Hiding in Bright Falls
👋🏻
After a successful start last week, I sputtered out. Turns out while AI can read some 40,000 words in a script, it can't watch gameplay and compare footage for you. 🫠
This is the problem with coming back to an idea years later. I have shapes and shadows of my first go around with Ragnarök lingering in my brain. I deleted all that footage before I had the drive space to store all this long term, so that's a wash. I have to resort to scouring the depths of YouTube and those depths are a slog. This is pure tedium. I almost wish I could just play it again, but that'd take far too long.
That tedium killed my drive to wrap up this first draft. I wish more games would implement a mission select like Red Dead Redemption II did. What a godsend that support is for someone needing footage. I can go back in a contextual manner and get footage, while re-experiencing a quest.
I sort of spent the bulk of my early morning time last week (Wed-Fri) playing Alan Wake for the first time. It started clunky. I've got some technical issues (why on Earth is Alan anchored to the right-hand side of the frame?). But guys, Alan Wake is sublime. It is just what I needed right now. A 2010, seventh gen "AA flirting with AAA" game that is dripping with opinionated, remarkable, and efficient design. The story is tantalizing. I am glad I put it on my list to beat for 2025 and that I chose to play it at the end of October.
Back to The Thing™ though, I need to just hunker down and finish this draft. Maybe I don't need as much comparison as I anticipated. In my slog, I have discovered that perhaps I did not play the most common way my first time around, which is causing me to reframe my essay a smidge. I think my title will be more along the lines of...
- I Played God of War: Ragnarök Wrong (and you probably did too)
- I Played God of War: Ragnarök Wrong
- I Skipped Ragnarök's Side Quests and so Should You
Out of those, I like the first, but am curious if it is too long. Easily find-out-able with thumbsup.tv.
That might actually be the perfect length...
Until next time...