Mass Effect - Legendary Edition (Mass Effect Trilogy Remaster) Announced

[Selastan]

Since the first time I ever played a Mass Effect game with the sequel in 2010 I've only ever played as female Shepard. I tried the male character at first but I found the voice very wooden. Femshep's VA was on another level so I stuck with that.

After finishing my playthrough of the LE with my renegade femshep last night I tried making a male Shepard for a paragon playthrough. Made a pretty decent face that I was happy with... and then he spoke. The male VA sounds so bad to me, like there's no emotional connection at all. It's like he was given random phrases with no context and told to read them neutrally. It's almost as bad as Farengar in Skyrim.

Does it get better? I'd like to switch things up by playing a male Shepard for once but I don't think I can stand that bad VA for the whole trilogy.

He does. In ME 1 it feels very robotic, and I think intentionally so. They do change it up, especially in ME3, where they actually poke fun at the old style.

[Gorsameth]

Since the first time I ever played a Mass Effect game with the sequel in 2010 I've only ever played as female Shepard. I tried the male character at first but I found the voice very wooden. Femshep's VA was on another level so I stuck with that.

After finishing my playthrough of the LE with my renegade femshep last night I tried making a male Shepard for a paragon playthrough. Made a pretty decent face that I was happy with... and then he spoke. The male VA sounds so bad to me, like there's no emotional connection at all. It's like he was given random phrases with no context and told to read them neutrally. It's almost as bad as Farengar in Skyrim.

Does it get better? I'd like to switch things up by playing a male Shepard for once but I don't think I can stand that bad VA for the whole trilogy.

since you have played the game before, why not spend a bit of time on youtube listening to maleshep to find out if you like the voice?

voices are a very personal thing so hard for others to tell you if you will like the voice.

[DarkAmbient]

I gave it a try but I can't do it. I feel completely disconnected from the male Shepard, it's weird. I think it's ingrained in me now that Shepard is female and that's it. I'll just need to make very different looking femsheps.

[zealo]

He does. In ME 1 it feels very robotic, and I think intentionally so. They do change it up, especially in ME3, where they actually poke fun at the old style.

the same guy doing male shepard also did ones such as the vorcha characters, he isn’t a subpar actor so much as the voice direction being crap early on.

[Saltysquidoon]

Femshep was basically memed into semicanonicity because male shepherd's voice was so abysmal.

[Lahis]

I gave it a try but I can't do it. I feel completely disconnected from the male Shepard, it's weird. I think it's ingrained in me now that Shepard is female and that's it. I'll just need to make very different looking femsheps.

The only god reason to play male shep is to do Tali romance anyways.

[Jastall]

Mark Meer's voice gets better in ME2 and much better in its DLCs and ME3 to the point he starts rivaling Jennifer Hale IMO. But yeah in ME1 he's not great. Same with Liara, Tali and Garrus IMO, none of their VAs and, it must be said, characters really come unto their own until the sequel. Just one reason ME2 is the superior game for me.

Biggest Va prowess in the series, however, is the guy who replaced Mordin's actor in ME3. The transition is downright seamless unless you pay very, very close attention.

[DarkAmbient]

The only god reason to play male shep is to do Tali romance anyways.

lol, she died in my suicide run after becoming disloyal. I find her annoying anyway.

I'd forgotten how bad the mission log is in ME3. A total clusterfuck often with virtually non-existent signposting. You're wondering why you can't find the mission system anywhere so you search it on Google and find out that you can't go there until another mission has been completed, and the game gives you absolutely no indication of this.

On a positive note, I'd also forgotten how good the sound design is in these games. The sound design for the reapers in particular is some of the best I've ever heard in gaming. If you listen on good speakers or headphones their sound is absolutely earth-shaking and terrifying: https://voca.ro/14JBbYlJiVkr Shame about Harbinger's voice in ME2 though, not as good as Sovereign in ME1 or the Rannoch reaper.

[Gorsameth]

lol, she died in my suicide run after becoming disloyal. I find her annoying anyway.

I'd forgotten how bad the mission log is in ME3. A total clusterfuck often with virtually non-existent signposting. You're wondering why you can't find the mission system anywhere so you search it on Google and find out that you can't go there until another mission has been completed, and the game gives you absolutely no indication of this.

On a positive note, I'd also forgotten how good the sound design is in these games. The sound design for the reapers in particular is some of the best I've ever heard in gaming. If you listen on good speakers or headphones their sound is absolutely earth-shaking and terrifying: https://voca.ro/14JBbYlJiVkr Shame about Harbinger's voice in ME2 though, not as good as Sovereign in ME1 or the Rannoch reaper.

Sovereign is just unrivalled. The Virmire conversation, #chefs kiss.

[Lahis]

Sovereign is just unrivalled. The Virmire conversation, #chefs kiss.

It feels like my whole apartment is shaking with moderate bass from cheap speakers.

[DarkAmbient]

Yeah that's fucking amazing. Cold, pitiless, alien. Can't remember where I read this but apparently an early idea being floated for the Mass Effect story was that the reapers' motivation for harvesting organics was that if left unchecked they would always end up meddling with dark matter, and doing that would somehow bring about the eventual end of the universe and with it the end of the 'eternal' reapers. Wish they'd stuck with that tbh.

[Gorsameth]

It feels like my whole apartment is shaking with moderate bass from cheap speakers.

God Ashley sounds so bad.
Thank god you can kill her.

[Selastan]

Yeah that's fucking amazing. Cold, pitiless, alien. Can't remember where I read this but apparently an early idea being floated for the Mass Effect story was that the reapers' motivation for harvesting organics was that if left unchecked they would always end up meddling with dark matter, and doing that would somehow bring about the eventual end of the universe and with it the end of the 'eternal' reapers. Wish they'd stuck with that tbh.

That's shockingly similar to the plot of Gurren Lagann. Now I imagine Mass Effect 3 ending with the Normandy transformed into a giant mech fusing with the Citadel and forming an even BIGGER mech and throwing giant drills at Harbinger while EDI says 'probe away'.

[Jastall]

Yeah that's fucking amazing. Cold, pitiless, alien. Can't remember where I read this but apparently an early idea being floated for the Mass Effect story was that the reapers' motivation for harvesting organics was that if left unchecked they would always end up meddling with dark matter, and doing that would somehow bring about the eventual end of the universe and with it the end of the 'eternal' reapers. Wish they'd stuck with that tbh.

It was the planned ending while ME2 was developed; use of Mass Effect creates dark energy as a byproduct, eventually leading to every star in the galaxy being destroyed or something along those lines. That's why dark energy is mentioned by several NPCs in ME2, including Tali and Gianna Parasini. But they dropped it in favor of the thematic and narrative trainwreck that was the Catalyst.

[Corvus]

Wasn't there a leak at some point about the dark matter plot before me3 came out, so they decided to rewrite me3? Not to mention a change in who was running the show.

[Selastan]

It was the planned ending while ME2 was developed; use of Mass Effect creates dark energy as a byproduct, eventually leading to every star in the galaxy being destroyed or something along those lines. That's why dark energy is mentioned by several NPCs in ME2, including Tali and Gianna Parasini. But they dropped it in favor of the thematic and narrative trainwreck that was the Catalyst.

I think that was a leftover of an intended ME 4. There IS one lingering plot thread. (Leviathan Spoilers)

What is the Intelligence? Leviathan mentions that they created the Intelligence, and the Intelligence destroyed them and created Harbinger from their race. What happened to this Intelligence? It was powerful enough to harvest Leviathan like Reapers harvest other races. I think Catalyst and maybe the Crucible as a whole, and the entire ME 3 ending, was supposed to tie into this Intelligence as a sort of true villain. The Crucible is the Intelligence, and is testing Shepard. The reason why the Reapers always destroy the Crucible every cycle but never eradicate the plans is because the Intelligence commands them, waiting for the race to actually finish the thing. But I can theorize all day.

TL;DR, Catalyst is the Intelligence that Leviathan built, who in turn made the Reapers.

Edit: Should note this is sort of explained, but HOW the Intelligence managed to defeat the Leviathan and create the Reapers never is. It made pawns, but mortal pawns aren't enough to defeat Leviathans, and what happened to them afterward? Wouldn't they still be around, doing it's bidding like the Collectors? Dammit, I just can't stop thinking about this. Did Bioware pull a FromSoftware and just...leave out information to get people speculating?

[Gorsameth]

I think that was a leftover of an intended ME 4. There IS one lingering plot thread. (Leviathan Spoilers)

What is the Intelligence? Leviathan mentions that they created the Intelligence, and the Intelligence destroyed them and created Harbinger from their race. What happened to this Intelligence? It was powerful enough to harvest Leviathan like Reapers harvest other races. I think Catalyst and maybe the Crucible as a whole, and the entire ME 3 ending, was supposed to tie into this Intelligence as a sort of true villain. The Crucible is the Intelligence, and is testing Shepard. The reason why the Reapers always destroy the Crucible every cycle but never eradicate the plans is because the Intelligence commands them, waiting for the race to actually finish the thing. But I can theorize all day.

TL;DR, Catalyst is the Intelligence that Leviathan built, who in turn made the Reapers.

Edit: Should note this is sort of explained, but HOW the Intelligence managed to defeat the Leviathan and create the Reapers never is. It made pawns, but mortal pawns aren't enough to defeat Leviathans, and what happened to them afterward? Wouldn't they still be around, doing it's bidding like the Collectors? Dammit, I just can't stop thinking about this. Did Bioware pull a FromSoftware and just...leave out information to get people speculating?

Isn't that the Star Child?

[Selastan]

Isn't that the Star Child?

Yes. I really feel like the Star Child/Catalyst was supposed to be a representative of the next story arc that, for some reason or another, never came to pass. The Intelligence's command is only satisfied in one potential ending, which means that in anything other than Synthesis it's gonna likely start fucking up the galaxy again to fill it's directive. Likely intended to be a plot thread for Mass Effect 4, that never happened. After all, we only talk to the Intelligence through this projection. We never see what powers it, where it's physical location is, what forces it commanded to harvest the Leviathans, anything.

[Darsithis]

Man, the bugs are worse in 2. I am frustrated with this.

I had to restart Tali's loyalty mission twice because the initial trial kept skipping and putting me on the Alerai early.

Now I am on the Suicide Mission. This is not my first run-through, so everyone is loyal, and I've completed all assignments (except for Arrival) prior to setting off for the base. I made sure to have everyone loyal prior to activating Legion, then I did Legion's loyalty by hugging the elevator so I wouldn't trigger the Collector attack. So none of my crew could have died. All upgrades have been researched.

I put Tali on the specialist job (the tube), Miranda as my fire team leader, and took Grunt and Samara with me in my team (I'm an engineer, so it's a perfect mix of soldier, biotic, and tech). Everyone was alive. I got to the next part, again, everyone is alive. Jack was my biotic specialist. Finally, onto the final fight! Mordin escorted the crew home, Miranda was second team leader.

I chose to keep the base. Somehow that caused Tali to just die. She just died in the middle of the fight, with everyone referencing sacrifices, Joker saying "all survivors" are on board. Sure enough, Shepard is grieving over a coffin and Tali is nowhere to be seen.

What the hell. Now I have to start the mission on Insanity all over again, and it was a hell of a number of hours to get through already.

[Lahis]

Man, the bugs are worse in 2. I am frustrated with this.

I had to restart Tali's loyalty mission twice because the initial trial kept skipping and putting me on the Alerai early.

Now I am on the Suicide Mission. This is not my first run-through, so everyone is loyal, and I've completed all assignments (except for Arrival) prior to setting off for the base. I made sure to have everyone loyal prior to activating Legion, then I did Legion's loyalty by hugging the elevator so I wouldn't trigger the Collector attack. So none of my crew could have died. All upgrades have been researched.

I put Tali on the specialist job (the tube), Miranda as my fire team leader, and took Grunt and Samara with me in my team (I'm an engineer, so it's a perfect mix of soldier, biotic, and tech). Everyone was alive. I got to the next part, again, everyone is alive. Jack was my biotic specialist. Finally, onto the final fight! Mordin escorted the crew home, Miranda was second team leader.

I chose to keep the base. Somehow that caused Tali to just die. She just died in the middle of the fight, with everyone referencing sacrifices, Joker saying "all survivors" are on board. Sure enough, Shepard is grieving over a coffin and Tali is nowhere to be seen.

What the hell. Now I have to start the mission on Insanity all over again, and it was a hell of a number of hours to get through already.

What was your squad for the Human Reaper fight?