What are you currently playing?

Fire Emblem Awakening right now. I'm continuing on my Tharja romance file as well as a new one where I romance Chrom - something I haven't done in years, as I almost always have him marry Olivia, and then Maribelle for the few times that I don't. But I'm taking it really slow. I don't think the burnout from my previous playthroughs has completely worn off, so it's been really hard getting back into playing. I'm a little afraid I'll always be burnt out on this game now, and I don't want that. Regardless, I'm enjoying my time listening to The Dusty Wheel's show on YouTube and grinding, so the game doing its job. Could I be playing something else? Absolutely! I still need to finish my play-along Pokemon Black/White LP, I restarted Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones twice now already, and Witcher 3 probably deserves another shot (although with all that I've heard about Cyberpunk 2077...). But I'm a creature of habit when it comes to games. I play my story-driven games until I've done almost everything, and then I play my Fire Emblem & Persona games on repeat until a new version comes out. Then again, who knows, I may break out a copy of Pokemon Diamond/Pearl and play that sometime. ...probably not, but you never know!

 

I'm Currently Playing an amazing Game called "Traffic Rider". It's an outstanding game to play

 

Nothing new outside of Fire Emblem Heroes for the moment sadly. But their annual popularity contest Choose Your Legends is going on, and the joke character Gatekeeper is rising to the top, and I'm salty. On one hand, I like the character and get the joke, him getting into the Top 10 would have been enough for him to get into the game proper. There are other characters that people feel like deserve a shot at being the top picks, and other characters that could have used those votes to get into the game properly. And I honestly sometimes hate how far people running on joke platforms get. It reminds me of...certain real world events, let's say.
But CYL is a popularity contest, and if Gatekeeper is popular, than by that logic he deserves to win. Maybe next year Chrom and Marianne...maybe next year...

 

I have the game on the core xbox one and yeah it has had some issues but nowhere as it was made out to be or reported. That stuff seemed to have been on ps4 and a lesser extent on ps5. Plus there have been updates that fixed up things more and more.

If you had a copy and returned it because you were afraid of experiencing some bugs without even trying it at all, I'm sorry but that was foolish!

I had bugs/glitches here and there at launch but never had any major crashes and so it's very playable and I've seen others online on other websites that have it on xbox or pc and are enjoying it too.

First few weeks I played the game every day for many hours without any major issues

 

Just finished Miles Morales over the weekend (good, but I definitely wish there was more to it) and got back into RDR2 for the second time.

I feel like at some point I'll need to pick up TLOU2. I enjoyed the first game well enough, but I wasn't crazy about it.

Really, just kinda biding my time until I can pick up a PS5. I've pretty much written off even trying to get one until late summer- no point stressing out about it when there really aren't that many exclusives on it yet anyway.

 

Okay, here goes, Somewhere I stop playing games, been playing Sly Cooper games but when New (remade) Spyro game come out in end of 2018 I start playing it even there something stuggle I really enjoyed and felt sad finished it, and back to Sly Cooper, which almost didn't cos I enjoyed & loved Spyro games so much but unable to finish it, Stuggle in final battle in Sly 1, not sure about Sly 2 but in Sly 3 in final episode when looking for hidden bottles enermies keep exploding them and die alot and lost track when looking for hidden bottles. It frusrate me alot, I give up. And stopping games all together.

Somewhere in 2020, seening Watchdog Legion trailer, be getting back to playing video games.when finally realise, start playing it but then wanted to play Life is Strange games, started when LIS 2, I like collect souvenirs and looking in Inventory. I enjoyed the game and made Sean romance with Cassidy, try get another ending as I seen my brother got an ending where both brothers made it to Mexico. Try get an ending with Sean end up in Mexico and his brother stay in America. In ending sence, Daniel got mail from Sean, which has photo of him with Cassidy but did had that ending. Just got ending my brother got, they both brothers in Mexico, I like Cassidy in that game. I start playing LIS before the Storm and then LIS, I enjoyed it both, I like Max.

I went back to playing Watchdogs Legion, find story and plot interesting and enjoyed recruiting different people, I started playing Royal Guard alot. Remember stuggle in one part, when I send the droids into area and my droid keep been destoryed. Walking around London give me momory of my times in London, like I know that place and such. There many Britishness about it which I like. Start doing Brough missions and collect masks, tech points and etos before doing main mission. Also there some side missions and recruit missions. Felt sad finished it, worst part apart from one I stuggle so much, there one mission, one character try to date someone but refuse then use another, but that part of the game bother me.

Started playing Batman telltale game, before Cyberpunk, wasn't much into it. It just a game in what happen to the world in the future. I was okay at first, had romance with Panam witch is great, like judy but had to be a female lead character to romance her. I had to look at internet about who to romance with avoid dissappointment. Judy shouldn't be annoyed when male V say she look good in the suit, it not like he be sating her. Spend alot of time doing side missions and assult missions and police missions. When creating character shock with this piavte parts. Also did thing with joytoy for five times and high class one once before going to final mission, choose Panam and end it with her and her famliy. I like V's apartment shame he had to leave his stuffs there when leaving Night City. I did have a cat and have in V's apartment there things you to do to get cat in V's apartment. I enojoyed part of it, spend alot of time and sleep late. But also it depressing, do have alot of problem with the game one mission is broken, stuggle to beat someone in final fight, car race and chase/follow the car they made me almost quit the game. I enjoyed Watchdogs Legion more, that my opioin. Now what next I be playing? Also when talking about top games of 2020 there alot of mention of Cyberpunk and Last of us 2 and they aload of negetive comments and no mention of Watchdogs Legion, sure mention somewhere. It did well than other two Watchdogs.

Lockdown and losing my job, I started playing games more and slept late and wake up late. Mainly watch games on youtube but least there games I can play. Lost interest in Football Managers.

I write these from other forum and feel I can share it here.

 

Thanks for sharing, and you're always welcome to do so!

I started playing Mass Effect Andromeda this last week. I've already put in over 20 hours, and am roughly 20% of the way through the game. (Just finished the Havarl and Voeld main missions and need to go back to Aya to continue on with the main story.) There's a LOT to do and explore in this game, more-so than I previously thought. I'll write up a review of it when I finish, as I want to save my judgement until then. But as a sort of teaser and to set expectations, I'll say a few things:

About the game:
It's better than I thought it'd be! It's reminding me more of Horizon: Zero Dawn in the best ways as much as it does Mass Effect.
I've already stayed up until 2-3 in the morning playing this game while also ignoring other priority things. It's been the first thing I think about most mornings and one of my last thoughts before I go to bed. I won't say I'm obsessed, but I am probably addicted. This is a bad sign for my health but a great sign for a game, as very few games do this to me. (The last two that did were Persona 5 and Fire Emblem: Three Houses in 2019 and both I've replayed since. I can't remember if Persona 5 Royal was the same however...) I can't see myself fully replaying this game for a good long while after all is said and done*, but I can see myself giving Dragon Age: Inquisition another try. Maybe.

About the review:
Expect less focus on gameplay. It's not a particular focus of mine, but there are some good and bad things about it that deserve mentioning.
Expect a LOT of ramblings about how this game made me feel and what it reminds me of.


*The reason being that the side quests, while somewhat diverse, are too long and laborious for me to want to replay the game. I don't like driving the Nomad enough to suffer through what the game is making me do twice...

 

Played this game, Control and it's frusrated me. Characters die quicky, enermies keep popping up and stuggle where to go or what to do. And this training course mission is a joke, time so short, it for players who can play fast. Going to stop this game, but keep coming back. why I get back playing it, it anger me and give me a headache.

 

Just finished playing God of War for the first time and I was impressed. I can see why it got so much praise. I’m ready for Ragnarok!

 

I gotta finish God of War, Cyberpunk, and Doom Eternal, I'm currently on COD Zombies FIREBASE Z.

 

So MA:E is taking a while, so I think I'll due a mid-to-late-game "feelings exploration" and then a post-game sort of review. Let's get started!


(Not pictured: the character you actually play as*)

Sequels are difficult things to get right. Usually there seems to be the tension between what the audience wants (what worked well before) and what the creators want (something completely different). This is evident in the fan reactions to things like The Legend of Korra, Mistborn: Wax & Wayne, The Mandalorian, and Boruto. Fans usually either deriding the sequel for the original, or liking the sequel better than the original. (The latter is more common when people speak positively of both in my experience.) Mass Effect Andromeda fits right into this mold.


(I had to work Sanderson into this somehow!)


While the story of Mass Effect Andromeda starts sometime after Mass Effect 1 but before Mass Effect 2 (I think), the game itself doesn't start for another 600 years later in a new galaxy. The focus of this game is about something called The Andromeda Initiative - a galaxy-wide program to explore and populate the Andromeda galaxy. There would be a main hub sent first, and then arcs shortly after full of scientists, colonists, and dreamers. The four main species of Turians, Asari, Salarians, and Humans all had arks sent with the main hub, while other species like the Quarians would arrive later. The Krogans didn't get an ark, much to their ire. Each ark came with a specialized position called a Pathfinder - a sort of frontier soldier/scientist, who would pave the way for new civilizations to bloom in the expanse of a new galaxy.

Our journey starts when our main character, Ryder, is forced into the position of Pathfinder after things quickly go awry when landing in Andromeda.

This is where the sequel stuff comes in. Sometimes, creators end up using the same bag of tricks that worked in the original series when working on a sequel. This is seen most clear for me in Boruto - Boruto, despite being hailed as a sort of "genius," and having the happy backstory his father doesn't have, still solves his problems the same way and uses the same techniques. Things boil down to "and then Boruto used a Shadow Clone/Rasengan" (or worse, Naruto comes in to save the day*). Ryder is the same. Ryder may not have the experience on paper to handle the situations they're thrown into, but the game doesn't do a very good job of letting the players know that. After a few skirmishes, Ryder is taking out bases and handling Kett higher-ups like a pro. This isn't necessarily a bad thing - I LIKE being the overpowered hero of these sorts of stories. But it also means that there really isn't much separating Ryder from Shepard outside of some flavor-text.

As a character themself, Ryder isn't terrible. The game forgoes the Renegade/Paragon dichotomy for a more nuanced and fun option wheel. Players are usually given four choices (Heartfelt, Intelligent, Witty, and Professional) on how to respond to prompts, and mixing it up is part of the fun. There have been very few choices that matter in this method, so role-play how you want. The choices that do matter usually arrive at the end of quests, and guides are good for that.

But a Mass Effect game isn't really a Mass Effect game without key allies. After all, there isn't Shepard without Vakarian (or Tali'Zorah, or T'soni or Joker, or EDI...). So how are the companions in this game? They're...good, I guess. Let's get the main thing out of the way - THESE CHARACTERS WERE NEVER GOING TO BE BETTER THAN THE CREW MEMBERS FROM THE ORIGINAL GAME. It's like comparing everyone to Darth Vader - no one is ever going to match him, so stop comparing. You hurt yourself and the character in question by doing so. By the end of the trilogy, we had 1-3 games and dozens of hours for and with each character. Here we only have one. So stop it.

In fact, many of these characters seemed to have been designed to be the antithesis of certain characters: Miranda was a high ranking member in a pro-human organization, whereas Cora seems to be Asari in all but race to most people. Garrus was a cop-gone-rogue who eventually became a high ranking member of his society and has a strained relationship with his family, while Vetra was a smuggler from the jump and is basically a mother to her little sister Sid. Samara was an Asari Justicar whereas Peebee doesn't really care about Asari culture or their way of life. (However, her love for ancient societies make her feel like Bioware wanted her to be Liara 2.0.) Jaal is a nicer and more friendly version of Javik.

But what are they like outside of their main gimmicks? Like I said, they're good, I guess. The non-human members seem to be more popular than the human ones, and I certainly like them better. Liam isn't bad, but his fanservice doesn't do it for me, and he's...well, he's no Finn. And Cora's conversations with Drack and Jaal flesh her out a little better than what people give her credit for. But the non-human members just shine so much brighter! Vetra is a welcome edition to the Mass
Effect universe, and having a female Turian to romance is awesome. Jaal has a great bass voice, cool design, and is different enough from anything before, so he makes a great splash. Peebee is fine, I guess (I don't really care for many Asari. Sorry, not my thing.)

But the main star of the game's companions is Drack, by a country mile. Drack is a thousand year old Krogan. He's seen more than Wrex (which feels weird to say), is more surly than Grunt, but is also softer with both. His relationship with his granddaughter Kesh is really sweet, and his talks with Vetra melt my heart. There's only one bad acting line with Drack, but outside of that, he's all but perfect. (Unless you're fighting an enemy that you need to hit from farther away...like an Architect.) But the Krogan are always awesome, and Drack is no exception.


(Drack and Vetra.)

Now, onto the setting. Andromeda's main thing is about exploration. You go to planets formerly identified as homeworlds, pick up a dozen or so side-quests of different kinds, clear out things called vaults, and establish colonies...and then pick up more side-quests...

At first, this wasn't so bad. I liked the first two worlds, and the whole "vault-clearing" thing gave me Horizon: Zero Dawn vibes. Combining those feelings with the setting of one of my favorite franchises made the game incredibly fun once I got into it. But then things have started to go downhill a bit.

The worlds are big, yes, but there's almost too much to do. Players unlock about 5 to 6 side quests when a new planet is reached. That's not too bad, but these side-quests usually have multiple objectives, and they're not always on the same planet or available at once. There are also "tasks" that can be accomplished, loyalty missions for your crewmembers, personal missions for other key members, and memory fragments to figure out some of the darker and more intimate secrets of the game, and you've got yourself a nearly overwhelming amount to do. There so much that I don't feel like I have time to sit down and read or even care about the lore or history behind most of the minor characters...or even my crewmembers outside of what I need to know to progress their stories. I'm at the point where all I want to do is finish the loyalty missions and then finish the game.

I think the main problem is that travelling in this game isn't very fun. Yes, the Tempest is a pretty ship, but between annoying skip travel points, loading screens, large maps, the Nomad, and Ryder's derpy running, travel becomes a grind.

Fortunately, there isn't really a time limit or consequence for doing things in any particular order as far as I know, so at least players don't have to worry about that.

Next is the gameplay. ME:A's gameplay is probably one of my favorites of the series so far. Ryder has no limit on what weapons they can use, so long as they can carry them; and has full access to combat, biotic, and tech lines and skills. I can have a tech turret, a combat mission, and the biotic move Charge on all at once. And while this was possible in ME2 and ME3, it was always a NG+ or "previous game data" bonus. The only downside is that players can equip a maximum of three skills at a time. I'd love to have around five, but alas...

The enemies aren't too terrible once you get the hang of fighting them, but Ryder always feels weaker than they need to be for some reason. I think it's the shields, but I can't really tell. What I do know is that your allies are TERRIBLE in battle. Outside of Drack and maybe Cora, I never feel like they're doing any damage. Is it there weapons? Is there a way to change out their weapons like allies of games past? If so, I haven't figured it out yet... But more often than not, it feels like I have to babysit my non-Drack/Cora allies during battle. Their specials go off just a second too late, and their weapons seem to be pea-shooters compared to Ryder's and the enemies. I think that's why people dislike them so much. At least in previous games, I knew my allies were good for combat and could cover for me if I was too injured. Here, my allies die as much as I do, and don't do much to distract or take out enemies. And when you fight enemies that can spawn other enemies, you really notice this fact.

Speaking of enemies, our main antagonists for this game are a force known as the Kett. I'm far enough to know some of what their deal is, but right now, they just feel like the main bad guys from Halo but without the multiple races. Overall they're a pretty bland bunch so far, but they do have some potential.



Ultimately, this game is both good and bad. I've stayed up later than I have in the past year playing Mass Effect Andromeda. I stayed up past 2 am two nights in a row doing so - something I haven't done since Fire Emblem: Three Houses came out (and before that Persona 5...and maybe I did it with Horizon: Zero Dawn? I can't remember...). But now I'm getting burnt out of the game. I want to stop, but I also feel like I can't stop until I finish. But then I feel sad that there isn't a sequel. But I also see why there won't be a sequel.

Mass Effect Andromeda is a mediocre game. It's a game that has a lot of promise in what it could have been, but bad press, bad graphics, bad handling, and controversy turned it into a pariah in the franchise and nearly killed the entire thing. I don't blame people who don't like this game due to what they've heard, no more than I blame people who don't like Cyberpunk 2077 due to all they've seen and heard. It struggles with problems many sequels do, and that's a bit disappointing. And ultimately, Horizon: Zero Dawn fills that sci-fi niche that Mass Effect previously did. (Although if we want to be technical, Mass Effect is a space opera RPG while HZD is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi adventure game).

As of right now, I'd give this game a 7.9/10. It's not good enough to be an 8, but I'm enjoying it like it was one. I don't see myself replaying this game once I get to the end either, as the sheer amount of quests to do is FAR too long to warrant a second playthrough. ...although I may retry Dragon Age: Inquisition later*...
If other people want to try it out, I wholeheartedly recommend doing so! However, the Mass Effect Complete Trilogy is coming out later this year, and while it's not the remaster we were all hoping for, it will probably be a better experience for newcomers than this...

Since I did my most of my review stuff in this post, I think my Post-Game review will instead look back and see if my feelings still stand and cover changes I might make to the game if given the chance (and power), as well as what I may want to see in a sequel.


*Although you can build and unlock this suit as the game goes forward, so technically, if you play as the male Ryder twin, no one says it can't be you.

*Having the main character from the previous series come in to save the day is something that many sequels can struggle with. Of course you want the previous character to come and show up in your new work, but their presence could overshadow the new cast. The ST dealt with that in all three movies, as did Star Wars Rebels. But erasing the previous characters is also a controversial and usually hated option. People don't like it when characters they've grown to love and watched grow up and/or mature are killed off in a story that isn't theirs.

*Fun fact - I actually own all three Dragon Age games but have never beat a single one! I bought DA:O from Steam years ago. It ran on my old computer, but I have reuploaded it. Heck, I haven't gone to steam in years either! I have DA2 for my PS3, but my console broke in 2013/2014. I was tempted to buy a new one to replay Mass Effect, or even get an XBox 360 so I could play the original, but the new edition means I don't have to. I have DA:I for my PS4. I bought it on launch, due to brand loyalty, but I never got far.

 

Give up on Control, it stressing me out alot and it getting too much for me and lost interest in the game. In the game, you collect lucky cats and there room with lucky cats, but game stress me out. Also seen a Lucky Cat in a office and Rubber Duck.

Try playing worms games, been long since played a worm game, Worm Rumble is somekind of multyplayer game. Enjoyed Worms Battlefield until it got stupid, got stuck on few missions and one mission I stop playing and got me mad, there bit you use fire punch the bollon but unable to reach it even use jump and double jump but not going anywhere, seen on youtube and it seem to do it which I try to do. It anger me why it work with other and not me. What game does that.

Started playing Watch dogs Legion to get some trophies but it got to unable to to get platium trophy. Started playing Life is Strange games to get trophies from threm.ir

I did play this game called Gone Home, and on to playing Fire watch I see it on Youtube but want to play them myself.

 

Played some KOTOR yesterday. Doing another light side run. Just because

 

I recently did a "evil bastard" playthrough.
Dark side Bastila is awesome lol

 

AT LONG LAST, I HAVE FINISHED MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA! Overall this game's a solid 7.5 (it should probably be a 7, but the movie night bumps it up).

The game crashed on me towards the end during a mini-boss fight*, but other than that, it was pretty smooth sailing. I beat the boss, did the small epilogue stuff, and ended the game on the movie night. The movie night ending was always planned, and it definitely worked as the capstone experience.

Most of my experiences from my talk previously still stand, but I do have a few more things to add now:

The sexy romance scenes are hilariously awkward. NSFW at all, and super plastic-y. I think I enjoy them more because of that.
The final boss battle wasn't a cake-walk, but it wasn't the hardest fight in the game either. They based the fight off of an earlier fight type of side-quest boss type, but it was actually easier during the final boss. The boss was much closer to me, so I could use my close-range weapons rather than my long-range ones. And allies sort of showed up to help keep some of the more annoying enemies busy while I reloaded. And I liked the climax of the fight. The cinematics were well done. But that's about it really.

Overall, Andromeda was a half-baked cake. It did things people wanted, but it didn't do them well. For example, outside of Vetra and Drack's conversations and the ending movie night, the best moments between squad-mates doesn't come from the actual dialogue but rather the crew quarters email logs. Lost items, words of the day, inside jokes...those moments were the moments we should have heard. Going off of that, it's weird how much of a family this crew was trying to be, yet how unnatural it felt compared to the ME2 & 3 crew. Shepard's crew wasn't trying to be a family, they just were. This crew feels like it's trying to be a family, but we're definitely not there yet. But that's fine. Given a little time, I think they can get there.

Speaking of time, in a couple of years we should see a sequel to the OG trilogy that may also work as a sequel to this game as well. Here's a short plot idea I have for the game, and the basis behind it.

Spoiler: Mass Effect Andromeda Game Spoilers

The first few things we need to get by are the setting and theme, and why it's important. I think the main theme here has to be Unity. Andromeda was a game about exploration and loss; Mass Effect 3 was a game about sacrifice and loss. Now we need a game about understanding and unity. The setting will be a neighboring galaxy or star cluster - wherever the Kett main forces are. There will be Angara and many other alien races there, and the main crew will be able to travel between that place and the Nexus in a flash. Main hubs will be cities and (relatively) populated areas like previous games.

Next up is the villains. Mass Effect was originally a space fantasy RPG, so looking at it from an RPG setting, I think we can figure out where we need to go. The Archon was a rogue Dark Priest or Alchemist of sorts. I think the next villains we need to face from the Kett should be their Paladins. Those who hold the laws and virtues of the Kett Empire, utterly uncompromising yet possessing an understandable amount of respect. It would be sort of like the question that things like Three Outlaw Samurai and The Last Jedi ask - what do you do when your enemy shows more valor, respect, and honor than your allies?

The game will start roughly six months to a year after the first game ended, with the Nexus receiving new word from the Quarian ark. The ark is alive, but is trapped in a warzone between the Kett and other various aliens. The Scourge prevents the ark from escaping, but a small ship may be able to help find a path to the Nexus. Determined, Pathfinder Ryder, the crew of the Tempest, and a few new recruits (the other Ryder sibling, Bain Massani, Vederia if she's not the Pathfinder, etc) join in.
The crew makes it to the Quarian ark and is able to provide a pathway out, but the Tempest is damaged and ultimately grounded. One of the Ryders is then stranded in the new galaxy alone and without help, and must make it back to the Nexus by relying on their wits, skills, and luck. Along the way you'll meet:

An Angaran from this galaxy who wants to meet the Angarans from the Andromeda galaxy, multiple characters and races, and a Kett scientist who will actually join your cause.
A clone of a certain N7 Spectre may also appear...(I'm not sure about this one yet.)

Between a quarter and a third of the way through the game, the Ryder siblings will reunite, and players will be able to choose which ones they want to control for the rest of the game, with the other becoming a squad-mate. Side missions for squad-mates will still occur, but they'll happen all at once like Loyalty Missions, and not spread out over multiple planets and whatnot.

During the game, players will uncover that the Angaran and the Kett are pawns in a larger game between the Jardaani and another mysterious force. (I'm undecided about which Lovecraftian idea should go here.) The Jardaani knew they couldn't kill the entirety of this force, so they sealed what pieces of it they could, using the bodies to create the metal for remnant tech. The rest of these Unknown Lovecraftian Enemies created the Kett in return, as a way to have an every-expanding army. The Jardaani knew the Kett would come and assimilate everything into their own species - they had manipulated their opponents for such a purpose. The Kett were supposed to incorporate the Angarans into their entire species. Once that was done, a hidden biological kill-switch would trigger, destroying the entire Kett population. Or at least destroying enough of them that other species would eventually wipe them up.

(It will later be revealed that ancient Angara realized this fact and rebelled to forge their own destiny, and killed all of the Jardaani they could, leaving only remnants for the ancestors to admire. The Kett ended up wiping out all of this history.)

But the modern Angara and other species didn't know this. In their fight against the Kett, they found a piece of technology not from their galaxy. It has traveled far only to die desolate and alone. Ancient and foreign in design, yet its death happened a relatively short time ago. Maybe six hundred years ago...? Yes, an alien rebel sect has found a Reaper. And yes, they bring it back and set it on the Kett. Combined with Remnant Tech, the Reaper is stronger than ever. And the right now the only way to stop it may be to find what the Jardaani were so afraid of that they created mortal bodies - mortal weapons - to fight back against. The answer may end up proving fatal to our Pathfinder as well.

The Kett meanwhile have pockets of the civilization that are assisting the other races. These are known as Praetons. They know that if the other races fall, then the Kett Empire will stagnate and ultimately die. However, the Archon's defeat at the hands of Ryder and Co has changed things. Now they try to rally the aliens they protect - the Angaran they have cultivated and herded like cattle - to fight their kindred spirits and brethren in order to save their lives...

At the end of the game, the crew of the Tempest manages to defeat the Reaper and broker a peace between the Kett forces here and the other alien races. Both know it won't last very long, but for now, it's a reprieve from the fighting. Ryder is given a clue that the leaders of the Kett have found the final resting place of the Jardaani, and are heading there as they speak. Ryder and Co. head out. Here is where things might divulge again - it may be possible for one sibling to stay behind to fight the Kett forces when the battle resumes while the other hunts the leaders and the Jardaani. I'm not sure how I feel about this just yet though. So who knows.

Now how does Shepard play into all of this? My first thought was to include a rogue clone as an ally. This was an idea a LONG time in the making. Years ago, when Andromeda first came out, I thought it'd be a fun idea for the sequel to include an amnesiac clone of Shepard who was antagonistic towards Ryder. I still like the idea, but I don't think it'd work in this setting here.
Maybe instead Liara used the history and imprints of Shepard she has/found in order to create an A.I. simulation of them. Not the same person, but one who can guide those like them...and maybe like E.D.I. (or Vision), gain a body.

But outside of all of that, the main change I want in future games is to have more squad-members join on missions. The squad-members in this game not only felt repetitive, but they weren't that good to use. There wasn't any sniper, or engineer, or biotic-focused non-Vanguard character. More squad-mates mean more options, and more options mean more creativity for encounters. And frankly, it doesn't make sense to NOT have more members. The Nomad can probably fit one more member, and there's no reason not to have more members on missions other than arbitrary reasons. So why not?


*The mini-boss was an annoying type that you have to knock down his shields first before doing damage, and you have to destroy an orb that rotates around the boss' body to do that. Me and my allies ended up destroying the shield and defeating the boss in one round, but the game meant for this to stretch into two rounds. So it was trying to process a cut scene, reinforcements coming in and subsequently cancelling that command, dialogue, and regular graphics, and it just ended up crashing I guess. After restarting the game, it fight acted like I died halfway through and I just picked it up from there.

 

Getting back into Star Trek Online after almost four years away. Before that, I'd been playing off and on since the game launched. Gameplay is still fun, but the story has gotten a bit boring/annoying since they started bringing in content from the new CBS shows. I'm really tired of time travel in this game.

Also playing a bit of Subnautica. The first one, not Below Zero since that one keeps crashing my pc. If you can keep away from the giant sea monsters, the game is really very peaceful and relaxing.