welp that’s quite a title. I had a notification and was slightly surprised to find out that I’ve been blogging for 12 years. It’s a rather generous definition of anniversary seeing as there have been some large gaps but still, I’m here. The blog started at suzitastarshadow.wordpress.com and I moved address after a few years in a failed attempt to tidy up (and I suddenly disliked the suzita name). Much like the Perfect PlaythroughTM I had grand ideas of labelling and categorising all the things… heheh. (Perfect Playthrough is doing all the things and the ‘right’ things to be exact)
It’s always been a bit scrappy – I started by giving blow by blow accounts of fun evenings gaming and tbh, it’s quite fun reading those back if a bit cringey. I started writing varying guides which did actually prove to be quite popular – I’m still fairly old school and like the idea of having an organised notebook with useful information and to do lists – it is largely irrelevant these days. Although I have found that using something like MS Notebook to keep notes on MMO characters, their various aims and professions can be really handy after a break. The guides though, generally they came about through personal need for a set of information to be presented or collated in a way that was useful to me – and they seem to be useful to others too, so that’s nice. Finally, screenshots – I still need somewhere to post screenies.
The blog has lost its way though, or has it? I suppose it depends on why I keep it ticking over. Occasionally I think I’d like to be a Blogger but tbh I don’t really. I love anonymity, I love being able to disappear and just do my own thing – in real life too. It does grate occasionally when something I’m proud of just sits there quietly – but I don’t put the effort in (either to my blog or to interacting with people) so truthfully, you can’t have your cake and eat it. So why is my blog still here? I think it is simply, a slightly creative outlet for me. It’s a space to try new things and to keep a scrappy record of the games I play.
So, onto 2020 and games. We’re still in lockdown, still living Groundshog Day over and over. We are coping quite well, being somewhat introverted and having games to keep us busy. But even we are getting fed up. I keep looking on rightmove and wondering if we should move simply so we can have a different view out of the window. But no, that’s silly 
December and January are harder, the allotment is varyingly too cold / frozen / waterlogged / dark to do much there. The seafront is busy on sunny days – I have been taking social distancing very seriously, too seriously probably but there is such a weight of responsibility but when you are the sole parent. I’ve connected with some people from a bereavement support group, which was amazing – to talk to people who have gone through something similar felt like a weight being lifted. So gaming, bingewatching, exercise biking, cat cuddling, bread baking, crocheting, day dreaming, decluttering. A complete lack of using the time for something useful… which is fine really.
Games…. I’ve found that I’ve been playing one game obsessively, burning out and moving onto a new obsession. I seem to only have the headspace for one game at a time. I’ve played all the usuals really – Lord of the Rings Online, Elder Scrolls Online, Black Desert Online, Skyrim, Dragon Age Inquisition, Stardew Valley, Minecraft. A few new games (to me) – Animal Crossing, No Man’s Sky, Subnautica.
I’m hopefully (keep your fingers crossed!) getting a new PC in the next week or two – dependent on Nvidia 3080 stock arriving…. It’s high time – my poor PC was bought in 2011, has had some extra RAM, new graphics cards and SSDs added (it really is close to being Trigger’s broom). It is on its last legs so I really am hoping it will arrive.
With the new PC, I might finally play some new ish games, Outer Worlds, the Mass Effect reboot (OK that’s not new but it will look new?!) I’m not sure what else… The next Dragon Age game is a way off, next Elder Scrolls game is maybe this decade?! Any suggestions?
That ended up being a fair bit longer than I anticipated – I’ll find some screenies to break up the text and that’s that for now I think.