A week for endings

I won’t say anything about the final wheel of time book, which I just finished, but I am about to talk about mass effect 3, so bug out if you haven’t finished it.

Both have been long overdue items on my list for a very long time.  As one who works on games, and is interested in storytelling, I find it useful to go into an experience “pure”.  I don’t watch trailers, I don’t read anything about what is coming if I can help it.

The main reason for this is that I have an uncanny gift of foresight, and tend to see what is coming.  My favorite games and movies surprise me, and I always want to feel that the author outsmarted me.

For mass 3, this was extremely difficult.  For months people just would not shut up about it.  I had half the people in the irc channels I hang out on ignore, stopped visiting any gaming related sites, and had to repeatedly tell my nephew not to talk about it.

Sadly staying pure just wasn’t possible.  At some point, someone made a “take door number 3” joke.  Even without context, halfway through the game that little line returned to my head and I instantly knew how things would play out.

Even having a good guess as to what would transpire, I found the experience wonderful.  My second night, due to decisions I made, I lost Tali.  Tali has always been a dear friend, and one of my favorite companions.

I really felt that one, and the next day loved the brief bits of time I got to spend with the others who had survived.  It made the story a very personal one, something I loved about Dragon Age 2 as well.

Both stories have taken the brunt of some serious internet hate, but I applaud the direction they’ve taken.  I hesitate to use the words but it feels more “grown up” than the standard hero riding into the sunset ending.

I do have my list of annoying bugs, but it is much shorter than with mass 2.  The port team did a better job of it.

Ludum Dare is also over and I am very pleased with my scores.  People really seemed to enjoy it.  I got 21st in Mood, 98th in Graphics, and 115th Overall.  Not too bad for 1300 entries!