Mass Effect Trilogy

[oldmanpaco]

In any work of fiction you have to suspend disbelief.

Tru that. I had to suspend my belief in good RPG mechanics, coherent plot, and fun. The only time I didn't need to suspend my believe was when they made the only black guys father a deadbeat dad and pimp.

 

[Coma White]

when they made the only black guys father a deadbeat dad and pimp.

 

[Trotsky]

In any work of fiction you have to suspend disbelief.

Tru that. I had to suspend my belief in good RPG mechanics, coherent plot, and fun. The only time I didn't need to suspend my believe was when they made the only black guys father a deadbeat dad and pimp.

Mass Effect was envisioned as an action rpg but the only game that lived up to the ideal was ME2. Never understood the complaints about the plot. After the defeat of Saren, Sovereign, and the Geth the trail on the Reapers goes cold. The Reapers acting through their proxies are determined to avenge their loss attacking human settlements and killing Shepard. The search for Shepard's remains is the plot for the novel which takes place between the first and second game. ME2 also greatly expanded the overall game universe.

 

[GarfunkeL]

The reapers don't know what is happening because they are still sleeping in the inter-galactic void. The collectors are farted out of non-existence (which is acceptable) only for the utterly retarded reason of harvesting humans to make a human Reaper with a fucking skull and eye laser beams. Which is so, so, so, so, stupid especially as all the other Reapers look exactly alike. Why isn't Shep spending ME2 with Liara, hunting down Prothean artefacts while doing odd SpecOps jobs for the Alliance, something that suits a Spectre really well and would allow Bioware to expand the game universe in a natural manner? Geth haven't been destroyed either - solving that issue could have been brought from ME3 to ME2 easily enough. But no. Somehow Collectors find the most advanced stealth ship in the galaxy in a random system, shoot it down but not really, while Shep enters the fucking atmosphere and plummets down and somehow Cerberus manages to find an intact corpse to re-animate - something that hasn't been done before and is never done again? (Except for the Shep clone that appears in ME3 DLC, whoop-de-fucking-whoop that was a stupid mission).

Read what Shamus wrote about ME2, he dissected it really well AND also offered plausible and sensible possibilities that Bioware could have utilized. It really wouldn't surprise me if it had all boiled down to a fucking marketing stunt - "SHEP GOTTA DIE AND COME BACK!!!"

 

[Trotsky]

The Reapers do know what's occurring they've known ever since the original signal stopped working. Since the cycle isn't following its normal pattern the Citadel races are much stronger than they otherwise should be. It's hinted that the Rachni wars were their first attempt to reach the Citadel through conventional forces but they failed. Sovereign needed someone wealthy/powerful on the inside to help them. The events surrounding that are the basis of the prequel novel where Saren operating as a spectre teams with Anderson. Near the end of the story Saren learns of Sovereign's existence and location.

The uncontrolled regions of space like the Terminus system were a big deal in the first game. It was likely that clues to the Reapers would be there beyond the reach of the Alliance. The Collectors lured the Normandy into a trap. They aren't a major force in the Terminus but they do posses unknown technologies and destroy anyone who crosses them.

The trail on Cerberus also goes cold in ME1 it was obvious they were going to play a bigger role in the sequel. The Armistan Banes sub-plot is another dead end from the first game but it's heavily implied he was brought back to life possibly by Cerberus.

My point is that the first two games might be different but they don't contradict each other in major game breaking ways. I feel that ME3 is where the story/universe falls apart. The novel tie in released before the actual game was also panned by fans and critics alike a sign of things to come.

 

[Coma White]

The reapers don't know what is happening because they are still sleeping in the inter-galactic void. The collectors are farted out of non-existence (which is acceptable) only for the utterly retarded reason of harvesting humans to make a human Reaper with a fucking skull and eye laser beams. Which is so, so, so, so, stupid especially as all the other Reapers look exactly alike. Why isn't Shep spending ME2 with Liara, hunting down Prothean artefacts while doing odd SpecOps jobs for the Alliance, something that suits a Spectre really well and would allow Bioware to expand the game universe in a natural manner? Geth haven't been destroyed either - solving that issue could have been brought from ME3 to ME2 easily enough. But no. Somehow Collectors find the most advanced stealth ship in the galaxy in a random system, shoot it down but not really, while Shep enters the fucking atmosphere and plummets down and somehow Cerberus manages to find an intact corpse to re-animate - something that hasn't been done before and is never done again? (Except for the Shep clone that appears in ME3 DLC, whoop-de-fucking-whoop that was a stupid mission).

Read what Shamus wrote about ME2, he dissected it really well AND also offered plausible and sensible possibilities that Bioware could have utilized. It really wouldn't surprise me if it had all boiled down to a fucking marketing stunt - "SHEP GOTTA DIE AND COME BACK!!!"

Exactly why I still think ME2 should've been its own game with a different protagonist.

 

[Jaesun]

When you "actually" meet the Shadow Broker, and have OMG! Boss Fight!!!111 was when you knew BioWare was dead. Even the whole Reaper thing paled in comparison...

 

[Wayward Son]

Shep clone that appears in ME3 DLC, whoop-de-fucking-whoop that was a stupid mission).

Tbh, I thought the scene after that one was one of the best in the series, simply because it's where Bioware decided to admit that they can't write story anymore, can't do combat more complex than "shoot everything in sight" but they sure as hell can write some pretty good bromance scenes, and that's why Citadel DLC is so much fun for me. It's those bromance "chatting with the crew and joking around" scenes cranked to eleven. Goddamn, that scene was funny af.

 

[pippin]

Citadel was thought as a comedic dlc because they thought the general tone of ME3 was ust too grim. I mean, Shepard yells a lot during ME3, at the top of his lungs (played male Shep only), even. You don't see him doing that in the previous games, even as a Renegade.

 

[Infinitron]

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/...at-mass-effect-games-will-get-remastered.aspx

EA Strongly Hints That Mass Effect Games Will Get Remastered

This console generation has become known for its plethora of remasters. Some, like The Last of Us and Grand Theft Auto V, have been solid updates to last generation's brightest games. Others haven't fared as well.

Right now, EA is the last big publisher to be staying away from that arms race. When I spoke with Patrick Soderlund, executive vice president for EA Studios at E3 2015, he emphasized that the company was looking ahead to new projects instead of dipping into the back catalog for remasters.

In the year since, that position has been reversed, as EA is now strongly considering a move into the remaster space. Of all the publisher's games, one series that stands out as having strong demand from fans: Mass Effect.

In our conversation at EA's Gamescom welcome event, Soderlund stopped short of confirming the remasters are coming, but he strongly hinted that they might be in the offing when we asked about BioWare's sci-fi trilogy specifically. Here's that segment of my interview:

Game Informer: One of the things I asked you last year when we sat down at E3 was about Mass Effect. At the time, there were two publishers that hadn't really dipped into the remaster world: you and Activision. Activision has since released a number of remasters or ports, and now they are working on a full-on remaster for MW. Revisiting this as the last man standing on remasters, has anything changed? Like a Mass Effect trilogy remaster?

Soderlund: What's changed is that there is proof in the market that people want it, maybe more than there was when we spoke. There were some that did it before, but I think there is even more clear evidence that this is something that people really want. The honest answer is that we are absolutely actively looking at it. I can't announce anything today, but you can expect us most likely to follow our fellow partners in Activision and other companies that have done this successfully.

Despite the strong desire from the market for remasters of popular games like Mass Effect, the decision isn't an easy one. Soderlund told me that there are a number of factors EA is considering so it doesn't make a mistake.

"We have to be careful in choosing the right brands for the right reasons at the right time," he explained. "A remaster is something that you can just do or do it really well. I want to make sure that if we were to do it, we would do it really well and that people feel that it's the same game but it feels so much better in this new shape and form. There have been titles that have come out that have done it really well, and there have been others that maybe haven't done it so well. We just want to make sure that we stay in the 'done it really well' camp."

With Mass Effect Andromeda on the way, the timing seems like it might be perfect to revisit Commander Shepard's adventure. EA says that Andromeda is still on track to make its current release window, though fans have expressed concern since the public hasn't seen gameplay yet.

"You'll get [your first look at gameplay] in the not too distant future," Soderlund said when I inquired about the game's absence from E3 and Gamescom. "I get people want to see gameplay and I just came back from a short vacation and I played through the first three hours of the game. It's very playable, and there is no alarm about, 'Why aren't they showing it?' It's strictly that the game will get the right type of exposure at the right time and that we can the right voice for it. Right now we're focused on our big titles for [October through December], and when that's done, we'll shift to Mass Effect. You'll see a lot more very shortly."

 

[Jaesun]

 

[Popiel]

Ah, these strong, women leads and male villains. Progress.

 

[Coma White]

So are we now just going to keep re-texturing old CRPGs as opposed to coming up with new ideas?

 

[Modron]

So are we now just going to keep re-texturing old CRPGs as opposed to coming up with new ideas?

Eh least a remaster should provide a means of getting the dlcs for the first game without having to buy Bioware funny money, downside is will be origin only plus who actually has the will to play through these again?

 

[pippin]

So are we now just going to keep re-texturing old CRPGs as opposed to coming up with new ideas?

Eh least a remaster should provide a means of getting the dlcs for the first game without having to buy Bioware funny money, downside is will be origin only plus who actually has the will to play through these again?

If they released the games with everything included, then it wouldn't be a problem to release them on Steam. One of the reasons why EA left is because Steam wanted to force them to sell DLC exclusively through Steam.

 

[Modron]

If they released the games with everything included, then it wouldn't be a problem to release them on Steam. One of the reasons why EA left is because Steam wanted to force them to sell DLC exclusively through Steam.

The last non sims 3 related item EA released on steam was in april 2012, last sim's dlc was 2013. EA's severed ties and is trying to push Origin, they are willing to lose a considerable amount of sales in order to rake in a larger slice of each sale.

http://store.steampowered.com/search/?sort_by=Released_DESC&publisher=Electronic Arts

 

[Coma White]

Eh least a remaster should provide a means of getting the dlcs for the first game without having to buy Bioware funny money, downside is will be origin only plus who actually has the will to play through these again?

I admit, I've never actually played or purchased any of the Mass Effect DLCs. I can't really imagine myself doing so either.

 

[J1M]

So are we now just going to keep re-texturing old CRPGs as opposed to coming up with new ideas?

Eh least a remaster should provide a means of getting the dlcs for the first game without having to buy Bioware funny money, downside is will be origin only plus who actually has the will to play through these again?

If they released the games with everything included, then it wouldn't be a problem to release them on Steam. One of the reasons why EA left is because Steam wanted to force them to sell DLC exclusively through Steam.

That's not true. Are you employed by EA Origin?

 

[Sceptic]

Any links to a website where one might remove this game from inventory?

I can't be assed checking if this is actually available on GOG or Steam or Abandonia, but if anyone knows it's on none of them I'll upload it somewhere and PM you (and anyone else interested) a link, provided the PM route doesn't break any Codex rules.

 

[Zarniwoop]

Turns out it's on Abandonia. Didn't even know that site still existed, I thought the (((rootless cosmopolitans))) shut it down years ago.

 

[Somberlain]

Just started Mass Effect 1 for the first time and played for around two hours. I didn't know almost anything about the series beforehand except that they are third person shooter RPGs with awkward Bioware romances, plus some jokes and memes I've seen on Codex. Anyway, the first impressions are as follows:

-game runs like shit. I thought this was new enough to not have issues with modern systems but I guess not. Is there some common/easy fix that everybody knows?

-looks pretty bad. All the aliens look perfectly fine but humans look ugly, unnatural and awkward. One of the worst cases of uncanny valley I've seen in games, worse than Dragon Age.

-initially I was pleasantly surprised that there was no automatic health regeneration but withing the first 30 minutes I found an armor upgrade that grants just that. I guess the game actually is sitting behind cover, popping moles with regenerating health.

I'm not expecting much at this point but punching annoying people in the face during dialogue is always funny so I guess that's something.

 

[pippin]

-game runs like shit. I thought this was new enough to not have issues with modern systems but I guess not. Is there some common/easy fix that everybody knows?

-looks pretty bad. All the aliens look perfectly fine but humans look ugly, unnatural and awkward. One of the worst cases of uncanny valley I've seen in games, worse than Dragon Age.

The pc port is infamous for being shit. They outsourced it to another company and apparently the graphics quality is stuck in Medium.

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2282965

I guess the game actually is sitting behind cover, popping moles with regenerating health.

This is correct.

 

[Zarniwoop]

Wait until you get to the second game, with more AWESUM conversation options. You haven't lived until you've collar grabbed someone during conversation.

Seriously though, the first game is by far the highlight of the series. Which isn't saying much but still.

And now, I sense a disturbance in the force, as if a million butthurt edgelords are about to tell me that 2 is the best That's right, the massively dumbed down cover shooter with no planetary exploration, an incredibly lame, forced story, stripped down character and inventory system is the best RPG in the series.

 

[pippin]

That's right, the massively dumbed down cover shooter with no planetary exploration, an incredibly lame, forced story, stripped down character and inventory system is the best RPG in the series.

Are you aware this can be said of ME1 too? There's no real exploration in me1, and "I like the Mako" sounds more like people is in denial. ME was always an action oriented franchise.

 

[Zarniwoop]

That's right, the massively dumbed down cover shooter with no planetary exploration, an incredibly lame, forced story, stripped down character and inventory system is the best RPG in the series.

Are you aware this can be said of ME1 too? There's no real exploration in me1, and "I like the Mako" sounds more like people is in denial. ME was always an action oriented franchise.

There's plenty of exploration. Sure most planets just have a side mission here and there but at least it exists. And no one said the first Ass Effect was a deep, tactical RPG. But you have to be either dishonest or a dumbfuck to deny that 2 is much, much more "action oriented" aka dumbed down. The few RPG elements that 1 had were p. much completely removed in 2. At least the first one was sort of interesting as a movie. The second one was "oh shit we have to think up a story for this shit", and 3 was just "MOAR REAPERZ!, oops we forgot to make an ending".