Mass Effect for PC?

[Domi]

Folks, anyone had experience with downloading Mass Effect Trilogy for the PC? Does it have any problems, like doesn't run on W7 or you can't play it more than once or whatever? Thank you for sharing your experiences in advance!

 

https://www.origin.c...-1-2-3-ANW.html

 

And, duh, did you like it? I can't for the life of mine remember what the community thought when it came out all these years ago when I missed it?

[Jarno Mikkola]

Well, I liked all the games very much... I still have them installed and made even my own little adaptation of mods for the ME2... but I never published it. You got to notice that the trilogy pack only contains the ME1's DLCs, so the package you have there is actually just ... well 8/10 of the full game at most.

Story-vise, the games are really the best Action RPG there is. The battle mechanics... well the last game is the most honed, so it clearly most up to date, so if you ever liked the Gears of War, you are going to like that game... if you liked Halo, the first game is more to your liking.

And I advice you to really start at the first game...

 

And yes, the game should work just perfect with today's game rigs and OS'es. I have Windows 7(ME1 & ME2 & ME3) and Windows 8 computers(ME3 used for Multiplayer).

[Domi]

I didn't play either Halo or GoW. Thank you! I am reading reviews now and they make it sound like a really great experience. Tempting!

[Twani]

For Mass Effect, if you get it, you'll really want to get Lair of the Shadowbroker DLC for ME2, and the Citadel DLC for ME3 (oh, and the Expended Ending for ME3- but that one's free) (I also love Javik, but I wouldn't say he's absolutely necessary the same way Citadel feels like). Personally, I recommend all the DLCs, but those are the two 'best' by story content and roleplaying. (Well, if you find you hate Liara, you may be able to skip Lair of the Shadowbroker, but I still think it moves the plot along quite a bit even though I don't consider her the most interesting character.)

 

I really enjoyed the ME series, though I have to admit after beating it once on Insanity, I now turn it down to the very easiest settings and just play it as an RPG with some random shooting elements and use it as a sort of relaxation game (on the easiest difficulty, very few- if any- battles should give you much trouble; your NPCs should be able to take care of the threat alone save for in weird circumstances (big bosses, basically)).

 

Mass Effect 3 got some major internet backdrift by people who hated the ending. I have to admit I'm not in the crowd that was particularly fond of it, though I think the Expended Ending DLC did a lot to help it. Just be aware that the ending to ME3 probably isn't as satisfying as the ending to ME1/2, and you'll probably be okay with it. It's not as mind droppingly horrible as some people on the internet swear it is, I think, just not as good as perhaps the best of the game. (There are some people on the internet that feel ME3 ending was so horrible it effectively ruined the whole ME series and now no one should ever play ME1, 2, or 3 again because that ending broke the world and doomed ME to being the worst game that has ever been created in the history of the universe. I think that's a slight exaggeration.)

 

...I think the ME series is geuinely fun, over all. In ME1, of your companions, only three of them have very significant interaction with you. That moves on to all of them in ME2, and by ME3 you'll go around your ship and catch scenes of your companions talking to each other, forming relationships of their own, and giving you great (if somewhat limited) interaction. I do think the storyline does improve- all three games have parts of it that are weak, but all three of them have parts that are so awesome that you can almost forgive the weakness if you can get through it.

[theacefes]

I have the hard copy of the trilogy and on a technical level it installs and runs fine. The only game I've ever had issues with is Mass Effect 1 - but that has nothing to do with the trilogy pack - the game is just old so sometimes there are issues (occasionally it would crash to desktop but that only happened a couple times and I think it had to do with my graphics card).

 

In terms of quality - each one had elements that made it shine and also had elements that made me roll my eyes. I think if you like the KOTOR/JE style of storytelling, you'll like Mass Effect.

 

Don't let the third person shooter aspect throw you off - the trilogy is very much a story driven game with combat elements - not the other way around as is with most other games developed on that engine (Unreal).

 

Hands down, it's my favorite game setting and series of games (sorry, BG) to date.

[igi]

I've not had a huge amount of free time this year, but what I have had I've poured into my gaming back-catalog (in theory so I could play/mod BGEE(2) without feeling guilty). As a result I've completed almost 40 games (alas, my gaming backlog is still daunting!) including Mass Effect 1. I'd certainly place ME1 in the top 5 of those games. It's a little slow to start, and the mechanics can be a little clunky at times, but it's fun, engrossing and entertaining. Also it made me feel bad-ass which is really quite rare.

 

I have the hard-copy and digital versions of ME1 - both installed fine, and I didn't run into any significant technical problems.

 

 

If you're interested, the other standout games from this years completion slog are 'To the Moon', the 'Backwell Bundle', and Loom (yes, it took me 23 years to get around to playing it).

[Domi]

We checked our system requirements, and it looks like I can run it. Igi, my backlog is not as impressive as yours, but I just broke a toe and finally restarted the KOTOR 2 from the save that happened right after character creation - in Feb 2010 (yakes)... I think I can make it this time... at least to Chapter 2... heh. I am reading raving reviews for ME, and trilogy looks like a heck of a deal. It's been a long time for me

[Jarno Mikkola]

but I just broke a toe and finally restarted the KOTOR 2 from the save that happened right after character creation - in Feb 2010 (yakes)... I think I can make it this time... at least to Chapter 2... heh. I am reading raving reviews for ME, and trilogy looks like a heck of a deal. It's been a long time for me

A little friendly advice, stop what you are doing, go here and download that and install it in and restart the game, you'll definitely be happier at the end.. I bet. And there's add on planet for it too, if you imagine that you can get through that too.

 

Yes, the KotOR II is a good game, the ending just sucks the life out of it... and the reason was that Lucas Art made ObsidianE release the game when it was clearly not finished ... in it's greed for the Christmas market. The linked mod will help with that. Yes, exactly as happened with the Mass Effect 3 when it came out without its ending. The good thing was, the ME3 got the "free" DLC to patch for that. And yes, I agree that without the DLC, the ending was very bad... but the people needed their time, so it should not be viewed as a bad thing.

[BigRob]

Agreed, make sure you get the free DLC to alter the ME3 ending, without it, the game ends in one of the most out of nowhere chunks of extreme stupidity I've ever seen in a game's ending. The patch puts it back to about what I was expecting.

 

Otherwise though, they are really good games with good characters, fun options, good callbacks to the choices you make in character creation and some good roleplaying. Interesting especially in that the moral choice system isn't a good-evil axis and you can be full on down the Red side of the spectrum and still legitimately be a great hero of the galaxy.

[cmorgan]

ME is great, and ME2 is just as strong, and ME3 is darned fun. On the negative side, ME3 is evil - it introduced me to multiplayer 1st person shooters. Me trying to keep up with the bigg while plastering the walls with Reaper guts... way fun. The evil part is it got me out of the single-player box, and that means less modding time and an expanded gaming backlog.

[theacefes]

I'd also recommend the Happy Ending Mod once you've played through the vanilla ending for ME3.

[Kulyok]

Since you're playing KOTOR 2, make sure you check out SWTOR(it's an MMO, but story mode for single player is amazing, you don't have to play with others)!

 

I had only one 'trouble' with ME1 - the default female character was very ugly, so I closed the game and haven't played it again for over a year. Once I removed the scar, though, her textures changed somehow, and her face immediately became nicer and softer.

 

All in all, ME games are great, incredible and all-around amazing; I admit I love them more than DA games, though Dragon Age world is great, too. I definitely recommend ALL expansions, especially Prothean/Javik and Citadel for ME3 and extra NPCs for ME2(Kasumi, Zaeed) - but all of them are great, I can't imagine playing the game without them(and the best weapons are in DLCs; default ones are so-so).

 

EDIT: And it's got Garrus. GARRUS!

[Domi]

A little friendly advice, stop what you are doing, go here and download that and install it in and restart the game, you'll definitely be happier at the end.. I bet.

 

Heh, I was out of the loop for a while, but my instincts are still there - had it on! Can I download an extra planet when I am already in the game? I made it to Telos so far? I am not much of a replayer - ha-ha, I know, I know, I only re-run BG what, 20-30 times?

 

Thank you for all the stuff on the ME! Gotta find the Shepard update & the DLC after I am done with the KOTOR2, & will make sure I have the non-vanilla ending (no point of investing all those hours to have a DUH? experience)

 

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year, folks, by the way and HUGS!!!! As much as I hate being locked in a cast and having a mobility of an NPC that tries to initiate an invalid dialogue, I am sure happy to see you all!

[lynx]

I second the kotor2 recommendation, the game without it is just a bunch of question marks.

 

& wow, you woke up so many gibberlings in a single day!

[Domi]

I already have the Restored Content 1.8.2, do I need the planet add-on as well for the game to make sense, or do you refer to the RC module?

 

'Tis the season when we actually have time to come together!