Duchess of Evil

It's been a bit since I posted! That means, time for a bullet list update!

Things I have been up to, or whatever:

~ I am just seven short weeks from being DONE with school. I've started dreaming about writing fiction again, instead of academic papers. No lie.

~ Mass Effect 3. 6 DAYS, BABY!! In the meantime, I have been playing the demo, which is shockingly AWESOME. Maybe I should explain that statement, since I've obviously been anticipating 'awesome' with this game for quite some time. So, the demo is a couple of very short excerpts from the campaign, and then two multiplayer maps to play coop with up to four people. Honestly, I thought I would dislike the multiplayer aspect, or at the very least be completely intimidated and/or bored by it. I mean, I've watched the husband play games online for years. Running around in a party and killing things for hours on end seems REALLY BORING to me. Where's the story? I play games for story and characters and escapism. Shooting things is just...shooting things. But then I finished the small campaign sections and wanted MORE, so I went and ahead and checked out multiplayer, you know, just for fun...and I totally LOVE IT. I don't know if it's because it's Mass Effect, and I'm already predisposed to love the world and the different classes and abilities, or what, but I totally freaking love it. I have several male friends who play, all of whom are veterans of the very similar multiplayer/combat style of the Gears of War franchise, not to mention many, MANY FPS games, and they were all very kind about my first few maps, wherein they would all earn our group TONS of XP, and then there was me, with like, 2k if I was really, really lucky. And I died a lot and they had to revive me. But then, I discovered the sniper rifle, and I started racking up the kills, and gaining experience, and one time I even managed to be the top most earning player on our team!! It was an exciting moment for me. 

Anyway, I actually understand the husband's obsession with online play for the first time. It's not like I ever gave him any crud about it or anything. I'm not one of those wives who begrudges her husband xbox time. I just thought "not my cuppa". BUT, I kinda get it now. Plus, I get to play other races. I totally forgot how fun that small section was in ME2 where you very briefly play a Krogan. I'm leveling up a Krogan soldier right now and it's awesome! He says all of these Krogan-gruff things, and in melee he head-butts the enemy to death, because he's just that badass. What I REALLY want to unlock, though, is the Asari adept class. I can't seem to do it, but I WANT TO so badly! Statis! Plus, playing an Asari! Just super cool. 

Anyway, I have been counting down the days for ME3's release. I cannot wait. I have no doubt after playing the demo, that the game will live up to and possibly exceed all of my expectations. The Kinect controls are freaking cool - "Garrus, concussive shot" "Liara, Singularity". Saying it, and having your squad mates act is a very nice feature. I'm a little "meh" about the Vega character. I'm kind of like "why the hell do we need another human soldier-type?" We already have Kaidan and presumably Jacob. And in the demo, it seems like we start the game with Vega and Shepard already being fast friends. IDK, I feel kind of like he's being forced on us, and I don't really care about him. I care about characters I've already played with and love. 

Speaking of love, I read somewhere that something like 70% of players were not true to their ME1 romance, and stepped out with someone else in ME2, which is supposed to have consequences in ME3. (I was true to Kaidan, which is supposed to have a big payoff in ME3. Honestly, I was mad enough about how they handled him in ME2 that I totally intended to cheat. And then somehow got to the end of the game and hadn't...) Anyway, I read this interview with the head writer for ME3, where the (female) interviewer commented that she romanced Kaidan in ME1, but Thane in ME2, and she asked how that was going to affect her gameplay in ME3, and his comment was basically "Good luck with that." He was a little nicer, but really that's pretty much what he said. Now I kind of wish I had another playthrough I could import where I had been with Thane, and I could see what happens. I'm guessing that the two romances will make Shepard choose, but with Bioware there could easily be something much more cruel up their collective sleeve. Like...choosing which one lives!

Wow, so I should really shut up now and move on to something non-Mass Effect related. Suffice to say, I am VERY EXCITED about this coming Tuesday!

~ Um...where was I? Oh, right. So, apparently we are supposed to get snow tonight. It's been like an earl spring here, and now, tonight it's supposed to freeze and snow. We shall see.

~ Pet updates: Zoey's kink in her neck has stopped hurting her, but she has developed a totally severe front leg limp. I even took her to a dog chiropractor at the local dog show last weekend, who confirmed she has a neck issue and that could easily be causing the limp. She worked on her, and we'll see, but she may have to go back to the vet. We are out of pain pills/muscle relaxers, and the problem is still there. 

As for Julius, the vet did the promised follow-up look at his bottom two fangs, which were uncomfortably rubbing his upper lip after his previous dental surgery, and reluctantly concluded the only thing to do for his comfort was to pull them. VERY graciously, the vet did this FOR FREE. I know. Super nice. I am going to bake cinnamon rolls as a thank you and bring them in next week. Anyway, he gets sent home, no cone of shame this time, and a couple of days later there is this horrible smell on him. Like, we think maybe he got some litter box leavings rubbed into his coat. Only I gave him a bath (much to both his and my dismay), and the smell was still there. And suddenly he starts acting all lethargic, and it dawns on me, the smell is an indication of infection! So I get some antibiotics from the vet, and now he is doing much, much better. The horrible smell is gone, and he is starting to act like his old self again. Hopefully he'll be a healthy cat for a long, long time now!

~ Um, I think that's it for now. New jewelry photos coming sometime soon. 

So, I got Skyrim for Christmas. Overall, The Elder Scrolls series is a completely different style of RPG from my first and forever loves, the Mass Effect series and Dragon Age. That said, I loved Morrowind when I played it. I never finished it, because the game and world are so huge and open. You can literally interact with everyone and everything, and there are sooooo many side stories and whatnot that I just never finished the main quest before Oblivion came out. (I was also somewhat hampered by the endless traveling. Ugh. My direction sense sucks in the real world. I am here to tell you, it isn't any better in the game world. And when trying to find a way around super tall mountains, constantly being attacked by random annoying creatures, well...let's just say fast travel in Skyrim is one of my favorite parts.) Now, Oblivion was a major let down for me. Maybe my expectations were just super high after Morrowind, but it was, frankly, an ugly game. The characters were utter cardboard cut-outs, and hurt the eyes to look at. The inventory system was cumbersome. The voice acting was repetitive, largely because every other NPC seemed to have the same voice. I lost interest very quickly, and never picked it up again. 

Five or so years later, Skyrim comes out. In the intervening years, Bioware has owned my soul with their story-driven way of designing RPGs. I wasn't sure Bethesda could compete, honestly, and so instead of buying Skyrim right away, I put it on my Christmas list and waited. It is definitely a fun and engaging game to while away the months while I wait for my much-anticipated ME3. However, the characters cannot hold a candle to Bioware on their worst day, and the story is, while a cool "hook" not very story-driven. But the game is flat out gorgeous, and there is something fun about playing it. I even get a kick out of hunting deer and collecting plants to make potions with. Like Morrowind, I could easily lose myself in all the side quests and interactions, and avoid the main quest entirely. (I am making a concerted effort not to, however.) Does it compare to a Bioware RPG? No. The two are entirely different beasts. But it is fun, and I am enjoying playing.

That said, when March 6th roles around, my already-paid for pre-order of ME3 will take center stage without a fight. IN FACT, something happened recently to remind me of just how FREAKING AWESOME everything about this franchise is (more on what this is a bit later). Okay, maybe not everything...but certainly there are many traits that stand this series head and shoulders above the competition. Starting with characters, story, continued continuity, the voice actors...and speaking of the voice actors, they are some pretty awesome folks! Playing Skyrim, I have noted several "celebrity" voices. Christopher Plummer, Claudia Christian, etc. However, I feel the wonderful talents of these folks are somewhat wasted on small parts with lackluster-ly written characters. To contrast, even the cameo Adam Baldwin played in ME2 had so much emotion and character in one small role, it created something of a fandom following, campaigning to expand the role in ME3. This is no fault of the voice actors, and has everything to do with how the game, and the characters, are written. There isn't enough personality written into most of Skyrim's characters to have something to expand on. (But seriously, it's a beautiful and fun game. In a hack-and-slash, popcorn-and-pizza kind of way.) The truth is, it would be hard to compete with Bioware on their own turf anyway. I've had a lot of emotional responses to their games. Some good, some bad, but almost always extreme, and almost always because of the characters. 

Some of you may remember my response in ME2, when my love interest from ME hardly appeared in the game, and then when he did, the meeting was brief, with no possible way to make the conversation come out on a good note. Shepard's succinct, "I've had enough of this colony" at the end of that meeting expressed my own feelings. I was furious with Bioware, and petulantly resolved not to be true to Kaidan during my playthrough after all; why should I, he'd just written me off without even listening to me! Then, those sneaky Bioware writers sent Shepard a message written by Kaidan after that ill-fated reunion. He apologized in such a heartfelt way, they won me back with a letter. Having his character on screen wasn't even necessary! That's what I'm talking about, with the way these games are written.

Not that the ME franchise is all about the romance...I love so many things about this game. My Shepard's solid friendship with Garrus, the redemption of Miranda and salvation of Jack, Joker and Edi's strange, messed up "thing", the way I got to tell the Illusive Man to f-off at the end of ME2 (one of my most satisfying moments in any RPG)...the way Shepard kicks butt and takes names all through the galaxy...yeah, good times. But I won't deny, I'm a girl, a fandom girl. The 'ship and the romance is a big part of the overall experience for me, obviously. (If you're surprised by that, you must not have been reading this journal for very long.) 

So, you can imagine how curious I am to see how the Kaidan thing is resolved in ME3. They've hinted at a big payoff for those of us who stayed true to our first loves from ME, and I am counting on that. As we get closer and closer to March, and ME3's release date, I find I am often on the look out for ME3 news being released. The whole multiplayer aspect is pretty exciting, although also a little nerve-wracking. I want my single player experience to be just as awesome as always, but being able to play the game with my RPG playing friends is pretty freaking amazing (and a damn long time coming for the RPG genre).

Anyway, this brings me to that FREAKING AWESOME thing that I found out...it seems the voice actors who play Kaidan and Ashley both recorded themselves reading the letters their characters sent. Raphael Sbarge and Kimberly Brooks did this for the fans, on their own basically. Isn't that one of the most awesome things ever?? And now on his audioblog, Raphael is posting interviews between him and Kimberly, wherein the two of them talk about their experiences working on the series! Seriously, this game has the most awesome voice actors! 

 Still sick.  This is NOT a fun bug.  (Not that any of them are.)  I'm on day five, and yet fever still comes and goes, although less often than it used to, and mostly only in the evening as I get more and more tired.  My sore throat has become this almost-laryngitis thing that I can feel on my vocal cords...just in time for a weekend filled with Christmas festivities with friends!  No, no laryngitis!  Ugh.  

My paper on Beowulf...who knows how it turned out?  I was half delirious with fever at the time.  I can tell you that for the first time in this class, I did not get full points on my other assignments for that week, which does not build my confidence overmuch.  This particular professor is hard, and a real stickler for late work.  He let everyone know he did not consider wintertime illness an excuse for it, which is why I did the thing instead of e-mailing him and asking for an extra day.  Which wouldn't have mattered much anyway, since I was just as sick the next day.  

As several people have asked me about my comparisons of Luke Skywalker and Beowulf, I may post it here under a locked entry after grading.  You know, if it's fit for reading.  We'll see.  I can tell you my comparisons had to do with good vs. evil, heroic sacrifice, and the hero's journey.  (My essay focused on Beowulf as a heroic figure.)  What I can't tell to you, is if it turned out mostly coherent or not.  I really hope so, since it would suck to go from a 100% in the class, to dropping a whole letter grade because I caught the stupid flu during the final week.

In other news, I managed to break my little toe a couple of days ago.  I stubbed it on the coffee table.  It hurt just as bad as those things usually do, but the thing is, it continued to hurt whenever I put pressure on it, and now it's blooming these lovely deep purple colors from my toe, all down the top portion of my foot.  Nice!  First broken bone in my life.  I wonder if this is a sign my bones are starting to get more brittle?  I am *cough* in the upper half of my thirties now.  

In other, BETTER news: OMG, MASS EFFECT 3 has been announced for Christmas of next year!  *clasps hands together*  I know what I'll be asking Santa for!!  The teaser trailer already looks awesome!  Shepard!  Garrus!  Kaiden!  (Oh, Kaiden; there better be some kind of payoff for the ME2, Bioware!)  Watching the trailer made me want to replay ME2.  That was such an awesome game.  (Other than my Kaiden quibbles.  And really, Bioware even got me to care despite those, those manipulative [bleeped].)   A WHOLE YEAR AWAY!  Well, I'll have Dragon Age 2 come March.  That'll occupy me for a few months, anyway.  And then I'll replay ME2 right before ME3, I'm sure.  Maybe I'll even start with ME1, although the mechanics of that game piss me off, so maybe not.

 I have so many things I should be posting about.  Jewelry.  Bread.  Writing.

But no, I'm too busy playing Mass Effect 2, which first required me to actually finish Mass Effect 1, since Bioware has designed it as a trilogy, and you import your ME1 character, and all of the decisions you made and things you did in the first game shape the second.  I literally had to start over (my original game was w/the default Shepard, because I didn't know you could switch genders and play a female MC.  Which I did this time around.)

Anyway.  Mass Effect isn't quite as awesome a RPG as Dragon Age (same company), but it isn't really fair to compare them, as ME is a completely different style of game.  It's an RPG AND a shooter.  I do not play shooters.  But I find that placing the difficulty on casual, I am enjoying the heck out of the combat in ME2 - very surprising.  They've made it much smoother and more seamless than the more cumbersome combat in ME1, or for that matter, in most RPGs.  And as much as I thoroughly enjoyed the story in ME1 (which I played for something like twelve hours on Wednesday to finish), ME2 takes my breath away.  It makes me laugh, makes me mad, surprises me, and brings up lots of tiny little details from my play experience w/ME1.  It is, in a word, AWESOME.

And while it lacks the many, many party conversations that thrilled and amused me in Dragon Age, it has some definite gems.  

Like the crew member who sings a version of "Major General" from Pirates of Penzance.  HILARIOUS.

I am very early into this massive game, but I've spoiled myself for some paths my MC will NOT be taking by clicking links to youtube.  For instance, there is a character that carries over from ME1, an alien sniper named Garrus.  He was one of my go-to party members.  He's a badass with a sniper rifle, and I tend to see things the same way he does, so we agree a lot of the time.  Apparently some female gamers complained they couldn't romance him in ME1, so Bioware made him a romance option in ME2.  I don't really get this.  He's an awesome character, but he's, well...he's just too different, species-wise, to romance IMO.  No lips.  Lots of teeth and other...things.  Just....no.  (Now Thane, in ME2....maybe.  He has lips, and a very human body.  Just green skin scales and black eyes.  We'll see.  I haven't actually added him to my squad yet, so I don't know.  But I'm not ruling him out based solely on his species, as Garrus is.)

Anyway, so I know I won't be romancing Garrus.  But others have and will, and apparently there are some pretty funny bits, conversationally.  For instance (remember, he's a sniper):( Cut in case anyone actually reading this journal plays the game and cares about spoilers. )

LMAO.  I laughed and laughed.  That was actually very in character for Garrus. :)

In any case, Bioware knows their stuff.  Maybe because I ended ME1 one day, and picked up ME2 the next, but the opening sequence of game 2 gave me chills.  Very well done.  The combat and leveling systems are both much, much smoother/better than ME1.  Of course, there are people whining on the forums.  I don't get it, but to each their own, I guess.  Seems to me, Bioware has outdone themselves.  I can't wait to see what they do with ME3.