Playing the old trilogy after Andromeda

I haven't played the trilogy since mid-2016, so I've been planning to get back to it sometime soon. My "comfort zone" is playing Paragon FemShep (due to my own views and a preference for Hale over Meer), but I've been thinking about trying a utilitarian-minded Colonist Sole Survivor MShep too. The idea would be that he'd seen a lot of people close to him die, both as a teenager on Mindoir and as a soldier on Akuze, and he's become kind of distant and tries to make decisions based strictly on what he sees as "greatest good for the greatest number." (Not that he'd always be *right* about what actually results in the greatest good for the greatest number, just that it's his intended rationale. And I've heard there's kind of an interesting scene in ME3 if Shepard intends to sabotage the genophage but can't go through with shooting Mordin, so he might do that and then start being a little more Paragon for the rest of the game.)

The thing is, I'm never sure if I'll have time for another playthrough in the future, so I'm stuck weighing between playing it the way I most enjoy it and trying something new.

As for Andromeda, I do want to give it one more run (I only finished it once, shortly after it came out) now that I have a better sense of how the game works and its choppy pacing, hopefully avoiding spending so much time just driving around and fighting cookie-cutter battles. While some of the combat is clunky in the original trilogy, especially ME1, I didn't find the Andromeda combat *that* great either given the lack of control over my squad and the absurdity of the Nomad having no weapons at all.

Played Andromeda for a few months after release, haven't played it since probably June or July now. Went back to ME3mp pretty much immediately, just as fun as ever. Currently about to finish an ME2-ME3 playthrough I had started a couple months ago. There simply is no comparison: expectations aside, MEA was an OK game. It wasn't awful. But ME2 and 3 are two of the greatest video games ever, MEA doesn't even really deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence. 

I'll admit it actually took some getting used to which was surprising. I just finished the trilogy over the last 3 weeks again because I had vacation and suddenly I was just like "Hell yes!" and took the plunge. That said, once I was halfway through ME2 again I started thinking back on Andromeda and I my impression of it just in the thought of it waned like never before. Once you rediscover Mass Effect at its greatest moment you remember why the reactions to Andromeda were so negative and vitreolic again.

Also, I used the MERecalibrated mods for ME2 and 3 which really enhances the experience if you've beaten those games once or twice already, (or 10 times). I also installed "Better Dreams" mod which is awesome by the way. Then I also used the Backoff Mod (neutral dialogue options yay) and the amazing, extraordinary, game-changing Expanded Galaxy Mod for Mass Effect 3 and finally the LIME (Less Is More) ending modification.

Ending of 3 was still the lowest point but this time what stood out to me at the end of it all was the experience of 3 as a culmination of the other two games and not its final, ambiguous or asinine scenes and it excited me so much that I kinda wanna get into modding of UE3 and ME3Explorer now. I tried unpacking the audio files from various parts of 3 and found some unused clips from TIM. I have this idea for how you can basically reuse all dialogue from the endings but rearrange the timing and placement of the characters and when the things happen to make an ending with much more drive and tension from Shepard's POV and make the final choice an emotional struggle that resonates more with the fate of the galaxy and your friends than the faux "philosophical" aspect of it.

 I was still left feeling the biggest miss in ME3 is the lack of a small playable aftermath. I didn't use Citadel DLC and I didn't use Javik this time. I think keeping things mysterious and focused like that is a stronger experience. Citadel DLC is a decent epilogue though and you can mod it as such using the Citadel Epilogue mod.

Overall, it was great experiencing it again. Tuchanka and Rannoch really felt impactful to me this time, and I felt like I listened more in the parts where I usually didn't care. Arguably it's because I've gotten older and I care more about the intellectual stuff than the spectacle, so I pay much more attention to the dialogue itself. I do contemplate on replaying Andromeda though. I'm just not looking forward to it.