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Interview   

Mass Effect After the Fact: An Outsider's Perspective

You don't have to be hardcore to have an opinion.

 

PixlBit: Let’s start with how you were introduced to Mass Effect and what your initial thoughts were.

Neena: Literally the game got pushed into my hands and I was told to play it. Initially I played it for about 5 minutes before putting it back on my shelf.

PB: Why was that?

N: Well, it was really hard to get into at first.  I thought it was really fun (once I got into it). I’ve always liked Star Wars and other space stuff, and it became a fun story.

PB: I watched you play the game, and at first you didn’t know about the Paragon and Renegade dialogue choices. Once you learned that, did your choices change, or did you still go with your gut?

N: It was still my gut feeling. Good, bad, whatever. It was kind of funny that I stuck pretty much Paragon, but some of the Renegade choices had some funny after effects.

PB: Yeah, you definitely did some darker stuff than I expected you to do.

N: (laughs)

PB: Once you finished Mass Effect you jumped into Mass Effect 2 right away. Were there things that you liked or didn’t like in the transition, having played them so close together?

N: Well, I didn’t like that you had to (take) cover every 5 seconds, and dying at the beginning was kind of a shock. Otherwise, I was very glad that there was no Mako. Very, very glad. But the transition wasn’t so bad.

PB: The shooting in the first game was more based on dice rolls, but the second game was dependent on precise aiming. How did you handle that, since you don’t play shooting games typically?

N: Well, the second one was a lot harder because I suck at aiming. But the third one was easier to aim and kill stuff.

PB: Mass Effect 2 is considered to have the best cast of the three. Who did you like, and who didn’t do it for you?

N: I didn’t like Miranda much. She was just obnoxious, and I hated her to bits. I stuck with Garrus for 2 and 3. It kind of sucks that you didn’t get to see much of Kaiden in 2. You only saw him one time, and it wasn’t exactly a happy reunion.

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Comments

BrokenH

02/23/2013 at 01:04 AM

Mass Effect has memorable characters and good narrative. I think these merits transcend "gaming" and are something we can all appreciate. It was heart warming to see someone on the outside looking in get totally invested in the ME trilogy. Now I don't have to feel like such a freak. lol.

Julian Titus Senior Editor

02/23/2013 at 01:14 AM

Mass Effect freaks are welcome here! To be honest, I talk about it so much that I've made a loose New Year's resolution to not mention it on the podcast. So far, it's only come up in two episodes.

It's a long road ahead.

BrokenH

02/23/2013 at 01:25 AM

Julian

I almost beat ME 2 before deciding to delete my Shepherd, start with ME 1, then import my Shepherd from the beginning. Then I got distracted. Worse choice I ever made apparently. I'll probably go back to all the ME games after I pick up the third one!

Casey Curran Staff Writer

02/23/2013 at 01:55 PM

Good idea for an article. I always wondered if people I know who are not that into gaming would still enjoy Mass Effect. Looking forward to seeing what kind of content you guys will be posting.

Julian Titus Senior Editor

02/23/2013 at 09:31 PM

I wasn't the one that pushed the game on her, but I nudged her along. She wasn't exploring the extra dialogue and as such didn't get a good sense at the depth of the world at first. I also think that Mass Effect has never done a good job of teaching people how deep the combat system is. Once I showed her how to pause the action and set up commands and utilize all of her abilities she really got hooked.

Casey Curran Staff Writer

02/24/2013 at 02:47 AM

I always thought the game had more depth than people give it credit too. I've played 2 and 3 with every class except Soldier and each of them needed completely different tactics just because they had different health and powers. It made me appreciate it even more.

Jon Lewis Staff Writer

02/23/2013 at 05:46 PM

That was a cool piece. I've always felt that the story in Mass Effect could be enjoyed by more than just us hardcore gamers and its good to see a casual gamer enjoy such a rich series. On a side note, I can't wait to finish off the story with Citadel and then replay the game with my fem-shep.

jgusw

02/23/2013 at 09:51 PM

My wife played through the trilogy last year.  She played the games back to back.  I had all the dlc, but my wife played through the games before the extended cut ending released.  She enjoyed the games and didn't like the endings.  She wanted her Shepard to live and thought the synthesis ending was stupid.  She started playing through the games again starting from the beginning.  She got through ME1 and ME2, but hadn't started ME3 again yet.  

GrayHaired

02/23/2013 at 10:50 PM

I see the trilogy set on sale (PS3) and I will one day buy it. Im not in a hurry either, it isnt my type of game but i have to play it because I've heard so much about it from jgusw and who knows, I might just enjoy it.

asrealasitgets

02/24/2013 at 01:45 AM

I just finished the 3rd game last month. I deiberatly waited to play it away from all the noise and hype so I could get an unbiased perspective on the game, well unbiased as much as possible. I feel that the world and universe in the game can stand apart from the core game play and compares to classic sci fi film and tv like Star Trek and Star Wars. It's a very good stand alone sci fi series.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

02/24/2013 at 02:39 AM

this was a pretty good article.  she seemed to be pretty clear headed about the ending, and just took it for what it is.  Damn, I remember that firestorm.  

Coolsetzer

02/25/2013 at 04:31 AM

I pretty much missed the entire trilogy as well. I tried to play the first one when it came out, but I just couldn't get into the combat. I dropped it in favor of Dragon Age Origins, which was a much better game for me. I had heard that a lot of fans were upset about how they ended it. I just don't know how they could throw away all the characters that they had spent hundreds of hours on developing. Anyway, I was thinking of getting the ME Trilogy, but don't want to pay more than $40 for a few older games. I'll play it eventually though, I'm sure.

Ryan Bunting Staff Alumnus

03/05/2013 at 01:42 PM

I just recently played through all 3 games again, and it was yet again, an absolutely incredible experience.  I was not one of the people that didn't like the ending of ME:3, and I thoroughly enjoyed the entire journey from Saren all the way to the battle on Earth.  When I first played Mass Effect - the first game - I beat it 3 times in a row, consecutively, in a matter of days.  I was so impressed with the storytelling and compelling characters, that I couldn't stop.  Now I own all 3 games, all single player DLC, and don't regret a single one of them.  Mass Effect is easily my favorite series of this generation, and will probably continue to be as long as there are ME games to play.

Super Step Contributing Writer

03/06/2014 at 01:57 AM

Can't read just in case I wanna play myself at some point, but great and unique interview idea. Always good to have outside-ish perspectives. How'd you find Neena?

Julian Titus Senior Editor

03/06/2014 at 11:36 AM

She's a friend. Er, was a friend. It's complicated. I used to play Pathfinder with her an a group.

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