Hello world / 2024 reflection
December 23, 2024 Reading time: 21 minutes
Starting a new site to document random thoughts. I like looking back on things I did and enjoyed. It is nice to have a place where I am mostly anonymous! There's so much freedom in that.
Art
I'm glad I've continued to somewhat consistently draw throughout the year. Thanks Elden Ring! It's motivating to know that I am capable of still improving with the right tools (3D references) and instructions (many Youtube tutorials). Using Elden Ring XPS models in blender to make reference pictures has been immensely helpful for me.
Favorite pieces
I would say that my favorite pieces that I worked on are the following:
This is my favorite piece because wanting to give my favorite Elden Ring characters a happy ending is what got me started in drawing Elden Ring fan art to begin with. This is a piece I put all my heart into and regardless of how much more or little ER fanart I draw in the future, I'm at peace knowing I drew this.
This is my other favorite piece simply because I had a pretty clear vision for what I wanted, and the end result is pretty close. It's very satisfying when that happens.
Varre cosplay
I just wanted to make a shitpost of an Elden Ring character dancing to something very unfitting. Given that dancing was (is?) one of my hobbies, I thought about making this shitpost come to life. Varre is probably the only ER character I can pull off cosplaying.
I know nothing about creating costumes. All my past (barely) cosplays were done via thrifting. This is the first time I had to make things from scratch. I am awful at crafting. MVP to my friends who gave me the idea of:
- Thrifting bed sheets to use as fabric, instead of buying new fabric which is much more costly. I got 3 bed sheets for about $5 each.
- Using fabric glue instead of sewing. I have no sewing skills nor a sewing machine. I didn't need clean assembly or anything so fabric glue was so much easier.
As for the dance choices:
- Hare Hare Yukai is such a classic choreography that is a staple of the odottemita community. Very unfitting for Elden Ring characters. Very fitting for shitpost.
- TAEMIN - Guilty I just came across this and thought the choreo was pretty straight forward
I actually learned this choreography to Bad Habits as well. But there's too much moving around and I don't have the physical space to properly practice and record this.
Virtual photography
After upgrading my PC this year (see below), I was finally able to run Elden Ring on with max settings. For a while now I've admired the works virtual photographers, so I wanted to try it myself, especially given my existing interest in photography. I felt so powerful using CameraTools for the first time, being able to explore every crevice of Elden Ring to my liking. I found this to be my ideal workflow so far:
- Otis_Inif camera tools for camera placement + other game control features.
- ER Texture Improvement mod for, well, better textures. This is especially noticeable for closeup shots.
- ReShade for lens blur and in-game lighting adjustments. Specifically the CinematicDOF and Advanced Depth of Field filters that are included.
- iMMERSE ultimate's ReLight for better quality in-game lighting adjustments. The physical depth of field shader is a great alternative for depth of field as well.
- Adobe Lightroom for final color adjustments
I used the FramedSC tutorial to get started. Generally, I find that IRL photography principles apply here, so watching regular photography tutorials was helpful too.
Another reason I got into virtual photography is to get better reference pictures for drawing.
Holiday cards
I wanted to do a postcard giveaway to experience what it's like. A friend of mine had done something like this before and really enjoyed it. I wasn't sure how many people would actually be interested and whether it would be sketchy of me to even ask for people's mailing addresses. I'm glad there was a great turn out and the recipients enjoyed the experience too! I printed way too many though.
I sent these out quite early, but good thing I did because our postal services went on a month-long strike shortly after. The postcards would not have made it for the holidays if I had waited longer.
Also shout outs to people who sent/will send art to me as an exchange for the postcards (Bryna, Ron, Temmaru) totally unexpected and highly appreciated!
Gaming
Elden Ring DLC
We waited for a year for DLC news. Everyone joked about DLC news happening on a random Tuesday, and it did (Feb 20st). The first trailer had a 16 hour notice. I was in an online meeting during the actual trailer launch, and may have muted my meeting to watch the trailer. Bought the collector's edition immediately after.
The next trailer dropped with just a 3-hour notice (May 21st). I was in a half-awake state when I heard the news and thought I was dreaming.
I ended up buying both the PS4 version and the PC version of the DLC. PS4 version because my main playthroughs were there. PC version because I wanted to take photos and play with mods eventually. I still haven't reached the DLC in my PC play through at the time of writing this.
Starting the DLC for the first time gave me such a sense of awe. I had been craving new Elden Ring content for so long, and it was absolutely surreal to finally get it. I'll never forget those first steps into the Gravesite Plain. I spent way too long stubbornly trying to beat Blackgaol Knight before moving on. Originally I didn't want to use the scadutree fragments nor summons for the DLC. I quickly changed my mind.
Overall I enjoyed the DLC! Some of the lore bits around Miquella were less ideal, but it doesn't ruin the experience for me altogether. The art direction was beautiful, the maps, the enemies, most of the new lore I did enjoy. I was not prepared for Marika's lore. This was the first time I followed a fandom close enough where I had to be careful about spoilers. I'm always torn about getting the lore spoilers so that I can appreciate the environmental storytelling more while in-game, or to go in blind to piece together (and likely miss) a lot of the storytelling on my own.
Consort Radahn was brutal. I never had to respec until this fight. Ended up semi-cheesing it with the shield and stab technique. I know he's been adjusted since, so I'll see if I can beat him with my regular build in the future.
I will never not be in awe of how much the absolute fluke of me trying Elden Ring while cat-sitting has impacted my life positively. The amount of artistic inspiration it gave me, and the people I met because of it.
Bloodborne
When it was announced that the Elden Ring DLC was going to released in June, I decided to squeeze in Bloodborne in between. I've heard so much about it and seen so many fanart of it. The atmosphere of Bloodborne is chef's kiss! Plus, dream-related concepts have always been fascinating to me.
I'm glad I practiced dodging in Elden Ring, which eased my transition to Bloodborne. One of the hardest things for me in Bloodborne was actually the lack of maps. I'm terrible with directions so I was so lost whenever I started a new area. In hindsight though, I totally understand why they removed the maps. I really enjoyed all those times my mind was blown by how a shortcut lead me back to an area I had previously visited. Having a map would've taken away from those moments. As well, the areas are mostly small enough that I became familiar with navigating them after a bit.
One of my favorite moments was discovering the Abandoned Old Workshop and the fact that it's the same as the Hunter's Dream. It reminded me of when I discovered the part of Leyndell that was similar to Roundtable Hold. The Old Hunters DLC was definitely my favorite part of the game, especially the Research Hall. I really liked the story behind that place, and, of course, Lady Maria. She was one of the reasons that I wanted to play Bloodborne, and she did not disappoint!
Now I understand why people kept on asking for Bloodborne on PC or new content for the franchise.
Elden Ring PC version
Playing Elden Ring on modern hardware was such an upgraded experience! There were so many details, both audio and visual, that I just couldn't properly appreciate on my old TV. When I went back to playing on my PS4 for the DLC, my first thoughts were "wow the colors are so dull, and things feel so unsmooth at a lower FPS."
The PC version also allowed me to experience seamless co-op! I've been so used to playing offline on my PS4 that I totally forgot that this game had co-op options. Thanks to my friend Elisa for bringing this up and having so many amazing co-op sessions with me in Elden Ring (and beyond)! It was surprising how fast we were able to speedrun through some things. Together we got to fight Godrick, Rennala, Radahn, Malenia, and Messmer. It was especially nice to go through the Haligtree with a fellow Malenia admirer, and dying together will always be funny!
Baldur's Gate 3
It was this video that finally got me interested in playing BG3. The amazing fanart and the fact I played a D&D session earlier in the year also helped. I created a druid character in my solo playthrough, then included Astarion, Gale, and Shadowheart in my party. This game actually really stressed me out at first, way more stressful than Elden Ring in the beginning. It was a bit overwhelming to learn the mechanics and strategizing in this game. Once I "got it' though, it was really enjoyable to explore the world and all the freedom it has to offer.
I absolutely love the attention to detail Larian had for the way the world and character dialogue changes based on your choices. Speaking of character dialogue, the voice acting, which was the thing that got me interested in playing, is as amazing as I had hoped. The character animations are great too. On my solo playthrough, I got to maybe more than half way through Act II.
I started a co-op playthrough concurrently. The built in co-op system worked really smoothly for me. It felt like I could explore the world as I wish, while not missing out others' dialogues. We mostly stuck together when exploring, which I think made the co-op experience even better! Other than the co-op aspect, the experience also felt fresh because I made different choices compared to my solo play through. I'm playing as a barbarian, and we have Lae'zel and Shadowheart in our party. We had Astarion in the beginning but kicked him out in favor of Shadowheart because we're in dire need of a healer. I actually played co-op a lot more consistently than solo. So at this point, the co-op playthrough has way surpassed the solo one. We are maybe half way through Act III now. Playing a long, story-rich game via co-op is something I've never done before, and I am very much enjoying experience!
Overcooked 2
I remember playing Overcooked years ago with 4 people at a friend's house party. It was a lot of fun chaos and yelling. So I am so happy to be playing Overcooked 2 with Elisa this year! This game is really a test of effective team work and clear communication. In some ways, 2 players might be easier than 4 because we don't get in each other's way as much, and there's less people to coordinate with. We were both very determined to get 3 stars for every level, and were able to achieve that for almost every level in the base game except the cursed level 5-3. One day, maybe. We're now in the DLCs and have lowered our standard to just getting 2 stars. Dying, so much hilarious dying. We'll just have to live with not getting A+ in everything.
Other games
I'm continuing Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom that I started over a year ago. I've actually beat the main story already. Accidentally, actually, because I didn't realize I skipped a bunch of stuff and went straight to the final boss. I have many shrines I still need to discover, and I also want to do all the caves and wells. It'll be a while but I enjoy being able to return to this game from time to time.
Last year, I finished Like a Dragon (Yakuza 7). This year, I started Yakuza Gaiden which happens along with the events of 7. I'm about half way through it, but haven't come back to it yet since getting a new computer. Then a friend was visiting me and got me started on Lost Judgment while they stayed over. I really enjoyed Judgment, and am enjoying Lost Judgment too! The story revolves around high school and bullying, which I think is a topic that's relatable for many. I always appreciate how much focus the Yakuza franchise puts into their writing. I enjoy the game play and all, but the story is the main reason I play this series. This is also the first time I played Yakuza on a modern monitor. For the longest time I thought this franchise had subpar graphics. But no, the issue was my monitors, not the games. For the first time I'm enjoying the visuals in this series.
In the days after writing this entry, I'll be playing It Takes Two! I really look forward to it, especially given all the amazing reviews. I actually didn't realize (or forgot) it was the Game of the Year for 2021!
Games I'm interested in but haven't played yet:
- Elden Ring Nightreign (2025)
- Hollow Knight
- Don't Starve Together
- Jelly Express
- Dark Souls series
Music
Music I've been into this year:
- Porter Robinson - SMILE! - Funny enough, this year I met a fellow Porter fan that is a friend of a friend whom I've known of for many years. I never expected to find a fellow Porter fan IRL outside of events or fan communities. I appreciated having someone to discuss this album with. A lot of Porter's songs feel personally relatable to me.
- Stray Kids - They grew on me. Their songs kept coming up in autoplay, maybe because of their adjacency to groups like BTS.
- Lø Spirit - Wild Things (UNDEFYND Remix) - Inspired one of my Malenia and Millicent drawings
- Dabin - Alive (Trivecta Remix) - Served as inspiration for my favorite Elden Ring art that I did
- Dabin - Let you go - I always thought this singer sounded like Melina. Parts of the lyrics are quite fitting too.
- San Holo - Tiny Flowers - Chill good vibes! I listened to him a lot when drawing.
Shows
- A Shop for Killers
- Three Body Problem
- Arcane
Can't wait for Severance Season 2.
Miscellaneous
New PC
I finally upgraded by PC this year after keeping my previous PC for around 12 years. It was still functioning fine and can run most games (I upgraded its GPU more recently). However it felt like time to upgrade, at very least for a peace of mind. I wanted to invest in a good PC that I can keep for at least 10 years, and decided to go the custom build route. I am very lucky to have a friend who was able to pick the parts and assemble them for me. Hunting down some of the parts was not fun, but in the end I got all the pieces I needed. I'm so glad to be able to play games at max settings, and also be able to run drawing, 3D, and video editing software super fast.
- AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D 4.4 GHz 12-Core processor
- Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE CPU Air Cooler
- MSI X670E Gaming Plus Wifi Gaming Motherboard (Supports AMD Ryzen 7000 series processors)
- Coirsair Vengeance 64GB (2 x 32GB) DDR5-5200 CL40 Memory
- Samsung 980 Pro 2TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (x2)
- NVIDIA Founders Edition GeForce RTX 4090 24 GB video card
- Be Quiet! Straight Power 12 1000 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
- Fractal Design Torrent ATX Mid Tower Cases
- MSI MPG QD-OLED 32" Gaming Monitor
Creative endeavors
I would like to continue drawing with some degree of consistency. It's the only way to improve after all, and I want to continue improving.
I would also like to get back into music making a bit more. The only music I did this year was for a freelance job. I've yet to install my music software on my new PC. I want to make more fan music for Elden Ring but my music skills really aren't high enough to work with such complex songs. I'm still waiting for the right inspiration to hit, be it for a fan song or original.