plasmawave
Banned
A lot of people seem to be completely ok with the pointless "story" of ME2.
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PC Gamer ranks bests and worsts of Mass Effect
- Thread starter The Artisan
- Start date
I will never understand the love for Mass Effect 2, it was better than 3 yes, but it's not even close to Mass Effect 1 in everything but shooting Mechanics. (The companions themselves were also great)
I loved the world of Mass Effect 1. The whole atmosphere with the humans as the new Species etc. The rest of the series never lived up to the promises made in that game.
And it was actually clear for me that that would happen when Mass Effect 2 started. The moment when Shepard "died" and what was rightfully just a subplot in the first game with Cerburus was put to the forefront i knew that they would go in a direction i would not like, and they did. It was only downhill from there.
I hope they find their way again with Andromeda, because i would so love a mew Mass Effect game like the first one, just with more and better RPG Elements.
I loved the world of Mass Effect 1. The whole atmosphere with the humans as the new Species etc. The rest of the series never lived up to the promises made in that game.
And it was actually clear for me that that would happen when Mass Effect 2 started. The moment when Shepard "died" and what was rightfully just a subplot in the first game with Cerburus was put to the forefront i knew that they would go in a direction i would not like, and they did. It was only downhill from there.
I hope they find their way again with Andromeda, because i would so love a mew Mass Effect game like the first one, just with more and better RPG Elements.
There's no bad Mass Effect game as far as I'm concerned, but I'd agree with the majority, ME2 is my favorite and the original is my least favorite. Was great back in its day and had some interesting ideas like the planetary exploration which were later dropped, but it didn't age too well. Seems Andromeda is looking to go back to its concepts and flesh them out properly, which I'm glad.
Loved ME3 as well, the sense of urgency was really well done, only it had a bit too much shooting for my taste... wanted a few more non-combat areas like the Citadel with some bleak and depressing atmosphere. Also, didn't like James Vega, have no idea where did he come from, thought he was a boring character and a pointless addition to the crew. Having EDI in a "human" form is a logical conclusion to her relationship with Joker, and Javik is at least important for the story reasons, though having him as DLC was a cheap move. As for the ending, while it's somewhat underwhelming, I never considered it a crime against the humanity worthy of all that outrage, especially after the Extended Cut.
Loved ME3 as well, the sense of urgency was really well done, only it had a bit too much shooting for my taste... wanted a few more non-combat areas like the Citadel with some bleak and depressing atmosphere. Also, didn't like James Vega, have no idea where did he come from, thought he was a boring character and a pointless addition to the crew. Having EDI in a "human" form is a logical conclusion to her relationship with Joker, and Javik is at least important for the story reasons, though having him as DLC was a cheap move. As for the ending, while it's somewhat underwhelming, I never considered it a crime against the humanity worthy of all that outrage, especially after the Extended Cut.
RandomSeed
Member
I find a game full of small conflicts and character stories much more interesting than the typical end of the world/universe bullshit.
chronobeej
Member
For me personally it's 1>2>3. I love Mass Effect 1 and it's RPG mechanics. While I enjoyed 2 as a game, I was upset in the change of direction. I am about half way through 3 and it's not really gripping me as much as the first 2. Unless the second half picks up the rankings will stay the same. I am also replaying 1 right now and I am enjoying it just as much as my first play through.
Springfoot
Member
ME1's combat was kind of clunky but I'll be damned if the story in 1 isn't leagues above that of 2 and 3.
I liked some of the characters they introduced in 2 and the entire aspect that dealt with space Jesus Shepard dying at the beginning, but the rest of the story felt like such a step back in terms of scale, depth, and complexity from the first.
Mass 3's set piece environments were cool, and the multiplayer was fun until I ran headfirst into their randomized-unlocks-paywall and stopped playing.
I liked some of the characters they introduced in 2 and the entire aspect that dealt with space Jesus Shepard dying at the beginning, but the rest of the story felt like such a step back in terms of scale, depth, and complexity from the first.
Mass 3's set piece environments were cool, and the multiplayer was fun until I ran headfirst into their randomized-unlocks-paywall and stopped playing.
Hades Hotgun
Banned
I can't improve on this statement but I can add my own specifics.
Mass Effect 3 slightly refines and enhances the gameplay mechanics of Mass Effect 2, but it has a laughable story from the opening through the ending, with a handful of slightly decent scenes scattered about which rely almost entirely on character and world building from it's predecessors. The multiplayer co-op mode of Mass Effect 3 was a superior overall game to the campaign, because it featured the only worthwhile element of the campaign, the combat without the insulting excuse for a story.
I find it odd when people just focus on the very final moments of ME3 for criticism, the story was shockingly poor from the word go. After 2 games establishing that there was no possible way to fight the Reapers, we are forced to sit through an entire campaign which inexplicably presents a grinding war of attrition, despite the practical impossibility of even the most basic resistance. The entirety of Mass Effect 3 is a plot hole.
ME1 has some elements that are just indefensible.
- It recycles way too much content. You have the same 2 or 3 maps used over and over ad nauseum with slightly different arrangements of crates. It is seriously worse than in Dragon Age 2. There are also way too few enemy types and tactics.
- The inventory system is a nightmare. You get a ridiculous number of duplicates of things like guns which are useless to the player but you still need to inspect and sell them one-by-one. The weapons are also completely uninteresting. They just take a few brand names and keep increasing the model number.
- It recycles way too much content. You have the same 2 or 3 maps used over and over ad nauseum with slightly different arrangements of crates. It is seriously worse than in Dragon Age 2. There are also way too few enemy types and tactics.
- The inventory system is a nightmare. You get a ridiculous number of duplicates of things like guns which are useless to the player but you still need to inspect and sell them one-by-one. The weapons are also completely uninteresting. They just take a few brand names and keep increasing the model number.
ScaryShark
Banned
All of the individual character missions and those stories are the highlight of that series for me. That game has a fantastic cast.
Coffee Dog
Banned
Is there any party member in the series worse than ME1 Liara?
oh strong human man, teach me how to love
oh strong human man, teach me how to love
ScaryShark
Banned
Yep, all the side missions with that lifeless grey space warehouse with like two rooms and a small upstairs section. Almost zero variation in combat. It's a slog. The side missions basically come down to, clean out rooms, read 2-3 sentences of on-screen text at the end and then fast travel back to the Normandy.
Karak
Member
Agreed and yet infinitely more interesting than the sequels.
Also I see PC gamer was bored or something.
Pagusas
Elden Member
Story:
ME1 >>>>>>>>>>> 2 > 3
Atmosphere:
ME1>>>2=3
Gameplay
ME3 = ME2 >>>> ME1
Overal I agree with ME1 being the better RPG and story, where as 2 is more fun to actually play but less engaging story wise. 3 is just ruined by a bad ending, but the actual game was just as fun as 2.
ME1 >>>>>>>>>>> 2 > 3
Atmosphere:
ME1>>>2=3
Gameplay
ME3 = ME2 >>>> ME1
Overal I agree with ME1 being the better RPG and story, where as 2 is more fun to actually play but less engaging story wise. 3 is just ruined by a bad ending, but the actual game was just as fun as 2.
ScaryShark
Banned
Eh, she gets better as the series went on IMO but people forget she's extremely young for her species. She is essentially a teenager and acts as such.
Depending on how you play your Shepherd, he/she is extremely noble and is nice to a person who basically had no parental figure growing up. Not surprising she'd fall for him/her.
I expected this since most people seemingly like the action-random-dead-space-shooter approach because it's more accessible overall. ME2 is a poor RPG though with absolutely no sense of exploration which I felt was the biggest strength of the series together with the superb story of ME1.
In my opinion every title has its weakness (ME1=combat, poor crew dialogue; ME2=corridor shooter, less RPG elements; ME3=worst ending in existence) so that's why I rather talk about the Mass Effect Trilogy as a single entity.
In my opinion every title has its weakness (ME1=combat, poor crew dialogue; ME2=corridor shooter, less RPG elements; ME3=worst ending in existence) so that's why I rather talk about the Mass Effect Trilogy as a single entity.
Remind me what was good about the story in ME1? I remember like 3 things about it.
1. The "ancient advanced civilization" all-story.
2. You are chasing around Cat Spaceman Sephiroth.
3. At one point people were turned into plant zombies.
SolicitorPirate
Member
AHA-Lambda
Member
And surprisingly, Me1 was voted the worst, by almost 50%.
Wut?
Look, even ignoring ME3's bloody ending (and I don't think it's that bad), ME3 is a bloody lazy game; it's got a lot more problems that are overlooked than just it's ending.
From the lack of variety, and that the design of the game is primarily all very straight and linear dull corridor shooting moments to the fact that the side missions were all fetch quests for items you'd find randomly anyway. This was an RPG with no exploration to it; it played like Gears with a dialogue wheel.
On top of this you had Bioware stealing art from google, the lying that you didn't need MP for the best ending, and that choices across the trilogy ultimately meant nothing.
I can't see how ME3 isn't the worst. Don't get me wrong it has some good story moments in it but it's got to be the worst one.
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
That would be because it's like a really great season of Mass Effect The Series and has a large cast of great characters that all get to have their time in the light on account of its structure. The Collector plot is sparse, but it's not really overtly awful. Just an excuse for getting the band together which is the narrative focus for the most part. And it's really good at what it does.
The companions and their side stories are why. The supermajority of side content in ME1 is low quality filler shit, some of them not even dignified by a voice over. In ME2 there's like three clear tiers of missions, instead of dominant story missions with other crap floating off to the side. A lot of the cast is fuckin great, even if Mordin and Legion stole the show for most people.
It's not just better in shooting mechanics, the dialogue system is more fleshed out with interrupts (the persuade system is arguably worse, but neither of them were very good really), the load times were faster (ME1 on x360 is atrocious technically), the graphics were better overall, and the suicide mission itself was pretty well made and gets you pumped the fuck up.
A lot of what they cut from ME1 was bad. The inventory was terrible (ESPECIALLY on x360 again, my god it was so fucking bad). The loot that you filled the inventory with was an endless array of repeated junk items with negligable stat differences. The Mako UNC worlds were content starved wastelands with 2 points of interest on a minimap. I think there were like 2 or 3 planets in the whole game with something interesting to find, like monkeys and a prothean ruin. Great! The terrain was awful to navigate. The quests you went to them for were cookie cutter and used repeated environments constantly.
Not hard to understand why most people liked 2 over 1.
ME2 focuses on the individual characters and is a better game for it.
That's right... while the game had some excellent ideas behind it and presented a really interesting sci-fi universe, the execution simply couldn't live up to the ambition. Still, going by what we saw so far, seems Andromeda is revisiting those ideas, and I really hope it'll be successful. I only hope they won't turn the game into a collect-a-thon, instead of providing worthwhile side content.
All of the games have strengths in important areas:
1. Mass Effect 1 has the best plot and the most exploration. It's a true RPG. Unfortunately everything is too dark and Tuchunka-y for my tastes. Not to mention some parts are genuinely boring.
2. Mass Effect 2 is the cleanest looking game, with the most interesting characters and a great cast. Unfortunately, the plot is too reliant on the ending. I enjoyed the gameplay in this game the most, too.
3. Mass Effect 3 has the best soundtrack, and the strongest middle portion of the game. Great missions, and before the ending, the plot was mostly good. It definitely has the best atmosphere. Unfortunately, the ending/macguffin was bad.
As for Liara, I'm not surprised, she was the only interesting option in ME1.
ME3 before ending>ME2>ME1>ME3 ending
1. Mass Effect 1 has the best plot and the most exploration. It's a true RPG. Unfortunately everything is too dark and Tuchunka-y for my tastes. Not to mention some parts are genuinely boring.
2. Mass Effect 2 is the cleanest looking game, with the most interesting characters and a great cast. Unfortunately, the plot is too reliant on the ending. I enjoyed the gameplay in this game the most, too.
3. Mass Effect 3 has the best soundtrack, and the strongest middle portion of the game. Great missions, and before the ending, the plot was mostly good. It definitely has the best atmosphere. Unfortunately, the ending/macguffin was bad.
As for Liara, I'm not surprised, she was the only interesting option in ME1.
ME3 before ending>ME2>ME1>ME3 ending
ScaryShark
Banned
ME2 coming out just over 2 years from the first is a pretty incredible accomplishment considering how much the game expanded and improved in a lot of areas.
MrRudiMentary
Member
I'm glad to see that the majority of people rank the games the same as I do. I feel that my reasoning for preferring ME2 and ME3 to ME1 was because I played 2 first and fell in love with the series where many ME1 loyalists fell off. Personally I think ME1 is a far worse RPG than KotOR and a far worse shooter than ME2, so it just sucks in general. The main plot is only slightly less laughable than the other two games and the characters bar Wrex are all fairly boring and far worse than what the other two games offer. EG ME3 Garrus > ME2 Garrus > ME1 Garrus.
It isn't pointless at all, it's the eye of the storm.
It's also a far more personal tale, scaled down. Different to 1's epic space opera but no bettet or worse imo.
They're both ridiculous and brilliant in equal measure.
Zombegoast
Member
Half the cast was dealing with daddy issues. The charterers from Mass Effect 1 are better written.
ME2 is for sure the best version. I also had more fun with 3 than 1, despite the ending. 1 oozes the old-sci-fi movie style, but God the gameplay is awful: no real sense of progression with the weapons, awful (really awful) cover mechanics and a hot mess of an inventory to manage. The story was cool, the villain was good, but the characters were way underdeveloped compared to both sequels. 2 and 3 are better games, this doesnt surprise me.
Oh and to people who loved the mako: idea was nice, but the terragen-generated planets completely destroyed the whole 'sense of discovery' point. Hammerhead DLC did it muuuch better in ME2.
Oh and to people who loved the mako: idea was nice, but the terragen-generated planets completely destroyed the whole 'sense of discovery' point. Hammerhead DLC did it muuuch better in ME2.
plasmawave
Banned
TC McQueen
Member
Not really surprised to see ME2 top the chart as the best, since it focused on what Bioware excels at (character writing), sidelined the lame Reaper plot, and improved the gameplay. The only things ME3 beat it at were combat and RPG systems, while all ME1 had was a pretty generic story and character/universe introductions.
RespectThySole
Member
Mass Effect 2 is one of my favorite games of all time.
I'd rank them:
2
1
3
I'd rank them:
2
1
3
cuevas. PhD.
Member
I love me1, def the worst game of the three but I enjoyed the hell out of it.
RandomSeed
Member
3 of 12 is now half? ME1 characters are talking codex entries, and I love 1/2/3 for various reasons.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
The fact that people hate ME1 proves that most people don't actually want to play RPGs unless it's some shitty D&D/MMO-esque system. Too bad.
BRocknRolla
Member
Speaking my language.
ME2 is possibly my 2nd favorite game of all time. 1 is good but mechanically pretty darn rough. 3... Well, 3 is the greatest dissapointment I've ever felt about a game or franchise in my life.
Confidence Man
Member
1 has the best combat, role-playing, story, pacing, atmosphere, and art direction.
2 has better variety I guess.
3 is trash.
2 has better variety I guess.
3 is trash.
The Lone Courier
Member
I agree with it.
Slammin_Hammon
Member
The gameplay in 3 was the best. The atmosphere in 1 was the best. 2 was the best all around. I can't believe soldier is the most played class. Vanguard for life!
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