Having played through the Mass Effect Trilogy a lot (Like, I had to play every build. Every. Build.), the biggest problem is that you have to play Mass Effect. Because you will really cringe and shout at the TV when you have to endure the ####ty combat, but also cry when you get to ME2 and don't have the Mako or the wealth of RPG elements available anymore.

But also, Mass Effect is really, really long. There are so many little sidequests in it that you will easily put the majority of your time in it. And if you don't, there's less callbacks in the sequels.

My least favorite parts of Mass Effect (and really all Bioware games) were when you'd get a quest/mission hook but wouldn't be allowed to play the mission without buying and downloading DLC. Totally takes you out of the game.

That and having a great 8ish NPCs and being forced to basically leave half of them behind. Sure, you can replay the game but these are long freaking games and I don't find playing the same story three times to be worthwhile when there are so many games and so little time. I have this problem to a lesser extent in Fire Emblem and FFTactics. Only FF8 and FF6 have done a good job imo of balancing a larger team while also requiring only a few characters in each battle. If Bioware games had split team missions like FF6/FF8, I'd really like that.

I never recall a hook that was in the standard game that forced you to buy DLC. The DLC is annoying enough, but they were never that blatant about it. I did buy the " deluxe" version to just get the season pass, like a rube.

Thats the problem comparing Western RPGS to JRPGs. We get the character focused stories, so we'll never have a Shepardless mission.

From what I remember about Fire Emblem each game had the same character archetypes, and only about 7 characters in each game (Oh he's the Blue Knight, he's the Red one, don't bother with the Green one) of them were truly worth playing, then at a certain point maintaining and controlling the roster and inventory of 25 party members gets to be a chore.

I agree with this. I played through DAI thinking I would play through again as a different class, romance a different character and explore different follower storylines (so I basically ignore some followers back stories and questlines) but as soon as I got to the Hinterlands I put it aside for Witcher 3. (Which btw is #### for quest tracking. Having such a huge open world it is a must to have an excellent quest tracking system. I wondered into an area I clearly should be at yet and now I feel overwhelmed with the quests and storyline. So, I put that one aside to play Skyrim, which I hadn't played. )

Heh, that's a good point (and most of the reason I've been hesitant). I remember watching sketch comedy on YouTube while driving around some of those barren planets trying to track down the whatsits for whatever side quest. Plus as a soldier I do remember getting to the second game and being like "woah combat is actually fun now!"

Yeah that's a thing I hate about these games too. Like in ME1 you pretty much have to take somebody with slicing or hacking or whatever it was called to get all the loot. And later on I would often leave cool characters behind since their skills overlapped with mine. Although it was fun to sometimes go full on assault with soldier shep and Wrex.

Yeah, Sniper/Orange Power Shepard, Wrex and Ash were my ME1 party. Steamrolling all day.

ME1 had a couple "distress calls" like "buy this mission." I guess I just won't stop this mining asteroid from crashing into whatever.

Oh yeah, they actually rolled the two DLCs from ME1 into the main game by the time the Platinum Hits version came out (which is when I got the game, I was a bit of a late bloomer in that regard).

Now, the ME2/3 DLCs were pretty obnoxious. Which makes me a little worried about the fact that MEA isn't going to do any sort of Season Pass. I mean, if you're going to have $50-60 of DLC anyway, I'd like to just spend $30 at purchase to get it all.

me1 was so long ago I don't remember, plus I probably just bought the enhanced version at release anyway.

DA:O did it. There was even a Penny Arcade comic about it, it was so obnoxious.

But I don't recall any other instances of it.

Also my issue with Bioware DLC is the issue I have with DLC in general, but x1000 because I just got this game on release day, I played through it, and now my playthrough is incomplete because you ####ers didn't make the whole game on time. Oh, and I have to make a new game just to get to that point again. Good.

Though I also blame Microsoft for this problem, as they put a restriction on patch sizes and made it so DLC was the only way to deliver some patches to games. But that's a very old quibble I have with XBL.

http://www.mafiathesyndicate.com/php...6f94f&start=80

^Need three more players.

Silver, Jimmy from CBob's Christmas game and I are playing.

have to wait to be approved.

I think this is the first time I've seen in the Super Bowl epic clutchness and epic choking all in the same game.

So at this time I have to say, I think Eli Manning and the Giants aren't the heroes you want [I do they're my team after all] , but they are the ones you need if you want to beat the Patriots in a Super Bowl. LOL.

I don't really like or pay attention to the Falcons that much any other day, but given my immense hatred for Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and everything they do, I became a diehard fan for a few hours. And with that ending, I think I might have given up on the notion of hope altogether. Who in the heck can come from 21-0 and manage to pull ahead in one half?? Why, of course it's my literal least favorite team! Why not! Because Tom needs a ring for his thumb, too, obviously! We can't have *gasp* CHANGE in the NFL! We need the same three or four quarterbacks to win every few years! GREAT!


Sorry, I just always get like this when football goes wrong for me...

Sorry about the slight delay, but Greatest Hits is open again!

My life has been a little crazy the past 24 hours.

I suggested this as a headline in a bullpen meeting today:

Horrible Cheating Braggarts Earn Title of "Trump of Football" with Surprise Victory in Sportsing Contest

There's a reason why I'm not the sports editor.