Is it worth playing the Mass Effect trilogy for the 1st time in 2024?

[Skinwalker]

The "surprise" section where the Collectors... collect the entire crew of the ship was so badly executed, it made me lol IRL.

"Oy hey, why don't Shepard and all of his party members take a shuttle to a non-specific mission that we never see because... the ship's AI is calculating stuff... ooooyyy veeeeeeeeeey the Collectors attacked at this exact moment and killed/abducted EVERYONE except the Joker... what a plot development, eh?!"

I miss smart writing. I keep imagining this game, if it was written by someone talented like MCA, and feel sadness for how much better it could have been. Lazy mediocrity is what I actually get from Bharvoware. Sad.

They didn't even bother making this believable with an actual mission/event that Shepard goes to with his team mates, and then the Collector attack happens in his absence. Nope. The thinnest of excuses will do. If you've made it this far, you'll probably gobble it up like the dumb swine that you are. Eat my slop, piggy. EAT IT.

Also, can't wait for the "brilliant" twist where the "Illusive Man" turns out to be EDI's avatar or something stupid like that... don't spoil it, I'm almost at the final stretch.

 

[Skinwalker]

Didn't expect ME2 to turn into an anime for the last boss fight. Fighting giant terminator while collectors keep spawning in... can't say I was expecting this. Harbinger was a Reaper this whole time, and not a special collector entity that we were seeing... oh... ok, sure, whatever. How exactly was building a giant Terminator filled with liquified human juice going to help the Reapers destroy all life in the galaxy? What was the point of that plan? They just really wanted to have a giant human added to their fleet of giant shrimp for style points?

No particular reveals about the Illusive Man (why does he keep staring at that giant sun?!) and the Reapers are still coming. Oh, and the salamandrian doctor died. And the entire crew of the Normandy. Oops. And I let Cerberus take control of the collector base instead of destroying it, which I'm sure will have TREMENDOUS consequences in ME3, and not just a line of dialogue.

Overall, not bad, but Bioware at its best is still Bioware.

 

[normie]

I voted "yes, just the first one", but after giving it a go, I'm not even nostalgic about my nostalgia for it
it's just a really shit game
the paragon/renegade system is inexcusable design, by default you should cheat to max intimidation and persuasion to bypass it
but once you do, there's no point to playing the game, because the game is about chasing down red points or blue points to unlock dialog options for your space racist and space jesus playthroughs, that's the pillar carrying the whole fucking thing
the dialog is unbearable, it's all romance all the time and if you try to hit the brakes on trying to fuck everybody, it doesn't flow at all

 

[Skinwalker]

I think I'm going to replay the final mission on easy, the entire crew dying because I haphazardly selected a dumb choice is kind of bugging me. I'm sure it will have next to no impact on ME3, but nevertheless.

 

[Iucounu]

How exactly was building a giant Terminator filled with liquified human juice going to help the Reapers destroy all life in the galaxy?

I recall that without access to the Citadel relay the Reapers were locked in deep space, so Harbinger instructs the Collectors remotely to make a new Reaper? Doesn't explain how the Collector base got within travel distance in the first place, but this is Bioware writing.

They just really wanted to have a giant human added to their fleet of giant shrimp for style points?

I think it was mentioned somewhere that all Reapers have a core design that looks like its harvested organic species, while still looking like a shrimp on the exterior once finished (again, this is Bioware writing).

Oh, and the salamandrian doctor died. And the entire crew of the Normandy. Oops.

That's the proper way to play the game, without losses it would be boring.

I think I'm going to replay the final mission on easy, the entire crew dying because I haphazardly selected a dumb choice is kind of bugging me. I'm sure it will have next to no impact on ME3, but nevertheless.

Do you mean the abducted crew or the squad mate companions? Some of those deaths depend on actions before the final mission.

Some choices in ME1 and ME2 do have big impact in ME3 such as the Quarian, Geth and Krogan storylines.

 

[Skinwalker]

Do you mean the abducted crew

The abducted crew, I zoned out for a second and sent them to the shuttle without an escort, when it was clearly telegraphed that they wouldn't make it on their own.

Sultry doctor lady and cute assistant girl must make it out alive! And the cook... and the Irish guy with his bitchy girlfriend.

Also, I'll try to see if I can get jack killed this time around, I hate her so much.

 

[Iucounu]

the paragon/renegade system is inexcusable design, by default you should cheat to max intimidation and persuasion to bypass it
but once you do, there's no point to playing the game, because the game is about chasing down red points or blue points to unlock dialog options for your space racist and space jesus playthroughs, that's the pillar carrying the whole fucking thing

True, I think it's a brilliant but flawed challenge since it's self-defeating: if you care at all about the dialog it becomes hard to get the "best" outcome in the Tali loyalty mission, and next to impossible to recruit Morinth. It's brilliant because dialog choices are used as a distraction to make you fail; but it's also flawed, since if you don't care about the dialog why would you care about these NPCs in the first place?

 

[Iucounu]

Do you mean the abducted crew

The abducted crew, I zoned out for a second and sent them to the shuttle without an escort, when it was clearly telegraphed that they wouldn't make it on their own.

If they were still alive in the final mission you can save them. But if you wait to long after the abduction with the final mission I recall they're not alive once you show up.

Also, I'll try to see if I can get jack killed this time around, I hate her so much.

That requires not upgrading the spaceship properly before the final mission, if you want her to die already before landing on the Collector base. Or you could assign her to a leadership role, that I recall she'll fail at, but then she'll live slightly longer.

 

[Skinwalker]

Ok, I replayed that whole final mission - on the hardest difficulty. Turns out, it's super quick and easy when you 1. know what you're up against, and 2. have the Reave ability to tear through enemy armor (esp. Harbinger, who has no health bar under the armor).

Everyone survived this time. Even Mordin. I sent him back to escort the crew back to the ship. Not sure why some party members survive leading the second team and others don't, but w/e. Everyone's happy, and I'm still not sure what was the point of stopping a super-secret base that's veeeeery slowly building a single new Reaper. If it was a whole fleet of Reapers, I'd understand, but a single robo-embryo? When all the real Reapers are apparently on their way to invade the galaxy? I'm sure ME3 will explain everything.

If they were still alive in the final mission you can save them. But if you wait to long after the abduction with the final mission I recall they're not alive once you show up.

In the final mission, you can choose to send them back alone or escorted by one of your party members, which determines whether they all make it or not.

That requires not upgrading the spaceship properly before the final mission, if you want her to die already before landing on the Collector base. Or you could assign her to a leadership role, that I recall she'll fail at, but then she'll live slightly longer.

She got lucky I didn't trust her enough to pick for any role.

 

[mastroego]

Still on my ME1 replay.
I've hit max level before starting Vermire.
I did everything else before going there, even the recreated Pinnacle Station *except* that last "simulated" mission where you're supposed to BET YOUR LIFE because reasons. Because you're "cool" I suppose.
A lot of things make little sense in games, but this has to be one of the worst offenders ever. With everything that's at stake Shepard decides it's wise to come up with such a brilliant idea.

In the end I reloaded, had to win the last Time Trial again (because let's talk about how dialogs are often annoyingly chained with other stuff), and then I said no to the offer for one last, extra-hard mission with *safeties removed*.
The DLC remains "unfinished", which sucks, but at least a bare minimum of role-playing made up for the loss, so to speak.

 

[Iucounu]

Not sure why some party members survive leading the second team and others don't, but w/e.

I recall it has to do with their stated leadership abilities.

If they were still alive in the final mission you can save them. But if you wait to long after the abduction with the final mission I recall they're not alive once you show up.

In the final mission, you can choose to send them back alone or escorted by one of your party members, which determines whether they all make it or not.

I meant that if you wait too long before starting the final mission, there will be nobody alive to send back.

 

[Iucounu]

In ME2, is it worth visiting every single star system and clicking on every single planet in hopes of getting a cool random side-mission? Or is just the scanning for resources minigame and occasional crap like exploring an annoying crumbling ship?

I recommend the Hour Glass Nebula and Minos Wasteland if you haven't been there. The former's quest saving all of the fragile containers might be a bit challenging.

The mining minigame isn't just boring, I always feel like it's causing repetitive strain injury every time I play ME2.

 

[Skinwalker]

Oh, so three years ago Sovereign was directing a super-complicated plot (possibly centuries in the making if it was behind the Geth btfo'ing the AIDS Fremen) to teleport the other Reapers via the Citadel but failed, one year ago Harbinger was personally directing a super-stealthy plot to very slowly build a Reaper out of abducted humans but failed, and now all the other Reapers reach Earth just by travelling the old-fashioned way?

They couldn't just wait a couple of years? Maybe Sovereign had no idea the Reapers were so close to reaching the galaxy, and just by pure cohencidence was doing his (as it turns out, largely pointless) machinations around the same time. What Harbinger's project was supposed to accomplish, I still don't know.

Also, Bioware "choice" strikes again: I selected the friendly negro to be humanity's Council member over the bitchy pajeet, but now the negro is back on Earth and the pajeet is the Council member anyway. Addressed with a quick line of dialogue. And RIP random white boy (ominous subliminal messaging is ominous).

ASS EFFECT THREEEEEEEEEEE

 

[Drakortha]

Sovereign's a trailblazer.

 

[Silverfish]

What Harbinger's project was supposed to accomplish, I still don't know.

Nothing. It's fine if you take Mass Effect 2 as it's own thing (the human reaper is an inversion of Shepard's resurrection), but it makes no sense in terms of the trilogy.