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[Baron_Calamity]

The first Mass Effect is so good. I've been replaying it off and on for the past month and I don't have any nostalgia glasses blurring my view. Yeah there was jank and the inventory system sucked but it was such an amazing experience. The story was much more emotional, the music was perfect, and the universe was epic. I also enjoyed the combat more. I can see where a gaming generation brought up on Halo and Gears would prefer 3. 3 is well done. Probably the best graphics of the series. I just want more games like Mass Effect 1.

 

[HalfBakedProphet]

.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbIuOU4l1Pw&feature

did Ashley just shush Garrus? Who the fuck does she think she is

I've put hundreds of hours into ME1 but this thread makes me want to do another replay

 

[Rad Agast]

I have the complete trilogy but still need to finish 3 single player (spent hundreds of hours in mp).

First ME is the best ME in my humble opinion. It felt epic. Played it multiple times on both xbox and pc.

 

[Miles Quaritch]

Re-posting this video. I know it's off screen, but is anyone else really impressed by the graphics? The lighting in particular at 0:20.

Also does anyone have another link for this video from GameSpot? Seems to be the only one that doesn't work and I'm curious to see what it was.

I believe this is the gamespot video,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CItElYfc47g

Man, ME1 looked incredible before its release, such a shame to see so much of the stuff that made it so appealing didn't make it into the final release.

 

[Dr Dogg]

I've put hundreds of hours into ME1 but this thread makes me want to do another replay

I did just that yesterday due to this thread.

ME1 has a lot more jank than I remember (bad tearing, stuttering while textures load, bad UE3 texture pop-in ect.) but still has that charm that makes it possible to look past all of that. Might have to redownload the PC version though but still need to knock out Impossible and a few ally chievos.

 

[TheUnsunghero26]

I had saved these two links for this thread but forgot to post them, so excuse me for this small bump of probably irrelevant info.

First thing this GameSpot video from PAX 2007. This demo is of Eden Prime from the beginning of the game. Eveything looks pretty much the same, but in various parts of the video (13:15 is a good spot I found from just skipping through) it shows Shepard sprinting outside of combat. It uses the actual animation for it and he is actually going faster. In the final build if you hold A to run while there is no combat, it just pulls the camera back, and you don't get any speed boost. No idea why they would take this out.

The other is from this 1UP preview video. At 2:25 it cuts to the character creation, choosing your background, class, etc. But after Class is chosen, it goes to another screen where you get to choose "Primary Training" and the options are Stamina (Increases health), Focus (Improves rate of fire), Coordination (Increases maximum accuracy) and Precision (Increases damage duration).

Both these videos seem to be from August, only a few months before the game was released. Very strange cuts to make.

 

[Valnen]

I would even debate that ME2's story is way more interesting than the Reaper stuff...the only thing that ME1 had that was cool was Saren...outside of that the story was pretty bleh.

ME2 improved a lot of stuff, even narrative-wise.

I only wish ME2 retained the open world.

Saren wasn't even all that interesting of a character until the game was almost over.

And honestly, an open world is worthless when there's almost nothing in it, which was the problem with ME1. I could only take so much exploration of empty, barren worlds before I just pulled up maps on the wiki. ME2/ME3 gameplay are just leagues above ME1.

 

[jtb]

the game completely changed between e3 06 (the tech demo that basically sold me on getting a 360) and the release. I would have loved to see Mass Effect as a tactical RPG/shooter hybrid... the emphasis on the shooting is so bizarre for the franchise, and for BioWare in general.

ME1 ended up pretty great anyways, definitely a flawed gem, but the development cycle behind it seems really interesting. BioWare have never struck me as a company that was interested in pushing technology or pushing action-y type systems anyways (though they were moving in the direction of the latter with Jade Empire), and yet so much of ME was built around that cutting edge facial animation tech (RIP interruptions)

it almost seemed like an RPG at one point in time, rather than the action game we actually got. you can see elements of it everywhere; the huge emphasis on exploration and the mako in particular. somewhere along the way, reality probably hit them and that's why we got 3 room designs period for every planet in the galaxy, a ridiculously small number of conversations (by BW standards anyways), and all the tactical stuff got ripped out of the game. very disappointing, but I guess a harbinger of things to come...

edit: also, I forget the name of the planet, but the one desert-y one where you find Liara... wasn't like the entire planet basically scrapped? I know they heavily reappropriated a lot of the assets for the first DLC (bringing down the sky? iirc) but still... really interesting to see what would have been. especially since that planet has as little "RPG" (read: dialogue) of any main story planets in ME.

 

[Bomber Bob]

looks nextgen to me

 

[denx]

3 is well done. Probably the best graphics of the series.

I dunno. I still think ME2 is the better looking game. I guess the grey/blue filter they put in ME3 made the game look dull to me.

 

[Knox]

I spent by far the most time playing ME1, but I think it had a lot to do with discovering things about this amazing universe. They told good stories in 2 and 3, but it's impossible to replicate that sense of discovery. The way the trilogy ended is probably the most disappointed I've ever been over a video game. I've tried playing through the series again but knowing that the payoff is so terrible sours the entire experience.

 

[jtb]

imo, 2 and 3 just have zero reason to exist. they jettisoned everything that made mass effect 1 the great, flawed game that it was, and focused on fixing (and, to their credit, they kind of did) the one thing that no one bought Mass Effect 1 for and that was the shooting.

but then the level design was hideous, the game was incredibly linear, rather than fix things like the mako or the planetary exploration, they just scrapped it altogether, there were even fewer conversations, the story was non-existent at best, a joke at worst, etc. even the shooting, while much improved, simply doesn't compare to the best 3rd person shooting games. they forsake what little identity mass effect had... and for what?

 

[Mifune]

ME1 felt like a next-gen KOTOR to me. Streamlined for sure, but the combat had a similar feel. I really enjoyed ME2, despite its more shooter-heavy leanings, but ME3 is just boring. There's way too much combat and the battles just drag on forever. I should finish it someday but I'm really not into it.

 

[TheUnsunghero26]

edit: also, I forget the name of the planet, but the one desert-y one where you find Liara... wasn't like the entire planet basically scrapped? I know they heavily reappropriated a lot of the assets for the first DLC (bringing down the sky? iirc) but still... really interesting to see what would have been. especially since that planet has as little "RPG" (read: dialogue) of any main story planets in ME.

Yup, it was supposed to be on the scale of Noveria and Feros. There was a whole sub plot of finding Liara that got scrapped.

 

[MrCookiepants]

Man, I remember reading an Xbox magazine back then and salivating over that first screen in the OP. I liked the game a lot, but it's impossible to go back to after the sequels.

 

[jtb]

oh and don't even get me started on how mass effect 2 basically pissed in the face of the entire design philosophy they sold mass effect 1 on. all those choices in mass effect 1 followed by zero consequences.

it's no coincidence that the best mass effect 1 level (imo) was virmire: because that choice actually had a consequence. but bioware bit off way more than it could chew I guess; I can respect trying and failing. mass effect tried and failed in a ton of areas. I can't respect not even bothering to live up to the only goddamn thing your franchise had going for it. that's what irks me most about the sequels; they didn't even try, on any level, to make a sequel to mass effect 1. not on a plot level, not on a gameplay level. so why not just start fresh and make another franchise and not tie it down to all these things bioware clearly sees as a burden?

Yup, it was supposed to be on the scale of Noveria and Feros. There was a whole sub plot of finding Liara that got scrapped.

I get the sense that a ton of this game ended up on the cutting room floor. hopefully one day we'll get some bioware guys talk about the development process of how we went from the X05/E3 06 stuff all the way to the other end of the spectrum in ME2. I can only suspect getting bought out by elevation partners (and presumably being shopped around to EA afterwards) right around the very initial reveal had something to do with it.

 

[denx]

oh and don't even get me started on how mass effect 2 basically pissed in the face of the entire design philosophy they sold mass effect 1 on. all those choices in mass effect 1 followed by zero consequences.

I gave ME2 a pass on that because I thought the payoff for the decisions would come in ME3. And in certains parts, like Tuchanka and Rannoch, it did. But the rest... yeah.

In any case, ME2 is still my favorite from the trilogy. And saying your decisions don't have importance in ME2 is selling it short considering how the Suicide Mission plays out depends on what you did in the game.

 

[Sapphire Dreams]

Mass Effect 1 was one of the most ambitious games this gen. Too bad the series devolved after that and I highly doubt that the next games will fix that.

 

[TheUnsunghero26]

Two Screenshots of the Citadel from an old build.

Lighting is pretty impressive.

Mass Effect 3 had things cut from it as well (clearly) but according to a developer from this panel most cuts were so they could get it to run on PS3. Obviously it's pretty common for multiplatform games to go to the lowest common denominator (and a lot of it is dependent on the engine) but it's slightly disappointing to hear about a franchise that was meant to be Xbox/PC only.

And while we're on the topic of decisions not panning out... I can understand not having everything lead to something huge, but when you have to do things like forcing Udina to be councilor no matter who you choose in the first game, than maybe it's time to take another look at the script and re-write it...

 

[Staccat0]

There's a lot of nostalgia glasses going on with Mass Effect 1. The combat in 2 and 3 are leagues better, especially 3.

That said ME1 does a lot right and isn't matched by the sequels in certain areas such as immersion, scale, art design, and level design.

I prefer 1 over 2 (never played 3) despite it being a better game overall, but I wouldn't even go so far as to say the level design of 1 was better than the others. It really just did a better job with world vuilding and telling a story for me. I loved all the dry conversation.

 

[jtb]

the level design is pretty terrible throughout all three games, though they did seem more open in ME1. the sequels felt very compartmentalized and linear with their combat arenas, to the point where there is almost always just one path between conveniently placed blocks of cover to navigate through. of course, that's offset by the hilariously terrible copy-paste bases of the original so I think it's safe to say that it's never been this franchise's (or Bioware's for that matter) strength.

thinking back, the original did a lot of things very poorly. it's a real testament to the game (or perhaps, to my shit taste) that I feel a real affinity towards it despite all of its flaws.

 

[Vlodril]

The first time i played Mass Effect it blew me away. It catapulted itself into my top 3 rpgs ever. I have played the game 8 or 9 times since then.

I was very disappointed with 2 (although after playing three it seemed better in comparison). They killed the exploration and rpg elements for more linearity which i did not like. The third killed my love for the franchise completely.

The only reason i am glad i played 2 and 3 was Mordin Solus which is probably my favorite character in pretty much any game. Fantastic character the vo was phenomenal and he had a lot of depth. Satisfied with his ending too.

But lets face it the biowar of DA1 and ME1 is not the same bioware of now. I do not know if its the influence of EA or they simply wanted to go after the cod crowd (lol) but they went from one of my favorite developers to meh in just a few sort years.

Also mako ruled screw the haters (they really really should have fixed the few probs exploration had instead of nuking it from orbit).

 

[Staf]

The first time i played Mass Effect it blew me away. It catapulted itself into my top 3 rpgs ever. I have played the game 8 or 9 times since then.

I was very disappointed with 2 (although after playing three it seemed better in comparison). They killed the exploration and rpg elements for more linearity which i did not like. The third killed my love for the franchise completely.

The only reason i am glad i played 2 and 3 was Mordin Solus which is probably my favorite character in pretty much any game. Fantastic character the vo was phenomenal and he had a lot of depth. Satisfied with his ending too.

But lets face it the biowar of DA1 and ME1 is not the same bioware of now. I do not know if its the influence of EA or they simply wanted to go after the cod crowd (lol) but they went from one of my favorite developers to meh in just a few sort years.

Also mako ruled screw the haters (they really really should have fixed the few probs exploration had instead of nuking it from orbit).

What changed with Bioware post ME1 and DA:O is the over-reliance of cut-scenes at the expense of gameplay and player agency. Their games are now basically an interactive Uncharted running from cutscene to set-piece to cutscene.

 

[CharmingCharlie]

God damn you op don't drag these precious memories up again . But seriously when ME 1 was announced I never paid it much attention (PC gamer with no interest in consoles). Then when it was announced for the PC I followed the development and took a chance on it when it was released.

I was totally blown away by ME 1 it felt like I was exploring the universe. I loved the story and I became rather attached to my Commander Shepard. I followed ME 2 religiously trying to eek out as much info as I could

Unfortunately for me ME 2 lost that "exploring a universe" feeling and played more like "here is a bunch of levels, complete them". Still I was excited for ME 3 because I was sure Bioware would put things right with the final game in the series and I was eager to see how my Commander Shepards story ........... ended. The less said about it the better (and no it was not just the ending).

Looking at all the pre-release stuff for ME 1 I can't help feel we will probably never see something like ME 1 ever again. Even with the power of the next gen consoles it is obvious the direction gaming is going. Ah well as they say "it is better to have loved and lost, than never loved at all".

 

[Gozer the Gozerian]

A couple more things.

Sam Hulick has uploaded a few unused tracks on his YouTube account. These include an early version of the Normandy theme, the concept for the Galaxy Map, and most intriguingly, a track from an unreleased DLC. A BioWare employee (Ryan Warden) confirmed on Twitter that it was for a DLC set on Caleston. I wonder if this was going to bridge the gap between ME1 and 2, maybe put more focus on Cerberus. Don't know why it was cancelled, but my best guess is that the change in publisher had something to do with it.

Wow, ME1 had such a distinct and awesome feel to its soundtrack, it's crazy how the sequels completely lost that.

 

[EatChildren]

Mass Effect was a weird one for me. I distinctly remember the pre-release videos/trailers and hype machine surrounding it and being super ridiculously excited. Had a mate who was crazy about sci-fi and KOTOR, and managed to rope him into the hype. Then I realised it was Xbox 360 exclusive and let the release slide, under a "I just wont think about it until a PC release hopefully comes" policy.

Somehow it worked. I totally forgot about the game's existence, managing to ignore all conversation. Then, one day, it hit me that the PC release was due in a week. Snuck on me. Put a pre-order, played it on day one, and so began my unhealthy obsession with this awful series.

 

[Deleted member 144138]

Loved the first Mass Effect on the 360. Unfortunately the disk is broken...

I have to buy it again in the Steam Sale

 

[∀ Narayan]

Better look at the old galaxy map.

Not as many clusters, but I wonder if the plan was to have almost every planet visitable in each system?

I remember being blown away when they were showing this map in pre-release builds. It looks more immersive than the one we ended up getting. As much as I've complained about Mass Effect 1's flaws, it was still a fairly enjoyable game. I ended up playing through it four times. I completed ME2 once. I've yet to touch ME3 at all.

 

[injurai]

oh no. This thread is so depressing. From 2007 to roughly '10, ME1 was my game of the forever. Can't believe it fell so hard.

 

[EatChildren]

And to wonder what amazing places they'll go with Mass Effect 4!

 

[Doomshine]

Mass Effect 2 made me not want to play Mass Effect 3, I fucking hate what they did to Shepard's character.

Maybe I should go back and finally finish KotOR 2 instead.

 

[HK-47]

And to wonder what amazing places they'll go with Mass Effect 4!

Shepard comes back from the dead (again), and this time his voice is changed to sound like Nolan North.

 

[∀ Narayan]

Shepard comes back from the dead (again), and this time his voice is changed to sound like Nolan North.

But he will be voiced by Troy Baker.

 

[Dr Zhivago]

I loved ME1, but ME2 is probably my favourite game this generation.
Listening to some of the people here, you would think ME1 was a text adventure or point-and-click or something. The primary gameplay was still 3rd person shooter, it just wasn't very good. Precisely what 'RPG' elements were lost in the sequels? (Although I come from a pen-and-paper RPG background, so I find most people's definitions of RPGs rather odd).
Yes, I would have loved the Mako and the uncharted worlds to remain, but I wasn't unhappy with the trade-off.

ME3 however...

 

[Psychoward]

OP I highly recommend getting the platinum edition of Mass Effect 1, comes with hundreds of digital early screens, concept art and design docs.

 

[TheUnsunghero26]

Small update to raise this thread from dead.
Stumbled across this thread on BSN (I know, I know). It's about an old interview with Casey Hudson (from 2006). The part the thread highlights is this:

IGO: Why was the decision made to spread the story across three games? Will we be seeing all three installments on the Xbox 360? What about PC?

CH: It’s not quite that we’re spreading the story across three games. Instead we’ve designed a story for the first Mass Effect game with its own self-contained, spectacular adventure – complete with a satisfying and definitive ending (several of them actually).

The thread starters speculates that the Reapers were originally going to be resolved in the first game, and that 2 & 3 were going to have their own stories. He made another thread saying that the sequel hook seemed tacked on at the end of ME1.

I think it would've been interesting if they did the self contained story per each game,If they rewrote it so Sovereign was the only Reaper then they probably could have done it. Though it would've been hard to go from something as big as the Reapers to something else.

Also found this animators reel. at around 45 seconds in it shows a cut scene taking place on the jungle planet (Illos?) from the E3 demo with a Reaper coming down.

And lastly, a lot of people thought it was strange that MS didn't buy Bioware after working for them for so long and with KotOR being one of the biggest games on the original Xbox. It seems they did try to buy Bioware after all.

"Buying developers is not a panacea at all. It's not always the right answer; it can lead to more problems rather than fewer," said Kim. "I'm not a big proponent [of buying developers]. If you look at MGS, we probably do a quarter of our titles internally and the rest with external development partners. It's not about owning the talent; you can't ever own the talent." That said, Kim admitted that Microsoft tried to buy the studio: "Well, I tried, but& not everybody wants to be bought, Elevation owns BioWare," Kim said.

I guess with Elevation owning them they weren't able to buy just Bioware, or they would've had to buy all of Elevation. Would've been best if Bioware had stayed independent, but I would rather of had MS buy them than EA...

 

[i-Lo]

Two Screenshots of the Citadel from an old build.

Lighting is pretty impressive.

We may actually models like that kind of detail from Bioware with ME4 on next gen console.

 

[Last Hearth]

ME2 and 3 might have had better shooting mechanics and better inventory system.

ME had the better story, better pacing, and better overall look and feel of a space epic. Playing ME made me believe I was a Spectre Agent in a vast galaxy. ME2 and 3 never quite delivered that kind of ambiance, mainly because there was no exploration whatsoever.

I will always prefer ME to its sequels.

 

[Darmik]

Thinking about it, I would have much preferred if each games plot was completely stand alone with your decisions carrying over. Kind of like a new season of 24, some returning characters, some new ones, and new villains. The consequences of your previous choices still happened and it would affect your new mission, but the story for each game still stood alone. I think the series would have felt a lot more comfortable this way and would feel more natural to be longer lasting. I remember the initial marketing for ME was very much 24 in space so it wouldn't really surprise me if this was the original intent. But they never managed to really have the whole morally grey thing that 24 was famous for having. Hopefully it's something they can do in the sequel. It still very much felt like black/white morality overall.

 

[TheUnsunghero26]

Thinking about it, I would have much preferred if each games plot was completely stand alone with your decisions carrying over. Kind of like a new season of 24, some returning characters, some new ones, and new villains. The consequences of your previous choices still happened and it would affect your new mission, but the story for each game still stood alone. I think the series would have felt a lot more comfortable this way and would feel more natural to be longer lasting. I remember the initial marketing for ME was very much 24 in space so it wouldn't really surprise me if this was the original intent. But they never managed to really have the whole morally grey thing that 24 was famous for having. Hopefully it's something they can do in the sequel. It still very much felt like black/white morality overall.

Yeah, they mentioned 24 a lot when they first talked about Mass Effect.

I always thought it would've been cool if ME2 was about the Batarians. That way it could have really have focused your choices in Bring Down the Sky and what you chose to do with the council. Batarians wouldn't have been happy with Humans joining the council so they could have really played up the whole political side of the universe.

 

[Flipyap]

I think it would've been interesting if they did the self contained story per each game,If they rewrote it so Sovereign was the only Reaper then they probably could have done it. Though it would've been hard to go from something as big as the Reapers to something else.

They wouldn't have to get rid of the Reapers to have self-contained stories, in fact, the universe would be better off if they remained a Borg-like threat for the duration of the franchise's existence.
Mass Effect's ending sets up defeating the reapers as a long term goal for the entire galaxy - it's the perfect framework, it would give them enough time to properly establish formation of new alliances, have old ones fall apart, and with enough time the whole "Reaper denial" theme they attempted could actually work. It would allow them to have meaningful villains on a more personal level and dealing with them both wouldn't feel like a sidequesty waste of time, nor would their defeat make you feel like you've solved the universe's problems because a bigger threat would always be looming in the background.
Turning the Reapers into an immediate, solvable threat cheapened everything.

 

[foogles]

Shepard comes back from the dead (again), and this time his voice is changed to sound like Nolan North.

Remedy Entertainment got away with changing the look of Max Payne completely. I seriously doubt Shepard is back in any serious capacity in the next ME, but I'm pretty sure BioWare would get away with replacing Mark Meer. Could NOT stand his voice work at all.

 

[Flipyap]

Remedy Entertainment got away with changing the look of Max Payne completely.

Yeah, but that's only because original Max looked impossibly dumb (in the best possible way).

 

[Alucrid]

ME 4, new story. Get to choose your race and gender. I'll buy.

 

[Replicant]

As long as I can import my face code from ME3 I'm here for ME4. I'll just call him something else instead of Shepard if he does not exist anymore.

 

[Remmy2112]

Remedy Entertainment got away with changing the look of Max Payne completely. I seriously doubt Shepard is back in any serious capacity in the next ME, but I'm pretty sure BioWare would get away with replacing Mark Meer. Could NOT stand his voice work at all.

Ahh Max Payne, a guy who eternally looked like someone cut the cheese in MP1. I liked the look of Max in 2 and 3 better.

Also I didn't actually mind Meer's performance.