GarfunkeL
Racism Expert
So I finally finished my first playthrough of the entire trilogy. I had played the first and second games a little bit back when they were released but never completed them - nor had I ever played the third. But with my new PC, I figured what the hell. Let's give waifu-shooter a spin.
I went with Renegade Fem Shep, Adept-Soldier-Adept (bad call, should have remained Adept in ME2, soldier was damn boring), and Liara was my waifu. No, I didn't cheat on her during ME2.
It's pretty obvious that writers / designers changed between ME1 and ME2 - the game changes quite drastically. Women get more sexualized, every companion becomes "unique" like this is Final Fantasy, and the retarded inventory from ME1 is gone completely. Even more, the cliche but workable sci-fi plot of ME1 gets an utterly retarded future fantasy sequel. I don't understand why Shep had to die to join Cerberus, how Cerberus could get all the resources it utilized, why the Collectors were working for Reapers, why use human tissue to create a Reaper anyway and what the fuck, the entire game is one massive plot hole. So ME3, which its stupid, cliche alien invasion plot, is at least going back to being sci-fi. Too bad that the ending, which is stupid beyond all measure, ruins it. Whoever came up with Synthesis needs to stop writing.
EA/Bio never bothered to fix all issues on the games. I had to use console commands to disable the rendering of shadows on two levels in ME1 to be able to proceed and encountered numerous small bugs and scripting issues in ME2 and ME3. Usually the type of that a quest wasn't marked completed in journal or a side-quest didn't start when it was supposed to, and such. But there were only a handful of CTDs and no other major issues.
I guess everything really has been said about the mini-games, the companion quests and such. Driving the rover in ME1 was a pain but also kinda fun, seeing alien landscapes and all that. Mining in ME2 ranks in my top five of worst busy-work in a game ever. ME3 worst sin was cut-scene powers for enemies - especially Kai-Ling who literally was immortal in every fight. I tested. There were some cool levels as well and if ME2 did something right, the shooting parts certainly became more visceral. I didn't much like the sticky cover mechanics, as they hindered fluid movement, but it was workable.
The tech and biotic skills never made much sense to me but I guess you must have wizards in an RPG, regardless of the setting. And it was fun throwing enemies in the air and slam them against walls.
I don't know which writer was responsible for the Shep-Liara lovetalk at the end of ME3 but it was very well done. Too bad Bioware then had to ruin it by including one of their cringy-awkward animated sex scenes. Jesus christ, they were a disaster in Dragon Age, why the fuck would you include them here? Just fade to black after a kiss. And Garrus was a bro. Maybe the "farewell" chats at the end of ME3 wouldn't have been as effective if I hadn't just played all three games? Dunno.
So all in all, I don't regret the time wasted playing these - they are the epitome of "good for what it is". Often I found myself wondering how amazing the games would be if X was done differently or Y was more like Z and so on. Like, why are we restricted to just 2 companions at all times? Yeah, consoles I know. At least ME2 ending utilized almost the entire party, though it was pretty minimal. One of the most awesome moments of FF6 is how, in the final dungeon, you create three parties that include all of the heroes, and take different routes to the final boss, and how the parties have to interact with each other. I expected to see something like that in both ME2 and ME3 endings but of course I was disappointed.
Somebody remake Mass Effects but make them play like JA2? Now that would be amazing.
I went with Renegade Fem Shep, Adept-Soldier-Adept (bad call, should have remained Adept in ME2, soldier was damn boring), and Liara was my waifu. No, I didn't cheat on her during ME2.
It's pretty obvious that writers / designers changed between ME1 and ME2 - the game changes quite drastically. Women get more sexualized, every companion becomes "unique" like this is Final Fantasy, and the retarded inventory from ME1 is gone completely. Even more, the cliche but workable sci-fi plot of ME1 gets an utterly retarded future fantasy sequel. I don't understand why Shep had to die to join Cerberus, how Cerberus could get all the resources it utilized, why the Collectors were working for Reapers, why use human tissue to create a Reaper anyway and what the fuck, the entire game is one massive plot hole. So ME3, which its stupid, cliche alien invasion plot, is at least going back to being sci-fi. Too bad that the ending, which is stupid beyond all measure, ruins it. Whoever came up with Synthesis needs to stop writing.
EA/Bio never bothered to fix all issues on the games. I had to use console commands to disable the rendering of shadows on two levels in ME1 to be able to proceed and encountered numerous small bugs and scripting issues in ME2 and ME3. Usually the type of that a quest wasn't marked completed in journal or a side-quest didn't start when it was supposed to, and such. But there were only a handful of CTDs and no other major issues.
I guess everything really has been said about the mini-games, the companion quests and such. Driving the rover in ME1 was a pain but also kinda fun, seeing alien landscapes and all that. Mining in ME2 ranks in my top five of worst busy-work in a game ever. ME3 worst sin was cut-scene powers for enemies - especially Kai-Ling who literally was immortal in every fight. I tested. There were some cool levels as well and if ME2 did something right, the shooting parts certainly became more visceral. I didn't much like the sticky cover mechanics, as they hindered fluid movement, but it was workable.
The tech and biotic skills never made much sense to me but I guess you must have wizards in an RPG, regardless of the setting. And it was fun throwing enemies in the air and slam them against walls.
I don't know which writer was responsible for the Shep-Liara lovetalk at the end of ME3 but it was very well done. Too bad Bioware then had to ruin it by including one of their cringy-awkward animated sex scenes. Jesus christ, they were a disaster in Dragon Age, why the fuck would you include them here? Just fade to black after a kiss. And Garrus was a bro. Maybe the "farewell" chats at the end of ME3 wouldn't have been as effective if I hadn't just played all three games? Dunno.
So all in all, I don't regret the time wasted playing these - they are the epitome of "good for what it is". Often I found myself wondering how amazing the games would be if X was done differently or Y was more like Z and so on. Like, why are we restricted to just 2 companions at all times? Yeah, consoles I know. At least ME2 ending utilized almost the entire party, though it was pretty minimal. One of the most awesome moments of FF6 is how, in the final dungeon, you create three parties that include all of the heroes, and take different routes to the final boss, and how the parties have to interact with each other. I expected to see something like that in both ME2 and ME3 endings but of course I was disappointed.
Somebody remake Mass Effects but make them play like JA2? Now that would be amazing.