I actually quite liked the Mako... less so the Hammerhead.
What I really hated was the planet scanning/mining mechanic in ME2... want big guns without the tedium pleeeease.
As for ME3, the ultimate resolutions were kinda meh, but I really enjoyed the way they wrapped up some of the other plotlines... thinking particularly of the Krogan, Quarian and Rachni threads... I actually found the Krogan wrap-up rather beautiful.
If you saved the queen in ME1, the setup in 3 was disappointing, although not as much as spending most the game fighting Cerberus rather than Reapers.
If you chose to NOT save the Rachni queen, having the Rachni as a mandatory quest on the main plotline undermined the whole quandary of making the decision in ME1. The far-reaching impact of that decision of whether to commit genocide and be responsible for the extinction of a whole sentient species reduced to a couple of lines of dialog and a minor difference in a 'war asset' total that you never interact with again.
Really enjoyed the Krogan arc though, especially when old friends are involved. Quarian part played nicely, but was just another heavy handed replay of the underlying theme of the endgame. A lighter touch, a bit more subtlety in the handling of the Quarian leadership, and I might have been sold.
Highlights of 3 for me were probably the moments with Anderson, although that might be my tendency to play paragon. Also, just started 3 again today for first time in a year or so, after beating 2 with a Sentinel for the first time last week. Will see if my perspective changes with a different play style (still Paragon!) and all that shiny DLC I just bought...
I agree on the Rachni thing. I'm sure it would have been possible to come up with a completely different scenario without using too many additional resources. One has to suspect they blew far too much on adding rubbish multiplayer.
I tried playing 3 again and it was letting me down. There was more cut scenes than game play and I was bored and totally uninterested by the time I visited Ash in the hospital and they were forcing me to sit through another cut scene.
@deltago the game opens up after that hospital cut scene - that the is essentially the end of the on-the-rails intro/training. The game is more reliant on cut scenes than previous games to tell the story, but if you played through the first two, it is worth seeing the series through to the end, if only to join the communal frustration with the final ending!
That said, the game does like to channel you through its preferred mission path. You don't get the freedom of ME1 to essentially pick your mission order at will, and it is even more restricted than ME2, in that the main story missions must all occur in the preset sequence. There is still the traditional 3-act sequence though, and you can take as many side missions as are available in any order you choose (prior to conclusion of the act) and they feel more integral to the story than in the previous two games, so that part pays off.
The key to playing the game part of 3 is understanding the 'weapon weight' factor, which is something you will not have met yet, quitting just before you get your first chance to choose your own weapon load-out on the Normandy. (I completely screwed this up on my first play through as a soldier, taking all 5 weapons with me on every mission, as that is what soldiers do, right? Still beat the game, but barely
What annoyed me most with the ending is that the story writers did not seem to understand the structure they had written. We get a chance to say a final farewell to all of the cast, before we head off to our certain doom. It would be really nice to know, IN STORY, that our doom was certain before having those scenes - I just cannot enjoy them in the current format. I either play the "we're going to beat this, see you on the other side" card, missing the chance for poignant farewells, or go with farewells that make no sense to my upbeat Paragon that has bested all challenges before him.
The writers apparently thought it was obvious that, without any specific hint, the mission was so overwhelming it should be obvious to us we were going today.
This is after the played the fake-out death at the end of the first game.
After they start the second game by *literally* *bringing* *you* *back* *from* *the* *dead*.
The second game concludes by you beating a self-proclaimed *suicide* mission, which you can actually accomplish with No Man Left Behind.
I have brought my whole squad through the final game unscathed, and seen the majority of ME2 cast triumphant as well (Mordin and Legion, sadly, paid the cost of their triumph).
Why, in or out of character, should I expect to NOT walk away from the final mission if I execute it perfectly (Power Word Reload for the win!)?
All it needed was some hint at the end of the Chronos station mission that Shepherd himself might be an integral part of the catalyst, anything to indicate that he would have to make a special sacrifice above-and-beyond, and beyond all doubt, and I could buy it. Just a hint, not a giveaway, something I could hang a willing suspension of disbelief on to roleplay the rest of the game as it is written, and I would be happy.
But they prefer to call be a dumb fan for not seeing the obvious
I'm also annoyed by the 'improved' ending where, if my and my bestie love-interest are charging to take down the final battle, facing eternity together, win or lose, suddenly I evacuate them into a galaxy that is about to be inevitably reaped, rather than taking them with me, together to the end. That is about as stupid and of character as I can imagine - that is a death sentence if I don't succeed, heartbreaking if I succeed but die at the end, and I am already labelled stupid for not buying into that story already?! This just makes no sense, I was much happier with the crazy teleport, and even that problem could be solved by letting us take that last charge together and simply putting someone else in the end scenes.
Personally I'm hoping I can go around introducing myself as a half-machine person cause some jerk wanted to save us all from what should have been lovecraftian horrors but turned out to be really stupid robots by deciding we should all be the same thing and have shiny green bits wich apparently makes us all part machine. I will then try to convert them to the one grand church of Shepard and if they don't comply firey death will be upon them because as we all know you can't have machines and organics living next to each other. Ignore the fact the Geth and Quariun proved this is possible. Ignore the fact EDI proved what you need to do to make it work is treat machines like they're human and thats what they'll become. You cannot argue with the logic of a machine who admits this cycle is different and we are not at all like its unsympathetic destroy or obey masters of the past.
...Yeah I kinda didn't like the ending either. I had two main goals throughout the story: Come back alive, don't cause mass xenocide. This was it. My only two goals. Don't kill a species (including Geth) and stay alive.
Guess what I couldn't do?
I really would have liked it if I could have proven to the evil ultra AI that its main problem was that it was thinking like its old masters, whom were an oppressive lovecraftian horror. This lead to a "All or not" type mentality, but this cycle is different. We're different. We're a bunch of species working together for a common goal. Not an empire like I strongly suspect other cycles were in the past. Our AI even reflects this. It *has* empathy and understanding.
I actually wrote out a whole alternative ending in my mind where you used various actions of your past to convince the god child that he was wrong. The god child admitted more data was needed and that he would be watching...At that point you heard the words "Assuming direct control" and Harbinger was attempting to override the god child's control. This lead to a nifty fight scene where you had enemies incoming from all sides, the god child in your omni-tool granting you special armor and weapons (Coincidentally just like the armor and weapons you had before) and had to destroy three data nodes before Harbinger managed to take over. The fleet would be ordered to focus all their attacks on Harbinger and your war assets determind how long before he was destroyed. The data nodes slowly filled up and if one reached 100%? Game over. However if you destroyed one he had to start all over with the second. With low war assets you would have to wait til the data node was something like 90% filled before destroying it, thus making Harbinger waste his time with that one. If all three are destroyed quickly you might end up losing because he'd begin a slower but unstoppable take over process, and if he did it before destroyed? Game over.
At the end of all this you were given one final choice. Let the god child back into the citadel from your omni-tool or destroy your omni-tool and destroy the god child, setting the Reavers free but keeping you safe from the god child's judgement.
TL;DR: I hated the ending and rewrote it in my mind in what could be considered a fanfic like way because I get bored at work and need stuff to do.
I rather enjoyed the first one, despite its flaws. It had this sort of space-opera/hard sci-fi aesthetic that was rather uncommon amongst RPG, and while it wore its influences on its sleeve, it never felt generic or trite.
Then the second game came along and threw all that in the rubbish. It became a dull, generic, "dark and gritty" sci-fi action game, with Shepard going from a skilled-yet-believable soldier into some meatheaded, one-liner-spouting action hero whose role as Space Jesus was so blatant as to be laughable. And it was all so juvenile...so dudebro...compare how female characters dressed in the first game with characters like Jack and Miranda, and you'll see what I mean.
The third entry was a monument to wretched excess and BioWare's planet-sized ego. Mass Effect 3 so desperately wanted to be taken seriously as SERIOUS PIECE OF ART THAT IS SERIOUS BUSINESS ABOUT SERIOUS ISSUES that it came off as laughably pretentious and absurd. The whole game was packed the gunwales with BioWare's awful, angst-ridden melodrama and soap opera emotioneering...how many times did we see a character NOBLY SACRIFICE HIMSELF FOR THE CAUSE, all set to sad piano music in a desperate attempt to wrench some emotion from the players' hearts? Throughout the whole dismal experience I was awaiting a scene in which a Shepard cradles the dead body of his hamster in his hands, openly weeping, screaming "WHY, GOD, WHY?" before launching himself into an oh-so-poignant soliloquy about the fragility of life, the pointless cruelty of war, followed by a despairing speech about what do our lives matter when they can be swept away like this...bloody hell, could anyone actually play ME3 with a straight face?
Playing the second and third games caused me to wonder...does BioWare even want to make games any more? It seems they would much rather be making movies...movies where you can choose the protagonist's love interest, and which features occasional pauses where you can make him or her say different, but are movies nonetheless. Their recent titles almost seem ashamed of being video games...unfortunately for them, I don't play $59.99 to watch movies.
Anyone ever try any of the DLC for ME3? I played the ME2 stuff. It was alright. But after beating ME3 I haven't sparked it up again and I have no real interest in playing it. But I'm curious what other people may have actually liked it enough to replay the game.
I was waiting to put all the DLC together before starting a replay, and then BG hit just as I was about to start, so FINALLY getting around to it now, over the long weekend (USA). Finished Leviathan, and happy I bought it despite a glaring bug I had to search online how to pass - basically, a ladder that is critical to progress that you climb down, but is stupidly buggy in letting you actually descend more than a step or two. This was reported online with many folks talking about waiting for the patch till they could pass it. Three years later, still no patch (and some of us thought that waiting for BG patches took forever!) The workaround is 'look to the sky, and KEEP trying'.
That said, the mission where it happened played like I had wanted the majority of the game to be, my small fire team vs. overwhelming reaper forces - a sky full of harvesters strafing us as we try to make progress between waves of ground troops will be a lasting vision of the series. The many one-shot deaths when strafed on ladders, no so much!
In the middle of the Reclaim Omega part now, which adds two new companions for this quest line only, like Liara in ME2. I /think/ their powers come from the online multiplayer expansions that I generally ignored, so nice to have a few new abilities to play with.
I'm not sure its quite enough to be worth replaying just to see the DLC, although it looks like you can complete the first two quite early - there is a real risk I may hit level 60 before reaching Morden, and that is basically the second story mission out the gate. The Citadel pack I am saving till just before we head into the endgame, to get maximum effect.
That said, if you ever did fancy a replay through the series for old times sake, I think they are a worthwhile addition. My main worry is game balance if I hit high levels so early in the game now - almost a New Game+, but without the bonus weapon levels. That would be less of a concern starting a new game at 1st, although you will lose essentially all ME2 cameos, and low levels are brutal with the lower skill point/level for levels 1-30. I do remember that is exactly what I did for my first play through though, and finished the game with my level in the low 40s, so might still not reach 60 by endgame, even with DLC, but will be a lot closer.
There's the Citadel DLC, for one. I imagine the development process went something like this:
BioWare Exec: We've got a problem, Bob! The ending to ME3 infuriated our fans and might have irreparably damaged the brand. We need to do everything in our power to restore consumer confidence! Writer: Maybe we could release a new ending? And my name isn't Bob, sir. BioWare Exec: Not happening! We've got our artistic integrity to maintain, after all! Writer: How about we just pander, sir? We pander harder than we've ever pandered before! BioWare Exec: Like what kind of pandering? Writer: Like having Tali sing to Shepard, sir. BioWare Exec: Bob, you're a genius! Writer: I'm not Bob, sir.
Later on...
Writer 1: This whole idea is bollocks! You can't have a light-hearted, comedic story right in the middle of a grim, bloody, genocidal war! That's like having a Bollywood-style song-and-dance number in the middle of a film about the Battle of Stalingrad! Writer 2: Hmm, you're right. But we're too far along to change things now. We'll just have to find some way of disguising our inhumanly awful writing...like drenching spoiled food in seasoning so you can't taste the rot. Writer 1: What did you have in mind? Writer 2: Are you stupid? We're BioWare! We do what we always do when we want to conceal our games' weakness...focus on romance! Writer 1: You're a genius, Bob! Writer 2: My name's not Bob, damn it! Anyway, Shepard must be able to shag everybody in this DLC...and I mean everyone...including that Prothean guy. Anyone who didn't shag Shepard in previous games must now be ready, willing, and able to shag him. Writer 1: Oh yeah, and let's include a whole bunch of nudge-nudge wink-wink references to BioWare forum memes to show fans we're listening to them! Writer 2: Way ahead of you. You know who Garrus kept talking about "calibrations" in the second game? Well, I've got about ten pages of calibration-related jokes ready to go. Writer 1: Man, this is going to be the best DLC ever!
Final observation for now is that I picked up a Shepherd that had already beaten ME1 but not yet started ME2, so jumped in at the second game. Gave this play through a different feel, without going through the whole ME1 exploration phase, starting with the darker game and more focussed gameplay. In hindsight, I am realizing that ME3 is probably the best actual /game/ in the series, especially with the DLC. I am so frustrated by the "grabby" cover system in 3 at the moment I can entirely ignore the better flexibility of configuring weapons, powers, and Intel Bonus. ME3 has the ingredients that says it should be better, but coming back fresh, ME2 is probably now my favorite replay of the series - when it was a distant 3rd on the 1st-time through. ME1 is definitely my favorite story arc, but the crazy random loot drops by the end-game turn a fun mechanic at the start of the game into a long-slog at the end game, at max money and omnigel, casually discarding items of unprecedented power while looking for a few special armors.
Karpyshyn is one of BioWare's most highly decorated writers. He was lead writer on Mass Effect 1 & 2 and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and influenced many more projects besides, Baldur's Gate games included.
He got his start as a game designer for Wizards of the Coast, and he also has written two novels for Wizards of the Coast, both published in 2001 and both set in the Forgotten Realms setting, one of them was Baldur’s Gate II: Throne of Bhaal.
Karpyshyn is one of BioWare's most highly decorated writers. He was lead writer on Mass Effect 1 & 2 and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and influenced many more projects besides, Baldur's Gate games included.
He got his start as a game designer for Wizards of the Coast, and he also has written two novels for Wizards of the Coast, both published in 2001 and both set in the Forgotten Realms setting, one of them was Baldur’s Gate II: Throne of Bhaal.
How is the Shadow Broker DLC for ME2? That is the one I've been tempted to get but I haven't pulled the trigger on any of the DLC.
It's good, but if your looking to keep Liara throughout, you'll be disappointed. The Kasumi one is better IMO. If you can get them when they are on sale it is worth it.
I thought the Liara one was better. Even though Kasumi is a permanent companion, she aint all that useful. They are both worth playing if you have some spare cash.
Shadow broker has more extended gamely than Kasumi, but I enjoyed playing the Kasumi mission more. ME2 deliberately went very grim-dark, and while the Kasumi mission is not sweetness and light, it plays a little different to the rest of the game so is a pleasant distraction.
I am also easily swayed by Shadow Broker having a 'boss fight' that has to be solved exactly the way the designers intend, using their preferred game mechanic. While unsurprisingly, all the DLC missions end in a boss fight, I felt free-est to to tackle the Kasumi one in a method of my choosing, most appropriate to my character (although it was fun playing an Engineer the first time I hit the Shadow Broker end-game, who probably did have on extra trick for that fight compared to the other classes).
All the DLC will have a small impact on ME3, so I am happy to have purchased them all to see the whole game - although from memory, as Liara is a regular cast member again in ME3, the shadow broker effect is observable only as a few extra lines in conversation, where having Kasumi survive the suicide mission can change the course of one of the side-missions in ME3 (which is true for almost every NPC who makes it past the suicide mission).
Bioware has confirmed that Mass Effect: Andromeda will be shown off at this year's E3.
“At conventions from coast to coast, we met countless people who told us stories that made us laugh, cry, and remember why we make games. We saw fantastic cosplay and even put on a fashion show full of brand-new items that we developed based on feedback from all of you,” the company said.
There's the Citadel DLC, for one. I imagine the development process went something like this:
BioWare Exec: We've got a problem, Bob! The ending to ME3 infuriated our fans and might have irreparably damaged the brand. We need to do everything in our power to restore consumer confidence! Writer: Maybe we could release a new ending? And my name isn't Bob, sir. BioWare Exec: Not happening! We've got our artistic integrity to maintain, after all! Writer: How about we just pander, sir? We pander harder than we've ever pandered before! BioWare Exec: Like what kind of pandering? Writer: Like having Tali sing to Shepard, sir. BioWare Exec: Bob, you're a genius! Writer: I'm not Bob, sir.
Later on...
Writer 1: This whole idea is bollocks! You can't have a light-hearted, comedic story right in the middle of a grim, bloody, genocidal war! That's like having a Bollywood-style song-and-dance number in the middle of a film about the Battle of Stalingrad! Writer 2: Hmm, you're right. But we're too far along to change things now. We'll just have to find some way of disguising our inhumanly awful writing...like drenching spoiled food in seasoning so you can't taste the rot. Writer 1: What did you have in mind? Writer 2: Are you stupid? We're BioWare! We do what we always do when we want to conceal our games' weakness...focus on romance! Writer 1: You're a genius, Bob! Writer 2: My name's not Bob, damn it! Anyway, Shepard must be able to shag everybody in this DLC...and I mean everyone...including that Prothean guy. Anyone who didn't shag Shepard in previous games must now be ready, willing, and able to shag him. Writer 1: Oh yeah, and let's include a whole bunch of nudge-nudge wink-wink references to BioWare forum memes to show fans we're listening to them! Writer 2: Way ahead of you. You know who Garrus kept talking about "calibrations" in the second game? Well, I've got about ten pages of calibration-related jokes ready to go. Writer 1: Man, this is going to be the best DLC ever!
Mass Effect: Andromeda lead writer Chris Schlerf announced on his Twitter Monday evening that he has officially left game developer BioWare. According to PC Gamer, Schlerf’s LinkedIn profile specified he had left the studio last September.
In my first read of the your post, I've read Beamdog instead of Bungie, due to latest team enforcements who were from Bioware. Btw, will Drew Karpyshyn continue his work ?
I saw this yesterday. Mass Effect is the game series that I'm most emotionally attached to. I've played the games and read the books many times over. I hope that Andromeda is the same *crosses fingers*
The protagonist, Ryder (named for Sally Ryder, the first American woman in space), will be a bit different from Shepard.
She is not a hero — at least not yet. BioWare Creative Director Mac Walters says that, unlike with Shepard’s story, Mass Effect: Andromeda follows the more traditional hero’s journey.
“Commander Shepard, the way I put it was, a hero (when we met them — him or her) who became a legend,” Walters told IGN. “For me, the people in Andromeda’s story are people who haven’t yet achieved hero status.”
“This is much more of a hero’s journey. What that entails is a slightly more intimate story that you want to tell. Seeing the lens through someone who is learning and growing and actually has an arc throughout the course of the story. I mean, Shepard had an arc but it was established."
“In order for someone to become a hero they need to be presented with a lot of challenges and trials and tribulations,” Walters said. “It is a darker start, and you progress for that hopeful future as you go through it.”
Comments
What I really hated was the planet scanning/mining mechanic in ME2... want big guns without the tedium pleeeease.
As for ME3, the ultimate resolutions were kinda meh, but I really enjoyed the way they wrapped up some of the other plotlines... thinking particularly of the Krogan, Quarian and Rachni threads... I actually found the Krogan wrap-up rather beautiful.
Also... Mile-Long-Fricking-Ankheg!!
*** SPOILER WARNING ***
If you saved the queen in ME1, the setup in 3 was disappointing, although not as much as spending most the game fighting Cerberus rather than Reapers.
If you chose to NOT save the Rachni queen, having the Rachni as a mandatory quest on the main plotline undermined the whole quandary of making the decision in ME1. The far-reaching impact of that decision of whether to commit genocide and be responsible for the extinction of a whole sentient species reduced to a couple of lines of dialog and a minor difference in a 'war asset' total that you never interact with again.
Really enjoyed the Krogan arc though, especially when old friends are involved. Quarian part played nicely, but was just another heavy handed replay of the underlying theme of the endgame. A lighter touch, a bit more subtlety in the handling of the Quarian leadership, and I might have been sold.
Highlights of 3 for me were probably the moments with Anderson, although that might be my tendency to play paragon. Also, just started 3 again today for first time in a year or so, after beating 2 with a Sentinel for the first time last week. Will see if my perspective changes with a different play style (still Paragon!) and all that shiny DLC I just bought...
Leviathan is pretty good.
That said, the game does like to channel you through its preferred mission path. You don't get the freedom of ME1 to essentially pick your mission order at will, and it is even more restricted than ME2, in that the main story missions must all occur in the preset sequence. There is still the traditional 3-act sequence though, and you can take as many side missions as are available in any order you choose (prior to conclusion of the act) and they feel more integral to the story than in the previous two games, so that part pays off.
The key to playing the game part of 3 is understanding the 'weapon weight' factor, which is something you will not have met yet, quitting just before you get your first chance to choose your own weapon load-out on the Normandy. (I completely screwed this up on my first play through as a soldier, taking all 5 weapons with me on every mission, as that is what soldiers do, right? Still beat the game, but barely
I am just saying, replaying it was difficult due to all the cut scenes you are forced to sit through, espically I the beginning.
I was also a firm believer in the indoctrination ending. It's sad that fans of game can write a better cliff hanger ending than the actual company.
What annoyed me most with the ending is that the story writers did not seem to understand the structure they had written. We get a chance to say a final farewell to all of the cast, before we head off to our certain doom. It would be really nice to know, IN STORY, that our doom was certain before having those scenes - I just cannot enjoy them in the current format. I either play the "we're going to beat this, see you on the other side" card, missing the chance for poignant farewells, or go with farewells that make no sense to my upbeat Paragon that has bested all challenges before him.
The writers apparently thought it was obvious that, without any specific hint, the mission was so overwhelming it should be obvious to us we were going today.
This is after the played the fake-out death at the end of the first game.
After they start the second game by *literally* *bringing* *you* *back* *from* *the* *dead*.
The second game concludes by you beating a self-proclaimed *suicide* mission, which you can actually accomplish with No Man Left Behind.
I have brought my whole squad through the final game unscathed, and seen the majority of ME2 cast triumphant as well (Mordin and Legion, sadly, paid the cost of their triumph).
Why, in or out of character, should I expect to NOT walk away from the final mission if I execute it perfectly (Power Word Reload for the win!)?
All it needed was some hint at the end of the Chronos station mission that Shepherd himself might be an integral part of the catalyst, anything to indicate that he would have to make a special sacrifice above-and-beyond, and beyond all doubt, and I could buy it. Just a hint, not a giveaway, something I could hang a willing suspension of disbelief on to roleplay the rest of the game as it is written, and I would be happy.
But they prefer to call be a dumb fan for not seeing the obvious
I'm also annoyed by the 'improved' ending where, if my and my bestie love-interest are charging to take down the final battle, facing eternity together, win or lose, suddenly I evacuate them into a galaxy that is about to be inevitably reaped, rather than taking them with me, together to the end. That is about as stupid and of character as I can imagine - that is a death sentence if I don't succeed, heartbreaking if I succeed but die at the end, and I am already labelled stupid for not buying into that story already?! This just makes no sense, I was much happier with the crazy teleport, and even that problem could be solved by letting us take that last charge together and simply putting someone else in the end scenes.
It makes the ending much better with an actual RIGHT choice and wrong choice and it isn't all doom and gloom.
...Yeah I kinda didn't like the ending either. I had two main goals throughout the story: Come back alive, don't cause mass xenocide. This was it. My only two goals. Don't kill a species (including Geth) and stay alive.
Guess what I couldn't do?
I really would have liked it if I could have proven to the evil ultra AI that its main problem was that it was thinking like its old masters, whom were an oppressive lovecraftian horror. This lead to a "All or not" type mentality, but this cycle is different. We're different. We're a bunch of species working together for a common goal. Not an empire like I strongly suspect other cycles were in the past. Our AI even reflects this. It *has* empathy and understanding.
I actually wrote out a whole alternative ending in my mind where you used various actions of your past to convince the god child that he was wrong. The god child admitted more data was needed and that he would be watching...At that point you heard the words "Assuming direct control" and Harbinger was attempting to override the god child's control. This lead to a nifty fight scene where you had enemies incoming from all sides, the god child in your omni-tool granting you special armor and weapons (Coincidentally just like the armor and weapons you had before) and had to destroy three data nodes before Harbinger managed to take over. The fleet would be ordered to focus all their attacks on Harbinger and your war assets determind how long before he was destroyed. The data nodes slowly filled up and if one reached 100%? Game over. However if you destroyed one he had to start all over with the second. With low war assets you would have to wait til the data node was something like 90% filled before destroying it, thus making Harbinger waste his time with that one. If all three are destroyed quickly you might end up losing because he'd begin a slower but unstoppable take over process, and if he did it before destroyed? Game over.
At the end of all this you were given one final choice. Let the god child back into the citadel from your omni-tool or destroy your omni-tool and destroy the god child, setting the Reavers free but keeping you safe from the god child's judgement.
TL;DR: I hated the ending and rewrote it in my mind in what could be considered a fanfic like way because I get bored at work and need stuff to do.
Then the second game came along and threw all that in the rubbish. It became a dull, generic, "dark and gritty" sci-fi action game, with Shepard going from a skilled-yet-believable soldier into some meatheaded, one-liner-spouting action hero whose role as Space Jesus was so blatant as to be laughable. And it was all so juvenile...so dudebro...compare how female characters dressed in the first game with characters like Jack and Miranda, and you'll see what I mean.
The third entry was a monument to wretched excess and BioWare's planet-sized ego. Mass Effect 3 so desperately wanted to be taken seriously as SERIOUS PIECE OF ART THAT IS SERIOUS BUSINESS ABOUT SERIOUS ISSUES that it came off as laughably pretentious and absurd. The whole game was packed the gunwales with BioWare's awful, angst-ridden melodrama and soap opera emotioneering...how many times did we see a character NOBLY SACRIFICE HIMSELF FOR THE CAUSE, all set to sad piano music in a desperate attempt to wrench some emotion from the players' hearts? Throughout the whole dismal experience I was awaiting a scene in which a Shepard cradles the dead body of his hamster in his hands, openly weeping, screaming "WHY, GOD, WHY?" before launching himself into an oh-so-poignant soliloquy about the fragility of life, the pointless cruelty of war, followed by a despairing speech about what do our lives matter when they can be swept away like this...bloody hell, could anyone actually play ME3 with a straight face?
Playing the second and third games caused me to wonder...does BioWare even want to make games any more? It seems they would much rather be making movies...movies where you can choose the protagonist's love interest, and which features occasional pauses where you can make him or her say different, but are movies nonetheless. Their recent titles almost seem ashamed of being video games...unfortunately for them, I don't play $59.99 to watch movies.
That said, the mission where it happened played like I had wanted the majority of the game to be, my small fire team vs. overwhelming reaper forces - a sky full of harvesters strafing us as we try to make progress between waves of ground troops will be a lasting vision of the series. The many one-shot deaths when strafed on ladders, no so much!
In the middle of the Reclaim Omega part now, which adds two new companions for this quest line only, like Liara in ME2. I /think/ their powers come from the online multiplayer expansions that I generally ignored, so nice to have a few new abilities to play with.
I'm not sure its quite enough to be worth replaying just to see the DLC, although it looks like you can complete the first two quite early - there is a real risk I may hit level 60 before reaching Morden, and that is basically the second story mission out the gate. The Citadel pack I am saving till just before we head into the endgame, to get maximum effect.
That said, if you ever did fancy a replay through the series for old times sake, I think they are a worthwhile addition. My main worry is game balance if I hit high levels so early in the game now - almost a New Game+, but without the bonus weapon levels. That would be less of a concern starting a new game at 1st, although you will lose essentially all ME2 cameos, and low levels are brutal with the lower skill point/level for levels 1-30. I do remember that is exactly what I did for my first play through though, and finished the game with my level in the low 40s, so might still not reach 60 by endgame, even with DLC, but will be a lot closer.
BioWare Exec: We've got a problem, Bob! The ending to ME3 infuriated our fans and might have irreparably damaged the brand. We need to do everything in our power to restore consumer confidence!
Writer: Maybe we could release a new ending? And my name isn't Bob, sir.
BioWare Exec: Not happening! We've got our artistic integrity to maintain, after all!
Writer: How about we just pander, sir? We pander harder than we've ever pandered before!
BioWare Exec: Like what kind of pandering?
Writer: Like having Tali sing to Shepard, sir.
BioWare Exec: Bob, you're a genius!
Writer: I'm not Bob, sir.
Later on...
Writer 1: This whole idea is bollocks! You can't have a light-hearted, comedic story right in the middle of a grim, bloody, genocidal war! That's like having a Bollywood-style song-and-dance number in the middle of a film about the Battle of Stalingrad!
Writer 2: Hmm, you're right. But we're too far along to change things now. We'll just have to find some way of disguising our inhumanly awful writing...like drenching spoiled food in seasoning so you can't taste the rot.
Writer 1: What did you have in mind?
Writer 2: Are you stupid? We're BioWare! We do what we always do when we want to conceal our games' weakness...focus on romance!
Writer 1: You're a genius, Bob!
Writer 2: My name's not Bob, damn it! Anyway, Shepard must be able to shag everybody in this DLC...and I mean everyone...including that Prothean guy. Anyone who didn't shag Shepard in previous games must now be ready, willing, and able to shag him.
Writer 1: Oh yeah, and let's include a whole bunch of nudge-nudge wink-wink references to BioWare forum memes to show fans we're listening to them!
Writer 2: Way ahead of you. You know who Garrus kept talking about "calibrations" in the second game? Well, I've got about ten pages of calibration-related jokes ready to go.
Writer 1: Man, this is going to be the best DLC ever!
Karpyshyn is one of BioWare's most highly decorated writers. He was lead writer on Mass Effect 1 & 2 and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and influenced many more projects besides, Baldur's Gate games included.
He got his start as a game designer for Wizards of the Coast, and he also has written two novels for Wizards of the Coast, both published in 2001 and both set in the Forgotten Realms setting, one of them was Baldur’s Gate II: Throne of Bhaal.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-09-21-decorated-writer-drew-karpyshyn-returns-to-bioware
However, stating he wrote a baldur's gate novel isn't really praise. It's good, but if your looking to keep Liara throughout, you'll be disappointed. The Kasumi one is better IMO. If you can get them when they are on sale it is worth it.
I am also easily swayed by Shadow Broker having a 'boss fight' that has to be solved exactly the way the designers intend, using their preferred game mechanic. While unsurprisingly, all the DLC missions end in a boss fight, I felt free-est to to tackle the Kasumi one in a method of my choosing, most appropriate to my character (although it was fun playing an Engineer the first time I hit the Shadow Broker end-game, who probably did have on extra trick for that fight compared to the other classes).
All the DLC will have a small impact on ME3, so I am happy to have purchased them all to see the whole game - although from memory, as Liara is a regular cast member again in ME3, the shadow broker effect is observable only as a few extra lines in conversation, where having Kasumi survive the suicide mission can change the course of one of the side-missions in ME3 (which is true for almost every NPC who makes it past the suicide mission).
“At conventions from coast to coast, we met countless people who told us stories that made us laugh, cry, and remember why we make games. We saw fantastic cosplay and even put on a fashion show full of brand-new items that we developed based on feedback from all of you,” the company said.
http://gamingbolt.com/mass-effect-andromeda-to-be-shown-at-e3-confirms-bioware
http://bytebsu.com/lead-writer-for-mass-effect-andromeda-leaves-bioware/
Schlerf has announced he will join Bungie, the game developer behind Destiny.
"The Great Exodus?"
Btw, will Drew Karpyshyn continue his work ?
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/mass-effect-andromeda-delayed-to-2017-ea-exec-sugg/1100-6435254/
http://masseffect-universe.com/news/skrinshoty_mass_effect_andromeda_na_gdx_edmonton_2016/2016-05-08-1250
She is not a hero — at least not yet. BioWare Creative Director Mac Walters says that, unlike with Shepard’s story, Mass Effect: Andromeda follows the more traditional hero’s journey.
“Commander Shepard, the way I put it was, a hero (when we met them — him or her) who became a legend,” Walters told IGN. “For me, the people in Andromeda’s story are people who haven’t yet achieved hero status.”
“This is much more of a hero’s journey. What that entails is a slightly more intimate story that you want to tell. Seeing the lens through someone who is learning and growing and actually has an arc throughout the course of the story. I mean, Shepard had an arc but it was established."
“In order for someone to become a hero they need to be presented with a lot of challenges and trials and tribulations,” Walters said. “It is a darker start, and you progress for that hopeful future as you go through it.”
http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/06/14/e3-2016-how-mass-effect-andromedaas-ryder-is-different-from-shepard