Lately I've been procrastinating, I mean I always do. It's just that lately I've been procrastinating on Blerds Online things and that rarely happens. Usually I've written everything 2 months in advance and I've gotten a month of YouTube videos ready to go. No, not anymore. I've started wearing less and going out even less. I've come to the conclusion that I'm addicted to Mass Effect: Andromeda.
Look, I'm not saying it's a perfect game, because it isn't. I'm just saying it has the ability to take over your life before you realize it. It might be the combat that gets you, the exploration, the seemingly endless side missions, the story, decoding the technology, creating new weapons and armor or maybe you just like looking around planets.
The point is you can lose hours to this game. For me it's the exploration. Sure, I've built some over powered weapons and armor. I've changed the specs on my characters a dozen times but it's exploration. I love going to places I haven't been. There's so many underground caves that no missions send you to. The Collective has a secret base and you never go there. You just have to be exploring caves to find it. Things like that bring you back to the came over and over again even when I hate the planet Kadara but I love exploring it.
The game does something that other games just don't do. It gives you a true feeling of exploration. Take for instance No Man's Sky, the planets are uniquely generated, you're discovering new species and flying all over the galaxy. But, it's boring and repetitive because it's only a matter of time before they all start to look alike. With Mass Effect, there's way less planets to explore. But, because of this they've put an incredible amount of detail into each. Huge planets with multiple layers to explore. Planets with extreme cold, extreme heat, radiation, low gravity or maybe no problems at all. Even if creatures share the same name, there's different variations of each created to adapt to that planet or certain species are more common in areas.
I also love the fact that once you've reactivated the vaults the planets actually change. I might activate the vault on EOS and return much later. Only to find that when I've returned the air is now breathable and people are playing soccer. Maybe I've activated the vault on Kadara and now the water laced with sulfuric acid that was used to dispose of bodies and would kill a Krogan from the inside out is now safe to drink with no filter and has created some great beaches on the planet that surround the new human settlement.
On top of that, just about everyone you speak with is going to have some kind of back story. It's not like you receive quests from all of them either. Some people just give you their backstories. There's certain conversations you won't even get to hear if you don't spend time just exploring the ship or meeting your crew mates when they have down time on planets.
How can you avoid getting addicted to this game? That's a serious question, I don't know and I need help. I've put almost 100 hours into the game and I haven't even beaten it once. It's too much. Please, send help.
You can hear Darrell on the CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. He also plays classic arcade games on The Cabinet. You can also check out his playthrough of Sleeping Dogs or Skyrim
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