It's Dead, Jim...

     Well, I figure I'll finally call it. I simply don't have the time to do all the things I want to do and keep up with a blog. I may put together a "best of Goongala's Grumbles" post (completely my opinion, of course), but other than that I think this little experiment of mine deserves some closure. It's been a good run these past four years. Perhaps in the future when I have more time and motivation I can resurrect it, but for now I'm putting down the proverbial pen. Thank you, dear reader, for sticking with it.

     It was... fun...

Taking the Blog to the Cleaners...

     After looking back at some of my posts from the last few years, one word comes to mind: BLECH. Many of the posts were inarticulate blatherings that had no real point, re-posts of something I found on another blog, or poorly written video game reviews that may have been biased or unfair. Inarticulate blatherings and re-posts aside, I had envisioned Goongala's Grumbles as a video game review blog when it first began. However, I quickly realized that my reviews had no real structure, and many of the points were far too heavily opinionated. A good review should be objective, and that was something I didn't quite grasp at the time.

     Therefore, I've gone back through and "cleaned house". A few of the more recent video game reviews are still available to read, but most of the earlier ones are gone (either gone for good or at least until I can go back and re-evaluate them). What I want this blog to be is a place of educational topic discussion with a side of comedy. While I may not have certified credentials, I feel the need to try to help others understand my train of thought, a train fueled by logic and common sense, and to entertain them while doing so. I want the information written here to be "ammunition" for people to use in the battle on ignorance. But more than that, I want people to do something that not many people do these days: I want them to THINK.

What is this... "Scrub"?

     Recently I've read a small bit of a book titled Playing to Win, in which the author, a game developer named Sirlin, writes about the concept of... well, it's kind of obvious. When "playing to win", victory is the most important goal, and any method used to win is viable and acceptable as long as it still falls within the game's set of rules. While the bits I read focused on the competitive side of gaming, a side that I understand fairly well but am not terribly familiar with, many of the concepts and points stated can be said of non-competitive games or of competitive games played non-competitively. He makes some very interesting and excellent points, and also defines what it means to be a "scrub"... and I match the description.

TL; DR...

     Have you ever had a moment of stunning clarity? That moment where something finally *clicks!* in your head? Sure you have. Everyone has an epiphany every now and then. I just had one recently: Time is a very, very precious resource.

(Source)

May The Fourth Be With You, Always...

... or at least for today anyway. Happy Star Wars day!

Star Wars: Breaking Tradition...

     With (unofficial) Star Wars month just around the corner, I've begun to delve back into the series I love so much. From what I understand, production on Episode VII begins next month, and the Star Wars website has released a cast list. Sure, I'm excited about this: I'm happy to see that they've got so many of the original cast back along with such fantastic actors like Andy Serkis and Max von Sydow. In fact, neither the cast or the director that's got me grumbling... it's the release date. From what I've read, it's December 18th, 2015.

(Source)

Darks Souls II: My Vacation to Drangleic...

     After such a wonderful vacation last year in Lordran, I knew I had to get to get tickets to Drangleic as soon as possible. So I gathered up some souls (money), grabbed some lembas and Estus (pizza and Sunny D), and journeyed to my local market to buy the tickets (drove to Gamestop and bought the game). I used a homeward bone to get home (also known as "my car"), and off to Drangleic I went...

So gloriously incandescent... all over again... (Source)

Dark Souls and the Importance of Difficulty

     Here's a question for you: When was the last time you played a game that you weren't sure you could beat? Go on, think about it. Look at the shelf of games behind you. Out of those games, were there any you didn't think you could finish? When I look at my own shelf, every single game was bought with the assured foreknowledge that I would be able to finish them... save for one: Dark Souls. Back when I first tried Dark Souls, it didn't take long for me to rage quit. I blamed the game for being unfairly difficult, for not showing me the way, and for having clunky controls. What I didn't blame was the only thing that actually deserved to be blamed: Myself.

My bad...

'Attack on Titan' Speculation: "What we can share so far..."

     The greatest part of speculative discussion is that someone might point out something that I missed, allowing me to either improve or altogether abandon my own theories. However, the unexpected popularity of my Attack on Titan posts has created an unforeseen problem: the comments sections are a bit of a mess and the amount of edits I've made to each post is bordering on the ridiculous. The posts have become disorganized, and are much in need of abridgment. So, here we go... (WARNING! Spoilers up to Episode 25!)

2013: The Year In Review

     As a year comes to a close, I like to look back over the year and reflect on what happened. In years past, I would have struggled to remember what I was doing in February, but now I can simply bring up my blog archive and see what I was doing then. It makes reflecting easy... or at least easier.