The Sword and Laser discussion

I love Aethyta's conversations too. She's hilarious.

I finished the Citadel DLC yesterday and there's quite a few good ones in there. I think I missed a lot though so I'll have to play it again with my other Shep I think. I want the Garrus romance stuff now.

Did you ever try the mystery drink with Aethyta? I think I recorded that somewhere, let me see if I can dig it up...

there it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah4uRH...

I have so many video snippets of my playthroughs on that channel xD And I only started recording it because we needed a video proof of Jacob calling Garrus a cuttlebone when you break up with him for Garrus lol. Yes, I took one for the team and romanced Jacob....

Saranar wrote: "The comments made by Joker and Edi during ME2 everytime ykuaks Joker if everyrhing was ok in the cockpit. Tali stumbling over her words, and anything mordin says, especially his singing."

If you don't return the FBA couplings to Ken in Engineering until you have recruited Tali in ME2 you get this cute scene with her commenting on the poker invitation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UUT1e...

if Urz loses in the fight on Tuchanka you find him later in the medical tent. if you take Kasumi and Tali with you they both comment on it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oopPZB...

and if you take Tali with you in ME2 when going to the presidium she will comment about ME1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3_NM7...

Baelor wrote: "In addition to anything with Legion in it, [spoilers removed], second only to [spoilers removed]."

if you lurk around Legion long enough he does this xD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3yXF0...

Nice ones J4n3, I had no idea these existed! Wow!

When it slows down at work, I am gonna watch all of those.

Wilmar wrote: "Nice ones J4n3, I had no idea these existed! Wow!"

yeah i somehow ended up frapsing a lot of the crew banter when you were out on missions. today my most watched video is the one of Mordin and Kasumi on Tuchanka. The writing was simply brilliant for the squadmates.

Garrus being classy xD http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3AujW...

The same when you take Garrus with you in the quarantine zone on Omega where you get to choose who to take with you before you enter. If you choose Garrus despite his pointing out that it's not so good for Turians, you get him coughing and complaining about the heat lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNnsXY...

Wilmar wrote: "Nice ones J4n3, I had no idea these existed! Wow!"

I've played the first two games so many times, and still I found new stuff I hadn't encountered before. With Me3 I actually gave up. It simply wasn't the same.

Baelor wrote: "In addition to anything with Legion in it, [spoilers removed], second only to [spoilers removed]."

I love (view spoiler)[Sovereign's (hide spoiler)] voice. It amazing.

Trike wrote: "Saranar wrote: "I loved the Mako. I build kit models and really wanted a 1/8th scale of the Mako. :) ..."

Here's a printable paper model.

http://thunderchildftc.deviantart.com......"

That's awesome. Thanks

I'd find myself in all the games waiting by random NPC's to see if I could overhear their conversations. I really enjoy hearing the progression of their little personal dramas with each visit. I think I spend more time in trying to get the most dialogue options than in actually propelling the story through missions.

Nice videos, J4n3! I've heard that Legion does the robot but I never got him to do it.

Michelle wrote: "I'd find myself in all the games waiting by random NPC's to see if I could overhear their conversations. I really enjoy hearing the progression of their little personal dramas with each visit. I th..."


I do that too. I love listening to the Krogan and his asari wife. I love listening to the vendors on the Citadel. The conversation between the old woman and the staff in the presidium where she is waiting for a message from her son, it's heartbreaking. so many great conversations throughout the game.

The "Blue Rose of Illium" poem is so sweet and beautiful and sad. And the blonde girl waiting in the refugee docks for her parents. A turian guard/C-Sec officer keep talking to her and going along with her hopeful tone. I don't think they ever arrive.

Dara wrote: "The "Blue Rose of Illium" poem is so sweet and beautiful and sad. And the blonde girl waiting in the refugee docks for her parents. A turian guard/C-Sec officer keep talking to her and going along ..."

No they don't. :(

I am currently playing ME3 now. EDI has just taken over Dr. Eva's body. the chat now with EDI, Joker and Shepard is way better now than in ME2, I had forgotten how good it was in 3 over 2.

Wilmar wrote: "Dara wrote: "The "Blue Rose of Illium" poem is so sweet and beautiful and sad. And the blonde girl waiting in the refugee docks for her parents. A turian guard/C-Sec officer keep talking to her and..."

the chat between that asari and a doctor in the hospital where she talks of the attack on Tiptree, the colony where Joker's sister and their father live. She mentions a15 year old girl who is implied to be Joker's sister.

Saranar wrote: "I am currently playing ME3 now. EDI has just taken over Dr. Eva's body. the chat now with EDI, Joker and Shepard is way better now than in ME2, I had forgotten how good it was in 3 over 2."

I love EDI but I had a huge problem with the body they gave her, and how Shepard can encourage Joker to pursue a relationship with EDI. It felt like catering to the sexbot dreams of teenage boys, and degrading to EDI's character. I wish they had done this kind of differently.

Also, during the Citadel DLC Shepard can flirt with James who is clearly uncomfortable with it, yet you can keep pushing. Eventually both land in bed after the party where James' reaction showed that he still wasn't comfortable with it.

Yeah, that whole thing with James had sexual harassment written all over it. It was wrong on so many levels, and ultimately ridiculous to believe that it would somehow be ok because it's a choice only available to female Shepard.

EDI's body design wasn't the smartest decision. There are a few of those in the series, but EDI seems to draw the most attention.

Hesper wrote: "EDI's body design wasn't the smartest decision. There are a few of those in the series, but EDI seems to draw the most attention. "

I also disagreed with the make-over they gave Ashley. Or how they made Kelly look entirely different. I disliked the fact that they made Femshep walk/sit/move the same way as Dudeshep which simply seemed weird.

They surely did a lot of things right with those games but man, did they also do a lot of things wrong.

I like EDI having a body and learning what it is to be a person but I don't care for the sexbot way they did it. The story could have been much deeper and it kind of stayed on the surface with Joker's "I could break a bone with some light over-the-clothes touching" and whatnot.

especially since Joker didn't seem to be comfortable either.

The whole thing was odd. The conversations with EDI about what life means and survival and that kind of thing needed more dialogue tree options. I loved in 2 talking with Mordin extensively about the genophage. I wish we got the same treatment with EDI.

Yeah, ME3 is broken on so many fundamental levels. People dismiss my dislike of it because they assume it's entirely because of the ending. It's not. The ending was just the rotten cherry atop the vile sundae that is the rest of the game.

I did like the mission where you go inside the virtual space of the Geth AI and I thoroughly enjoy the multiplayer. Other than that, though, it's a whole lotta fail.

Trike wrote: "Yeah, ME3 is broken on so many fundamental levels. People dismiss my dislike of it because they assume it's entirely because of the ending. It's not. The ending was just the rotten cherry atop the vile sundae that is the rest of the game.

I did like the mission where you go inside the virtual space of the Geth AI and I thoroughly enjoy the multiplayer. Other than that, though, it's a whole lotta fail. "

my dislike is very often dismissed too, especially by people who have the nerve to tell me that I have no idea what I'm talking about. Sure, after 20+ something playthroughs of the first two games I am totally clueless lol. Anyway, it did have amazing moments. So many things were done in a wonderful way whereas others were totally screwed up.

I hated that they turned the soldier Ashley into some over-the-top-style pretty girl. The Ashley in ME3 is not the Ashley I have come to love in the first game.

I hated that they had Jacob - as cheesy and bad as his romance in ME2 was - tell you he loves you in ME2 and only 6 months later he's got another chick knocked up and tells you it's over. I hated that Thane-mancers got the same treatment as those who hadn't romanced him.

I hated that Jack or Miranda were only there in side quests. Sure, I can understand them being busy doing other things, especially Jack working with the biotic children was a great development for her. Still, the romance fell rather flat. Same for Miranda.

Yes, they did include homosexual romances as well but those were full of clichees and stereotypes. We finally get female Turians but they missed those famous fringes that Garrus talked about in ME2. I could ramble on but what's the point? They messed up something great. I do accept people liking this game. I do accept that some people think it was the greatest. For me though it was a major let down and a huge disappointment. No Citadel DLC can fix that.

I liked the geth consensus mission too, Trike. It was a nice change of pace and it reminded me of Tron.

I haven't played the multiplayer. It may sound lame, but I'm kind of afraid of online stuff because I'm a girl and don't want to subject myself to misogynistic and violent comments. I don't know how prevalent that is on PS3 versus PC or Xbox though.

The thing that disappoints me about Miranda is that she could have been a huge part of the Cerberus and Kai Leng plot.

Dara wrote: "I liked the geth consensus mission too, Trike. It was a nice change of pace and it reminded me of Tron.

I haven't played the multiplayer. It may sound lame, but I'm kind of afraid of online stuff ..."

Dara, I actually recently read an article about "bromancers" insulting women online. So yeah, I'd steer clear from it for now. It's a damn shame, but it's definitely a problem.

It sucks because its kind of a huge part of the game that I can't play because I'm not willing to subject myself to that kind of treatment when I'm just trying to have fun.

Dara wrote: "It sucks because its kind of a huge part of the game that I can't play because I'm not willing to subject myself to that kind of treatment when I'm just trying to have fun."

The only instance that the article mentioned was on the Xbox 360. The player was playing on his wife's account to get her some unlocks and because of her gamertag they started picking on her.

If you have a rather gender neutral gamertag you can just play without having to talk to people. But if they can assume you're a girl, then yeah... I'd hold off.

Mine is pretty neutral I think. I don't have a headset or anything anyway so I couldn't talk to anyone. I'll stick with the combat simulator for now. That's fun.

Dara, no one is going to know you're male or female. There is a voice chat option, but without a headset, it makes no difference. I play on PC and have never encountered anything terrible in ME multiplayer. It ended up being a surprising amount of fun.

J4n3 wrote: "We finally get female Turians but they missed those famous fringes that Garrus talked about in ME2."

You have no idea how much that one little thing bothered me. There's everything else that you and Trike already mentioned, but that one thing was the weird drop that spilled the glass of rage.

Jacob hooking up with somebody else, though, seems like a reasonable decision. The guy is all about family, and he's more or less correct in his assessment of what a relationship with Shepard would be like.

What they did to Ashley, though.... Not that sexbot EDI doesn't pose issues, but Ashely's "makeover" was inane. In the game world, you'd have to assume that her new look is the result of her own decisions, whereas EDI's body was not constructed according to her specifications. I can't see the Ashley of 1&2 choosing the look she was given for 3.

They did a similar thing to Kaidan, though his was mostly centered on slight, and irritating, personality shifts. In 1, if Shepard tries too hard to help him work through his issues, he says something like, "I'm 33, I've learned to handle my own problems." By 3, he doesn't make that many decisions without consulting Shepard first. It was disappointing.

I don't hate 3, and only in the context of the series as a whole I even love it, albeit with some huge reservations, but they screwed up some significant things.

Hesper wrote: "Dara, no one is going to know you're male or female. There is a voice chat option, but without a headset, it makes no difference. I play on PC and have never encountered anything terrible in ME multiplayer. It ended up being a surprising amount of fun. "

That's good to know. I'm on vacation next week. Maybe I'll give it a whirl.

Try it, at least. Start out on Bronze, though, regardless of the difficulty you play the regular game on. Multiplayer moves quickly, and it can take a little bit of time to get adjusted.

Yeah, I'll start low. I'm pretty awesome on my own but I think I might get shown up by other people, haha.

So does anyone know if Mass Effect: Deception was ever re-printed with the errors dealt with.

Start on bronze. Get the basic packs until you level up all the basic weapons to level 10, then move on to Silver. Try unlocking a character (e.g. Asari Adept) that requires no weapons to do well.

Dara wrote: "The thing that disappoints me about Miranda is that she could have been a huge part of the Cerberus and Kai Leng plot."

Kai Leng was the poopiest character in the entire series. Why did he even exist?



Also, if we are nitpicking continuity issues, was no one else bothered by the fact that the end boss of ME2 was a human-Reaper hybrid and then in ME3 ALL THE REAPERS LOOK THE SAME?

Kai Leng is an import from the later novels. I haven't read them, so I have no idea if he serves more of a purpose there.

Kai Leng was definitely the weakest part of ME3 for me. I think what probably was my biggest criticism of ME3 is how they just threw new characters at you without introducing him.

Vega, they made it seem like Shepard had known him for like ages. And I'm like, "HOLE* UP! I've been here since Mass Effect Uno, Dos, y Tres! WHERE THE F*** WERE YOU PAL? I didn't see you going on a suicide mission with me against the collectors!"

And then Anderson is like "OH YEAH! KAI LENG! I forgot about that bitch! Yeah you better watch out."

I think they intended for everyone to have read the books, but I was not happy with how they introduced the new characters at all.

The joys of transmedia storytelling.

Saranar wrote: "So does anyone know if Mass Effect: Deception was ever re-printed with the errors dealt with."

I wonder about that. I never read it because of all of the issues but the other books were good. I enjoyed the hell out of them.

Baelor wrote: "Also, if we are nitpicking continuity issues, was no one else bothered by the fact that the end boss of ME2 was a human-Reaper hybrid and then in ME3 ALL THE REAPERS LOOK THE SAME?"

From the wiki page: "The core of any Reaper is constructed in the image of the species that was harvested to create it, while the exterior follows a standardized design that is most efficient for their purpose."

I actually did like Kai Leng in the last novel a lot. I enjoyed all three novels and liked that we got to see him. Still, he came out of nowhere for some and that wasn't really that great. Also fighting him sucked.

As for the multiplayer: it all depends on what people you meet online. We had a similar discussion in the "Are we as readers sexist" thread where some of us are familiar with online gaming, I myself play a lot online. It used to be Left 4 Dead and now it's been Star wars: the old republic for almost 2 years now. It all depends on the people. You can get assholes, and you can get really awesome people. The good thing is that the gamers nowadays are older too. It's not just young boys playing but a lot of people my age and older. That is a huge factor. Not that age alone matters but with regards to certain online behaviour and maturity it certainly does play a big role.

I say, just try it. Ignore the idiots and enjoy the nice people you get to meet :)

Dara wrote: "Saranar wrote: "So does anyone know if Mass Effect: Deception was ever re-printed with the errors dealt with."

I wonder about that. I never read it because of all of the issues but the other books..."

I have not read the novels or played with the EC, but it would have been nice to know about the Reaper shells in the main game. It seems like a retconn to me.

J4n3 wrote: "Baelor wrote: "In addition to anything with Legion in it, [spoilers removed], second only to [spoilers removed]."

if you lurk around Legion long enough he does this xD

http://www.youtube.com/wat..."


lol! I had no idea! Must replay ME3 now just for this!

Dara wrote: " haven't played the multiplayer. It may sound lame, but I'm kind of afraid of online stuff because I'm a girl and don't want to subject myself to misogynistic and violent comments. I don't know how prevalent that is on PS3 versus PC or Xbox though. "

Honestly, I thought I was one of the only girls out there who avoid online gaming bc of the very same reasons. Sometimes I wonder if that makes me a coward, but then I read articles like this:

http://www.dailydot.com/entertainment...

and I'm like: Nope, you are being totally reasonable..I'm not going to put myself in a position where I feel uncomfortable.

People can be really nasty online, so the only time I will play is when everything is totally gender neutral and anonymous--games like Journey--or games where people I know will play with me so that I'm not alone.

Teena, I'm glad I'm not the only one wary of it. I've read too many stories of girls being harrassed online while gaming. I like to think ME fans are better than that but who knows.

Speaking of Journey, I finally played it a bit ago and wow! What an experience.

I've been playing online a long time and the closest I've come to harassment (not that it was) was a random guy offering to explain leveling up when I played DDO, because clearly the female brain cannot comprehend numbers, but that was more of a hilaribad thing.

I'm not saying the nastiness isn't there, because it definitely is, but it depends a lot on the community, and to an extent, the platform. From my experience with ME multiplayer on PC, it's been pretty easygoing and low key. I've been more annoyed with the EA servers than any of the people I've played with. Although some of the BSN trolling might say otherwise at times, I've noticed that BioWare gamers tend to be a civil lot overall.

LoL, otoh, was a different matter. It's gotten better than it was at first, but it's a slow battle against a tide of asinine behavior. I eventually stopped playing that regularly.

Going back to the fun lines discussion, there's "Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son of a bitch in space." It starts at 00:20.

Tee-hee.

Dara--OMG, I love Journey! I keep trying to get my friends to play it, but they just aren't interested. Lame (although that might have more to do with my poor marketing skills) :/

Hesper--Yeah, I definitely agree with you. I'm a pretty casual online gamer, but I've noticed that the community and platform have a whole lot to do with it. LoL is actually the reason I'm so careful when playing online now and I refuse to play it alone. Maybe I'll give ME multiplayer a go bc I've been super curious to see what I'm missing out on. I play on the ps3, so I'm hoping that most of the a-holes stay away from that platform. Great video post btw! That hella takes me back to my ME playthrough--I still can't believe that I stood around listening to that whole speech (and eavesdropping on many of the other NPC convos previously mentioned). I couldn't help myself bc the dialogue was just so great!