Weekly Words #7 - Dogma is Weird

Good news: I think the audio problem is fixed. No clipping. No complaints. Sounds much better on speakers. My guess is that headsets mask the problem somehow.

Bad news: the video on Rise of the Tomb Raider flopped. People who watched it seemed to really like it, but not many have. As much as my subs are the MOST important audience to cater to, growing the channel is vital and this video did next to nothing toward that. It was posted at a couple of places and immediately went dead.

I don't know why this happened. It's really strange to me that the video on the previous Tomb Raider game did so well. Even the short video on Infinifactory gained some traction after being posted in places. It's a shame and it's a tough blow to take after putting well over a hundred hours into the video.

People often suggest that I cut my videos into parts that are no greater than 25 minutes. I don't want to do that. It's unnecessary hassle for people who want to watch the whole thing--it can split an audience, and it can look like I'm baiting out more ad views. But if the video length is the problem I also don't want to end up shortening what I have to say just to squeeze everything to one single 25 minute package.

I'll keep on going as I have been for now and if the problem persists then I'll have to try something new.

Either way: I finished my first playthrough of Dragon's Dogma tonight. I have a few more hours to play in another game so I can make a short video ready for Thursday. Then I'll start my second playthrough of Dragon's Dogma on hard mode.

If I can get it done before the end of the month, that'll be four videos in February! Which is pretty good. But honestly, not sustainable. Darkest Dungeon was really tough to get done in a reasonable amount of time. Of course, it'll always depend on the game, but I think two to three videos per month, with one being a shorter look at something, is more realistic.

Dragon's Dogma is one of the strangest games I've ever played. It has so many interesting ideas and hidden potential. A lot of it I didn't understand until I was deep into the game. It's also a lot smaller of a game than its first impression gives you.

Ultimately, however, good ideas are not enough to save a game when it comes to judging it. I would balance my experience with it around the neutral-positive mark. It's worth playing to see what concepts it's trying to push, but with a guide to cut down on the tedium.

The game is also very easy. I'm hoping hard mode helps that, but I think it's a symptom of the game's core mechanics rather than tweaking numbers for enemy health and damage.

Thanks for reading. Sorry for complaining about the Rise video. Hopefully it's just a blip.