ANDROMEDA SUCKS!

It's a moot point anyway as we won't be playing as Shepard again.

That said, I have no issue with them canonizing outcomes in order to facilitate a post-ME3 timeframe again. There's loads they could do in a post-Reaper war construction era. I'd rather they do that than keep running away and not addressing the ending.

I think if they were canonizing things then they'd go down the "perfect" route. The Genophage would be cured, peace would be brokered between the Quarians and the Geth, and you could probably make either of the ending choices work.

A certified ZipZap classic.

Yes, Biower would be wise to leave the Face is Tired galaxy locked in the freezer that it put the ME series in for 10 years.

If they try to revive it, we probably get another 4/10 game and a dead for good franchise this time.

I don't feel ME3 did anything on its own, it just enabled everything else to go off.

They could have still made games during the trilogy. They could have done a more limited prequel (that adds story to be relevant later). They could have indeed tackled the ME3 endings. None of these were impossible things. But they didn't want to do any of that.

I guess I'm being personally specific if I say 'what ME3 did to the series was very problematic' rather than 'sucks'. Many gamers still had interest and faith in Mass Effect after ME3, we were just also roiled in the controversy. I didn't see much Mass Effect Is Dead. People were actually demanding *more* Mass Effect; 'fix' the endings/extended cut, post-ending DLC, a follow up game, game content explanations for what was done in ME3, more Milky Way games. If people were Mass Effect is Dead they were already the EA-Bioware Has Died crowd, it wasn't so ME3 specific.

Point is, they still had attention, still had engagement, still had many with hopes, still many that were even crushed feeling from ME3 ending but still called themselves FANS.

I think MEA - while acknowledging that it did part of its job in retaining some fans, gaining some others, but ONLY some - was what stunk up the series. You can like the game, you can be a new series joiner from it, you can appreciate what it brought etc.
But you can't say it helped the series out from a company perspective. You just really, really can't. There were enough elements of it that *significantly harmed* consumer interest in any future title. With ME3, I'd say more that it *risked* that. That they shouldn't just let it be and move on/run away (though they did, with MEA), because it'll cause long term damage. But ME3 itself is still highly regarded in many ways, MEA is just, I dunno, liked enough for a AAA game release maybe?

It could be a perspective thing, but this is where I come from. MEA has stink on it that sure, if you wash that all off, the future series entries might work off of its better elements, but ME3 itself doesn't have that. Its ENDING did and still somewhat does, but most audiences don't get THAT riled up by an ending. I'd agree with the devs that only a vocal minority were --- but I'd also add that a vocal minority can totally bust up your multimillion dollar franchise so they're not exactly irrelevant. This minority was given enough fuel with MEA that it caught onto a much wider consensus that Mass Effect isn't what it once was. And that just makes it even harder for any future title to impress.

A better ME game years after ME3 would have largely softened players about ME3('s ending). A fantastic game at this point several+ years after MEA, won't really fix the 'weak patch' of the series. It'll still stick out, still need its defenders to point out its brighter sides and advocate for its elements, and still be honestly a bit of a joke to many looking back (in my circles, in many online circles, and in general reviews). Things were going wrong with ME3 but there was a chance to pitch upward. They went for Anthem instead, and punted Mass Effect to a new studio that apparently wasn't ready except to grow into studio rivalries for design choices and resource sharing.

Call ME3 a root cause and I don't really mind, but I wouldn't say it needed to be a chronic cause. It wasn't an actual bodily health issue. It was part of an entertainment franchise that people could have just moved on from/with, if the series was treated better. MEA was not it being treated better. MEA was 'scrap this experimental nonsense, finally ship something for God's sake'. That's the last tone that most fans have been left with (if they didn't focus on MELE perhaps). A bad ending with hope that a few years in the future it'll get better, is better than a crushing of hope and left to wait perhaps a decade or more.

It has the best fight in all of videogame history. hahahahahahaha

IMO its not a waste of $5, but I certainly felt distinctly disappointed for the first time when buying a new Bioware game. There's fun, go have it.

If it drags, focus nearly exclusively on the main story (and major character quests). The difference between that and the 'exploration' parts is bigger than in most games I've played.

Ah yes, because all “best” games get all their DLC shitcanned, and then get the franchise they are a part of put “on ice” for at least a decade.

Please pump some of that grade A copium right into my induction port.

  Emergency Induction Port.

My order, now, with all updates, DLC, and honestly mod potential, is: ME3, ME2, MEA, ME1.

ME3 above ME2 just out of comfort. Its more nice for me to experience. I'm still bothered by all sorts of things about it, but I'd still rather play it than ME2.

MEA above ME1 just out of modernity, and while I have MELE but haven't tried it yet, I doubt the improvements will change this enough. Take my emphasis on 'does this reflect a more current day AAA game' out, and MEA flops down.

If we're talking about particular facets of the games, things will shift around. Typically putting ME2 to first place instead of second, and MEA to last place instead of third, but sometimes its more surprising (like I enjoy ME1's world 'tone' more than all the others).


For scores in single digits scores, the games in order go: ME1 7/10, ME2 8/10, ME3 8/10, MEA 7/10.

If I can give half points: ME1 7.5/10, ME2 8.5/10, ME3 8/10, MEA 7/10.

Why ME2 over ME3? Because I feel my preference for ME3 is more personal and particular than how I'd suggest the game to others. Take my story issues out of it, and ME3 would be an 8.5 or even maybe a 9.



MEA sometimes disappoints me like its a 6/10, but when I try to get more objective about it, and I judge the current day post-patched version, I'll softly give it its 7.

Yeah, it's probably the second BioWare game I had no major desire to go back and play again after playing it once (first being Inquisition). There's a number of factors or me why I have no real desire, but you're right about this.

I just can't face the prospect of another play through. I'm really hoping that any new game that draws on MEA includes another interactive comic so that I don't have to actually replay the game..  

If there was a way of stripping out all the tedious stuff, it would probably take about 10 hours to complete. I could do that!