tzmhero

That Yoshi is trendy as hell, matching shoes to his neck... spine... things?

I don't remember. All I remember is on Windwaker, the sail was the Z-button always. I didnt want to deal with that crap.

I just finished Portal 2's single player story, and man was that fun. The ending, through the two songs and brief little bit by a certain now favorite video game character just made me smile. Then, it was time for myself, and my younger brother to break our way into the Co-Op mode. My little brother, who had watched me play the full single player game (and often realizing the answer to a puzzle before I would) was a very good partner. Both of us took on the 'gosh dang it, listen to me and do as I say!' role pretty evenly, and that was just... great to have with my bro, especially since I'll be moving out of my parents house in another month.

Ah, the Normandy 2, a lovely ship for me and my Crew, for I am Alexpander Sheppard, and I am nearing the end of my battle against the collectors, and beyond them, the Reapers. Exiting the elevator, I near the Galaxy choosing type mission select screen, Yeoman Kelly Chambers informs me that I have a few messages on my private terminal. Oh Kelly (Kelly and I are on a first name basis) she is a cutie. I like her.

Checking my messages I decide to finish off one of my last missions, Talia’s home world on the Flotilla, and her loyalty mission. I have been putting it off till now, but I’ve decided that it is now time to get it over with. Instead of flying to the planet, however, Joker and ED inform me that the Reaper Core I collected from the Ship a few missions back, is ready to go, and I should bring my crew with me. Agreeing with this (for some reason) I take off, only for me to switch characters and play as Joker for five minutes, a mission ending with my entire crew dying beyond my specialists.

What just happened?

Video games love to throw curve balls at you when you are least expecting it, and this is no different than that. I had to rush my little ass to Gamefaqs to find out that, indeed, I had waited too long to be finishing loyalty missions, and now I would have to pay the price, as I had accidentally began end game portions. Now if I wait any longer, my lovely little sex kitten Miss ‘I’ll feed your fish’ Kelly Chambers could be dissolved if I don’t go back a few saves and figure my stuff out.

This level of choice aggravates me, forcing me to go back and change what I’ve done if I can get the best possible ending for both my crew and my save file for mass effect 3, at least as far as I can tell. After that is the suicide mission, where I might accidentally kill everyone.

Another game overwhelms me with it’s choices pretty early on, that being a little gem known as Persona 3. You have 365 game ‘days’ to finish the game, and it’s hard as hell without knowing exactly what you are doing to get the ‘good’ ending when you have been playing for 60 odd hours and doing your best to get to the final point in the story. The number of Personas you can get are just crazy, and the possible social links, and how to juggle it all is so damn complicated… yet so simple that I shouldn’t be this easily overwhelmed.

The end to a video game can leave you with many different emotions, but when it is the choices you made that reflects the ending of the game, usually having to be very specific to get the good or best ending presented to you, it can be a real buzz kill to find out that you got a bad ending because, during hour 3, you didn’t talk to Mr. Sea master and play his mini game to completion. Damn you Mr. Sea master, why don’t you go master some more sea’s or something?

This can be similar to Bioshock 1’s ending where if you harvest one little sister, then you are the worst possible person around, the leader of killers and destroyers, and you all around represent everything your mother told you you’d turn out to be if you didn’t brush your teeth at night.

Mass Effect 2 is a great game, but it’s just this damn ending stuff that gets me. I love the idea that mass Effect 3 will be so radically changed because of the decisions you made during the last two games that the game is practically now your making, but it’s the consequences that rack my brain. I want that good ending where nobody dies… looks like I’ll really have to work for it now.

I like the cut of his jibb.

Portal 2's writing has to be some of the most clever writing in video games to date. If I would have to pick a moment that I liked most of all, it was switching the bunk turrets in so the good turrets were thrown away. The screams from the normal turrets were so sad 'why?' and 'what did i do wrong?' were so sad, yet hilarious to hear.

I could see good ol' Cave not knowing that they do not in fact 'fire the entire bullet'. It sounded like the guy was fed some lines by the 'lab boys' and he went along with it, but didn't know all of the science behind it all. That and the pre recorded message could have been for an earlier model of the turret that may in fact have 'fired the whole bullet' but after further testing, the newer turret once again fires like a normal turret might. The way I see it, all of the videos with him voicing them were of new products but with old voice overs from the 70's.

It would be great if Diablo III came out soon, but we know Blizzard now, they go Big or go home. Much like portal 2, this will be tested like all hell and perfected before it ships. Asking them to ship it sooner just makes it that much less perfect.