genesisofourlives - Tumblr blog

[genesisofourlives]

I feel I own an explanation about my post yesterday.

Around that time, I unlisted all the YouTube videos and the playlist (but not deleted, because I don’t want to make the time I had to spend to upload them wasted) and disabled all the related alarms on my phone.

I got basically ranted at in the chat regarding my heavy use of save states finishing Popful Mail yesterday, claiming I wouldn’t need them if I played the actual game and got better instead of cheesing it with save scumming, and how it’s not “professional” to complain on-mic if I want to be “serious about streaming.”

I need to remember that the people that actually watch my streams probably aren’t even aware this blog exists, because I alert them through linking directly to the Twitch from Discord. (And I’m doing my damnedest to not go “meanwhile” regarding that guy’s streams or the games he’s played because this isn’t about that.)

I don’t want to be serious about streaming. I want to be serious about video game development. I made this project to play games on my childhood system, show off what the system had and why I loved it so much. I made this to have fun. The stream display, the database to keep track of everything, the blog theme... those are all my base minimum. That’s how exacting my standards for my own work are. If they weren’t, I wouldn’t have dropped $70 on a headset or borrowed my brother’s overwrought “podcast studio” audio equipment, I would’ve just used my laptop’s cruddy built-in mic. If I didn’t have those things, I wouldn’t have the confidence to run this project at all, at least not enough to get past that first hiatus through Spring ‘17. Hell, the lack of ability to get the lattermost for a Pokemon ask blog idea basically choked it to death.

And that rant took away all the fun. I actually was emotionally numb for the entirety of Metal Man’s stage and most of Wood Man’s.

(And if anyone brings up those “donations” that occurred during the first part of Kid Chameleon, that was a troll and I got no money. People apparently do that. Frankly, if people like that are what I get as an audience for “serious streaming,” I’m not interested.)

Honestly, I’ve been tired of this project and keeping it up for awhile; the lack of recording uploads telegraphed that. Dropping it would leave that time free for any job I’m looking for, including a file clerk job at a bank that I’ve got an eye on. It’s a pretty good tradeoff - I don’t have to talk (it would be literally against the rules there), the daily goals are achievable, and I would get paid. It’d probably be better for my mental health to step away in any case.

This hiatus is indefinite. It’s all but flat-out cancelled at this point. It’s not officially cancelled in the possibility of picking it up again... next year, maybe. There are still games I want to play, like DOOM and World of Illusion. Though maybe it’d be for the best if I played them by myself. I still might also stream other games at some point - toying with the idea of the original Twilight Princess on GameCube. Who knows.

See you on the flipside.

[genesisofourlives]

Project on hiatus

I’m not having fun anymore.

[genesisofourlives]

The Genesis of Our Lives presents: Popful Mail!

Starting right now!

Twitch link

[genesisofourlives]

The Genesis of Our Lives presents: Popful Mail!

Starting in 15 minutes!

Twitch link

[genesisofourlives]

The Genesis of Our Lives presents: Popful Mail!

Release date: February 23rd, 1995

This time for sure! Presto!

Tomorrow at 2 PM Pacific / 5 PM Eastern!

[genesisofourlives]

Stream cancelled

Normally I can play through hot days - it’s practically a requirement for day-streaming games from your bedroom in southern California - but I don’t think I’m healthy-fit enough to play today.

On one side, the Santa Ana winds are coming in and the air quality has not been kind.

On the other side, I’m having a serious migraine from lack of sleep and leaning too close to my screen again, along with very stuffed sinuses.

Altogether, I don’t think I should tear myself apart to play today, especially a game I’m so polar on. We’ll (probably) finish Popful Mail next week.

[genesisofourlives]

The Genesis of Our Lives presents: Popful Mail!

Starting in 15 minutes!

Twitch link

[genesisofourlives]

The Genesis of Our Lives presents: Popful Mail!

Release date: February 23rd, 1995

Please be the end, please be the end, I'd like to play something else now.

Tomorrow at 2 PM Pacific / 5 PM Eastern!

[genesisofourlives]

Been too long since I got a recording up. These take hours to upload on my connection, and with some of my computer issues recently, I’ve often felt deterred. Anyway, here’s the one-player game of Knuckles’ Chaotix!

[genesisofourlives]

Week #76 Retrospective

Well... I didn’t rage, so that’s a thing.

Is it just me, or is boss difficulty in Popful Mail basically random? The world boss for world 4 was so easy, I don’t even remember if I died to the second phase. The last fight with Nuts Cracker wasn’t hard so much as a tedious stone wall, having the Wood Golem’s gimmick but with less than a sixteenth of the time (and also why can you pass through the legs?). The giant knight and lobster midbosses, meanwhile, were right pains, and I had to exploit the sloped terrain around them in different ways.

Worst part is I don’t know if that was how the developers intended for that outcome or a consequence of them not knowing how to block off an arena.

I still maintain that world 2 is the best since it orders its stages in a slightly less linear fashion than every other world, which are basically straight lines.

I’m starting to get the flow of this game better, but I dang hoped it would end at world 5. Too bad the evidence is stacking up to suggest otherwise.

[genesisofourlives]

The Genesis of Our Lives presents: Popful Mail!

Starting right now!

Twitch link

[genesisofourlives]

The Genesis of Our Lives presents: Popful Mail!

Starting in 15 minutes!

Twitch link

[genesisofourlives]

The Genesis of Our Lives presents: Popful Mail!

Release date: February 23rd, 1995

At the end of the day, I have to do this project to have fun playing Genesis games. To see the experiences that all the developers of the time made for this system. What other reason do I have, given YouTube monetization means nothing if you're not already famous and nothing about this project lends itself to modern sponsors? Hell, I can't even figure out how to turn on Twitch donations, if that's even a thing. To that end, whether or not I play them "right" is irrelevant. My mentality is such that I cannot care about such things and still keep this project going. If I think it's actively detrimental to my fun to spend upwards of a half-hour yelling at a boss in a game I'm sour on already, ruing the day I decided to even add it to my to-do list, then I'm not going to put up with it in the vague hopes that some random viewer that stumbles on my stream channel that I don't know how to advertise finds it entertaining. I hate feeling like that. I started this project in the first place because I was having feeling a bit like that about the real world. I'm going to do everything I can to mitigate it, and that includes save states. If you don't like it, then don't watch; it's not like I haven't run a stream that got absolutely zero viewers before anyway. If you want to see a gamer yelling at a game they're having trouble with for one reason or another, go watch Game Grumps.

I may have beat Cuphead, but I didn't do it with an audience.

That said, let's continue Popful Mail.

Tomorrow at 2 PM Pacific / 5 PM Eastern!

[genesisofourlives]

Week #75 Retrospective

So I have gotten complaints about my use of save states, perhaps regarding using them too often such as in the middle of boss battles.

My usual justifications for using save states, sometimes obsessively, include:

I have have four hours a week to play these, and preventing huge progress loss through save states, ranging from massive gaps between checkpoints to the entire game, is the only way to play the large amount of games I’ve exhibited, especially when I have to stop for the week.

Many games of the era straight up do not have a save system. This mostly includes the arcade ports, but it also includes Fantastic Dizzy. I can not finish Fantastic Dizzy, or most games for that matter, in four hours in less than three to six deaths. Completing most games without save states requires a degree of mastery which I do not have time or capacity for. Sonic CD was a fucking fluke in that regard.

I do not believe watching a guy yell at a boss he’s been fighting fruitlessly for an hour and a half is the kind of entertainment I want to provide. Being that guy is not fun. I hate feeling that level of hatred; it doesn’t feel healthy.

I’ve also gotten shit about jumping to guides “too quickly.” The first time was the final boss of QuackShot. The second was this time with the second-to-last boss of world 3. To which I reply, “where the hell in Popful Mail does it say that the Electro Cane’s shots curve?” Not at the store, certainly; I just checked my footage. It falls under point 3 above.

Thoughts like that have made playing this week thoroughly miserable.

I hate Sven’s voice. He sounds more like that Arnold ripoff on The Simpsons than actual Arnold (I think, I’ve never seen a Terminator movie in full in my life) and it grates quickly especially with how he’s a recurring boss. I don’t like most of world 4 so far due to the absolutely comedic lack of traction on the ice, and the item that stops it is on a timer, for Christ’s sake; what twisted capitalism do these penguins have? The enemies in world 4 hit insanely hard; the ice girl enemy does 70 damage even with the best defenses Tatt has at this point in the game. The twin bosses just exploit the complete lack of mercy invincibility on the player, while the substantial amount the enemies have makes charging Tatt’s latest weapon, the Star Cane, basically useless. It doesn’t even do enough to pop the bubbles, and they have 10 HP.

Granted, I fought at least the Fire Genie Golem without using save states except to skip the unskippable cutscenes because honestly extensive voice acting in games feels even more like a sin now regardless of how technically impressive it is. God, I hope Red Zone will work on KEGA Fusion...

At least grinding money up wasn’t too bitterly terrible...? God, I’m so glad I’m nearing the end...

[genesisofourlives]

The Genesis of Our Lives presents: Popful Mail!

Starting right now!

Twitch link

[genesisofourlives]

The Genesis of Our Lives presents: Popful Mail!

Starting in 15 minutes!

Twitch link

[genesisofourlives]

The Genesis of Our Lives presents: Popful Mail!

Release date: February 23rd, 1995

And now, this again. God, I hope I remember how to play this thing.

Tomorrow at 2 PM Pacific / 5 PM Eastern!