Listen to Our PAX West LIVE Celebration of Mass Effect!

Axe of the Blood God is our weekly RPG podcast hosted by Kat Bailey and Nadia Oxford. You can find the previous episodes here.

Now this is fun! Over the weekend I hosted a live discussion of Mass Effect at PAX West, where I was joined by special guests Austin Walker of Waypoint, Matthew Allen of Vidjagame Apocalyse, and USG reviews editor Mike Williams. Now you can listen for yourself [download link here]!

We had a blast talking Renegade vs. Paragon, Female Shep vs. Male Shep, Kaidan vs. Ashley (spoiler: they're both bad), and of course, the infamous Mako. We also had a special group viewing of the infamous Mass Effect alien sex scene, and it's every bit as cringey as you remember. Join us as we celebrate the original Mass Effect and add it to the Top 25 RPG countdown!

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Show Description

We take our Top 25 RPG countdown LIVE to PAX West, where we talk Renegade vs. Paragon, Male Shepard vs. Female Shepard, Kaidan vs. Ashley, and laugh along to the infamous alien sex scene. Special guests: Waypoint's Austin Walker, Vidjagame Apocalypse's Matthew Allen, and USG reviews editor Mike Williams!.

Music from Axe of the Blood God is courtesy of Lena Chappelle, who has also contributed the themes to Active Time Babble and Roleplayers' Realm. I also use music from the RPG Music Pack over at rpgmaker.net. Check it out!

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#1 Vodka-Tonic 17 days ago

I was hoping that the audio from this panel would be made available. As a hardcore fan of the original Mass Effect game, I was bummed that I couldn't go to PAX for the panel, but this fixes that problem!

#2 Pandalulz 17 days ago

I'm so glad Matt brought up the soundtrack there at the end. Even for being an 80s synth sci-fi styled soundtrack, it's so incredibly distinctive and takes me right back to my first play through every time.
Also, I always wonder, am I the only one that does not care one whit for Bioware's romance mechanics? My femShep is all, "No time for love, Dr Jones."
I'm actually about to begin a new playthrough in the next few weeks. I've never played ME3, so I bought the trilogy on PS3 and plan to finally resolve this.

Good show.Edited 3 times. Last edited 3 weeks ago by Pandalulz

#3 funktron 17 days ago

I finally beat Mass Effect 1 for the first time last spring. There's a lot that doesn't work well (especially the inventory system), but my overall feel on the game was very positive. It's clearly an incredibly ambitious game, and the fact that it "works" at all is a great achievement.

#4 SatelliteOfLove 17 days ago

THE Yung Kafka? THE Caramel Marx?Edited 3 weeks ago by SatelliteOfLove

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#5 riderkicker 16 days ago

But Kat, are you an outlaw among outlaws?

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#6 SatelliteOfLove 16 days ago

It's wierd hearing the softballing of the series' continuity imploding but then again it's in the glow of the first one.

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#7 Nuclear-Vomit 16 days ago

Male Shepard all the way and only renegade to annoying NPCs! Just look at that right cross to the paparazzi! He is a POS with a heart of gold and managed to save everyone at the end of Mass Effect 2.

Right cross to the Face

Shepard Constipated

#8 camchow 15 days ago

Mass Effect 1 is definitely my fav of the series. I was so happy when I saw Andromeda brought back a Mako like vehicle. Loved zooming around planets with that thing. Also really loved the armor and weapon variety in 1 compared to how boring they made that part in 2 and 3.

#9 NiceGuyNeon 15 days ago

I loved Mass Effect so much that when Mass Effect 2 made its changes I completely rejected it. It wasn't until Mass Effect 3 that I appreciated the series as a whole even with its changes.

The story telling, cinematic nature, gameplay, characters, writing it all came together to make an experience that thrived on the idea of what's possible and a sense of exploration that at the time was unparalleled. I have over 100 hours on every Mass Effect game on Origin alone, but I also played them on Xbox 360 before that. This is a very special game and series and I find it completely unacceptable to ever start from anything but the first game. Saren will go down as one of the best antagonists in gaming and that final third of Mass Effect took the intensity and writing to another level.

This is a standard for story based action RPGs and we are lucky to have it.Edited 2 weeks ago by NiceGuyNeon

#10 AdventuringThruGames 14 days ago

I was totally feeling all of your sentiments about this series. Mass Effect 1 was so refreshing and new, especially coming from BioWare - even though I played KOTOR before ME1, it was still quite a different vibe, and the mechanics were radically different. Just seeing the title screen of ME1, with that awesome dark electronica infused music, was enough to get me hyped. I was always a bit frustrated that my Male Shep had no same-sex romance options in ME1 and 2. Ah well, at least ME3 threw me a bone or two.