Mass Alex: Mass Effect - Part 09

Tell me another story of the Shep Shep

will Mass Alex make a move to woo Liara or get shunned once again

This is the droid I was looking for.

See You, Space Asshole...

e: Shep Shep likes the Puff Puff

Alexette is looking good!

:)

Not really on board with Vinny's idea that 2 is in any way better than one. His criticisms of 1 are off point and he presents them as "everyone says this" but its not true.

2 is a major step down and one the biggest sequel disappointments in the history of video games.

How far into the game is Alex now?

"Name's Doran. Never borin'!"

It's real good you did that admiral mission right away Alex. When you started looking for him over Banes I had flashbacks to all kinds of people getting real stuck trying to find him and asking about it on forums. And it's a dead end too. Lot of people got pretty frustrated and mad about it as I recall. Was worried for a bit you were going down that road. :P

Well, this makes my morning. Just tore through the first 8 episodes and was bummed when I hit the end. Hooray!

My favourite content on the site! I just restarted ME1 again due to this and I love it as just as much now as I did my earlier playthrough. Looking forward to see your progress through the trilogy Alex.

Hell yeah!! Im replaying Mass Effect 2 ^_^

We built this Citadel on rock and roll

Huh, never noticed that Quisling reference before :/

In honor of Conrad finally appearing, here's a comic I made in 2010. #oldmemes

I really hope Olivia Newton John's health gets better.

hey HEY! I will turn this car around RIGHT NOW!

Good episode featuring one of Mass Effect's greatest unanswered questions, where, who and why is Armistan Banes?

It took me 9 episodes, but to me Shep Shep looks a lot like Andrea Rene.

EDIT: Mostly the 3rd person stuff, mostly...

Struggling to not watch it before my upcoming 10hour flight... Easily becoming my favourite series on the site

Fixed that for you.

I replayed from ME 1 to 3 because of this. Finally finished this weekend!

No matter what you do to try and save the universe, this universe just ends anyway. Kinda sad in a way.

3 is one of the best games of all time compared to Andromeda.

@tetra4:

I have always been a member of the ME1 > ME2 camp, but honestly I just finished 1 and ended up playing most of 2 over the weekend and I honestly think 2 is better. I remember hating the lack of exploration, downplay of RPG mechanics, combat felt dumbed down, and that the story didn’t feel nearly as grandiose, 2 just felt smaller to me on release and I was disappointed.

But after my recent play though of 2 I have finally switched over. The character storylines are just SO much deeper and well thought-out. There is also just a LOT more story. Almost every time I go and talk to my crew they always have something to say, something that I appreciate more now than originally. I actually care about some of these characters. And the world-building is far better than I remember, it delves deep into krogan and quarian lore which I am loving now.

Don’t get me wrong, the conversations with Sovereign and Vigil are probably my top 2 moments of the entire series, along with the fall of Earth. I never thought that I’d say it, but I can see why people think 2 is a better game.

Edit:

I forgot one of the huge reasons that I was very disappointed in 2 when it came out: that none of your choices in ME1 seemed to matter. You made some huge decisions at the end of the game, and I hated how all they amount to is a 5 minute throwaway dialogue sequence when you return to the citadel. I think playing through these games so much later (and I think this is my first full playthrough since playing 3 for the first time) has caused me to overlook these things, since I know where it goes in 3 and can forgive them. I don’t know, I’m undecided now. I think at the time of their respective releases, ME1 was better ME2. But now playing through them all again I find 2 to be a more compelling game.

People that say ME2 is a step down from ME1 are insane. ME1 is a great idea and some great world building but the game in general is kind of all idea and little significance. It has great moments, but it plays wonky as shit and it feels insanely rough around the edges.

I'm just going to throw this out there: ME1 is good; ME2 is a masterclass in videogame design, and arguably one of the defining games of the previous console generation.

Kind of a "Dan Rykert" expression style you got there.

All 3 games have their strengths and weaknesses. 1 may have the best main story, but it hasn't aged well and the combat/side content is mostly a slog to play through. 3 plays the best, but it wraps up everything a little too conveniently without much variation based on your choices. For most people 2 was the sweet spot. As someone who played through all of them in the last year, I think they are all pretty damn good.

I just hate what aspects of the lore (Cerberus) ME2 focuses on to rate it above 1, despite conceding that mechanically it's far and away superior to its predecessor.

Also as speaker of planet of Xanadu, I can confirm it does smell like a roller rink with a hint of bowling alley.

@alex@vinny I don't remember if it comes back up in either of the other games, but in ME1 at least, when squad members say "Huh?" it means they've got some Neat Lore to give you. Or like, in the case of Tali when Alex mentioned it in this episode, I think she just comments on how much she hates that bar.

Time to Wrestling: 33:04

I almost think a 'Every Time They Exit Instead of Zooming Out' supercut would be something, but I also don't think it's that compelling at the moment.

So is his name Kahoku or Kohaku? Because at 1:52:08-ish it's both...

ME2 is easily the best game of the 7th generation of consoles.

I think you could use your abilities a lot more than you do. You seem to preserve abilities too often, but I find it's best to just keep using them over and over again. And also use your teammates abilities.

Dude, where's my Mako?

but seriously if we were talking about ME3 then what he's saying would be way more accurate because 3 is more of a third-person shooter with lite dialogue choices than a full blown RPG.

@colourful_hippie said:

@cornfed40 said:

@tetra4 said:

Not really on board with Vinny's idea that 2 is in any way better than one. His criticisms of 1 are off point and he presents them as "everyone says this" but its not true.

2 is a major step down and one the biggest sequel disappointments in the history of video games.

Kind of a "Dan Rykert" expression style you got there.

but seriously if we were talking about ME3 then what he's saying would be way more accurate because 3 is more of a third-person shooter with lite dialogue choices than a full blown RPG.

I never understood that, since to me it felt like ME 3 actually brought back more RPG mechanics. You had more options for skills and customizable armor, just less character development because most of that was already done in 2's loyalty missions. With better action, set pieces, and surprisingly good multiplayer. I like 2, but it's certainly not game of the generation.

Mass Effect 3 is.

@nasher27: Watching Mass Alex I've changed my tune too. I still think the story in ME1 is better but ME2 is just deeper character-wise and the gameplay is obviously better and less rough around the edges.

I really disliked ME3 though and it wasn't just because of the ending. I actually preferred Andromeda to it.

@csl316: Calling bullshit on 3 being game of the generation, that argument only works if you consider 3 in the grand scheme of the overall trilogy. Game of a generation is for something that stands on its own merits so if you apply this to ME3 as a sole game, it's basically a decent third-person shooter with lite RPG elements and limited dialogue options like I said. When you take 2 as a standalone game, you're thrown into an expansive galaxy with what is the best cast of characters you'll ever get to meet and assemble for a suicide mission at the end. Each character has their own back story to explore and complete a large side mission. At the same time you're establishing Shepard's own identity as he interacts with the greater threat and his/her allies.

ME3 skates on being an incredibly linear shooter with not near as much dialogue options as the first two games just because you're basing your past experiences and character development in said first two games. The huge weighty options only have an impact on you if know the franchise's history otherwise they're just bombastic set pieces coupled with an OK story, ex machina BS to defeat the big bad, and a convoluted ending that had to have further context patched in later after launch along with huge story DLC that filled in massive plot holes on the Reaper/Ai origins.

Only reason why I popped out this essay is because I recently wrapped up a new play through of the whole trilogy with my gf. 3 isn't as bad as I thought based on my original playthrough at launch, especially when playing the games back to back, but the quality of the writing and dialogue options which the series kept me along for where of a noticeable lower quality than the first two games.

This will probably be my last Mass Alex for a while. Just know that letting my sub lapse has nothing to do with the quality of this feature. If anything it's going to be sad not to follow along with one of the better GB premium features in recent memory. Alex and Vinny together in just about anything is pure gold. Thanks and keep up the great work.

Vinny needs to read up on his Norwegian history.

@colourful_hippie: 2 might be good as a standalone, but it also loses a lot without context. The Normandy intro loses its impact, the Reapers aren't established as the kind of terrifying threats they are if you don't see Sovereign's attack. The Geth take a back seat to some bug aliens and you don't get their importance to the story. The Citadel doesn't seem as important as it does here. Garrus's return doesn't really hit. I could go on.

Mass Effect 1 does a ton of world-building. So while aspects of it don't hold up, not experiencing this story will affect your enjoyment of the rest of the trilogy. If you say Mass Effect 3 suffers, then so does 2. But since so many people played these games in order, we can't really divorce ourselves from our personal experiences.

If you're looking at the trilogy as a whole, I personally found 3 to be the most fun, the most impactful narratively, the most memorable, and I actually loved the way it ended (originally, even without the extended cut). I guess it comes down to if someone prefers the character-driven stories or the grand climactic end.

The arguments for 2 being the best make sense, but I feel like each game in the trilogy got better as a whole. I'm glad each game has its own identity, honestly. So I'm looking forward to watching Alex experience all this.

Is Quisling not a common term these days?

Always. Punch. Emily Wong.

Ah they spent a while looking for Rear Admiral Kahoku, but unfortunately it's no longer possible to talk to him due to him running into Cerberus, as they eventually find out. It's one of my small bugbears that in ME2, Shepard never makes reference what happened to Kahoku, considering who you work for in that game. And sadly they didn't find the preaching Hanar, but at least they found Conrad Verner.

My 2c on the ME1 vs. ME2 argument; ME2 is a much better playing game. ME1 does a better job of setting up the universe and making it seem huge. Because ME2 focuses more on crafted side-missions, it feels smaller but more refined. But the planet-scanning is very tiresome. ME1 is my favourite because I think the main story is better, but ME2 is still very good.

@tetra4: I am on board with you.