#and then he kept jumping out & attacking someone which made a weird video game ‘restart’ screen appear

[beckybarnes]

Had a nightmare for like the first time in soo long & I forgot how genuinely terrifying they were I’m like actually shaken up

[monochromemedic]

“Get the hell away from me you freak-” the man’s exclamation was cut short as a wet force shot into his legs, his body slamming against the pavement with a loud thud. A direct slime bullet shot, and the last of the gang was contained within their gooey prisons. I sighed in relief, lowering my arm. ‘I should quip, that’s what all the good heroes do right?’ “You kiss your mother with that mouth?” I said softly before realizing that no one, not even the gathering crowd could hear that. “You kiss your mother with that mouth?!” I repeated before realizing how weak that was. Baby steps... just needed to not show my face around here for a week so they’d all forget how much I fucked up. I rubbed my neck, fingers gliding along the cryo collar as it released a blast of cold air, waves of relief flooding my body. The crowd erupted in clapping, something that startled me back to the situation at hand. A small rising gang had been causing havoc over the city, something larger heroes would only keep their eyes on before attempting to resolve. They were there to help with big tasks, real villains or aliens, something that would cause real devastation. It made sense but that didn’t mean that some real low lives could sneak under the radar and cause some damage as long as they spaced what they were doing enough or kept it the damage to a minimum.  The Graveyard Gang was playing with that line and it was obvious that if it wasn’t stopped some hero would have to come down and take them out themselves. If not for me. I raised a hand sheepishly, waddling to the side of the street to meet the crowd that formed around me. “Hey... hello. Did someone call the police already? Is everyone ok?” My words were met by the sound of sirens drawing near, a large news van trailing not too far behind. A frantic woman nearly rolled out of the van, mic at the ready as she bolted through the crowd, ushering a small man lugging a camera to follow her. “Hi, hello, out of the way, Channel 9 news. Hi, I’m Sandra Stevens of Channel 9 news would you mind giving an interview about the heroic deed you just committed?”  Her words were fast and rehearsed, like she had either done this a million times or dreamt about doing it so much, the words burned into her brain. Her mic was pushed into my face, knocking against my chin and drawing a thin strand of goo onto the mic. The woman didn’t seem to notice however, her eyes laser focused on me. “I... I su-sure. I’m just not very good on camera-” “Don’t worry honey, editors make everyone look good. Cameron! Start rolling, everyone please clear the place we need a nice shot of...what do you call yourself, Miss?” “G...Grey Matter.” “Grey.” she repeated, a eyebrow raised in silent judgement. “Well Grey Matter, hope you’re ready for your 5 minutes of fame because we’re rolling.” --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My fingers ran across the laptop keys, restarting the video again for the 11th time in a row. I couldn’t stop, my first interview, my first well known appearance as a hero. And the interview was... terrible. The comments didn’t say that but I couldn’t help but notice how nervous I looked, how much I stared into the camera at times, the way I showed my powers and how one guy said it was like a bad hentai. I knew that but god when others said that made everything feel ten times worse. However other commenters were nice, saying how cool I looked, how good it was to see another hero on the streets, taking care of baddies that the others didn’t get. I felt like my ego was a metronome switching from feeling like a god to feeling like a dumbass. I readied my finger to press the replay button as the video neared the end when a knock came to my door. Strange, I didn’t expect anyone, and not many people knew where I lived. Maybe it was a neighbor coming to congratulate me? Not like I could easily disguise myself and not many other people had the consistency of tar. I slid my pants on and walked to the door, opening it to a face almost 3 inches away from  mine. “Hello-” I jumped back, arms raising and balling like huge slings, ready to attack only for them to deflate and fall to my waist as I realized who it was. “You really do stretch! It’s like you’re one big sticky hand toy. Neat, Neat...” Plastic Man commented, his neck extended to look at me further. “Mind if I come in? I’d like to talk.” “I... Y-yes of course Mr... Mr. Plastic Man I... Um.” I could feel myself beginning to melt as I went to close the door behind him, gesturing to my messy house before him. He towered over everything easily, walking past my fridge and ducking to get into my living room to observe more of the house, making eye contact with the laptop. He smiled widely to himself before shifting his eyes back at me. “Please, Mr. Plastic Man was my father, just call me Plas. And I assume you know about me from the way your fangirling?” “I... yes of course you’re an inspiration to me ever since I became like this. The way you quickly maneuver and creatively problem solve with an air of ease is inspiring. Not to mention the way your so cheerful with the public, it puts alot of people at ease, I...starting researching you because we have such similar powers.. not in a weird way just, how you do things.” I rambled trying to literally hold myself together as I felt my body begin to dribble to the floor. “I’m sorry can you excuse me-” “Go ahead, you need... help there?” He asked as I sped past him to my room, grabbing the collar and placing it around my neck. In an instant it came to life, a release of cold air wafting over my body. I returned to the living room, head craning to look at the tall hero. “No thank you, I’m alright. Sometimes when I get nervous or overheated I start to lose my form. The cold from the collar helps me keep me together.” He lowered his head, neck stretching once again to look closer at the device. “I get that, hell sometimes on summer days I gotta put myself in a freezer and become a Plas Pop or else I nearly melt down the storm drain. That’s just another thing we have in common I guess. And that’s what I came here to talk to you about.” I swallowed hard, his hand gesturing to the opened interview on the laptop. “Everyone’s been talking about the girl who took down the Graveyard Gang and word gets around fast.  So fast that even I got word of it almost as soon as it aired. Boy was I surprised when I saw you on camera, showing of a little of what you could do. Another stretcher like me! And one who’s new to the game, a fresh face. It got me thinking.” He paused, crossing his arms as he glanced towards the ground. “Things have been quite in the League, least for ol’ Plas. Much as I love my job and helping the universe, seems like I’m always backup number 54 on the list of who to call when the world’s gonna end. Which isn’t bad but it leaves a guy with alot of time on his rubber hands. So I was thinking maybe I should give the whole mentor thing a shot, take someone under my wing. Just haven’t got the chance to meet someone I could actually teach anything to, till I saw your little stunt. So what do you say? Willing to make what the Batman described as ‘A horrible decision that no one would agree to’?” This was crazy. A proposal like this? And so soon? Learning under one of the League, one of the bests? “Yes, I’d be honored to be mentored by you Plastic Man- er... P-plas. I hope I don’t disappoint you, um... you know I can’t shapeshift like you right. I can’t turn into lions or trucks... I... I can’t do alot of those things actually, just basic stretching and modifications.” “Hm? Oh well that’s ok, besides I didn’t expect you to be exactly like me, that’d just be crazy thoughts. Also that’d make you my son, and that’s just weird. You got something else that I don’t have, you got that goo shot. I can’t shoot bullets of myself at people and you said you can set up traps and knock people out in a hail of slime. That’s kick ass, we just gotta embrace that side of you and you’ll be up there with Superman at the table, talking about what multiverse crisis was your favorite.” He grinned, lowering himself to my level and wrapping an arm around my shoulder, pulling me close against his body. I felt my face grow warm as I looked away from him, my chest pounding despite the lack of heart in my breast. Now he was touching me? Telling me how cool I was? I felt myself begin to drip again, knees beginning to buckle. “Y-you really think so?” “I know so. You got spunk kid, we just gotta polish you up and you’ll be golden, Pony Boy.” The force of his palm hitting my back sent me jolting forward, his shadow looming over me. “How about you meet me outside of your place, tomorrow. 1pm. We’ll assess your abilities and work from there. Sound good? Too bad, crime never waits. I’ll see you there.” And with surprising grace he dipped out of my apartment, leaving me like it was just a frantic dream. If it wasn’t for the sting from his palm I’d assume I was merely daydreaming, but it was real. Plastic Man and me, working together. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Come on, haven’t you ever seen Spider-Man. Leap of faith!”  “I don’t know if you’re legally allowed to reference that...” I muttered, eyeing the large gap between buildings before staring back at Plas. “I haven’t really done much uh... traversal practice. What if I fall and hit the ground I... I mean I don’t think I can die like that but-” “I won’t let you fall, I promise you. I’d be a real bad trainer if the first person I mentored became a permanent stain on 4th street. You got this!”  Plastic Man grinned widely, flashing a thumbs up and stepping back. His words echoed in my head, as I stepped back a few feet, already making my plan as I dragged a line of slick slime in front of me.  ‘I’ll run forward, using the slime to propel me even further to close the gap. Then when I get as far as I can, I’ll stretch my arms out, attach to the building and slingshot my way up to the roof.’ I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, waiting until every last bit of air left my lungs.  And then I ran. My feet slid against the slime trail like a skater on the ice as I raced towards the edge. Before I could even attempt to jump, I hit the edge, my body fling more downward then I expected. I felt the air leave my lungs, my head snapping up towards the roof top I was aiming for and snapped my arm forward, splatting against the brick a few feet down. Damn it, Damn it, I got this. I got this. I felt the tension build in my arms, threatening to snap under the pressure. Just when I thought it was going to be too much, it released. And I found myself ascending just as fast I was falling. Up against the building. A wave of pain shot through my body as I was bashed against the wall, slowly feeling the way my body spread and slowly began to peel away from the window. Just as I felt the last few strand of myself start to detach, I felt a warmth wrap around my body, lifting me up to the roof of the building. “Hey you good? I never saw anyone but me rubber band that hard into a building before.” I tried to nod my head, wheezing and groaning as I laid on my back, staring up at the titan of a man before me. “I’m ok... just the wind got knocked out.” “Mm, yeah I’m not surprised. I mean if anything I guess we found out that a fall from here would be a-ok. Painful but... if you can survive going mach one into a building a fall should be no sweat.” He stretched his arms and sat down beside me, hands forming something just out of my range of vision to mess with. “Take your time, and we can try again. Maybe something with less of a gap to fall down.” I closed my eyes, a sickening knot forming in my stomach. I fucked up the jump, and fucked it up bad. Was he disappointed? Rethinking his decision to choose me? He had been teaching me for 2 weeks now, and I couldn’t help but think that I wasn’t enough by the way he’d sometimes look away, seem upset, maybe wanting to be anywhere else but here. My body slumped forward, lingering pain in my core. “Plastic Man?” His head cocked to the side, eyes unidentifiable behind his goggles. But I couldn’t bring myself to ask him what he thought of me. The words caught in my throat, my fear too great to hear the truth. I didn’t want to seem too pitiful, too... “I’ll try better next time.” “That’s what I like to hear.” ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “GM what were you thinking?! You know you can’t handle that kinda heat, why did you head into a burning building?! No one was in there! Everyone was safe!” I ducked my head away from Plas’ rage, watching the soot swirl around the remains of my arm. I was hurt bad, nearly melted and burned in a raging fire me and Plas tried to contain. But I was careless, eager to please a man I thought was losing interest in me. Despite the fact the building was clear I thought if I could help put out the fire before the firefighters came he would praise my boldness. But I only ended up making a fool of myself, having to had Plas rush into the building and collect me himself. He didn’t fair well himself, parts of him still goopy from harsh heat damage. “Look at me when I’m talking to you! Why did you do that.” His eyes were angry, his usual smile twisted into a disappointed frown. “I wanted to impress you-” “Impress me?! Yeah your new power to turn into a corpse was real freaking impressive Jenna. Why the hell are you trying to impress me like that-” “Because I don’t think I’m good enough to be taught by you!” I exclaimed, shocked by how I raised my voice at him. “I... I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to... I just... I feel like ever since you started to mentor me I haven’t been good enough. I’ve always been messing up and-and I feel like if I don’t do anything to impress you, you’ll just abandon me and I’ll fuck up the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I-I look up to you so much, and I feel like it’s such a privilege that you chose me I... I feel like it’s a mistake. And so I’m just waiting for you to realize that and I feel like you’re catching on so I had to do something to make sure that you didn’t fuck up with your choice.” Plas’ face immediately dropped, a look of concern replacing his scold. “Christ... I gave you Imposter Syndrome. Is this what the other people with sidekicks have to deal with... Woozy was never like this. Er...well, no he was he just didn’t have powers.” He bit his bottom lip, and sighed, inching to take a seat beside me. “I’m not good at this teaching stuff, I don’t know if you noticed. So if I made you feel like you weren’t impressing me, I swear it isn’t true. I remember when I was first getting the hang of being a hero. I was dog shit. The amount of times I did somethings stupid or tried to impress others without knowing what I was doing myself, god... and when I was part of the league? The first month was a hell, I didn’t get anything done. I still mess up, I just make it seem like I don’t cause I play it off. We all screw up, even Superman. I would know, I was there for a couple of those times, etched em right into my head.” He glanced away, tapping the side of his head where the words ‘Pantsing Incident of 05’ appeared.  “Point is we all started somewhere and we were all ass at it. You think Flash got the hang of dodging every car while he ran down the road? No, it was just that no one remembers those times cause he’s  too busy kicking ass now adays that no one cares that one time he ate asphalt. No one accept me who uses it to blackmail him occasionally because I’m petty and like to knock him down a peg every once in a while. You’re doing great.” I could feel the tears dripping down my face as he spoke, using my palm to desperately hide my emotions from him. His arm wrapped around my shoulder in a cautious, yet caring touch. “Can we just not... run into burning buildings next time we’re trying to prove something? I might not be able to get you out next time.” “Yeah, of course sir. Thank you, for believing in me, after I did that, and that you believed me in the first place.”

[renwritesstuff]

ren beat me:a

TIME TO HEAR REN’S HOT SPORTS OPINIONS ON IT. Of which there are many. Also gifs.

I generally like to explain my history with a game series first (if applicable), because obviously that can shape my perspective of a game. 

I started the Mass Effect series way back with ME1. I’d heard of it and the second I saw my friend play it, I knew I had to have it. I saved my first-job moneys and plunked down my entire tax refund for 2008 on a shiny new Xbox 360 and ME1 (plus Orange Box and Assassin’s Creed). I was entranced by the graphics and the story, and grew quickly obsessed by the time ME2 rolled out. ME2 blew my mind even more, and I must have beat that game 7-8 times with a bunch of different Shepards. ME3 I didn’t obsess about to the same extent, but I did beat it at least twice on my two favorite Shepards/LIs. ME3 was such a strong mood piece and evoked such a different, somber emotion from me, that it was mentally draining to play. I still loved it, and the Citadel DLC cherry on top is one of my all-time favorite set pieces.

So. Mass Effect: Andromeda.

Did I like it? Yes.

Do I recommend it? Yes.

Does it have its flaws? Absolutely.

Let’s get flaws out of the way. This game was buggy. Not oppressively buggy, but inconveniently so. I played on Xbox One (like an idiot. REKINDLE THE XBOX 360 WONDER ...and not be able to play MP with anyone because everyone was on PS4 or PC. Genius).

Here is a list of bugs I got:

Architect on Elaaden: unable to complete. Refused to trigger

More than once: a companion character died (like they do), but I would be unable to rez them. No prompt, no waking up when the encounter ended. I would go back to the Tempest, still a red arrow. They would be dead on the Tempest. I would go back down to the planet: still dead and unable to leave my party. In addition, on the Tempest, my OTHER companion would still be following me. So I had 2 Peebees or 2 Dracks at one point, while poor Vetra was Dead Forever.

Said Dead Forever Glitch occurred when I had almost beaten a particularly difficult boss which required many waves of things to overcome.

The game liked to freeze randomly. Full system lockup. Autosave was generous so I rarely missed more than a few minutes, but several bugs required a mission or two rollback.

I didn’t play MP, but I did throw my drones at the APEX missions for free credits and shit. About 1/3 of the time, the servers were offline and I couldn’t access it, and I would forget and not touch it for 2 days.

The Elaaden vault almost made me quit, it was just that frustrating. 

I’m a smart cookie, and I dunno what the rest of the world’s problem is, but I fucking LOVE environmental puzzles. And it is saying something, that someone who loves environmental FIGURE IT OUT puzzles as much as I do, that I was so frustrated with Elaaden Vault’s setup and lack of context clues.

There was a point where you fight two Nullifiers and a Destroyer in one go. This fight is what almost broke me. I died at least 10 times. This fight had uneven terrain, so there was an upper and lower level, as well as an area behind it that was carved rock. If you venture to the upper or lower portion: the fight resets. If one of your teammates (say CORA OVER AND OVER AGAIN) is knocked off the edge and you need to revive them: the fight resets. If one of your teammates stays dead and forces you to restart the vault: my brain resets.

The fact that I remember these instances, when my memory is generally pretty shitty, is an issue.

Now, I went back and rewatched some videos from the ME Trilogy. Those games? I love the shit out of them, but there is some BAD dialogue over 3 games (as a Shepley fan at least 1/3 Ashley’s dialogue, especially in ME3, irritates me to no end). But even so, I forgive it because I enjoyed the characters so much. MEA had much more noticeable bad dialogue right out of the gate, which is unfortunate. It gets a lot stronger as the game progresses, but cringing right at the beginning is hard to overcome.

My husband’s complaint from watching me (he started his own game on Insanity and hasn’t recruited Peebee or Drack yet), is that there’s no obvious category for each. No Tali the tech specialist or Ashley the soldier or Liara the biotic. He didn’t like that everyone was a hybrid class. I didn’t mind so much, as I assume the expectation was to grab the characters you LIKED instead of the ones who PERFECTLY BALANCED your class, which is expected to be a hybrid anyway. However: VETRA. WHY DON’T YOU STAY ALIVE, VETRA? I had to kick Vetra out of my ground team because she was bafflingly squishy. Peebee doesn’t even wear armor and she’s hardier than the turian with the assault rifle.  

And the fault I’ll touch on that everyone has already brought up a million times is there is a definite sense that nothing I did really mattered. There was rarely an instance of express consequences to anything. Even things that seemed major, that seemed like “Hey, this would damage the relationship I have with this character” ...it didn’t. A character would be pissy for two lines of dialogue, and be back to normal. With no lingering indication that I could expect future issues because of this choice. Where’s my Mass Effect 3 genophage cure sabotage or geth versus quarian conundrum? I also have no idea what I gained for having earned everyone’s loyalty in my crew (or if that was possible to fail by not doing what they expressed they wanted? I DON’T KNOW). 

Relating to that is my personal quibble with the game in it felt extremely muddled. I love games with a straightforward premise. I could not spoil the end of MEA for you because I honestly barely understood what happened. I don’t understand why things were happening, and several characters (Liam, Suvi and Drack) had very strange, unclear motivations to me. 

So now the good parts of MEA!

I enjoyed playing this game. It reminded me of Mass Effect 1, when you were a young, naive idiot trying to figure shit out. Like drive up mountains or break into hideouts. It was just Fun. 

I never felt burdened by the combat. You remember playing Dragon Age 2 when you knew there were 3 waves of Shit coming, right? Enemies in MEA hit just hard enough and are just mobile enough to keep me on my toes, but not burden me with tedium. I’m a sniper, and the punch of my Black Widow rifle is incredibly satisfying. I even ratcheted up the difficulty from Normal to Hardcore because I wanted a bigger challenge, and I NEVER EVER do that. I was having just that much fun that I wanted to earn it a little more.

I liked that my Ryder could be a dork, or a cooler-headed professional. I loved my laid-back, easygoing Ryder, and I liked seeing his little Tempest family learn to trust him. I liked that he had to earn his respect through action. It made those heroic moments feel a little more magical, and I actually really liked that he was just as impressed with everything as I was. Sometimes I’d make some smartass remark, and a second later my Ryder would echo that sentiment. It made me laugh more than once.

I liked the Tempest family. I think they did a good job overall with your crew. 

Cora: My ground team #1. She kept the heat off my sniper like a BOSS. Plus she was hardy as all get-out. I really liked her character development over the game, too. I very much identified with her fish-out-of-water search for answers in things she knows, and being hurt that she was pushed aside as Pathfinder for a Ryder child. I think that could have been emphasized more, but overall her character arc was satisfying to me. Big fan.

Liam: Decent squadmate, decent bro. His characterization was extremely muddled to me. He could be easygoing one minute and bafflingly dickish the next. His one-on-one chats with Ryder were solid, but in the Mako with everyone else (except Jaal), he was weirdly scathing. When he dug into Vetra and Peebee I wanted to punch him in the face. I liked the movie night, and that he was a movie nerd. He wasn’t as good in combat as Cora, so I stopped taking him along for the serious missions.

Drack: Oh space grampa. You lovable grouch. I love that he was a surly curmudgeon and yet got along with everyone. I was disappointed in what should have been a relationship breaker of a story choice, he was angry for one exchange then back to normal. I was also confused by his motives for joining my crew. His was the weakest recruitment, as he talked a LOT of shit and then jumped aboard two encounters later. What? Why?

Vetra: Awesome character, terrible combat partner. I don’t know what it is, but I cannot keep Vetra Nyx alive. I suspect she is a better fit for a more aggressive build to lay down cover fire, but as MY cover fire: she was too squishy. I really like her character arc, though hers took way too long to get going. She was basically the Tali of MEA: shows up promising, disappears, then 2/3 of the way through the game she reappears in a blaze of glory. I headcanon my Ethan Ryder’s sister falls for her hard :) (My best friend’s Sara romanced her, too. She loves them turians)

Peebee: She was my Ethan Ryder’s love interest. It was a tough choice between her or Cora, but I felt like Peebee matched my Ryder’s laid-back, tech specialist personality better. That said, I loved that Peebee was a cagey, commitment-phobic asari who thinks asari do some stupid shit. I liked her silly quips and meandering thoughts. I liked that we got to see her learn to care about people other than herself, and we did that by earning her trust (and she ours). I liked that she befriends Vetra to be the terrible influence that Vetra never got. I’m still confused about where Peebee’s Remnant expertise comes from, or what her actual goal is. Though it’s weird: being muddled actually works in favor of Peebee’s character.

Jaal: Oh, that sweet cat-man. Awesome voice, big heart. His combat prowess was hit or miss, but he complemented Cora’s attack style well, so he and Peebee were my interchangeable #2 squadmates. I think they did a great job throwing Jaal in for a new species learning curve, as both student and teacher for the Tempest crew. While I find the Angara storyline awfully parallel to the Collectors (or Asari) from ME2/3, I did really enjoy the first contact aspect that Jaal added to the game. His loyalty mission was among my favorite.

Gil: I should be predisposed to like Gil as he reminds me a great deal of Alistair from DAO. But his bickering with Kallo really grated on me. I definitely got the frenetic genius vibe, though I am skeptical that one person can do every possible repair on the Tempest without any assistance. Gil and Vetra were one of the few people who came to Andromeda with someone, so I did really like that he and Jill were pioneers together. It made me feel like a world did exist outside of my little spaceship.

Kallo: I really liked the salarian pilot, though Joker’s boots are almost as hard to fill as Shepard’s. His character development was incredibly uneven, and he rarely had anything to say. Dammit man, I wanted you to gossip after every story mission! I loved his gossip. But outside of Gil and one little mission, Kallo got no other screentime. 

Suvi: Now, considering my devotion to Samantha Traynor, Suvi should have been a slam dunk for a favorite. Plus I really like Cait from Fallout 4, the Voice Actor’s other character. But Suvi annoyed me for a weird reason: I did not understand what the fuck she did all day. “Science Officer.” “Making discoveries.” Other than her telling me about probes or stuff on the galaxy map, it felt like her presence on board the Tempest was little more than Not SAM. 

Lexi: I don’t know why, but I kind of found it oddly charming that not everyone on the ship liked Lexi (including Lexi herself). I liked her learning to be the Mother Hen that Chakwas was, plus the delicious irony of a 275-year-old asari being inexperienced about something. It felt like she talked the most of the non-combat crew, both over the comms and to other characters (compared to Suvi, Gil or Kallo). 

Reyes: I think I’m one of the few on tumblr not entranced by Reyes Vidal. Not throwing hate at his fans, his is just not a personality I care for. Personal preference. I’ve never liked smarmy, arrogant confidence. I was reluctant to take his side. 

I enjoyed the game. It evoked a sense of wonder and adventure. I think MEA2 has the potential to build on the missteps like ME2 did, and make something really wonderful. Especially with characters we’re starting to know and enjoy.