Re: Game Spotlight - The Mass Effect series

by fudgietroll
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Re: Game Spotlight - The Mass Effect series

★★★★★ Apprentice

I only started playing the Mass Effect games in 2017 on Xbox One. I never knew how good the series was before. I still haven't finished the second game, but so far I'm enjoying it.

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Re: Game Spotlight - The Mass Effect series

EA DICE Team

@Mistermovieman

 

I wish I could be in your position again where I would be able to discover the awesome games all over again.. Standard smile

 

Hope you enjoy them! And let us know about your progress.

 

Cheers,

Message 12 of 23 (584 Views)

Re: Game Spotlight - The Mass Effect series

★★★★ Novice

I'm reminded of when I finished reading Edgar Rice Burroughs "Martian Series" long, long ago. I cried like a baby because I'd never experience the wonder and discovery of reading them for the first time.

 

I started with ME2 on a demo (I think). It looked interesting, so I bought the DVD. I ***MISS*** playing with a DVD in the PC. I purchased ME1 so I could go back and start at the beginning. Then got all the DLC, wished for new outfits for some of the characters that were never offered. Bought ME3. Then PC crashed (drive if I remember) and was SO glad I had all three discs. Guess what? ME2 refused to install. Found multiple reports of the problem. Never found anyone to help despite talking to customer support at length. Had to get the digital download and here came "Origin". Not so great. Can't play what you paid for if offline. For me, EVERY Origin update kept me from playing anything. Got so I saved awc.dll and eacore.dll so I could repair Origin and start the games. Had to buy some DLC two or three times. I wish I were joking. I still get a crash after Kasumi's scene in the shuttle leaving her loyalty mission. Something about disabling movies. I forget how, but I have saved everything for the future. If I live, I'll need it again ... or use the Gibbed editor to make sure she doesn't die in the suicide mission.

 

My first "computer" was a Timex-Sinclair 1000 with a membrane keyboard and 2kb or ram (upgraded to 16kb and rewired a keyboard for it). Finally bought a "real" computer with a 12" green monitor and 2 x 360k 5 1/4" floppies. Outside contact was a 1200 baud modem on the phone line. I remember a megabyte being a mega-download. FIrst hard drive was 32 megabytes on a card and cost me $416. lol I love when someone who wasn't born when I was building my own pc's thinks I'm an idiot with a coffee cup in a dvd tray. And I never could find the "Any" key.

Now playing on a 4790K at 4.4 Ghz and 32 gigs of fast ram, booting from a 500 gig SSD with 3 hot swap bays. EVGA GTX 1070 manages ok on graphics. In Andromeda ... just ok.

 

I played all two (then three) games over and over, learning and getting better. Losing a crew member was enough to make me start a new game. Edited my appearance and looked like a bit younger version of myself. I WAS SHEPARD. Can't express in words how much I "appreciated" the ending choices of ME3 as my reward for thousands of hours of effort. Literally counted the years and months until Andromeda. Now all the talk of shelving it with no further development, DLC, etc (if accurate) is THE LAST STRAW. Let us hope nobody can be that cruel. If only they understood for a lot of us it's not just a game. Not looking for pity, but I don't walk very well, can't do much and for a formerly active and capable guy it's ... depressing. At least in MY Mass Effect games I can live a little with that Black Widow, N7 Hurricane and the Disciple or Piranha. I never play multi-player. First time I tried I was kicked while still trying to figure out how it worked. Recently, it was decent, polite and VERY intense, but I resent having to re-arm for multiplayer. Let me use MY weapons and I'll show you how it's done. Currrent XP level 124. All biotics full. One tech and two soldier skills to complete, then I'll start a new game after determining what skills I prefer to spend points on. Finished 1, 2 and 3 on Insanity. Still on Normal on MEA. Yes, It's boring.

Message 13 of 23 (568 Views)

Re: Game Spotlight - The Mass Effect series

★★★★ Novice

Agree about the battle at the temple in ME. I raged at the cutscene using a blinking pistol, at not being able to call the Normandy "Hey Joker stop the gunship leaving my location", and the Lieutenant, and the survivor of Outpost Ticus ... I can't express beyond I would have personally, in real life at that moment given anything to help. Gets pretty real to me. I wished for the choice NOT to use the gunships to make it to the temple. I could have handled it. Such things HURT.

 

Other than old flight sims the Mass Effect series is the only modern games I've played. Yes, ID Software's Wolfenstein and something by Valve with a gate to Hell opening (sorry not my night for remembering game names). Your mention of DA encouraged me to try it until I found closure wasn't provided. So much for that one! lol Thank you.

Message 14 of 23 (544 Views)

Re: Game Spotlight - The Mass Effect series

[ Edited ]
★★★ Pro
  • What brought you into the Mass Effect series?

I was more a D&D RPG type player and was searching for good rpgs, after playing quite a few typical hack and slash rpg titles I saw the rating on ME2 and thought.....  errr....  ok lets try this...  Didnt like it at first, Shepard dying at the first scene, got the Lazarus treatment etc.  Slowly grew to like it and proceeded to play ME3, that was when I was stuck, as I didnt play ME1, I was seriously missing out on some of the war assets, storyline etc.  Stopped playing ME3, got ME1 and started from scratch from there.  

 

 

  • What is your all-time favorite Mass Effect game, and why?

ME3 minus the last 15 mins.  ME3 was the culmination of emotions for me.  It went from a good story to an epic one, the fall of earth, the music omg brings shivers to me even now as I type this, the baby steps of hope, curing the genophage, meeting tali and resolving rannoch...  The ending of it, well.....  think you have heard a lot about it from others for many years now so I will leave it as that...

 

  • What is your favorite Mass Effect moment, ever?

There are many great moments and the effect and impact changes depending on the playthrough, think the pinnacle of these for me was a playthrough when I had Tali as my Love Interest.  After a long separation, finally meeting her in ME3, doing the rannoch missions with her by my side, the little flirts along the way and finally getting her homeworld back for her, I tell you....  Made me feel like a GOD!  It was downhill after that...  Thessia, Kai Leng, the whole ending...  

 

 

 

  • Who's your favorite Mass Effect character?

Shepard!  

 

As for bros, I would say Garrus and Wrex.  (Mordin has a special place in my heart but doesnt fit the bro category)

 

Love Interest for a straight male player playing male shep, I have 3:  Tali, think she's the ultimate girlfriend, the most loving, what also surprised me was the flirts during the ME3 mission at the geth dreadnought...  Miranda for sophistication, like dating a high society lady...  Liara ultimately for continuation, story and the most airtime and scenes, she did the most for Shep and some how I think she's got his child as well lol.

 

For non-crew characters:  Matriarch Aethyta, think she had 5 mins of airtime combined in ME2 & ME3 but the voice acting by Claudia Black, story boarding and flavour added to the game was significant.  Absolutely loved this character.

Message 15 of 23 (532 Views)

Re: Game Spotlight - The Mass Effect series

★ Pro
  • What brought you into the Mass Effect series?

My roommate was playing it and convinced me to try it for myself, and I was hooked

 

  • What is your all-time favorite Mass Effect game, and why?

The first 95% of ME3, where we were fighting this massive intergalactic war, Shepard has PTSD, people are dying heroically and emotionally, I'm totally engaged in the story and the race against time, the music, the war assets piling up based on my choices, everything.

 

And then my least favorite ME game is the last 5% of ME3 starting with the final charge. It felt incomplete, like the writers/devs ran out of time and started just slapping stuff in there. Coherence and action dropped swiftly, and then we got to the endings, where we got to choose between 3-4 ways to kill Shepard and instantly end the series in an unsatisfying fashion. Not that Shep dying was too much necessarily, but it was pretty the first time in the series where we were faced with obeying one of the enemy's options and couldn't make one of our own. A nice "The war would continue for years, but after Earth victory finally seemed possible, maybe even inevitable...." would have been really appreciated as an alternative.

 

  • What is your favorite Mass Effect moment, ever?

Probably Mordin at the Shroud. "I am the very model of a Scientist Salarian..." I cry every time.

 

  • Who's your favorite Mass Effect character?

There are so many. Other than Shepard my top five are Liara, Wrex, Drack, Garrus, and ME1 Ash (before she got ganked)

Message 16 of 23 (514 Views)

Re: Game Spotlight - The Mass Effect series

★ Pro

@Straatford87 wrote:

 

This one's for all you space explorer fans!

 

  • What brought you into the Mass Effect series?
  • What is your all-time favorite Mass Effect game, and why?
  • What is your favorite Mass Effect moment, ever?
  • Who's your favorite Mass Effect character?

 


I was looking for something new and a friend of mine who knew I love SF stuff in general told me to have a look at the original Mass Effect. I bought it and played it to bits really.

 

As far as favourite...that's a tough one.

ME1 was the first and therefore is something special for me. The UI, in particular the gearing UI was horrible and the controls were a bit clunky but the game was fun, the story was interesting and it was just overall a cool game.

 

ME2 was a huge improvement on the UI and combat mechanics. It had lots of cool side missions for your companions and I generally really enjoyed the way the game was set up. It would've been my favourite game easily if the main story had been a bit longer with a bit more depth and the poor writing for that short convo with Ashley was a real downer. You couldn't even explain yourself or have any sort of satisfying result out of that and well...the Renegade/Paragon was clearly the one thing that was poorly designed, requiring ridiculous adherance to on one or the other to get certain conversation options.

 

ME3 continued on a lot that ME2 did right and I was happy to see the R/P system had been improved and that the main story had a bit more to it. I am not someone who hated on the ending but I ended up not buying the game on release so when I played through it I had the Leviathan DLC and the extended ending. So for me it worked just fine. The game was just overall a great game and I played through it many times. I enjoyed the MP also but ended up not playing it that much because I felt forced to do it because of how it tied into the readiness of my SP campaign and I don't respond well to being forced to do things in a certain way. Glad some of the old characters came back and it's a close call between ME2 and 3 for me for favourite.

 

ME:A is a tricky one. I got it on release and liked it but it had lots of issues that made it less enjoyable. Admittedly a fair number of them have been fixed in patches but not all of it yet. The game is getting better though with each improvement made. The main character Ryder is not as strong a personality as Shepard and that feels a bit empty. It's not bad but ME:A doesn't feel as intense as the original trilogy. Doesn't keep me from playing it but it is a noticeable difference. It's Mass Effect but not like the others. I also will never understand the change in Sara Ryders default face before and after the release. In a lot of ways ME:A feels a lot like ME1 with more exploring and a new wheeled vehicle but perhaps with a little less sense of wonder and engagement. It's good but less intense. The intensity is not about action though but engagement. Still, it is a lot better game than a lot of people give it credit for. Except the MP...I really couldn't care less about it. The ME3 MP was much better in my view.

 

My favourite moment ever? That's a hard one but let me pick something that made me laugh very hard. I just didn't see that option coming and I just died laughing because of it. I'll share it by just quoting the line and see who recognises it. Here it is: "Mumble something". 

 

My wife and I still use that quote on various occasions Standard smile

 

And my favourite character...well, there are a few and for different reason. I think The Illusive Man was quite an interesting and well written and voiced character. Definitely one of the strongest presences in the game. I'll be shameless and say that Miranda and Ash (ME3) were memorable for their looks but to be fair there was more to them than that as well. Just wish they hadn't exaggerated on Ash's distrust of Shepard also in ME3. It was just borderline obsessive and felt a bit too extreme for her character. Mordin was also great as a character and Garrus was always a good presence.

 

Overall it was just great to be Shepard though. Shepard vs Saren, Shepard vs Collectors and Shepard vs Cerberus and Reapers. 

 

In Andromeda the coolest character has to be Drack. I like Suvi but it could be that accent. Ryder is getting cooler over time but I don't think it will ever feel as epic and engaging as Shepard was.

 

 

Message 17 of 23 (509 Views)

Re: Game Spotlight - The Mass Effect series

★★ Pro

@Straatford87 wrote:

 

Hi all,

 

This one's for all you space explorer fans!

 

Let's take a look at Mass Effect series to look back on our favorite moments of trying to save the galaxy. To get things going, here's several sample questions:

 

  • What brought you into the Mass Effect series?
  • What is your all-time favorite Mass Effect game, and why?
  • What is your favorite Mass Effect moment, ever?
  • Who's your favorite Mass Effect character?

And remember, anything and everything about the Mass Effect series is up for discussion - the sky, or well.. the Milky Way or Andromeda, is the limit!

 

Have fun,


What bought me to Mass Effect?

Having played Kotor and loving it, I saw another was coming that was sci fi and set in a new world so I thought why not?

My fav, unpopular opinion but Andromeda.

My fav all time moment was the almost kiss with Kaidan and Shep in ME1 tbh. Loved the tension build up there.

My fav ME character of all time? Thats tuff, it's a close call between Jack and SisRyder. 

Message 18 of 23 (505 Views)

Re: Game Spotlight - The Mass Effect series

[ Edited ]
★★★ Pro

What brought you into the Mass Effect series?

 

RPG's have always held me in their sway, and being a sci-fi freak too... i guess it was just natural

 

What is your all-time favorite Mass Effect game, and why?

 

Hard one here. i'd say for me it's the first mass effect, as it's what indoctrinated me into the franchise, all the lore to gobble up, getting to know the characters for the first time. 

 

What is your favorite Mass Effect moment, ever?

 

i suppose that would be the arcade bit with zaeed massani in the citadel dlc. it's hard to top that.

 

Who's your favorite Mass Effect character?

 

i guess it has to be tali.

 

---edit typo

Message 19 of 23 (479 Views)

Re: Game Spotlight - The Mass Effect series

Hero

@CasperTheLich wrote:

What is your favorite Mass Effect moment, ever?

 

i suppose that would be the arcade bit with zaeed massani in the citadel dlc. it's hard to top that.


It's bittersweet when you consider that the actor, Robin Sachs, died shortly after recording his performance for that DLC.



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