My interests have changed a lot over the years, so it's time to start over with a new description.
I'm a New Jersey-based autistic nerd whose gaming tastes are "Nintendo plus indies," whose taste in movies is varied, and who likes a good story-driven cartoon, be it "professional" or indie. On some occasions, I'll read a comic book or two, but I prefer comics that aren't angsty. Sooo many comics are angsty and melodramatic and dark af! I used to read a lot of novels but I rarely read novels now.
Some video games I really like are:
- Dariusburst (Chronicle Saviours and Another Chronicle EX+) - extremely polished space shooters with a lot of depth
- Deadly Premonition - town simulation crossed with murder mystery crossed with surreal and absurdist humor
- Ghostrunner - first-person running and swording where nearly everyone including the player is a One-Hit-Point Wonder
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - the most fun and immersion I've ever had with an open world game
- Road 96 - interactive storytelling with randomized elements, fun characters, and a compelling story
- Super Mario Odyssey - the most epic adventure Mario has gone on yet, loaded with ideas
- Treasures Of The Aegean - 2D open world parkour platformer with puzzle platformer elements and rougelite elements
In video games, I tend to like a combination of simplicity (in the sense of not being complicated) and depth (in the sense of there being many things to do, which are optional). I also really like atmosphere, which is why the world of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and the town life simulation aspect of Deadly Premonition interested me so much.
One of the things that excites me about a game is when it has a bunch of new ideas. Not simply one new idea, but many. To use an example, LocoRoco has a distinct art style, an original gameplay concept (tilt the world and shake it to move singing blobs around) and an original presentation with its use of interactive music coming from the characters' own singing which changes based on the situation. In other words, three major new ideas, making it feel super fresh. When a game is just "the same standard thing but with this one different thing," it's hard to get excited.
I used to hate the indie scene, thinking it was nothing but simple games that very few people could relate to or be interested in, but now that it's grown much larger and produced way more games with better quality, I think the indie scene is responsible for some of the most interesting and fun games out there. Or even just well made games with lower production values than usual, like the jet-ski racing game Riptide GP Renegade. In fact, the indie scene revitalized my interest in video games! There's just way more variety out there than ever before, and the indies are getting better.
Some live-action movies I really like are:
- The Accountant (2016) - the first autistic action hero in film
- The Bourne Identity - simply fun espionage action
- Space Jam: A New Legacy - yes, it's stupid, but in a "dumb fun" kind of way
- Wild - beautiful nature in a solo journey
I can't say what exactly I like in movies, tbh, as the ones I like don't have much in common with each other. Though I do like when a good plot is used well, and I like fun character interactions and good character moments crossed with a compelling story. Compelling story and interesting or fun characters is usually the formula, I guess. But not always then! I like Wild which was all about hiking and had barely any character interaction! I loved its scenery. I also prefer characters using their wits to survive instead of using fighting skills.
Some cartoons, including animated movies and indie animations, I really like are:
- Godspeed - a nice little sci-fi drama set on a dying Earth
- Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous - good character interactions, storytelling, adventure, mystery elements, and more
- The Mitchells vs. the Machines - a fun "robots take over the world" movie with some original ideas
- The Owl House - once it gets going (and I hated the pilot episode), it really gets going, with its adventures and mysteries and fun humor
- Skibidi Toilet Series - don't judge a book by it's cover, as this story-driven show about people with cameras for heads fighting singing toilets is surprisingly good
- Sonic Prime - straight up fun action-adventure, except for season 3 being just a long fight scene
- Song in the Sky - sadly only the pilot got made, but it's a sci-fi action drama set in a world of floating islands and airplanes
- Spider Man Into The Spiderverse - a whole lot of everything, with comedy, drama, action, fun art and animation, all with a multiverse concept
What do I like in a cartoon? I don't usually watch humor cartoons, but prefer ones that are story-driven. Good characterization and character interactions, a plot that is either adventurous or contains suspense or mystery elements, are often things that draw me in. And I have to like or at least accept the art style. If I hate the art style, I'm not interested.
Some live action TV shows I really like are:
- Atypical - I really liked its portrayal of autism, even with it having an allistic lead actor, and I appreciate that later seasons attempted to improve the accuracy
- The Last of Us - despite disliking the game that series is based on, for its tendency to try too hard to be a TV show, I like the show itself and its mixture of character interaction and drama
Other interests of mine are:
- Culture, including how popular culture both reflects and shapes the broader culture in general, which is why I'm fascinated by things such as the Stratemeyer Syndicate (which revolutionized kid lit in the 1920s), or the runaway popularity of Skibidi Toilet.
- Tech, such as computers and artificial intelligence, though I fully recognize that AI is capable of both good and bad things.
- Nature and animals, particularly birds, and I go for walks through parks and nature areas, sometimes using the app Merlin to identify birds by their calls.
- Sometimes I just like to learn stuff from YouTube documentaries.
- So Bad, It's Good stuff, which can be hilarious!
- Weird Crossovers, such as Archie Meets the Punisher. I don't have to be fans of either character or franchise, but just find the idea of such major Fish out of Water stories interesting.
- Video game soundtracks, especially with catchy music!
Essay time!
I've noticed the video game industry has had its phases similar to human growth.
The infancy was the super simple days of "beat your own high score" type games and simple multiplayer games such as Pong. The Atari, Intellivision, etc. era.
The early childhood was the NES, and later childhood was the Super NES and Genesis, an evolution of those same exact game principles with a few new ideas here and there made possible by the improved technology, but still fundamentally the same.
The adolescence was basically somewhere from PlayStation and N64 up until roughly maybe Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Games were in their "look how mature and grown up I am! Blood! Boobs! Bad words! We have a rating system now, see! We're not for kids!" When of course little kids thought they were somehow grown up to be playing that stuff.
Adulthood is, well, now. Games are truly for everyone, and are about everything, and are being made by all kinds of people as well. The whole "I need to feel all mature and grown up" nonsense is gone, and the indie scene in particular feels more freedom to just let loose and be its authentic self. We even see games attempting to deal with real world themes, to varying degrees of effectiveness, rather than merely wearing them as simple window dressing. After all, actual maturity isn't about the appearance of being grown up, but the reality of true understanding of complex ideas, real world issues, and eschewing the adolescent insecurity that led to faux maturity to begin with.
More essays to possibly come later!
I'm open to chatting on Discord. PM me if you're interested in having a chat, or if you know of a good server to come visit. I know of one as well and I'm happy to hand out the invite!
