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nano_mooseGames I Did Not Expect to Adore This Year: Mass Effect.
My brother just brought it home and threw it at me with the question, "You liked Knights of the Old Republic, right?" Which indeed I did! And I was instantly fascinated by being able to actually choose a background and create a face for my character, both of which are handled pretty effectively ingame (they have separate dialogue for each background and an unchangeable last name, 'Shepard'). (Look, shut up, multiplayer is the devil and so are PC RPGs.) So my Commander Shepard, orphaned ex-gang member from Earth and sole survivor of Akuze, set out to become Space Jesus because I'm incapable of being mean to people, wearing a face I had carefully crafted to look like a real person, albeit with an awesome eyebrow scar.
It's four days later. I have finished it, and yet it took an act of will to get up from the 360 and post about it. Some part of me is still itching to go back, because I have so much to do; colonies to save, signals to investigate, resources to survey, exploration, conversation. Seriously, you guys, help me.
(Why did they have to include an in-game encyclopedia? I'm just going to spend ridiculous amounts of time hunting down every entry and reading them as fast as I can in an attempt to escape the annoying voice-over and I'll end up spouting stunningly detailed backstory at people. Man, as if my boss and coworkers didn't already think I was maladjusted enough.)
The characters aren't quite as interesting as the KotOR d00ds, sadly. There's no HK or Jolee or Atton or Kreia, no crushingly bleak backstories or hilarious quirks. They also don't bicker with each other, or uh, interact much at all. But they are reasonably neat and I'm very fond of them; nerdy Liara (she's adorable!), frank Ashley, clever Tali, gruff Wrex, intense Garrus and watchful Kaiden.
Should you play it, try and imagine Garrus being a film noir detective. It works surprisingly well.
(Although I'm kinda pissed they didn't have individual idle animations, like HK-47's constant glancing in different directions, on the lookout for something to kill for his master. The player character has them, always stretching and loosening up, but nobody else. Blah.) In fact I'm going to talk about it out of parenthesis, because it is slightly annoying that the character with the most detail is the one with the least, er, character, that is, me. Maybe this is my fault (you try being consistent when the choice is between Good Deeds and Hilarious Dialogue!), but I know they're capable of better. It's no fun having an interesting player character without interesting people to interact with, unless the character is very strong indeed.
On the positive side, even the flat characters seem alive. It's the eyes. They have such expressive eyes. Oh, their hand gestures and head movements add a lot (Joker, my awesome pilot, has this sarcastic little headshake that never fails to make me smile) and their voices are all pitch-perfect, but their facial expressions - eyebrow lifts, slow blinks, long stares and sad gazes - add so much subtext. It made my inner animator jump for joy.
Oh, and Joker is voiced by Seth Green. Think about that for a moment.
Speaking of things that make me jump for joy, I have renewed my attempt to actually finish Final Freaking Fantasy XII, and Balthier is far more awesome than you will ever be. I knew I loved him from roughly the moment he opened his mouth. If he and Garrett ever were in the same room with each other, I, well, I'd probably be left a trembling heap from their combined withering scorn, but by god I'd be the happiest heap that ever there was.
(Fran and Viktoria can sit by and discuss being badass non-human-yet-hawt chicks teamed up with wisecracking criminals. ...IF THIS GAME KILLS FRAN I WILL BE EXTREMELY PISSED. DON'T KILL FRAN. THE SUM TOTAL OF HAWT IN THE UNIVERSE WOULD BE DEALT A FATAL BLOW.)
I love how completely, sublimely unimpressed Fran and Balthier are by Vaan. It's beautiful.
I don't think I'm very far yet! I just rescued totally-not-the-princess and am faffing around attempting to escape the dungeons and making fun of Vaan. The music is irritating and the combat system is strange - I get the feeling it'll open up as the game goes on, but I just came out of Mass Effect and its RPG Combat That Is Actually Fun, so it's taking some getting used to.
The writing, or localization, I guess, is excellent, however. I think I'd play on just for it.
My brother just brought it home and threw it at me with the question, "You liked Knights of the Old Republic, right?" Which indeed I did! And I was instantly fascinated by being able to actually choose a background and create a face for my character, both of which are handled pretty effectively ingame (they have separate dialogue for each background and an unchangeable last name, 'Shepard'). (Look, shut up, multiplayer is the devil and so are PC RPGs.) So my Commander Shepard, orphaned ex-gang member from Earth and sole survivor of Akuze, set out to become Space Jesus because I'm incapable of being mean to people, wearing a face I had carefully crafted to look like a real person, albeit with an awesome eyebrow scar.
It's four days later. I have finished it, and yet it took an act of will to get up from the 360 and post about it. Some part of me is still itching to go back, because I have so much to do; colonies to save, signals to investigate, resources to survey, exploration, conversation. Seriously, you guys, help me.
(Why did they have to include an in-game encyclopedia? I'm just going to spend ridiculous amounts of time hunting down every entry and reading them as fast as I can in an attempt to escape the annoying voice-over and I'll end up spouting stunningly detailed backstory at people. Man, as if my boss and coworkers didn't already think I was maladjusted enough.)
The characters aren't quite as interesting as the KotOR d00ds, sadly. There's no HK or Jolee or Atton or Kreia, no crushingly bleak backstories or hilarious quirks. They also don't bicker with each other, or uh, interact much at all. But they are reasonably neat and I'm very fond of them; nerdy Liara (she's adorable!), frank Ashley, clever Tali, gruff Wrex, intense Garrus and watchful Kaiden.
Should you play it, try and imagine Garrus being a film noir detective. It works surprisingly well.
(Although I'm kinda pissed they didn't have individual idle animations, like HK-47's constant glancing in different directions, on the lookout for something to kill for his master. The player character has them, always stretching and loosening up, but nobody else. Blah.) In fact I'm going to talk about it out of parenthesis, because it is slightly annoying that the character with the most detail is the one with the least, er, character, that is, me. Maybe this is my fault (you try being consistent when the choice is between Good Deeds and Hilarious Dialogue!), but I know they're capable of better. It's no fun having an interesting player character without interesting people to interact with, unless the character is very strong indeed.
On the positive side, even the flat characters seem alive. It's the eyes. They have such expressive eyes. Oh, their hand gestures and head movements add a lot (Joker, my awesome pilot, has this sarcastic little headshake that never fails to make me smile) and their voices are all pitch-perfect, but their facial expressions - eyebrow lifts, slow blinks, long stares and sad gazes - add so much subtext. It made my inner animator jump for joy.
Oh, and Joker is voiced by Seth Green. Think about that for a moment.
Speaking of things that make me jump for joy, I have renewed my attempt to actually finish Final Freaking Fantasy XII, and Balthier is far more awesome than you will ever be. I knew I loved him from roughly the moment he opened his mouth. If he and Garrett ever were in the same room with each other, I, well, I'd probably be left a trembling heap from their combined withering scorn, but by god I'd be the happiest heap that ever there was.
(Fran and Viktoria can sit by and discuss being badass non-human-yet-hawt chicks teamed up with wisecracking criminals. ...IF THIS GAME KILLS FRAN I WILL BE EXTREMELY PISSED. DON'T KILL FRAN. THE SUM TOTAL OF HAWT IN THE UNIVERSE WOULD BE DEALT A FATAL BLOW.)
I love how completely, sublimely unimpressed Fran and Balthier are by Vaan. It's beautiful.
I don't think I'm very far yet! I just rescued totally-not-the-princess and am faffing around attempting to escape the dungeons and making fun of Vaan. The music is irritating and the combat system is strange - I get the feeling it'll open up as the game goes on, but I just came out of Mass Effect and its RPG Combat That Is Actually Fun, so it's taking some getting used to.
The writing, or localization, I guess, is excellent, however. I think I'd play on just for it.
