Rant: All It Took Was a Krogan to Remind Me Why I Love Games

Mass Effect 3, while polarizing, is one of my favorite games of this generation. Sure Mass Effect 2 was fantastic, and yes, Mass Effect 3 had its issues, but I still keep coming back for more. While I’m late to the party on Citadel, it was ridiculously worth the wait, and I haven’t even finished it yet. Then how can I go on and on about how great it is if I haven’t finished it, you ask?

Well, because somewhere along the way I forgot to actually enjoy the games I talk about, review, write about, or ooh and ahh at trailers about, etc, etc, and all it took was James Vega ordering a Pizza (delivered by a Volus no less) somewhere in the middle of discussing an assassination attempt to remind me why I started doing this in the first place.

It happens to all of us at some point. We all have lives, and between work, keeping up a decent social life, GameTyrant, helping with wedding stuff, and just life in general, my plate continues to be pretty full, so finding any small opening to fit games in is a challenge all its own. Most times I’m playing something for the sole purpose of being able to speak intelligently about it, but occasionally I forget to actually have fun while doing it. 

Joker and Tali’s constant reminders of how I “broke” their favorite sushi restaurant are a small part of recapturing what made games fun in the first place for me. My adoration of games grew from my joy of visiting strange and interesting places and meeting memorable characters along the way, a note Mass Effect has continued to hit for me. While Final Fantasy (pre and post XIII), and later Mass Effect, are the epitome of that for me, everyone has a different game or series that is the video game equivalent of being home again. Sometimes it takes going back there every now and again to remind yourself of what you're doing and why the hell you're doing it. We get involved with the games industry because we are passionate about them, and it's important to not lose sight of that amidst all the chaos related to covering it. 

Who knew it would just take a few hours with Wrex and Liara to bring some of that passion back?

It's good to be home.