Mass Alex: Mass Effect 3: Part 19

We had a recording issue with our individual audio tracks so we're using the original mixdown audio in this one. Practically, what this means is I couldn't manually mix the audio so if things sound a little off, that's probably why... especially those mass gate jumps so cover your ears... I usually knock those down quite a bit. For fun, see if you can spot where the mass gate jumps are in this gameplay waveform:

The wait is over, highlight of the week stuck at home!

I thought this will be the final episode

@bathala: They haven't done any of the DLC yet.

Two things I hope happen in this episode Alex gets that bonus power and he brings Javik to the

Asari planet as Dark Channel is the perfect primer for biotic detonations (DC+Flair is a must on Insanity) and his dialogue in that planet is maybe the best writing in the series.

I know this game gets some beef, but the Thessia mission is pretty damn good (Kai Leng fight not withstanding).

Me, at the same time as Alex: YOU CAN'T SAY "SO TRUE" AFTER A THING YOU SAID

It's weird that Alex is so interested in saving the Elcor, but doesn't even remember that he already did so. Maybe they should actually read the things they find.

Holy shit I can't believe Alex and Vinny stumbled into bringing Javik to Thessia, that is THE mission that everyone said Javik shouldn't have been DLC. Thank goodness for that.

Man, Kai Leng is an utter blight on a fantastic Thessia mission. The whole atmosphere and tension is great running up to the temple as you legitimately feel like the entire planet is falling with one last gasp to save the galaxy, then that guy shows up in three feet in plot armor accompanied by a massive gunship. Then the cutscenes make everyone ineffective so the creator's pet can shine, with that hilarious email as the cherry on top.

For the record I like having Shepard fail here, but there are much better ways of doing it and having Cerebrus win than what happened on the mission.

P.S. On "The legend of Shepard needs to be re-written. I hope I'm there for the last chapter. It ends with your death," the last line is like "The hammer is my penis" from Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog if the whole production was done completely straight-faced.

@zandrake94: Here's the Kai Leng cereal moment, if people start posting about it in the comments:

Unfortunately, in true Mass Alex fashion, Alex and Vinny missed a bunch of lore drops that revealed that the Protheans raised up the Asari like the Salarians raised up the Krogan. The gods that Asari history claims they worshipped were just the Protheans.

Again, pay attention to your surroundings Alex.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgcaShRyJC8

Good to see Kai Leng still sucks ass

Ohhhh I was wondering why the Mass Relay jumps didn't sound anywhere near as loud as I remembered them being. I was starting to doubt my memory

I don't have any audio and the video is stuttering

Make sure you click on Cortez the next time you are in the Dock Holding Area!

I was hoping they would stumble into the Citadel dlc when that transport bug was happening but I guess we have to wait....

I think Kai Leng is a cool space ninja, I dunno. There have been plenty of space ninjas since but he seemed pretty bad ass in 2012, when my only frame of reference was the Cyborg Ninja.

I can’t say thank you enough

@mjones916: had to change it to Progressive

also, really excited for them to do the Leviathan DLC

I think adding a Cyborg Ninja is what I’d consider jumping the shark for a game like Mass Effect, not so much for a game like Metal Gear.

Kicking off with a Spring Breakers reference, fuck yeah

Was so happy when Alex choose Javik by chance for Thessia . Was then equally disappointed to see him completely blow past the interactions between Javik and Liara which was the main reason he’s important there. Those relics spur dialogue that reveal some really good history between the races. Feels like Alex is playing this game with a review deadline sometimes.

Man, it really sucks that Alex missed a bunch of cool backstory about the asari and Protheans in the temple.

But in retrospect, it's also pretty stupid that the game doesn't actually require you to "examine the artifacts" to finish the scene... and in fact cuts you off completely if you happen to wander too close to the dead scientists for any reason. And then you can't get the lore after that, even when inspecting the artifacts to create the beams? That's just dumb.

Still, this is probably my favorite mission in the game, in terms of having the most truly apocalyptic vibes, finally seeing the "wise and peaceful" alien civilization driven to a full-scale war, and the big reveal with why exactly the asari are so special to begin with.

(As an aside, it's kind of neat to have a sci-fi game where the special "chosen species" destined to save the galaxy isn't the humans... and furthermore, ends up failing.)

Anyway, I think you still get the "genetically engineered and uplifted by the Protheans" info from a later argument between Liara and Javik on the ship, so at least that cool twist isn't completely wasted. But it's not quite as cool as getting it during that super-dramatic gut-punch of a mission.

I don't think Alex will ever purposely detonate a biotic combo in this entire series my dude lol

The intro to this episode is S-tier

Watch out for the point of no return. After Sanctuary you DO NOT want to move the main story forward anymore. You will be locked in at that point.

I've done like 6 complete playthroughs on the Mass Effect trilogy, but for some reason it never occurred to me to take Javik on this mission, so seeing this was a real treat.

Thank you Alex & Vinny :)

Dude! You're getting a Del'C!

Kinda bummed that they missed all the extra dialogue with Javik by rushing on Thessia, but can't say I'm surprised at this point.

Love this series, it is the highlight after a busy day working in the hospital. Thank you for letting me take a mental break. It means a great deal.

I am excited for the leviathan DLC, I loved it.

Also, for the people that think Alex is blind for not finding lore stuff, remember you are watching a first mostly blind playthrough and not a 100% perfect one.

I had to replay Mass Effect to get close to understanding all the lore. Also, maybe controversial but I do not read all the lore stuff, reading a lot of text is mostly not what I come to games for.

Understand that how he plays the story is how he experiences the world that does not have to be the same experience or understanding as 'you' had. That is why it is fun to watch (in my opinion) Also that is what will be remembered by most players after the series is done. Not all the minutia of lore.

Thanks, Vinny and Alex, and be safe everyone

God, I fuckin love this Thessia mission. I still can't imagine what it would be like without Javik in the group.

Now's about the time @alex and @vinny should really do the Leviathan DLC, right? It should just be something you can start at the Citadel from a Dr. Bryson - you don't want to go start punching Cerberus in the mouth quite yet before that.

It's impressive how they stumbled into bringing Javik on the mission and then skip all the interesting stuff.

Yeah, they are getting close to the point of no return. Should probably check out Dr. Bryson and Anderson's apartment on the Citadel soon.

Uh, didn't Alex kill Balak in ME1?

Y'all may wanna get into those DLC missions before moving forward much more.

Kai Leng is so comically dumb. I wish they had made Jacob your foil in this game.

I kinda hope they save Citadel for after the game is done. Even if you don't head canon it as the good ending, the whole thing is such a love letter to the series it makes for a good closer. Plus there is just so much to do in it I worry it would completely derail the series (they have a hard enough time remembering the plot from session to session, if they spend three episodes in the strip who knows how much they're going to remember).

The Thessia mission made me really turn on Liara. For the most part she doesn't have the whole asari superiority over the other races, but it really comes out strong here. Her talking about Banshees and how hard it is to face it happening to her own people. Sorry, we've been dealing with human husks for three games now, but now it's too horrific what the reapers are doing for you? Earth's invaded? "Sorry Shepard, but we need to keep moving forward." Palaven on fire? "Suck it up Garrus!" Thessia falls? "I'm going to go cry on my bed. How could this happen to the precious, perfect Asasri?" I totally get being devastated by it, but it's the indignation and disbelief of it being even possible when everyone spends most of the game talking about how the asari really aren't preparing that gets me.

Yeah, they really need to hit the DLC soon right? Leviathan is a single episode dlc, but Anderson’s apartment really needs several to hit all the fun side stuff in it.

Sprinnnnnnnng Breeeeeeak.

Sprinnnnng Breeeak Forevvvvvvver.

@platzkart said:

Huh, I believe so. Maybe a side effect of when they changed Tali?

I one hundred percent appreciate what Alex and Vinny did and didn't do. Why is there so much shade?

If I wanted a 100% walk through, I could find it.

If I wanted to listen to two awesome human beings play through one of my favorite games, then I'm gonna fucking turn up the rest of this series to drown out all the bullshit.

Vinny and Alex: let's crack a few cold ones and shoot some Cerberus assholes!

LET'S GOOOOOOOO!!!

I guess to the dozen or so people in the comments complaining about Alex missing stuff, I took Javik on this mission and missed that stuff also. The mission is look around a facility for people. Once you progress the mission, all of those lore nodes are inaccessible. Also most of those prompts are off to the side and around the corner as opposed to waking straight. It’s not a great way to reveal that info, and y’all are complaining as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

FYI Vinny / Alex, I remember this being clearly defined but there is a point of no return that does involve Cerberus. I don’t think it is the next mission, but I believe it is coming up, in case you want to do those DLC missions.

I haven't kept track of MA3 that closely, have they done the Leviathan DLC mission yet?

That's one of my favourite things in this entire ME trilogy

I feel like I've been hearing people say "now is about the time they should do the Leviathan DLC" for the last couple of episodes.