Title says it all, really.

I blew my money on something I've always wanted: a nice camera. This is it:

I feel like a nice camera is a tool that every author (and author wannabe!) should have. Learning to speak publicly is something that contradicts the mentality of many writers. I mean, when we write, we get to edit. Backspace. Delete. Reword. Writers can be thoughtful and take their time putting their words together.

But public speaking is different; you can't take back the things you say in the immediate. You can't take back tone of voice and other nonverbal cues. Writers love to sit in their little offices and nooks and place one word after another in the comfort of their home computers. Public speakers have to be on target at all times. They must be clear, not jumble their words. They need the right tone and look good--that's another thing.

I've been working on making myself look better. There are so many things that owning a camera will teach me. An author must be able to go out into the public and speak to people professionally, with warmth, caring, vibrant virtues. I want to learn how to speak better so I can better promote myself and enjoy the community of book lovers that exist out there.


So that brings me to my new HD camcorder. I want to make videos that will teach me, not how to write, but how to be a good friend to anyone that may someday read my work. If you look at authors like Maggie Stiefvater, Lisa McMann, or Heather Brewer you can see how much their personal warmth and direct interaction with their readership drives them as writers. It's cool. I want to be more like them, I guess.

I've always loved being behind the scenes, but I want my novel to be in the spotlight (which means I'll have to thrust myself there, too).

My first video with my new camera:

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim – My thoughts and ideas for improving whatever game comes next

I didn’t want to write this post until I had gotten all of the main game’s achievements/trophies, including the platinum. I know it’s late coming, but Skyrim was a long, long game for me. 230+ hours! I’m the kind of person that likes to play parts of games, move on, and come back later when I feel like it, so it took me a while (since 2011!) to finally complete it (but I did!).

I absolutely MUST start off by explaining the way I felt being a PS3 player. The unfinished product I purchased at game’s launch kept me from playing at around level 30 until the patch finally arrived to fix the bugs. Also, the DLC came so much later than it did for other users. It made me feel poorly treated as a consumer. When I finally got the DLC, it was exceedingly glitchy. The vampire DLC glitched out to the point where I couldn’t complete it because the castle gate locked and wouldn’t open. This issue had been noted for many PS3 players, so, after some research, I resolved that I had to reset my game to an earlier save file. The only problem was that the save file had to be a MUCH earlier save file because of an earlier action I made that set the glitch off. I lost about 15 hours of progress, which is more than what I put in for the entirety of most full games. It was awful. Also, the Build-A-House DLC was fun but really, really glitchy. None of the build-a-statues wear the armor I put on them, instead duplicating old items and standing naked. The items I placed in my house moved sporadically as if I had a poltergeist, and all the doors in my house, which I wanted to leave open, would close themselves for no reason.

PS3-specific awfulness aside, what can I say? I believe Skyrim is probably the best game that has ever been made. I truly loved every second of gameplay. Even with losing a whopping 15 hours due to a glitch, I wanted to keep going. I played through the glitches because the game was so immersive, such a wonderful escape, and so much gerd-derned fun that I couldn’t stop. Bethesda is the best studio in the world. I can’t stress this enough. The game, even though it is from 2011, is still the best game out there, imo. I could go on and on forever about the things I love about this game, but that would be pointless.

This blog isn’t meant to butter people up. It’s also not meant to tear game developers down.

My blog is a blog of ideas. I call it, Creative Enhancement for Nerd Culture for a reason. I'm not a game dev, so I know that I'm ignorant to the work it takes to make a game, so don't feel like I'm chiding anyone. I think Bethesda is insanely talented. This is just my dreams and desires. Anyway, without further ado, here is my want-list for whatever next Elder Scrolls game Bethesda does next… 

1. Make less followers, but make them more in-depth

There are a billion-trillion followers you can pick to join you during your 200+hour journey. Almost every player I know picked Lydia and kept her for the entire game.

Why Lydia?

Because you got her in Whiterun, which is where most people go in the beginning. She’s quick to get. On the main quest line. She’s also not much better or worse than anyone else you can get.

Why is that?

Maybe your follower could be a golem that needs help to become a man again

Because Lydia, like almost every follower, is not all that interesting. Followers in Skyrim don’t have much to say. Some particular ones have city-specific things to say. Some have more dialog than others. I tried a few followers, but I mostly stuck with Mjoll the Lioness for the game because she was the most chatty (although, I would also recommend spending some time with Cicero if you let him live). There’s not much of a reason to choose Lydia over the mercenary at the inn, because Lydia doesn’t have desires, needs, or much to offer to the plot. She’s just a mindless follower who you can send in the kill a giant for you or hold your gear when you’re overburdened.

My suggestion is this: The developers should make one or two REALLY awesome personal followers rather than a million boring ones. Why have 50 followers if most people will just pick the first one they get and stick with her? Bethesda, don’t waste time on that. Make one follower, and make her really, really interesting. I think the one thing New Vegas did right was have interesting followers with their own quest lines. You can talk to them more. Now, Mjoll, for sake of example, had a quest. Returning her sword, only then could she be made a follower. Not a very complex quest, truly, and by the time she was a follower, there wasn’t much else she had to say.

Imagine if your one well-imagined follower had involvement in several of the quests? Imagine if the one follower had ideas to add during conversations with other NPCs? If you only had to make one follower, then you could make her have more unique dialog. Mjoll would often talk over the quest-giver with her canned dialog. What if Mjoll would have added to the conversation instead? You could create relationship building mechanics, depending on how you treat her or talk to her. She could have her own desires, goals.

So, make one follower, and make her awesome. Don’t make a million boring followers.

Click the jump for more!

I’ve been playing Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag

And I’m loving it very much.

I played the very first Assassin’s Creed on PS3, and I enjoyed it well enough. I did, however, get bored at a certain point, and I found the missions to become the same thing over and over.

Lately, however, I’ve been needing some pirate in my life, and so I made the purchase of Black Flag on that whim. Let me tell you, the game never gets boring. Ever. 

overloaded

This is some of the most varied gameplay I’ve ever experienced in a single game. Every time I began to feel like I was hitting that “peak” moment where I’ve experienced everything, they threw something new at me. Other than the basic Assassin’s Creed stuff, you can hunt whales/sharks, dive into sunken ships, go hunting for jaguars/monkeys/wild pigs, purchase art for your home, craft health upgrades/clothing/gun hostlers, capture rival ships, build a fleet and send them around the world to trade, capture naval fortresses, have bar fights, sail around with pirates singing sailing songs you can collect, explore smuggler’s dens, pet cats, feed chickens, rescue pirates and add them to your crew, use blowdarts to put guards to sleep, and upgrade your hideout cove by purchasing shops, brothels, and guest houses...

I honestly couldn't imagine a better pirate game, and just when I think I've seen everything, they throw out new gameplay that I wasn't expecting, like finding Mayan ruins, obtaining Templar keys, or hacking computers. And, of course, there’s also multiplayer on top of all of that. I’m overwhelmed by how great this game is. It’s LOADED with content, and I give it my full recommendation for anyone who wants an amazing collect-a-thon to play in a pirate setting. 

The gripes I had

 ...were very, very few. One was that there’s no way to run without accidentally clinging onto stuff you didn’t mean to. Another is that, when standing on a “sync” tower with the hawk circling around, they decided to use the same button for descending that they do for syncing, so I inevitably sync several times in a row if I want to climb down without jumping into a haystack.

The last thing I think is a shame is the lack of ship battles in multiplayer. The best part of the game, for me, was battling ships on the seas. I really wish that they had made naval combat the focus of the online multiplayer, rather than the hide-and-seek gameplay that is. The multiplayer can be fun, but I probably wouldn’t play it as much if I didn’t want the platinum trophy. If it were ship battles, you’d bet I’d be playing it all the time.

That’s all! Buy Black Flag! It’s amazing!

Should I buy Animal Crossing?

I will answer that question in the end. For now, I will ask another: Is Animal Crossing obsolete? Is there a better game with similar game mechanics?

Yes, Minecraft.

Hear me out. Minecraft has caused Animal Crossing to become obsolete.

Why?

On the surface, these two games seem like they are very different. However, that’s not the case. There’s no real purpose to Animal Crossing, and, you know what? There’s no real purpose to Minecraft.

They both put you out there with nothing in your pockets and no goals more intricate than simply: gather stuff. They both allow you to do as you wish. You can choose where you want to go and how you want to spend your time. You can move into a house, upgrade it, add stuff to it, and live out a virtual life.

But Minecraft does everything better. Hit the jump for the full article!