Mass Effect General Thread

[Ensok]

I probably like Jacob more than most people. I appreciate his role as the normal guy in the cast, I like characters like that and just wish you could actually talk about his past and his work with Cerberus more. But his loyalty mission is one of my favorites too. He's hardly the best crewmate or my favorite but I actually enjoy having him around unlike James. I think Jacob is an underrated character, but he's very fun and easy to hate. The whole cheating thing is so out of character it makes me far more annoyed at the writer than Jacob himself. Who the fuck would romance Jacob in the first place though?

Also I might as well be the first one to bring up our good friend Kai Leng. When I first played 3 and read that letter he sends you after Thessia I actually laughed, it was so over the top tryhard bullshit. Kai Leng was such a fucking conundrum to me. I had heard so much about him and how awful he is but then I played the game and realized that while yes he truly is that terrible he also barely appears in the game at all. He's such a non-entity it's insane. I thought he had a bigger role.

 

[Breadquanda.]

The biggest issue to me was the way they handled the AI question. AI is seen as a danger by the Council races (for a good reason) and yet in ME:A the AI is at the core of each Ark and the Pathfinder (and his/her crew) have an AI implant in their heads. It's so fucked up. There's a quest related to the AI and at no point you are allowed to question its presence or ask to shut it down.
This also goes against what was established in ME2 (the Arks left during ME2) where EDI was the only AI and was kept secret.

I suppose their stupid agenda with this, assuming they had one that wasn't just generic 'anti-hate vibes', was to establish some kind of message that taboos are eliminated through necessity, when people are put in tough situations with no other options and with technological growth and science. This is, of course, ridiculous as it completely ignores the unified backgrounds of all of these people rejecting AI and the actual legitimacy of this restriction to a point that it actually ends up kind of working against them.

Yep. The writers thought that it was funny to teach male krogans social interactions via in-universe pop-culture.

It also kind of amazes me how they attempt to frame it all, especially the cucking, as a necessity thing based around ensuring high birthrates (easier breeding, etc.) whilst also spreading propaganda in favour of interspecies mixing despite the fact they would be unable to reproduce.

I was just coming in here to ask if Andromeda, even with all the bad reviews, was worth playing if you really loved the original Mass Effect series. Your post answers that pretty conclusively.

From the little I played, I didn't think Andromeda's combat was all that bad. Some exploration stuff is pretty cool too. You can try it if you want, but don't expect it to be more of what you love. I'm not sure if I would say it was worth it or not.

just wish you could actually talk about his past and his work with Cerberus more.

Me too. That was the worst thing about him, in my opinion. Not even after all of the revelations and interaction with his father in the loyalty mission does he ever really talk about his life: it was such major let-down after thinking that you had finally broken through his shell by helping him with all of that.

he also barely appears in the game at all. He's such a non-entity it's insane. I thought he had a bigger role.

It's so strange. I actually think his armour and weapons, etc. are pretty cool, but he is such a weird character otherwise. Quite funny that they (almost certainly unintentionally) made this Chinese character have a huge inferiority complex and it reminds me of that 'century of humiliation' thing the Chinese are so obsessed with avenging at times.

 

[Rockzo]

Instead we got this:

And if anything, Bioware has only gotten worse.

 

[augment]

I was just coming in here to ask if Andromeda, even with all the bad reviews, was worth playing if you really loved the original Mass Effect series. Your post answers that pretty conclusively.

The story and its characters are a travesty, but the combat is "polished" from what was left from ME3. It's not the worst game in the world but holy shit was it a disappointment when it came out. You still have some fun characters to interact with like Vetra and Drack but just about everything else is bland, rounded off, forgettable and pointless; none of your choices fucking matter. There's a quirky outgoing asari called Peebee, who is "reverse Liara" in that she views social interactions as distinctly blase. Her loyalty mission has you helping her retrieve an artifact that her ex-girlfriend is also attempting to retake and your renegade interrupt is to shoot her off a cliff. Peebee's dialogue afterwards? "Oh really? well shit happens. Let us grope Ryder"

 

[Deus Exica]

Incidentally, the Illusive Man is a fucking idiot in the third game.

Cerberus as a whole being the primary enemy faction makes no fucking sense at all. Their depiction across all 3 games could not be more wildly different.

The only way Cerberus should have been included was as an extension of the Paragon or renegade system. The alliance can approach you with one option, Cerberus can approach you with the more effective but more morally bankrupt option.

probably like Jacob more than most people. I appreciate his role as the normal guy in the cast

He is fine but I think he gets overshadowed pretty heavily mostly because he has a very straight laced and professional relationship with you. He never really crosses over into being anything but a fairly generic gun for hire.

Unlike Garrus, who is bro-tier or Kaiden, who is at least kind of a brooding guy who at least has some compelling experiences with his biotic implants that serves to shed some more light on the setting's space magic.

 

[Back me up!]

I was just coming in here to ask if Andromeda, even with all the bad reviews, was worth playing if you really loved the original Mass Effect series. Your post answers that pretty conclusively.

You know the funnest part about Andromeda? It really shows just how much Bioware had their heads up their ass and need EA to crack the whip to keep the designers in line (like what happen to Anthem). Over the 5+ year development cycle on ME:A apparently something like 4 of it was trying to figure out how to create randomize galaxy and actual development of ME:A was less then 18 months.

 

[Prophetic Spirit]

And actual development of ME:A was less then 18 months.

It's kind of ironic when Obsidian took 18 months to make New Vegas as a challenge and the results are a buggy mess on launch but still solid writing.

 

[Gravityqueen4life]

I like playing Vanguard. I like charging into people (especially Krogans). i l LOVE blasting people heads off with a shotgun at close range. Simple as.

 

[augment]

I had more fun playing engineer than vanguard. That little combat drone is VIP against annoying bullet sponges like larger mechs and scions.

 

[Breadquanda.]

I played sentinel because there's some fun moments in which you and Kaidan relate about being biotics and stuff. Plus, the concept of the class is fun and cool for me. Tech armour looks quite cool sometimes, as a bonus.

 

[Testacles Maximus]

The only way Cerberus should have been included was as an extension of the Paragon or renegade system. The alliance can approach you with one option, Cerberus can approach you with the more effective but more morally bankrupt option.

That’s exactly what I was expecting going into the third game, and it’s what they should have done. And our decision about the Collector base ends up being moot, because it only determines which part of the human reaper decorates the Cerberus base.

 

[Back me up!]

You know things are going to be rough for Bioware when even people from reddit are shitting on how bad Mass Effect 5 writing will be:

 

[Testacles Maximus]

You know things are going to be rough for Bioware when even people from reddit are shitting on how bad Mass Effect 5 writing will be:

View attachment 6594948

I agree with the commenters that this will end up being more well-written than whatever game we get. As much as I love Mass Effect, I don’t think it’s salvageable at this point. Andromeda was their shot, and they blew it.

 

[Breadquanda.]

You know things are going to be rough for Bioware when even people from reddit are shitting on how bad Mass Effect 5 writing will be:

View attachment 6594948

Very true. Though it is amusing how comments like this always shield their criticism of insane politicised nonsense with the idea that it is still 'too white'. I know, I know—many cringy liberals are white. It's just funny that even when criticising racial politics infesting absolutely everything, they have to proceed from the precepts of those same racial politics in order to not step over the line. It always sounds like 'diversity and inclusion' being cringy propaganda is fine, except we need more grifters of colour to be behind it instead. It is Reddit, though, so this is a pretty major break.

 

[Quintex96]

Also I might as well be the first one to bring up our good friend Kai Leng. When I first played 3 and read that letter he sends you after Thessia I actually laughed, it was so over the top tryhard bullshit. Kai Leng was such a fucking conundrum to me. I had heard so much about him and how awful he is but then I played the game and realized that while yes he truly is that terrible he also barely appears in the game at all. He's such a non-entity it's insane. I thought he had a bigger role.

Kylo Leng is fucking hilarious as he is played completely straight by the game. Everyone hypes him as some kind of badass super assassin that everyone is aware of despite never being mentioned in any of the prior games. Then you finally face him and you are hit with the fact that this clown's primary weapon is a sword in a universe where guns, shields and space magic exist.

 

[The handsome tard]

This is easily the dumbest shit I have ever read in a RPG and I have seen many things in my time, this is terminal cringe.

Also trannies would never be brought along in an expedition this important because, may I remind to those that give a shit, the Andromeda iniciate was made as a back up plan so most species in the Milky way will continue to exist on the off-chance those pesky reapers turn out to be real and eliminate all life. So the stakes are high and they would only bring over humans that prove their worth through achievements and are mentally and physically stable.

Also trannies never "sound" that female, there is always a hint of male in their voices and yet fiction always tends to portray them as having literally transformed into females perfectly like magic.

God, all my hate for Andromeda that has gone dormant is waking up.

This also goes against what was established in ME2 (the Arks left during ME2) where EDI was the only AI and was kept secret.

When they intended ME:A to be a new starting point in the franchise, I think they really were banking on a "new audience" bailing them out through loving this and not caring about previously established lore.

Sadly for them, the fates didnt smile.

 

[Franz Joseph]

Kylo Leng is fucking hilarious as he is played completely straight by the game. Everyone hypes him as some kind of badass super assassin that everyone is aware of despite never being mentioned in any of the prior games. Then you finally face him and you are hit with the fact that this clown's primary weapon is a sword in a universe where guns, shields and space magic exist.

I did a playthrough of the trilogy about a year ago and when I played the fan service Citadel DLC, one of the thoughts that ran through my head was that in hindsight they probably should have just never came up with Kai Leng and put the clone in his spot. As cliché as that would have been, it would have still been better than what we got with Kai Leng.

 

[Miller]

Also trannies would never be brought along in an expedition this important because, may I remind to those that give a shit, the Andromeda iniciate was made as a back up plan so most species in the Milky way will continue to exist on the off-chance those pesky reapers turn out to be real and eliminate all life. So the stakes are high and they would only bring over humans that prove their worth through achievements and are mentally and physically stable.

That's funny because the leader of the Andromeda Initiative was voiced by a troon.
The Initiative is the plan B if the Reapers had destroyed the galaxy so you would expect the best of the best to be on these Arks. By the time the human Ark reaches Andromeda the other Council races have started fighting each other and created merc groups, lol.

When they intended ME:A to be a new starting point in the franchise, I think they really were banking on a "new audience" bailing them out through loving this and not caring about previously established lore.

It's a real shame because they could have told an interesting story with the siblings and their father, instead they went with a remake of Halo 4.

 

[Testacles Maximus]

There's a quirky outgoing asari called Peebee,

There’s a comic strip that sums up her character nicely:

 

[Prophetic Spirit]

There’s a comic strip that sums up her character nicely:
View attachment 6596924

True as fuck. Still laughing like hell until this day.