I liiiiiiiiiiiiive! And so does my squad!
Feb. 21st, 2012 08:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thessalianI have some off time, huzzah! The fact that I'm awake at this hour is testament to my body clock being a dick and I will rectify that as soon as I've rectified lack of LJ posting. I've gone really dark on big-scale blogging, at least in part due to the fact that Tumblr ate my life awhile ago and hasn't given it back yet. I think a major difference is that I don't feel as bad about fan-rambling on Tumblr, because everyone else does it too, and I have been a little too depressed/aggravated/enraged about the final weeks of job to really discuss it much.
And then there was the migraine, which I am still getting over. Don't even ask.
But! I have new work starting soon, and all is well. And between job-raging and general distress over the ways of the world, I finished both Mass Effect games. It was in fits and starts, particularly the first one (I think my last post maaaaaaaaay have had some complaining about the fucking Mako and how I didn't so much ragequit as ragepause for a few days at a time) butsteveb_uk was right about one thing; it's definitely worth playing both games through at least once. The Genesis DLC will serve anytime thereafter but if you're playing Mass Effect for the very first time, I've found out just how fun it is to play one of these things with minimal walkthroughs and no real spoilers.
Places where I flailed:
- ME1: Virmire. Not even Dragon Age pulled that kind of Sophie's Choice dick move. I was impressed. Of course, I was also convinced that the one you left with the salarians had a chance of surviving because the salarian captain said they had a chance, but once I was disabused of that notion and had finished sobbing, I was impressed.
- ME1: Ilos. Well, specifically driving through a mass relay.
- ME2: Full emotional impact of Pressley getting blowed up on the Normandy. He had such an awesome quiet background character development arc!
- ME2: Garrus. Finding him in the first place, what happens to him right at the start (and I should have seen that coming because screenshots and gifs, but...) and just ... that whole intro bit in general.
- ME2: Old friends returning. This is why it's important to play ME1 first, at least the first time through. Gianna is awesome. Conrad is creepy. Either way, I just wouldn't have cared if I had ragequit ME1 when I wanted to sometimes.
- ME2: Loyalty quests. Jacob's, Jack's and Tali's in particular. There may have been sobbing in that last.
- ME2: Legion. I did not have that spoiler, somehow. I did not know that party member was coming. And then ... well, that happened. My world was all askew for awhile. I'm still hoping it's okay to call Legion 'it', and am sometimes tempted to call it 'them'. Calling Legion 'him' seems wrong.
- ME2: The Normandy, post-IFF installation. I believe my exact reaction was, "Wait ... why have we all had to get on the shuttle WHY HAVE WE ALL HAD TO-- Oh SHIT WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!?" And then there was controlling Joker. And running - well, limp-running, poor guy. And big sobby tears.
- ME2: The entire suicide mission. The way it's set up, about half of it you have no idea whether you're prepared enough for it until you do it. All you can do is finish the loyalty quests for every crew member, get every possible ship upgrade, and pray. So you get these really tense cutscenes where battle happens and you sit there watching with your fingers crossed and your shoulders hunched around your ears with the tension, with the occasional pause for "WOO-HOO!" and ... y'know, breathing.
- ME2: Specific bit of suicide mission - the "Not just any Reaper". I'm pretty sure you could hear my screaming from the East Coast USA. Particularly that final boss battle.
Actually, I'm pretty sure that the entirety of the USA must have heard me whooping for glee when I finished the game, wandered my Shepard back to the captain's cabin and checked my Achievements:
Achievement: No One Left Behind
This is the best you can do, y'see. There are multiple endings: your character dies in heroic sacrifice, your character survives but squad members die, and everybody lives! Clearly everybody lives! is superior but not everyone manages it, especially on their first go. It was pretty awesome.
So ... yeah, I had fun with that. Looking forward to ME3. A LOT.
And now I am going to go back to bed. I have that privilege. I will try to be better at actual journalling, now that I've got the ME fan-squee mostly out of my system. I'll save most of the fic for Tumblr. *g*
And then there was the migraine, which I am still getting over. Don't even ask.
But! I have new work starting soon, and all is well. And between job-raging and general distress over the ways of the world, I finished both Mass Effect games. It was in fits and starts, particularly the first one (I think my last post maaaaaaaaay have had some complaining about the fucking Mako and how I didn't so much ragequit as ragepause for a few days at a time) but
steveb_uk was right about one thing; it's definitely worth playing both games through at least once. The Genesis DLC will serve anytime thereafter but if you're playing Mass Effect for the very first time, I've found out just how fun it is to play one of these things with minimal walkthroughs and no real spoilers.Places where I flailed:
- ME1: Virmire. Not even Dragon Age pulled that kind of Sophie's Choice dick move. I was impressed. Of course, I was also convinced that the one you left with the salarians had a chance of surviving because the salarian captain said they had a chance, but once I was disabused of that notion and had finished sobbing, I was impressed.
- ME1: Ilos. Well, specifically driving through a mass relay.
- ME2: Full emotional impact of Pressley getting blowed up on the Normandy. He had such an awesome quiet background character development arc!
- ME2: Garrus. Finding him in the first place, what happens to him right at the start (and I should have seen that coming because screenshots and gifs, but...) and just ... that whole intro bit in general.
- ME2: Old friends returning. This is why it's important to play ME1 first, at least the first time through. Gianna is awesome. Conrad is creepy. Either way, I just wouldn't have cared if I had ragequit ME1 when I wanted to sometimes.
- ME2: Loyalty quests. Jacob's, Jack's and Tali's in particular. There may have been sobbing in that last.
- ME2: Legion. I did not have that spoiler, somehow. I did not know that party member was coming. And then ... well, that happened. My world was all askew for awhile. I'm still hoping it's okay to call Legion 'it', and am sometimes tempted to call it 'them'. Calling Legion 'him' seems wrong.
- ME2: The Normandy, post-IFF installation. I believe my exact reaction was, "Wait ... why have we all had to get on the shuttle WHY HAVE WE ALL HAD TO-- Oh SHIT WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!?" And then there was controlling Joker. And running - well, limp-running, poor guy. And big sobby tears.
- ME2: The entire suicide mission. The way it's set up, about half of it you have no idea whether you're prepared enough for it until you do it. All you can do is finish the loyalty quests for every crew member, get every possible ship upgrade, and pray. So you get these really tense cutscenes where battle happens and you sit there watching with your fingers crossed and your shoulders hunched around your ears with the tension, with the occasional pause for "WOO-HOO!" and ... y'know, breathing.
- ME2: Specific bit of suicide mission - the "Not just any Reaper". I'm pretty sure you could hear my screaming from the East Coast USA. Particularly that final boss battle.
Actually, I'm pretty sure that the entirety of the USA must have heard me whooping for glee when I finished the game, wandered my Shepard back to the captain's cabin and checked my Achievements:
Achievement: No One Left Behind
This is the best you can do, y'see. There are multiple endings: your character dies in heroic sacrifice, your character survives but squad members die, and everybody lives! Clearly everybody lives! is superior but not everyone manages it, especially on their first go. It was pretty awesome.
So ... yeah, I had fun with that. Looking forward to ME3. A LOT.
And now I am going to go back to bed. I have that privilege. I will try to be better at actual journalling, now that I've got the ME fan-squee mostly out of my system. I'll save most of the fic for Tumblr. *g*
no subject
Date: 2012-02-21 05:44 pm (UTC)Thinking back, I seem to recall discovering that there's apparently a chance of losing one guy no matter what, all you can do is minimize it.
Also, I did a lot of sidequests after unlocking the route to the final mission. Apparently the game does notice your delay, as that determines whether you have a crew at the end or some nutrient-rich soup.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-21 06:06 pm (UTC)