Mass Alex: Mass Effect 2 - Part 24

Ooh they got it up!

I dedicate this post to the superior Mass Effect 1 squad and game.

Yes! I liked ME 1 better in a lot of ways as a game, but these Mass Alex Things are both great.

Alex bought some more fish after they died, maybe he could buy another Tali?

I mean, to clear it up, edi said that its the reaper's form of reproduction, and that every reaper looks like the species they harvest though, this is jettisoned in ME3. I mean, bio-organic constructs really aren't uncommon in sci fi.

I honestly don't see a benefit to not save scumming. The Tali arc in the next game is a very rewarding experience and I feel the way the game dealt with consequence at the end of two was hamfisted and doesn't lend itself well to the remainder of the story. You just get a less endearing experience. I don't know, I guess the playthrough is " authentic " ? Is that even important? Not for me unfortunately.

Thank you for another season of Mass Alex! I enjoy it very much.

I hope season 3, whenever it begins (I haven't watched this video yet), isn't plagued by issues which seems to have affected the vast majority of Mass Alex videos appearing on the site.

Nah, my guy. You need to live with that decision lmao.

Vinny with the timely Bagel Boss reference I saw an interview with worn him on Opie & Anthony yesterday and duder did not disappoint! He’s a lunatic and I love it!

https://youtu.be/W9DuxhGp2Dg

Salute to the fallen! Let's get that ME3 done!

@alex ME3 has a way smaller party selection, and Tali is the most important of the bunch story wise. If you dont have her, not only are you missing out on a ton of content, but you will be forced into a pretty shitty resolution for one of the major story beats of ME3.

o7

It being the summer drought I’m sure youse guys can start and finish ME 3 in calander year 2019

i remember Klendagon from the first game, with that crazy scar. Didn't that turn out to be the mass effect shot that disabled the IFF reaper? Always thought it was weird that they went through the trouble of doing the great art for it in the first one and changing it in the second, where the thing what got shot is actually there.

Mass effect 2 really was one of the greatest games of the gen. 3 is not nearly as fantastic but still very good. The team kinda sucks in 3 though, especially without Tali.

Replay with Tali alive.

@alex@vinny You guys should definitely bring Tali back for ME3. If you need to, replace her with another crew member so you at least end up losing someone, but you really really should have Tali for ME3.

Samara was a bad choice in that first squad, my dudes.

Do. That. Last. Mission. Right.

It ain't Mass Effect without Tali.

Hey Alex! I vote for bringing Tali back! Ordinarily I’d be for sticking with the choice you made but I don’t feel as though Mass Effect 3 does enough to compensate for the different outcomes of the previous game and more or less expects you to have Garrus and Tali alive, at least that’s how it always felt to me. With Tali’s absence in ME3, instead of getting a new squadmate or seeing the story spiral out in a satisfying new way, you don’t really get anything new and a three game story arc (Quarians and the Geth) has an unsatisfying conclusion that I think will frustrate you. You feel punished for letting someone die in the previous game than get any kind of thoughtful payoff to three games worth of story. The experience will just feel incomplete, and rather than watch you struggle with that, I’d rather see you enjoy everything ME3 has to offer. What you‘d experience with Tali on the crew, would be more entertaiming for the audience than without her.

Just my two cents, I’m looking forward to Mass Alex 3 whichever route you take!

PS. I highly recommend playing Vanguard in ME3. Biotic Charge is a ridiculously fun ability.

Lance Henriksen is the best thing about this whole DLC.

Also, fun fact, if you let the timer run out you get a very unique game over screen.

This

I doubt Alex will replay the mission.

The talk of resurrecting her seems to suggest they'll be looking at editing the ME2 save file before importing it into ME3

'Gibbed'. It's pretty useful

This squared. Don't make a bad game worse by hamstringing the few good story beats it has.

@alex I'll just echo what some other folks have said here and say that you should probably bring Tali back for ME3. She plays a pretty crucial role in the game, probably more than basically every other party member in ME2, and I honestly think the experience would feel dramatically different without her, but I also understand wanting to stick with the consequences of your choice. That being said, I have never seen how ME3 plays out without Tali, but based on what has been alluded to here in the comments it sounds like a real bummer.

You should probably get Tali, I remember her being pretty important in ME3. That being said I'm curious how things would play out without her.

Regardless I am really excited to see you start up ME3. Besides the ending and a few story beats it is a fantastic game.

I hope Alex considers going back to being a Vanguard in 3. That class is hands down the most fun to play in the entire game. He didn't even get to use the new charge ability in 2. And then 3 adds nova!

Concerning Last episode and Tali....

Mass Effect 3 is a better game for having Tali's arc in it, and Tali's death is not really attributable to Alex making a mistake since ME2 is vague with its suicide mission wording. Bring her back!

Bring. Tali. Back.

The Mass Effect experience is to replay the game until no one dies.

Everyone had a perfect save going in to ME3 so you should have one too.

I would be happy to have Tali back for Mass Alex Part 3.

It bugs me that he doesn't play this as a cover shooter when it clearly needs to be played that way most of the time.

Am I the only one who actually didn't like Tali anyway?

I don't really understand why everyone loves her so much. Her people are interesting but I found her herself a bit boring and always in need of saving. Maybe it's a gender thing and guys love her? Because as a female I don't see what the big deal is - I liked Liara, Miranda and even Jack a lot more than her.

I feel like Alex should play through with the save as is but I'm also someone who doesn't like Tali and actually would be actively very interested in seeing ME3 without her. So my opinion is probably invalid ?

@hawkens: Tali was a girl?!

I like keeping the final mission result in spirit, but people have a point, you're missing a lot without having her in 3, and considering a lot of people probably reloaded their save a couple of times trying to keep their faves alive anyway it wouldn't feel out of character for a Mass Effect series play-through.
They really don't leave a lot up to player skill, Tali just randomly bit it because she worked the tech.

Onto the third!
Which I remember feeling better about than most people, including its ending, but remains to be seen how it holds up, through this series I certainly thought 2 did besides generally thinking 1 was the better game.

They are not playing ME: Andromeda, right?

Bring Tali back! Bring Tali back!

Seriously though, certain major characters in 1 and 2 feature heavily in 3 as well and since almost every character can die, this will usually result in a sort of substitute for the character to fill the needed story purpose. Sometimes this actually results in some interesting new content. Not with Tali though. If you dont have her, theres a pretty big gaping hole in one of the largest arcs in 3 and I think you lose a lot for not having her while gaining nothing. Additionally one of the DLCs for 3 is literally premised on you just hanging with your crew members. So I highly recommend using Cerberus science to bring her back.

@alex Man I just have strong feelings about getting to season 3. Best series on the site! Cait wait,

I'm pretty sure they said no, but anything's possible. I bet Vinny would rather keep pretending the series ended with 3.

Another vote for resurrecting Tali, here. It's the most fun choice for all involved.

@hawkens: Not that big on her either. Drew Karpyshyn wrote her character in ME1, where she was basically just an encyclopedia on the Quarians. Karpyshyn’s character writing isn’t all that good, she starts getting a bit more personality in the sequels when Patrick Weekes took over in 2. Weekes is known for his excellent character writing, being able to write characters whose moral compass will divide people, like Solas in Dragon Age and Mordin in ME2.

I think with Tali though, what makes her interesting is mostly her key involvement one one of the big story arcs that the series builds up regarding machines achieving sentience, which is fine, but her actual character isn’t all that compelling.

Hey Alex and Vinny, thanks for the great series! I had a lot of fun replaying Mass Effect 2 myself while Alex experienced it for the first time.

I definitely think you should bring Tali back, since she plays such a significant role in 3. If it was someone less important to the series like Kasumi or Zaeed, I might say to stick with the consequence of your decisions. But it would be a shame to be down a squadmate for all of the next game. On top of that, Tali plays a huge role in one of the story sections.

And this is why you shouldn't wait months between the brief and the op, you forget its a sneaking mission.

Bring Tali back. Characters dying in 2 is a dumb gimmick that does nothing except make 3 worse and is not worth engaging with. And let's not pretend most of us didn't set up their perfect save in the time between 2 and 3 for their first ME 3 playthrough. Why isn't Alex allowed the same?

@thechris: I didn't realize a different person wrote her in 2 and 3, that totally makes sense! She's certainly much better in those games than in 1. 1 almost felt like she could have just been a codex entry.

I agree she's interesting in giving a window to her species. In this thread and with some of my friends IRL I've seen some people who really really love her though. It makes sense after what happened in Mass Alex that her fans would come out to voice their displeasure. I figured now would be a good time to see if I'm alone in my ambivalence haha. Thanks for the reply!

Yeah, Alex. You didn't do any of the things to get to where you can date Kelly.

INCLUDING CALLING KELLY BY HER FIRST NAME.

Man, I hope you're nicer to Samantha Traynor in ME3.

@alex@vinny

A fantastic series, definitely among my favourite in the entire run of the site. You guys have done a heck of a job with this, managing to keep it constantly entertaining and mixing up your mission types to keep the folks watching guessing that comes next.

I also really like how Alex discovered the melee towards the very end, as it's absolutely phenomenal in ME3, they give you weird-ass omni-tool swords for it and what not.

My only complaint for this episode being; why would you skip a cutscene triggered upon your death when that has never occured before? Haha. Other than that, a fantastic end to a fantastic season. Thanks again, fellas.

@jarp12: I guess you paid even less attention to her than I did!