Lost In Thought

I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around the ending to Mass Effect 3. Since my last post I’ve made zero progress in articulating my feelings regarding it. So I’m just going to come out and say it, and if it results in an eventually mega-post, so be it.

The ending to Mass Effect 3 was awful.

I mean REALLY awful.

So awful in fact that not only does it ruin the game, it ruins the whole series. I see what they were trying to do from a literary standpoint, but the result is a mass failure. It almost feels like they were rushed, or that they didn’t have an ending in mind when they started Shepard’s story.

I’ll probably get one more post out of this before I move on with my life.

At least the multiplayer portion of the game is entertaining.

Dread

On my the precipice, I can feel it in my bones. In just a few more missions I’ll have beaten Mass Effect 3. I’m scared. I don’t know how I’ll take the ending in context, since I accidentally spoiled some specifics of the ending. Soon it will be done.

Instead of just complete this saga and bringing my Shepard’s saga to an end, I’m dicking around with the multiplayer. You know what? The multiplayer portion of the game is actually decent. Its superfluous, but still its decent. I’ve actually had fun playing with randoms on Xbox Live.

Next time I post I’ll have beaten the game. Here’s hoping its not as bad as people have been making it out to be.

Roleplay

The Mass Effect RPG series is one where I actually roleplay. My FemShep is fiercely loyal of her allies, dislikes authority, is unforgiving of stupid decision, and REALLY likes to collect model star ships for her cabin. She rolls as a paragon, but has a hot streak of renegade.

This connection I’ve created to this character I’ve played for THREE WHOLE FUCKING games is crazy, and I love it. Its very rare in videogames for you to actually have a choice in how your character goes about their tasks. Too bad that the ending of the game supposedly completely ignores what you’ve done with your character during the series.

I’m really hoping the ending isn’t as bad as people make it out to be. On the plus side, the DLC providing an extended cut of the ending will be coming out in the next few months to “personalise” the ending more.

I’ll write about my feeling further when I finally beat the game.

Another Mass Effect 3 Post

So by now everyone has heard about the terrible ending of Mass Effect 3. I’ve avoided spoilers about it, wanting to experience it myself. At this time, I think I’m maybe 1/3rd of the way through the game, and so far I’m liking the story. It has a great sense of the epic, and the only thing I can really complain about is that there is no sense of urgency. Between missions I waste my time doing meaningless sidequests and the war just stops. I can take my time because once I activate the next “main quest” mission the war continues. Its a little ridiculous.

I’m dreading the ending though and I hope that its not as bad as the internet fanboys have made it.

My Soul Still Burns

I had intended to post yesterday, but was too damn tired after working for what felt like a long, never ending day. I returned home, put up my feet, and didn’t move until I went to bed. Today was almost the same thing, but I just wanted to write; to get back in the habit of writing semi-regularly.

So Soulcalibur V came out today. I should know better, but I really really want it. From the GiantBomb Quicklook I just watched, it looks like more of the same. Here’s an embed of the video, watch and decide yourself:

 

I’ve always been a HUGE fan of the Soul series of fighters, starting with Soul Edge/Blade during the Playstation era. I was actually even decent at it at one point. There was a time back in CEGEP when I would frequent a local arcade just to play Soul Calibur 2. It was fun. I’d walk in, nod to some of the regulars, smack my token down, and then head into conquest mode just to mess with everyone. I very rarely played against other players, but when I did it was fun. I had at some point gotten into playing Cervantes, I’d win more often than most when I did. I have very fond memories of those times.

I miss those days.

On a side note, it drives me nuts that they’ve never been consistent with the titling. The switch between Soul Calibur and Soulcalibur is irritating. And "CALIBUR” isn’t even a real word. What’s the deal with that?

So, I Had A Cold

I’m finally over whatever I had. Whatever remains in my lungs is negligible, so I consider myself better. The healing can now begin. HUZZAH! Now onto the fun part, time to disinfect my house. Actually, that doesn’t sound like fun at all.

Sigh…

VIDEOGAMES! I’m really enjoying the hell out of Mario Kart 7. I didn’t really get around to playing all that much against others online, but when I have, it worked awesome. I only got dropped once. Mario Kart 7 is just pure Mario Kart, if you know what I mean. Its a genre unto itself at this point. No other game could get away with having such cheap rubber band AI, but this one does well. Its one of the few instances where it actually intensifies the gameplay; you always feel that anyone could win at any moment. I enjoy that, even when it irritates me to the point I want to stab someone (specifically the computer player) in the eye. It elicits good hate, whatever that means.

I didn’t really get to play that much since I last posted anything. I’ve been busy working. Oh boy did I work. It’s like the moment everyone realised I was better, they could work me harder than they ever could before. I’m so very tired.

Huh, just got an email from Microsoft…my Gold account expires today. I completely forgot. Oh well, I don’t really feel like paying $60+ for something I rarely use anymore except for when I use Netflix. I can always watch that on my Wii, PC, or 3DS at no additional charge anyways. The days of playing with friends online has passed for me. None of them want to play anything anymore it seems. Sigh, nostalgia.

Yes, I’m making up for not posting in the last two days. I just didn’t feel up to it, or have anything really to say. Less than usual actually. Today I feel fine, and in a mood to just write something. Speaking of writing, I bombed terribly. I did not complete my novel for NaNoWriMo, and I’m fine with that. I’m going to give myself a year, and brainstorm, and plan. I’m not just going to go into it half-cocked again, thinking I could just wing it. Not going to happen again.

So, anyways, I didn’t post anything for two days mostly because I just didn’t feel up to it. While it might be good to write something everyday, to get myself in the habit, I’m not going to kick myself for not posting something. I also felt invigorated to not have to force myself to write. Maybe in the new year, I’ll set aside 2-3 days a month where I just don’t post anything. I should probably start to bring a focus to this blog too. I’m going to think on that.

Hooray! It’s Snowing! Can’t Wait To Hurt My Back…AGAIN!

Yeah, that’s a lot of question marks, but you know what I don’t care. I just came inside from shovelling. Its not a bad amount of snow, but I can already feel it in the middle of my back. That’s the only thing I hate about snow.

I’m currently sitting here relaxing, watching a Giant Bomb Quick Look of WWE ‘12.

I don’t know anymore. I’m so far removed from wrestling, that I have no idea who any of these characters are, and it just doesn’t interest me all that much. I was never huge into wrestling, but I always enjoyed the games. There was something so relaxing about just hammering on some dudes with grapples and finishers, but now its just the same year in, year out. My interest has waned.

Incomprehensible Gargling of Rage

So, was hanging with my buddy JD today. He somehow convinced me to finally get back to playing Sonic Unleashed. One second while I take a breather. Just writing that name right now is bring so much rage to the surface. JD sat there and laughed non-stop because he could tell I was going to snap. I HATE Sonic Unleashed. The first level of the game is decent, and then they shoot two poorly designed Brawler type levels at you, a QT eventfest, and a poorly designed Sonic Speed level. This game just does so many things wrong. For instance, every other Sonic game will map the homing attack to the same button as jump, here they map it to a completely different button. So when I’ve intended to jump and home, I’m really just jumping and then pressing the button again (which does nothing) and usually falling in to a pit.

Sonic Unleashed shouldn’t be this bad, but now I hate it completely. You hear that SEGA, SONIC UNLEASHED MAKES ME ALMOST NOT WANT TO PLAY SONIC AGAIN. I hate it. I really really hate it.

I find it quite fitting that the last achievement I received for this game is titled, “Still Broken”. That just about sums up my feelings for the game.

Life of Randy: Back Pain & Videogames

So I’m feeling much better, its been 5 days since I first hurt my back. Today I’ll be flying solo, no OTC medications to help. The pain in my back has lessened greatly, all that remains is stiffness throughout my back, limited mobility, and the occasional twinge of pain in my left side. I’m glad that it seems to be healing at a good pace, but I can not wait until I’m able to move about more. I really want to return to the gym again.

On the gaming side of things, I’ll be posting my initial impressions of Eternal Darkness later today, as I was able to bare sitting in my gaming area for a long period of time yesterday. Hooray for me. That should be up by 3 today, I just want to put in a little more time before I write anything on it. My time with Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Videogame has been an enjoyable one, but I think I will take a step back and take a break from it. Yesterday, I discovered that I’ve been effected by a glitch in the game which prevents the unlocking of a specific achievement. In order to resolve this issue, I’ll need to delete and redownload the game, and play from scratch across all four initially unlocked characters. For me a single playthrough of the game cab take between 45minutes to 90 minutes, and after the amount I’ve played it this weekend, I’m not up to it again. Still a great game though, all things considered.

And lastly, I hope you enjoyed that random photo of my dog yesterday. I was lazy and didn’t feel like writing anything yesterday. I also like that photo. Anyways. I’ll be back in a bit with impressions of Eternal Darkness.

Life of Randy: More Back Pain & I Played Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Videogame

Since I’ve been incapacitated due to my back, I’ve been limited to either lying in bed, or sitting in a big comfy chair in my living room. Unfortunately, my Wii or GameCube isn’t set up in my living room, so I’ve been unable to play Eternal Darkness, but I’ll try to rectify that if the back pain continues. Instead, I’ve been playing what I can, which has been primarily Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Videogame, which I originally purchased for my Xbox 360 last year, but haven’t really sunk a lot of time into it due to it lacking an online co-operative or competitive mode.

Like its comic book progenitor and movie counterpart, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Videogame pays loving tribute to the 8-bit era of gaming. The over world map invokes comparisons to the over world maps of Super Mario Bros 3 (NES), right down to enemies randomly appearing on the map which you can challenge. The game play is highly reminiscent of River City Ransom, with its mix of old school brawler, RPG, and platformer. The stages themselves contain little nods to other games in the genre, for example the whole final stage is basically the Technodrome from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game, and a Link (of The Legend of Zelda fame) runs on screen during a stage acting like the little imp thieves from Golden Axe carrying bags of coins.

It took me all this time, but I have finally beaten the game, and enjoyed every minute of it. I have in fact beaten it with all the main characters. I have also spent a lot of my time playing it with my older niece. Co-op is even more fun and chaotic than single player mode. I can not recommend this game enough.

As an aside, as I’ve not been able to start my monthly videogame challenge off properly, I’ve proposed a mini-challenge to myself to pass the time. I’ll be attempting to complete the game 100%, finishing off with a complete gamer score of 250/250. Currently I have the majority of the main game achievements, and none of the DLC ones. Soon that will be rectified. I have five to go.