Games Played: Mass Effect 2, Harvest Moon: A New Beginning, Final Fantasy: Record Keeper
Games Beat: Mass Effect 2
“Hey, coworker,” I said, “What do you think it means when a muscle under your eye won’t stop twitching?”
“Eye-strain,” he said.
Well. I guess staring unyieldingly at my monitor for two straight days while I devoured the end of Mass Effect 2 could possibly have contributed to some eye strain. I’m not sure I blinked.
I loved it, obviously. Once I started in on the personal missions, it was all over: I cared so much about that crew, even Jack (“you don’t give a piss, Shepherd”). I was amused to find myself with a full bar of renegade at the end of the game, despite all my best holier-than-thou efforts. Shep is feisty. I also really, really enjoyed giving the Illusive Man a middle finger at the end, thinking of Kaidan all the while.
I loved Joker and EDI, loved Joker’s grumbling heroics, felt like punching Miranda when the crew was lost and she blamed him. Truth is: Joker is my favorite character in the entire game. I adore him and would like to make the world a safe place for him.
Scanning was annoying as hell and I hated it, but I did find my favorite mission through an anomaly (ending up on an abandoned ship where an AI had gone rogue, in shades of 2001 (and, kinda, GlaDOS).
To prevent infection, this room has been sealed. Survivors are advised to shoot themselves to prevent death by starvation.
Yeah, ok, sounds like a plan, I’m definitely not going to hack my way out of this where is my gun don’t worry about me clicking on this computer hush now.
And so onward to Mass Effect 3, where nothing I do will ever matter again. Sigh.
I also spent a lot of this weekend watching various people play Stardew Valley, which definitely put me in the mood for some Harvest Moon. I mean, I’m still in Y1, so it’s not really PROGRESS as such, but at least I made it to mid-summer. I think I’d enjoy the game more if I stopped feeling like I had to give people presents all the damn time. But, I do. It’s like writing letters in Animal Crossing, a chore that pays off but ugh. Still, though, after the fraught moments of Mass Effect I got a bit of whiplash falling back into a world where the most exciting thing that happens is a rainstorm.
Otherwise, FF:RK continues, and I was dismayed to look at my path in a more linear format and realized that I am maybe only a third of the way through. A third! Listen. It’s not that it’s not still enjoyable but given limited time and lots of games, I’m on the fence about continuing. It is freemium; but I’ve gotten this far…
My promise to myself was sorely tested this week anyhow. Not only did the remastered Twilight Princess come out, but there was Stardew Valley. And I want to play both of those like burning, but I must not. I must focus. I watched Snarfybobo play most of Twilight Princess anyhow, and that’s nearly as good.
The Actual Worst 