Mass Effect Legendary Edition now playable on Linux with Proton GE

For anyone who not only cares about good game writing but also enjoys reading about good game writing (and writing in general)

I've been aware of Shamus for like 20 years now, and I wouldn't categorize anything he produces as good, but YMMV...

Ah, Mass Effect. That sci-fi game that had such an absolutely great first part, before somehow managing to turn into an absolute crapfest in its second and third parts. For anyone who not only cares about good game writing but also enjoys reading about good game writing (and writing in general)

Pfff, opinions. ME2 is the best of the three by a huge margin. Primarily due to the fact that it actually does a better job of establishing reasons to care about individual characters rather than just the clinical plot stuff.

Yep, ME2 was a better game by far. Great characters, tight story telling, far, far more accessible combat. I loved everything about it, whereas I had to persevere quite a bit to get through the first few hours of the first game.

Never played the third, since they moved it to Origin, but I'd have loved to give a shot, despite the weird controversy over the ending(s).

Ah, Mass Effect. That sci-fi game that had such an absolutely great first part, before somehow managing to turn into an absolute crapfest in its second and third parts. For anyone who not only cares about good game writing but also enjoys reading about good game writing (and writing in general)

Pfff, opinions. ME2 is the best of the three by a huge margin. Primarily due to the fact that it actually does a better job of establishing reasons to care about individual characters rather than just the clinical plot stuff.

Yup. And lots of people consider the Marvel films or the final season of Game of Thrones as the best thing since sliced bread, but... opinions. Totally agree. For the record though, as a game ME2 is indeed good enough if you don't overthink it and treat it as its own beast, especially when compared to ME3 which is the one that really, objectively sucks (and is what actually woke me up to the fact that I don't actually like ME). It's only when you compare it with ME1 and what it could have been that you begin to see the deeper cracks (and there's lots of them).

For anyone who not only cares about good game writing but also enjoys reading about good game writing (and writing in general)

I've been aware of Shamus for like 20 years now, and I wouldn't categorize anything he produces as good, but YMMV...

My mileage does vary, not the least because no matter if one agrees with him or not, the guy can produce actual arguments about the things he opines about, as compared to 99% of people on the internet. Also, being able to recognize and analyze faults objectively in others' work does not necessarily mean you're automatically skilled or talented enough to create masterpieces.

Is it me, or is this just a ploy to get people to install Origin. Like EA finally realized it was a failure, but so they went back to allowing games to be sold on Steam again... but still require origin so they have a reason to say the software still lives?

Is it me, or is this just a ploy to get people to install Origin. Like EA finally realized it was a failure, but so they went back to allowing games to be sold on Steam again... but still require origin so they have a reason to say the software still lives?

Of all the 'trademarks' that EA bought & made a travesty of, the case of 'Origin' is possibly the most bizarre.

Thought I think the name will be laid to rest soon: https://venturebeat.com/2020/09/14/electronic-arts-doubles-down-on-ea-play-brand-with-ea-desktop-app/

Ah, Mass Effect. That sci-fi game that had such an absolutely great first part, before somehow managing to turn into an absolute crapfest in its second and third parts. For anyone who not only cares about good game writing but also enjoys reading about good game writing (and writing in general)

Pfff, opinions. ME2 is the best of the three by a huge margin. Primarily due to the fact that it actually does a better job of establishing reasons to care about individual characters rather than just the clinical plot stuff.

That's the whole problem of ME2, though. In a mission of such scale that the whole universe is in peril, caring for individual characters, is a bit ridiculous. And going from a half-science/half-space-magic based story to a drama based story, with stupidity reaching new level with the

Spoiler, click me

creation of the humanoid reaper.

I'll continue in spoiler in case someone has not played it yet.

Spoiler, click me

The reapers have been wiping civilizations for eons and it doesn't occur to them that creating a biped reaper with opposable thumbs is better that the squid form until they meet the humans.

Or the fact the humans have been out of their home planet for mere 200 years, and they go from being looked from above, being patronized, etc to be in charge of everything. Where does the last battle happen? In earth.

The propaganda of humans > aliens just because and the deidity of a single character than can be resurrected from death (almost like Jesus) and command the whole galaxy against a huge threat is what destroyed ME2 and 3.

That only at the story level. Killing the mako, cutting exploration, adding bullets to the weapons and adding a bit more of bum and tits here and there deepened the above mentioned fails.

Is it me, or is this just a ploy to get people to install Origin. Like EA finally realized it was a failure, but so they went back to allowing games to be sold on Steam again... but still require origin so they have a reason to say the software still lives?

Of all the 'trademarks' that EA bought & made a travesty of, the case of 'Origin' is possibly the most bizarre.

Thought I think the name will be laid to rest soon: https://venturebeat.com/2020/09/14/electronic-arts-doubles-down-on-ea-play-brand-with-ea-desktop-app/

Urgh, goddam. Serebit mentioned in Discord that Origin was going away, and I genuinely thought that I might start playing EA games again after nearly a decade of boycot. But nope, they're just re-launching Origin v2, calling it EA Desktop, and bundling their shitty subscription service in?? Yeah. No thanks.

Unless it gets actual Linux support, of course. Might reconsider if that happens. Right after I shoot down that flying pig...

Is it me, or is this just a ploy to get people to install Origin. Like EA finally realized it was a failure, but so they went back to allowing games to be sold on Steam again... but still require origin so they have a reason to say the software still lives?

Of all the 'trademarks' that EA bought & made a travesty of, the case of 'Origin' is possibly the most bizarre.

Thought I think the name will be laid to rest soon: https://venturebeat.com/2020/09/14/electronic-arts-doubles-down-on-ea-play-brand-with-ea-desktop-app/

Urgh, goddam. Serebit mentioned in Discord that Origin was going away, and I genuinely thought that I might start playing EA games again after nearly a decade of boycot. But nope, they're just re-launching Origin v2, calling it EA Desktop, and bundling their shitty subscription service in?? Yeah. No thanks.

Unless it gets actual Linux support, of course. Might reconsider if that happens. Right after I shoot down that flying pig...

Damn flying pigs, get off my lawn! Uhhh, and out of my trees, dagnabbit!

By the way, does anyone else find annoying the fashion among big corporations to rename themselves by the acronym of what used to be their name, except now it officially doesn't stand for anything it's just this free-floating brandable signifier?

So like we got EA which used to be Electronic Arts but now is just two meaningless letters. In Canada, our big banks all went that way--the Bank of Montreal is BMO (not just BM, heh), the Royal Bank of Canada is RBC and so on. And the slogan is "Our name stands for nothing, and so do we!"


Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 18 May 2021 at 9:11 pm UTC

Ah, Mass Effect. That sci-fi game that had such an absolutely great first part, before somehow managing to turn into an absolute crapfest in its second and third parts. For anyone who not only cares about good game writing but also enjoys reading about good game writing (and writing in general)

Pfff, opinions. ME2 is the best of the three by a huge margin. Primarily due to the fact that it actually does a better job of establishing reasons to care about individual characters rather than just the clinical plot stuff.

That's the whole problem of ME2, though. In a mission of such scale that the whole universe is in peril, caring for individual characters, is a bit ridiculous. And going from a half-science/half-space-magic based story to a drama based story, with stupidity reaching new level with the

Spoiler, click me

creation of the humanoid reaper.

I'll continue in spoiler in case someone has not played it yet.

Spoiler, click me

The reapers have been wiping civilizations for eons and it doesn't occur to them that creating a biped reaper with opposable thumbs is better that the squid form until they meet the humans.

Or the fact the humans have been out of their home planet for mere 200 years, and they go from being looked from above, being patronized, etc to be in charge of everything. Where does the last battle happen? In earth.

The propaganda of humans > aliens just because and the deidity of a single character than can be resurrected from death (almost like Jesus) and command the whole galaxy against a huge threat is what destroyed ME2 and 3.

That only at the story level. Killing the mako, cutting exploration, adding bullets to the weapons and adding a bit more of bum and tits here and there deepened the above mentioned fails.

Basically all of what you said boils down to: things you don't like vs things you like vs. things other people like vs. things other people don't like.

There's no objectively good or bad here. We don't all want the same things from games/stories. If you don't like the thing, maybe the thing just is not for you and you can move on.

By the way, does anyone else find annoying the fashion among big corporations to rename themselves by the acronym of what used to be their name, except now it officially doesn't stand for anything it's just this free-floating brandable signifier?

So like we got EA which used to be Electronic Arts but now is just two meaningless letters. In Canada, our big banks all went that way--the Bank of Montreal is BMO (not just BM, heh), the Royal Bank of Canada is RBC and so on. And the slogan is "Our name stands for nothing, and so do we!"

At least they didn't pull an 'Xfce' (from https://docs.xfce.org/faq#what_does_it_mean):

The name Xfce originally stood for XForms Common Environment, but since then, Xfce was rewritten twice and doesn't use XForms toolkit anymore. The name survived, but the F is no longer capitalized (not “XFce”, but “Xfce”). Currently the abbreviation doesn't stand for anything (suggestion: X Freakin' Cool Environment). It's not pronounced “X-Face”. There is no “a” in it.

... or a 'GNOME': (from https://mail.gnome.org/archives/marketing-list/2010-April/msg00050.html)

Am Dienstag, den 06.04.2010, 08:08 -0500 schrieb Bharat Kapoor:
> At least now I know what GNOME is an acronym for :)
> The talk is about name or rename (if our mission is consistent with)
> GNU Network Object Model Environment

Once again: GNOME WAS an acronym. GNOME is NOT anymore an acronym.
GNOME stands for GNOME nowadays. Only. That's all.

andre

Though if GNOME ever goes back to an acronym, I suggest the gloriously recursive:
GNOME has NO MErcy.

Ah, Mass Effect. That sci-fi game that had such an absolutely great first part, before somehow managing to turn into an absolute crapfest in its second and third parts. For anyone who not only cares about good game writing but also enjoys reading about good game writing (and writing in general)

Pfff, opinions. ME2 is the best of the three by a huge margin. Primarily due to the fact that it actually does a better job of establishing reasons to care about individual characters rather than just the clinical plot stuff.

That's the whole problem of ME2, though. In a mission of such scale that the whole universe is in peril, caring for individual characters, is a bit ridiculous. And going from a half-science/half-space-magic based story to a drama based story, with stupidity reaching new level with the

Spoiler, click me

creation of the humanoid reaper.

I'll continue in spoiler in case someone has not played it yet.

Spoiler, click me

The reapers have been wiping civilizations for eons and it doesn't occur to them that creating a biped reaper with opposable thumbs is better that the squid form until they meet the humans.

Or the fact the humans have been out of their home planet for mere 200 years, and they go from being looked from above, being patronized, etc to be in charge of everything. Where does the last battle happen? In earth.

The propaganda of humans > aliens just because and the deidity of a single character than can be resurrected from death (almost like Jesus) and command the whole galaxy against a huge threat is what destroyed ME2 and 3.

That only at the story level. Killing the mako, cutting exploration, adding bullets to the weapons and adding a bit more of bum and tits here and there deepened the above mentioned fails.

Basically all of what you said boils down to: things you don't like vs things you like vs. things other people like vs. things other people don't like.

There's no objectively good or bad here. We don't all want the same things from games/stories. If you don't like the thing, maybe the thing just is not for you and you can move on.

Yes, of course. But what would be of the internet if we didn't try to convince someone else that what we like is better? :P /s

Ah, Mass Effect. That sci-fi game that had such an absolutely great first part, before somehow managing to turn into an absolute crapfest in its second and third parts. For anyone who not only cares about good game writing but also enjoys reading about good game writing (and writing in general)

Pfff, opinions. ME2 is the best of the three by a huge margin. Primarily due to the fact that it actually does a better job of establishing reasons to care about individual characters rather than just the clinical plot stuff.

That's the whole problem of ME2, though. In a mission of such scale that the whole universe is in peril, caring for individual characters, is a bit ridiculous. And going from a half-science/half-space-magic based story to a drama based story, with stupidity reaching new level with the

Spoiler, click me

creation of the humanoid reaper.

I'll continue in spoiler in case someone has not played it yet.

Spoiler, click me

The reapers have been wiping civilizations for eons and it doesn't occur to them that creating a biped reaper with opposable thumbs is better that the squid form until they meet the humans.

Or the fact the humans have been out of their home planet for mere 200 years, and they go from being looked from above, being patronized, etc to be in charge of everything. Where does the last battle happen? In earth.

The propaganda of humans > aliens just because and the deidity of a single character than can be resurrected from death (almost like Jesus) and command the whole galaxy against a huge threat is what destroyed ME2 and 3.

That only at the story level. Killing the mako, cutting exploration, adding bullets to the weapons and adding a bit more of bum and tits here and there deepened the above mentioned fails.

Basically all of what you said boils down to: things you don't like vs things you like vs. things other people like vs. things other people don't like.

There's no objectively good or bad here. We don't all want the same things from games/stories. If you don't like the thing, maybe the thing just is not for you and you can move on.

Yes, of course. But what would be of the internet if we didn't try to convince someone else that what we like is better? :P /s

I love it when people try to do that. Enthusiasm is great to see. Sadly, it's much more common to see people shitting on things other people love, as if we should all be cynical haters of everything by default, and we're only allowed to love something if that thing is perfect, and therefore mystically beyond criticism.

That's not me. I love all sorts of flawed but still wonderful things. I still occasionally take a stab at stuff, but (hopefully) more in the vein of trying to understand why people love it (e.g. Stadia).

Is it me, or is this just a ploy to get people to install Origin. Like EA finally realized it was a failure, but so they went back to allowing games to be sold on Steam again... but still require origin so they have a reason to say the software still lives?

Of all the 'trademarks' that EA bought & made a travesty of, the case of 'Origin' is possibly the most bizarre.

Thought I think the name will be laid to rest soon: https://venturebeat.com/2020/09/14/electronic-arts-doubles-down-on-ea-play-brand-with-ea-desktop-app/

Seems to me Origin Systems was their subsidiary that made their best games. When they killed that off and now hoard the rights to the Ultima name... shame on you EA...

Ah, Mass Effect. That sci-fi game that had such an absolutely great first part, before somehow managing to turn into an absolute crapfest in its second and third parts. For anyone who not only cares about good game writing but also enjoys reading about good game writing (and writing in general)

Pfff, opinions. ME2 is the best of the three by a huge margin. Primarily due to the fact that it actually does a better job of establishing reasons to care about individual characters rather than just the clinical plot stuff.

That's the whole problem of ME2, though. In a mission of such scale that the whole universe is in peril, caring for individual characters, is a bit ridiculous. And going from a half-science/half-space-magic based story to a drama based story, with stupidity reaching new level with the

Spoiler, click me

creation of the humanoid reaper.

I'll continue in spoiler in case someone has not played it yet.

Spoiler, click me

The reapers have been wiping civilizations for eons and it doesn't occur to them that creating a biped reaper with opposable thumbs is better that the squid form until they meet the humans.

Or the fact the humans have been out of their home planet for mere 200 years, and they go from being looked from above, being patronized, etc to be in charge of everything. Where does the last battle happen? In earth.

The propaganda of humans > aliens just because and the deidity of a single character than can be resurrected from death (almost like Jesus) and command the whole galaxy against a huge threat is what destroyed ME2 and 3.

That only at the story level. Killing the mako, cutting exploration, adding bullets to the weapons and adding a bit more of bum and tits here and there deepened the above mentioned fails.

Basically all of what you said boils down to: things you don't like vs things you like vs. things other people like vs. things other people don't like.

There's no objectively good or bad here. We don't all want the same things from games/stories. If you don't like the thing, maybe the thing just is not for you and you can move on.

Yes, of course. But what would be of the internet if we didn't try to convince someone else that what we like is better? :P /s

I love it when people try to do that. Enthusiasm is great to see. Sadly, it's much more common to see people shitting on things other people love, as if we should all be cynical haters of everything by default, and we're only allowed to love something if that thing is perfect, and therefore mystically beyond criticism.

That's not me. I love all sorts of flawed but still wonderful things. I still occasionally take a stab at stuff, but (hopefully) more in the vein of trying to understand why people love it (e.g. Stadia).

By the way, does anyone else find annoying the fashion among big corporations to rename themselves by the acronym of what used to be their name, except now it officially doesn't stand for anything it's just this free-floating brandable signifier?

So like we got EA which used to be Electronic Arts but now is just two meaningless letters. In Canada, our big banks all went that way--the Bank of Montreal is BMO (not just BM, heh), the Royal Bank of Canada is RBC and so on. And the slogan is "Our name stands for nothing, and so do we!"

At least they didn't pull an 'Xfce' (from https://docs.xfce.org/faq#what_does_it_mean):

The name Xfce originally stood for XForms Common Environment, but since then, Xfce was rewritten twice and doesn't use XForms toolkit anymore. The name survived, but the F is no longer capitalized (not “XFce”, but “Xfce”). Currently the abbreviation doesn't stand for anything (suggestion: X Freakin' Cool Environment). It's not pronounced “X-Face”. There is no “a” in it.

... or a 'GNOME': (from https://mail.gnome.org/archives/marketing-list/2010-April/msg00050.html)

Am Dienstag, den 06.04.2010, 08:08 -0500 schrieb Bharat Kapoor:
> At least now I know what GNOME is an acronym for :)
> The talk is about name or rename (if our mission is consistent with)
> GNU Network Object Model Environment

Once again: GNOME WAS an acronym. GNOME is NOT anymore an acronym.
GNOME stands for GNOME nowadays. Only. That's all.

andre

Though if GNOME ever goes back to an acronym, I suggest the gloriously recursive:
GNOME has NO MErcy.

In defense of gnome moving away from the acronym, it was very forced in the first place. Now can we finally pronounce it with a silent G like the short stocky inventor creatures it is named after?


Last edited by slaapliedje on 24 May 2021 at 3:32 pm UTC

Pretty cool that this works already. I'm not in the mood to pay $60 to replay games I already played though. It is three games and I think that's fair, but... I never had the feeling that I needed to play through a second time after finishing these. I will say, however, that after I finished the original Mass Effect, I thought that any gamer that didn't play it was missing out on life. They are great games.

By the way, does anyone else find annoying the fashion among big corporations to rename themselves by the acronym of what used to be their name, except now it officially doesn't stand for anything it's just this free-floating brandable signifier?

So like we got EA which used to be Electronic Arts but now is just two meaningless letters. In Canada, our big banks all went that way--the Bank of Montreal is BMO (not just BM, heh), the Royal Bank of Canada is RBC and so on. And the slogan is "Our name stands for nothing, and so do we!"

I still try to remember the ECA logo on old Atari 8bit games. Back when Electronic Arts made good games and didn't try to screw their customers out of every nickel. EA now generally means either Early Access, or 'Games that are ruined by microtransactions and should stay on mobile devices where for some reason people are okay with such things'.