Mass Effect Megathread: He said "I should go." Do I sound like that? - Games

[QUOTE=CFC;40675330]I just couldn't stand Kai Leng, it was like Bioware found him in some dumpsters outside Hideo Kojima's office while he was working on Rising or something[/QUOTE] Someone needs to make this a thing.

[QUOTE=SekritJay;40675275]You might be lucky... ME1 is reasonably flexible in terms of system requirements. Also I disagree with the opinion that ME3 is questionable. Can't stand the people who claim to hate it based on the final 10 minutes of a 30 hour game, frankly, I'd go as far to say that it's probably the best out of the lot[/QUOTE] It's been a while since I've ranted about ME3... I'll agree that hating the whole game based the last 10 minutes is dumb, I don't understand that either. But I don't think that's what most people complain about. The entire game is packed to the brim with bullshit, but I'll try to see if I can keep this concise. Auto-dialogue, lack of dialogue choices (no neutral, limited investigate options), limited character interaction (the bulk of squadmate dialogue amounts to one-liners between missions), dumb kid and those cringe-worthy nightmares, kai-leng, Cerberus, fetch quests, galactic readiness system, trashing the entire ME2 squad, lack of consequences from prior decisions, lack of decisions in general, atrocious levels (intro on Earth, Thessia, Priority:Earth). That's just a sloppy list I've thrown together. Maybe I've forgotten stuff, or I've been too general. I can back up those points more later, each is basically a rant of its own. And that's the problem. There's so much wrong you can't just ignore it. The game is poor at it's foundation. The story has its gems but it's littered with bullshit, some of the characters are great but two-thirds of the "main cast" barely show up. For a series I play for the story and characters, it sure as fuck is frustrating when the story is all over the place and my favorite characters are never around. A lot of this stuff is subjective and it's going to bother people to a varying degree. The ending is just an easy target because it's so [i]objectively[/i] bad.

ME3 Is a sloppy game in general.

[QUOTE=sltungle;40675906]I was thinking about Mass Effect on the way to uni yesterday and it hit me how, all over, the entire trilogy could have gone a lot better. Trying to fit the largest war in the galaxy into 1/3 of a trilogy was a fucking mistake (unless ME3 had been, minimum, like 100 hours long). What they really should have done was have the Reaper invasion start at some point in ME2 - maybe at the beginning of ME2, or at the end of act 1 - and then have the fight carry over into ME3. I was thinking if the invasion had started at the end of act 1 in ME2 then act 2 could have just been building up the tension, completely demoralising you as you try to rush to certain key locations to save them (but fail), and then at the end of act 2 you devise a way/learn of a way (maybe some ancient Prothean plot, but not something as bullshit as the Catalysy) to defeat the Reapers. Then act 3 would be dedicated to making it work. Then ME3 could be the PROPER fight. The galaxy has been getting ravaged for a good few years by this point, you're finally putting the last few pieces of the plan together, and then you execute it over the course of acts 2 and 3 of ME3.[/QUOTE] This would have been amazing. The other thing that would've been nice was if the Collectors were the plot of the first game, with hints of something larger and more sinister behind them. Then the Heretics in the second game, at this point the Reapers would be revealed and people would start to think maybe Shepard wasn't crazy when he said someone was behind the Collectors. If they did this, Saren could have been one of the starting squadmates in the first game and 'died' on the Collector base, so when he returned full of Reaper tech he would be far more of a hero-turned-villain. Then in the third game, people start disappearing again and Reaper ground forces start showing up everywhere to soften defenses. People (read: the Council) still doubt the Reapers exist and think it's some Cerberus plot or something similar, until the Reapers start fielding Destroyers. They'd be less invincible to give you a false sense of security. All these ground forces would be striving to do something like open the Citadel relay to let the invasion happen and you'd need to stop them. The game would have a plausible failure ending if the relay opened and the Reapers were everything Sovereign said they would be. Also, Cerberus either should be competent villains or just not go full retard and be allies/an alternative to working for the Council.

[QUOTE=Zeos;40677286]ME3 Is a sloppy game in general.[/QUOTE] It needed another year of development at the very least.

[QUOTE=Dumb Dog;40677243]It's been a while since I've ranted about ME3... I'll agree that hating the whole game based the last 10 minutes is dumb, I don't understand that either. But I don't think that's what most people complain about. The entire game is packed to the brim with bullshit, but I'll try to see if I can keep this concise. Auto-dialogue, lack of dialogue choices (no neutral, limited investigate options), limited character interaction (the bulk of squadmate dialogue amounts to one-liners between missions), dumb kid and those cringe-worthy nightmares, kai-leng, Cerberus, fetch quests, galactic readiness system, trashing the entire ME2 squad, lack of consequences from prior decisions, lack of decisions in general, atrocious levels (intro on Earth, Thessia, Priority:Earth). That's just a sloppy list I've thrown together. Maybe I've forgotten stuff, or I've been too general. I can back up those points more later, each is basically a rant of its own. And that's the problem. There's so much wrong you can't just ignore it. The game is poor at it's foundation. The story has its gems but it's littered with bullshit, some of the characters are great but two-thirds of the "main cast" barely show up. For a series I play for the story and characters, it sure as fuck is frustrating when the story is all over the place and my favorite characters are never around. A lot of this stuff is subjective and it's going to bother people to a varying degree. The ending is just an easy target because it's so [I]objectively[/I] bad.[/QUOTE] Agree x100. I never bought the whole "Well, the last 10 minutes suck but the rest is GOTY material!" IMO, the game made marginal advances over ME2 in a few areas, and took a step back in a few areas. It wasn't anything groundbreaking. At this point I've made my peace with ME3 and the ending, but it's all just left me with no motivation whatsoever to get back into the games. [QUOTE=The_J_Hat;40658129]You did Noveria before Feros? I've always done it in the opposite order.[/QUOTE] After my first playthrough, I always went to Feros first (After Therum, of course.) Just made more sense to me plotwise. Benezia is supposed to be Saren's #2 and the first thing I do after picking up her daughter is swoop in and take her out, seems anticlimactic.

[QUOTE=dogmachines;40677302]It needed another year of development at the very least.[/QUOTE] It's funny. ME3 is made up of bad decisions, and bad decisions made from being rushed. I'd love to know how much better it'd be with an extra year or two.

[QUOTE=Ekalektik_1;40677287]This would have been amazing. The other thing that would've been nice was if the Collectors were the plot of the first game, with hints of something larger and more sinister behind them. Then the Heretics in the second game, at this point the Reapers would be revealed and people would start to think maybe Shepard wasn't crazy when he said someone was behind the Collectors. If they did this, Saren could have been one of the starting squadmates in the first game and 'died' on the Collector base, so when he returned full of Reaper tech he would be far more of a hero-turned-villain. Then in the third game, people start disappearing again and Reaper ground forces start showing up everywhere to soften defenses. People (read: the Council) still doubt the Reapers exist and think it's some Cerberus plot or something similar, until the Reapers start fielding Destroyers. They'd be less invincible to give you a false sense of security. All these ground forces would be striving to do something like open the Citadel relay to let the invasion happen and you'd need to stop them. The game would have a plausible failure ending if the relay opened and the Reapers were everything Sovereign said they would be. Also, Cerberus either should be competent villains or just not go full retard and be allies/an alternative to working for the Council.[/QUOTE] I'm going to make this a thing. As in now. Somebody give me a good title whilse I write up the plot of Eden Prime.

[QUOTE=Wlfius28;40678939]I'm going to make this a thing. As in now. Somebody give me a good title whilse I write up the plot of Eden Prime.[/QUOTE] Mass effect.

[QUOTE=jackattack;40680088]Mass effect.[/QUOTE] I already have that as part of the title matey. I'm stuck on the subtitle that most ME fiction has. Harbinger? Collection Day? Mondays-a-Bitch? Pubday?

Collected Fate

Nice. You can find the first draft on my Deviantart page, if you'd like to offer some CC. I've been out of the writing loop for a good few months.

[QUOTE=Wlfius28;40682226]Nice. You can find the first draft on my Deviantart page, if you'd like to offer some CC. I've been out of the writing loop for a good few months.[/QUOTE] Looking great so far! The only thing I'd change is mix up Nihlus' dialogue between him and Saren. It gets the same point across, but in a different way. Speaking of which, is Saren still going to hate humans as much? I'd pictured if you were Paragon in the first game he'd hate you and when he was reintroduced as a Reaper mook he'd say something like "I liked you even less," whereas if you were renegade he'd develop a grudging respect for you and offer you a chance to join him and Sovereign. "I didn't think humans had the guts to do the right things. Why not join me? I can make you immortal." EDIT: Spectre induction should probably happen at the end of the game (or not at all depending on the choices taken). Considering the Collector ordeal is gonna be "the first of many missions we run together," Saren should stay on the Normandy throughout. Y'know, thinking about this has made me realize Mass Effect in general has some incredibly strange pacing.

Thanks for the CC, matey. I chose to have Nihlus and Saren's dialogue miced up like that because I thought it suited their personalities, to an extent. No, Saren's hatred of humans will be tuned down slightly. Ie, he doesn't like humans, but he's effectively forced by the council to work alongside them - and then forced to work alongside even more when the real threat gets out. On the subject of humans, a cookie to anyone who guesses where I pilfered Shepard's name. The spectre induction thing will indeed work along the length of the game.

[QUOTE=Wlfius28;40686926] On the subject of humans, a cookie to anyone who guesses where I pilfered Shepard's name. [/QUOTE] Going to have to say Opposing Force?

I was just doing a Platinum with a couple of friends. We got to wave 11, literally 30 seconds before the shuttle arrives then my computer crashed :(

[QUOTE=jackattack;40690191]Going to have to say Opposing Force?[/QUOTE] Yep. I found it one day while trawling through youtube, and it trumped my Shep's name (James). To surmise what happened in that video: MOTHA FUCKAS DON'T KNOW ABOUT ADRIAN SHEPARD: GET"S FROZEN IN TIME ONLY TO BECOME* A SPECTRE. So yep, Opposing Force.

[QUOTE=Wlfius28;40696938]Yep. I found it one day while trawling through youtube, and it trumped my Shep's name (James). To surmise what happened in that video: MOTHA FUCKAS DON'T KNOW ABOUT ADRIAN SHEPARD: GET"S FROZEN IN TIME ONLY TO BECOME* A SPECTRE. So yep, Opposing Force.[/QUOTE] Like I've said before, Gman sent Adrian to stop the reapers while Gordon got to muddle around on earth with the combine. That's my head canon and I'm sticking to it.

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/N52LXuC.jpg[/IMG]

[QUOTE=MiX-A;40697476][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/N52LXuC.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE] That would become a race to the finish. The first one to bring the other to ecstasy wins (doesn't get her brain fried).

Started crashing every time I go through a particular doorway in Sanctuary. Oh well. gives me an excuse to start a Vanguard playthrough from ME1 to 3. Played rather boringly as soldier most often, then played around with that tech/biotic in ME3 (until the sanctuary crashing problem). Did a quick few minutes as vanguard in ME3, loved it's melee focus. [QUOTE=dogmachines;40675359]Kai Leng is a saturday morning cartoon villain that constantly gets his ass kicked and escapes with his life via some convoluted explanation since you can't kill a guy in a kid's show, except he's meant to be seen as a badass and a serious threat.[/QUOTE]Oh man, so true. I defeated him within a couple of minutes on Thessia, and it became painfully obvious how he had plot shield as that gunship would interrupt every few seconds, it felt like.

So I've played as a Soldier and a Vanguard in my first two playthroughs. Should I play as a Sentinel or Engineer for my next one? I already started ME1 as a Sentinel, but knowing the class differences from 1 to 2, what should I pick?

[QUOTE=MiX-A;40697476][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/N52LXuC.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE] I genuinely asked that question in one of the last Megathreads.

[QUOTE=Wlfius28;40696938]Yep. I found it one day while trawling through youtube, and it trumped my Shep's name (James). To surmise what happened in that video: MOTHA FUCKAS DON'T KNOW ABOUT ADRIAN SHEPARD: GET"S FROZEN IN TIME ONLY TO BECOME* A SPECTRE. So yep, Opposing Force.[/QUOTE] My very first Shepard was named Adrian. He was Sheploo though, so in the playthrough before my current one I tried to do him justice. [img_thumb]http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/540708865577314162/8C19585E7CF170DEEE25CA3D6CD70C26081CC6F7/1024x819.resizedimage[/img_thumb] He does renegade pretty well.

Everytime I go to replay Mass Effect 1 for a full trilogy playthrough I always stop and when I go back I don't like the way my Shepard looks. Ever. I wish they were able to do a little bit more in terms of shaping the face.

[QUOTE=Jurikuer;40701150]Everytime I go to replay Mass Effect 1 for a full trilogy playthrough I always stop and when I go back I don't like the way my Shepard looks. Ever. I wish they were able to do a little bit more in terms of shaping the face.[/QUOTE] Literally all I do to customize my Shepards is change their eye color. I hate that piercing green they start with. I like a blue for male and purple for female. Renegade goes darker colors, Paragon goes lighter. Same body, different soul.

[QUOTE=Flicky;40701439]Literally all I do to customize my Shepards is change their eye color. I hate that piercing green they start with. I like a blue for male and purple for female. Renegade goes darker colors, Paragon goes lighter. Same body, different soul.[/QUOTE] I made my own Shepard once, derpiest hero the galaxy had ever seen. I stick to the original pre-made male Shepard now.

I always played default Shepards, default names.

[img]http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/137/2/8/masseffect2d_by_austindlight-d65meec.jpg[/img]

[QUOTE=Ekalektik_1;40700869]My very first Shepard was named Adrian. He was Sheploo though, so in the playthrough before my current one I tried to do him justice. [img_thumb]http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/540708865577314162/8C19585E7CF170DEEE25CA3D6CD70C26081CC6F7/1024x819.resizedimage[/img_thumb] He does renegade pretty well.[/QUOTE] he looks disgruntled