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2024's been more or less much of the same as last year. It's been rough, but I'll manage. At least in terms of progress on my LEGO portfolio I've made some promising breakthroughs thanks to the financial aid that started last year. It's a small victory, but there's still a long and arduous road ahead.
The past couple of months have been busy, hence the lack of the usual Maple updates or anything related to the one LEGO project (Ouroboros) I've spent most of this year on. This year summary will double as a bit of a catch-up, but I'll definitely revisit these topics in future posts so that they are properly recorded on this blog. Keep in mind that because so much time went into Ouroboros this year, a lot of plans for this year couldn't happen. Sometimes it do be like that.
In my ongoing efforts to find a healthier balance with how much time I should be spending on my blog, I am going to scale down these year summaries moving forward but also take a more casual approach; matching my usual writing style. The statistical side of these summaries requires the most amount of work, and seeing as our Youtube channel has been plateauing in viewership and subscribers for many years now, I'll stick to only the interesting figures instead.
That said, I will share my plans for the next few months of blogposts. Because it involves LEGO, MapleStory and this blog, it made more sense to discuss that here seeing as the year summary covers all topics of interest.
The Youtube Department (Rayque3 Staff)
Published three videos this year. There have been some videos for my blogposts (in particular, the Destiny blogpost) and a bunch of shitposts not intended to go public (I mean, dumb videos used to be a staple) but these do not count unless it was like Ludo. Of course, we always have plans for new videos, it's just that we haven't gotten to them yet.
Hey, at least my Wii works again. After some diagnosis and with the help of Gio we have possibly found the culprit: a dead Wifi Module. I should just get a replacement module and swap the old one out, however I still want to do some further testing as I suspect the video output on the motherboard is on its last legs. That has been a problem ever since recording the ill-fated Xenoblade Single-Part-Video, believe it or not. I'll probably end up transferring the backup data from my Wii to a donor Wii as that'd be much easier and less destructive. However, that will be for another time.
Top 10 Most Viewed Videos for this year
1. Endless Ocean - The Abyss & Finding the Giant Squid (62.000 views)
2. WarioWare: Smooth Moves - All Microgames (22.000 views)
3. Mario Party 7 - All Mini-Games (16.000 views)
4. Super Smash Bros. Brawl - 100% Subspace Emissary (13.000 views)
5. Pokémon Battle Revolution - All Masters Battles [HeartGold] (11.000 views)
6. Kirby's Return to Dreamland - All Mini/Main/EX Bosses (7.600 views)
7. Donkey Kong 64 - All main bosses (2.800 views)
8. Borderlands 2 - Sound effects: Constructor's Digistruct (1.300 views)
9. [WALKTHROUGH] - HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS (PC) - PART #1 - THE WHOMPING WILLOW (1.100 views)
10. [WALKTHROUGH] - HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE (PC) - PART #1 - FIRST LESSONS (1.000 views)
Our Endless Ocean video is our best performing video of the year because of the renewed interest in the franchise thanks to the release of Endless Ocean 3 for the Switch. It's a bit of a trend where some of our older videos climb up the ranks based on whatever's relevant for the year. It's so close to hitting 100.000 views, though! Makes me wonder if part 1 of our Croc 2 walkthrough will reach 100.000 next year, seeing as the first game is going to be re-released...
Also, our Mario Party 7 video has reached 7 million views! Took forever, but it's nice to see it finally there. Aside from these aforementioned videos, there seems to be no other video that will reach a major milestone any time soon.
The MapleStory Europe Department
Quite possibly the biggest achievement of the year has been the release of the Destiny blogpost. Y'know, the thing I was working almost two years on. I've also published the Crest of the Solar blogpost. Now, I was initially planning to start with the 6th Job blogpost first, but seeing as we received Holy Fountain early, it is better to write that one first.
In general, I'm going to distribute the workload more evenly between these blogposts. All of the skill changes made during Milestone will be included in the Holy Fountain blogpost, not the 6th Job one. I also do not want to wait until NEXT (which brings us more 6th Job skills) as otherwise the workload will become too much. But seeing how integral the skills from NEXT are to our existing kit, they will be mentioned and take into consideration as they do affect the way I look at skill such as Rage Uprising VI. NEXT will have its own blogpost the same way I wrote 5th Job per wave.
Anyway, back to the in-game achievements for this year. I now have unlocked all of the standard Grandis symbols, and all of them are maxed except for Carcion's (which should be next year). I now have the Eternal top and bottom, and a bunch of items had their Additional Potential rank up to Legendary. I've maxed out Sol Janus and Raging Blow VI, alongside triple Meister profession and obtained every Urus medal. Trade restrictions? Easy to work around.
For Union, I've hit a 9217 total. Monster Life's been replaced with Union Artifact, which is now Level 45. I've obtained the Abyssal Expedition Union block, and I should have the Ride or Die block soon. Guild contribution score remains at a perfect score (FallenAngel just recently hit Level 28) and we've finally obtained the Enhancement Room blueprint for Guild Castle. We should have it unlocked late next year. I'm very close to clearing Hard Lucid; just a bit more 6th Job.
Any other closing thoughts that I haven't already discussed at length? All the timed exclusive content doesn't live up to the hype. Even if we ignored the emergency maintenances, the many bugs, false bans and how much QOL we traded away, what we ended up is underwhelming. I would go so far as saying the "Dark Ride" is a poor imitation of the EMS Darkness content (where Monad, Veracent, Supreme and the Dark Doom totems came from) but without any of the game-breaking rewards or signs of technological advancement (EMS became a testing ground for what ultimately led to Reboot/LAB, Hunter Portals and instanced content). In short, our Milestone has been a mess. Thankfully more players are doing their homework and starting to realize that Inkwell is not good for the game's longevity. We're in the process of repeating the shitshow that was Inkwell's previous tenure (reminder: I was there), and to be ready for that I'm upgrading my equipment. For as many veterans as we may have, far too few seem to understand what's coming.
The LEGO Department
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Work on my projects continue. The most significant breakthrough is that Ouroboros now finally works. Most people will probably never be able to understand why it took a fortune and two years to get it to work. But there is a saying where you have to build something a thousand times before it works. The sheer amount of inertia behind this thing is nothing to scoff at. There's still a lot to do; what you're seeing is only the main gimmick (though very consistent and reliable now, thanks to two years of optimization). Getting this brick to walk is going to be a challenge in itself.
What finally made the main gimmick work is part 46490. Gearing down the servos the traditional way wasn't enough. Even with a perfect frame design, gears and axles ended up breaking under the severe load. The servos inherently doesn't provide enough torque for counterweights to matter. Ultimately, part 46490 proved that it was the best, cost-efficient and most compact solution. Its effectiveness has convinced me to use this part for more projects moving forward. I just wish LEGO made this part more compact (or build it into the servos), as the triangular pin set-up, CV joint and towballs makes it cumbersome and hard to work with. It's not as much of a natural fit as I'd want it to be.
Speaking of servos, working several years with the Powered Up components for both the Ouroboros and Constructor projects have only further solidified my preference for this ecosystem when designing these large and heavy models. Not only do the Powered Up components have the most convenient mounting options out of all LEGO electronics, the ability to run six heavy-duty motors on a single Mindstorms brick is unmatched. Yes, while it is true that you can stack as many 12V, 9V or Power Function cables as you want, the problem that I had to learn the hard way is that there's a limit to how much electric current you can draw from their battery boxes. Being newer allows Powered Up to run better technology, which allows the gen 4 Mindstorms brick provide a whopping 2,1k mAh. From a design perspective, I now understand why they made this new platform. I no longer regret leaving the EV3 ecosystem behind, even after having invested a small fortune on it. Pybricks further expands your options and it greatly reduces the boot-up time, too.
But seeing as getting the main gimmick to work has been such a financial blowout alongside purchasing a 64DD in the same year (oops), I will have to take a long break to financially recuperate. Which is perfect as I want to write the next blogposts for Maple (i.e. Holy Fountain and 6th Job), and I still have yet to start on my Inti Creates gaming backlog.
So, regarding both the Hailfire Droid and the Constructor. LEGO has started to develop new types of angled beams, which have been a lifesaver for the Hailfire Droid. Again, I haven't had time to redesign the frame to accommodate these, but that's basically the plan for that one. The many things I've learned during the development of Ouroboros will prove to be invaluable for the Constructor, which I will fully redesign from scratch (again) so that it can accommodate the high-torque solutions found in Ouroboros. This does mean the Constructor needs to become larger though, as otherwise the servos and/or planetary gears won't fit inside the legs. We shall see next year, but speed is everything.
Other
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Now that I finally have some stable income for the foreseeable future, I can now be serious with my wishlist and start saving up for some items on that list to make my day-to-day life less miserable. The 64DD is quite the achievement and I'm looking forward to continue to work my way through that wishlist, whether LEGO, games or other interests.
While I've always shared stuff from my wishlist in the past (in particular, the many sealed LEGO sets), it's always been limited up to a certain price ceiling. Now there's room to save up for the big ones. Ones like the 64DD, that are now within reach. That's also the reason why I'm able to expand my LEGO portfolio with projects like Ouroboros, and will continue to do so. Because ultimately, I like a lot of stuff and I also like to share that enthusiasm. That's the reason why this blog exists, and having more breathing room means I can continue to share my enthusiasm for niche things...
... such as Densha de Go 64 and the giant Substitute plush! Continuing the rabbit hole of Japanese N64 exclusives to get the most fun out of my console, this port of the Densha de Go 2 arcade is a true novelty of a game. It's surprisingly enjoyable yet brutal with one of those learning curves you can sink your teeth in. The later Wii and Switch games just doesn't hit the same charm as the N64 one, even though the Wii version includes my favorite train design.
As for the giant Substitute plush (first image), it's something from Pokémon that most even wouldn't recognize it's from Pokémon. I know it's been a while since I've talked about Pokémon on this blog, but to summarize I've never left the generation 4 ecosystem that still continues to evolve. I love the nitty-gritty of generation 4's battle system and this doll represents that world. Back in 2019 my parents brought me a Substitute plush from their return trip to Japan, but as you can imagine I want the largest one. You have no idea how chonky this guy is. He doesn't even fit in my chair! But yes, this plush is just one big meme and it continues to provide humor around the house. His face is such a mood.
Continuing the Metroid talk from last year, I've tackled Metroid Dread on Dread Mode and two days ago I've finished Metroid Prime Remastered's 100% Scan Log on Hard Mode. In fact, I've gone through Dread Mode in its near entirety in tabletop mode while running on a treadmill - easier said than done. I've only had to sit down in front of a TV for three bosses. Honestly, Dread Mode felt more like fighting against the controller not registering inputs, rather than fighting against the game. Hard Mode on Metroid Prime Remastered was more a test of patience, if anything. I will inevitably try out the other Prime games, but so far I prefer 2D Metroid over the first-person ones. Both do have their merits.
As for next year, we'll be entering the next Nintendo console generation. Of course I'm excited for another fresh batch of games. If I had to make a prediction, I'm expecting two Xenoblade X sequels to complete the intended Wii U trilogy. We know about the cut content from the artbook and that a sequel was greenlit around the same time as Xenoblade 3. The announced Xenoblade X port for the Switch (which I'll refer to as DEX) appears to run worse than the original, even with lowered textures and polygon count. It is everything I feared it would be after playing the first game's DE for over 500 hours. I don't like the sudden character redesigns (there's a narrative reason for their original appearances), especially not when they kept them consistent for almost a decade now. To make matters worse, it's already confirmed that all of the free content is now paywalled behind NSO, instead of futureproofing the offline mode. I doubt they'll fix the localization errors and they're certainly not going to remove the censorship (I fear they'll double down, seeing how brutal X can be at times). It's just going to end up in the same poor state as the DE, and even the few good things it adds will never stack up against the losses. The worst part about these Switch ports of varying quality is that only a handful are appropriately criticized, but lesser known ones such as Kirby's Return to Dreamland and both Xenoblade 1 and X will get away with it. I just hope that it'll somehow stick the landing and that getting the collector's edition won't be as much of a pain as the others were, because reminder that the limited editions for Xenoblade X were still in stock even years into the Switch, lol. Anyway, we'll see in three months. Now, what is Treasure cooking? Could it be..!?
That it's for 2024 - I'll see you guys again next year!
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