Spotted a meme again and I must complete it ! Wot da meme ?
1 - Very first video game. Not sure here, quite likely to be Kingdom on the BBC Micro, this came with the machine. May also have been arcade video games.
2 - Favourite character. Commander Shepard of the Normandy. That'd be Femshep, as Jennifer Hale has a voice with gravitas. You can wholeheartedly believe that Femshep could take on the galaxy and win, plus that voice has been amazing throughout many of the games I've played.
3 - A game that is underrated. Hmm ... perhaps Planetbase. People didn't like this one but I found its moon base building to be captivating ... once I figured out its foibles and intricacies.
4 - Your guilty pleasure game. I think at the moment this is Battletech. A lot of that is down to the sound design. The weapons sound properly chunky and befit their size. They're 1 tonne, 5 tonne, 20 tonne lasers, missiles and cannons and when they hit an enemy mech, it properly sounds like irresistable force is meeting immovable object. I just love the sound in this game.
5 - Game character you feel most like (or wish you were). My Elite captain commander. Because I would like to be cruising the spaceways, plying my trade amongst the distant stars. Perhaps this is one motivation towards wanting to live on a boat.
7 - Favourite game couple. Mordin and Eve from Mass Effect 3. Enemies from history who come to know each other in an immensely touching way.
8 - Best soundtrack. There are a few ... Machinarium has a couple of gems, Factorio has a lovely ambient, FTL has an excellent intro that switches on chill out mode for me. But Battletech's soundtrack superbly sets the mood and the Stellaris soundtrack is particularly stellar. So to speak.
9 - Saddest Scene. Mordin going up into the Tower. I've played through this myself and watched two streamers play. I will tear up at this scene and the emotional power of this and other scenes in Mass Effect 3 are probably why I have only played that game once.
10 - Best Gameplay. Deus Ex Human Revolution. It doesn't do everything but it does it in a fashion that was definitely not repeated in the follow up game.
12 - A Game everyone should play. Star Wars Pod Racer. Especially for those who hated the movie.
13 - A Game you've played more than 5 times. This is an odd one because there are story based games which don't benefit from this and high score type games where you go in again to beat your high score. In terms of playing through a story multiple times, I'd call up Neverwinter Nights, which I played repeatedly with different character types. Perhaps once or several times with mage, warrior, rogue, cleric, paladin etc. For high score games, there is Moo, Moo2, Stellaris, Defence Grid ...
14 - Current video game wallpaper. My desktop is told to point at my Elite screenshots folder. There are lots of very pretty images in there.
16 - Game with the best cutscenes. One thing about World of Warcraft were the epic cutscenes rendered in the engine. Memorable.
17 - Favourite Antagonist. The moment when the Reaper Sovereign reveals itself in Mass Effect was incredible. Here it is. Our heroes come face to face with an implacable machine intelligence utterly confident in its own superiority, its mission and its assurance of success with that mission. A mission that will lead to the extinction of all spacefaring life.
18 - Favourite Protagonist. I think this has to be Paragon Shepard again, with the paragon being the choice of heroic actions, to save the galaxy in style righting all wrongs and helping all those who need help.
19 - Picture of a game setting you wished you lived in. To the Elite folder again !
20 - Favourite Genre. One that isn't done so much now, although it's coming back. Space flight games. I'll also indulge in the empire strategy games, usually in space again, plus tower defence as an unexpected choice here.
21 - Best story. Mass Effect ... hands down. The Mass Effect 1, 2 and 3 story is legendary.
22 - A sequel that disappointed you. After loving Deus Ex Human Revolution, the sequel Mankind Divided was far too buggy and I gave up on it early. Also Mass Effect Andromeda ... because it was messed about with too much by EA and ... it just didn't work. Too grindy and a weak story.
23 - Best art style. Couple of things here, you can judge a game by how it looks now or how good it looked compared to the capabilities of the time. Doom and Quake looked great when they first came out but are horrifically bad now. I'd actually describe Battletech as plain, the graphics could have been better ... but its gameplay is very good. I think Deus Ex Human Revolution here, it looks amazing in its stark neon orange style.
Edit - a bit more thought and : World of Warcraft. It has a characteristic cartoonish style with massive shoulders and various exaggerations. It looks great and watching a couple of streams of it made me remember the draw of the game, which is partly down to how it looks.
24 - Favourite "Classic" Title. Hmm, PC classic would be Master of Orion 2. Atari ST - Elite. BBC Micro - either Elite or Revs.
25 - A Game on your list to play. I think this has to be Surviving Mars and Deus Ex Mankind Divided. Both games are ones I should get a lot out of but I bounced off them hard when I first played them.
26 - Best Voice Acting - anything with Jennifer Hale in and Elias Toufexis (Adam Jensen) is rapidly joining that. I love Claudia Black's voice in gaming too, she played Morrigan in Dragon Age Origins plus an insane Quarian Admiral in Mass Effect. And then there's everyone's favourite Quarian, Tali'Zorah. She joins the crew as a girl/young adult on pilgrimage and grows into a leader of her people. And throughout, the face is hidden behind an environment suit mask but you hear that wonderful voice :
27 - Most Epic Scene. I'm going to have to be careful or this will be a Mass Effect love in. A lot of the closing scenes from the 4 games quality here. They're amazing. Yep. Climax scenes of Mass Effect 1, where you have a battle raging outside the station, with your character fighting their way through the inside of the station. The two battles are interwoven and I choose the first game because the scene comes to a very satisfying conclusion. I wasn't quite so taken with the climax of games 2 or 3.
28 - Favourite Game Developer. At the moment I think that's Paradox, although they're more publisher than developer at the moment. Honorable mentions go to Playsport Games for Motorsport Manager, Harebrained Schemes for the Shadowrun games and Daylight Studios for the Holy Potatoes games. I must play Holy Potatoes, We're In Space (a game I acquired via Humble Monthly)
29 - A game you were surprised you liked. Tricky, because I don't acquire games unless I'm sure I will like them ... and I will have checked out the game play before hand via videos. Star Trek Timelines and Idle Champions here. Timelines is one I enjoyed but walked away from due to pay to play mechanics. Idle Champions is one I keep running far more than is healthy.
30 - Favourite Game of All Time. Oh my ... which one to pick ? XCom is amazing. Stellaris had me solidly addicted until v2.0. Moo2 is legendary. Neverwinter Nights was a solid favourite. Then there's the Pod Racer game, Tie Fighter, World of Warcraft ...
The list goes on. The thing is to not have a favourite game of all time and just stick at that game, that'll get boring. Be open to new games, new genres, new styles. Enjoy the gaming. I loved Mech Commander 2 ... and Battletech is a natural progression. I'm hoping the forthcoming Mechwarrior 5 Mercenaries will be good as I really enjoyed MW2 Mercenaries. The various Elite games have been excellent progressions on the games that came before.
It's a shame they stopped making XWing and Tie Fighter games, with the apex of that series arguably being Tie Fighter (the games that came after introduced unnecessary and annoying complication). Moo3 and the new Moo aren't as good as Moo2.
Best game of all time - MASS EFFECT !
You knew that was coming right ? The game I'm playing at the moment though is Battletech, with a hint of Skyrim and Kotor 2. I don't think I'll play the Mass Effect games again, although they do have the memories.
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