My Next Game
Kevin D.
Well, I just beat Mass Effect and now I'm sad. I didn't want it to end. There wasn't a single aspect of the game I didn't enjoy. The shooting was smooth, driving the Mako was awesome, the side missions were engaging, the story missions kept me rapt in sci-fi awesomeness, and dialogue with NPCs was the best!
I'm going to play through it again just so I can go Renegade. I got my Paragon achievement the first time through. I accidently completed the romance path with Liara T'Soni when I really wanted to go all the way with Ashley Williams. Guess I flirted with the asari more than I thought. Hope I can get with Williams on the Renegade path. I'm pretty much acting like a complete tool as much as I can and I hope doing that with Williams also won't mess that all up. She's a xenophobe so bashing aliens when I talk to her should work in my favor though.
Kaidan Alenko is a dork and I let him die. I am a bit annoyed I didn't get the turian achievement. I had Garrus in my party through the majority of the game. The moment he joined my team never did he leave my party. I don't get it.
I do have one complaint: What's with the slow elevators in the future?
But now I need to move on to something new. I have Eternal Sonata gathering dust. It's a great game but I just got so very, very stuck. Then Mass Effect came out and it swallowed my life. Assassin's Creed looks neat-o. I already grabbed the Limited Edition strategy guide for the game. It came with an artbook. I love video game artbooks. Which is why I grabbed the Mass Effect Limited Edition guide as well. Halo 3 might be an option. Mass Effect greased my console FPS joints so I probably wouldn't suck at it. 'Course... I should probably finish Gears of War.
Then there's the Wii. Still haven't finished Twilight Princess and I bought that the day it came out with my Wii. And there's Metroid Prime 3: Corruption I have to finish too.
On the PS2 Final Fantasy 12 is thinking it did something to make me mad, I'm sure of it. Heck, there are PS1 games I still have to beat! Like Chrono Cross.
I dunno. What do you guys think? Any suggestions? Any game you recently beat and wanna talk about? Any game you're looking forward to? Fable 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4 fill that last one for me. I got my 360 on the promise of Fable 2. I'll be buying my PS3 when MGS4 comes out.
Let's hear some stories in the comments now that will make the old people reading this blog think we're just dumb kids wasting our time and money at the penny arcade and soda shops! There's the Kaiser to worry about dag-nabbit!
Link here
If you haven't played Halflife2 and it's episodic squeals, dude, you're nuts...
Yep. I read that one. Penny Arcade is an everyday-must-hit site for me.
And I'm still working on Mass Effect, just not as much time in the day as I'd like.
Kevin, the turian achievement may be related to Garrus subplot, which is mainly a Renegade option. I'm going strictly Renegade for now, but even so I still got some Paragon on me. . .
You talking about the organ harvesting doctor subplot? If so I completed that. If you look at the requirements for the turian achievement it says you only need to complete the majority of the game with Garrus in your party. I did that!
But, it's no big deal. I loaded up my old career, started up a new game, and I'm partying with Wrex and Tali.
Sorry, I'm not insinuating that you are a criminal Kevin. Just asking.
And with the technology where it is (and where it's going) it's evolving into a wholly new art form -- one which hasn't ever been explored. Art in which the "viewer" has a direct effect on the art itself through his decisions.
On average? I'd say maybe 4 or 5. Unless it's a really great game I'm very casual about my gaming. Look at my post again. See how many unfinished games I have?
Before Mass Effect the previous game I beat was Fable. Before that? Maybe the first Knights of the Old Republic. I'm sure I polished off a shooter or two in between but most RPGs demand at least 30 - 40 hours of play time. Shooters? 8. Maybe 10.
Could video games be an outlet for violent behaviour? Perhaps. I'm sure there are some that will make that connection.
Speaking for myself, I get much more pleasure losing myself to a story than shooting a computer controlled enemy. Or even another person's avatar in "Gore Shooter Xtreeeeeem!" I can get just as sucked in by a book as by a video game.
So, it's very hard to draw distinct lines between gaming and curbing real-life violence. I suppose one would need to look at the types of games people play and the environment in which they live.
However, as Jesse points out, video games are a much a part of life of the 35 and under crowd as television and movies were for previous generations.
If you ask me, I think whatever popular media is consumed is a good indicator of the moral direction of a society. But I will not say that the consumption of that media is a catylist for change, for good or ill.
Playing GTA, listening to gansta rap, watching The Sapranos will not make you kill someone. However, I believe that a violent personality will take in violent media. Cutting off the media doesn't address the underlining issue of violence in the individual though.
There is no video game that will replace a father in a child's life. There is no video game that will make parents stop abusing one another. There is no video game what can nuture a child.
To blame violence on video games, or any other media, ignores the real root of violence in life. People were killing people long before some nerds at MIT made it possible to manipulate pixels on a monitor.
On the contrary, I love video games. I'm partial to sports games like Madden, MLB, and Tiger Woods golf, however, I do enjoy MOH.
Ryan
With her, at least. The few paragon points you pick up for being nice to her will in no way prevent you from being as much of a raging jackass as you feel like to everybody else in the universe.
After she's part of your crew, only conversations you have with her on the _Normandy_ should be significant trigger points for furthering or advancing romance supblot. Although you can get some flirting out of her if you have her and Kaiden in the party, and go to the scenic overlook in the upper Wards.
Of course we all lose our tempers now and then. Dean freely admits to being imperfect in this regard, which is why regulars to this establishment will generally be cut more slack than people who we don't know very well.
Still: behave like an adult, or go find somewhere else to play. Thanks.