-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
The Mass Effect Community Thread
- Thread starter shinobi602
- Start date
- Status
Dandy Lyin
Member
Exactly. No reason not to.
Dunno, Hale was great in ME1 and 2, but Meer fucking killed it in ME3.
edit: If you're in Canada you can get the game for 20% off Amazon, or for $55 CAD on CDKeys.
Dandy Lyin
Member
CDKey tends to follow EU release dates though, and both only have the Standard Edition for PC. I suppose there is a good chance there will be a digital deluxe upgrade for $14.99USD on launch day though.
True, but $53-55 CAD is too good to pass up even if I get it on the 23rd (at the latest). Especially when the game is like $80.
prag16
Banned
Atta boy. Started ME2 last week myself. Don't think I'm bothering with 1 and 3 at the moment. I've done enough playthroughs anyhow.
Dandy Lyin
Member
Yeah, it's definitely tempting. I would probably jump on it if I hadn't requested that week off as vacation already. I don't wanna waste 2 more days of that waiting for the game, and my employer limits vacation to full calendar weeks for some reason.
prag16
Banned
Origin charges full sales tax in the U.S. Digital stuff on amazon charges some reduced 1% digital sales tax. So I was gonna order on Amazon and get the 5% back with the prime mastercard.
The 10% off on Origin barely makes up for all this, so the $5 for Origin Access would basically be the cost I'd be paying to play the game a few days early. Seems ill advised. But I'll probably end up doing it. Hell, I'm already bypassing the chance to pay almost $20 less on cdkeys because I don't want to wait for the European release date...
(Anybody know why Origin seems to be the ONLY digital software distribution platform that charges full state sales tax??)
Might be EA's legal/business structure. Regarding Canada at least they're based in several cities and if they distribute from the country they'd pay local taxes.
Ivory Samoan
Gold Member
I'm weirdly appreciating ME3 like never before, whilst ME2 kind of fell flat for me for the first time ever this last trilogy playthrough, we are indeed in the darkest timeline my brothers and sisters :/
SliChillax
Member
Same thoughts when I replayed the trilogy this Christmas. ME2 felt so flat compared to ME3. Gameplay, graphics, set pieces, the actual levels are so much more superior in ME3. I couldn't wait to finish ME2 so I could start playing ME3 again.
Vigilant Walrus
Member
When I first played Mass Effect 3 it didn't wov me. I was not as upset as everyone, but I was also not floored like I had been with ME2.
But when I replayed all the 3 games with DLC and the extended ending. Goddamn. I got so incredible attached to the cast of ME3 thanks to DLC like the Citadel and Levithan, and From Ashes. It was the most fascinating stuff tucked away into the DLC.
ME3 is one of my favorite games. As is ME2. The characters is what sells me on these games.
Playing ME3 I feel schizophrenic. It wildly swings from me thinking it's the best to thinking it's the worst.
It's very, very uneven. It definitely needed at least another year in the oven.
I have mixed feelings about Kai Leng. I can't tell if I hate him because he's badly written, or if I hate him because they wrote him to be a cunt.
For me it's 100 percent badly written. He's clearly shoe-horned in, the battles with him are extremely badly done by exposing how much of a pushover he is when you actually get the chance to fight him, and the writers give him way too much plot armor.
He's also written like an obsessed stalker and I'm not sure if that was the writer's intentions?
The man ate Crusader V shots to the face and still walked away smh
edit: I would've appreciated a The End type deal in MGS3 where they let you kill him early if you're really good. Also Leng would have worked better had he taken Jacob's place in ME2.
Yeah, he dies in under 30 seconds to me. The Thessia fight is fucking terrible because my turret and drone just chew him up in under 10 seconds before he has to call for the helicpoter and it's fucking ridiculous and so clearly hackneyed.
They needed to make him extremely difficult if they wanted to give him credibility.
The addition of all the other Tech combos in ME3 got me very excited during the MP Demo. Though I am still not sure if I liked what they did with the biotic in ME3, making nearly every combo into a biotic explosion.
I sort of liked, however underpowered Adept's were considered in ME2, how their play style was all about manipulating the enemies. Pulling them out of cover in such a way that when you hit them again with a Throw angled from the opposite direction they would fly off the map. Stasis would freeze nearly anything (probably too good of a bonus power). Then there was Shockwave and Singularity for more crowd control, but you often had to finish with your gun.
Biotic explosions if I remember correctly were only for Warp combos in ME2. ME3 made everything a combo with bombs going off left and right. I liked the change in some ways (woo explosions) but didn't in other ways (less about manipulation and more about just combo after combo).
I kinda think so. Several of his scenes in the game display a clear inferiority complex to Shepard that TIM preys on. The email just crystallizes this.
It's an unpopular opinion but Kai Leng works in ME3 for me in that sense, because I think he's characterized as an uppity try-hard bitch and when you finally serve him with the best Renegade interrupt in the series it feels damn good. That's not to say he's particularly well-written, of course. I dunno, I just always felt it was strange to single out him being a ninja as BioWare being ridiculous in a series with, like, Vanguards.
Back when the BSN was alive people wouldn't shut up about the Thane Kai Leng fight because Thane rushes him even though he has a gun. Except that Leng is a biotic and one cutscene earlier he blocks a bunch of bullets with a biotic barrier so I don't really see why it's such a big deal that Thane decides to melee.
As long as they are well done, Alec Ryder face looks great
he looks like a dude who has either seen some shit or has just taken a shit.
lucebuce12
Member
Both. At the same time.
shinobi602
Member
I think the next trailer will change a lot (not all) of negative sentiment. At least the vocal minority we've seen.
Any idea when it's dropping (if you can say)?
shinobi602
Member
Should be before the weekend.
DeadlyParasite
Member
Here on NeoGAF or the rest of the internet? Because I think you're being optimistic about NeoGAF changing their minds, lol.
I bet someone going to go all "look at that legs movement, totally unnatural. Typical Bioware jank!"
shinobi602
Member
Lol, I meant here and the web at large. Not all of course, some are determined to shit on the game no matter what so there will no doubt be complaints as always but I think they'll be petty this time if anything. Can't please everyone.
prag16
Banned
All aboard the hype train, fuckers. I'm ready.
Retrofluxed
Member
*choo choo*
I can't. Or else once we'll get another 1:30 mins trailer where we won't see enough, I'll go into depression.
DeadlyParasite
Member
I've been on the hype train for the past 10 years, it never ends.
Back-In-Black
Banned
BRB, Posting thread in gaming.
Been debating my platforms for MEA pretty hard.
Most of the old crew is on XBOX still, but I'm waiting on Scorpio for that.
PC will undeniably be the best experience, but also have small crew on PS4.
PS4 first then replays on PC?
DeadlyParasite
Member
Lots of big-name streamers have been doing first-time playthroughs of the series on Twitch. Everyone's getting stocked, locked, and loaded for March.
My favourite ones I've watched are the people who really squeeze the the games for all their content and get really invested in the lore. Go figure the ones that aren't into it are the ones that skip mountains of content, don't care about conversations.
Also there's been a strong correlation of people who play paragon really enjoying their first playthroughs compared to those that play renegade asshole and then wonder why they don't care about the series and the characters as much.
I'll always maintain that going Paragon makes the superior first-experience.
My favourite ones I've watched are the people who really squeeze the the games for all their content and get really invested in the lore. Go figure the ones that aren't into it are the ones that skip mountains of content, don't care about conversations.
Also there's been a strong correlation of people who play paragon really enjoying their first playthroughs compared to those that play renegade asshole and then wonder why they don't care about the series and the characters as much.
I'll always maintain that going Paragon makes the superior first-experience.
When I first started Mass Effect (I was young) I would play as the Noble Knight type character. The heros in my head were Paragon no matter what! Though I find sticking to that mentality now (still young but I have self-respect) boring.
That got me thinking, how does everybody play Mass Effect or just choice-heavy games in general?
I went from the Noble Knight to trying to put myself in the characters shoes more and choosing what I feel like. I do this with all games now, Dragon Age, Telltale games etc And since this shift I've enjoyed roleplaying games more and more. (Playing yourself is the way to do it!!)
For another example, my friends first playthrough he created a mini character in his head for his first Shepard and roleplayed that.
I have never had the desire to play as myself, it's always me roleplaying a character I have come up with. It's a good way to differentiate playthroughs. Character A is lawful good, Character B chaotic neutral, etc. etc. is the best way to describe it. It just makes things more interesting for me and I probably feel more invested because of it.
The joys of one-button-does-it-all.
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
I can appreciate people finding it boring, but I like to play as the altruistic diplomat in Mass Effect games. I think it's because BioWare's method of dialogue and narrative branching tends to massively favour either positive pathing or simply offer absolute win states via paragon (and renegade) choices that tie up serious dilemmas with a neat and tidy bow. Rarely are there any actual difficult choices or (in my opinion) complex moral ambiguity. Playing as the nice guy diplomatic almost always results in a perfect win state for absolutely everything throughout the game, and you'll rarely if ever feel like you're being punished, and I like that sense of accomplishment even if it's. Cliché hero and savior syndrome.
The Jack and Miranda argument is a good barometer of how the game tends to deal in absolutes. In my first ever playthrough of ME2, Miranda died during the Suicide Mission because I sided with Jack in their argument, but didn't have enough paragon or renegade points to diffuse the situation. I don't remember the order of how I went through missions, but obviously the way I played meant that I was dabbling in Paragon/Renegade enough that I was kind of screwed in that instance. Like I said, that was the first time I ever played ME2 though. Subsequently, I just stuck with diplomat nice Shepard. Andromeda will be interesting, given that the systems are now updated and the addition of more varied tone-based responses will allow for a bit more nuance, even if the end result is the same.
Also I was thinking about this while playing ME1 but every time I remember that game is basically a decade old I want to fly into the sun.
Also I was thinking about this while playing ME1 but every time I remember that game is basically a decade old I want to fly into the sun.
DeadlyParasite
Member
I noticed r/masseffect jumped right on the comment Shinobi made here in the community thread about a new Andromeda trailer this week.
I guess we've got some people who visit/read the thread but don't post. We don't bite.
I guess we've got some people who visit/read the thread but don't post. We don't bite.
- Status