Vicissitude

I think a lot of the user reviews here are unfair. Yes, the game has some surprisingly nasty technical issues. For one mission, Garrus disappeared for about 20-30 minutes. Sadly, he was integral to the mission, so characters kept turning to talk to him, but there was nobody there. Much of the time I couldn't hear what he was supposed to be saying. Also, there are tracking issues during conversations. They tried to make the characters turn to face the current speaker, but this mostly just confuses them when there's more than one speaker. The most hilarious was when Liara's helper bot flew by during a conversation, and Shepard flipped out. He started thrashing about with his eyes rolled back in his head. Reminded me of the Exorcist. I'm not convinced the ending was bad, but I don't think it was very explicit about how your choices impacted the ending. Looking around online I found the ending thresholds, so it turns out it does matter what you do. It's just hard to directly see the impacts. The different endings are apparently pretty similar. The technical issues are my main gripe. I would say I still liked this better than the first Mass Effect but less than the second. I did not find it as disappointing as Dragon Age 2. I feel like people are comparing Mass Effect 3 to some ideal of what they hoped the game would be instead of comparing the game to its peers. Comparing the game to its peers shows that it some things well. It's a beautiful game graphically, and I enjoyed the cameos from throughout the series and seeing how choices I made came back to affect the third game.

This is good RPG with some good characters, intriguing options, and a decent story. I disagree that it's the "spiritual successor" of Baldur's Gate (though even DA's creators don't claim that), but I'm not really sure that DA tries to be anything other than a new fantasy RP IP and a good one at that. It's much more focused on action and character development than Baldur's Gate, while lacking the depth and richness of the environment and narrative of the BG series. Combat can be a bit wonky. I recommend being a mage for the greatest flexibility and tactical strength. Anyway, this is a fine RPG, but it's clear that Mass Effect is Bioware's flagship RPG series. Maybe Dragon Age 2 will prove me wrong, but ME2 set the bar pretty high. Unless you greatly prefer fantasy to sci-fi, choose to play Mass Effect before this.

I was happy with this purchase. It was well worth the $20. You can expect close to 20 hours of new gameplay. You get a new cast of characters (and one old). There's lots of loot, experience, and new locales to be had. This is the best of the bunch as far as DA DLC goes.

I was pretty happy with this add-on. You get a few hours of fun gameplay for your money. The story is surprisingly decent for a one-off adventure. You'll find some nice treasure and gain some experience for the Warden. You could do much worse if you're looking to pick up some DA DLC.

This five bucks for a couple hours of so-so gameplay. Amgarrak is better than Darkspawn Chronicles, but that's not saying much. At least you get to customize your party a bit and gain a level or so for the Warden. Sadly, there are no treasure goodies to speak of. I played this to try to get pumped for DA2, but now I'm actually feeling less excited for the sequel to Origins. Overall, Amgarrak is a pretty unsatisfying experience. Save your money. Try Awakening, Warden's Keep, or Stone Prisoner if you want DA DLC.

This five bucks wasted for one or two hours of pointless combat. Save your money. Try Awakening, Warden's Keep, or Stone Prisoner if you want DA DLC>