Well, at least someone's satisfied.
I find that Tuchanka was the only mission where I couldn't do what I thought was best. As uneasy as I was possibly paving the way for the next Krogan Rebellions, and as much use as the Salarians would've been, I couldn't sell Wrex out after his little speech. Which appeared to be the best option, since he apparently finds out anyway.
Diana did look absurdly ugly. And the only graphic glitch I noticed was that my Shepard's hand would occasionally clip through her head. Though Joker did look off. His eyes seemed a bit too wide and unfocused. And frankly, I was just impressed that Dragon Age apparently taught Bioware that your random-arse retrieval missions are vastly improved with just a bit of context. As for all the death scenes... well, I had no small surge of satisfaction killing Kai-Leng. For Thane indeed, you son of a bitch.
And for the record, they already had a good human squad mate in Kaidan. Who's also a steaming hot man muffin. And that latter statement has absolutely no bearing on the former. Nope. None at all.
Yeah I really appreciated that I couldn't always do what I wanted. I was unable to make peace between quarians and geth so had to kill Legion. I pulled the first two renegade interrupts to shoot him but the third one came up, and he just looked at me like a sad puppy and I just couldn't pull it again.
And while I was ambivalent to Kaidan before this game made me like him. It also made me like Jack, Miranda, and even Udina for the first act until he goes crazy. So that's another point for them.
To be honest, I thought the krogan/salarian conflict was pretty black and white. I understand the danger of re-igniting the Krogan Rebellions, but the krogan suffered enough; far more than any salarian could comprehend, since krogans can live past a millenium compared to the 30-40 year life span of salarians. It wouldn't feel right to deny the krogans a cure, especially after convincing Wrex to give up one potential cure already. Besides, the Salarians are physically weak, so why would I pick them over the Krogan?
However, the decision with the quarian/geth thing? WOW. If you couldn't unite both species, the situation is Grey And Gray Morality at its best, mixed with Sadistic Choice at its most tragic. I chose to support the Geth, and my god, I never felt so guilty of a decision in my life (even worse, I traumatized Tali to the point of suicide, and she was my LOVE INTEREST). What made the decision sting further was that I was still under the impression that uniting the races was still possible, despite tali's begging, and I chose the Geth, thinking they wouldn't fire back. HOW...WRONG I WAS.
That kid who got blown up during ME 3's opening? I didn't give a shit. Indirectly massacring an entire race, and watching my LI jump off a cliff? I felt like I was forced to drop kick a puppy and a baby at gunpoint.
Hmm, yeah, I can see how it'd be black and white for some people. I suppose I'm just one of those, who prefer to err on the side of caution. I probably would've ended up telling them about it anyway. I think my first thought upon hearing the Dalatrass's proposal was "Don't do it, but don't tell anyone about it." It's was the whole scene with Wrex going on about Shepard being a true Krogan that made me disregard the second half of that vow. I was still just a bit nervous, seeing as how all those centuries of oppression didn't seem to temper the Krogans'- or Wrex's- desire to dominate. Here's hoping to that not coming back to bite me in the ass. Though I suppose there's little chance of that happening now...
As for the Geth/Quarian thing... Ye gods, I was freaking out there. I went in thinking I'd side with the Quarians, then along came Legion's side quest, and all I could think was "Wow, the Quarians are dicks." So the geth obviously weren't to blame for the original conflict, but the Quarians shouldn't die on account of what their ancestors did. I spent that entire arc banking on there being a third puppy-dogs-and-rainbows option. Thank God I happened to stumble into it. I still don't know the full conditions of the "EVERYONE WORK TOGETHER GUISE" option. But I apparently fulfilled it.
And at Bio Yu Gi, yeah, some of the characters from the last game got some unexpected points in this one for me, too. Jack, most notably. I can't say I was really into her in ME 2. Something about her rubbed me the wrong way. But I liked her cameo mission in this one. Grunt continues to be tank-bred awesome. The only team-mate I still really don't like is Liara. Perhaps it was the odd way she was acting in LOTSB, but everytime Shepard had a scene alone with her, I kept muttering "Please don't rape me. Really, please, just don't."
I blame the Consort, personally.
I didn't like Liara in the first game but liked her since Lair of the Shadow Broker. What do you mean "I blame the Consort"? She was only in the first game.
Have you done any of her missions? Ever? The casual way she just fondles Shepard, with him/her standing there, taking it stoically? Also, apparently she can trick you, and if you don't accept her apology about it, then she ends up sleeping with Shepard. So the Consort's always given me a... rape-y vibe. And since that's the first major Asari I met...
I find Asari in general just plain terrifying. Except for Aria. She's epic.
I think you're confused. You only do one mission for her to help clear her name, and after it's done she gives you credits and xp. If you express dissatisfaction with the gift, then she offers to sleep with you. I thought it was pretty clear what was going to happen if you pick that option. And she is a very influential person for the Citadel so it makes sense Shepard would want to be receptive to her.
Aria is awesome though, I wish she did more. She was really lazy in 3. I mean yeah she gives you the gangs as assets if you help her but otherwise she just chills in Purgatory the whole game.
Yeah, but after you take care of Septimus, if you go back and talk to her, she walks up and rubs Shepard's cheek and... it's just creepy.
Also, Liara in the first game is impossible. If I'm not an outright bitch to her, she tries hitting on me. As far as I can tell, I say nothing overtly flirty, and yet she does it anyway. I suppose that's just her being socially awkward, though.
It gets worse with the consort. As Male Shep do her mission, deal with the complaining elcor and then go back to her quaters. After she give you your reward select "Is that it?" from your speech options. Que five second sex scene. Congratulations you have been raped by the consort
You were not raped. How was that rape? Shepard would not have sex with her unless he wanted it. And what did you expect from picking that option, it was so obvious.
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Amazing and Satisfying
Mass Effect 3 was one of the greatest games I've played for xbox. It was an intense, heart-racing adventure that had me in turmoil whenever I had to make a decision.
To start, everything from Mass Effect 1 and 2 gets used again, even minor quests. Pretty much every character whether they lived or died was given a mention or cameo. Every major plot point from the first two games received closure. The genophage, the rachni, the quarian/geth war, Balak, Cerberus, they all received conclusions and it really makes you feel like you contributed and were a major part in the final decision. Choices you made may backfire and there were things I was unable to do that I really regretted. I teared up at pretty much every death, and there was a lot of it. The way the story unfolds with major quests and side quests really feels like you're making progress in the story and making the galaxy better. And then you get to that ending and make an ultimate choice that you really have to think about because it will affect the entire galaxy. Once I got spoiled on the choices I spent literally the entire game wondering what I would do and my mind flipped back and forth over and over.
There are a few bumps here and there. Diana Allers is useless and ugly and feels like a cheap tie-in. But all the squadmates you have are great. There's only two or three new ones but they're all really fun. In James they even finally succeeded in having a good human squadmate. Another problem was that for the small collection missions it doesn't always tell you when you've got the object, but I went to the Citadel after every mission so no big deal. There were also a lot more graphical glitches than the first games. Rocks and characters would disappear and some of the characters don't look right. Joker especially has a weird mouth that never shows his teeth when he talks. And I'm still annoyed Tali's face was just a quick photshop instead of something unique. Actually, I probably would have preferred if they didn't show anything since I already had an idea of what I wanted her to look like.
Even the multiplayer is great and I don't normally like multiplayer. It offers a quick chance to play classes you haven't played and the objectives in the rounds keep it from being monotonous.
In conclusion, this was a fantastic ending to the trilogy and I could not have been happier.