tl;dr I just started my first ever Mass Effect playthrough (legendary edition). I'm only an hour or so in. What am I in for? Any tips? I'm SO excited.

Hey y'all! Im in my late 30s and recently (within the past two years) got into gaming after I got into recovery from drugs and alcohol. I played as a kid, with fond memories, so it's been a thrill revisiting those memories from childhood, while also exploring all the variety of genres and consoles. Obviously the intervening 30 years has produced a mountain of content to dive into.

Now that I've worked through the a lot of the hits (triple aaa games, major releases, etc.) and explored various franchises, I've started expanding my horizons. I played all the FromSoft games because I was intrigued by the challenge, and that in and of itself opened up what I thought was possible and what I looked for in games. Then after seeing a random tiktok of the Final Fantasy 6 intro, I booted up the pixel remaster on PS5, and the whole wide world of RPG's opened up before me.

I've only dabbled in RPG's (FF6, Chrono Trigger, and a 1/4 of a half ass attempt to play BG3) but after FF6, I totally see the appeal. Mass Effect has been on my list for awhile, and now knowing it is an RPG, I couldn't wait to start. It feels like stepping into the pages of a Heinlein novel.

Ok, all that said, what am I in for? What should I be most excited about? Anything I should focus on/ignore? Anything you wish you could have told yourself before your first play through?

One thing I've learned after getting into gaming is the sheer size and depth of it's gaming communities, especially here on reddit. I love it when a community is supportive and fun, so I'm curious what y'all have to say!

'Can't stay here, to many ghosts' was the first thing I thought of when I finished the game the first time cause I of course didn't know that if you don't immediately do the suicide mission people die, this time no one did, but thinking back, half the crew gone and you can really see it in that old save

hi, could someone pls tell me how i can change my virmire survivor from kaiden to ashley? or how to change it so the game doesnt think that i romanced kaiden in me1? im already in me2 and thought i managed to avoid the romance but apparently not, so id like to change that if possible!! and another question, does having the save editor stop me from getting achievements? and can i just uninstall it after or does it revert the changes? if yes could someone pls tell me how to deinstall, im really not great with mods, sorry!!

9/10 just because I hate the traversal around the planets. With that said, I felt some kind of loneliness/nostalgia driving around the desolate landscapes, and I kinda like that. Anyways it's time for ME2 !!

Title pretty much says it.

I'm watching the DnD movie and I kind of designed my custom Shepard after Michelle Rodriguez, so it got me thinking. I think she would be great in that role as we've already seen her as a badass sci-fi military girl in Avatar (kind of a niche one but I had such a crush on her in that movie before I came to terms with the whole bisexual thing).

If they were to make live-action content with YOUR custom Shepard, who would you cast to play them? I see a ton of fan casts for the default ones, but I'm asking for ones based on how you customised them and played them in your own playthroughs

I feel like the generally accepted replay frequency is a year. Just long enough for a lot of the missions to leave your short term memory. I want to play it more, but when I replay it too soon I find myself thinking ahead to missions I don’t like or parts that I’m really excited about. What’s it like for you?

TIA

Hey y'all! My first reddit post and I'm needing a bit of help. I just got my Dragon Age tattoo done (decided on Rook's Dagger with ivy vines ((elfroot if you wanna label it something game specific))).

But now I'm sitting here thinking, what can I do for Mass Effect? Currently, I'm thinking of getting it on my calve, to match the Dragon Age one. I'm also thinking it has to have florals with it - most of my tattoos have florals, after all. I am also not wanting anything like.. Super iconic from the game. Rook's Dagger is iconic for DA:V, sure, but it pairs well with the florals. The Normandy or Relays with flowers/nature is... Hard to piece together in my brain, since it is so sci-fi

I initially was thinking perhaps Shepard's helmet, broken with gladiolus around it? Symbolizing strength? But then, I got to thinking about Ilos and how to incorporate that. Perhaps Vigil? With sword ferns wrapping around?

I'm not too sure! Thoughts?

Hello, I am getting crashes when I try importing my me2 character to me3 le on PC. I am not using any mods and am playing completely vanilla. Is there any fix for this? Thanks!

Maybe not quite as extreme as the first two examples but if you kill Falere during the Asari Monastery mission, Liara will call Shepard out on it and question if it was necessary.

Bruh. Reposting this, cuz I didn't credit myself as the artist, therefore it got taken down. Lmfao.

Materials used: Faber Castell colouring pencils, black prismacolor, POSCA metallic silver marker.

Time taken: 22HRS+

Size of drawing: Slightly bigger than a playing card.

References used!

I feel so silly...

Did you know if you wait until near last to rescue Liara she will be delirious because of it.

I stuck at that one place where we have to fight 3 Husks and 2 collector in insanity my class is vanguard and take Claymore as my specialty weapons with no Medkits no heavy armor and I burn those in harbingers fight my squad mates are Thane and Miranda

I was going to review the whole trilogy as I played though 3 but I could have filled a small book with what I was writing and I am not a writer It was an incoherent mess. Anyway I want others opinions on the combat in the trilogy but first I want to vent my initial reaction to 3s combat.

Powers

First off I want to add context by saying I really didn't like 2s combat but I grew used to it. I did not like the cover shooter aspect that it leaned hard into. Shields even fully upgraded don't last a second under light fire. Now I'm playing 3 and it appears to just be the same but with power spam. I enjoy shooting things and I have played as a soldier so far in the games. Also I have died more in 3 than I have in 2 already (actually I think it's slightly less). Cooldowns in this game are super short and it has just become power spam over and over again. For example I could shoot an enemy in the head and use ammo or I could pause and use singularity, warp, concussive shot. Play for about 1 second then launch another concussive shot and throw another ability. Is this what the combat in 3 is like? In 1 I didn't need to use abilities much and when I did it was frankly too powerful. In 2 I could do pretty good without using squad abilities and relying on adrenaline and guns for a good portion. Now in 3 it seems with such low cooldowns in expected to do little more than spam biotics and tech over and over.

Movement

Did the movement get worse? I have more options now going from cover to cover yet the magnetism appears worse than in 2. I end up in cover when I'm trying to run away and end up dead. This has been frustrating. Enemies love to flank and throw grenades.

Edit I'm sure I'll get used to the combat as I did with le2 but I'm just not a fan of cover shooters.

Edit edit Is reddit full of bots? No way over 700 people have viewed this already

There’s something I really like about James: that laid-back side of him when he jokes around or talks with Shepard and the others.

Sometimes you could almost think he doesn’t care about much of anything, or that he never really takes anything seriously. But the more I look at the character, the more I feel like it’s almost the opposite.

I think he uses humor a lot to defuse situations. Maybe even a little like a shield.

He jokes around, teases the others, gives everyone nicknames, messes with Shepard, acts like a smartass... And in the context of ME3, it actually makes a lot of sense. They’re in the middle of a war of extermination, after all, and James is already carrying everything that happened on Fehl Prime and the choice he had to make there.

Because as soon as something really matters to him, the James who jokes about everything can disappear very quickly.

Fehl Prime is probably the best example. When you see his reaction to what happened and what ultimately became of his sacrifice, suddenly there isn’t much left of the relaxed guy who jokes around with everyone. He’s angry, hurt, and you realize that some of the things he seems to carry so casually actually weigh very heavily on him.

And I think Paragon Lost helps you understand this side of the character even better.

Even with Shepard, I see some of that. He can turn something serious, or even a little intimate, into a joke, a challenge, some flirting... It allows him to be close to her without necessarily having to make the moment too serious either.

And all of this made me think of Dorian in Dragon Age: Inquisition, or more specifically something Josephine Montilyet says about him:

“And then there’s Dorian, who insists on taking everything lightly, unless it suits him.”

I find the “insists” part pretty interesting.

Josephine isn’t simply saying that Dorian is a lighthearted person. I’ve always understood that line as meaning that he also chooses to treat a lot of things that way. The humor, the irony, the little jabs... until something genuinely gets to him.

And James gives me a similar feeling, even though Dorian and James obviously have very different personalities.

Dorian relies a lot on wit, eloquence and irony. James is more about joking around, nicknames, friendly teasing, flirting, challenges... that whole “tranquilo, it’ll be fine” attitude. 😎

He throws out a “Lola,” acts like a clown, turns something into a competition... but as soon as you touch on Fehl Prime, his squad, his responsibilities, his convictions or even his respect for Shepard, you can clearly see that the guy who sometimes seems like he doesn’t take anything seriously actually takes a lot of things deeply to heart.

That’s also why I’ve never really understood when James is reduced to being a superficial character.

To me, his laid-back attitude doesn’t erase his depth. I feel like it actually hides part of it.

And it’s precisely when that side of him disappears for a few moments that you get the clearest look at what’s underneath.

Even with Shepard, he’s constantly teasing her, calling her Lola, provoking her or flirting with her... but his respect and admiration for her are no joke.

Deep down, James mostly gives me the impression of someone who acts like he takes things lightly when in reality, he takes a lot of things deeply to heart.

And if Josephine were talking about him, I can easily imagine her saying:

“And then there’s Vega, who insists on joking about everything... until it gets personal.”

I just finished the trilogy and now I feel like no other game is gonna replicate how great it was. I wish more games had lasting effects that impact the games after it. Does anyone have any recommendations for something like this?

I’m finally going to get around to buy the board game and wanted to know if it’s worth it/necessary to buy any of the additional sets of miniatures. There’s quite a few and they’re not particularly cheap, but the completionist in me feels like I should get it all.

Any input?

Since you guys liked seeing the one from Peak 15, here's another removed cutscene that can be restored using the Diversification Mod. This one is on Virmire, where you can confront the Krogan scientist working for Saren. A couple of the lines are still heard from the character as you enter the room, but the conversation as a whole was removed, and I'm not sure why.