Board 8 > Playing through Mass Effect LE

(+) Yeah! (+)

Haven't really touched Mass Effect at all since the last DLC for 3. So it's been a few years.

I plan on doing two playthroughs. Male-Paragon, Female-Renegade. Starting with the Paragon run first. Insanity difficulty-Vanguard, Colonist-Sole Survivor.

Been rocking with Wrex and Garrus for the majority of the game~about 8 hours in. I'm not much a of playthrough person, so I'll just be posting thoughts here and there. First off, the Mako isn't that bad, and I appreciate the video gamey-ness of it all. Mostly because it feels like today's titles lack things like this. Exploring the planets is cool, but obviously not the strength of the game. Also, it's kind of jarring how many people call Shepard a survivor based on my background. To the point it's actively annoying. Gotta remind me that everyone around Shepard tends to die.

Side note-I do plan on playing through Andromeda afterward for maximum Mass Effect.(I've only played the first couple of hours and have not touched it since).

Also had no idea that the Citadel tower map was in the shape of a Reaper. Taking the game slow and trying to absorb as much info as possible.

Never been a person to soak in every little detail, so finding things I never noticed/realized or cared to look up is invigorating me to continue to play like this.

Hell yeah, I wish I had the time to do this

ChaosTonyV4 posted...

Hell yeah, I wish I had the time to do this

I dont have much time either my man! Slowly doing an hour or two every other/few days. At the cost of some sleep.

Im recording gameplay as well and am thinking of doing a series review of just everything. I actually want to do other series as well and was originally going to to do Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. 1. I havent played in probably 25 years, and two I have never even played Cross.

Also looking at DMC as well because I just got the bundle from humble and now I have all the titles. Its reigniting some of my passion for video games and is reminding me of why I love them.

Also steam codes. I have extras that I will be posting once I can.

Finished up majority of the Mako exploration bits. As an overall idea I enjoy this, but these planets are bare bones, empty, copy-pasta building layouts. The Mako itself is fine, but these terrains are terrible. It makes sense from an in-game perspective as they are uncharted planets, but man, this could be so much more.

Speaking of layouts, I don't remember the cover system being this erratic-it's not good design wise and make absolutely no sense outside of giving the enemy more cover making it needlessly more frustrating than it needs to be. However, so far Insanity has been a lot easier than I remember and I am attributing that to the fact I can use all weapons now.

I am however enjoying this more than I thought I would-I like Mass Effect, it's a good introduction, but it was never near the top of one my most enjoyable games, and have always felt 2, and 3 were just miles better for a variety of reasons. So I am excited to see if that opinion holds up moving forward.

I played ME for the first time in the legendary edition.

Went renegade Fem Shep and never looked bad. Such a badass character.

I did get an hour into 3 before noping out though. I dont know why but 3 felt just way worse than 2 so I lost interest.

Still worth it just for 2 though. What a game

Gameplay reasons? Or just wasnt vibing right away?

Though sometimes I just stop playing games for months because of life/burnout ha.

I love ME3's gameplay so much

Sorozone posted...

Gameplay reasons? Or just wasnt vibing right away?

Though sometimes I just stop playing games for months because of life/burnout ha.

Combination of the story seemed jarring from 2 to 3, it suddenly looked worse from a UI somehow, and infiltrator on insane in 2 was suddenly way less fun in 3.

Its possible some of those issues would have resolved but I just bounced hard off of it

Sorozone posted...

Finished up majority of the Mako exploration bits. As an overall idea I enjoy this, but these planets are bare bones, empty, copy-pasta building layouts. The Mako itself is fine, but these terrains are terrible. It makes sense from an in-game perspective as they are uncharted planets, but man, this could be so much more.

Yep. Mass effect 1 was mostly responsible for killing my completionism urges across all games

The worlds were too empty and the collectibles not obvious enough

Don't forget that this is actually an improved version of the Mako in the LE. Original had no forward boost, worse handling, worse control scheme, and much weaker shields. On top of that they removed the Experience penalty.

I knew they improved/updated/fixed some things compared to the original. Thanks for the list of changes!

Might explain why Insanity feels a bit easier this time around. Still has some bad checkpoints though. Abusing saves so I dont have to deal with them.

I don't remember Ferros being this short.

Is The Thorian ever brought up in any context ever again? I kind of like this idea of an old ancient organic being mind controlling over Reaper indoctrination tbh.

It's mentioned in passing a few times but it's never relevant again

Sorozone posted...

Is The Thorian ever brought up in any context ever again? I kind of like this idea of an old ancient organic being mind controlling over Reaper indoctrination tbh.

Who needs a Thorian when you have the organic life that the Reapers spawned from? A lifeform that could do what the Reapers themselves do! You know, the creatures only introduced at the VERY END of the series! When they could have used the Thorian as the foundation instead.......

Ashley sucks.

Spoilers, can't wait to sacrifice her. Kaiden is OK, if just a little boring. I also don't remember Garrus' solution for everything is to kill the perp in every situation haha. He'd make a good romance for my renegade female run. Liara and Tali are both very dorky and lovely. So quick rankings before I do Noveria;

Wrex > Garrus > Liara > Tali > Kaidan > > > Ashley. Strictly character/arc based, no gameplay reasons, but man I really do not like Ashley-Cares too much about her military life/family legacy and i get why she doesn't like/trust aliens, but even Kaiden comes to the realization that some people, aliens included as just fucking assholes and you gotta move on.

Those rankings seem about right.

I kept Ashley alive because its different from most other peoples games. Kaiden seems like a noble sacrifice kind of guy. Not to mention they have to artificially make Kaiden more of a jerk in the others but with Ashley you dont need that and its a slow incline from jerk to tolerable.

PerfectChaosZ posted...

I kept Ashley alive because its different from most other peoples games. Kaiden seems like a noble sacrifice kind of guy. Not to mention they have to artificially make Kaiden more of a jerk in the others but with Ashley you dont need that and its a slow incline from jerk to tolerable.

That is true. I mean Ill have a much bigger write up at the end of each game pertaining to the characters, and on my female Shepard run Ill sac Kaiden in that run. So Ill be curious how much things change through the whole trilogy. I do remember Ashley showing some growth and Kaiden kind of just gets stale by the end.

Just have to wait and see.

Noveria is done.

I like Feros a bit more overall. Noveria is kind of boring outside of the Rachni stuff. As much as I love snow levels. Peak 15 was a lame area.

Saved the Rachni Queen.

Also once again Ashley always just has to chime in when anyone other than Shepard is talking. Its like they go out of their way to make her unlikable.

I wish the Noveria arrival hub had more side quests - I greatly enjoyed the futuristic corporate espionage.

scarletspeed7 posted...

I wish the Noveria arrival hub had more side quests - I greatly enjoyed the futuristic corporate espionage.

Totally. I prefer the first half of over the second half.

That was always my favorite part too.

Yeah, the lab part was kinda lame aside from the rachni stuff. Just messing around at the port was a lot of fun.

I had to sac Kaiden because I wanted the romantic achievement and Liara was not an option.

So Virmire is legitimately a great mission/chapter.

Gameplay is varied between starting out on the Mako, and then going in on foot, varied scenery for both sections, and more variety than I thought regarding enemy type. Nothing stayed its welcome too long, and ended on a pretty good Saren firefight.

Not only that you get a lot of development among some characters, and the choices in this chapter lingers throughout the series without making it overtly obvious-Wrex and Kaidan/Ashley. Wrex is great, but I do not like how easy it is to get him killed here because it can happen by accident and you wouldn't even know why, then you end up losing him forever.

I sent Ashley with Kirrahe and the Salarians after his speech. Figured she could learn to work with an actual team of aliens. Ended up going back to Kaidan and saving him because the bomb was more important to go off then helping Ashley(Kidding, I went in planning to sac Ashely, but even in story going to make sure the bomb goes off is a lot more important to the actual mission going on).

Plus you get a lot more of a lore dump regarding Sovereign and Saren. I haven't played 3 in a long time, and y'know the ending. Saren's idea seemed an awfully like one of the choices at the end, that's neither here nor there, and who knows maybe there'll be a bit more nuance involved once I get around to that choice again.

Plus the council does make sense, and I get where they are coming from, but I did hate that you don't have the option of letting them know that you had 2 squadmates who had the same interaction with a Reaper which didn't happen in Shepards mind. Udina is a complete asshole and he quite literally throws us under the bus to further is own career. Scumbag move.

Virmire > Eden Prime > Feros > Therum/Liara > Noveria

Yeah, two of ME3's endings feel a lot like "the villain was right" to some people.

Kirrahe remains, in my mind, the epitome of great side characterization which is really the hallmark of a good Bioware game.

Kirrahe is a great example of how doing a little can do a lot. He gets ONE major speech and it cements him as beloved. It's all it took. Just one single, well designed speech. Don't always need to be Shakespearian with character work. Some characters get a decade of development and still don't come off as well as Kirrahe does.

Hold the line!

Kirrahe good character, bit of a cloaca though

I forgot that Anderson just punched Udina out cold in order to get us ungrounded on the Citadel haha.

Ilos was fun, nice varied location. Cover system there seemed a bit more natural compared to other missions. Nice lore dump with the Protheans and The Reapers.

Off to the Citadel for the final encounter. Explosive rounds with a low heat sink is completely bonkers on weapons. I just mowed down everything in site. Shotgun completely melted everything too. Dont know why I never noticed Sovereign in the background on this mission once he docked.

Speaking of that though, game has great cinematics in general. Not just the cutscenes but stuff happening in the background. Like Sovereign docking and moving in the background, the Normandy coming to drop the bomb off at Virmire. The scene on Eden Prime of Sovereign taking off in the background. All top notch stuff and makes the world seem more alive.

Saren ended up shooting himself, which makes me think that deep down he knew this isnt the way it should go down which makes me assume that it was indoctrination talking when he felt that combining or becoming subjugated under them was Sovereign talking and not him. At the same time he was still there somewhat near the end so he could have been speaking from a clear mind at the time on Virmire and he wasnt implanted fully yet. Its kind of nice because you really do not know at this point in time.

The final fight itself was exhilarating being on insanity, very intense, but the shotgun made him trivial because it blew him around like a rag doll after his shields were down.

Romanced Liara

Saved the council and recd Anderson of course.

Wrex > Liara > Garrus > Tali > Kaiden > Ashley

Virmire > Citadel > Eden Prime > Ilos > Feros > Therum > Noveria

Game definitely starts strong, OK, if a bit boring middle to a fantastic ending.

I also love that Shepard says he is going to stop the Reapers and then just walks away from the council.

Great 8 out of 10 game overall. On to Mass Effect 2.

I love Mass Effect 2. Last time I made a list of my favorite games of all time it was in the top 5. So excited to see how it holds up.

I might have to get into LE at this point, these posts have me nostalgic.

Oh and just some minor stuff.

Too many menu's. Product of its time, but equipment was very messy. Although I did like the amount of customization you got with the weapons and mods. Hacking for electronics was boring, and you had to do a lot of it. Luckily they are super generous with drops that you can load out on omni-gel and credits. At the end of the game I was maxed out on both.

The RPG elements, for like leveling up and attributes didn't seem to do all that much? If I was ever in a tight spot, changing my weapons/mod/loadout seemed to be the better solution. This could be because it's the LE version so you have access to more weapons, but yeah, I'm glad they somewhat tone that down moving forward with the leveling system.

Spoilers: ME2 holds up.

Played it for the first time last year. It blew me away

Mass Effect was so great

Fun Fact: In the original they put the last save before the choice of recommending Anderson or Udina, so they had to ask you again in ME2 under the guise of testing how well Shepard had recovered. In LE they fixed that so they no longer ask about that.

Man. Having the Normandy and crew get absolutely destroyed right after a 30 hour playthrough is surreal. It's such a good opening.

I've already died multiple times in the first mission/tutorial. Game is a bit harder already than the first.

Obviously the cover system and shooting is much improved. I'm a vanguard so my favorite combo is charge/shotgun. So much fun. The biggest improvement is the cover system look more natural, and iirc this just continues to improve though 3.

So Wilson. Did he just go rogue? Was he working for someone? I don't think it's ever touched again past this opening level. With the logs he had problems with the amount of money Cerberus was putting into the project, and he obviously hated Miranda. He was also surprised that Shepard was in fact alive and walking around.

Is too much assume he was trying to sabotage the project the moment you first woke up and had to be put back to sleep? He seemed reluctant to help. I don't know just spitballing.

It just seems weird to me that he is essentially the catalyst behind the start of your adventure, but the game/Miranda is like "Bam" *Wilson dies* Miranda "Who cares what he wanted, my focus is on you Shepard" Then its dropped.

Wilson is working for the Shadow Broker iirc, but that's revealed in the Liara DLC.

Oh huh? Guess I'll keep a lookout for that information! That makes sense.

Leonhart4 posted...

Hold the line!

Kirrahe good character, bit of a cloaca though

I now understand.

Recruited Mordin and Garrus(and Zaeed).

Took Zaeed with me on the Arcangel mission, no idea he had some extra dialogue with the Tarak/Blue Sons, but I suppose it makes sense seeing he is just a hired merc.

Already mentioned it, but I'm getting destroyed on insanity compared to the first game. Luckily the checkpoints are a lot more forgiving. I also forgot that a lot of the missions are well, essentially a mission. You are in, you are out, you get a recap of what you did and what you got and then you can't go back.

I get why they did this, it allows for them to load zones for more intricate level designs among other things, but I do wish it was a bit more opened up, or at the very least allow me to go back to make sure I didn't miss anything.

Scanning for resources while boring, is an improvement over the clumsiness of the Mako and doing/finding missions/resources that way. So I'll take the time save of scanning over getting stuck on shitty terrain.

yeah planet scanning is boring but I don't mind it and you don't have to deplete every planet to have more than enough resources to buy everything there is to buy

I love bringing Zaeed places just to hear him talk, dude's voice is fantastic.

Okeer.

Why does he just gas himself? Was Grunt at risk even though he was in the tank? That's the only thing I can think of to have this make any sort of sense. He could have just left the room and came back after Shepard deals with Blue Suns. I'm assuming when they were flushing the tanks that would have included Grunt, and Okeer just stayed in the room to make sure that didn't happen.

Okeer doesn't gas himself. Jedore gasses the entire room and all tanks to "scrub" the project. However the tank was built, it had some failsafe designed to kill what wasn't good enough to be released.

Okeer just prioritized his only perfect project over himself.

So the little side assignment of securing the smuggled cargo from Eclipse with the 3 mechs was the hardest goddamn thing I've played so far. Their machine guns just melted me on Insanity and their rockets would just blow me out of cover.

Ending up switching my heavy to the arc gun and finally neutralized them enough that I could finish them off with a combo of me and Grunt using incendiary ammo shotguns.

Still only got 9/20 crates though.

Between this and the firewalker(although it's made of paper) is a much bigger improvement over Mass Effect and its side assignments.

You basically have to completely cheese it to get all the crates in Insanity. One is always agro'd to you, so if you use homing missiles you can pull one back to the starting area without waking up the others. Do that again and then you can fight the last one normally without them ever attacking the crates.

Murphiroth posted...

I love bringing Zaeed places just to hear him talk, dude's voice is fantastic.

RIP to a real one

Grunt rules. He has great quips when walking through missions, and seeing him learning who he "is" is also great. Totally underrated. Obviously Wrex rules, fuck it, all the Krogan's are pretty cool.

Finished Horizon.

I love the setup of everything involved here. Just with Illusive man dropping hints to the Alliance to send Kaidan there in order to lure the Collector's out so Shepard could and the team could make contact for the first time. Harbinger is a neat idea/guy?

I just don't like this mission much, and now I know why, it reminded me of the gameplay setup/environment of the first game. It was just all samesy. The color of the planet may be off putting to me as well. Story wise-Love it, gameplay/level-meh near the bottom so far.

Kasumi's Flashbang is super useful anytime you're fighting Collectors.

It disables powers and basically everything Harbinger does when he possesses a Collector is shut down by the Flashbang. Works best with her version though, the version you can give Shepard is buggy and it's also not instant like hers.