More Than Just Fishing: A Roundtable About Sidequests

More Than Just Fishing: A Roundtable About Sidequests

I’ve written pretty thoroughly about how I am a particular type of gamer. I prefer games that are story and relationship focused, and that don’t require a lot of level grinding or random quests. This includes my tabletop play style—apologies to my DM/wife who is sitting on a bunch of Kingmaker sidequests that our party has ignored! Because of my pickiness, I don’t play a lot of games, but lately I’ve been feeling like this framework of “pickiness” is unfair. Am I a gamer aberration? What makes me different from all of you? Why the heck do y’all enjoy repetitive level grinding?! (more…)

February Roundtable: Companions

February Roundtable: Companions

It’s February, the month of ~love~, but love is broad and you know we love to interpret words loosely around here. So, we’re talking companions! What makes them fun? What makes them annoying? Why did 2000s Bioware only know how to write one human sci-fi man? Let’s find out together.

(more…)

Diary of a Hardline Shep, Part 4: Imperialism but Make It Space

Diary of a Hardline Shep, Part 4: Imperialism but Make It Space

The dawning horror that I’ve doomed a galaxy is the defining feature of my Mass Effect experience.

Last time on Diary of a Hardline Shep, I covered Shepard’s super-judicial might and how it came at the cost of politically weaker species’ self-determination. Here at the end, only humanity is safe. And it all feels remarkably familiar. (more…)

GYGO: The Raven Clan Returns, Blizzard Still Sucks, and N7 Day News Arrives

GYGO: The Raven Clan Returns, Blizzard Still Sucks, and N7 Day News Arrives

Welcome to this week’s Get Your Game On! I am December, and it’s time to FALL BACK into some gaming news! (Yes, my name does give me permission to make bad seasonal puns). Let’s see what’s happening this week: (more…)

Diary of a Hardline Shep, Part 4: Imperialism but Make It Space

Diary of a Hardline Shep, Part 3: Who Gets to Choose

Welcome back to Diary of a Hardline Shep. Last time I talked about how Mass Effect’s premise positions humanity as an exceptional species. What I didn’t talk about is how much embodying that really sucks. (more…)