Still here! Life Update and a meme... (Mass Effect)
Hey guys, so this post serves a twofold purpose. Firstly to just apologise for my general uselessness at being around online lately. I started a new job at the start of the month, and it's a job that requires me to communicate in my second language, which I haven't used regularly in about a decade, so that's been adding an extra level of mental tiredness I think, as I get used to functioning bilingually again. I mean, it's good because the quality of my Welsh was straight-up depressing and it's something I want to fix, but it's also tiring and tied up with a lot of feelings of inadequacy and...stuff.
We're also less than a month out from Vidukon, and it's actually taking up more of my time and attention than I'd've thought, though you know, at least it's going towards (HOPEFULLY) an awesome convention at the end of it.
Plus K finally returned to work a few months ago, and for various reasons THIS month has been really heavy on the work front for him with a lot of extra hours he's been trying to handle rather than asking for a reduction. He's been brilliant, really, handling it really well, but it has been hard for him at times and he's needed some more time and attention and stuff, just...one more source of stress and business and stuff.
I think that's part of it is just that I'm tired a lot. So many changes, new things, slightly scary things, things that require mental attention - when I do have free time I find myself just zoning out and switching off and not having the mental focus to engage in detailed conversation or write updates for here or what-have-you. Suddenly weeks have gone past. o.O I'm sure it'll all even out eventually.
For now, I apologise for my erratic presence - but know I love you all! I'm hopelessly out of date with my flist, so if I've missed anything important, please DO let me know!
Meanwhile - in an attempt to generate some content and have some lighthearted fun, for the interested - I'm going to do that Mass Effect 30 Day Meme! Cus that should be manageable, right?
So yeah, I'm gonna try and actually do it! A post a day for 30 days! And sorry to anyone who doesn't care about Mass Effect (i.e. most of you!), but who knows, it may also inspire me to actually post other stuff about what's going on with my life, or like, be in touch with you all and things. *crosses fingers*
HERE WE GO.
1. Favourite Game of the Series
2. Male or Female Shepard? Why?
3. Favourite Class
4. Paragon or Renegade?
5. Favourite Character
6. Favourite Male Companion
7. Favourite Female Companion
8. Least Favourite Companion
9. Favourite Romance
10. Least Favourite Romance
11. Favourite Alien Species
12. Favourite NPC
13. Favourite Story-line Mission
14. Favourite Loyalty Mission
15. Favourite Side-Mission
16. Favourite DLC
17. Worst Mission/Loyalty Quest/Side-Mission
18. Best Protaganist (NPC)
19. Best Antagonist
20. Best Part of the Game
21. Worst Part of the Game
22. Hardest Part of the Game
23. Saddest Moment in the Game
24. Opinion on the Genophage?
25. Opinion on the Quarian/Geth Conflict?
26. Place You Would Most Like To Visit
27. Favourite OST Track
28. Destroy, Control or Synthesis?
29. What Would You Like To See Next? (DLC, More Books, Spin Off, Nothing Else)
30. Overall Opinion on the Mass Effect Trilogy
Day One: Favourite Game of the Series.
Mass Effect 3. I really think it's the narrative payoff, and I also think that they managed to hide a lot of the Bioware formulaic structure. Mass Effect 1 basically followed the standard Bioware Formula - an introduction for the character, a bunch of quests around a set location, before you have Four Places you can go in any order to create a sense of non-linearity, each giving you a clue before you head into the endgame. The second game shifted away from that, but effectively it did the same thing, by giving you a round of recruiting team mates, then a loyalty mission for each, then again, you head into the endgame.
The third game does shift away from the illusion of nonlinearity by insisting you go to Mars, and then you deal with the Genophage and then the Geth/Quarian situation and then the Thessia situation, etc., but honestly, all the games herded you in that way to an extent. There are always act breaks. But ME3 doesn't have so much...false nonlinearity, I think less because it has fewer missions you can choose to do in order (it does, and in fact, it matters more; leave it too long, the bomb blows on Tuchanka or Jack dies), but it's sort of...owns its act breaks more cleanly and focuses more on why they happen when they happen.
Horizon, or the Collector Vessel, feel much more like an arbitrary announcement of "And Now It's Time For The Next Big Plot Thing." And while I knew that objectively in ME3, it felt more organic. I didn't feel I was pissing about doing sidequests to try and trigger then next plot-related mission.
I still miss the individual cooldowns for different powers from ME1, but to be honest with you, the gameplay - unless it's cripplingly awful - isn't the reason I'm in these games, so the mechanical aspects are an area I would be willing to cede expertise on. But in general I felt ME3 had the gameplay I was most comfortable with. While I will always miss the Mako (YES REALLY), and I feel like universal cooldowns meant I never used half my powers, I thought ME2 simplified the level-up system too much and I hated that I had no way of looking at my weapons' attributes mechanically because like...that paragraph of text...WHAT DOES THAT MEAN DOES IT DO MORE DAMAGE?
Finally, if we are talking about the actual narrative, well, this is the payoff, right? This is what it's all been building to. And since I think they actually pulled it off, you know, it makes sense that it'd be my favourite.
Bonus: if I were ranking the other two, I'd put ME1 in second place and ME2 as my least favourite. I know ME2 is generally considered the best game, but cynically I think that's because it's the most commercial - the most hollywood? Which sounds more judgemental than I want it to, but it's all about wandering around being a giant badass with the quasi-badguys and it has a suicide mission that's pretty easy to get through with everyone alive, instead of Virmire? I mean, I also think it benefits from being so much more playable than ME1 and - understandably - to gaming fandom that sort of matters. Whereas I'm more inclined to look at ME1 and be sort of charmed by its 80s SciFi Action charm and look to its more interesting overall storyline and what it tried to do.
It's weird because ME2, when you look at the whole series, is really like a giant sidequest? Like mostly all you do is find some information. The most narratively significant event is probably The Arrival which is DLC, and just the general establishment of The Illusive Man's character.
It's also weird because ME2 definitely steps it up a lot in terms of space for real character development and the evolving background themes of the universe. I mean, LEGION, man. And it's where the Quarian/Geth conflict really gets complexified, and the EDI storyline... And all the information you find out about the Reapers is legitimately fascinating? But at the same time, the extra gloss and space that they used to do this, they also...shined it up to look a lot more acceptable to the stereotype of the armchair soldier gamer with more Splosions and Chest-Thumping and Badass One Liners and ~Going Rogue~.
So I guess it's just...a mixed bag. And I got a lot of affection for the awkward, ambitious, film-grainy gawkiness of the first game.
We're also less than a month out from Vidukon, and it's actually taking up more of my time and attention than I'd've thought, though you know, at least it's going towards (HOPEFULLY) an awesome convention at the end of it.
Plus K finally returned to work a few months ago, and for various reasons THIS month has been really heavy on the work front for him with a lot of extra hours he's been trying to handle rather than asking for a reduction. He's been brilliant, really, handling it really well, but it has been hard for him at times and he's needed some more time and attention and stuff, just...one more source of stress and business and stuff.
I think that's part of it is just that I'm tired a lot. So many changes, new things, slightly scary things, things that require mental attention - when I do have free time I find myself just zoning out and switching off and not having the mental focus to engage in detailed conversation or write updates for here or what-have-you. Suddenly weeks have gone past. o.O I'm sure it'll all even out eventually.
For now, I apologise for my erratic presence - but know I love you all! I'm hopelessly out of date with my flist, so if I've missed anything important, please DO let me know!
Meanwhile - in an attempt to generate some content and have some lighthearted fun, for the interested - I'm going to do that Mass Effect 30 Day Meme! Cus that should be manageable, right?
So yeah, I'm gonna try and actually do it! A post a day for 30 days! And sorry to anyone who doesn't care about Mass Effect (i.e. most of you!), but who knows, it may also inspire me to actually post other stuff about what's going on with my life, or like, be in touch with you all and things. *crosses fingers*
HERE WE GO.
1. Favourite Game of the Series
2. Male or Female Shepard? Why?
3. Favourite Class
4. Paragon or Renegade?
5. Favourite Character
6. Favourite Male Companion
7. Favourite Female Companion
8. Least Favourite Companion
9. Favourite Romance
10. Least Favourite Romance
11. Favourite Alien Species
12. Favourite NPC
13. Favourite Story-line Mission
14. Favourite Loyalty Mission
15. Favourite Side-Mission
16. Favourite DLC
17. Worst Mission/Loyalty Quest/Side-Mission
18. Best Protaganist (NPC)
19. Best Antagonist
20. Best Part of the Game
21. Worst Part of the Game
22. Hardest Part of the Game
23. Saddest Moment in the Game
24. Opinion on the Genophage?
25. Opinion on the Quarian/Geth Conflict?
26. Place You Would Most Like To Visit
27. Favourite OST Track
28. Destroy, Control or Synthesis?
29. What Would You Like To See Next? (DLC, More Books, Spin Off, Nothing Else)
30. Overall Opinion on the Mass Effect Trilogy
Day One: Favourite Game of the Series.
Mass Effect 3. I really think it's the narrative payoff, and I also think that they managed to hide a lot of the Bioware formulaic structure. Mass Effect 1 basically followed the standard Bioware Formula - an introduction for the character, a bunch of quests around a set location, before you have Four Places you can go in any order to create a sense of non-linearity, each giving you a clue before you head into the endgame. The second game shifted away from that, but effectively it did the same thing, by giving you a round of recruiting team mates, then a loyalty mission for each, then again, you head into the endgame.
The third game does shift away from the illusion of nonlinearity by insisting you go to Mars, and then you deal with the Genophage and then the Geth/Quarian situation and then the Thessia situation, etc., but honestly, all the games herded you in that way to an extent. There are always act breaks. But ME3 doesn't have so much...false nonlinearity, I think less because it has fewer missions you can choose to do in order (it does, and in fact, it matters more; leave it too long, the bomb blows on Tuchanka or Jack dies), but it's sort of...owns its act breaks more cleanly and focuses more on why they happen when they happen.
Horizon, or the Collector Vessel, feel much more like an arbitrary announcement of "And Now It's Time For The Next Big Plot Thing." And while I knew that objectively in ME3, it felt more organic. I didn't feel I was pissing about doing sidequests to try and trigger then next plot-related mission.
I still miss the individual cooldowns for different powers from ME1, but to be honest with you, the gameplay - unless it's cripplingly awful - isn't the reason I'm in these games, so the mechanical aspects are an area I would be willing to cede expertise on. But in general I felt ME3 had the gameplay I was most comfortable with. While I will always miss the Mako (YES REALLY), and I feel like universal cooldowns meant I never used half my powers, I thought ME2 simplified the level-up system too much and I hated that I had no way of looking at my weapons' attributes mechanically because like...that paragraph of text...WHAT DOES THAT MEAN DOES IT DO MORE DAMAGE?
Finally, if we are talking about the actual narrative, well, this is the payoff, right? This is what it's all been building to. And since I think they actually pulled it off, you know, it makes sense that it'd be my favourite.
Bonus: if I were ranking the other two, I'd put ME1 in second place and ME2 as my least favourite. I know ME2 is generally considered the best game, but cynically I think that's because it's the most commercial - the most hollywood? Which sounds more judgemental than I want it to, but it's all about wandering around being a giant badass with the quasi-badguys and it has a suicide mission that's pretty easy to get through with everyone alive, instead of Virmire? I mean, I also think it benefits from being so much more playable than ME1 and - understandably - to gaming fandom that sort of matters. Whereas I'm more inclined to look at ME1 and be sort of charmed by its 80s SciFi Action charm and look to its more interesting overall storyline and what it tried to do.
It's weird because ME2, when you look at the whole series, is really like a giant sidequest? Like mostly all you do is find some information. The most narratively significant event is probably The Arrival which is DLC, and just the general establishment of The Illusive Man's character.
It's also weird because ME2 definitely steps it up a lot in terms of space for real character development and the evolving background themes of the universe. I mean, LEGION, man. And it's where the Quarian/Geth conflict really gets complexified, and the EDI storyline... And all the information you find out about the Reapers is legitimately fascinating? But at the same time, the extra gloss and space that they used to do this, they also...shined it up to look a lot more acceptable to the stereotype of the armchair soldier gamer with more Splosions and Chest-Thumping and Badass One Liners and ~Going Rogue~.
So I guess it's just...a mixed bag. And I got a lot of affection for the awkward, ambitious, film-grainy gawkiness of the first game.