2024 review + personal things

I've never talked at length about this channel or speedrunning or myself much, but after seeing some end-of-the-year things from other runners I follow, I felt like doing a write-up.

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***Pre-2024:***
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Honestly, when I did my first speedruns, I never thought I'd stick with it very long. I initially did it because I felt more legitimate discussing/voting on category topics if I had an actual run on the Octopath leaderboards. But then I picked up some solos for ot1 during the pandemic and have gradually/semi-sporadically run ever since.

I wouldn't consider myself an active or even a particularly good runner though. I've mentioned before that I don't grind attempts - I often will do just 1 run and call it quits, even if the run is sloppy and I wish it were cleaner. This is largely because I prefer routing a challenge over actually grinding them. And if I finish a challenge, I'd rather move on to another one or take a break for other hobbies/games. (Plus runs can sometimes make me nervous, which I don't enjoy.)

The only times I do grind a run is if I get something accepted to a charity marathon, in which case I practice a LOT. That said, they are very stressful and taxing on me, so I can't do them consistently like others. I've even once had to pull out of a marathon due to personal issues, which I still feel bad about. But I'm at least happy with the ones for Disaster Relief/No Kid Hungry I've done, and I'd do it again if my schedule and mental state matches up well.

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*****2024:*****
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In 2024, I did:

Level 1 OT1 AMS + All Jobs with No Nuts/No JP - I was happy with how this turned out. It was basically a follow-up to a similar Level 1 run I did the previous year in OT2. I love how you can defeat all the main story bosses without learning a single skill/passive and without augmenting a single character's stats.

Solo Castti/Solo Temenos/Solo Ochette - these were all...fine. I only routed and ran Castti since someone else in the speedrunning discord wanted notes for her category. For Temenos, I don't love the route due to a slow quest but couldn't find a better solution. It works, so I guess it's fine. Ochette was the most fun (due to her unique skills), and it's the one I've done the most due to my marathon runs. I still enjoy it the most routewise of the OT2 solos.

Solo All Jobs Cyrus - Part of me still wants to do a segmented Solo All Jobs run for the other 5 OT1 travelers, but I'm also hesitant because the sheer amount of grinding is nuts. Plus characters like Alfyn and H'aanit would need a lot of optimizations and testing. But I'm glad I at least finished Cyrus' as it showcases the most common strats.

Solo All Jobs Tressa - a rare time when I revisited an older route to improve it. Saved 20+ minutes over my last run of it, so I'm probably most proud of this of all my runs the previous year.

Karma Speedrun - eh, it was short and easy and worked. Dunno if I'll ever do it again though, outside of marathons perhaps.

No Subjobs OT2 any% Galdera - only did one run, and there's lots of improvements possible, but the result was fine. Was happy to finish the challenge, and it was at least way less taxing than OT1 No Subjobs.

Charity Marathons -  was pleased to showcase OT2 on Disaster Relief Done Quick for the Games Done Quick Youtube channel. Never thought I'd do a run on the GDQ channel of all places but was a good experience. The run for Pixels for People was great too. (And it wasn't for a cause, but it was nice to participate in the Octo Anniversary event, though I wasn't in a good mindset to do a run for it)

Future runs - I can't promise anything, but there's ideas I have for the future to possibly run and put on Youtube/Twitch. More Solo All Jobs runs for both games, possibly a blindfolded run if I can learn and execute it, maybe a level 1 run with JP for either game (as it'd be a different route and strats from my last Lv1 runs), and other solos like the ones I haven't done yet (Agnea, Osvald, Partitio, etc). Just depends on my mental state, schedule, and whether I can muster the desire because I've honestly been burnt out on OT for a while and still feel it.

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***On Myself***
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I've never talked much about myself on this channel, but I wanted somewhere to release this.

I have some mixed feelings about this year. I accomplished one of the goals I had set for myself since I was very young. I didn't accomplish it as successfully as I liked but still got some nice recognition for it, so that helped.

But now that that long-term goal is finished...I've felt a bit empty for the past few months since then. I still do. I have this unease inside me as I'm past my youth now (early 30s), and I find myself settled into this groove of work and life. And while none of it is bad per se...I do wish I had a stronger driving force in my life.

I know a lot of other speedrunners have a passion - a fire - for speedrunning. I do not. It's a side hobby and only one I touch every so often when I'm in the mood. Honestly, I could be told to never speedrun again tomorrow and be fine with it. (Not that I don't like the community and experiences - I've had lots of great experiences with wonderful people.) Other people have other anchors in their life like being family centric or centered around their job. Pro chess players study and play chess all the time, while artists are constantly thinking of or making their next new piece.

Part of me wishes I had something I revolved my life around like that. It's a question I'd like to answer in 2025.

At the moment, I'm most leaning toward going back to school for a masters. But it's a big decision to make, so it's something I'll need to think about. I'm also doubtful it'll assuage all my feelings - even if I got the degree and a better job, I think I'd still feel unease at not having another strong lifelong goal/driving force. But going for such a degree would at least keep my mind occupied for 2+ years and numb the uneasy feeling in my heart. I'm not sure.

I'll need to think deeply about my life going forward in 2025 and beyond.

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**Anime/Games**
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I didn't wanna leave on a downer, so this section is just to share some of the fun stuff I've watched/played this year.

Biggest surprise anime was Diamond no Ace, which has not only become my #1 sports series but also my #1 favorite anime of all time. It tells a really great journey of the MC's path from first joining a team to eventually becoming one of the best pitchers on it. Tons of great heartwrenching moments (that even made me tear up), and it was definitely my anime highlight of the year.

As for new releases this year, Rising Impact is the best 2024 hit for me. Liked the golf anime a lot and recommend it. It made me interested in the sport despite never trying or liking true golf.

Gamewise, aside from Octopath, I replayed and beat Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology. Still one of my favorite storylines, even if the game has blemishes in areas. Still enjoy it and probably in my top 20.

I'm currently playing Dragon Quest The Dark Prince, which isn't amazing but is solid and enjoyable so far. I like the QoL (like skill descriptions) but do miss things from older games like riding monsters in Joker 3 or when the giant beasts attacked you in Joker 2.

Next year, I'm hoping to play more like DQ3 and to revisit DQ11. Hopefully, there's more Etrian Odyssey and such too.

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****Overall****
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I can't imagine many people read this given how small my channel is, but if you did, thank you. If you know me and want to chat, let me know too. Or if you wanna just post on my channel, that's cool as well.

Overall, 2024 had its ups and downs, but it's like that for everyone. One of the reasons life is worth living is because those downs make the ups that much more meaningful.

Anyway, I'm writing this on December 31st, 2024, so Happy New Year. If you're reading this in the future, well, enjoy your year anyway. And take care of yourself.