Beginnings & Ends

It is time, Frodo.

I'm officially bowing out folks. Unlike so many of us, who were here and then suddenly were not, I prefer a more personable touch. To me it would be nothing short of crass to drift off like a morning mist from a community (even if just a digital concept), with out so much as a word, should there need be any said. And there most certainly is.

As of tomorrows October 8th, when the next "Episode - Revenant" drops, all the content I paid for will be done or gone, old hat as it were, and suddenly for the first time I'll be in the solidly "free to play" camp. And while, sure, I'm free to play... even now I'm not sure this game knows what that means short of monetarily. Great strides have been made, and continue to be made... forth coming Armor 3.0, the fantastic (supremely overdue) Light changes which came about with the start of The Final Shape... shoot, they even mentioned about Vault Glut recently. Too little and far too late, but, that there is even a nod at all is at this point progress.

Always. Always the progress, but the destination? Does the game feel glutted to anyone else? Like folks, I'm all for options, but... it's clearly a case of we need something more for money, not something more because the game needs something more. Halo had it's gameplay, and if you stopped but came back... maybe there were a few more maps, but it was still Halo. And, I'm not sure Destiny, in its current thinking, is ever going to be able to get away from that constant changing, shifting, moving of its goal posts to be everything for everyone at some point at some time. This, in turn, means that by my "walking away" from this game, this also means that depending on the time away... if I ever do jump on by and peek, I'm going to be essentially a blueberry again. I leave, I LEAVE... interstellar black hole time dilation and everything. And, I'm, not sure how I'm to feel about that, as... it grows and grows and grows, will I really want to jump back in Mr. Wick? To leave is to have reason to stay away. "You had to be there", yeah, yeah that's part of the problem. But the game needs me 100% more than I need it, and while it was fun to play around in the sandbox, eventually the grit gets to ya. The rule of cool becomes tame, the power fantasy equalizes, the loot becomes a Midas lesson, and the things that bring the game together rip it apart. Folks play the game cause folks play the game, folks leave cause folks leave, strip it all down and that's the simple truth. And while there will always be some contented core of players, the game is so big it's likely not going to be enough. But, I don't know, just seems a fair guess that the masters at Sony are going to want that return and desperate makes for a larger range in choices, with so much of that sauce out the door. Both good, and ill... so, room for surprises at least. Silver lining.

...

oh man, this is really it

...

Ok, there are a few things now I need/want to detail; pending videos, my big list of links, my weird posts, future games, and weather or not I'm likely to ever post again, play Destiny again, ect. Cool?

PENDING VIDEOS

I'm sitting on multiple multiple seasons of Destiny videos (plus other games), which go back as far as... if memory serves, 2022. I would still like to share them, topic of my dumb butt aside, as there are still many right cool/interesting/"that happened" moments captured. But, then again... should I? It all seems so much for so little at this point, and... nothing personal Kerm, honest, I'm only really aware of one person who cares. That said, would give me a reason to post here from time to time.

The BIG POST of Useful Sites

So, confession time here, I've been sitting on a *mostly* done and updated list with new formatting, but, for much the same reasons for the "pending videos" above... eh? Even with it being an ever attached brainchild, is it still useful? Is there still enough use to warrant the effort? Not to mention, that even --if-- when I do go and update it, odds are... that with such an update, that will be it from me folks. So then, should it be let loose? Untethered from the top of the forum (though more likely it would easier simply removed), or would someone else like to have the mantle passed? I don't know, but here's the chance to speak to it folks.

MY WEIRD POSTS

I'm a banana.

XBOX & PC

It's going to be interesting figuring out where this ol' consumptive hobby is going to live.

Much like with Destiny, I've been on XBOX because Bungie. Because Halo, two decades ago (exclamation of time yada yada goes here). Because... the graphics were fine, they were good enough and because increasingly consoles were the last bastion of the crazy idea in "sit down, play game". So then, I've been on Xbox. None of that crap about fussing with settings and equipment and drivers and launchers and signing your first born away in multiple EULAS... though I suppose that last one is not PC exclusive much anymore. Certainly none of that invasive, sometimes CRAZY root kit deep invasive, "Anti-Cheat" crap and, of course... the price you pay for all of that, both time and cash.

Increasingly, more and more where XBOX is concerned, this too may very well be fading away. And this among other shifts in life has effected not just my time to play, but if I even jump on at all. This is of no surprise to some of you whom I used to play with, as I've not just been off of Destiny, but hardly even on at all these last few months. And it's part of many things that has me questioning what I want from this hobby. Slowly, yet surely, the line grows blurred. I'm thinking at some point I'm going to go VR, as it looks like some fantastic "I don't care, just play game" experiences which doesn't need to break the bank PC wise, it's just the cost of entry and a touch of space.

FUTURE GAMES AND WEATHER OR NOT I'M EVER TO POST AGAIN.

Play Destiny again? *Shrug*¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Pretty much filled that possibility and problems at the top. How about posts? *Shrug*¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ...yeah, I don't know. Post about what? Other than what I've mentioned among segments above, and maybe the occasional Halo something something... yeah. In what is foreseeable, this is majorly it folks. I've got so SO much else on my plate that needs me to kick my own ass and figure out... I'm future building. And this place can no longer be my mainstay.

NO, BUT REALLY, MY WEIRD POSTS

Y'all... y'all don't even know how much fun I've had writing up some of these posts. Seriously; belly laugh, giggle fits, laugh out loud and cackles. Yet, on the same coin, it had to be this way. This might seem contradictory in a moment, but I'm so stupid, but along the way I learned to be smart enough to have fun with my stupid, while also being able to incorporate some semblance of meaning among the stupid. Probably completely missed, I know, but it's not totally random, there's no learning in that. I know in the silence I'm on some of y'alls nerves about it, and that's a shame. I get it though... thanks for not being an ass about it while I sloughed off the chrysalis.

So much of what I do, have done here, scratched about, is lost not just in translation, but to time. An emotion of a moment, a motive, a curiosity, an ache, a hope... all little bits of fish food to bring about a moment of actions and words. Or, rather, action of words. At the very least... I feel sorry for whatever children or some off mix in law or life such yet pending, scrolling about whatever archives trying to figure out whatever enigma of their... this old man (which I suppose may be hereditary) during a time he called "One of the _____ decades of his life". I know it doesn't look it, but the rants and foam mouthed rambling was exploration kids, and for all the rest if you don't know, I suppose you never will. How would you grow flowers in the dark? How does a mute speak? ...write a book.

MY. BOOK.

Oh shit, it's this again. Yes, if you've not come across my mentioning of this by now, then you've not been around recently... which I suppose is a touch roundabout into the obvious but, WHATEVER! The point is not so much the book, but the answers to why the videos, lists, games, posts and whatever else has in observable cadence slowly but surely faded into an ether. Every day it gets some part of an hour, somehow, someway. Characters, Places, Events, Outlooks, Quotes, Hopes, Dreams, conversations between outlooks of two, three, four... but all just by just one person who has to be among all those things, to make that voice. LOTS of research. I haven't yet seeked out matter experts yet, but at some-point I might just do that too. And it all might never see the light of day... that's the hardest part.

Among all my heart in this, chatter and burr at the thought of such, I know I have no idea if or when this thing will ever feel so wrapped in flesh that it can live on it's own. As I understand it, Tolkien took 40 years on his masterpiece, but I am yet no language scholar, and I really hope it doesn't take me THAT long to write this thing.

Bungie was right for this much; "We make games we want to play." Well, I'm making a story I'd want to read, that also says the things I'd like to say but yet are impossible to speak. Yes Cheap, I have been called a genius before, few times in my life actually, and I've always disagreed with the concept. A spade is a spade, it's not hard, you just get out of your own way as you can. Robin Williams was protégé to Jonathan Winters, and it's the simplicity espoused which is all one needs to comprehend; "The world is built for play".

This thing could be brilliant, I know it. For once, something actually brilliant from me. There is no guarantee in that of course, but those embers are there. I just hope the me I've built and am building can survive long enough in to finish and publish the darn thing. Right now, I can tell ya this much... I've found a new respect for Alexandre Dumas.

THANKS

So with us being all social and what not, a decade of coming and going, this is not going to be an exhaustive list. If I don't call you out, it's nothing personal, I just completely hate your guts because that's totally my style.

#1 ...

...and with all that said, from this reasonably mad man trying to find reason in madness... that'll be it from me folks. Arcstrider "Staff Melee" super is still the most fun I've ever reliably had in this game, and with the requirement made... Y'all take care. ;D

INSANEdrive:

Fan Stories about my Guardians: ///"The Start"///-///"The Meeting"///-///"The Vision"/// | Wendell (W) - Wataru (H) - Wally (T) |

Just from the range in these posts alone... it's been a good run.

| ಥ_ಥ | f(ಠ‿↼)z | ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ| ¯\_(ツ)_/¯| ಥ_ಥ | f(ಠ‿↼)z | ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ| ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ |

Squiddy - Congrats again on getting hitched! It's always been a pleasure playing alongside ya, and I'm happy to have assisted when I could in your completionist endeavors. Among everyone else here, I've had some of my favorite Co-Op moments in gaming playing along side ya, and my only real sadness is the rarity I've had to play alongside more. I know you have more important (and probably far better looking) co-op adventures right now, but for the future gaming-wise at least, if I can get my own shit in order I'd love to play alongside ya once more wherever these virtual fields roll.

Cheap - You grumbling bumble shit-for-brains, you boiling milquetoast cabbage fuck, what the fuck else am I supposed to the say to the smartest hotheaded dumb-ass at DBO!? Have you married that gypsy yet? I'm telling ya man, she's only after your organs! It's a trap! ... honestly I don't really have to say anything. It's pretty clear we vibe well enough, no real words need be said. It's been a blast playing alongside ya brother. Hope the beans and dreams you've got in your roving heart are tending to ya well.

Robot Chickens (& rellekh!) - A fairly recent addition, but I would be remiss to say nothing. Biggest heart I've encountered here, and for that I give a nod good sir, it's been appreciated.

Kerm - I ain't got shit to say to you, we chat enough, like I got a choice. ...lol. Thanks man. You know what you did.

nico - ...honestly I don't know either.

Cody Miller - Demeanor aside, I respect the consistency of convictions.

CougRon - R.I.P

mynameisbyf - Oh hey he had an account here.

Also CruelLEGACEY, Schedonnardus, SteelGaribaldi, Kahzgul, ChrisTheeCrappy, MeteorStriker, Chappy, Zero, and probably a few other folks I may have often played along side in this span of a decade, but names have grown fuzzy... I think NsU Soldier, DiscipleN2k and... Hedgemony, maybe??? (sorry)... all in all, thanks for the adventures folks.

Oh! And Vortech, 'cause at this point he's been seeing my posts for far longer than I want to think about.

...and a special thanks to Louis Wu, for which all of this would not be possible. You're a Bungie legend brother. I don't know if this site is Spartan, but you certainly are in our hearts in bringing so many for so long a internet home.

"Omnes fines initia sunt",

~INSANEdrive

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Take care friend. I wish you all the best as you wrestle with your other pursuits, passions and callings. I will miss your voice, written and heard.

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Gonna be weird, ironically, to have an INSANEdrive-free forum. I'll definitely miss you.

The BIG POST of Useful Sites

So, confession time here, I've been sitting on a *mostly* done and updated list with new formatting, but, for much the same reasons for the "pending videos" above... eh? Even with it being an ever attached brainchild, is it still useful? Is there still enough use to warrant the effort? Not to mention, that even --if-- when I do go and update it, odds are... that with such an update, that will be it from me folks. So then, should it be let loose? Untethered from the top of the forum (though more likely it would easier simply removed), or would someone else like to have the mantle passed? I don't know, but here's the chance to speak to it folks.

I still use it. I don't know if that's enough for you to update it (one last time), but I actually went hunting for a particular site I couldn't remember just 2 days ago. (Found it, too!)

Just my 2 cents.

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Cheap - You grumbling bumble shit-for-brains, you boiling milquetoast cabbage fuck, what the fuck else am I supposed to the say to the smartest hotheaded dumb-ass at DBO!? Have you married that gypsy yet? I'm telling ya man, she's only after your organs! It's a trap! ... honestly I don't really have to say anything. It's pretty clear we vibe well enough, no real words need be said. It's been a blast playing alongside ya brother. Hope the beans and dreams you've got in your roving heart are tending to ya well.

No gypsy marriage here, though not for lack of trying. She was something else, man.

I was just talking to Kermit about how sad it is that I stopped playing Destiny, and most of the relationships I had through it sort of fell away. That’s just life, I suppose. Don’t stop posting! Seeing a new INSANEdrive post always makes my day. I’ve missed playing with you all.

You can always try Fortnite. It’s really fun!

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(In the best way possible, mind you.)

I'm mostly a lurker here, but you were always one of the big draws that kept me coming back.

Take care yo self.

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you make me said. Is it just going to be me & Cody talking to ourselves over here?

Thanks, man, for confusing the heck out of me, whimsically, and with charm.

Thanks for the fun-to-watch gameplay.

Thanks for bearing the blind raids.

Thanks for piling off. (Seriously. Meant the world.)

Thanks for the friendship, and for having such a unique brain, which I'm sure will create something unique.

Keep your friendships. Mine, in particular. (Don't make me come over there.)

<3

Kerm

P.S. Thanks for tying my shoes.

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you make me said. Is it just going to be me & Cody talking to ourselves over here?

You say that like it wasn't happening already at this point. :P

Thanks, man, for confusing the heck out of me, whimsically, and with charm.

Thanks for the fun-to-watch gameplay.

Thanks for bearing the blind raids.

Thanks for piling off. (Seriously. Meant the world.)

Thanks for the friendship, and for having such a unique brain, which I'm sure will create something unique.

Keep your friendships. Mine, in particular. (Don't make me come over there.)

<3

Kerm

P.S. Thanks for tying my shoes.

No such thing as friendships, brother... just the quality of people you keep. ;D (That's in the book too.) The rest kind of works it's self out, I find.

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you make me said. Is it just going to be me & Cody talking to ourselves over here?

It’s funny how this place goes through those cycles. For I while it seemed it like it was mostly just INSANEdrive and me talking to each other on here. It’s natural, just how life goes, but it’s a bit sad just thinking of all the folks that don’t post anymore. That’s no judgment, it’s okay for people to move on from this, but it’s just a bit sad to remember how lively it was not even that long ago.

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Squiddy - Congrats again on getting hitched! It's always been a pleasure playing alongside ya, and I'm happy to have assisted when I could in your completionist endeavors. Among everyone else here, I've had some of my favorite Co-Op moments in gaming playing along side ya, and my only real sadness is the rarity I've had to play alongside more. I know you have more important (and probably far better looking) co-op adventures right now, but for the future gaming-wise at least, if I can get my own shit in order I'd love to play alongside ya once more wherever these virtual fields roll.

Thanks Insane, we definitely had some fun with those pointless triumphs! Enjoy your alternate endeavors.

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No such thing as friendships, brother... just the quality of people you keep. ;D (That's in the book too.) The rest kind of works it's self out, I find.

Hope I passed the audition. Else I will come over there! (oh wait! I forget. I have no idea where THERE is, and if I ever do know, it will be in my last moments, right before you kill me according to some unmentionable and ancient code.)

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We had a lot of good times. Take care, man!

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DBO Forums

Beginnings & Ends (DBO)

Cheers to new beginnings

Beginnings & Ends

I'll miss reading your INSANE posts.

So noted.

insanedude

frogguy

insanedude

Beginnings & Ends

frogguy

best wishes