It may seem unusual to apologize for how long it took to get this video out. After all, it’s only April and I’ve already released three videos this year. The last time I even released three videos in a year total was 2019. My track-record since December has generally been pretty good, and has the potential to be my best ever.
While I am glad to have maintained a positive rate of video production thus far, the Evil West analysis would have been available earlier were it not for an unfortunate case of strep throat, the sudden onslaught of depression for about a week or two, and the frustratingly timed food poisoning I suffered. Regardless of these setbacks, the greatest trial was having to edit footage for a game’s combat analysis for the first time since last year’s Darksiders critique. Such editing is a bitterly tiresome, time-consuming task, often requiring lengthy stretches of scrubbing different video clips for the particular instances of gameplay I need. The most common feedback I get regarding this struggle is to simply write down when these things happen, yet the intensity of the moment prevents me from writing down or making note of such specific mechanics. Simultaneously, I do not always know what specific moments I’ll need until I’m far into the game, or on one of my drafts of the script.
Honestly, I cannot say I am entirely satisfied with this video, but that is nothing new. It has been a year since I last completed an analysis of this sort, and even that was after being rusty for some time. Really, however, it was a matter of “rushing” the script at points, something I hope not to do with the next project.
Speaking of, I do not know how long the wait for the next deep dive will be. The script writing process has proven a challenge, but a welcome one. I plan to have an interim video, a bit of an experiment that won’t require any video game capture, but certainly will require video editing. I hope to release that video by mid-May, and for the next deep-dive to be posted some time in June.
Before I leave you, though, I wanted to share a few more thoughts on Evil West that could not fit into the video.
I had sung the praises quite vocally and publicly of the Super Mario Bros. movie when it released in theaters last year. I acknowledged it was imperfect, sure, but I didn’t spend a lot of time dwelling on this imperfections. I instead emphasized and even exaggerated the good qualities, decrying critics for either being out of touch or simply too biased in their tastes.
However, going back to its home video release, I couldn’t help but feel like there was something lacking. I often have podcasts or movies playing in the background while I complete work tasks, but some movies just do not carry as strongly when you lose the ability to focus on the visual element. When a film can only be carried by its script, you start to realize just how lacking that script may be.
Such was the case with the Super Mario Bros. movie. A lot of that joy was gone once the visual element was taken away.
The second part of the year in review is now done! I apologize for the delay, as things were busy not only during December, but throughout much of January as well. I also got sick during the holiday break, preventing me from being able to record the necessary audio to even begin video editing.
However, I managed to push through and beat the latest deadline I made for myself: end of January.
I’ve gotta say, working on these two videos back-to-back with a deadline on each was quite the learning experience. At the very least, I am far more comfortable working in Adobe Premiere Elements now, enough so that I am surprised it took me so long to make the jump. I was very attached to my process with Windows Movie Maker 6, but it was clear that it was time to move on to something more modern and far more capable. Premiere Elements still doesn’t have the full suite of options most content creators are utilizing, but it certainly allows for more control over what I can do in a video and how I can integrate sound than before.
However, I’ve been learning a lot of other lessons working on these.
The first part of the 2023 year in review is now live! I must admit, I’ve been having a lot of fun working on this, even if it’s meant little in the way of gaming time has been done the past couple of weeks. It’s really revitalized my enjoyment of video editing after Alan Wake nearly destroyed it. I’ve also been rethinking my approach to content creation as a whole, as doing an anthology video like this and doing smaller little reviews has been quite a blast. There may be a lot of big changes coming in 2024.
But, before I endeavor to outline those thoughts and plans, I need to finish part two. Unfortunately, I still have two games to complete that are going to be in that video. Fortunately, most of the script is already finished save for those two games, and I am nearly done with one of those titles. This means starting next week I can begin recording audio and cutting video together even while completing the rest of the titles.
Which is, perhaps, the greatest benefit to this Year in Review project: it has confirmed that the work flow I had begun experimenting with on the now shelved Alan Wake video not only works, but has increased my enjoyment of making videos by a great amount.
Resident Evil 5 was not satisfied with its boss-rush conclusion we would be forced to endure. It had to throw in A.I. glitches and broken net code to prolong our suffering.
Though in our final write-ups, both Shamus and I reflected generally positively on the experience. On Shamus’ part, his is ultimately more positive though less in-depth due to his lacking history on the franchise. He does, however, include one of his wonderful Stolen Pixels strips and its impeccable comedic writing.
My write-up, on the other hand, was far more in-depth and still captures many of my thoughts on the game. Even looking back and rewatching, there’s a lot of elements to the final fight that leave me confused. “Wait, I remember there were a lot of steps, but… which steps did I need to follow and in what order…?” The boss design is poor in that it requires very specific rail-roading without clear sign-posting.
Still, it’s a fun game, and I’ve even found a new source of joy.
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