T w e n t y S i d e d

If I changed my tone as quickly as the game, then everything I wrote about Mass Effect 2 would look like this:

I am sick and tired of these fun and witty side quests with the ridiculous characters and their bullshit plot twists that engage you, challenge you, and make you puke your guts out because of how stupid the logic is and how the game becomes a shining example of a deep, rewarding, and sometimes intellectual role-playing brown corridor shooter.

I really do like Tali’s loyalty mission, and I have to say we didn’t really do it justice. There just isn’t enough time, and our format doesn’t really work all that well for long conversations laced with political intrigue.

I think the game has five really strong sections:

1) Tali’s loyalty mission
2) Legion’s loyalty mission
3) Mordin’s loyalty mission
4) Thane’s loyalty mission
5) The part where Guybrush is thrown into the sea and has to hold his breath for ten minutes.

By contrast, there’s only one part of the game that really falls flat:

1) Everything else

I’m kidding, of course. Thane’s mission wasn’t all that impressive.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

This game is the Jekyll & Hyde of storytelling. Last episode was Commander Shepard vs. Common Sense. Now we’re meeting a Geth and visiting the Migrant Fleet. With a Geth.

I was actually very sorry when our session ended this week, because I wanted to keep going with this mission.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

We were off-topic for nearly the entire episode. In case you missed some of the references, allow me to spot you a few URL’s to provide you with needed enlightenment:

We talked about the movie Short Circuit, which featured Jonny 5, the self-aware robot made from mid-1980’s microprocessors. I mentioned the 8086 processor, which is to the personal computers what the Model T was to automobiles: Not particularly good. But it was cheap and useful, and thus the beginning of a revolution.

Rutskarn mentioned Nostalgia critic. I’ve heard of this site before, but never checked it out until now. True story: This post would have been up an hour ago if I didn’t just sink a bunch of time into watching 80’s TV commercials.

Rutskarn, Mumbles, and I are all playing Echo Bazaar, a Victorian Gothic-styled social networking game. I’m a big fan. It shows that the new wave of casual social games don’t need to be more mind-numbing Farmville knockoffs. The writing is smart and fun. The setting is exquisite, but daunting. My own Victorian London (yes, I’m talking about my unpublished book again, I have officially become THAT GUY) isn’t anywhere near as vivid.

Rutskarn mentioned MDK 2, which was an excellent game. And this conversation reminds me that I haven’t seen my copy in ages. It’s not on my shelf. I can’t even remember what the box looked like. I must have lent it out years ago and never got it back. Hm.

When I asked Rutskarn, “how do you type whilst wearing gentleman’s sport gloves?”, it was a reference to Old Timey Strong Bad.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.