Stagnation: Where ideas go to die?
Have you ever been sitting on a project (video, essay, podcast, housework... anything really) and just keep reviewing and revising every single detail of it over and over and over again until you hit the point of two years of work for something that won't even take a month to do?
That's been me and a Retrospective that I've been itching to create ever since I started making videos on YT under the ItsChocobose banner.
Hell, my first ever video on my first ever YT channel (MadaraGamer) was about how I was establishing myself as "a new LP'er" and was going to cover Golden Sun one day. Fun fact: This video was published on January 31, 2010, meaning my bones are officially turning to dust!
That channel didn't last super long in the grand scheme of things. So then later down the line, I tried AGAIN to make content about Golden Sun... this time I actually did a Let's Play!
First episode went up on December 12, 2012, meaning my bones aren't turning into as much dust this time.
The series ran for a total of 17 episodes before the save corrupted on the rom and I had to go back and replay everything all over again. Which was not what I wanted to do with my free time in college at that point, so the series died a sad, slow death.
So then I figured I would try again 4 years later...
My good buddy Cody and I started a channel called ConfirmCrit Productions, and in April of 2016 we did a video on Golden Sun as part of our Bevs and Bros series. The premise was simple: have some beer and play a game with your bro. The video did NOT do well compared to our other ones... and the channel itself came to a screeching halt in 2017.
And after all that, that was really it. I would eventually stream the series on my Twitch channel, doing a full playthrough, a speed run, and a randomizer playthrough with a friend for his charity event, but nothing that really was my unique take on the series that I wanted.
Eventually, the idea would come to me to do a Retrospective video on the first game, going into depth on all the little side pieces and stories with development, marketing, release, and posthumous life of the game.
I started this god forsaken script treatment in early 2023...
Not only did the script work start before August 2023, but it has somehow spiraled out of control to the point where I am sitting at a total of 60 pages, have over 120gb of footage from advertisements and lost media alone, AND ended up purchasing one of the holy grails for Golden Sun fans that just so happened to go live on eBay during production.
Hell, I even shot the entire thing in early 2025 but had an issue with out of focus footage, so the entire project went into the trash.
I don't want to say that the project is dead; far from it. But at what point does a project sit and become a pipe dream instead of an attainable goal?
Eventually yes, this video WILL get created. But the thing to think about now vs back when it was in conception is that it will be what it needs to be, not what I think it should be.
That made more sense in my head but you get the gist... it will be a labour of love and passion, not an obligation.
