Mass Effect: General thread of Awesomeness

[Avilan the Grey]

I think you can get some good mileage out of picking one of the pregens, then customizing them a bit. My current Shepherd is Latina, but she's still named Jane.

99% of the time I use this face.
It is basically the Default Femshep as they presented her, instead of the rather derpy-looking one in ME3.

[LibraryOgre]

Playing through ME2. My biggest frustration is the "Yes, let's end the mission now, no matter what you say." Look, I had to pick a door, and I happened to pick the mission-ender. Can I at least go back and scavenge the rare materials you have lying around, rather than having to wade through a discussion, reload, and do the damn thing again?

[Psyren]

Most of the ME2 areas (e.g. recruitment and loyalty missions) become inaccessible if you leave, so loot everything the first time.

...Actually, I can't think of any area you use your gun in and are able to revisit.

[Kiero]

Halfway through another replay of ME3, and I have to say whoever thought of the "eavesdrop on conversation and go scanning" dynamic was an idiot. Having said that, there were quite a few of those in ME2 as well (loads on Ilium, for example).

[LibraryOgre]

Most of the ME2 areas (e.g. recruitment and loyalty missions) become inaccessible if you leave, so loot everything the first time.

...Actually, I can't think of any area you use your gun in and are able to revisit.

Yes. And it's HORRIBLE.

[Dienekes]

Halfway through another replay of ME3, and I have to say whoever thought of the "eavesdrop on conversation and go scanning" dynamic was an idiot. Having said that, there were quite a few of those in ME2 as well (loads on Ilium, for example).

Honestly, Bioware straight up sucks at the game padding missions. ME1 may be the worst with the ****ing Mako, but I can't think of a single game of there's that did it well. DA3 is less terrible with the mission map giving a feeling of running an organization, but it also has a lot of collect X mission.

[Anteros]

Playing through ME2. My biggest frustration is the "Yes, let's end the mission now, no matter what you say." Look, I had to pick a door, and I happened to pick the mission-ender. Can I at least go back and scavenge the rare materials you have lying around, rather than having to wade through a discussion, reload, and do the damn thing again?

Honestly it's very, very rare for you to miss anything important. If it frustrates you so much just don't worry about collecting every little resource.

[Kiero]

Honestly it's very, very rare for you to miss anything important. If it frustrates you so much just don't worry about collecting every little resource.

Easier said than done; unlike in ME3, you don't get the option to buy missed upgrades after the mission, they're just lost.

[KillianHawkeye]

Easier said than done; unlike in ME3, you don't get the option to buy missed upgrades after the mission, they're just lost.

Yeah, I did like how if you missed some side-mission item it would just show up in the SPECTRE computer later.

But hey, at this point, if you're replaying the game for the Nth time and you want to make sure you don't miss something, you can easily glance at a walkthrough to see what you gotta do. There is a pretty clear evolution of gameplay features throughout the Mass Effect series, which shows that at least somebody was listening to fan feedback. It's very hard to get everything right the first or second time. If you think about it, it's actually pretty good praise that the main problem people have with ME3 is the story. Writing stories is the one thing that gets harder the further you go, whereas stuff like gameplay usually just gets better.

[Kiero]

What a game ME3 could have been if all of it had the quality and sheer love poured into it that The Citadel does.

Instead we got the ****ty original endings, the addition of Refusal and everything that came after Priority: Thessia.

[Calemyr]

What a game ME3 could have been if all of it had the quality and sheer love poured into it that The Citadel does.

Instead we got the ****ty original endings, the addition of Refusal and everything that came after Priority: Thessia.

Yes, the parts you mention are really, really bad. Won't lie. But it's worth noting that those are the exceptions to the rule. The opinion I've always agreed with most stated that ME3 was an absolute love letter to its fans. Every reference, every wink at the camera, every moment of badass heroism. 95% of this game is incredible, some of the most fun to be had in video games. The fact that all of it is so easily lost in the light of that remaining 5%, however, proves quite handily the vital importance of having a good ending when telling a great story.

And, yeah, I have made it a habit to save the Citadel House Party for after the ending. Because that's the closure the game really needed.

[Kiero]

Have there been any confirmed rumours about ME4?

[Psyren]

Easier said than done; unlike in ME3, you don't get the option to buy missed upgrades after the mission, they're just lost.

http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Upgrade_Guide
http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Equ...Mass_Effect_3)

You're welcome

What a game ME3 could have been if all of it had the quality and sheer love poured into it that The Citadel does.

Instead we got the ****ty original endings, the addition of Refusal and everything that came after Priority: Thessia.

I thought adding Refusal was fantastic. "You want the option to say no, despite everything we blatantly told you would happen if you did - fine, here ya go!"

Have there been any confirmed rumours about ME4?

They're designing it to be more open/exploratory like DAI - and given how solidly that game succeeded (over 1M sales in the 1st week), they are likely firing on all cylinders now.

It will use Frostbite, also like DAI.

[Kiero]

http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Upgrade_Guide
http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Equ...Mass_Effect_3)

You're welcome

I've played ME2 enough times to not miss things before moving on. The point still remains that if you miss stuff, it's gone forever.

I thought adding Refusal was fantastic. "You want the option to say no, despite everything we blatantly told you would happen if you did - fine, here ya go!"

It was a blatant slap in the face. In spite of having supposedly limited development time to rectify stuff after the great debacle of the original endings, they still found time to stick two fingers up at everyone who'd criticised them. Very mature.

They're designing it to be more open/exploratory like DAI - and given how solidly that game succeeded (over 1M sales in the 1st week), they are likely firing on all cylinders now.

It will use Frostbite, also like DAI.

Does this mean you'll have to have a next generation console (for those of us not playing on the PC)?

EDIT: This article on the engine suggests next-gen only. Oh well, guess I won't be playing it then.

[Dienekes]

It was a blatant slap in the face. In spite of having supposedly limited development time to rectify stuff after the great debacle of the original endings, they still found time to stick two fingers up at everyone who'd criticised them. Very mature.

This argument always got me. The entire game beats you over the head repeatedly that, while you're doing fairly well against the Reapers for now, it is ultimately futile if the Crucible doesn't work. Hackett says it, Liara says it, Anderson says it. The elcor were wiped out, and the Asari homeworld was destroyed. So in the end you get the opportunity to not use the Crucible, and you lose. Like everyone said was going to happen. That's not a slap in the face that's consistent writing. This is especially true, when the option to refuse and accept the consequences was brought up as a possible solution for those willing to die for their beliefs in the Bioware forums, or Social Network, or whatever they call it, by a fan. Adding that this sacrifice allowed the next generation to destroy the Reapers was a nice touch that made Shepard's actions still matter.

Now, what was a slap in the face was the Dev's response afterward in a tweet that the next cycle just used the Crucible. That doesn't make sense as Liara's message was that the Crucible didn't work as they thought it did. It would have made much more narrative sense to say they beat them conventionally thanks to the information provided and because Shepard leading the defenses made the Reapers more vulnerable than they have ever been. But, that's not in the game and I'm willing to just scrub that off and replace it with headcanon.

[Anteros]

This argument always got me. The entire game beats you over the head repeatedly that, while you're doing fairly well against the Reapers for now, it is ultimately futile if the Crucible doesn't work. Hackett says it, Liara says it, Anderson says it. The elcor were wiped out, and the Asari homeworld was destroyed. So in the end you get the opportunity to not use the Crucible, and you lose. Like everyone said was going to happen. That's not a slap in the face that's consistent writing. This is especially true, when the option to refuse and accept the consequences was brought up as a possible solution for those willing to die for their beliefs in the Bioware forums, or Social Network, or whatever they call it, by a fan. Adding that this sacrifice allowed the next generation to destroy the Reapers was a nice touch that made Shepard's actions still matter.

Now, what was a slap in the face was the Dev's response afterward in a tweet that the next cycle just used the Crucible. That doesn't make sense as Liara's message was that the Crucible didn't work as they thought it did. It would have made much more narrative sense to say they beat them conventionally thanks to the information provided and because Shepard leading the defenses made the Reapers more vulnerable than they have ever been. But, that's not in the game and I'm willing to just scrub that off and replace it with headcanon.

It's amazing how poorly the ending to this series was written. Going on 3 years and people are still talking about how bad it is.

[Kiero]

The Citadel is the gift that keeps on giving. I'd never paid much attention to the Armax Arena simulator - but it's loads of fun. Especially when you can get all your old ME2 squadmates in on the action. Forget finishing this play-through, I could spend hours in the simulator.

[Rodin]

It's amazing how poorly the ending to this series was written. Going on 3 years and people are still talking about how bad it is.

I think it's talked about more because it is subjectively poorly written. If it's just awful, people talk about how bad it is, everybody agrees, done.

People still talk about it because a lot of folks genuinely liked it. I still like it. Yeah, there's tons of problems that I wish had been addressed, but that's more along the lines of "How I would have filmed the Lord of the Rings trilogy" than an actual hatred of how it was done.

Given how the story had been written up to the point of the ending, I'm still not sure what people were expecting. You're not likely to get 500 different blockbuster endings depending on your choices, because budgets are a thing. The original "you don't get to see the effects of your choices" did suck, but that was addressed with Extended Cut. You aren't beating the Reapers conventionally, because the games thoroughly drilled that point in. If you don't like the idea of making a deal with the Reapers, well, there's the Destroy button right there. Mass Effect was never about boss fights, so the lack of one is unsurprising (just look at how badly Kai Leng and the Human Reaper were handled). The biggest number of complaints were about Synthesis, but the games were strongly rooted in classic Sci-Fi like Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. Synthesis fits right in.

If there's a fault in the ending, it was the decision to use Starkid instead of taking the form of another character from the game - Shepard's LI, or the person who died on Virmire, or any major character that had snuffed it. All the other problems are rooted much further back in the story than the actual ending.

[Psyren]

It was a blatant slap in the face. In spite of having supposedly limited development time to rectify stuff after the great debacle of the original endings, they still found time to stick two fingers up at everyone who'd criticised them. Very mature.

I prefer to think of it as a salute to their supporters, the folks who rightfully deduced what an actual refusal option would mean using common sense + in-game evidence.

Does this mean you'll have to have a next generation console (for those of us not playing on the PC)?

EDIT: This article on the engine suggests next-gen only. Oh well, guess I won't be playing it then.

DAI uses Frostbite and it came out for last-gen. But it wouldn't surprise me if ME4 was next-gen only given the timing (not that it matters to me since I'm a PC gamer these days.)

This argument always got me. The entire game beats you over the head repeatedly that, while you're doing fairly well against the Reapers for now, it is ultimately futile if the Crucible doesn't work. Hackett says it, Liara says it, Anderson says it. The elcor were wiped out, and the Asari homeworld was destroyed. So in the end you get the opportunity to not use the Crucible, and you lose. Like everyone said was going to happen. That's not a slap in the face that's consistent writing. This is especially true, when the option to refuse and accept the consequences was brought up as a possible solution for those willing to die for their beliefs in the Bioware forums, or Social Network, or whatever they call it, by a fan. Adding that this sacrifice allowed the next generation to destroy the Reapers was a nice touch that made Shepard's actions still matter.

Yeah, that.

[Zevox]

I think it's talked about more because it is subjectively poorly written.

That's true of anything that gets called poorly written. Writing quality, like most everything that can't be reduced to mathematics, is inherently subjective. The most you can do is find things that a lot of people agree on, which may give the illusion of them being objectively good/bad, but does not make them so - and you'll probably be able to find people who disagree with the popular consensus on anything of that sort, too.

[Avilan the Grey]

t was a blatant slap in the face. In spite of having supposedly limited development time to rectify stuff after the great debacle of the original endings, they still found time to stick two fingers up at everyone who'd criticised them. Very mature.

This reaction, to me, is horse hockey (to quote one of the most popular military officers on TV ever).
I just don't get it. To actually feel this is somehow a middle fingers (or two fingers, if you're british I guess) is... I don't know. Childish to the extreme?
It really proves why the gaming community doesn't really deserve nice things.

It's like deliberately stepping in front of a speeding car, wearing a big sign saying "please run me over" and then trying to sue the car company because it turns out being run over by a car hurts you.

Also, Dienekes said it better than me.

[Derthric]

Honestly the refusal ending is perhaps the only part of the ending I actually like, including the other EC additions.

*had other stuff here about the ending but cut it because we have been over it, and over it, and over it....seriously.

Anybody here still doing the MP?

[Psyren]

I've been wanting to redo it on PC now that that is my platform of choice (one I know will always be backwards compatible) but I just cant face the sloooow grind of ultra-rare guns, character paint and gear upgrades. Not without some heavy pack discounts or giveaways to let me grind in bulk, anyway.

[Kiero]

Anybody here still doing the MP?

No, the stupid randomness system completely soured me on it. I find the arena fights in The Citadel more fun.

[genmoose]

I've been wanting to redo it on PC now that that is my platform of choice (one I know will always be backwards compatible) but I just cant face the sloooow grind of ultra-rare guns, character paint and gear upgrades. Not without some heavy pack discounts or giveaways to let me grind in bulk, anyway.

I got a new gaming rig a few months ago and have been replaying my favorite games on a system that can actually handle them. I worked my way up to ME3 about a week ago and I think they've shifted the math with galactic readiness. I played a few MP games just to get back into the swing but at 56% I've completely saturated the readiness bar (and I'm only up to the Geth part of the story).

So unlike when I first got and played the game, you can max out your war assets pretty easily. I do have a pile of N7 promotions that carried over but I think a normal person should be able to get to a 'strong' readiness level without resorting to the multiplayer game.

So long story short, don't let that stop you from enjoying the single player experience again. I know I have.

[Derthric]

I got a new gaming rig a few months ago and have been replaying my favorite games on a system that can actually handle them. I worked my way up to ME3 about a week ago and I think they've shifted the math with galactic readiness. I played a few MP games just to get back into the swing but at 56% I've completely saturated the readiness bar (and I'm only up to the Geth part of the story).

So unlike when I first got and played the game, you can max out your war assets pretty easily. I do have a pile of N7 promotions that carried over but I think a normal person should be able to get to a 'strong' readiness level without resorting to the multiplayer game.

So long story short, don't let that stop you from enjoying the single player experience again. I know I have.

The EC download moved the unseen flags for certain events to occur in the endings. But on the screen I don't know if that changed. I know I crossed the minimum line in my first play through before unleashing kalross. The bar, IIRC, is relatively meaningless anyway, look at your number, without EC you need 5000(and that's for minor convo changes) with EC 3800 has you covered.

Also every N7 promotion is worth 75 war assets, 10 promotions is 750 and that's about the same from the Turians so don't discount those numbers.

[Anteros]

Given how the story had been written up to the point of the ending, I'm still not sure what people were expecting.

I expected an ending that made sense and fit the narrative of the story they told to that point. They accomplished neither of those things.

[Psyren]

I got a new gaming rig a few months ago and have been replaying my favorite games on a system that can actually handle them. I worked my way up to ME3 about a week ago and I think they've shifted the math with galactic readiness. I played a few MP games just to get back into the swing but at 56% I've completely saturated the readiness bar (and I'm only up to the Geth part of the story).

So unlike when I first got and played the game, you can max out your war assets pretty easily. I do have a pile of N7 promotions that carried over but I think a normal person should be able to get to a 'strong' readiness level without resorting to the multiplayer game.

So long story short, don't let that stop you from enjoying the single player experience again. I know I have.

You misunderstand me - I enjoyed the MP for its own sake, not merely as a vehicle to boost readiness for the SP. Extended Cut made it so that you can get all the endings with base 50% readiness anyway.

But while I amassed a very large number of unlocks on the 360 back when they were having N7 events every weekend, I have since switched platforms (likely for good) and none of that carried over, leaving me to start from scratch if I want to, say, get my Geth Juggernaut or N7 Demolisher back the way I had them. I might do that one day, but for now, too many other games demand my attention to put that kind of investment into ME3 again. (Though I did knock out the most pressing of those, DAI.)

[NEO|Phyte]

Anybody here still doing the MP?

Petered out on the MP after getting my Best of the Best banner. Theoretically I still need to fill out my ultrarare guns, but eh.

[Rodin]

I expected an ending that made sense and fit the narrative of the story they told to that point. They accomplished neither of those things.

And given that it both made sense and fit the narrative, that's why I'm mystified. But we've all done this dance before a thousand times (and hence, why people are still talking about it).

Personal taste is a thing.