The Return of Gunslinger SpawnShards
I couldn't be your savior if I wanted to
'Cause I know what takes to be your next best thing…
I always feel conflicted about events like TwitchCon. I brush it off with “I would not go if it was across the road” but there’s a part of me that lingers within telling me it would be a good experience. It soon gets overtaken with the large part of me that feels like I wouldn’t be able to give people my best self at an event where I’m away from my home comforts for a week. Being autistic complicates every interaction and every potential adventure. The allure of the same old same old is always there, and tends to win out for me most of the time. It’s something I’d like to change, but slowly, and with a bit of guidance along the way. All that said, seeing my feed slowly turn into a new spinoff of the Last of Us with varying strains of con crud running rampant gives me pause, but maybe 2024 will prove a cautionary tale for gamers. Don’t bet on it though!
As far as my own stream, well…I’ve actually been streaming lately! I’m a PNGtuber again, thanks to my amazing artist PinkBalrog/DribblyPink, with a new model with some new tricks. It also took me like an entire evening to update my capture software and such and I nearly pulled out what hair remains on my head, but I digress. It’s hard to escape the feeling you’re not doing your best by not being on camera, but I’ve always said radio is my first love and streaming with an avatar makes it feel like my own Gerstmann-esque talk show with optional-to-watch gameplay. It’s…cosy, but not in the Stardew Valley sense. I don’t know if I love to chat, but I DO love to talk. The two are very different in my mind.
For someone who changes a lot about what my stream feels like every week, I still get nervous before every major change in direction. I have been streaming for a long time. Most streamers flush out after around three months, so I’m a fossil by comparison. I still get nervous when I press the go button, but I have to say after a couple of weeks, it has gotten easier. Seeing the chat light up while the intro plays warms my heart. I don’t think being a full-time content creator will ever be for me, but I got into this for connections and to bring a laugh and a smile to people’s faces, and I feel like I’m accomplishing that lately for the first time in a long time. It’s simply awesome, and the feeling reminds me why I love Twitch even when so much about the platform has changed.
I haven’t missed a stream for almost three weeks now, which if you know my usual track record is pretty wild. I have to take a day off for personal reasons next week, but otherwise, I see no reason to go rocking the boat. There’s something I’d like to do for my birthday stream, and for my Affiliate Anniversary, the intention right now is to do a LEGO stream. What set? Well you’ll have to keep an eye on social media for that.
I’m still playing Fortnite, which has improved a lot since the early weeks of the Season, albeit in a way that may have turned off a large part of the casual player-base. Unfortunate. Star Rail is on the docket as well. I’ve cleared Belobog and made it to not-Deep Space Nine, which I’ve been told is a step down but has potential from what I’ve seen so far. And I started Cult of the Lamb, which has been a fun way to dip back into roguelites and indie games on stream again. The PS5 version still has some technical issues like a long hitch at the dawn of every new day, and there is no implementation of the Twitch integration which is disappointing, but I’m having a good time and can see why the game was popular at release.
Before we move onto Short Trips, if you’re a regular reader by now, consider subscribing to get it to yer inbox. It’s free!
And now, Short Trips! (I mistyped this as Short Tripe at first, do with that what you will)
The First Descendant - I’ve been looking for a stream game for awhile, and despite watching some gameplay of this, I did not realise it was free-to-play, so I gave it a go. After about 10 hours I think I’m ready to shelve it. If I could sum it up, it’d be “Stellar Borderlands”. Undeniably expensive in terms of graphics but just…really pedestrian and dull outside of that. Even the graphics feel very sterile. Technically impressive, but sterile all the same. There’s elements of the gameplay I like but I couldn’t escape the feeling of “I wish I was playing Destiny” while playing this. Mowing down hordes of enemies that only seem to run in a straight line towards you without any variety in tactics gets old quickly. Oh well.
Ultraman ARC - In a welcome move, Tsuburaya has put the opening episode of the new Ultraman series on YouTube, along with a full English dubbed version complete with translated graphics, on-screen signs, etc. I’ve always been a Power Rangers fan, but as part of my efforts to understand tokusatsu more, I have been expanding out into other parts of the medium. I started with Shin Kamen Rider which was absolutely awesome and one of the best movies of the last year, superhero or otherwise. This is the first Ultraman I’ve followed as it happens and while it’s very much a kid’s show, the first episode was an enjoyable, breezy watch. I also recommend the animated movie Ultraman Rising streaming on Netflix, which won’t rock your world or anything, but it is very cute and fun with some well-directed action sequences.
Music - The Fortnite x Metallica event had me returning to the music of my youth lately, or to be more accurate, my older brothers’ youth because that was what made up a lot of my teenage tastes. So my On Repeat playlist has seen a lot of Metallica, Maiden, AC/DC and other such dad rock join my more modern tastes. Sadly, because of so much sport taking place this summer, John Kenny’s Classic Rock Hour won’t be on Radio 1 over the next few months. I’ll just have to make my own! And in terms of new rock, The Home Team’s third album The Crucible of Life drops this upcoming Friday and despite them releasing six singles already i.e half the album, I’m still incredibly excited for it. My favourite so far is Brag, which I’m pretty sure will be my #1 on Spotify for 2024 for some distance.
Visiting the toy store again - I’ve been so busy and sick the last few months that I haven’t had time to just go out for a day in a long time. So when my therapist rescheduled, I seized the initiative and went for a trek out. I spent too much, but most of what I got was on clearance, so that balances it out…I think. The only thing I bought at full price was the new Transformer called Shard, because to parahrase Homer Simpson, “her name’s like my name!” I haven’t gotten to mess with much of what I got yet. All I’ve done so far is blow my ears off with the Dino Fury morpher’s sound effects, which seem way too loud for what’s supposed to be a kid’s toy.
That’s about it for this week. On stream, you can expect more Fortnite, Cult of the Lamb and Star Rail across the week. I might be playing Nintendo World Championships (it’s a game, I’m not in an e-sport, I’ve had to clarify that a few times) next week but I’d also like to start finishing some games, so that might be on ice for a week or two after release until the Cult of Craic-oa all di…uh, we finish the game. Yes, that will do.
Thanks for reading! I’ve been SeanShards, and I can do this all day.