Mass Effect 2--mixed feelings.

So, I've been trying to actually PLAY some of the games I own and what do you know...if you actually stick to a game, you'll eventually finish it! I had no idea.

I think that writing out my unfinished game lists really made me realize that, damn I buy way too many games and they are really good games and I have no life whatsoever, no job, I dont do housework...so why the hell do I never finish games?

What did I finish?
Mass Effect 2 and the DLC for Dungeon Siege 3.

So lets go with ME2 first...

I've talked about my initial dislike of ME2 before. Its not that it doesnt have a great story, or great characters its that they took an RPG and made it a third person shooter with some RPG elements tacked on. Yeah, I said it, I do not worship at the altar of ME2. I do worship at the Altar of Shepard and Garrus (insane crush on the freaky alien dude!).

I recognize that Mass Effect was a little... clunky and awkward in parts, but, I didnt mind a lot of the things people complained about.
For example, elevators. So many complaints about the long elevator rides masking loading time. I actually rather enjoyed the News Updates while you rode the elevator, they were informative and sometimes amusing, I kind of miss that. I don't know, I have nowhere to be so I dont mind load times, not to mention that being an RPG player I'm used to the dramatic pause and switch to battle screens and the post victory, dance, pose thing. Loading times, they are just part of the package.

Second, while the inventory could be a little cumbersome, I LIKED choosing my weapons and what power ups I would add to each. I liked shopping for new gear and I liked turning the crappy stuff into Omni-Gel. The whole streamed down, no more shopping, finding upgrades scattered around the world thing just didnt do it for me. Also.. WHY THE HELL DO I NO LONGER HAVE GRENADES!!!!!!!!!! I want my damn grenades back! I like throwing a grenade out and watching a whole lot of dudes ragdoll.

Also, I don't appreciate losing half my characters' powers. I playas a Vanguard. Its the space equivalent of Battle Mage and I like being a battle mage, I really liked being a space battle-mage, but now, 2 of my powers are gone and instead I have special ammo...wth?

I hate the "streamlined" upgrade screen, I have less choices, less powers and less control over character development. I don't consider this progress. (I feel the same way about the fact that I can't change anyone's outfit in Dragon Age 2...I liked laughing my ass off at the hideous mismatched armour I'd put on my characters and the ridiculous hats, but that's a rant for another day, like when i finish Dragon Age 2)


One thing I never thought I'd say after playing Mass Effect is... I miss the Mako. The Hammerhead controls like retarded ass. Yes, I know the Mako wasn't exactly the pinnacle of precision, but once I got the hang of it, it was kinda fun I especially liked climbing mountains with it, trying hard to flip it over and having it always land on its wheels, like a cat...also, I could run over stuff. Using the Hammerhead made me rethink how "cool" hovercraft would be.

Now, that I've bitched about the game, let me say that I did really like it, a lot. I mean it was REALLY good. Not he shooting bits that much, or the planet scanning bits, or the boring ass-Citadel parts but...wow..yeah.. man, I sound so negative don't I?
I assure you though, I loved the game. Or more accurately, I loved the story. The gameplay put me off but the story kept me going. Sure its got its share of cliches but what doesnt these days, its like originality is becoming extinct.

Picking up all the different members of your team, getting to know them, doing their loyalty missions, it was fabulous.  I found myself wasting time running around the Normandy talking to everyone often, personal favorites were talking to Zaeed, Kasumi and Joker.

Zaaed's Mercenary stories were a trip. Interesting, sometimes hilarious, usually really fucked up..good stuff.
Kasumi, she was just..so damn cute. I love the way she talks, I would have pegged her for a silent bitchy type but she's so bubbly.
And Joker, well its Seth Green, I love me some Seth Green. Every time I took a different team out on a mission I would come back and ask him about it because he always had something hilarious to say.

Garrus is my game crush so of course, anytime I got to talk to him, do his mission, whatever was just great to me.
Jacob was a little dry but after getting to know him, he grew on me. His loyalty mission was also incredibly interesting.
I was really surprised by how much I liked Mordin. His mission had some really deep, interesting conversation that made you think, and his Salarian hyperness was amusing...also..Him singing...AWESOME



Grunt was...very Krogan and I think his Loyalty mission gave me the most trouble aside from Thane's.
Thane, he was fascinating. Seriously. History, Theology, The Drell in general, I ended up romancing him and Garrus (I'm such a two timer) and while Garrus's romance was very touching, Thane's was by far the most emotional and insightful of the two, not to mention tragic (I might be biased because he started calling my character Siha and that's close to my name, Sihaya...but even without that, he was just awesome.)

Finally Legion. I found him fascinating and was a little dissapointed that there wasn't more there. I mean, after spending the whole first game and most of the second one fighting the Geth, getting to talk to him and learn more about them and what exactly the situation is and the effects of the events of the first game, so much to learn, so much to ask...and he can hack turrets, always a win in my book.

Those were the characters I liked...the dislike column is almost as long.

First of all I must bitch about the fact that useless wench Yeoman Chambers let my damn fish die! TWICE!!! Man she's useless.
Following the useless chick who's sole purpose seemed to be a breathing equivalent of the AOL "You've got mail!" voice would be Samara.
I dont have anything against her particularly, she's an interesting character but, I was just put off by the utter black & whiteness of the Justicar creed. I dont deal in absolutes.

following my mild distaste for Samara is a three way of hatorade.
Jack, Tali and Miranda. I can't begin to express my hatred, my unbridled hatred for these 3 bitches.

Jack is an insane, vulgar, foul-mouthed sociopath that was frankly unnecessary and didnt belong anywhere near this game. I only took her on her loyalty mission because I had to, aside from that I avoided her like the plague. Now, i'm not saying I'm not slightly psychotic or curse like a sailor, But good lord there was truly NOTHING appealing about her character. From her shaved head, all over tattoos and half-nakedness to her snotty attitude and vitriol, I thoroughly hated her. I couldnt even stand looking at her in the character lineup. Best $2 I ever spent were on the Alternate Appearance DLC so she'd put some damn clothes on!

Miranda...oh lord how I despised her superior bitch attitude and her ugly ass mannish face...Also..Why the hell did her already inappropriate outfit become downright ho-ish after her loyalty mission? Seriously, she went from the skin-tight constant focus on her ass white catsuit to a black pleather one with cutouts on her hips and thighs..WTF? Cause that's useful and appropriate in a fire-fight. Again..Alternate Appearance pack is my friend, I loved fugly-ing her up even more (not that that ugly face needed much help) in the DLC jumpsuit with the hideous sunglasses. She's another character I only took out on her Loyalty mission because I had no choice.
I will give Jack one up on her because she kept calling her "cheerleader"  and wanted to kick her ass. Her whole "I was bio-engineered to be perfect, I am so fucking awesome, stand in awe of me and Cerberus is great and the Illusive man is GOD" shtick got on my nerves. I took great pleasure in going against all of her opinions in the end game.
Then there's Tali..I begrudgingly admit that she was useful in a few fights towards the end of the game, but that's as much as you'll get out of me that is positive. Honestly, I've disliked not only this character but her entire race since the first game. If you ask me, the Quarians get what they deserve and I got tired of hearing her whining bullshit about how they are stuck in their stupid suits, on their stupid ships, in their damn migrant fleet and the bad bad icky Geth stole their planet. Fuck the Quarians! Truth of the matter is they were lazy assholes who created robots to use as slave labor so they could dick around. The Geth somehow evolved and became sentient and the Quarians reaction to the Geth wanting to live and not be slaves was to try and exterminate them. I would happily help the Geth blow up the migrant fleet if I could. bunch of self centered douchebags.

And for the record...Screw you too Illusive man also, you look stupid when you smoke!

Not being a bitch, ok, i can't say that with a straight face...Not being THAT big a bitch, I'm not gonna write spoilers, but I will say that the ending was incredibly interesting. I was glad they at least somewhat explained why the hell all this shit is going on. oh and final fight...Cake walk...getting there...not so much. Not hard per se but if you are going for the whole no one dies achievement, think carefully on each decision oh and when Joker asks you if you are ready to go at the Omega-4 relay...SAY YES! DO NOT WAIT

After all that (which was much longer than I was planning) I'll say that, I enjoyed the story and I've already pre-ordered the Collector's Edition of ME3. So, obviously, I've gotten over my nitpicks and character hate lol

I had planned on also writing about the Dungeon Siege DLC but, I need a little Break, I didnt expect this to be so long.

To quote Kasumi-- Come back later. I'm sure I'll have more to talk about.

Have I passed the borders of geekitude?

I was driving the kids to school this morning and since my CD player only works when it feels like it (very sad, can't listen to my blast from the past Mortal Kombat The Album) I was playing music on my phone. No, that isnt the geeky part. Lately I'm pretty much exclusively listening to Miracle of Sound. What is Miracle of Sound? Well, more of a who...Guy named Gavin Dunne that writes songs about games. Really really good, catchy songs about games. Honestly, his song Commander Shepard is the reason I went back to playing Mass Effect 2 after feeling pretty "meh" about it when i first started. My kids and I run around the house singing "You can fight like a Krogan or run like a leopard but you'll never be better than Commander Shepard" constantly. This morning's tune of choice was Necromorph Soup. So yeah, There I was in my car with my midlife crisis red (now pinkish) bangs jammin to a song about Dead Space. Yeah....I'm cool. Just to cement my awesome geekiness I was rockin this shirt:

Indeed, my closet has suddenly gotten an influx of completely dorky, yet awesome pop culture/game related t-shirts. I went from being a high heels and barely there skirt girl to a Raiden T-shirt wearing soccer mom that jams to songs about video games. WTH happened? But, I'm good with that. Though I'm pretty sure I've crossed that border, point of no return. I will never be one of the cool kids. I'm a game nerd.

Speaking of game nerds...I have to address my previous post.
My husband wanted it noted that he HATED with the fire of 10,000 suns being Lucas Montbarron in Dungeon Siege 3. Because well, to keep it simple and to the point, Lucas controls like rancid ass, can't take a hit and sounds like he needs the stick removed from his ass. Also, there was a hilarious glitch somewhere around the second town where during a conversation cutscene his head was on his body backwards. Guess he wanted to admire his ridiculous dual scarves. Yeah, what I thought was a pretentious cape at first was indeed 2 stupidly odd sarves hanging from the back of his armour. what purpose did these serve? Did his cape snag on a tree and rip and he was just too busy getting lost on the battlefield and running from enemies to fix it? Or is this the manly high fashion of Ehb? No idea, but they were lame.

Ok, now that that's been addressed...

Yesterday I spent the day checking my door every hour for Deus Ex. Sometime around 4:30 or so, when i was   about to burst a blood vessel and ready to junkpunch the UPS guy, my game was finally delivered. I squealed like a kid at Disney, almost broke a nail opening the box and ran off to fire the Xbox up. In preparation for my adventure I dressed my Avatar Like Adam Jensen...yeah, she's badass.

So after figuring out that for some reason I have 2 codes for the same DLC and skimming the manual because I was too impatient to read it all, I started the game. It was going well, probably because I wasnt doing anything but watching the intro cutscene with the occasional moment where I had to walk forward. Gave me a chance to admire the odd but cool fashion of 2027 and to get used to the fact that Jensen's voice doesnt' fit his character much (I got over it after a bit). Then as is wont to happen in games, all hell broke loose and I was off to the races, well more specifically to the labs to find out what the drama was. This is where I began to realize something...I REALLY suck at stealth.

I managed to die in the first few fights over a dozen times. Oh, but you know, I thought, He's still normal right now, no awesome shades that are attached to his face. Yeah, well, Shit happened, and now i finally had my cool shades and other new things like shiny black arms.WOOT! I'm gonna shoot and shank some bad guys now! That's what I thought. 

What happened was this..I snuck behind some boxes, and he did the crouch dance...you know, where you forget what to press and he just crouches and stands up, crouches and stands up. Then I tried shooting, I shot the box I was hiding behind, bad camera angle. I shoot again, Jensen blindly shoots over the boxes, misses the bad guy and now i have 3 guys on my ass and I'm dead. Reload, try again. This time I sneak up behind guy A and knock him out, drag his body into a side alley like a good little stealth killer and sneak over to some other boxes (isnt it amazing how in games there are always chest high walls and boxes to hide behind, ALWAYS). I felt good, I felt sneaky. I pull out my sniper rifle, I peak out around cover I zoom in my rifle and...

Somehow the damn thing is staring at the box I'm behind, dammit! I try again and I see my target, right when I was about to pull the trigger he turns, sees me and 3 guys are on my ass again. To hell with this, Shotgun it is. 

I wont bore you with the sad sad details of my infiltration attempts, except to say that, I can't sneak worth a shit and this game makes it impossible to go in guns blazing, at least at the early point I'm at. after about 3 bullets I'm looking at the reload screen. Also, much like how if I sneakily kill someone in the middle of the wasteland with no one around to see me in New Vegas somehow everyone still knows, I knock a guy out with no one around and unless I HIDE his body somewhere, everyone knows, even though no one saw me or him or heard anything. WTF is up with that?

Now, don't get me wrong. I like the game. I love the rich deep, sexy palette of black and gold. I have no idea wtf is going on in the story, but its enough to pique my interest. Adam is suitably cool and I have a decent selection of guns to play with. But this is definitely a "mood game". Its like sex, not tonight, I have a headache. 

I had the same problem with Assassin's Creed 2. LOVE LOVE LOVE Ezio, love the game and the story...HATE walking at a snails pace in a group of people to avoid having the whole damn city chasing me. After a few hours, I just can't do it..I NEED to switch games and hack and slash or mow down a city with a machine gun.

So, today, I will go back to Mass Effect 2. Once I got past the whole "WTFOMGBBQ!!! indignation of not having an inventory and my Vanguard being decidedly gimped and took it more as 'Gears of War' with a deeper story, I'm having a good time. It helps that I can romance Garrus..I love me some Turians, hehe, I'm such a weird little lech.

After getting my ass handed to me on a black and gold platter repeatedly last night it will be nice to be a badass bitch kicking ass and not bothering to take down names. 

My only current problem with ME2 is a problem I have with most RPGs, and since I play mostly RPGs its a problem I have with most games. I talk to 3 people and suddenly I have 30 missions to do. Now I realize I have no time constraints in which to finish these missions, hell I dont HAVE to do the side missions if I dont feel like it but, you know, its an RPG, the point is to do EVERYTHING, get everything, see everything. So it gets a little overwhelming when I look at my journal and there's a billion things to do, and it seems for every 1 thing I do, that leads to 5 more things to do. But you know, I shouldn't bitch, having lots of good interesting missions to do is better than being bored and roaming the wastelands pointlessly (yes, I have revised my opinion of Fallout New Vegas, but I still reserve the right to bitch about it).

Tags: GameTrailers.com, Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Launch Trailer, PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Call me Butter cause I'm on a roll...

  I have been gaming a lot more these days and I have managed to complete yet another game. I feel so good finally finishing a few games. Not that it diminishes my "to be played/finished" pile all that much but, gotta start somewhere.
  What did I finish this time? Something I should have finished ages ago, Gears of War. Currently I'm working on getting through Gears of War 2, so I should be done with that soon as well.
    So like I said, I'm playing more games lately and its been really cool to get back to really gaming.Along with working on GoW2 I've gone back to Dragon Age: Origins. I am SO behind in that game and DA2 is about to drop, played the demo to that and I really cant wait to play it.

    I've also started playing Mass Effect 2 and I have SUCH mixed feelings on that game. On one hand the game is beautiful and the story compelling and I will finally get to realize the dream I have had since Mass Effect...to romance Garrus (I love that Turian). On the other hand i hate the combat changes and the lack of an inventory. I'm havinga hard time getting into the game because of these changes. Oh and MY GOD I despise Miranda. She looks like a man and is bitchier than me after running out of Midol during PMS.
 
   Today I started playing Bulletstorm. Its pretty amusing but I dont feel its worth $60. I will admit that the 12yr old boy in me loves all the creative combinations of curse words. Basically its kind of a game where I can shut my brain off and just go on a killing spree. There's a story but frankly, I dont think I care about what the hell is going on. Just send more fodder for me to leash and shoot.

   On the Handheld front I'm not doing as well as I am on my consoles. I got far enough in Pokemon Black to get my fifth gym badge and then kinda switched on over to Dragon Quest VI when that came out. Dont get me wrong, Black is fun and there are enough changes in it to not make it feel like I'm playing the same damn game for the umpteenth time but I can only catch so many pokemon before my brain starts melting.
   Dragon Quest VI is now the 4th DQ game I've started on my DS. I have finished none... I think the one I got farthest in was Hand of the Heavenly Bride. I enjoy them a lot but I tend to get lost and get tired of trying to figure out where to go next. Also..would it KILL these people to let me save at nay point and not just at the churches? I mean, REALLY.

  I haven't really played much of anything on my PSP, not for lack of games, just lack of time with all the other ones I'm playing. I'd like to get through Ghost of Sparta, Star Ocean Second Evolution and at least one Ys game. I'd also like to start Tactics Ogre Let Us Cling Together....but lord knows when I'll get around to it.

  PC games I have a TON of them that I havent even started and probably wont get to anytime soon. My current goal is to get back to playing The Witcher since I pre-ordered The Witcher 2. I also started Sacred and Divinity 2 and really like them so I'd like to get through them at some point.

  Neglected are my stacks of PS2, PS3, Gamecube and Wii games.... I think the last thing I played on PS2 was Champions of Norrath for like the 23rd time ages ago. My PS3 normally doesnt get use unless I'm playing Singstar. I did start Uncharted: Drake's Fortune but I haven't finished it, got to one really annoying puzzle and just said "to hell with it" and put it away for now. My Gamecube has always been much neglected, even when it was new and "in" (was the Gamecube ever "in"? I dont think so). I would like to finish Twilight Princess someday and maybe Prince of Persia The Two Thrones....And maybe start Crystal Chronicles.
 Much like its predecessor my Wii gets the least amount of love from me. Last thing I played on that was Just Dance 2 with my kids. Its not that I dont havea few good choice titles, its just that I cant seem to ever remember the Wii exists except when my parents visit and my mom kicks my ass at Boxing.

   While finishing a handful of games isn't really gonna put a dent in my pile, it does make me feel a little better and its made me a little more determined to try and get through some of my other games.
  
   One final word....I have done something I never thought I would...I'm playing a game on Facebook! OMG!! Lol.  I got int the Dragon Age Legends Beta and I've been playing it on and off. Its not that bad a game actually. I had played The first DA Flash game, Dragon Age Journeys and liked it pretty well. I had expected Legends to be more in the vein of Journeys but its extremely different and at first I found it a little lacking but after putting a few hours into it. I'm enjoying it.

    So that's pretty much it for right now. I'm too Codeined for any deep gaming insights.