Monthly Archives: March 2012

Praying Mantid!

Posted by Steve on March 29, 2012 No comments

Sarah is very happy with the garden she has in the front yard. On occasion I have taken some pictures out there of some cool looking flowers. Lately, though, there has been a flood of pesky bugs that have moved in. In order to combat this, Sarah has ordered an army! Well, an army of praying mantids. What I was expecting was this:

But what we got was these VERY tiny little mantid. They will grow to be larger, (maybe not a rideable size) but in the meantime, I get to do some Macro photography!

Working through the Trilogy (again)

Posted by Steve on March 26, 2012 No comments

Lately I have been suffering a little PTMED (Post Traumatic Mass Effect Depression, it’s a thing). I tried to go play some Old Republic, but found myself too distracted with all of the huge range of emotions I experienced with my playthrough of ME3. (Note, still liked the ending). As I have mentioned before, I never did a second playthrough, only the single story, and single save. The quick recap about this meant that I was able to experience the whole story in a very unique way. It didn’t get convoluted with alternate choices or multiple stories. (Not that there is anything wrong with that, just not what I wanted to do). I have now experienced the whole story, and I loved it.

So, what do you do with a story you just finished and loved? You experience it again! I made the decision to run through the whole story again, starting at Mass Effect 1, and working through the whole trilogy. I experienced a small snag in this though. My ME1 disk went missing! I had pre-ordered and bought the collectors tin for ME1 and had the tin, and the bonus discs…..but no game disk! I checked with Gamestop and they wanted $30 for a pre-owned copy (WTF!!!). Amazon had new Platinum editions for $19 (UPDATE, it’s $16 now!!!) with prime shipping so that’s how I went. It arrived on Friday.

To accompany this epic playthrough I also splurged and purchased the N7 branded G155 Personal Gaming Environment. I have a number of trips coming up that may end up with me in a place that might get boring. (assuming I don’t get out and take pictures.) So I picked up this case so I could take a 360 with me. I will probably have a post about the case after I get it wit photos and such.

So, I am now 10 hours into Mass Effect 1 and the experience is amazing. First off, it’s VERY difficult to transition from ME3 controls down to ME1, you can tell they improved on quite a bit. Outside of that, though, it’s been outstanding. It feels like one of those movies where I have been transported back in time and given the opportunity to make new choices, knowing what I know now! My favorite moment so far was meeting Wrex for the first time (again) with the Dialogue

Wrex: Do I know you human?

Me: * Not yet
* You will
* Shut Up

For those that are curious, I am playing through as BroShep. My first was with FemShep, and my Romance options were ME1: Liara (Duh), ME2: Garrus (Comedy Option), and ME3: Traynor (Stress Relief). I would be happy to explain these if you ask, but I think I know how I will steer things this time around. I will certainly keep you updated on the progress both here and on Twitter.

The new Retro (Wait what?): Braid

Posted by Steve on March 22, 2012 No comments

Also featured at http://www.retronick.com

You got Retro in my Next Gen! Well you got Next Gen in my Retro!!

Stop stop, you’re both right! I want to talk a moment about a current gen game that brings the classic retro style that we all know and love. This one is about….Braid.

Braid is a side scrolling game created as an indi project by a developer named Jonathan Blow. JB took the initiative on himself and solely funded the Braid project with the idea of creating a classic style game with high artistic value. Using $200,000 of his own money, he did just that.
In Aug of 2008, Braid was released on the Xbox Live Arcade platform. Since then it has taken off on all platforms now. It’s even been featured on the Humble Indie Bundle a few times.

But what is it?

Braid tells the story of a young man working to rescue his girlfriend from a horrible monster. To do this he uses various skills and tools to master the art of time and space. He can rewind time to fix mistakes and move objects to solve puzzles. Each world he visits presents new challenges that he may or may not need tools from a different world to solve. To your average player, this may seem like a copy of many other classic games like Prince of Persia, or even the various Mario games. (Yes, your princess IS in another castle)

What sets Braid apart from these other games is really in the artistic presentation. The artwork is very stylized and beautiful. Even more so than the visuals, the music was outstanding. I almost found myself using Braid as a way to relax because the music was so soothing. I am not even kidding about that. If you doubt me, listen to yourself. (link to Magnatune, embeds below)

Personally, I enjoyed the hell out of Braid. I bought it on XBLA and couldn’t stop playing it. I picked up the Humble Bundle and now I play it on my PC. I highly suggest it to any gamer who appreciates the art of the game as well as the art of the world.

You can find a demo version of Braid at http://www.playgreenhouse.com/

The Mass Ending Effect

Posted by Steve on March 19, 2012 5 comments

Its done.

3 years of playing Mass Effect have come to a close. I finished Mass Effect 3 last night. I have managed to avoid all of the spoilers and got to judge the ending on my own. ~~I will do my best to make this spoiler free, or at least make it so you have to do something special to see the spoilers.~~ I love WordPress. I looked for a spoiler plugin to handle that sort of thing and Boom! So Spoilers are marked, click to read if you want. (It should be noted that the Spoiler tags ONLY work if you view on the site. If you are reading Via RSS feed, I marked the paragraphs that are spoiler-ific)

As I had mentioned in my Single Playthrough post, I have been playing Mass Effect using only the Auto-saves and one single story. If I made a decision, I stuck to it. No regrets. This was the story I played with in Mass Effect 3.

To Address all those who are complaining about the ending. I really have only one thing to say. If you don’t like the ending, go make your own epic story arc video game and make the ending you want. Seriously. I enjoyed the ending as it was. the roller coaster of the game WAS the ending. Mass Effect 3 WAS the ending of the story. The last 20 min of the game was just the, the last 20 min of a 40+ hour ending of a 3 year game. If you are complaining about the “ending” of the game, then you didn’t do it right. That’s not Bioware’s fault.

Many people are complaining that the ending should have encompassed all of the decisions. Now think about this. ME3 accounted for decisions made in ME1 and ME2.

Spoiler: For example, in Mass Effect 1:

In ME1, I let Kaiden die. Because of this, Ashely was the crew member that was brought through to ME3. There was story in ME3 that specifically was aimed at Ashley. It affected my missions and the conversations between the crew.

Spoiler: And then in Mass Effect 2:

I will tell you that I lost quite a few people at the end of Mass Effect 2. I started ME3 without Thane, Grunt, or Jack. They gave their lives at the collector base and that’s just how it was. Their names are etched on the Normandy’s wall and they will be remembered. Without them in the game I didn’t have many conversations that some of my friends had. Other interactions between crew members were different, and my friends didn’t see them, because those crew were missing.

Spoiler: So, in Mass Effect 3:

Wrex was in charge of the Krogans, Miranda helped me with the Cerbrus base, Tali helped me with the Geth, and a number of other main story plots were altered due to my decisions in the other games. When it came to the ending. I looked at my options and weighed them with the other decisions I have made. I went with the Synthesis ending, simply because it was the best option for letting the people I fought for survive in the best way possible. I knew before I even attacked the reapers, I was not planning on living. Shepard’s job was to do the best by her people. When I met with my crew on Earth, just before the final push, I was saying goodbye. That was my closure. Those people were there because of the decisions I made.

Spoiler free version: It wasn’t just about picking a path in the last 20 min of the game, it was about the entire journey. The ending of the game was DAYS long, not 20 min.
So, like I said, if you are unhappy with the ending, Go make yourself a multi-tiered epic video game and write your own ending. Bioware did right by me.

Of Websites and Podcasts And things

Posted by Steve on March 14, 2012 No comments

For the past few weeks I have been helping a friend work on his website. He was using an old Blogger site to post some incredible works and I knew that WordPress would help him get some better exposure and have a better design. So, having done some work on mine, and Sarah’s site, I thought I would lend a hand. So now I present to you, RetroNick.com! It’s a retro style gaming site where Nick talks about his collection of classic games and even some discussion on current games.

You may notice that in honor of the site relaunch, there is an inaugural podcast along with it! That’s right, the gang here decided to start up a podcast! The podcast is going to be mainly game oriented (with various antics, of course) but a lot of comparing new to old and how the industry is.

Well, we hope, that is.

Odds are it’s just going to be a bunch of guys drinking and talking about games. Only recorded. So check out RetroNick’s new site and maybe give the Podcast a listen!

The Single Play-through.

Posted by Steve on March 7, 2012 2 comments

The long awaited trilogy ender Mass Effect 3 came out yesterday. I picked up my copy from GameStop, pausing quickly to ensure the cover is set to FemShep, came home and got everything ready. I set about migrating over my save games from the previous ME games, just as I had done before. Thankfully, it didn’t take long since I only have the single character, the single play through. One run, one set of decisions, one story….my Shepard story.

Mass Effect is one of those epic adventures that BioWare has created to have a bazillion different choices along the way and different outcomes. They do this to increase the playability of the game. It’s a great idea and it makes the game full of possibilities. The problem I have with this is that the story is not done yet. I haven’t reached the end.

People have told me that it’s like reading a book more than once, or watching your favorite movie again. The difference being that, when I do that, it’s the same story. It hasn’t changed, branched off, turned evil. All of the decisions in the book/movie are the ones I enjoyed and delight in experiencing because they still lead in the direction of the ending.

Mass Effect allows you to change the path you take to the ending so drastically that it could be considered (and often is) a different story. This isn’t so bad except that I knew that it wasn’t over yet. Mass Effect 3 is supposed to be the ending we are all waiting for.

Imagine if you will, you are watching Star Wars: Episode IV. The first watch through is great, you are rooting for this young do-gooder Luke who flirts with Leia, crys over his aunt and uncles deaths and then goes off and helps the rebels win against the evil empire. Now, say you watch it again, only this time, Luke abandons his aunt and uncle, flirts with Chewbacca, sells out Han Solo to Jabba, and steals the Falcon to use on the Death Star run to blow up the Death Star, only to demand money from the rebels to do so.

Now you have to wait till Empire Strikes back comes out. You are now invested in two very different story lines. Yes, you can play them individually, but when it comes to an important decision in the next installment, The good side was ok, but the bad was so much fun and OH MY GOD WHAT DO I PICK?!?!?!

By playing through just the once, from 2007, when ME1 came out, to now, I have had one story. My Shepard story. I lived with my decisions, be they good or bad, I have made my choices, and lost a few people. When I wander around the ship, I get flashbacks to events that happened there. They are not muddled with other play-throughs, they are the memories of Shepard, they are my memories. No confusion, no regrets.

Now, I need to get back, apparently the world needs saving…..again.