Dragon Age or Mass Effect

[Pumpkin]

Which series do you like more?

[Freya]

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

why do you do this


damnit

I'm going to go with Mass Effect. I like how it carried more over from one game to the next while DA was a long story with multiple mains over a long time.

[Fynn]

I haven't played either, but I'm moderately interested in trying both someday

[Formalhaut]

Formalhaut Greatly Approves

I love both, but I've got to say I'm a Dragon Age person. I guess I prefer the setting, with magic, a heavy emphasis on religion and all of the issues surrounding that, and also the game has always been more liberal. Mass Effect eventually embraced same-sex relationships, but Dragon Age has from the beginning always been inclusive, and improving every time, like with the first Trans character in Inquisition (and I will not stop going on about how amazing that is).

I feel Dragon Age takes itself just slightly less seriously, which I approve of as well.

[Pumpkin]

I have played ME:2 and some ME:3 and I am currently playing DA:O and I voted Mass Effect because of what I have played, I prefer Mass Effect. It made me much more excited to play and kept my attention a lot more. But my opinion may change once I play more of both series :monster:

I do think its funny though because I prefer fantasy medieval settings to other settings generally but I prefer Mass Effect to Dragon Age (so far) and Fallout to Skyrim, which also has a more fantasy medieval setting

[Formalhaut]

I could talk about either game all day. But especially Dragon Age. It's the sort of game I could never tire of completely.

[Forsaken Lover]

This is a tough one.

On the one hand, I legitimately consider Mass Effect 2 to be in my Top 5 RPGs Ever. It's pretty much perfect - cast, music, combat, setting....

Unfortunately, it wasn't quite perfect. Someone at BioWare was like "this game is TOO good. Let's screw it up." Miranda was originally going to be a romance option for Femshep. But nope! Not anymore. Now Manshep gets both her and Jack. smurf that. Femshep all the way. If I could just romance Miranda with my Femshep, ME2 be perfect.

Now, I came into the ME series after Dragon Age Origins and 2 so perhaps I just had unrealistic expectations. Origins gave me Leliana and Zevran, both of which I loved. DA2 gave you everyone. By contrast, ME felt so constricted.

Now, that all being said, while I like the Krogan and Reapers, DA's Qunari are possibly my favorite fictional race and ideology ever. I think they are amazingly interesting and I love learning more about them. I got "A Worthy Rival" with the Arishok in DA2 without even trying because I simply agreed with him a lot. He made so much sense to me and to this day I would say he is not only the best DA antagonist, he's one of the best BW antagonists period.

As it stands, with three games each, I feel....
Dragon Age Origins: Good.
Dragon Age II: Good.
Dragon Age Inquisition: Ehhh. Okay. I mainly hate the gameplay
vs
Mass Effect 1: I legit don't like it. Weak characters, weak gameplay, weak choices.
Mass Effect 2: AMAZING.
Mass Effect 3: A lot of fun and really cool...until you stop to think about it.

I guess, overall, I prefer DA. But only barely.

Oh! I really wish ME had party banter. That was another thing I missed.

[Del Murder]

Mass Effect are the better games with more interesting characters, lore, gameplay, and storylines. I also like space more than fantasy.

[Psychotic]

Mass Effect are the better games with more interesting characters, lore, gameplay, and storylines. I also like space more than fantasy.This, except I think I like fantasy more than space so it tells you what a great job Mass Effect did.

[Aulayna]

Mass Effect. Series genuinely made me feel feels.

(that and being a Krogan Vanguard in ME3 Multiplayer was da bomb, especially when he'd start laughing to himself on a kill streak. Glorious!)

[Forsaken Lover]

7-Ax_k473RY

[Mr. Carnelian]

I can't choose between them, I really can't. They're two of my favourite games series, and I love them. WAY more than Final Fantasy, actually. Should I have admitted that on a Final Fantasy forum? :p

[Freya]

I can't choose between them, I really can't. They're two of my favourite games series, and I love them. WAY more than Final Fantasy, actually. Should I have admitted that on a Final Fantasy forum? :p
I've
http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/053/b/1/bro_time__by_lekana-d4qn2x7.png
http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/053/c/a/long_awaited_cuddles_by_lekana-d4qkomz.png
http://orig13.deviantart.net/d833/f/2014/082/7/6/garrus_vakarian_by_lekana-d7bfbgd.png
than I have ever FF fanart xD I feel you.

[Formalhaut]

Mass Effect is sweeping, which is funny because all I hear about Mass Effect is 'ugh that ending I can't even'.

[Forsaken Lover]

Mass Effect is sweeping, which is funny because all I hear about Mass Effect is 'ugh that ending I can't even'.

I'm not surprised.

iUz4DP2vpB0#t

Sci-fi RPGs are rarer so ME is seen as more unique than DA which, to be fair, has a pretty unoriginal setting in broad terms.

Also Mass Effect 2 is just that good. Shame about the other two games....

[Freya]

Oh there's also Some Miracle of Sound videos

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Both about the second entries.

[Pumpkin]

The characters in ME:2 were overall pretty excellent while there are only 2 I really like in Dragon Age so far and two I like alright.

But I am still early on as I said so that could all change. I also liked the moral dilemmas in ME more so far

[sharkythesharkdogg]

The best thing DA:O has going for it over ME that I have seen is Dog.

We renamed Dog Hector, and Hector is awesome.

Other than that, ME seems better in most ways. DA:O seems fun too. So ME is just a strong series.

[Galuf]

Mass Effect. ME2 Alone sells it

[Madame Adequate]

I juuuust prefer DA these days, for a couple reasons; Origins is the best of the six games in question, and Inquisition didn't end with the most fucking retarded ass ending ever.

[FFNut]

I hated Mass Effect. Couldn't tell you why, but every time I plugged it in I took it out minutes later because I just didn't enjoy it. Dragon Age though was great. Loved the series. So DA is my vote.

[Forsaken Lover]

Were you playing Mass Effect 1? Because it's not a very good game and you should try the others.

[DMKA]

I'm replaying the Dragon Age series right now and I've worked my way back up to Inquisition and well, I'm having an absolute blast. I can easily say now that it's one of my favorite video game series. I'm going to replay Mass Effect afterward.

I'm going to go ahead and vote Dragon Age because, perhaps my memory has faded and my mind will change once I replay it, but I don't recall having half as much fun or sense of adventure in ME, I didn't find the relationships on offer nearly as satisfying, and I found the ending of 3 extremely disappointing (just like everyone else did :p).

But again, maybe I'll appreciate it more the second time around. That's certainly been the case with DA so far.

[FFNut]

Were you playing Mass Effect 1? Because it's not a very good game and you should try the others.

I tried ME one, two, and three. Just didn't like them. I know I'm in the minority with this but I just couldn't stand a single second of it. Faye it may have been a voice actor that bugged me, or I've never been into space sci-fi so it may just be that. I'm just not a fan.

[Formalhaut]

I really loved Mass Effect, but I just prefer Dragon Age. It just takes itself slightly less seriously. Compare ME3 with DA: I (both the third game in the series). ME3 is short on laughs, which is to be expected, I guess, but still. There's also less of an emphasis on character interaction.

With ME, the majority of party interaction is Shepard - Companion, as opposed to Companion - Companion. In Dragon Age, your companions talk to each other more often, even if you exclude the party banter mechanic (which I approve of). The Citadel DLC for ME3 worked to correct that, though. Ultimately though, Shepard is the primary nexus for your companions, and while that is the case in Dragon Age (especially DA: II), it is less prominent.

[Pheesh]

I juuuust prefer DA these days, for a couple reasons; Origins is the best of the six games in question, and Inquisition didn't end with the most smurfing retarded ass ending ever.

ME2 was a much more enjoyable experience for me than DA:O. They're both great games but Origins is not better than ME2.

[Formalhaut]

I felt ME got more and more on rails as the series went on. In Mass Effect, there were tons of side-quests you could take on. Mass Effect 2 had fewer but still had very memorable quests, while Mass Effect 3 didn't really have many at all.

Dragon Age has always had exploration and side-quests. Inquisition stumbles due to the lack of focus with non-companion side-quests, but expands on exploration.

[Forsaken Lover]

ME2 is a smurfing great game but it canno tbe stressed enough what an outlier it is.

DA has been much more consistent in terms of quality. Probably because it had the same lead writer in all the games thus far. That's a big thing about why ME3 is the way it is, it replaced several writers.

I am worried about what DA4 will be like without David Gaider.

[Skyblade]

The thing is, Mass Effect is actually fun to PLAY.

Yes, the ending to the trilogy is complete crap. We know this. Fine. But the rest of the games are stellar, and the combat and mechanics in all of them (even the first one) are great fun.

Dragon Age, while I enjoy it's world building and characters and such, is not fun to play. It's combat and game mechanics are terrible. The best was honestly DA2, which was a train wreck in so many other areas. Similar to Knights of the Old Republic, I frequently cheated just so that I could experience as little combat as possible because the mechanics are not fun. I gave up on Inquisition entirely after the first few fights in the Highlands. The games play badly.

[DMKA]

The thing is, Mass Effect is actually fun to PLAY.

Yes, the ending to the trilogy is complete crap. We know this. Fine. But the rest of the games are stellar, and the combat and mechanics in all of them (even the first one) are great fun.

Dragon Age, while I enjoy it's world building and characters and such, is not fun to play. It's combat and game mechanics are terrible. The best was honestly DA2, which was a train wreck in so many other areas. Similar to Knights of the Old Republic, I frequently cheated just so that I could experience as little combat as possible because the mechanics are not fun. I gave up on Inquisition entirely after the first few fights in the Highlands. The games play badly.

Haha, I'm the exact opposite! I love running around the countryside massacring bandits in DA! I can run around for hours wandering around and doing quests and never grow bored.

Meanwhile in Mass Effect the gameplay will inevitably make me say "Yawn...is it story progression time yet?" if it goes on without a break for too long. :p

[Kalevala]

I answered with "I like them equally" but realized that was a lie as soon as I clicked it. I love both but Mass Effect resonated with me on a level that Dragon Age simply did not, despite being fantastic. Maybe it was because they're with you across all three games, but I cared far more for the characters in Mass Effect.

[Formalhaut]

The thing is, Mass Effect is actually fun to PLAY.

Yes, the ending to the trilogy is complete crap. We know this. Fine. But the rest of the games are stellar, and the combat and mechanics in all of them (even the first one) are great fun.

Dragon Age, while I enjoy it's world building and characters and such, is not fun to play. It's combat and game mechanics are terrible. The best was honestly DA2, which was a train wreck in so many other areas. Similar to Knights of the Old Republic, I frequently cheated just so that I could experience as little combat as possible because the mechanics are not fun. I gave up on Inquisition entirely after the first few fights in the Highlands. The games play badly.

I don't know, I'm the opposite as well. Maybe I'm just not as into shooters, but I found Dragon Age to play better for me. Mass Effect was fun to play, but the standard game-play was pretty much 'cover, shoot, move forward, cover, shoot, move forward'. I also felt like my Shepard had to do everything. Maybe I wasn't using my squad very well, but no matter what class I had for Shepard, I felt like I contributed far more than anyone else (besides Miranda in 2, because she can do everything).

In Dragon Age, my tank is essential, and my mages help me survive. Everyone seems like an integral addition to the team. I never had a real complaint about the mechanics, besides the fact that tactics were dumbed down quite a lot in Inquisition, which irked me.

[Pumpkin]

I'm not digging the gameplay in either much to be honest. Playing them for the story and characters, as I do with most games

[Formalhaut]

I'm not digging the gameplay in either much to be honest. Playing them for the story and characters, as I do with most games

Origins combat is pretty slow, I have to admit. It becomes really fast-paced in Dragon Age II, before finding a middle ground in Inquisition.

[Wolf Kanno]

I've only really played Mass Effect because DA just never really interested me, and trying to find a good Sci-Fi RPG is a rare feat. I still need to get around to playing ME3 which I'll do eventually. I just hope they did more with the gameplay from ME2 as I found the game to be a downgrade from ME1.

I'm not sure if I'll ever get around to DA because it's not really my kind of thing.

[Madame Adequate]

I juuuust prefer DA these days, for a couple reasons; Origins is the best of the six games in question, and Inquisition didn't end with the most smurfing retarded ass ending ever.

ME2 was a much more enjoyable experience for me than DA:O. They're both great games but Origins is not better than ME2.

ME2 isn't even the best ME. It's actually the worst of the three, although the first and last half hours of 3 made a damn strong effort at the claim.

Origins is the best implementation of the old BG style isometric game since we moved out of isometric viewpoints. It's vast, detailed, the combat is enjoyable and requires tactical thought, and is filled with great characters who have coherent motivations.

Mass Effect 2 is a pretty mediocre cover shooter in a very good setting with characters that range from 'Greatest Ever' in Mordin Solus to 'You've got to be kidding me' Morinth to 'I actually forgot he existed until I was checking Mordin's spelling and saw Jacob mentioned'. But that's about it. Mass Effect 1 is the best of the three. 3 is a much better implementation of most of what 2 did. 2 is just... there.

[Pheesh]

I juuuust prefer DA these days, for a couple reasons; Origins is the best of the six games in question, and Inquisition didn't end with the most smurfing retarded ass ending ever.

ME2 was a much more enjoyable experience for me than DA:O. They're both great games but Origins is not better than ME2.

ME2 isn't even the best ME. It's actually the worst of the three, although the first and last half hours of 3 made a damn strong effort at the claim.

Origins is the best implementation of the old BG style isometric game since we moved out of isometric viewpoints. It's vast, detailed, the combat is enjoyable and requires tactical thought, and is filled with great characters who have coherent motivations.

Mass Effect 2 is a pretty mediocre cover shooter in a very good setting with characters that range from 'Greatest Ever' in Mordin Solus to 'You've got to be kidding me' Morinth to 'I actually forgot he existed until I was checking Mordin's spelling and saw Jacob mentioned'. But that's about it. Mass Effect 1 is the best of the three. 3 is a much better implementation of most of what 2 did. 2 is just... there.

Your opinion on this is so different to what pretty much everyone thinks that I feel like you should be studied in a lab. I have no response other than to say subjectivity is a hell of a thing.

[Shauna]

I also agree with the notion that ME1 is more fun to play than ME2. The series movement to heavy cover-based shooter was my biggest disappointment.

Anyway I have only played DA:O, compared to all 3 MEs, so I wouldn't want to lay down my vote at this stage.

[Forsaken Lover]

I juuuust prefer DA these days, for a couple reasons; Origins is the best of the six games in question, and Inquisition didn't end with the most smurfing retarded ass ending ever.

ME2 was a much more enjoyable experience for me than DA:O. They're both great games but Origins is not better than ME2.

ME2 isn't even the best ME. It's actually the worst of the three, although the first and last half hours of 3 made a damn strong effort at the claim.

Origins is the best implementation of the old BG style isometric game since we moved out of isometric viewpoints. It's vast, detailed, the combat is enjoyable and requires tactical thought, and is filled with great characters who have coherent motivations.

Mass Effect 2 is a pretty mediocre cover shooter in a very good setting with characters that range from 'Greatest Ever' in Mordin Solus to 'You've got to be kidding me' Morinth to 'I actually forgot he existed until I was checking Mordin's spelling and saw Jacob mentioned'. But that's about it. Mass Effect 1 is the best of the three. 3 is a much better implementation of most of what 2 did. 2 is just... there.

Your opinion on this is so different to what pretty much everyone thinks that I feel like you should be studied in a lab. I have no response other than to say subjectivity is a hell of a thing.

There's a dedicated group of about 20 people who really don't like ME2. They stand in opposition to the rest of the world which considers ME2 one of the greatest games of all time.

Don't ask me why. I played the ME Trilogy for the first time end of 2014, back-to-back and ME2 was as amazing as everyone said. I remember originally thinking "I hear so much about 2 and 3, but no one ever talks about ME1 anymore." Yeah, there's a reason for that. It's not a very good game compared to its sequels.

[Formalhaut]

ME2 is a very good game, but it isn't without flaws. You get some of your companions rather late, when you're already used to using Miranda, Garrus and Miranda. Seriously, Miranda is legendary in this game. You get Legion way too late to be of any real use, and even the squadmates you get in the second wave (Tali, Samara, Thane) fill more niche roles, as opposed to the versatile Miranda.

Having said that, I do like the squad you get in ME2, and they are fantastic people. I wished one of the ME2 squadmates replaced James Vega in ME3; he was so... vanilla.

[Del Murder]

ME3 is definitely better than ME2 in everything gameplay related since it is basically an upgrade of the same system. It is hard to compare it back to ME1 since you could tell they were still figuring out the controls and the inventory system is so horrible. I did like that ME1 was more RPG than shooter and got more shooter as the series went on, but I loved the powers in the latter two games.

The story in ME1 is the best, bar none. It has the best villain, throws you into this new awesome universe to explore, and deals with issues like racism in new ways. ME2's story is just kind of there, and it's clear that the focus is more on relationships with team members and their individual stories than on stopping the Collectors. ME3 has an excellent story too and closes several threads in a very satisfactory way. People downgrade it for the last 30 minutes of the 'ending' but fail to see that the whole game is the 'ending' to this trilogy. Yes those last few minutes were stupid but that doesn't change the fact that you were able to see and influence satisfactory conclusions to the other major issues facing this galaxy.

As for Dragon Age, the gameplay in Origins is clunky and slow but I see the appeal. I may have a different opinion if I played something other than a tank Warrior. DA2 is too fast, and to compensate they threw in continuous spawning enemies which I think is poor design. I think DAI got it just right in terms of pacing but it does feel pretty easy to master if you have half a brain to level classes correctly. However, I really enjoy using my skills to kill stuff in different ways so the lack of difficulty isn't bothering me.

The stories of the three DA games are pretty equal. The companions in Origins and Inquisition are much better than DA2, though. I appreciate what they tried to do with the smaller scale in DA2 but they reused areas and maps so much that it got really tedious. I love the multiple vast areas to explore in DAI. Checking out a new beautiful area is probably my favorite thing.

[Madame Adequate]

The thing is that whilst ME2 did make some gameplay changes to improve over 1 (which was by no means a perfect game), in many ways it just went too far. Like, yeah, the inventory interface in ME1 was abominable, no question about it. The solution was not to remove the inventory. Overheating instead of ammo was an interesting mechanic that had both lore backing and impact on gameplay, so they stripped it entirely and hey reloading like old times. etc. etc.

ME2 ended up, to me, feeling like a boring and fairly generic game that happened to be in a setting I like. ME1, for all its flaws, ended up being something I really remember, thoroughly enjoyed, and have replayed since more than once.

[Wolf Kanno]

The thing is that whilst ME2 did make some gameplay changes to improve over 1 (which was by no means a perfect game), in many ways it just went too far. Like, yeah, the inventory interface in ME1 was abominable, no question about it. The solution was not to remove the inventory. Overheating instead of ammo was an interesting mechanic that had both lore backing and impact on gameplay, so they stripped it entirely and hey reloading like old times. etc. etc.

ME2 ended up, to me, feeling like a boring and fairly generic game that happened to be in a setting I like. ME1, for all its flaws, ended up being something I really remember, thoroughly enjoyed, and have replayed since more than once.

67595

While I can agree that ME1's inventory system is in a battle to the death with Xenoblade Chronicles version for the title of worst inventory system in a AAA title last gen and that the Mako sections could be better; the gameplay in ME2 was just so streamlined and dumbed down compared to what ME1 had to offer. I missed actually customizing my party with different gear and having to make actual hard choices for skill upgrades since there was not enough levels to max out everything like ME2 comes close to doing. More importantly, I appreciate that ME1 had a more organic structure to gameplay as opposed to the Hollywood style no-brainer set up in ME2.

In ME1 I could be walking through a hallway on the Citadel, a hallway I cross a dozen times and then suddenly get jumped by Saren's mercenaries which catch me off guard like an honest to goodness ambush would work. In ME2, I would walk into a room, notice that the room is large and filled with plenty of things to use as cover and know immediately that I was going to be attacked. It made combat pretty predictable and boring and it seriously took me out of the moment in the Collector's Ship scenario when the whole damn dungeon was set up this way.

Likewise, ME2's plot was pretty much, "Shepherd got resurrected by Cerberus to investigate and stop the Collectors. Build a rag tag group of people and stop them". There is no story beyond that, and while the actual character stories are pretty damn good, the cast is still hit or miss for me. I was especially bummed about losing my favorite character from ME1 in the form of Wrex and even more disappointed in his lousy replacement on the team. Likewise, getting rid of boring old Kaiden (unless you killed him like I did) to replace him with his black copy in the form of Jacob wasn't exactly a boon for the game. Of anything, Mordin and Tali pretty much had to carry the whole character story part of ME2 for me.

This is not to say ME2 was a bad game, but I feel it's hype is certainly misleading to the overall experience, especially when I was expecting more of what ME1 brought which was exploring an interesting Sci-Fi universe.

[Forsaken Lover]

Tali died on the Suicide Mission and I didn't even notice until way after I beat ME2. That's how importantshe was to me.

The Internet's obsession with here has always perplexed me.

Wrex was pretty much the only good character in ME1, thatI can agree with. Grunt isn't nearly as interesting but Grunt is one of 12 squadmates. His lackluster character means very little because Mordin, Jack, Miranda, Zaeed, Thane, Legion and Garrus were there.
Ap0ej52lijg

The plot of ME2 is learning about the Reapers. They're no loger just a race of hostile aliens looking to kill everyone because...uh...... Now they actually have some real substance to them. Sovereign is incredibly overrated, Harbinger reveals more in hsi battle dialogue than Sov ever did. Also Shepard is inexplicably racist against Sovereign, denouncing him as just a machine. That really bugged me seeing as I am pro-geth.

Plus, the whole "what to do with Cerberus?" thing was a great element of the plot, too. Choosing whether to work with them willingly or not, learning more about the organization from TIM, EDI, Miranda and so-on. They really came a longway since that random sidequest group in ME1.

[Skyblade]

Tali died on the Suicide Mission and I didn't even notice until way after I beat ME2. That's how importantshe was to me.

The Internet's obsession with here has always perplexed me.

Wrex was pretty much the only good character in ME1, thatI can agree with. Grunt isn't nearly as interesting but Grunt is one of 12 squadmates. His lackluster character means very little because Mordin, Jack, Miranda, Zaeed, Thane, Legion and Garrus were there.
Ap0ej52lijg

The plot of ME2 is learning about the Reapers. They're no loger just a race of hostile aliens looking to kill everyone because...uh...... Now they actually have some real substance to them. Sovereign is incredibly overrated, Harbinger reveals more in hsi battle dialogue than Sov ever did. Also Shepard is inexplicably racist against Sovereign, denouncing him as just a machine. That really bugged me seeing as I am pro-geth.

Plus, the whole "what to do with Cerberus?" thing was a great element of the plot, too. Choosing whether to work with them willingly or not, learning more about the organization from TIM, EDI, Miranda and so-on. They really came a longway since that random sidequest group in ME1.

The Reapers were better as an unknown.

BioWare made the classic mistake of stating Cthulhu.

With Sovereign, the Reapers were awe-inspiring. They were great, vast, beyond us in scope and presence. They were something we could not even necessarily comprehend or combat.

As a machine on a quest to save life, they were boring, pathetic, and using incredibly faulty logic. The majesty and mystique was ripped away from them.

Our imaginations trying to grapple with the unknown and unknowable produces far more interesting results than a boring, known quantity.

[Freya]

Kaidan was the best. I hate all of you. :colbert:

[Formalhaut]

I'm watching Babylon 5 with Mr. Carny, and there are so many parallels between it and Mass Effect, you're basically watching an adaptation.

[FFNut]

I loved how fast the battles were in DAII. It kept you on your toes and really made you think of a great setup for cross class AOE.

[Pumpkin]

I loved Tali, Kasumi, and Garrus in ME:2 :flirt:

I like Dog and Leliana in DA:O

[Forsaken Lover]

I loved how fast the battles were in DAII. It kept you on your toes and really made you think of a great setup for cross class AOE.

DA2 def has my favorite battle system in the series so far.

[Wolf Kanno]

Tali died on the Suicide Mission and I didn't even notice until way after I beat ME2. That's how importantshe was to me.

The Internet's obsession with here has always perplexed me.

Probably because she helps sell the Quarian conflict really well, just as Wrex sold the conflict concerning the Krogan. She is also adorable as a romance option, and like Garrus, gets you one of the more amusing conversations from Mordin when trying to get around the biology factor.


Wrex was pretty much the only good character in ME1, thatI can agree with. Grunt isn't nearly as interesting but Grunt is one of 12 squadmates. His lackluster character means very little because Mordin, Jack, Miranda, Zaeed, Thane, Legion and Garrus were there.

To each there own I guess because frankly only Mordin, Jack, Thane and Garrus were really interesting in that group. As well as Kasumi but she comes across like a secret character much like Zaeed. Hell, I felt Garrus was more interesting in ME1 over his ME2 self. Still a great character though.

Zaeed also suffers from being one of the most stereotypical portrayal of a mercenary character I've seen, while he has some amusing dialogue, he never felt like someone I would care to know. Jacob was boring as molasses like Kaiden was in ME1, and Miranda is basically a Bond Girl to Ashley's Aliens Vasquez. You don't see Vasquez type characters in games as much as you do femme fatales like Miranda, so she never really interested me much. In fact the high point of Miranda for me was friend zoning her and seeing her baffled "but I'm perfect!?" look after doing so. I preferred Ashley because she felt more complicated. It was great conversing with her and seeing your dialogue choices really soften her up to make her feel like she had real progression as opposed to Miranda who's pretty chilly towards you even after her loyalty mission.

In all honesty, like ME1, the cast still felt 50/50 for me with me loving half of them and pretty much benching the other half only to take them out to do the loyalty missions.


The plot of ME2 is learning about the Reapers. They're no longer just a race of hostile aliens looking to kill everyone because...uh...... Now they actually have some real substance to them. Sovereign is incredibly overrated, Harbinger reveals more in hsi battle dialogue than Sov ever did. Also Shepard is inexplicably racist against Sovereign, denouncing him as just a machine. That really bugged me seeing as I am pro-geth.

I honestly felt ME1 sold the Reapers and about the only thing ME2 really expands on them is where they come from but their purpose and story are frankly sold to you better in ME1. Hell the whole indoctrination thing alone was a more interesting concept than the Collectors.


Plus, the whole "what to do with Cerberus?" thing was a great element of the plot, too. Choosing whether to work with them willingly or not, learning more about the organization from TIM, EDI, Miranda and so-on. They really came a longway since that random sidequest group in ME1.

While it was nice to see Cerberus, they didn't really expand them anymore for me than ME1 did with their side quests concerning them. They were pretty much the Space KKK in ME1 and ME2 didn't really do much to change that opinion. It was also less fun dicking with them as opposed to the Council in ME1, where pissing them off was half the fun. The Illusive Man (Space Smoking Man anyone?) was just too mellow and passive to make it fun telling him off.

Of anything, playing Renegade in ME2 was less fun than in ME1 since most of your crew are pretty much Renegade characters in their own right, so choosing the option lost its appeal because most of your crew easily backed you up or did it themselves if you didn't take that option.


I'm watching Babylon 5 with Mr. Carny, and there are so many parallels between it and Mass Effect, you're basically watching an adaptation.

I got the same vibe when I played this game. Also kudos for watching a pretty good if relatively unknown space cult classic.

[Night Fury]

Mass Effect. Without a shadow of a doubt.

I cannot wait for Andromeda.

[Formalhaut]

Probably because she helps sell the Quarian conflict really well, just as Wrex sold the conflict concerning the Krogan. She is also adorable as a romance option, and like Garrus, gets you one of the more amusing conversations from Mordin when trying to get around the biology factor.

When I play ME2 again, I'll try out Mordin in combat. I never used him much, I just found him very fragile. But in the story, Mordin was one of my favourites.

I loved Tali and Legion, they really personified the wider Quarian/Geth conflict and made the choices really difficult, because they were both great characters (of course, taking the third option is preferable). Wrex was awesome, and it was a shame that he got less screentime in ME2 and ME3.


Hell, I felt Garrus was more interesting in ME1 over his ME2 self. Still a great character though.

Garrus has a stick up his ass in ME1, and then in ME2 he was cynical. Honestly I liked him most in ME3, where he seemed to have resolved all of his main issues. He's the main support for Shepard in ME3 who just seems tired.


Zaeed also suffers from being one of the most stereotypical portrayal of a mercenary character I've seen, while he has some amusing dialogue, he never felt like someone I would care to know. Jacob was boring as molasses like Kaiden was in ME1, and Miranda is basically a Bond Girl to Ashley's Aliens Vasquez. You don't see Vasquez type characters in games as much as you do femme fatales like Miranda, so she never really interested me much. In fact the high point of Miranda for me was friend zoning her and seeing her baffled "but I'm perfect!?" look after doing so. I preferred Ashley because she felt more complicated. It was great conversing with her and seeing your dialogue choices really soften her up to make her feel like she had real progression as opposed to Miranda who's pretty chilly towards you even after her loyalty mission.

Yeah, Zaeed and Jacob didn't do much for me. Not to mention if you romance Jacob, he dumps you for someone else in ME3 anyway.


The plot of ME2 is learning about the Reapers. They're no longer just a race of hostile aliens looking to kill everyone because...uh...... Now they actually have some real substance to them. Sovereign is incredibly overrated, Harbinger reveals more in hsi battle dialogue than Sov ever did. Also Shepard is inexplicably racist against Sovereign, denouncing him as just a machine. That really bugged me seeing as I am pro-geth.

Honestly, ME2 is known for character development, not the plot. I'm all for character development in games, but I can't think of much that really happened in ME2. We learn something about the collectors. We learn a bit more about Cerberus. That's it.

[Wolf Kanno]

Probably because she helps sell the Quarian conflict really well, just as Wrex sold the conflict concerning the Krogan. She is also adorable as a romance option, and like Garrus, gets you one of the more amusing conversations from Mordin when trying to get around the biology factor.

When I play ME2 again, I'll try out Mordin in combat. I never used him much, I just found him very fragile. But in the story, Mordin was one of my favourites.

Mordin is sadly very squishy but his dialogue is pretty amusing since he's so blunt and matter of fact kind of guy. His best dialogue options are on the ship though.




Hell, I felt Garrus was more interesting in ME1 over his ME2 self. Still a great character though.

Garrus has a stick up his ass in ME1, and then in ME2 he was cynical. Honestly I liked him most in ME3, where he seemed to have resolved all of his main issues. He's the main support for Shepard in ME3 who just seems tired.


I like that fact Garrus struggled with staying in-line as a C-Sec Officer versus his yearning to be a Spectre like Shepherd. I mean in ME1:

Garrus: I need to follow the rules and follow my family wishes but just once I wish I could bust down the door to the perps place and threaten to shoot him in the face if he doesn't give me the answer I want to here.

Garrus in ME2:

*Kicks down the enemy door and threatens to shoot the perp in the face if he doesn't get the answer he wants to here. Shoots perp in face regardless*

Now granted, as a Renegade Shep, I felt like my Shep certainly played a hand in "corrupting" poor law-abiding Garrus into Vigilante Garrus but it also kind of killed the relationship as he was a little less fun to talk to since he lacked conflict and seemed to really enjoy his liberation. Granted I haven't gotten around to ME3 yet so perhaps this may evolve into a really good arc for him. I still love the guy and his recruitment mission is easily one of the high points in ME2.

[Forsaken Lover]

Probably because she helps sell the Quarian conflict really well, just as Wrex sold the conflict concerning the Krogan. She is also adorable as a romance option, and like Garrus, gets you one of the more amusing conversations from Mordin when trying to get around the biology factor.


Meh, I killed the quarians in ME3. I guess I never saw their appeal.


To each there own I guess because frankly only Mordin, Jack, Thane and Garrus were really interesting in that group. As well as Kasumi but she comes across like a secret character much like Zaeed. Hell, I felt Garrus was more interesting in ME1 over his ME2 self. Still a great character though.

Zaeed also suffers from being one of the most stereotypical portrayal of a mercenary character I've seen, while he has some amusing dialogue, he never felt like someone I would care to know. Jacob was boring as molasses like Kaiden was in ME1, and Miranda is basically a Bond Girl to Ashley's Aliens Vasquez. You don't see Vasquez type characters in games as much as you do femme fatales like Miranda, so she never really interested me much. In fact the high point of Miranda for me was friend zoning her and seeing her baffled "but I'm perfect!?" look after doing so. I preferred Ashley because she felt more complicated. It was great conversing with her and seeing your dialogue choices really soften her up to make her feel like she had real progression as opposed to Miranda who's pretty chilly towards you even after her loyalty mission.

You have a very faulty recollection of Miranda's character. She's cordial and nice to you as soon as you get the Normandy. She's only an icy bitch in your first couple conversations with her. She has a whole scene where she levels with Shepard about how she feels utterly worthless because of how she was designed. She can't take credit for any accomplishment because all her talents were coded into her. Or that's how she sees it.

As a clone of her abusive father, one can't imagine what kind of hell it mustbe like to stare atyourself in the mirror everyday and see the face of yourabuser gazing back at you.

Ashley struck me as a bigger racist bitch than Miranda, which is ironic given Cerberus and all. I left her to die on Virmire because, while I found Kaidan boring, I found Ash just plain unlikable.

Also they made Kaidan a whole lot better in ME3.



Of anything, playing Renegade in ME2 was less fun than in ME1 since most of your crew are pretty much Renegade characters in their own right, so choosing the option lost its appeal because most of your crew easily backed you up or did it themselves if you didn't take that option.


That's one of the best things about ME2's squad. Apart from Wrex, everyone in ME1 was a boy scout or girl scout. Wrex was the Token Canderous of the Normandy.

In ME2, your squad consists of:
Two terrorist agents
A career assassin
A career thief
A career merc of the "completely amoral" type
A former black ops scientist who aided in genocide and is all for killing, deception, etc. if it serves a noble purpose
A space paladin/Lawful Neutral executioner
Or potentially her serial killer daughter
A psychotic biotic who you bust out of prison
A genetically engineered soldier who just wants to kill trout.

Tali, Garrus and Legion are the only really good people on the squad. Even Garrus has changed a lot. He was pretty much a goody two shoes like the rest in ME1 but he's gone full hardcore vigilante justice by 2. Garrus had really good character development.

My Renegade Femshep felt most at home in ME2 becauseit made sense. Playing Renegade in ME1 is just you being an immature, xenophobic jackass.

[Wolf Kanno]

Probably because she helps sell the Quarian conflict really well, just as Wrex sold the conflict concerning the Krogan. She is also adorable as a romance option, and like Garrus, gets you one of the more amusing conversations from Mordin when trying to get around the biology factor.


Meh, I killed the quarians in ME3. I guess I never saw their appeal.

They are basically a Sci-Fi equivalent of Jewish people or Gypsies. I found their conflict to be one of the best parts of ME2 since ME1 only dwelled on it once or twice. Not to mention ME2 repainted the conflict since you got a better look at both sides. Sadly, I'm pretty sure I screwed up the mission and the Geth are most likely going to get wiped out in my ME3 file.



You have a very faulty recollection of Miranda's character. She's cordial and nice to you as soon as you get the Normandy. She's only an icy bitch in your first couple conversations with her. She has a whole scene where she levels with Shepard about how she feels utterly worthless because of how she was designed. She can't take credit for any accomplishment because all her talents were coded into her. Or that's how she sees it.

As a clone of her abusive father, one can't imagine what kind of hell it mustbe like to stare atyourself in the mirror everyday and see the face of yourabuser gazing back at you.

No, I remember it pretty well, I just didn't care. I mean when your characters main problem is that they are insecure because they were designed to be perfect just feels a bit self-centered and silly when your other party members are concern with the genocide of their species, being the cause of a species genocide, being hated by the galaxy and removed from your homeland for making A.I., being genetically modified and experimented you whole life to be a sociopathic weapon with psychic powers... the list goes on of characters who have legitimate real problems. Miranda is the equivalent of some rich kid wondering if they got into Harvard on their own merits or if their bully dad payed their way in, while the rest of your party consists of various people from third world nations or connected to the biggest world changing events in the last century. So no, I never felt sympathy for her, her problems feel somewhat juvenile in the face of what Tali, Mordin, Wrex, and even Shepherd were facing at the time.


Ashley struck me as a bigger racist bitch than Miranda, which is ironic given Cerberus and all. I left her to die on Virmire because, while I found Kaidan boring, I found Ash just plain unlikable.

Also they made Kaidan a whole lot better in ME3.

Oh Ashley is a racist bitch in ME1 but if you work with her, you can actually calm her down and make her see how she was wrong. Pulling out a more vulnerable side of her was actually a really rewarding experience as opposed to Liara who wanted to jump your bones five minutes after meeting you. Ashley also shows a more corny side that just made her feel more real to me. You learn her attitude is just a facade she uses to protect herself from ridicule and to help anchor her to what she feels is important but you can change that and it was probably some of the best character development in ME1.

As for Kaiden, I don't think I really care. He failed to really interest me in ME1 and he was so damn uptight it made talking to him a chore so I didn't really hesitate to send him to his death.



That's one of the best things about ME2's squad. Apart from Wrex, everyone in ME1 was a boy scout or girl scout. Wrex was the Token Canderous of the Normandy.

In ME2, your squad consists of:
Two terrorist agents
A career assassin
A career thief
A career merc of the "completely amoral" type
A former black ops scientist who aided in genocide and is all for killing, deception, etc. if it serves a noble purpose
A space paladin/Lawful Neutral executioner
Or potentially her serial killer daughter
A psychotic biotic who you bust out of prison
A genetically engineered soldier who just wants to kill trout.

Tali, Garrus and Legion are the only really good people on the squad. Even Garrus has changed a lot. He was pretty much a goody two shoes like the rest in ME1 but he's gone full hardcore vigilante justice by 2. Garrus had really good character development.

My Renegade Femshep felt most at home in ME2 because it made sense. Playing Renegade in ME1 is just you being an immature, xenophobic jackass.

No, playing Renegade in in ME1 was pretty damn fun cause it was great to get under all of these uptight people's skins. Whereas having a group of renegades in ME2 just felt less rewarding because you could never surprise anyone. It was expected. I just had less fun with the "shoot first, diplomacy later" when you're whole squadron is trying to beat you to the punch. Wrex was fun because he understood Ren Shep and the rest of the cast were trying to get their heads around having such a sociopathic boss, in ME2 the only reason any of them followed you was because you proved to be as ruthless and uncompromising as the rest of them. I just felt like it took too much away from Ren Shep and probably would have been more interesting if I was Paragon to create conflict. In fact I probably did take more Paragon options in ME2 for that reason.

[Forsaken Lover]

No, I remember it pretty well, I just didn't care. I mean when your characters main problem is that they are insecure because they were designed to be perfect just feels a bit self-centered and silly when your other party members are concern with the genocide of their species, being the cause of a species genocide, being hated by the galaxy and removed from your homeland for making A.I., being genetically modified and experimented you whole life to be a sociopathic weapon with psychic powers... the list goes on of characters who have legitimate real problems. Miranda is the equivalent of some rich kid wondering if they got into Harvard on their own merits or if their bully dad payed their way in, while the rest of your party consists of various people from third world nations or connected to the biggest world changing events in the last century. So no, I never felt sympathy for her, her problems feel somewhat juvenile in the face of what Tali, Mordin, Wrex, and even Shepherd were facing at the time.

That's a rather snobbish way to look at things. Her father is an absolute monster, possibly the most evil man in all of Mass Effect. It wasn't just "daddy didn't care", it was "daddy is a psychopath who made me as a vanity project. I have no reason to exist except to feed a sociopath's ego."

The fact is, Miranda has problems but you overblow them. Her problems aren't as big as Tali's or Wrex's? True, that's why she isn't wallowing in them. She's not spending all her time and effort going 'woe is me." She's functioning as a high-level scientist and operative for a group she believes in. She has her own cause she's fighting for. So while her issues are comparatively minor, she isn't actually as fixated on them as Jack or the others. They simply weigh down her feelings of self-worth. She does things, a lot of things, like reviving Shepard for one, but she feels no pride in them because of how she was created.

It's a wholly different situation to the others. Comparing them is apples and oranges and isn't fair to any of them.

[Formalhaut]

I'm going to have to agree with Miranda. She isn't just whiny and spoilt, she has had a difficult childhood with an abusive father, and processing your achievements, knowing that everything you did was because of the talents genetically engineered into her takes time.

She's not an angel, and she does have streaks of spoilt, but she is a complex character, who develops as the game continues. By ME3, she's worked through most of them (especially if you're a paragon).

That's why I find Paragon in ME2 the best, as you basically play combat therapist to most of your crew.

[Forsaken Lover]

I dunno, I think my Renegade Femshep and Miranda got along really well. The way I played my Shep, she was actually a lot like Miranda. The kind of "cold, all business" type of person who softens up a little bit here and there. Like shooting bottles with Garrus or visiting Kaidan and Thane in the hospital. But otherwise? Completely serious and detached. I ain't letting James call his commander "Lola."

But yeah, my Femshep and Miranda were kindred spirits, like sisters. And if they had gone through with it, they could have been more....

But I gotta say, telling Jack to kill that other Praggia survivor was clearly the best thing for her. Look how well-adjusted she was by ME3.

Or they were just lazy and didn't account for what you did in her Loyalty Mission.....

[Formalhaut]

I dunno, I think my Renegade Femshep and Miranda got along really well. The way I played my Shep, she was actually a lot like Miranda. The kind of "cold, all business" type of person who softens up a little bit here and there. Like shooting bottles with Garrus or visiting Kaidan and Thane in the hospital. But otherwise? Completely serious and detached. I ain't letting James call his commander "Lola."

Ugh, James is just... ugh. I was very nice to him, but I played snarky a couple of times with his more obtuse moments.

[Wolf Kanno]

That's a rather snobbish way to look at things. Her father is an absolute monster, possibly the most evil man in all of Mass Effect. It wasn't just "daddy didn't care", it was "daddy is a psychopath who made me as a vanity project. I have no reason to exist except to feed a sociopath's ego."

The fact is, Miranda has problems but you overblow them. Her problems aren't as big as Tali's or Wrex's? True, that's why she isn't wallowing in them. She's not spending all her time and effort going 'woe is me." She's functioning as a high-level scientist and operative for a group she believes in. She has her own cause she's fighting for. So while her issues are comparatively minor, she isn't actually as fixated on them as Jack or the others. They simply weigh down her feelings of self-worth. She does things, a lot of things, like reviving Shepard for one, but she feels no pride in them because of how she was created.

It's a wholly different situation to the others. Comparing them is apples and oranges and isn't fair to any of them.

It is comparing apples to oranges but in this case, I like my apples more than oranges. I'm simply explaining why I don't care for the character, cause she was just kind of there for me and her story just comes across a bit selfish compared to the characters who are dealing with serious issues that have far reaching consequences, but are complex enough to not have a simple answer. The reason why Miranda or Jacob never interested me is because their stories are pretty cut and dry which would be nice in most other games but they have the general misfortune of being stuck in the same game as Tali, Wrex, and Mordin who are wrestling with some serious ethical sociopolitical issues so I'm sorry if I wasn't "feeling it" but her problems and characterization never jelled with me and I rather spend time on people who have more interesting problems.

Also Wrex doesn't really whine about his issues, he simply states the facts because he gives off this demeanor of having accepted all this bulltrout awhile back and he only talks about it if you keep pressing him about it. Yes he actually cares but you have to prod his "I don't give a trout" facade to see who he really is.

This might be one of the reasons why I actually preferred ME1's way of doing characterization because it involved your character doing some actual digging and prodding of the cast to actually get anything out of them. Most of the characters you recruit are not the same people you wind up with by game's end because you spent time to really learn about them and the issues that bothered them. Whereas ME2 kind of made their conflict more front and center which kind of killed some of the magic of conversing with people. I know it's still there but most of the really cool info is saved for the loyalty missions instead of being opened up by actually just spending time with them. Again, ME1 felt a bit more organic in it's approach to storytelling while ME2 has that in-your-face Hollywood approach. Nice to see the production values and acting but I kind of liked the way it was handled before.

[Madame Adequate]

I honestly felt ME1 sold the Reapers and about the only thing ME2 really expands on them is where they come from but their purpose and story are frankly sold to you better in ME1. Hell the whole indoctrination thing alone was a more interesting concept than the Collectors.


I want to emphasize this because it's 100% how I feel. The Reapers in ME1 were scary. We didn't know much about them, except that they were able to somehow subvert the loyalty of an extremely skilled specter. What we learn about them doesn't improve that knowledge much except that he's not the only one, they are clearly capable infiltrators, and they are up to something huge.

Then Virmire happens and holy shit the whole planet is one of the best parts of any game I've ever played, but when you meet Sovereign, he's not fucking around. He's actually intimidating. You have no idea how you're supposed to beat him. The game culminates in using an entire combined fleet to take out one single Reaper, and you barely succeed, with huge losses.

Through most of ME2 I just felt pretty 'meh' about the whole thing. The smaller conflicts I got involved with, like sorting out shit on Omega, was much more interesting than the overall plot, to me. ME3 did a similar thing but I felt it worked much better, because holy shit Reapers are now invading we better get everything together or we're done.

[Formalhaut]

Through most of ME2 I just felt pretty 'meh' about the whole thing. The smaller conflicts I got involved with, like sorting out trout on Omega, was much more interesting than the overall plot, to me. ME3 did a similar thing but I felt it worked much better, because holy trout Reapers are now invading we better get everything together or we're done.

Mmm, ME3 definitely gave you an increasing sense of dread and fear as you played through the game.

[Madame Adequate]

I wasn't at all impressed with the opening half hour of the game but god damn once you hit Menae does it pick up, and it stays picked up. The ending might have been a letdown but it wasn't for lack of atmosphere or scope.

[Freya]

I've finally convinced the BF to try the Mass Effect games. He's SUPPOSED to be starting the first one today while I'm at work but he's been dragging his feet about it. He's not a Console player and that's what I have them on so he's been reluctant to play it because he's all PC master racing me all the time.

If I can get him hooked on those i'ma make him play the DAs as well.

[Bubba]

I've finally convinced the BF to try the Mass Effect games. He's SUPPOSED to be starting the first one today while I'm at work but he's been dragging his feet about it. He's not a Console player and that's what I have them on so he's been reluctant to play it because he's all PC master racing me all the time.

If I can get him hooked on those i'ma make him play the DAs as well.

I've been intrigued by the Mass Effect trilogy for so many years. It ticks pretty much every box for me in things I'd want in a game. I generally hate first-person shooters but I love third-person shooters. Obviously I have a love for RPGs as well. Also, space.

Now I've finished my survivor difficulty playthrough of The Last of Us, I need a new main console game. I'm a little embarrassed that I've never played a Bioware game and the new sub-forum is getting me excited to play some. Maybe I should pick up the ME trilogy for my PS3?

[Formalhaut]

Go for it!

[Freya]

Yah! They sell it as a whole collection on ps3. The first one is a bit slower with the gameplay, but don't let tbat deter you. It's a RPG with shooter elements while 2 and 3 are shooters with RPG elements.

[Madame Adequate]

Yeah get it imo

[Bubba]

On it!