Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Mass Effect 2

Very cool game! A space adventure with dark overtones and seemingly endless possibilities. And it is not a multi-player game either! I managed to finish it after 45 hrs.37min of gameplay over a span of 38 days. My John Shepard character survived the final escape jump from the Collectors station to the waiting Normandy. Good thing because I can use the same character in Mass Effect 3.

I played the game as a Sentinel which is supposed to be challenging, at least according to the IGN walkthrough which mentioned:

Because of their unique play-style, Sentinels should be left to those who have a lot of experience in the Mass Effect universe. Lacking any real ability to use firearms, Sentinels will need to depend on their dueling skillset, which includes both biotic and tech-based abilities. Good luck! Playing as a Sentinel isn't easy.

I did not really find that particular character very difficult in the normal (default) level of difficulty and I had no past experience with Mass Effect. It took me a while to figure out the ‘biotic’ powers but I could still fight. I finished the game as a level 27 character.

During the game:

  • I ‘romanced’ Tali.
  • Miranda died in action. She disliked me since I took the side of another female by the name Jack!
  • The female Jack is pissed off at me because I dumped her for Tali!
  • Morality-wise I was mostly a paragon. No surprise there.
  • Best weapon: The Collectors’ heavy weapon.
  • I saved the galaxy!

MASS_EFFECT_4MAss Effect 2_3

MASS eFFECT 2_2MassEffect2_1

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

First Blizzard of 2011

Started snowing early AM on Jan. 12 and did not stop until 8 PM the same day. It dumped over 15 inches (38 cm) of snow on top of the frozen snow from the December blizzard. Shoveling took about 8 hours (4 intervals of 2 hours each.) The first one was the difficult one but had heavy hardware for help. The other 3 were maintenance!!

038_4

The early AM snowfall was very dense and blanketed everything very quickly with wet and heavy snow. By late afternoon I run out of places to dump it.

031_

021_

Rotten Winter Wonderland…