Been trying to think of something to put into this section of the website just so it's not blank, and I think I've got enough going on now that I can put it all together for a first entry.

First off, a couple of Twitch-related updates.  I've been wanting to stream again for a while.  The problem is mainly performance anxiety - not so much how I'LL perform, but how my internet connection will perform.  The last couple of attempts I've had at streaming, my connection hasn't been the best, with constant disconnects.

I think the problem is related to another problem I'd been having with my internet a few months back where, despite my computer being directly connected to the router via ethernet cable, no matter how many times I would restart the computer, after some time it would insist on switching to wireless connection as though the cable weren't plugged in.

I've since fixed that particular issue, and ran a few private test streams both on Twitch AND YouTube, all of which seemed to go fine, I've just been extremely nervous to pull the trigger and do another stream, and only recently have those nerves started to go away.

Meanwhile, Twitch is implementing a 100-hour maximum storage limit for both Highlights AND Uploads, and my channel is currently over that limit.  Part of that is no doubt because I had uploaded a lot of my YouTube videos there back when I left that site due to the COPPA scare, so now that I'm back on YT, I can probably take those off of Twitch.  I'll probably start moving some of the stream VODs to the YT channel as well; don't worry, like with the review re-uploads, I'll disable push notifications so you won't get a hundred pings for everything.

Next up, Myst.  When I reviewed the most recent remake from 2021, I noted, among other things, how odd it was that the Age of Rime was nowhere to be found, despite the fact that the path leading to it very clearly was (you can read everything else I thought about it here).  Well now, over three-and-a-half years and a detour to Riven later, that apparent oversight has been corrected!

Now, it's been ages (pun may or may not be intended) since I played through the original version of Rime in the first realMyst game, so I don't remember enough about it to know everything that may have been changed or added.  I do, however, remember that the main gimmick was to power a viewing device to get a glimpse of Riven (as in a view of the Age, not like a demo or anything - Riven the game had already been out for three years by the time the original realMyst came out...the Myst chronology is WEIRD, man!) The way to power the device was via a series of crystals, each of which could be set to a different shape and color.  Put in the right combination of crystal shapes and colors, and boom, there was Riven.  Funnily enough, I think the only reason I remember that gimmick is because it made a reappearance in Revelation (ptooey!)

It was a nice little lore-based Easter Egg, but nothing more, which was fine; Rime was basically a bonus Age in what was otherwise a straight remake.  The only other major thing I remember from the original version was there was a device you could play around with to cause a Northern Lights-esque effect in the sky, but as far as I remember, that was just extra, something pretty you could look at but not needed for anything.

Here in this new version of Rime, the crystal viewer is back, but the way to activate it is almost completely changed.  Now, the crystals have been fashioned into lenses, and while you can still change their color, this time you need to also adjust its focus, and how close it is to the Linking Book whose Age you're trying to view - that's right, you can view more than just Riven, you can also see Myst Island and the other four Ages.  The Northern Lights generator is also present, and this time, it's connected to the main puzzle as well.

In the original Rime, your view of Riven was nothing more than a still image on a small round screen.  In the update, I don't want to spoil too much, but it is so much more.  Atrus's journal inside the Age describes the effect as "standing in two worlds at once", and that description is very apt.  Much like when I played the main portion of Myst '21, tears were in my eyes and a huge grin was on my face as I saw each Age in the viewer.

All in all, I enjoyed the Rime update.  But I can't help feeling like it was all done in the wrong order.  This could have made the Riven appearance so much more than a bonus Easter Egg.  If Rime was present when Myst '21 was first released, we could have played through the game, gawked at how gorgeous everything was even on a flat monitor (because don't forget it was made for VR as well), got to Rime, saw Riven through the viewer, and started losing our collective minds - "wow, if this little bit of Riven looks THIS amazing, imagine a whole game like this!!"  Instant hype.  But nope.  Riven '24 was out already.  I'd already played through it and, by now, so have so many other people, or if they haven't they've probably seen videos of it.  I loved the update, but my reaction on seeing Riven was basically "yup, that's Riven alright" and nothing more.

There was also a weird quirk going on with the Northern Lights.  The device you use to create them has a panel on which you can set two different colors, but I noticed once I got the lights going, the colors would suddenly change, and I don't think they were supposed to - at least not if the control panel, which didn't indicate anything had changed, was anything to go by.

Lastly, my wife and her brother are thinking they may want to learn to play Dungeons & Dragons.  So, being a believer that it can be better to show something than explain it, I volunteered to run a demo game.  Which I've NEVER done.  So, I've been busying myself lately learning how.

Now I've been playing in various campaigns for a couple of years now, but I quickly realized that running it is a COMPLETELY different kettle of fish!  It's like taking a few trips on a plane, then suddenly being asked to fly the thing!  Not that I didn't have respect for Dungeon/Game Masters before, but I've got a whole new level of respect now.

Part of the problem is my own sense of perfectionism; everything must be just so, or it's not good enough.  I bought the D&D Essentials Kit, which includes among other things, a gamebook for a small-ish campaign.  And that would probably have been enough.  Anyone playing this game would no doubt bring their own characters, complete with sheets and minis.

But the games I've played have also involved the use of maps (of the dry-erase kind) and tokens representing any enemies we would fight.  The Essentials Kit pretty much has none of those.  So, I decided to make my own tokens, and have been recreating maps of the first couple of areas in the game.

The other issue is that I've never considered myself all that good at improv, and so I've been trying to mentally prepare myself for where my party might go, who they might talk to, what the NPCs will do/say, what order it'll all happen, EVERYTHING.  It's been daunting, but at the time of this writing, I think I might actually be ready (or at least as ready as I'll ever be) to do it.  Fingers crossed.