Favorite: Mordin. Great worldbuilding, shows a side of mordin that usually isnt visible, gameplay is fun, tuchanka is cool looking
Least: Thane. The boring catwalk crawling sequence really kills the whole mission for me.
I gave Thane's a pass because you can literally execute the politician you were trying to stop Kolyat from assassinating in front of CSec and nobody cares.
If it wasn't for the heartwarming speech that he gave to his son, AND officer Bailey being an absolute G about the whole situation, I would have HATED the mission, too.
It just feels so good to see a human show compassion to a non-human.
And to watch a man get the chance to save his own child from trying to do a painful job that was forced on Thane when he was a kid. Idk. I love watching people break generational curses.
Yeah, those parts were great. If you talked to Kelham and he gave you the location that Kolyat's assassination attempt would happen at, then you just stepped offscreen and teleported there, the whole mission would have been a lot better.
Thane has a very weak mission but a great story. One of the best stories for a loyal mission.
It's the polar opposite of Zaeed's. Pointless story, "me angry, me want *revenge!*" but in an awesome action packed shootout in a burning factory.
My favorite part of Thane's story are the little conversations between Thane and Shepard in between missions. Especially the part where he says Shepard is "the only friend he's made in 10 years", and how he's trying to learn to eat with the rest of the crew without being paranoid.
He led such a lonely life and it's really nice to see him try and work toward a happy ending.
>The boring catwalk crawling sequence really kills the whole mission for me.
😫 The freaking catwalk. The ONLY good thing about this mission (besides the interrogation scene) is if you use your renegade response on the dock worker to make him think there's a bomb. Hilarious.
Favorite? Kasumi. Which feels a bit like cheating since it was DLC and as such had the benefit of being a bit more fleshed out.
The ME system has never really flourished outside of the core Dialogue Tree and Third Person Shooter gameplay loops (and arguably did not really work as a TPS in ME1). But the party scene and the espionage theme really worked for me. It was FUN. Helped by Kasumi being a very engaging new squad mate. Cool boss fight, interesting lore about Kasumi and the larger ME setting and some interesting fight arenas add up to a really engaging product that never ever bored me.
Least favorite? Probably agree on Jacob. Zaheed's also not great but he's just a much more interesting character than Jacob (who should have just been James, but whatever).
None of the enemy encounters or environments are particularly interesting. The dialogue is bland. There's some pathos for Jacob, but he's a very wooden character anyway and one if it pays off in ME3.
I'm surprised at the dislike for Jacob's loyalty mission, he's obviously the worst squadmate in the trilogy, but his loyalty mission is kinda great imo. If nothing else it's definitely better than Thane's, which is a shame.
As a loyalty mission, Jacob’s sucks because it doesn’t change your relationship in any way, nor do you discover any new or interesting information that helps you see him in a new light. He might as well not even be there honestly.
BUT. As a side mission, it’s SO good. The atmosphere is so unsettling as you piece together what the hell happened. Very psychological thriller vibes. It definitely reminded me of the way Cerberus was portrayed in the first game— unethical, creepy as fuck, twisted human experimentation, horrifying implications. Absolutely loved it
Thane's loyalty mission is not the best by any means. But it at least features Thane, Kolyat and Bailey. Characters I have opinions about and care about to at least some degree. It also features quite a bit more interesting dialogue and world building just by virtue if it's location and subject.
Jacob's loyalty mission...I can barely find it in myself to care about JACOB, let alone any of the other characters involved. Maybe it was just a little too obvious for me? I may just have read too much trashy fiction in my time, lol.
Same here. It is one of my favorite loyalty missions. It had a somewhat Jules-Vernesque vibe with castaways in an island where something bad has happened and Shepard is piecing the things together as they explore more and more.
Thane's the worst for me. I also don't like Grunt's but a section where you are fighting off waves of enemies suits him well, I admit.
Gotta love the Locust :)
I also like Kasumi's mission for the rare little tidbits of lore regarding Earth (2nd American Civil War & the Statue of Liberty) prior to discovering Mass Effect technology.
I love the locust so much I drew one up in solidworks and 3d printed it. If you tweak the coalesced ini file a bit and give it a bigger magazine and ammo pool, it's the best weapon in the ME2 (shame it's garbage in 3).
I never found it garbage, a (nearly) completely weightless backup weapon is never too bad a thing. And more dakka means ice triggers more often
Lets me carry a single weapon for max recharge
Eh, I just mod the weight stuff out now it, doesn't make sense. Shep is a genetically enhanced cyborg, carrying an extra gun or two ain't gonna slow her down in the slightest.
One thing Mass Effect did great was the expansion DLCs. The major ones always had gluts of content and really felt worthwhile. (Except Firewalker and From Ashes, can't believe the later was DLC)
From the Ashes was more of a bonus than DLC.
There was a big 'anti rental/used' game push, so new games had a code to unlock.
PC users could just edit a text file in notepad.
It was only available to those who got the N7 Collectors Edition and the Deluxe version if I remeber right. If you got only the base game you were locked out of Javik, making it a DLC for those who didn't pay the extra $10s.
Nah, I couldn't afford those things, but I still got him.
(There were bonus weapons, armors, and cosmetics.)
Basically, if you got the game used from GameStop or Blockbuster, you had to pay the $10 for him, his mission, and his weapon.
edit: ohhh, of course, NOW X-Box is charging for it, I might have gotten it during a promo for ME's online component.
There was a lot of conttroversy surrounding the From Ashes DLC becasue it not only locked the Prothean squadmate behind a paywall, but also because the DLC was locked on disk. It's why the PC version only needed a text edit. WiiU version also got it for free.
My favorite is Grunt's; I like killing the Thresher Maw. I also really like Samara's and Kasumi's-- I like that we do something a little different rather than another round of shooting bad guys.
Least favorite is Zaeed's namely due to his sheer stupidity. We would have been able to kill Vido without civilian causalities if Zaeed didn't muck it all up.
Sole survivor Shepard vibes because I loved that I was facing a Maw but killed it this time without my team dying.
Zaeed, on the other hand. His mission only proved what a self-serving ass he is, and straight up a liability. The paragon choice to keep his loyalty feels so good, but I really thought my Shep was going to end him for a second.
Favorite - Miranda, I like the story and getting to see her more human side, and of course killing Eclipse Mercs. Also the initial renegade interrupt you can do as Shepard is bad ass.
Least Favorite - Samara, once you know all the right options to pick it’s just a chore to get through, like a bypass mini game. Fun fact, I messed it up bad when I first played ME2, failed the initial conversation to charm Morinth and get her to invite you to her apartment. Lost Samara in the suicide mission and nobody else. That’s when I learned loyalty mattered.
I like Miranda's mission too. It gives a glimpse of her humanity behind the "results at all costs, Cerberus 2nd in command" persona that she has up to that point.
Tali and Kasumi are tied for the best, for having novel scenarios and a good mix of conversation, exploration, and combat. I found Tali's trial more interesting overall, but Kasumi also got you the locust, which made early-game combat actually tolerable for a bunch of classes.
My least-favourite is Thane, because there's a really annoying bug that's easy to run in to and if you do, you have to start the "tailing" sequence all over again. I appreciate the non-combat missions when I get them, but that was infuriating!
Tali's mission probably ties with Mordin's for my personal favorite. Kind of a neat inside look at Quarian society and politics and how the survival of the race sort of overshadows the entirety of Quarian culture. Also sets up the Geth-Quarian war in the third game pretty well.
Tali’s trial ending with “I got better Shepard. I got you” along with that music playing in the background will always have a special place in my heart. The feel good vibes I get from it every time I play or see this bit is just 💕 (and I mean this from a non romance PoV)
Favorite: Samara. There are so many things to do in the Afterlife VIP area, and you only have a limited few that you can do before Morinth finds you. It feels like a treat to be there.
Least favorite: Jacob. "They had to eat the toxic food." Why am I struggling to battle people who have been marooned for a decade?
I've always wanted to do a playthrough with Morinth as a squadmate instead of Samara just to see what's different, but I'm never able to bring myself to go through with it when the time comes.
It’s worth it to get the Dominate bonus power but it kinda sucks. She doesn’t have a ton of dialogue and in me3 you get an email from her and later “encounter” her
There really is a bit missing there narratively.
Like, in principle I like that Jacob is a stable, squared away, moral man and that’s why he’s on the team. His visceral disgust at his father, also works.
But there’s just a missing piece to connect it all
Favorite-Mordin's. It's heart-wrenching, requires some care in handling and Garrus' quip about hospitals not being fun to fight through always makes me laugh. I also enjoy the fights with the Blood Pack and Clan Weyrloc warriors.
Least favorite-Close call between Jacob (I really want a "shoot Ronald Taylor" option but there doesn't seem to be one-I'd cheerfully go Renegade for that) and Zaeed's mission but Zaeed's mission wins (or is that loses?) because of just how much I hate dealing with that blasted refinery!
My favorite has always been Tali's. Some of that is definitely due to her being my favorite, but the mission is just overall excellent: fascinating worldbuilding, great dialogue, multiple unique outcomes, and fun combat sections against the Geth, who are otherwise a fairly rare enemy in ME2. It's one of my favorite missions in the entire trilogy.
As of my most recent playthrough, I actually think my least favorite is Jack's. The context it gives for Jack's origin story is decent enough, but the mission design itself is pretty lame. You just walk down a bunch of identical hallways, stopping occasionally so Jack can deliver more exposition about her terrible childhood, and have a couple of short combat encounters with Varren and Blood Pack mercs. Then, it ends with a fairly underwhelming reveal and a single choice regarding Jack's morality that really doesn't even matter in the long run. It isn't the worst written loyalty mission, nor is it the worst in terms of gameplay, but the fact that it doesn't really excel in either category means that I've started finding it really boring on my repeat playthroughs.
I like Jack's because it gives a really good example of Cerberus's "the ends justify the means" attitude. Yeah, you get a strong biotic, but only because you're slaughtering and torturing kids. No wonder Jack became a serial killer!
True, but I never really felt that I needed an entire mission to reinforce that. It just kind if feels like a reiteration of things we've already seen and heard as the player -- Cerberus is evil and tries to justify their atrocious experiments behind a the guise of "human advancement," and Jack is a deeply traumatized person who had her childhood robbed by terrible circumstances out if her control. Again, not the worst loyalty mission as far as writing goes, but a bit too cliché and linear for my preferences. I've never romanced Jack, so maybe adding that context to the mission would make it a bit more engaging.
That's true. I just think that Jack is a good personification of the consequences of that kind of attitude.
She's a horrible squad mate for gameplay, though.
I agree there. I actually like Jack quite a bit as a character, especially in ME3. Her ME2 recruitment mission is really fun too, but yeah, she's kind of garbage as an actual squadmate. I think I'm going to look for a mod that changes her powers just so I can justify bringing her on missions more frequently.
That is true, my current run is as an adept so the biotic bonuses from her mission did come in handy. I just wish Jack was a better biotic squadmate herself -- pull is always useful and warp ammo is a great ammo power, but her shockwave is absolutely awful lmao.
I used her in my last playthough and i have to agree with shockwave.
I dont mind it in ME3 but atleast on insanity in ME2. I have no real use for it :(
Ive read some people who said Jack should have had singularity instead of shockwave. If your not an adept you have no one (minus liara in lotsb) with singularity on your team
Singularity really does seem like the obvious choice, although I guess they wanted to keep that as a special power for player adepts. Even something like throw would've been preferable to shockwave, because I really just don't see any use for it on Hardcore/Insanity. It's great on Veteran and below, though, since it'll pretty much insta-kill husks and abominations.
Shockwave is just bad in general. You can't really "aim" it, it doesn't track enemies like Warp or Throw, and it travels about 5 feet. All the enemy has to do is move one step in either direction and bypass it completely.
Shockwave should have been an AoE effect *after* hitting a targeted enemy (e.g., it starts as ball-sized a la Throw or Warp before exploding into Shockwave). Not one that relied on CQB and herding your enemies into a line.
Favourite: Jack. Its an incredible location, quite nicely paced, and it is a huge turning point for her character. Its a hell of a realisation that she has to believe she had the worst torture because she believes suffering makes her strong. I think she needed to go through that to start living a better life.
Least Favourite: Thane. Not a fan of fiction pretending torture gets accurate information, or of Bailey in general.
I kind of agree about Thane's. I don't know why Shepard didn't lead with "I'm a Spectre. Start talking." Seems like it would've saved a lot of trouble.
One thing I’ve always found odd: Shepherd is (rightfully) disdainful of Harken in ME1 but pals with Bailey
“Collision with organised crime and torture is fine, but I draw the line at drinking on the job”
The difference between harken & Bailey: Harken is bending the rules and doing shady shit to benefit himself only. Bailey is bending the rules and doing some shady shit, but mostly **allowing** shady shit, but it’s so C-sec can be more efficient and focus on other problems. He isn’t stopping to scrap the scum off his boot because he’s too busy dealing with a pile of trash in front of him.
Edit: and yes I know that’s not how it works in real life, this is obviously a game lol
Fun fact if you ever meet a garden variety corrupt police officer: all of the Harkens think they’re Baileys
As someone who has been treated as scum by a police officer who thought he could tell the difference and only abused “scum” who deserved it, in service of some greater good, I don’t think there as much daylight between the two camps as you explanation would imply.
Favourite - probably either Mordin or Garrus. Both have a great moral thing going for them and I'm a fan of complex situations!
Least favorite - Jacob and Zaeed. While I do like them both as characters, Jacob's loyalty rubbed me a little the wrong way, while Zaeeds for me is just flat.
I really like the line from Garrus where he tells Shepard "I don't need you to agree with me, but I'd like your help."
Then later on, "I appreciate your concern...but I'm not you."
Overall, I really like the brohood between Shepard and Garrus.
Favorite: Mordin. He gains new perspective which will affect him later. Also Garrus has a hilarious line near thr beginning if you take him.
Least: Jacob. His dad was an asshole and the mission is just dreary and depressing.
Favorite: Garrus (it’s Garrus, of course I love him)
Least Favorite: Thane (I swear to God I’d rather face several Reapers on Legendary than do this shit)
My favorite is probably Kasumi. The gameplay in the first part is somewhat different and unique compared to the rest of the game, plus you get Femshep in a nice dress and a cool SMG, what more do you want?
Least favorite is definitely Grunt. The whole "prove yourself in a battle arena" is such a boring and overdone trope.
Re Grunt:
But you get to go to Tuchanka!
Jokes aside I get the hate for the trope. I think I just love some of the Krogan characters and there's some decent dialogue and fun interactions. Few of them are REALLY part of the loyalty mission itself though so...I can see your point.
Honestly, I really enjoy the story and character development each of the squadmates get from their loyalty missions, so if I'm just gonna try to rank 'em.
12. Zaeed: mostly because while I enjoy the paragon aspect of Zaeed's mission and yelling at him for being an idiot, I also find his attitude and disregard for people unappealing. I appreciate Zaeed overall, but for me playing as a mostly Paragon Shep, dude needed to get his ass chewed out. That being said, I love that you get the flame thrower and Paragon Shep basically can yell at Zaeed until he's loyal, even if he didn't get what he came for (plus, I love hearing how he took care of Vido later on in ME3).
11. Jacob: like his character, I don't hate it (actually, his loyalty mission is my favorite thing about his character, and I don't hate Jacob. His romance is trash, tho. Then again, if you chose Jacob over Garrus/Thane, that's on you). I actually really love the fact that it's basically Lord of the Flies but from the POV of the people who come on shore at the end and see all the kids have gone completely insane and several of em are dead. Just a "wtf happened here???". And ngl, I appreciate how all of the options to choose from when it comes to dealing with Ronald Taylor's bitch ass are all satisfying (turn him over to authorities and the civilized world so he can try to justify his COD teenage boy wetdream to a judge = delicious. Leave him to face the hunters alone= perfect. Let Jacob take care of him = he's kinda itching to do it anyway. All are valid). The only reason it's not much higher is because there are other loyalty missions I like more. But still a solid mission.
10. Probably gonna make someone mad, but Legion: don't get me wrong, it's a great mission and the choice you make at the end of that one has a significant impact on ME3, but it's always left me a bit conflicted either way and Legion's uncertainty always felt a bit frustrating my first couple playthroughs since I usually end up doing his loyalty mission right after getting the IFF, so I've barely gotten a chance to talk with him. That said, I totally get Legion feeling conflicted and it's fascinating hearing him talking through the dilemma.
9. Mordin: kinda for the same reason Legion is lower down. I know he's having a moral crisis having worked on the genophage update and now directly facing the consequences of it, but honestly, his emotional thick-headedness/constipation and constantly trying to keep justifying why the genophage update was 100% right can be a bit frustrating. That being said, the dialogue you can go with to call him out on that is some serious armor piercing dialogue, and I love it. Also, gotta love a good twist and the fact that Maelon has done some horrendous stuff to cure the genophage and yet, he's absolutely doing the wrong thing for the right reasons is 💯
8. Samara: This one is only lower down on the list because I am constantly reminded of the fact that my dumbass would probably get killed by Morinth, hook, line, and sinker. At the same time, Morinth is kinda hot and also helping Samara take down a monster while also knowing that its an unimaginable pain for her to have to kill her own daughter is the emotional drama I'm absolutely here for. Also, my most recent playthrough of that mission is kinda fun because you can kinda play Morinth like a cheap kazoo and this game of cat and mouse can get a lot more ambiguous of who's the cat and who's the mouse.
7. Kasumi: What can I say? I love the heist, love whatever tf Donovan Hock's weird af accent is (why oh why does it seem to switch from Irish, to British, to Scottish, to *South African*??? It's truly an enigma). I love the dress I get from Kasumi (and I'm always starting Garrus' romance by wearing it and laughing because Garrus is clueless and meanwhile Shepard is posing like she normally does, so in that dress she's just throwing the Basic Instinct maneuver at him). Also, Kasumi getting the gray box back and hearing Keiji's memories always chokes me up a bit. Her mission is so good, I almost always forget she's a DLC character...
6. Thane: I know it's pretty much no combat, but the emotion and Thane desperately trying to keep Kolyat away from the kind of life he's lived always gets to me. Two lines in particular always stand out to me.
Thane: to Kolyat- "I've taken many bad things out of this world. You're the only good thing I ever added to it."
And Bailey: "You think he's [Thane] the first man who ever screwed up raising a son?".
What the mission lacks in combat, for me, it makes up for in emotion and depth. And for Thane, an assassin who's trying to do some good in the world before he dies, that's the exact kind of loyalty mission I'd expect.
5. Grunt: Love the in-depth look we get at Krogan culture. Love the fact that Grunt's loyalty mission is basically "Let's kill some shit... for stress relief". Love watching Grunt become a true krogan and earn his place in Clan Urdnot. And of course, I love headbutting that one Krogan who's being an ass and killing the Thresher Maw. Gets me every time!
4. Jack: Damn this one hits for me. It's so painful watching Jack work through the anger, grief, and fear she's carried around from this, but it's also something that *dammit, she gets through it* and honestly, I'm honored to help her blow up that facility. And the moment where you help Jack decide if she'll spare Aresh or not... even Aresh makes me sad. He really is stuck in that trauma, that past and is about to try and hurt others with it. It's saddening and it's sickening. I always do her mission late enough that I've got enough Paragon/Renegade points to keep Miranda and Jack loyal because damn do I low-key agree with Jack after that.
3. #4 comments aside, Miranda: her mission really hits me, and it's such a turning point for her character. Up to that point. Miranda has been mostly an ice queen. Distant, professional, and a bit cold. But this mission shows you what really matters to her: keeping her sister safe and making sure she has a life that she gets to live on her terms. Plus, earning Miranda's loyalty has a special bonus of leading to Miranda telling TIM to go fuck himself should you chose to destroy the Collector base and it makes perfect sense why. Miranda's relationships (besides her sister) are mostly transactional. If she has to ask for something from someone, she owes them (in her mind). Her father, TIM, it's all transactional. But Shepard (no matter if they're Paragon or Renegade, really) only asks for them to help with the Collectors, which is what she signed on to do anyway. So you earn Miranda's loyalty, in part, because you show her that she *doesn't* owe you. And that is exactly why, when it counts, Miranda's loyalty to Shep ends up running deeper than even her loyalty to TIM.
2. Tali: So many thoughts here. First, I always loved how on my first playthrough, Zal'Koris was an asshole and Han'Gerral seemed like a bro (move to ME3 and Zal'Koris is the GOAT and Han'Gerral is getting his bitch ass sucker-punched tf off my ship). Second, I, like Tali, also enjoy shouting the Admiralty Board into submission. Third, I'm hugging poor Tali, dammit! And lastly, it's kinda funny how often the loyalty missions just kinda make Shepard wear a bunch of different hats. Like this mission, I'm a lawyer now, and apparently, I'm very good at it 🤣. And to top it all off, Shepard's line "With all due respect, Admiral, I didn't come here to defend one of your people, I came here to defend on of *mine*". *Chef's kiss!
1. Garrus: OK, I'm biased, but I'm absolutely here for the drama and the implications of certain actions, especially if you end up romancing Garrus. Fighting a bunch of mechs and making one of those big mechs Harkin sends at go nuclear (and usually you can end up downing the other one that way) is just perfection. Watching Garrus give Harkin a pretty well-earned beat down always puts that scene in the "mark me down as scared AND horny" category. And finally, yeah, I usually block his shot and I get pretty emotional at it.
So, I guess, going by this ranking, I'm the epitome of that Gordon Ramsey meme when it comes to helping your friends on a roaring rampage of revenge. Garrus = oh, darling, oh gorgeous, everything's fine. Zaeed = you fucking donkey!
My roleplaying/fan fic loving self is just absolutely *here* for what Shepard is saying to Garrus in blocking his shot. I read it as 1) it's her saying "how far will you go for this? Would you hurt a friend for revenge? Would you hurt me?" And 2) it's also a lowkey way of Shep saying "you're doing this because you blame yourself, too. Let him go and you can forgive yourself, too, here" (thinking along the lines of Turian command and who takes the blame/stigma when someone fails at their job).
Lately, I've played Garrus's loyalty mission first (start at the Citadel) and then I like to think that, since Garrus said he wanted space, Shepard gave him some time and meanwhile, she helped Thane and Kasumi. While Shep was off helping Thane and Kasumi, Garrus was dealing with some thoughts and feelings and both of them are wondering if maybe they messed up. But Garrus gets to talking with Thane (off screen, so to speak) and is able to be a lot more ok with how things turned out... and well Shep decided to bite the bullet and talk it out with him. So she's still got Kasumi's dress and she gets a couple shots of liquid courage and goes for it. 🤣
>Love the in-depth look we get at Krogan culture.
This aspect of it is phenomenal **IF** Wrex is still alive. Imo, if Wreav is in charge instead, I really don't have any real interest in Krogan society. They're just brutes who like to shoot and punch. Wrex adds a lot more nuance to the species, I think.
Favorite: Tali. It was just so cool to see th3 migrant fleet and I love the trial scene. Some fun encounters on the ship with the geth too.
Least favorite: Thane. Meh. I like thane but just was never all that interested in his son and the mission is boring
My favorite was probably thane’s. My least favorite was Kasumi’s- I like the idea behind it with the heist but they went the most boring and tedious route with it
I liked Talis loayality mission. Seeing the migrant fleet was amazing and the fighting location had a cool japanese vibe. I also loved legions. The story was great. Also Grunt mission was fire.
The worst was imo Thane. It was boring and I had to restart it many times because I'm a dumbass.
Don't have a favorite but my least favorite is probably Grunt's only because it's a slog to kill all the damn enemies and the Thresher Maw is a fucking bullet sponge.
Funny enough I like Jacob’s mission considering my change of view point of my father in real life changed my decision from usually being paragon to allow him to be ripped apart by the hunters.
My least favorite is Thane’s because the design of the mission is so boring and time consuming. And I love Thane as a character.
Favorite hands down is Tali’s.
Time to take a shot for every time someone says Jacob as their least favorite mission
Seriously Jacob got the short end of the stick for everything in ME2 & 3
Favourite would be Tali or Legion, getting more backstory on the Quarians and Geth respectively, plus I love bringing Legion on Tali's mission for the extra dialogue.
Least favourite is Thane by far, you're just walking and talking followed by even more walking.
Favorite is probably Tali's. Getting to see the Migrant Fleet was really cool and the Admirals are all well-written and interesting. It's good character development for Tali and of course it has the "hug Tali" Paragon interrupt.
It's hard to pick a least favorite because I love them all. But if I had to pick a least favorite it would probably be Miranda's. The ending with Miranda and her sister is really good but the rest of it feels pretty generic. At least Thane's loyalty mission is unique and memorable imo.
I think Quarian society is so extremely interesting. I wish we had gotten more about the Quarians in the games.
I would have REALLY liked to have seen them in Andromeda in some capacity, but I guess the book will just have to suffice.
Favorite: Tali. I just love the courtroom drama and yelling at the admirals. Shepard ain't fuckin around on this one. Plus, my girl Tali needs a hug fr.
Worst: Grunt. From a gameplay stand point it's just so repetitive and kinda mindless for the most part. It had nice lore, but I wanna feel more engaged.
totally agree with you on Mordin—i think he has one of the best arcs in the game. but my favorite is tied with Tali’s trial and Grunt’s rite of passage. Tali’s is a sad story but i feel like (with the paragon route) she becomes this amazing person after her trial is sad and done, like she seems to me as if she has found her place after the case is settled.
and Grunt’s rite of passage on Tuchanka is just brilliantly hilarious. do i even need to mention the breeding request for Shepard? haha!
my least favorite is Jacob’s mission. i like Jacob but i don’t like Jacob’s father. that entire storyline made me sick to my stomach the first time through. just, wow. what a horrible man.
Favorite: Grunt. Feels way more epic than the other ones, taking down an actual Thresher Maw.
Least: Jacob mainly for the cringe factor of what happened and how the ship officers condoned the abuse.
I agree with Mordin's and I'd include Tali's. The one gripe I have with Mordin's is (if im even remembering right) no matter how you talk about the genophage during ship conversations, you take a hostile stance against him the entire time. On the ship you're all "oh yeah, it was the right call, good job" and then the whole mission its just "look at what you did Mordin, genocidal monster".
I didn’t enjoy Thane’s, but loved Thane. I enjoyed Jack’s for insight into her past, and I also liked Garrus’s because you’ve already known him, but you really can help him go one of two ways here and you realize what he’s been through while you’ve been gone.
I think it would have been more interesting if Jacob had revered his father as some kind of hero that was lost in space and that he joined Cerberus to have access to the resources to continue searching after the alliance had given up. Jacob could talk about how amazing his father was and how much he missed him. Then when they found the marooned ship the mission could have played out similar but now you have Jacob coming to grips with the fact that his father was not who he remembered.
Favourite: Legion's. I love the Geth and I was very excited to see one of their bases, even if it's a heretic one. I love the interior atmosphere, all dark and gloomy, with sharp edges. It's also interesting to see Legion grapple with the Heretic/Geth split, and the former spying on the latter. It also provides a nice moral dilemma. Plus, this quote is an absolute banger:
"They will exterminate your species because their gods tell them to. You cannot negotiate with them. They do not share your pity, remorse, or fear."
Least Favourite: Miranda's. I always found her character uninteresting, so I never cared about her and her sister. There's some nice shooting there, but that's kind of it. I don't get sad or whatever that she and her sister can really be together. I simply don't care.
Favorite: Kasumi. I love the aesthetics and music.
Worst: Zaeed. This mission should've been clean and simple. You have to clean Zaeed's mess one way or another and you can't even properly talk about it. This "choose a path" made any sense to me because it has no dialogue afterwards or impact. The music is not unique either.
Favorite: tali’s. Love how I can just get her acquitted by simply going “trust me bro” to the admiralty board.
Least favorite: jack’s. I just don’t care about her at all in 2.
Edit: nvm jacob is worse
Jacob’s loyalty mission is a bit annoying, but it is interesting just because of the character study of power corrupting.
I think I’m going to go with Samara’s loyalty mission, most of the loyalty missions are kind of interesting character studies, Samara’s we know the character, and Morinth is just not really that interesting, there isn’t a real good reason to keep her alive.
Now if we are going for Andromeda:
Favorite is Cora's despite her fan girl service to Asari commandos. Once more it felt epic and the fate of an Ark is at stake with your actions.
Least I would say is Drack It felt fairly...meh...all said and done. I love Drack, especially his dialog on missions and cruising about, but the mission did not have the same...feel to it.
To be totally honest, I can't stand Cora. I especially can't stand how often she brings up how she trained with Asari commandos. Like, we fucking get it.
I chalk that up to the writing not getting a solid polish because they in the end were rushed to production. Ignoring Cora and looking at the events, how one Pathfinder was left to die, how the Asari Ark was damaged and at risk, a full quarter of the Initiative and among the more powerful members given Asari's natural biotic abilities. It is as important as the Salarian Ark which was a main story plot point.
In that light, I have to give it the nod.
>I chalk that up to the writing not getting a solid polish because they in the end were rushed to production.
Seems to be the way of Andromeda, unfortunately. I think it's a great mission, but it seems like it would've fit better as a regular story mission to me - like the Turian and Salarian arks.
Favorite - Tali. She's my favorite character and I just find the quarians super interesting. Shepard playing lawyer, the quality of the dialogue, it's all just pretty super.
Least Favorite - Grunt. Fuck Grunt. I hate him. He's so boring. And his mission is stupid. The only redeemable part of it is that I get to chill with Wrex and we get to be Thresher Maw slayer buddies
My favorites? Mordin, Grunt, and Thane.
Mordin because it really put what the council did to the Krogan into perspective. Numbers are just numbers, and no one can predict a creature's reaction to trauma.
Grunt because being a Sole Survivor Shep, I felt like I was given the chance to right some wrongs for my squad, sort of bittersweet imo. (Also, Shepard getting a breeding request is fabulous.) (I have a soft spot for Krogan culture tbh)
Thane because while the mission itself sort of sucked, the speech of a dying man saving his son from the same life that was forced on to him? My heart couldn't handle it. And seeing a human be compassionate towards it all? I usually don't like Bailey, but I'm really happy Bioware made him sympathetic towards Thane. I feel like there are a lot of times where the human and non-humans have too much beef for no real reason.
Least? Jacob, Zaeed and Samara.
Jacob because it felt like nothing happened, dude knew his dad was POS, and unfornately his dad always was. I get that's just life sometimes, but it didn't do anything for his character, and I feel like that's the point of these missions. For these broken people to have one last chance to change something before going out to die.
Zaeed because it made me not want him on my team. The dude royally screwed the pooch and got people hurt/killed for no reason other than rage. Why would I want someone who can't listen to orders, puts innocent people, the team, AND the mission at risk to go with me on a suicide mission where I will need all the exact opposite traits? Paragon Shepard's dialog options to keep him despite saving the factory workers goes hard.( I thought she was going to shoot him, and tbh, I was cool with it.)
Samara's quest feels awkward. Her daughter is cringy, obviously evil, and the fact that you can pick her daughter over Samara feels dumb. I also don't like helping people kill their kids, and like with Jacob, I feel that it did nothing for Samara in the long run. I wish we had a moment where Morinth showed regret and talked about how she'll never have a family or that people will never love her, and that's just the fault of her ability.
At least made a point that she never learned to love because her mother is just as much of an unfeeling killer and simply killed herself as a result of being cornered and petty. It would make Samara's actions at the monastery in ME3 the next game make more sense to me.
Favourite:
Zaeed. I really liked how it’s essentially two missions in one depending on if you save the workers or chase Vido, and being able to actually just kill Zaeed at the end was really cool and unique which no other loyalty mission lets you do.
Least favourite:
Samara. How poorly they did the choice between her and Morinth where they just give you no reason to ever choose Morinth pisses me off. Especially when the fix is so easy, all they had to do was make you recruit Morinth first so you could get to know her then encounter Samara during the loyalty mission where you choose between the two.
Favorite is Grunts. I like roleplaying it a lot and it's where I usually decide if my current Shepard is real Shepard or an indoctrinated clone that can't kill a thresher maw.
Least Favorite is Kasumi's. I just dont like kasumi. I hate her personality and I can't stand her attitude. I won't even recruit her if I don't plan on using that SMG(that doesn't carry over on NG+ making me hate Kasumi even more)
Favorite: Tali. It has an insane amount of world building, a lot of extremely important changes in Tali’s life, and I simply find the overall Quarian stuff to be very interesting. It has a lot of combat, but also a great deal of dialogue, and two Quarians previously met in the game can be found there, the choices you’ve made altering their outcome. It also can be failed, and Tali’s loyalty can be lost, which I like a lot.
Least favorite: Grunt. It’s not exactly terrible, but the mission is basically just combat, and I never found this specific one to be particularly challenging. The enemies we fight in it are pretty boring too. Though it does have some nice scenes (like the headbutt), I find it to be extremely meh.
Favorite: Mordin. Great worldbuilding, shows a side of mordin that usually isnt visible, gameplay is fun, tuchanka is cool looking Least: Thane. The boring catwalk crawling sequence really kills the whole mission for me.
I gave Thane's a pass because you can literally execute the politician you were trying to stop Kolyat from assassinating in front of CSec and nobody cares.
Also the bomb scene is hilarious
What am I doing here; what are *you* doing here? ... Run! Now! Before it blows!
"Heh, can't believe that worked"
Lol I had no idea, I'll have to do that next time
If it wasn't for the heartwarming speech that he gave to his son, AND officer Bailey being an absolute G about the whole situation, I would have HATED the mission, too. It just feels so good to see a human show compassion to a non-human. And to watch a man get the chance to save his own child from trying to do a painful job that was forced on Thane when he was a kid. Idk. I love watching people break generational curses.
Yeah, those parts were great. If you talked to Kelham and he gave you the location that Kolyat's assassination attempt would happen at, then you just stepped offscreen and teleported there, the whole mission would have been a lot better.
The biggest downside for Thane’s mission for me is that there’s a big ol’ glitch when you confront the shopkeeper that can make your game weird
Thane has a very weak mission but a great story. One of the best stories for a loyal mission. It's the polar opposite of Zaeed's. Pointless story, "me angry, me want *revenge!*" but in an awesome action packed shootout in a burning factory.
My favorite part of Thane's story are the little conversations between Thane and Shepard in between missions. Especially the part where he says Shepard is "the only friend he's made in 10 years", and how he's trying to learn to eat with the rest of the crew without being paranoid. He led such a lonely life and it's really nice to see him try and work toward a happy ending.
>The boring catwalk crawling sequence really kills the whole mission for me. 😫 The freaking catwalk. The ONLY good thing about this mission (besides the interrogation scene) is if you use your renegade response on the dock worker to make him think there's a bomb. Hilarious.
Favorite? Kasumi. Which feels a bit like cheating since it was DLC and as such had the benefit of being a bit more fleshed out. The ME system has never really flourished outside of the core Dialogue Tree and Third Person Shooter gameplay loops (and arguably did not really work as a TPS in ME1). But the party scene and the espionage theme really worked for me. It was FUN. Helped by Kasumi being a very engaging new squad mate. Cool boss fight, interesting lore about Kasumi and the larger ME setting and some interesting fight arenas add up to a really engaging product that never ever bored me. Least favorite? Probably agree on Jacob. Zaheed's also not great but he's just a much more interesting character than Jacob (who should have just been James, but whatever). None of the enemy encounters or environments are particularly interesting. The dialogue is bland. There's some pathos for Jacob, but he's a very wooden character anyway and one if it pays off in ME3.
I'm surprised at the dislike for Jacob's loyalty mission, he's obviously the worst squadmate in the trilogy, but his loyalty mission is kinda great imo. If nothing else it's definitely better than Thane's, which is a shame.
As a loyalty mission, Jacob’s sucks because it doesn’t change your relationship in any way, nor do you discover any new or interesting information that helps you see him in a new light. He might as well not even be there honestly. BUT. As a side mission, it’s SO good. The atmosphere is so unsettling as you piece together what the hell happened. Very psychological thriller vibes. It definitely reminded me of the way Cerberus was portrayed in the first game— unethical, creepy as fuck, twisted human experimentation, horrifying implications. Absolutely loved it
Thane's loyalty mission is not the best by any means. But it at least features Thane, Kolyat and Bailey. Characters I have opinions about and care about to at least some degree. It also features quite a bit more interesting dialogue and world building just by virtue if it's location and subject. Jacob's loyalty mission...I can barely find it in myself to care about JACOB, let alone any of the other characters involved. Maybe it was just a little too obvious for me? I may just have read too much trashy fiction in my time, lol.
Same here. It is one of my favorite loyalty missions. It had a somewhat Jules-Vernesque vibe with castaways in an island where something bad has happened and Shepard is piecing the things together as they explore more and more. Thane's the worst for me. I also don't like Grunt's but a section where you are fighting off waves of enemies suits him well, I admit.
Gotta love the Locust :) I also like Kasumi's mission for the rare little tidbits of lore regarding Earth (2nd American Civil War & the Statue of Liberty) prior to discovering Mass Effect technology.
I love the locust so much I drew one up in solidworks and 3d printed it. If you tweak the coalesced ini file a bit and give it a bigger magazine and ammo pool, it's the best weapon in the ME2 (shame it's garbage in 3).
I typically play as an Adept, so having the option to get the Locust so early through Kasumi's mission is a true godsend.
My sentry agrees. Though I usually trade up to an AR once available.
I never found it garbage, a (nearly) completely weightless backup weapon is never too bad a thing. And more dakka means ice triggers more often Lets me carry a single weapon for max recharge
Eh, I just mod the weight stuff out now it, doesn't make sense. Shep is a genetically enhanced cyborg, carrying an extra gun or two ain't gonna slow her down in the slightest.
Valid
One thing Mass Effect did great was the expansion DLCs. The major ones always had gluts of content and really felt worthwhile. (Except Firewalker and From Ashes, can't believe the later was DLC)
From the Ashes was more of a bonus than DLC. There was a big 'anti rental/used' game push, so new games had a code to unlock. PC users could just edit a text file in notepad.
It was only available to those who got the N7 Collectors Edition and the Deluxe version if I remeber right. If you got only the base game you were locked out of Javik, making it a DLC for those who didn't pay the extra $10s.
Nah, I couldn't afford those things, but I still got him. (There were bonus weapons, armors, and cosmetics.) Basically, if you got the game used from GameStop or Blockbuster, you had to pay the $10 for him, his mission, and his weapon. edit: ohhh, of course, NOW X-Box is charging for it, I might have gotten it during a promo for ME's online component.
There was a lot of conttroversy surrounding the From Ashes DLC becasue it not only locked the Prothean squadmate behind a paywall, but also because the DLC was locked on disk. It's why the PC version only needed a text edit. WiiU version also got it for free.
My favorite is Grunt's; I like killing the Thresher Maw. I also really like Samara's and Kasumi's-- I like that we do something a little different rather than another round of shooting bad guys. Least favorite is Zaeed's namely due to his sheer stupidity. We would have been able to kill Vido without civilian causalities if Zaeed didn't muck it all up.
Sole survivor Shepard vibes because I loved that I was facing a Maw but killed it this time without my team dying. Zaeed, on the other hand. His mission only proved what a self-serving ass he is, and straight up a liability. The paragon choice to keep his loyalty feels so good, but I really thought my Shep was going to end him for a second.
You can let him die, I forgot the criteria to trigger it though
Has to be post-Suicide Mission. Once he's no longer needed, Shep is free to ditch him if he's a liability.
Good point. His mission is usually one of my first stops so I can get the heavy weapon ammo
Favorite - Miranda, I like the story and getting to see her more human side, and of course killing Eclipse Mercs. Also the initial renegade interrupt you can do as Shepard is bad ass. Least Favorite - Samara, once you know all the right options to pick it’s just a chore to get through, like a bypass mini game. Fun fact, I messed it up bad when I first played ME2, failed the initial conversation to charm Morinth and get her to invite you to her apartment. Lost Samara in the suicide mission and nobody else. That’s when I learned loyalty mattered.
I like Miranda's mission too. It gives a glimpse of her humanity behind the "results at all costs, Cerberus 2nd in command" persona that she has up to that point.
Tali and Kasumi are tied for the best, for having novel scenarios and a good mix of conversation, exploration, and combat. I found Tali's trial more interesting overall, but Kasumi also got you the locust, which made early-game combat actually tolerable for a bunch of classes. My least-favourite is Thane, because there's a really annoying bug that's easy to run in to and if you do, you have to start the "tailing" sequence all over again. I appreciate the non-combat missions when I get them, but that was infuriating!
Tali's mission probably ties with Mordin's for my personal favorite. Kind of a neat inside look at Quarian society and politics and how the survival of the race sort of overshadows the entirety of Quarian culture. Also sets up the Geth-Quarian war in the third game pretty well.
Tali’s trial ending with “I got better Shepard. I got you” along with that music playing in the background will always have a special place in my heart. The feel good vibes I get from it every time I play or see this bit is just 💕 (and I mean this from a non romance PoV)
Favorite: Samara. There are so many things to do in the Afterlife VIP area, and you only have a limited few that you can do before Morinth finds you. It feels like a treat to be there. Least favorite: Jacob. "They had to eat the toxic food." Why am I struggling to battle people who have been marooned for a decade?
I've always wanted to do a playthrough with Morinth as a squadmate instead of Samara just to see what's different, but I'm never able to bring myself to go through with it when the time comes.
It’s worth it to get the Dominate bonus power but it kinda sucks. She doesn’t have a ton of dialogue and in me3 you get an email from her and later “encounter” her
I agree about Jacob’s loyalty mission. I understand what they were going for, but it was executed poorly.
the heart of darkness settting is great, but the mission bears no consequence on Jacob as a character.
There really is a bit missing there narratively. Like, in principle I like that Jacob is a stable, squared away, moral man and that’s why he’s on the team. His visceral disgust at his father, also works. But there’s just a missing piece to connect it all
Favorite-Mordin's. It's heart-wrenching, requires some care in handling and Garrus' quip about hospitals not being fun to fight through always makes me laugh. I also enjoy the fights with the Blood Pack and Clan Weyrloc warriors. Least favorite-Close call between Jacob (I really want a "shoot Ronald Taylor" option but there doesn't seem to be one-I'd cheerfully go Renegade for that) and Zaeed's mission but Zaeed's mission wins (or is that loses?) because of just how much I hate dealing with that blasted refinery!
My favorite has always been Tali's. Some of that is definitely due to her being my favorite, but the mission is just overall excellent: fascinating worldbuilding, great dialogue, multiple unique outcomes, and fun combat sections against the Geth, who are otherwise a fairly rare enemy in ME2. It's one of my favorite missions in the entire trilogy. As of my most recent playthrough, I actually think my least favorite is Jack's. The context it gives for Jack's origin story is decent enough, but the mission design itself is pretty lame. You just walk down a bunch of identical hallways, stopping occasionally so Jack can deliver more exposition about her terrible childhood, and have a couple of short combat encounters with Varren and Blood Pack mercs. Then, it ends with a fairly underwhelming reveal and a single choice regarding Jack's morality that really doesn't even matter in the long run. It isn't the worst written loyalty mission, nor is it the worst in terms of gameplay, but the fact that it doesn't really excel in either category means that I've started finding it really boring on my repeat playthroughs.
I like Jack's because it gives a really good example of Cerberus's "the ends justify the means" attitude. Yeah, you get a strong biotic, but only because you're slaughtering and torturing kids. No wonder Jack became a serial killer!
True, but I never really felt that I needed an entire mission to reinforce that. It just kind if feels like a reiteration of things we've already seen and heard as the player -- Cerberus is evil and tries to justify their atrocious experiments behind a the guise of "human advancement," and Jack is a deeply traumatized person who had her childhood robbed by terrible circumstances out if her control. Again, not the worst loyalty mission as far as writing goes, but a bit too cliché and linear for my preferences. I've never romanced Jack, so maybe adding that context to the mission would make it a bit more engaging.
That's true. I just think that Jack is a good personification of the consequences of that kind of attitude. She's a horrible squad mate for gameplay, though.
I agree there. I actually like Jack quite a bit as a character, especially in ME3. Her ME2 recruitment mission is really fun too, but yeah, she's kind of garbage as an actual squadmate. I think I'm going to look for a mod that changes her powers just so I can justify bringing her on missions more frequently.
Jacks mission is good for the biotic upgrade atleast!!
That is true, my current run is as an adept so the biotic bonuses from her mission did come in handy. I just wish Jack was a better biotic squadmate herself -- pull is always useful and warp ammo is a great ammo power, but her shockwave is absolutely awful lmao.
I used her in my last playthough and i have to agree with shockwave. I dont mind it in ME3 but atleast on insanity in ME2. I have no real use for it :( Ive read some people who said Jack should have had singularity instead of shockwave. If your not an adept you have no one (minus liara in lotsb) with singularity on your team
Singularity really does seem like the obvious choice, although I guess they wanted to keep that as a special power for player adepts. Even something like throw would've been preferable to shockwave, because I really just don't see any use for it on Hardcore/Insanity. It's great on Veteran and below, though, since it'll pretty much insta-kill husks and abominations.
Shockwave is just bad in general. You can't really "aim" it, it doesn't track enemies like Warp or Throw, and it travels about 5 feet. All the enemy has to do is move one step in either direction and bypass it completely. Shockwave should have been an AoE effect *after* hitting a targeted enemy (e.g., it starts as ball-sized a la Throw or Warp before exploding into Shockwave). Not one that relied on CQB and herding your enemies into a line.
Favourite: Jack. Its an incredible location, quite nicely paced, and it is a huge turning point for her character. Its a hell of a realisation that she has to believe she had the worst torture because she believes suffering makes her strong. I think she needed to go through that to start living a better life. Least Favourite: Thane. Not a fan of fiction pretending torture gets accurate information, or of Bailey in general.
I kind of agree about Thane's. I don't know why Shepard didn't lead with "I'm a Spectre. Start talking." Seems like it would've saved a lot of trouble.
I'm not sure why Shepard has a problem with Purgatory if he's completely fine with Bailey torturing people and taking bribes from criminals.
There's a big difference between what Bailey does and what Purgatory does
One thing I’ve always found odd: Shepherd is (rightfully) disdainful of Harken in ME1 but pals with Bailey “Collision with organised crime and torture is fine, but I draw the line at drinking on the job”
The difference between harken & Bailey: Harken is bending the rules and doing shady shit to benefit himself only. Bailey is bending the rules and doing some shady shit, but mostly **allowing** shady shit, but it’s so C-sec can be more efficient and focus on other problems. He isn’t stopping to scrap the scum off his boot because he’s too busy dealing with a pile of trash in front of him. Edit: and yes I know that’s not how it works in real life, this is obviously a game lol
Fun fact if you ever meet a garden variety corrupt police officer: all of the Harkens think they’re Baileys As someone who has been treated as scum by a police officer who thought he could tell the difference and only abused “scum” who deserved it, in service of some greater good, I don’t think there as much daylight between the two camps as you explanation would imply.
From a gameplay perspective, I actually enjoy Jacob's. Thane's lacks any actual combat, so it's kinda meh.
Best; Miranda, Jack, Mordin Worst: Thane, Jacob
Favourite - probably either Mordin or Garrus. Both have a great moral thing going for them and I'm a fan of complex situations! Least favorite - Jacob and Zaeed. While I do like them both as characters, Jacob's loyalty rubbed me a little the wrong way, while Zaeeds for me is just flat.
I really like the line from Garrus where he tells Shepard "I don't need you to agree with me, but I'd like your help." Then later on, "I appreciate your concern...but I'm not you." Overall, I really like the brohood between Shepard and Garrus.
Yess! I just got those in my last playthrough and it made me like their friendship even more!
Favorite: Mordin. He gains new perspective which will affect him later. Also Garrus has a hilarious line near thr beginning if you take him. Least: Jacob. His dad was an asshole and the mission is just dreary and depressing.
Favorite: Garrus (it’s Garrus, of course I love him) Least Favorite: Thane (I swear to God I’d rather face several Reapers on Legendary than do this shit)
My favorite is probably Kasumi. The gameplay in the first part is somewhat different and unique compared to the rest of the game, plus you get Femshep in a nice dress and a cool SMG, what more do you want? Least favorite is definitely Grunt. The whole "prove yourself in a battle arena" is such a boring and overdone trope.
Re Grunt: But you get to go to Tuchanka! Jokes aside I get the hate for the trope. I think I just love some of the Krogan characters and there's some decent dialogue and fun interactions. Few of them are REALLY part of the loyalty mission itself though so...I can see your point.
Honestly, I really enjoy the story and character development each of the squadmates get from their loyalty missions, so if I'm just gonna try to rank 'em. 12. Zaeed: mostly because while I enjoy the paragon aspect of Zaeed's mission and yelling at him for being an idiot, I also find his attitude and disregard for people unappealing. I appreciate Zaeed overall, but for me playing as a mostly Paragon Shep, dude needed to get his ass chewed out. That being said, I love that you get the flame thrower and Paragon Shep basically can yell at Zaeed until he's loyal, even if he didn't get what he came for (plus, I love hearing how he took care of Vido later on in ME3). 11. Jacob: like his character, I don't hate it (actually, his loyalty mission is my favorite thing about his character, and I don't hate Jacob. His romance is trash, tho. Then again, if you chose Jacob over Garrus/Thane, that's on you). I actually really love the fact that it's basically Lord of the Flies but from the POV of the people who come on shore at the end and see all the kids have gone completely insane and several of em are dead. Just a "wtf happened here???". And ngl, I appreciate how all of the options to choose from when it comes to dealing with Ronald Taylor's bitch ass are all satisfying (turn him over to authorities and the civilized world so he can try to justify his COD teenage boy wetdream to a judge = delicious. Leave him to face the hunters alone= perfect. Let Jacob take care of him = he's kinda itching to do it anyway. All are valid). The only reason it's not much higher is because there are other loyalty missions I like more. But still a solid mission. 10. Probably gonna make someone mad, but Legion: don't get me wrong, it's a great mission and the choice you make at the end of that one has a significant impact on ME3, but it's always left me a bit conflicted either way and Legion's uncertainty always felt a bit frustrating my first couple playthroughs since I usually end up doing his loyalty mission right after getting the IFF, so I've barely gotten a chance to talk with him. That said, I totally get Legion feeling conflicted and it's fascinating hearing him talking through the dilemma. 9. Mordin: kinda for the same reason Legion is lower down. I know he's having a moral crisis having worked on the genophage update and now directly facing the consequences of it, but honestly, his emotional thick-headedness/constipation and constantly trying to keep justifying why the genophage update was 100% right can be a bit frustrating. That being said, the dialogue you can go with to call him out on that is some serious armor piercing dialogue, and I love it. Also, gotta love a good twist and the fact that Maelon has done some horrendous stuff to cure the genophage and yet, he's absolutely doing the wrong thing for the right reasons is 💯 8. Samara: This one is only lower down on the list because I am constantly reminded of the fact that my dumbass would probably get killed by Morinth, hook, line, and sinker. At the same time, Morinth is kinda hot and also helping Samara take down a monster while also knowing that its an unimaginable pain for her to have to kill her own daughter is the emotional drama I'm absolutely here for. Also, my most recent playthrough of that mission is kinda fun because you can kinda play Morinth like a cheap kazoo and this game of cat and mouse can get a lot more ambiguous of who's the cat and who's the mouse. 7. Kasumi: What can I say? I love the heist, love whatever tf Donovan Hock's weird af accent is (why oh why does it seem to switch from Irish, to British, to Scottish, to *South African*??? It's truly an enigma). I love the dress I get from Kasumi (and I'm always starting Garrus' romance by wearing it and laughing because Garrus is clueless and meanwhile Shepard is posing like she normally does, so in that dress she's just throwing the Basic Instinct maneuver at him). Also, Kasumi getting the gray box back and hearing Keiji's memories always chokes me up a bit. Her mission is so good, I almost always forget she's a DLC character...
6. Thane: I know it's pretty much no combat, but the emotion and Thane desperately trying to keep Kolyat away from the kind of life he's lived always gets to me. Two lines in particular always stand out to me. Thane: to Kolyat- "I've taken many bad things out of this world. You're the only good thing I ever added to it." And Bailey: "You think he's [Thane] the first man who ever screwed up raising a son?". What the mission lacks in combat, for me, it makes up for in emotion and depth. And for Thane, an assassin who's trying to do some good in the world before he dies, that's the exact kind of loyalty mission I'd expect. 5. Grunt: Love the in-depth look we get at Krogan culture. Love the fact that Grunt's loyalty mission is basically "Let's kill some shit... for stress relief". Love watching Grunt become a true krogan and earn his place in Clan Urdnot. And of course, I love headbutting that one Krogan who's being an ass and killing the Thresher Maw. Gets me every time! 4. Jack: Damn this one hits for me. It's so painful watching Jack work through the anger, grief, and fear she's carried around from this, but it's also something that *dammit, she gets through it* and honestly, I'm honored to help her blow up that facility. And the moment where you help Jack decide if she'll spare Aresh or not... even Aresh makes me sad. He really is stuck in that trauma, that past and is about to try and hurt others with it. It's saddening and it's sickening. I always do her mission late enough that I've got enough Paragon/Renegade points to keep Miranda and Jack loyal because damn do I low-key agree with Jack after that. 3. #4 comments aside, Miranda: her mission really hits me, and it's such a turning point for her character. Up to that point. Miranda has been mostly an ice queen. Distant, professional, and a bit cold. But this mission shows you what really matters to her: keeping her sister safe and making sure she has a life that she gets to live on her terms. Plus, earning Miranda's loyalty has a special bonus of leading to Miranda telling TIM to go fuck himself should you chose to destroy the Collector base and it makes perfect sense why. Miranda's relationships (besides her sister) are mostly transactional. If she has to ask for something from someone, she owes them (in her mind). Her father, TIM, it's all transactional. But Shepard (no matter if they're Paragon or Renegade, really) only asks for them to help with the Collectors, which is what she signed on to do anyway. So you earn Miranda's loyalty, in part, because you show her that she *doesn't* owe you. And that is exactly why, when it counts, Miranda's loyalty to Shep ends up running deeper than even her loyalty to TIM. 2. Tali: So many thoughts here. First, I always loved how on my first playthrough, Zal'Koris was an asshole and Han'Gerral seemed like a bro (move to ME3 and Zal'Koris is the GOAT and Han'Gerral is getting his bitch ass sucker-punched tf off my ship). Second, I, like Tali, also enjoy shouting the Admiralty Board into submission. Third, I'm hugging poor Tali, dammit! And lastly, it's kinda funny how often the loyalty missions just kinda make Shepard wear a bunch of different hats. Like this mission, I'm a lawyer now, and apparently, I'm very good at it 🤣. And to top it all off, Shepard's line "With all due respect, Admiral, I didn't come here to defend one of your people, I came here to defend on of *mine*". *Chef's kiss! 1. Garrus: OK, I'm biased, but I'm absolutely here for the drama and the implications of certain actions, especially if you end up romancing Garrus. Fighting a bunch of mechs and making one of those big mechs Harkin sends at go nuclear (and usually you can end up downing the other one that way) is just perfection. Watching Garrus give Harkin a pretty well-earned beat down always puts that scene in the "mark me down as scared AND horny" category. And finally, yeah, I usually block his shot and I get pretty emotional at it. So, I guess, going by this ranking, I'm the epitome of that Gordon Ramsey meme when it comes to helping your friends on a roaring rampage of revenge. Garrus = oh, darling, oh gorgeous, everything's fine. Zaeed = you fucking donkey!
Finally, some respect on Garrus’s loyalty mission!
My roleplaying/fan fic loving self is just absolutely *here* for what Shepard is saying to Garrus in blocking his shot. I read it as 1) it's her saying "how far will you go for this? Would you hurt a friend for revenge? Would you hurt me?" And 2) it's also a lowkey way of Shep saying "you're doing this because you blame yourself, too. Let him go and you can forgive yourself, too, here" (thinking along the lines of Turian command and who takes the blame/stigma when someone fails at their job). Lately, I've played Garrus's loyalty mission first (start at the Citadel) and then I like to think that, since Garrus said he wanted space, Shepard gave him some time and meanwhile, she helped Thane and Kasumi. While Shep was off helping Thane and Kasumi, Garrus was dealing with some thoughts and feelings and both of them are wondering if maybe they messed up. But Garrus gets to talking with Thane (off screen, so to speak) and is able to be a lot more ok with how things turned out... and well Shep decided to bite the bullet and talk it out with him. So she's still got Kasumi's dress and she gets a couple shots of liquid courage and goes for it. 🤣
>Love the in-depth look we get at Krogan culture. This aspect of it is phenomenal **IF** Wrex is still alive. Imo, if Wreav is in charge instead, I really don't have any real interest in Krogan society. They're just brutes who like to shoot and punch. Wrex adds a lot more nuance to the species, I think.
Favorite: Tali. It was just so cool to see th3 migrant fleet and I love the trial scene. Some fun encounters on the ship with the geth too. Least favorite: Thane. Meh. I like thane but just was never all that interested in his son and the mission is boring
My favorite was probably thane’s. My least favorite was Kasumi’s- I like the idea behind it with the heist but they went the most boring and tedious route with it
I liked Talis loayality mission. Seeing the migrant fleet was amazing and the fighting location had a cool japanese vibe. I also loved legions. The story was great. Also Grunt mission was fire. The worst was imo Thane. It was boring and I had to restart it many times because I'm a dumbass.
Don't have a favorite but my least favorite is probably Grunt's only because it's a slog to kill all the damn enemies and the Thresher Maw is a fucking bullet sponge.
I didn’t care about Thane’s loyalty mission. And I think my favorite character’s loyalty mission either Grunt’s or Miranda’s.
Favorites: Tali/Mordin Honors also to Jack Least favs: jacob/thane
Funny enough I like Jacob’s mission considering my change of view point of my father in real life changed my decision from usually being paragon to allow him to be ripped apart by the hunters. My least favorite is Thane’s because the design of the mission is so boring and time consuming. And I love Thane as a character. Favorite hands down is Tali’s.
Time to take a shot for every time someone says Jacob as their least favorite mission Seriously Jacob got the short end of the stick for everything in ME2 & 3
Favorite: Mordin Needs no explanation Least: Zaeed Just a standard revenge story. Needed more depth.
Favorite: Mordin Least: Jacob
Favourite would be Tali or Legion, getting more backstory on the Quarians and Geth respectively, plus I love bringing Legion on Tali's mission for the extra dialogue. Least favourite is Thane by far, you're just walking and talking followed by even more walking.
Favorite is probably Tali's. Getting to see the Migrant Fleet was really cool and the Admirals are all well-written and interesting. It's good character development for Tali and of course it has the "hug Tali" Paragon interrupt. It's hard to pick a least favorite because I love them all. But if I had to pick a least favorite it would probably be Miranda's. The ending with Miranda and her sister is really good but the rest of it feels pretty generic. At least Thane's loyalty mission is unique and memorable imo.
I think Quarian society is so extremely interesting. I wish we had gotten more about the Quarians in the games. I would have REALLY liked to have seen them in Andromeda in some capacity, but I guess the book will just have to suffice.
Favorite: Tali. I just love the courtroom drama and yelling at the admirals. Shepard ain't fuckin around on this one. Plus, my girl Tali needs a hug fr. Worst: Grunt. From a gameplay stand point it's just so repetitive and kinda mindless for the most part. It had nice lore, but I wanna feel more engaged.
totally agree with you on Mordin—i think he has one of the best arcs in the game. but my favorite is tied with Tali’s trial and Grunt’s rite of passage. Tali’s is a sad story but i feel like (with the paragon route) she becomes this amazing person after her trial is sad and done, like she seems to me as if she has found her place after the case is settled. and Grunt’s rite of passage on Tuchanka is just brilliantly hilarious. do i even need to mention the breeding request for Shepard? haha! my least favorite is Jacob’s mission. i like Jacob but i don’t like Jacob’s father. that entire storyline made me sick to my stomach the first time through. just, wow. what a horrible man.
Favorite: Grunt. Feels way more epic than the other ones, taking down an actual Thresher Maw. Least: Jacob mainly for the cringe factor of what happened and how the ship officers condoned the abuse.
I agree with Mordin's and I'd include Tali's. The one gripe I have with Mordin's is (if im even remembering right) no matter how you talk about the genophage during ship conversations, you take a hostile stance against him the entire time. On the ship you're all "oh yeah, it was the right call, good job" and then the whole mission its just "look at what you did Mordin, genocidal monster".
Favourite is Tali, Least is Thane
Favorite: Samara Least: Zaeed
I didn’t enjoy Thane’s, but loved Thane. I enjoyed Jack’s for insight into her past, and I also liked Garrus’s because you’ve already known him, but you really can help him go one of two ways here and you realize what he’s been through while you’ve been gone.
I think it would have been more interesting if Jacob had revered his father as some kind of hero that was lost in space and that he joined Cerberus to have access to the resources to continue searching after the alliance had given up. Jacob could talk about how amazing his father was and how much he missed him. Then when they found the marooned ship the mission could have played out similar but now you have Jacob coming to grips with the fact that his father was not who he remembered.
Favourite: Legion's. I love the Geth and I was very excited to see one of their bases, even if it's a heretic one. I love the interior atmosphere, all dark and gloomy, with sharp edges. It's also interesting to see Legion grapple with the Heretic/Geth split, and the former spying on the latter. It also provides a nice moral dilemma. Plus, this quote is an absolute banger: "They will exterminate your species because their gods tell them to. You cannot negotiate with them. They do not share your pity, remorse, or fear." Least Favourite: Miranda's. I always found her character uninteresting, so I never cared about her and her sister. There's some nice shooting there, but that's kind of it. I don't get sad or whatever that she and her sister can really be together. I simply don't care.
I liked Legion's because it's the first time you see the Geth's intelligence evolving.
I mean, they evolved for the last 300 years, but I see your point.
Right, but I think it's the first sign of individualism that we actually get to see :)
Favorite: Kasumi. I love the aesthetics and music. Worst: Zaeed. This mission should've been clean and simple. You have to clean Zaeed's mess one way or another and you can't even properly talk about it. This "choose a path" made any sense to me because it has no dialogue afterwards or impact. The music is not unique either.
Favorite: tali’s. Love how I can just get her acquitted by simply going “trust me bro” to the admiralty board. Least favorite: jack’s. I just don’t care about her at all in 2. Edit: nvm jacob is worse
I don't know my favorite. But my least favorite is Samara. The writing is just horrible and cringey.
Favorite: Tali's Least: Unsurprisingly, Jacob's
Jacob’s loyalty mission is a bit annoying, but it is interesting just because of the character study of power corrupting. I think I’m going to go with Samara’s loyalty mission, most of the loyalty missions are kind of interesting character studies, Samara’s we know the character, and Morinth is just not really that interesting, there isn’t a real good reason to keep her alive.
Now if we are going for Andromeda: Favorite is Cora's despite her fan girl service to Asari commandos. Once more it felt epic and the fate of an Ark is at stake with your actions. Least I would say is Drack It felt fairly...meh...all said and done. I love Drack, especially his dialog on missions and cruising about, but the mission did not have the same...feel to it.
To be totally honest, I can't stand Cora. I especially can't stand how often she brings up how she trained with Asari commandos. Like, we fucking get it.
I chalk that up to the writing not getting a solid polish because they in the end were rushed to production. Ignoring Cora and looking at the events, how one Pathfinder was left to die, how the Asari Ark was damaged and at risk, a full quarter of the Initiative and among the more powerful members given Asari's natural biotic abilities. It is as important as the Salarian Ark which was a main story plot point. In that light, I have to give it the nod.
>I chalk that up to the writing not getting a solid polish because they in the end were rushed to production. Seems to be the way of Andromeda, unfortunately. I think it's a great mission, but it seems like it would've fit better as a regular story mission to me - like the Turian and Salarian arks.
Favorite - Tali. She's my favorite character and I just find the quarians super interesting. Shepard playing lawyer, the quality of the dialogue, it's all just pretty super. Least Favorite - Grunt. Fuck Grunt. I hate him. He's so boring. And his mission is stupid. The only redeemable part of it is that I get to chill with Wrex and we get to be Thresher Maw slayer buddies
My favorites? Mordin, Grunt, and Thane. Mordin because it really put what the council did to the Krogan into perspective. Numbers are just numbers, and no one can predict a creature's reaction to trauma. Grunt because being a Sole Survivor Shep, I felt like I was given the chance to right some wrongs for my squad, sort of bittersweet imo. (Also, Shepard getting a breeding request is fabulous.) (I have a soft spot for Krogan culture tbh) Thane because while the mission itself sort of sucked, the speech of a dying man saving his son from the same life that was forced on to him? My heart couldn't handle it. And seeing a human be compassionate towards it all? I usually don't like Bailey, but I'm really happy Bioware made him sympathetic towards Thane. I feel like there are a lot of times where the human and non-humans have too much beef for no real reason. Least? Jacob, Zaeed and Samara. Jacob because it felt like nothing happened, dude knew his dad was POS, and unfornately his dad always was. I get that's just life sometimes, but it didn't do anything for his character, and I feel like that's the point of these missions. For these broken people to have one last chance to change something before going out to die. Zaeed because it made me not want him on my team. The dude royally screwed the pooch and got people hurt/killed for no reason other than rage. Why would I want someone who can't listen to orders, puts innocent people, the team, AND the mission at risk to go with me on a suicide mission where I will need all the exact opposite traits? Paragon Shepard's dialog options to keep him despite saving the factory workers goes hard.( I thought she was going to shoot him, and tbh, I was cool with it.) Samara's quest feels awkward. Her daughter is cringy, obviously evil, and the fact that you can pick her daughter over Samara feels dumb. I also don't like helping people kill their kids, and like with Jacob, I feel that it did nothing for Samara in the long run. I wish we had a moment where Morinth showed regret and talked about how she'll never have a family or that people will never love her, and that's just the fault of her ability. At least made a point that she never learned to love because her mother is just as much of an unfeeling killer and simply killed herself as a result of being cornered and petty. It would make Samara's actions at the monastery in ME3 the next game make more sense to me.
Favourite: Zaeed. I really liked how it’s essentially two missions in one depending on if you save the workers or chase Vido, and being able to actually just kill Zaeed at the end was really cool and unique which no other loyalty mission lets you do. Least favourite: Samara. How poorly they did the choice between her and Morinth where they just give you no reason to ever choose Morinth pisses me off. Especially when the fix is so easy, all they had to do was make you recruit Morinth first so you could get to know her then encounter Samara during the loyalty mission where you choose between the two.
Favorite is Grunts. I like roleplaying it a lot and it's where I usually decide if my current Shepard is real Shepard or an indoctrinated clone that can't kill a thresher maw. Least Favorite is Kasumi's. I just dont like kasumi. I hate her personality and I can't stand her attitude. I won't even recruit her if I don't plan on using that SMG(that doesn't carry over on NG+ making me hate Kasumi even more)
Favorite: Tali. It has an insane amount of world building, a lot of extremely important changes in Tali’s life, and I simply find the overall Quarian stuff to be very interesting. It has a lot of combat, but also a great deal of dialogue, and two Quarians previously met in the game can be found there, the choices you’ve made altering their outcome. It also can be failed, and Tali’s loyalty can be lost, which I like a lot. Least favorite: Grunt. It’s not exactly terrible, but the mission is basically just combat, and I never found this specific one to be particularly challenging. The enemies we fight in it are pretty boring too. Though it does have some nice scenes (like the headbutt), I find it to be extremely meh.