I didn’t play Mass Effect 1 until Mass Effect 2 came out. Needless to say, I was a bit late onto the ME2 train, and even then I ended up sitting on the game for about three months until I started playing it because I literally had absolutely nothing else to do on a weekend. Ultimately, it became my favorite game evar, seriously, even surpassing any and all of the Resident Evil games that I’m also very enamored with, due to the strength of its fun game play, compelling story, and brilliant story telling.
Upon completion of ME2, my initial thoughts were “man, I can’t wait for Mass Effect 3 to come out! I’m going to pre-order that shit, and get it on release day, and if I’m working then, take that day off!”
Yeah no, none of that shit actually happened. ME3 has been out for 24 hours now, I do not have it yet, I did not pre-order it, and despite the fact that there is a GameSlut within walking distance from my office, I have no plans of picking up a copy of it yet. Because, frankly, I can’t find any time to actually play ME3 any time soon. Mostly, due to the fact that I am in fact, getting old.
I have previous engagements this weekend. I have previous engagements next weekend. Typically, I go to the gym after work, and I don’t get home until late. And then I have to prepare and eat dinner. Sometimes there are things that need to be taken care of in the house. Sometimes I need some time to do bills and other responsible shit. But typically, I simply don’t have the luxury of having like a good two hours, to really immerse myself into ME3 or anything else. Catching up on TV shows is difficult, but at least those are often endeavors that I don’t have to invest too much into, and I can watch them in fleeting moments before work, or before bed, etc.
It just feels like I have no time anymore. To me this is an obvious side effect of getting old, that the time is just flying by our lives, and leaving me feeling like I’m not really doing anything I want to be doing in my spare time, because there just isn’t a lot of spare time to be had.
I thought it was just that I wasn’t susceptible to hype and the hive mentality of fresh new shit, and to some degree I think I might be. But in the case of ME3, I really would like to play it, but the fact of the matter is that even if I did pre-buy it/already own it, I wouldn’t be able to find the time to really dedicate and thoroughly dive into it. It kind of sucks sure, but I know I’ll get to eventually. But it would be kind of cool to be playing now and interacting with my fellow ME3 fans while it’s fresh and relevant. However, I guess that’s not really important either, as long as nothing’s spoiled for me when the time comes.
