N7 Day 2022

N7 Day was this past Monday. I streamed on Sunday and posted a video ranking all the companions. It was longer than I expected but it was still fun.

Then N7 Day came and Bioware definitely didn’t disappoint. They wrote a blog post and posted a few pictures on Twitter. Then they posted a cryptic video that had the whole Mass Effect community dissecting every piece of the image and every single sound. It was awesome!

This was a great N7 Day because, for the first time, I really felt like I was a part of the community. As I stated in the past, I don’t really involve myself with fandoms because of how toxic they can be.

Not this time. This N7 Day, the community really came together to figure out the cryptic meaning behind the photos and video. Even the blog post got observed and analyzed by some pretty great sleuths.

This whole week, for me, is a celebration of my favorite video game franchise of all time. I grew up on Star Wars and Star Trek. I watched Quantum Leap and some of the X-Files episodes as a teenager.

I was never a super fan though. Horror was where my heart burned. Supernatural monsters and scary dudes in masks were my things. Vampires were my ultimate favorite monster. My love of vampires started when I was 11 and The Lost Boys came to cable TV. I was smitten from that moment on.

So Sci-fi wasn’t really my thing. I knew of it. I watched things here and there. I watched every Star Wars movie and every Star Trek movie but I was only ever just a casual fan.

That was until my ex-husband introduced me to this little game back in 2008. The game came out in November of 2007 but I didn’t play it right away. I talked about this in another post already so I’ll be brief here. It was a rainy, Sunday. My youngest was 15 months and taking a nap.

I was bored out of my mind.

Then I turned this game on. I had played other RPGs with female characters. This was the first one where I could create my own female hero. I could make her look like me. I could also choose between 3 different backstories (Earthborn, Sole Survivor, and Hero is my canon).

It really felt like I was in the game. I was making choices that I would make if I was actually in this situation or that one. It was the most interactive for me because I got to be the hero. Me! In this game, I got to be the badass I always wanted to be.

I held my own and handled my PTSD as Commander Shepard. PTSD made me feel weak in real life. In the game, I understood characters with PTSD and as Commander Shepard I got to help them.

It felt amazing! Commander Shepard, for me, was the first time I really felt like a genuine female hero in a video game.

This is all something I talk more about in my other post but I have to say it again because it means that much to me. This game got me into Sci-Fi. After this game, I started watching more Sc-Fi shows and movies.

From Farscape to The Expanse, I developed a keen interest. I even watched the Star Wars shows on Disney Plus and have watched a few of the Star Trek shows (Star Trek Deep Space Nine is probably my favorite).

So thank you Mass Effect. Thank You, Bioware. And Thank you, Jennifer Hale, who voiced such an amazing and inspiring Femshep!

I can’t wait for the next Mass Effect game!

Here is my video on companions:

Thanks so much for reading!