Mass Motivations

replay value. being able to do something different in each playthrough

There are several things. I like Shepard as a character. There are a few characters I like as well, but what stands out is what can be done in a playthrough. I can do this and then in the next playthrough do that. I can use this weapon or that weapon. I can use these squadmate or those squadmates. I can play this class or play that class. I've done nearly everything that can be done. I've found stuff that most folks never knew about. Yes there are a lot things that I don't like, but I've found a few ways to avoid some of those things.

And probably the number one thing why I like ME. I can do a playthrough like this. Its one of my favorite playthroughs I've ever done.

I like AAA RPGs, and this was when Bioware was still at it's best. I play all good AAA RPGs repeatedly. They all share some qualities that keeps me replaying. Perhaps I should just look to Bethesda and CDProjekt for this now though.

The characters and environments in 2 really pulled me in, specifically. It was entertaining in the first game, but I fell in love with by 2. I'm all for nightclubs, dirty cops, and punk rockers in space.

*I started wtih ME1 since it was the only SF-themed roleplaying game around at the time.
*I continued with ME2 and ME3 because I wanted to know how the story ends.
*I do not keep returning to it. The last time I played an ME game was in 2013. As a comparison: I started a new game of Deux Ex (1999) yesterday.

I keep talking about ME because I became emotionally invested in the story and some of its characters, for better or worse, to the point that the ME trilogy left a permanent mark, and also because it resulted in the most dramatic emotional and intellectual letdown I ever experienced with a story, to the point that I ask myself to this day how I could let that happen. I keep talking about it because I like SF and because what started promising with ME1 ended up as an insult to the genre in ME3, and because I detest the fact that ME3 is so influential that its mess of pseudoscientific preconceptions, thoughtless space-magic and unreflected traditionalism is probably many people's first encounter with certain SF themes.    


  

In this case, the hook was very specific: Miranda Lawson. You know, I'm a transhumanist, and I think overcoming human limits by genetic engineering is highly desirable, and here we had a character who represented that, or so I thought at the time. Little did I know that that aspect of her would come to be associated with evil and that her story in ME3 would have such a strong "I just want to be normal" vibe. Miranda's story in ME3 was another nail in its coffin for me.

In any case, the ME trilogy would've been just another game series in a genre I liked, and quite probably I would've put off the ending and forgot about the whole thing after finishing ME3 were it not for Miranda.

I should mention that it is very unusual for me to be hooked by a character. I'm more interested in general themes and even more in worldbuilding, as long as the characters are at least adequate. I read and play stories to decipher their worlds and its mysteries, which is why most SF in visual media doesn't do much for me. ME proved no exception in the end.


Lucky you. Unfortunately, all ending mods I know canonize Destroy, which wouldn't work for me.


I didn't watch Battlestar Galactica but the problem area sounds indeed very similar to ME's.

I can only really answer the first question. I actually only started playing ME because I happened across the demo for it on the 360 shortly before launch (really hope ME:A has one). I've always appreciated both story and MP, and was hooked on both. It wasn't just ME itself though. Some background: Back then I was 16 and had never played an RPG before. So, even ME3's dual-choices for dialogue seemed amazing to me. And creating my own character? Wow! More than that, just being able to play as a woman? Unheard of. So it was as much falling in love with the genre as it was the game itself.

So after that, I went out and bought ME1 and ME2 and played them in anticipation of ME3's release. That's when I really got into the universe, and that's my primary draw to ME, even more than the characters, possibly. Playing ME1... it was something else. I love scifi, and especially with ME1 being the "hardest" scifi of the 3, I was basically just doing nothing but drink in every tiny detail of the game I could - the lore, the codex, the interactions - I felt like I had an "information high". I love learning, and relating what I learned to what I knew about space and science. Getting to gallivant around the galaxy on my own starship, explore strange new worlds, to speak with new life forms and learn about their civilizations, to be a bold hero... (sorry ) Even if the planets were a bit repetitive, I just loved it all, and that's why overall, ME1 remains my favourite installment. I am aware that some of that is just nostalgia, but so be it.

Then of course I was introduced to my now-favourite genre: RPGs. Creating and roleplaying my own character, having her interact with all of these other extraordinarily written people, that was the other huge draw. Oh, and escapism and living vicariously I didn't mind the combat in ME1, but love ME3's. Its MP was, though heretical for an RPG, its saving grace, sadly.

That's what drew me in, but I can't answer your other questions exactly, because I didn't stay an overly long time, and haven't played it since Citadel released a year after ME3 The ending just... broke me, combined with everything else I was going through at the time  I was so invested in that world, in its characters... to my detriment, it turned out. Not only that, but until Citadel released and ME3 was officially over, I had hope something more would come of it, that it could be saved. It was a year-long roller-coaster of emotions.

I still can't think about it for any significant length of time without being reminded of all that, and that's why I haven't replayed it since. It hurts too much, and I know how it ends. Even with an ending mod on the PC, I don't know. The wounds still seem fresh enough to reopen. I don't wish I hadn't played though, it was still worth experiencing, and if I hadn't I wouldn't be talking on this forum now, I wouldn't have played DA or perhaps any other RPG, or met awesome people But it does fill me with sadness that where I should be feeling nostalgia, I feel melancholy.

That was... probably good to write out.


Yeah, becoming a galactic tyrant or violating every living thing in the galaxy is just so much better, right?

*Clears throat and prepares deepest voice possible*

HA! THEY'RE DEAD!

Always makes me chuckle And yes, your signature reminded me.

My current PC isn't good enough for Dragon Age Inquisition. So I decide to play the trilogy instead to see what's the fuss about and to my delight, I could play as female who have her voice of her own and with custom looks too. Frankly, I'm not big about shooting games and I find its even more frustrating that the squad need a lot of micromanaging. I grew up mostly with Asian Scifi (yep, they exist) and regular scifi shows so the worldbuilding isn't that all impressive to me as Bioware took the whole love letter to scifi way too literally. 

But I found myself falling for Shepard, not that I feel sexually or anything (eww)- I just simply adore her. I enjoyed her journey and her story. Her little subtleties and her quirky sense of humor. She kick ass and it make me feel good to see her happy and proud of herself for her achievement and she's so adorable like a little sister or something. I do have a couple of FemTrooper in SWTOR, and Jennifer Hale voice her more than she did with FemShep but the Major didn't make me feel as emotionally invested as Miss Shepard here.

Not gonna lie. Definitely, the romance. I watched Farscape a couple of weeks ago somehow the relationship between Aeryn and John also reminds me a lot of my FemShep and Kaidan. Aeryn and FemShep both soldiers who are dedicated their lives to their duties and responsibility and their world turned upside down in a blink because of this one guy (Aeryn unwittingly doom herself for defending John, Shepard trading Kaidan's place when he was taken by the beacon which gives her nightmarish visions of the reapers' destruction against the protheans), both stubborn as heck, both internalized their grief and their emotions as well. They put the people they love at a distance but they themselves have a hard time letting go. Both couple have someone died at some point. I could play the trilogy over and over like its the greatest scifi love story.

also 

Other than that. Headshots is surprisingly calming.

--

Felt the same about the ME ending and BSG ending as well. But ME don't make me *flipdesk* like BSG did. Then again I can't think of a lot of scifi show that ends well. 

LOL. I understand that. In one of my fanfics, Miranda says: "And now I'm supposed to succumb to this... this chemical survival program no matter the cost? It's insulting."

This is what happens when there's no editor to proof-read the scripts and keep it coherent.

Because it is a good series. It has it's flaws but they are very easy to ignore. Honestly it seems like 9/10th of complaints about it are more a state of mind then actual problem.

I didn't know they made a TV series of The Expanse. I'm rarely interested in SF on visual media but I may give this one a chance. Would you recommend it to someone who likes his SF somewhat hard, and has limited tolerance for TV adaptions of written works that aim for the lowest common denominator?