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

[Zarniwoop]

Let us talk more about MUH EQUIPMENT. The real reason Bioware failed.

POLITICAL HAT ON:

ME legendary edition - A fully clothed ass shot is considered evil and sexist to the point of being erased by sjw nazis.

I've noticed there's a mod to restore that shot.
Also there's a mod that rewrites ME3's ending.

Yeah it got patched in officially eventually. That mod adds an extra GREEN ending, where everyone still dies but you half-ass it between total machine domination over the galaxy and extinction of life, vs NOT total machine domination of the galaxy and extinction of life right now, but probably later given you kept the genocidal AI alive.

This is when that millennial cancer really set in, where you had "moral dilemmas" which weren't dilemmas at all. And when fans (some precious few of which were still sane at the time) asked "WTF how is this even a choice", Bioware was already so millennialized that their solution was to cram in an option somewhere between the two.

 

[mastroego]

Yeah it got patched in officially eventually. That mod adds an extra GREEN ending, where everyone still dies

There's a mod with an actual happy ending, though

 

[Iucounu]

Let us talk more about MUH EQUIPMENT. The real reason Bioware failed.

Also there's a mod that rewrites ME3's ending.

Yeah it got patched in officially eventually. That mod adds an extra GREEN ending, where everyone still dies but you half-ass it between total machine domination over the galaxy and extinction of life, vs NOT total machine domination of the galaxy and extinction of life right now, but probably later given you kept the genocidal AI alive.

This is when that millennial cancer really set in, where you had "moral dilemmas" which weren't dilemmas at all. And when fans (some precious few of which were still sane at the time) asked "WTF how is this even a choice", Bioware was already so millennialized that their solution was to cram in an option somewhere between the two.

No, the three RGB endings existed from the beginning. Much of the outrage was due to them being basically the same cheap cutscene, just with different color tones (literally).

The official patch then added a fourth Refuse ending for players that didn't like any of the RGB choices (since even Destroy just looks like a trap set by the Starbrat), but at the same time the writers took revenge on such players by hinting that Refuse is the losing choice.

 

[Zarniwoop]

With Bioware, you always lose.

 

[Skinwalker]

ME1 felt clunky and unfinished. I mean, the main story is finished and nothing huge is obviously missing, but... there's that feel of playing a prototype of something that is yet to be fully fleshed out and polished. Very few party members, very repetitive and boring item choices, galaxy exploration UI was total ass and made me miss out on some content because it didn't mark the things I had already clicked on, a TON of reused environments that are on par with DAII, only one major city area...

I bet the only reason Bioware didn't do their traditional "after the linear intro, visit 4 places in any order, plus a surprise invasion event after you complete the 3rd place" is because they ran out of time to implement it. They wanted "Normandy boarded by the Reaper's army", then a fourth planet, and then the linear end sequence starting with... the planet where you fight the possessed Specter. I know they did. I can smell their intentions.

This feeling of a raw/undercooked game absolutely was not the case with its fantasy equivalent DA:O. That was a complete and fully-realized game. It's the sequels that sucked.

ME2 so far feels like more of a real game, even if there's fewer stats and no need to juggle a hundred weapons and fifty million upgrades.

 

[BosanskiSeljak]

I played the remaster on highest difficulty and ME2 made me want to kill myself how terrible it is. Although funnily enough the 2 sections that made me actually have to think and position the whole party were in that game.

I alleviated the pain by doing the exploit in ME1 to max out both Paragon & Renegade which boosted initial stats in ME2 so I wasn't completely railroaded into choices and could cause maximum chaos. Went ~65/35 paragon vs renegade

 

[skaraher]

I don't think it's worth it per see, but are video games even worth it as a hobby ?

 

[Frozen]

I bet the only reason Bioware didn't do their traditional "after the linear intro, visit 4 places in any order, plus a surprise invasion event after you complete the 3rd place"

But they did. You have 4 cupcakes as always with BioWare-Liara recruitment, Noveria, Feros and Virmire.

Only variation is that "surprise invasion" was you being grounded on the Citadel after Virmire.

 

[Iucounu]

ME1 felt clunky and unfinished. I mean, the main story is finished and nothing huge is obviously missing, but... there's that feel of playing a prototype of something that is yet to be fully fleshed out and polished. Very few party members, very repetitive and boring item choices, galaxy exploration UI was total ass and made me miss out on some content because it didn't mark the things I had already clicked on, a TON of reused environments that are on par with DAII, only one major city area...

Also most quest designs are very simple, often just driving along a road while shooting easy enemies (or just drive past them). Then suddenly the Noveria quest offers multiple ways to solve some tasks and relatively challenging enemies, but by then my mind was so numbed that I could't bring myself to pay attention to what I was doing.

Level designs feel unfinished too. Buildings (Citadel, Noveria) are filled with long empty corridors and spaces that serve no logical purpose for neither gameplay nor gameworld, and forced me to keep looking at the map to navigate even the shortest distances.

ME2 so far feels like more of a real game

Don't forget to buy star maps in Illium, I recall many side quests are unlocked that way.

 

[Skinwalker]

ME1 was the sort of game where I keep waiting for the game proper to start, and then it ends.

Only did two missions in ME2 so far, but I can already tell it's good. Well, by old Biowarian standards.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

ME1 was the sort of game where I keep waiting for the game proper to start, and then it ends.

Only did two missions in ME2 so far, but I can already tell it's good. Well, by old Biowarian standards.

It's funny to me that you say that. I kinda got that vibe too now that I think about it. To me it felt like Virmire should have been a midpoint, but instead it's functionally the climax.

 

[Ol' Willy]

This is when that millennial cancer really set in, where you had "moral dilemmas" which weren't dilemmas at all. And when fans (some precious few of which were still sane at the time) asked "WTF how is this even a choice", Bioware was already so millennialized that their solution was to cram in an option somewhere between the two.

The proper dilemma would be that reapers are too strong and there's no hope in beating them in an open fight. But, during the course of the game, a kind of portal to parallel dimension - or future - is discovered, and creatures there know about rippers, and assure you they can beat them, they actually already did it in their place.

So the choice is: will you try to fight rapiers and almost certainly lose - or will you let in those creatures, whatever they are, since you know nothing at all about them.

And for proper deconstruction, it will turn out that those creatures are humans from the future, and they defeated rappers by unleashing the grey goo on them. But grey goo didn't stop and started consuming the galaxy, slowly making it inhabitable. Future humans don't have much time or places to flee left, so they want to move in with you in the older part of timeline, where they would have more time to exist. They will again unleash grey goo on rapists, and once again humanity will live on borrowed time.

And the dilemma becomes: will you allow ropers to destroy you, but prevent the destruction of galaxy; or would you cooperate with future humans, locking humanity in a kind of time loop, going from using grey goo to destroy ropers, then to grey goo consuming everything and then humanity going back to square 1, hoping to break the circle

 

[Frozen]

It's not that they were not dilemmas, it's that they were not moral. Pushing for forced trannyzation of entire galaxy into some herp derp mix of organics and machines as "best option" is pure evil.

The whole trans humanism idea is just untrue and satanic. Same as ideas that machines can somehow evolve to be alive and have consciousness. EDI is not alive same as the Geth.

Top theoretical physics of today claim that consciousness is not computational and predates life. Maybe it created life and then you go into religion territory.

But all this would go above normies head if they made good video-gamey ending with actual end boss and diversified endings that are satisfactory.

 

[Ol' Willy]

They also fucked up by giving ropers retarded motives to do what they do. "Muh organic and inorganic life can't coexist together, that's why we have to cull everyone advanced enough."

How about you let them try it out and interfere only if things go actually wrong, no? And even if there would be some intergalactic war, I think war is still better than being exterminated.

In the source material, advanced post-organic space Cthulhus calculated that Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies will catastrophically collide in the distant future (real thing by the way), potentially ending all possible life in both galaxies. They, being space Cthulhus, can mend the damage and keep the conditions for possible life. But they want no interference with this and so they cull every advanced race that makes it into the space.

Which is not a flawless motivation too, it has many oversights, but still way better than what bioware had come up with

 

[Fargus]

Rapers are malfunctioning AI created by giant squids with bloated ego. Of course their unlife goals would be retarded.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Rapers are malfunctioning AI created by giant squids with bloated ego. Of course their unlife goals would be retarded.

Beware the raper invasion.

 

[Iucounu]

They also fucked up by giving ropers retarded motives to do what they do.

Even worse, explaining those motives at all ruins much of the Ctulhu-like mystery, trivializing the entire setting. But that silliness started already in ME1, with the Reaper at Virmire patiently (but patronizingly) taking his time to chat with the protagonist.

 

[Ol' Willy]

They also fucked up by giving ropers retarded motives to do what they do.

Even worse, explaining those motives at all ruins much of the Ctulhu-like mystery, trivializing the entire setting. But that silliness started already in ME1, with the Reaper at Virmire patiently (but patronizingly) taking his time to chat with the protagonist.

Cthulhus who are evil just because they are evil works in fantasy and classic horror; doesn't work in sci-fi. In sci-fi, you need to explain why they do what they do

 

[Frozen]

Original idea about dark mater tied to mass effect (name of the game) creating conditions for universe destruction was better than what we got.

Reapers are just malfunctioned AI but idiots in BioWare still wanted the angle of justifying their actions. That could work if they protect the universe from organics not if they protect organics from synthetics by killing them lel

 

[Iucounu]

They also fucked up by giving ropers retarded motives to do what they do.

Even worse, explaining those motives at all ruins much of the Ctulhu-like mystery, trivializing the entire setting. But that silliness started already in ME1, with the Reaper at Virmire patiently (but patronizingly) taking his time to chat with the protagonist.

Cthulhus who are evil just because they are evil works in fantasy and classic horror; doesn't work in sci-fi. In sci-fi, you need to explain why they do what they do

Why not in sci-fi? Take for example Rendevouz with Rama, or Roadside Picnic, where not much is explained about the aliens' motives.

I think no explanation is always better than a poor explanation.

 

[Tyranicon]

You don't have to explain their motivations as long as you keep up the masquerade that they're beyond your comprehension.

Reapers are stupid because we know their motivations.

 

[Silverfish]

Reapers are stupid

Really, this is all you need. The reapers were a terrible idea that only served to get in the way of the James Bond in Space premise of the series.

 

[Iucounu]

Reapers are stupid

Really, this is all you need. The reapers were a terrible idea that only served to get in the way of the James Bond in Space premise of the series.

They're a great idea as long as they were kept in the background (like in ME2), but as soon as they started chatting with the player things began to fall apart.

It's not an easy task for a writer to describe something allegedly beyond human comprehension (since both writers and players by definition would be unable to recognize it). But in both ME1 and ME3 I think there's a too big contrast between the Reapers' claimed superiority (both physical and intellectual) and their actual behavior. If a Reaper is beyong human comprehension, surely it wouldn't waste time trying to intimidate the human (looks more like a sign of weakness from the Reaper); and since they were described as invincible it shouldn't be possible to repeatedly defeat them, with increasingly stupid methods. After such lore retcons it's no longer possible to take anything the writers claim seriously --maybe in ME5 they'll claim the Reapers were our friends all along?

 

[Skinwalker]

Ok, I did not know that doing the "Renegade" action would make Shepard punch that (female) reporter in the face, on camera no less. And then the damn game immediately auto-saved after that, and I didn't feel like redoing everything up to that point, so now my Shepard is officially a wife-beater.

Also, the Council has somehow dismissed my claims. Again. I should have let them die.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Ok, I did not know that doing the "Renegade" action would make Shepard punch that (female) reporter in the face, on camera no less. And then the damn game immediately auto-saved after that, and I didn't feel like redoing everything up to that point, so now my Shepard is officially a wife-beater.

Also, the Council has somehow dismissed my claims. Again. I should have let them die.

Yeah, how could you have possibly seen that coming with all the ways the other renegade prompts play out? You really are retarded, aren't you?

And such a cuck you can't even properly enjoy a "shut up, bitch!" fantasy. Jesus wept.