5/22 - Media I've Consumed Recap

This is going to be a bit of a different post than what I usually write. I’ve seen a couple other people on this site write weekly recaps of their gaming or what have you. When I started out writing on substack under Board Banter I kind of wanted to do something similar but it felt so hard to write up something interesting but now that I’m writing about whatever I want to write about I think I have a bit more to say. I don’t really expect these posts to do well but I think it’s a nice way to make this site feel a bit more personal. So, lets dive into the media I’ve consumed this week and some quick fire thoughts:

Board / In Person Games:

I haven’t really had too much of a chance to get a board game on the table this week. Mostly because our dining room table has been an absolute mess as my wife and I have been using it to make shirts for our upcoming trip with her cousins. We did however have some time to sit down and do something slightly adjacent.

I haven’t mentioned it here but I have always casually enjoyed Magic: The Gathering. I say casually because I’ve played a few other trading card games at a somewhat competitive level and I know with Magic that’s not how I want to consume that game. A few years back while we were saving money for our wedding I was working at my local card shop, having only ever really been MTG adjacent one of my coworkers taught me how to play Commander format and I genuinely enjoyed myself. We’ve since bought a number of the preconstructed decks and played with friends or little quick matches 1v1. I had mentioned this to her cousin and we’re planning on bringing some of them down so I can teach him how to play so we’ve been brushing up on the format and just some general interactions. I did forget how much fun it is and hopefully we’ll get in a few more games before our trip. Maybe I’ll even write up an article about this at some point.

Books

My reading lately has been a little all over the place. Earlier this year I finished rereading the first Red Rising trilogy and put a hold on finishing the second half of the series (Iron Gold, Dark age and Light Bringer) because everyone else I was discussing it with also put a pause on the series. Eventually I’ll get back to it even if they don’t simply because I’ve been enjoying the series on reread much more than I did the first time, and I did genuinely love this series on the first go.

Now my problem with this has been that I’ve struggled to find something else that would grab me the same way. I tried Dungeon Crawler Carl at the recommendation of a thousand tiktoks and I devoured the first book in about a day or so. It was fine and I will continue the series but it didn’t have me wanting to read the next one right away. I’ve actually been considering writing something up about how I felt about it but the more I think on it the more I think I need to read more to make a better judgement call here. I’ll probably pick up the second book soonish and see how I feel about it.

I’ve also been struggling to get through the second book in John Gwynne’s Faithful and the Fallen series Valor, not because its a bad book by any means but its not holding my attention. I think maybe I’m not in the right headspace for this style of epic fantasy but every time I get into it I really enjoy my time with it, its just finding the time to sit down and get really into a several hour long reading session. I’m going to finish it and I know I’ll like it when I get to the end but for now its felt like a slog.

I also picked up Christopher Ruocchio’s Empire Of Silence a couple weeks back. I think this one might be the next book I read because I’ve been thinking about it since I picked it up. Maybe this is why I’ve been having so much trouble with Valor. It seems like its going to scratch the same itch in my brain that Red Rising did so I’m hopeful. I’ll be sure to post more about that when I get to it.

Video Games

If you’ve been reading my posts it should be no surprise that I’ve been playing FFII as a part of my all the Final Fantasy games project. I don’t know how quickly I’m going to make it through this one but I’m going to finish it. FFII has some weird quirks I’m not used to yet, mainly the leveling system. I think once I get going I’ll be way more into it but I’m sure I’ll put my thoughts on this in my FFII recap post

I’ve also been playing the Silent Hill 2 Remake and let me tell you that’s been something. I don’t remember a game in more recent history that has frustrated me as bad but pushed me to keep going. Last night while I was trying to wind down I got so frustrated with the games combat I had to power it down and walk away, which is incredibly unusual for me. Granted I’m only at the apartment complex so it’s incredibly early but it feels so clunky and cumbersome that I’m not sure I’m actually having fun with it. I’m still feeling it out but it might be a turn the difficulty down and just walk through the game type of game for me because I want to see it through.

Substack Posts

Each week I’m going to try and close these out with 3-4 substack posts I read that I want to share with my audience. I’d like to try and shine a light on other creators (although I’m sure most of these guys are bigger than I am) as a “I liked these and want to recommend them” section. This week I played catch up on a few posts and my feed recommended my some older stuff so these may not be the “newest” posts but I did enjoy each of them!

Climbing That Wall

A Practical Guide to Prepping Situations, Not Plots

Tea Garden Gameplay and Review: Gardens, Leaves, and Combos

I miss when Animal Crossing villagers used to bully me

Closing Thoughts:

I hope you enjoyed this little spiral into my thoughts for the week and got something out of it! Let me know in the comments if this is something you think I should keep doing each week and if its something you’d enjoy hitting your inboxes. I feel like these weekly recaps are a little more personal and less structured. Sometimes its fun to just put pen to paper and get something out of it.