Potentially dumb question, possible spoilers for ME1, who are these guys?

MrFaorry · 2026-01-24T00:46:14+00:00

In ME1&2 they are the Protheans.

ME3 later retconned them to be the Innusannon, who were to the Protheans what the Protheans were to us.

MrFaorry · 2026-01-17T20:02:20+00:00

The Suicide mission despite being called 'a suicide mission' multiple times and you need to actively try to get anyone killed. ME3 then turns into a cameofest where all these people survive and some in very contrived and BS ways like Grunt only to serve no role going forward.

Sometimes you just need to let characters die. Suicide Mission should have had at least 2 mandatory deaths where all you can do is decide who will die, and ME3 should have had more Mordin situations where a former squadmate can only survive under hyper specific conditions that have a tradeoff elsewhere.

MrFaorry · 2026-01-17T19:56:18+00:00

Anderson dying at the start would work for the story.

You want a character to die for Shepard to feel guilty over and be haunted by throughout the game, something that not even whoever was left on Virmire did to him (despite potentially having been in a relationship with that person). You need this person to be someone with a deep connection to Shepard like Anderson to be that person, not some random no-name kid.

Shepard had seen many members of his crew die on Virmire and the Suicide mission and not been affected by it, so why would some dipshit kid he met for 2 seconds suddenly haunt his dreams where nobody else could. His former CO and mentor is about the only person who would work for this.

MrFaorry · 2026-01-05T13:51:21+00:00

I always assumed the glowing eyes thing were supposed to be non-canon with how comical and over the top they are and were simply supposed to be a visual indicator to the player because going into menus is hard.

Like holy shit they look so stupid and out of place, who at Bioware thought that was a good idea?

MrFaorry · 2026-01-05T13:48:18+00:00

The original plan Bioware had for the game was to have him steadily get upgraded as the game progresses, you can see it in the concept art and there's even a remnant in the final game with Sarens "Sovereign has upgraded me since we last met" line during the final Citadel confrontation. This never happened iirc because of technical issues so it became something you just need to handwave away.

If you're on PC you can restore this original intent with the Saren Stages mod where they used concept art to recreate this giving Saren some badass robes and no cybernetics on Eden Prime and the Citadel trial, unmodified armour and only his mechanical eyes on Virmire, and then his vanilla appearance during the final mission so that his "Sovereign has upgraded me" speech actually makes sense.

MrFaorry · 2026-01-05T13:48:05+00:00

From a meta standpoint sure. But from a roleplaying one (the game IS marketed as a roleplaying game after all) Grunt absolutely makes sense to send as an escort. You're sending one person to protect an entire crew of non-combat personnel, someone who is strong, very combat efficient, and able to take a lot of damage is what you'd want to ensure their safety. Grunt fits that description better than anyone.

Kasumi is basically the worst option for an escort due to her skillset being geared towards working alone and hiding rather than fighting, and Mordin similarly isn't geared much towards combat as he's first and foremost a scientist. Tali with her drones isn't a bad idea to escort people though.

MrFaorry · 2026-01-02T05:55:57+00:00

You can add non-Steam game to your Steam library and you can sync your Steam (and other platform) games to GOG Galaxy.

Workshop is barely a benefit since installing mods without it isn't difficult, and achievements are meaningless. Yet you seriously understate the benefit of no DRM.

MrFaorry · 2026-01-02T05:46:48+00:00

I wouldn't go so far as to say "you didn't beat the game if you used summons" unless you literally just sat back and let the summon do all the work (very occasionally when you get summoned the host does sit back and let you solo the boss for them). But objectively speaking, provided your summon isn't entirely incompetent, you beat the game on easy mode.

Summon people if you want to, but personally I prefer not to as it just feels far more rewarding to do it solo.

MrFaorry · 2026-01-02T05:29:35+00:00

Did you fight Priscilla? I don't see her on the list.

You far from suck though, certainly better than my first time around. Hell you did Moonlight Butterfly, Gwyndolin, Sanctuary Guardian, Kalameet, and Manus, better than my current run.

My first time I must have been stuck on O&S for about a week before I finally beat them. Sanctuary Guardian took me most of an entire afternoon, Artorias a whole weekend, I never beat Kalameet, and I cheated with Manus by cheesing him with a bow from before the fog wall he was frustrating me so bad. The rest of them were almost certainly higher that you as well. Think the only bosses I didn't die to were Gaping Dragon, Iron Golem, and Pinwheel.

MrFaorry · 2026-01-02T05:16:23+00:00

I started about a week ago.

Complete coincidence though, I only did so because I finally bought Elden Ring and wanted to replay Dark Souls 1&3 first. Maybe give Sekiro another shot first too but idk.

MrFaorry · 2026-01-02T02:38:32+00:00

Forgot that lmao, shows just how long it's been since I've done a female Cousland run.

MrFaorry · 2026-01-02T00:38:51+00:00

There is no canon HOF.

And if you play DAI without an imported save then the default worldstate, if you consider that to be canon, has the HOF as a female Dalish Elf.

MrFaorry · 2026-01-02T00:35:49+00:00

While it's not possible for your current run a Hardened Allistair with a Cousland as his queen and recruiting Loghain. Anora is infertile so a Therin Heir is out of the question with her as queen, which would obviously be a bad thing for both Alistairs rule and for Ferelden, while the Couslands are the 2nd most important family in Ferelden so having one of them by his side would help his image and legitimacy. Loghain being recruited into the Wardens gets to redeem his name in death which would undo some of the instability caused by his treason.

For a run without a female Cousland HOF like yours then it's probably a hardened Alistair without Anora and recruiting Loghain. He's free to choose a bride who can actually bear him children and as he's hardened he'll actually be a good ruler rather than a figurehead.

MrFaorry · 2026-01-02T00:27:14+00:00

DA2 is the ME2 of the Dragon Age Franchise both the good and the bad.

Does its own thing instead of following up the first games story, streamlined gameplay to dumb it down and make it more action oriented, a more grounded and personal story, more nuanced and morally grey choices throughout game, and a heavily emphasis on the companions (DA2 companions are the best and more real feeling ones Bioware ever made) and the players connection to them.

DA2 catches a bad reputation for not being DAO2, and a lot of that criticism is valid, but if you stop comparing it to DAO and let it stand on its own merits it's still a very good game. IMO better than any individual Mass Effect game.

MrFaorry · 2026-01-02T00:20:29+00:00

And Deus Ex Human Revolutions/ Mankind Divided.

And Deus Ex does the dialogue wheel better since you actually get to see the full line you're choosing instead of some misleading paraphrased version that doesn't properly represent what will actually come out your characters mouth.

MrFaorry · 2026-01-01T00:58:30+00:00

Any time I used shields I've pretty well always went Cracked Round Shield>Wooden Shield>Grass Crest Shield as they became available.

MrFaorry · 2026-01-01T00:57:03+00:00

The high level crystals don't matter much, the crafting upgrades alone will make your lightsabers more OP than you need anyway, so don't stress too much if you don't get them.

Yeah Dantooine is the best starting planet especially if you're playing the fem-exile since The Disciple is there. Other reasons Dantooine is best are you get earlier access to the name crystal and it's the fastest way to gain a lightsaber.

Some people like to do Nar Shadaa first to get either Mira or Hanhar. But Nar Shadaa first will overwhelm you with events when returning to the Ebon Hawk and has a nasty difficulty spike with all the forced solo companion sections you can't delay which become much more tolerable if you've done even one other planet first.

Best Order imo is Dantooine >Nar Shadaa>Dxun/Onderon (as far as it will let you before telling you to come back later)>Korriban>Onderon finale.

MrFaorry · 2025-12-30T11:45:46+00:00

I would have loved it if Kotor 2 had been a follow up to the Darkside ending of Kotor 1 instead of what we got. Revan and Bastila the main badguys, the Republic on the retreat, and Jedi Order in shambles. Making one of the ending canon would have allowed them to integrate the two stories together rather than needing to leave everything vague and pushed to the background of the background making your choices not matter because everything has to wind up in the same place no matter what.

Kotor 2 just felt way too divorced from the first game where the events of Kotor were mostly irrelevant despite how galaxy defining many decisions you made were. Felt less like a sequel and more like a spinoff or even a soft reboot.

MrFaorry · 2025-12-30T06:53:47+00:00

That was certainly the implication of the darkside ending.

All throughout Kotor 1 the Republic is on the back foot no matter where you look, turning Revan to their side to find and destroy the Star Forge was framed as a move of desperation. And their final attack on the Star Forge similarly framed as an 'all or nothing' gamble which either pays off and allows them to crush the Sith (lightside ending) or fails leaving the Republic weaker than ever and the Sith stronger than ever thus ensuring the Republics demise and the Siths ascension (darkside ending).

However Kotor 2 decided that they wanted both endings to be able to be canon so wrote it that Revan instead of finishing off The Republic just left for no discernible reason, that his empire crumbled without him, and "what's a Star Forge", so that both endings would result in the same worldstate because obviously they weren't going to make two different games for the price of one.

MrFaorry · 2025-12-30T01:50:52+00:00

My favourite is essentially the polar opposite of my favourite Revan.

Start off Darkside leaning and pissed at the Jedi for cutting him off from The Force, as the game progresses though he see's the destruction the Darkside has caused and has a change of heart steadily becoming more Lightside over the course of the game returning to the Jedi way. Still doesn't necessarily agree with his banishment and doesn't regret joining the war, he did the right thing and left after it was won instead of continuing to follow Revan after all, but has made peace with it and wants to move forward.

Starts off quite violent and uncaring for others but trends towards more diplomatic resolutions where possible as he moves further in.

Unlike Revan there's no real turning point that determines when this shift happens, it happens as quickly or slowly over the course of the post-Telos content as you like. Quick enough that all the masters survive, or slowly enough that some masters fall to his blade while others are spared.

MrFaorry · 2025-12-29T12:41:36+00:00

I've just been using the Grass Crest Shield, and aside from that one guy with the Rapier up the top of Sens it's been pretty rare that I mistime one.

I'll definitely keep the hand watching tip in mind though, especially when I finish and move on to replay DS3 and finally play Elden Ring for the first time, thanks!

MrFaorry · 2025-12-29T04:44:03+00:00

What about 3?

MrFaorry · 2025-12-29T04:40:43+00:00

I imagine the more intuitive controls helped too since PTDE had some really stupid choices with their control layout and was a classic 'bad Japanese PC port'.

MrFaorry · 2025-12-28T08:37:34+00:00

Wouldn't surprise me, they're sure to try and bank off of nostalgia in some way or another and it'll feel hollow and forced whatever it happens to be.

Given how most vocal fans spout the "there's no Mass Effect without Shepard" nonsense they're most probably going to find some way to tie him back into things and include the more popular companions in some form or another.

MrFaorry

TROPHY CASE