During the latter part of the time I spent playing MMOs I did get around to buying and playing The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. While it was still firmly entrenched in the TES world, the gameplay left a bit to be desired for me. The changes to the gameplay and combat system as well as the new fast-travel system kind of irked me a bit. The identical caves/dungeons and the repetitiveness of the Oblivion gates made it seem more like a chore than entertainment for me. After completing the main story line, I did not get much replay out of it.
I was on the Gamestop website one day, in early 2010 when the death of my MMO gaming began. I was browsing through the PC games available and saw an ad flashing on the side for refurbished Playstation 3’s at half the price of a new unit. I clicked and began browsing the games available for the platform. The next thing I knew I was at the local Gamestop picking up a refurbed PS3 slim and Arkham Asylum. That was quickly follow by Arkham City and several of the Lego Star Wars games.
It was during one of my trips to the local Gamestop that I saw a used copy of Mass Effect 2 on sale in the bargain bin. I had heard of the Mass Effect series but had never played it since the first came out on Xbox 360 which I do not own. I went ahead and picked it up and immediately fell in love with the story. Not long after the Trilogy collection came out which included the port of the original as well as part 3. I of course picked it up immediately. I installed all three games and downloaded the updates, grabbed all of the DLC that looked interesting (including the extended cut) and proceeded to sit down and play.
I started of course with the original, there was a minor learning curve for me since I had previously played part 2. After getting used to the controls and weapon cooldowns instead of thermal clips, I launched the storyline. After spending so long flying around the galaxy in the Normandy, saving the universe, I understood the poignancy of the opening of Mass Effect 2 when I progressed to it. There was an emotional attachment to the Normandy and her crew. Watching it’s burning pieces break apart as Shepard slowly asphyxiated was hard. But like Steve Austin before him, they could rebuild him, better, stronger, faster. He would become the “just over 4 billion credit man”.
When the time came to launch into Mass Effect 3, I had already patched and downloaded the extended cut DLC so to this day I have never actually played through the original ending that seemed to get so many people upset. Due to my boy scout tendencies in the previous games, I passed the win-threshold somewhere around a third of the way through the game. I played through the Leviathan which added an interesting back story to the reapers and Citadel which injected just the right amount of self-deprecating humor to the story. I personally enjoyed the ending. It really couldn’t have ended any other way with everything that came before, it had to be the hero’s sacrifice for the greater good.
After the Mass Effect, I finally made the trip back to Tamriel. And with Skyrim, they pretty much fixed it…