Junior Adventurer's Guild: January - Mass Effect

[TheEmptyRoad]

For anyone less familiar with Mass Effect, note that the narrated in-game Codex is the pinnacle of something like that in a game. Well worth checking out. It progressively unlocks as you encounter new races/tech.

Particularly pay attention to the Krogan ‘Rebellions’(Wars of Conquest) and Morning War(Geth v Quarians) if you want a more complete story from what in-game characters throughout the Trilogy try and sell you. The Krogan got off lightly, and the Geth are not misunderstood Pinocchio-bots.

[logincrash]

Never realized how short the game actually is if you do the bare minimum.

I have a need, a need for speed.jpg

► Show Spoiler

xenos beware.jpg

I have wondered about you.jpg

PATHETIC.jpg

Played it on Veteran because I didn't have Hardcore or Insanity unlocked. The game was still pretty easy, considering I only leveled up the Immunity skill on Ilos.
Played as Soldier to unlock all the weapon skills for subsequent playthroughs. Oh, and to look at all the cool Heavy armor.
Didn't go either Paragon or Renegade, but killed all the aliens I could. Left Liara to hang until the very last possible moment.
I never actually skipped the last convo with Saren, so I haven't fought him on his hoverboard before. Didn't know he gets impaled on glass and dies horribly. He just blows his brains out and falls down without getting glassed if you convince him that he's a loser ***** and that he should kill himself.

[TheEmptyRoad]

****, everyone’s finishing so quickly, I might pad out my playthrough with most of the side content, I’ll even do Pinnacle Station and Bring Down the Sky.

Gonna play with a Default Shepard - Never have before, want to try something different. I’m using this as a starting point for another Trilogy Playthrough so I’m considering that when picking a Class and Background. I’ve got analysis paralysis about it though, if anyone has recommendations.

EDIT: Also, don’t forget to nominate a game for February @logincrash.

[logincrash]

****, everyone’s finishing so quickly, I might pad out my playthrough with most of the side content, I’ll even do Pinnacle Station and Bring Down the Sky.

Gonna play with a Default Shepard - Never have before, want to try something different. I’m using this as a starting point for another Trilogy Playthrough so I’m considering that when picking a Class and Background. I’ve got analysis paralysis about it though, if anyone has recommendations.

EDIT: Also, don’t forget to nominate a game for February @logincrash.

I think I'm gonna do a full completionist playthrough now.
As for the nomination, I don't really care. I'm down to nominate whatever if anybody wants to suggest something.

[J1M]

****, everyone’s finishing so quickly, I might pad out my playthrough with most of the side content, I’ll even do Pinnacle Station and Bring Down the Sky.

Gonna play with a Default Shepard - Never have before, want to try something different. I’m using this as a starting point for another Trilogy Playthrough so I’m considering that when picking a Class and Background. I’ve got analysis paralysis about it though, if anyone has recommendations.

EDIT: Also, don’t forget to nominate a game for February @logincrash.

You can completely retrain your character in Mass Effect 2/3, so don't decide your class based on wanting to be a Vanguard there.

[WhiteShark]

As for the nomination, I don't really care. I'm down to nominate whatever if anybody wants to suggest something.

How do you feel about golf?

[logincrash]

As for the nomination, I don't really care. I'm down to nominate whatever if anybody wants to suggest something.

How do you feel about golf?

It's fine. I nominate that one golf game from the last month's poll.

---

I forgot you can actually see the previous poll options. Golf Story is the one I meant.

[Tangerine]

As for the nomination, I don't really care. I'm down to nominate whatever if anybody wants to suggest something.

How do you feel about golf?

It's fine. I nominate that one golf game from the last month's poll.

---

I forgot you can actually see the previous poll options. Golf Story is the one I meant.

You should nominate Two Worlds II.

[Valter]

Vultures, the lot of you.

[J1M]

Genuinely can't tell if @WhiteShark wants to play Golf Story or is mad that I nominated it.

[stormvermin]

I picked up the LE a couple of years ago but never installed it and didn't realize it required the stupid EA launcher until now. Is there a workaround?

e: found it.

[WhiteShark]

Genuinely can't tell if @WhiteShark wants to play Golf Story or is mad that I nominated it.

Why would I vote for it if I were mad about it? I have no interest in golf in real life, but the game looked fun. I tend to prefer colorful 2D games, and I was curious to see how the golf conflict resolution worked. I was disappointed by the unsurprising Mass Effect win because I've already played it twice.

[J1M]

I remember hate-playing Mass Effect when it launched. I had a mindset back then of the industry continually climbing to greater and greater heights of quality and was fixated on the rough edges. I wish I knew then what I know: that if even 2 games of Mass Effect's caliber were released each year today we'd be overjoyed.

I love that the protagonist in this has some testosterone in his system. The worldbuilding is fantastic, even if it is just a remix of many popular franchises. The in-game codex is phenomenal. The shooting could certainly be better, but I found Infiltrator+Pistols a way to sidestep most of those problems. Most recently I played as a soldier, and it's hard to debate the effectiveness of an invincibility cooldown, but I prefer the moment to moment experience of tossing EMPs and pistol headshots. Did mostly paragon stuff for a change. Sad that most games still treat alignments as mutually exclusive when a AAA game from 2007 shows a better way to go about it.

The "space dragon invades the realm" story is unfortunate. Frontier lawman has a lot more squeeze available, but I have to give them props for the Citadel. Both as a zone to wander around in, and as a set piece that provides two well-executed environmental 'twists' as part of the game's high-intensity conclusion. Would have liked to spend a lot more time there in the sequels.

One thing of note that is missing are more missions with memorable maps. Two very different examples of the right direction that I would have liked to see more of: the Mass Effect 3 Leviathan DLC for atmosphere and the Mass Effect 2 Tali mission where your shields drain when you are standing in the intense sunlight for more varied sci-fi gameplay.

Mass Effect 1 has a near-perfect tone. (Except for the fantasy-coded beacon visions and Shepard's faith in them, which should have been rewritten.) For that reason, I prefer it over the sequels even though Mass Effect 2 has a better structure and Mass Effect 3 has smoother combat.

► Screenshot

@Oyster Sauce

For next month I'll nominate Final Fantasy XII, since we've been discussing its combat system in another thread and I've never finished it.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I'll nominate Final Fantasy XII

I would recommend emulating the original PS2 version, not the PC port of the demaster. They threw the textures into an upscaler which washed out the details and the colors and called it the day.

[Bertram_Tung]

Here's how Darksiders II can still win

[Tweed]

Nominating Super Mario Bros 3.

[logincrash]

If you get out of the Mako and kill the enemies by yourself, you get more XP.
I always get out and snipe all the Geth Colossi and huge turrets to reap more rewards.

[Oyster Sauce]

I will be addressing the 7 year old Steam achievement screenshot loophole next month...

[Oyster Sauce]

Femshep feels like one of the first gaming gaslights to me. I never saw anyone ever discuss playing as her back in the day

Everywhere I went people were talking about how much more badass her voice was. There was actual shaming for preferring Meer in my humble experience.

[Kolgrim]

I will be addressing the 7 year old Steam achievement screenshot loophole next month...

So what you're saying is that we have until the end of the month to exploit this loophole for all the badges we can!

[J1M]

Femshep feels like one of the first gaming gaslights to me. I never saw anyone ever discuss playing as her back in the day

Everywhere I went people were talking about how much more badass her voice was. There was actual shaming for preferring Meer in my humble experience.

The WNBA is so much more badass.

[Finarfin]

For as close to vanilla as possible but with fixes for continuity/lore:

LE1 Community Patch
MELLO
Dr. Heart’s Experiments
Eden Prime Red Sky Restored
Saren Stages (alternate armor option)
Saren Boss Battles - Enhanced - Classic (classic version)
Pinnacle Station DLC
Legendary Cutscenes

If you want vanilla plus:

Mods from first list
LE1 Diversification Project (plus the mods required)
Keepers Finders
Mako Squadmate Banter
Combat Communication
UNC Morality
Mission Timings
Saren Unused Virmire Theme
Saren Boss Battles (enhanced with Sovereign conversation)
Charted Worlds
Saren Stages (robe version)
Kaidan Overhaul

[Tangerine]

LE1 Diversification Project (plus the mods required)

[Finarfin]

Ah yes, as if the base game didn't already have *******, ***** and all the other **** in it. ******* ******.

[rusty_shackleford]

Ah yes, as if the base game didn't already have *******, ***** and all the other **** in it. ******* ******.

one of the goals of the mod is to specifically make the security forces gender equal

Rebalanced hub populations to create more lore-accurate gender/species ratios. For instance, half of C-Sec’s humans are now women (none existed in vanilla). There’s also more racial diversity among humans and increased representation for Hanar, Elcor and Volus.

[Tangerine]

Ah yes, as if the base game didn't already have *******, ***** and all the other **** in it. ******* ******.

"They already had *******, so it's ok to add gay *******."

[Tangerine]

There’s also more racial diversity among humans

2/3 Mass Effect humans are already at least swarthy.

[Kalarion]

For as close to vanilla as possible but with fixes for continuity/lore:

LE1 Community Patch
MELLO
Dr. Heart’s Experiments
Eden Prime Red Sky Restored
Saren Stages (alternate armor option)
Saren Boss Battles - Enhanced - Classic (classic version)
Pinnacle Station DLC
Legendary Cutscenes

If you want vanilla plus:

Mods from first list
LE1 Diversification Project (plus the mods required)
Keepers Finders
Mako Squadmate Banter
Combat Communication
UNC Morality
Mission Timings
Saren Unused Virmire Theme
Saren Boss Battles (enhanced with Sovereign conversation)
Charted Worlds
Saren Stages (robe version)
Kaidan Overhaul

Do I take this to mean that the game unmodded is fully functional with no significant combat bugs or oversights?

[Finarfin]

For as close to vanilla as possible but with fixes for continuity/lore:

LE1 Community Patch
MELLO
Dr. Heart’s Experiments
Eden Prime Red Sky Restored
Saren Stages (alternate armor option)
Saren Boss Battles - Enhanced - Classic (classic version)
Pinnacle Station DLC
Legendary Cutscenes

If you want vanilla plus:

Mods from first list
LE1 Diversification Project (plus the mods required)
Keepers Finders
Mako Squadmate Banter
Combat Communication
UNC Morality
Mission Timings
Saren Unused Virmire Theme
Saren Boss Battles (enhanced with Sovereign conversation)
Charted Worlds
Saren Stages (robe version)
Kaidan Overhaul

Do I take this to mean that the game unmodded is fully functional with no significant combat bugs or oversights?

Pretty much, the upper list is basically just a few fixes.
Mello restores the lighting effect from the original games.
Dr. Heart’s Experiments changes the models of the experiments to more appropriate ones.
Eden Prime Red Sky Restored as it says restores the red sky the planet had.
Saren Stages has him change looks along the campaign.
Saren Boss Battles - Enhanced - Classic (classic version) removes the geth that are added, so it is classical you and your squadmembers against Saren
Pinnacle Station DLC is the one where you do VR combat exercises, you get a nice apartment when you beat all records.
Legendary Cutscenes lets Shepard and Squadmates use the weapons they actually use, in the cutscenes.

Second one is a bit more.
Diversification Project adds female turians, improved asset diversity, meaning other outfits, tints, faces, hairs and such. NPCs added to places that are otherwise empty, Rebalanced hub populations, for example C-Sec has men and women working there now. Restored cut, unused and bugged content — over 500 lines of dialogue restored, plus missing NPCs, items
Keepers Finders adds markers on your map to find them.
Squadmates banter more.
Combat Communication basically adds communications. Warning about grenades and so on.
UNC Morality removes the morality requirements for the assignments "UNC:Besieged Base" and "UNC:The Negotiation" and replaces them with level requirements.
Mission Timings delays Virmire and UNC: Cerberus until certain missions are completed.
Saren Unused Virmire Theme Plays a section of Saren's theme on that was unused on Virmire
Charted Worlds Marks the location of mineral deposits and other points of interest on the UNC world maps.
Saren Stages, gets a robe version like one of his concept arts
Kaidan Overhaul, well overhauls him graphically.

[Finarfin]

LE1 Diversification Project (plus the mods required)

Stop crying