So, towards the end of my 2 weeks holiday, from work, I just completed Mass effect 3. This was a carry on from playing Mass effect 1 and 2 in order over the last few weeks, on pc with carry over save files.
I played as fem shep- default fem shep in each game since any alterations I make tend to be hideous.
Keep in mind that a couple of weeks before this run through I played mass effect 3 as my first game in the series on my Wii U, courtesy of my partner forcing me to try it.
The bug tuck hold and as I played the whole game I realised I didn't understand or like some of the choices I made in the comic. I lost some people that I didn't wish to lose. Some people weren't around and I didn't know why, and until I completed it I didn't understand what some of the choices I had made were.
So, I went back. I turned on my steam versions of mass effect, bought 3 on origin ready and made the long trek to last night. I bought the DLC for number 2(£12 for kasumi and whatever the other dlc was- it's been a long time since last week), and all the relevant content dlc for 3 which added lots of hours on top of the wii u version and lots of enjoyable content, which it should since it cost an additional £30.
Through the whole of this I played it on easy. Yes I hear you take a sharp intake of breath but seriously I don't have any more hours to give to this game. I wish there wasn't such a stigma on easy mode. In mass effect shepard is made more powerful and that's the only alteration it makes. It's fun, you run into an area, it's still a slight challenge in places, and you just go and kick ass. In the end mass effect isn't about skill to me, it's about the story.
I spent 30-40 hours with these people above in mass effect 3. I watched them thrive and live life, I went to the death bed of one character and their memorial in the dlc. I went on dates. I pointlessly did 182 pull ups for absolutely no reason than Vega could get off on it.
I had a wonderful couple of dates with my beautiful Garrussy Warussy and genuinely enjoyed myself and I honestly believe that if easy mode wasn't there, I wouldn't be able to do that.
Sure I could play it on normal and waste an extra 10 hours of my life, and gain what? A hundred more game overs and the tears at being unable to become better at fps games?
I might be the only one that thinks like this, but regardless of gameplay the only thing I care about is the story.
Maybe Mass effect was close enough to being a visual novel that the gameplay doesn't bother me so much, or maybe I just like shooting fire as engineer class and watching the enemies go down without a fight.
I don't know. What I do know is that it shouldn't matter if I tell a person "I prefer easy mode" it shouldn't need to be a dirty little secret. Maybe it's just the preferred option for those that have lives or those that have an extensive backlog to get through.
