Unofficial Mass Effect Thread, Someone had to do it Options

[SubRosa]

Fem Shep is definitely the best shep, if you want good voice acting...

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Fem Shep is definitely the best shep, if you want good voice acting...

Exactly. Not a fan of MaleShep’s VA.

This post has been edited by TheCheshireKhajiit: Feb 9 2023, 01:46 PM

[WellTemperedClavier]

Fem Shep is definitely the best shep, if you want good voice acting...

Exactly. Not a fan of MaleShep’s VA.

While MaleShep's VA got better by the third game, Jennifer Hale's FemShep was great all the way through.

[Renee]

I agree about FemShep's voice acting, it's really good. This game is really sort of intense, too. Different from Elder Scrolls. I really have to pay attention to dialog, for instance. If I space for even 6 seconds while conversation is happening, I'm suddenly lost! Good thing we can repeat-click on some topics.

Amanda Sheppard

Skygazing

Tough Chick

SciFi Sunrise 🌞🌞


Wish I could go into 1st person for some reason, but doesn't seem we can. I'm usually a 3rd person gamer, too.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

@Renee,

You may have stated this elsewhere, but are you playing the remaster that came out recently?

[Renee]

Remaster? I'm not sure. I got the game for Xbox, so probably not.

I got to the point last night where they met some enemies and we had to shoot 'em. 🔫 I've got the game on its easiest setting but I did turn the Auto-aim (or whatever it is) down. But Amanda was able to hit one of the ... enemies who came for them. Not sure what they're called.

You folks were right, this is waaay different from Bethesda.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Remaster? I'm not sure. I got the game for Xbox, so probably not.

I got to the point last night where they met some enemies and we had to shoot 'em. 🔫 I've got the game on its easiest setting but I did turn the Auto-aim (or whatever it is) down. But Amanda was able to hit one of the ... enemies who came for them. Not sure what they're called.

You folks were right, this is waaay different from Bethesda.

Sorry Renee, this is what I was talking about.

Was that the first mission?

This post has been edited by TheCheshireKhajiit: Feb 13 2023, 11:57 AM

[Renee]

That links to a Mass Effect Legendary Edition page, but I don't see a mission.

The first mission in the game I have is Shep getting into a conversation with a Captain (or somebody) on a spaceship, and then touching down on a planet. She's supposed to find a beacon or something.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

That links to a Mass Effect Legendary Edition page, but I don't see a mission.

The first mission in the game I have is Shep getting into a conversation with a Captain (or somebody) on a spaceship, and then touching down on a planet. She's supposed to find a beacon or something.

Sorry, I linked the “Legendary Edition” because it is the remaster I mentioned a couple of posts back. Is this the version of the game you are playing or is it the standard version?

Ah yes, Eden Prime. Where it all begins.

[SubRosa]

Eden Prime sounds like a certain American President from Fallout 3...

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Eden Prime sounds like a certain American President from Fallout 3...

[Renee]

Eden Prime sounds like a certain American President from Fallout 3...

YES, I noticed that too. I remember some discussion about this too, back in the day, ppl were trying to figure if Bethesda ripped off with those two names Bioware or vice versa. I think the conclusion was the two names in each game were just coincidence. Still... that's one heck of a coincidence.

Khajiit: I went on Wikipedia and it says the Legendary edtion was only released for Xbox 1, PS4, and PC in 2021. I have the 360 version. It's the Trilogy, released in 2012. So no, I don't have the remaster.

This post has been edited by Renee: Feb 13 2023, 03:50 PM

[SubRosa]

I think it is coincidence too. In fact, I just made another connection between the game. President Eden, Liberty Prime = Eden Prime.

But with President Eden specifically I think they chose the name to deliberately invoke a sense that he would usher in a utopia. His stories on the radio were those of real Presidents like Lincoln. So in the game's own world, Eden was specifically presenting himself in order to cultivate that desired image of being the comforting father who was going to make everything all better.

[Renee]

I actually miss President Eden in my Lone Wanderer's game. And the corny traditional music his station plays. Normally I don't pay much attention to "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and other such songs, but when placed in that context of the world in apocalypse, that's what's always caught me up.

Stay tuned for more pictures. FemShep just got to the first combat, so I'm either going to do okay at this, or I'll totally suck and have to start all voer. I mean over.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Yeah, I always found Eden to be very reasonable. Much more so than that jerk Autumn.

[Lopov]

I played the 1st and the 2nd game, the third one had upon release a glitch that wouldn't allow you to import the main character from ME2. The issue was resolved fairly quickly but somehow I was already losing interested in between and so never finished the trilogy.

It's a good game with lots of dialogues and the story is interesting, characters as well. I liked the fact that you could choose accompanying characters for missions. Some choices that you make, are already significant in the 1st game, some in the 2nd but the majority of them should impact the events in ME3 if I understood correctly.

The dialogues in this game are really rich but also very long. I spent lots of real-life days in that first big city where you travel after the tutorial, I forgot the name already. But I was really awed by the sheer amount of dialogues.

[Renee]

The dialogues in this game are really rich but also very long. I spent lots of real-life days in that first big city where you travel after the tutorial, I forgot the name already. But I was really awed by the sheer amount of dialogues.

Yes, you've touched on something I've definitely noticed. There's a LOT of dialog and a LOT of little moments when it seems a choice is being made, even as Shep speaks to the very first people on the spaceship. 🚀

Comparing to Bethesda games, and looking back to those folks who'd say "Bioware does it better" I'd have to say that they certainly do offer more dialog, and more choices. But that's all. With Elder Scrolls and Fallout games there's always this feeling I get whenever I'm with someone new. Like I'm mostly getting to know my new character. And this happens through the choices which are made by which gear they pick up (A bow instead of a sword in OB's tutorial dungeon, for instance). Do they pick up the mortar & pestle, do they make that first stealth shot towards the goblin who's standing unaware, and so on.

But there's also a factor that isn't given by Bethesda themselves, which is imagination. As I'm spending time with whomever I'm with, I'm getting to know them, wondering why they've been imprisoned, wondering what their future goals are, and so on. None of that is given to us by the devs.

Even in Arena with those crude graphics and first-person-only perspective I get these feelings. I get the sense that I can do whatever my latest character wants in Beth games. Most of them ignore the main story, for instance. Never even touch it.

I get none of this from Mass Effect. I don't feel like I'm connecting with Amanda Sheppard at all, so far. She's more like a character in an interactive movie.

And I'm NOT saying this is a BAD thing. It's just the way Bioware rolls, apparently. Lots of dialog, lots of choices, the focus is on the story (and nothing else). More like Tomb Raider, actually. But see, that's why I'm playing ME. It's cool to play something different.

[SubRosa]

I felt the same way about playing Shepherd. It is the difference between creating your own character, and being given one by the game designers. Both methods have their pluses and minuses. When you are allowed to create your own character, with your own backstory, your own profession, you get exactly what you want. But the developers cannot insert you very deeply into their own story of what is going on. You are too much of a blank slate for that. So you become something like the classic Western movie trope of the Stranger who drifts into town and sets all the wrongs to right.

But if instead the game makers create your character for you like Shepherd, they can insert you right into the foundation of the story. You are a military veteran of Earth, the first one chosen to become a Spectre, etc... Sure, you can chose from 3 backstories, that each has one small quest associated with it. But they never change the fact that you are an Earth veteran who is the first chosen to become a Spectre.

I never liked that. It feels claustrophobic. In ME in particular, I did not want to play a human. I wanted to play an Asari. I did not want to be soldier for Earth, or a Spectre, or be on this super secret warship. I just wanted to be a traveling prospector, finding mineral claims throughout the galaxy, meeting people, and getting into adventures along the way. And the game of course, would not let me be any of these things.

I would not say that either approach is inherently better or worse. Like I said, each has their advantages and disadvantages. It is just that for me personally it is the open world, anything goes style that suits me best.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

BGS is unparalleled at giving you a blank canvas and letting you go wild. No other gaming studio comes close, unless you count Obsidian for their efforts in games like New Vegas and The Outer Worlds. I do feel that BioWare did a pretty good job of making me invested in my character in some of their games despite them being very limited in their background. KotOR was perhaps the best example of this. I remember being very invested in my first KotOR character. So much so that it deeply offended me when it was revealed that “canon” Revan was male and redeemed to the lightside.

For Mass Effect, I mean, you are always going to be Commander Shep, in one form or another. Not a lot of wiggle room, but you can do some creative head canon that can help make individual characters more distinct from each other. For instance, one of my Shep’s was a sneaky sniper type who stayed kinda in the middle of the Paragon/Renegade scale. Another one went through ME1 as a bit of a goody good, but then after suffering a very grave injury, she developed a personality disorder and became very, shall we say, aggressive. She was a Vanguard, which complimented this mentality very well with her up close and personal combat style. That was actually a really fun playthrough.

This post has been edited by TheCheshireKhajiit: Feb 14 2023, 11:06 PM

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

One more thing. I’ve often thought that Bethesda could just drop the main quest from their games and beef up the faction and side quests. Lately I’ve found that I have more fun ignoring the main quests and just doing the side stuff.

This post has been edited by TheCheshireKhajiit: Feb 14 2023, 11:26 PM