• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

GAF Plays: Mass Effect series (unmarked spoilers)

Just started a Mass Effect re-run a few weeks back. Finishing ME1 again reminded me of just how disjointed ME2 can be at times. If you saved the Council at the end of ME1 the Asari Councillor attests to the existence of the Reapers and acknowledges them as a threat. By ME2, she and the others are back to ah-yes-the-"reapers" mode.

Trying out Engineer for the first time in ME2, really enjoying it so far.
 
I can't for the life of me make a decent-looking MaleShep; decided to go for infiltrator+collector armor in order to stop looking at this terrible face. Was pretty funny when Tali instantly recognized me; I guess armors can't fool Quarians.

Just got into the Normandy. Can't wait to get to the Tali/Mordin/Legion quests; I don't really like Omega.
 
Man I'm glad GAF didn't make Mass Effect 2. All those characters you'd want to cut or combine were people I enjoyed interacting with. I wouldn't change the cast at all. In fact, part of the reason I'm so excited for Mass Effect 3 is knowing that I've got like 14 people to check in on and see what they're doing. Among those, like 5 of them are potential love interests for my Shepard.

Can't wait for ME3. Just wrapping up my PS3 saves this week. Got all my crew members to survive and I've got seperate save files with Miranda, Tali, Liara, and Kelly as love interests. Between Mass Effect 3, Midwest Gaming Classic, and SFxT, March is going to be a great month.
 
So before this thread came up I started to replay Mass Effect 1 as a FemShep because my main is a Male. Decided to see why everyone likes FemShep more. I love her because I've made her into this complete hard ass that doesn't give a fuck about anyone except Liara. I always send Kaiden to die on Virmire, and when I did it this time I chose the option that was completely cold and Kaiden was just like "Uh yeah, ok". I loved it.

Also, I skipped through the dialogue with Wrex too quickly and then Ashely killed him. I never realized through all of my playthroughs that that can happen. I was in complete shock. Had to reload that save immediately.
 
So before this thread came up I started to replay Mass Effect 1 as a FemShep because my main is a Male. Decided to see why everyone likes FemShep more. I love her because I've made her into this complete hard ass that doesn't give a fuck about anyone except Liara. I always send Kaiden to die on Virmire, and when I did it this time I chose the option that was completely cold and Kaiden was just like "Uh yeah, ok". I loved it.

Also, I skipped through the dialogue with Wrex too quickly and then Ashely killed him. I never realized through all of my playthroughs that that can happen. I was in complete shock. Had to reload that save immediately.

You cheated. Be a real person and carry on. In these type of games, I never re-load a save because I didn't like the outcome. I carry on no matter what.
 
Just started a Mass Effect re-run a few weeks back. Finishing ME1 again reminded me of just how disjointed ME2 can be at times. If you saved the Council at the end of ME1 the Asari Councillor attests to the existence of the Reapers and acknowledges them as a threat. By ME2, she and the others are back to ah-yes-the-"reapers" mode.

It's not just that, it's the "Ah-yes-'Cerebus'-the-pro-human-smuggling-thief-agenda-organization-we-have-dismissed-such-claims-due-to-them-being-evil" that everyone hammers in ME1 that suddenly 180's and is "wait, Shepard is working with them!? ...Maybe they aren't so bad after all..." that bothers me immensely.

Kaiden may have been a dick about it on Horizon, but at least he was one of the few to go "no, fuck you, Shepard. You've compromised your ideals to work with the devil" while Shepard tried to convince him. Unlike the other people. Notable: Garrus, Tali, Anderson. They all go "Oh, well, if you're working with them I guess we can trust them... for now... :/"
 
blah.....I am freaking done reading any other mass effect thread other than this way too many spoilers being tossed around :anger:
 
It's not just that, it's the "Ah-yes-'Cerebus'-the-pro-human-smuggling-thief-agenda-organization-we-have-dismissed-such-claims-due-to-them-being-evil" that everyone hammers in ME1 that suddenly 180's and is "wait, Shepard is working with them!? ...Maybe they aren't so bad after all..." that bothers me immensely.

Kaiden may have been a dick about it on Horizon, but at least he was one of the few to go "no, fuck you, Shepard. You've compromised your ideals to work with the devil" while Shepard tried to convince him. Unlike the other people. Notable: Garrus, Tali, Anderson. They all go "Oh, well, if you're working with them I guess we can trust them... for now... :/"

Particularly jarring during the Tali reunion.

Shepard: "Hey, Tali, why do you hate Cerberus?"
Tali: "They got into one of our ship and started shooting."
Miranda: "Nah."
Shepard: "Okay, let's never mention it again."

So fucking irritating on a Paragon playthrough.
 
So fucking irritating on a Paragon playthrough.

Even the Renegade answers are jarring. It's completely non-consistent. I made a joke about it with "Bioware: What's consistent writing" because it's true. There is a bunch of things in ME2 that they completely forgot or 180'ed about in ME2 from ME1. It's annoying.
 
The ship thing is a reference to Ascension, though it is weird that Shepard didn't pry further.
 
A little late to this conversation, but I'd say that Grunt's greatest failing is that in the course of his recruitment mission you meet an infinitely more interesting character who could serve the same function.

Going for the ultimate Krogan seems like the easy and obvious choice, and I think this is reflected in his loyalty quest, which, IMO, is the shallowest loyalty quest in the game. You learn very little about his character beyond that he likes to fight and it's nice to fit in with a group. I think this shallowness is further reflected in his dossier found in Shadow Broker.

Compare with the Helmeted Krogan: A Krogan who was created to be the salvation of his race, but was then rejected. That's a character with far more depth, and I think it would have been more interesting to see how the Krogan race would react to that character as opposed to one who is the epitome of what they are.
 
Most of the dialogue with T.I.M rewards you for being a dick to him though. Almost all the Paragon responses have you accuse him of tricking you, using you or both.
 
That's what I was wondering; never heard about this incident in the series. Is it any good? Received it as a gift, but I tend to avoid tie-in novels.

They're fun if you like the lore. Very basic reading, pretty cheesy, and sometimes faulted by annoying literature tropes (eg: Mary Sues), but if you're after some popcorn reading and more Mass Effect they're worth it I think. Revelations is good as it explains what happened between Saren and Anderson, and how Saren came to find Sovereign. Ascension takes a couple of characters from Revelations and starts them off on their own story line, which continues through Retribution. Ascension acts as a lead in to Mass Effect 2 in some ways, introducing the Collectors and Omega, meanwhile Retribution supposedly hints at stuff to come in Mass Effect 3.

Then there's Deception, which continues the story of a character that first appeared in Ascension. But the less said about that the better.

If you want to know what Tali and Miranda were referring to;
Ascension revolves around the Ascension Project, an Alliance funded project aimed at helping gifted biotics develop and understand their poweres, especially children. It follows a young autistic girl, Gillian Grayson, who is exceptionally talented. Turns out the Ascension Project has been penetrated by an undercover Cerberus rep, who is using experimental drugs on Gillian to boost her powers. The story revolves around characters from Retribution (and new ones) saving her from Cerberus, including taking her to the Migrant Fleet for protection. An exiled Quarian teams up with Cerberus and they blow some stuff up and shoot some dudes on a Quarian vessel in attempts to retrieve Gillian.

This is actually referenced a second time in Mass Effect 2, on Jack's loyalty quest. One of the holographic recordings has a Cerberus operative mention they will shift the experiments over to the Ascension Project, and Jack flips out that they're doing experiments elsewhere. They did, and they were, as per the events of Ascension.
 
They're fun if you like the lore. Very basic reading, pretty cheesy, and sometimes faulted by annoying literature tropes (eg: Mary Sues), but if you're after some popcorn reading and more Mass Effect they're worth it I think. Revelations is good as it explains what happened between Saren and Anderson, and how Saren came to find Sovereign. Ascension takes a couple of characters from Revelations and starts them off on their own story line, which continues through Retribution. Ascension acts as a lead in to Mass Effect 2 in some ways, introducing the Collectors and Omega, meanwhile Retribution supposedly hints at stuff to come in Mass Effect 3.

Then there's Deception, which continues the story of a character that first appeared in Ascension. But the less said about that the better.


Thank you; I think I'll give it a chance. Read about Deception in the other thread(s); my God, what a trainwreck.
 
I actually just did a complete playthrough of ME -> ME2.

Completed ME 3x (damn you Insanity not being unlocked from the get go!).
ME 2 1x with all the achievements.

I gotta say. After playing ME 3x in a row, It actually feels really content light and SLOW.

Slogging through all of the planets, only to find bunker #345 with random grouped enemies and random box configurations? Hurray.

Playing through Pinnacle station on insanity? CAUSES insanity. Who ever designed the missions/goals really needs to have a swift kick to the nuts.

Then, after you have recruited Liara and finished all of the side quests, you basically go Feros, Vermire, Ilos, station. My final insanity playthrough took 25 hours. All sidequests, achievements, etc, done. It felt like it took 70, mainly due to the f'ing mako driving (360)

Finished ME2 on insanity, all achievements, etc took 45. Felt like 30 (good thing).

I like the flow of ME2 better than 1. It's a middle story, it's all setup. The first one establishes your enemy, the second one fleshes out the universe and the third will wrap it up.
 
I think a lot of us have to admit to ourselves that Empire conditioned our young minds to expect the middle of a Sci Fi trilogy to be mind-blowing.

Plotwise, ME2 undoubtedly had superior character development and worked as a character piece better than ME1 did. It just didn't feel cohesive in of itself, or to some extent relevant to the overall set up in 1 which must conclude in 3. It felt like side quest DLC for ME1 with some better characters and less relevant player input. It wasn't the epitome of filler, but it just generally didn't feel necessary either.

Honestly, other than replacing the Micro Machine in pretty skybox minigame with the rotate the ball and hold a button for 5 minutes minigame, I felt ME2 was much stronger gameplay and character-wise, which is why the climax of the plotline is far and away the thing I'm most concerned will suck ass in 3.

And as much as I hate to like Tali anymore after her becoming fetishized, I really thought her loyalty story was one of the stronger ones in 2.
 
I think a lot of us have to admit to ourselves that Empire conditioned our young minds to expect the middle of a Sci Fi trilogy to be mind-blowing.

Plotwise, ME2 undoubtedly had superior character development and worked as a character piece better than ME1 did. It just didn't feel cohesive in of itself, or to some extent relevant to the overall set up in 1 which must conclude in 3. It felt like side quest DLC for ME1 with some better characters and less relevant player input. It wasn't the epitome of filler, but it just generally didn't feel necessary either.

Honestly, other than replacing the Micro Machine with pretty skybox minigame with the rotate the ball and hold a button for 5 minutes minigame, I felt ME2 was much stronger gameplay and character-wise, which is why the climax of the plotline is far and away the thing I'm most concerned will suck ass in 3.

Perhaps the climax will suck, but the gameplay sure won't. :] That's the most important things for me, as the first ME was mediocre at best from a mechanic standpoint. Even in ME2, it annoyed me that I lacked agility or that I had to crouch to jump over obstacles. Being able to roll and jump without crouching in ME3 is huge, not to mention great setpieces and less emphasis on corridor shooting.

It wouldn't surprise me if there's a remake of ME down the line with improved shooting, UI, AI and hacking mini-games. :P
 
Chris Priestly responds to Deception issues;

Mass Effect fans have been asking for a comment on recent concerns over Mass Effect: Deception. We have been listening and have the below response on the issue.

The teams at Del Rey and BioWare would like to extend our sincerest apologies to the Mass Effect fans for any errors and oversights made in the recent novel Mass Effect: Deception. We are currently working on a number of changes that will appear in future editions of the novel.

We would like to thank all Mass Effect fans for their passion and dedication to this ever-growing world, and assure them that we are listening and taking this matter very seriously.
 
I like the flow of ME2 better than 1. It's a middle story, it's all setup. The first one establishes your enemy, the second one fleshes out the universe and the third will wrap it up.

Was going to reply to some earlier story comments, but this is as good a summary as any:

ME1 was almost a noire: Shepard is trying to unravel the mystery of why Saren went rogue, and why they were after that particular beacon, which leads to the discovery of the Reapers. Liara = damsel in distress? A stretch, yes, but a plausible one. My point is that that first time you play it, you have no idea what the hell is going on, so you are investigating the events on Eden Prime along with Shepard. So it's more of a crime/mystery movie in that sense.

ME2 has been described by Casey Hudson as their version of 'Dirty Dozen'. It's all about forming a posse and whupping some Reaper ass. So it's definitely more character driven.

My guess for ME3 - based on what I've read/seen so far - is that there will be little to no recruiting, but instead it will be about zipping around to meet everyone we already know, and helping them with the various fronts on the Reaper invasion, while gathering intel on how to stop them once and for all.
 
Was going to reply to some earlier story comments, but this is as good a summary as any:

ME1 was almost a noire: Shepard is trying to unravel the mystery of why Saren went rogue, and why they were after that particular beacon, which leads to the discovery of the Reapers. Liara = damsel in distress? A stretch, yes, but a plausible one. My point is that that first time you play it, you have no idea what the hell is going on, so you are investigating the events on Eden Prime along with Shepard. So it's more of a crime/mystery movie in that sense.

ME2 has been described by Casey Hudson as their version of 'Dirty Dozen'. It's all about forming a posse and whupping some Reaper ass. So it's definitely more character driven.

My guess for ME3 - based on what I've read/seen so far - is that there will be little to no recruiting, but instead it will be about zipping around to meet everyone we already know, and helping them with the various fronts on the Reaper invasion, while gathering intel on how to stop them once and for all.

Exactly. I never got the hate about ME2. Right from the get go, the ENTIRE marketing program was about "Gather your Team". Yes, the last boss is a bit BS, but the entire rest of the game, IMO, is better than the first. I never felt like I was slogging through a copy-paste extravaganza like the first was. Heck, most of GAF crucified DA2 for the exact same things that were in ME but you never hear about it.
 
Exactly. I never got the hate about ME2. Right from the get go, the ENTIRE marketing program was about "Gather your Team". Yes, the last boss is a bit BS, but the entire rest of the game, IMO, is better than the first. I never felt like I was slogging through a copy-paste extravaganza like the first was. Heck, most of GAF crucified DA2 for the exact same things that were in ME but you never hear about it.

I liked the idea, I just wish there was more exposition given to the main plot, as in the Collector thread. As said above, the great thing about Mass Effect's narrative is that it teases with many plot threads, but keeps developing them as the story progresses. Even though Mass Effect 2 wanted something different, it really doesn't have a main plot to speak of. The Collector threat is breezed over pretty quickly, and there's few if any teases of revelations that keep you playing to see what will happen next. The actual recruit missions are so disassociated from the core plot that it's like you're playing a series if disconnected, unrelated missions, and then suddenly one final suicide run.

Simply put, I would have liked there to have been greater substance and development to the main plot. It could have been easily done, simply be organising a collective of themes and mysteries, and growing them as you play the game and recruit more people, so you're not just going on recruit missions to pick someone up, but to learn something new about the threat you face and the mystery of the Collectors.

But I still enjoyed it. Love the cast and the missions are good, and despite Mass Effect having my preferred narrative by a considerable long shot, Mass Effect 2 has a greater variety of environments and a longer quest to boot.

Fingers crossed Mass Effect 3 finds the perfect middle ground.
 
I liked the idea, I just wish there was more exposition given to the main plot, as in the Collector thread. As said above, the great thing about Mass Effect's narrative is that it teases with many plot threads, but keeps developing them as the story progresses. Even though Mass Effect 2 wanted something different, it really doesn't have a main plot to speak of. The Collector threat is breezed over pretty quickly, and there's few if any teases of revelations that keep you playing to see what will happen next. The actual recruit missions are so disassociated from the core plot that it's like you're playing a series if disconnected, unrelated missions, and then suddenly one final suicide run.

Simply put, I would have liked there to have been greater substance and development to the main plot. It could have been easily done, simply be organising a collective of themes and mysteries, and growing them as you play the game and recruit more people, so you're not just going on recruit missions to pick someone up, but to learn something new about the threat you face and the mystery of the Collectors.

But I still enjoyed it. Love the cast and the missions are good, and despite Mass Effect having my preferred narrative by a considerable long shot, Mass Effect 2 has a greater variety of environments and a longer quest to boot.

Fingers crossed Mass Effect 3 finds the perfect middle ground.

It didn't help that Bioware had already spoiled basically all of what few surprises ME2 had in the prerelease materials.
 
It didn't help that Bioware had already spoiled basically all of what few surprises ME2 had in the prerelease materials.

This was another big thing. They had spoiled nearly, if not, every single character in the game. Going in I expected more substance to the core narrative, so I didn't mind knowing the squadmates. When it turned out the squadmates were all there was of the narrative, then yeah...kinda fucked that one up. I still had fun and there were still surprises, but in many respects I felt like I was playing a game I had already seen.

Thankfully they seem to be doing a much better job with keeping Mass Effect 3's plot secret in official media (leak really isn't their fault), and I haven't watched all the trailers or read the previews so I'm pretty in the dark. I know how the game begins and where a few missions take place, as well as some of the squad mates, but I don't really know how the game is going to progress or how things will develop, which is a better start than Mass Effect 2.
 
Holy crap. Run out and buy Deception before all the copies are burned. It's going to be a collector's item.

I was going to start one last ME2 playthrough, but there's not enough time. Gibbed will do. I did see the intro again and I can't stop hoping that Cerberus is still working for the Alliance. It just makes too much sense and addresses a lot of issues. Then again, Deception.

*The Bioware special forces trailer spoils one of the squadmates, but it happens so fast hardly anyone noticed.
 
What are the issues? Not looking for specific spoilers necessarily, I actually started reading the book the other night, and will finish it, but I'm wondering what the hubub is. Retro-fitting? Incongruities? Typos?

All of the above. A lot of stuff clashes with established canon, or is just stupid and makes no sense. A lot of hilarious oversights and downright wrong descriptions of known Mass Effect staples.

I was going to start one last ME2 playthrough, but there's not enough time. Gibbed will do. I did see the intro again and I can't stop hoping that Cerberus is still working for the Alliance. It just makes too much sense and addresses a lot of issues. Then again, Deception.

I don't think the Gibbed save editor lets you pick any choices you make in Mass Effect 2 except status of squadmates, unless there's an editor I don't know about.
 
All of the above. A lot of stuff clashes with established canon, or is just stupid and makes no sense. A lot of hilarious oversights and downright wrong descriptions of known Mass Effect staples.
Lame. You gotta feel bad for the author coming in to a universe he's not familiar with, but where the hell are the Bioware people that should have been making sure mistakes didn't happen?

Have you read the book? Is it even worth it? I'm probably 30 pages in, and haven't seen too many problems so far.
 
To be fair they spoiled plenty of ME1 before release too, including pretty much all the big events on Virmire minus the Sovereign reveal. At least they kept all the Ilos/Citadel endgame under wraps, I remember the last one or two ME2 trailers featured lots of footage from the suicide mission.
 
Nope, but only because mine hasn't arrived yet. I've only read most of the Google docs compilation of all the errors in the story. Some are a bit nit picky, but most are noteworthy and pretty weird.

On one hand I do feel sorry for Dietz, as he may have simply been commissioned and thrown into the deep end. But on the other hand he really should have done his fucking research, and if not then the editors, or someone at BioWare, should have picked up on the mistakes. Its not the small stuff that gets me, its the big stuff that a two second Google over to the Mass Effect wiki would fix, and flat out inaccuracies to the game universe that many casual fans wouldn't slip up with.
 
What are the issues? Not looking for specific spoilers necessarily, I actually started reading the book the other night, and will finish it, but I'm wondering what the hubub is. Retro-fitting? Incongruities? Typos?

My favorite off all this

442px-KaiLengCereal2.jpg
 
Yeah, gibbed only natively edits a few ME2 details. I mostly wanted to correct a skill point imbalance.

But on the other hand he really should have done his fucking research
He did do his research, but it was half-assed
much like the writing -_-
. He keeps throwing out terms for no reason. I agree that this thing should have been properly edited by, Bioware. Someone really fucked the dog on that one.

I wonder how much of their correction will be boring codex fixes and how much will be substantive character corrections. Technically Kai Leng could be a cereal killing vase-pisser, but I'm not so sure that was the right direction for that character.
 
I had to correct a skill point imbalance with gibbed. The game only gave me 41 out of 51 points :/.
 
I had to correct a skill point imbalance with gibbed. The game only gave me 41 out of 51 points :/.

The entire point-progression system was terrible. Went from cumbersome in ME to terrible in ME2. There are no redeeming qualities to how you progress as a character build in ME2. Levels, experience...just no.

Everything else in ME2 is mediocre to great, in my opinion.
 
I actually just did a complete playthrough of ME -> ME2.

Completed ME 3x (damn you Insanity not being unlocked from the get go!).
ME 2 1x with all the achievements.

I gotta say. After playing ME 3x in a row, It actually feels really content light and SLOW.

Slogging through all of the planets, only to find bunker #345 with random grouped enemies and random box configurations? Hurray.

Playing through Pinnacle station on insanity? CAUSES insanity. Who ever designed the missions/goals really needs to have a swift kick to the nuts.

Then, after you have recruited Liara and finished all of the side quests, you basically go Feros, Vermire, Ilos, station. My final insanity playthrough took 25 hours. All sidequests, achievements, etc, done. It felt like it took 70, mainly due to the f'ing mako driving (360)

Finished ME2 on insanity, all achievements, etc took 45. Felt like 30 (good thing).

I like the flow of ME2 better than 1. It's a middle story, it's all setup. The first one establishes your enemy, the second one fleshes out the universe and the third will wrap it up.

I can't help but question how you guys play games on the 360 because never in my 3 play throughs of ME1 did I ever feel like driving the Mako caused problems. I preferred it to the Hammerhead or whatever the fuck it was called in ME2 to be honest.

Are you guys playing with controls inverted or something? That is the only reason i can think of that the Mako would have sucked..
 
I liked the concept of ME2's point distribution much more than ME1, of which I felt had superfluous amount of incremental stat increases, overpowered skills, and skills of significantly less usefulness to others.

My issue above is because of some weird save file import bug that cost me the first ten or so points, caused by keeping my save but reinstalling the game on a new system. Seems a lot of these stat checks for new characters and imports are hinged on unlocked achievements, and these are not saved in the standard character saves.

The only thing I really didn't like about ME2's stat system was the inability to respec squadmates (until Shadow Broker), and the limitations of point distribution to their fewer skills. It was really, really easy to have an unspent point or two on your squadmates.
 
Since I fucked up my Legion recruitment, I decided to bite the bullet and restart from my previous save losing 10 hours of play. I also decided to redistribute my talent and points. Instead of the Geth heavy shield I decided to go with warp ammo. For my vanguard that allowed me to put more points in shockwave and pull. Damn this changed the whole game for me. I can now go out of cover more and whoop some ass. It's a whole new ball game for me now.

And now I have a save at the collector base that I can use later if I want to import a renegade Shep without Legion.

My actions yesterday also got me to thinking.. How many of us are stressing ourselves in pursuit of that "perfect save"? It goes along with that IGN article because I am really trying to think about all my decisions and how they will play out. This series will be the game of forever . I think it is stressful because the games are easily 40 hours so I doubt anyone wants to waste any time with a bad save so we chase after this save we are sure we are happy with. That is why I had to go back and redo my last run to make sure I would be happy with the transfer.
 
The only thing I really didn't like about ME2's stat system was the inability to respec squadmates (until Shadow Broker), and the limitations of point distribution to their fewer skills. It was really, really easy to have an unspent point or two on your squadmates.

I had no issue with the streamlining, but I disliked how (like you said) points would be left over far to easily. Experience was rewarded at the end of missions which took away from the feeling of character growth. The evolution of powers wasn't dynamic enough in my opinion either.

My actions yesterday also got me to thinking.. How many of us are stressing ourselves in pursuit of that "perfect save"? It goes along with that IGN article because I am really trying to think about all my decisions and how they will play out. This series will be the game of forever . I think it is stressful because the games are easily 40 hours so I doubt anyone wants to waste any time with a bad save so we chase after this save we are sure we are happy with. That is why I had to go back and redo my last run to make sure I would be happy with the transfer.

I will admit, I do sometimes want to pursue that "perfect save". But to do so would be to go against my apathetic nature and the time limits I allow myself to video games, so it makes the decision to go with what I have much easier.
 
I can't help but question how you guys play games on the 360 because never in my 3 play throughs of ME1 did I ever feel like driving the Mako caused problems. I preferred it to the Hammerhead or whatever the fuck it was called in ME2 to be honest.

Are you guys playing with controls inverted or something? That is the only reason i can think of that the Mako would have sucked..

Basically, when you get to right angles from the front of the Mako, your forward thrust turns to reverse. It makes it impossible to circle things while continuing to fire. This, combined with ridiculous ground design (Michael J Fox at the wheel of the UT landscape much?) made it a HUGE pain.

It's completely different on the PC. It's tolerable on the PC, it's still the most boring, dull, unexciting mechanic in the game.

And don't bring planet scanning into this. You needed to spend an hour, maximum, scanning planets for more than enough resources to get all of the upgrades. Including the extras in the DLC.

Mining > Mako.
 
My actions yesterday also got me to thinking.. How many of us are stressing ourselves in pursuit of that "perfect save"? It goes along with that IGN article because I am really trying to think about all my decisions and how they will play out. This series will be the game of forever . I think it is stressful because the games are easily 40 hours so I doubt anyone wants to waste any time with a bad save so we chase after this save we are sure we are happy with. That is why I had to go back and redo my last run to make sure I would be happy with the transfer.

It stresses me a bit, but then I think that sometimes other people have a different idea of what constitutes as a 'perfect' save. I have 'perfect' run with a paragon, female infiltrator, but I have some friends who prefer renegade Shepard and did stuff like keep the Collector base rather than destroy it like I did.

I think the concept of a 'perfect' save is heavily dependant on how Mass Effect 3 handles your decisions. Everything was largely gimmicky and inconsequential in Mass Effect 2, which I feel enforces the idea of a perfect save. Kill Wrex and the Rachni Queen and you don't so much get a drastically alternative outcome as just miss out on content, as minor as it might be, which I think encourages people to make specific decisions as hey, it's always better to have a little extra than less for no reason.

BioWare has stated that Mass Effect 3 will have moments where you must chose one way or the other, helping someone while letting others fend for themselves, stuff like that. Hopefully decisions made in prior games will give more weight to these situations, leading to less binary outcomes.

I had no issue with the streamlining, but I disliked how (like you said) points would be left over far to easily. Experience was rewarded at the end of missions which took away from the feeling of character growth. The evolution of powers wasn't dynamic enough in my opinion either.

Yeah, I agree with that. ME3 at least has several evolutions for powers. I think they said the mission summary screens will return, but I could be wrong.
 
My actions yesterday also got me to thinking.. How many of us are stressing ourselves in pursuit of that "perfect save"? It goes along with that IGN article because I am really trying to think about all my decisions and how they will play out. This series will be the game of forever . I think it is stressful because the games are easily 40 hours so I doubt anyone wants to waste any time with a bad save so we chase after this save we are sure we are happy with. That is why I had to go back and redo my last run to make sure I would be happy with the transfer.

I basically play one way. Paragon / Renegade. I make the choices that make sense for me playing a "end of the day caring / uncaring guy".

You can see it when you encounter the reporter for the 2nd time on the Citadel. I chose to rub her smarmy nose in the humans sacrifice. Renegade, I chose to punch her. Neither are really "Good/Evil" choices, just different ways to get her to shut her mouth.

Worrying about a perfect playthrough should really only come down to: Did you have fun, did you save/kill the people you wanted to and did you sleep with Kelly. Everything else is really fluff=p
 
My actions yesterday also got me to thinking.. How many of us are stressing ourselves in pursuit of that "perfect save"? It goes along with that IGN article because I am really trying to think about all my decisions and how they will play out. This series will be the game of forever . I think it is stressful because the games are easily 40 hours so I doubt anyone wants to waste any time with a bad save so we chase after this save we are sure we are happy with. That is why I had to go back and redo my last run to make sure I would be happy with the transfer.
Count me as another "perfect save" ME fan. Right now my currently run through ME2 is my "B" save that imports my "B" save from ME1. But as soon as I'm done with that run, I'm starting a new ME2 run with my ME1 "A" save.

I can't just load up some YouTube vids and watch playthroughs with the outcomes of various decisions. I need to play through the games myself and see all of the repercussions play out.

After I finish ME3, I plan to create my first FemShep in the PS3's ME2 and go straight Renegade. Definitely looking forward to that whenever I get around to.

The worst part of ME3 is that my first child is due in early March. So yeah... not sure when I can make time to play. But I know I can finish the 1 & a 1/2 more playthroughs of ME2 become the baby is here.

One last thought; "perfect save" is entirely subjective. It's what each of us define as "canon" for our Shepards.
 
I think the concept of a 'perfect' save is heavily dependant on how Mass Effect 3 handles your decisions. Everything was largely gimmicky and inconsequential in Mass Effect 2, which I feel enforces the idea of a perfect save. Kill Wrex and the Rachni Queen and you don't so much get a drastically alternative outcome as just miss out on content, as minor as it might be, which I think encourages people to make specific decisions as hey, it's always better to have a little extra than less for no reason.


I really hope a few content-oriented choices (most of which are Paragon, I believe, with the notable exception of the Collector base) will come back to bite Shepard on the ass. The Rachni or the Geth turning on us, for instance. Paragon choices automatically equating to additional allies and bonuses really would be disappointing.
 
Yea when I say "perfect save" I mean the one you are happy to transfer. Like me, I just couldn't transfer my renegade Shep without Legion. My goal for the both Sheps is to have everyone survive the mission. If I am bored I may do one last renegade and kill off the people I dont like. But my first two Sheps, paragon/renegade, male/female have to be complete saves.
 
Top Bottom