Mass Effect series worth playing through? (no spoilers plz)

[VincentVolaju]

So I've been juggling between picking up and playing a few titles I never got to back in the day. Things like Skyrim, Fallout, and Mass Effect.

I don't know anything about the series other than it's an RPG shooter set in space with difference races. However, I've always heard that the first Mass Effect game was great, but then they got progressively worse. So much so that the way the series was ended made some people wish they never picked it up in the first place.

I only have limited time now a days to game, so it would really bum me out if I picked up ME, played through the first one and fell in love with the series, only to be disappointed with the way the squeals were done, or the way the story ended.

So I was hoping for some honest answers in here from some of you guys who have played through the whole series and have a good understanding of it. Especially because it will probably take me a month or so to get through just one of the games in the series with my limited play time.

Considering that, do you think the Mass Effect series is one worth spending time on playing through? Or would it be better to jump into something else like Skyrim / Fallout?

Thanks guys!

[Niko Bacon]

I've played all 3 Titles you've mentioned, with The Mass Effect Trilogy being the most recent in the past few months as ive felt burnt out on open world open ended games. And its safe to say about everything i had heard of Mass effect when it was released rings true now, Mass Effect 1 i describe as "Knights of the Old Republic but every problem can be solved with blasting" and the base of the world building for the franchise, 2 was the only title i had gripes with. I personally liked the new mechanics like the mining but did feel that game felt a tad drug out. 3 Feels the most like a shooter game to me but like the previous titles has heavy RPG aspects and felt the most rewarding as if you played like i had and imported saves after playing the franchise in order, you get to see most of your previous choices pay off or influence the story. I did gather the Legendary Edition had some changes and DLC so im unsure what is different there exactly but it does appear to be better received now than it previously. Recency bias aside, I would recommend Mass Effect, i just completed the franchise and am starting another run even if i know making new choices will be difficult as i liked the ending i received from the Franchise.

[Heflar]

In my opinion, it's worth it.

It's easy to fall in love with the worlds, the races, the choices, the atmosphere, the lore.

As for progression from game to game, yeah it's different but it's brilliant because that's the way life is. It doesn't always go your way, it's not all sunshine & rainbows and war is no different.
The HUD and interface improve however so that's a positive. The story continues to develop and be just as in-depth as the first. The combat also improves with every game and you really feel the development and fluidity of it by the third instalment.

As for how the series ends, this depends on you and is something you really don't need to worry about now or in the early game. Play the story, know that actions have consequences and that there is an entire universe out there counting on you.

If you allow yourself to fully take this world in, I think you'll enjoy it. You'll come to care for the people you meet along the way, you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll find a family.

YOU are Commander Shepard and this is YOUR story.

[Wolfherz]

I've been playing Mass Effect since the series first launched back in 2007. I had a friend playing it on XBOX 360 and as a PC gamer I HAD to have it. I've been playing the series over and over again for years. Go for it. Get the game. You'll have hundreds if not thousands of hours of replayability to enjoy for years to come.

[VincentVolaju]

Originally posted by Wolfherz:

I've been playing Mass Effect since the series first launched back in 2007. I had a friend playing it on XBOX 360 and as a PC gamer I HAD to have it. I've been playing the series over and over again for years. Go for it. Get the game. You'll have hundreds if not thousands of hours of replayability to enjoy for years to come.

Is there really that much replayability in a single player story driven RPG though? I mean, I get how open world or survival RPGs can have a lot of replayability because there is no real "ending" for the most part.

But for a series with a clear start and end point, how much is there that could actually be new / different on multiple playthroughs of the game?

Either way, I think I will pick it up since the general feeling sounds like it's just that good of a story regardless.

[Ｔ ｈ ｅ Ｒ ｉ ｅ #RieTard]

You never really described why you wanted to get into Mass Effect (or Fallout or Skyrim). If you want to properly roleplay in a game, you probably weren't thinking of the modern Fallout games (4 and 76) or Skyrim. However. if you are looking for an experience like that, why not give this Legendary Edition a try? It's cheap on sale and it contains all three games with a very easy way to import a previous game's save,

[Raz]

I think this series is probably one of the very few videogames i've ever played to completion more than once.
Each game has a metric buttload of stuff to do and people to talk to and get to know, with all 3 games here, you're looking at an easy 100+ hours of content.

Also, the trilogy here comes with the Directors cut DLC included, which smooths out the ending quite a bit. It's still a debated thing whether its a 'good' finale or not, but I know I felt more or less alright with it.

A huuuuge space RPG romp with tons of great characters and memorable choices, made back in the day when Bioware still knew how to make and write an RPG without crapping their pants.

[Apollyon]

The Mass Effect trilogy is a must-play series for any serious RPG fan. It embodies the classic Bioware of old, who were one of the best RPG maker devs of their time. The Legendary Edition is the ultimate Mass Effect experience, so I definitely recommend it. Even better if you can get it on discount, as it goes on sale quite often.

[Zacharius Sneed]

yes

[kud1]

I have been playing the ME series since 2008. First in OT, and now in LE. I love this game and like to come back to it at least once a year. However, I must be honest that not everyone shares this admiration, so it depends on what you are looking for.
The ME series has always been more of a shooter than a CRPG. And with each subsequent part there is less and less RPG and more shooting. Nevertheless, the characters, dialogues, atmosphere and lore of the world do their job.
When it comes to replaybits, you have six different character classes, from a soldier, a typical warrior who runs ahead with a gun in his hand, to an adept, who is the equivalent of a mage. And this affects the gameplay and your playstyle quite a bit. The game has dialogues and related choices that influence how other characters treat you, and sometimes have an impact on the further course of the story. The main plot consists of a series of missions that we have to complete to complete the game, but before that we have a large part of the galaxy to explore and plenty side quests to complete.

[barzai]

Originally posted by VincentVolaju:

Originally posted by Wolfherz:

I've been playing Mass Effect since the series first launched back in 2007. I had a friend playing it on XBOX 360 and as a PC gamer I HAD to have it. I've been playing the series over and over again for years. Go for it. Get the game. You'll have hundreds if not thousands of hours of replayability to enjoy for years to come.

Is there really that much replayability in a single player story driven RPG though? I mean, I get how open world or survival RPGs can have a lot of replayability because there is no real "ending" for the most part.

But for a series with a clear start and end point, how much is there that could actually be new / different on multiple playthroughs of the game?

Either way, I think I will pick it up since the general feeling sounds like it's just that good of a story regardless.

I would agree that open-world RPGs are inherently more replayable than more linear ones. But the linearity is only--as you say--about the start and end points. The actual experience of the game varies widely depending on many factors, of which the principal ones--from a role-playing standpoint--are: the companions and how you interact with them; your other interactions with the world around you and the non-party NPCs (this will make more sense if you actually play the game, but since you've asked for a non-spoiler discussion, "further deponent sayeth not"); obviously which class you play as and what aspects of that class you lean into (non-spoilerish example: in a medieval-fantasy RPG, your experience of the game varies as to whether you are a fighter or a mage, and what powers you choose to invest in within those classes).

But the beauty of the game is in the world-building. It really is very well done, despite the nitpicking many have about some of its aspects. Imagine, if you will, a Tolkienesque RPG in which you are cast in the role of Frodo. While the analogy is not on all fours, it still conveys some of the vast and dramatic scope of the game and its bones.

I once read a review of a game that used Middle-Earth as a basis of comparison. The reviewer wrote that in Tolkien's world, it was like looking down on mountain peaks above a cloudline--you could feel the rest of the world even if you couldn't actually see it. By contrast, he analogized the game he was reviewing to a Hollywood backlot--everything looked real until you peeked behind the facade.

I would not call the worldbuilding in Mass Effect Tolkienesque--that would be very unfair to Tolkien--but it's a lot more like that than the Hollywood backlot.

[Raz]

Originally posted by kud1:

The ME series has always been more of a shooter than a CRPG. And with each subsequent part there is less and less RPG and more shooting. Nevertheless, the characters, dialogues, atmosphere and lore of the world do their job.

It's pretty fun watching the evolution of the game in the series too, where the shooting got tighter and less of a pain, and the characters evolved and became more interesting, the writing even got better, where by the 3rd one people were just talking more like people instead of that "not exactly natural" delivery in the first and a bit of the second one.

Also it was fun seeing them add more of what players wanted at the time
"Okay, we're making the second one now. People seemed to really like squadmates.."
"Let's add more then."
"How many?"
"ALL OF THEM."

and then in the third one they were like
"Oh.. alright, in the second one maybe that was too many.. lets cut it down and just make them more interesting."

[Justiciar]

ME LE (1-3) is the most fun I've had since System Shock 1, which was my all-time favorite in its class. ME combines an RPG, shooter, and squad-based combat. Sort of like XCOM would be if it was a real-time shooter. The downsides are that you need to fuss over your squadmates because they tend to get shot up if you're not paying close attention to them, and some of the game mechanics they introduce/remove don't make much sense (like ammo introduced in ME2, grenade launcher in ME1 which only primary char can use but grenades can only be found in missions, and paragon/renegade interrupts which seem to be there to test your peripheral vision more than anything else). However you may want to go on the Net for weapon and mod locations and implications of your morality choices because they will have impact BOTH IN THE GAME AND ACROSS GAMES, and "do mission X before mission Y" although the last is usually "do the side quests before the main quest advances another notch unless they're expansion packs because the guy offering the quest disappears so you can't complete it". The most annoying thing I thought about them was that ME2 and ME3 would sometimes have linear areas where save-game was disabled, resulting in you having to get through many fights and/or a cutscene to get to the next save-game point, and always having to direct your squadmates to cover. These together can cause some very annoying problems when you advance the mission and suddenly your squadmates are toast because they decided to run for cover towards the rocket-launcher equipped enemies on a ledge above you with 4 riflemen spawning behind cover under them, and you're running around trying to survive against 8:1 odds after viewing the 5-minute cutscene and dialog and finishing off the previous 2 combats. Each game has some annoying aspects, such as the high charm/indimidate skill requirements for some conversations very early in the game in ME1, the inability to sell minerals in ME2, and the more lengthy and difficult battles in ME3 with periods of no-save-game-allowed.