#WOO this was LONG

[annalyticall]

Thoughts on Mass Effect 2

This will be a longer review than my thoughts on Mass Effect 1 as there is about twice as much content to discuss. I'm going to compare this game to Dragon Age 2 a lot since they are both Bioware sequels and relative black sheep of their respective franchises.

I played again as Shiv Shepard; colonist, sole survivor, sentinel, and Paragon. While I had played Shepard with survivor's guilt in ME1, starting this game with her dying and being brought back to life changed how I played her; instead of feeling guilty for living, she was angry as hell for being raised from the dead. While I still ended up being a maxed-out Paragon since most people I interacted with were not Cerberus, I earned more renegade points than I had last game as I took any and all opportunities to sabotage Cerberus and piss off the Illusive Man.

(I had some more fun with photo mode)

Major decisions include: talking Garrus out of revenge, pardoning Tali without evidence, convincing Mordin to keep the cure data, reuniting Thane with his son, helping Samara kill Morinth, and rewriting the heretic geth. I made Tali my tech specialist, Garrus my ground forces specialist, Mordin the crew escort, Samara my biotic barrier specialist, and Miranda and Jack my final squadmates. I completed everyone's loyalty missions and no one died. I blew up the base and told the Illusive Man I will not work with him. I romanced no one (but did confess feelings for Samara) which still kept my prior relationship with Kaidan active.

My list of pros and cons and thoughts on the companions and DLCs below.

The Good

Varied Content. Besides there just being way more content than in the previous game, the side missions no longer felt like a copy-and-paste slog. Even the random missions picked up from probing were different from each other, as some were rescue missions and some were recovery missions and some were "take back the base" missions, and, while not all of them were particularly exciting, they were not actively annoying either.

Character Driven vs Plot Driven. When I think about it, I think one of my major gripes with ME1 was that the plot drove everything and the characters came second to the story. ME2 reverses this concept and puts the two-fold cast of characters front and center; the whole game revolves around recruitment and loyalty. While preference is subjective, I believe stories that focus more on character than on plot are usually more enjoyable, and I definitely enjoyed this game in that regard. It made the finale way more intense and high stakes when the stakes are losing characters you've spent the last dozen hours with.

Resource Management. One of the major improvements of ME2 compared to ME1 is the streamlined way gear and guns are handled. They were removed completely from an inventory system which saved a lot of time. I missed my unlimited ammo, however, refilling on ammo was relatively easy and wasn't too much of a hindrance.

The Normandy. The Normandy of ME1 didn't actually have much of a nostalgic impact on me. Playing the Normandy crash site mission was sad, sure, but I ultimately didn't much care for the ship itself. The Normandy of ME2 impacted me much more, and I think that's for a few reasons: First, each room is associated with a particular character, which gives the room itself that character's personality. Second, EDI acts as the voice of the ship, giving it a personality of its own. Third, the NPCs that populate the common areas and their timely conversations add a little more to the believability that this is a real crew. Last, Shepard's customizable room gives the player a chance to make their own impact on the Normandy, as I collected spaceships and pets and changed the ambient music and collected trophies. All of that together made the Normandy feel like home, one that I would definitely hate to lose.

Map UI. One of my biggest points of frustration in ME1 was that I would have to remember what star cluster and system each quest was on as I navigated the map, requiring me to often cancel out of the map and double-check the log. I was happy that ME2 rectified this by melding the journal and map features while navigating.

Conflict. I'm glad this game wasn't more of the same "we could have handled this problem if not for all this red tape bullshit" from the first game. True, that's still a common theme, but for the most part working with Cerberus bypasses all of that and allows for more interesting conflicts to be explored. It was also nice for me to explore what my Shepard would be like if not entirely reigned in by her need to uphold an honorable public image as an influential human to the council, which had guided a lot of my decisions in ME1.

Probing Minigame. This is probably just me, but I liked the minigame to probe for resources. It was more involved than in ME1 where all you did was press a button, and it allows you to pick and choose what resources you wanted to get from it. Also, the minigame itself kinda induced a zen state for me.

The Bad

Repetitive Combat. This might just be because I play Sentinel, but I was quickly getting tired of the "take cover and poke out every few seconds to shoot or overload shields" mechanic. In ME1, I was able to pop on a barrier and run and gun for a while and get creative with the abilities I had to make combos. The higher cooldown times and lower shield capacities in this game meant I was basically sidelined the entire game and couldn't find another viable playstyle even after I upgraded those abilities.

Initiating Romance. I was already on the fence about starting another romance since I had a previous relationship with Kaidan, but the romance dialogue options did not encourage me. This is one way ME2 is similar to DA2, in that both have weirdly horny options for starting the flirt dialogue that I don't want to choose even if I am interested in that character. Example: the first line you have to initiate a romance with Garrus is to suggest sleeping together, this after he has voiced basically no romantic interest in you up to this point. It would have been so out of character for my Shepard to say that even if she did like Garrus that way, especially given the power imbalance. In ME1, Kaidan and Liara both flirted with me first; I could judge what I liked and didn't like from the things they said, and from there could either encourage or discourage them from flirting after that. While I have my problems with ME1's romance system too, I like the rapport this approach to romance builds. Hell, even in DA2 Anders and Isabela flirt with you first. Sorry, but I appreciate a good slow burn, and if I can't gauge the vibes of what a romance is going to be like before more serious flirting, I can't commit to those options.

Hacking Minigames. I don't think I minded the minigame in ME1 because it was relatively short if you were good at it, and I was able to breeze past most of them in under 5 seconds. The two main minigames in ME2 are more time-consuming and get boring very quickly.

Betrayal Yes We've All Seen It. Seriously, after a few loyalty missions I was able to almost perfectly predict what the end of any given mission would be. Miranda trusts her friend to keep her sister safe? The friend is going to betray her. Jacob wants to find his missing father? His father is no longer the man he once knew. Tali wants to find evidence of her father's innocence? Her father is actually guilty. Mordin wants to rescue his old student from the krogans? His student is actually working for the krogans. Garrus and Zaeed already start out betrayed and are just seeking revenge. If it isn't betrayal, it's some kind of parental/child conflict, see: Miranda, Jacob, Tali, Samara, Thane, and arguably Grunt. I maybe wouldn't mind it so much if betrayal and parental relationships were the main themes of the overarching story but they were not, making the loyalty missions feel oddly detached from the rest of the story despite taking up so much time and being some of the most enjoyable parts of the game.

Pacing. I'm glad I was given a heads-up to complete all loyalty missions before the IFF mission because I don't think I would have saved everyone if I hadn't. Once the IFF is installed, the story rushes to the end at break-neck speed (or at least if you care about the fate of your crew it does). It doesn't give me a whole lot of time to get to know Legion or to progress relationships with the later-recruited characters.

Conflicting Morality. Sometimes the Paragon options were sympathetic to Cerberus, sometimes they were staunchly opposed to Cerberus. Sometimes the Paragon options were for rewriting the geth, and sometimes they were opposed to rewriting the geth. Thankfully, I didn't care about accidentally racking up a few renegade points this time around, but it was frustrating when the game couldn't agree on its own moral lines.

The DLC

Liar of the Shadow Broker. This was the best DLC for me. Not only did I enjoy the fight against Vasir (although I could tell, again, that Vasir was going to betray me well ahead of time) but I also liked Liara's arc as you can see her slowly accepting a darker path into becoming the new shadow broker. That's not to say she's morally corrupt, but I can definitely see her character potentially turning into something darker in ME3 now in her position. I also liked the final talk with her in Shepard's room - she was sympathetic about the Kaidan situation and I got to discuss how frustrated I was working with Cerberus. Overall, it got me to care about Liara much more than ME1 did. It was definitely worth the time.

Arrival. From my favorite DLC to my least favorite, I HATED this DLC. For one, I didn't even know it was going to be a DLC when I started it, so it was kind of a rude surprise when the mission I thought would take 10 minutes turned into an hour. What I hated most about it was that it was so stupidly high stakes for a DLC that is not related to the main story at all. You're telling me I have to crash an asteroid into a relay and kill 300K people in order to save all of humanity but somehow this isn't the game's finale? Not to mention I didn't have a choice at all. The whole thing just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Project Overlord. Speaking of bad taste in my mouth, this left a bad taste too but for other reasons. At first, I really liked it, since it was spooky and was giving me Alien vibes with how suspense some sections were. Once I got to the end, however, I was horrified by the way an autistic character was treated. I'm glad he was viewed in a sympathetic light and I was given the chance to rescue him and punish his abusive brother but it still didn't feel like enough to justify including it or the potential decision to continue his torture.

The Squad

Tali. Tali my beloved. For reference, I am going to list these characters in relative order of how much I like them, and Tali is top tier for me. I would, again, romance her if I could. I think what I like most about her is that she's sweet but she also recognizes her worth and stands up for herself when she needs to ("if they don't like it they can go to hell") and I adore that about her.

Garrus. I love Garrus, and again, I used him most out of any other squadmate because I like hearing his commentary the most. That said, I think I still only view him as a close brother figure since he really gave me no reason to think he was romantically interested in me outside of the fact that I knew he was a romance option. Also, buddy, please stay behind cover, you're getting shot.

Mordin. I know he's basically if Sheldon Cooper was a war criminal and also funny, but I love Professor War Crimes. He may justify doing some fucked up shit for "the greater good" but you can also see that he cares deeply about people on a personal level, and when those two beliefs conflict it makes for the basis of a very intriguing character arc. I can't wait to see it through.

Samara. I love her, she's got such an interesting stance on justice and morality. Like Mordin, I think she kills for the "greater good" but also struggles with her duties on a personal level. She's the only one I tried to romance but I quickly backed down when pushing her too much felt disrespectful of her and her code.

Kasumi. Kasumi's loyalty mission was one of my favorites because it was just... different. No big betrayal, no tense relationship with a parent. It was a clean heist story with a side of tragic romance. I like her a lot, but unfortunately, being a DLC character, she wasn't fleshed out very much after her mission.

Legion. I wish I had more time to spend with Legion, but what time I did have with them was very interesting. They provided some new insight into the geth and gave Tali some conflict as well. Their loyalty mission was also one of the ones I spent the most time thinking about since I'm sure it will have major repercussions. My favorite moment was when I asked them why they were wearing my old armor, to which they said they did not know, suggesting that they do, in fact, have an individual desire and sentimentality that is too complex for them to comprehend outside of their programming, at least at the moment.

Thane. I liked his dedication to giving his son a better life before he dies. He had to grow on me, but over the course of talking to him about his history and late wife, I grew fond of him. I definitely wouldn't want to romance him though.

Grunt. I liked Grunt enough, especially at Tuchunka. Like Wrex, I didn't bring him around a lot simply because I didn't have a great reason for doing so.

Jacob. Like Kaidan, I had heard people thought Jacob was boring, and, like Kaidan, I was ready to approach his character with an open mind and defend him from that allegation. But no, he's boring. I liked him a lot more in the beginning when he had a similar conflict to my Shepard about being ex-Alliance and working with Cerberus. Unfortunately, that doesn't really go anywhere and his loyalty mission has nothing to do with it. Sorry, Jacob, I gave you a chance.

Miranda. I really did not like Miranda in the beginning. I would often bring her to missions related to Cerberus just to show her how awful they could be, but she seemed stubborn in believing all bad cases were just hedge cases - exceptions to the rule. Girl, how many exceptions can you make until it is a rule? I purposefully brought her and Jack to the end mission because I had a feeling I could betray Cerberus at some point and I wanted to see their reactions to it. Thankfully, she pulled through at the end and saw the light lol.

Jack. Jack is very hard for me to like, even after her loyalty mission. I definitely feel sympathy for her, and I want her to be able to trust me, but her edgelord personality was laid on a little too thick for me to take seriously sometimes. I don't mind brooding "too badass to care" characters, hell I like Shadow the Hedgehog, but when the character says things like "I like to kill and I like being badass and look at my tats I'm too hardcore for you pussy" I just have to roll my eyes. She felt like if a middle schooler wrote what they think a cool dark character would act like.

Zaeed. I hate Zaeed. I think it's mostly because I don't really give a shit about his 20-year-revenge-plot and was much more annoyed that he expected me to let innocents die for it. I saved the workers and was still able to gain his loyalty with a paragon speech check, but after that mission I never bothered to talk to him again since I wasn't interested in his stories anyways lol. Definitely a character I don't mind being a DLC companion.

Miscellaneous. I liked Joker a lot more in this game and appreciated the brief time I could play as him, it felt very tense. EDI was fun to have around too. Kelly kind of creeped me out sometimes, and gave me "but I'm an empath" vibes, but I appreciated her role too. Kaidan frustrated the hell out of me but after his pseudo-apology email I'm willing to give him another chance. Anderson was cool, though he didn't have much to say. It was good to reunite with Wrex too.

Overall, this game was much more enjoyable than ME1, though I still wouldn't say I like it better than Dragon Age yet. We'll see how ME3 holds up.

Overall Score: 7.5/10

[zombiempreg]

Will, wood, & the taped worm

Credit to @lskre for giving me the idea

[ydotome]

You're with me now. - Ore dake Level Up na Ken - Episode 12

[dukeofthomas]

Here's my controversial opinion; if you're trying to write Bruce as a non-abusive, good parent, you should also write him respecting his kids' privacy, boundaries, and not stalking&surveying them.

[krayonimous]

BTS? I like them too. Dynamite is great, I like Spring Day, though. I like Spring Day, too!

[trendingdrama]

baekhong being domestic is my kryptonite

QUEEN OF TEARS 눈물의 여왕 (2024)

[zhouyes]

you briefly get a taste of what you desire. then isn't death, a worthy price to pay?

BYEON WOOSEOK as RYU SHIOH

strong girl nam soon, 힘쎈여자 강남순.

[mostlyfate]

The shirt is too big. Wait. Just a moment.

DESTINED WITH YOU 연애는 불가항력 (2023)

[alderaans]

Why are you worried about me? Because I want to protect you. Lovely Runner (2024)

[ahsung]

I like you. I... like you. Please keep smiling like this. I... will stay by your side. So that you don't feel lonely or think about scary things... when you're having a hard time. I'll stay by your side for the rest of my life. So please live long.

LOVELY RUNNER (2024) dir. Yoon Jong Ho, Kim Tae Yeob

[liauditore]

how many belts and buckles does she need someone save me.

[10underoot2]

I thought I would have so much to say about the car accident scene. And while I could go on for a while on why it's everything I've ever wanted from a scene of this nature and why it's a beautifully acted cinematic piece, I do think the beauty of the scene lies so much in silence. Their expressions are do a fantastic job to express their emotional state so I'm just gonna call attention to a few things I won't get over anytime soon.

Imagine being Haein and seeing your husband wrecking a car window in hysteria. Imagine seeing disbelief on his face when he sees you and walks towards you. Imagine watching him unable to breathe properly (sound on and high for this scene). Imagine seeing life flood into him as soon as you touch him.

Jiwon plays such an important part here. Because Haein has NEVER seen Hyunwoo like this. He's a pretty calm nice, non-violent guy. She knows him to like mostly everyone and he rarely gets angry - he's pretty composed. But then what is this look of complete shattered pain on his face? With a mix of disbelief, bearing the heaviest heart on the planet? He's unrecognisable to her. She can't make sense of any of his actions. She's in utter shock hearing how hardly any air is making it's way into his lungs.

In his eyes is a look of crazed wilderness just tamed. He's out of his sense. Completely lost in the events that have just passed. Not believing that he can breathe. That it's okay. All is well in the world for now. She's unscathed.

'What's going on? Calm down.'

The way she asks him to calm down - touching his face - cause she just doesn't know what in the world could send him in such a frenzy to forget himself. Her asking him to calm down here is everything to me. She's really just saying I'm here okay. Calm down. Calm down, you can breathe. Tell me what happened and I can fix it.

'Even still, Are you crazy? How could you break the window with your bare hands? Look at this!'

I know it probably didn't register to him at that point. But he's hearing her being worried for him again when he thought her lost forever. Wouldn't that sound like music to his ears.

And her...god she's so worried for him. She's never seen him like this. She doesn't know what happened to make him like this. One she sees his absolutely broken bloody hand. Two she's seeing her husband absolutely crushed. She's so confused.

That is until his words hit her like a truck. I think she had an idea that he did it to save her but she didn't know he did it because he thought her dead. And that makes all the difference for her.

Also I thought it was very interesting to keep showing his injured hand clenching. I think it was a way to show how the physical pain still didn't hold a candle to his emotional turmoil. He CLENCHES that broken hand multiple times. I can't even begin to think when he actively registered the pain.

The need for constant touch to reaffirm that she indeed is there. The sitting down. The head on her hand. The heavy breathing. *Chef's kiss*

I love women comforting the man they love when he's broken. Gah! That hand on his face and hug. Her embracing him. Letting him cry all he wants. Giving him the reaffirmation he needs by placing her self as close to him as possible. Trying to tame and override his sense. The hand on the nape of his neck. The hand caressing his hair lovingly. And good god, the RINGS.

Also notice his breathing on her shoulder. He's trying to calm himself. Telling himself she's here. Hearing her say it's alright. Everything will be alright.

I'm sure they stay like this until the ambulance comes and asks them if they're hurt. Only then Haein must've gently tore him apart from her (hand on his face again ofcourse) and convinced/guided him to finally get treatment. I can just Imagine Hyunwoo completely dishevelled going, 'Huh *sniffs*......oh.......Right, my hand' and that's when the pain hits him.

Special mention to the hospital conversation when Haein asks him 'Will you sob like this if I die?' and he says truthfully, bashfully, embarrassed but without missing a beat 'Ofcourse.' He's hiding behind nothing. He truly meant to give up on himself after her.

For me this is also the night Haein starts to write her diary. Hyunwoo must've been sound asleep, amped up on painkillers and she must've had so much time to sit and admire him and write.

Gif credits: @wolha and @seawherethesunsets

[weirdplutoprince]

Trauma in Solo leveling

Always haunted by what could have been of Solo Leveling if the narrative acknowledged the inherent trauma vision that guides most of Jin-Woo's actions through the series instead of glorifying him for that.

Like, it is pretty clear to me from the start that a lot of his obsession with self reliance and his increasingly cynical views of the world ("The weak are destined to be betrayed") are a direct response to the double dungeon incident, and in more ways than we initially realize.

I think it's particularly obvious in the way he is paralled with Lee Joohee; while they're both shown to be traumatized from their encounter, Joohee is supposedly 'worse off' than him. She has noticeable flashbacks to that episode and withdraws from life and work in an attempt to avoid possible triggers - becoming paralysed when she fails to do so. And because, while also afraid, Jin-Woo is instead making a point to return to dungeons we are very clearly meant to think that he is moving on when she is not. ...Except that he isn't.

Because, you see, along with withdrawing, the reenactment of a traumatic event is also a very common response to trauma. And so is the risky behaviour that might come with it. And what does Jin-Woo does as soon as he's able to leave the hospital again? Immediately throw himself into dungeons, alone, with a clear disregard for personal safety and an extreme need to both prove himself and give meaning to his near death experience before.

Not only does he goes right back into the very same place his trauma took place, but he seems to subconsciously be trying to recreate said event in a way that gives him control of the situation. This time, he wasn't abandoned to die alone in a dungeon: he did it himself, willingly. He placed himself in that position. And later on, when he risks himself with shady parties he expects to betray him, he seems almost content; once again putting himself in risk by creating a scenario where he is 'abandoned' and 'betrayed' but where he can come off on top. He is desperate to both have his belief confirmed that someone perceived as a weak hunter like he is will always be betrayed, always be left behind, and to fight that supposed fate. To prove that he has 'fixed' this aspect of himself and will thus not fall victim to that consequences of that abandoment again. In fact, he is so detatched from the current scene that he deliberately ignores the fact Yoo Jinho challenges those believes by protecting Jin-Woo, whom he believes to be an E rank at that point.

And were this any other story, all his development from then on would prove the faults of this mindset. The dangers of self reliance, of cutting yourself off from any support network, from depriving himself of any sort of meaningful trust or vulnerability with others. But instead, we're meant to respect the fact he is increasingly isolated from everyone else. That he becomes cold, emotionally withdrawn and paranoid (his refusal to join any of the existing guilds always felt to me like his need for control taken to extreme, plus the fact he could not deal with how exposed he felt working with others again). And I think that's really sad.

It would have been really interesting to have a story that is willing to challenge the notion that he is better off alone, and that trust in others is ultimately unecessary. And that would acknowledged the strength necessary to allow himself to trust and be vulnerable after everything - and the importance of surrounding himself with people he loves and knows will protect him too. Sad 😔

[iamacolor]

I don't want to spend a single moment without you from now on. Because it was so wasteful to live forgetting you. Let's do it then. Let's stay together even in our dreams.

LOVELY RUNNER - EPISODE 16

[milolovesbmc]

It’s Marvin’s Bar Mitzvah!

Little extra Marvin In Trousers :)

[dramashii]

I won't ever go over this line. Okay? What happens if you cross over the line? Haven't you drawn a line on a desk in elementary school? Anything that comes over the line will be mine? So you know the rule. You should also be careful not to cross the line.

LOVELY RUNNER (2024) | Ep 12