2012 was a slow year for me. At least as far as new releases go. Within this calendar year, I’ve only bought about 10 new releases across all of the systems I own. Instead of jumping from one new release to the next, a of my game shopping and playing this year has been spent catching up on older releases, as well as some stellar downloadable releases. Trials Evolution and Mark of the Ninja in particular stand out.
I know that there were big titles throughout, and that tastes vary from person-to-person, but this has been the slowest gaming year for me in a long time. Things will likely pick up now that the Wii U is out and that more new consoles are supposedly on the way, but this year in general was a bummer. Was 2012 a down year for you too?
In Third Person 
I don’t mind a slow year… gives my budget a break and lets me replay my favorite games! But it’s true that I’ve spent most of this year catching up on older games, with only a handful of stand-outs that I couldn’t wait to purchase, like Mass Effect 3 and Dishonored. I agree with you that Mark of the Ninja was an excellent game this year, and I hadn’t been anticipating it. I enjoy those types of surprises. =)
Thanks for the comment! What’s your game of the year 2012?
ME3! My favorite game series.
Interesting choice. I LOVE the series, and liked 3 a lot it as a whole, but…you know…
…did you enjoy….that….?
Haha I did not love it, no. I imagined it going down very differently… but I certainly didn’t hate it with as fierce a passion as a lot of people did! And it didn’t spoil the series for me at all. =)
I’m glad that you took it in stride. I did not handle it so well. Not to the point where I waged war against Bioware or anything, but it was a heartbreaker. I’m very curious to see where they go with the new game that’s rumored to be in development. Where would you like to see the series go next?
Side note: checked out your blog and I like your work! Following now on my reader 🙂
Ah thanks! I like your blog as well and hit follow this morning. =) For the next Mass Effect, I’d love to see a prequel about the First Contact War, maybe starting with the Relay 314 Incident and moving on to peace with the Turians and other Citadel races. It would be so cool to experience that from the first moments — playing a human seeing the Citadel for the first time, for instance — because it’s almost like something that could potentially happen tomorrow right here from Earth. I’d like that “awed” vibe, exploring the galaxy for the first time.
But really, however the game goes, I’m just excited to see more of the ME universe. What would you like the see next in the series? Are you into a prequel or something totally different?
A prequel just as you described it sounds awesome, and is probably where I’d want it to go too. The beauty of the series is that it could go just about anywhere, at any time, with the focus on virtually any character. Sure, the Legion game probably wouldn’t be all that popular, but maybe there are great stories to tell through this eyes…eye.
If they were to make a game focused on one of the existing characters, who would you like to see in the lead role?
That’s true, the next game really could go anywhere. I would love to see Anderson in a prequel… not playing as him, but working with him for sure. I think Garrus and Tali would be great characters to follow in the next game. Garrus’s Archangel action would be cool to see, and Tali would bring a really interesting perspective to the conflict with the geth, etc. But I don’t know where those stories would fit… I’d just take any excuse to see more of those two! And it seems they’re extremely popular.
Was there an idea for a Legion story? That would be awesome, I do love Legion. I saved all the ME2 side quests for after I “beat” the game, so I could have him in my squad as much as possible! So what type of character story are you wanting to see? Did you have favorites for your squad/romance and all that when you played the previous games?
I didn’t have an idea for a Legion story. Honestly, I pulled his name up as partly a troll suggestion, because I don’t find him particularly interesting. With that said, that universe is set up in a way where a cool Legion could happen and make sense.
Some of my favourites were Garrus and Tali, who were fantastic all the way through. Liara was my main squeeze for 1 and 3, though she broke my heart in 2…and there was the whole Miranda thing…
If I had played as Fem Shep, I probably would have romanced Thane. I think he’s secretly the sexiest character in the game with his reformed badass personality. Who were your faves/romances?
Haha great choice for your manly romance. Thane is one of the best video game characters ever, imo. He was almost always in my squad in ME2, though other favorites were Garrus, EDI, Jack, and Legion… I played as a Sentinel, so they rounded out my squad.
My canon Shep went the Kaidan romance route for ME1, but things changed for good once Garrus was an option! It is interesting that you couldn’t really pursue a romance through all three games… at least not completely. Maybe it’s more realistic that way?
I always thought Legion was very cool though! It’s funny, everybody I talk to about ME has totally different ideas of which characters are interesting, who they have in their squad, etc… which just shows how well-developed the characters are. That’s one of the main things that kept me engaged in the games, really… and definitely a good reason to replay!
Throwing off the romances in ME2 kind of felt forced. At least in the way that you could see where they were going with it. Since everyone could die in ME2, they probably didn’t want your romance from ME1 to die then too. I remember being really upset with how Liara brushed me off then, but love always finds a way I guess 😛
One random thing that’s always grinded my gears between Mass Effect 2 and 3 was the “everyone dies” scenario. I always wondered how they would handle Shepard dying in ME2 within ME3, and as far as I know, they don’t. I know that the vast majority of people didn’t play it that way, nor would want to, but I feel like it’s a cop out to leave that branch open and not close the loop with an alternative. Sure, it would be really hard to create that alternative, but then don’t give me that option in the first place if the entire series is built around choice and you won’t reward players for making that one.