Mass Effect General Thread

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Infiltrator get bullet time when aiming a sniper rifle
The scoping animation is de-sync'd from when you can actually fire when peaking out of cover which gave me AIDS during my infiltrator playthrough, you scope in, click, and nothing happens because the game doesn't let you shoot for a fraction of a second after the scope comes up. If you let go of the aim button after clicking, get fucked idiot now you're going to get shot as you go back into cover without staggering the enemy.
 
Honestly J think any new Mass Effect game is doomed. Bioware is too far gone, but I'm looking forward to in many years time to play Mass Effect LE as it was meant to be with all the mods finished
https://youtube.com/watch?v=l5UPpfFy6Xw
You could put the 10 greatest game developers ever on it..and i would still assume Mass Effect 4 is doomed just because it has to try to salvage the series after Mass Effect 2 and 3.
 
no fat chicks
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Bullet time + Widow = FUCK YOU.

Oh, and they get that shit in ME3 still, where's there's even nastier sniper rifles like the Javelin and Black Widow. Fuckers had to nerf the Revenant into the fucking ground though, and the Typhoon is a mediocre replacement on account of the recoil, wind up, and screen shake. To make matters worse there's the Phaeton, which is "Revenant, but better in every way". Bitch, I'm a super soldier, is it too fucking hard to ask for a space M60 that doesn't suck balls?
I heard pistols are also good on infiltrator if you not a fan of snipers.
 
ME2 arguably has the worst combat in the series now. Combined with a story that doesn't tie into the rest of the series, it's almost skippable.
I've talked about this in this thread before. But the developers were told to make ME2 and ME3 like soft reboots. So that players could start those games without needing a save file or even having played the previous titles. EA didn't want players to get locked out of content that would requiring starting the entire trilogy over. This has the added change of making the stories from each game barely consequential to each other and almost disconnected. ME3 is written like a standalone story, aliens invade Earth, you must take the fight to them. Previous titles and stories not necessary.

So you can start the second game over from the beginning and play any way you want without needing to start at the first game. And the final game was designed this way as well. So that you could beat the game and unlock one ending, then restart just the third game and have a clean slate, without needing to progress from zero from the first title. Like a shortcut or save file being provided to players to make the games more accessible (and also make achievements easier).
 
I hate to say it, but as good as ME2 is (it is my personal favorite in the series), it ultimately played a huge role in derailing the series plot, leading to the debacle that was the ending to ME3.

By putting the overarching goal of stopping the Reapers to the side in favor of what is really a glorified side-op, it left the third game with way too much catching up to do. Pretty much resulting in the immediate reveal of a super weapon as opposed to gradually finding the weaknesses of the Reapers, and of course, the ridiculous ending.

That, and the Suicide Mission, as great of a final level as it is, also made it hard for the devs to write the characters in the third game (when your party members can be killed off permanently, there’s no guarantee in terms of what the player can experience in the next game).

I wouldn’t be surprised if Liara getting so much overexposure was because she was the only squad member guaranteed to still be alive.
 
it ultimately played a huge role in derailing the series plot

The problem is two-fold: on one side as TheHarbinger said there was a clear need to make every story "standalone" for new players to get in, making the plot development haphazard at best. The second problem is that ME2 was probably the apex of the companion-based writing that Bioware fell after their success in BG1. See, people truly liked companions in BG1 and BG2 even more, and thus companions (and romances) became an even bigger and bigger part of the games, with obvious consequences. But people were happy with it because you got the pseudo-romance angle. Reading them now they're embarrassing at best, Bioware romance dialogue was worse than even the worst Japs or George Lucas could throw at you, but even in the 2000ies you didn't get high-budget games with those themes.

Mass Effect 2 is essentially a game built around companions, companion banter, and companion romance. 90% of the game is recruitment missions and loyalty missions, the entire ridiculous setup is to give you more time to banter around with the companions because people truly wanted the pseudo-social experience instead of a coherent plot. If you don't indulge the game you get a "bad ending" because you didn't engage with the companions.

I'm still stuck at the beginning of ME3 in my replay, every time I try to fire it I'm struck by the "SUDDENLY REAPERS ARE IN THIS VERY ROOM WITH US" that makes everything you have done in 1-2-DLCs feel meaningless. What have you done exactly if in five minutes the squids come barreling down to Earth and kill everyone?

Hell, even Halo, the apex of 2000ies sci-fi shooters, despite retcons and middling Halo3 writing, has a better buildup and arguably better writing. I can remember Gravemind's quotes and Sergeant Johnson's chatter, but what do I remember about ME? In ME1, Sovereign's reveal, because it was foreboding (and then completely retconned)? In 2, Mordin singing?
 
Honestly ME2 and ME3 are the ones I see as the most alike. It makes sense, there was less than 2 years of development between them. The collector thing was hardly consequential other than removing a reaper pawn off the board, but there were a lot of set ups in companion quests that would have pay offs later.

The shift between ME1 and the rest of the series is the one I find egregious.
I get that the council might hush up about the whole reaper thing to prevent panic, but doing a 180 and denying what they believed in the previous game is so batshit.
This gets even worse when the council is supposed to be human led, actually in ME1 they stated it would be an all human council.

I wonder what ME2 was supposed to follow this.
 
Mass Effect 2 is essentially a game built around companions, companion banter, and companion romance. 90% of the game is recruitment missions and loyalty missions, the entire ridiculous setup is to give you more time to banter around with the companions because people truly wanted the pseudo-social experience instead of a coherent plot. If you don't indulge the game you get a "bad ending" because you didn't engage with the companions.
Making ME2 so companion-oriented takes away from playing the game again. Yes, Miranda, you have family issues. Yes, Thane, you have family issues. There's no scene like seeing Sovereign for the first time to send chills down your spine. There's not even anything like what's happening on Noveria or Feros.

Seeing Jacob confront his dad for abandoning him the Nth time is something you do not because you want to experience that story again, but because you want the ammo upgrades or whatever crap there is on that planet. Maybe you have a new copy of the game and want to unlock Barrier for yourself.
 
i heard the reason ME2 was so different was because one of the writers of the overall story was on the way out and the people who took over didnt want to follow his plan, like what valve did with hl and mark laidlaw
 
i heard the reason ME2 was so different was because one of the writers of the overall story was on the way out and the people who took over didnt want to follow his plan, like what valve did with hl and mark laidlaw
That would be Drew Karpyshyn. Guy was the head writer for Jade Empire, KOTOR and ME1. But then he got marching orders from EA to work on SWOTR instead. That let Mac Walters take over head writing duties, which is where the massive swerve for Cerberus being the major antagonistic faction instead of the Reapers comes in.
 
I feel like the trilogy could have been salvaged if it wasnt one. After ME2 being more relaxed in its plot threads tbey should have bit the bullet and split ME3 into two games. The uproar would have been tremendous, and they would have probably fucked it up but they crammed too much in 3. The Reapers IMO should have showed up midway in say ME3 Part 1 rather than at the beginning. And then following you had to deal with the Krogan and the Synthetics which would free up the actual Versus Reapers plot to be in Part 2.

They also quite frankly fell on their face though when it came to Cerberus. Cerberus as its set up in 2 AND 3 were the only faction taking the reaper threat seriously. Making them the main antagonist of 3 just doesn't work. It's a repeat of the Saren plot. And it also sabatoges Renegade playthroughs from 2 specifically. If we are keeping the Galaxy at War build up your forces thing, why not have it more impactful and give you a choice between siding with Cerberus or the Alliance? Instead we get stupid shit like Kai Leng and Udina's character assassination.

Another thing, and I dont want to say that 3 is woke, that is a simplification. It is where they do woke writing shit that derails established lore. Somehow we get Salarian girl bosses when we should NOT have seen any Salarian females. And the oohing and awing that the Krogans do in front of the token Krogan girl boss, which is so goddamn obvious

And its not just a woke thing as Javiks existence ruins the lore, the star child over explains shit that didn't need to be explained and it ruins the lore. The Leviathans are stupid and should not exist. The Omega dlc is stupid becauss it hinges on you liking Aria which is an extreme sign of the time as I'm convinced that if the target audience didn't know who Carrie Ann Moss was then no one would give a shit about her character. You get stupid cameos from the likes of Jack, Zaeed, Jacob etc that dont explain at all why they cant be in your party. They just draw attention to it.

EVERYTHING about Kai Leng is stupid. Oooh its this badass motherfucker who Shepard has NEVER heard about before and he is suppose to be this penultimate threat. Then you have the Citadel DLC which is just this silly story of the crew getting back together again for one "last" mission.

Like I'm not gonna say that 1 was perfect in writing, and 2 while not as good as 1 on that regard pales in comparison to how brainless 3 is practically most of the time. And on top of that its grim dark too, it takes itself way too seriously which was something that 2 mostly avoided. And all of these flaws are amped up by just how much happens in 3. Like a solid portion is just cut scenes where you dont interact at all. Might as well been a movie at that point, a shitty one.
 
Another thing, and I dont want to say that 3 is woke, that is a simplification. It is where they do woke writing shit that derails established lore. Somehow we get Salarian girl bosses when we should NOT have seen any Salarian females. And the oohing and awing that the Krogans do in front of the token Krogan girl boss, which is so goddamn obvious
nigga they literally inserted two token gay characters and hit kaidan with the fag ray, probably because of his face model i guess but still, salarian females should have been regarded the same way as krogan females considering how important for their fast life cycle they are.
And its not just a woke thing as Javiks existence ruins the lore, the star child over explains shit that didn't need to be explained and it ruins the lore. The Leviathans are stupid and should not exist. The Omega dlc is stupid becauss it hinges on you liking Aria which is an extreme sign of the time as I'm convinced that if the target audience didn't know who Carrie Ann Moss was then no one would give a shit about her character. You get stupid cameos from the likes of Jack, Zaeed, Jacob etc that dont explain at all why they cant be in your party. They just draw attention to it.
zaeed kind of makes sense since it was during the time his VA passed away, the others are mostly the game copping out from being out of time, they draw attention to it because it was meant for you to have these old crewmates again in the party because armax arena makes all of the ME2 crewmates being playable on it and you can use mods to have them accompany you on the gameplay.
EVERYTHING about Kai Leng is stupid. Oooh its this badass motherfucker who Shepard has NEVER heard about before and he is suppose to be this penultimate threat. Then you have the Citadel DLC which is just this silly story of the crew getting back together again for one "last" mission.
kai leng is a book character, one of the main reasons as to why i'll forever hate offgames media being treated as canon shit and i strongly encourage anyone else to do so, he also exists in ME3 because of troy baker, that's pretty much well established and even troy hated voicing the character.
Like I'm not gonna say that 1 was perfect in writing, and 2 while not as good as 1 on that regard pales in comparison to how brainless 3 is practically most of the time. And on top of that its grim dark too, it takes itself way too seriously which was something that 2 mostly avoided. And all of these flaws are amped up by just how much happens in 3. Like a solid portion is just cut scenes where you dont interact at all. Might as well been a movie at that point, a shitty one.
all in all it seems ME3 managed to have at best act 1 finished and some of the act 2 midway before being forced to rush out the rest of it and act 3 due to whatever the fuck indecision they had so they went with that retarded shit, javik being such a important "lorepiece" for absolutely no reason is a telling sign of it, they even went with that whole hypocrisy shit because javik will bash you for going on romps with liara or tali but will fuck female shepard even though in his own words it's a waste of time.
the rest of the changes seem to be on par with the other kiwis mentioning the writers changing seats, cerberus is still the most nonsensical of them that even the most diehard predditor cannot defend.
 
They really should have stuck the reapers whipping out all advance civilizations because the use of the mass relays destroys suns and create black holes instead of organics will always fight synthetics plot.
 
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OK rate me lunacy but hear me out. Mass Effect is just Stargate: Atlantis with 20% more whores.

Stategate: Atlantis (Premiered 2004)
  • Your main character is John Sheppard (with 2 p's).
  • He is human military man (a Lt. Colonel/O-5 in the US Airforce) who lives in a universe where multiple sentient races rely on a network of portals (stargates) constructed by an ancient precursor race to traverse the galaxy, and becomes the leader of his military unit after the guy who was supposed to be in charge (Col. Sumner) is killed.
  • While tagging along with a more experienced commander (O'Neil) he accidentally activates an ancient precursor device (the drone control chair) which results in his commanders discovering that he possesses the ancient gene that allows him to interface with ancient technology.
  • He is therefore attached to an expedition to discover more about the ancient technology and eventually accumulates a crew of goofy misfits which includes:
    • Angry warrior race guy (Ronan)
    • Funny science man (McKay)
    • Cute dork girl (Keller)
    • Alien girl with psychic powers who is strongly implied to be his canon love interest (Teyla)
    • Nigger (Ford)
  • During the course of this expedition, he discovers the existence of the Wraith, an ancient race of malevolent space vampires who use creepy technology and remain dormant for long periods to allow the sentient population to repopulate, before waking up and harvesting them.
  • He is constantly impeded in his efforts to be the least stupid guy in the room by the IOA, a committee of useless government bureaucrats representing multiple nations.
  • The central hub of the show is Atlantis, an ancient flying city built around a portal and constructed by the precursor race.

Mass Effect (First game released 2007)
  • Your main character is John Shepard (with 1 p).
  • He is human military man (a Commander/O-5 in the Systems Alliance Navy) who lives in a universe where multiple sentient races rely on a network of portals (mass relays) constructed by an ancient precursor race to traverse the galaxy, and becomes the leader of his military unit after the guy who was supposed to be in charge (Nihilus) is killed.
  • While tagging along with a more experienced commander (Nihilus) he accidentally activates an ancient precursor device (the beacon) which results in his commanders discovering that he possesses the ancient implanted memories that allow him to interface with ancient technology.
  • He is therefore attached to an expedition to discover more about the ancient technology and eventually accumulates a crew of goofy misfits which includes:
    • Angry warrior race guy (Wrex)
    • Funny science man (Mordin)
    • Cute dork girl (Tali)
    • Alien girl with psychic powers who is strongly implied to be his canon love interest (Liara)
    • Nigger (Jacob)
  • During the course of this expedition, he discovers the existence of the Reapers, an ancient race of malevolent space robot squids who use creepy technology and remain dormant for long periods to allow the sentient population to repopulate, before waking up and harvesting them.
  • He is constantly impeded in his efforts to be the least stupid guy in the room by the Council, a committee of useless government bureaucrats representing multiple nations.
  • The central hub of the game is The Citadel, an ancient flying city built around a portal and constructed by the precursor race.
 
As to the whole splitting ME3 into two parts, I’m not sure that could’ve been an option.

The next generation of consoles was just a year off from the time ME3 was released, and a huge touted feature was the whole carrying saves from one game to the next.
 
>Add 'hard' gameplay for the boys
>Add sex and romance for the girlies
Baldurs Gate 3, the Persona series. Anything by Bioware.. Knowing there's romance down the line is indeed a good mechanic to keep you engaged and invested but it's funny how on-the-nose they are about it. I don't remember the last non-'difficult' game that had fleshed out romance. It's like dragging your balls through glass cause there's mid pussy at the end of it.

I do miss the Bioware genre though. RPG with custom parties with gameplay rewards for pooning it out in a lass or two.
 
And then following you had to deal with the Krogan and the Synthetics which would free up the actual Versus Reapers plot to be in Part 2.
Honestly though that would make part 2 boring as the Reaper forces aren't that fun to fight.
What possibly could make a part 2 work is if Cerberus wasn't the only major faction indoctrinated.
Imagine if leader of one of the other council races had been indoctrinated?
Or the leader of an entire fleet.
The problem is the Illusive Man is too obviously the villain of the story, to the point it's laughable he doesn't question himself. Even Saren seemed to be more aware of what was happening to him.
 
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