August 2026 Archives
Posted on August 31
It’s the final day of August, a day I’ve traditionally used as a time to look back and quickly tally the number of posts I’ve created over this month. I do this self-report so that it hopefully helps those who are counting posts check me off real quick-like!
FFXIV: Facing Tankiety and Healing Fears
Posted on August 30
In a previous video, I talked about the things that cause MMO players social anxiety. Turns out that playing tank and healer roles is a big fear trigger for a lot of folks playing FFXIV.
Palworld 1.0 Release – Excellent Monster Catching Open World Survival Game
Posted on August 29
Palworld has turned out to be one of my most-played games of 2026. I don’t regret that in any capacity. I know some folks joked about it being “Pokemon with guns” but it’s been a very satisfying survival monster catching game.
On Engagement: Blogging vs. Video
Posted on August 28
I love my blog. I’ve spent the past 12 years typing words onto the screen in hopes that something I had to say would reach folks beyond me for a bigger purpose. Sometimes that purpose is to strike up conversation or share thoughts on a topic. Often, though, I want to provide information that can help or inspire someone else.
Windrose – A Pirate’s Life for Me!
Posted on August 27
I do love a good pirate sailing game, preferably one with decent naval combat and some trading routes thrown in there. Windrose is a bit of a different type of pirate game in that it holds fast to the survival crafting adventure genre and puts a high seas spin on it.
FFXIV: How to Group with Less Stress
Posted on August 26
In a previous video, I asked the community for tips on how they deal with social anxiety in FFXIV grouping situations. I got quite a few responses, and some of them were very helpful! While I tried to think up all the tips I could in my first video, folks brought up a few things I didn’t think of!
FFXIV: Bard Music Player Replacements
Posted on August 25
As of August 17, 2026, the original Bard Music Player (BMP) program has been retired. I first wrote a guide about the original BMP back in 2018. I do believe that has been one of the most popular posts on my blog, especially back in the day. So, I feel like I need to follow up on the retirement of this program and provide some alternatives to it.
Grandpa’s Bee Haven Opens Public Playtesting!
Posted on August 24
Earlier this year, I did an early demo review of the cozy, idle bee keeping game that sits at the bottom of the PC screen – Grandpa’s Bee Haven! Since then, the game has had a lot of excellent updates and additions, including some of the very things I sent in as my own feedback.
IRL Update: The Job Hunt Has Its Ups and Downs
Posted on August 23
I’ve been holding off in writing about what’s happening with me IRL because there are a lot of things up in the air. I’m currently writing this part of the post the day before a deciding factor of my possible future employment is made. I plan to pick up writing the second part of this post once I find out how things go.
FFXIV: An Introvert's Hopes for Evercold Changes
Posted on August 22
While we got some more information about Evercold at the EU Fanfest, we barely scratched the surface in understanding more about the changes that I want to see. What kind of hopes do I have for the next expansion, and why do they belong to an introvert?
Enshrouded: Fell Dragon Youngling - 1.0 Update
Posted on August 21
One of the biggest boss fights in Enshrouded is the Fell Dragon Youngling. I wrote about this battle almost a year ago when we first beat it, and what it took to actually finish the fight so that we could move on in the story.
FFXIV: Roleplay Tips from Sojourner Circle
Posted on August 20
In a previous video, I talked about role play in FFXIV and what you can do to get started. I also touched on what causes people anxiety when considering RP, especially from a shy or new player perspective. In the comments of that video, I asked other folks for their RP tips, and boy did I get them!
Posted on August 19
Back when Balatro was still new, I heard a whole lot about this deck-building Poker roguelike. I mean, a lot a lot about it. It was, and still is, rated overwhelmingly positive on Steam.
I Finally Played: Vampire Survivors
Posted on August 18
In this short series, I finally pick up some games that I’ve heard about, and are highly rated, but I just have never given a shot. The first of these is Vampire Survivors.
Steam Gaming: The Year of Early Access Releases
Posted on August 17
While I do take care what games I pick up during Early Access, I have a weak spot for crafting survival games in particular. This year, for whatever reason, we’re seeing a bunch of the big hitter survival games coming out of early access and releasing into the 1.0 state. This is a good thing!
FFXIV: 9 Chill and Cozy Solo Activities
Posted on August 16
I got feedback from folks in previous YouTube videos listing their top activities they use to unwind in FFXIV. I then gathered these activities in a video, which you can see here.
Blaugust 2026 – The Halfway Point
Posted on August 15
I know that August has 31 days and that day 15 is not technically halfway, but I still tend to view it that way, anyhow. So here we are, halfway through another Blaugust – how’s it going for you?
It’s Harder to Blog About Gaming (For Me)
Posted on August 14
The past few years, I’ve been blogging less and less, specifically about gaming – and I’d like to talk about why. Or, at least, why I think this is for me.
YouTube Increases Requirements to Unlock Monetization
Posted on August 13
Just after I talked a little bit about my adventures with YouTube this year, and my quiet hopes to maybe one day earn a little bit from my work, YouTube drops the bomb on all small channels by increasing the requirements to unlock monetization in the future.
Flames of Bedlam – Making a Fantasy Audiobook for YouTube
Posted on August 12
While I’ve only been making YouTube videos for a little over two months, my ambitions always seem to get the best of me. I noticed that my videos seem to get more traction and comments (I’ll write a post about this later) than a lot of my written content does, sadly. So, that got me to thinking about how I might be able to repurpose some of my fantasy stories in an audio format.
Neocities is Improving – And I Noticed!
Posted on August 11
As a daily user of the Neocities hosting platform, I’ve observed some quiet updates the site has begun to roll out over this past year. These things are sometimes hard to spot unless you use the site as much as I do, and there are no release notes out there that I can find.
Posted on August 10
As a gamer, specifically a console gamer, things are getting tough out there. Sure, it’s tough for PC players, too, in terms of the cost of maintaining and upgrading hardware, but we’re seeing in real-time the effects of the AI datacenter glut on the cost of current gen consoles.
FFXIV: How to Deal with Grouping Anxiety
Posted on August 9
In a previous video, I talked about the top things that cause players anxiety in FFXIV. Of course, group content is at the top of this list.
FFXIV: When Your Main Breaks Your Immersion
Posted on August 8
Immersion is extremely important to me as a story-focused player in FFXIV. And while I generally enjoy the story beats of the game (ignoring some of the lesser engaging stuff in Dawntrail), I do have one small issue with how FFXIV handles the main character of the MSQ… because if you aren’t playing a Warrior of Light (WoL), then things just don’t mesh well.
FFXIV: Phantom Relic Weapons for Patch 7.55
Posted on August 7
It’s that time again in FFXIV – Relic Weapon grinds! The newest patch 7.55 brings the final step of the Relic weapon to the game while encouraging a full-on run of everything in Dawntrail all over again.
FFXIV Mobile = Canceled – Switch 2 Release a Go
Posted on August 6
I’d heard rumors that the FFXIV Mobile version would be canceled about a week or two before the official website posted an announcement. Because I’m honestly not sure how long the site will remain up, I’ve screenshotted the info and placed it in this post below.
Celebrate HTML Day 2026 on August 8!
Posted on August 5
Last year I first discovered HTML day, though this event has now run for the past 4 years! In a day and age when vibe coding is becoming a new reality, the celebration of hand-coded and intentionally built apps and sites is more important than ever.
What I’ve Learned About Making Better YouTube Videos
Posted on August 4
Making videos was one of those things I said I’d never do. Until I suddenly created a YouTube channel.
FFXIV: Are You Too Shy to Roleplay? Here’s Some Tips!
Posted on August 3
In a previous video I where talked about social anxiety in FFXIV, one of the top responses I heard was that folks wanted to roleplay, but either didn’t know how to start or were too afraid to try it. I pulled together a number of tips based on my own experience, and suggestions of others in the RP community, to make this follow-up video.
FFXIV: A Recap of the EU Evercold Fanfest
Posted on August 2
The weekend of June 25-26 featured the EU FFXIV Fanfest in Berlin. Here, we got the newest info drop on the Evercold expansion, including the reveal of the new Tank job! I’m going to quickly go over all the important highlights of the Fanfest in this post!
Posted on August 1
I am participating in this year’s Blaugust in memory of Belghast, the original creator and host of this blogging festival. Last month, we lost Belghast in his fight against cancer. The mentors of the Bluagust Discord, of which I am one, were determined to see Blaugust continue on in his honor. Just as he would have wanted.