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Finishing up First Playthrough of Mass Effect 1
Sorry I took so long to get to this. My last post had me finding out that the Reapers were actually the most ancient species I’ve heard about until now. And after my face off with Saren on Virmire, I thought I’d have to chase him to Ilos to finish the game. But, nope,…
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First Playthrough of Mass Effect (Part 3)
Last time I blogged about Mass Effect, I had just finished up with a planet where a plant was controlling everyone. After that I did my first real tour of my ship to go talk to all the people who had joined my crew. I got to sneak up on Ash talking to her sister…
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First Playthrough of Mass Effect (Part 2)
Sometimes I think what I want is Mass Effect: The Laserdisc game. I love the story and I love the Codex entries. Just getting completely engrossed in the Mass Effect world. What I don’t enjoy is the fighting. This isn’t because I’m bad at it. My cover-based shooter noob days are long behind me with…
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First Playthough of Mass Effect Part 1
I recently bought Mass Effect in a Steam sale that knocked the price of Bioware’s RPG to $5. Thanks yet again to the guys at the Giant Bombcast (seriously, this is the second or third I’ve bought because of them and fourth or fifth from podcast recommendations), I’d wanted to play the game, but…
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Review: Chilling Effect
Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes My rating: 4 of 5 stars Description in one line? Cowboy Bebop meets Mass Effect with a Cuban protagonist. I grew up in Miami, Florida so having a main character speak in “spanglish” brings me back to my childhood. The narrator also nails the voice of our main character, Eva.…
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2023 Game of the Year
In my 2022 year-end blog post, I thought I was going to focus more on finishing up the narrative video games I started in the prior years. I definitely made some good progress on Disco Elysium, but not nearly as much as I wanted. I didn’t finish any of the narrative games. In January, I…
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2022 in Video Games and 2022 Video Game of the Year
1. Gwent (1 day, 5:50:44): Around May I found out that CD Projekt Red had changed the rules around the Gwent Journey, so that journeys were no longer time-bound. This meant I no longer felt pressured to play every day in order to progress. Freed from feeling forced to play, I once again caught the…
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Reviews: The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokemon – The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World; Food Processor Perfection: 75 Amazing Ways to Use the Most Powerful Tool in Your Kitchen; Planet Barbecue!: 309 Recipes, 60 Countries; Prepare to Meet Thy Doom: And More True Gaming Stories; Abaddon’s Gate; Damnation Alley ; The Improbable Rise of Singularity Girl; The Perfect Cookie: Your Ultimate Guide to Foolproof Cookies, Brownies, and Bars; Words of Radiance
The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokemon – The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World by Steven L. Kent My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a very comprehensive look at the history of video games going way, way back. I’m familiar with a lot…
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Review: Put this in your brain
Put this in your brain by Stu Norvath My rating: 3 of 5 stars As usual, a collection of my status updates. Overall a good set of essays. Some deeper than others. Intro – Neat intro by a member of MCR about the role that games play in our lives “Backward Flow” – About Dune…
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Review: Dune
Dune by Frank Herbert My rating: 3 of 5 stars Well, that was quite a journey – both in the amount of time it took me to finish the book and in the scope of the book itself. I guess I’ll consider it in that order. This book, like all sci fi books that deviate…
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Review: Old Man’s War Boxed Set 1
Old Man’s War Boxed Set 1 by John Scalzi My rating: 5 of 5 stars I have rapidly become a Scalzi fanboy. I’m proof of the sentiment behind Scalzi’s new $3 million deal – when someone reads one Scalzi book, they read them all. I don’t believe it discounts what I’m going to say, but…
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Why I think GOG Galaxy is a Good Thing
If I mentioned it on this site, I wasn’t able to find it in a search because of the generic word, but I was very annoyed and pretty upset about EA’s Origin store and platform. Part of what I enjoy so much about playing PC games is that the only limitations on what you can…
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Video Games Report March 2014
The Witcher (15 hours) Assassin’s Creed was the first game series Vinnie of Giant Bomb convinced me to try by talking about it endlessly on the Bombcast. The Witcher is the second. (This is why I miss his voice on that podcast so much) It has turned out to be a lot more fun than…
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Spending Time as a Female in a Physics Puzzle Game
Gender is a pretty interesting concept when it comes to video games. Putting aside “Choose Your Own Adventure” books, video games are unique in that the players are active in constructing the narrative. Some games, like puzzle games don’t REALLY have a narrative (but that doesn’t mean my brothers and I didn’t come up with…
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2012 Video Games Report and Game of the Year
First of all, a quick reminder that my Game of the Year doesn’t necessarily have to come out in 2012. Because I don’t have the time to dedicate to video games, the price premium of buying it new rarely makes sense to me. So my Game of the Year will be my favorite game that…