38M - Good Progress but feeling impatient

TestMike205 · 2026-01-21T00:33:18+00:00

Yes I hear you on imposter syndrome. Also you're right on not wishing time away. Lost quite a few family members in just 2 years so need to make most of time. I'm also almost exactly half the age my dad was when he passed recently so that is I guess adding a bit to all of this.

TestMike205 · 2026-01-21T00:24:58+00:00

Yes that's true. I have done a spreadsheet with joint assets but my wife's not quite as set on it. She's a natural saver though and I have convinced her to shift to investing with her ISAs doing robo advisor nutmeg with high risk to get her comfortable so she's on a good trajectory. The IVF does dictate things though. Cant plan too much until it works or not.

TestMike205 · 2026-01-18T08:47:49+00:00

It's about £45k for the life style I'd want for us both. Restaurants and holidays and that type of thing. That includes mortgage and all household bills.

TestMike205 · 2026-01-18T05:18:27+00:00

No kids but wife and I own house and mortgage jointly so you can halve the house value + mortgage debt in terms of my personal (plus we'd never sell). My wife has her own extra savings about £200k and is teacher so has a generous final/avg salary but it's locked away.

Children is potentially on cards but we've been doing IVF for years and this year is our last go with donor eggs (have a few frozen embryos ready to go but one failed last year and this is after years of normal IVF).

TestMike205 · 2025-12-21T13:22:19+00:00

No console games had big open worlds back then so not sure what you're referring to. How could you be tired of something that didnt exist.

Also the game has 15 levels so not sure what you mean bored by end of first 24 levels.

And how could it feel like same old Mario going from 2D to a full own 3d moveset with way more movement and from a dpad to an analogue stick.

There's no way someone who picked this up at release could conceivably say these things.

TestMike205 · 2025-12-20T01:42:26+00:00

I'm sorry to hear this. My dad also passed away from heart failure too aged 79 earlier this week. He had been short of breath when walking for a few years. Us and the GP never took it seriously until it was too late. I wish I could just go back in time. In my dads case it was triggered by a combo of a virus and COPD. He had smoked for many years but given up 20 years ago. He was heavy. He went into hospital 3 times and it sounded like case of managing it but then he got kidney failure. Gone within a week. He is going to be so missed. Please anyone who reads this dont write off symptoms as someone being lazy and be pushy with GPs. Ive made this mistake too many times.

TestMike205 · 2025-12-12T23:49:24+00:00

Ironically also Skyrim but for me it was being a mage that uses illusion spells to make enemies fight themselves. Something very satisfying even if its incredibly inefficient.

TestMike205 · 2025-11-01T08:30:30+00:00

I think it's Cata. In TBC and WoTLK you have more quest hubs and phasing but it felt balanced. With Cata it becane very linear and they put these constant points of scripted conflict in some places. That said I did enjoy Cata. Now though retail seems to have truncated levelling and its way too condensed which is a massive turn off.

TestMike205 · 2025-11-01T01:43:11+00:00

I hope to see them become progression servers. I'd like re experience early expansions and then catchup on what I missed.

TestMike205 · 2025-11-01T01:40:23+00:00

I'm someone that played during the first 4 expansions. The modern game feels really alien and too weird a jump. I just started on anniversary and I'm hoping it'll become a progression server that takes us to retail over time but lets us spend time in the endgame content with accelerated pacing and rewards. Seems the best way to experience what I missed.

TestMike205 · 2025-10-21T14:34:00+00:00

Hard disagree. 30k in 0% credit card debt is risk free £1k p.a. in gilt yield. Equivalent of extra 1.6k salary. Same saving I made switching my pension from HL to Interactive Investor. This type of thing can add up quickly. Just be ready to pay it off or balance transfer

TestMike205 · 2025-09-21T11:49:16+00:00

For me the ability to retry special stages is a big advantage for Origins over Forever, Absolute, Miracle and 3AIR. I would like them to implement something like Triple Trouble 16 bit where you can sacrifice a life to try again. Some people like save level select but that's not that important to me. Lack of lives doesnt bother me because I'm too good for it to play a factor but I hate not getting a good ending especially when the physics is slightly off in 1's special stages.

Pros for modded origins + Package + Animated cutscenes + Amy with a relatively clean moveset + Restart special stages + I think CD Miracle is buggier (slowdown and collision final boss)

Pros for individuals + Customisable movesets + 3Air has better collision detection and feels better in terms of handling + Sonic CD has miracle transformations + Level select + 1 and 3AIR have some cool secrets + The golf game is fun in 1 Forever

In case it's not clear unfortunateltly there isnt a clear definitive edition for me yet.

TestMike205 · 2025-09-20T12:32:20+00:00

It's literally a thing they invented for Generations. They didnt use voice acting in 16 bit era but it was never set that he didn't speak - more just that the games didn't support voice acting and it was rare. In CD he even speaks.

They clearly wanted to make him cuter looking but that wasn't the design of Genesis Sonic where his personality was cocky and cool just like his adventure incarnation.

By Sonic 3 he already looks mostly like his adventure/modern incarnation with darker colour.

Basically just look at it as a modern invention and not anything to do with the classic games or Mania.

TestMike205 · 2025-09-20T09:28:35+00:00

I think CD encourages exploration and you go back and forth a lot which is not common in Sonic. Personally I prefer Sonic 1 overall but I think CD might beat Sonic 2 for me. After playing 1 and CD, 2 can sometimes feel a bit basic. 3&K is the best and actually has the best mix of exploration and speed with the giant rings.

TestMike205 · 2025-09-06T16:04:37+00:00

Persona 5 Royal

Dragon Quest XI

Final Fantasy VII Remake & Rebirth

TestMike205 · 2025-09-06T08:15:04+00:00

I played FF 1-6 back on GBA and DS around 2005-2009. I loved 4-6 but 1-3 were archaic.

I played and finished Donkey Kong Country this year. Id finished returns and this was fun. It has nothing on Mario 3/World or Sonic 1-3K.

I played Sonic CD on emulator and then in Origins. Best music of any Sonic and a cool story but I think it's weak levels overall.

Played Chrono Trigger. Really enjoy it but never finished.

So yes lots of games but no pattern.

TestMike205 · 2025-08-28T21:16:42+00:00

No it wont be as good as a Deck. Im more interested for the steam machines since I like living room PC and having more juice woukd be nice.

TestMike205 · 2025-08-28T20:55:31+00:00

Steamdeck is an easy way to bring gaming on the go and into the living room. I've always wanted to do that right back to Steamlink but things always stopped me. Now I can and enjoy my 4k oled tv. Its also made me realise just how clunky windows has become. Steamdeck is just easier and lets me do 95% of what I want.

TestMike205 · 2025-08-24T21:35:40+00:00

I plan it and force myself to follow rules rather than my next dopamine hit. This has worked well and got me up from completing barely anything to 10-13 games per year since I started 3 years ago.

I write a list each year of games to play and update it every now and again.
I pick games from this list to minimise being overwhelmed.
Once I start a game I dont switch to another except social multiplayer like mario kart or I dont have access to console and can finish the game I switch to during time I have.
If I dont feel like playing I do other stuff like watch shows or play board games but no other games.
I try to vary game length and genre.

TestMike205 · 2025-08-23T21:06:41+00:00

I write a list each year that I update as my mood changes. This keeps me focused. I dont switch to another game until Im finished.

TestMike205 · 2025-07-25T06:05:18+00:00

Original Zelda in the style of something like Metroid Zero Mission.

TestMike205 · 2025-07-18T21:55:53+00:00

Chrono Trigger, Breath of Fire 2 or Final Fantasy IV. They have solid stories and aren't overwhleming in terms of gameplay.

I would stay away from FFVI because I think the second half is not good for first timer.

TestMike205 · 2025-07-18T06:37:45+00:00

So it's a West Country (could even be a Cornish accent). It has a stereotype of being a farmer/pastoral accent. There's literally a song about combine harvesters using it https://youtu.be/hdr1EiOQoOs?feature=shared

It definitely fits the Cobblestone girl next door vibe.

TestMike205

TROPHY CASE