As @avclub-7e1ce4ce3124fd9ecc13a151afcff11b:disqus says, he changes his style & tack with every book. My favorites are the ones he mentioned: The Anubis Gates (very literary, victorian and weird - and a huge amount of fun), Declare (think John LeCarre crossed with weird literature) and On Stranger Tides (pirate…

Sorry, Dogtooth is not by Von Trier (I can see why you'd think it is, though!). I wouldn't compare Antichrist to Melancholia at all - most of Von Trier's movies are a bit of an endurance test, but Antichrist was almost as if he was daring you to finish it…
 I really, really liked Melancholia. As Craig said, it's…

@avclub-7065e286d0939354f46b11340b75c51b:disqus  Fair enough, and I'm glad you liked it.

Here's a guy who liked 1 better:
http://www.arcadianrhythms….
 I can overlook most of what he complains about, but it's true that Bioware as of late is more concerned about bringing the awesome than about building believable worlds, characters and settings, or doing nuance and consistency.

Thanks for the recommendation - liking it a lot so far.

I was lucky enough to catch them on tour with her - and I completely agree.

They're not caring enough to get laid with him, though…

That intro comic (Genesis?) has been added as free DLC for all other platforms, IIRC
 I don't know if the PS3 version is the way to go, though - you'll save a metric fuckload on the DLC, but weren't there complaints that the port job was really bad? Or is that just on 3?

@avclub-cfa137be7e5f48f0323a9ba94d70af93:disqus Hey, Legends of Grimrock is not Turn-based!
 I am so looking forward to getting my hands on that game…

You mean, after Dragon Age 2 dropped the ball as badly as it did?

I've read them a long time ago, but I remember thinking that Mass Effect had uhm…. borrowed several ideas from Alistair Reynold's Revelation Space books. I'd check them out - the first one is called, funnily enough, Revelation Space.
 His version of the reapers is basically his answer to the Fermi Paradox.

I prefer the first one - while I'll happily concede that the sequels are better games, they removed too much of what made the first one special for me. They could have streamlined, updated and improved the rough edges without going down the road they took on 2 and 3.
 Would it have been better? I have no idea - I…

The minor sidequests in 3 are horrible. Simple fetch quests with no journal indicators, and little to no payoff - urgh.
 The fact that you need to do them to get the "best" ending if you don't dip your toes in the multiplayer is a bigger miscalculation than the scanning minigame on 2; goddammit, Bioware!

I'd recommend getting the second one, since you'll be able to get it for a lot cheaper and frankly, feels a lot like the third one.
 Also, you'll get a lot more of the story - even if you just use the default options. I know you say you're not concerned about it, but it is an integral part of the game, and it's worth…

Yeah, it is. And so is Mass Effect 3!

The uncharted series have good writing for videogames. It's sad that we have to make the distinction, but hey.
 I'd say that, even for videogames, they only have good moment-to-moment writing (character writing and setpiece scripting); they've always had terrible, terrible plots and overarching stories.

"Bioware leans on cliche more often than its boosters in game media like to admit"

…carefully sidestepping the spoilers…

I don't mind it that much in games like these, since the mechanic kind of fits the setting (unlike on, say, Uncharted. Note to devs: if people can take ten shots while just wearing a tux, I won't think your enemies are tough, I'll think your guns are shit).

I don't know, neither this nor Noble Beast do anything for me. Sure, it's very pretty, but it leaves me completely cold.
 I think I'll just need to accept he won't ever make another song as good as Fake Palindromes. He gave it a very good try on Armchair Apocrypha, then realized the same thing, and settled into this…