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Mass Effect General Thread: This is My Favorite Thread on Talking Time

2 other things:
  • Still can’t respec Javik. (forgot/don’t really care but there must be some weird technical reason it wasn’t done because why wouldn’t they just let you)
  • Mass Effect is CanCon
 

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
I had such a good pace going with 1 and 2 is just depressing, dark and not fun to play, especially after playing 1 with all the fixes. I don't want to hide behind cover that looks exactly the same as the previous room and shoot waves of similar-acting mechs and mercs for reasons I'm not really clear on. It's like they took everything that made me like 1 out of the game to make 2 more like Gears of War, which is a series I specifically don't enjoy. This was always my least favourite game of the trilogy and it's definitely going to stay that way.

Also reloading is driving me completely insane. I didn't have to do this before! Why do I need to do it now?! Just to give me an arbitrary upgrade tree? Bleah.
 
I'm enjoying 2, but it's a bummer for the reasons you say above.

It's like this. Every sci fi / space game (shooters especially) take their influences from Aliens.
Mass Effect 1 took it's cues from Star Trek and B5.
And for how long Trek has been around, it has little influence on games, because I imagine, they generally don't shoot first.

Just a thought.
 

karzac

(he/him)
I feel like I don't really understand these complaints or at least, I don't understand the implication that Mass Effect 1 doesn't also have those problems? ME1 is also a game about walking through a series of rooms with identical boxes and shooting guys with little explanation as to why.
 
For sure. But I love like off roading and seeing each new planet, even if it is terribly done. You can quite easily plow through ME1 in like, probably 10-12hrs? if you keep to Eden, Citadel, Noveria, Feros, Liara Zone, Virmire, Ilos/Endgame. But i pretty much squeezed the rest out for that feeling like my away team is finding piles of gold on some mountain, or a monkey stole our keys.

So while it also has randos you shoot, it's not all you do. (you still do it a lot, natch)
 
I feel like I don't really understand these complaints or at least, I don't understand the implication that Mass Effect 1 doesn't also have those problems? ME1 is also a game about walking through a series of rooms with identical boxes and shooting guys with little explanation as to why.
I mean, I don't love the planetary exploration and tertiary sidequests in ME1, either. (pretty funny reward in ME3 if you do it, of course...) But you have to get them done before completing the game. With ME2, it's easy and satisfying to just do the main stuff and DLC and then you've hit the XP cap (wouldn't have with the base game of course) Don't you want time with a full team and to see all of Legion's dialogue? (couldn't do it in the base game without killing Cerberus crew members...) But then that time is spent just trawling random planets for unclear reasons, and no one but Legion has anything new to say, and only for a little bit. I don't enjoy it much. I unfortunately can't stop myself from doing exploration and sidequests which make a game worse for me, so I appreciate that ME3's sidequests feel more related to your quest or like you have a clear reason for going to a place and shooting some guys. ("please play the multiplayer mode which doesn't exist anymore" well...)
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Commander Bailey dyes his hair! He is exactly as old as Michael Hogan was from 2007-2012. I am certain of this. Not that there's anything wrong with that...
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Oh, here's one thing I don't like about ME3: I feel really cash starved. Bunch of new shit I missed showed up in the Spectre shop. Why are there so many upgrades for things. I never use weapons anyway... somebody just tell me what the best weapons and mods (mods! I don't want this...) are for each squad members. Oh, yeah, I forgot, you can't max them out until new game plus where you won't even have fun level ups to look forward too? I have taken to using a guide so I don't miss anything, more so than in ME2. (where, especially with an import, you'll have adequate resources and only need to look out for upgrades) Maybe I'll stop and relax when I run out of weapons/upgrades at the Citadel. (ignoring the overpriced Spectre stuff) I know I don't need any more armor (Inferno Armor's all I want as a caster) but I can't stop buying random components. Foolish.
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Citadel II done. (that's why I was thinking about Bailey's hair) Planning to rush Priority: Rannoch (and associated time sensitive missions) so I can get Tali and then sidequest with everyone. Any reason not to? (my impression is, no, won't miss anything I haven't already missed before Citadel II)
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Shepard's at tier 2 renegade scarring now. That's probably as far as I wanna take this... he looks hot and cool enough. Maybe I'll be nice for a bit to go back to tier 1. Tier 3 would probably be not for me...
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Wanted to stop Joker from dating Edi but then she seemingly guilt tripped me afterwards (but "please don't take this as a criticism" okay, sure...) so now I don't know what to do. (post!)
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ME2's vehicle looks cool but it dies ways too easily. IMO.
 

karzac

(he/him)
For sure. But I love like off roading and seeing each new planet, even if it is terribly done. You can quite easily plow through ME1 in like, probably 10-12hrs? if you keep to Eden, Citadel, Noveria, Feros, Liara Zone, Virmire, Ilos/Endgame. But i pretty much squeezed the rest out for that feeling like my away team is finding piles of gold on some mountain, or a monkey stole our keys.

So while it also has randos you shoot, it's not all you do. (you still do it a lot, natch)

Speaking of this, I'm doing the Overlord DLC right now and really enjoying it - definitely giving me those ME1 Mako vibes. VV, if you miss exploring cool alien worlds with varied ecology, I recommend playing that mission, it's got a lot of that going on. I'm surprised more people don't talk about it.
 

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
I'm enjoying 2, but it's a bummer for the reasons you say above.

It's like this. Every sci fi / space game (shooters especially) take their influences from Aliens.
Mass Effect 1 took it's cues from Star Trek and B5.
And for how long Trek has been around, it has little influence on games, because I imagine, they generally don't shoot first.

Just a thought.

I feel like I don't really understand these complaints or at least, I don't understand the implication that Mass Effect 1 doesn't also have those problems? ME1 is also a game about walking through a series of rooms with identical boxes and shooting guys with little explanation as to why.

ME1 feels like you have more options, especially more peaceful ones. And while yes there are boxes, the environments are so much more varied and the world just feels more alive and interesting. I remember when I got ME2 I was completely baffled as to how to walk around the Citadel like you could in ME1. I was crushed to realize you couldn't. It's about shooting far more than it is about exploration and understanding.
 

Bongo

excused from moderation duty
(he/him)
Staff member
Mass Effect 2 is a more streamlined experience than its predecessor, and in a few places they took it too far. That said, it gave them a strong enough baseline to start using real ass cover shooter level design, and that's the germ of the really excellent stuff going on in its sequel's shootin'. Giving each class a unique signature move was a masterstroke, but if, for instance, you're playing as a Soldier, you're not going to see much difference between ME1LE and ME2LE because of the former's substantial improvements to gunfeel.

Of the trilogy, ME1 definitely gave the most convincing illusion of open-endedness. The combat bits and talky bits are less sharply separated, and the resolutions to some quests often leans more heavily on talking (in part because the shooting just isn't there). You can return to any location outside of the specific context of a mission, not just hub areas. Even just having to get back in your car and request a pickup manually at the end of each assignment rather than smash cutting to the mission summary screen makes you feel more like your involvement in the story is that of a participant rather than a spectator.

ME2 and ME3 have a greater specificity to what they want to be than ME1, and while I think that increasing that specificity makes them much stronger games, I agree something was lost.
 

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
If that's what you like about 1 you might like Andromeda more than 2 and 3.
I still have a hard time expressing exactly what didn't click about Andromeda for me, but you're absolutely right that it brought back more variety in "town" areas.

Those damned glowly pyramid dungeons though, ugh.
 
I think Andromeda is underrated

BUT

Lot's of RPGs in 360/ps3 era had lots of choices with real consequences in gameplay and in story. Bioware, New Vegas and so on. Going to ps4/xb1 these things start to be scaled back. Fallout 4 feels like a step back in those regards, Witcher 3 was a fan fave, but most choices just end with a blurb at the end, very little changes in game world, if anything. Andromeda is similar. It has tons of exploring, the combat is excellent, but it doesn't feel like the choices do anything (i could be wrong.. my feel at the time was that)

My fave RPG choice mania was in Dragon Age Origins - I sided with Templars, meaning I had no healer, I sided with werewolves meaning that elfroot stopped be sold in stores and I made Morrigan battlemage. Oh and I made Kain/Loghain a grey warden after a courtroom melee that resulted in a failed voice check. This caused Alistair to go to exile, become a drunk and for Loghain to be Grey Warden contact in Inquistion.

Stuff like the above doesn't exist in the non isometric world anymore.
 
Glad I’m not going for any difficulty achievements (or any achievements at all) bc I felt free to drop the difficulty down to Narrative during the Rannoch Reaper fight. (yes, I’m aware there are tricks; I just find it stressful and no fun) Also many parts of those Rannoch missions were Charge unfriendly.
 
Well the game has crashed twice at the start of Aria’s mission for me. (PS4) Not happy.

e: you are apparently not supposed to level Aria (or, presumably, Shepard) up or change anyone’s weapon set-ups before the intro to avoid this- also Shep’s loadout changes to the default unmodified starting pistol. I only use a weapon for power damage increase but I can see this being annoying if you use a shootier build. Hopefully nothing too buggy happens and presumably there’ll be a weapon bench soon enough...
 
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A beautiful original song composed for the Mass Effect franchise. ❤️

I don't think I've ever just played DLC for massive BioWare RPGs as they came out so I only every hit them when I'm starting a new campaign. Citadel felt pretty uneven to me here, mostly for pacing issues. Absolutely perverse to do any Citadel bullshit at the point you could invite Miranda along. If I were more capable of tailoring experiences to my taste I would skip the party and "play" stuff after the (very funny!) battle campaign. I know some people like to treat it as some post-campaign thing but I don't.

Also it bothers me that the Citadel DLC squadmates are missing one point and have the first three ranks of every skill filled out so they have fewer fun final rank evolutions to choose from. (people without Pinnacle Station won't realize that there's a running theme in the franchise about getting real-estate for the low price of having to play some laser tag)

Love Leviathan. Also it's very cute how Shepard plunged into the depths and is just like, "troublesome, but as the main character I'm not worried about this."

The Illusive Man selected Kelly Chambers and Gabby and Ken to make Shepard like Cerberus more? IDGI. Then again I'm a freak who likes (one of) Mass Effect 3's ending(s) just fine.

What I would like out of Mass Effect 4 if it is indeed following a "Destroy" ending is a spiritual sequel to Dragon Age II (everyone's charming, queer) and Chrono Cross. (why did our heroes kill all those people last game; kinda messed up) The main character should be Shepard's clone.
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"We destroy them or they destroy us!" Ultimately not in a million years what I would want or take out of the franchise but obviously that element was there. I just wanna hang around talking to aliens though...
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I regularly forget about Kai Leng but much respect; he's a very funny part of all this.
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Liara looks SO BUMMED if you say no to the mind meld... had to reload. Have no willpower...
 

karzac

(he/him)
Finished Overlord. Overall, I thought it was a really great DLC. It's got quite a lot of meat on its bones, with a lot of really varied, and quite interesting, environments. The Hammerhead was super fun to play around with - wish it was a regular feature of ME2.

The plot was sort of interesting, but I'm not a fan of how it used the "autistic mathematical savant" trope. And it goes way too easy on the evil scientist.
 
That’s definitely the highlight of vehicle stuff ib ME2. Some Firewalker missions are fun but then others are... slightly irritating because the vehicle dies easy.

I unfortunately drove to my local GameStop and purchased a used copy of Mass Effect Andromeda for the PlayStation 4.
 
On me3 now
Crew liquified
No deaths on suicide
Destroyed collector base
Blew up batarian star system
punched out reporter
Killed Worf

SQUAD MATES WORST TO BEST based on coolness and utility for me, an infiltrator, Female, paragon
Kasumi - great mission, but non character
Jacob - boy he sucks, loyalty mission excellent though
Miranda - no, thanks
Legion - Super cool premise, but should be able to get Legion earlier. Apparently you can take him to the flotilla?
Zaeed - eh
Thane - he was my romance, and i like how he looks, but his perfect recall moments are obnoxious
Mordin - everyone's favourite Mengele
Garrus - Turian Bad Boy
Grunt - kind of boring, but i always had him as tank
Tali - i love her for ever and ever, but didn't need pure tech often
Jack - This story a bit overplayed, but i really like Jack
Samara - My fave biotic! Maybe Morinth would be here too?

So Grunt is high because i was infiltrator and and id have him and either Samara or Jack wreck shop while i shot dudes in the head. Otherwise he sucks
 
I am not that familiar with Star Trek which is perhaps why the original Mass Effect blew me away when I was a child. (20) I could recognize Worf by face but I will have to think a bit about which character in this franchise is Worf.... Oh, I guess Wrex.

Yes, you can take Legion to the flotilla and it truly makes NO SENSE. They simply shouldn't have allowed it, at least given how incoherently the scenario plays out, but they have an inconsistent commitment to letting you play Your Way. I normally take Tali and Legion on each other's missions, which you can do without letting any crew members die as long as that's all you do. Also, in the original release, beating the game would lock everyone into their post suicide mission comments which meant you couldn't fully explore Legion's without letting people die. Now that's not the case and you can save some (in my case: all) sidequests for after the suicide mission to fully explore his dialogue tree.

I actually really liked Kasumi this playthrough. I, too, think I might unhealthily meditate on the digital remains of a dead loved one. Also, I appreciate how in ME3 she doesn't come along on missions out of cowardice. (fair!)

Samara's great. Welled up in 3 when she said she was proud of all her daughters again. Doesn't really make sense that you can recruit Morinth, but I like the VA and wish they gave the character something to do in 3 aside from become a mandatory kill. She's got a medical condition...

I don't like Garrus.
 

FelixSH

(He/Him)
I have been interested in this series for a long time. But when I started playing the first one, years ago, I was REALLY turned of by the combat. So much that I stopped playing after the first mission.

I generally don't like FPS games - I'm bad at shooting. Bad enough that Bioshocks fighting sequences gave me a ton of trouble on the easiest mode, bad enough that I died so, so often in Spec Ops: The Line on the easiest difficulty. I also HATE to get hit from the back, not expecting to get shot. This stuff drives me crazy for some reason.

So, is there a chance that I will enjoy these games? The story, characters and world building always looked super awesome, so I'd really love to play them, but I don't want to savescum myself through every mission. And really, both Spec Ops and Bioshock were somewhat ruined for me by the shooty bits - at some point, I just wanted to get more story, and I got very annoyed by more and more shooty stuff that the games threw at me.
 

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
I never strayed from Regular Difficulty, but The lowest difficulty is supposedly designed to minimize all the action parts as much as possible and focus entirely on the story
 

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
I have been interested in this series for a long time. But when I started playing the first one, years ago, I was REALLY turned of by the combat. So much that I stopped playing after the first mission.

I generally don't like FPS games - I'm bad at shooting. Bad enough that Bioshocks fighting sequences gave me a ton of trouble on the easiest mode, bad enough that I died so, so often in Spec Ops: The Line on the easiest difficulty. I also HATE to get hit from the back, not expecting to get shot. This stuff drives me crazy for some reason.

So, is there a chance that I will enjoy these games? The story, characters and world building always looked super awesome, so I'd really love to play them, but I don't want to savescum myself through every mission. And really, both Spec Ops and Bioshock were somewhat ruined for me by the shooty bits - at some point, I just wanted to get more story, and I got very annoyed by more and more shooty stuff that the games threw at me.

I still think the very first mission of ME1 (especially in the original games with their bizarre combat choices) is one of the toughest missions in the trilogy.

But this version is way better and Easy/Casual mode on 1 is great. Because 2 increases the amount of shooting even easy mode is a little tougher but I think you'd be okay. You can send in your squadmates to combat and have them shoot stuff for you, they're not always the best but on easy they can really clean up an area for you.

I'd strongly encourage you to make a biotic character when selecting your class, the powers are really fun and varied and with a biotic class you'd have stronger powers and no real need to use a gun. Also unlike the shooting portions when you're picking the biotic powers you can freeze time and select them from a wheel. You can also map them to buttons so you don't have to freeze time but it sounds like it might be helpful.

I'm actually thinking it might be possible to play through the games without ever shooting a gun in combat? I think so, especially on easy mode? I'm not counting the guns on the Mako or plot/conversation things where you decide to shoot someone/thing. Hmm.
 
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