Mass Alex: Mass Effect 3 - Part 22

After the recording we noticed Alex's mic was recording hot, sorry about that. We'll look into it for the next recording. Enjoy the big ep!

Finally, my favorite DLC for any game

I'm Sheped for more Shep-Shep!

Ah, never played Citadel myself despite this being my favorite ME game. Gotta get on that before watching this!

Damn, super long ep, thanks gents

Vinny: "You should give James the head."

Ah, I see you've been reading my fanfics.

fyi Datsun = Nissan

"Is this the Shepard who did all the Renegade options I ignored?" No, but holy cow would that be an amazing idea for the end of this trilogy!

Did they say if they are going to do original ending to really understand where all the controversy came from or?

Great episode! I love the Citadel DLC

Does anyone else get the same annoyance from the humor in this as they do, say, Marvel movies? It is all so Joss Whedon-esque just like the movies to the point where the personality of all the characters blend together and what should be dramatic moments are cut short by a quip. It feels almost anachronistic. Also guess this is what finally made me understand what people mean when they say fan service and uhhh I don't think I like it.

Great episode guys, thanks!

(but man the writing in this DLC is...bad! Like really bad lol, it kind of makes a mockery of what Mass Effect is)

Joss Whedon hasn't done a Marvel film since Age of Ultron 265 years ago so no.

How did I miss like 4 episodes I thought yous guys were on hiatus

@flstyle: That hasn't stopped all of the movies from being basically the same and being filled with the kind of referential, fast-talking quips he pioneered. That's why I said Joss Whedon esque and not "made by Joss Whedon."

Make sure the first thing you do next episode is check your messages.

@thedarkwayne: I don’t know about the Marvel movies but this DLC certainly does feel very “written by Joss Whedon”.

@thedarkwayne; I'm not going to argue that some, maybe many, of the Marvel movies share similar material. But isn't that what they were going for when they started trying to create a shared movie universe? Seems harsh to ding them for doing what they set out to do, while making huge heaps of money.

While not all of the movies are to my taste, I have no problem seeing the differences between films directed by such stylistically different directors as Ken Branagh, the Russos, Scott Derrickson, Taika Waititi, Ryan Coogler, James Gunn, etc.

I love the ME trilogy, but the humour on display at times wouldn't make the cut in the average Fox superhero movie, let alone a Marvel one.

Nice Beans!

This DLC plays so hard as a Christmas Special, and I'm here for it. It's outlandish and bit cheeze, and basically perfect.

FYI Alex that gun you picked up is an unlimited ammo gun like the ME1 rifles.

My absolute favorite character in Mass Effect is Tali (so much so that I named a cat after her), but I had a huge, shit eating grin on my face this entire episode when Wrex came back and talked mad trash as he took the piss out of everyone in each battle. Truly one of the best characters in all of video games.

I never did this DLC. It seems fun but man, they really gave everyone their Joss Whedon quips huh.

This is probably my favorite episode. I loved the back and forth, I can finally hear the comradery of the friends who spent years together.

Alex and Vinny were alright, too.

Wow, I forgot about ALL of this stuff leading up to the party. I've been remembering the Citadel DLC as being just the party (it's good enough for that to be the case). I tuned in to see it and they didn't even get to it, lol

There's actually ALOT of story left to do in the post-clone part of the citadel. You can check your terminal for emails where squadmates will ask you to come meet them for a hangout cutscene, you can invite them to your apartment for an extra hangout cutscene, and then when you return to your apartment it queues up the next set of hangouts. You basically want to check your terminal, look for squadmates on your map, then go back to your apartment and check your terminal and map again for the next round of hangouts. After you're out of those you're clear to do the party and then head out for the endgame.

A little bummed that the humor didn't land as hard as I remembered it.. but I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that this was very much the Christmas Special of DLC - a fun, bizarre side story that was a neat nightcap to the series.

At any rate, looking forward to the rest! There are some choice moments in here...

Oh see? The war criminal you had on your team in ME2? Wasn't actually that bad and didn't want to go through with the genophage, going so far as to defy his orders. Man, what a swell guy. Glad ME3 cleared that up.... This game is such shit from top to bottom.

No they're not?

I’m Commander Shepard and I like to do druugs on the Citadel.

Kaiden got picked! Kaiden was picked to LIVE in the first game. He should be grateful for THAT.

The Joss Whedon-esque dialogue does leave me mixed. If it was in smaller doses I'd be fine with it, but the fact that they kept going on and on during firefights and in cutscenes it was very jarring. Even at one point Shepard was fed up with it when she mentioned if the comedians could start actually hitting something.

It's also jarring because it's at odds with how the characters have interacted with each other in the past. Yes there were sarcastic moments and quips, but those were very rare and spread out. Here it was so compact and coming at a machinegun pace in moments that it became more overwhelming than charming, especially during firefights where you're fighting against dudes that are a tad more tougher than before.

The sheer intensity of lighting in Adersen's apartment, as well as the always-on hot-tub, has got me really wondering about the power consumption of the citadel. I understand that the thing is practically a gargantuan solar panel, but it's in the middle of a freaking cloud nebula - there are no suns nearby for it to generate power. It's producing literal electricity, too. The people who live on the damn thing and utilise its power every day don't even know how it's produced: "The location of the Citadel's core and its master control unit, regulating systems such as life support and navigation, remain hidden."

It just seems like such a vastly unsustainable thing, and yet we're supposed to believe it's been going for thousands and thousands of years. It's not like the thing enters shut-down after each cycle, otherwise how would anybody know how to turn the damn thing back on?

My problems with the citadel and its power generation are about to get a whole lot worse, too, judging by the wiki entry I'm reading. This series is definitely on the fantasy side of sci-fi/fantasy.

EDIT: After everything else the series throws at us, who knew my breaking point was "How does magic space station go buzz"?

My memory is so bad, I swear I remember playing through the entirety of this DLC content in like 90 minutes. But then again I also completely forgot the big reveal in this episode.

Man some y'all got to get bigger problems than whether or not a dlc from like 6/7 years ago is too similar to the writing style of Whedon. Like, just rip a bong, take a bubble bath, and just relax bros. You'll feel better for it lol

@nem: The original ending was patched out such that you couldn’t get it and have the DLCs. The only remnant of that ending is that the best ending is still locked behind multiplayer (no, they didn’t fix that; they made a different ending accessible in single player) but from what I can tell nobody in the games press found that ending anyway.

Vinny’s “I only do eyes” reference was spot on. So spot on in fact that the game actually has the Salarien utter it if you keep bumping into him. Well done!

@relic: The updated ending still has everything that was in the old endings, they just eased the war asset requirements for some of the outcomes and added more dialogue, cutscenes, and another possible outcome.

As far as this DLC goes, I think it's fine, it's campy and cheesy on purpose, and I feel like Brooks is intentionally written to be as cringe-worthy as possible before the twist. Besides, the party and the hanging out on the Citadel stuff that's coming up is the real treat of this DLC anyhow.

First time I played this I had the same reaction as Alex to that line at the end, like "Wait, am I supposed to know who Maya is?" but I think it's supposed to be Shepard saying "Oh I know what you're up to, you're planning on escaping" (especially considering what happens if you don't hit that paragon interrupt) but it's just a weirdly written line.

I forgot about the remix of the theme they use in the boss fight. So good

This guy gets it.

@relic: I thought you could have the DLC installed and just not select the extended cut.

Some of the quips are a little heavy-handed and sometimes it feels like everybody is just a Joker Clone, but otherwise I found the writing throughout this mission to be extremely entertaining. Everybody feels way more dynamic and realistic and "human". The humor isn't going to be for everyone but I was way more engaged and invested throughout this episode thanks to the characters than most of the game. Maybe that's an indictment of Mass Effect 3 - I never played any of the DLC, so this was new to me - but I didn't hate it the way most people did.

Go the the very bottom of engineering (Where Jack used to be) to see a surprise!

I am so excited for the party next episode.

Btw, isn't the pistol you get from this DLC super overpowered? Should Alex be using it?

I love how this dlc tries to force you to use abilities, use stealth, use cover, and conserve ammo and alex does his thing per usual lol

"It appears the drone is preparing to rebel."

Also (in my opinion) that Garrus romance in this DLC is the best one and I was sad when you chose Liara over him. :(