What are ya playing?

[used44]

Not worth the $15 i spent on it earlier this summer.

 

[Longo_2_guns]

At least you didn't buy it new, like me...

 

[Affen]

Just about to start Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy. It's release really snuck up on me. I had no idea it had been released until I was browsing 3DS store out of boredom. What a pleasant surprise.

I'm expecting great things as this is the final game in the origins trilogy. Feels ahoy!

 

[Affen]

Second puzzle and I already had a "Goddammit Layton!" moment. I should know by now that when the answer seems overly complicated to get, it's a trick question, but noo.. I fell for it.

 

[Green_Lantern]

And I've been playing Chivalry a bunch. I really wish I had gotten this earlier. So much fun! I played with GL a bit in a free-for-all, and managed to hold my own. The knight's maul is super overpowered goodness.

Yeah it's tons of fun, but I'm terrible at it.

 

[Sourdeez]

Picked up Zone of Enders HD collection for my ps3. I loved ZOE and ZOE2 back on my ps2.
It came with a metal gear revengeance demo.

:Edit: Interesting. They release a 594MB patch that fixes all the framerate and resolution issues.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digit ... d-remaster

 

[used44]

Mark of the Ninja is really good but also really boring.

 

[Longo_2_guns]

I just finished Monkey Island 2.

Not quite as good as Monkey Island 1, but still a really good game. It was a lot shorter, but what puzzles it had were a lot tougher than Monkey Island 1's.

 

[De-Ting]

I just finished Monkey Island 2.

Not quite as good as Monkey Island 1, but still a really good game. It was a lot shorter, but what puzzles it had were a lot tougher than Monkey Island 1's.

Monkey Island 2's difficulty made it longer for me than 1. I really won't put one above the other, either. When I think of one, I think of the other. They go great together.

 

[Master_Craig]

Currently I'm going through Mass Effect, including all DLC's.

I've gone through Mass Effect 1, Mass Effect 2 (and all storyline DLC) and I'm currently playing Mass Effect 3. All DLC's in ME3 have been finished and I'm up to the final mission.

 

[danielrbischoff]

Wow, Craig. Tell us how you feel at this moment. How fast did you play through all these? What's your Shepard's name? Fem or Male? Hair color?

What choices did you make on this great journey?

 

[Master_Craig]

Wow, Craig. Tell us how you feel at this moment. How fast did you play through all these? What's your Shepard's name? Fem or Male? Hair color?

What choices did you make on this great journey?

I just finished Mass Effect 3 like, five minutes ago... because I am a complete and utter loser.

It took me about a month to finish all the games plus their DLC's. That being said, I only played really on the weekends. I probably played for about a minimum of one hour per night, so the weekends were uh... a lot more. Overall, I think my total play time with all three games combined was about sixty or seventy hours over the course of four weeks. Mass Effect 1, 2 and 3 were the only games I played all month, which I started shortly after my completion of Batman: Arkham Origins.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not Daniel but in all honesty, I feel kinda sad right now. Mass Effect is probably my favourite video game franchise ever and it's sad to see it come to an end. But it's a great journey regardless. Before the final mission, I had a very "This is it" kinda feeling. God I'm such a nerd.

I'll note all the major choices I can think of below and the overall outcome of my Mass Effect experience, but I'll be sure to do the whole spoiler-hide thing, since you asked Daniel. Maybe one day I'll write a big long in-depth blog or article or something on the "one month of Mass Effect" experience, but for now...

Name: John Shepard (default).
Male Earthborn, sole survivor, soldier class, used default appearance (I hate male custom).

Mass Effect 1 outcomes (spoilers):

-Recruited all squad members (as Garrus and Wrex are technically optional).
-Saved the Rachni Queen.
-Urdnot Wrex survived on Vermire, staying on the squad.
-Saved Kaiden Alenko, Ashley WIlliams died on Virmire. Kaidan was at the nuke, Ashley was the Salarians' back up.
-Saved the Citadel Council in the battle against Sovereign.
-No romance.
-Overall Paragon path.
-Most used characters: Garrus and Tali, occasional swap with Wrex and Kaidan.

Mass Effect 2 outcomes (spoilers):

-Recruited all squad members, including DLC characters (Kasumi and Zaeed).
-Completed all squad member loyalty missions, acquired loyalty of all squad members.
-Fully upgraded the Normandy.
-Romance with Tali.
-Rescued the kidnapped Normandy crew from the Collectors.
-Chose to destroy the Collector base.
-All squad members survived the Suicide Mission.
-Overall Paragon path.
-Most used characters: Garrus and Tali, occasional swap with Grunt and Thane.

Mass Effect 3 outcomes (spoilers):

-Recruited all squad members, including DLC character (Javik).
-Cured the Krogan Genophage. Mordin sacrificed himself in order to do this. Female Krogan "Eve" survived.
-Saved the Salarian Councilor from Ceberus (Kai Leng). Thane helped in saving the Councilor but shortly after died due to his disease.
-Councilor Udina was killed in Ceberus' assault in the Citadel, killed by Kaidan - now a Spectre himself.
-Created peace and alliance between the Quarians and the Geth.
-Continued romance with Tali, despite being hit on by Kaidan, Cortez and Diane Allers. I had no idea Kaidan was into Shepard. They all got friend zoned.
-Overall military strength: 6356.
-Readiness rating: 92% - multiplayer raises this stat.
-Effective military strength: 5847.
-Ending: Shepard used the Crucible and sacrificed himself for the purpose of organic/synthetic synthesis, e.g. the "green" ending.
-Overall Paragon path.
-Most used characters: Garrus and Tali, occasional swap with James and Liara.

There you go Daniel and anyone else who's interested. A quick nutshell of my one month of the Mass Effect trilogy.

 

[danielrbischoff]

Haha, in a way I think your playthrough is boring, but in a completely different way it's your own and that's the beauty of the franchise. I think that's the lasting impact Mass Effect will have (certainly sequels will continue to drive this... maybe?), that you were your character. It really does fill you with emotion by the end because you've been talking with these realized enough people, sometimes useful, sometimes annoying as hell, sometimes racist as you discovered with Ashley. Correct me if I'm wrong but don't 90% of Ashley-leavers do so because of her attitude towards other species?

To tell the truth my first playthrough of 1 and 2 was with a John Shepard, sole survivor, soldier, who did almost all the things you did, but I never took him through Mass Effect 3. I think I started and got to Mars, my favorite sequence in that game possibly, and then moved on to something else. I had a FemShep Kira Shepard that had the craziest duck bill through the whole fucking game, but boy did she kick some fucking reaper ass.

I have the games on Origin I think.... I should see how ME3 runs on my computer

 

[Master_Craig]

Yeah you're right, Daniel. Some people may say my play through was boring and that's fair enough and understandable. To me, it was entertaining, and like you said that's the beauty of the Mass Effect trilogy. Even though the story is set out before us, we choose the path and in a sense we create the story... and that was the story I chose. Soldier class is my favourite because I just love running around and shooting stuff. I also have a love for the Adrenaline Rush skill introduced in Mass Effect 2. At the end of the day Mass Effect is just a game, but it's a very emotional story because you as the player invest so much time in going through the storyline, discovering new cultures and ideas, speaking to people, getting to know them all etc. It sounds silly but man... them feels. Right in the feels.

(Mass Effect 1 spoiler): In all honesty yeah, that's one of the reasons. I didn't like Ashley's attitude towards other species and in Mass Effect 1 she came across as a bit of a nasty person, especially with how she spoke to Liara. On Vermire though, I chose Kaidan instead of Ashley because Kaidan was the one securing the nuclear bomb, while Ashley was with the Salarian team. When you're forced to make the decision, Ashley seems more intent than Kaidan about not receiving help and I figured the nuke was more important. When you choose who comes with you (e.g. Kaidan or Ashley), I chose Kaidan because of his Biotic powers.

Haha, I'm tempted to replay again one day and just be an absolute douche and bad ass. See what it's like to go pure Renegade, or mostly Renegade.

The way I see things in Mass Effect... is despite the Paragon path I took, all of the actions/dialog I chose, I only chose because I would think to myself, "Is this the right thing to do?" - Most of the time, I honestly believe the Paragon choices are the right thing to do, but sometimes I chose Renegade options (regardless of my Paragon path) because I felt it was the right thing to do... like head butting that Krogan in Mass Effect 2.

I've been trying out Mass Effect 3's multiplayer, Galaxy at War recently. I started off with a male Human soldier, but now I've unlocked a Geth Heavy Destroyer... despite how slow it moves, God damn it is a walking tank.

 

[danielrbischoff]

If I play through the whole thing again with a new character, my goal would be to make my third Shepard a total asshole to some, nice to few, and a total silent/ghost/biotic explosion on the battlefield. The mechanics growing more action oriented really give a great sense of progression with you AS Shepard.

OHHHHH BUT THE ENDDINGNG FUCKAKKAKFJADKJAKDJA

If anyone complains about the ending directly after me gushing like this, I will ban 24 hours.

 

[Master_Craig]

^ This was honestly my expression when I first completed Mass Effect 3.

I'm not going to lie, Daniel. I wasn't too happy with the original ending of ME3. It left me really "stunned" and it honestly took me a few days to absorb it and basically make a final decision. In the end, it left me unhappy... however, that being said, I really do appreciate that Bioware went through and made the Extended Cut addition. I'm not paying out the ending, but in my opinion I feel the Extended Cut is the better ending - and the ending that should have been from the beginning... if it helps, I did not send Bioware angry e-mails or anything, like many people apparently did.

Also, that Shepard .gif above was my same expression upon completion of the Extended Cut... and my expression literally an hour or so ago.

So many feels.

 

[Sourdeez]

The extended cut version mostly fixed everything for me.(And citadel DLC is probably the best dlc I have ever played)

My first playthrough I picked the green option, synthesis. It was absolutely the best ending I could have really expected out of the series. Specially after all the lessons I had learned previously about AI, Biologicals, and destiny.

 

[Master_Craig]

^ Agreed.

I actually sat at my computer for five or ten minutes debating to myself which of the endings was the best to pick. Not for the sake of like, which one would be better story telling, but my justification was which ending would be the best for the galaxy. I know that sounds super sad.

But I agree - the synthesis (green) ending was certainly the best, pretty much for the reasons you said, Sourdeez.

Also Sourdeez... the Citadel DLC - yes, I agree. Probably the best storyline DLC I have played for any game.

 

[Green_Lantern]

YOU SAVED KAIDEN OVER ASHLEY? WHAT THE HELL! KAIDEN IS THE ULTIMATE DOUCHE CANOE.


I can't stand Kaiden.


You have inspired me to play through Mass Effect again too. Only I will stick to the good ones and only play ME1.

 

[Master_Craig]

^ I couldn't stand Ashley, but Kaidan does have his annoying moments.

I would have to say that everyone who's played Mass Effect... you guys should give it a try - play ME1, 2 and 3 in order, start to finish.