Minecraft
Other Games
Technology
Lord of the Rings
Media
Arts
Science

Minecraft, as little as I play it these days, is probably one of the most influential interests in my life. I remember first trying the game on a friend's Xbox 360 in 2013 and building a roller coaster that didn't work, as I had no idea powered rails were a thing. Thus began a long obsession, spanning over four console versions, multiple computers, and four accounts.

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TECHNICAL MINECRAFT

My favorite way to play Minecraft has almost always been in a technical manner. My largest world on Xbox was a superflat world where I tortured mobs, built crude redstone contraptions, and generally messed around with whatever item or block took my fancy. When I got ahold of Java edition in 2014 or so I played a lot of Mineplex and spent a lot of time messing around with redstone in sandstone superflat worlds. Around 2017 or 2018 I found my group of friends who I played with most of the time, using Technic servers on free hosting software. In 2019 MumboJumbo made a video touring SciCraft, and I had a brief stint in the technical minecraft community. I lied about my age, watched a lot of YouTube, made some videos, spent dozens of hours providing labor (if any of my old Primus Tech friends are still out there, <3) and eventually worked my way up to a trial membership on the Hypnos SMP server. I was still limited to around 2 hours of games per day by my parents at this point, so making the commitment was impossible and my interest petered out. I was more interested in running my own series of private SMPs, which I referred to as The Ancient Reaches.

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THE ANCIENT REACHES

The Ancient Reaches deserves a page of its own, but until I can get my old Wordpress website files again, I can't get detailed information on the dates and amount of worlds we had. Each world was called a "season", and each season we tried to give its own theme or spin. Some were modded, some were factions-based, sometimes we had a datapack or ruleset changing things up. Length of season and user activity varied heavily, but there was a lot more activity during the pandemic as you might expect. After about 3 years of this, activity was very low and I decided to end things.

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MODDED MINECRAFT

I don't think I could pinpoint a time when I started really liking modded Minecraft, perhaps more than the vanilla game. Trying to brings up memories of installing Forge on my mom's Macbook, downloading custom packs through the Technic launcher, and endless java.lang.OutOfMemoryErrors. The first "real" modpack I played (i.e. not just a bunch of unconfigured jars slammed together) was probably Enigmatica 2, but that world is lost to time. I've probably spent over a thousand hours playing Omni/Nomi/Moni-factory, GTNH, FTB packs, and other packs. My current Prism Launcher instance is sitting at over 150 days played, and that isn't counting what I accumulated on the vanilla launcher and MultiMC. Despite this, I have finished very few packs as eventually something irks me one way or the other and I lose momentum. I'm very proud of the progess I've made with my friends, though, especially in GTNH (EV) and Omnifactory (IV/LuV).

Below is the gallery, click any image to view in full size. (I think)

DESTINY 2

Destiny 2 is by far my second most played video game ever, with close to 2300 hours played across Battle.net and Steam. I got started back in 2018 when Forsaken went on sale and my friends were bugging me to join up. I played intermittently during Forsaken, I recall feeling very overwhelmed by the large number of mechanics and currencies to keep track of. When Shadowkeep came out the next year, I purchased it and finally was hooked for real.

I loved Destiny for the sandbox mechanics, the diversity of weapons, the depth of story, and the great feeling gameplay. It was unlike anything I'd played before, which tracks as it was my first FPS game. A few days after Shadowkeep's launch, if raid.report serves, I had my first raid experience, Leviathan. We didn't finish and most of what to do was read off a Datto video, but it was a blast. A month later, we assembled a fireteam and blindly entered Garden of Salvation for the first time. Our first clear, including all the Divinity puzzles, took us 20 hours over 9 sessions! After that, we made a habit of raiding often, and going for the day one clear on newly released raids. Raid racing was practically a holiday for us in those days. Raiding and dungeons were really the reason why I kept coming back. The feeling of developing a strategy with your friends and executing it perfectly is incredibly exhilerating, and it's always fun to come back with a newer player and walk them through our strategies.

The feeling of being good at Destiny was also something that kept me coming back. I generally was good enough at doing activities that I was able to push through most obstacles with just the right amount of effort. I think I really shined in repeat raid encounters, because memorizing enemy spawns and consistantly doing my job was something I found easy. I never got good enough for solo flawless dungeons or GMs, but I got damn close a few times and ultimately think that my patience to learn was lacking rather than game skill. I mean, it's a solo activity, if you don't have your friends there learning and losing alongside you, what's the point?

As far as I can tell, the beginning of the end of our Destiny era came mid-Lightfall, caused by a combination of the layoffs, delays, and people being in their first quarter of college. Excitement got really high approaching The Final Shape again, especially with Into The Light and the prismatic subclass reveal. We were generally happy with the campaign, but with no real incentive to keep playing besides the approaching raid race, I could tell things were probably on their last legs. After a few attempts at getting the fireteam together to finish after getting crushed day one, it was clear things were over. I last played the game on August 13, 2024, and I expect it to stay that way for a while.

Ultimately, because of the importance of Destiny to my pandemic sanity and the amount of hours spent socializing, I have a lot of feelings tied up in the game. My strongest friendships were honed among the stars, wordlessly defending humanity and its allies, and losing that is a tough blow. Watching old clips makes my gut twist, and my hand instinctually tenses, anticipating the recoil of digital weapons fired a million times. I don't expect my relationship to the game will ever be like it was, but I've never regretted the time spent in that world. I'll keep my eyes up.

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FACTORY GAMES

Under construction!

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ROGUELIKES

Roguelikes are a more recent interest for me. The first roguelike I played was probably Shattered Pixel Dungeon on my phone. It took me a long time to actually understand how roguelikes worked, and so I didn't ever win. I also recall playing Crawl and Binding of Isaac on the Switch, with the run usually being run by a more experienced friend. In 2022 I was coerced into buying Risk of Rain 2, which started my journey.

Shattered Pixel Dungeon and it's many spinoffs are so much fun, and got me through many boring high school periods. I've played Rogue a little, and the inspiration isn't hidden at all, but that's fine. There's always something new to learn in SPD, and the more you play the less you end up in truly dire situations. The environmental interactions are super well done, greatly increasing the amount of strategies in a given area. I am a Mage main in that game.

Risk of Rain 2 is a favorite friends-only game for me, in that I won't really play it without at least one other person in the lobby. I don't really like to achievement hunt that game at all, so I'm missing a lot of core unlocks, further incentivizing playing with friends. My favorite characters are Bandit and Loader, and I'm starting to like Acrid a lot. Also I hate Risk of Rain Returns.

I got The Binding of Isaac for myself at the start of my freshman year of college, and racked up almost 400 hours in 6 months, making it my second most played game on Steam and third overall. I couldn't really talk at length about what I like about the game. I do know that I love the way the game makes you think about your resource use. Every system is so tight that there are generally multiple ways to get powerful on each floor besides treasure room, shop, and boss, if you use your resources correctly. The multiplayer update is also great for this because playing with someone else means two of you are looking out for strategies and game breaks. My favorite characters are Cain, Forgoten, and Tainted Keeper, and some of my favorite items are Buddy in a Box, Red Key, Star of Bethlehem, Farting Baby, Flush!, Chaos, Leech, and Proptosis. Slight tanget, but check out Isaacle if you're wanting to test your knowledge of Isaac items!

Balatro is a favorite of mine as well. I'm not too good but I have a good time. I've beaten all but gold stake on red deck, and am working through other decks. My single round score record is 112.5 million chips on white stake, yellow deck. My favorite hand to build around is high card.

Slay the Spire is interesting in that I played the physical card game on Tabletop Simulator before I played the video game. I found both very fun, the card game is great for rule-bending with friends and the teamwork is so fun. The video game is super tightly knit and allows for great depth of synergy and many more builds. I'm a Watcher main and love card draw and colorless card builds, though I also like a good Silent poisoner run.

Honorable roguelike mentions:

• Caves of Qud
• Cogmind
• Darkest Dungeon
• Noita
• Rabbit and Steel

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TEAM GAMES

Under construction! Think:

• Deep Rock Galactic
• GTFO
• Lethal Company

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YAKUZA

Under construction!

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Other games I've put substantial time into include:

• Terraria/tModLoader
• The Lord of the Rings Online
• Dark Souls 3
• Elden Ring
• Hollow Knight
• Baldur's Gate 3
• Stardew Valley
• Celeste

Under construction!

Under construction!
See this blog post in the meantime.

Miscellaneous quotes, books, movies, etc.

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QUOTES

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
-Gandalf, The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

"Everything that's done finally ends by being undone. I realize that. And from the hour you're born you begin to die. But between birth and death there's life."
-Marianne, All Men Are Mortal by Simone de Bouvoir

"Even if you forget me, our friendship will have existed. The future could never affect it."
-Marianne, All Men Are Mortal by Simone de Bouvoir

"Et Eärello Endorenna utúlien. Sinomë maruvan ar Hildinyar tenn' Ambar-metta."
-Aragorn II, The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

"Yet such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.”
-Elrond Half-Elven, The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."
-Thorin Oakenshield, The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

"If a bedfellow ain't strange, they're probably not worth havin'."
-Drifter, Destiny 2

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BOOKS

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Dune Chronicles by Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert, and Kevin J. Anderson

Remembrance of Earth's Past by Liu Cixin

The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

All Men Are Mortal by Simone de Bouvoir

The Expanse by James S. A. Corey

The Ringworld series by Larry Niven

Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman

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SHORT STORIES AND FANFICTION

THE MAXIMUM SOFTNESS CAPABLE OF BEING EXERTED BY ALL MACHINERY by Porpentine Charity Heartscape

Drink Entire: Against the Madness of Crowds by Ray Bradbury, from Long After Midnight

Under construction!

Under construction!