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.
Mass Effect After the Fact: An Outsider's Perspective
You don't have to be hardcore to have an opinion.
PB: Tell me your feelings going into the Suicide Mission. How tense were you? Did you lose anyone?
N: I lost my assassin (Thane), because I didn’t save his son during his loyalty mission. Other than that, I didn’t lose anyone. (But I was) sweating bullets, screaming at the computer. My fiancée was laughing because I was cussing so much at the screen. And then when I was done I was like “is that it?” Other than that, it was an hour and a half of stress, but it was a lot of fun.
PB: Now, you plowed through these titles, which most of us didn’t get to do. We had a long wait between games. You didn’t get to play the DLC for any of the games, so how did you feel about the opening to Mass Effect 3?
N: Well, that was really confusing, because I was wondering why I was no longer commanding a ship. Why was I walking around Vancouver? All of a sudden things go to hell in a hand basket and I’m wondering what just happened.
PB: What did you think of your party at first? How were James Vega and Kaiden?
N: Kaiden was a stick in the mud, (and) James had a stick up his butt. Otherwise, they at least got the job done. But it was better when you got to have people that you could actually work with. I generally stuck with EDI and Garrus unless they made me choose another character. (EDI) was awesome. She was hilarious, and her little quips as she’s developing her personality (are) hilarious.
PB: You get a lot of closure with characters in Mass Effect 3, and meet up with everyone from 2 at some point. What did you think of those missions?
N: Well, Thessia was pretty hard, because it dealt with Samara and Liara, and she took things pretty hard. It was interesting with Cortez because you find out he had a husband, which is awesome.
PB: How about Mordin?
N: That sucked! That was depressing! He didn’t need to go die in a tower. I was horribly upset!
PB: Did you feel the stress of needing to get everything done like you did in 2, or did you feel like you weren’t under the gun and could finish things off at your leisure?
N: I still felt kind of stressed, because you see the Reapers coming and controlling everything when you’re trying to get everything. It got kind of hairy trying to get all your resources, but otherwise there wasn’t much of a difference.
PB: Moving into the end game, did you like the final moments with your characters to see where they were at before the last battle, or would you have liked more one on one time with them?
N: I think a little more time with them would have been better. You help them with their personal issues and then it’s like “okay, back out into the fire!”
PB: And then you get the reveal that Shepard is the Catalyst and needs to sacrifice herself to defeat the Reapers. You’re given three tough choices to choose from. What did you think about those choices, and the way they were explained to you?
N: Well, the descriptions of the choices were fine, but there needed to be a happier ending, because pretty much whatever you do, you die. So it’s like “okay, how do I want to kill myself right now?”
PB: And how did you kill yourself?
N: I synthesized. Destruction wouldn’t have any real positive effect on the future. Control could go either way. Synthesis (seemed like) the only way to go.
PB: What were your feelings on the actual ending?
N: It was passable. Pretty much, the Reapers pack up, go to the Crucible and explode. A little more drama could have gone into it. Because if all of a sudden everyone changes into these half-machine things you don’t really see anything about that in the ending. You just see some people walking out covered in circuits.
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