Channel Update: May 2023

Hey everyone, quick channel update here. First off, welcome to all the new people who have signed up the past few weeks. Whether you’re new or have been supporting for a while, all the same, I really appreciate it.

Currently I got two videos in the works: Skyrim Part 3 – Stealth, and a review of Cities Skylines. I’ll start with the latter one first because it’s going to be the first to release.

After spending so much time on 76 and Skyrim I figured I needed a palate-cleansing with a game I really enjoy. They recently announced Cities Skylines 2 and released the final DLC for CS1, so now seems the perfect time to do a review of it with all its expansions. It’s not going to be a long video, less than an hour which is a rarity on this channel to be sure, but I just want to work on a quick fun project before diving into the deep end with Skyrim again.

Recording for it is close to wrapping: I didn’t really go into this with detailed plans, which has led to a lot of hours spent playing and recording. That’s probably for the best: the more I play, the clearer my thoughts get about the game, and the less uncharitable I’m going to end up being with Skyrim. The nature of CS’ DLCs makes it very hard to play them in isolation. As well, there’s a lot of different playstyles to CS that I’ve been exploring. So it’s been a lot of starting new games trying to capture as much as I can with each playthrough.

I’ve already done my development research, took notes, and wrote some stuff, so that side of the review is pretty much covered. Once I start writing in earnest, I imagine it will go very quickly. The plan is to not linger too long on this project, so hopefully it will be done and out sometime in June.

Skyrim Part 3 has me a little nervous though. Back in January I had it slated for a July release which seemed like plenty of time, but 76 took longer than expected. Even without the CS detour, I wasn’t going to make my original window, so now the idea is to just have part 3 out before Starfield’s release.

A few things are working in my favor here. First, there’s going to be a part 4 which will be Dawnguard, Dragonborn, and maybe some modded/Creation Club stuff. So part 3 is exclusively focused on the stealth playstyle, the Thieves Guild, the Dark Brotherhood, some side quests, and A LOT of Daedra stuff. I don’t even have any serious tangents planned like the 40 minute discussion on dungeons I did in part 2. Basically, Part 3 is looking to be extremely very-forward which SHOULD mean a quick writing stage.

I was kicking around the idea of playing a few stealth games (Dishonored, Thief, MGSV) in preparation for this script, but I’m not too sure if its necessary. Spending what would likely be over 100 hours playing and recording tangentially-related games for what would likely only be a few extra paragraphs of in-passing tangents is probably not an economic use of my time at this point. I might pick one or two and make them stream games, but I seriously doubt all three are in the cards.

As for where the video is production-wise: recording is almost entirely wrapped. I have maybe two or three more days of recording. All that’s left are the daedra quests and some bonus footage of me breaking the game with OP stealth archer tactics and stuff. I’m trying to be proactive with my b-roll recording. I developed a lot of new habits during 76 that made writing and editing noticeably quicker and smoother. Carrying that over to Skyrim Part 3 should help a lot.

Game plan is to focus entirely on CS until its done, then switch gears and get grinding on Skyrim. Nothing scary or daunting on the horizon, just a lot of work which is how I prefer it. I want to keep doing the occasional streams, I’ve managed to keep them going for a few weeks now and I got plenty of ideas for future ones, it’s just going to be a question of time and if the viewership keeps up.

And that’s all I got. As always, I appreciate the support and patience. Things have been a bit hectic with the Patreon/Discord growing, the collab with Patrician, and the release schedule I took with that video, but things are starting to settle now. I’m still not sure if I’m going to release Skyrim Part 3 the same way I did 76: I’m leaning towards doing one big upload again, but we’ll see. If I did, it’d be the same deal as before: patrons/channel members would get an uncut early access version.

Anyways, have a good one.

<3 P.S.