I say this all the time. I got into the ME trilogy like a month before ME3 released. So I got to play it all for first time from 1-3 within a few months time. Amazing experiencing it for the first time
Can I just make things very clear when it comes to comments - TH-cam has an in-built filter where it looks up certain words and phrases etc, and then if it finds something, it holds the comment back for me to review but it doesn't notify me that it has done so. I have to manually go in when I revisit the page and check. So if you do find that something you posted isn't there, just simply let me know first so I can check to see if it's there. Obviously it's a different story if people aren't being civil but if it's just TH-cam's word filter then it's an easy job to get it released.
It doesn't need to be there, you can tell it was there to tick a box and I bet money that was Eric Langs influence. Like I said, there's a time and a place.
Without a doubt the two weirdest choices with this game are 1) making PVC minis instead of standees and 2) making you take 4 characters. Every Mass Effect Trilogy game squad consisted of Shepard and TWO teammates on a mission.
@@Jonno92100 I guess it's three squad mates to make the game four player so it sells well and has a wider audience. Definitely feels like it should be optional so we can just play it like the video game
I knew nothing about Mass Effect before I started playing it. I bought the trilogy box set on a whim and it was probably the best game purchase decision I've ever made. It's fantastic. Even if you're not that into the role playing aspects of it the combat mechanics are some of the most entertaining I've ever encountered in an RPG. Honestly though, if you're even slightly into RPG games you're going to love it. Its characters are probably the best written characters you'll find in any digital game universe today. The story of the original trilogy is also brilliant.
Mass effect is an amazing game. The original is old at this point. I remember buying it when it was stand alone and sequels weren't guaranteed. Not that you need knowledge of original games to enjoy a board game version, but for sure it will make the experience much more enjoyable.
Thanks for the review and honest thoughts. I was very suspect of Modiphius board games after being very disappointed in Elder Scrolls:Skyrim. This will be one that I will wait for a steep discount to consider.
Mass Effect is one of my favorite video games but I'm really not interested in the woke board game version of it with pronouns and shit. Hard pass for me...
Yuck, I hate standees the most. I do like tokens. 10 years ago we use to get wooden discs with stickers with lots of info on them. They were great to handle, and really need to make a comeback.
I get not loading the box with minis to keep the cost down but standees seems like a fair compromise. I'd have paid an extra tenner for that. More immersive than tokens
I had such high hopes for this, but it sounds like it's designed to be way too light for what I was looking for. I wanted something with some bite. More story. More character. Maybe an expansion will save it? Or, the fans...considering it's ME, there's probably going to be a lot of diehard fans looking to improve upon it. I shall wait and see...
I had the same problem with To many bones, the ending is, there, you did it. Couldn´t they put a small text or something if you succeed or not? Oh no, the enemy rage the land and kill your family or by defeating him, you manage to stop this disaster and the town is safe. It was meh, but the gameplay was pretty fun.
@@Static442 Exactly. Just a little something. They have this event cards or quests cards with good lore on them and the end,they give you nothing. All that work just to end up wasted.
As much as I like Spirit Island, I see your point, but then that game isn't trying to be a narrative game with story beats so I don't think they are comparable. This War Of Mine had that campaign expansions with some fantastic writing in that regard.
Pronouns pronounced this dead in the water for me, went from excited to hard pass. I like my sci fi board games to be accurate to the universe and science fiction, not full of modern politics.
Def play the video game if you like creating your own unique team do deal with problems in ways that fit your play style as opposed to each problem needs the same team with regardless of how you’d like to play Board game sounds like a hard pass
Videogame has some flaws, but its clasic Bioware game and what Bioware do best is to make interesting companions whith their stories and goals. I dont remeber good gameplay moments (except suicadel mission in ME2), but i have memories about so many story moments with companions. Mass effect, Dragon age, Starwar: Knights of the old republic 1 and 2 even the old ones had great companion stories -Planescape torment, Icewind dale and Baldurs gate. One of the flaws of video game is repetitivnes of side missions. Loyality missions are OP, and as said above best stories are companion stories so you are supposed to do them in game. And enemies can be organics or biotics and some companions are more usefull against specific group, boardgame doesnt have these different types of enemies?
@@TheBrokenMeeple What i dont like about video game is that there is an idead order of missions. You have charisma plus good/evil points and those unlock dialogue options. To for example save hostages you need to unlock dialogue option, without it there can be casulties. But its just my problem, as i hate those options that you see but cant pick. For using good (blue) dialogue option you get more "light side" points unlocking blue dialogues in other missions, thus creating optimal mission order for good or evil endings.
Ye that one died when i heard you saying they put the pronouns on the charcter sheets. You tell me how that would be relevant for play or better your experience regardless if you played the games or not.
Me too. I've had some dealings with him a few years back. Thoroughly unpleasant. It may sound petty, but after that, I swore I'd never buy one of his games.
@@Feldingor I'm not a huge fan of the mission variety either, which is probably my biggest reason to hold off on this one. But 2 expansions adding maybe 3 characters each and some more unique missions would seriously flesh this out at which point I'd likely jump in
Pronouns, also how to tell me Eric Lang was involved with the design without telling me Eric Lang was involved with the design. Seems intentionally needless. I like the idea of this game, but the execution isn't very exciting. I am surprised someone didn't take this license and launch a crowdfunding campaign and doing something a bit grander. Doesn't make sense to dump this to retail until I saw what the design was. You saved me some money because I love the IP across games and books, but yeah this is not the Mass Effect board game I was looking for.
The video games really are as good as everyone says, 1-3 anyway not so much 4. However from what you have said I am not sure you will like it as the story is a big thing in the game spanning across all games with a ton of side missions to keep track off so not something you can really flit into and out off every few months. After seeing this review I know this game isn't for me. Price is great and awful, £40 for the core game is decent but another £240 for the mini's they must be out of there tiny minds. Also seems to be such a lack of different missions and nowhere near enough, So few of the crew's characters in the box so I would think a long line of expansions adding more missions and the rest of the characters will come. I appreciate they have gone for a smaller scale game which some will love with probably many expansions down the road if successful but I would have much preferred an ISS Vanguard type game. With so many characters in the video game but not the board game and you have to use 4 out of 5 every game that means if you did a second play through 75% of the team has to be exactly the same until the long line of expansions inevitably come. A minor point and I don't know how to say it without sounding like a hater but only a couple of the large crew in the video game are humans, most are alien species. None of them in the video game had pronouns so who decided to give what to each species, really not needed as adds nothing to the game and seems forced into it for the sake of it but as I say a minor point.
@@NatzKulz why is it necessary? It wasn’t in the original game. Wrex didn’t introduce himself and say “my pronouns are he/him”. This is an entirely different universe. Woke mind virus.
@@dougradcliffe1466 He's not introducing himself as "my pronouns are He/Him" what are you on? It's there so people who have never played the videogame (which are a lot from the reviews I've seen) and don't know the characters know what gender they are because they're literal aliens, plus the fact both the male and female versions of Shepard are included in the game, it's not like there's even a character that uses they/them here or something like that. I don't get why such an insignificant detail bothers you so much.
@@NatzKulz cause it’s unnecessary virtue signaling where it doesn’t belong. And you just made my point: they’re literal aliens. They don’t need Earth pronouns on their board.
@@NatzKulzbecause the character names and their design clearly distinguishable. If you or gamers can’t tell which is male or female without pronouns, there is obviously something wrong with you. 😂 And I can see you apparently in every posts here related to pronouns, I know what you are lol.
@@NatzKulzWhy do i care about political propaganda pushing immaginary genders down my throat? I would love zero political propaganda in my media,let alone of this kind.
@mikolajwitkowski8093 You're asking if pronouns hurt him and why it matters because they're just words. That's not what he said at all. You're setting up a false argument and knocking it down--strawman logical fallacy. Why not ask why he disagrees with the use of pronouns instead of making false assumptions then refuting them?
@@TheBrokenMeeple I honestly don't understand your point. His influence is adding grammatical features which we all use daily to a game that means people may feel more included? It feels like you are saying inclusiveity is a bad thing but I don't understand the issue.
How does a “simple grammatical inclusion we use everyday” make anyone feel more included in a board game? Does knowing Wrex’s preferred pronouns make you feel someway, really?
“My MVP Wrex…” yup, that’s game-lore accurate.
Mass Effect the video game is actually fantastic. One of the best written games ever. I wish I could forget all about it and play it again.
That ending of Mass effect3 though...
@@stijndevleesschauwer6066 I didn't mind the extended version ending tbh
I will never forget the emotions that Mass Effect 2 put me through. Absolute master class
Fr
I say this all the time. I got into the ME trilogy like a month before ME3 released. So I got to play it all for first time from 1-3 within a few months time. Amazing experiencing it for the first time
Can I just make things very clear when it comes to comments - TH-cam has an in-built filter where it looks up certain words and phrases etc, and then if it finds something, it holds the comment back for me to review but it doesn't notify me that it has done so. I have to manually go in when I revisit the page and check.
So if you do find that something you posted isn't there, just simply let me know first so I can check to see if it's there. Obviously it's a different story if people aren't being civil but if it's just TH-cam's word filter then it's an easy job to get it released.
It ending anticlimacticly is about as Mass Effect as it gets sadly
I am tempted by the Legendary Edition when it goes on the next STEAM sale.
Pretty much agree with all your thoughts here - it’s good, not a classic. It just lacks ambition and scope.
You got your video thoughts coming soon?
@@TheBrokenMeeple probably at the weekend.
Great overview ... I appreciate reviews that include both the good and the bad aspects of the game. Thank you!
No problem!
Not sure what's the issue with Wrex'ses species having genders, but you do you boo.
Seems an odd comment 😅 it's nothing new that aliens and fantasy races tend to have genders
@@Static442 whereas real humans tend to not have genders,in contrast?
@@ferver-san Not overly sure how my comment implies that, was more wondering why Luke had an issue with Wrex having a pronoun
@Static442 cause not everyone is infected with the woke mind virus and lives on planet earth and don't like far left ideologies.
It doesn't need to be there, you can tell it was there to tick a box and I bet money that was Eric Langs influence. Like I said, there's a time and a place.
Without a doubt the two weirdest choices with this game are 1) making PVC minis instead of standees and 2) making you take 4 characters. Every Mass Effect Trilogy game squad consisted of Shepard and TWO teammates on a mission.
Standees would be nice, though they might block LOS if too big.
@@Jonno92100 I guess it's three squad mates to make the game four player so it sells well and has a wider audience. Definitely feels like it should be optional so we can just play it like the video game
I knew nothing about Mass Effect before I started playing it. I bought the trilogy box set on a whim and it was probably the best game purchase decision I've ever made. It's fantastic. Even if you're not that into the role playing aspects of it the combat mechanics are some of the most entertaining I've ever encountered in an RPG. Honestly though, if you're even slightly into RPG games you're going to love it. Its characters are probably the best written characters you'll find in any digital game universe today. The story of the original trilogy is also brilliant.
I am tempted by the Legendary Edition when it goes on the next STEAM sale.
Mass effect is an amazing game. The original is old at this point. I remember buying it when it was stand alone and sequels weren't guaranteed. Not that you need knowledge of original games to enjoy a board game version, but for sure it will make the experience much more enjoyable.
I am tempted by the Legendary Edition when it goes on the next STEAM sale.
Thanks for the review and honest thoughts. I was very suspect of Modiphius board games after being very disappointed in Elder Scrolls:Skyrim. This will be one that I will wait for a steep discount to consider.
It's pretty well priced for retail but yeah I'm sure it will go down.
Mass Effect is one of my favorite video games but I'm really not interested in the woke board game version of it with pronouns and shit. Hard pass for me...
Fair enough!
Same here huge turn off putting unnecessary politics into a sci fi board game
Thanks for the review. Do you think the system would be great for expansions? I think a new book and campaign sheet would be easy to incorporate.
Yeah I don't see why not. And more characters.
Minis are the biggest gimmick in all of board games, standees any day of the week.
Yuck, I hate standees the most. I do like tokens. 10 years ago we use to get wooden discs with stickers with lots of info on them. They were great to handle, and really need to make a comeback.
Just realized he was saying 3 actions not free actions.
I get not loading the box with minis to keep the cost down but standees seems like a fair compromise. I'd have paid an extra tenner for that. More immersive than tokens
I had such high hopes for this, but it sounds like it's designed to be way too light for what I was looking for. I wanted something with some bite. More story. More character. Maybe an expansion will save it? Or, the fans...considering it's ME, there's probably going to be a lot of diehard fans looking to improve upon it. I shall wait and see...
Rogue Angels on Gamefound late pledge is the real Mass Effect game 🎯
Yeah Rogue Angels is the real Mass Effect boardgame
I had the same problem with To many bones, the ending is, there, you did it. Couldn´t they put a small text or something if you succeed or not? Oh no, the enemy rage the land and kill your family or by defeating him, you manage to stop this disaster and the town is safe. It was meh, but the gameplay was pretty fun.
Sounds like my experience with spirit island, the ending is boring as its just like oh we won. I prefer to have a more satisfying ending
@@Static442 Exactly. Just a little something. They have this event cards or quests cards with good lore on them and the end,they give you nothing. All that work just to end up wasted.
As much as I like Spirit Island, I see your point, but then that game isn't trying to be a narrative game with story beats so I don't think they are comparable.
This War Of Mine had that campaign expansions with some fantastic writing in that regard.
You always have to play 4 characters?
Yes
Pronouns pronounced this dead in the water for me, went from excited to hard pass. I like my sci fi board games to be accurate to the universe and science fiction, not full of modern politics.
Looks like pre-orders is only available in UK from what I see on the website
That's a shame but im sure it will get worldwide eventually.
Def play the video game if you like creating your own unique team do deal with problems in ways that fit your play style as opposed to each problem needs the same team with regardless of how you’d like to play
Board game sounds like a hard pass
I am tempted by the Legendary Edition when it goes on the next STEAM sale.
Videogame has some flaws, but its clasic Bioware game and what Bioware do best is to make interesting companions whith their stories and goals. I dont remeber good gameplay moments (except suicadel mission in ME2), but i have memories about so many story moments with companions. Mass effect, Dragon age, Starwar: Knights of the old republic 1 and 2 even the old ones had great companion stories -Planescape torment, Icewind dale and Baldurs gate.
One of the flaws of video game is repetitivnes of side missions. Loyality missions are OP, and as said above best stories are companion stories so you are supposed to do them in game. And enemies can be organics or biotics and some companions are more usefull against specific group, boardgame doesnt have these different types of enemies?
I'm tempted by the legendary edition of Mass Effect on the next STEAM sale.
@@TheBrokenMeeple What i dont like about video game is that there is an idead order of missions. You have charisma plus good/evil points and those unlock dialogue options. To for example save hostages you need to unlock dialogue option, without it there can be casulties. But its just my problem, as i hate those options that you see but cant pick. For using good (blue) dialogue option you get more "light side" points unlocking blue dialogues in other missions, thus creating optimal mission order for good or evil endings.
Ye that one died when i heard you saying they put the pronouns on the charcter sheets. You tell me how that would be relevant for play or better your experience regardless if you played the games or not.
I saw it involved Eric Lang and that killed any desire I had for it.
Because of his game designs, or because of his beliefs?
Mostly his designs.
I love his beliefs, his designs though... Pretty much Ankh is the only one I really like.
@@joanmoriarity8738His beliefs? Absolutely not.
His behavior and actions? 100%.
Me too. I've had some dealings with him a few years back. Thoroughly unpleasant. It may sound petty, but after that, I swore I'd never buy one of his games.
No Thane? No Jack?? No Legion??? It’s based off Mass Effect 1 only characters then 😞 Oh, the futility!!
@@Feldingor I have to assume there will be an expansion adding more characters, given how the characters are what makes ME so iconic
@@ahgasegg1205 I strongly hope so
@@Feldingor I'm not a huge fan of the mission variety either, which is probably my biggest reason to hold off on this one. But 2 expansions adding maybe 3 characters each and some more unique missions would seriously flesh this out at which point I'd likely jump in
No Miranda lol
Mass Effect has some of the best sci-fi writing around. Significantly better than the vast majority of science fiction TV, of which I am also a fan
I am tempted by the Legendary Edition when it goes on the next STEAM sale.
sorry but this is not my type of game, after three minuets your voice became white noise and I fell asleep. My fault not yours
I do have a nice soothing voice at times 😁
Pronouns, also how to tell me Eric Lang was involved with the design without telling me Eric Lang was involved with the design. Seems intentionally needless. I like the idea of this game, but the execution isn't very exciting. I am surprised someone didn't take this license and launch a crowdfunding campaign and doing something a bit grander. Doesn't make sense to dump this to retail until I saw what the design was. You saved me some money because I love the IP across games and books, but yeah this is not the Mass Effect board game I was looking for.
It is partially welcomed that it's not KS, but yeah for the cost of those minis I'm curious why they didn't.
The video games really are as good as everyone says, 1-3 anyway not so much 4. However from what you have said I am not sure you will like it as the story is a big thing in the game spanning across all games with a ton of side missions to keep track off so not something you can really flit into and out off every few months. After seeing this review I know this game isn't for me. Price is great and awful, £40 for the core game is decent but another £240 for the mini's they must be out of there tiny minds. Also seems to be such a lack of different missions and nowhere near enough,
So few of the crew's characters in the box so I would think a long line of expansions adding more missions and the rest of the characters will come. I appreciate they have gone for a smaller scale game which some will love with probably many expansions down the road if successful but I would have much preferred an ISS Vanguard type game. With so many characters in the video game but not the board game and you have to use 4 out of 5 every game that means if you did a second play through 75% of the team has to be exactly the same until the long line of expansions inevitably come.
A minor point and I don't know how to say it without sounding like a hater but only a couple of the large crew in the video game are humans, most are alien species. None of them in the video game had pronouns so who decided to give what to each species, really not needed as adds nothing to the game and seems forced into it for the sake of it but as I say a minor point.
I'm tempted by the legendary edition of Mass Effect on the next STEAM sale.
Pronouns, rolls eyes.
Bruh imagine getting triggered by something as insignificant as the game having the characters' pronouns displayed in their descriptions.
@@NatzKulz why is it necessary? It wasn’t in the original game. Wrex didn’t introduce himself and say “my pronouns are he/him”. This is an entirely different universe. Woke mind virus.
@@dougradcliffe1466 He's not introducing himself as "my pronouns are He/Him" what are you on? It's there so people who have never played the videogame (which are a lot from the reviews I've seen) and don't know the characters know what gender they are because they're literal aliens, plus the fact both the male and female versions of Shepard are included in the game, it's not like there's even a character that uses they/them here or something like that. I don't get why such an insignificant detail bothers you so much.
@@NatzKulz cause it’s unnecessary virtue signaling where it doesn’t belong. And you just made my point: they’re literal aliens. They don’t need Earth pronouns on their board.
@@NatzKulzbecause the character names and their design clearly distinguishable. If you or gamers can’t tell which is male or female without pronouns, there is obviously something wrong with you. 😂 And I can see you apparently in every posts here related to pronouns, I know what you are lol.
watched to 4:10, pronouns were mentioned, i'm out. This game can go broke.
Yep +1 here
oh,so it has pronouns! 🤮
Why do you care so much?
@@NatzKulzWhy do i care about political propaganda pushing immaginary genders down my throat?
I would love zero political propaganda in my media,let alone of this kind.
I saw the pronouns on the player board and knew it was not a game I'd buy
Have pronouns hurt you? They are just words.
@mikolajwitkowski8093 You're asking if pronouns hurt him and why it matters because they're just words. That's not what he said at all. You're setting up a false argument and knocking it down--strawman logical fallacy. Why not ask why he disagrees with the use of pronouns instead of making false assumptions then refuting them?
@@ChinDogToshi Because he was writing to attack, not learn.
Cry about it 💀
Shocked by all the hate for pronouns 😂 in the game the characters had pronouns and genders, probably useful for romancing them 😂
I feel this is Eric's influence here.
@@TheBrokenMeeple I honestly don't understand your point. His influence is adding grammatical features which we all use daily to a game that means people may feel more included? It feels like you are saying inclusiveity is a bad thing but I don't understand the issue.
How does a “simple grammatical inclusion we use everyday” make anyone feel more included in a board game? Does knowing Wrex’s preferred pronouns make you feel someway, really?
Ea trying to overcompensate for how facist the actual Mass Effect story is by using pronouns.
I will never play this because that ending to the video games has put me off anything Mass Effect forever
I am tempted by the Legendary Edition when it goes on the next STEAM sale.
Honestly, I can't recommend it. It will sap hours of your life and the ending to it all will just leave you....angry.....and empty.@@TheBrokenMeeple