amnesiack: (american astronaut)
amnesiack ([personal profile] amnesiack) wrote2010-04-26 10:42 am
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This, Too, Affects My Mass

I sort of feel like all I ever talk about here anymore is video games... oh well.

On Saturday I contemplated starting over with Final Fantasy XIII, but it really wasn't appealing. Then, I thought about finishing Dragon Age: Origins, but nixed that too. Instead, I finally booted up the copy of Mass Effect 2 that I bought on launch day.

As people predicted, I don't miss the fiddly rpg bits like I thought I would. The core gameplay is extremely solid and well-executed. The missions so far have been fun, and the story is high caliber. Of course, it wouldn't be Mass Effect without extremely boring mini-games thrown in there to balance things out, so you've got your planet scanning and whatnot as well. In the end, it's very much like the first Mass Effect: a slightly flawed game that still provides above-average enjoyment for me (at least so far).

Two things stand out to me:

1) They use reincorporation of characters and story elements from the first game with extremely high effectiveness. While you certainly could start with 2 and skip 1 if you were so inclined, I think the experience would be vastly diminished.

2) I love the random sprinkling of references to other science fiction franchises, such as overhearing two characters discussing a run-down colony on the fringes of known space called New Canton, or having a mercenary group called Blue Sun, or giving the ship's engineer a pronounced Scottish accent.

[identity profile] doublefeh.livejournal.com 2010-04-26 05:58 pm (UTC)(link)
What does it say about me that, after my brain connected the title of this post to the content, I went back to see whether it correctly said "Affects" instead of literally referencing "Effects"?

[identity profile] amnesiack.livejournal.com 2010-04-26 06:00 pm (UTC)(link)
It speaks highly of your character.