Yeah, I can’t help but laugh at the man (in a good way) whenever I see him on the screen. I’m sure it’s for the best that he leaves the stage, but I know I’m going to miss him.

Similar to the OP, the one thing I like to remember was a tumblr post from way back that boiled down to “write shit.” It doesn’t have to be good the first (or even third) time around. Allow yourself to write garbage. Look back at your drafts and half-baked stories sometime, see how far you’ve come. Work with the parts you like, acknowledge the mistakes and most of all, be able to laugh at the shit you’ve written. Can’t get any writing done if you set unreasonable standards for yourself.

I’ve played Destiny 2 religiously throughout Warmind up to Shadowkeep, but after giving it some thought, I feel like I agree with you. Most of the fun I’ve had in that game was because I played it with my friends. We were happy messing around and shooting at each other’s backsides and maybe occasionally getting something done in the scarce 3-player content there was, kind of like a glorified hangout space, but if I had to play it by myself? I don’t know, chief. I do love the feel of the guns and the lore (up to a certain point), but I wouldn’t call the game itself a good time.

I can’t imagine that anyone actually likes being forced to be online in singleplayer games/modes, but I see the point when there is multiplayer involved. Diablo IV makes sense, but I strongly dislike the shift to the MMO-lite model that necessitates a permanent syncing instead of making it optional. I thought it was fine in Diablo III where you could pause as long as no one was in your lobby.

I suppose my stance on it is that, as long as multiplayer doesn’t bleed into singleplayer, I’m okay with it - but I’m also fortunate to have a relatively stable connection. I much prefer games that don’t lean into the online aspect at all, though.

I feel you… especially that last part, heh. I originally started playing it on its release to keep my friend company - he’s really into the anime aesthetic, I am not. I have never even played a gacha game in my life.

Something about Genshin is just so strangely charming, though. I cannot stress enough how much I love the music and the latest region especially has been such a wonderful audio-visual experience, which is probably what makes me stick around. There are few characters I genuinely enjoy from a writing/design perspective that not having to chase the gacha is a bonus, but it certainly makes the ones I pick all the more special to me. :)

Something I also appreciate is that Mihoyo/Hoyoverse is constantly making updates on a 6 week basis. 6 weeks! One could argue that quality of life and new features suffer for it, but I think it’s impressive that they manage to keep a game stable and mostly problem-free on such a tight schedule. And the orchestras they make happen are wonderful. For all its shortcomings, I am… positively surprised.