SPEAKER_02 0:09

Hello and welcome to the Aorisian Update, a behind-the-scenes discussion podcast about Final Fantasy XIV online for the HJP Podcast Network. I'll be your host, or at least one of your hosts, Hoka, a definitely not voice and creature that is really a 7-2 Allison glamour's on with the taste for the hot pink lately. Lately, as I say, because of the weapons that I have, but yeah, with the hot hot pink.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Uh getting that good that that girl hot girl glamour going. I am Violet and I'm fresh from the void here to to talk about uh the Aorzian update and all the news that's going on in Final Fantasy XIV.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

Let's do it. And today we'll be discussing the dreaded burnout.

SPEAKER_03 1:07

Yeah, inevitable not just in 14, but like in general, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

But mainly in 14, but like well, I think that we're hitting a um point in the patch cycle of this expansion, and it happens in every expansion, and it's like every game, especially MMOs, have what I like to think of as the doldrums. You've got like just enough breeze to kind of keep you on the boat rocking back and forth, but it's not you everything land seems far off in the distance, the new land, the new expansion, the new thing is way off. And you're just kind of in your your rut doing your thing, but there's not it does it feels like the the the essence of excitement has left, and that's I feel like a a perfectly natural normal thing that happens, you know.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

Oh, most definitely. Uh I I agree with you. Um especially with with a game with so much to do and everything, right? Not just like the MSQ or you know, uh leveling your jobs and whatnot, but there's so much to do, but it's like at the same time, there's not really anything new to do in a way.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Well, it's one of the things that I feel like um we fall into with this game because it's so big and there are so many aspects to it. People tend to kind of like pick their favorites, right? Yeah I'm a fairly unusual person in that um at least some aspect of every type of game mode I am interested in doing, but um I find myself getting like burnt out on certain aspects much much faster than others. Like for instance, I like raiding and I enjoy doing like you know big raids and stuff like that. But when it becomes a constant weekly prog, I uh I kind of get burnt out on it. I I get tired um and frustrated. And I know that that's that's just something where I have to take a break. I have step back, go, and and a lot of times just going and doing something different, like um to kind of cure my this is taking a long time and I don't know how to solve these problems, or I'm I'm stepping in the wrong place, or there's there's like so many frustrations of progressing, uh progressing like a big fight. Um, I'll just take a break and go do some PvP, right? Um, Crystalline conflict is just sort of like a quick, easy, good time. You just kind of bounce in, bounce out.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

Um nothing too serious. You just go and just do as much damage, capture points, you know, something where you know. No, I I agree with you. I've been finding myself doing a lot more PvP lately, um, mainly because I just needed something new, uh not really new, but something mundane, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Something that's just it's easy, it's quick, and it's um it's one of those things where it's like no Chrysler conflict is gonna last longer than like 11 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 4:33

No, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

So uh at most, I think uh now don't I this is not applied to front lines. Front lines is something that can last up to I think 20 minutes, 15 minutes, something like that, which is pretty long, pretty long, and it can take a lot a while to get in, unless you happen to be on a data center where um PvPQs, I mean, because it's 72 people that you have to get into a front lines. That's a lot, but it helps that like the rewards are consistent, it's not hard to feel like you're getting progress even if you're not like super great at it. Um I also because of the way that the PvP in Final Fantasy XIV is kind of structured, I don't get ego involved in it.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

The same way I do like rating.

SPEAKER_02 5:27

I mean, I see it's very rare. It's very rare, especially in frontline, that you you will see someone's ego like just show shows up and whatnot in the chat and everything, you know, we gotta do this, we gotta do that. I mean it's a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

Oh, yeah, but when they do, we we mock them so furiously, though. We're like sorry. Did you think this was World of Warcraft? Like, why are you here, buddy?

SPEAKER_02 5:56

This isn't South Shore and turn uh Terran Mills. I mean, I don't know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

Like I don't know what you think this is, but uh, we're just having a goofy good time, uh guy.

SPEAKER_02 6:08

Yeah, we're all here to have a good time, get points, and then go on our merry way. I mean, shoot, I'm you know, for for me to run into you again is very slim, so it's not that bad, it's not that serious.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Yeah, yeah, straight up. Um, I don't know. It's one of those things where I kind of feel bad talking about this on some level, and I think that's why we all kind of tend to avoid it and instead we just sort of withdraw, which I think is a bad thing. I think genuinely a bad thing because um we should just talk about how we're burnt out on it, and we just want to go do something different, yeah. Because when you uh wind up over-associating people with like a certain game, then you wind up like creating friend groups that you can't interact with because the game has become not something that you're deriving enjoyment from anymore, and that really sucks because it's cutting you off from people and community. Um I'm saying um a lot today. I think it's because I'm a little nervous about the subject. I'm usually the person who's very gung-ho about Final Fantasy XIV, and I don't really talk about it. It happens. Um right now it I have historical happenings about once every two and a half years or so of me getting like really heavily invested in this game. I just have to I have to step away. Yeah, step away for a while.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

No, it's um it's one of those things like you we we everyone knows we both love this game. Like we log in like daily, you know, whether or not we are actually doing anything in the game is another question. Um there's times where I be um I hope none of my bosses are listening, but I will be logging in while I'm working from home. And even though I am still working, I'm still logged into the game just uh just to be logged on and stuff like that, because there's times where I just sit in my house and just listening to the music that comes through um that I have set up over there, even though it's like the same, what is it, six songs? I it doesn't bother me because it's it's just there in the background and whatnot. But at the same time, though, it feels comforting.

SPEAKER_00 8:29

It can very definitely be a balm to like your nervous system. That's kind of the reason why I love the housing system so much in 14. And there are a lot of things that I but I will actually wind up um like my first defense against burnout, basically, in 14 is that I will fall back on the things that aren't skill-based, if you know what I mean. Like doing um like going to the gold saucer and just doing the mini games there, or uh doing my mini cagpot, or just running around um doing those things, maybe even uh just like sitting in my house, rearranging my furniture. Um occasionally I will even go as far as like just going to different worlds and going shopping on different market boards can be funny.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

Thank God I'm not the only one that does that.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

Like the boon that that data center travel is to just shopping trips.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

Especially, especially when Ether, like when Ether is closed and like you see one of the servers opens up, like, ooh, gotta go over there, gotta see what the prices are like over there.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

Right. Oh my god. Yes, yes, yes. And like I've kind of gotten to where it's like, I feel like those rich people who go to New York to go shopping. You know.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

Oh, so this is Times Square. This is what it looks like. Right. Oh, let's just check out what's there.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

Oh my god. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 10:21

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

Oh my God. But it's like I have to catch myself because I feel like there's a point where you have legitimate criticism of the game. And legitimate criticism of any type of art, in my opinion, is always valid and is always needed because we should be talking about things from a spirit of wanting to make the things that we love better.

SPEAKER_02 10:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

Wanting to make situations that we are living in or that we are working in or that we are in better, but it has to come in this spirit of not necessarily being angry, unless it is something that is angry worthy. Um, like, you know, being oppressed or or having like low wages or whatever. But we're talking about like in the video game, I see a lot of people express serious anger and vitriol about things that um we could find a much more articulate and a much more healthy way to discuss without it devolving into I hate everything, like sputtering, crazy person on the internet, right?

SPEAKER_02 11:39

Yeah. No, I know I gotcha. It's it's just like you know, with Dawn Trail, like there was so much hatred because of one particular character or how the story uh played out and whatnot. And it's like we tend to forget that you know Dawn Trail was it's supposed to be like a beginning of a new story arc. And so, like for for me, that's how I went into it. It's like, okay, so in in Dawn Trail, I guess we are just gonna be this particular type of player or whatnot, and people just took it, took it in a whole new level of just oh, I hate this game now, blah blah blah blah blah. And you know, until it gets better, I'm not gonna play it again. And it's like, okay, but we're we're not we're you know, we can still talk about it, we can still talk about it and criticize it, but we uh can we do it in a more constructive manner?

SPEAKER_00 12:45

Right. It's like we've had to come up with all of these like I went to art school, and the thing is, is if you're not tough enough in art school, like the very first thing that they teach you how to do is to take all of the things that you love and uh take your work and put it in front of people and let people rip it apart.

SPEAKER_03 13:05

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

But the thing is, is that if you learn to take the feedback, then what you make becomes better. And I think that's one of the things I really appreciate about 14 and its development team is that while no, they don't appreciate people who just rip them apart, right? For for specious reasons, they are very appreciative of feedback, both positive and negative, to make things better because they genuinely want to see things become better. Um, and I think that that's that's great. Uh admittedly, there becomes a point where um like I have physical disabilities, I am I'm ADHD, I have like you know, all these things. And so after a while the game can become both overwhelming and boring, like then that's like the signs of burnout, like that's where you start to feel like everything's both too much and too little all at once.

SPEAKER_02 14:16

No, I I agree. Um, I don't have the disability part of it. I mean, I probably do have like ADD, uh, because I feel like there's certain times where like, ooh, a piece of candy and go do and try to do that, and then at the same time, it's like uh just like the the new relic weapons and whatnot. Like, you know, I've been trying, I'm I'm still stuck on grinding for stones and stuff. But at the same time though, like when I do try, it's like I go to either uh OC or try to do fates out in the world. My my attention span is like, okay, I've done this for like an hour and I'm done.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

No, I I legitimately understand the fury of that. Like, if it were, oh, demi atma, I hate you so much. If it were not for the fact that I kind of like jumped on that and happened to get like, like I got hyper focused in a very, very not good way um to get through that first phase, and I still count myself as just somebody who got lucky, yeah, right? Um, to be able to get through it. That uh yeah. So um, like I totally understand. And a lot of the phases pass that, like, and it's one of those things where it's like, I understand that people want something, they want to feel like they've earned the relic, that they've actually like worked for it. And the the thing is, is that um when the only investment that you have to determine whether or not you've earned something is how many hours you've clocked doing it and you still can't accomplish the thing, that feels not great. It doesn't feel like you're succeeding at anything, it just feels like you're rubbing raw skin over sandpaper, you know? Pretty much it doesn't feel like a good game cycle, and so it's like that first phase seemed to have gone really well for the people who got super hyper focused on it or who had like the time to invest in doing this thing, you know? Yeah, but like yeah, it's been it's been frustration like past that, uh even because it's a huge monetary investment, then it's a huge amount of time grinding out, it's just it's a grind, it's a grind.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

It's a grind.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

I think the thing that that I have hated the most about the the relic, uh just sort of like as an aside complaint, is that I don't mind a grind if it's a fun grind. Yeah, I consider most of the grind for crafting and gathering, for instance, in Final Fantasy XIV to be a fun grind. Like there's there's at least something new that you have to learn how to do. There's something that you can go and open up, there's something that you can do that's different. You don't have to sit there and do the exact same thing a thousand times. You can, if that's how you want to solve the problem, but it's not the only solution to the problem. For this, it was having to spend money, grind out getting the right number of pieces. Most people who did get the correct number of pieces wound up actually having about a double handful of extras. Um, and they're it it it doesn't feel so much like content as it feels like just barrier to progress.

SPEAKER_02 18:16

Okay. Yeah, no, yeah. But yeah, no, because I feel that way like right now, actually. Yeah. Especially like I want I want those weapons because they look so cool, and it would definitely fit with like with the aesthetics that I normally go for with the Ruby Red and everything, uh, that I normally put on every uh in all my glam and everything, but it's like at the same time, it's like the grind. Just I I as someone who is constantly on call, and it happened yesterday and whatnot, where we were running roulettes and I get a call. Like I like if I'm in the middle of trying to grind something and whatnot, I do not have that that time to sit there for like an hour or more to grind, grind, grind. There are times where I'm I literally have to stop what I'm doing and focus on that. And then like half the time, I don't I forgot that I'm even logged on. And like I closed on the window, I'm like, oh, I've been logged on this entire time.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

Yeah, about that distractability though. Yeah, no, just it's one of those things where it's it's it was a lot more fun because I again, like I said, I was lucky enough to to catch it right at the beginning where there were a lot of people who were involved and invested in doing it. And then um, and then it felt like almost as soon as I got my demi Atma portion completed, like people kind of burnt out on it so hard that we didn't have the same teams going back and doing it. So we didn't so so it kind of like fell apart for trying to get anybody else on board. But even still, even still, it's something where it's like you don't have a job, better not have work to do, better not have like you know, family requirements or obligations, and like don't do your laundry or take a bath for a week because we're grinding this, kids.

SPEAKER_02 20:26

Yeah, so like like like when you guys went went in and and did all that, uh, because you guys were doing that while I was working, and so I I felt you know I fell behind so fast. And so just the just the thought of like me asking for anyone to go back in there and just uh c uh have them help me collect stones was like I don't want to put that burden on anyone else. So that's why I never really ask to begin with. So and it's like uh I I've been trying to do it on my own, and like I'm so burnt out on even attempting to try it anymore uh in what now, but I like eventually I will like I will just like if I have nothing else to do, like if I'm done with like my weeklies and all that stuff, I will just go and try to farm it, farm fates and whatnot, because I just do not want to go into OC and and deal with it.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

So right, like I can and I can understand that. I can understand that. But it's um it's like I go through phases where like I want to do certain things. Like, obviously, look, I love Blue Mage stuff. Blue Mage stuff is so fun, it is great. I run the Blue Mage, like let's go get spells and let's go do stuff, and eventually I want to do Blue Mage rating, and that sounds like it would be so great, but uh eventually I wind up going and doing the Mars Mast Carnival. And honestly, because it's a solo prog, it is one of the most, I mean it's It's just sometimes not great because one of the reasons why I love this game is doing stuff with other people is like my favorite part of it. So when I get kind of what feels like locked off into solo content, it doesn't feel as fun. Because it's not even something that I could really do while I'm hanging out with people because it is um something I have to have entirely like I have to focus on it, especially these last few floors that I haven't cleared. Um and this is also where I realize that like a lot of my struggle is yes, I am old lady with arthritis trying to do game that requires you to to smash button hard and fast. And sometimes my I I get all tangled up in that. And so those the solo duties really kind of bring that to the fore. And most of the times in like the MSQ, the solo duties are fine, they don't bother me that much. I look at what I have to use in my skills, and I can usually get through them fairly quickly. But um Blue Mage stuff, because the way to solve the there are like so many ways to solve the puzzles of the mass carnival that it's like you could watch a thousand guides and every single one of them will be slightly different, and they'll have a slightly different method on how they do them. Like um, the way one YouTuber found to do stuff requires completely different spell loadout, blah, blah, blah. So you're sitting here experimenting on like, okay, well, which one of these is gonna work for me? Which one of these is gonna work with my limitations? Which one of these are the things that I'm gonna enjoy or be able to get my head wrapped around? And it, and after a while, I'm just like, I just want to go run roulettes with my friends because I'm lonely.

SPEAKER_02 24:01

Don't make me do go, don't make me go back into the carnival. No, don't make me go back in the car.

SPEAKER_03 24:08

Not all by myself.

SPEAKER_00 24:13

Um, but that and that's kind of why, as much as I love Deep Dungeons, I'm probably never gonna go for the solo stuff because after a while, quite frankly, I just get distracted and it's hard for me to concentrate because I would rather do stuff with other people. Um, playing by myself is fine to a certain degree, and I don't mind doing it every now and then for short bursts, but I I certainly don't want to spend all of my time alone for hours and hours and hours on end. That just doesn't sound like a good time to me, you know.

SPEAKER_02 24:50

No, yeah, I I sort of did that with um uh the variant dungeons, um, V and C and stuff like that. So I so eventually I just got to a point I'm like, okay, you know what? I I'm gonna look up the guide. I need to find out what I need to do to unlock some of the uh the points and everything. So that's what I did one day. I spent like two hours and I finally completed the first one and got the mug and everything. I'm like, screw this, I'm just gonna do this on my own. And then afterwards, I was like, all right, let's go find up, let's go find some people to hang out with.

SPEAKER_00 25:28

Right, right, like and I don't begrudge the people who like playing Final Fantasy XIV as a solo game. Like, uh honestly, more power to you. If that's how you prefer to play, go for it. Yeah, um, I love that it can be played as both a solo game and as a group game. Um, but at the same time, I am very definitely in the camp of um solo sometimes, you know, group most of the time.

SPEAKER_02 25:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

Um, but then like I said, there's still group content that um after I've done the same thing over and over again, like proging the same fight six weeks in a row, like I need a break. Uh, or even like two or three weeks in a row, like I let's go do something else for a minute, you know?

SPEAKER_03 26:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

Um, and great things that can alleviate some of that is I love treasure maps. Treasure maps are just a goofy good time. Um, I love the doing the crafting and gathering stuff. Uh that that can be fun for just being able to do that. The the housing system is great for that sort of thing. But in the end, one of the things that we need to acknowledge that is also a way of dealing with burnout and is better to take this time is to just walk away from the game entirely for a while.

SPEAKER_02 26:52

Yeah, I I agree with you on that one. Um, because I've been finding myself like looking through my backlogs, I'm like, what can I play right now? It doesn't require me to log into 14. And like I have a couple I have a couple games that I have I've started, still need to finish and whatnot. So I might may do that sometime in the near future uh and just get them done uh and completed to say, hey, I beat this game, I can actually talk about it, blah blah blah blah blah.

SPEAKER_00 27:20

Right. But at the same time, though, it's like I I would love to like have an indie game, especially show off because I feel like indie developers don't get the love that they deserve. Um, like we've got, I mean, triple A games get like tons of marketing, and even 14 uh Final Fantasy 14 has like a massive engine of marketing and so forth behind it. But like one of the things I most recently did uh with a friend of mine was when we had um a maintenance patch for 7.1 and we were down for what was it? I think like six or seven hours. So then I was like, I want to show you this game that I love. It's not a very long game, but it's just the cutest, most adorable, wonderful game. I love it so much. It's called Catquest. It's up to Catquest three now. Um, and even from the very beginning, Cat Quest is just the most adorable, like little roguelike dungeon crawler map crawler game. And you play like a little anthropomorphic kitty cat, and you you know get weapons and gear and you get it upgraded, and you can learn magic spells, and you're trying to like save the world from like, you know, I think the first one's like dragons that are being manipulated by an outside force, and then the second one is kind of a similar thing. And then the third one is you're a pirate and you have like a little pirate boat that you go sailing, the you know, the the seven seas, it's hilarious, and I love it. Um, and we got so like obsessed and like like hyper focused in doing that that like we stayed up all night playing cat quest, and even after the after 14 came back up, we were like, I don't care, we gotta go save the world with these cats.

SPEAKER_02 29:26

That's awesome. That's awesome. Like I started my um I I I normally do a yearly um playthrough of Mass Effect where I'm playing the entire series. Uh so Mass Effect uh one, two, and three and stuff like that. So I just started a new character and I may start like I don't know, just hop on Discord and just start streaming it so people can see what I'm doing and stuff like that. Just to you know, just to hang out with people, but yet still playing a like a not uh a non-14 game. So uh so it's like it's it's one of those things where it's like we even Yoshi P was like take a break. If you need to take a break, go take a break. Right? So so it's like you know, I I like you said earlier, we we are in that uh in-between content uh cycle right now, where it's like, you know, a small break may be a good idea, and like it there's nothing wrong with it. Trust us when we say we both still love 14. We still everything about 14.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

It's it's one of those things where it's like it's what helps me stay in love with the game. Yes, because um uh I know there was a a YouTuber, and and occasionally there are a lot of other content creators who create things that um kind of illustrate the same point, is that when you get to a point where you do something so much to death that every single tiny grooven aspect of it becomes so familiar that you start to see nothing but the flaws.

SPEAKER_03 31:11

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:13

And that's the moment when you need to step back because a lot of those flaws are not even necessarily flaws, they're just things that exist that have come to the point where they've started to irritate you by their existence so much because you feel beholden to it. And one of the things is that even as a person who absolutely adores this game, if you feel yourself beholden to it, I encourage you deeply to step away and go find something anything else, even if it's just for a few minutes, even if it's just for like an hour, whether it's books or movies or television or anything to kind of break that feeling that you have to, because no video game should and and I'm gonna be I'm gonna go even as far as, and maybe this is a radical idea, even work should not be something where you feel like you have to to a point where it hurts your soul to do it.

SPEAKER_02 32:26

That is 100% true.

SPEAKER_00 32:29

I mean, it's it's like, yes, we all understand that we have to do work to be able to like provide money in for ourselves and things like that. But when you've gotten to the point where you are doing a job or you were doing something and it hurts your soul every day, like every single day you are trying you are waking up trying to find a way to not do that thing, it's fine to it's it's time to find something else to do. It is definitely time to find another another like outlet, another thing that pays you money.

SPEAKER_02 33:01

Yeah, no, I I agree with you there and and everything. So I no, it's like like for me though, like it I know it's time where like my body like really tense up if I have to go do something I don't want to do. Like I remember working at this one company, uh it was a financial company and whatnot, and every single day, just thinking about waking up and and going into work, like my body just tensed up. And that was like that that was like the breaking point for me. It's like I have to find something else. Like, I I need to do something else right now, or else I'm just gonna drive myself insane and or they're just gonna fire me.

SPEAKER_00 33:45

This is what is one of the two. Yeah, yeah. I'm uh I'm gonna advise everyone don't don't be like me. Don't be like me, because like the only way I knew that it was time to quit a company was I would wake up so stressed out, I had nosebleeds. Um and I started getting like I'm not a person who's prone to migraines, but I started getting migraines so bad that I literally couldn't see. That was when my my my partner at the time, who's still my partner, uh 20-something years ago, looked at me and was like, You need to quit. Uh please, for the love of all that is holy, quit. Stop it, don't do this no more. And video games, it should be even simpler. And like I know that what happens also with a lot of content creators is that you get they get locked into the one thing that like feeds the algorithm for them, that like gets them money and gets them paid. And I understand feeling completely beholden to that, but it is in fact possible to be authentic and still be able to make your bills. It's it's just you have to kind of like don't get to the point where you hate something so much that you can't bring yourself to even like talk or do anything about it anymore, you know?

SPEAKER_02 35:05

And and you know, I'm hoping that we don't reach that point ever because I really enjoy our weekly um well, uh a weekly or bi-weekly, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:16

Our bi-weekly talks, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:18

This discussion about 14 and whatnot, so I'm hoping it doesn't get to the point, but uh I don't think it will. I don't think either. But at the same time though, it's like you know Yes, we our our recording has been uh not consistent, mainly because of things out of control like weather and temperature and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 35:40

Yeah. Weather, sickness, la la la la la. Like there's there's just stuff that goes on. And I think that again, it's better to adapt to those things and record when um when we're both available up to it and have the energy for it because I'm pretty sure people would rather hear us talking about something in an animated and as we would normally talk about it than having to listen to us at our worst times.

SPEAKER_02 36:09

Oh, you mean that one episode in December? Where we're both dying and like, uh, we gotta Yeah, let's not do that again. No, no, that was a struggle to go through. I'm not I'm not gonna lie, but we still didn't go.

SPEAKER_03 36:31

We did, we did, we pushed through perseverance, but yeah, uh no.

SPEAKER_00 36:42

Yeah, let's not let's not do that again.

SPEAKER_02 36:47

That would be forever that one time where we learn not to do. Right.

SPEAKER_00 36:54

Um, but let let's also think about one of the things that I love about just taking a minute and stepping back is that it also gives you time to gain perspective. Um I'm one of these weird people that like I will form a hyper focus and then it will become habit, and then eventually the habit becomes something that I don't actually like have detectable enjoyment from anymore.

SPEAKER_02 37:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:25

And that sucks. So I kind of frequently will wind up going through phases where I have to take the time and just go do something different, like read books or or watch movies or watch TV or um build gunpla.

SPEAKER_02 37:43

Oh, wait, that's that's me.

SPEAKER_00 37:47

Um, paint. I really need to get back into doing more art and stuff like that. Uh the things that feed the soul, that sort of thing. Um, one of the things that is great though, about uh having a game that feels like it's something that you can kind of like come in and out of, and having a community that you can kind of come in and out of um as you want, is that it's like knowing that there's a group of friends who will always have your back.

SPEAKER_02 38:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:23

And that's really nice. Um, and we've we've seen a lot of people like have to take time away and then come back, and then we've had um our own moments of like taking time away and going doing something and coming back. Um, HJP has always kind of been there for us, which I love. Um, but one of the things that I do want to talk about that we're getting started to get things together for is Fan Fest is coming up in just a couple of months. I didn't even think about it until the other day. I was looking at the calendar trying to plan stuff out, and I was like, oh my gosh, fan fest, y'all. Fan fest.

SPEAKER_02 39:05

Real soon. It's approaching real soon.

SPEAKER_00 39:09

It's like hurtling towards you rapidly.

SPEAKER_02 39:13

Pretty much. Um I ready? I'm I'm ready mentally, but yeah, I you know, gotta deal with it.

SPEAKER_00 39:23

I already want to be there.

SPEAKER_02 39:25

I I I don't know what it is. Like I feel like I feel like I just want to be there, be around with everyone else in HJP, have a good time and whatnot, but I'm also at the same time, I'm also trying to mentally prepare myself in the direction where 14 may head. And I'm right, I'm I'm excited for the trailer, but at the same time, though, it's like I I know I'm gonna be jotting down like notes. I'm probably gonna go to a couple of panels and see what they say and whatnot, so I can bring it back and you know we can talk about it and stuff. But I'm I'm looking at it as like one, yes, gonna have a good time with HJP, but also at the same time, like semi-work with um with the podcast and whatnot, so that that way we have something accurate to talk about and and not secondhand stuff. And so it it's it's gonna be fun. I I'm gonna draw it.

SPEAKER_00 40:25

Uh it's gonna put me you dare go to Fan Fest and treat it like you're going to work. Are you insane? I don't get to go.

SPEAKER_02 40:38

I okay, so so a little bit of of me is that I, you know, a lot of my convention going in the past has been because of the um uh how can I put this? Uh because journalist is not the right word. Uh being a writer for uh a couple of websites back in uh uh like over 10 some years ago, I still write for one particular website rarely, uh whenever I do have the um the actual mental capacity to do it. So um in the in at the same time though, it's like when I go to conventions like that, like like FanFest or whatnot, I sort of put on my writer's hat on and like start taking notes and I I try to not take things too seriously, but at the same time though, it's like I don't okay, so another another words, I don't treat it as a job, but I'm also trying to get as much accurate notes as I can. So that's that's me. So due to some technical difficulties, uh, we are unable to finish the podcast. So thank you everyone for tuning in. The Aorsian update is just one of the many fine podcasts in the HJP Podcast Network. Subscribe to be alerted when new episodes are published. As always, likes and comments are greatly appreciated. Visit heatherjustplay.org to find out more about the HJP community and our 501c nonprofit dedicated to creating an online environment where we can build personal growth through play. If that interests you, please consider joining our community Discord. Links on the website.