Mass Effect 2 rules.

I beat Mass Effect 2 last night. It was pretty amazing. The amount of tension I felt in the final hour or so of the game was outstanding...

I knew going into the game that it concluded with a suicide mission that was indeed dangerous. It was totally possible for some, if not all, of your party to die. Forever. And in the Mass Effect world, that actually carries some weight. All of my decisions from the first Mass Effect carried with me to ME2. Who lived and died, who I had a relationship with, who I helped and who I hurt. So whoever I lost on this suicide mission I would not be seeing in Mass Effect 3...

And I wanted (pretty much) all of them to live. After 30+ hours Lindsay and I both had built up strong feelings towards some and at least a modest attatchment to all. Even those I didn't like from the get-go I learned to like quite a bit (Miranda) or at least a little (Samara) thanks to their Loyalty side quests (except you, Zaeed. You can go to hell for all I care).

So knowing each one could be gone forever and it would be my fault made me a little tense, and forced me to really think about each decision I made. It felt great when I felt like I obviously made the right choice, but a couple times I wasn't so sure.

Thankfully it all ended well. I was left feeling a huge relief. I had a blast with the whole game (minus some mining, which was a drag, but I needed those upgrades!) and the end just really drove that home.

I can't wait for Mass Effect 3.

All in all, I'm done with Mass Effect 2, I think. I might wrap up a couple achievements, and maybe start a New Game + just for kicks. But playing it again seems unnecessary. There's a lot of different outcomes, but I don't really want to see them. My Commander Baby Jiff Shepard is mine. Her story is somewhat unique, and the outcome and been decided and I am happy with that. Playing it again in a different way would seem wrong. That sounds more dramatic than it is, though.

I started replaying the first Mass Effect with a new character after I beat it. Just for an hour or two. Commander Baby Jiff Shepard is a slightly duck-faced, super nice hero who would do anything for anyone. I played an angry, mean dude the second time around, just to see, and I hated every minute. So I probably won't do that again.

Oh, and if you hear on the street that slow, old, cranky Jesse beat it before I did, that's a half-truth...

He did technically finish it a few hours before me. But my running time was a good 5-6 hours less. And he lives 2 time zones a head of me, so there's that. And he started a couple days before I was able to put it in the system. And I got way more achievements, so I beat it harder. Plus, he didn't even 'romance' any of the characters (I did and believe me, I had my pick of the litter. I was turning fools down left and right), so I think we can all agree he really didn't even play it, where as I conquered it.

Just to clear that up.