Any advice for a new Mass Effect player.

[GearSolidMetal]

Neither, I figured I am playing a soldier class, and I'm romancing the blue girl Liara Ashley was expendable.
I only used Kaiden on a couple missions.
I don't really know what he is good at.

Interesting reasoning.

 

[Your Salad]

Interesting reasoning.

I have no knowledge of the lore or the ethics regarding this game.
I started to really enjoy RPGs relatively recently as my fast twitch reflexes have faded and live service fps games have become the norm.
Lately I'm just down with playing within a story driven world that allows me to interact with it and see how my choices affect the outcomes.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

I have no knowledge of the lore or the ethics regarding this game.
I started to really enjoy RPGs relatively recently as my fast twitch reflexes have faded and live service fps games have become the norm.
Lately I'm just down with playing within a story driven world that allows me to interact with it and see how my choices affect the outcomes.

Ethics? Its your choices, and they're neither right or wrong, and in many cases, good or evil.

The 'renegade' choices are more blunt and brutal means to achieve a possible 'good' outcome, in the eyes of the player.

 

[Your Salad]

Ethics? Its your choices, and they're neither right or wrong, and in many cases, good or evil.

The 'renegade' choices are more blunt and brutal means to achieve a possible 'good' outcome, in the eyes of the player.

I didn't word that properly.
I guess what I was trying to say is the game has been out a long time and I'm sure lots of people have strong opinions on the best way to do a play through.
Sort of like an accepted cannon in the community?
Based on the number of mods available to download it seems like the fandom is pretty serious.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

I didn't word that properly.
I guess what I was trying to say is the game has been out a long time and I'm sure lots of people have strong opinions on the best way to do a play through.
Sort of like an accepted cannon in the community?
Based on the number of mods available to download it seems like the fandom is pretty serious.

Hmmmm.... accepted cannon.... well I've played through the trilogy many times over at this point, and I'd say Ashley is one of the more deep characters that has been misjudged as a 'space racist.'



This is a short video, and the references to ME2&3 will be quickly forgotten if you watch it. There's a 3 hour 48 minute YouTube video deepdive character analysis about her.

I saw a very surprising statistic that a HUGE portion of ME1 players made the same choice you did, Kaiden over Ashley, like 70+%. She is, to this day, one of the least popular squadmates.

So... am I wrong? Or the majority of the the ME fanbase? That's an interesting debate but no one is 'wrong,' and everyone has their own perspective. That's one of the most interesting things about the ME series & community.


By the way, I haven't mentioned the choice about the council... mainly because unfortunately that choice has little to no 'mass effect' on the future games. A huge missed opportunity for sure.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

By the way, this is Ashley's VO -

 

[Your Salad]

By the way, this is Ashley's VO -

Hmmmm.... accepted cannon.... well I've played through the trilogy many times over at this point, and I'd say Ashley is one of the more deep characters that has been misjudged as a 'space racist.'



This is a short video, and the references to ME2&3 will be quickly forgotten if you watch it. There's a 3 hour 48 minute YouTube video deepdive character analysis about her.

I saw a very surprising statistic that a HUGE portion of ME1 players made the same choice you did, Kaiden over Ashley, like 70+%. She is, to this day, one of the least popular squadmates.

So... am I wrong? Or the majority of the the ME fanbase? That's an interesting debate but no one is 'wrong,' and everyone has their own perspective. That's one of the most interesting things about the ME series & community.


By the way, I haven't mentioned the choice about the council... mainly because unfortunately that choice has little to no 'mass effect' on the future games. A huge missed opportunity for sure.

Even though my choices put me as paragon Shepherd I didn't really care about Ashley's seemingly space racist views. Her feelings seem pretty justified imo. I would have banged and saved if Liara didn't show up.
Bummer about the saving the Counsel choice. I felt like getting my guy a seat would be important later.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

Her feelings seem pretty justified imo.

Very much so, as you'll see in ME2, and especially in ME3.

Bummer about the saving the Counsel choice. I felt like getting my guy a seat would be important later.

In ME2 its mentioned twice if you saved the council, or didn't, and there's zero consequences.

And it was one of the biggest disappointments about the beginning of ME3 that regardless if you saved the council, or didn't... there they are in ME3.

Since you saved the council in ME1, they're notoriously ungrateful for your decision & sacrifice of many human lives, as if they're entitled to survive. I'd say that's a commentary of politicians with superiority complexes, regardless of alien races.

 

[Your Salad]

Since you saved the council in ME1, they're notoriously ungrateful for your decision & sacrifice of many human lives, as if they're entitled to survive. I'd say that's a commentary of politicians with superiority complexes, regardless of alien races.

Yeah, definitely a bunch of cunts.

I'd like to fire up part 2 today but it's going to take hours downloading and installing mods.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

I'd like to fire up part 2 today but it's going to take hours downloading and installing mods.

You're going to have a blast playing ME2 for the first time.

I'd say its the most improved sequel ever.

Out of curiosity, what kind of mods?

 

[Hyperglide]

Blue pussy is the best pussy.

Worth saying three times.
Twice wouldn't give blue pussy justice.

Just not blue waffle..

 

[blaseblase]

Hmmmm.... accepted cannon.... well I've played through the trilogy many times over at this point, and I'd say Ashley is one of the more deep characters that has been misjudged as a 'space racist.'



This is a short video, and the references to ME2&3 will be quickly forgotten if you watch it. There's a 3 hour 48 minute YouTube video deepdive character analysis about her.

I saw a very surprising statistic that a HUGE portion of ME1 players made the same choice you did, Kaiden over Ashley, like 70+%. She is, to this day, one of the least popular squadmates.

So... am I wrong? Or the majority of the the ME fanbase? That's an interesting debate but no one is 'wrong,' and everyone has their own perspective. That's one of the most interesting things about the ME series & community.


By the way, I haven't mentioned the choice about the council... mainly because unfortunately that choice has little to no 'mass effect' on the future games. A huge missed opportunity for sure.

Personally I found Ashley starting off as a bit xenophobic added to her character. Kaiden never really did anything for me. Maybe he evolves in the sequels like Garrus does.


Plus I wanted to bang her.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

Personally I found Ashley starting off as a bit xenophobic added to her character. Kaiden never really did anything for me. Maybe he evolves in the sequels like Garrus does.


Plus I wanted to bang her.

Yeah, he 'evolves' in the sequels, if you wanted to bang him.


With alien races in SciFi and Gnomes & Elves in fantasy they're symbolic of completely different races & cultures on Earth. Hundreds or Thousands of years ago, and even today in most areas of the world there's not any nuanced/modern views of others that look different than us.

Many races attacked other races on sight because they were viewed as invaders, and they were, and that's why we only remember the explorers that were both successful & survived because most dissapeared without a trace.

And even the races that learned to intermingle and share a culture still had friction & conflict, usually based on racial superiority.

SciFi and Fantasy are interesting allegories for real-life conflicts.

 

[Your Salad]

You're going to have a blast playing ME2 for the first time.

I'd say its the most improved sequel ever.

Out of curiosity, what kind of mods?

Im looking forward to getting it going.

I was mostly looking for quality of life improvements and bug fixes.
I figured the game would have good mod support because of its age but as someone who barely dabbles in the mod scene I quickly became overwhelmed with the quantity and diversity of my options.
Because I haven't played the game I didn't know what was considered broken, so wasn't sure what to fix or improve.
I read a lot of people's opinions and there's definitely a consensus on lots of stuff.
Somebody built a batch installer and compiled a list that includes many of the ones that kept coming up in my investigation. They are compatible with each other and downloaded from nexusmods.

Modding Guide and Mod Collection for Mass Effect Legendary Edition

A complete mod list and mod installation guide for Mass Effect Legendary Edition.For easier use - it now comes with Mod Install Groups compatible with Batch Mod Installer.

www.nexusmods.com

 

[method115]

Yeah, he 'evolves' in the sequels, if you wanted to bang him.

When I replayed the games a while back I went hard and tried to do everything and talk to everyone and just get as much as I could of the lore. It was so disappointing when the bromance I thought me and Kaiden had turned into him trying to fuck me. Must be how a hot girl feels when the guy she thinks is her friend is just another dude who wants to fuck her.

 

[Your Salad]

When I replayed the games a while back I went hard and tried to do everything and talk to everyone and just get as much as I could of the lore. It was so disappointing when the bromance I thought me and Kaiden had turned into him trying to fuck me. Must be how a hot girl feels when the guy she thinks is her friend is just another dude who wants to fuck her.

Poor guy got friendzoned by you.

Tbf, on your behalf he seems troubled and his experience getting implants and being experimented on.


Wouldn't bang.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

Im looking forward to getting it going.

I was mostly looking for quality of life improvements and bug fixes.
I figured the game would have good mod support because of its age but as someone who barely dabbles in the mod scene I quickly became overwhelmed with the quantity and diversity of my options.
Because I haven't played the game I didn't know what was considered broken, so wasn't sure what to fix or improve.
I read a lot of people's opinions and there's definitely a consensus on lots of stuff.
Somebody built a batch installer and compiled a list that includes many of the ones that kept coming up in my investigation. They are compatible with each other and downloaded from nexusmods.

Modding Guide and Mod Collection for Mass Effect Legendary Edition

A complete mod list and mod installation guide for Mass Effect Legendary Edition.For easier use - it now comes with Mod Install Groups compatible with Batch Mod Installer.

www.nexusmods.com

I watched about half that mod video, and I would say that most of the 'improvements' in those mods would only be truly appreciated if you play through the vanilla games first.

Can't say I've ever thought while playing a ME game "This would be so much better if there were more NPC standing and walking around."

That said, some of those combat mods look to be improvements, but its tricky to guage just based off a quick-cut YouTube video with voice-over saying 'this is so cool!'

But a mod simplifying planet scanning for resources would be a mod I'd recommend for ME2 for the first time through. That's easily the most tedius aspect of the game because you need to do alot of resource gathering to get the best endings in the game, and it can literally take hours.

 

[Your Salad]

I watched about half that mod video, and I would say that most of the 'improvements' in those mods would only be truly appreciated if you play through the vanilla games first.

Can't say I've ever thought while playing a ME game "This would be so much better if there were more NPC standing and walking around."

That said, some of those combat mods look to be improvements, but its tricky to guage just based off a quick-cut YouTube video with voice-over saying 'this is so cool!'

But a mod simplifying planet scanning for resources would be a mod I'd recommend for ME2 for the first time through. That's easily the most tedius aspect of the game because you need to do alot of resource gathering to get the best endings in the game, and it can literally take hours.

I know, it's a bit extra.
I figure I don't really need to play 800 mini games to lockpick weapon crates to get the real ME game.
Like I said before I didn't know what was 'broken' in the game until I started looking at the posts and videos of people who clearly love it and want to make it a bit more fun and feel a little more contemporary.
The cosmetic stuff isn't for me and I chose not to install them, but if I can have a few more npcs walking around or whatever in the Citadel sure why not.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

I figure I don't really need to play 800 mini games to lockpick weapon crates to get the real ME game.

OH... yeah get a mod that removes that shit from ME2. Its been a while since I played it, and it killed the pacing for so many missions.

I'd say ME2 is damn near a perfect game, but removing -
*Planet Scanning for resources.
*Lock-pick mini-games.
- would make it to as perfect of a game, ever.

The cosmetic stuff isn't for me and I chose not to install them, but if I can have a few more npcs walking around or whatever in the Citadel sure why not.

Yeah, but most of the mods in that video were those types of mods.

Even the combat mods looked to have little value.
-'Oh you can dive to the side like in Max Payne.'
Yeah, but does the enemy AI been properly reprogrammed to shoot at you while doing that, or does it just replace the animation of walking to the side with something more fancy and looks great in a YouTube video?

Don't get me wrong, I love the concept of mods and would love to play some if they were available on consoles, but just like so much user-generated content, 98% of them are crap, or not properly implimented but look cool.

Most of the time, the developers Q&A testing does their jobs well, and mods add in things that cool/sound cool and were tried in Q&A development but didn't work out so they were completely removed.

THAT SAID, if there's a curation source, like a forum with dozens or hundreds of gamers that have tested and reviewed mods and give their recommendation, by all means go with their recommendation.

 

[Your Salad]

The mods on the video are mostly cosmetic because that looks flashy and cool for clicks but if you look at the lists he put together there are tons more of the little fixes.