Yeah, the DLC prices are ridiculous, I had to spend £30 to get the 3 main games but £60 to get the ME2/ME3 DLC(I got Pinnacle Station and BDTS free with ME1). I do love the series though, so I'm willing to shell out. It sucks that there hasn't been a complete edition yet for people who don't have lots of spare cash lying around to spend on the DLC or people without access to the internet on their console.
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The Mass Effect Community Thread
- Thread starter shinobi602
- Start date
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Laughing Banana
Weeping Pickle
The only game series where I actually bothered to get all the DLCs.....
I didn't touch the MP though.
I didn't touch the MP though.
Holy shit!
I was doing some very-late-night reading on the Mass Effect Wiki (as you do).
I never knew you could actually kill Samara in ME2 and have Morinth replace her as "Samara" on the Normandy.
I remember the "Kill Morinth", "Kill Samara" options, but I didn't think the Samara one would actually lead to her death.
That's some dark shit.
I was doing some very-late-night reading on the Mass Effect Wiki (as you do).
I never knew you could actually kill Samara in ME2 and have Morinth replace her as "Samara" on the Normandy.
I remember the "Kill Morinth", "Kill Samara" options, but I didn't think the Samara one would actually lead to her death.
That's some dark shit.
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
Morinth is actually a pseudo-romance option, but if you unzip your pants you get game over screen.
Amazing.
Laughing Banana
Weeping Pickle
But the conclusion in ME3 is so lame :////////
She only shows up as an enemy. No dialogue, no nothing.
In ME3, the Paragon side is definitely much better rewarded than the Renegade side.
I don't mind some of the levels being linear (like the cover shooting sections), but if they're going to bring back land vehicle exploration, they gotta create more compelling worlds to ride around in... I can give ME1 a break because it was the first game.
I also wouldn't want to use the vehicle as frequently as ME1 did. I'd prefer if they were limited, but the levels were much larger and contained several in-planet missions to complete.
As for the other planets that don't need a vehicle because you and your crew know exactly where to land (eg: a city), I'd like bigger exploration room. Look at how much of the Citadel we haven't explored yet =(
As I understand it, if you pick Morinth, from time to time she will speak in her original "Morinth" voice during special dialogue scenes. I'm not sure how many instances there are though.
Do you always pick the Paragon or Renegade choice though?
My Shep turned out to be overwhelmingly Paragon, but that didn't stop me from picking Renegade choices from time to time if I thought it was right.
I never hesitated in punching that journalist in all three games.
Blue Ninja
Member
They should get a PC version with controller support while they're at it. I really want to replay the trilogy on PC, but the lack of sales on DLC and the lack of decent controller support has killed that wish for me.
George Oscar Bluth II
Banned
I have to admit I prefer the general design of the human armour in the first game compared to the next two. Felt more sleek.
Also, the Normandy in ME2 would've been perfect if the Normandy music from ME1 was brought back.
Also, the Normandy in ME2 would've been perfect if the Normandy music from ME1 was brought back.
I agree on the armors. Some of them were really cool in 2/3, lots more detail and multifaceted, but the suits in ME1 looked like futuristic space age polymer space suits. Where most of the ones from ME2/3 look like crazy metal or fiber weave armor sets. If anything they had too much detail with all these shiny parts and lights and plates upon plates with buckles and straps, it was so gaudy.
prag16
Banned
Morinth was more interesting as a character than Samara. I killed Samara in my "main" playthrough that I carried forward into 3 even though I went 90% Paragon.
As someone else said though, the payoff (or lack thereof) in 3 was hugely disappointing.
They incorporated her into the Ardat Yakshi Monastery mission via messages and a passing mention; I was SURE she'd show up. Nope... Generic banshee #119291 and that's all we get.
To be fair, they reworked the interface for PC. The KB/M scheme is arguably superior to playing with a gamepad. Unless you just hate KB/M on general principles, the lack of controller support really isn't a loss in this case.
They collect data on how people play the game, right?
Statistics probably showed a tiny majority chose to kill Samara and so they didn't think it was worth it to make Morinth a big feature in ME3.
George Oscar Bluth II
Banned
ME3 somehow managed to make female faces look worse than previous games, in my opinion. Just wanted to say that since I'm playing it right now.
Laughing Banana
Weeping Pickle
Well, in 3 it's true you can do whatever you want.
But in 1 and 2 you don't have a choice but to *always* pick a side if you don't want an option greyed out in end-game, and those decisions carry out too to 3.
thechristoph
Sir!
I just installed the ME1 texture pack. Awesome that they finally overcame having to use TexMod. Anyone know if there's any plans for a TexMod-less ME2 texture pack?
The problem was that there were about 3 different kinds of planets (craggy, grassland, and desert) and only two level types (mine, prefab shelters/labs) on almost all of those side planets.
Exploration for exploration's sake does not automatically make it good.
The problem was that there were about 3 different kinds of planets (craggy, grassland, and desert) and only two level types (mine, prefab shelters/labs) on almost all of those side planets.
Exploration for exploration's sake does not automatically make it good.
Blue Ninja
Member
You said it yourself, it's arguably superior. I infinitely prefer playing it with a gamepad, and this series being one of the few that so resolutely refused it just irks me. I don't see a lot of reasons why the reworked interface wouldn't work with a controller. So yes, it's a loss for me.
Boombloxer
Member
Yea, I can't really complain about this though. Jack shows up as a Phantom in the last mission if you don't save the students at the Academy--stuff like that is about what I reasonably expect.
Pretty much all of the squadmates from ME2 had a reasonable send off to me, except Zaheed, that was out of nowhere. Jacob, Jack, Mordin, Grunt, Legion, Samara were all good.
My only real disappointment in the romance part was that Liara & Tali were head and shoulders above the rest. Would like to see Miranda or Jack get that treatment--in ME2, I thought Jack took the most work, but was also rewarding. Liara always felt like the proper one, Miranda the bad girl, and Tali the shy one.
See, now I want to play this again...but then I have to reinstall everything on my PS3 and deal with EA servers auto-dcs.
If they ever have a remastered version with the multiplayer servers live, it's a Day 1 buy for me. Even more if they let you use your older saves.
Well, I didn't want to flat out say, "It's superior" because I didn't want to come off sounding like a douche.
I do think that the games straight up play better with KB/M though, full stop. I respect that you don't share my preferences on that, but I was happy to see a developer rework a console game's interface for the PC for once. I'm assuming they didn't have the time or resources to support two entirely different interfaces for gamepad and KB/M users. If it was a choice between this and Bioware just porting things straight over from the consoles and hacking in halfassed KB/M support, I'm glad they made the decision they did.(Though admittedly it would've been nice to be able to drive the Mako with the gamepad on PC. Always liked using a controller for vehicles.)
More variation in the planets you explore would be nice - I definitely wouldn't complain - but I just enjoyed the process of exploring, particularly when roaming around in the Mako. It wasn't just a means to an end, it was an entertaining activity for me in its own right. I liked being able to approach fortified installations from different directions and take advantage of terrain. I enjoyed stuff like fighting thresher maws. I liked seeing the different skies, the atmospheric conditions, the funky lifeforms that you'd run into on some of the planets (like those "space monkeys").
Those sequences helped drive home a sense of scale for me. It left me feeling like these planets were actual places, ones that were there before Shepard arrived and would still be there when he left, not just movie sets that only existed to serve the plot. So I guess for me, exploration for exploration's sake in ME is good.
Shameless. It's like purposely killing Mordin. The 1%.
I was talking about it with some people, and they would actually be mad at Bioware (like, a ME3 ending-level of hate) if the Mass Effect 3 ending choice isn't taken into account.
It's sad to see how unrealistic some people are.
That's why they'd prefer a prequel, but I seriously hate prequels. Feels like we already know too much. I like going dark into a story, not knowing what might happen at all.
It's sad to see how unrealistic some people are.
That's why they'd prefer a prequel, but I seriously hate prequels. Feels like we already know too much. I like going dark into a story, not knowing what might happen at all.
Gozer the Gozerian
Member
Completely agreed, in fact it seemed like as the series went on they veered further and further away from that clean retro aesthetic in general, soundtrack included. Mass Effect 1 OST was fantastic.
I hear you on not wanting a prequel, I finished the trilogy again today and at this point I just want to move on past the end.
I just don't really know how they'll be able to pull it off though, forget the ending choices there are races that might not exist depending on the other choices you made throughout the game.
One of the things I hated the most about the armour design past the first game was the overuse of that carbon fiber pattern all over the armour.
Gozer the Gozerian
Member
I'm hoping the story of this new game is on a smaller scale not involving war and politics on a galactic scale, so in that regard its not really important to me whether it's a prequel or sequel because I don't want it to have any relation to the ME1-3 reaper plot anyways.
+1.
I appreciate why they went in the direction they did with the sequels (and don't get me wrong, they're brilliant games for it), but ME1 really resonates with me from an artistic viewpoint. Everything just felt 'cleaner' as you said.
Ambitious Bioware is best Bioware.
If by smaller scale you mean the story is less... how do I put this, consequential to the rest of the galaxy? Then yeah, I'm all for it. I don't want a smaller game in the sense of literal scale though... I didn't enjoy how everything seemed to become compartmentalised in ME2 especially. Having an open, living galaxy to explore with non-linear levels is what ME4 needs. Being stuck on one planet or in one particular system doesn't appeal to me really.
As a general note about the levels, I still think ME1's Citadel > 3 > 2. Omega was pretty cool but again, the actual area you were able to explore was a very small box of sorts.
Gozer the Gozerian
Member
One thing I really hope they improve in the next game is the architecture within the levels themselves. Often times the skybox was fantastic but the series always suffered from too many bland, boxy, rectangular interiors and levels. I really want them to play up the alien nature of different species and planets, but in Mass Effect a Salarian Lab or Asari skyscraper or human colony all looked so completely dull and interchangeable most of the time.
Yup that's pretty much what I mean, people always discuss a whole game playing a detective on the citadel etc., but I still want to traipse around the galaxy, just want the stakes to be a little lower.
Yup that's pretty much what I mean, people always discuss a whole game playing a detective on the citadel etc., but I still want to traipse around the galaxy, just want the stakes to be a little lower.
Yeah, sweet.
Personally, I believe the best angle for ME4 to go for would be the player being a newly-inducted Spectre (maybe having the intro with some nods to Shepard, and the player's personal past; choices here too). Race, name, gender and class would all be open to choice, and subsequently the world around you would react accordingly. The game would be more akin to a bounty-hunter / investigation-type scenario (C-Sec involvement early on perhaps?), with things escalating to a galaxy-wide event towards the end of the playthrough. This way, Bioware could retain all of the best features from past Mass Effect games whilst also introducing some of the most widely fan-requested mechanics.
I did exactly what you did. My BroShep was an enormous Paragon but could never resist giving that reporter a good smack in every game.
This post encapsulates most of what I want.
Earlier in the thread I and others were talking about how it'd be nice to see a Mass Effect that, tonally, is less Star Wars and more Blade Runner. It'd be interesting to play as more of a Han Solo-type character and his or her motley crew. Mass Effect 2 touched on this very much in its recruitment and loyalty missions, but I'd like to do it as someone other than a soldier tasked with saving the galaxy. What get's me about Mass Effect is that in the big picture you see evidence of almost endless nooks and crannies, each of which could be explored for its own complete story. You don't have to do sagas. You could just do a shitload of individual stories. Mercenary, bounty hunter, private detective, or even just an explorer.
If this is gonna be post-Reaper War, the potential for better FTL basically means full-scale exploration of the galaxy and a shitload of virgin worlds or new isolated civilizations. That also probably means growing pains for the Citadel systems -- a lot of potential conflict as people compete for new resources and come into contact with new dangers. In my mind this should be portrayed somewhat like frontier America.
If BioWare really wanted to do exploration right and build off what was in ME1 while retaining the higher quality side missions of ME2/3 they could do it pretty easily. The biggest hurdle would making a good procedural generated level creator to do all the heavy lifting for them. They would make all the assets, set the parameters and let it does its thing and from there they can tweak it however they want and select how many of these planets they want in the final game. There's no need to painstakingly craft dozens of planets by hand. Just have the computers do it for you, then go in and make changes as necessary. They could set it all up in a 3 tier structure to ensure quality and variations in depth.
Tier 1: High priority planets, that receive considerable customization and hands on level design for main story/major side missions and events. 10% of planets.
Tier 2: Medium priority planets, that receive moderate alterations for minor side missions and events. 25% of planets.
Tier 3: Low priority planets, that receive only the barest of alterations to ensure playability and compatibility if any side mission or event is present. 65% of planets.
Tier 1 planets would be your highly crafted planets for things like companion quests, Asteroid X57, Firewalker, Project Overlord and some of the bigger N7 missions from ME2/3.
Tier 2 planets would be your normal N7 missions and larger UNC assignmets in ME1 like Listening Post and Rogue VI. These are the planets you touch down on and find there's more happening than you would think. Secret bases and facilities. Mercenary outposts and corporation test sites gone wrong. Shield array's about to go down, terrorists looking the blow things up.
Finally Tier 3 planets getting only the bare minimum of hands on time with only minor missions put in place if any, these are the planets you touch down on and they're mostly abandoned and desolate, maybe overrun by mercenaries or aliens. Their the small settlement camps, mines and crash sites or ancient ruins. You find diary logs, odd relics and eerie happenings more than you get an actual mission with any real dialogue or narrative. These are the bread and butter planets that make you feel like you're exploring the great unknown. Setting down where no man or few have ever ventured.\
This can also be applied to space ships/stations, which were just as fun to come across and explore in ME1 and the later games. You'd have your heavily crafted ones with very specific stories and events, down to your bare bones locations that are just creepy derelicts that just have some enemies waiting in the shadows to kill anyone who comes upon them.
The Smoking Bun
Banned
I just committed genocide by being indirectly responsible for the deaths of the Quarian species when I sided with the Geth....
and nobody cares.
Dre_G_Writer
Member
Commander Shepard is SUCH a bitch!!!
ME1 Fem Shep Renegade compilation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSox9_vXXYE
ME2 Fem Shep Renegade compilation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sMEIdkLgnE
ME3 Fem Shep Renegade compilation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WwM0o8mkNI
Renegade fem shep is the best shep.
ME1 Fem Shep Renegade compilation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSox9_vXXYE
ME2 Fem Shep Renegade compilation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sMEIdkLgnE
ME3 Fem Shep Renegade compilation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WwM0o8mkNI
Renegade fem shep is the best shep.
George Oscar Bluth II
Banned
What I want:
Guardians of the Galaxy style team but in the Mass Effect universe.
Guardians of the Galaxy style team but in the Mass Effect universe.
TechnicPuppet
Nothing! I said nothing!
May as well ask in here, always wondered. In ME3 I was doing missions and there was a map and it was getting me towards a percentage or something then I would be ready to fight.
But in end fight did that map have any bearing or do anything? I half expected it to to turn into a strategy game at that point where I sent toops or into certain areas etc but nothing like that happened.
But in end fight did that map have any bearing or do anything? I half expected it to to turn into a strategy game at that point where I sent toops or into certain areas etc but nothing like that happened.
The Smoking Bun
Banned
Oh yes please. Make it a dark comedy of sorts. Enough gritty, pretentious, SAVE THE WORLD type deals. Let's have someone do it just for fun as opposed to some noble goal.
Soyongdori
Member
This is never going to happen
The Smoking Bun
Banned
And the current Bioware writing team could NEVER pull it off properly.
Let's just enjoy our grade school level B movie science fiction
Or EA would never let them do it.
King Mac of Furry Frog
Member
I tend to not have hope for any title associated with EA.
On my second playthrough of ME1 trying to level cap before I start on 2. Got the ps3 bundle so I could at least say I played the other two games before I talk massive amounts of shit about them.
ME1 had it's share of problems (crippling mini game on consoles), but it did a lot of things right. The customization (weapons, equipment, armor, companions) was a huge plus, as was not having to worry about finding ammo.
For the life of me I can't figure out who thought it was a good idea to make the player buy fuel for their ship. Was this supposed to be a mini space sim or something? I'd rather they include space battles like in The Old Republic. Attempt to board pirate vessel and get awesome loot or stealth by them? I don't make games though so whatever.
On my second playthrough of ME1 trying to level cap before I start on 2. Got the ps3 bundle so I could at least say I played the other two games before I talk massive amounts of shit about them.
ME1 had it's share of problems (crippling mini game on consoles), but it did a lot of things right. The customization (weapons, equipment, armor, companions) was a huge plus, as was not having to worry about finding ammo.
For the life of me I can't figure out who thought it was a good idea to make the player buy fuel for their ship. Was this supposed to be a mini space sim or something? I'd rather they include space battles like in The Old Republic. Attempt to board pirate vessel and get awesome loot or stealth by them? I don't make games though so whatever.
I don't think I posted my full wants and desires in this thread, but in another I laid out a pretty long and detailed outline about how I would love for us to be a Han Solo/Malcolm Reynolds type character that has their own personal goal/vendetta/whatever and in the decades or maybe century after ME3 a new non-Mass Relay form of travel has opened up the galaxy. Some of the old Citadel/Terminus systems are still cut off since the MRS hasn't been fully repaired and something like a coveted, or not so coveted but rather death sentence, contracts have been issued to explorers to go out and reconnect with these lost systems and more importantly to go out and chart new systems that were previously outside the MRS. And obviously being a Roguish character you would acquire your licence and fancy new FTL drive in a slightly less than honest way or because of doing something less than honest.
It would be a galaxy finally coming out of recovery from the Reaper War, all of the major systems and civilizations have been reconnected. Some fairing better than others, some changing greatly due to the war and possible prolonged isolation from the rest of the galaxy. The galaxy is one again but that doesn't make it whole.
You and a rag tag group of companions are out to explore this vast galaxy. Maybe to find some fame and fortune, or just the fortune. Maybe to seek vengeance or just for the simple allure of the unknown. The last thing I want to be is another soldier out to save the world.
Personally, I'd just like to be able to play a human Spectre again. But this time around, I'd like to be able to actually explore the concept fully. You're a galactic operative with a great deal of autonomy, and you're authorized to operate outside of the law at your discretion to Get The Job Done. Everything from organized crime and government corruption to space piracy potentially falls under your purview. You can put together a team of "unique individuals" from all across the galaxy as your personal squad. Some missions might involve working undercover, while others would be straight-up combat. The stakes would be lower - maybe the various criminal leads you investigate connect a prominent pirate with a corrupt Council member, and how well you do in the missions determines whether you can make the charges stick in the endgame. (Do really poorly and maybe you end up in a cell while the crooked Councillor and the pirate boss both skate.) Something like that.
King Mac of Furry Frog
Member
Sounds like a good idea, but that would lead to many grey areas of morality and Bioware isn't exactly known for excelling at that. Considering how few pure stealth games we see I wouldn't expect a game where you HAVE to stealth through something to succeed being accepted by a publisher.
Cyberpunk 2077 is sadly the closest thing we'll probably get to this for a long time. It's a shame too cause scifi stealth isn't really explored a lot.
I think we also need to start talking about what the galaxy is actually like post-Reaper War. Just to name a few things:
-The relays are gone but I assume having dead Reapers everywhere (from the "Destroy" ending) would allow people to eventually figure out relay-speed travel.
-A ton of races are stuck in the Solar System for a while, where the Citadel now rests.
-The power balance has basically been reshuffled. The Human, Turian, and Asari civilizations have been brought to their knees. Batarian civilization was almost wiped out. The genophage has been lifted. The Quarians got their planet back. The Geth (assuming they survived) can now integrate with the others. The old governing bodies have been, at the very least, crippled.
I think at the very least that's a recipe for a lawless wild west era to ensue in the decades after the Reaper War. Order being restored and redefined, and new frontiers being explored.
That sounds like what Baldur's Gate-era BioWare would have done, or what any mid 90's or early 2000's cRPG developer would have done. I don't expect BioWare today to ever try anything on that scale with that level of freedom. Bethesda maybe.
-The relays are gone but I assume having dead Reapers everywhere (from the "Destroy" ending) would allow people to eventually figure out relay-speed travel.
-A ton of races are stuck in the Solar System for a while, where the Citadel now rests.
-The power balance has basically been reshuffled. The Human, Turian, and Asari civilizations have been brought to their knees. Batarian civilization was almost wiped out. The genophage has been lifted. The Quarians got their planet back. The Geth (assuming they survived) can now integrate with the others. The old governing bodies have been, at the very least, crippled.
I think at the very least that's a recipe for a lawless wild west era to ensue in the decades after the Reaper War. Order being restored and redefined, and new frontiers being explored.
That sounds like what Baldur's Gate-era BioWare would have done, or what any mid 90's or early 2000's cRPG developer would have done. I don't expect BioWare today to ever try anything on that scale with that level of freedom. Bethesda maybe.
Laughing Banana
Weeping Pickle
I loved Garrus' comment if you do the thing the other way around, siding with Quarian and destroyed Geth. Something to the effect of he wouldn't miss the Geth due to all the death and chaos they have caused.
You should have given it a go - the MP was surprisingly good and although it had a small number of microtransactions, the MP could be safely played without paying a cent, considering all the MP DLC was free. If Dragon Age: Inquisition or the next Mass Effect incorporated MP in a similar way I'd be all over it again!
I dropped ~850hrs into the ME3 MP.
Well the EC made it so the Relays were not totally destroyed, though it still shows the Charon relay totally fucked up and in pieces regardless of your preparedness. The perfect Destroy ending only has Hackett saying they were severely damaged. If your preparedness was under 1900 he says it could take years to repair them. This is probably the most crucial piece of information in all of the ending. How they choose to deal with this will have profound effects on how things develop in the Galaxy.
Even if BioWare makes it so that they can repair them rather easily, there are two major issues still at play. One you need two working relays for them to be functional. Even if you fix your relay, unless their is another working relay on the other end you're shit out off luck and have a very large and useless satellite you spend years fixing. Two most of the galaxy was nearly wiped out. Most of the galaxy put everything they had into a last stand in Sol. So it wouldn't be very unlikely that most of the galaxy would be ill equipped to repair a Mass Relay, let alone have the knowledge to do so.
Taking all that into consideration even if you did have the know how and means to repair a relay, which I doubt most systems would. You would still need to spends months if not years traveling by FTL to reach it's partner relay in order to repair that so the system can work.
In all this would likely result in a patchwork of working relay systems that would take years if not decades to fully restore. Even then again more distant and remote region would likely be cut off for even longer
I would love to see how such a situation would evolve. I mean you have the simple stuff like a human or Turian system or colony that was cut off for decades and developing into it's own little society and culture. But then you have the possibility of large portions of the Galaxy repairing a handful of relays into their own little network after a few years and then spending decades alone before they reconnect with other large networks. How would these various regions and governing bodies react when they reconnect with other areas of the galaxy. Would everyone be happy to bring back the Citadel. Or would they rather maintain the governments they have in place.
It's things like this that make me very wary of how ME4 will be handled and the rather high chance BioWare will just act as if nothing happened and return the Galaxy to normal. Because after an event like the Reapers nearly exterminating all life in the Galaxy, things just don't return to normal. You can't just turn the clock ahead a little bit and act as if nothing happened.
TheUnsunghero26
Member
Can't remember how I found this, but I'm guessing this was the original name for the series (or at least a major contender).
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