Hey Dad Weekly #4 (Next Video Announcement)

Hey Dad,

It's been a couple weeks since I've made a post on here. I'm still toiling away on multiple projects at once. The good news is, one of those is done, so I have less things to juggle right now.

The new Yakuza video just came out and is doing pretty well. It was easily my favorite one in the series to cover. I remember being so excited to cover it when I started the series, because that game is just so fantastic. 

Since we just finished the mainline Yakuza series, I'd like to take a break again and do another one off video. After that video, I'll return to Yakuza to cover the Judgement games and the Japanese only releases (Kenzan and Ishin). I want to announce what game I'll be talking about here first, so you all have some advance notice. The game I'll be talking about in the next video is DISCO ELYSIUM.

Disco Elysium

I can't tell you what a breath of fresh air it's been to play this game again, and getting to talk about it on the channel is the cherry on top. This game is easily one of my favorites of all time. It's wonderfully crafted, beautiful in everything from it's art to it's writing. It's truly a masterpiece and a work crafted of love and passion. 

I've also had quite a few people ask me to cover this game in the past, so I figured it was a good fit. To spoil the video a bit, I'll be employing a similar format to the Fable videos, where I play through the game twice, making vastly different decisions.

Outside of that, I don't want to talk about particulars too much, as you'll see the full video, probably on September 18th.

Other Projects

As for the other things I'm working on, the much hinted at October Project has been completely filmed. All that's left is to edit it, and get the music done. I hope it's something you enjoy, as I've put a lot of time and effort into it. I think I'll always continue to work on these little personal projects in the background. Of course there will always be the main videos, but it's nice to have a side project where I can really try new things and experiment with my format.

The other battle I'm fighting right now is the Yakuza Full Retrospective. I'm not sure what to do about this hole that I've dug myself. Right now, all of the mainline Yakuza games together are sitting at about 14.5 hours. That's a lot. Add in the judgement games, Yakuza Kenzan and Ishin, and all the stuff I want to add for the full retrospective, and it's going to be a long video. I'm not sure if I'll even be able to upload it to youtube, but at the very least, some version of it will be on the Patreon. 

An update on the merch. It seems like the response to the poll was leaning towards "shirts with funny slogans and or cool designs". I have a designer working on two designs right now, a simple funny one, and a hopefully pretty interesting design that I cooked up. I'll keep you all updated, but I'm hoping to have real merch materialize within the next couple of months.

Other Media

I haven't really been watching too much stuff lately. I've been so busy that I haven't had a ton of time, and even during editing, writing, or recording, I've been trying to put my full attention into the videos. 

I have been watching some newer shows that just started airing though. I watched the first two episodes of Rings of Power. Which was... interesting. The show looks really good, and I can commend them on that. The money they poured into the show can really be seen, so that's a plus. Outside of that, there's not much great to say. I'm not a huge LOTR lore nerd, so I don't know too much about the Second Age. I've gotten much deeper into other fantasy series in my time, Tolkien was never my biggest interest, but I've always loved the movies. Because of that, I don't really care about the lore discrepancies or whatever. But a lot of the acting is subpar, the dialogue is really flavorless, and the whole plot is pretty boring. One of the biggest things that's been lost is the language of the books and the movies. It doesn't have that indescribable quality that can make you hang on the edge of your seat when two characters are just talking. The whole thing feels like actors on a set, not people in Middle-Earth.

I've been watching a much better fantasy show that's also airing right now, House of the Dragon. And color me surprised that this show is actually good. I really love A Song of Ice and Fire, and I was not excited for this show at all. I figured that HBO was just trying to rake in some extra money and profit off of the void that Game of Thrones left, but it seems like they might be actually trying to redeem themselves. The writing is great, the actors seem to be giving it their all, and the world is top notch as always.

I've been reading a lot, especially with the Disco Elysium video. It's sent me down a rabbit hole of influences, a lot of which are written. I've been diving into Russian Literature, which I never really experienced too much of before, but it's been amazing. I'm going through a lot of Dostoevsky's short stories, and namely Crime and Punishment. A lot of it can be really bleak, delving into the human spirit and all that, the dreamer etc. But it's gripped me pretty tight. 

That's all I have for now. I'll see you next time.

Bye Dad.