Old_Timer

I’m a huge Mass Effect fan, but I’ve always struggled to like Dragon Age, for too many reasons to list here.

I knew this game wasn’t going to be for me before it was even announced. I just hoped it wouldn’t be so bad it buried Bioware before they had another chance at Mass Effect. I hear the next ME project has some Bioware veterans involved, so here’s hoping it’s not the same team made this game.

Honestly, if Mass Effect is released with the same issues, I’ll happily grab a shovel and help bury Bioware. These are not the experiences we’re looking for. No real-world gender and sexuality politics should be breaking immersion. By all means do a diversity hire, and sensitivity feedback, but please also get feedback from non-LGBTQ and majority groups. Representation should be there, but if it’s ham-fisted and breaks the immersion of the average player, that’s also a fail. It should be seamless and believable at all times. The quality of the final product should not suffer in any way.

Mainly, these companies should concentrate more on pleasing their current fanbase than trying to win over new ones and only take new art and tone directions when there is a dire need to do so. Don’t try and reinvent the wheel or fix something that isn’t broken.

Those are my two cents.

I agree but, if you let The End die of old age, you are robbing yourself of one of the most memorable boss encounters of all time. I remember it took me three evenings worth of game time to beat that guy. It was a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase and worth every moment.

Tracking that guy down in the dense forest is hugely entertaining. There are several methods, but using the directional mic and listening for that damn parrot of his was a favourite of mine.

At one point I inched my way towards him through the undergrowth but he saw me. So I quickly switched to the thermal goggles, pulled out my machine gun and tore up the forest hoping to hit him as he nipped out of sight. I lost him. I was too busy trying to find him again when a voice, very close to my right ear said something like ‘I haven’t enjoyed a fight like this in a long while’. Sure enough the old man had turned the tables and crept up on me. I jumped out of my skin, he shot Snake in the head and we woke up in a jail cell, several kilometres away.

Sure it was a fail, but hands-down the best fail ever. I had to sneak back and do it all over again. It never felt like a chore, it felt exhilarating.

I’d never skip that fight. Out of all the MGS games, that boss fight was the best.

You’re dreaming if you think Starfield is largely behind Bethesda. I’m betting they’re going to double-down on their ten-year plan for that game whether the haters like it or not. We will still get TES6 but don’t expect them to drop Starfield.