First things first: I wrote about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 over on MoeGamer, so go give that a look if you've been curious about this game and want to hear about it from my particular perspective. I have been playing this game for most of the weekend, so it's fair to say that I like it very much indeed.
As much as I enjoy having eclectic tastes and celebrating the overlooked and underappreciated games of the world, it is nice to be able to be part of "the big conversation" once in a while. For various reasons, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has seemingly been hitting the right notes with many different types of player, which is a good thing. I hope it 1) does well and 2) inspires other developers to do something like it. Because I'm all for good RPGs that aren't The Elder Fucking Scrolls making a mainstream comeback.
Anyway, aside from that, I've got the next three days off from work because I took them off. It's my birthday on Tuesday and I'm buggered if I'm going to work on my birthday. And the days surrounding it.
I've definitely written about this before, but I'm of the firm belief that one's birthday is absolutely sacrosanct. One should never have to suffer anything "bad" on their birthday, and one should absolutely not have to work on their birthday. The last "big corporate" job I had at Garmin allowed you two extra days off per year: once for your birthday, and once for your anniversary of starting your job there. I wish that was standard practice; it was a very nice thing for them to do, and certainly a far cry from the shitty way other corporate jobs I've worked treated their employees.
I don't think we're doing anything particularly exciting or elaborate for my birthday. I suspect we'll get a nice dinner delivered from somewhere and I will drop some hints to Andie that I would like a cake of some description. I may be coming up on 44 years old, but the Inner Child is still very much present and correct, as if you needed that spelling out for you.
Ideally it would be nice to see some other folks and have a proper celebration with cake, presents and video games, but honestly, I've kind of stopped bothering trying to get people to come and see me. There have been so many excuses on so many separate occasions that I just can't be arsed right now. I know that's probably selfish and self-absorbed and other things beginning with "self", but really, there's only so many times one can take resistance and rejection before one just thinks "fuck it" and resigns oneself to a life of loneliness. At least with my wife and my cats I am not completely alone, and I am sure I will hear from my family on my birthday, too.
But anyway. The weekend is coming to a close and I probably shouldn't blast Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's soundtrack at high volume for too much longer, if only because my wife has to go to bed and get up for work tomorrow morning. But maybe just an hour or two more…
Want to read my thoughts on various video games, visual novels and other popular culture things? Stop by MoeGamer.net, my site for all things fun where I am generally a lot more cheerful. And if you fancy watching some vids on classic games, drop by my YouTube channel.
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