Topic: PS4 recommendation thread

@RogerRoger I hope they don't mind, but it's a discussion forum after all! Might as well take the opportunity to discuss games! I had to cut this reply into two parts, since I got an error while trying to submit it in it's entirety. Seems like even the servers can't keep up with our sheer amount of discussion!

Yeah, my approach to Mass Effect was definitly not one I had planned beforehand. I had bought the first one on a whim, hoping I would enjoy it even though I wasn't quite sure. It was only €2, so worth the gamble! Suffice it to say I finished the entire trilogy soon after, not even knowing that ME1 or ME2 had DLC. I only found out about the Extended Cut by means of the Origin launcher when I had to move to Origin since ME3 wasn't available on Steam. I didn't really get into the gaming sphere until 2013, so I missed out on all the Mass Effect news and it was quite the foreign property to me.

The first time around I played as a male sentinel Shepard, romancing Ashley through all three games. I didn't get to play the CItadel DLC in this playthrough. I didn't have a fancy name for my character either, just John. I did customise my appearance though! For my second playthrough I went female Shepard partially because, like you said, people say they prefer her voice actress. I went engineer on this run and romanced Liara through all three games. This is the playthrough where I played Citadel, so possibly the scene changed considering I was in a romance with Liara, or I just genuinely have forgotten. It's been a while! I was doing another female Shepard for my third playthrough (which added Overlord and Kasumi, although I haven't gotten there yet), this time around romancing Kaidan. It took a lot out of me not to sacrifice Kaidan on Virmire this playthrough as I had done both of my previous ones, even though I had come into my second with the intention of doing the reverse of all of my previous choices. I just couldn't let Ashley die in favour of bland Kaidan! Did you play paragon, renegade or paragade in your playthroughs! I went mostly paragon --> mostly renegade --> do whatever the hell I feel like while trying to get some of the more obscure consequence to happen like having to kill Wrex in ME3 after he finds out you didn't cure the Genophage, but alas, also haven't gotten there yet.

Great point regarding the bonuses of game developers' being tied to Metacritic scores. That's an absolutely horrible practice and I hope dies out as soon as possible, but we all know the gaming industry has plenty of those! I don't think there's much we can do on that front. It's really just up to game development companies/publisheres to not be greedy little buggers. Like we've both acknowledged, they can still provide a useful source and it'd be ridiculous if we had to censor them just because of terrible inner gaming development related politics. I'm glad you can step back from a game and appreciate it as objectively I can for what you believe it to be worth, but on the other side of this complex matter you could argue that the whole point of a game is to please it's target audience. If it's managed to do that by a long shot, like in your case, why shouldn't it deserve a high score from someone who feels that way? What makes me the authority on you having to be as objective as possible, even when the game hit all the boxes to satisfy you as the game is intended to do? Why do we have to force ourselves to view such a game as a non-fan, when a big part of game development is having to please your already existing fans? If it manages to do that, hasn't it already succeeded as a game and is therefore deserving of a high score no matter how objectively lacking certain areas of the game were? It's an entirely new dimension of conundrums to get yourself involved in if you start thinking about it even more in-depth, but the case remains that a review score itself is fairly shallow and absolutely needs to be backed up by a scoring policy and well written, though out review to even have a semblance of meaning. I don't want to tire you out too much with review scores dicussion!

I don't think I really have much of a preference to go by regarding the Tomb Raider games so far, so I'm definitely open to giving the HD Trilogy a shot. I did see the trilogy is the 5th to 7th game (if I'm remembering the numbering correctly)? Are the first four not essential to the franchise? Are they still worth playing, even if not polished up to par with the later three games, despite being released years ago or have they started to show their age too much to properly enjoy them in this day and age?

Ah, I see. I'm also not a fan of horror in the slightest. No A Quiet Place, Halloween, It or whatever popular Hollywood horror movie has been released recently for me! I don't think The Walking Dead: Season 1 is very horrory. The zombies certainly are a presence throughout the game, but I don't recall being forced to interact with them all that much. There's a few jumpscares here and there, but in small doses and never meant to scare you for longer than a few seconds. That's also why I managed to get through it without Alt + F4'ing out of the game! The Descendants in the first Uncharted absolutely creeped me the hell out, and I don't think I've ever unintentionally speedrunned a section of a game faster than I did there. I'd say they were worse for me than the zombies in The Walking Dead, but I do recognise that that's a far smaller portion of the game. If the very knowledge of the presence of zombies creeps you out too much, then I would have to agree that maybe the game isn't quite for you. Especially if the Husks were already a challenge for you, since I wasn't all that bothered by them in Mass Effect personally. Just fantastic fodder for my pistol in that case! I can't personally relate to severely having your mood affected by the type of entertainment you're consuming, but if that's the case with you then The Walking Dead is definitely something you'll need a palate cleanser for afterwars. It's definitely very serious and can get incredibly dark.

Also, to go off on a little bit of a tangent regarding Hitman 2 since you mentioned it, do let me know what you think about the game when it comes out! As you know, I quite enjoyed Blood Money, but the episodic release of the 2016 Hitman game definitely put me off of that. I couldn't justify spending €60 now to get more episodes every month, but I also didn't have the patience to wait for all the episodes to come out and so I just ended up watching playthroughs of the levels on YouTube. I'm glad they've returned to the old format with Hitman 2, and from what I've seen of it so far, it's shaping up to be even better than how good 2016 Hitman looked. I might just have to get that close to launch, considering how well they supported the previous game as well post-launch. Not to mention the versus multiplayer mode looks incredibly fun. It'll be a bit of a deadlock between getting Red Dead Redemption 2 and Hitman 2 though, since I doubt I can justify myself dumping €60 on two games within a matter of weeks! Too many great options this fall!

@RogerRoger Continuing my previous reply...

I can absolutely relate to your experience regarding OCD behavior on video games. That's exactly what makes me dread open worlds like I've said before. Great point with always being able to do the side content beyond the main story as well. It'll just take a lot of rewiring my brain to make it recognise that! Absolutely we all play differently, but your experience seems like it's always been the one I've ideally wanted to have and yet can never get myself to do, so I will absolutely take these tips into account and try to apply them to whatever open world game I run into next! Possibly Gravity Rush Remastered or Red Dead Redemption 1/2, although I don't know exactly how open world the former is. My troubles with it definitely do not go to the point of equal trophy and completion rates, though! That sounds like a pain to have to deal with. Outside of in-game stuff, I really only notice it with routines and always forcing myself to check something a certain amount of times... to the point where it becomes ridiculous. I've been able to start cutting back on that a little bit more recently though, so maybe I can manage the same within the gaming sphere!

Haha, considering how I've watched you post plenty of photo mode screenshots and some very well edited ShareFACTORY videos as well as multiple drafts of such videos on last week's quiz, I can see how you might be afraid of perfectionism regarding Dreams! It definitely sounds like a game that could suck you into it for the rest of your life, which could be a good and bad thing depending on your situation! I'll be sure to get Arkham Origins on PC after what you said. I don't really have loyalty to either platform regarding PC/Playstation. I usually just go for whichever one is more convenient, or can run the game I want to play. I have a fairly low budget laptop, so any game from 2012 or before is usually fine. After that it starts to get trickier and more limited to well optimised games or indie games. It's why I can probably manage Arkham Origins on PC, but will definitely have to resort to my PS4 for Arkham Knight if I ever get to that point. That said, I do prefer gaming in bed with a controller over sititng behind a laptop having!

Bold statement to admit to liking Star Wars: Battlefront II on the internet! Just kidding. I'm definitely not one for playing online (multiplayer) games solo. Maybe occasionally with friends, but I much prefer the singleplayer experience. That said, it sounds like you're making it your own singleplayer experience by turning it into Photo Mode: The Game. Not like I'm missing out on much on that front either, since I'm not all that into the whole shooter genre and that's a lot of the online-only games! You having to play your games systematically only sounds like further proof of your OCD to me, not meant in a bad way, mind! I think a more scattershot approach also just helps me finish games. I usually get to a point in a game where I've binge played it for days, and have just gotten tired with it. By playing a few games simultaneously, my playtime is more balanced and varied and I therefore face less of a risk of ''acidentally'' burning myself out. I just finished Dreamfall: The Longest Journey before starting to write up this reply, so it seems to be working for me so far! I would recommend it to you personally, but it's not available on any Playstation consoles. Definitely give it a look if you ever find yourself in the PC gaming space, although it's also available on the original Xbox.

I had never heard of the Katamari series before your quiz, so I'll have to look into that. I'm not at all familiar with the Japanese gaming scene though, outside of the more mainstream titles. I do hope to get my hands on Yakuza 0 at some point, or maybe even start Kingdom Hearts in the future if I'm feeling bold since I do enjoy my Disney characters! I'm not sure how I feel about ''Michael Bay directing a racing game'', but it sounds like such a wacky combination that I just have to check it out. I'll definitely research more into that tomorrow as well. I didn't know Platinum Games even did a third-person cover-based shooter, so I'm intrigued. I can see how that specific company taking a stab at that genre could make for some interesting results. I'll definitely pick up The Order 1886 if I come across it for cheap. That game's release situation followed by it's increasing praise over the years afterwards has always fascinated me. Definitely sounds like a game worth experiencing.

I don't replay games much, outside of the aforementioned Mass Effect and Dishonored. Most of the time I don't really see the value in doing so, even if I've really enjoyed a game, besides --- you simply don't have the time! There's too much to keep up with, especially with the indie gaming scene in full swing nowadays! I've got too many games and not enough time to play them, haha.

Despite absolutely loving Mass Effect 2 and 3, I have never played the first game. I've played through ME2 three times (normal run, save everyone paragon, and renegade FemShep), and ME3 twice I think carrying on my "save everyone" game (the first run I didn't have an online connection so missed out on getting those war assets, and the second I used guides to get all the best outcomes on different decisions). Also got the platinum for both.

I'm not sure how I'd feel about a remaster in all honesty. I loved those games but sometimes think they're best left alone, especially only one console generation later! But it would be a great way to get hype bak up for another good ME game.

I also never played the Citadel DLC. I think Leviathan was the only one I picked up for ME3. As I got the PS3 version of ME2, I got all the DLC with that and then picked up Arrival later in to tie into ME3.

Personally, I always thought there'd be great scope for prequel games covering the contact wars etc. Admittedly, it may be a little hard to write and some options for narrative branching could be limited with what story has already been written but I always thought it would be really interesting to visit that storyline.

@Thrillho What??? Is there any specific reason you've never played the first Mass Effect? You absolutely need to play that if you've still got your PS3 lying around or manage to run it on PC. Not having played it before Mass Effect 2 honestly sounds so strange to me. You'll miss out on so many powerful moments in Mass Effect 2. Does this mean you've never met Wrex?

The Citadel DLC is great. If you ever end up doing another playthrough (which you should, including the first!!!), definitely buy that too. It's the perfect swan song to the series and possibly my favourite piece of DLC in the series, only rivaled by Lair of the Shadow Broker. You might as well buy Omega too in that case if you've got extra money lying around. Not the best DLC but a fun return to the character of Aria with a solid storyline. From Ashes for ME3 is definitely the first priority for DLC though, since it adds an entirely new squadmate who is actually very important to the plot. Such a strange decision to lock him behind a paywall.

I agree that the Contact Wars would definitely be a very interesting period in Mass Effect lore to visit at some point. I think you could do a lot with the setting even if the resolution of the war is set in stone.

@mookysam I know how you feel. I also know that, as soon as I start another replay (or worse, finish one) EA will announce a remastered trilogy. Also, glad to meet another Kaidan fan! I think we're a rare breed; so many people I see writing about the games, or the few I've chatted to directly, always seemed to have saved Ashley instead.

I also agree with your musings about 10/10 scores. RiME cannot objectively be called a perfect game, from a technical nor a gameplay experience, but it packed such an emotional punch that I don't care, and my first playthrough will always be with me. That's special, that'd get a 10 from me, but I would totally understand somebody else giving it a much lower score and if I were reviewing it as a journalist, I'd probably have given it a seven or an eight.

@beemo Another I found myself in agreement with on the topic because if I remove all emotion from an analytical, subjective critique, I don't think any game deserves a 10.

@Tjuz I'm gonna cut down or give brief replies to some of the sections of our conversation, if that's alright with you; I don't wanna break Push Square, I'm too fond of the place! But please rest assured that I really enjoyed reading your reply in full, and found any details that I may skip over really interesting. Thanks for taking the time!

It definitely sounds like you missed the piano scene because of your romance choices. It's ridiculously sweet; look it up on YouTube if you've got the time (I'd post it here but we can't spoiler-tag videos). My male Shepards, John and Jason, both romanced Kaidan in ME3 and nobody else; I'd been given the heads-up about my romance options by my best friend before starting, but actually found it to be quite a believable and in-depth relationship over the entire trilogy, rather than the sudden "oh, let's just make him bi" change in the final chapter that I'd kinda feared (to the point where I wanted to see Steve's romance, but couldn't bring myself to because he simply didn't have a good-enough backstory to give weight to my romance as the galaxy crumbled around me, whereas all the history with Kaidan did). Kathryn romanced Kaidan in ME1 because it meant I could finally see what it was like from the beginning, then Jacob in ME2. Haven't gotten her to ME3 yet and will decide when I get there, I guess. I just know it won't be Kaidan, as that wouldn't tally with my head canon. Finally, both John and Jason were mostly paragon throughout, with tiny moments of renegade, but only when they were kinda "roguish Han Solo flippant" and not "ruthless murder psycho", whereas Kathryn I pushed more towards renegade because I wanted to see the differences.

The only weird thing was that the big endgame decisions for ME1 and ME2 that I made thinking they'd be paragon actually turned out to be renegade; I totally sacrificed the Council to take down Sovereign and save the Citadel, believing the need to save many innocent lives outweighed the need to save a couple of politicians, and I also preserved the Collector Base for study, believing that it would give the galaxy a better understanding of the Reapers and therefore a better chance of defeating them. Apparently I was "wrong" both times, so having learned the lesson with John, Jason made the paragon call at the end of ME2 (but still did the same thing in ME1; sorry, but I really hated the Council).

I completely agree with your points about objectivity and fandom playing a part in review scores. In any extreme case of that, I'd probably give two scores. For example, I'm currently playing LEGO DC Super-Villains and I know that I'm getting a great deal of joy from the game because I love DC characters, but can still objectively admit that LEGO games haven't changed much and they're simple, repetitive and kinda shallow to play. Since I'm not a journalist who has to give one final score, my opinions will probably reflect that decision and I'd recommend it strongly to DC fans in future, whereas I'd be more realistic talking about it with casual comic fans, Marvel fans or others. If I were forced to give only one score, I'd probably pick something between the two and hope that people read my conclusions, where I'd detail the division. Would you agree that such a compromise would be a fair response to your questions on fandom and personal connection?

No, the HD Trilogy on PS3 contains the seventh, eighth and ninth main Tomb Raider games. The first five were on PSone and didn't really have connected storylines, and the sixth was on PS2 but wasn't well-received, so the franchise was soft-rebooted. The story is therefore accessible and separate when you start with Legend (the seventh) in the HD Trilogy. If you like PSone gaming, then give the older games a try (they're all available digitally as PSone Classics on PS3, PSP and PS Vita) but they're not essential. Legend, Anniversary and Underworld tell a neatly-interconnected story that wraps itself up by the end.

Thanks for all your information about The Walking Dead. I'll keep it in mind and see how my gaming calendar and / or any sales impact my decision. If I ever do end up giving it a try, or watching it, I'll tag you and let you know what I think. I'll also definitely do the same with Hitman 2, sure. I'll probably start a topic for it, if nobody else does, like I did for Shadow of the Tomb Raider and post regular updates on my progress and spoiler-free feedback on gameplay and levels. My moral code means I only kill my intended targets and cause as little fuss as possible, so I apologise if it takes me a while to clear the levels!

Hope those OCD tips do help; likewise, let me know how you get along if you do attempt to use them during your next open-world sandbox. I played Gravity Rush on PS Vita and found it to be pretty easy to stick with the core story. Might be a better one to attempt a different approach, rather than Red Dead Redemption, which does have good side content that could be very tempting (or indeed essential at times, if some of the PR talk about RDR2 is anything to go by). In fact, since you said that you'll look about getting Arkham Origins on PC, it may also tempt you with side quests quite badly, as it's all broken up into districts and systematically revealed to you at key points; be interesting to know how you tackle that, because the core story is so awesome if you can keep the momentum going. The Arkham games are usually quite good at addressing those who want to do all the side stuff after the main story, so you're safe if you do focus. Best of luck!

Thanks for the nod towards Dreamfall (I'll store the name away in my brainspace for future reference) and glad to meet a fellow Disney fan; I'm yet to take the plunge with Kingdom Hearts, it's this huge thing that I'm terrified will dominate an entire year if I try to play it from start to finish in one go (as I'm forced to do, thank you habit) but I'm sure I'd enjoy it if I did. That kinda feeds into your final point, about everything being so good nowadays and there simply being too many awesome experiences out there; I think we, as gamers, just have to pick our battles and rely on our instincts to play things we kinda know we'll like. Which brings us full circle to personal impacts on scores, impressions and feelings about certain games, I guess, and so being the neat-and-tidy chap I am, that's where I'll leave this epic conversation for now!

@Tjuz @Thrillho I also quite liked Mass Effect 2 and 3. Some of PS3’s best. But ME1 was a Microsoft exclusive until the trilogy was released together. ME2 on PS3 started with one of those “the story so far...” intros where you make the handful of major choices (which character to save, etc) and these carry over so that ME2 is in line with those choices. So yeah, I never played ME1 either. And at this point it’s just too much of an investment to go back and start over for me. If I ever win the lotto and quit my job then it will maybe make it into the rotation.

@RogerRoger I'll be sure to reply later, bur I just want to quickly offer you a code for the Dishonored Definitive Edition on PS4. I got this with the Dishonored 2 Limited Edition on launch day, and have had this lying around for ages now. It says it's long expired, but I just tried redeeming it and it seems like it still works? I'm not sure if the code is region specific, but I figured it was worth a try if you're interested. It'd save you some money! Not sure if I can private message on this forum though, so I don't know how I'd get the code to you without bots possibly picking it up and redeeming it before you get the chance to.

@Tjuz Wow, that's an incredibly kind thought, thank you!

As we've already mentioned in this topic, though, I'm a very particular and deliberate creature of habit, and have a specific process when it comes to games. This is absolutely no reflection on your good self or your generosity, but I wouldn't feel comfortable accepting such a code.

Genuinely sorry to have to say that (I do hate my brain sometimes) and really am very grateful for the gesture. Hope you can find another use for the code.

@RogerRoger No worries. As long as it isn't because you're too proud for it!

Anyone else interested in a code for Dishonored: Definitive Edition? I can't guarantee it works, but it's worth a shot if it's something you're interested in.

Does anyone know if RIGS is worth buying for the single player campaign alone? How much content is there? Just an hour or so, or a little more than that?

@Tjuz Wow, that's mighty kind. I've played Dishonored (and the definitive edition) and finished it multiple times, so I don't need a code. Just wanted to say it's still a great game to play today, super unique.

@Th3solution @Tjuz Yeah, I jumped in with ME2 on PS3 so just had the comic book prologue to get me up to speed. I never felt it made a massive difference to my experience but the game certainly made a big deal over characters I'd never met.

For instance.. I chose to save the Racnhi queen in the prologue. In ME3 she returns but it didn't mean anything to me really.

And don't worry @Tjuz of course I chose to have Wrex survive and appear in ME2!

EDIT: I also got the collector's edition (or whatever it was called) so got From Ashes with the game so I got to play with Javik. I used him a lot on my second run-through. I especially liked him dismissing just about everything Liara "knew" about the prometheans

@RogerRoger It does seem that a lot of people prefer Ashley. Kaidan was nicer and I couldn't bring myself to sacrifice him. In the third game my Shepard romanced Cortez, who seemed sweet; but given the history with Kaidan and everything they'd gone through I felt Alenko would have been a better match. I also chose to be a Ravager (awesome class), which fit in nicely with Kaidan's side story relating to his implants was interesting given my Shepard's biotic abilities.

Also, I must get round to playing Rime!

@mookysam I had a kneejerk reaction against Steve Cortez which was wrong of me, because I'd been told that ME3 finally added male romances for male players but then saw an out-of-context clip of Steve dancing in a nightclub on the Citadel and giving Shepard a strong, slightly creepy come-on and so I immediately recoiled in fear of a stereotype being dropped in at the last minute. When I finally played the game, I was focused on romancing Kaidan and kinda ignored Steve, so was taken aback at how sweet and well-written his backstory and character turned out (and I love the friendship he has with James Vega, too). I genuinely felt awful about pre-judging him, which says something about how strongly I connected with the world created by the game.

But you're right, the near-perfect backstory arc between Shepard and Kaidan across the entire trilogy (regardless of Shepard's class, but awesome that you were able to make that connection) makes a lot more sense and adds weight to the romance scenes right before the big finale, from which I didn't come back alive, because I chose Synthesis.

If you're gonna play RiME, be braced for emotions!

@RogerRoger Yeah, I was also concerned that Cortez would lean on stereotypes. That he didn't was a mark of the great writing in the games. I don't think it's bad to be concerned that he would be a stereotype, as so many gay characters in media still are poorly written - especially when romance is involved.

I'll certainly put Rime on my big list of games I'm interested in! Is it particularly gut wrenching?

@mookysam Personally I thought it was more a reflective game than an intensely emotionally engagement. It has some very sweet moments, that will no doubt touch you, but in a positive way.

But the game touches upon a few themes that might be more impactful from person to person.

@RogerRoger The second the piano started playing in the Liara clip I recognised it! i definitely saw that scene, I had just forgotten. Too bad, since it's really cute like you said. I can see how you would get teary-eyed if not outright bawl at that scene once you're getting close to the end. Hell, I might have and simply forgotten that as well! Í'm surprised by your romance choices. Those are characters I've never really considered seriously romancing. I only started romancing Kaidan on my third playthrough since it's the only one I hadn't seen yet, but was planning to move to Garrus for ME2 and probably ME3 as well. Any specific reason you were so adamant on romancing Kaidan instead of exploring different options? I frequently heard Jacob is one of the worst romances in the trilogy, and he definitely was a total creep whenever he'd be talking to my FemShep. Hopefully he wasn't as awful as advertised!

I think what you proposed regarding a division between the ''subjective'' and ''objective'' review score is a good solution. It's probably the best way anyone can go about it, even if it becomes slightly convoluted. It will require even more of a thorough readthrough of reviews, though, and unfortunately that not something that's all that prevalent within gaming culture. Most people like to simply skip to the end for the score and believe that any score below 8 is terrible, which is a terrible way to ''take reviews into account'', but what can you do?

Ah, I got the numbering wrong for the Tomb Raider games! I can't fault myself for that one considering how many of them there are. I'm glad to hear it got soft-rebooted and it isn't all an ongoing storyline. I don't know if I could ever get myself to start on a nine-game long journey! If I end up liking Legend/Anniversary/Underworld I'll be sure to go further back and see if I can appreciate those as much. I'm certainly not opposed to PSone gaming! That said, to go off on a slight tangent, do you know if there's a specific reason why people call PSone as such instead of PS1? The latter seems like the more logical choice. Is that a marketing term Sony ushered in themselves or is that just kind of the way it is? It's always interested me.

No need to apologise for how you play Hitman 2! That's how I played Blood Money, and intend to play any future Hitman game I pick up, as well. I can't imagine playing Hitman any other way, although missions do have a tendency to somewhat go off the rails at some point. At that point it's just about recovering and avoiding civilian casualties, but I can't say that's something I've always managed! I mean, no Silent Assassin is good too, right?

I actually ended up buying Arkham Origins earlier today upon your suggestion. I saw it was included in the recent Humble Bundle in the $1 tier, so at that point it's a steal! It's all downloaded, installed and ready to go. Just gotta find the right time to boot it up, since i also started a playthrough of the original Borderlands with a friend on PC yesterday and he's quite the active fellow! Clearly my one game per system.. system is already broken. That didn't last very long! I'll be sure to try and follow up on those OCD tips with this one in particular, but I must admit that anything that includes proper districts and progressively unlocking side quests can be extremely tempting like you say. It'll be a hard one! I hope I enjoy the main story as much as you did and that helps me stay on track.

Regarding the amount of time it will take to play Kingdom Hearts, I agree. I only recently find out how ridiculously long it is to play all the games. I believe HowLongToBeat pegs it at around 180 hours total. Add the completionist mentality, and you've got yourself a hell of a mountain to climb. I can barely even get myself to finish 10 hour games! That said, I should've expected it considering it's a JRPG. Obviously they're all notoriously long. I figure maybe something among the likes of Yakuza 0 would be a better entry point into that specific area of gaming. We all gotta face it, we'll never get to play everything we want to play.

@Th3solution @Thrillho Ah. Mass Effect being an Xbox exclusive for a while is a great point. I hadn't thought of that considering I personally played the trilogy on PC. Such a shame that both of you missed out on the first one, though! I think that it might be the best self-contained story of the three. Some incredibly memorable moments in there. I do recommend both of you give it a shot at some point in the future if you can, though! Definitely not an experience you should miss if you enjoyed the second and third games, even after having played those. You can also simply play the first one without soldiering on, altough, admittedly, that might be tough to do once you get into it again!

@Thrillho Ah. Saving the rachni queen is definitely a huge plot point in the first game. They were creatures who were once very violent and almost brought the galaxy to extinction. Luckily the Krogan were there to bring them to their knees, but they had to be brought into the fold by the Turians/Salarians/Asari since they hadn't yet made contact on their own yet. This is also what the prerequisite was to the Sarlarians creating the Genophage. Once they noticed how strong and aggressive the Krogan were to the point where they were significantly able to weaken the Rachni on their own, the Genophage was created to stop them from reproducing and to keep them in check, but I digress. The Rachni were subsequently brought to extinction, yet the antagonists from ME1 managed to hatch Rachni eggs in the hope of recreating their once powerful army to do their dirty work along with the Geth. This is where the Rachni queen came in, since these creatures rely on a ''queen'' to control them. You had a choice between killing the Rachni queen to avoid a potential disaster, or to let her escape with the promise that she would not use her ''children'' for warring and that she would bring peace to the Rachni. If you let her escape, that's when she shows up again in ME3 to aid you. I'm not sure if you already knew all this, but I always enjoy recalling Mass Effect lore! All that said, the return of the Rachni queen was definitely not as epic as I had hoped it would be. It was very underwhelming, especially since she didn't really serve any purpose.

I'm also glad you saved Wrex! I was worried since I believe the default option when you create a fresh game in ME2 is him having died. I can't imagine playing the trilogy without him!