The Shut Up Leng MOD and Why You Should Get

[Winter]

Kai Leng sucks, he is the second worst character in the series and the only reason he's not number 1 is because the Little Blue Troll is still a thing. He is, in fact, so hated that even Troy Baker, who voiced the character, has openly admitted to hating the character and called him, quote "The Asshole of the Universe" and keep in mind that Baker has voiced the Joker and several characters who kinda, sorta, DOOMED the world.

But it's amazing how much better Leng is when he SHUTS UP!!!

And thus we come to the point the Shut Up Leng MOD made for PCs. Basically what this mod does is give Leng the Cerberus Spirit Armor which completely covers up his original design and gives him a look that is, at least, decent compared to what he had originally. And second, as the name suggests this mod removes all of Leng's dialogue besides his grunts and even removes his boss fight on Thessia.

Suddenly he goes from this annoying Edge Lord Wannabe to an actually pretty intimidating antagonist. The fact that he never speaks and we never see his face just makes him strangely unsettling. Like, this is someone who knows that Shepard's greatest weapon is their ability to talk others down so Leng will not so much as speak to you so your only option is to fight. The fact that most of Leng's dialogue was dumb one liners also works to the mods advantage because it means little had to be edited out besides Leng's lines.

I was honestly surprised how much the things that once bugged the Hell out of me with Leng were suddenly more tolerable because it no longer seemed like the game was trying to hard to make him cool. Him using a regular sword in gun fights? I barely noticed it. Him beating us in a cutscene after we mopped the floor with him on Thessia? Removing the cutscene meant that it just goes straight to him kicking our buts and is over as soon as it started which is still annoying but I'll take what I can get. Shepard not just turning the car around and knocking him off, eh, it happens.

Honestly the only thing I would change to the Mod would be to make it so Leng's mask breaks at the end of his Boss Fight on the Cerberus Base but only slightly so we never get a good look at his face as all we see is one of his eyes which just looks... pitch black and we don't see anything else which would make him all the more unsettling as you're left wondering "What was done to him?"

Besides that, outside of the modded ending, this is the best mod in ME3 and you should totally get it and my only regret is that I'm a PlayStation Gamer so I can never get this. But Damn I wish I could.

Also, I should note there is another mod that will replace Leng with either Ashly or Kaidan depending on who died in ME1. I like the idea of this mod but sadly it's more of an interesting concept then anything else as because the modder is limited by the game and not much can really be done with either character outside of what we already get with Leng. Again I like the idea, that someone you sacrificed comes back and you're forced to kill them but, to me, it just seems like a waste.

[CharlesPhipps]

I wish Kai Leng had a much bigger role.

I love the idea of a person who just kicks Shepard's ass in every possible encounter but will lose because Shepard has friends.

Sadly, Shepard Clone is much closer to that idea.

[stryke]

See I'd say Kai Leng is actually worse than Pick 3 Ending Mechanic. He's just such a creator pet character and unlike Pick 3 he keeps on showing up to be insufferable throughout the game, and it's a shame as he's by far my main example to contradict the wrong 'the game is good it's just the ending that was bad' take.

Alas no mod is going erase my memories of how the good bits of the game (the geth and the krogan resolutions) got entirely pissed away by the ending. So yay if it makes you enjoy the game more, and I can imagine shutting him up would certainly help with that, for me though I'm going to go on considering the first Mass Effect to be a standalone game that never got any follow ups.

[Winter]

I wish Kai Leng had a much bigger role.

I love the idea of a person who just kicks Shepard's ass in every possible encounter but will lose because Shepard has friends.

Sadly, Shepard Clone is much closer to that idea.

Yeah, you know a character is bad when "Man I wish he was as awesome as my characters evil clone".

[CharlesPhipps]

Kai Leng just needed some explanation as to what makes him so badass.

Where has he been so long?

What has he been up to?

If he's one of the galaxy's biggest badasses, why wasn't he on the suicide mission?

[Winter]

Kai Leng just needed some explanation as to what makes him so badass.

Where has he been so long?

What has he been up to?

If he's one of the galaxy's biggest badasses, why wasn't he on the suicide mission?

Most of which could have been done in some dialogue in ME3 and gameplay.

Why is he a badass? Because in our first boss fight with him he can't be hurt due to his unique shield and powerful attacks that results in us losing our first fight with him.

Where has he been and What has he been up to? Getting modified so his body could do all this which is revealed to be Reaper Tech and learning how to use it.

If he's such a badass why wasn't he on the Suicide Mission? He's a bigot and refuses to work with anyone after his "Upgrades" and would have done everything he could to take over the mission. This last point also subtly hints that TIM has a low opinion of Leng because he felt Shepard was better suited to handle the SM.

This took be 5 seconds to think up and would be easy to install in the game.

[CharlesPhipps]

Yeah, you know a character is bad when "Man I wish he was as awesome as my characters evil clone".

The funny thing is Clone Shepard is actually quite entertaining in both personality as well as agenda. He's also a Cerberus agent and has a quirky henchgirl. There's a lot going on that makes him/her useful as well as a somewhat poignant end.

All of which Kai Leng lacks.

[Madner Kami]

Kai Leng just needed some explanation as to what makes him so badass.

Where has he been so long?

What has he been up to?

If he's one of the galaxy's biggest badasses, why wasn't he on the suicide mission?

But there were graphic novels explaining it all!!!!1111

[Winter]

Yeah, you know a character is bad when "Man I wish he was as awesome as my characters evil clone".

The funny thing is Clone Shepard is actually quite entertaining in both personality as well as agenda. He's also a Cerberus agent and has a quirky henchgirl. There's a lot going on that makes him/her useful as well as a somewhat poignant end.

All of which Kai Leng lacks.

I fully agree, I for one LOVE the Clone and feel she is the best boss fight in the series. I also love how the entire crew just sort of take the whole thing in stride. They're all like "Oh, Shepard has a clone that wants to kill her. Must be Tuesday."

Also, I would love the whole Clone Thing to come up again in the next game. Like we start off playing as who we think is our Shepard but it turns out s/he is a clone and since it was already set up in ME3 that is a thing it makes that DLC retroactively more important to the whole plot. Plus we can have some cloning blues if we so wish which could lead to some interesting discussions in the game.

[CharlesPhipps]

But there were graphic novels explaining it all!!!!1111

I wonder if Drew was taking the piss setting up Kai Leng because they have the lamest "badass" moments in scifi.

I mean, the guy is infamous for killing a fourteen year old autistic girl.

And a Krogan with a toobrush.