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A look at Monster Hunter: World’s progression and gameplay loop
RPGs are my favorite genre, and I wanted to write about them from a more zoomed-out perspective than just dealing with their stories. Also, I wanted an excuse to post the “Rich Rump” picture. I’ve become more cognizant of what people call “gameplay loops” lately. They’re pretty simple: you figure out what the main cycle…
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Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and waifus as marketing
One of the first posts that I published when I launched this blog was my impressions of Xenoblade Chronicles X, a WiiU title from Monolith Soft. Despite really liking it at the time, I grew more frustrated with it the more I tried to play: the game’s internal systems just didn’t work for me, and…
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2017: The Reflection Post
I think every writer has a voice in their head that tells them to write a New Year’s resolution/reflection blog. It allows them to be a bit reflective and nudge a little narcissism at the same time. So, if you’ll indulge me a tiny bit… If we cling onto yesterday, what can we hope to…
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There is never a good time to start
At the beginning of November, I moved to a new apartment. Unfortunately, a lot has gone wrong with that. Deliveries and installations being late sucked, but all of that stuff kind of passes with time. Since my second week (so I guess six out of the eight weeks I’ve lived here so far) I’ve been…
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Finding inspiration in games: Adieu, Persona 5
Warning: there’s some heavy spoilers of the mid-to-end game of Persona 5 here. If you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t read. I finished Persona 5 a couple days ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The games in the Persona series have a reputation of leaving something mental with you when you’re done, and I think…
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Moving Day
Today is moving day. I’m taking a little bit of a break from frantically packing in order to write this blog. I was primarily going to reflect on where I was when I moved back to my parents’ house vs where I am now, and it kind of ties in with something else that happened…
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Support networks: some thoughts on finding and maintaining them
I was struggling to find a blog topic for today but thanks to a friend (shoutouts to Ria!) I settled on talking about support networks. Ironically, Ria is a large part of my support network; she’s someone I can trust to both listen and give advice. When dealing with new challenges it’s pretty simple to…
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The KonMari method and absolving backlog guilt
Over the last week I’ve been reading Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing [affiliate link], and slowly digesting her “KonMari” method. It’s been pretty eye-opening in terms of changing some habits and jolting me into new ways of thinking. I’ve always considered myself a pretty messy…
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#WorldMentalHealthDay – My journey with medication
I’ve been on medication for anxiety and depression for two years. It’s a day too late to talk about it on World Mental Health Day, but I figured, hey, why not. In that two years, I’ve been fighting for balance — balance between my brain chemistry and what I’m introducing to it in order to…
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Building blisters: six weeks of personal training
After years of failing at fitness, I decided in August that I was going to get a personal trainer. I had a couple months to kill of just doing nothing while looking for an apartment and working, so I figured I’d jump on the investment and actually try to make the time worth it. Previously,…