Mass Effect

I've just finished it and, my, what a game.

I don't know how many of you here have played it, but I have been constantly impressed with the quality of the design and voice work, and the fact that you get to make some actual seemingly important decisions (which will most likely be even more relevent in the sequal) was brilliant.

I particularly enjoyed Shepard’s relationships with the crew. The little heart to hearts he had with them were enjoyable to listen to and genuinely engaging. The love interest side story was also a great little addition- again, I was always engaged during the courting scences, and not only because of the promise of sex at the end of it.

I rushed through a little on my first play though. Though I did take up a lot of the side quest’s, from what I have read on the internet I have missed a huge amount (for example, even though Garrus was one of my "main" characters, I never explored his career options).

So, just to get the discussion started, a few questions:

-Love interest? (Liara with a Male Sheppard, by the way)
-Paragon or Renegade (Paragon, and I've filled up the entire bar)
-Save or kill the council? (Save, it only seemed fair)
-Save or Kill Wrex (I was so tempted to have Ashley kill him, but I had to save him in order to keep with my Paragon status)
-Kaiden or Ashley? (Ashley)

By the by, I've only played the game through once, so some of the above choices are only assumptions; sorry if I have it wrong.

Originally Posted by Sam250

I've just finished it and, my, what a game.

I don't know how many of you here have played it, but I have been constantly impressed with the quality of the design and voice work, and the fact that you get to make some actual seemingly important decisions (which will most likely be even more relevent in the sequal) was brilliant.

I particularly enjoyed Shepard’s relationships with the crew. The little heart to hearts he had with them were enjoyable to listen to and genuinely engaging. The love interest side story was also a great little addition- again, I was always engaged during the courting scences, and not only because of the promise of sex at the end of it.

I rushed through a little on my first play though. Though I did take up a lot of the side quest’s, from what I have read on the internet I have missed a huge amount (for example, even though Garrus was one of my "main" characters, I never explored his career options).

So, just to get the discussion started, a few questions:

-Love interest? (Liara with a Male Sheppard, by the way)
-Paragon or Renegade (Paragon, and I've filled up the entire bar)
-Save or kill the council? (Save, it only seemed fair)
-Save or Kill Wrex (I was so tempted to have Ashley kill him, but I had to save him in order to keep with my Paragon status)
-Kaiden or Ashley? (Ashley)

By the by, I've only played the game through once, so some of the above choices are only assumptions; sorry if I have it wrong.

ive played thorugh the game 4 times now so ill post the results from my last play thorugh

love intrest: none since ive already got that acheivement
renegade
kill the council
save wrex (he was one of my strongest guys so i had to)
ashley

One of my favorite games of all time. BioWare outdid themselves again! I finished my first playthrough awhile ago, and I'm on my second with the same character. His name was Guzman Shepard, and he was a Mexican soldier. See my avatar for appearance :>

Anyway, here's the little quiz:

PLAYTHROUGH ONE:
-Love interest? Ashley with male Shepard. Liara's a whore.
-Paragon or Renegade: Full renegade. I can't help not being a total ******* in that game-- it's what makes it fun!
-Save or kill the council? Kill. There were more important things going on at the time.
-Save or Kill Wrex: Save. I couldn't have beaten the game without him.
-Kaiden or Ashley? Kaidan.

Here are my plans for my second playthrough. So far, it's awesome. I work with a Total Tank party (Shepard: S/S Ashley: S/S Garrus: S/T or Wrex S/B) ans so far it's incredibly fun. My Sniper Rifle does more damage than the Mako's Rocket Launcher. High Explosive Rounds for the win!

Anyways, here's my plans:

-Love interest? Liara. I've had my turn with Ash.
-Paragon or Renegade: Trying my best to be paragon, but it's hard when you're an indestructible beast of a character.
-Save or kill the council? I dunno.
-Save or Kill Wrex: Shoot Wrex.
-Kaiden or Ashley? Ashley.

One of the greatest games of all time. Great storyline, stunning graphics. Awesome through and through.

I've played through twice, here's my most recent playthrough.

Class: Infiltrator
Love Interest: Liara, as male Shepherd
Path: Filled renegade up to 100% and I had paragon at like 30-40%
Council: **** 'em
Wrex: **** 'im
Kaiden or Ashley: Ashley.

Great game by the way. I'll probably beat it several more times before I get bored with it.

One of my favorite games on the 360. It was really good, but could have been way better (the main game was really short, even with sidequests which were pretty boring besides a few for character development. the sidequest exploration was far and wide, but there wasn't really much interest in it for me because it felt like the same planet over and over with lil life and abandoned ships/bunkers you could go through. But story, characters, gameplay, etc were stellar. )

-Love interest? Ashley, alien & human sex is just plain weird, I even tried it on my third playthrough and it still felt weird.
-Paragon or Renegade: First Paragon, then Renegade, I usually do it like that on all Bioware games or other games you can choose your path.
-Save or kill the council? Save when Good, Kill when Bad
-Save or Kill Wrex: Save, he is too cool of a character to let die.
-Kaiden or Ashley? Ashley

Originally Posted by Incognito

I usually do it like that on all Bioware games or other games you can choose your path.

Funny, I always do the other way around.

now Sailboat, we had no idea you liked this game

also, kill the Rachni Queen, or spare her?

i spared her

Not her. It.

I killed that disgusting thing. The last thing the Galaxy needed at the time was ANOTHER Rachni war. They would just distract us from the primary task at hand: Destroying the Reapers.

I let it live.

It was a sentient being, able to express thought and display consciousness. It was innocent of any crimes of its ancestors, so killing it just because of its species would have been a gross violation of basic rights.

Plus, a Rachni swarm with a favor to return would be a kick-ass ally, and I'm surprised Bioware never explored that in the story.



Mass Effect presented some interesting moral choices. Still doesn't approach much real world morality, but some of the decisions you make seem to have more weight than in similar games.

Originally Posted by Dr. Fish

Plus, a Rachni swarm with a favor to return would be a kick-ass ally, and I'm surprised Bioware never explored that in the story.

I think that they intend to do that in future games, where you can import your dataq from the first game in order tro change the world that you start in in ME2. Which was the reason that I spared here- whether she ends up as another villian, or a powerful ally, I thought things would be more interesting if she lived.

I left it live as good, then killed it as bad.

I really want to play a sequel. Really wondering how they will do that. They did say you will be able to use your old file from the first game somehow, right? at least for stats or looks or something. Also wondering how they'll bring characters from the first game back like Wrex, Kayden or Ashley since you can choose their fates. And if they'll be party members again or a complete new cast with them as NPCs or something.

I asked my friend and he commented something about not really sure what genre it was in. ;/

I borrowed it and beat it on the 360. It was so damn good, I had to buy it, so I went out and purchased it for the PC. This time, I decided not to use the default Shepard, and customize his appearance a bit. Also, I heard that what you did in the first game will affect the plot of the sequel.

Anyway, it was able to do what I thought was nearly impossible in a Western "create-your-own-character" RPG- tell a good, emotional story.

One of my favorite RPGs for the 360, easily. I put something like 25 hours into it the first weekend I had it. :X

I only rented it, which sucked because I didn't have enough time to beat my second playthrough, since I put a lot of extra time in my first. I might buy it soon.

I love this game to pieces. I've only gone up to when you become a Spectre, but the game is something totally new and worth playing. The only problem I have with this game is the respond points. Why the Hell do you have to restart the freakin' mission when you die? did they ever think of checkpoints?

Originally Posted by Andross

Also, I heard that what you did in the first game will affect the plot of the sequel.

That'll be interesting to see. I wonder how they'll pull that off...

Originally Posted by Andross

Anyway, it was able to do what I thought was nearly impossible in a Western "create-your-own-character" RPG- tell a good, emotional story.

That's basically why I love this game. That and the blend of RPG and TPS gameplay. Really a nice touch to Next-Gen gaming.

Originally Posted by Spearhead

I love this game to pieces. I've only gone up to when you become a Spectre, but the game is something totally new and worth playing. The only problem I have with this game is the respond points. Why the Hell do you have to restart the freakin' mission when you die? did they ever think of checkpoints?

You do know that you can save at any time as long as you're no in combat or riding an elevator, right?

Originally Posted by hypno_toad

You do know that you can save at any time as long as you're no in combat or riding an elevator, right?

OH MY GOD! So simple, I would've never guessed.

And it's also a good thing you haven't noticed my mispelling of respawn XP

One thinkg that I think they could have done better was how they incouraged you (via the Paragon/Renegade points) to be either a really nice upstanding citizen, or to be a complete bastard to everyone you meet. Obviously you can be anything in between, but you arn't rewarded for it. Most of the major plot decisions fall into those two catagorys either. It's not quite as bad as (to quote Yartzee) "you're either mother tereasa or baby murderer", but incouraging a wider range of personalitys would have been nice.

Originally Posted by Sam250

One thinkg that I think they could have done better was how they incouraged you (via the Paragon/Renegade points) to be either a really nice upstanding citizen, or to be a complete bastard to everyone you meet. Obviously you can be anything in between, but you arn't rewarded for it. Most of the major plot decisions fall into those two catagorys either. It's not quite as bad as (to quote Yartzee) "you're either mother tereasa or baby murderer", but incouraging a wider range of personalitys would have been nice.

Honestly though, no matter what you do, you're still the good guy. Maybe a good guy who is a trigger happy *******, but a good guy nonetheless. It's not like Oblivion or Fable where you can actually be a bad guy. Not to mention, neither paragon nor renegade points is really a "reward," they are just ways to track your progress. I mean, I had a character on one play through that was like 75% renegade 50% paragon and you only need to get one of them up to 75% to get max intimidate/charm.

Originally Posted by Spearhead

And it's also a good thing you haven't noticed my mispelling of respawn XP

Actually I did notice, but I'm not the kind of ******* to point that kind of stuff out. At least not outside of SD. Also there are Ss in "misspelling."

I was just playing the game. I'm starting to get back into it. I recently found the best weapon in the entire game. Nothing even comes close.

Mark X Spectre Master-Gear sniper rifle

2 Mark X Scram Rail upgrades

High Explosive X rounds

One-hit kill on almost anybody, WITHOUT the assassination power. Sure, it's a one-hit overheat, but it's worth it. If you have cover, you're perfectly fine. I REALLY want that sniper achievement.