Mass Effect, do I have to do 'everything'?

[Removed User 345456]

So I tried playing this when it first came out, then again on the ps3, back then they weren't my kind of games... Bit overwhelming...

All I've ever heard is I have to do literally everything and kiss up to everyone to get an ending worth seeing? Is this nonsense/OTT?

I'd like to give the remaster trilogy a try, but I don't want to have to do every side quest/mission or feel like I miss anything/the game ends badly/sets it up rubbish for the sequels?

Best way to play?

Also do these get repetitive quickly the more you do - will I feel drained/bored playing 1 after the other? Or loose interest fully? Ass Creed games and Far Cry always feel like that, or are the sequels fully 'that good' in their 'own right'?

Thanks!

 

[Removed User 345456]

You kinda do have to do everything, or at least the majority of it, just to make sure you don't miss any of the good stuff.
A lot of the best moments are between you and your companions on their personal quests, and during the random side quests along the way.
Another reason for doing most of everything is that you accrue points/resources/stuff along the way that facilitate certain actions later on in the game.

You don't have to kiss up to anyone, though. You can be an outright **** if you like, or at least as nasty as the scripts allow. It's the Renegade path in all the dialogue options. This can be a right laugh sometimes!
There are some decisions that will impact the sequels to a degree or two, although importing that data from previous game(s) is optional.

Best way to play is down to you. Do you like running and gunning, or more of the techy stuff, or more of the superpowery things?
I generally found the companions to be not necessary in combat, but fun to have for the company and dialogue. After a while, you find yourself rushing to get through missions, just so you can get to the next story bit. There is a little back-and-forth running on some quests, but that's par for the course in an RPG-like game.

Replays are all about not making the same mistakes in previous playthroughs, and you could probably get 2-3 replays' worth before it got too boring.

Cheers mate, I like things like RDR2/Fallout/Starfield/The Witcher 2/3, but I do get annoyed when I'm nicely deep into the main story and some annoyance tries to derail it for filler content, IF it all plays out as if it's all relevant to what's going on in the main story, then that's fine, but if it knocks the wind out of the pace the stories going on, that is a big no no for me.

I always think why not just make the main story longer versus pad stuff out with mind numbing side quest nonsense, I swear they just pay the main writers more and side quest people less so it's just some weird way of keeping a game long but saving money, that really wouldn't surprise me these days, considering how games either just used to be long or short or inbetween and that was that.

 

[Removed User 345456]

Mass Effect 1 is super super rad IMO, 2 less so and from what I gather (never bothered playing after being quite disappointed with 2...) 3 is pants. With that in mind my recommendation would be to throw caution to the wind and play however you want, and replay 1 multiple times.

Yeah I'd rather play it my way and watch the alternative endings on youtube? I heard 4 is pants and 3 is hit or miss yeah.

Do they genuinely carry on the same story or is it the type of game you won't miss out on anything, it's just a separate adventure each time? Versus it always being intended to be split into 3-4 parts?

 

[Removed User 345456]

Two is my favourite game in the series by far, but it depends on what you're looking for.

As far as character development goes I would say that two is by far the best of the lot.

Agreed that 3 is pants, many claim it was just the ending that spoiled it but the entire game is full of ass imo.

You had me at 'full of ass'

 

[Removed User 345456]

The unwashed stinky kind that is!

"Swamp azz" is the 'murican term you refer to good sir!

There are YouTube channels (Big Dan Gaming springs to mind) that examine all the various permutations for the various quadmates, the order you get them in, how the decisions you make effect the other games and how you can utterly fail to complete the game if you make the wrong ones.

From a development perspective, it’s fascinating stuff.

That translate to me like the dev's just scumbag you into spending far too much time doing side quests to pad out the lack of length of the main story/or the added length the story could have been, so we'll give you a crap ending if you don't, Silent Hill loves to do that if you dare play it your own way.

 

[Removed User 345456]

Is 4 a new story or just stepping on 3's grave/cash in "we'll change the plot and make out it was meant to be 4 games all along" stylie?

 

[Removed User 345456]

4, as in, Andromeda? Or the Mass Effect Next, that some are calling ME4?

If Andromeda, it's not super terrible, but has many flaws that were not fully corrected (gameplay) that were in the SP Campaign. Most of the graphical issues were corrected before support was finished 6 months after release. MP stuff was mostly sorted out by the time the final Dev signed out. With regards to the story, many were upset that it did not give choice and options that had actual real meaning. When it's actually a precursor (and very simple) version of what is used in Baldur's Gate 3. So there are choices and outcomes, just not all are readily visible (so it's a bit like ME1 in that case) - outcomes were being prepared for updates (that never came as they got shut down). Story wise, it's not anything super new or too super intriguing, it's serviceable, but that's just about that.

Andromeda mostly has Combat as it's biggest win. There's some players who are upset with Andromeda's combat, citing that they can't hunker down and camp and just do a shoot out like normal combat (ie, where it's not very complex). However, the vertical aspect of jump jets/biotic boosts, means that you need a higher level of skill to perform excellently at higher difficulties. Especially in MP play. SP is largely fine, but Biotics got the raw end of the deal, and is actually not an ideal way to play with early on. It's only good to play with Biotics once you reach mid/late game where you have enough points for survivability and powers.

---

As for the main games in the Remaster. I personally skip ME1 and ME2 and just jump into ME3 with an appropriately uploaded Save file that has the history of what I want played. As it's an absolute chore switching between each game editions combat, which is different enough where you really only just want to play ME3's combat (which was the most refined of the main 3) and also has the best set of powers on hand. But I've also played ME1, 2 and 3 since their original release (INCLUDING reaching that original ME3 ending... ) so whenever I want to revisit the ME Universe, ME1 or 2 doesn't really entice me to play as it's too slow to get to the better parts in ME3. So your mileage may vary.

Sounds like all 4 are a mind field of dog **** then. might not bother at all. 1 felt pathetically prehistoric when I played it, in terms of engine/combat. Sounds like they only get that right in the weakest games 3/4?

 

[Removed User 345456]

OK guys I'm going to give it a try for the third time, thanks for all the info, if this turns out to be a waste of time I expect to be paid more on OnlyFans this month I expect compensation via PPGT/Steam keys

 

[Removed User 345456]

Just play it how you wanna play it, in RPG games like this I set off with the intention of doing all the filler along the way but when I have had enough I just power through the main story - I don't get the good ending / bad ending thing - All of the endings are viable and work fine.

Yeah, you sound like me, I think that's the best way to approach an rpg, just do what you want to do, how you wanna do it, if it stops being fun then what's the point, at worst I can always be a scumbag and watch the better endings on YT