Day 191 - N7 Day
Mass Effect 1, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3 ·
Sam’s Take:
I played Mass Effect, but on the Ps1 today. I walked around a low-poly red landscape until I got stuck in a wall. I refreshed the page to try again and successfully made it to some blood pools:
Blood pools led to a zombie shooting section, and then I clicked a button on the side of my mouse on accident that apparently hits the back button in Chrome, and so my playthrough ended there. To be clear, the back button thing is not an issue with the game, just me and my mouse.
There’s some charm in seeing Mass Effect turned into a survival horror type game, but I was mostly bored slowly going forward having to shoot a zombie three times every few seconds. There’s infinite ammo and no reloading, so the game just becomes running away, turning, shooting three times, repeat for next zombie. It is a great tool for learning why survival horror often leans so hard on resource management. Thanks for teaching me Mass Effect!
Recommend: No
Replay Percentage Chance: 0%
Time Played: 15 Minutes
Skeeter’s Take:
Well, it’s November 7th and today is the day Bioware, or EA, or someone decided would be the day to celebrate Mass Effect. I would consider this a “Corporate Holiday” but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love it. It’s damn fun to celebrate Mass Effect and look back at it. That’s what today is going to be for. A free-write Mass Effect blog post bullshit ramble to celebrate N7 Day!
I suppose I should explain a little about why November 7th is the Mass Effect day, just in case you aren’t familiar with the series.
N7 is a military code used by the Alliance military to designate highest rank in the special forces:
This is the rank that Commander Shepard (the player character) holds when we first meet him.
I mostly just wanted to show that wiki paragraph describing N7 to rub my nipples and go “look at the lore”. Interplanetary Combatives Training program? I’ve never even heard of that. Mmm, So good and juicy. I digress. I love the world of Mass Effect. Almost everything feels fleshed out and thought through. It is probably my favorite Sci-Fi world and I am not sure if it’s really even close. I love it for the characters you befriend, the ambition of carry-over saves between games, the campiness, the strange alien races, the interplanetary politics, the existential threat of the Reapers, and most especially the ability to save the world but still be a total dick about it. It’s all… chef’s kiss
But I’m not here to talk about any of that. I’m here to talk about Mass Effect 3: Multiplayer. I had a stint in college where for months all I would play was the ME3: Multiplayer. I was obsessed. I ended up reaching a pretty decent rank, but only because I was one of the 100 or so people putting that many hours into the game and not due to any skill. Here’s proof:
That is unless you count sandbagging my team and exclusively saving money for Premium Spectre Packs instead of buying a Recruit/Equipment pack for med-kits, then I was really good.
The ME3: Multiplayer was an add-on with the original intention of changing the galactic war map that can be found in the single player game. The idea is the player takes part in a task force that is helping fight in the galactic war against the Reapers. You and three other players fight in a small arena and try to survive 10 waves (or more with extraction). There will be several randomized objectives for your squad to do on certain waves. Things like “stand in this circle for x amount of time”, or “hold a button for a small duration at four different spots on the map”. Then at least one member of the team has to extract. After each game your galactic readiness increases which affects an in-game narrative check for the single player game. A lot of players were angry about feeling like they had to play the multiplayer to get the best end. This did not affect me since I was an ME3:M fiend.
While it is a little grindy to get unlocks, you can technically unlock everything in the game by just playing. That didn’t stop EA from letting you use real money or BioWare Points if you felt inclined. (OMG do you remember BioWare Points?? Wild…). There are these little gamble loot boxes you purchase with in game currency. Every weapon and character has a tier associated with it - Common, Uncommon, Rare, Ultra-Rare, etc. Certain tiers will only drop in higher priced loot crates.
Essentially this turns every unlock into a lottery. I remember when a new character would release I would spend a week saving up points to try to land it. I probably don’t even have 60% of characters unlocked on my original XBox save.
In addition to having to lottery unlock every character, you can also roll the same character multiple times. Each time you roll the same character, you unlock a cosmetic appearance option for them, so at least you get something out of it. Weapons get an increase in level and stats when you roll the same one. This can all be very frustrating if you are trying to unlock something specific (looking at you Black Widow).
There are a ton of characters to choose from and the player starts with 2 Human characters in each Class:
Each character has their own set of unique abilities. You can play everything from a Drell Vanguard to a Volus Adept. This is really where I think a lot of the magic of the game lies for me. Sure, running the same few arenas and fighting the same 4 enemy types over and over might seem like it would get boring, but there are so many different ways you can approach the same few things. Every upgrade path splits to give the player two options after level 3, allowing the player to decide on what they want to focus on with their build:
Here I can choose between having the shield I spawn do damage to surrounding enemies or having a stronger shield. And this is just one ability on one character.
Another thing I appreciate is that it is impossible to max your character out. I like this because it adds more weight to build decisions. You can max out all your abilities, but you are going to have shit ass shields and your partners are going to get annoyed at having to keep picking you up off the ground. You could skip an entire ability to tank up, or you could try to spread your points more evenly.
Then there are a ton of different weapons with different modifications you can add to them. You can add consumable bullet modifiers from the equipment menu. There’s a lot of ways to mix it up and keep things interesting. It’s also one of the few games I actually promote my characters in as it gives me a chance to start from a clean slate and try a new build.
I also really like the combat system in ME3. I won’t get too deep into it, but a lot of the elemental tech abilities and Biotic abilities interact in fun ways. The game calls them “Power Combos”. Some abilities are considered primers, and others triggers. You can cast fire on an enemy and trigger it with Overload for a big fiery explosion. Or prime an enemy with Reave and trigger it with Throw. (Side note Reave OP - can both prime and trigger) Your abilities also combo with your teammates abilities. The biotic explosion sound is so damn satisfying.
There is also an in game point system so you can compete against your teammates as well. I loved taking my level 20 character into a Bronze match and just absolutely stomping for a most shameful of ego boosts.
It’s hard for me to recommend the ME3: Multiplayer. I loved it. It has a very fond place in my heart. But, I know it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. If you like trying a bunch of different builds and abilities out and have ever wanted to play a fucking Geth Juggernaut then maybe give it a chance!
The Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is on sale for $10 bucks today. It contains all three games that have been remastered. The story and journey of Mass Effect is one I absolutely recommend to everyone, so if you’ve somehow missed it, consider picking it up.
The sad thing is, they didn’t port the multiplayer to the Legendary Edition. There is still a faint pulse of a community that plays on the 2012 Digital Deluxe version of the game which I have also linked at the top of this page. It’s currently $10 also, which means you would have to pay the same amount just to play an old multiplayer add on as you would for full 3 wonderful single player games that have been given a shiny new coat of paint.
I’m very disappointed we didn’t get a port with the Legendary edition. I would have loved to relive the multiplayer with a bit of a sleeker look and feel. And that’s only the second best thing they left out of the sequel!
Recommend: N7
Replay Percentage Chance: Chance at multiplayer multi-review in the future?
Time Played: 300+ hours
Link to Legendary Edition (No Multiplayer)
Link to Digital Delux Edition (Multiplayer)
Random Review