Board 8 > Maniac plays Mass Effect 3 for the first time

(+) Yeah! (+)

Finally getting around to this.

Never did finish my ME2 thoughts so if you have questions I'm happy to answer.

What was your favorite Loyalty Mission?

Also what did you do with the Genophage data at the end of Mordin's?

Thoughts on the dlc?

Mordin's and Jack's were my favorite loyalty missions. Mordin's for Genophage stuff and Jack's for A+ character stuff. Legions and Tali's were the next best for getting more on the Migrant Fleet and the Geth.

I convinced Mordin to save the data just in case.

Shadow Broker was my favorite dlc just for the hilarious and sometimes insightful info at the end. I also feel like the Yarg was created to be a future big bad if the series continues. Cool development for Liara as well.

Overlord was interesting mostly for how it makes you think about the final decision in 3 (because of course I know all about that already). David was a tragic twist to it and I was glad we could save him.

Arrival was super unexpected. Did not think the Reapers were going to show up already. Great tension and a terrible/amazing final choice, we sacrificed the Batarians to slow the Reapers. Our previous encounters with Batarians makes Shep not really sympathetic to them but we would never have wanted to go this far.

Some basic setup or recap to start.

Our Male Shepherd started as a simple badass Soldier. From the colonies with a ruthless reputation. He was more renegade than paragon mostly due to problems with authority and a tendency to use violence and threats to solve problems, but tended to go paragon for the big decisions. Started a romance with Ashley that ended when Ashley was sacrificed, a rough moment for poor Shep.

A focus on saving the galaxy, his experiences in 1, and dying led to Shep being paragon in ME2. He was also revived with biotic abilities and became a vanguard. He also started a romance with Tali (though I was a bit hesitant because it means no Garrus/Tali and I usually try not to get in the way of pc romances when I can). Everyone survived the suicide mission and then a lot of Batarians died to buy time for thr Galaxy to prepare.

The galaxy did not prepare and by the time Shep guard out of trouble for his decision with the Batarians the galaxy was being overrun by Reapers. Shepherd has changed classes again and is now a Sentinel. Our head cannon is that Tali taught us tech. We are still going Paragon in this game.

As a reminder I play while my wife makes the final decisions for the character/story/dialogue and she also uses guides to help us not miss things (while doing our best not to spoil stuff).

Just going to jump ahead to say that I love the direction they took Jack's character. We just did the mission where we reunited with her. Perfect.

Also her hair is really working for her. Looking good Jack.

This might be all we play this week so hopefully I will have time to write up what we have done. Some really great stuff so far and some interesting gameplay changes.

The Jack mission is really good, yeah. I enjoyed getting to reunite with David.

I had forgotten we sent him to a psion school. Great surprise and it seems like he is doing well.

jack best girl

TheRainandFire posted...

Also her hair is really working for her. Looking good Jack.

Major spoilers.

Lol

So we did the intro section where we get to hang with Anderson for a bit and get introduced to a creepy new variety of bad guy in the cannibal. Also the visuals of the Reaper attack in the background is crazy and awesome.

We also meet a young kid who I was not at all surprised to see die. Apparently Shephard needed some more motivation and tragedy.

We are forced to flee Earth to try and get the Council to help. Give up Earth to try and win the war. But first a trip to Mars for some protheon tech and a reunion with Liara.

And hey the Normandy is back! Though with a skeleton crew. At least Joker and EDI are here.

I was surprised when EDI not only got a body but became an actual squadmate. I did not expect her to leave the ship. Very cool.

But that was nothing compared to finding out I get a Prothean on our team. Crazy! He is a cool warrior who who has a humorous view of the modern races. And he brings a beam rifle. I did not expect the Prothean/Reaper war to have lasted centuries. I assumed it was decades at most. But I guess logistically that makes sense.

In other news: Jack's a teacher. Kaiden is in the hospital (I got him booze). Thane is dying but will keep Kaiden safe. Miranda is searching for her sister who has disappeared.

We got to see the turian homeworld and saved the current leader who is a cool military dude.

Then we went had a peace summit with the Krogan and reunited with Wrex who is great as always. They demand a cure for the genophage (of course). Then we find out Mordin is actually helping cure the genophage. There is a female who is immune and we help rescue her in a great mission.

Mordin and Wrex are both awesome and I'm sad they are on the ship but not my team. It makes sense but darn. Mordin interactions with Eve are great. Wrex tissue sample gag is great. Saving the sample is a big deal now. If I hadn't done that is Eve dead?

It's a bummer that your squad is smaller than ME2, but I love the fact that there are constant interactions around the Normandy. It really makes the crew feel alive. Give me all the banter.

Also Tuchanka hype, we'll talk about the differences after you're done

Yep I think that is next after we do some side missions.

The lack of Dragon Age style party banter during missions is still the biggest thing missing from the series.

You get more of it during ME3 at least

Oh hey, met Grunt and saved the rachni queen (again).

Leonhart4 posted...

You get more of it during ME3 at least

I have noticed and really appreciate this. You do get some conversations between squad members showing different dynamics. It's good.

We also had more great Mordin stuff on the ship. First he sang a song to Eve about being the Krogan Queen. Then he was "helping" Joker figure out how he could have sex with EDI. This was especially great because he didn't want either EDI or Shep to know. But we were standing right there (and Joker guessed it after Mordin made a comment about how he wouldn't tell us) and EDI is literally the ship and hears every conversation that happens on board. Poor Joker. Mordin always getting involved in people's relationships and giving advice and info is a great running gag.

Did the missions around Tuchanka, like helping the new primarchs's nepokid stop Cerberus from doing something crazy and blowing up a large chunk of the planet. He did have to sacrifice himself though.

Then went back and did more citadel stuff. Kaisen joined Spectre. Liara met her dad, who was the bartender from ME2 and is convinced we are dating Liara. Wish we could have got a scene telling Wrex that Liara is a quarter Krogan.

Had a good scene with Cortez at the memorial. I really appreciate that we have a designated shuttle pilot now.

We also had to give the bad news to the shop lady that the poet Krogan she was with died. I was really excited when I realized it was her on the first trip and we heard her telling a racist customer about her mate. This was a great example of how the game makes your choices matter and makes you feel the impact you have on the galaxy. From little messages to meeting people again. The awful Krogan poet was a really memorable tiny side quest in the last game and it paid off here. Though in a sad way.

Oh and I should mention that Grunt was a badass and had an awesome cutscene fight,

My turn, heh heh heh.

Grunt actually dies in that scene if you didn't do his Loyalty Mission in ME2.

Also don't know if you caught this (because some don't), but Mordin has a new VA in ME3.

Emailing Mordins old VA pre-launch to get confirmation about his replacement was like

Investigative journalism before I ever got hired anywhere

He encouraged me to make some noise about it if I wanted to, and I did, but it was way outside anybodys hands, no idea what happened there. The guy didnt seem bitter - just confused - so I wonder if they just wanted to save cash with somebody else

Leonhart4 posted...

Also don't know if you caught this (because some don't), but Mordin has a new VA in ME3.

I did not catch that. New guy is doing a great job mimicking the old one.

I did have the realization that part of the small party this game is probably that so many people could be dead by ME3 and they wanted a consistent party. So they made a lot of people war assets and side quests. That way you get rewarded if you did keep them alive but aren't punished with a smaller team for not doing so.

I think only Garrus could be dead from the current squad? Assuming he can die in the suicide mission (I feel like I remember reading that he could).

I personally caught it right away (the mission where you meet Mordin was the demo). While Rowan Atkin Downes does a good job of mimicking the cadences, his voice sounds an octave lower to me.

Maniac64 posted...

I did have the realization that part of the small party this game is probably that so many people could be dead by ME3 and they wanted a consistent party. So they made a lot of people war assets and side quests. That way you get rewarded if you did keep them alive but aren't punished with a smaller team for not doing so.

This is actually the reason Liara wasn't playable in ME2. They wanted to guarantee she was available for ME3 since she would be crucial to its resolution.

Makes sense.

for Mordin, I'm sure I could tell if I heard one after the other.

If you hadn't done Grunt's loyalty mission in this one and you save the queen, Grunt dies there.

The real reason you don't get most of the ME2 party back is that ME3 got super rushed. So they mostly prioritized mandatory party members, which includes Javik because he was carved out DLC. No matter how much you like ME3, EA undeniably fucked this game up in several ways, and it's a triumph it's as good as it is.

Also, regarding Javik being carved out. Eventually you'll have a main mission that requires Liara. Bring Javik too. It's insane how much he was clearly meant to be there.

I've already had at least one mission that required Liara. Hopefully it wasn't that one.

Maniac64 posted...

I've already had at least one mission that required Liara. Hopefully it wasn't that one.

Mars? Nope. It's much later. You wouldn't have gotten Javik yet, if so.

Was there another main mission that mandated her, up to the point you're presently at? I don't remember there being one, but just checking.

Oh I think this was a side mission. Sorry i somehow missed thag you said main.

Technically the Palaven moon mission mandated her too, but only because you're only supposed to have her and James available. Part of Javik being carved out is you weren't supposed to have him yet. She also sticks around if Garrus is dead from ME2.

Oh yeah, true

Its time. We also did Priority: Tuchanka yesterday.

Lets start at the beginning. Before we even set out, one of the leaders of the Salarians reaches out to tell us they predicted this could happen some day and sabotaged the tower. If we dont tell Mordin and the Krogans wont know they havent been cured and the Salarians will send some of their best scientists (the best in the galaxy) to help build the crucible. The genophage plotline continues to give interesting and complex choices.

However I have problems with this one. 1: Why do the Salarians (and the Asari for that matter) not care about the Reapers? They are just fine sitting back and watching, not helping at all, while the Reapers kill everyone including them. I get they are worried about the Krogans expanding and rebelling again, but that wont be a problem unless we survive the Reapers which currently doesnt seem likely. Who cares if the Krogan become a problem later if we all die now? Priorities man! Which leads to problem 2: What do they think is going to happen when the Krogan later realize the Genophage isnt cured? Especially after the recent bomb reveal, it seems pretty likely they will start a war right then and there. I guess Salarians figure war now is better than war with a larger Krogan race later, but man this seems like bad logic. Finally problem 3: Why the heck is she telling me about this? Is this supposed to be a test? If she just didnt warn me then her plan would go exactly how she wanted it to since I wouldnt be able to warn anyone. I dont get it.

This mission involves both Wrex and Mordin (and Eve who is also great) so you know it's going to be fun. Wrex is his usual hilarious self over the comms. We also get a cool action scene with him.

The plan goes wrong immediately and some terrible luck leads our team to not have a car so we have to go through some really cool Krogan Ruins. We find art and architecture and plant life. All the proof that Krogans werent always pure military. Krogans are basically humans but tougher. They expand quickly, believe they deserve any territory they want,ruin their own planet, and have lots of infighting. Only difference is that Krogans actually had a nuclear war whereas the Humans managed to avoid it. Mostly this section helps show that there is a chance for Wrex and Eve to accomplish their goal and change Krogan culture once the hopelessness of the genophage is removed. Thats really what the Genophage choices come down to: Do you believe the Krogan are capable of changing and coexisting with the other races. If yes then you have to cure them. If not then you go with the Salarian plan to rick them to help the Reapers and then be screwed long term.

We also encounter a giant Thresher Maw and my wife and I were immediately hoping we would get it to fight the Reaper. So glad that happened and it was awesome. We just saw the first time a Reaper lost 1 v 1. Queen Thresher Maw took it out easily. Really cool scene.

Then Mordin finally gets to the tower. I knew Mordin could end up sacrificing himself and that it was a beloved scene so I was ready for it, but man did it live up to the hype. Mordins finally words about why it needed to be him, ending with Someone else might get it wrong were perfect. Then we see him softly singing Scientist Salarian to himself as the tower blows up around him and he saves the Krogan races future. It was sad, and powerful, and amazing. A perfect end to his story, though we might need to do some experiments on some seashells in his honor. With that amazing and tragic ending Mordin basically locks up my favorite character spot for the series. He is hilarious, interesting, compelling, and a core part of one of my favorite video game storylines of all time. You will be missed Mordin.

Wrex and Eve survive thanks to our prior choices and Mordin believed they were a good pair and had a real chance of succeeding. Who are we to doubt him. Im sad to see my two favorite characters leave but man what a great ending to their stories (though Wrexs would need a sequel to see if he and Eve succeed).

We read a bit of the other options and man could I never play full renegade Shepard. Shooting Mordin dead? Horrible. Unforgivable. I cant believe they actually made that a renegade prompt, I would be horrified if I did the prompt and didnt know it was coming.

So yeah incredible end to an incredible story and an incredible character.

Screw the Salarian government.

Yeah, Renegade Shepard in ME3 is straight up evil sometimes

There is actually a scenario where Mordin survives, but it requires Wrex and Eve to be dead. As long as one of them is still alive, Mordin will have hope that the krogan can have a future

Also if you kill Mordin and sabotage the cure, Wrex finds out and confronts Shepard, and then you have to kill him, too.

There is one positive scene from it, where Shepard confides in Garrus about what he did and Garrus sympathizes with him.

Leonhart4 posted...

Also if you kill Mordin and sabotage the cure, Wrex finds out and confronts Shepard, and then you have to kill him, too.

As Wrex should.

Honestly I think I prefer Mordin dying theire to complete his story.

Maniac64 posted...

We read a bit of the other options and man could I never play full renegade Shepard. Shooting Mordin dead? Horrible. Unforgivable. I cant believe they actually made that a renegade prompt, I would be horrified if I did the prompt and didnt know it was coming.

Shooting Mordin was the most emotional moment in the series, IMO. Don't think I've ever done something in a game that hurt more. Talking about it with Garrus later is fantastic, too.

Fun fact about Mordin's death if you personally kill him. You use the Carnifex pistol, the same type of gun he gives you when you first meet him in ME2

I forget how well they explain it up front, but the reason the dalatress goes to Shepard is because she figures Mordin will figure it out and she needs you to stop him. Which he does if you don't admit to it at the start.

Oh and Eve dying happens offscreen at the end of the mission if you didn't save Maelon's data.

Smfffc discussion made me wonder something.

If Ashley lives instead of Kaiden are they just swapped plot wise? Does Ashley become a spectre?

She is a solid soldier but she seems much less deserving than Kaiden getting the role.

Yes she can/does. Main difference is that I think she ends up with a lower military rank than Kaiden where he is a major and I think she's a lieutenant commander

Pirateking2000 posted...

Yes she can/does. Main difference is that I think she ends up with a lower military rank than Kaiden where he is a major and I think she's a lieutenant commander

Given their starting ranks that makes sense.

Does Ashley accomplish stuff in ME2 like how Kaiden trains biotics? Or is the promotion 100% based on being with Shepard on the Normandy?

Which, don't get me wrong, everyone on Shepard's crew is elite and deserves promotions. They accomplish more than 99% of people in the galaxy each game.

I think, on paper, either one gets disproportionate credit for Horizon, since your involvement in everything back then is pretty much officially denied.

Major and Lieutenant Commander are the same rank.

Major is the army/marine version. Lieutenant Commander is the Navy version.

what's the space version

pjbasis posted...

what's the space version

Judging by the Space Force, Major.

kevwaffles posted...

I think, on paper, either one gets disproportionate credit for Horizon, since your involvement in everything back then is pretty much officially denied.

That makes a lot of sense.

Though the council would have to agree with the Spectre nomination and they would be well aware of Shepard's actual role

pjbasis posted...

what's the space version

They're called the Alliance Navy, so I'm guessing they stick to the naval ranks

um akshually

kaiden is alliance marines, ashley is alliance navy

so the rank naming differences make sense

It's funny how we associate space travel with boating terms more than flying ones.

pjbasis posted...

It's funny how we associate space travel with boating terms more than flying ones.

Well, a lot of your giant spaceships look more like boats than planes

The Navy also has their own pilots and planes.

The Navy has accidentally dumped TWO $70mil fighter jets into the red sea in like the past eight days.