To The End & Back Again

It hadn't felt like a lot of time, but a rare event happened for me whist playing BioWare's controversial, yet so goddamn awesome, Mass Effect 3. It is the first game in quite a while where I actually put 40+ hours into a game. In this day and age (for me), that just does not happen as much as it used to.

But given the gravity of the story and the state of the galaxy, how could this epic be tackled with any less time? I mean after being ignored by the Citadel Council (for basically the past 2 games) as well as your own kind, you are immediately tasked as Humanity's last beacon of hope. But what can be done when the enemy has descended upon all of Earth and is destroying and killing every single man, woman and child they can. Shepard said it best: They are more intelligent, they are more advanced, they do not fears humans and they will never show mercy. But no, you must leave the fight behind on Earth and gather all the forces of the galaxy to bring the fucking hurt down upon those called the Reapers.

Yes, that was the 40 hour mark back there in that cloud of dust.

Massive Effect

I don't blog on here quite as much as before, but nevertheless I am still alive and kicking and swearing and all that good stuff. Of course gaming is still a part of my daily life and today is absolutely no different. I'm actually here because the funniest things have been going on lately and a lot of that has to do with the finale of the Mass Effect trilogy, Mass Effect 3.

So much hate is what I keep seeing and people are hating this game for a variety of reasons. I'm a little surprised with the hate on the day one DLC, mostly because this was done before and to act surprised that it is done here is just stupid and foolish and really just a waste of time. Didn't pre-order Mass Effect 3's Collector's Edition? Couldn't afford it? Didn't have time to do it? Or were you stickin' it to the "man"? Whatever the reason might be, sorry friend but you are just plain shit out of luck. Don't want to pay for the extra mission and the bonus character?

Solution: Shut the fuck up and do NOT buy it! Don't buy the game either if that offends you so. Why buy the game and bitch and complain about how evil EA and BioWare are with their twisted ideas of making money! I mean the nerve of those sons of bitches! What are they? A goddamn business? And in this day and age, who wants to make money anyway? Better pay is so overrated.

The other funny issue is people absolutely hating on how this game comes to an end. Oh. My. Fucking. God. What is this? Grade school? Waaa! Waaa! I don't like the story! Waa! Waaaaa! I didn't get what I want!

The best view, in my opinion, is simple this: The way the story flows and the way that it ends is the vision of the team(s) that made this game. To demand that they "fix" the ending to cater to a bunch of whining, spoiled brats is just never going to happen. It shouldn't happen. Things are the way that they were intended and that is what people should learn to respect. If you hate it that much, go ahead and trade your copy in and be done with it. Hell, don't even buy their future games.

Personally I am enjoying the ride myself and I am getting ever closer to getting the chance to see how my Shepard deals with the might of the Reaper invasion head on. I've been building up a mighty alliance and I've brought together an impossible force to fight a seemingly unbeatable enemy. Whatever might be waiting at the end of all of this, I can say I simply know this about this whole experience: This trilogy of games has been one hell of a ride. From Saren's betrayal on Eden Prime, to seeing Shepard becoming the first human Spectre, to watching Shepard die, only to return and overcome the impossible, to this point where the final confrontation that has the entire galaxy hanging in the balance.

Despite it all, I'm about ready to see Shepard off into the sunset, where ever or however that might come to pass.

Interest Fading

After all of these years, I think it has finally become safe to say that I have hit the proverbial wall. Upon looking at the future landscape of gaming, what is there left to accomplish? What is there left to prove? Video games, for me, have lost their charm and I feel like I am reverting back to my PS2 days, when everything felt empty and dead and I just didn't give a shit to pick up and play anything.

But you know what else is starting to change my mind? The pricing of games and the equipment required to use them. Obviously the prices of these can only go one way really and that is all uphill from here. I mean even Nintendo with their 3DS is going to be $250, with their games going about $40-$50 as I've read it. What is sad to me is their biggest games that I've seen hyped are all old games! Are they going to follow the path of the PSP? I surely hope not. And on the subject of Sony's handheld, what about the NGP? What is that going to cost this time? An arm and a leg? Maybe you have to take a mortgage out for it?

It is pure insanity.

Even my list of games that I am looking forward to this year is dropping down in size and variety. As it goes, I am looking towards LittleBigPlanet 2, Gears of War 3, Mass Effect 3, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Dragon Age II and Hyperdimension Neptunia.

To be honest, I only just begun to read and look into (mere minutes ago really) Hyperdimension Neptunia and I am intrigued that it is an RPG. Maybe that is because I haven't really played an RPG in a while (Persona 3 kind of disappeared around my house. Maybe a ghost?) and I am looking for something, hell ANYTHING that might actually be fun in that genre. But it does at least look promising and it It certainly looks and sounds interesting to me. But I can't help but wonder just how good this game actually is?

Another one of interest is Deus Ex Human Revolution, which I see is dubbed a first-person RPG. Again, from the videos that I've seen and the little I've read about this game, it sounds promising and maybe this will be a good one. I still have some hope in Square-Enix, so maybe this will be the start of redemption for FFXIII...

Oh and a small mention about DC Universe Online: My interest in the game kind of fell off pretty quickly after the first week. I played less and less and I believe my villain is still around level 10. There just doesn't seem to be enough engaging quests or fights to do. I suppose I could have found a group and done a couple of alerts, but meh...