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Mass Effect question

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Mikekelly - 05 January 2014 09:06 AM

I’ll do a review of the events in ME2 via youtube to make sure I don’t miss anything prior to playing it.

Actually, the reason I say you should play ME2 before ME3 is because of the save games you can import.
Without a save game from ME1, you’ll miss a lot of references in ME2, and without a save game from ME2, you’ll miss half of ME3 because the amount of returning/referenced characters is simply crazy.
Plus there’s a lot of ME1 and ME2 decisions that are made for you in a ‘new’ ME3 game. Decisions that were not necessarily made the way you plan on playing…


Edit: I just remembered that you can download a ME2 save here. It’ll restore a lot of the references to ME3, and your character build will be consistent with what a paragon/renegade character would have done in ME1 and 2…

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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TimovieMan - 05 January 2014 09:25 AM

Edit: I just remembered that you can download a ME2 save here. It’ll restore a lot of the references to ME3, and your character build will be consistent with what a paragon/renegade character would have done in ME1 and 2…

That’s a very handy site, indeed, if you wouldn’t want to start from the first game - although I personally would only use it for replays with different classes (as I understand, it should have links to ME1 saves as well, in case you want to start ME2 like that). However, there’s one choice that you simply couldn’t find in literally any of the saves, when I looked through them a couple years ago (and on a quick glance still holds true), and that is
Choosing Ambassador Udina to the Council, not Anderson. Which to me is bizarre, because to me it was the clear choice - yet apparently no one else has that choice Tongue (Edit: Okay, I took a better look, it’s there now on a few here and there - would’ve been almost a statistical impossibility Smile)

It doesn’t really, luckily, make almost any difference in the game, except a tiny bit of different dialogue. As far as I could see, at least.

     
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zane - 04 January 2014 07:01 PM

thinking about getting into these games myself, question: does the “trilogy” version of the game include all dlc?

There are a couple of DLCs that are worth purchasing and some that aren’t: For example in ME2 I think that Lair of the Shadow Broker is a must buy if it isn’t included. It’s got fantastic game play and story that carries over. Firewalker on the other hand isn’t worth it if you have to purchase it IMO. The missions are not fun and there isn’t a lot of story implications.

     
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CoyoteAG - 08 January 2014 12:49 PM

There are a couple of DLCs that are worth purchasing and some that aren’t: For example in ME2 I think that Lair of the Shadow Broker is a must buy if it isn’t included. It’s got fantastic game play and story that carries over. Firewalker on the other hand isn’t worth it if you have to purchase it IMO. The missions are not fun and there isn’t a lot of story implications.

Firewalker is free. The ME2 DLC that needs to be purchased is Kasumi, Overlord, Arrival and Lair of the Shadow Broker.

Kasumi is decent (but pretty tough at times) and gives an extra character, Overlord is pretty good, Arrival is meh (and has one VERY hard sequence) but is essentially the reason why your situation is the way it is in the beginning of ME3 (Arrival actually comes AFTER the main ME2 mission and serves as something of a bridge to ME3), and Lair of the Shadow Broker is the most amazing piece of DLC in the entire trilogy and is a must-buy!

I can’t say a lot about the ME3 DLC because I only got From Ashes (which is decent and adds an interesting character whose special power is particularly nice for biotic characters). The (free) extended cut is a must.
Couldn’t say much about Leviathan, Omega and Citadel, though, apart from the fact that Citadel is to be played when you’re “done” with the series, as it’s meant as a lighthearted farewell to Mass Effect from the dev team with lots and lots of in-jokes for the fans.

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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TimovieMan - 09 January 2014 06:02 AM

I can’t say a lot about the ME3 DLC because I only got From Ashes (which is decent and adds an interesting character whose special power is particularly nice for biotic characters). The (free) extended cut is a must.
Couldn’t say much about Leviathan, Omega and Citadel, though, apart from the fact that Citadel is to be played when you’re “done” with the series, as it’s meant as a lighthearted farewell to Mass Effect from the dev team with lots and lots of in-jokes for the fans.

None of Leviathan, Omega, or the Citadel are critical must buys IMO but I enjoyed all three a whole lot, especially Leviathan which has some fun puzzles and the Citadel which lets you party with your crew! The Citadel is definitely just a sappy addition for the fans to have fun with the characters but I’m a sucker for that stuff!

     
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CoyoteAG - 09 January 2014 12:52 PM

None of Leviathan, Omega, or the Citadel are critical must buys IMO but I enjoyed all three a whole lot, especially Leviathan which has some fun puzzles and the Citadel which lets you party with your crew! The Citadel is definitely just a sappy addition for the fans to have fun with the characters but I’m a sucker for that stuff!

I am too, which is why I watched most of Citadel on YouTube.

After completing ME3 with my main male paragon Shepard, I was just done with the series. I had the conclusion to the trilogy I wanted and lacked any incentive to play it again with my renegade female Shepard…
And this despite going through ME1 and ME2 three times!

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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TimovieMan - 09 January 2014 06:45 PM

After completing ME3 with my main male paragon Shepard, I was just done with the series. I had the conclusion to the trilogy I wanted and lacked any incentive to play it again with my renegade female Shepard…
And this despite going through ME1 and ME2 three times!

Really? Is it that you just didn’t like ME3 or you just got tired of the series?

I’m on my 3rd full playthrough of the entire series (although I have played ME1 and ME2 a couple of times more). I played a paragon male Shepherd all the way through the first time and then did a renegade female Shepherd. I’m now playing a paragon female Shepherd because I didn’t like the results of the renegade female and I wanted to experience the good side of the female (lol). This will probably be my last playthrough ever (or at least for a long time as I have a backlog of other games that I want to play) but I’m still thoroughly enjoying it. I started playing some other games but my mind kept wandering back to ME and the desire to play the paragon female Shepard so I just gave into it.

     
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CoyoteAG - 10 January 2014 12:36 PM

Really? Is it that you just didn’t like ME3 or you just got tired of the series?

It’s definitely not that I didn’t like ME3 since I gave it 5/5 (which is a half point more than ME1 got), and it’s not because I didn’t like the original ending (it wasn’t the greatest but the massive uproar it caused was imo unnecessary entitlement by a bunch of disgruntled people). It’s not that I got tired of the series either. I mean, it’s an awesome series and all three installments are superb. It’s just that, once I had my ending (and the paragon male ending was always going to be *MY* ending Tongue), I was satisfied and I just lacked the need to go over the third game again with my renegade female Shepard. I can’t really explain why.

In a way it’s sad, because Jennifer Hale is a better voice actor than Mark Meer, so the female playthrough would probably have been a lot of fun, and the mirth of different choices would’ve made it an entirely different game. But I just no longer felt the need to continue it.

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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The ending to ME3 was just so terrible.  So…terrible…

     
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Lambonius - 12 January 2014 08:15 PM

The ending to ME3 was just so terrible.  So…terrible…

I still claim, though, that it is on par with the average video game ending. Of course, it’s very possible that the average video game ending is terrible Grin But I think that as an ending, it feels much worse to many people because people expected much more (of course, in part rightfully so because of all the promises they made).

Personally, I didn’t expect anything huge from this (and I hadn’t heard about any of the promises), so I thought it was just mediocre and didn’t think much of it (and didn’t think the huge reaction was justified).


Speaking of the replays, I’ve played ME1 a few times, ME2 twice (though the second one was a bit forced towards the end) and now am playing ME3 for the second time. Now that I’ve forgotten many things about the storyline, I see that it’s fun again to play through. But I also notice how much I miss my Adept character - it’s just so much more fun with the Adept.

     
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UPtimist - 13 January 2014 04:34 AM

I still claim, though, that it is on par with the average video game ending. Of course, it’s very possible that the average video game ending is terrible Grin But I think that as an ending, it feels much worse to many people because people expected much more (of course, in part rightfully so because of all the promises they made).

Personally, I didn’t expect anything huge from this (and I hadn’t heard about any of the promises), so I thought it was just mediocre and didn’t think much of it (and didn’t think the huge reaction was justified).

I agree with this. The original ending was mediocre (especially when compared to the rest of the game) and the final cutscene had a few continuity holes.
The extended cutscenes that were released as DLC took care of the continuity holes and added a few improvements in giving actual closure.
Still not as top notch as the rest of the series, but perfectly doable, imo.

Concerning the promises they made where “your decisions throughout the trilogy affect the outcome”, I think they were referring to the entire game instead of just the ending, and that that’s where most of the confusion stems from.
Depending on your actions in ME1 and ME2, several squad mates (or former squad mates) will die in this game, and the amount of possible mission endings throughout the entire game is insane because of this.
Just because most of these things didn’t particularly affect the ending cutscene, doesn’t mean that they didn’t affect the story throughout the entire game, and somehow I think that those promises by BioWare were about this and not “just” the ending.

It would’ve been better, though, if most of the decisions in the game (and their outcomes) at least got referenced in the final cutscenes (like in the way that Fallout 3 ended, for instance), but well, you can’t have it all, I guess? The extended ending cutscenes addressed this somewhat, though…

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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Lambonius - 12 January 2014 08:15 PM

The ending to ME3 was just so terrible.  So…terrible…

Which one,i liked the party ending.

     

“Going on means going far - Going far means returning”

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The ending was pretty terrible but the journey for me was so fun that I honestly didn’t care.

I play tons of mystery games and read mystery stories and watch mystery/crime shows (I like mysteries, okay?) and most of the times I can’t remember whodunit but I can remember most other details about the characters/mystery. The journey is so much more important than the conclusion IMO.

     
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mass effect really got me back into gaming around 2009/10 when i discovered it. i hadnt cared about games (adventure, rpg or otherwise) for years.  personally i always liked action games amidst adventures so it fit well with me. while i’m really not a shooter fan, the story and conversation/puzzle solving was more than enough to make the gameplay great.  also, as a huge sci fi fan, i still think mass effect is probably the best thing to happen in the entire science fiction genre in the past decade. (yes screw you avatar!!)  it reminded me of 90s golden eras of babylon 5 or star treks… except that you are in it, playing it.  the romance options and development between the npc’s was incredible and perhaps the best done in any game.

also, as far as story+puzzle/rpg gaming i would also highly recommend biowares other franchise, dragon age.  dragon age:origins was a 9/10 game for me but the sequel is probably more like a 5/10 so try out the first one if you give it a go.  it has in depth story content and choices which really affect the outcome.  the combat is also pause-able making it kind of real time strategy gameplay that you get to pause which almost makes it more turn based.  tactical i guess.  love these series… i think they are the best modern games.

     
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This reminded me of the ideas the original writer for Mass Effect, Drew Karpyshyn, had for the direction of the series. Some of his unfinished ideas were so much more interesting than what they then ended up with. I think it would’ve made such a heck of a lot better storyline for the games that, let’s face it (or: in my opinion), seriously went downhill (story-wise) after ME1 (I mean, looking back, it’s almost like there’s not even much plot after the first game, just… events - meaning that it’s already said in the beginning of the game what is going to happen and the rest of the game is just building up to it).

You can read about it here (but there are obviously some spoilers):
http://www.vg247.com/2013/06/19/mass-effects-original-writer-discusses-alternate-ending-plans/
and this one which talks even more about his ideas for the ending which were quite different than what they ended up with:
http://www.polygon.com/gaming/2012/8/20/3256678/original-mass-effect-writer-talks-about-the-possible-endings-for-mass

Especially the part about the Reapers’ very different motivations.

     

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