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Mass Effect: Andromeda - review
Apr. 8th, 2018 08:16 pmI love the Mass Effect trilogy. It’s one of my favourite stories; one of my most treasured narratives. I’ve spoken about it extensively here, so (given that I think I have to admit the effective dormancy of this journal), it seems right to resurrect this place in order to add my thoughts about Mass Effect: Andromeda. In short, I am disappoint.
Listen, I’m not here to yell at anyone for what they love. The cliff’s notes version is that I enjoyed the game enough to finish it, but kept waiting for plot resolutions and thematic coherency that never arrived. Sadly, the longer I sat with the story after I had finished it, the more it frustrated me. Basically because it’s colonialist as all hell and half the plot is never resolved.
If that’s not something you want to read, that’s cool. You may disagree with me. You may agree with me and like it anyway. I am all about being able to love and critique at the same time. You are glorious, savvy media consumers and none of you need a permit to operate this game responsibly.
But, If you want to follow me down a rabbit hole of frustration and disappointment, read on. (Safety spoiler: don’t worry about me, I still love the original trilogy.)
(Spoilers spoiler: spoilers for the whole game.)
( Lol, colonialism. )
( Lol, plot. )
That’s how I felt about a lot of the characters in Mass Effect: Andromeda. They couldn’t hate me, not really, because they were NPCs.
And the plot was frustrating.
And it was colonialist as hell.
And I guess that’s about all I have to say about the game.
Listen, I’m not here to yell at anyone for what they love. The cliff’s notes version is that I enjoyed the game enough to finish it, but kept waiting for plot resolutions and thematic coherency that never arrived. Sadly, the longer I sat with the story after I had finished it, the more it frustrated me. Basically because it’s colonialist as all hell and half the plot is never resolved.
If that’s not something you want to read, that’s cool. You may disagree with me. You may agree with me and like it anyway. I am all about being able to love and critique at the same time. You are glorious, savvy media consumers and none of you need a permit to operate this game responsibly.
But, If you want to follow me down a rabbit hole of frustration and disappointment, read on. (Safety spoiler: don’t worry about me, I still love the original trilogy.)
(Spoilers spoiler: spoilers for the whole game.)
( Lol, colonialism. )
( Lol, plot. )
That’s how I felt about a lot of the characters in Mass Effect: Andromeda. They couldn’t hate me, not really, because they were NPCs.
And the plot was frustrating.
And it was colonialist as hell.
And I guess that’s about all I have to say about the game.
HOME STRETCH! Might we actually finish this today? Goodness! (And what shall I post about next...)
( 26. Place You Would Most Like To Visit )
( 27. Favourite OST Track. )
( 28. Destroy, Control or Synthesis? )
( 29. What Would You Like To See Next? )
( 29.1. Fanwork Recs! )
( 30. Overall Opinion on the Mass Effect Trilogy. )
Now if only they'd release the whole bloody thing with all the DLC on the disc. I WOULD PAY MONEY FOR THAT. But it'll probably get released as a remastered version for the XBone 180. BOOOOO. Ahem. ;)
( 26. Place You Would Most Like To Visit )
( 27. Favourite OST Track. )
( 28. Destroy, Control or Synthesis? )
( 29. What Would You Like To See Next? )
( 29.1. Fanwork Recs! )
( 30. Overall Opinion on the Mass Effect Trilogy. )
Now if only they'd release the whole bloody thing with all the DLC on the disc. I WOULD PAY MONEY FOR THAT. But it'll probably get released as a remastered version for the XBone 180. BOOOOO. Ahem. ;)
30 Days of Mass Effect: Days 24 & 25
Jul. 17th, 2013 10:29 pmYup, this meme is still ensuring I don't go radio silent for like, a year. But also, hoorah! Almost to the end!
Basically I've just been coping with STUPID HEAT and a few other things, nothing dramatic. I do finally have some other things I want to be posting about! Pacific Rim! Welcome to Night Vale! But I'm also too hot and greedy at seeing the end of this meme in sight, so I think I'll press on with this, and talk about those other things shortly.
But! EVERYONE GO SEE PACIFIC RIM BECAUSE OF IDRIS ELBA AND MAKO MORI. YES I KNOW I JUST USED ONE ACTOR'S NAME AND ONE CHARACTER NAME. THAT'S HOW I ROLL.
( 24. Opinion on the Genophage. )
( 25. Opinion on the Geth/Quarian Conflict. )
Which I think ends this section. WE ARE NEARING THE END.
Basically I've just been coping with STUPID HEAT and a few other things, nothing dramatic. I do finally have some other things I want to be posting about! Pacific Rim! Welcome to Night Vale! But I'm also too hot and greedy at seeing the end of this meme in sight, so I think I'll press on with this, and talk about those other things shortly.
But! EVERYONE GO SEE PACIFIC RIM BECAUSE OF IDRIS ELBA AND MAKO MORI. YES I KNOW I JUST USED ONE ACTOR'S NAME AND ONE CHARACTER NAME. THAT'S HOW I ROLL.
( 24. Opinion on the Genophage. )
( 25. Opinion on the Geth/Quarian Conflict. )
Which I think ends this section. WE ARE NEARING THE END.
MAN, this meme kind of failed as a way to get me to keep posting, huh? But dammit, I will finish it, for myself if nothing else!
I've been a bit scarce on the ground lately just because of life and crap. You know those parts of your life where you're just so battered by the complicated, ingrained...patternedness of it, you realise you've completely lost your ability to be objective about it. Like, you cope as well as you can and make the best decisions you can but you honestly have no idea if you're reacting to reality or a wounded perception of it. What do you do when stuff gets like that? There's probably not that much you can do. People outside the situation don't see its intricacies. Your eyes see things upside down and your brain flips them around and edits out the delay between seeing the information and processing it. All we ever see is an interpretation of reality.
So. Anyway. Let's talk about a different one.
( 18. Best Protagonist (NPC) )
( 19. Best Antagonist )
( 20. Best Part of the Game )
( 21. Worst Part of the Game )
DONE!
I've been a bit scarce on the ground lately just because of life and crap. You know those parts of your life where you're just so battered by the complicated, ingrained...patternedness of it, you realise you've completely lost your ability to be objective about it. Like, you cope as well as you can and make the best decisions you can but you honestly have no idea if you're reacting to reality or a wounded perception of it. What do you do when stuff gets like that? There's probably not that much you can do. People outside the situation don't see its intricacies. Your eyes see things upside down and your brain flips them around and edits out the delay between seeing the information and processing it. All we ever see is an interpretation of reality.
So. Anyway. Let's talk about a different one.
( 18. Best Protagonist (NPC) )
( 19. Best Antagonist )
( 20. Best Part of the Game )
( 21. Worst Part of the Game )
DONE!
30 Days of Mass Effect: Day 16 & 17
Jun. 13th, 2013 10:45 pmHELLLOOOOO.
So this was on hiatus for longer than planned. Basically Vidukon happened and then stuff got busy *waves hands* but hopefully I'll be back to regular, if not daily, updates on this thing until I finish it, because I have actually been enjoying doing it. Hooray for all the Mass Effects.
( 16. Favourite DLC. )
( 17. Worst Mission/Loyalty Quest/Side-Mission )
So this was on hiatus for longer than planned. Basically Vidukon happened and then stuff got busy *waves hands* but hopefully I'll be back to regular, if not daily, updates on this thing until I finish it, because I have actually been enjoying doing it. Hooray for all the Mass Effects.
( 16. Favourite DLC. )
( 17. Worst Mission/Loyalty Quest/Side-Mission )
Mass Effect Footage: Opinions Sought?
May. 21st, 2013 05:23 pmOKAY SO.
Man, I have been busy. VIDUKON! In general I'm glad to say that I think most people had a good time, and hopefully the few things that did not go, err, smoothly, will be worked out at future cons, since people did seem keen to have another one. Which is aces! Also it really was awesome to get to meet a bunch of people for the first time, and to see a bunch of others returning - it started to feel...familiar, like a reunion, and that was nice.
Hopefully in the next few days I'll actually get together a bunch of recs and perhaps a slightly longer report on things.
But for now, because I am impulsive and stressed and realised (a) I have slightly more money than I thought this month and (b) you can, actually, buy a small HDTV for less than a hundred quid these days, I am...somewhat seriously considering getting one and then capping my own Mass Effect footage. So far I've been using generic walkthroughs from YouTube, which are fine as far as they go. Problem is not everything is easily available, and bluntly, I end up manufacturing a bunch of it myself with masking different sources together and it's sort of a nightmare. And I would like to be able to just...clip myself a standard library with all the major variations.
I mean, it's a stupidly huge undertaking either way. But.
HYPOTHETICALLY. IF I DID IT. Here is my dilemma:
What Shepard do I use?
No, no, of COURSE I mean Femshep, but what I mean is. I've been using what is, essentially, an amalgamation of the two default Femsheps throughout the series because it's generic enough it was easier to source footage and I didn't feel like I was ripping off anyone's custom Shep.
I also don't want to use either of my Sheps because, well, I don't particularly think I'll be vidding their journeys?
But I guess I have residual bitterness from that stupid competition they ran for the ME3 default face when of COURSE the generic blonde, white chick won. (And then they didn't even stick with that because they went back to the red hair which if they had to change the default model part way through at least they stuck with that much. *sigh*)
But on the other other hand, I do think there's something useful about using a character model that is as close to the "default" version as possible. We all have our custom Sheps, but we also all recognise Sheploo (man I hate that name, makes me giggle EVERY time) and a shaggy-haired redhead as "Shepard" too.
Especially the few vids I have actively planned, I kind of...don't want to necessarily read as though they're the adventures of someone's personal Shepard, but rather explorations of her as an archetype.
Which in turn brings us back to the unavoidable fact that the fact "default" Shepard is a white dude is all kinds of ist, and making her a chick only solves one of them. :/
I'm kind of leaning towards keeping the model I've used for my previous vids for consistency and because she's more recognisable. And that iconicness is actually pretty important to me. I want to vid...varying versions of the pop culture icon, not my game's playthrough. So, you know, I kind of want to stick with the Default (or as close as possible with Femshep since they kept changing it).
But I'm not totally comfortable with the way I'm leaning. Cus there's no avoiding the underlying reasons for how the default looks. Should I just jailbreak this thing and make an awesome new Femshep for vids purposes (including possibly remastering Machine into higher quality)?
EITHER WAY THIS WILL PROBABLY TAKE YEARS. o.O
[ETA! I should also say, if I do this, I would totally be willing to share footage with any other fine folks who wished to vid ME...]
Man, I have been busy. VIDUKON! In general I'm glad to say that I think most people had a good time, and hopefully the few things that did not go, err, smoothly, will be worked out at future cons, since people did seem keen to have another one. Which is aces! Also it really was awesome to get to meet a bunch of people for the first time, and to see a bunch of others returning - it started to feel...familiar, like a reunion, and that was nice.
Hopefully in the next few days I'll actually get together a bunch of recs and perhaps a slightly longer report on things.
But for now, because I am impulsive and stressed and realised (a) I have slightly more money than I thought this month and (b) you can, actually, buy a small HDTV for less than a hundred quid these days, I am...somewhat seriously considering getting one and then capping my own Mass Effect footage. So far I've been using generic walkthroughs from YouTube, which are fine as far as they go. Problem is not everything is easily available, and bluntly, I end up manufacturing a bunch of it myself with masking different sources together and it's sort of a nightmare. And I would like to be able to just...clip myself a standard library with all the major variations.
I mean, it's a stupidly huge undertaking either way. But.
HYPOTHETICALLY. IF I DID IT. Here is my dilemma:
What Shepard do I use?
No, no, of COURSE I mean Femshep, but what I mean is. I've been using what is, essentially, an amalgamation of the two default Femsheps throughout the series because it's generic enough it was easier to source footage and I didn't feel like I was ripping off anyone's custom Shep.
I also don't want to use either of my Sheps because, well, I don't particularly think I'll be vidding their journeys?
But I guess I have residual bitterness from that stupid competition they ran for the ME3 default face when of COURSE the generic blonde, white chick won. (And then they didn't even stick with that because they went back to the red hair which if they had to change the default model part way through at least they stuck with that much. *sigh*)
But on the other other hand, I do think there's something useful about using a character model that is as close to the "default" version as possible. We all have our custom Sheps, but we also all recognise Sheploo (man I hate that name, makes me giggle EVERY time) and a shaggy-haired redhead as "Shepard" too.
Especially the few vids I have actively planned, I kind of...don't want to necessarily read as though they're the adventures of someone's personal Shepard, but rather explorations of her as an archetype.
Which in turn brings us back to the unavoidable fact that the fact "default" Shepard is a white dude is all kinds of ist, and making her a chick only solves one of them. :/
I'm kind of leaning towards keeping the model I've used for my previous vids for consistency and because she's more recognisable. And that iconicness is actually pretty important to me. I want to vid...varying versions of the pop culture icon, not my game's playthrough. So, you know, I kind of want to stick with the Default (or as close as possible with Femshep since they kept changing it).
But I'm not totally comfortable with the way I'm leaning. Cus there's no avoiding the underlying reasons for how the default looks. Should I just jailbreak this thing and make an awesome new Femshep for vids purposes (including possibly remastering Machine into higher quality)?
EITHER WAY THIS WILL PROBABLY TAKE YEARS. o.O
[ETA! I should also say, if I do this, I would totally be willing to share footage with any other fine folks who wished to vid ME...]
Title: With Blood
Video: Mass Effect 1 + 2 + 3// Bioware
Audio: Bleeding Out // Imagine Dragons
Summary: All Shepards choose to save you.
Vidder's Notes: Vidukon 2013 Premiere!
Password: vidses
Direct download available here. RightClickSaveAs. 85 megs approx.
Cross-posted to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
vidding and ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
vidding and masseffect and bioware. So basically everywhere...?
Other vids available here.
Video: Mass Effect 1 + 2 + 3// Bioware
Audio: Bleeding Out // Imagine Dragons
Summary: All Shepards choose to save you.
Vidder's Notes: Vidukon 2013 Premiere!
Password: vidses
Direct download available here. RightClickSaveAs. 85 megs approx.
Cross-posted to
vidding and vidding and masseffect and bioware. So basically everywhere...?Other vids available here.
OKAY! So first a very important announcement - tightpresent - the Sarah Connor Chronicles Vid Exchange is LIVE! Behold 16 vids all for TSCC! I haven't had a chance to watch them all yet, but two were made just for meeeee and they're lovely! I'm sure the rest are too - go look!
Really, participating in this was so interesting - but I feel like I can't talk about it without potentially giving away my vid, so I'm gonna maybe do a retrospective and stuff after the reveals next week. But really, go check this out!
( Day 13: Favourite Storyline Mission )
( Day 14: Favourite Loyalty Mission )
( Day 15: Favourite Side Mission )
Really, participating in this was so interesting - but I feel like I can't talk about it without potentially giving away my vid, so I'm gonna maybe do a retrospective and stuff after the reveals next week. But really, go check this out!
( Day 13: Favourite Storyline Mission )
( Day 14: Favourite Loyalty Mission )
( Day 15: Favourite Side Mission )
Tags:
30 Days of Mass Effect: Day 9 & 10
May. 7th, 2013 11:07 pmI'm continuing my grouping strategy, and this does at least seem to be getting me to post more often, which I like, though I'm failing to tack on additional things into these posts. That said, nothing much additional, other than continuing to hope I'm doing all the Right Things to make sure Vidukon goes off without a hitch, has been going on. So maybe that's why. ANYWAY!
( Day 9: Favourite Romance )
( Day 10: Least Favourite Romance )
And okay! That wraps up the romance edition...
( Day 9: Favourite Romance )
( Day 10: Least Favourite Romance )
And okay! That wraps up the romance edition...
30 Days of Mass Effect: Day 8
May. 5th, 2013 11:09 pmDay 8!
( Day 8: Least Favourite Companion )
So, anyway. I suppose that's not my "least favourite" so much as my "most disappointing", but it's probably more interesting to talk about all of this than to say, "Zaeed. Cus I think he's pretty boring and if I want awesome war stories, I'll go back and play KOTOR and listen to Canderous Ordo."
( Day 8: Least Favourite Companion )
So, anyway. I suppose that's not my "least favourite" so much as my "most disappointing", but it's probably more interesting to talk about all of this than to say, "Zaeed. Cus I think he's pretty boring and if I want awesome war stories, I'll go back and play KOTOR and listen to Canderous Ordo."
30 Days of Mass Effect: Days 5, 6 & 7
May. 4th, 2013 02:51 pmOkay, I'm apparently grouping these answers...
( Day 5: Favourite Companion )
( Day 6: Favourite Male Companion )
( Day 7: Favourite Female Companion )
( Day 5: Favourite Companion )
( Day 6: Favourite Male Companion )
( Day 7: Favourite Female Companion )
30 Days of Mass Effect: Days 3 & 4
May. 1st, 2013 05:29 pmCUS I'M BEHIND ALREADY BABY! But that's okay, these will take less time to answer than the others. :)
( Day 3: Favourite Class? )
( Day 4: Paragon or Renegade? )
( Day 3: Favourite Class? )
( Day 4: Paragon or Renegade? )
30 Days of Mass Effect: Day 2
Apr. 29th, 2013 10:46 pmAhahahaah and already I'm skirting the edges of the deadline and it's only day 2. But whatever, 'tis meant to be fun, and I was only late due to 1) squaring away some stuff for Vidukon, which, for once, went all smoothly and stuff, so that was nice and 2) watching Defiance, which...to be honest with you is not very good but reminds me of 90s scifi in a way that makes me fairly kindly disposed towards it anyway, although I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to keep up.
ANYWAYS:
( Day 2: Male or Female Shepard? Why? )
:D
ANYWAYS:
( Day 2: Male or Female Shepard? Why? )
:D
Hey guys, so this post serves a twofold purpose. Firstly to just apologise for my general uselessness at being around online lately. I started a new job at the start of the month, and it's a job that requires me to communicate in my second language, which I haven't used regularly in about a decade, so that's been adding an extra level of mental tiredness I think, as I get used to functioning bilingually again. I mean, it's good because the quality of my Welsh was straight-up depressing and it's something I want to fix, but it's also tiring and tied up with a lot of feelings of inadequacy and...stuff.
We're also less than a month out from Vidukon, and it's actually taking up more of my time and attention than I'd've thought, though you know, at least it's going towards (HOPEFULLY) an awesome convention at the end of it.
Plus K finally returned to work a few months ago, and for various reasons THIS month has been really heavy on the work front for him with a lot of extra hours he's been trying to handle rather than asking for a reduction. He's been brilliant, really, handling it really well, but it has been hard for him at times and he's needed some more time and attention and stuff, just...one more source of stress and business and stuff.
I think that's part of it is just that I'm tired a lot. So many changes, new things, slightly scary things, things that require mental attention - when I do have free time I find myself just zoning out and switching off and not having the mental focus to engage in detailed conversation or write updates for here or what-have-you. Suddenly weeks have gone past. o.O I'm sure it'll all even out eventually.
For now, I apologise for my erratic presence - but know I love you all! I'm hopelessly out of date with my flist, so if I've missed anything important, please DO let me know!
Meanwhile - in an attempt to generate some content and have some lighthearted fun, for the interested - I'm going to do that Mass Effect 30 Day Meme! Cus that should be manageable, right?
So yeah, I'm gonna try and actually do it! A post a day for 30 days! And sorry to anyone who doesn't care about Mass Effect (i.e. most of you!), but who knows, it may also inspire me to actually post other stuff about what's going on with my life, or like, be in touch with you all and things. *crosses fingers*
HERE WE GO.
( 30 Days - List of Days )
( Day 1! )
We're also less than a month out from Vidukon, and it's actually taking up more of my time and attention than I'd've thought, though you know, at least it's going towards (HOPEFULLY) an awesome convention at the end of it.
Plus K finally returned to work a few months ago, and for various reasons THIS month has been really heavy on the work front for him with a lot of extra hours he's been trying to handle rather than asking for a reduction. He's been brilliant, really, handling it really well, but it has been hard for him at times and he's needed some more time and attention and stuff, just...one more source of stress and business and stuff.
I think that's part of it is just that I'm tired a lot. So many changes, new things, slightly scary things, things that require mental attention - when I do have free time I find myself just zoning out and switching off and not having the mental focus to engage in detailed conversation or write updates for here or what-have-you. Suddenly weeks have gone past. o.O I'm sure it'll all even out eventually.
For now, I apologise for my erratic presence - but know I love you all! I'm hopelessly out of date with my flist, so if I've missed anything important, please DO let me know!
Meanwhile - in an attempt to generate some content and have some lighthearted fun, for the interested - I'm going to do that Mass Effect 30 Day Meme! Cus that should be manageable, right?
So yeah, I'm gonna try and actually do it! A post a day for 30 days! And sorry to anyone who doesn't care about Mass Effect (i.e. most of you!), but who knows, it may also inspire me to actually post other stuff about what's going on with my life, or like, be in touch with you all and things. *crosses fingers*
HERE WE GO.
( 30 Days - List of Days )
( Day 1! )
Back in March, after finishing Mass Effect 3, I wrote a bit about how I loved it, but mostly I wrote around the bits I really wanted to address. Partly, I was lazy. Partly, well, I think people thirty fandoms away heard the sound of the Mass Effect fandom rending itself to shreds. Anyway, I finally finished – here's my take on why the ending works and why a lot of people didn't like it.
If you hated it and really don't want to read a gabillion words about the brilliance of expounded themes, that's cool – you couldn't pay me to rewatch Jeremy Jahns either. I salute you with respect and give you permission to scroll on by.
( But for anyone who is interested, that was fucking brilliance. )
Which seems a good note to end on.
If you hated it and really don't want to read a gabillion words about the brilliance of expounded themes, that's cool – you couldn't pay me to rewatch Jeremy Jahns either. I salute you with respect and give you permission to scroll on by.
( But for anyone who is interested, that was fucking brilliance. )
Which seems a good note to end on.
I was supposed to be writing a thoughtful entry about my ongoing Once Upon A Time thoughts before the series starts up again, but apparently, instead, I'm going to tell you the trials and tribulations of my attempts at any kind of romance in the Mass Effect games.
These games have, in no particular order, tricked me into being straight, tricked me into being gay, tricked me into cheating, tricked me into monogamy, tricked me into sleeping with a succession of space racists, blackmailed me into an affair with my secretary and MURDERED MY FISH.
...I've been meaning to chronicle the tale for some time.
( THE HUMANITY. )
And thus ends my cautionary tale.
♥
These games have, in no particular order, tricked me into being straight, tricked me into being gay, tricked me into cheating, tricked me into monogamy, tricked me into sleeping with a succession of space racists, blackmailed me into an affair with my secretary and MURDERED MY FISH.
...I've been meaning to chronicle the tale for some time.
( THE HUMANITY. )
And thus ends my cautionary tale.
♥
Vid: Machine [Mass Effect]
May. 26th, 2012 04:41 pmThis premiered at the WisCon Vid Party last night! :D
Title: Machine
Video: Mass Effect // Bioware
Audio: Machine // Regina Spektor
Summary: The war is in your body. The future is here. The future is a machine.
Notes: Spoilers for all three games. Vid features close variations on the default FemShep model from ME1 & ME2 (due to impossibility of using prior footage with the default from 3). With many thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cosmic_llin for the song inspiration.
Direct download available here. 94 megs approx. RightClickSaveAs.
Password: vidses
Cross-posted tovidding and masseffect [link]
Other vids available here.
Title: Machine
Video: Mass Effect // Bioware
Audio: Machine // Regina Spektor
Summary: The war is in your body. The future is here. The future is a machine.
Notes: Spoilers for all three games. Vid features close variations on the default FemShep model from ME1 & ME2 (due to impossibility of using prior footage with the default from 3). With many thanks to
cosmic_llin for the song inspiration. Direct download available here. 94 megs approx. RightClickSaveAs.
Password: vidses
Cross-posted to
vidding and masseffect [link]Other vids available here.
