The Mass Effect 3 Breakdown (spoilers)

[TheVampwizimp_v1legacy]

Okay, interesting stuff to compare myself against.

I played ME3 single-player 4 times all the way through. In those, I had imported a game from ME2 for all of them, but I'm playing on PS3 so I haven't gone through all 3 games with one save.

In my first playthrough,
I was a default male Shepard.
I saved Wrex.
I cured the genophage.
I did not shoot Mordin.
I saved the quarians at the cost of the geth.
I won the shootout with Garrus on the Citadel. I was playing a soldier and figured we were equal weapons experts. Plus, I wouldn't insult Garrus' intelligence by throwing a competition with him. He's my best buddy, I won't lie to him.
I don't think anyone died during the game, but just because I didn't notice anyone's corpse before the beam doesn't mean there weren't any there. Also, I never recruited Ashley, because after I romanced her in ME1 and then left her for Tali in ME2, I thought it would be awkward with her around :/
My most-used squadmates were Tali and Garrus, with Liara and Vega close behind I think.
I was actually about the same level of paragon/renegade as the graphic, about two parts paragon to one part renegade.

Over all 4 playthroughs,
I played male Shepard and Femshep both twice. I was a soldier first, then an adept, then an infiltrator, then a vanguard.
I saved Wrex 3 out of 4 times. A game without Wrex is a lesser game indeed.
I cured the genophage 3 times.
I still did NOT shoot Mordin. Shame on you who did.
I killed the geth twice, the quarians once, and once managed to save them both.
I chose twice to beat Garrus on the Citadel, when I was a soldier and when I was an infiltrator. When I romanced him, I let him win, but in the 4th game I didn't do that part at all, because Garrus was already dead. In fact, most of my squad was dead in that game; I think only Jacob and Thane survived the suicide mission. I wanted to see how the game would compensate for all those deaths.
Again, I'm never sure who actually survives the charge to the beam on earth. I remember seeing Garrus dead once, and Javik in a different game. I can't really say more.
Overall, my favorite squadmates are the same as above. Plus Javik, I guess, but somehow I don't use him a lot.
I've been overall paragon 3 times, and once a renegade.

I have beaten the game on Insanity, I have the Long Service Medal; in fact, I have the platinum trophy for the game, so I've done just about everything. I've played hundreds of hours in the multiplayer; no idea how much exactly, but a LOT.

So, yeah. That was fun, going back over the games I played.

 

[Kroxile]

Eh...

I beat ME 2 on insanity and decided its not worth the stress of doing it again.

Anyways, I just finished a complete run through of the trilogy on ps3 maybe 2 hours ago. (My second time through ME2/3 first time through ME1)

I was a manshep
Paragon
Kept Wrex.. cuz he's my bro
Did all loyalty and smartly placed everyone in ME2 so had 100% survival
Spared Mordin (Though I shot him the first time through)
Played as Engineer in ME1 and as adept in 2/3.
Killed Kaidan on Virmire both times (as manshep and femshep)
Killed Quarians (both times.. cuz fuck the Quarians)
I did do enough multiplayer to get 100% readiness at one point
And as someone else said: if you didn't get long service on your first playthrough; you're doing it wrong

 

[piinyouri]

Hmmm, I was curious to see what the percentages were for the different campaign game modes.
One was all cut scenes, one was all combat and the other was the default game.

 

[AD-Stu]

Beat the game on Insanity, and played as an engineer. That must make me a very small percent of players. That so few people beat the game on Insanity is odd, cause once you max your level and fully upgraded powers and gear you pretty much can mop up in the game pretty easily (Aside from a few points in the latter part in the game which were ridiculous).

Huzzah, so I wasn't the only one!

Agree on the difficulty too, I actually found Insanity with an Engineer slightly easier in the difficult spots (like the "defend the missile launcher" bit in the endgame, for example) than I did playing on Hardcore with an Infiltrator.

Survival- ...? WHAT DOES IT EVEN MEEN!?!?!?!?

Yeah, that's bugging me more and more now too - anyone know what that actually means? Is it "still alive at the end of the game" or something based on the number of times they 'die' while out with you on missions? Because aside from Tali I don't actually know how you'd go about perma-killing any of the others on the list during ME3. I know Kaidan, Ashley and Garrus can be killed in previous games that carry through to ME3, but...

 

[Product Placement]

...you can kill Vega?

Also, the reason why he's so "popular" is simple. If I'm guessing how they calculated who your most popular team member is correctly, then it's based on who you choose to be by your side through the majority of the missions.

You start the game where you have to go through the first couple of missions, where you absolutely have to pick Vega, simply because you have two team members, Vega is the other one and you can't play a mission with just one team member. Liara is someone that you pick up in the second mission and Garrus becomes a member in the mission after that. EDI pops up few missions after that. After that, you're stuck with these 4 (unless you picked up the "From Ashes" DLC) until you're halfway through the game. If you're the type that likes to rotate team members, then Vega has a statistical advantage of popping up as the favored team member.

Also, while I didn't hate Vega, HE WAS MORE POPULAR THAN TALI?!?!

Tali and whoever survived Virmire are at a natural disadvantage simply because you get them late in the game and it's possible for them to die during or around the mission where you pick them up. Provided that you do get them, you probably need to play the entire rest of the game, where you'll exclusively pick Tali/Virmire-survivor as your primary companion, while carefully cycling through the other team-members, in a way that they're login time doesn't end up surpassing the one you want to pick as your number 1.

I remember a similar stupid mess in the first game. ME1 had a sett of squad member achievements where if you played through most of the game with a particular team member, you'd end up getting an achievement that I also think gave Shepard the option to pick the unique power of said team member as an extra ability, whenever you started a new game. Getting Kaidan and Ashley was easy but it was more difficult to get anyone else. The reason why is because you play through few missions before you start picking up your alien team mates. Liara comes last, making it almost impossible to get her squad member achievement. I've even heard that it's impossible to get her achievement, unless you pick her up as soon as you leave the Citadel, keep her as your exclusive team-mate and do every single side mission with her, including the DLC mission.

)
Just out of curiousity did anyone side with the salerian Dalatras?

I did! Just once.

That must include the 3.8% that shot Mordin, plus however many shot Padok Wiks, and whatever percentage kept Modrin/Padok alive with Wrex and Bakara dead.

Well, looking at the statistic, only 8% choose to side with the Dalatras and not cure the Genophage. If you played a game, where Wrex is dead (64% of all players) and you didn't save Melon's Genophage research in ME2, then you don't have to shoot Mordin so the statistics don't surprise me. Also, you can't shoot Mordin, if he's already dead and for many, he was a notoriously fragile member in the suicide mission.

The fact that so many players ended up curing the Genophage actually surprises me a little, seeing how many players are playing without Wrex. It's hinted pretty strongly in the game that with Wreav in charge, curing the Genophage is a dangerous prospect. Wreav is likely to start another Krogan rebellion after the Reapers have been dealt with.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

27% of people saved the Quarians? That should probably read "27% of people weren't paying attention when it turned out that the Quarians were the bad guys in that conflict.".

Uh, no.

No no no no no no no no no.

How about "27% of people chose to give the persecuted if somewhat dickish people their home planet back instead of siding with the kitchen appliances and killing millions of mostly innocent people." Much more fitting.

Though obviously saving both is the best option.

OT:
Cool stats. A bit surprised at how few finished insanity. ME2 was far harder.

Though I did notice one stat that made me wonder something....

YOU CAN KILL VEGA? HOW TELL ME HOW RIGHT NOW.

 

[Product Placement]

Cool stats. A bit surprised at how few finished insanity. ME2 was far harder.

I think the ending made allot of people disinterested in attempting another playthrough. Know quite a few people who haven't touched the single player since they finished it the first time.

YOU CAN KILL VEGA? HOW TELL ME HOW RIGHT NOW.

Also would like to know.

Edit: Ugh. Nevermind. I found out.

"If James is in the squad at the final push towards the Conduit, he will be killed by Harbinger if the Effective Military Strength is too low."

Captcha: "Grumpy cat"

...fitting.

 

[floppylobster]

- Did not cure the Genophage.
- Hated Wrex but I met him.
- Have not completed on Insanity yet
- Have earned "Long Service" Medal.
- Achieved 100% Readiness.
- Female Shepard all the way.
- Only saved the Geth.
- Most popular squad mates were Ashley, EDI, Liara. In that order. Hated Tali, never used her.
- Didn't let Garrus win.
- I can't remember but I think I might have shot Mordin. He was all right but I just hated the Krogan so much I didn't want them saved. I might have let him go up and get killed himself. All I remember is there was no way I was letting the cure be released by me.
- Infiltrator, Paragon.

No stats on the romances?

 

[Mikejames]

This data seems to imply that most people who bought the game were new to the franchise, or at the very least didn't import a save.

Yeah, I was surprised at how many people didn't meet Wrex. It saddens me a bit to think of all the people skipping the earlier games...

Also, while I didn't hate Vega, HE WAS MORE POPULAR THAN TALI?!?!

The fact that she wasn't available until Rannoch may need to be taken into account.

 

[Milkman]

The video they released alongside it is actually really touching, or I'm going soft. They've wrapped up the trilogy, then polished it, put a bow on it, set it in cement and dropped it into the ocean. No way they are milking that trilogy any more.

Even though they're making another Mass Effect game?

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Cool stats. A bit surprised at how few finished insanity. ME2 was far harder.

I think the ending made allot of people disinterested in attempting another playthrough. Know quite a few people who haven't touched the single player since they finished it the first time.

That's actually a really good point...

YOU CAN KILL VEGA? HOW TELL ME HOW RIGHT NOW.

Also would like to know.

Edit: Ugh. Nevermind. I found out.

"If James is in the squad at the final push towards the Conduit, he will be killed by Harbinger if the Effective Military Strength is too low."

Captcha: "Grumpy cat"

...fitting.

Feh.....

That's kind of annoying. I guess that means someone else has to die with him AND you get an even shittier ending.

Though it may be worth it to incinerate that Jersey Shore prick once and for all.

 

[I Max95]

about Tali, you need to realize that she comes in well over halfway through the game, effectively cutting her stats significantly, leaving only Ashley and Kaiden below her for the obvious reason that only a fraction of people even had Ashley/Kaiden alive in their playthrough

as to the rest of the stats i'm surprised that, of the people who couldn't peacefully end the war with the Geth, the more popular choice was to save the Geth over the Quarians, on my first playthrough I saved the Quarians, and the Quarians alone, sure their ancestors made mistakes, and they started the war with the Geth, but they were an entire race mostly comprised of people innocent in the struggle, while the Geth CHOSE to ally with the Reapers AGAIN, despite having the military strength to defeat the Quarians (they did it before didn't they) they had their reasons, but with the Reapers fighting to kill EVERY organic in the galaxy, those reasons just weren't good enough. don't get me wrong, on other playthroughs I made sure to have enough reputation to end the war peacefully, but if I have to choose, I choose organics every time

 

[I Max95]

27% of people saved the Quarians? That should probably read "27% of people weren't paying attention when it turned out that the Quarians were the bad guys in that conflict.".

oh, yeah, right, and i'm supposed to ignore the fact that the Geth allied themselves with the Reapers? you know, the ones who want to kill BILLIONS. the first time, it was just the heretics, this time, it was ALL Geth, apart from one.

was it stupid of the Quarians to start the war? yes, did the Geth have their reasons? sure, would I choose peace if I could? absolutely, but if I just didn't have the reputation nessesary, I choose Quarians every time

 

[Product Placement]

This just proves that the target audience for ME3 weren't ME fans and RPG fans, but rather CoD fans. Why else would SO MANY players not meet Wrex and play with soldier class? There's nothing wrong with soldier class, don't get me wrong. But look at the statistics. If it didn't include casual shooter crowd you can bet the statistical difference between soldier and other classes wouldn't be that great.

Yeah, this is 100% wrong, and ill elaborate.

First off, please stop roping CoD players into something as a bad thing. We have already seen there are many people who enjoy CoD as well as ME.

Now, the soldier class... I played the soldier class, why? Because I like to focus on heavy damage from weapons. I dont want to worry about my biotics or techs, so it fits perfectly. I usually have a biotic and a tech on my team though to balance it out. Being able to focus fire on an enemy, without worry about techs/biotics is a very good strategy, and it is EXCITING. You dont have to have tech/biotics for it to be exciting. So maybe people like the simplicity of it? Maybe some people played through only once, and playing as a soldier has a relatively low learning curve?

Also, the soldier class has been in sine ME1, so that invalidates your statement, since ME1 was for sure not built for CoD players.

EDIT: Also, with people making multiple playthroughs, im guessing more people will pick up at least 1 playthrough of Soldier, unlike Tech or Vanguard.

Now, Wrex, as people have said before, many of the players probably came in at ME2 or ME3, and if they didnt get the Genesis pack for ME2, then dead wrex. Mix that in with the renegades, and tada.

not to mention your other options for soldier sucked... and soldier's just cool like that.

Eh. Soldier class isn't needed to do well in this game. In fact, you can easily get through it without relying on powerful weaponry.

My primary character was a Femshep Sentinel. In ME1, hat class was half Enginner, half Biotic, no weapon skills. She would go on all of her missions with Tali and Liara and all three would be exclusively equipped with pistols.

...I called them my angels.

 

[I Max95]

The video they released alongside it is actually really touching, or I'm going soft. They've wrapped up the trilogy, then polished it, put a bow on it, set it in cement and dropped it into the ocean. No way they are milking that trilogy any more.

Even though they're making another Mass Effect game?

they're done with the TRILOGY, three game story arc, over and done with

doesn't mean they can't go to new places with a new story in the same universe

i'm not against the idea, I just hope they take their time with the next game, if they don't, well, we'll lump ME in with all those other franchises that USED to be good

 

[Shocksplicer]

27% of people saved the Quarians? That should probably read "27% of people weren't paying attention when it turned out that the Quarians were the bad guys in that conflict.".

Uh, no.

No no no no no no no no no.

How about "27% of people chose to give the persecuted if somewhat dickish people their home planet back instead of siding with the kitchen appliances and killing millions of mostly innocent people." Much more fitting.

Though obviously saving both is the best option.

OT:
Cool stats. A bit surprised at how few finished insanity. ME2 was far harder.

Though I did notice one stat that made me wonder something....

YOU CAN KILL VEGA? HOW TELL ME HOW RIGHT NOW.

Or, "27% of people chose to give the rightfully persecuted arseholes the planet instead of the relatively innocent, intelligent Geth"

 

[Monster_user]

It felt as though ME3 was just one big survey, wonder what other information they are waiting to release.

27% of people saved the Quarians? That should probably read "27% of people weren't paying attention when it turned out that the Quarians were the bad guys in that conflict.".

oh, yeah, right, and i'm supposed to ignore the fact that the Geth allied themselves with the Reapers? you know, the ones who want to kill BILLIONS. the first time, it was just the heretics, this time, it was ALL Geth, apart from one.

was it stupid of the Quarians to start the war? yes, did the Geth have their reasons? sure, would I choose peace if I could? absolutely, but if I just didn't have the reputation nessesary, I choose Quarians every time

ME3 explained that as the Geth were hacked by the Reapers. It further explained this as being the Geth were not living intelligence, and truly just robots with VI. Hence Legion's sacrifice.

Destroying the Geth would not have been any more unethical than fragging an enemy in a game. I would feel sorry for Legion, but there are more Quarians than living Geth.

I would also be left wondering if the Geth were alive, or not, despite evidence to the contrary.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

27% of people saved the Quarians? That should probably read "27% of people weren't paying attention when it turned out that the Quarians were the bad guys in that conflict.".

Uh, no.

No no no no no no no no no.

How about "27% of people chose to give the persecuted if somewhat dickish people their home planet back instead of siding with the kitchen appliances and killing millions of mostly innocent people." Much more fitting.

Though obviously saving both is the best option.

OT:
Cool stats. A bit surprised at how few finished insanity. ME2 was far harder.

Though I did notice one stat that made me wonder something....

YOU CAN KILL VEGA? HOW TELL ME HOW RIGHT NOW.

Or, "27% of people chose to give the rightfully persecuted arseholes the planet instead of the relatively innocent, intelligent Geth"

More accurately, "27% of people gave the planet back to the people who have been wrongfully persecuted by most of the galaxy and only wanted their home back and picked the living, mostly innocent people in their fleet over the peices of hardware, only one of which even comes close to approaching life"

......Ok, these are getting too long. Can we just drop the pretense and argue about this properly?

 

[AD-Stu]

I remember a similar stupid mess in the first game. ME1 had a sett of squad member achievements where if you played through most of the game with a particular team member, you'd end up getting an achievement that I also think gave Shepard the option to pick the unique power of said team member as an extra ability, whenever you started a new game. Getting Kaidan and Ashley was easy but it was more difficult to get anyone else. The reason why is because you play through few missions before you start picking up your alien team mates. Liara comes last, making it almost impossible to get her squad member achievement. I've even heard that it's impossible to get her achievement, unless you pick her up as soon as you leave the Citadel, keep her as your exclusive team-mate and do every single side mission with her, including the DLC mission.

From memory those achievements made an allowance for Liara since you couldn't get her until later but yeah, it still required three full playthroughs (using two different squadmates almost exclusively on each one) to get that achievement.

As for Tali in ME3, I still stand by what I said earlier: it's not just that you get her later in the game that's a factor. You also need to take into account the fact that, even once she's selectable, she's not very popular as a squadmate because her build in ME3 doesn't really lend itself to the direction the combat has gone with tech/biotic combos playing such a huge role.

What I'm saying is that even if she had've been selectable right from the start of the game, I still wouldn't be surprised if her "popularity" were pretty similar to what they are now.

 

[Shocksplicer]

27% of people saved the Quarians? That should probably read "27% of people weren't paying attention when it turned out that the Quarians were the bad guys in that conflict.".

Uh, no.

No no no no no no no no no.

How about "27% of people chose to give the persecuted if somewhat dickish people their home planet back instead of siding with the kitchen appliances and killing millions of mostly innocent people." Much more fitting.

Though obviously saving both is the best option.

OT:
Cool stats. A bit surprised at how few finished insanity. ME2 was far harder.

Though I did notice one stat that made me wonder something....

YOU CAN KILL VEGA? HOW TELL ME HOW RIGHT NOW.

Or, "27% of people chose to give the rightfully persecuted arseholes the planet instead of the relatively innocent, intelligent Geth"

More accurately, "27% of people gave the planet back to the people who have been wrongfully persecuted by most of the galaxy and only wanted their home back and picked the living, mostly innocent people in their fleet over the peices of hardware, only one of which even comes close to approaching life"

......Ok, these are getting too long. Can we just drop the pretense and argue about this properly?

OK fine. Every single bad thing that happened to the Quarians they brought on themselves. They enslaved a race of synthetic beings, then tried to commit genocide on them when they realised they were intelligent. They fled the planet because the Geth defended themselves, then spent centuries without a home, despite the fact that the Geth were perfectly willing to negotiate the entire time, the Quarians just never asked. Then, at the climax of the war, the Quarians (Admittedly just one extremist but the rest of the fleet would have followed) decided to continue trying to commit said genocide, despite the fact that they know peace is possible. If they go through with this, the Geth are forced to defend themselves. And finally, if the Quarians are able to commit genocide, they all celebrate by throwing a fucking party celebrating the unjust destruction of an intelligent race. If the Geth win, they express sorrow that it has come to this.

Whereas your argument is: They're synthetic, so they don't matter.