Mass Effect

My friend Daniel in NZ claim this is the best RPG or one of the best EVER!!! I wasn't convinced nor bought in by all the hype. I seen some gameplay trailer and that was not even impressive. But the main thing that turned me off was Commander Shepard who is ironically the protagonist of the epic saga.

Commander Shepard was portrayed as a male meathead marine. Gosh!! What a bland and boring character, it feels as its pre-determined. I personally would appreciate being able to play as a female character and being able to customize how my main character should look like.

Then 2 years later. I met up with another friend of mine. He didn't seem appealed by Dragon Age and felt that Mass Effect was a much better game with better AI and plot. Hmm.. I wasn't really convinced then. A few months later I was curious. I'm getting bored, really bored. I been away from WoW for quite some time and never felt like I wanted to go back.

The grind, the raids... its just too time-consuming. Sims 3 would have been great but its quite lacklustre in terms of gameplay compared to its predecessors. I guess thats partly because Will Wright isn't part of the design process anymore. Not to mention all the game-breaking bugs. Ugh.. but thats besides the point.

So anyway. My friend passed me a copy of Mass Effect 2 and told me I could INFACT create my own character. I was sold. I could create my Shepard and that meant a lot to me. But wait! Mass Effect 2?!? So would that not mean I am missing out on the first part of this epic saga that spans a trilogy?

I went and bought Mass Effect 1 & 2. After playing one... gosh. It was such a great game, I can't wait to play ME 2. But surprisingly... it had a addictive effect, despite being a single player RPG. I went back and made more Shepards and played them all. I have never done that for any RPGs before, not even big games like KOTOR or Baldurs Gate.

With a robust community all hyped about the game. My boredom is gone and I'm now worried about being addicted.