Mass Effect Series Catch-All

It was only available for free on Wii U since they didn't get the earlier games. Other platforms cost money.

Well, that's weak. I bought the deluxe PC editions of 2 and 3 so I got everything.

Well, I guess I'll just choose the options offered and go from there.

Future series play through should fix it!

Rykin wrote:

While I loved this loop in DA:I I felt that it didn't work as well in ME:A. The more focused linear missions were the stronger part of ME:A and the open world parts largely felt like filler which lead to like 80% of the game feeling like filler to me.

See, for me I loved the open world parts even though I don't tend to be big on open world games in general. It felt like exploring and discovering a new planet in the way the Mako was supposed to do in ME1. There was definitely filler, but I deliberately did not do a lot of that stuff.

beanman101283 wrote:

It was only available for free on Wii U since they didn't get the earlier games. Other platforms cost money.

"paid plotboxes"

KramNesnah wrote:

Well, I guess I'll just choose the options offered and go from there.

Future series play through should fix it! :-)

Since you're playing on PC, it also might be an option to find a savegame online or a savegame editor.

It depends on what you enjoyed about the original trilogy, whether you should get ME:A or not. If you enjoyed driving parts, combat, and visuals, then sure, go ahead. If you're interested in any glimpse of an interesting story, interesting characters, interesting lore, interesting antagonists, rich worlds with unique lore, then I suggest you skip it.

Many people believe the game would be better received if it didn't have the burden of carrying the ME brand. Well, nothing exists in a vacuum, so of course it's going to get severely scrutinized against the original trilogy, and in many aspects, it's a lesser product. There's an expectation of where a title with the same brand should go, or could go, and not only does ME:A doesn't measure up, it undoes some things that are just baffling. It's really sad.

The problem is that the things that make the game, for me, terrible, are subjective things. Forget about the animations, the bugs, the patches, etc. All that's been improved. How likeable a character is or isn't is up to you, how interesting the antagonist is or isn't, is up to you, same with main story, side stories, continuations of an existing, established lore and story, etc, etc, etc.

Also depends on what type of gamer you are, and what you prioritize. I personally prioritize story, characters, world building, above gameplay, from a game like this. I wouldn't on a fighting game. But for something like this, having a very poor story with the most awesome combat mechanics just isn't enough for me.

I don't regret the 60 bucks, I don't regret the 104 hrs I put into it, but ME:A killed ME for me, more than ME3's ending ever did.

kexx wrote:

I don't regret the 60 bucks, I don't regret the 104 hrs I put into it, but ME:A killed ME for me, more than ME3's ending ever did.

Sad but true. Still, I have a perverse hankering to revisit ME:A when Anthem releases. I enjoyed the combat powers (Sentinel, always) and some of the later missions were pretty good. And I'm sure there's still plenty of open world leftovers to mop up, that will satisfy my single player needs better than Anthem

Giant bomb is doing a video series on Mass Effect, Alex is currently playing through ME2. Watching him play is quite frustrating to be honest, because he misses so much, but it makes me want to replay the game.

kuddles wrote:

- Another reason why you should never listen to fan complaints: Replacing the very smart overheating system in ME1 so that you had to do pointless ammo hunting is dumb.

P.S. I found this ranking by PC Gamer and the text for Kaidan almost made me spit my rum and coke on my computer.

Tali is the character I don't get why people adore. She would end up very near the bottom of my own list.

As for the ammo, I guess I'm the minority on this one, but I liked it in ME2. The fact that ammo is limited forces you to use your powers more (especially on higher difficulties), encourages you to try different weapons and also stops you from staying in one spot. In ME3, on the other hand, they kept reloading and limited ammo, but you almost never run out of it, making the inclusion rather pointless.

I guess I don't remember ME2 well enough to be frustrated by things Alex misses--given that it's been almost a decade since I played it, I'm sure there are plenty of details I've forgotten. But watching this playthrough makes me so nostalgic for how totally absorbed I was in that game. The format of ME2's quests is my ideal setup--it's maybe too limited to be called an open world, but options enough that you have freedom to focus on the bits that interest you, and the memory of ME1 choices and the prospect of ME3 consequences makes it all feel so much more meaningful.

The only things that frustrate me are when he walks into an area like he did this week in Afterlife looking for Aria. He walks up the stairs. Looks to the left. Looks back and forth a bit in that spot. Then says, "Whelp, nothing here!" then leaves without looking behind him at all.

I know there are things that I miss in games, but I can't comprehend someone who just fails to do a simple 180.

kuddles wrote:

Since you're playing on PC, it also might be an option to find a savegame online or a savegame editor.

Good idea, but I think I'm just going to go with the basic choices at the start. I'll probably do a complete play through once I'm done with 3 (and maybe ME:A)

NSMike wrote:

The only things that frustrate me are when he walks into an area like he did this week in Afterlife looking for Aria. He walks up the stairs. Looks to the left. Looks back and forth a bit in that spot. Then says, "Whelp, nothing here!" then leaves without looking behind him at all.

I know there are things that I miss in games, but I can't comprehend someone who just fails to do a simple 180.

Not to tout my own horn (I’m totally going to), but if you want a thorough Mass Effect 1 through 3 replay, look no further than my own Twitch channel.

I don't regret the 60 bucks, I don't regret the 104 hrs I put into it, but ME:A killed ME for me, more than ME3's ending ever did

I usually put less than 2 hours into a game I don’t like. 104 hours is reserved for games that were exceptional.

I genuinely can't fathom how you put 104 hours into a thing that you claim you don't regret but that it still killed the franchise for you.

Did you just not like the ending and it soured the whole experience for you?

I'm just trying to wrap my head around it because you always those sh*t ass reviews on Steam where it's like '1000 hours played - f*ck this game'

He didn't say he hated it. He said he liked the gameplay but hated the storytelling. I kind of feel like I'm with him: It was way slower than I thought when I heard the announcement that EA was buying them, but I feel like BioWare isn't what it used to be for me.

Because the love I have for the Original Trilogy, I felt I needed to give the game a fair chance. And I know that these types of games can have a slow start. For something of this scope, and of this pedigree, 15-20hrs I felt wouldn't be enough, wouldn't be fair. So I kept on going. I wanted a reason to like this game, or to like a part of this game. I love everything the OT created, even with the big mistakes, the universe created was amazing, rich, fun, interesting, etc. I wanted this one to have an ounce of it, and I had to comb through the entire galaxy for it, never to find it. Everything in this game is a lesser version of the OT, except for the Nomad - Mako. That's an upgrade.

I don't regret the time put into it because I feel properly equipped to discuss the game as a whole. Rather than be dismissed as someone who "yeah you probably didn't even play the game, you just jumped on the animations suck wagon".

I don't walk out of movies I'm not liking.

And once in a blue moon, I find myself doing the irrational thing, like for example, The Walking Dead. It's a terrible show. Just terrible, and I disliked it so much, I started hate-watching it. Made it through 4 seasons i think before I was done.

Same thing probably happened here with MEA, just that I didn't start from 0 affection, I started big on the love for the franchise, so I guess my tolerance was higher and allowed me to finish the thing.

Fair enough and to each their own. I really want to encourage you to respect your time more! But you do you.

Personally I liked Ryder more than any of my versions of Shepard and I really enjoyed the overall plot and I'm sad it won't get a conclusion.

I walked away from TWD as well and feel good about it. I never quit books or movies but that was just too much.

Pretty sure I accidentally quit playing Andromeda. I don't remember finishing it. I do remember loving the combat but hating just about everything else. Oh well. Too many other games on the pile to go back to it now. Much rather replay ME2 again if I'm going to go back to something.

Heh. Still binging TWD, but it truly is hate-watching. Once in a while it is okay, but there is just no bottom to how bad it can be.

I pretty much never quit games though. In all of 2018 I abandoned only 2 games, and one of them I went back to in 2019 to finish.
Likewise for Andromeda, though it is way too long a game. For a series I love so much, I'm not going to quit out in the middle of a game, even if it disappoints. Naively I keep going, hoping for the game to redeem itself.
But then Andromeda had qualities enough to redeem itself - combat was good, and some of the characters were also fine, even if I didn't find any at the level of ME1-3, but then, only having one game to unfold in also makes that harder.
The disappointing parts to me was the world building (new galaxy, that is nearly devoid of alien life, what?!), the story, and the MMO'ish game design (which sadly was unsurprising after DA Inquisition).

Stele wrote:

I walked away from TWD as well and feel good about it. I never quit books or movies but that was just too much.

Pretty sure I accidentally quit playing Andromeda. I don't remember finishing it. I do remember loving the combat but hating just about everything else. Oh well. Too many other games on the pile to go back to it now. Much rather replay ME2 again if I'm going to go back to something.

Same happened to me wrt ME:A. I had a save bug out after a wipe, started playing something else and haven't touched the game since. I will put myself in the camp of I liked the mechanics but did not enjoy aspects of the story.

Also, as an aside to toss gas on a fire the only bioware romance option that is worth the code it occupies is Morrigan.

Like I mentioned with the 'value your time' thing, I couldn't possibly imagine doing something that I'm not actively enjoying. Sure it means I don't finish games that often, but I also don't actually care if I do or not because if I'm not having fun then what is even the point? To each their own, obviously.

One thing I noticed that was pretty hilarious during my replay of the trilogy is that in trying to romance Liara in ME1 she goes on these huge diatribes about how how Asari only mate when there is a strong emotional connection and how they meld minds and they do not go into these things lightly.

And all I could think of while she was saying this was how it contrasted with Peebee in Andromeda who basically was like "We can have casual sex with no feelings any time you want, Ryder."

Active enjoyment is a difficult thing to quantify imo.
When I first tried Demons Souls it infuriated me. I took a 6 month break, then came back for another futile try and never looked back. Making that and all the games to follow some of my favorites ever.
I'm perfectly fine with games (and books for that matter) having lows and highs. Those can even be the best ones. Even if MEA isn't an example of that.

Garrcia wrote:

Also, as an aside to toss gas on a fire the only bioware romance option that is worth the code it occupies is Morrigan.

Oh no, you did not!

I want to show you people something.

This...
IMAGE(https://i.postimg.cc/xdnPFMXy/ME2-Angel.jpg)

is how many times...
IMAGE(https://i.postimg.cc/q7wGfqnf/ME2-Bad.jpg)

I have completed...
IMAGE(https://i.postimg.cc/mDryT4NP/ME2-Carch.jpg)

Mass Effect 2...
IMAGE(https://i.postimg.cc/qRZXRFjj/ME2-Dim.jpg)

with various...
IMAGE(https://i.postimg.cc/C53GCqy8/ME2-Emma.jpg)

Shepards...
IMAGE(https://i.postimg.cc/qMKXJjnx/ME2-Jen.jpg)

of various...
IMAGE(https://i.postimg.cc/FF8VX2fK/ME2-Keen.jpg)

sexes...
IMAGE(https://i.postimg.cc/NF98rxnY/ME2-Meer.jpg)

and various...
IMAGE(https://i.postimg.cc/P5kbPYQs/ME2-Sentinel.jpg)

classes.
IMAGE(https://i.postimg.cc/L8Btf5xq/ME2-Zoe.jpg)

And thanks to recent messages here, I'm about to start Mass Effect 2 again. Thanks, you bastards.

Good man.

I wish I had all my saves from ME1. I finished it 6 times on the 360 before I sold it. I only have my most recent 3 from the PC because I didn't consider saving them across computers/OS installs early on.

Wow. I am not sure how many times I have completed ME2, but I think I am around 6 or 7 for the complete series. I generally don't hold on to old saves.

I would be joining you all right about now (in replaying ME2) if I had a system to play it on. No gaming PC and (currently) no XBox of any kind.

I have so much love for that series. My dream would be that they port the trilogy to Switch.

Maybe I should play Andromeda, but in story mode. Does Andromeda have that? Where I could essentially skip the combat and play the RPG part?

DSGamer wrote:

Maybe I should play Andromeda, but in story mode. Does Andromeda have that? Where I could essentially skip the combat and play the RPG part?

Andromeda is similar to Dragon Age: Inquisition where you are roaming a lot of open world areas, it's not a series of levels like the original trilogy, so they couldn't exactly remove the combat without making things feel barren.

However, they have a "Narrative" difficulty level that is much below even the Casual level of difficulty which makes all the combat an incredible cakewalk.