Finishing the Trilogy: Mass Effect 3

And now, my journey through the original Mass Effect Trilogy comes to an end. I was somewhat hesitant to return to Mass Effect 3 - remembering the sour note the ending left for many players, myself included.

When it is all said and done, and with the benefit of hindsight, I am not overly upset with the ending. My main point of contention is how little the collecting of the army really matters.

If you complete the main questline you will succeed no matter what, and you still get stuck with the same pretty bummer ending. It doesn't matter if you managed to collect all available war assets, and I really wish they had done that differently.

Especially because you have been able to beat the Reapers throughout the game series. Yes Sovereign was absolutely brutal to deal with in the first game, but in ME3 you are able to take down two different Reapers before the final battle.

I understand time and budget constraints are a challenge in games too, but I think it would've been cool if the finale had been more like Mass Effect 2's suicide mission. Allowing you to command your squadmates (ideally even those who aren't squadmates in 3 but survived the series to the finale and maybe even the war assets themselves).

Mass Effect 3 did do a really good job wrapping up the series in a lot of different ways, and every time an ex-squadmate showed up to assist in a mission it always made me happy. My biggest fear was on the mission where you investigate the Rachni, I was nervous that Grunt wouldn't survive because of my choices. The long draw before he comes out of the caverns had me on the edge of my seat in panic and anticipation.

The gameplay overall was also a lot smoother I think than the previous two entries in the series and it really stands out in the regard when it comes to combat. It is a lot of fun blasting Reaper minions and the racist thugs behind Cerberus.

Here is a picture of my latest (currently unfinished) tattoo of Grunt! While I was playing through the series a tattoo artist I really like posted some promotions she was doing for discounted art of subjects she really wanted to stab into people. As luck would have it, she is really into Mass Effect so I jumped on that right away. I haven't had a chance to get it coloured yet, because I got in a crash that absolutely obliterated my only form of reliable transportation (everyone is ok and the other vehicle was hardly damaged) so I haven't had the time of money to go back and get it finished yet. Hopefully soon though!

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