Happy new year! I’m going to open my new year of games with Fallout 4, Skyrim, mass effect and dragon age. And plans to discuss around a dozen other games I’ve played.

I generally don’t use mods for Da and Mass Effect, I don’t even look for them because I think Da and Mass Effect were amazing as is, and vanilla versions are very satisfying. Still, there are a few that could potentially bring a lot of joy along with bringing something new to the table.

I mentioned Alistair’s wedding in my DA post, Dhalialynn did phenomenal work on making the cutscene, and she has a few other lovely Alistair mods. I don’t need others. Good, pure straight romance with alpha males is becoming rare nowadays so appreciate the ones we have.
As for ME, here are two that stand out.

AUDEMUS HAPPY END MOD

The one mod that stands out for mass effect is the Happy Ending mod which makes changes to the final cutscenes to make the ending a lot more satisfying.

HAPPY END MOD

Check the requirements for what you need. It will take you to another mod, which also has a requirement – you need a ME legendary edition mod manager first, then the excellent community patch and then the Happy Ending mod. It’s all very easy.

This mod totally changes how the crucible works, gets rid of the Starchild scene but for a reason and overall changes the game’s impact. I think it’s a great effort, much as I like the Starchild scene…but I always pick up the destroy reapers options anyway…Except this time, I’m not destroying all synthetics along the way. Fantastic ending. My second favourite ending is the bad end where “this cycle failed”, the refusal to activate the crucible because it reflects a certain scepticism about learning from the past that I think is not entirely misplaced. History repeats itself because we don’t learn from it. For the next several playthroughs,however, I intend to enjoy the feeling that my fem Shepard lives and is with her LI – Garrus. I much prefer hope to scepticism.

PROJECT VARIETY

Another mod worthy of attention is Project Variety, which makes a ton of changes, some of them not really to my liking, but many of them really interesting; most of them try to add consistency to some of the game’s background and characters. Some of them are optional and can be toggled. Check out the list of features on the nexus page. Still in beta, I think the author wants to work on it more. The premise is good, and the amount of work that’s gone into it is just crazy – that alone made me decide to endorse it, even if I don’t agree with all the changes/ideas.

What I like: 

•  turning off Diana and Traynor flirting, turning off Liara’s nice outfit comment if not romanced 
•  reactive events and seeing some consequences of your choices, like healed patients from side quests 
•  it adds a lot of background characters of all races to the citadel, populating the hub and making it seem like the hub of all races it’s meant to be. It’s overcrowded and adds a feeling that people are gathering because of the war.
• it restores the citadel tower, making it usable/visitable again in Me3 and moves some of the sidequests and meetings there.
• Tali’s face reveal. It really should have been done in the game. 
•  Adds new embassies and moves relevant sidequests there. Since making maps is complicated, the moved quests will not have map markers, and thus you really need to explore, but that’s more than fine with me!
•  The memorial service for Thane is better than vanilla. The mod-added Hanar embassy is a pretty place to hold it, and it’s once the scene puts everyone in appropriate attire. Well-done.
•  You access the c-sec section before the coup. Bailey’s room is moved there, but it is a bit empty / too long / something feels missing/ maybe some equipment at least. 
•  Adding the option of changing the conversation option in Leviathan to LI and Virmire casualty makes a lot of sense, and I love this idea! 
• Love the opportunity to wear long dresses. i might try to make more myself once I learn how to, some recolours. 
• Integrates the ability to choose outfits for the casino mission. Adds new outfits. Along with some other mod and hair outfits, I have more flexibility in making Shepard look like I want her to. I never complained about it because base vanilla customisation was decent enough for me (unlike in skyrim – the vanilla noodle hair in there are terrible); there was even the n7 dress, and customisation really isn’t what I focus on in either me or da, but if the modders have made useful resources, I’m happy to use them. And I can wear something other than the n7 dress and official blues for a change.
  
  Note: if you are adding texture mods, install all content mods first and only once you’re happy that you have all content mods you want, install texture mods.

Things I’m happy are optional

• I like having Starchild and dreams in the game.  They added to the storyline and Shepard, so I’m glad this change is optional. 
•  I’m happy nudity is optional. I just don’t like excessive nudity. 
•  Garrus apparel. While he must be uncomfortable wearing armour all the time, I prefer him with the visor; it’s so cool! 

If the mod introduces too many obligatory changes I don’t like, I’ll drop it. I like my vanilla game, except for the ending. For the moment I seem to like most of its features and all in all, the amount of work that went into it deserves praise and feature, so here it is. I also recommend unofficial community patches as they fix a lot of issues.

Thank you, modders! Hope you all have great ideas in the new year!