Mass Effect Mass Effect general thread

[Stargazer]

This will likely be controversial, but why is Citadel DLC so popular? I’ve never played it, but from seeing the sheer overload of cringe marvel humour in it, I never intend to.

It doesn’t feel like a serious story at all.

The characters.

The big appeal of the Mass Effect series, (and BioWare RPGs in general) is their cast of interesting, entertaining characters that you get to know in the process of bringing them on missions and chatting with them back on the Normandy. And with the ME trilogy, many of these characters are ones you've gotten to know over multiple games. As someone who played the ME games as they originally released, they felt like characters I had literally known for years.

So Citadel is a chance to "let your hair down" with all those characters. To just have fun. You get to have one-on-one time with each of them. Then you throw a huge party and see all these characters interacting and getting up to hijinks. If the characters were a highlight of the games for you, I struggle to think why you wouldn't enjoy the opportunity to hang out with them like this. Yeah, it doesn't really cleanly fit in the story of ME3. But whatever. This is one case where messy continuity doesn't really bother me when the result was this enjoyable.

Other points: the fan inside jokes. Oh, the fan inside jokes.

"Shepard. Wrex."

"*I* should go. I *should* go."

"It just tastes like sweat. Why would you even ask that?"

The actual mission of the DLC is just fun, lightweight stuff. Again, it's nice to see your whole squad interacting. And a big plus is that it brings back fan favorite Wrex as a squad mate (if he's alive).

The arcade mode that brings back every past squad mate from ME2, as long as they're alive, is also quite fun.

And lastly, it pulls at your heartstrings as a final sendoff with these characters. I mean, if you don't feel anything in this final scene (with your preferred love interest), I gotta wonder how much you enjoy the Mass Effect games to begin with.

 

[AnimalNoodles]

The characters.

The big appeal of the Mass Effect series, (and BioWare RPGs in general) is their cast of interesting, entertaining characters that you get to know in the process of bringing them on missions and chatting with them back on the Normandy. And with the ME trilogy, many of these characters are ones you've gotten to know over multiple games. As someone who played the ME games as they originally released, they felt like characters I had literally known for years.

So Citadel is a chance to "let your hair down" with all those characters. To just have fun. You get to have one-on-one time with each of them. Then you throw a huge party and see all these characters interacting and getting up to hijinks. If the characters were a highlight of the games for you, I struggle to think why you wouldn't enjoy the opportunity to hang out with them like this. Yeah, it doesn't really cleanly fit in the story of ME3. But whatever. This is one case where messy continuity doesn't really bother me when the result was this enjoyable.

Other points: the fan inside jokes. Oh, the fan inside jokes.

"Shepard. Wrex."

"*I* should go. I *should* go."

"It just tastes like sweat. Why would you even ask that?"

The actual mission of the DLC is just fun, lightweight stuff. Again, it's nice to see your whole squad interacting. And a big plus is that it brings back fan favorite Wrex as a squad mate (if he's alive).

The arcade mode that brings back every past squad mate from ME2, as long as they're alive, is also quite fun.

And lastly, it pulls at your heartstrings as a final sendoff with these characters. I mean, if you don't feel anything in this final scene (with your preferred love interest), I gotta wonder how much you enjoy the Mass Effect games to begin with.

the best version of that scene happens if you had romanced thane

 

[Stargazer]

Also re: "cringe Marvel humor".

Citadel definitely leans more on the comedic side. It's fair to say that it knowingly gets "campy". Is that the same as "cringe Marvel humor", though? I don't know. What is "cringe Marvel humor", anyways? I'd say any humor that is tonally jarring is cringey. Marvel movies have a reputation for being a bit more light-hearted and not taking themselves too seriously, but the weaker Marvel movies have a tendency to go too far with that and force the humor, resulting the humor being tonally jarring.

I think Citadel sets out to be more lighthearted from the start, so the humor isn't so jarring in the context of the DLC itself. Also, a lot of the humor really stems naturally from all these characters. The writers know what makes these characters tick, and they really know how to mine these characters for lots of smiles and chuckles. It's not forced, it's not tonally jarring. It might be somewhat influenced by the style of humor from Marvel movies (Citadel did come out in 2013, not long after The Avengers made all the money in the world). But I really don't think it's fair to compare it to the worse examples of "cringe Marvel humor".

 

[ParadiseLost]

Also re: "cringe Marvel humor".

Citadel definitely leans more on the comedic side. It's fair to say that it knowingly gets "campy". Is that the same as "cringe Marvel humor", though? I don't know. What is "cringe Marvel humor", anyways? I'd say any humor that is tonally jarring is cringey. Marvel movies have a reputation for being a bit more light-hearted and not taking themselves too seriously, but the weaker Marvel movies have a tendency to go too far with that and force the humor, resulting the humor being tonally jarring.

I think Citadel sets out to be more lighthearted from the start, so the humor isn't so jarring in the context of the DLC itself. Also, a lot of the humor really stems naturally from all these characters. The writers know what makes these characters tick, and they really know how to mine these characters for lots of smiles and chuckles. It's not forced, it's not tonally jarring. It might be somewhat influenced by the style of humor from Marvel movies (Citadel did come out in 2013, not long after The Avengers made all the money in the world). But I really don't think it's fair to compare it to the worse examples of "cringe Marvel humor".

I'd also argue that Marvel didn't really become synonymous with humor until Guardians of the Galaxy.

The humor was still present, but more subdued before that movie.

 

[Lord Sovereign]

So, a new teaser for whatever BioWare is working on next dropped yesterday.



I have to say that I’m interested. If what I’m thinking they’re up to is correct, this looks like an almost “Wild West” like setting which would make perfect sense for a Post Reaper War Galaxy. It is in lawless chaos that the lone, wandering gunslinger (the yank version of a Knight Errant) comes to the fore after all, and that is the impression I’m getting from the figure we see here.

 

[Captain X]

I've been too burned to care about anything new they make, unless it's somehow the old team that did the first one coming back.

 

[evilchumlee]

I honestly really enjoyed Andromeda. It wasn't what I was expecting, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I'm sad i'm apparently the only one.

 

[bullethead]

I honestly really enjoyed Andromeda. It wasn't what I was expecting, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I'm sad i'm apparently the only one.

The gameplay was fine, the problem was that everything else was pretty much first draft/iteration, because aside from some assets, it was all slapped together in 12-18 months.

 

[ParadiseLost]

I've been too burned to care about anything new they make, unless it's somehow the old team that did the first one coming back.

They fired most of the old guard recently.

I'm not sure why anyone would have any faith in Bioware.

Maybe if they manage to really blow things out of the water with Dreadwolf, but until then I'd maintain heavy skepticism.

 

[evilchumlee]

The gameplay was fine, the problem was that everything else was pretty much first draft/iteration, because aside from some assets, it was all slapped together in 12-18 months.

I really didn't have any issue with the game itself at all. Gameplay, story, graphics* were fine.

*yeah there were a few bugs here and there but I think the issue was MASSIVELY overblown

The only real issue I had with Andromeda was that it just wasn't... what it was advertising itself to be. It was put out there as a game where you will be the first go explore Andromeda, contact new life, etc. Basically be the first to do everything. The game hits and... that's an absolute lie, you're dropped into a situation where you very much the last person to be out exploring after everyone else already HAD and established colonies.

The only other minor nag I had which isn't REALLY the games fault is that the ending is a bit cliffhangerish... clearly intended to be followed up with a sequel that never happened.

 

[The Whispering Monk]

So I just DL'd ME Legendary on Steam because it was so heavily discounted.

What type of character should I use in my play through?

 

[Spartan303]

So I just DL'd ME Legendary on Steam because it was so heavily discounted.

What type of character should I use in my play through?

Male, soldier, Paragon, Earthborn, war hero.

Thats what I use.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Male, soldier, Paragon, Earthborn, war hero.

Thats what I use.

That almost sounds like the default... which is understandable if you haven't played it in a while. I think in my three game playthrough ages ago it was something pretty similar. It might've been identical.

 

[Spartan303]

That almost sounds like the default... which is understandable if you haven't played it in a while. I think in my three game playthrough ages ago it was something pretty similar. It might've been identical.

I've never played a Biotic character.

 

[The Whispering Monk]

I've never played a Biotic character.

When I played on the ol' XBox I never did b/c it felt like I lost too much oomph, and it made it harder to manage. Always made sure I had decent Biotics on my team.

 

[Stargazer]

So, a new teaser for whatever BioWare is working on next dropped yesterday.



I have to say that I’m interested. If what I’m thinking they’re up to is correct, this looks like an almost “Wild West” like setting which would make perfect sense for a Post Reaper War Galaxy. It is in lawless chaos that the lone, wandering gunslinger (the yank version of a Knight Errant) comes to the fore after all, and that is the impression I’m getting from the figure we see here.

This "teaser" was nothing really. Idk man. I'd love a good new Mass Effect game, but with BioWare's recent track record and news about the state of things at the studio, my expectations are pretty low.

So I just DL'd ME Legendary on Steam because it was so heavily discounted.

What type of character should I use in my play through?

It's really up to you. You're able to change classes between games, so you know.

One thing you definitely need if you're playing on PC is the community/unofficial patches for each game. The Legendary Edition is buggy af and BioWare only bothered releasing one patch that didn't fix very much. The community LE patches have done a lot to clean it up.

 

[The Whispering Monk]

The Legendary Edition is buggy af and BioWare only bothered releasing one patch that didn't fix very much. The community LE patches have done a lot to clean it up.

Do I find those on Steam?

 

[Abhorsen]

The vanguard is a fun thing to do: dash in and shotgun.

 

[Stargazer]

Do I find those on Steam?

Nexus Mods is where I get them.