I have just shot all of the things. ALL OF THEM. Many of them multiple times, as on a conservative estimate it took me about 50 attempts to get through the final bit before activating the missiles, and I still don’t think I actually managed to kill a single Banshee.

( Spoilers for the next bit I'm stuck on, revealing that yet more things have arrived. )

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Okay. I am about to head to Earth, so here, have the rest of my play notes (in fact, I've just landed; and realised that working my way through the wreckage of a previously familiar city may not, in fact, be entirely unfamiliar as a trope. We've had at least 3 small quakes this evening as well, just to add to the atmosphere, and they've been knocking down enough buildings in the adjacent blocks that the house has been shaking generally all week).

I got stuck on Tuchanka for ages, firstly because I was in a “travel the galaxy, talk to people” mood when I needed to be very good at shooting (I was trying to activate a calling signal to cause a giant Thresher Maw to attack a Reaper, and I was appalling at it, and this was after shooting a bunch of Cerebus troops in order to activate a giant cannon). Secondly, because I’d thrown everything into curing the genophage, and it still didn’t work out the way I wanted.

( ”Spoilers for character death )

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I imported my Shepherd (Jane, Sentinel, mostly virtuous) over from ME2, and while doing so realised that although I vividly remember the final massive battle, I have forgotten what happened after that. No doubt wild partying ensued, but external references suggest I also had an argument with the Illusive Man and am now no longer working for Cerebus, which seems likely even if I can’t remember the details. Anyway, I start on Earth, with none of my crew and possibly under some sort of guard, and I am just starting to remember some of the earlier details when the Reapers attack.
( Read more... )

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I have had a pretty shitty week this week, so today after the builders had been (without, of course, phoning first) I went into work to do all the things I could not otherwise put off, came home, slept for two hours (interspersed with half a dozen work phone calls of which I have only vague recollections) and then spent the rest of the afternoon blowing up rachni gestation pods, which is just as satisfying as popping bubble wrap. Although I'm glad bubble wrap does not contain skrittery insect things in real life.

(and then I thought I'd lost another of my ME2 crew, but fortunately they staggered out at the last moment! And yes, more coherent notes in a word file somewhere. Will post.)

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I was going to (and may still do) post more coherent notes, but I just ran into David Archer, whose fate on the Overlord mission in ME2 was the one thing in the game I felt most ambivalent about, and now I feel MUCH BETTER about my previous decisions . Ahem. Possibly my excitement about this has been even more amped up by the fact that right after I got to climb inside a giant mech and stomp round shooting things, which was the best thing ever (just imagine this in sparkly all-caps, with occasional explosions). I was so disappointed when the radio came on and told me to get out and get to the next stage.

(and I have died once more, but I'm getting better)

This entry was originally posted at http://cyphomandra.dreamwidth.org/76034.html. Comment here or there.

I made a long list of all the things I should do this weekend, and then this morning I went and bought Mass Effect 3. Woo hoo!

(and then died twice before the opening credits, because I had forgotten just how appalling I am at steering, shooting and finding cover at the same time, but some of it's coming back to me. Well. I've only died twice more since then. So far.)

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I gather this was for World Book Day on March 1st, but why not. From alecaustin

( The book I'm reading )

This entry was originally posted at http://cyphomandra.dreamwidth.org/75618.html. Comment here or there.

One year ago today was the Christchurch earthquake, which killed 185 people and left most of the central city in ruins, as well as significant parts of a number of suburbs. So, one year ago this morning I walked to work through the city, on a route I have not been able to take since, and one year ago this afternoon I walked back home again, past buildings with chunks falling off them, people huddled in parks, silt and water everywhere, and smoke rising from the remains of the CTV building a few blocks from my house.

I (and my dog) moved back into my house in December. It's damaged, if liveable, and I have yet (since September 2010, and the 7.1 quake) to have any official EQC inspections, although there was an insurance company-ordered inspection of the complex as a whole. This was, however, before the December 23rd aftershocks, which caused quite a bit more damage in my area, and broke my hot water cylinder again. There is also no decision about the land. The government has declared some areas red zone - the land is not worth the cost of fixing - and agreed to pay the owners the rateable value of the property. Green zone is land worth salvaging (orange and white are in limbo), but there are three subcategories of green, and my house is on the worst, green-blue or T3. The land will need extensive repairs before the houses can be repaired, but it will not be written off; what we may end up with is patched-up houses on unstable land, and no way to sell up (except to very naive buyers) or move on.

I went to a couple of the smaller memorial services today - the 2 minutes' silence at the Peace Bell in Hagley Park, and this evening an even smaller neighbourhood group, by the empty site that used to be a local church. Someone put paperbag lanterns out along the ground, marking out the route of one of the old streams that used to be here (these old streams are why the land was so badly affected by the quakes, with sand and liquifaction where we thought things were solid) and, behind the wire fence around the church site, a lantern for each of the people killed in this area, with their initials on the bag.

I'm not going to stay in Christchurch. I've accepted a job in Auckland to start in June, and even though I have no idea what will happen with my house here (or how to find accommodation there), I will still leave. I will miss Christchurch, and in particular my friends here; but I miss the city already, because I'm living in it and it's gone.


(the curious can read my earlier earthquake entries here; I haven't been organised enough to tag them on lj yet.)

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Roughly arranged in descending order of fondness. All ebooks, and if anyone out there is competent with Calibre and prepared to explain it to me, let me know. I am currently using it mainly because of the fanficdownloader add-on, which is brilliant, but have yet to work out even how to get fics directly from Calibre to my phone.


( Life Lessons and Breaking Cover, both Kaje Harper. )

( St Nacho's series, ZA Maxfield; St Nacho's, Physical Therapy, Jacob's Ladder, The Book of Daniel. )

( Secret Light, ZA Maxfield. )

( Double Blind, Heidi Cullinan. )

( Men Under the Mistletoe, Ava March, Harper Fox, Josh Lanyon, KA Mitchell. )

( Bad Boyfriend; Bad in Baltimore, KA Mitchell. )

( Life After Joe, Harper Fox. )

This entry was originally posted at http://cyphomandra.dreamwidth.org/75146.html. Comment here or there.