31 hours of awakeness + 10 hours of sleep + waking up at 3 AM = a totally confused sense of time. All because I didn't want to sleep last night. The big exam is finally behind me. All that's left is the small exam, of which I'm not worried. Enjoying life suddenly seems worth it... which confirms my suspicion: I have anxiety issues which manifest as depression. Finally finished Tyranny, the game that inspired Rosa so much. It has solid writing, good worldbuilding and badass characters that don't shy away from being real enough. That said, it's clearly intended to be the first chapter, and I'm definitely getting the sequel, whenever that comes out. Meanwhile, apparently, Obsidian's other classic-esque RPG, Pillars of Eternity, is good, too. Reconciling low fantasy with high fantasy is... difficult. I had an idea the sleepless last night to merge the world of two fantasy stories that I had in mind, Rosa being one of them. It's an awesome idea, but I've been working on the first story's world for a decade, and it feels like a loss giving it up for the mix. On closer inspection, however, not much would change, and the ideas could be easily incorporated. It's just... the feeling of loss. Like Bennett Foddy said, working with ideas is like working with quick-set cement: you shape them, and with time, they harden and settle, you being unable to move them even if you wanted to. Being useless today for any sort of mental work, so I'm going to play the day away. Fallout 4, here I go! (goobster, cheers for the unintended suggestion) P.S. I have a new favorite word: thmackadoodle. (see 0:21)
Best writer's advice ever: Kill Your Children In other words, whatever your favorite part of your writing is? It will be deleted eventually, because the story doesn't need it. So mourn Rosa, and then get on with the rest of the idea. It clearly has your interest right now, so run with it! Fallout 4. Finally figured out the perks system, and now regret almost all of my prior perks. I'm level 35, and will never have a gun that does more than about 70 DMG, simply because I didn't put enough perk points into Gun Nut. Sheesh. And I went back and did a couple of the earliest Quests, which I had been ignoring as I explored the world.... and managed to unlock some key information and functionality (like Trade Routes) that I had NO IDEA EXISTED. This has transformed the game for me. Not "done" yet, but already planning my NEXT playthrough!
Man, you're doing well on the "fighting in the apocalypse" front! I'm pretty sure there are ways to respec your perks, either in the original or, more likely, in the DLCs. If not — there are mods available for XBox One's version of Fallout 4, as well: all legal and Microsoft- and Bethesda-approved. Won't crash your game, either, unless it's a particularly bad mod, and I'm sure you have the sense to distinguish, even if you've never tried modding. Here's the link to the one big mod depository, already filtered for those that have XBOne support. Some small, some real big, like the Sim Settlements mod that has two expansions packs already and allows for massively-improved settlement experience. Also: Fallout 4: New Vegas. How 'bout that. Thanks for the advice. Rosa's not dead: she just sees a new light — which, appropriately, may give her a new, more solid character ground. I'm good to go with it now.