Mass Effect 3 (SPOILERS!)

[Felon]

True, Mordin's swan song was wrenching. And I suppose you're right about Thane. I mean, if you're gonna die anyway, might as well go out fighting. Guess he wanted to be available for his son.

 

[Remus Lupin]

I was actually a big Thane fan in ME2 and a bit disappointed he wouldn't join the crew in ME3. But he did go out well, as did Moradin and Legion.

Of course, since somehow I screwed up the geth/quarian quest, for me the most emotionally jarring death was Tali's death. Particularly since she was so obviously in love with Shepherd, and in my game at least, Shepherd really wasn't interested.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

What romance options did people pursue?

In ME1, I romanced Kaidan. In ME2, I remember trying every romance, but ultimately settling for no one. In ME3, I went back to Kaidan. But I found him a little... boring this time. I am considering replaying and romancing Liara instead.

And as a male Shepard, I think I'd like to "try out" Tali.

Vega doesn't seem a well-liked character, but I think he definitely beats Jacob from ME2, and I enjoyed the flirting going on between him and my female Shepard. Unfortunately, that never goes anywhere (as I understand, he's the gay love interest? Too bad..).

 

[Remus Lupin]

I romanced Ashley in ME1 and ME3. In ME2 I romanced Miranda first time through and then Jack. Third play through I decided not to romance anyone, since I was trying to keep my options open with Ashley for ME3, though as it turns out, except for snarking at me for sleeping with Jack, it didn't matter.

 

[Dragonwriter]

The problem is that the war asset points ultimately don't make much of an impact. If you didn't play MP, you had no hope of getting better than "even" odds regardless of how many assets you piled up. But if you played MP for a few hours, you got 100% readiness and could get the best odds even if you missed lots of assets.

Odds never get better than "even." I had 90+ Galactic Readiness with well over 5K Asset Points and it was still "even".

I found each of the character sacrifices powerful and meaningful, even Legion's (Legion's was somewhat expected, but still impacted me). Thane's prayer for Shepherd was an incredible and moving scene, IMO.
And the Rachni mission, seeing Grunt charge all those Reaper forces and go off the cliff... then him stumbling to the shuttle, covered in their gore. It got a cheer from me.

Similarly satisfying for me: shooting Udina, stabbing Kai Leng and shooting the Illusive Man. Despite being a reasonable guy, I didn't hesitate to do any of those.

 

[Kzach]

What romance options did people pursue?

Through all the play-throughs I've done, I've gone every route, including hacked romances, just out of sheer curiosity and boredom.

But my primary Shep was Liara all the way and always. Hot blue bi-sexual aliens. Can it get any better than that?

Vega doesn't seem a well-liked character, but I think he definitely beats Jacob from ME2, and I enjoyed the flirting going on between him and my female Shepard. Unfortunately, that never goes anywhere (as I understand, he's the gay love interest? Too bad..).

He's not a gay love interest as far as I'm aware. He is buddies with the ship's shuttle pilot and quartermaster who I'm fairly sure is a gay love interest (there was an option to seduce him during my playthrough but my main Shep chose the friends option).

And I liked Vega. I thought he was cool. If it wasn't for EDI being so utterly and completely a no-brainer choice as a companion on almost every single mission (at least for me), I would've used him far more often. He has very powerful abilities and has almost double the hit points and shields (1200/1200) of any other team member and on top of that, can get the most powerful damage reduction ability, so he's virtually indestructible and can output huge amounts of melee damage, and single target ranged, and multi-target ranged.

Similarly satisfying for me: shooting Udina, stabbing Kai Leng and shooting the Illusive Man. Despite being a reasonable guy, I didn't hesitate to do any of those.

The Kai Leng renegade interrupt wasn't so much satisfying as it was a, "FRAK YEAH TAKE THAT BITCH!" moment for me. I think my housemates thought I went a little nuts for a moment, given all the cheering and "Yeah!" and "Whoo!"ing

 

[Dog Moon]

I didn't romance anyone in ME1. I didn't even realize that was an option until it was basically too late to do anything.

In ME2, it was Garrus. I ALMOST went with Thane. Unfortunately in ME3, my thought was mainly, whew, glad I didn't romance the sickly dying guy...

In ME3 I was INTENDING to go with Garrus again, but somehow ended up going with Specialist Traynor. Anyway, Garrus just got to go with Tali who was only using him for his body. Hehe.

 

[Felon]

What romance options did people pursue?

In ME1, I romanced Kaidan. In ME2, I remember trying every romance, but ultimately settling for no one. In ME3, I went back to Kaidan. But I found him a little... boring this time. I am considering replaying and romancing Liara instead.

And as a male Shepard, I think I'd like to "try out" Tali.

Vega doesn't seem a well-liked character, but I think he definitely beats Jacob from ME2, and I enjoyed the flirting going on between him and my female Shepard. Unfortunately, that never goes anywhere (as I understand, he's the gay love interest? Too bad..).

Always bugs me a little that we consider ME to have "romance" when for the most part all that really happens in 1 and 2 is Shepard gets laid and then goes about his/her business.

Anyways, I snogged Ashley in 1, mostly for lack of other good options (Liara is a dull quantoid, and Tali looks like an anthropomorphic greyhound). Then I gave Miranda the high hard one in 2. I wanted to dump in her in the hopes of finding a better mate, but then she turned on the waterworks and I didn't have the heart to crush her soul. Reloaded and re-diddled.

Vega is okay, problem is ME3 just doesn't really give a good variety of enemies (compared to ME2 in particular). If there were more enemies prone to rushing in and routing Shepard from cover, I'd value a melee and shotgun character much more. While he's a great meat shield, EDI's Unshackled AI gives her similar health and shield bonuses to his Arms Master, and Defensive Matrix is more of a tank power than Fortification. Plus she has Decoy, so she's at least as good of a tank.

Then there's the whole Freddie Prinze thing. Gotta hate people who are celebrities despite nobody actually seeming to like or care about them.

In ME2, it was Garrus. I ALMOST went with Thane. Unfortunately in ME3, my thought was mainly, whew, glad I didn't romance the sickly dying guy...

Well, isn't banging Garrus kind of like doing it with a mutilated turkey?

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Well, isn't banging Garrus kind of like doing it with a mutilated turkey?

Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Mustrum "Or is there?" Ridcully

 

[Felon]

I was actually a big Thane fan in ME2 and a bit disappointed he wouldn't join the crew in ME3. But he did go out well, as did Moradin and Legion.

Of course, since somehow I screwed up the geth/quarian quest, for me the most emotionally jarring death was Tali's death. Particularly since she was so obviously in love with Shepherd, and in my game at least, Shepherd really wasn't interested.

One of the game's more humorous moments is Tali getting drunk in the ship's lounge, obviously pining for Shepard. Proceeding down to engineering, I found her harassing Javik over the intercom, accusing him of being a big softy inside (which, of course, he is not).