Posted in Blog Update, Channel News, Hobbies, Life, Video Games

New Year’s Eve & A Look at 2024

4–6 minutes

It’s New Year’s Eve and as I look back on the year, I find myself humbled and grateful for all of you who have visited my channel. You, who have taken the time out of your day to watch videos, and to like & dislike are rock stars. And, while it may take me a couple of days to get back to comments sometimes, know that I do read them, and I appreciate them all.

In the past 12 months, the channel has almost doubled in size, going from 270 subscribers at the end of 2022 to 487 today. When I started uploading videos in 2021, to share New World with a couple of friends, I didn’t imagine where it would lead. But here we are. 

We’ll certainly make it past 500 subscribers this year, and march our way towards 1000 next!

2024 will bring a few changes to the channel as I work behind the scenes on new channel art, some with the help of my friend and fellow streamer, Fat Steven.

I’ll also be starting livestreaming soon, with all of the hiccups and technical bloopers entailed in learning that! I’ll be choosing from a few core games, such as LOTRO, Brotato, Oblivion, and The Planet Crafter. I’m also open to requests, depending on if I own the game and am interested in playing it.

The channel’s heart will remain consistent – me sharing different games I find interesting with everyone.

LOTRO, my favorite MMO, will remain. Medrielle will permanently be joined by Marcellene the Mariner, as I learn the ins and outs of the newest class created by Standing Stone Games. 

Grim Dawn, which replaced Diablo IV, has rapidly become my favorite aRPG, overtaking even Diablo II for the throne. A hard feat, considering I absolutely loved Diablo II when it came out. 

I’m still enjoying Guild Wars 2 and having a blast with my new Asura character. I will likely be alternating between her and my Sylvari in the future, as I rather miss playing the Sylvari.

Valheim is definitely not going away, especially not after I’ve finally managed to defeat Yagluth! I hope I’ll be able to find some mistlands soon.

I’ve also discovered a small team working on a whole Valheim world with quests and NPCs and cities. I’ll watch for its release so we can all look at it.

The Baldur’s Gate series is progressing slowly. I’ll be trying to move it along a bit faster next year, I also plan on revisiting the first Baldur’s Gate, as well as try out Baldur’s Gate 2. I’ve never even played that one at all. Shocker, I know!

Currently, the Let’s Play is focusing on The Elder Scrolls Online and I’ve been enjoying playing it with my friend, Chrys. When I move on to the next game in the second quarter of 2024, I’ll then decide whether to make the series permanent or not. 

Of course, playing ESO got me interested in Oblivion again, and I’ve installed it on Steam, complete with some extensive modding thanks to a guide I found in the forums. I plan on working on that but it may take a while, if anyone is curious. Expect Oblivion to pop up from time to time.

And, of course, I’ll be featuring other games as they come up. Everything from little bullet hell/heaven games, to games that I’ve received via Keymailer and LurkIt to try out and review. I’ll always give my honest opinion of these games, even the ones I’m excited to try out.

Finally, some games I’m looking forward to in 2024 (hopefully)

  • Return to Moria (should it appear on Steam)
  • Return to Nangrim (another dwarven game, but no release date yet)
  • Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor (supposed to be coming out in Quarter 1)
  • Aloft (no release date yet, just 2024)
  • Smalland (the full release is set for Quarter 1 and I’ll start a fresh playthrough to experience any changes)
  • Subnautica (I may continue the playthrough I left off or start a new one, I haven’t decided which yet)
  • Enshrouded (if my poor little graphics card will be able to handle it!)
  • Nightingale (I hope … depends on the minimum specs)
  • No Man’s Sky (I really want to find time and space in the schedule to continue exploring this game)
  • The Planet Crafter (there have been several updates since I last did this series, so 2024 is a great time to jump back into it)
  • Dwarf Fortress (I’ve heard this one is a lot of fun to play and can be rather humorous)

These aren’t the only games but the ones memorable enough for me to remember their names. I’d add Light No Fire from Hello Games, the makers of No Man’s Sky, to the list. However, there is no release date set at all and, as it was recently announced, I don’t expect to see it show up for at least a full year, if longer.

Gus also gave me RPG Stories for Christmas. This isn’t a game, but a TTRPG creation tool that allows for the creation of scenes and campaigns for virtual tabletop gaming sessions. I’m having fun tinkering with it and learning the ins and outs. Once I’ve figured a few things out, I’ll likely do some videos on it as I believe it has the potential to be a very useful tool in a gamemaster’s arsenal. The team behind it are also pretty responsive to the community and working to add more content and squash any bugs that come up.

To close out the year, let me once again say thank you to everyone who’s helped make this channel what it is today. I wish everyone a Happy New Year and let’s make 2024 awesome!

Until next year, bye for now!

Posted in Broken Ranks, Channel News, Video Games

Broken Ranks on Hiatus – A Channel Update

1–2 minutes

Well, good morning. I hope you’re all doing well. Today, I wanted to talk about something that’s been on my mind regarding Broken Ranks.

Have you ever found yourself facing a problem that has you beating your head against a wall? And the more your try, the bigger that wall appears and the more your head hurts.

That’s where I am with Broken Ranks. As much as I enjoy the game, the story, and the environment, the fact remains that I continue to find myself bottlenecked at a certain point. The quests outpace my character, and experience to level up becomes harder to acquire.

I knew going into the game that it leaned heavily into group play vs. solo play. Despite this, I wanted to try it. However, at this point my head is throbbing and, rather than resent the game, I’m choosing to step away from it for now.

At the moment, I don’t know how long the hiatus will be. I do know that this will give me a chance to take a break and then play the game behind the scenes. I’ll tinker around to see what works for me and what doesn’t. I’ll be able to struggle, be slow and boring and not fear creating disappointing videos as a result.

Will I figure a way forward? If there is one, I’ll find it. I can be very determined.

To anyone that’s enjoyed the Broken Ranks videos so far, thank you for your views, likes, and comments. And if you happen to have tips or suggestions, leave a comment. I clearly can use all the help I can get!

Thanks again for your support and understanding. I’ll keep you updated on my progress.

Until next time, bye for now!