Mass Effect LegendGary Edition

[bgmnts]

Some of the dialogue choices were too ambiguous, for example I didn't think saying I will go ahead with Geth based activities would trigger Tali to jump off a cliff.

Ha! My first ever run I got Wrex killed on Virmire and just assumed that was part of the story, and played through 2 and 3 with Urdnot Wreav.

[Inspector Norse]

Think on my first run way back in the day, I got him killed too, then started ME2 and edited my Shepard's face with the result that all my choices got reset to "canon" and Wrex popped up again.

[The Culture Bunker]

Aye, I did get the Legendary edition eventually and played through it all again. Quite glad I did - got the Platinum trophies for all three too. Found I made the same decisions as before, but it was fun to see the characters once more: Shepherd and Garrus may be one of my, if not the, favourite video game friendships.

[Inspector Norse]

Yeah like I said, it's definitely the characters that make the game for me. Mainly the alien ones: some of the human ones are pretty dull. The actual gameplay/combat is largely fairly routine and the least interesting part of them.
Probably the most memorable characters in any game I've played, perhaps because you see them grow and develop over the series.  Sure I'll do another playthrough at some point and make different decisions to see how that affects the gameworld, though don't think I could bring myself to kill off my favourites. Hope they find a way to build on that in the new one, and learn from the failures of Andromeda... but that's probably overoptimistic.

[bgmnts]

Did you save Ashley or Kaidan first time round?

[Mister Six]

Ashley, because she was fit.

[oggyraiding]

She's racist though so that nullifies her fitness.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Kaidan because I was trying to cop off with him but I dropped him in the second one as soon as I found out you could shag Garrus

[Vodkafone]

Aye, I did get the Legendary edition eventually and played through it all again. Quite glad I did - got the Platinum trophies for all three too. Found I made the same decisions as before, but it was fun to see the characters once more: Shepherd and Garrus may be one of my, if not the, favourite video game friendships.

Yes! Good old Garrus. Dependable Garrus. I became really attached to him. Sure, I would use the other crew members for various missions, but when things were fucked, when I needed someone I could absolutely depend on, it was Garrus every time. Legend Garrus.

[Mister Six]

She's racist though so that nullifies her fitness.

You'd think so, but no.

I never finished the Mass Effect. Some cunt nicked my copy of 2, mixing my planned replay, and by the time I was in a position to replace it, everyone was slagging off 3 so I sacked it off entirely.

To be honest, it was losing me with 2 anyway. Tying plot progression to picking up the characters was a dumb idea because it meant you spent almost no time at all with the later crew, and the story itself felt so thin. Also, Shepherd suddenly working for the guys who'd been consistently painted as psychos and cunts throughout the first game made no sense at all.

Shame. A lot of the basic ideas in the series are great. Wish someone would do a great telly version of this rather than The Last of Us - remake something with promise that was fucked up in the execution rather than something that was fine to begin with.

[Mister Six]

Yes! Good old Garrus. Dependable Garrus.

Legend Ga--

Legend Garrus.

Ah, fuck.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Haven't got round to playing this yet, but it's on the shelf, awaiting me. I'm such a goon I even booted up my old 360 and wrote down my character code from Mass Effect 3 so I can play the Legendary Edition with the same looking character (hopefully).

[Inspector Norse]

I saved Ashley both when I played it for the first time a decade ago and when I played it again now. Ashley does learn the error of her ways if you let her live, so my Shepard had no qualms about getting into bed with her in the end.
Dropped her for Tali in the second game mind.

To be honest, it was losing me with 2 anyway. Tying plot progression to picking up the characters was a dumb idea because it meant you spent almost no time at all with the later crew, and the story itself felt so thin. Also, Shepherd suddenly working for the guys who'd been consistently painted as psychos and cunts throughout the first game made no sense at all.

The whole Cerberus thing was pretty unconvincing but there's loads of other stuff to do in the game and what makes it quite fun I found now is that you can do other missions and (the pretty extensive) DLC after the ostensible ending, so you do get to spend time with and get to know the characters even if you've only picked them up right before the final mission. Convince yourself that Shepard is just taking advantage of Cerberus rather than actively working with them, and you'll have a blast with the game.
The third has its failures too, mainly the ending and the crap generic assassin baddie who pops up, but like the others the journey and the joy of it far outweigh the downside.

[oggyraiding]

I liked how Cerberus were portrayed in 2, bad people doing bad things for what they ultimately believe is the greater good. Somewhat pragmatic.

Then in 3 Martin Sheen becomes a comic book bad guy total bastard and it was well shit.

[bgmnts]

Well in the first game Cerberus were doing really really fucked up shit weren't they? I think if you missed those little side quests in the first game you would probably get a different idea of Cerberus in the second.

[Inspector Norse]

Well in the first game Cerberus were doing really really fucked up shit weren't they?

Mainly involving building boxy bases in the middle of nowhere on backwater planets, filling them with unopened crates and staffing them with half a dozen mercs.

To be fair the games are clear from the outset that the galactic powers are actually pretty ineffectual and that there are a lot of areas that are unexplored and lawless, so some sprawling organisation like Cerberus can believably have the cash and the power to do what they like. The Illusive Man is basically an interstellar Rupert Murdoch or something, people like boring Jacob could believably work for them and pretend they didn't know about the bad stuff.

I'm such a goon I even booted up my old 360 and wrote down my character code from Mass Effect 3 so I can play the Legendary Edition with the same looking character (hopefully).

It's been frustrating me that I can't remember some stuff from my prior playthrough a decade ago (for example I remember that Thane died in my suicide mission, but the fate of some other characters is a blank to me), but while I still have the 360 I think all the old game discs went to the charity shop in our last attic clearout, and the game data doesn't carry over in the cloud.

[bgmnts]

That's true, I remember they were doing weird shit with the Thorin at one point, but yeah the limitations of the first game can be seen. I wish they remade the game and added some more exploration stuff but with actual interesting stuff in. Even if it was just a dozen planets.

Who did we all try to pump first playthrough round? I never played FemShep so might try that my next playthrough but I think it was Liara all the way with Tali as my side piece in 2, as my Shep was a goody goody. Think I'd shag Garrus if I replayed through.

But Garrus is such good sidekick best mate material isn't he? Would be tough.

[Inspector Norse]

Think in my first go-round back in the day I wavered between Ashley and Liara in the first, then went with Jack in the second, then in the third when she wasn't in it so much I tried crawling back to Liara but she might not have gone for it. Can't remember fully.
This time it was Ashley then Tali, the Tali storyline felt much stronger given how it ties into the character's own development from shy nerd hero-worshipping Shepard into determined independent, with the strong backstory of her race's exile and the morally murky war with the geth, was pretty well done. Ashley was boring when she came back.

Might have a go as a woman Shepard at some point but have you done the bit in the DLC where you try to help Garrus on the dating scene at the casino? The guy is lost when dealing with anything he can't shoot or calibrate.

I read somewhere you can even cop off with Javik if you get to that point and haven't committed to anyone else. Seems like one of those bits where the game pokes fun at itself and the "dating sim" aspect.

[bgmnts]

Yeah Garrus is a div and they hook him up with Tali by the end of the third anyway so I reckon it's have to be Kaiden or Jacob and then that buff dude I can't even remember the name of.

Would be nice if you could have romances Wrex!

[Mister Six]

Imagine the pillow talk.

"Shepard."

"Wrex."

Scintillating!

[Inspector Norse]

That's true, I remember they were doing weird shit with the Thorin at one point,

Wasn't that some other dodgy corporation? The one messing with the Rachni was a corporation backed by Saren as I remember. Quite a bit of that anti-capitalist sentiment in the games... then they sold out to EA.

I wish they remade the game and added some more exploration stuff but with actual interesting stuff in. Even if it was just a dozen planets.

That's essentially what they tried to do with Andromeda, just they got it wrong and made the planets too big with too few interesting things, just a load of space pirates and fetch quests. There's definitely room for that, a Mass Effect game still based around characters and plotting but with more expansive environments rather than boxed-in A-to-B shooting galleries. Wonder if the new game will go that way.

Yeah Garrus is a div and they hook him up with Tali by the end of the third anyway so I reckon it's have to be Kaiden or Jacob and then that buff dude I can't even remember the name of.

James. He tried to give me a nickname at the start and I shut him right down and basically ignored him after that.
Jacob seems to be the character everyone hates but I think he was OK. He came across dull but maybe he just didn't click with the others on the ship so decided to be professional and get his job done without feeling the need to make small talk. He didn't seem like a bad dude. Probably had friends and a life outside. Maybe a hobby.
Think a woman can hook up with Liara? Or possibly Thane if you like them scaly and slimy and haunted.

[Jerzy Bondov]

If you don't romance Garrus you don't get to ask Mordin if he has any tips for shagging a space dinosaur. My goal as a captain is to make my crew uncomfortable by asking them sex questions.

[beanheadmcginty]

Shame you can't fuck any of those little grumpy molemen.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Yeah or those big lads on four legs with the wrinkly faces

[oggyraiding]

Thane was a good husband, his death in 3 very needless.

[Inspector Norse]

Yeah or those big lads on four legs with the wrinkly faces

[bgmnts]

My favourite recurring joke that was the cliché renegade cop show advertised but the lead actor was one of those jellyfish prothean worshippers.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

How would you even have sex with Garrus anyway? I presume he'd just rub his cloaca on you.

[Father Bananas]

How would you even have sex with Garrus anyway? I presume he'd just rub his cloaca on you.

Cloacas pucker up to kiss.

Although, if turians evolved directly from basal avian forms, Garrus might have a great big corkscrew knob like a ducks. In which case he'd just pop you like a nice malbec.

[Inspector Norse]

Shame you can't fuck any of those little grumpy molemen.

Been googling to see if there's any official picture of what they look like without their spacesuits on. Seems not but I saw a comment that just said "Frank Reynolds" and now I think that's my definitive image of them