New-Gamer Watches #4 - MASS EFFECT 1, 2, & 3 || re-watching after playing ME1 for the first time 

I've always loved how through the trilogy Shepard evolves from a wax mannequin regurgitating generic dialog to a living breathing person with fears, doubts and anxieties about their role as a hero and leader. And they never once change voice actors.

The key for these games is to never put down the controller during conversations. Otherwise, you'll miss paragon or renegade interrupts. Also, decide at the start which way you're going to play because otherwise Shepard comes across as bipolar or multiple personality. Your "be friends instead" mantra is more suited towards paragon, so ignore the renegade interrupts if you're going that way.

The shadow broker dlc is in mass effect 2. Considering you are playing the first game it means you are not doing the dlc. You are simply doing the main story which involves the shadow broker character during the citadel missions.

The "problematic" things weren't problematic then and not now. Just another thing people are looking to be bent out of shape about.

Mass Effect is a phenomenal series and it absolutely deserves the hype. A sci-fi world that easily stands toe-to-toe with Star Trek. At the time, it set a standard for reactivity in games that has only been equalled by The Witcher III. The Mass Effect trilogy takes about 180 to 210 hours to 100% complete.

That part about Paragon/Renegade choices was a load of bullshit. It's so wrong it hurts to hear. Yes, the binary morality system is pretty restrictive at times and has plenty of problems, but you have to keep in mind that: 1. You're NOT choosing if Shepard makes good or bad choices, but rather if he's idealistic & empathetic or ruthless & kinda assholish at times. 2. Whenever you do, you WON'T be a villain, though some choices are very callous. 3. Even the most shocking decisions are on the scale I mentioned above, so when the game decides it gives Paragon points, it doesn't mean the choice was morally correct, only that it suits idealistic character more. Same for Renegade options, even if they happen to be absolutely unjustifiable morally, you're given points for picking choice more suited to the second set of traits. 4. You can and should absolutely mix them, especially as the series progresses. When you collect Paragon/Renegade points you unlock additonal dialogue and interactions and both can be useful in one playthrough. In ME3 there's even reputation separate from binary Paragon/Renegade, giving you "influence" even if you're not particularly swayed to one side or the other. Idk who recommended you this review, but watching something so full of massive spoilers and questionable opinions (the dislike ratio on that video is pretty damning) may really spoil your fun ;/

Wow! I really didn't expect you to start playing Mass Effect! I'm honestly envious of you. To experience the introduction to this well-crafted science-fiction world for the first time; to bond with your team, who will become as dear to you as old friends; to be blown away by the plot twists and contemplate difficult moral choices - it's an unforgettable feeling. I have no doubt that you will enjoy it, and I can only wish you luck in becoming a new-gamer )

BioWare: The Canadian RPG Gods. A quick example of how the narrative can branch from game to game: when you meet a fan-favourite sexy frog guy (you'll know him when you see him) you can recruit him to be an essential ally, you can romance him or you can get him killed. Each game in the series takes those choices into account and will be massively different from other people's experiences. The Paragon/Renegade system is pretty good. You can be both a "get the job done" badass or a "save the fluffy kittens" hero at the same time. I really envy you getting to play this for the first time!

No, Hannah, shadow broker DLC is in ME2, it's just that shadow broker is first mentioned in the begining of ME1 😅 However there is a DLC in ME1 called Bring Down the Sky and even though it's self contained in terms of story, I think for gameplay reasons it's worth to hold off on it for a while anyway P.S. Yes, in the weapon(L1) and power(R1) wheels time is stopped, you can aim the powers and give orders to your squdmates in that stopped time.

Oh damn. I didn’t think about the possibility of you seeing these videos from a perspective after knowing a little more! OH I’m excited

That whole autism situation in overlord being called "problematic" is insulting to autistic people. People are people, and people do things for different reasons. Claiming they did it because they're "autistic" is just..... Not good. When talking about people, whether in a good way or a bad way, you don't use a disability as a label. That just makes it an excuse and makes their identity revolve around their disability, not themselves as a person. The problematic part of this isn't making a story/prop an autistic guy, it's making a big deal about the subject being an autistic guy. They could have done the story with him being autistic, and not drawn attention to it or just made it not the reason. Autism doesn't make you do things, it makes you perceive/prioritize things differently. Only you can make yourself do things. To claim he did bad things or good things because he's autistic is to remove agency from his own choices, and that's the problematic issue, because it represents autistic people as people who can't make their own decisions without making mistakes or requiring others to do it for them.

OMFG you played ME 1!?! This is one of my all-time favorite series and I missed the stream!?! I'm kicking myself right now but I really hope you enjoyed it!

“I control the vehicle” 😂😅 I’m dying.

watching a trailer for ME2 and 3 before finishing ME 1 is like watching GOT season 1 and then watching the trailers to find out who dies

First off - I'm so glad you got into ME. As someone who's only around RU-vid, this was a very pleasant surprise, and I hope you'll enjoy the journey! ME1 does drag on a bit in certain points, such was the way of RPG's a decade and a half ago, but the story is still great, and it really kicks it up a notch in ME2 and ME3, so it's definitely worth your time! However, I'm not gonna lie - that review had some pretty bad points, which is not surprising for a gaming "journalist", and seems to omit important aspects when he talks about the "bad" things, not to mention the fact that he bashes the game for most of the review time, and only spends around 2-3 minutes covering the positives, which is both hilariously and painfully bad. I'll cover a few of the more egregious things (this is from my perspective of playing the trilogy for around 7-8 years, with more than 10 complete playthroughs). 1) The Paragon/Renegade system - I'll grant him that in ME1 you do need to both have a high score in one or the other direction to get the respective options in certain dialogues, however, he conveniently forgets that there is a MASSIVE amount of times, where you have three options to choose from, with an in-between choice available as well. Also, in ME2 and ME3 it's a lot easier to be able to play a mixed morality character, with both Paragon and Renegade options available for most of the dialogues. 2) I can't say much about the genocide/brainwashing plotline without spoiling things, so I won't go into detail, all I'll say is - if you actually play the game, it becomes obvious this guy makes this out to be a way more straight-forward situation than it is. 3) The mental illness issue - again, I don't want to spoil this, but as someone, who has frequented the ME subreddit for years, I've seen loads of praise about how the story of the autistic genius is handled in that DLC. The reporter goes for the loud tagline, but he seems to completely miss the point, and doesn't understand how the story evolves. In short - in my experience, it's an incredibly poignant and emotional story, and I've read many reviews from actual players, that agree with that assessment. Also, him critiquing the "genius and madness are two sides of the same coin" just shows that the guy ultimately cares about loud statements, and hasn't studied history at all, which proves this statement on numerous occasions. 4) He clearly shows that he doesn't know what a remaster is, expecting changes to story elements, missions and other things which plainly aren't possible in the scope of such a project, if you know what you're talking about. If this was a remake, then those remarks would be justified, but in this case he just showcases his incompetence about the topic. 5) The final asssessment is laughably vague, and I simply can not agree that the game being the same at the end of the day, is a bad thing. Anyone with any proper interest in the Legendary Edition knew that we're getting a more polished version of the game, that won't have story or environmental changes, due to the nature of remasters and what they entail. Granted, we did lose a DLC from the first game, which was a shame, but it might have been the single lowest rated piece of content from the trilogy, so it wasn't much of a loss. I apologise about the wall of text, but as a fan of Mass Effect, I couldn't stand seeing someone new to this universe getting influenced by such a weak and superficial opinion piece, without providing what I consider to be vital insight and context to the very vague points that were covered in that review.

ONE OF US. ONE OF US. ONE OF US. Welcome to the fold, Hannah! In the spirit of looking at things with new lenses. May I suggest the "The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Trailer" and the "Beyond Skyrim: Morrowind - The New North ANNOUNCEMENT TRAILER"? It has been 20 years since Morrowind came out and these talented people are recreating it in a modern engine! The differences in these trailers is astounding.

One of my favorite game series of all time!

Without adding to many spoilers as I feel the Reviewer failed to provide a bit of nuance. The Genocide or Brainwash people option was with regards to a Machine Race. And you can explore that choice a bit by talking to your squadmates. Also the mission starts as a 'Take them out before they take us out' the indoctrination option is introduced BY a member of that race and talks about due to how they are different than organics one shouldn't just apply organic morality to them in an anthropomorphizing manner since their thought process are different than how most organics operate. Also side note on the Sexy Fun Time scenes, they aren't interactive, basically your choices can lead to a Sexy Fun Time scene after romancing a character but you don't actually do anything game wise, just enjoy the moment.

This game universe is one of my favourite ever, really excited to see you play it! I feel like it's one of the few that hits hard when it comes to the team/characters and their dynamics.

That review isn't wrong, per se, about the limitations of the Mass Effect paragon/renegade system. But the alternative for most games (especially at the time) was not "more choices and/or more nuance" but rather "no choice at all". Only roleplaying games (like Mass Effect, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, etc.) offered much in the way of choice and influence over the plot. And almost no other games carry your choices across to other games within a series. (The main exception I can think of is Dragon Age -- made by the same developers as Mass Effect.) Imagine writing a choose your own adventure book. The more choices you allow, and the longer you allow them to continue, the more branches you're making, and the more resources you must use to develop entire branches that most readers (players) will never experience. That's why most games don't do it. So while, yes, there are times where the system can feel a little less nuanced or open than you'd wish, especially more than a decade later, it's still offers more choice and consequences than many, many games even today. (And I say all this as someone who both loves the series, and also has strong criticisms for it -- mostly when it fails to meet the choice/influence bar that it otherwise sets for itself.)

Love that you're playing the best trilogy in gaming. The Citadel DLC in the third game makes all 3 journies worth it.

Fun fact: the line about the original photo of tali being a poorly photoshopped stock photo is more true than it first appears, cause it was added basicly last second by then creative director (i think) casey hudson. we're talking like days before release last second. it was also a poorly photoshopped stock photo.

"because i'm a gamer now" best quote of the year. we waited so long for you to see the light :D

Besides Mass Effect, I would recommend Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines. It's a cool vampire RPG set in the World of Darkness, a TTRPG setting which has vampires, werewolves, wraiths, and magic. Also some biblical lore sprinkled in there too, it's the whole foundation of how vampires came to be in that universe. I couldn't tell you what trailer videos to watch, but Ssethtzeentach has a funny and informative review of it (if you're okay with some spoilers, then it'd be fine to watch). Bloodlines came out in 2004 as a mess, but the Unofficial Patch by Wesp5 fixes everything. And it's also only on PC if that matters, so getting the Steam or GOG version (I highly recommend the GOG version, it has the patch pre-installed) would be ideal. Disco Elysium is another I'd really recommend, some of the game's content is a bit rough to get through (because it depicts racism, sexism, and homophobia more seriously than other games do), but it's a unique experience where replays are actually recommended.

Keep in mind, you can go through the tutorial levels several times by accessing them through the ship's console, if you find you're having problems controlling your squad

I've been with you since nearly the beginning of the non-gamer journey and I'm proud to see you evolve to a new-gamer.....

OMG i havent been watching you for quite awhile... soo WAIT WHAT you actually started playing this amasing franchise !!! holy f... that made me so happy

Congrats on becoming New-Gamer :) Welcome!

Okay, that looks like a solid playlist to work through. It seems to start you off with mostly lesser-to-well known indie games with novel mechanics that won't overwhelm, then transitions to more niche games that focus on story and atmosphere, and finally passes you to the AAA games that assume you know your stuff. My compliments to Deras for setting it up.

Omg Hannah doesn't get to enjoy the chaos of driving the original Mako😂 *hits pebble and flies 50 feet😂

Omg I remember when you started playing ME1 though I think I never watched you finish the game (school started and watching streams fell to the wayside) but this is gonna be so fun to see your reactions especially to the 2 and 3 trailers ^^

Mass Effect was one of the games my friends suggested to me after I finished The Witcher series, Ive started a couple times but have not gotten that far into it. When it comes to the "romance" scenes the actual intimate parts are cutscenes. The part you participate in is the flirting.

Jfc some of the complaints on the legendary edition review were dumb. *Game specifically made to capture and improve QoL of the original experience *Wants certain parts changed/censored, thus no longer capturing the original experience, instead of just accepting it was a product of its time

To the Moon by Freebird games is, hands down, one of my favourite experiences in gaming. The writing is phenomenal, at least in my opinion, and Kan Gao has been one of my idols as a writer ever since I first played it all the way back in 2011/2012. I think you *might* enjoy it as well, it is definitely more on the emotional side and I like to think of it more as an interactive story rather than a full blown video game. The trailer is rather short but I believe it gets the point across fairly well. The music was also another highlight that I remember. I find myself listening to the soundtrack quite a lot even to this day.

If you play the trilogy, you make your own story and can change it in every gameplay. All recruits, all love interest, your character’s skill set and story….. you’re the MC and the author. Play this game and make your own story, plus there are multiple endings. Give it a shot!

Having played through the Legendary edition, I can say that the sheer linearity and forced tunnel vision of the Paragon vs Renegade system was relaxed somewhat. Mass Effect 1 less so, since there is a flat amount of points needed to unlock Charm vs Intimidate, and it requires levels to invest. Though it is possible to almost max out both in 1 run. Mass effect 2 used to be the most strict, since reputation checks depended on the total amount of points you had for either bar vs the total amount of points you could recieve. ME2 legendary is very lax, and I was aboe to max the Paragon bar, while still getting a significant Renegade score. Mass Effect 3 solved this problem when it originally released, by combining Paragon and Renegade score into a single bar, along with neutral reputation points for minor interactions with the world and quest completion. So in ME3, Your ability to make people stand down and listen to you is based on simply having a total morality score, which is much easier from a role playing perspective. The system is still there in ME3 legendary, and is one of the better changes that ME3 made. Also, certain renegade interrupts are simply good to go for from a gameplay perspective (less enemies to fight) and a morality one (alot of interrupts are just free points).

12:08 "because I'm a GAMER now 😏😏😏" LMAO

Gotta say Mass Effect 2 is my personal favourite but the soundtrack for Mass Effect 1 is just next level and for me the best out of the series. I do like Mass Effects 2 soundtrack it gave me more action movie vibes but there's something about the retro futuristic synth soundtrack of the first games music that also reminded me of the first Terminator movie. Jack Wall is an a great composer who also did the music to Black Ops 2. But yeah looking back Mass Effect's music is pretty mixed for me compared to other games like Fallout, Elder Scrolls, and Halo that are just top tier bangers in all the songs while Mass Effect is more mixed.

I've lost count how many times I've played this great game

I love mass effect. And I am a passionate fan and its what I loved about bioware before that studio was so good at making games back in the day. And I have every single game from launch to legendary edition and replicas and things that I hold dearly because these games are so good

Mass effect is a wonderful trilogy. It’s one of those series which stocks with you forever. Enjoy the journey and take your time DO EVERYTHING because it will be over before you know it.

I wonder which ME you'll enjoy the most, since each chapter in the ME series has marked differences from the previous one. For instance, I liked driving the Mako and upgrading weapons in ME1, and was sorry to see those disappear in ME2, but each game certainly has its highlights.

Hahaha "Do I push a button??"...Do you want to push a button? lol.

Best trilogy of all time imo. Wish I could expierience it for the first time again

I saw Kingdom Come: Deliverance on the list; looking forward to that video, KC:D was my favourite game of the last generation! I got it the week it came out alongside Monster Hunter World, and didn't buy any new games for almost a year after, between those two I was eating well. A few of my favourite game moments were slice of life missions. Making friends with a young lord, being seduced by an old lord's wife, courting the miller's niece, joining a monastery... It was refreshing after playing so many first person role playing games to not be in a world filled with dragons or aliens or mutants to just be a human on Earth during medieval times. A lot of love, effort and research went into the game and it shows in the world building.

You probably already know but don't worry, the Shadow Broker dlc belongs to Mass Effect 2, the quest that you're doing is part of the original game and you started it at the right time. Btw, I have to say that you should be careful when you react to game reviews of games that you are playing or plan on playing, most of the time they have a spoiler warning but sometimes they just spoil everything

The same thing about playing videogames is how everyone should approach fighting games You play what you think is cool. Playing something YOU think is cool will always give you more motivation than doing what people tell you is the right choice. Glad to see youre gonna dip your toes in stuff that piques your interest

Really happy to see This War Of Mine on your list, that's a really powerful game.

Bioware, the game company that started out as a lark making games waiting for their clearances to make medical software, but then figured out they made more money making games than they would making medical software.

One of the reasons I went into game development instead of VFX before making the switch again, was because games are constantly advancing technology. Film tends to do it much slower. It’s awesome to see you notice and appreciate it

The social "issues" are not. At the time the first game was made it was all good. You don't change a story for the times you make new ones and enjoy the old stuff with all its differences.

Literally the only game on there I would recommend playing out of order is Gris. You can play it in one sitting and you should save it for a rainy day (literally) when you aren't feeling too great. It's a beautiful game.

About the thing with paragon/renegade, you really don't have to go completely with one or the other. You only need enough to get the specific quests in ME1 and interrupts in ME2.

In my probably 100+ runs of ME 1 through 3, majority are Paragon runs. Single Renegade run....rough to do, but damn it has hysterical moments. Hope you take the time and play through thoroughly and explore everything. imo, possibly the best trilogy ever

Yay mass effect. This is my favorite store on the citadel

You gotta play this game Hannah! I started playing last week and it's AMAZING, already on my top 5

Bless you!

19:15 Yes you can pause the game and decide individual actions. PC Player are at a big advantage using this feature.

Fun fact:The face of default Male Shepard belongs to Dutch underwear model Mark Vanderloo.

At launch. Mass Effect 2 was particularly intolerant of 'mixed' paragon renegade choices, locking you out of vital decisions. The Legendary Edition made that a good deal more forgiving.

Mass Effect Trilogy is my fav. Glad ur gonna play it. 👍

Don't worry about the moonwalking at all 😁, it heavily depends on the game you are playing, i recently had to relearn my muscles memory to moonwalk again, because in the game I'm playing it is easier to hit moving targets when i am shooting while walking sideways with them, instead of following them with the reticle using the right stick.

Wish I could experience ME again for the first time... probably my favorite games. They're getting a bit dated at this point especially the first one but they are still good. The gameplay gets much better in ME2 and ME3. I hope you like it so I get to watch you do a full playthrough of the trilogy :)

The great thing with the game is that your choices and decisions *are* going over to the next game and affecting events or people there. No pressure :) About the Paragon/Renegade morality: you'll have enough for the big decisions if you don't rush the game. Otherwise just think what would Shapard think or do in that situation and choose that. Mixing paragon and renegade is not a problem, no-one is black/white. You'll find out what is your style with the answers acnd choices and pick mostly those (paragon or renegade) and the other times the different choice is just spice things up :D Just play as you like, and enjoy the story. (I watched your reaction before, now that you started the ME Legendary, following on Twitch :) )

so excited to watch you play life is strange, such a comfy game

Grunt is best boi. Grunt, "Hee hee hee hee"

Dont worry, the decisions you make in Mass Effect are only insanely important and will permanently influence the rest of the saga. So, you know...no pressure. PS: You could not have chosen a better fictional Universe to jump into.

As Femshep you can romance either Liara (a character you have yet to meet) or Kaiden in the 1st game. In the second one, more characters and options are available.

Spoiler regarding ME1, yes. There are about three or four MAJOR plot point decisions that you will have effects on your experiences of 2 and 3. And who goes with the nuke is one of them. There are other smaller decisions, but three or four “people will die” decisions that affect public perception of your character and what characters will be available to at least visit and potentially have in your team later on in the trilogy.

22:10 Who would have thought that burning alive in a planet's atmosphere and then having all your tissue rebuilt and revived could make you lose your scars

Glad to see you're stepping into Mass Effect, it's a great game that really doesn't come across in its trailers.

Just yelling "Seth Green!" in the middle of a video should be your trademark :)

I loves me some Mass Effect, enjoyable characters, choices that affect the narrative... But that first ending. I believe they changed it so I don't think this a spoiler, but when they first released the third game people anticipated an ending that took into account the player's actions throughout the game. The ending they first shipped with included three essentially reskinned endings that were essentially independent of any prior player choice. The fun thing was that someone protested the endings by sending the developers cupcakes. Three different coloured frostings, one for possible each ending, but every last one was the same flavour. Their choice of muffin didn't matter. LoL

9:48 "Ashley, this never happens, I swear. The player mustve messed up the QTE"

Besides the storytelling, what most people love about the game is that it actually feels like 1 big game because how the choices can affect the later games. (And as you seem to be interested in the romance choices, this is also included. Like most romanceable characters in ME3, who were also romanceable in ME2, can only be dated if you were together in ME2.) Not sure which class you chose for your gameplay, but if you chose one with biotic powers (like Adept), then you will have a somewhat easier time in the later games, as the abilities are more forgiving, so the combat becomes quite a lot easier for someone new to it.

Femshep does not have a bad voice actor at all, but I'll never forget Mark Meer's sharp and commanding tone as manshep.

These are my favorite games, you got my attention ma’am.

OOOOOOOH MY! It's Space Soap Opera!

I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favorite video on youtube.

Once you play through the story the multiplayer is still live for Mass Effect 3 on Xbox One. I've been on that for the longest now

Yeah the Paragon path is more suited towards you. I think you will love the journey and family you build along the way.

Ah my heart, my favorite games

Hope you liked it & play the other 2 games.

Hey Hannah! I have a game trailer to recommend: "Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown". I suggest the "Release Date Trailer" and/or the "E3 2017 Trailer". Its maybe just a "Cool!" thing to add to your next a-bunch-of-random-stuff reactions, but very fun! Those trailers get me hyped everytime :)

I need to be tuning into your stream, I didn't know you were playing ME. It's my favorite game franchise for sure.

I had to look up a mission order online to figure out which missions in Mass Effect 2 and 3 to put off for later in the game when I replayed the games in the Legendary edition. So I recommend having a mod or someone you know get that for you so you know which missions to avoid at first.

The Mass Effect trilogy are confort games for me I've played through the trilogy a bunch of times... Enjoy playing through this masterpiece... Also don't worry about "messing up" making "wrong choices" there are so many different choices and shit you'll just have to play through the trilogy again and again to get them all haha

I’d recommend reading the Mass Effect books, the first 3 are great.

If you like Mass Effect you'll be excited to hear they've got a fourth one in the works right now :) it won't be out for a while but I'm still pretty stoked to know it's finally coming back

“New gamer watches” character development

Elder scrolls V Skyrim and Kingdom Come Deliverance are great games, you might want to take a look at.

i mean, ME2 has cuddle buttons after you beat it, but the "shmexy" stuff is, 1, a lot tamer than some of the stuff that airs on modern tv, and 2, a once per game cutscene at the culmination of both the romance sub plot and the games story, and iirc you can say no thanks OH! that reminds me, the first game asks you early in the romances if youre interested, if you arent, just say no or else you will kinda be later locked into either getting with them or breaking their heart, this is notable because in the first game you start the romance just by being nice to them.

I recommend Tales from the Borderlands. It's from the same developers as the Wolf Among Us. A story based choice game. No complex game play just a fun hilarious story set in the Borderlands universe. I love Mass Effect can't wait for the new one...whenever that comes out. Andromeda is also a great game. Gets alot of hate but I love it.

Oh yeah, I think Mass Effect is a great choice for you to play. The difficulty settings cover a *very* large range from "almost plays itself" to "only gods can survive"; and the lore and storytelling is just incredible.

One thing that probably ought to be pointed out about that 'Review' video, is that it equates the Paragon/Renegade system as an objectively "Good and Evil" morality. That's not the case and never was, and thus many of the following complaints are based on a false assumption. In reality "Paragon" isn't meant to be "good" so much as (as the word suggests) rule abiding. Think of any "boyscout" type characters like Captain America, Superman etc. So while it's not inherently "good", it does tend towards at least the appearance of virtuousness. definitely

I was waiting this

As someone who's played the trilogy multiple times, obsessively in many regards both in AND outside of Legendary Edition, the leap in graphics and feel is most noticeable between a and 2, gameplay though, I'd say far more between 2 and 3. And yes, you'll have to make a decision in ME 1, and yes, it does vaguely effect the trilogy, but not in a massive galaxy defining way. But sadly, Joker is not romanceable. Also, Wrex is best bro after Garrus, Tali is a precious little cinnamon bun, and Samara > Liara, and Engineer is a ton of fun in ME3.

Mass Effect is a great series, have fun playing it! 21:50 this is in ME2 so you wont have done it dont worry!

Are there vods of the ME playthrough?

the first game is by far the less interinsting if you discover the trilogy cause the exploration on the planets are very repetitive ! i recommend to just do the main stroy and maybe some dlc but thats it !, the 2nd and 3th are way more fun and interresting!