Mass Effect Legendary Edition (General Discussion)

I’m looking forward to Arrival because it’s the one dlc I never got to play before. Planning to do it post SM.

On a slightly different note (and not really adding anything to the current discussion) - I’ve been slowly making my way through the trilogy, currently on ME2, just finished Horizon. About the first half of ME1 was a bit of a slog because I just haaaate the sidequests and planetside exploration, although I did appreciate the improvements to the Mako. So I took my sweet time with it, until I got to Virmire that is, after which I finished the game in one sitting. It just gets so good, it almost makes me forget the grinding I had to do to get to that point, haha. I also really like my playthrough because somehow I’ve managed to roleplay my character for the most part exactly as I’ve imagined. So ME2 has pretty much been a breeze so far, and I am really excited to continue.

Just wanted to share a few of my thoughts, carry on

Nonsense. Sheperd didn't have to make a tough call - there is no decision to make. And yes the other dlcs are also combat heavy - which was roundly and correctly criticised. Arrival was accused (again correctly) of not learning those mistakes and deciding for you the one important choice that it seemed to be building up to.  Plus Overlord and LOTSB at least had new gameplay elements, vehicles and characters. All Arrival had was laughable stealth and tons of solo combat. It was held up as further proof that BW don't seem to understand why people like their games and continually think that what want in dlc is lots more combat.

And come on, it barely gets mentioned in ME3. Bioware even admitted they chopped virtually all the trial content out. They wipe the Batarian Hegemony out immediatly so the storyline about wanting Sheperd is resolved in nanoseconds, Sheperd never brings it up or dwells on it despite his egregious angsting over the kid and that's that.

And the galaxy *has* no chance in ME3. The main plot makes no sense which if you weren't so intent on fanboy defense all the time, you would. I'm not trying to be mean about this man, I'm really not. I love ME too, I love Bioware too but you seriously need to get some perspective. As has been covered again and again and again. There is *no way* you couldly secretly gather a workforce numbering in the thousands at least plus administrative and support staff to construct a completely unknown device with plans and formulae that even the foremost experts are still translating AND defend a giant immobile target from an enemy that can literally fly straight through you accepting losses because they know they only have to destroy it and you're finished - the Reapers have longer effective range so they don't even have to go through the ONE fleet guarding it.

Its *too late*. The galaxy is disunited, every homeworld is under siege, you haven't even started on the Crucible, there's no way to keep a project with 2 people secret so how is a project with thousands and thousands supposed to? When if even 1 guy is an indoctrinated sleeper agent its Game. Over for the Crucible when the Reapers say 'Oh that thing? Guess we'll just destroy it' I mean, how quickly and easily do they take the Citadel when they put their mind to it? It falls in hours before anyone realizes its being attacked!

And what about these War Assets you're collecting. Where are they being kept to retain their effectiveness? A giant safety deposit box in space? Nowhere is safe, so where are you hiding all these recovered assets without weakening the already collapsing forces of the galaxy? And again it only takes 1 indocrinated agent to give away a fleet's position. And they probably won't even realize they're doing it. ME3 is a joke, it always was and it still is. ME2's disastrous yime wasting main plot and Drew K's departure were mortal blows. But whilst ME2 is still a great game on its own terms, ME3 is a nonsensical farce.

I mean do Eden Prime, Horizon etc not prove rather amply that sending 1 agent alone no matter skilled is just an incredibly stupid thing to do? And that a team of skilled pros who can with with careful selection cover everything they are likely to need in a mission and watch each others' backs? Sending lone agents to make the action deniable is hobbling the succesful completion of said mission. And when that agent is high profile like Ash\Kaiden on Horizon, everyone already assumes they're up to something shady on Alliance orders.

Sheperd going alone is boneheaded in the extreme. Taking a 'its Sheperd, Shep can do anything, ANYTHING' line is childish. It is not his style to operate like this - he's infamous for the amount of explosive carnage that follows in his wake. And not only does he get made by the Batarians, he gets subdued and knocked unconscious where any old lab tech could bash his skull in with a naughty Fornax collector's edition phallic paperweight.

You can just imagine Harbinger in the debriefing going 'You morons had him unconscious and you just locked him up, no restraints or nothing with all his gear right outside?! Why didn't you chop him into little bits and film a 'Cooking with Kenson' spot - me and the rest of my Reaper buds would tuned in on Pay per View for that!'

I never said that I didn't enjoy or accept a No Win Scenario. I said first that lack of any choice is unwise but primarily that if Sheperd and Hackett insist on such a foolish, doomed plan they cannot complain when the inevitable happens. It was too much for one agent with no special equipment, no intelligence from inside the system and purposefully leaving out highly qualified espionage agents like Kasumi and Mordin was a foolish mistake that produced the No Win scenario by its lack of preparedness and sensible planning.

The SM suceeds because you plan carefully, take the right upgraded equipment, have the best intelligence available (though TIM worries at the lack of specific data on the Core) and a team that plug the gaps on any situation you encounter. Arrival has you go in blind, alone with no equipment appropriate to the op (not even a silencer for your gun!) and you just wing it and hope for the best. And its a total balls up.

Hackett contacting you openly on a Cerberus ship to request a private meeting makes no sense. It would raise suspicion with your crew (are Miranda, Jacob and TIM just going 'hey, how's old Hackett doing? No don't tell us what he wanted - none of our business'. Yeah right. And if he wants to keep things on the QT, sending this info to a Cerberus ship where Miranda and TIM are almost certainly (and in fact are) monitoring Sheperds movements and communications is hardly a sensible choice.

And look, like I said I have no intent to insult you. If anything I said came across as offensive it was not intended that way and I apologise if it did. There's just so much 'ME3 was 99% amazing until the endings' from people and it makes it seem like any sensible discussion is impossible sometimes. I crossed the line but I've backed up a bit. Here? No... Here? Here.

All sending Sheperd on this mission manages to convey is how utterly mishandled it was. Being left with no choice but to destroy the relay is the logical and deserved punishment for a terribly planned and utterly bungled op that Sheperd finds impressive ways to fail at practically every turn.

It makes it look as though Sheperd is the world's biggest fraud, who acts like a total fool when he doesn't have his team there...

Isn't this a bit of a trap?  You have complained about how Shepard was alone on this mission and how stupid it was and how Shepard should not be expected to do everything and now you are saying that he is the biggest fraud because he wasn't able to succeed because he didn't have those resources with him?

Indeed also Shep is special forces they are trained to deal with extreme scenarios which was why Hackett  sent Shep in. Shep may not have been a swell equipped as the ywould like given they were working for Cerberus at this point but they aer supposedly trained for such situations

I seem to recall Lair of the Shadow Broker getting a fair amount of hate too. It had a lot of autodialogue and it being so Liara-heavy emphasized the VS's absence.

Eh, most US horror villains who kill with a knife are magic or demon based. Also guns don’t always beat knives, hence why soldiers are still trained to use knives. Get in close and surprise the gun holder, you can kill or incapacitate them before they bring their gun towards you. Especially long guns like shotguns.

But yes horror films are filled with idiots, but then most people watching those movies are rooting for the killer not the victims, hence why the victims all tend to just be terrible human beings with the only decent ones being the ones who will survive.

i don't know. While ww never get a proper time line on indoctrination per se two days is an awfully long time. And while I'm sure Shepard has training to resist mind control given such things are possible in the future it takes a pretty high morality score to resist Morinth so Shep isn't immune. And that happened within seconds.

My comments about Harbinger were intended as a joke but there is a serious element to it as they don't restrain him well at all. His reputation as an elite agent is well established - after going to all that trouble, you don't just put him in a cell and assume that's the matter settled. He would be restrained, sedated and under constant observation. Give Harbinger some credit - he'd be an idiot to take chances with someone who has already a Capital class Reaper at this most critical of moments.

And I won't have this handwaving 'Sheperd can do anything because he's Sheperd' defence. There is no suggestion that non tech using Sheperd has anything remotely approaching the expertise to handle high security systems. Nobody *ever* talks of Sheperd as a master hacker or like a ghost on the battlefield such are his stealthy abilities. Its the problem you face when you do away with stats and let the player and\or the writer of a quest determine if Sheperd can do something or not. Hence the silly 'can only lose to Garrus at sniping if you deliberately lose despite never firing a sniper rifle in all 3 games on most classes' or Engineer Shep ordering Ashley or Vega to disable a jamming tower when he's clearly the most qualified etc etc.

Its 'rule of cool' nonsense. They give Sheperd what is deemed to be the most dramatic and heroic role, whether it fits him or not at the time. 'Darn' says Adept Shep. 'A seeker swarm chamber and we a powerful biotic. Don't have Samara or Jack so... Jacob you'll have to do it. Me? I'm the Captain, I can't do it - I have to be running around shooting guys and looking cool. I can't be standing around making no Barriers, its beneath me...'

Hackett has access to the whole Alliance military. He has to have guys who are specifically dedicated to this kind of covert infiltration and extraction mission who will have far greater deniability than your most famous Soldier and a Spectre. He has to know the Council will flip their lid if he sends their Spectre behind their backs against the Batarians - which is as politically toxic as it gets.

And again, its pointless to try and defend Sheperd's suitability for this. Because he *does* fail. The Batarians rumble him and he's exposed, failing the secrecy part of the mission that Hackett stressed was paramount and which if he didn't think he could do it, he shouldn't go at all - he spells that part out to you. But Shep goes anyway. And fails. Utterly and repeatedly throught the dlc until the only way he can salvage anything of the situation is to blow the relay. He was the wrong choice for this, he absolutely should not have been alone and the second he escaped the prison he should called in to update Hackett and discuss how to go forward. Even James Bond updates his bosses and handlers frequently so he can proceed sensibly with everyone in the loop. Sheperd going it alone like this got the treatment it deserved - i.e it didn't work.

Yeah, the one thing I like about ME2’s combat is the punchier gunplay and some biotic abilities like biotic charge, but the enemy mechanics and map design are just so bad. Most of the time it’s just enemies that crab-walk and lay down rapid fire that shreds your shields or waves of annoying husks.