Tuesday 15 October 2024

Top 100 Best Turn-based JRPGs of ALL TIME

 



Welcome to the top 100 best turn-based JRPGs of all time. No indies, no Japanese exclusives, obviously no RPGs from other regions either. Honorable mentions are at the end.

About this video...

I didn't tell anyone I was working on it. The video was planned as a surprise, but also as a follow-up to another video I did a long time ago.

On December of 2019 I made a Top 100 Best JRPGs So Far, which gained a lot of views until it practically stopped trending. This happened because many years had gone by and the video was now a bit outdated. I felt it was time to remake it, to do it again with an updated list, including JRPGs that had been released in the 20s. However, many titles have been released since then, many awesome titles I should say, and I couldn't bring myself to think of a list of just 100 again, you know? So my solution was to break it down into sub-genres, that way there would be more JRPGs added and barely any of the really good ones, that deserve to be in the video, would be left out. 

So I started with turn-based and I certainly wasn't expecting there to be more than 100 JRPGs worth including, which is why I left some honorable mentions at the end. It's incredible how people keep saying turn-based is dead, when clearly (if you watch today's video) that is definitely NOT true. And to prove my point further, a lot more turn-based JRPGs that probably deserved a spot in my list, were left out. Plus, imagine how many others aren't included just because they're indies or exclusive to Japan. A this point, only an idiot would say turn-based is dead. What about Strategy JRPGs though? Oof. That'd be interesting to see.

Well, everybody, that's as much background I can give you on the video. I hope you enjoy it. I had a lot of fun doing the list, and even editing the video. I won't do another one of these in many, many years again (probably never if agendas keep being inserted in our beloved genre), so this is it for the 100 best turn-based JRPGs ever made in my goddamned opinion.

Thanks!

Wednesday 25 September 2024

400 RPGs RANKED

 



There are now officially 400 RPGs ranked in my "RPG Scores" section. Damn. It took me 2 months to come up with that list and those numbers on a scale from 1 to 10. I don't think I can make it to 500, honestly. At least not now. But of course, the list isn't over; I will continue adding more and more in the future. Several of them will be added on a daily basis, but eventually I will hit a roadblock and will have to slowly move on from there. 

Please continue checking the list often for more updates. Maybe it's time I started adding segments like filtering them by console. But you can always press Alt + F to look for the specific RPG you want. If it's not there, it means I haven't played it, or I don't know how I feel about it yet and probably need more time with it, maybe even finish it. 

About having finished the games, well... I have finished about 80% of the RPGs in the list. Others I made it very far in but rage quit at some point, or simply abandoned. There are some I need more time with to decide on a number, and others I don't need a single extra minute with since I have 0 plans of ever going back to or playing them again. 

One thing you may have noticed is that I might seem a bit generous with some rankings. You have to remember how I rank them. I consider 5 things: story, gameplay, music, graphics and battle system. So some RPGs that have bad, mediocre or troublesome gameplay/combat may still be an 8 out of 10, which is a bit high, but that's because probably the music, story or graphics were great. Keep that in mind.

Anyway, off to continue making more content, videos and livestreams, as I keep making progress with the list. Thanks a lot for reading this.

Tuesday 27 August 2024

 



Trails in the Sky Remake announced

Suikoden I & II Remasters release date

Fate/Extra Remake is still alive

Tales of Graces F Remaster announced

Black Myth Wukong sells 15 million copies worldwide and destroys the wokies.

Sounds like great news so far, right? 

Or should we be worried that the mafia and/or the wokies will destroy the translation for the upcoming games? 

I don't know. Something to think about. Nothing, however, changes the fact that BMW is a phenomenal success and that should speak fucking volumes in the game industry. FUCKING VOLUMES. 

Saturday 17 August 2024

 




Versus episodes will now be uploaded on my second channel. Why? Because all of them were a failure in views on my main channel. I wasn't expecting many views in the first place but I certainly wasn't expecting some episodes to be a huge flop. Lack of interest from general viewers + the YT shadow-ban I still have equals these results. Anyway, it was just extra content with no real purpose than to make a few extra bucks a month but there was also barely any revenue from them, and since editing each takes a couple of hours (thumbnail included), I just didn't see the point. 

So yeah, they'll continue as video clips on my second channel, with your opinions included of course, but without gameplay footage. They will definitely fail harder in views now but it's my second channel, a place I pretty much treat as some kind of archives or clips, without worrying about the stupid evil algorithm from YouTube. And yes, this means we will still do one episode in the Q&A livestreams, obviously. So see you there.

Laters.

Monday 15 July 2024

Terra Gaiden and The Revenant Army

 


Today I'm celebrating the 10th Anniversary of two of my most beloved books out there. Terra Gaiden and The Revenant Army. Both were heavily inspired by JRPGs, most specifically by the Suikoden and the Fire Emblem series, two of my favorite videogame franchises of all time. 

A little bit of history:

Terra Gaiden was planned in 2013 because I wanted to move out of Mexico and try my chances as an author in another country. For some reason I chose Canada. So I started writing the book with the idea of moving there in 2014 and take it to publishers. So I applied for a visa (they were required back then, not anymore nowadays) but, unfortunately, it was denied. So I couldn't go and my plans were ruined. On top of it all, the book had already been 80% completed in ENGLISH... So despite being a terrible idea, I still finished it and had it printed out on a mere whim. 

I was going to start attending anime/gaming shows where I live and I had to had something other than Prelude to Oblivion, which was in Spanish, and Terra Gaiden, which was in English. I needed another JRPG-inspired book, but one in SPANISH, so I wrote The Revenant Army right after finishing Terra Gaiden. No, it wasn't rushed. I did take my time writing the book without any pressure, so it wasn't a desperate attempt at finishing it before my first gaming show. 

So long story short, I did well in anime/gaming shows back then, Revenant sold well while Gaiden struggled a lot because of the language barrier. But by then I had revived my old YouTube channel back and started creating content for it. Of course, I'm talking about those slide-show videos that for some reason got hundreds of thousands of views. So I started promoting Terra Gaiden in those videos and it slowly started selling more. Today, it's a fan favorite and tons of readers have marked it as a great book.

So in February of 2023, I released the English translation of The Revenant Army and have also been promoting it in my videos and livestreams. It hasn't sold as well as Gaiden because it's only been available for a year and a half, but it's been doing alright. 

So now, both books are available in English on Amazon and you can surely find the links in the "books" section of this website. If you decide to read them, I hope you enjoy them and appreciate the passion for JRPGs that I had when I wrote them.

Thank you!

Friday 12 July 2024

The Versus Episodes

 



Check out the latest versus episode: Grandia vs Wild Arms (first game on each series only).

I've been having a blast making these episodes live every Q&A for the past several weeks. I know a lot of you even look forward to them every time, so I'm happy for that.

So far we've done 6 episodes, 5 of which have been edited and uploaded as videos on my main channel. The sixth episode we did (Octopath Traveler vs Ys VIII) is coming soon...

No, this isn't the direction the channel is going to. It was never intended. Keep reading...

As I've stated before in previous livestreams, this episodic series will definitely continue. We will still do one episode in every Sunday Q&A. As for editing them and uploading them as videos on my main channel, well, I haven't decided if I'll continue with that. I probably will. The episodes are barely getting any views and failing miserably, but I also understand they aren't the type of content most viewers want to watch. That's alright, I never expected the episodes to make it past 5k views each, and I never made them to replace regular content or regular videos on my channel. This is just some extra content like the live let's plays I do every now and then. So yeah, I'm not sure if I'll keep turning them into videos, but if I do, you'll notice. The point is that the episodes will continue at least live every goddamned Sunday!

For those who don't know what the hell these are: I'll leave every episode below so be sure to check them out. Basically, I pick 2 JRPGs that I think would be a good match and start a poll during the Q&A livestream. Fans get to vote for their favorite game for a limited amount of time, but they can also write down their arguments in the chat. I read every argument and it makes it to the edited version of the video. At the end, I close the poll, mention the winner, then I pick my own personal winner and explain my reasons why, breaking down every category: gameplay, music, graphics, combat, characters, etc... 

ALL the episodes in order HERE:

Tales of Arise vs Star Ocean 6: https://youtu.be/25waVm5xqMg

Xenoblade Chronicles vs Nier Automata: https://youtu.be/JWK1lzJeuYc

Suikoden II vs The Legend of Dragoon: https://youtu.be/wsVFD-icSHw

Dragon Quest VIII vs Final Fantasy XII: https://youtu.be/YMYbD5g4uSA

Grandia vs Wild Arms: https://youtu.be/AauPUJy1_lk


So far, my favorite episode has been Suikoden 2 vs The Legend of Dragoon for obvious reasons. Anyway, enjoy the videos. Thanks!

Tuesday 2 July 2024

Third Time Wasn't The Charm...

 I'm sad to announce that the 10 Things You Didn't Know About video-series is officially dead. The views are incredibly and absurdly down and, as a result, I no longer have any motivation whatsoever to continue. 

I first cancelled this series in 2021 after making an analysis on several episodes that were deemed as a failure (Star Ocean 2, SMT Nocturne, Trails of Cold Steel 1&2) Sure, if you check some of those right now, they may be doing alright, but that's because they've been out there for years. 

The second time I cancelled the series was in 2022. I revived it after a year or so, 3 episodes were released: Radiant Historia, Tales of Berseria and Wild Arms. Sure, the last two are doing alright nowadays but, again, that's because they've been out there for over 2 years. 

So now that the last three episodes of this year (2024) were MASSIVE failures, like the worst 3 ever in terms of views, I am forced to shut the show down for good.

I know some of you are big fans of this series but there's absolutely no reason for me to continue making it. As you already know, YouTube put a final shadow ban in my channel after the Eiyuden Chronicle Localization video (it pissed the shit out of them badly) and my views/subscribers/revenue started tanking considerably after that. Because of this, they aren't recommending any of my videos and aren't notifying a lot of my subscribers when I upload them. So of course a video-series that died 2 years ago was gonna get the worst treatment, as viewer interests have shifted to something else entirely.

It saddens me to see the huge lack of interest in the series. People are way too obsessed with new games, modern JRPGs, dramas, news and political warfare, that they have abandoned any love for retro, history and development. But the worst of it all is that barely anyone looks at me when it comes to those topics. Most viewers aren't interested in me covering the background, history and development of retro JRPGs. Not anymore.

If the episodes had gathered at least 10k-12k views each, like the FFIX episode did, I wouldn't be here writing this post. I would continue making them just for the fans. But the Valkyria Chronicles and Tales of Xillia did horribly, and have killed my desire to continue. 

Sorry for this, but I'm sure at this point you'll understand why I have to shut this one down for good. Probably forever. 

Wednesday 19 June 2024

JRPGs That Surpassed My Expectations

 


This video series has been doing well since the beginning. Episode 5 just came out and you can watch it right here (above) or on YouTube. 

The point of the series is to cover JRPGs that I didn't think would be so damn good. I highlight my stories with them, how I got a hold of them, what I expected of them, and how they surpassed my expectations. So I'm not really reviewing these games at all, or explaining them to you. I'm just sharing my experience with them. 

There are a lot of JRPGs that surpassed my expectations but let's not confuse them with the ones that MET my expectations. Like, say, Eiyuden Chronicle for example. I was hoping it would surpass them but the initial glitches and the politicized translation kinda ruined that. However, I still knew the game would be great somehow and, well, it was. So it's an example of a game that I was expecting to be great and it met those expectations, it just didn't "surpass" them. 

So yeah, in case you've watched through all 5 episodes and wondered "why didn't he include this game?", that might be a reason. Or it could be that I merely haven't included it. I haven't told my story about it. 

Maybe one day there will be an episode 6...

Thursday 6 June 2024

10 THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT TALES OF XILLIA 1 AND 2

 


Here's the latest episode. This time I took 2 of my favorite Tales games ever, Xillia and its controversial sequel. Long episode. There was just so much to talk about them...

Please help this 10 things video-series grow. If you could share this with other fans or friends, post it in your socials or anything at this point, I'd appreciate it, the series would continue. I gave up on it 2 years ago quite easily but not this time around. I want to keep making more episodes in the future and cover more JRPGs. Hopefully you can pitch in by merely watching the videos and posting them anywhere you can.

Enjoy the episode!

Thanks!

Tuesday 21 May 2024

10 Things You Didn't Know About Final Fantasy IX

 


NEW EPISODE!

This time I made an episode based entirely on the masterpiece Final Fantasy IX. As you may already know, this is my favorite FF ever and a very special game to me, personally. One of the first RPGs I ever played. 

It was very interesting to learn about its inception, its history and development. Many things were written in Wikipedia but I had to confirm every single one of them to see if they were legit. I was surprised to see the sources were mostly straight out of the horse's mouth. Click on the video and check the description where you'll find these sources, of course. 

I had a lot of fun creating this video. And while I am aware that this is a heavily documented game, and some of the things shown in it might already be part of your knowledge, I still feel like I added my two cents in most of them. So hopefully you'll learn more about it.

Enjoy the video!

Monday 13 May 2024

10 Things You Didn't Know About

 


Hey guys, as you may have already noticed, I recently revived the "10 Things You Didn't Know About" series. This is content I started creating all the way back in 2019. There's been 18 episodes so far, including the most recent about Valkyria Chronicles.

In the playlists section of my channel, you'll find the playlist with every single episode. Or you can just click here to get there right away. 

In the series, I cover the background, history, development, trivia and controversies about the JRPGs we all know and love. So they're a good video series to watch to learn more about them. Sources of information are often credited in the description of each video, which lead to even more knowledge. Be sure to check the videos out and also the sources. And thank you for supporting my channel. 

Saturday 4 May 2024

The Irony of Viewers

 Wanna know one of the biggest ironies of modern YouTube viewers? They barely watch the videos but are always ready to share their opinion about them in the comments. I don't read comments nor do I interact in that section, but seeing the numbers can be very ironic. My community section is a perfect example: often I post my videos or my clips from my Q&A's (I upload these on my second channel) and there are more comments than likes. Some of them have hundreds of comments from people that didn't even watch the video and say something only based on the topics I mention or merely the damn thumbnail. 

Watchtime has been decreasing for every single content creator over the past few years. Subscription rate also went down. Not only because YouTube started deleting accounts that have been inactive for more than just 2 years, but also because people have lost interesting in subscribing to channels. There are many reasons why, of course, everyone's got their own. But the watchtime decreasing hurts every youtuber out there. Which is why I'm always telling people to watch the whole video or if they don't care, just leave it running in the background in another tab or something. People are so quick to click away nowadays that sometimes we feel like making videos is pointless. It's like they want to turn YouTube into TikTok. And they still have the nerve to express their opinion (be it positive or negative) about it? When they barely watched anything? Pathetic. This is the pathetic situation and the biggest irony of modern viewers in this day and age.

Don't be this type of entitled loser. 

Wednesday 24 April 2024

Eiyuden Chronicle

 


Here is my full review of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. I'm pretty sure you've already noticed I uploaded it recently, or probably you've already watched it. But just in case, there you go. 

There were a few things I didn't mention in the review though; a couple of complaints I have with it. I left them out because they were only going to drag the review but, most importantly, they would give it a very negative connotation. It's about the recruitment of characters and about the wokenized localization. Unfortunately, this game's another victim of the horrendous DEI bullshit that's been destroying translations recently. I'm honestly still debating whether I do another video about the controversial release of this game, or if I should just move on and rant about it in my next Q&A. So, don't be surprised if you see another video dedicated to it, with me attacking the localization, or if you see nothing at all.

Thankfully, the DEI shenanigans didn't go too far like they did with Final Fantasy 16 or Fairy Fencer F 2, where there IS actual forced inclusion and a translation that's extremely woke. However, and sadly, it did affect several dialogue scenes in Eiyuden Chronicle and it shattered the humor. Still, major events, important scenes and context in them all never felt politicized to me, so at least it got saved from that.

But yeah, Mio saying "are you sure it's a he?" about a freaking golem, is a good example. A cross-dresser character named Momo is voiced by some dude in English, but at least the translation shows that Momo admits himself to be a boy, instead of something ridiculous like "I'm a guy but I feel like a girl, so I'm a girl and treat me as such". At least they had the decency to respect that. But I wouldn't be surprised if the character in Japanese was actually female and they just changed it to a boy cross-dressing just for the sake of wokeness. However, I doubt it because the Japanese actor who voiced Momo is also a dude, so... I'm very confused about this character and I wonder of Murayama himself wrote it. Whatever the case, a character like that in 2024 is pretentious if nothing else. But yeah, the Mio dialogue, Perrielle's slightly excessive display of feminist behavior, Lian's dumb jokes and stuff like that... is part of the motherfucking piece of shit localization team behind the loser that is Brian Gray. Fuck that guy and fuck the system nowadays for trying to "americanize" everything nowadays. 

And about the character recruitment, I have a big rant about some characters being unbelievably ridiculous to recruit like Celia or Reid, forcing the player to play through some really hard mini-games just to get them. It's extremely annoying and frustrating, to be honest. 

So will I make a second video about this game? Probably, yeah, just don't know yet if it'll be on my main channel to address these issues, or on my second channel as a regular rant with other topics from my Q&A livestreams. I'm sure you'll see something but don't be surprised if you see nothing. I just don't know what to think about this situation anymore since fucking liberals control the entertainment world nowadays and it's hard to find something, including a JRPG, that's not under their disgusting modern nazi rules. Are we to stop playing every JRPG with political nonsense and DEI? Are we to play nothing but Stellar Blade then? You see the dilemma now? 

I'm still trying to gather my thoughts on this. In the meantime, watch the review and share your thoughts in the comments if you want to. 

Thanks for reading.

Saturday 20 April 2024

THAT JRPG PODCAST #2

 


The second episode of That JRPG Podcast is up! It's a deep analysis of Chrono Cross which includes its history, development, background, and a review of everything: story, characters, music, graphics, pacing, gameplay, battle system and ending. 

Spoilers are there but only at the end of the podcast. I give a fair warning before I talk about them.

It took me many, many years to come up with some form of proper review for this game. I've covered it to death in my channel, I know, but never reviewing it in an entire video of its own. A 15-20 long minute review felt pointless for a game as important to me as this, so I always felt if I ever reviewed it, it would have to be in a 1-2 hour long video. I couldn't think of a better opportunity than to make it an unscripted and uncensored podcast. 

Enjoy.

Tuesday 2 April 2024

Top 50 Best PS3 JRPGs Ever

 


Today I posted a Top 50 with the best JRPGs ever released on the PS3. This is part of an on-going series I actually started 4 years ago. I've covered a few consoles already and will continue to do so in the future. Keep in mind not every console's gonna be here. Some, like the SNES, don't have 50 JRPGs released outside of Japan. Remember that these tops are based on games that got an official English release. The SNES could easily be done including fan translations though, so maybe one day, but I doubt it. And there are other consoles that don't even reach 50 JRPGs even counting the ones that stayed in Japan. Finally, there are consoles that are still releasing games such as the Switch. I wouldn't want to do a "Top 50 Best So Far", these are "Ever" or "of all time" so the Switch is definitely out of the question, despite already having way more than 50 JRPGs released outside of Japan. PS4 is getting there though, I really do believe this year will probably be the last one we'll see JRPGs on it. We'll most likely just get a few next year. So maybe in 2025 I can finally do the top 50 based on PS4. But for now, check out the PS3 one. 

One small trivia I found interesting while making this video is that a big chunk of the console's JRPGs have already been ported or remastered for modern systems. It's incredible to see how many we are lacking when it comes to more retro consoles, like the PS1, PS2 or even SNES, but the PS3 got a lot of glory on modern consoles. Maybe because it was just easier to port them or remaster considering they aren't that old and run also easily on modern hardware. So if you don't have a PS3 or care for one, it might still be very worth watching the video.

Consoles I've already done a Top 50 on:

PS1 https://youtu.be/-GknCXJJr50

PS2 https://youtu.be/KKD-ic4PsV4

PSP https://youtu.be/ZzqHcJnAt34

PS3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_leqPgnzgw

NDS https://youtu.be/rVxIqXLRViY

3DS https://youtu.be/P5O4pE9naNU


Next will probably be GBA or PS Vita. Just remember I only do these once or (max) twice per year so I can't confirm yet if there will be another one this year. 

Thanks for reading and enjoy the videos!

Tuesday 26 March 2024

 



That JRPG Podcast: Persona 3 Reload is up.

I deleted the previous post because, after all, I did end up using the title it now has. I think the video works much better as a podcast. Now that I've personally watched it a couple of times since I started editing it, I believe the video definitely works better as a podcast. Still, I used a lot of gameplay footage, especially during the intro and the gameplay mechanics/combat (NOT in the characters' segment, I used only screenshots and wallpapers for those), because I had already recorded a lot, so it felt like a waste not to use it. But I'm repeating myself.

Anyway, as of the making of this post, the podcast isn't doing very well, but it's hanging in there. Obviously it's not the type of content the majority of my viewers care about, but it's still something that I wanted to do. I'll give it about 3 weeks and then decide if it's worth continuing with the series. I ask that you don't downgrade on Patreon or cancel, at least not until I've made my decision. Let's give this podcast time to pick up a bit, but I'm honestly not expecting it to surpass 5 thousand views because of the type of content it is, its length, and YouTube probably shadow-banning it due to my rant against the game's censorship.

So yeah, we'll see how it goes on the long run. I'm still interested in doing more episodes in the future.

Thanks.

Saturday 23 March 2024

 


Hello, everybody. I'm about to launch a brand new video podcast on YouTube . In every episode, I will cover a new RPG in a full, deep analysis, meaning they're basically going to be super long reviews. Sometimes there's just so much to say about games, that I feel simple 15 minute long reviews don't do them justice. Surprisingly though, these video-podcast episodes will go between 1 and 2 HOURS long. So yeah, it's gonna be fun to say the least.

Now, I have edited all tiers on my Patreon page. Steel Sword members are now officially funding this podcast. Silver Sword members are funding it too but also have access to Erick Landon Uncensored (my private podcast that I started last year). But there's a brand new tier called Platinum Sword; in this one, you are greatly funding both podcasts but there's two extra benefits: you will get access to the video-podcast before it is posted on YouTube and you will also have a special thanks mention in the podcast itself. Note: If you are already paying 10 dollars or more per month on Patreon, you don't have to do anything. You'll get access to everything in this tier automatically.

The first episode of the show is going to cover Persona 3 Reload (but actually, I'm comparing it to all previous versions so you could say it's a full review of ALL versions). It will be uploaded as soon as possible, but I think Tuesday 26th would be the ideal release date.

Here's a little FAQ I've created for this upcoming podcast.

Q: Is this the direction the channel is going to take?

A: No. This is just new content that I'll be introducing to my channel. This is NOT the direction it'll take. I will still continue to upload regular videos (reviews, top 10s, lists, etc...).

Q: How often will this podcast be?

A: Unfortunately, I don't have a straight answer for this because this is going to be the first episode and I need to see how much funding it gets on Patreon, and how many views and revenue it gets on YouTube. The podcast is going to be public, after all, and I need to see how it does before I can commit to making a certain number of them per month. HOWEVER, I am dedicated to making at least ONE per month. I will commit to TWO per month if it does well. But I couldn't do more than 2 per month because then it would actually feel as if that is the direction my channel would take. I still want to make regular videos, so doing more than 2 episodes sounds crazy right now.

Q: Why do you need funding for this?

A: Obviously these episodes are not going to get much revenue, or even views. Hell, some might even be shadow-banned. There will be a bit of swearing, after all. And in this pilot episode, I'll be criticizing the censorship Persona 3 Reload had so... yeah, you see where I'm going. You also have to consider several things: one, the previous post I made in this blog (you've probably already read it). Two: the length of every episode. I know there are many YouTube videos and deep analyses of games with hundreds of thousands of views, but I highly doubt my podcast is going to be one of those. Which leads me to three: it's a podcast; it WILL have gameplay footage and work as a video but let's face it, most people are only going to listen to it, not watch it. So in conclusion, there's barely going to be any revenue from this. Which is why I'm asking for funding on Patreon.

Q: Why a podcast and not a full regular video?

A: It works better as a podcast (unscripted) since it's meant to be a 1-2 hour long experience. HOWEVER, I will add some gameplay footage, screenshots and wallpapers to make it watchable. But the highlight of these episodes is going to be mostly an audio-only experience. Editing a 1-2 hour long video would just take days and days of work.

*EDIT: I just finished editing the entire video and I did add a crap-ton of gameplay. I just had a lot of it already recorded so it felt like a waste not to use it. Sure, the editing is not like in my usual videos, you're gonna see entire long sequences of one recording session, be it a battle or a certain early scene, but it's there; its gameplay footage through and through, and I think that's gonna make the video just that: a video, something worth watching. Although I'd like to point out that I also added a LOT of screenshots and wallpapers for some parts. I'd say it's 70% gameplay, 30% screenshots. Of course, it's still a podcast meant to be listened to, but if someone wants to treat it as a video, it's still gonna be very entertaining to watch.*

Q: What kind of RPGs are you going to cover?

A: Popular, Classics, Mainstream, Triple A, Double A, but it also depends on how much I think I can say about any of them. Sadly, most obscure/hidden gems type of RPGs won't make the cut because there just isn't going to be a lot of interest in them. Persona 3, for example, is a very popular game and I think there'll be enough interest, relatively speaking. But say I do an episode based on, I don't know... Redemption Reapers... I'm 100% the episode would fail miserably. And not every single popular RPG or JRPG is going to have an episode. I need to leave some for my regular reviews too.

That's it for now. Hopefully you continue or start supporting me on Patreon so I can successfully launch this new content. And, if you're already a patron, hopefully you'll consider upgrading your tier if you want to fund it. If you can't financially support me, that's fine, just make sure to watch or listen to the whole video and preferably, disable your adblocker, at least for this one. 

Thanks for reading. 

Wednesday 13 March 2024

The Future of Erick Landon RPG

 


Hey guys, I wanted to give you a long and important update for my channel. I've talked briefly and vaguely about it in some of my last Q&As, but I don't want to make a video about it or a community post on my channel. Doing that would probably create concern or perhaps even panic. So I think this website, while it currently doesn't have a lot of readers, is still a better place to elaborate on the future of my channel. 

You see, I've been somewhat depressed for the past several months. Since March of 2023 I started noticing some bad changes in my analytics, my revenue and my fanbase. I realized that inflation got the better of the USA economy, of which I depend since Google, a USA corporation, pays me my monthly revenue. So this hit YouTube harder than I thought and therefore revenue went down. It also went down because the US dollar came down hard, it devalued. I also noticed a ridiculous increase in gaming channels, including JRPG channels or pretty much hundreds of new Youtubers making JRPG top 10s and similar topics. This caused a massive drop in interest from viewers because now they've seen anybody can make them and therefore there's nothing special about them anymore. And that's what I want to focus this topic on.

The biggest reason for my depression was because on October of 2023, I made a video called "Top 10 Mature Rated Hidden JRPG Gems" which went viral... but only for a few days. Upon reaching 48,000 views, YouTube demonetized it. There's a video about this on my second channel if you want to look up what happened. Long story short, YouTube straight up refused to give me an explanation and nothing I could do brought back the monetization. From there, I started noticing an even bigger decrease in revenue, views and subscribers. I should've reached 100k subscribers last year but because of this incident, I got blacklisted on the website and my channel is nowadays shadow-banned. Fortunately, not that much, but most of my videos are only getting views from my usual viewers. They're barely getting recommended to new viewers, sadly.

As a result, I started trying different things to see if anything worked, but nope. Even videos like the one I did yesterday (Top 10 Best Modern JRPG Remakes So Far) which are usually the types of videos that would've gotten A LOT of views a year or two ago, was a MASSIVE failure. And that was the last straw for me. There's just no way to continue making the same content I've been doing for years anymore. The several issues I've been explaining so far have been, all at once, the cause for my current sad channel state. Being blacklisted and having to compete against hundreds of idiots that do nothing but rip-off any JRPG channel they see, has forced my hand. I need to take the channel into a different direction.

What direction, you ask? Well, I've been thinking hard about that for the past few months and I've decided on trying out different ideas for the channel.

What kind of ideas? They'll mostly be surprises, I don't want to spoil anything but I don't want to get you excited either. It's just something that's gonna happen in my channel pretty soon and you're just gonna have to wait and see. If you like it, that's great, if you don't, that's okay, not everybody likes change.

Will I still cover JRPGs? Of course! I wouldn't have this audience if I didn't cover JRPGs. I start covering other genres or topics and my YouTube career would be over. So of course the channel is still going to be RPG focused. But I've learned my lesson the hard way on certain things. It's now crystal clear to me that certain RPGs, or certain topics, or video ideas, are of no interest to most of you, sadly. Which is another reason why I need to reinvent myself.

Will I still do Top 10s and reviews? Reviews yes, for sure. In fact, one of the things I want to focus on is actually better reviews; I need to improve the quality and the scripting, but I also feel I need to cover only the games I am legitimately interested in. Top 10s, however, have been decreasing since last year on my channel and this one will be no exception. They will still be there, don't worry. But I think it's about time I got rid of certain topics that are considered as generic, or that everybody and their mom are doing nowadays. I feel that my Top 10s need to start being more original, more specific and more thematic than ever. Also to avoid repeating myself and covering the same JRPGs over and over again, which is also a big problem in my channel. 

Will livestreams (let's plays and Q&As) continue? Yes, they will. Though I believe the Q&As are gonna have to evolve into something more interesting, entertaining and unique. But yeah, I'll keep playing games live and appear on camera to answer your damn questions every Sunday. Things might change in those departments but I've yet to figure out the best course of action. 

I think that covers most doubts, but of course feel free to show up anywhere you want to to ask more if there's anything you didn't quite get. 

That's all I wanted to say, just basically give you a heads up that I will be taking the channel into a slightly different direction, and that the content might change to something less stressful for me. One of the major reasons why I got depressed was because I kept expecting certain videos to succeed, only to see them fail miserably. The last Super Obscure RPG Gems video was also a HUGE failure and it broke my fucking heart. So I think creating content that makes me remove that fear, and those expectations, whether it succeeds or not, is the best course of action right now. I'm basically trying to say that I'm going to be true to myself more often and only create the content that I really and genuinely want to create. 

Thanks for reading and take care. 

Sunday 10 March 2024

100,000 Subscribers on YouTube

 


I just wanted to post here this, something that happened a couple of days ago. I finally reached that milestone and I'm happy to share the news. I can't believe it's been so long since I started uploading content on YouTube. I'm actually on my way this very same year of celebrating my 15th anniversary on the website. But as a content creator, a gaming channel dedicated to RPGs in general, it'll be only 10 years. Regardless, it took me over a decade to reach this number: 100,000 subscribers. 

Thanks a lot to everyone who has remained subscribed throughout the years. I certainly wouldn't be here without you. 

Friday 8 March 2024


Rest in peace, Akira Toriyama...
The man who created the anime series millions of people grew up with. Dragon Ball is one of the most popular cartoons of all time, and Goku is one of the most recognizable characters world-wide. He was always the artist of every Dragon Quest game. And, of course, the artist of the beloved Chrono Trigger. The last game he worked on was Sand Land, an upcoming action RPG based on his own book. It's devastating to see that, just like Yoshitaka Murayama (creator of Suikoden/Eiyuden Chronicle, died last February) he didn't live to see his latest game. No matter what though, his legacy will live on forever. 

Tuesday 5 March 2024

Super Obscure RPG Gems

 This is a series I started last year (2023) where I cover games from all over the world. It's refreshing because I usually have to stick to JRPGs, especially the ones that were localized. That's always been the focus of my channel, to cover those types 90% of the time (or more). But since last year, I've been getting more and more into other regions, including the Japanese exclusives. Indies have been my second focus now. The reason why I'm doing this is because both me and my audience have grown tired of the same type of coverage throughout the years. I feel a lot of people see my channel as repetitive, covering the same 100-200 JRPGs over and over again. Especially what I call the "usual suspects". Sure, the amount of new releases help keep my channel fresh but I don't have access to some, and with the horrible politicized agenda nowadays, I've kinda lost interest in others. So I need to keep looking elsewhere to find more and more interesting RPGs to talk about. Hence why this little series was born. Here is episode 3 (I'm sure you've watched the previous 2 and you haven't, you can find them easily on YouTube):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LLNHCDf93Y




Tuesday 27 February 2024

REVIVAL

 I can't believe it's been almost 5 years since I last posted here. Last one was on April 29 of 2019 when I was just celebrating my 15,000 subscribers achievement. Now I'm close to 100,000 subs, I can't believe it.

Honestly, the reason why this blog died is because back then very few people cared about it. I barely had any readers and I just didn't see the point in continuing with it. Also, it just felt unnecessary; a place to write what I could also write on YouTube, Patreon and other websites. Now, however, I have no social media at all. About a year and a half I started closing all my accounts at Facebook, Twitter and Discord. Never cared for other social media. I'll do a post some other time on why I quit. The point is... while I don't regret my decision of quitting, I do believe I need some form of writing blog that's not part of those websites. I need a place to write whatever I want publicly. I can do that on my podcast at Patreon, but that's a recorded spoken podcast, I need to write. I can write posts too there but I charge people for reading, so I need a public, completely free place. I also don't want to do it on YouTube cause I use the community section to promote my videos. So I'm left with one choice and this seems like a good place to do that. After all, it's been here for several years, ever since I was living in England trying to promote my books. I've come a long way.

So what can you expect from this blog? Well, it's still owned by the ultra politicized Google, so writing freely against any sort of politics could get me shadow-banned. Fortunately though, this blog isn't what I do for a living and, just like with my second YouTube channel, I don't care that much if they decide to hide me from search results or if they don't want to promote my posts. Therefore, I'm going to write whatever the fuck I want. But really, what can you expect besides my usual free speech? Well, I'll be using this blog to promote my videos, of course, but also to write about things that don't merit a video, or topics that I don't mind writing in public about. Every now and then I'll share some background about my videos, or about my YouTube career or even my writing career. So take this blog as extra content, but in the form of writing. 

So let's celebrate the revival of this long-forgotten blog. Pretty much my official website now. Hopefully, you'll find something of interest to read about in the future. Meanwhile feel free to delve into the past with any of the previous posts that I've done here. 

Thanks a lot for reading, and thanks for the support! 

Monday 29 April 2019

15,000 SUBSCRIBERS!!!



Hello, everyone.

Today, I reached 15k subscribers on my YouTube channel. That made me so happy. I just want to say thank you to everyone who has been watching my videos, reading my books and, of course, following this blog. Without your support, I wouldn't have made it this far and Erick Landon RPG would certainly not exist today. So thank you once again. Here's an old bad-quality video to commemorate the occasion; it's from when I was starting to make videos in English about RPGs. I can't believe what I said at the end of the video with the honorable mention, hahaha. Enjoy!


Thursday 17 January 2019

STREAMING ANNOUNCEMENT

HELLO, EVERYONE.

I'm here with a BIG announcement to make! I'll be streaming my first RPG, LIVE, on YOUTUBE. This will take place on Friday 18, at 4 p.m. CENTRAL TIME.

Things to notice (PLEASE READ):

I will only be able to do this whenever I can, so no schedule for future livestreams of that game, for now. I'm very sorry for this, but I live with my parents and our neighborhood is a little noisy at times (including dogs barking frequently in the afternoons), besides I have two jobs, something you already know. So I can't comply with a schedule or promise any hour/day in particular. If you're lucky, you might attend the livestreams, if you don't, you can still watch them later at any time you want. Sorry again about this but that's the best I can do right now.

Second, I will be accepting donations for the channel. You can donate any quantity you want right below the chat section in YouTube. If you don't know how, feel free to ask other users or even me. Donations will be used to improve my equipment (new laptop, new camera, etc...) eventually. They're also a great motivation for me to keep streaming RPGs.

PLEASE help this channel grow with this!

First game is going to be a surprise and I'll try my best to beat it all the way till the end!

Thanks for reading. See you then on the livestream!

Thursday 27 December 2018

SEE YOU IN 2019

HELLO EVERYONE.

2018 is almost OVER so I thought I'd come here to write a little farewell to everybody who's been reading this blog over the past few months or years.

It's been a GREAT year for me, my little breakthrough in YouTube not only helped me grow as a creator, but also as a writer. I am very proud to say that this is currently my day job (or rather my part-time job) now, and I hope very soon I can make it as my full-time job. Regardless, I'm just happy this year seems like it's going to end pretty good and I wanted to say to everyone who has been following this blog: THANK YOU! Without you, this blog would be dead! So writing stuff here every once in a while and keeping you updated is something I enjoy doing as much as I hope you enjoy reading it.

Anyway, that's it. I'll be going on a little vacation starting today and I'll be back until January 1st, which is tuesday, probably with a new video!

Remember that the marathon is over so starting next week, I'll be back to normal with videos every tuesday, friday and sunday. Said marathon, December Madness, was AWESOME. I hope you guys enjoyed it, and it's all thanks to you that it went through with no issues whatsoever. So, again, thank you very much for that.

That's that.

THANKS!
SEE YOU NEXT TIME!

Friday 30 November 2018

DECEMBER MADNESS


HEY GUYS, WHAT'S UP?

I just wanted to let you know that, starting tomorrow (december 1st), I will be starting a marathon called December Madness, meaning I will be uploading ONE video EVERY SINGLE DAY until Christmas. Then, I'll take a break from YouTube and return until January 1st, 2019.

There's really no other reason for this than to share more with you guys. Of course, not all videos are going to be well produced and edited Top 10s or well investigated What the Hell Happened to, but I'll try my best to create cool stuff involving RPGs and all.

So what kind of videos will I make? That's a surprise and you're gonna' have to wait and see!

That's all for now, I hope you enjoy this marathon!

THANKS!

Wednesday 21 November 2018

HIDDEN GEMS OR MOST UNKNOWN?!


Hey, guys.

Ever since I got my PS Vita, I've been literally playing JRPG after JRPG on it, sometimes 4-5 at the same time, deciding which ones are worth as hidden gems or just pretty much unknown. I've also been playing some mainstream titles latley; I'm about to finish Tales of Hearts and I think I'm going to move on to YS VIII Lacrimosa of Dana after that.

Anyway, the point is that I am not so sure about the PS Vita with its JRPG library because most of its unknown/not mainstream RPGs are just dungeon crawlers in first person with absurd quantities of fan service, most of them exploiting lolis, and others are just plain mediocre. I didn't know this when I first got the Vita, of course, but I remember I stood up for its library when I made the video about the Vita vs the 3DS, saying that the Vita had a much more solid catalogue of JRPGs. Now I'm not so sure.

There are a lot of great titles, yes, most of them being mainstream like the YS games (not THAT mainstream, of course) or Tales of, or Muramasa, Trails of Cold Steel, Atelier or Final Fantasy, etc... But the truth is that there's a lot of shovel ware when it comes to JRPGs in this system. I can't believe it. However, I have managed to save a bunch of decent, kind of unknown titles for the next hidden gems video, although some of them are just not convincing me enough.

I had planned for this video to be released the last tuesday of November, which is due next week. But lately I've been dealing with these doubts about some of the games I had chosen as candidates for the Vita. I gathered 13 titles but some are just not good enough to be called hidden gems. But hey, I've included other titles in the past, in other consoles, that I now kind of regret, however there must be some people out there who will truly enjoy them and probably would never have found out about them if it wasn't for my videos. So including games that don't have me 100% convinced might not be such a bad idea, although I'd prefer to get my picks straight.

Both hidden gems and most unknown videos will happen for this console, the question is which one will be next tuesday?

Join my Patreon community to participate in the poll, which will be available until Sunday 24.
CLICK HERE TO JOIN: https://www.patreon.com/ericklandon

Tuesday 30 October 2018

HALLOWEEN SPECIAL




HAPPY HALLOWEEN, EVERYBODY!!!

Here's a special video I made for you all to celebrate the occasion. Don't forget there's yet ANOTHER one coming up for next friday!!

Also, my books have a discount and will keep it for the entire week, especially The Reaper's Thorn! Check out the Amazon link for it, right HERE: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HBZYN3F

SEE YOU NEXT TIME.

Saturday 29 September 2018

1ST ANNIVERSARY PLAYLIST!!!

Hey, guys. Today it's my first anniversary in YouTube as Erick Landon RPG. My channel has been around since 2007 but it has had other names, there's a video I made called "the history of this channel" if you want to watch it for the entire background. But on September 29, 2017, I uploaded my first video in English. So today it technically is my 1st anniversay since I started taking this channel seriously in a more, let's say, "professional" way. Here is a playlist that I created to celebrate it, which includes 10 fine selections, some of them being my favourite videos and some being just plain funny. Enjoy!


CLICK HERE: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyqqf05_GMTabRw0dnusLmJWdfUjqMwqG

Sunday 16 September 2018

THE REAPER'S THORN IS OUT!!!



You can now purchase The Reaper's Thorn on Amazon!!!  
LINKS:
Printed edition/physical copy:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1720248567
Digital edition/e-book:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HBZYN3F
Become my patron NOW get other books for FREE:
https://www.patreon.com/ericklandon


Tuesday 11 September 2018

THE REAPER'S THORN -RELEASE DATE-



Hey, all. The cover of my new book is almost ready. All editing process has been done, so the book is just around the corner. On September 16, it will be published. Available on Amazon!

You'll be able to purchase it on a physical or digital format on amazon.com. A printed version in Mexico will be available on Mercado Libre until October.

Here is a video with a more detailed explanation:


DON'T FORGET: SEPTEMBER 16, SUNDAY!!

THANK YOU!!

Monday 27 August 2018

FOUND AN ARTIST!!!


Of course I had to come here and write about this excellent news! I had lost contact with the artist who drew for me one of my covers almost three years ago. I decided to search for him and offer the possibility of working together again for The Reaper's Thorn. It was a good decision. He agreed and now we're working on its cover!!

This is the cover he first drew for me (all rights reserved):



Oh yeah, he's THAT talented, so imagine what The Reaper's Thorn cover will look like. I love his style and his work so I'm glad he and I are working together again. So it won't be long before my new book is published, ready for you to read it! This was just a quick news and I obviously wanted to share them with you.

Thanks!

Wednesday 15 August 2018

THE REAPER'S THORN UPDATE


It's been a while since I last posted anything here, but the truth is that I've been busy with the channel, and also STILL looking for an artist for the cover.
Sad news is, I haven't found one. All the people that I've seen in Deviantart, or personally contacted me on Facebook or YouTube, have all amazing artwork. Problems are... the ones with decent prices, are very, very talented but their style is not what I'm looking for. And the ones I'm looking for are very, very expensive (or perhaps I should say "way out of my economical possibilities" instead).

The book is ready. It has been ready for a while now, but all that's keeping me from publishing it... is the cover. I could find a very cool free wallpaper and an awesome font that might look victorian/gothic, I know I can do this (did it with another book a long time ago), but would it really help me sell the book? If I was a little famous, internationally, sure; my sole name would sell. But I am not. I may be slightly famous in my city, in Mexico, but outside my country? Not one bit. I think the guy who lives next to you is more famous than me. But fame is not the issue; covers sell, they help a lot to catch people's attention. And I know you guys have my back; I know a lot of you will actually buy it regardless of the cover, since you want to support me, because you already read one or two of my books or simply because you want to help me. I GREATLY appreciate this, I seriously do and you know that. Thank you very much for that. But what about the rest of the world? They don't know me or my channel, so how am I going to make the book visually appealling to them if it doesn't have a great cover?

Now, I have no problems with humble covers either. Like I said, I did it once with a free wallpaper and a free font, which is this:



And it was successful; it caught A LOT of people's attention because it really looks cool. But how much does it tell you? Would you know what kind of book it is just by looking at that?
I've got a few ideas, of course, about fonts and wallpapers, but I'd really like to see a cool anime cover with gothic/victorian style all over it. I know it's gonna cost me a lot of money, but I just hope it doesn't surpass my possibilities. Am I asking for too much? I know I am. However, I'm running out of time. The book has been more than ready, pretty much since this year started. I recently changed some stuff and edited it a little bit, but that was over a month ago (before I made the video on my YouTube channel). I would love to have the book ready as soon as possible. If I had a cover ready I would publish it right now, but I know that's not possible if I really want a great cover for it.

Will having the book ready for Halloween be ideal, considering it's a horror/dark fantasy novel? I guess, but artists usually take 2-3 weeks, or an entire month, to create my covers... so yep... I'm running out of time.

Again, if you're an artist, with dark/gothic style, even if it's not anime/manga oriented, CONTACT me. It's pretty much urgent. I want to have this sorted out by the end of this month (august). Or if you know someone, please do so as well. I will keep you updated.

Thank you for reading me.
See you next time!

Sunday 22 July 2018

THE REAPER'S THORN CAMPAIGN

Hello, everyone.

I'd like to cordially invite you to watch this video. As of today, I start my new campaign to promote the new book that I am about to publish, called The Reaper's Thorn. It's the one I wrote while I was living in the UK, including my visits to various cities of Europe. There is no publish date yet since I still need to find an artist to draw the cover of my book. If you're one, or if you know someone, with anime/gothic style, please don't hesitate to contact me with your work so I can see your style and prices.


Thanks for reading me.
Thanks for watching.
Take care.

Wednesday 27 June 2018

HOW TO SUPPORT MY CHANNEL...FOR FREE!!!


Hi, everybody.
The Internet today is such a harsh place to work, especially if you're a creator. YouTube is no exception, considering that earning money and/or making a living out of it is quite hard, believe it or not. You earn cash in that website thanks to Google Ads and it works just like in television; you watch everything for free but sometimes you're forced to watch advertisement, right? In YouTube, without Adblock or YouTube Red, it's the same situation. So even if you see somebody with thousands of views and thousands of subscribers, it might surprise you to know that most of the time they're barely earning anything. Some of these YouTubers have Patreon pages (like me), some others have PayPal donations accounts, etc... There's tons of ways to support a creator, artist or not, and if you don't want to help anybody financially speaking, there are also different things you can help with...without paying a single dime. So since my channel is mainly Top 10s, here is one with 10 ways you can help my channel grow for free.


10.- SUBSCRIBE.
One of the things that I always mention at the end of my videos is "don't forget to subscribe". Many people have lost interest in doing this extremely simple thing because they don't feel it's necessary. Sure, when you see YouTubers with hundreds of thousands (or millions) of subscribers, of course it's kind of pointless. But trust me, it's the other way around for small channels such as mine. Subscribing to it, just by clicking that red button below the video, doesn't cost you a single penny and it does help me a lot.

9.- CLICK ON THE VIDEOS.
I know how lazy and uncaring people are nowadays with the Internet, especially since they've practically seen it all and it's quite hard to find something original in modern times, so I understand if sometimes you don't want to watch them. But hey, you don't have to; just clicking on them and letting them run for a few seconds, counts as 1 view for me and that helps me obviously gain more views, therefore, my YouTube algorythms grow.

8.- WATCH MY VIDEOS.
However, if you REALLY want to help, then watching my videos all the way through the end helps me way more than the previous two ways mentioned before. Some people like to rush through the videos, especially with top 10s (they don't watch the video, they just skip it to see which game is in which place) and even though even by doing that you help me, it's a hundred times better for me if you watch the entire video from the beginning to the end.

7.- POST A COMMENT.
Anything helps, ANYTHING. A small "thank you", "nice video", or even a damn "Hello", helps. If YouTube notices that people are commenting often in a video, it quickly takes it as if the video is getting popular and gaining enough attention. This makes YouTube start promoting the video on the recommendations bar on the right side of the screen, especially for people who are not subscribed to my channel. So yeah, sounds baffling, but leaving a single comment on my videos also helps me.

6.- "SHARE THIS VIDEO WITH YOUR FRIENDS".
That's yet another thing that I always say at the end of my videos. It's pretty self explanatory, I believe; sending the link to your buddies in whatever social media you use, helps me gain more views and probably new subscribers.

5.- POST MY VIDEOS.
Do you have a website? Twitter, Facebook group/page, blog, etc...? Posting my videos helps me quite a lot, as a matter of fact. New people will watch them and I'll probably earn a few more views and subscribers. Also, and this might surprise you, doing this increases my algorythms; YouTube notices people are sharing the video on an external website, and therefore acknowledges it as a video that's gaining more attention. More attention = more potential costumers for the ads the companies show on the videos.

4.- DISABLE ADBLOCK PLUS.
This one's hard to do. I disabled it a long time ago for the same purposes but I used to have it on precisely because I didn't want those annoying ads showing up at the beginning of the video, or interrupting them halfway through. So this is hard to ask, but if you disable that thing, you won't believe how much you'll be helping me. You can close the ads or stop them or whatever, most of the time, so kindly disable adblock plus or whatever program you're using to stop blocking the ads. After all, it's the only way I have to earn a few dollars from my channel.

3.- WATCH THE ADS.
Like I said, you can close the ads or stop them while watching my videos. Nevertheless, in case you didn't know, if you let those ads run, if you watch them and don't close them, that helps me double time. Everytime somebody watches the ad, YouTube notices it and yes...it PAYS me for that. So if you don't mind, and if you want to help me, don't close these ads because, like I said, they're the only way most YouTubers have of earning money.

2.- CLICK ON THE ADS.
Wow, we're getting too far here, but yes; if you click on the ad or visit the ad's website, YouTube pays me. Almost nobody does this, I know. Most people have adblock plus and it's over. Others just close the ads or stop the videos. And it does sound a little crazy, but trust me, it's the truth; clicking on the ads and letting their websites load, just to take a look, GREATLY increases my YouTube algorythms and therefore, they pay me more. You don't have to buy anything or consume or whatever, just clicking on them helps quite a big deal.

1.- MENTION MY CHANNEL IN YOURS.
If you have a YouTube channel, small or big, it might be a really good idea if you mention my channel in one of your videos. This would help me gain even more people who might want to help me by doing one, various or all the other things I mentioned in this top. In fact, it could be mutual; if you mention me in your channel, I could do the same if it's reciprocal. So if you want to do this with me, send me a PM on YouTube or Facebook and we can discuss it. Trust me, this is one thing that helps a lot and that's why it's number 1 on this top.

So that's it. There are other ways to help my channel grow without paying but those 10 are what I considered the most important. But of course, if you're willing to help me financially, you can always become my Patreon or buy my books on Amazon, Mercado Libre or Payhip. Your feedback is always greatly appreciated.
If you want to help me without paying anything, then there you have it. 10 ways to help my channel grow and support me as an artist and as a creator.

Thank you for reading.
See you next time!

Monday 25 June 2018

THE HISTORY OF MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL



About a week ago, I reached 3000 subscribers on my YouTube channel. That made so happy. I didn't forget my promise, though; the one I made when I reached 2000 in which I said, in another video, that once I reached 3000, I would tell the story of my YouTube channel. Instead of being a single story, it became much more than that; a history to explain 11 years of failing over and over again until I finally saw some success. Here it is then, my little documentary video about the history of Erick Landon RPG.



Monday 4 June 2018

SHORT FILMS


It's time to talk about what I used to do BEFORE I started making JRPG videos on my channel. You see, I've always had a passion for movies, especially dark, bizarre or deeply emotional ones. So my goal as an artist was not only to express myself but also to create something influenced by the many filmmakers that I grew up watching. My biggest influence of all time has been, and probably will always be, David Lynch. His films always make me feel estranged, confused and deranged in some weird ways and that's a feeling that almost nobody else has made me feel. My favourite movie by him is Mulholland Drive.
Abstract art in films have always been as well a major influence in my work, so using some elements of conceptualism and surrealism, I often manage to create such emotional havoc within them that it's really hard to swallow. To express such strong feelings is my goal, as usual, not only in my books but also on video.
Speaking of books, I made some of these shortfilms before I even attempted to publish any book I've ever written. Music, literature, videogames and movies...those are my four elements when it comes to the artist within me. Today then, I'd like to show you the four short films I made when I was younger.


SAMUEL'S WALTZ
This one is in Spanish but it has English subtitles made by me, so you'll be fine reading them to understand what I'm saying. It's a very suspenseful and bizarre drama about a young man who moves into a new apartment, only to find a dead body inside of it.


PLASTIC HEART
Unfortunately, this one does NOT have English subtitles and it's also in Spanish. Sorry. I promise I will translate it one day so you can actually appreciate it. If you still want to watch it, feel free to do so. It's an extremely depressive drama about a schizophrenic man who lives in a deranged society. It was my attempt to show how mexican society can drive a person insane...
Note: all music is by Nine Inch Nails.



THE PHANTOMS OF GOD
This film has no dialogue so it can be watched and understood by pretty much anybody in this world. It's a very abstract short story that might make no sense to you, but if you pay attention and take a closer look...


NOWHERE
This was just a little experiment I made; it's not exactly a short film, but just another abstract video with music from Hans Zimmer's soundtrack The Thin Red Line, my favourite movie of all time. No dialogue either, just film.



That was the last one I made. I gave up making short films not because they weren't being successful (they were, in one website dedicated to shortfilms, the first three reached around 1000 views in less than a year), but because I always felt my imagination very limited when making them. In books, I am free and can create whatever I want and transmit it in any way I want to. In films, I can't do that without money. Finding the right image, the right scenery, the right actors, the right everything costs money and in books...all is done with imagination. Sounds silly, but that is the truth.

I hope you enjoy my short films. Perhaps one day I can make another one and share it with you all. Don't forget to share your thoughts on the comments section in YouTube.

Thank you.

Friday 25 May 2018

MY OWN ANNIVERSARY


Exactly one year ago I returned to Mexico from my memorable trip to the UK. I haven't talked much about it in my videos, but I have indeed gone into detail through this blog a few times in the past. However, I don't think I have properly talked about it. To my readers and subscribers, I want to share this little story with you since I don't think I can explain it the same way as I would do in a video.

Around September, 2013, I was still a reseller and had my own small shop in a kiosk. I had three shortfilms published (you can watch them in my channel and probably my next post will be about that) and one book published. No success in either of them. Praise was there, so very present like a singing voice in my head, but alas, the idiocy and immaturity of youth made me realize that success was aeons apart from my life. People had liked my work and they were recommending it. Nevertheless, such recommendations never got far at all.

Robert Smith said: "the further I get from the things that I care about, the less I care about how much further away I get." I listened to those words while in England and they rang through my ears until they bled with truth. I learned that I was a minuscule dot with very little success, but that little success was beyond what millions of people could ever imagine.

Ah, but like I said, I was young and unwise. I wanted to escape, I wanted to pursue success like all those characters from all those books and movies once did. I hated my country because I was convinced it was full of ignorant people. Non-readers. Nobody would ever appreciate my art as I deserved. Arrogance, yes, I was so full of it. And since I've always known that evil is born from ignorance, I concluded that I was going to literally die if I kept living here. So back then, 2013, I decided to sell out all my merchandise, return to living with my parents for a few months while I planned my trip to Canada.

I even wrote a book as a CV, you know? Terra Gaiden. Yes, the book I've been promoting in some of my posts and videos? That's the one. However, to get to Canada, back then the embassy required a visa for us, even as a tourist. My plan was to pretend that I was going to study English for three months while in reality I was going to look for a job and take my new book to publishers.

I don't want to get into that because this post would then be very, very long. For those who don't know it yet, my visa was denied and, therefore, my plans, my dreams, my hopes went straight to hell. Nonetheless, I never felt bad back then; I had come to a realization during the waiting process (waiting for my visa) in which I convinced myself that I first had to give my country a chance. I needed to publish more books and promote them, sell them, to give readers the opportunity to know my work because I knew there were people who would like it. Who would understand it and appreciate it here.

Visa denied, trip destroyed, I found my way through anime conventions and stayed here in my country. In Mexico. Regained my shop at the same kiosk in the same mall. I did a breakthrough; a great return to business. People began buying my books at conventions and soon, I realized that my visa had been denied by destiny for a very good reason.

Success evenually came to me as years went by, but I never felt satisfied. I wanted more. I wanted more readers, more money, more success. I got ambitious and over that intrincate ambition, I realized that, despite what little success I was having as a writer, it still wasn't enough to aim for a true goal. A goal in which I saw myself making a living out of my writing.

YouTube returned to my life after I had completely abandoned it. After I had stopped promoting my shortfilms. I was very knowledgeable in JRPGs so I thought I would start making video-reviews, funny reviews actually, in a poor attempt to imitate the Angry Video Game Nerd. My reviews were going to be in Spanish. So I made a few and they made my friends laugh, I continued on and took on good JRPGs instead of bad ones. So I became an original YouTuber. But that's another story for another time; one that will, too, consume lots of time and words. The truth is, I failed again... My most popular review barely reached 1000 views while most of the rest didn't even reach 100.

"Fuck my life", I thought. "Fuck this country." I needed to get out. I had been wrong all along; I wanted to be a Mexican author in my own country, supported by my own people. And even though lots of them supported me, it was never enough to find true success and achieve my goal. So that little stitch started scratching again. That little hidden desire called freedom, obscured by hatred, masking sadness. I realized I needed to go away, this time to a country where I believed I would have a reasonable chance: England.

My sister was making her PHD there so that was my way-in card; I needed no visa, anything except my passport and my excuse for visiting my sister. So, once again, I sold out all my merchandise, sold all my furniture, got rid of my beautiful dog and partner, Raika, giving her away to my uncle who had a big business near the highway. He had another german shephard, a male one, so I knew she was going to be happy without me. It broke my heart to leave her, to part ways, but also to sell half my JRPG collection, my furniture and everything that I had worked so damn hard to achieve. And I knew it. Yes; I knew what I had. I knew I had something big, worthy of fighting for, worthy of protecting. But my twisted anger, my hatred towards my own country and its ignorant, evil people, finally got the best of me.

I arrived at London, UK on January 9th, 2017. Over three years after my failed attempt to reach Canada. I then took a train to Nottingham, where my sister lived, and had one of the most frustrating, tiresome, anxious and horrible times of my life that I now see as a dorky adventure to tell other people. I couldn't live with my sister since she lived in a small, rented room, so I had to find my own room. I went from hotel to hotel, from place to place during two whole weeks, all this while doing some tiresome and cold tourism. Finally, an acquantaince of an acquaintance of my sister (true story), offered me a room inside one of those buildings with tons of rooms they rent to students. "Fuck me", I thought. "I'm gonna live with a bunch of fucking millennials." But I had no other choice; no one would rent a room to me, for a decent price, without a job... I was only "a tourist" looking for an opportunity in literature. So I moved in to that atrocious place that I will never, ever forget.

I had a good time as much as a bad time in that building, don't take me wrong. Lots of positive things happened to me while I was there; cool experiences. I met some cool people. But all of them were millennials in the end. To date, I don't feel like I met the right people or made the right contacts. I did meet some other people outside the building, at bars and all sorts of places, but no one who could really connect me to the literature business. There was an old independent writer I was introduced to by a new friend I met at a pub, but he had it worse then I did. And THAT is what made me opened my eyes. It was a shocking revelation, for sure, but from that point onward, I realized that writers in England were in the exact same situation as me. By talking to new people, researching on the Internet and over-thinking things, I understood that I hadn't planned a true strategy for my trip. It all had been for nothing.

It was at my time there, a few months later after going through several failures which included me not being able to do any business (reselling videogames in Nottingham is useless), my bank card was banned, so eBay or Amazon were out of the question, my literature career was more stuck than ever, just like the one from all those independent writers in England, that I realized that I was lost. Finally, I resigned to search for a job...but it was to no avail; nobody needed help, and nobody wanted to hire a tourist. Or "couldn't". I tried my best and wasted all my savings by trying to come up with a better strategy, but I was only prolonging the inevitable; I was going to run out of money in no time and I was going to have to return to Mexico. To the place where all my dreams seemed so non-existent. So far away.

I ran out of money. I was a 31 year old man who had lived many successes and failures through his life, so accepting my harsh reality was no big deal. Of course, deppression came afterwards. I returned to my country with a big smile on my face, happy to see friends and family, to live with my parents once again, but broken on the inside.

Broken. Yes. A few days later upon my return, my dad called me to say that my uncle had called him...saying that Raika, my dog, had been killed in an accident. Now I was shattered. Shattered to pieces, with no future, with no career, with nothing at all. I tried coming back to the reselling business but nothing worked. I saved what little money I had left to buy merchandise and re-open another kiosk at the same mall I had worked in for so long. I did it and I was happy for a while, but time went on and a few months later I was broke. My shop had failed. Anime conventions were now just a few per year, since two big organizations had screwed up and were now sinking ships. Years before, there used to be 6 to 8 anime conventions per year. Now, there's only 2 in my city. I worked hard with a YouTube channel with one of my best friends, in Spanish of course, but that didn't work either. In the end, I was left with one single option and if that didn't work... I thought I was going to literally give up.

It sounds stupid to say this but YouTube saved me. I revived my old Erick Landon channel and this time I decided to do top 10s, in English, about JRPGs. It was a slow process but success was there; people began watching my videos, commenting on them, giving me feedback, supporting my channel. I started earning very little revenue out of it, but hey, it was something. I felt relieved. I felt that I did have another chance and that I had finally found my way after all that shitstorm I had gone through. I was, maybe, or temporarily, saved.

Today, I have 2,600 subscribers, some of my videos have over 20k views and some older top 10s from many years ago have between 300k and 750k views. I still have a long way to go before I can make truly a decent income, but for now I'm earning enough to help pay my bills and support my parents, paying my stay. I'm still a videogame reseller and I'm on the Internet for now, but two good proposals have been made to me for working again on a shop. I'm doing good.

As for my writing, I can't say the same thing, unfortunately, but I know that if I keep trying my best, eventually readers and subscribers will start trying my books and buy them. Hopefully, by the end of the year, I will be back to that strong, stable life I had before my hatred got the best of me, almost two years ago. I want my life back, not because I failed both in England and Mexico, not because I realized that I had lost something very important and hard to maintain, but because I need to start chasing my dreams again. I need a better strategy, a mature one this time, so I can one day pursue my career once again, this time without fear, without immaturity and without hatred.

I have to keep trying my best in order to achieve my dreams. That's what maybe the whole trip to England was about; not to find success, but to find reality. A reality that I had been running away since many years ago. You cannot, and let me stress it out, CANNOT pursue your dreams in a fantasy. You have to take the hard way, the long, hard road through hell, through reality, to achieve them. Sometimes, people are going to help you, but in the end it'll just be you and your victory over life.

I apologize if this story took too long, almost to write a whole damn book with it, but seriously, I just wanted you to read it to see for yourself what kind of dreams and hopes do you have, and how are you going to achieve them. Life is hard, so brutally hard, and even if everybody knows that, not everybody lives it. I have lived it and I have enjoyed it and suffered it. And boy, I still have a long way to go.

Thank you for accompanying me on this journey. Thank you for reading me. Thank you for supporting me. I will keep trying my best, doing videos, writing books and growing up as a human being. After all, that's what life is all about anyway.

See you next time.