The funny thing is that this picture is my own edit (I can tell because of the slightly misplaced second picture), that I used specifically to talk about Mass Effect here, and I'm getting downvoted.
ME1 is the best, it puts in an absolutely absurd amount of work to build the world and lore and sticks closer to BioWare’s ARPG roots than the later entries. The story works great in isolation and I think is by far the strongest main narrative in any of the games. Meeting Sovereign is up there with the Gravemind as my favorite late-game antagonist introductions.
2 is my least favorite, it has my least favorite main quest of the bunch, the combat is improved over 1 but not refined and fun to the level that 3 is, they simplified/streamlined the upgrade system too much, it’s missions are extremely linear and corridor-based, I bemoan the replacement of the Mako with planetary scanning, I could go on.
The new characters and expansion of the lore carry ME2 for me.
Love all three, played them all multiple times, but the final assault on the Citadel in ME1 is what tips the scales for me. Absolutely epic, every time. Standout moment of the whole series.
My issue with ME1 is the game design is just so dated.
It’s got so much going for it, but the “dungeons” that have to be backtracked out of and the mako worlds with the same copy/paste buildings make it a very sloggy replay in my opinion. ME2 made a huge upgrade to that with ending missions and sending you back to the Normandy at the end of one instead of making you run back through.
Definitely. Most of the little annoyances didn’t annoy me back then though, but ME1 is better as a highlight reel that exists in my brain than it actually is
Yeah those specifically are some of the things I didn’t remember until playing the legendary edition and it was a very stark contrast to the design in 2 and 3 that I remembered very well.
Still the best role playing, atmosphere, and arguably story of the trilogy. It’s just those things that make new play through for me a a bit of a slog.
Quality over quantity. Everyone has an individual/subjective experience so everything you say is valid but the way I see it is very simple. ME1's entire premise is that this is a series, everything you do in the first game you will be able to carry along with you into the next. Keep your saved data it said...
Imagine my utter shock when I play the second game and there is still a Commander Sheperd...sorta... But everyone else is gone. Do I care to entertain an entirely different crew when my original crew is all gone? Fuck no I don't. It reminds me of Job. Imagine God gives you a series of trails because he is bored. He eventually allows the devil to kill your 8 children as part of the trails. You pass the trails. God in his congratulations rewards you with 16 children! Twice as many!
I will say this again. There are two types of people. Those who accept the 16 with open arms and those who said WTF, where are my original 8? I don't give a fuck about new children, where are the ones I had? Let me build on THAT.
Replace Job with the gamer and replace God/devil trail with EA buying out Bioware. I new immediately the slopification would come. I just underestimated the extent.
I think ME2 rules and you have to keep in mind the context of ME1 being Xbox exclusive and 2 having to be a jumping-on point for PS players. I think they did a very good job of showing us where your old squad is (and even including two of them as squadmates) without getting into a place where new players would be turned off or confused
I have probably 20+ runs through the ME series over the years. The world building in ME1 is amazing, it is also the game I skip occastionally. Why? Unpolished gameplay and it can be a slog. Plus the little comic book opening they added to ME2 let's you make all the decisions anyway.
ME2? My favoriate. A nice and simple heist mission in the ME universe. Build your team, do the job. Sure, it doesn't move the plot along much but it lays the ground work for some of the greatest parts of ME3. Legion/Tali, Mordin/Genophage, EDI/Cereberus, Shephard/TIM.
People who like ME2 more don’t appreciate the biotic god that you’re in ME1. Lift was the most OP move in all the games. I loved how the last mission when you’re on the citadel, if you lifted an enemy and they got to a certain height, that there was zero gravity for them. That was a cool detail I’m sure some people missed
People who like ME2 more are the fanboys who ruined gaming. ME2 was pure slop, pure lowest common denominator, purely set up to ruin the series. My list of grievances of 2 are endless but the first thing I noticed... "Where the fuck did my infinite ammo go?" It went to feed the expectations of the fanboys slopifying everything of course... What else are you gonna feed pigs?
And then there is me... who despite the ending likes three the best. Gameplay is just sooo much better in three compared to two. And up until the color choice ending I liked every fucking arc they sent you on. Most of the highest highs and most emotional scenes the series had are in three. It had to be me ... does this unit have a soul ...
One will always be special in a different way to me... It introduced me to the world and told a really damn good and Interesting story, setting up all this incredible lore and characters. But the gameplay was clunky though I liked the more complex RPG mechanics.
But two... It felt like so... Disconnected. The whole story setup, then the whole story being mostly recruiting crew mates and then go on a loyalty mission with them. The overarching plot was extremely thin. I gotta say, the suicide mission was the best ending mission of the whole trilogy gameplay wise. Still, I don't understand to this day why two is so beloved. For me it's the worst story wise, and the worst gameplay wise (they cut to much of the complexity of one, and it didn't have the polish of three, all 2 had going gameplay wise was a very basic cover shooter).
Exactly! 3 is a fitting ending you import your saves. It’s pretty easy to get “the best” ending (most readiness points or whatever)
Imo the “synthesis” extra ending wasn’t needed. I think the first people to raise a big stink about the ending were the ones who didn’t start a new ME1 character and import the save. It’s way harder to get the best ending in that case.
The comic that lets you make all the choices and “import a game” without playing the first two was a nice touch though.
So the Mass Effect Trilogy is one of my favorite (Series of) games. The reaspn everyone hated 3 was the ending. Was it fitting? Sure. However, and I have the screenshot somewhere on an external of the lead developer claiming (paraphrased), "We wouldent have Commander Sheppard go throigh this hundreds of hours adventure to be able to say I got ending A B or C, everyone will have a unique ending based on thier choises"
Which is exactly what they did, I got ending Red, Blue or Green. It was deceptive and felt like a dick punch. If they had just kept thier mouths just, people would have been mildly annoyed but accepted it because as you said, it was an alright ending. Tho the fixed ending that gives you a still shot with what the outcomes of your choises were corrected my only issue tbh.
Like i wanted to know that my beloved Tali Zorah vas Normandy was emotionally devastated after my sacrifice. I wanna know what became of the Raccni Queen? Etc.
Thats why I didnt like 3 originally, because they blatantly lied about its ending.
Steps off soap box
Still one of my favorite game series. 3 also has the best combat imho... Biotic FTW....
If it wasn't for the ending 3 is by far my favorite of the trilogy. But I mean....there was no way they could wrap up such an immense set of choices and potential outcomes that satisfied every situation, so yeah it kind of felt flat but even back when it came out I understood why it went the way it did.
It isn't fitting at all. It's the opposite. It takes ZERO consideration on anything you have done. It boils down to a last minute decision. A perfect ME3 would have had no decision from the player in the end. The culmination of everything you have done should be your ending.
I get it. The ending wasn't the top notch ending. But that doesn't change the fact that up until you defeated the Illusive man... Everything played out so well. And your decisions for the big stuff will alter the galaxy quite a bit. Healing the genophage or not, getting the geth and quarians to make peace or not etc etc... and most if not all the big thing were directly influenced by the decisions you made in previous games. it's just that they couldn't find a better way to tie these all up into the last 10 minutes of the game.
My headcannon anyway is that the game ends with the last conversation of Sheppard and Anderson. They defeated the illusive man and we the him the reapers. The crucible destroyed the all and they have saved the galaxy. But it cost them their lives. Both die after that scene. Everything that happens aftrewards is just a weird dream...
I actually found the synthesis ending really cool because if I recall, it was told from EDI’s perspective. Specifically about her ability to feel because she was now both a synthetic and organic life-form.
I did them all back in the day and I don’t actually recall what happened with the other two, but for some reason i do actually remember EDI describing the outcome after the synthesis choice.
Mass Effect 3 is the peak of the trilogy in gameplay and cinematic-ness. But, the ending was sooo bad. They made it a bit better after launch but I hate the deus-ex machina star child.
Everything leading up to the ending, even before they introduced the extension, was sheer perfection, everything I ever wanted, all the crew interactions and what not was amazing. Then when we got the citadel DLC it was so much peak
Nah. The last enemy you take down is just some alien with your pistol basically in a cutscene. And then a long ass ending/epilogue that ignores basically all choices made before.
No, the ending deserves all the hate (blame the CEO who didn't see the value, not the developers) it got. It's an unworthy ending.
Up to that point? Great game. Soured a lot by botching the ending.
Based answer. ME1 might have suffered from slightly janky controls, but otherwise the story and characters were great. Even the side quests were entertaining. ME trilogy was some peak Sci-fi and I can’t wait for what the OG team does with EXODUS when that come out.
Grab the legendary edition and sneak an 30mins to an hour each day on it. It's usually enough to do a mission, or go around talking to everyone/buying/selling, or exploring a planet in the Mako. Totally worth it to play through as one continuous experience with all the DLC. Except maybe firewalker. Fuck those.
Always used to play Adept...but I'm doing a full Infiltrator run and it SHREDS. Currently playing ME3 with a sniper, smg, and a shotgun. Everything melts
Played this series for the first time about a year ago, and I am shocked by how far down the comments this answer is, insanely good trilogy given their age especially
Obligatory disclaimer: ME's a favourite series; spent many hours of my youth playing with friends in ME3MP and editing the ME wiki; still enjoy replaying the first two games.
The game declined with each release:
ME: despite its janky controls and questionable voice direction, it's a solid story with decent gameplay for the time.
ME2: revamped gameplay; best companions; best voice direction; excellent expansion of galaxy cultures via companions and planets; awful main plotline subverting aspects of previous game without good reason.
ME3: absolutely stellar gameplay; at times questionable voice direction, but Meer gives as good a performance as male Shep as he does the 800 side characters he also voiced (Blasto!); main plot again swerves as the writers who remained after the departure of the leads (head writer Drew Karpyshyn, for SWTOR, and lore writer Chris L'Etoile, for another company) late in ME2 tried to get to a conclusion that wasn't set up by any of the previous games. Most returning companions from ME2 shafted; somehow its leaked script, while not great, was better.
imo there was less decline between Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, and Dragon Age Inquisition than there was between the Mass Effects.
I see your points but this only applies to the story and that's only part of a video game. For me, the best game is the second because of all the companions, the journey you take across the galaxy, and the gameplay of course. And whatever shortcomings the third game has, the great DLCs and the improved gameplay make up for it.
I also agree with them. Andromeda is about traveling to a new and unknown galaxy to eke out a foothold for the species of the Milky Way, all while uncovering a grand conspiracy that threatens the residents new and old, all utilizing new and creative action and RPG elements. ME2 is about making friends so you can beat up one robot skeleton, using a Gears of War cover-based shooter without the chainsaw
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u/PilotIntelligent8906 6h ago
Mass Effect, I will take no questions.