Secchan's Corner: Game completed: Mass Effect Legendary Edition (+ Andromeda)

Thanks, EA. I've been needing an excuse to replay this masterpiece.

For the past month I've been living and breathing Mass Effect. Almost every waking moment has been spent either playing the games or discussing them over three (out of five) different Discord servers (and none of them are technically dedicated to Mass Effect). It's been absolutely amazing.

Apart from being excited to play through the story again and make the same choices again, I was also really looking forward to seeing how they changed things with the remastering. Turns out, not a lot. The graphics are improved but the animations still show their age, especially in Mass Effect 1.

It was a whole new experience to play the games so close to one another. Even if I first played through the trilogy after all the games and DLCs were already released there was still gaps between the playthroughs, even if just for buying, downloading and installing the next game. Now it was just straight going from one game to the next and so many more details stayed in my mind from one game to the next. Small things that would've been lost in the "downtime" otherwise.

I played through Mass Effect 1 twice before (once for Liara and once for Kaidan) and I was surprised by how much I didn't remember and how much of what I did remember was wrong. I had absolutely no recollection of Feros or the Thorian until I was there and that mission started. None. I remembered hating Noveria from those two playthroughs, but this time around I kind of liked it. The Mako wasn't as bad as I remembered it, but maybe I've just gotten better at driving since then. As much as landing on uncharted worlds is time-consuming it's also a fun way of exploring and still keeping the game semi-linear, but with an open world feel. I liked the planet exploring a lot more this time around. I romanced Kaidan. A Team = Kaidan and Tali.

I was looking forward to Mass Effect 2 the least. I played that twice before also (once for Garrus and once for Thane). Back when I played the game before I remember not liking the story or the new exploration thing. Scanning and probing takes up way too much time and it's too tedious. Yet the completionist in me must scan every single planet to depletion. There's no other way. Next time I play I'll be getting the mod that scans to depletion instantaneously. Thane and Legion are the only new companions that I liked in ME2, the other new ones only grew on me in ME3. I messed up the narrative by completing everything but Firewalker DLC before I went and got Legion. Apparently Firewalker counts as missions you have to bring Legion to to unlock his loyalty mission, but not as missions that grant you a grace period before the Collector attack on the Normandy. So to do Legion's loyalty mission I had to sacrifice half the crew. But Legion is worth half the crew. Priorities. The gameplay is definitely tighter and smoother in ME2 than in ME1, but the half-assed story, the meh companions and the absolutely ridiculous final boss all contribute to making ME2 my least favourite Mass Effect game. And those things held true even in the Legendary Edition. To get the absolute best heartbreaking moments in ME3 I decided to romance Thane. As much as I love Garrus I feel like he's more BFF material than boyfriend material. A Team = Garrus and Thane.

And then there was Mass Effect 3. From my three previous playthroughs (once for Garrus, once for Liara and once for Kaidan) I knew this was my favourite Mass Effect. It's epic, the story is tight, the whole gang is there, I get to tell Cerberus to fuck off multiple times... I love everything about Mass Effect 3. The story, the exploration (even though it can get a bit annoying to run from the Reapers all the time), the gameplay, the companions and the DLCs are all amazing. Thane's story was absolutely heartbreaking this time too even though I knew it was coming, and Kaidan is exactly the kind of sweetness Shepard needs after going through that. Both Mordin and Legion's sacrifices made my heart ache. All of the ME2 companions grow on me in ME3, but not enough in ME2. In ME2 they are forgettable. The Citadel DLC is still the best thing to ever happen to a game and it made me laugh out loud so many times. Javik's day out is absolutely hilarious.

One thing I love about ME3 is actually the endings. How all of them appeal to different people for different reasons. I had a big discussion about the endings on one Discord server and I can see the point of choosing each of the different endings. But in the end I'll always choose red. Even though I go through all the work to get the geth and the quarians to make peace and live together, and even though I love Edi to bits, I'll still choose red. A Team = Kaidan and Garrus.

Halfway through ME3 a friend on Discord pointed out that EA's website has a thing where you can design the official Legendary Edition logo to show your favourite companions, place and playstyle. So I've had that as my desktop background for the past few weeks.

When I finished with the Legendary Edition I decided that it was time for a replay of Andromeda. I played it back when it was new, but I still had a crappy old GPU back then that forced me to play the game on low graphics settings. So already back then I promised myself I'd replay it at some point when I had a better GPU so that I could experience it in its proper beauty. I had forgotten so much. Most of what I remembered from my first playthrough was tied (either directly or indirectly) to Liam or Jaal. Just as the last time I played through it, it really struck me how Andromeda is so full of potential it can hardly contain it. There's so much promise in the story and in the new galaxy and it makes me so angry/frustrated that they just dropped it after its rocky launch. This game was worthy of love. Still is. I love the semi open world and all the exploration to be done. Apart from Cora I love every single companion. First time I played this I romanced Jaal and it was very hard to not fall back into that because Jaal is so goddamn adorable. Liam is too and I don't regret choosing him this time. I'm considering Reyes for the next time. Because there will be a next time. I did every single thing this time around, including every side quest without map markers on every planet. Every bug that had prevented me from completing side quests last time around was gone. It was great. I loved my gang. Even Peebee grew on me this time around. Which proves my theory that Peebee is the Sera of Andromeda. The story in Andromeda is obviously a preparation for something else, something spanning several games and DLCs, and none of that came to fruition so as a stand-alone it leaves a lot to wish for. But as the start of a new trilogy? It was amazing. I kind of equal the kett in Andromeda to the geth in ME1. Everyone is so focused on this one tangible enemy that they don't see that there's something bigger on the horizon. Can't see the forest for the trees? They hint towards something bigger out there several times at the end of the story. And I'm just gaaaaaaaah that we're not getting it. I love how every single planet feels disctinct from each other. They all have their own "personalities" which makes each of them their own separate adventures. This game made me laugh out loud so many times. There's a lot of humour in it and this game's sense of humour is exactly like Citadel DLC. And I love it! A Team = Liam and Jaal.