Your Favorite Location in Mass Effect

[Mycroft Holmes]

Azure.

But really, Illium. Love the architecture and the whole atmosphere of super classy libertarian world where most everything is pretty awesome. Nice places to live, tons of culture and food and entertainment. Everything is great at least until you piss off the corporate thugs that outclass the planets police force.

 

[The_Scrivener]

The ME1 side quest planet where you had to catch monkeys.


I actually like Purgatory, at least as a concept. Omega is cool too. I like Virmire okay, but it sort of looks like a bad outdated mall. Really bland though I like the outside world and the general feel.

 

[Mossberg Shotty]

I forget what the planet's name was, but the optional planet in Mass Effect One that has the asteroids impacting it when you get there. I just liked how that planet looked.

Terra Nova?

It's Omega for me. I relished returning to it in 3, even though it wasn't quite the visit I would've liked.

Citadel's coming in a close second, though, thanks to the Citadel DLC.

I was wondering if that DLC actually added anything, I think I'll check it out sometime.

Mine would be the Monastery from the third one. A beautiful mountainous temple filled with sexually repressed aliens? Very zen.

 

[Ravinoff]

Hmm...I gotta say, I did like Omega in ME2, like a number of people have said already. Tuchanka was extremely well-done too. I think my absolute favourite has to be Rannoch, though, if only because it was the apex of my ME3 experience. See, my Shep romanced Tali (of course, she's adorable) and made peace with the Geth, and seeing all that come together while killing a Reaper with the combined guns of the whole Migrant Fleet was amazing.

For those of you who went through that sequence in the same way I did, just...that one little exchange between Tali and Shep as he gets out of the Geth APC. You know the one. "Keelah se'lai." All I'm gonna say on that subject, if you played it you'll know what I mean.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

I forget what the planet's name was, but the optional planet in Mass Effect One that has the asteroids impacting it when you get there. I just liked how that planet looked.

Terra Nova?

It's Omega for me. I relished returning to it in 3, even though it wasn't quite the visit I would've liked.

Citadel's coming in a close second, though, thanks to the Citadel DLC.

I was wondering if that DLC actually added anything, I think I'll check it out sometime.

Mine would be the Monastery from the third one. A beautiful mountainous temple filled with sexually repressed aliens? Very zen.

I do highly recommend you do check out the Citadel DLC. It adds quite a lot, IMO. A plot for combat, a plot for remembering the good times with your crew, several side missions, some new weapon experiences, and a lot of in jokes.
It also adds an offline arena battle as well which gives an opportunity to play with squad mates you hadn't gotten the chance to in 3.

It's really worth the money, IMO.

... you do realize those sexually repressed aliens kill painfully when they snu snu, right?
I recommend an Asari retirement home. About 32 seconds in, he explains it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSdVXmWLMp0
If that's your thing anyhow.

 

[Username Redacted]

Ilos is an easy choice for me. It's a beautifully designed graveyard of a civilization. The designs feel alien and alive even though (any it conveys this well) your party and the Geth that precede your are the first things to explore the planet in millenia. I wish that this region had been revisited in ME2 or ME3 (or both). I would probably pick up a game that just allowed me to explore this planet.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Either Virmire or Sur Kesh. I love tropics/jungle environments, so those two certainly stand out to me. The place where you go for Jacob's loyalty mission as well, as does Ilos. Ilos was actually really damn cool, walking through the Inusannon ruins, seeing their statues, and the overgrown nature that was swallowing them up. Awesome stuff.

 

[Mossberg Shotty]

I do highly recommend you do check out the Citadel DLC. It adds quite a lot, IMO. A plot for combat, a plot for remembering the good times with your crew, several side missions, some new weapon experiences, and a lot of in jokes.
It also adds an offline arena battle as well which gives an opportunity to play with squad mates you hadn't gotten the chance to in 3.

It's really worth the money, IMO.

... you do realize those sexually repressed aliens kill painfully when they snu snu, right?
I recommend an Asari retirement home. About 32 seconds in, he explains it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSdVXmWLMp0
If that's your thing anyhow.

Thanks for bringing me up to speed on the whole Citadel thing, I might just check it out. Maybe it'll de-throne the Monastery as my favorite place in the ME universe. I feel like I should point out that the whole 'Asari who kill you with their vaginas' thing didn't really influence my high opinion of that place. It's just nice, has a very Asian feel, and I love oriental stuff, have a few Chinese tats, myself.

That video is actually really touching near the end, I should have listened to them more often.

But it occurs to me that the average retirement age of an Asari would be something like 1,000+ years. I wouldn't say that's my "thing"...

 

[Smeggs]

Oh! Oh!

The Normandy crash site Pre-Order DLC for two is another one I really liked. God, it was just so...lonely.

And the wreckage of the MSV Estevanico (that crashed ship that you need to go to to collect info from, and as Shepard runs around on it the entire thing is quaking and tilting).


That early morning sunrise, those haunting metal groans, and every now and then you can hear bird calls...just amazing.

 

[AD-Stu]

Is it cheating to nominate the Normandy? Because it's my favourite place by far in the whole ME universe.

After that though there's all sorts - Sur'Kesh in ME3 was beautiful, wish we could've spent more time there. The MSV Estevanico bit was a big favourite for me in ME2, so damn impressive. Despite the fact that it was just a linear drive in the Mako I really liked the Aleutsk (sp?) Valley on Noveria in ME1. The Mars base in ME3 was great too, as was finally getting to see bits of future-Earth. Setting foot on a Quarian liveship in ME2 was another great moment.

Before it seems like I just loved every bit, Feros didn't do much for me in ME1 and I found Thessia really underwhelming.

 

[King Billi]

Virmire and numerous optional worlds in Mass Effect 1, Omega and Illium in Mass Effect 2 and Surkesh, Rannoch and Despoina(The final level of the Leviathan DLC)in Mass Effect 3.

Basically anywhere with vast sweeping vistas that I can stop for a second and just admire, I don't like spaceship interiors or spacestations as much as they generally feel too confined and uninteresting although there are some exceptions.

I actually didn't care much for Omega on my first playthrough as I thought it was all interior and it wasn't until my second playthrough that I actually looked up and took in the view right at the beginning, it really made the whole place seem so much more real and expansive.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

I do highly recommend you do check out the Citadel DLC. It adds quite a lot, IMO. A plot for combat, a plot for remembering the good times with your crew, several side missions, some new weapon experiences, and a lot of in jokes.
It also adds an offline arena battle as well which gives an opportunity to play with squad mates you hadn't gotten the chance to in 3.

It's really worth the money, IMO.

... you do realize those sexually repressed aliens kill painfully when they snu snu, right?
I recommend an Asari retirement home. About 32 seconds in, he explains it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSdVXmWLMp0
If that's your thing anyhow.

Thanks for bringing me up to speed on the whole Citadel thing, I might just check it out. Maybe it'll de-throne the Monastery as my favorite place in the ME universe. I feel like I should point out that the whole 'Asari who kill you with their vaginas' thing didn't really influence my high opinion of that place. It's just nice, has a very Asian feel, and I love oriental stuff, have a few Chinese tats, myself.

That video is actually really touching near the end, I should have listened to them more often.

But it occurs to me that the average retirement age of an Asari would be something like 1,000+ years. I wouldn't say that's my "thing"...

I see. Sorry for misreading the reasons of your liking of the place, then.

They don't kill with their geneitals, though, the Ardat Yakshi(sp?) burn out your nervous system with the merger they do. Gah, I probably know way too much about Mass Effect. lol

I definitrely made it a point to listen to Ken, and Gabbie while playing the game. They're part of an amazing support cast. There's still gems of exchanges between them you haven't heard yet, so there's definitely reason to visit them, still.

Citadel DLC has touching moments, too. It has a great blend of story elements, IMO.

 

[King of Asgaard]

I'm throwing my vote in for Virmire because of what happens there.

Spoiler: Mass Effect 1 spoilers

That, and leaving that worthless **** Ashley behind to be disintegrated by a nuke.

Illos is another good one, because it's the final resting place of the Protheans, and because of one special NPC.

Spoiler: more spoilers

I love this VI. :'(

EDIT: How did I forget the Collector Base?! That place rocks, if only for the hour of epicness that is the Suicide Mission.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I really enjoyed Virmire and Noveria from the first game, as well as the red planet where War Hero Shepard gets ambushed by an old enemy from the Blitz.

I found most of the locations from the next two games rather dull. They were either gunmetal grey or washed in piss yellow light that made every map look like somebody coated vaseline over my screen. Even on jungle planets that were supposed to be green.

 

[AidoZonkey]

Illium or the Collector base as these areas really gave me the feel the I was exploring something alien. Illium was just so futuristic it really felt like a new world and the Collector base felt like a living organism mixed in with the dirt of a dead planet, so wrong it had to be alien. As such these locations were so much fun to explore and felt unique in the game

 

[skywolfblue]

Illium, it just has an awesome aesthetic and story going for it, clean buildings with lots of neon and a criminal underground.

 

[stroopwafel]

ME2 was the first game I played in the series and I'd definitely say the derelict Reaper as well. There was something still really creepy and mysterious about it. It reminded me of some half-finished gigantic Terminator. The actual story of the game took a backseat to the truly excellent characterization and I think it was for the better. ME3(while still a good game) really delved into the origins and purpose of the Reapers with the narrative leaving nothing left unexplained, while I personally preferred the mystery and ambiguity of this emerging threat(their 'purpose' also made no sense to me but alas that is for another topic ).

Still though that particular scene is one of my favorite ME2 moments. Which also remains my favorite game in the series.

 

[AD-Stu]

I can't remember the name of the planet, but one of them was a red one where, if you stood in the right place, the way the sun would glisten down over the horizon and overall environment would grab you and just made you feel as close to being a fantasy space-explorer as anything currently could.

Yeah, some of those moments in ME1 were truly great.

Presrop was a personal favourite of mine, where if you look up into the sky you can see the Great Rift Valley on Klendagon - just like you read about when you orbited Klendagon a moment earlier. Very cool moment.

 

[Miyenne]

Ilos for the sense of awe, the collector's base for being creeped out, and the Normandy for all the interactions with the crew, especially Joker (and EDI) and Garrus. And all the cute little conversations you caught between crew members. Made it feel homey.

 

[TheYellowManalishi]

Freedom's Progress is a good one, just that, foreboding, Aliens-esque feel when you first exit the shuttle, and everything's so peaceful, but you know that the shit went down not so long ago.

Bekenstein from the Kasumi DLC, simply because it was exactly how I imagined my own Bond-villain lair.

Also Chronos Station from ME3. Always wanted to go inside the IM's office and wreck the place, and that's exactly what they let me do.