So back in 2007 when Mass Effect came out, I played a few hours of it and returned it to the store that day. I hated the combat and the game was just too talky for me.

Fast-forward to Dragon Age. Before this game was released, I wasn’t into games that required a lot of character interaction. I played Dragon Age while home after having an appendectomy, so all the talking didn’t bother me because I had a lot of time to kill. As I played, I found that I loved talking; I’d spend hours just conversing with NPCs and filling in whatever story blanks I could.

When Mass Effect 2 came out, my newfound love of “talkies” got me interested. After reading that the combat system had been improved, I decided to dive in. I loved it, and have beaten it twice already.

After finishing Mass Effect 2 a second time, I decided to give the first one another chance. The combat system was just as rough as I remembered, particularly sniping, but I pressed on. While it was interesting at first to see how all the things in Mass Effect 2 came about, I found the game much more boring than its sequel. My fiancé agreed with me, saying, “This is my least favorite game I’ve watched you play.”

As I forced myself through Mass Effect, I began to question whether or not I would bother finishing it. I understood most of the backstory now, and I really didn’t want to spend more time driving the Mako around. But all of that changed when I got to Virmire.

Mass Effect from Virmire onward is an incredible game. I was blown away by how the rest of the game progressed. I was so excited by the ending that I imported my Shepard into Mass Effect 2 and started a third playthrough.

This incredible finish made me wonder about all the other games I’ve abandoned. Maybe Assassin’s Creed 2 had an awesome ending. Does America stop the invasion by the end of Modern Warfare 2? Maybe The Saboteur stopped sucking by the time it concluded (not bloody likely). I have so many games like these sitting on my shelf.

It’s tough to play all the way through a lousy game, especially when your gaming time is limited. I work full time, I’m a student, and I’m getting married next month, and planning a wedding eats up a ton of free time. Sometimes I’ll force myself through a bad game (Bioshock 2, for example) and I just feel like I’ve wasted a whole bunch of time when it’s finished. It kind of feels like those GameFly commercials, only with less smashing and yelling. (Well, less smashing, at least.)

Mass Effect is a prime example of not judging a book by its first 12 chapters. Hopefully this experience has made me more open-minded when it comes to games that just aren’t doing it for me. If not, I’m gonna have to start renting more. Playing only half of a $60 game is just stupid.