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Mass Effect Legendary Edition (brief series review/reflective?)

I've been a Mass Effect fan since 2007 (I feel old now, I was 15 then 😐) when I got the first game for Christmas. I loved it and pre-ordered both 2 & 3  as soon as I could. I've played through the trilogy at least 6 times, once on Insanity in the lead up to Andromeda, and played ME 1 & 2 a couple of times on their own. Since I've been playing through the Legendary Edition, I thought it'd be fun to make little reflective/review of my favorite game series 😄

Mass Effect 1 & 2
ME 1 was a great time and is probably my overall favorite of the trilogy. I think it's the "strongest" entry when viewed as a complete package. It has a strong story, good characters, and decent gameplay; both ME 2 & 3 are lacking in at least one of these areas. It took me a couple of weeks to get through ME 1 on Insanity, which actually wasn't all that hard (only in a couple of places) but it was still very engaging and fun. However, Mass Effect 2 was brutal and possibly one of the most difficult playthrough's I've ever done...but it was great! 

It took me well over a month to complete ME 2 ( I always 100% Bioware games ) and the game was punishing and unforgiving. I almost broke my controller more than once and yelling/cursing at the screen became a common occurrence 😅 When I made it through the Suicide Mission and was able to return with the whole team still alive I felt accomplished lol. That being said, there were some issues I had with the gameplay and story in ME 2 

For starters, the removal of weapon and armor mods was a bad decision; it makes things feel too streamlined and oversimplified. Second, the main story for ME 2 (the Collectors) was incredibly weak and had almost has no connection to either ME 1 or ME 3. It just doesn't have any impact on the overall trilogy and might as well have been a standalone game. Where ME 2 shined above the others was with the characters, world building, and the smaller/personal stories told through loyalty missions & "side missions" (it's in quotes because they make up like 90% of the game).     
 
Mass Effect 3
Now I'm relatively early on in 3 and it's nowhere near as punishing as 2, but there have been a couple of places where I got incredibly frustrated...but it's not the same reasons. In ME 2 when I died it was because I'd made a mistake...but in 3 it's usually because the game "cheats" and isn't fair. I think ME 3's difficulty is "cheap" or "lazy". It might just be me, but in ME 2 it seemed like the AI  actually used tactics and would flank you or try to draw you out while it stayed in cover. In ME 3, the enemies have more health, are bullet sponges, and just spam you with grenades while charging at you. ME 3 also feels very shallow compared to the previous 2. The mission journal is awful and the "asset" gathering is boring and lazy. You also can't talk to your squad unless it's in special cutscenes. I won't get into the writing issues ME 3 had, but there's more than a few things I would change were I writing it. I think most of them stem from Bioware choosing to ditch the original story and ending (for both ME 3 and the trilogy as a whole) and create an entirely new storyline at the last minute. Added all together, ME 3 feels more rushed, even more streamlined, and of lower quality than 1 & 2.

All that being said, ME 3 does have a stronger main story than ME 2 and it actually connects to ME 1; which weirdly makes it feel more like a direct sequel to ME 1 (like I said, ME 2 felt very standalone). There are also moments in ME 3 that are truly great and surpass stuff in both ME 1 & 2 (Tuchanka and Rannoch). Plus, the music for ME 3 is great (some of the best of the series) and used more effectively. I also like that weapon mods were brought back. I won't comment on the ending(s) yet since I haven't gotten there to re-evaluate them. 



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Richie|27|Sagittarius|I'mIntoDudes

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I'm currently on a playthrough myself, on mass effect 3 now but had to restart 3 times because I keep messing up my romance with Ashley.... Note to self, don't romance Miranda in mass effect 2 it makes things incredibly tricky in the 3rd game if you wanna avoid killing her


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