This week has been pretty fun and chill, for the most part, and much has happened.
On one note, my laptop running Pop OS started bogging down quite a bit, and so I decided to replace my laptop setup with a desktop PC and a new flavor of Linux to which I hadn't given much thought before- Mint. I've gotta say, I feel like I was really living under my privileges, in a sense of speaking. Pop was nice, but Linux is that much more sleek, easy to use/customize, and just all-around smooth and good looking. So, if you haven't given Linux Mint a try yet, try it!
But of more interesting things this week, one of my coworkers recommended a game to me; and as I've mentioned before, I'm not typically easily persuaded into playing a new game, especially if it's one that will be a big commitment of my time. This one was a relatively short experience, and sounded interesting enough, I decided to give it a go. So, I started playing A Story About My Uncle. And WOW.
So, I'll admit right up front, the voice acting isn't particularly amazing. The character design isn't much to write home about- well, sorta. The soundtrack was- nice. But what really made this game stand out to me? Well, to continue ramping up to the best thing about it, the second best thing, in my opinion was the gameplay. It's no Spiderman for PS4, I'm sure, but it was some fun mechanics and challenges, and a LOT of swinging and grappling around. But the best thing? THE VISUALS. Now, it's funny, because I most often find myself fond of games that are stronger on story line or even just soundtrack, that lack hugely on visuals, just because they know they don't need to rely on them. But this game was nearly the opposite way around. For all the design and creativity that went into designing not only the levels, but also the backgrounds, some of the characters, and even the fantastic lighting and colors, it may as well have been an emporium of splendid and fantastic creativity the likes of which never ceased to keep me from saying "Whoaaaaaaaa...!" and "That is SO COOL!" and "OH MY GOSH!" I mean, it's just the kind of thing where, by the time you've finished the game, you look around the room, and suddenly wish you were still in these creative and incredible worlds. So, if you fancy seeing some fantastic and beyond-creative visuals in a game with a pretty cool story and gameplay, give it a go for yourself!
As I've come along in my life, that's one of the things I've really come to hold with higher and higher regard- beauty in visuals and creativity in imagination. I think one of the coolest and greatest things people can do is create- and in art, photography, music, and much more, you can create worlds- nay, universes of infinite imagination, where no end has yet been discovered. I guess, if you look at it from a more skeptical and cynical point of view, it's just whimsy and creativity. But the way I see it, it's a way to make creations- things no one might have ever dreamed of; things no one has yet fathomed or imagined. And when you think about it, one thousand years ago, no one could've fathomed how you'd ever take a resistive element, run harnessed electricity through it, and thereby light not only a room, but buildings, cities and beyond. And who knows, but that the most farfetched creative idea in your mind may one day be realized. It might not even be in this lifetime, and perhaps it could never happen in this reality; but I believe there is a reality where that magnificent creation of your making becomes real, and the worlds you might create would one day be much, much more than a painting or a tapestry.
So embrace your imagination! If your passion is art, draw! If music, compose! If engineering, draft! The list goes on and on, and is only limited by what you choose to see as the end. What unspeakable, unprecedentedly beautiful worlds do you dream?