So, hi. Both because Boss is singing its praises in guild chat and because of voice actor nerdery (and Jessie Monster prodding me over Twitter), I looted the first Mass Effect and slapped it on Blastoise. I was going to hold off until I finished at least the capture part of my .hack//REPLAY youtube project but… you know what they say about curiosity. I’m a few hours into it as of this posting.
Yes, this is another instance of Yoshi being stupidly late to the party. Are we surprised? Hell no!
Anyway… I like it. It’s not something I’d have ordinarily picked up sight-unseen (in fact, I vaguely recall there being a bit of drama about the DRM when it came out, which might have turned me off at first), but this is one of those games where you stick your finger in and something happens and you’re all “I am intrigued by your ideas and wish to subscribe to your magazine.” It makes me think of… a smattering of things, really: a bit of Metal Gear, Star Trek, Metroid and dare I say it, *PlanetSide.* I am particularly amused by how directing the flow of conversation is handled; it’s very… subtle and natural. I dunno.
And, ya know what? Despite all the promo videos and such that pimp out dude!Shepard, everything I’ve seen so far ingame suggests that the story was meant to play out with lady!Shepard. :P While I’m not one of those hardcore feminist gamers, I will admit it’s kind of awesome to play a female protagonist who looks like she could be over-30. (Seriously, look at most games that let you customize your avatar… I am extremely hard-pressed to find one that lets you make anything close to “middle-aged woman,” yet you can still make an old guy.) I think my only complaint about the character editor was the lack of anything resembling long hair, though given that you’re often in full body armor, it wouldn’t have been practical on a graphics level anyway.
Oh yeah, VA nerdery. No shortage of that here. Play as lady!Shepard and… oh hi, Jennifer Hale (as in, Sheena and Samus to name a couple). :D! And, of course, Liara = Ali Hillis (sup, Lightning!*). There are some others in here, but those two are the first to spring to mind. :D
* You want to see something really trippy and meta-y, especially if you like FF4/13 and read voice actor Twitter in character? Watch her tweet at Mr. Liam and Mr. Yuri. One of these days I’m going to crack and draw Lightning flirting with Kain and Cecil over beer and it will be AWESOME. XD
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Semi-related: Blastoise’s rebuild is happening in November, if he can hold together that long. For one thing, his first incarnation was “born” in early November. I built Yggdrasil in November, too (2 years ago)… and last year, I got Dinah the MacBook the week of Thanksgiving. So, may as well do the rebuild then, ya know? :P Of course, I imagine the holiday sales for parts will likely be starting up, too, so that helps in the “keep things under $700 if possible, with $1000 as a hard limit” department.
Tags: blastoise, video games