Mass Effect 3

[MasterShrive 2,012]

After looking at the decisions that I could have made (spoiler for a ten year old game coming), should I have saved the council at the end of ME1? I figured I needed to go for broke and destroy Sovereign, but I thought the council might survive anyway. Turns out they're dead. But I could have saved them and still taken out Sovereign if I'd made the other decision. Any preference from a story perspective?

[Blueberry 444]

I am glad you played it finally. I remember being "fuck the council" .

2 has the best stories if you look for them and the combat gets a massive overhaul and is much more shooter. 

[MasterShrive 2,012]

I've got a texture and controller mod downloaded, so I'm aiming to install those tonight and give it a start.

[Blueberry 444]

Highly recommend focusing on the loyalty missions. 

[MasterShrive 2,012]

I will take that under advisement. I think I've also got a couple of DLC packs, which I presume I'll complete at the end.

[MasterShrive 2,012]

I finished ME2 over the weekend. Thoroughly enjoyed it and thought it picked up from the first game quite well. I am very interested to see where ME3 goes, but I can't start it yet as I need to download a few things first (and no internet).

 

I did all the loyalty missions (as advised) and went into the final mission with everyone on side. However, when the crew were taken and the game was like "we need to go get them", I figured it would be like other games and I could still finish some other side missions first. So when I went through the relay finally they were all dead. My bad.

 

On a side note, I also finished Firewatch. Look at me working through my list!

[Ra_Panda 39]

ME2 would have to be one of my most memorable games to have played and finished, ME3 was also great, but just under par compared to ME2. Would readily go back and play through all three in order to regain the full experience. Started Andromeda, its ok but nothing like the trilogy. It was very janky and i just never opened it again.

[MasterShrive 2,012]

On 2/28/2012 at 2:46 PM, MasterShrive said:

LMAO.

 

I'm pretty sure that by the time I get around to playing these games I will have forgotten everything anyway.

Yes, me ten years in the future had forgotten everything I'd read in this thread previous. But as of yesterday, approximately five years after starting, I have finally finished ME1, ME2 and ME3.

 

Now, to be fair, I really haven't done this series justice. My playthroughs have been stop start, sometimes six months between picking it up and running again. So it was disjointed through my own actions, with ME3 dragging out over three and a half years (and 50 hours). But nonetheless it was still a blast and I am glad I've played through one of the most important and critically aclaimed series of all time.

 

To start at the end... I'm still a little confused about the ending. In particular, about what I chose and how I chose it.

 

Some background: I ended up buying an EA pass and finished the game via the Legendary Edition over the past two months. Before that I was playing ME1, 2 and 3 via Origin with 4K and controller mods (and all DLCs). The mods stopped working, so in the end it was easier to just sign up to the game pass and transfer my ME3 save.

 

So the ending I received is the one where everyone lives in harmony. I walked towards the light and then everyone turned a tinge of green, organics and synthetics merged together. I thought this may have been the extra DLC ending, but from further reading here https://masseffect.fandom.com/wiki/Mass_Effect_3:_Extended_Cut I've worked out what was in the original and what was not. I didn't realies that by walking into the light I was making a choice, but I know I could have also either sacrificed all synthetics to stop the Reaper attack, or I could have sacrificed myself to take control of the Reapers. These came up in conversation, but I kept the convo going expecting two or three "final" choices to be presented. I didn't realise these choices were made by walking to the three different destinations (as Blue points out below).

 

I can see now why people may not have been happy with the original ending. The Extended Cut certainly gave a bit more context to everyone and certainly seemed necessary.

 

Reading through this thread I'll make a few points as I go:

 

Who survived for me? Well, I think I had everyone available going from ME2 into ME3. At the end I scarificed Shep into the light. Anderson was assassinated by Shep under the control of the Illusive Man. The rest of my squad seemed to be around when my plaque got put on the wall.

 

I did find the ME3 ending interesting in its commentary on AI. Something unexpected, but I thought it tied the events of all three games together very nicely.

 

I took Ash and James with me on the last mission - I figured that being the two humans on my team they could come and defend Earth. Garrus was my usual go-to though.

 

I chose a few renegade options - definitely shot Udina when required, and went renegade anytime someone was really pissing me off. My final ratio was maybe 90/10.

 

Through all three games I played as stock-standard Shep. Never really considered changing anything.

 

*Just found out we have a separate ME3 spoiler thread (the only thread on the forums I've never read), but I'm going to continue here because the game is ten years old*

 

On 3/14/2012 at 10:11 AM, Blueberry said:

MEGA DUPER SPOILER DON'T READ UNLESS FINISHED

 

What kind of bullshitery ending was that. Honestly, I thought that ending was so unfulfling. I choose to destroy the reapers (I feel that we should be allowed to decide, whether that be blowing ourselves up, or peace after everyone ha joined forces). Also, Liara and Garrus went with me in the last mission, ran down the hill with me but oh no, they didn't die, they some how made it back on the Normadny, and the Normandy is crashing for some reason and something but wtf? it was just very badly done. Would be interested in your endings but currently so let down by the ending. Was really psyched to play through the whole series again until the ending left a bitter taste it my mouth. Just so much ambiguity about what happened with everything.

 

As you may have guessed, I finished. I did every side mission I could and ended up with about 6800 war assets, apparently you can get more so I must of missed some side stories but I did absolutely everything I could, I even scanned every system to 100%. Which bring em to a critism (not really spoiler) the way the side quest where handled, you creepily overhear a conversation, and then you find what they were looking for by randomly scanning planets, and then you give it to them. It's like Commander Shepard, stalker guy who helps you out.

 

Also regarding James, I think the problem is trying to introduce a character so late into the series that is so bland. He is purely another Marine. Traynor was a brand new character and I felt she was fleshed out. James was just another undeveloped soldier who called you loco.

 

Regarding romance

 

I went with Liara first game because I didn't like ash. ME2 and 3 I went with Miranda purely because I know the actress who plays her and she is stunning. She is in Chuck, a tv show I used to like and she also went to the same uni campus as me http://onlinepeoplemagazine.com/wp-cont ... -20111.jpg.

 

But clearly the character to go with is Liara, all your moments are heartfelt and that final moment when you speak to her is the type of ending that I was hoping to get with Miranda.

 

Garrus was my favourite character all along, and the moment shared with him (especially in this last one) where excellent in a buddy way. I felt that my Shepard and him where friends.

 

Romance wise I went down the Miranda path; but because of my disjointed playthrough I'm not sure I did it service.

 

I'm glad people have clarified regarding James, as I really wasn't sure where he came from and thought my playthrough gaps meant I'd just forgotten him.

 

I also completed almost every side mission I could. In particular, I made sure my companions were happy and there was nothing left there. Going around to the different planets was a bit of a pain though, especially once the Reapers controlled most systems.

 

Blue makes some good points about the ending. The Normandy sweeping in did seem a bit strange. I figured taking Ash and James with me on the last mission odds were one or both weren't going to survive.

 

I played all the games on the easiest level - I was here only for the story. Trying to aim with a controller was also very hard on the early games (via mods), so I think I would have become very frustrated if I was playing on hard. Some of the boss levels would have been incredibly difficult.

 

On 3/14/2012 at 7:30 PM, Blueberry said:

 

Walking towards the beam I honestly didn't know A and C were an option, lol.

 

On 3/14/2012 at 10:34 AM, Decroxx said:

When I got onto the Citadel, I was hoping there would be something else. Like, we were in a secret area of the Citadel, why didn't we get to see something else about the Keepers? Explain why they were still there, amongst piles of bodies!

 

I thought the Keepers were going to do something cool too! Nope.

 

Playing through this series has (obviously) reminded me of KOTOR. That was the first game I ever really played with multiple endings and decision trees. With this in mind, what game should I pick up next?

 

Final question - has anyone played Andromeda?

 

In summary, this has absolutely been worth the effort. The Legendary Edition in particular would be great for people new to the series. Highly recommend, and the series could easily place within my top five games of all time.

Edited May 19, 2022 by MasterShrive

[Decroxx 814]

Congratulations on finishing them Shrive!

It's officially been so long since I wrote that quote that I have no idea what I was even talking about back then.

[RallyMan 304]

On 20/05/2022 at 6:28 PM, Decroxx said:

Congratulations on finishing them Shrive!

It's officially been so long since I wrote that quote that I have no idea what I was even talking about back then.

mate its been so long I forgot I started this thread  

 

congrats on finishing shrives almost in time for mass effect 4 to come out