They say that April showers bring May flowers. If that’s the case Tom and his games are going to be one dry, barren plot of man. At least he has his (final) fantasies!
Wherever you are in the world, I hope that you and your family are safe and that the pandemic has had a minimal impact on your life. For me, I’ve found that working remote full-time and balancing childcare with OiO has meant that some things have had to give – primarily showers.
You might think that would make me a disgusting human being. You’re right. But I’m getting a lot done! In the last week I’ve recorded Outside is Overrated and Tom and Joey Unfiltered (exclusive podcast content for $10 Patreon supporters), built a playset for my daughter, vigorously attacked moss in my back yard, seeded grass and played a handful of different video games. In last month’s column I wrote about the challenges of working remote and daddy duty, it turns out that showers were the only thing holding me back from the life I always dreamed of!
While hundreds of my peers are protesting the stay at home order at the governor’s mansion, I’ve been quietly chipping away at things for OiO. First and foremost, we have a shiny new website, and we’ve moved from WordPress.com to BlueHost. I made this decision for a couple reasons: primarily, WordPress.com wouldn’t allow an audio player plugin and I heard multiple complaints from people who listened to the show on the website. Secondarily, they were also restrictive of affiliate marketing programs. If my traffic ever warrants me quitting my job and focusing on OiO full-time, monetization will be a priority.
I hope you like the new site and this is a positive change for the future. I was looking for a theme with a clean design and am thrilled to have a widget to play the latest edition of the show on the home page. The transition had one major downside – the media library failed to import correctly. I manually uploaded the missing editions of OiO, but you may notice that a number of past articles no longer have images. I’ve decided to leave them as-is, we will keep working to produce new content and we look forward to welcoming some new contributors in the coming weeks.
Since I’ve been working from home and recording the podcasts online, I’ve spent a lot more time in my Nerd Den. This has made cleaning it out and hanging our sweet nerd art a higher priority. I have a wall of Spider-Man and Venom and another with a tribute to Game Informer up now, and we will be trimming the room out and getting a custom desk built in the coming weeks. We have reached a level of sophistication that man has previously only dreamed of.
Living My Dreams with Two More Final Fantasies
After what felt like an eternity, Final Fantasy VII Remake finally landed this month. I honestly believed that it would never come out. Sitting at an 88 on metacritic this game met its lofty expectations. I am a little cooler on it than most but it made a great topic for the May episode of Outside is Overrated. Look for the link in your podcast feed in the next week.
As if one long-awaited Final Fantasy title wasn’t enough, Final Fantasy XIV Complete Edition spent most of the month on sale in the Playstation Store. I desperately wanted to get it but I thought, “When on Earth will I have time for an MMO?” Then my wife listened to the Final Fantasy episode of OiO, said it sounded interesting and that I should buy it.
I am thrilled to report that I am currently a level nine Marauder. It’s my first MMO in roughly five years, and I’m looking forward to seeing how far I get this month. It’s a very slow start with lots of talking to people in the opening city, but I am excited to see how it opens up after those first couple hours.
After getting DOOM Eternal, Animal Crossing and the Remake this month, we had been looking at a long window without a significant new game release. Fortunately, PlayStation just announced release dates for The Last of Us Part II and Ghosts of Tsushima. Hobby Box Burns and I have not played The Last of Us yet, and somehow we have both gone this long without getting it spoiled. We could very well play through it together for a topic for a future podcast.
What’s New at OiO?
Episode 22 of Outside is Overrated – Looking Into the Legend of Zelda
In the latest episode of the podcast, Tom, Brian and Scott examine the Legend of Zelda. They play a game with the history of the franchise, discuss what made Wind Waker so magical and rank the console entries.
Support OiO on Patreon
If you enjoy our content, we invite you to support Outside is Overrated on Patreon. The Outside is Overrated podcast and web content will always remain free. If you have the means and would like to help defray some of our costs , I would truly appreciate your support. Donation tiers start at $2, at $10 you get access to an exclusive podcast from Tom and Joey.
Thank you so much for reading my column this month. Until next time, stay inside kids!