Ars Technica: 369 hours.
That's nine 40-hour work weeks of time spent in the Mass Effect universe, according to the combined reports of Steam, Origin, and my creaky old Xbox 360. Eighty-six hours went into the original Mass Effect (three playthroughs), 189 hours into Mass Effect 2 (six playthroughs), and 94 hours into Mass Effect 3 (three playthroughs).
Commander Shepard and his crew—sometimes her crew, but we'll get to that—have done plenty of galaxy saving under my control. They fought aliens, robots, clones, politicians, and reporters. They stood united against enemies vast and unknowably timeless. They have, in the words of James T. Kirk, "been through death and life together."
They're my friends.
One of the best things about the Mas Effect series is the companions you meet along the way. So here is a tier list of all the companions from Mass Effect!
To think that Bioware at some point was capable of doing games like this, you see those characters and remember them like good old friends, and now check ME Andromeda, Anthem, Veilguard etc and wonder what the hell happened.
some in andromeda are decent, I agree with peebee and Vetra being good companions. Except Liam he's trash tier
it's like bitch but your shirt back on, your not blue or spikey get away from me
RPGs are often huge, sprawling endeavours. With limited playtime, we have to choose wisely, so here's the best western RPGs available today.
"I started playing games yesterday" the List... Meh!
How about a few RPGs that deserve some love instead?
1 - Alpha Protocol - Now on GOG
2 - else Heart.Break()
3 - Shadowrun Trilogy
4 - Wasteland 2
5 - UnderRail
6 - Tyranny
7 - Torment: Tides of Numenera
And for a bonus game that flew under the radar:
8 - Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
Not only glorious jank, but the idea that the story can completely change depending on what you do, or say, or side with, makes it one of the most forward thinking games ever. The amount of story permutation is the equivalent of a Hitman level but in Story Form. And it wasn't just that the story changed, no, it was that you met completely new characters, or missed them, depending on your choices. Made Mass Effect feel static in comparison.
Alpha Protocol was absolutely glorious, indeed. And it was, and still is, more Next Gen than most anything out there these days. In this regard at least.
Pity.
Based on one narratively fitting ending in Mass Effect 3, Prothean squadmate Javik is highly unlikely to return in the next Mass Effect game.
He was one of my least favorite characters. I wish they would have done the Proths different.
I'm joking, I still need to play the entire trilogy.
Funny. I spent a similar amount of time on mine aswell. Multiple playthroughs, all achievements/trophies obtained, every side quest complete. What did I learn? Bit of a waste of time considering none of your choices really made any difference in the end.