Mass Alex: Mass Effect - Part 17

Cannot wait for ME2

Alex finally realizing the Keepers' betrayal is hilarious.

Am I the only paragon player who was always a dick to the consul, because I do not remember them sending me in with a fleet at all.

Mass Effect: The Movie is so much better than Mass Effect: The Video Game.

Oh right, this game is fantastic. Great episode duders!

What a cool game. I’m really glad Alex and Vinny chose to do this. What a way to end the episode though!

Vinny is loving Alex's SHOCKING REVELATIONS, and I'm loving that.

I had my doubts after last episode, but this one really brought the goods. I am so excited for them to finish this so I can play ME2.

@leraa: Nice one, thanks for these. I'm in need of some new phone sounds.

ME's main musical flourish reminds me of the theme from Lynch's Dune too much to enjoy it at all, especially given how much of the story seems inspired by the book.

The story seems like a blend of Matrix Reloaded (the main story crux reveal), Dune (mass relay transportation being a thematic pandora's box similar to Dune's spice enabling space folding), and even an element of Disney's Blackhole (a zombified enslaved helper race).

On top of all that, I've found the dialogue and interpersonal interactions to be incredibly on-the-nose, but that's probably to be expected for an early-adolescence audience, and especially so for video game writing which tends to be a notch below hollywood movies, which themselves tend to be a notch below books.

For those that have read the ME book(s?), does the story and world building hold up better and gain some independence from the material it's inspired by?

Yesssss. Shit's getting real!

1:21:51

Uhhh, phrasing?

finallyyyyy we got to the good bits of this game.

shep shep is the real woke gamer

You can always count on Alex to pick the boring dialogue choices

Captain Anderson is bad ass! Talking to that VI was truly amazing at the time and seeing it now still sends shivers of excitement through me just like the first time I played it.

Side-note: I laughed way too much at Vinny's FLAC joke.

@leraa: Cool!

So why doesn't the Prothean VI speak in a Jamaican accent?

OMG Every time alex goes on the left side on the dialogue wheel instead of the right it hurts me. Left always expands on the last statement and right always advances the conversation. Always left first then right. Ah mass effect 1 such a brilliant yet flawed game. Vigil ost 10 hour mix during sleep ftw.

@leraa: thank you

Mass Effect 1 is SUCH A GOOD GAME.

Everything from Ilos on is :chefkiss:

I can't believe Alex equivocated with the space racist. Down with space racism.

Alex didn't call mom Shep, now I think it's too late

Alex plays such a goodie two shoes Shepard. They should do renegade in ME2. It's far more entertaining.

When I got to Ilos and talked to Vigil, I literally had goosebumps and my eyes were wide. It was so great to see that moment again, and have Alex be so into it. I love this series so much!

wow what a time to catch up to the series. now I gotta wait a week??? maybe two because of GOTY?! wowwww great series everyone

I swear I saw the next episode on the schedule so I thought they had recorded two before travelling, but guess not? I'm almost certain the next episode would've been the final one for ME1.

Vigil's a hell of a thing. They did a really, really good job with the voice.

@hughj:If you want to see predecessors to Mass Effect in literature look no further than Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds. The entire idea of machines wiping out organics is in that as well, but it's kind of only the background plot to the other shit that goes on in those books.

I read the first Mass Effect book (that was IIRC released before the first game). It's a pretty typical, poorly written, pulpy syfy. I don't think I ever went back to re-read it (or read any of the other books) because it didn't seem worth it. And after Mass Effect 3 I was so profoundly disappointed in the series that I never went back and replayed ME2 as I had intended. (While waiting for ME3 I replayed ME1 with a new male-shep character and intended to take that character through ME2 and ME3. But I never bothered.)

Spoiler for ME3 ending: Can you imagine how profoundly disappointed Alex would be if you just told him why the the reapers are doing it when he's asking during the conversation with Vigil? We'll the reapers are killing the organics because otherwise the robots will kill the organics, and that would be bad.... Wait, this plan made a lot more sense when we were drunk?

I will say that it takes some guts for the ME team to go through with killing characters permanently in this game though. And it's characters you actually meet in the later games. Getting Kaiden/Ashley back for their roles in future games, and Wrex is a pretty tall order considering most studios wouldn't want to do that for a role some people are not going to see. (In the case of Kaiden and Ashley you are sure to spend that time recording and animating a character half of the players won't see.)

"Those motherfuckers.."

-Alex Navarro, having his mind blown

@afroofdoom: The base mechanics have aged poorly, but it is far and away the SMARTEST entry in the series. I started to get really bummed out about how much less thoughtful things got while looking back in the run-up to the release of ME3.

@doctorodds: Because they weren't written to sound like that, yet. The writing staff of this series had a real Ship of Theseus thing going on.

God damn I hate Udina. shoulda been a boss fight against him

This game is great, thanks again Alex and Vinny for this feature.

I cant decide if I actually heard a fire alarm beep during this or not.

@hasuto: To be fair, with regards to your spoiler: It's that by ensuring a controlled, incomplete harvesting of organics they can make sure no race develops far enough to produce an AI that will completely eradicate organic life. They're essentially trading the lives of individual organics to protect the platonic idea of "organic life" in general.

I for one am glad that real life super good dude and shoot Paragon Alex isn't playing against type. If you need to see somebody be a shithead, there's plenty of internet full of that for you. (or you could just like play ME again yourself and be exactly as awful as you need).

This game really starts ramping up as it approaches the end, and every episode is just getting me more and more excited for ME2.

You can just feel how excited Vinny is while he sits there silently letting the reveals wash over Alex. This game has some really great "OH... Shit!" twists.

I forgot how much the end of Mass Effect REALLY hits a bunch the little tropes I absolutely adore in media.

A great "All is lost" recording from a dead civilization.

A badass, multilayers, multifronts siege defense.

INCREDIBLE, swelling music cues.

A FANTASTIC and EPIC twist that is actually built up to rather than out of nowhere.

Juicy, JUICY, heaping, helpings of lore.

A massive, desperate space battle.

The last part of this game REALLY does leave with an overall incredible impression that makes one forget how ponderous and plodding the first part can be.

I must have played ME1 at least 3 times all the way through and I've never met Zabaleta before. I always forget about that mezzanine area between C-Sec and the Wards. Udina gets what's coming to him, eventually.

The chat with the Prothean AI is definitely the biggest exposition dump in the game, but it's really satisfying.

Sex Effect!

Hope in 2 they romance Garrus. He's pretty badass going forward.

Shep Shep hasn't danced once this playthrough! Is this even Mass Effect?

I resubbed a few weeks ago just to watch Mass Alex and Alex's reaction to the Keeper truth made every penny worth it.

That sex scene was hilarious :D

I really like Ashley... it was probably her pet name for me that made me keep her close.

I liked her being a bit of a hothead at times, and playfully calling me "Skipper" when we were alone.

Damn. Tali's my wife, but if Ash was present for the whole deal, she'd have been up there in the rankings. I still smile remembering her hung over on the floor.

The Battle for the Citadel is one of my favorite space battles across all of sci-fi.

I JUST played through Mass Effect: Legendary and I'm not skipping this cause I just don't get tired of that scene. Stands up there with Return of the Jedi's final space battle.