What's So Great About Mass Effect?

[Will Report Flying Cars]

Bought this, always heard great things about it.
5 hours in and it feels like I'm playing a visual novel with really short combat sections that are clunky and slow. I've had maybe 5 fights in 5 hours.
The story isn't overly great so far either.

[N7_Shadow]

Publicado originalmente por Will Report Flying Cars:

Bought this, always heard great things about it.
5 hours in and it feels like I'm playing a visual novel with really short combat sections that are clunky and slow. I've had maybe 5 fights in 5 hours.
The story isn't overly great so far either.

ME1 really just sets the stage. It was amazing for it's time (2007) and aged poorly in some aspects. The Legendary Edition did make a lot of changes and made it less painful to play, but many newer gamers may struggle a bit getting through it, because it's obviously not a game made in the last decade.

ME2 is still very story rich, but if you allow yourself to enjoy that part of it, the characters come to life. ME2 adds many legendary actors to the cast, which really helps bring it to life.

If you remember the lady (Shohreh Aghdashloo) who played the Ambassador in "The Expanse", she's an Admiral in the Quarian Fleet. You also have Martin Sheen, whom needs no introduction. Adam Baldwin plays a Quarian. Yvonne Strahovski from "Chuck," and "The Tomorrow War," is in it. Tricia Helfer who was the tall blond female Cylon in the newer Battlestar Gallactica is in it. Claudia Lee Black from Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess is in it. Michael Hogan from Battlestar Gallactica is in it. There are many more actors and also award winning voice actos.

This in addition to the returning stars like Keith David, Seth Green, Lance Henriksen, etc., from Mass Effect 1.

Take a look at the iMDB page for cast and credits. Look through the names. Most are very accomplished, and many are award winning.


I know it may not be your normal interest, but when you get a game like this, that IS so story rich, don't try to rush through the story parts. I have a friend who did that on his very first play through. Literally spammed the space bar and made random selections for dialogue. Then said the game was forgettable. Facepalm.

You have to immerse in the story to enjoy Mass Effect. Don't try to speed-run it on your first play through. Also, stay away from the wiki's and play through guides. Allow yourself to make bad choices. Just choose what you think you would do, and don't worry about what happens. Allow the bad things to happen. Some very powerful moments come through failure. Embrace that, and roll with it. Then do a second play through where you use the Wiki to see what happens, and make the "right decisions" each time.

If you do this, I guarantee you will feel some emotions during the Citadel DLC in ME3. It's full of fan service. It was maybe more emotional for me because I had played the game a few times by the time that came out, so it was like a fair well party.

But the most important thing is to learn all the characters in ME1, and then play ME2. ME2 really brings the story and characters to life.

[LeGoods]

The first one can be rough sometimes. I suggest just doing the main story to beat the game and moving onto Mass Effect 2 & 3. Both build on the story a lot more and the combat is much better.

And do all the squad mate loyalty missions when you're in ME2

[AwesomArcher]

I mean your 5 hours in. ME1 leading up to the first Citadel is prolly the most boring section of the trilogy period.

The game picks up right after you leave and gain Spectre Status

[barzai]

Publicado originalmente por AwesomArcher:

I mean your 5 hours in. ME1 leading up to the first Citadel is prolly the most boring section of the trilogy period.

The game picks up right after you leave and gain Spectre Status

Personally I enjoy the pre-Normandy sections, but I'm the product of an older dispensation.

To some degree this is a generational thing. Look at how movies--and let's be clear, computer RPGs are in many ways interactive movies--have changed: in my generation, movies had a long slow buildup and a short denouement. Nowadays movies drop you into the middle of the action during the opening credits and you can scarcely catch your breath until they're done. This is in part what I call the "Jerry Bruckheimer sensibility." If you go more than thirty seconds without an explosion, something's wrong

ME1 has more of the older approach: a long slow buildup and then you finally face the punchline, which is during your face-to-face (so to speak) encounter with Harbinger on Virmire. Up until that point, you can still be under the impression that Saren's the Bad Guy. But once you have your little chat with Harbinger, the masks are off.

[iLegend]

10 more hours in and you'll start loving it, 150 more hours in and you'll start having an existential crisis

[Alex_x86]

Publicado originalmente por spacewaver:

What an absolute juggernaut of a franchise, I'm scared for ME4 tho. Knowing how most AAA titles are nowadays.

I would be surprised if it would be half decent b/c recent games from Bioware are Mass Effect Andromeda and Anthem. Any recent games from EA that had a decent single player campaign? Jedi Survivor -- refunded, Fallen Order -- meh: another soulslike wannabe with bad story and idiotic boss battles. Which makes the latest EA game I enjoyed Titanfall 2 (which had fantastic campaign, level design, combat and story). However the game is 8 years old... Nah, no faith in modern EA. At the best new ME would another Ubisoft-like game like Andromeda was.

[AwesomArcher]

Publicado originalmente por spacewaver:

Publicado originalmente por iLegend:

10 more hours in and you'll start loving it, 150 more hours in and you'll start having an existential crisis

So true it hurts. I recently finished the trilogy and now I don't wanna play anything else.
Every other game just feels so dull and shallow compared to Mass Effect.

What an absolute juggernaut of a franchise, I'm scared for ME4 tho. Knowing how most AAA titles are nowadays.

Well Dreadwolf is coming out later this year, and it has to do well.

If not, I have zero expectations for ME4

[Black Rain]

Story,combat,lore,open world.

[SpaceWombat]

Publicado originalmente por Alex_x86:

\At the best new ME would another Ubisoft-like game like Andromeda was.

Last I checked the lead for the new ME game is the same one responsible for the latest Deus-Ex Games. With that in mind it's reasonable to expect that it'll hold up to being a competent immersive sim akin to the original trilogy... unless EA's obligatory corporate ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ takes yet another victim.

[Teufelführer]

I played the trilogy back in the day and Im doing LE edition now to relive it. Im halfway through ME2, and I was kinda thinking the same until about 7 hours into it all and then everything really took off in ME1. Keep playing! I really enjoyed ME1, but ME2 really expands the gameplay a ton as well.

[1LitTrashPanda]

Unfortunately the first Mass Effect is the weak link of the three. It sets a strong foundation for Mass Effect 2 which is what solidified most fans of the trilogy. Combat is... neglected in ME1 but fortunately, if you can make the slog through ME1 combat is entirely overhauled in ME2. If you want (And have the Dark Horse Interactive Comic DLC, which comes with LE) you can skip Mass Effect 1, start 2, and get the entire rundown on the events of ME1 before the game begins, however a lot of emotional attachments are built in one, progressed in 2, and finalized in 3.

[AS9ARDIAN]

Dude, it's ME1, an old-school RPG and the first chapter of a trilogy, not a bombastic TPS made for instant satisfaction.

The Lord of the Rings does not start at the battle of Helm's Deep.

It's all about setting the lore, atmosphere, and characters for the rest of the franchise.

The combat gets more intense towards the end of the game. I strongly recommend playing at least the main missions because once you get to Ilos, there is arguably one of the most pivotal moments and dialogues in the whole trilogy.

After that, everything ramps up with the ending and in the sequel, since ME2 is more focused on combat and character development, with more linear maps and less planetary exploration.

[Alex_x86]

Publicado originalmente por spacewaver:

Publicado originalmente por Alex_x86:

I would be surprised if it would be half decent b/c recent games from Bioware are Mass Effect Andromeda and Anthem. Any recent games from EA that had a decent single player campaign? Jedi Survivor -- refunded, Fallen Order -- meh: another soulslike wannabe with bad story and idiotic boss battles. Which makes the latest EA game I enjoyed Titanfall 2 (which had fantastic campaign, level design, combat and story). However the game is 8 years old... Nah, no faith in modern EA. At the best new ME would another Ubisoft-like game like Andromeda was.

Andromeda's reputation was ruined by its failed launch. If you play the game now it's not nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be. They pretty much fixed everything and the game is in the state it was SUPPOSED to be released in.

I played through Andromeda twice and absolutely loved it. To each their own tho, I get it.

I played it on launch and didn't had bugs or cared enough for the broken visuals. What I really hated about the game was that the story was really bad (main baddies are basically strogg knockoff), companions were abysmal, level design could be looked as either Ubisoft-like knockoff or undiscovered planets from original ME1 (huge nothingness with few random enemy outposts). The only good thing about it was combat system and multiplayer where I sunk few hundred hour. The SP campaign though... I tried to force myself to go through it for a second time few years later but abandoned it on the ice planet b/c I've got bored to death.

[lord_jex]

A few days ago I started MS3, the more I play the more I like it.
I advise you to read the codex and get interested in the races, their culture and history, at the beginning it's a lot of information, but once you get the idea of how the Mass Effect universe is (literally) you start to appreciate everything a lot.
The first game is a little hard to start, but in less than 10 hours you should already have a good interest in what are the next events in the story of the game, and to know well your crew.
For me the best point of the saga is that it is not a saga, it is a game divided in 3 parts, and each one improves the previous one.

[lord_jex]

Also, before finishing Mass Effect 2 I was liking it so much, and I had enough confidence in it to buy ME Andromeda without knowing anything about it or ME3.