Mass Effect 1/2: Under-rated or shit?

[ChristofferC]

ME1 is good enough for a play through or two.

 

[Orma]

Shit, pretty much.

 

[Brayko]

I liked Mass Effect 1. There I said it. It's like the Morrowind of Mass Effect: not that great but none too offensive either.

 

[Black]

ME1 is good enough for a play through or two.

Try 0.

 

[Malpercio]

Meh, ME1 is not bad. It's not like it was regarded as masterpiece either, a quick look at gamefaqs reviews reveal a lot of 6-7, that is the score it deserves.

ME2 is boring corridor shit.

 

[madbringer]

I've finished both and had a moderately good time, to the point where i'll probably finish them again to refresh my memory (and have a character ready) when i try to tackle the third one. They're fairly well written, by today's standards, the lore and setting are at least coherent, if generic. They could do without the mind-numbingly boring shit like Mako exploration and surveying, didn't like the castrated skill and inventory mechanics and handhelding in the second one, the OMFG EPIX SHIZ IS GON ON atmosphere didn't do much for me and combat gets samey after a while, but all in all, i've seen both much better and much worse.

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

ME1 was pretty bad in retrospect, but came at a time in the RPG drought in which there wasn't much else available at the time...so it was a "10 at 2". Combat was really clunky, but the fact that it revolved around goofy powers made it a bit more fun, because picking up a dude with a lot of HP and throwing him off the map is a lot more fun than popping his mole ad nauseum. There were at least dialogue skills that you had to invest in, and they at least rewarded you a little bit.

ME2 was numb, mindless entertainment, but not very good otherwise. It's a sequel with a retarded plot device (killing your character), in order to justify a new character system. The rest of the main plot isn't much better, but some of the NPC quests are not terrible. Unfortunately the combat throughout is pretty shitastic. Enemies are all incredibly samey, and the game decided to de-emphasize powers in favor of popping moles, both by having universal cooldowns on powers and making most powers useless when enemies still have their secondary or tertiary health bars. Which means a lot of the gameplay is of a really boring popamole shooter, with stupidity like alien dogs having an "armor" health bar on higher difficulties. Speaking of higher difficulties, they were pretty damn retarded. The presence of enemy health bloat meant that a lot of encounters were dependent on the AI deciding to sit behind cover or stay back; if they charged you, there was often naught you could do before you were overwhelmed. Nothing as bad as Alpha Protocol boss fights (Pistol MASTERMEN need not white knight Obsidian), but still made for shitty encounters. Boss fights were also terrible affairs, aside from that one with a ton of zombies, as the encounters boiled down to sit behind cover, wait for opening, pop mole, repeat until you win.

But hey, ME2 had a pretty awesome soundtrack and SHEPARDS!!!!!!!!

I liked ME3 a lot, but it was by no means a "good" game. Most of my enjoyment was in playing the game as a Vanguard who was all about using guns as little as possible, relying on charge, nova, and SHEPARD PUNCH. The game also wins points for having a lot better crafted enemies and encounters than it's predecessors, no longer playing like a second tier console shooter. Now it's a full-fledged piece of consolekrap! Still, the cast of bad guys is pretty limited, becoming a bit stale towards the end, and none of the encounters really stand out as memorable, sans the boss battle against a weaboo-fightan', cyborg-ninja (which was actually kind of fun as a Vanguard). I like that powers play a bigger role if you so choose; you can equip less weighty guns, or less guns in general, to get big bonuses in cooldown times. Weapon mods were cool, because it allowed me to make a Paladin pistol into an armor-piercing hand-cannon for when SHEPARD PUNCH wasn't good enough. Higher difficulties (I played on Insanity) didn't lead to ludicrous HP bar bloat as in Mass Effect 2. Only elite enemy units even have more than one health bar and could effectively "charge" your characters, though these do it by design rather than derp (mechs, Banshees etc). I liked that side missions were fewer in number, but more substantiated. Finally, it was nice to play a sequel where you don't magically get degraded to level 1 shitheel, instead being able to field a pretty competent character right from the last game.

However the game is a lot less fun as anything but a SHEPARD PUNCH'N vanguard, the plot is beyond retarded with tons of badly forced emotional engagement that is painfully cringe inducing, the new soundtrack guy sucks, and just about every character besides Garrus, Wrex, Mordin, and Dr. Chakwas should be nuked from orbit.

 

[Valestein]

Objectively, ME1 and 2 are mediocre shooters with half-baked RPG elements (2 had way less of those elements)with the original having the only passable story of the trilogy. You'd be better off looking elsewhere for a good shooter or RPG.

 

[TripJack]

no idea about 2 but 1 was shit enough that it convinced me to swear off bioware games forever

 

[Turjan]

I found both games quite enjoyable. They are not really any good RPGs, but they were fun enough to play. Then again, I even like the Mako, and most people hate that thing.

 

[Ulminati]

I played ME1/2. Didn't try 3 and have no plans to either. As a RPG, the Mass Effect series is underwhelming. (Or as we say around here: Banal, Boring, Shit). As a generic popamole corridor shooter, it's passable but not terribly good. Vanguard or biotic are definately the most interesting ways to go about playing. The dialogue is mostly forgettable mediocrity, but several supporting NPCs do have their bright spots. EG. Mordin Solus musical performance out of nowhere. Pick it up for 4 kwabucks on a sale, don't set your expactations too high and it'll be moderately entertaining. Music is pretty good and the Biotic™ Powers (that is, space magic) are novel enough to stay amusing for the first playthrough. Voice acting is decent though the lines themselves are mediocre at best. I had to go with a Femshep since Jennifer Hale didn't make my ears bleed while Mark Meer did. ME2 had slightly more interesting NPCs in your group (Legion, Mordin) but the "story" as it were was nonexistent and combat felt like a step back in many regards. The shitty planet exploration of ME1 was replaced by the even shittier planet scanning in ME2. I'd reccomend skipping the optional planet exploration in ME1 and using filthy, rotten cheats to give INFINITE MINERALZ so you won't have to bother with the probe minigame in ME2. Don't bother with the DLC. As far as I'm aware all of it is pretty forgettable.

If you get the games on the cheap and think of them as the videogame equivalent of a summer popcorn flick, you'll probably remain reasonably entertained enough for a runthrough. If you go into them expecting a compelling RPG chances are you'll be dissapointed. 5 kwabucks per mass effect is the highest you should be willing to pay for them.

 

[sea]

The first Mass Effect was mostly good, but as some have said, it kind of came at a time where the novelty of technology and the drought of other games made it more compelling (and the original sci-fi universe helped a lot too). These days it does not hold up well at all, with bad combat, a lot of boring, uninteresting levels and scenarios, and of course the copy-pasta in all the side missions sucked (even though some of the planets themselves looked really cool and I liked the whole concept of exploring the galaxy). I think it had the most replay value of the two games because of some decent C&C in the story and side quests.

Mass Effect 2 had some great characters and scenarios but was let down by its gameplay and overall awful plot. It is very obvious that they spent little to no time trying to write an interesting story - the Collectors are an awful, forgettable B-movie villain, and the story is incoherent and has almost no meaning in relation to the rest of the series save for establishing a few characters. The sense of exploration was also pretty good, as I liked how you would run across varied side missions in most of the galaxies... shame you had to play that shitty mini-game to find them, though. The combat was actually worse than the first Mass Effect in my opinion because it constantly forced you into cover, and the level design mostly sucked save for a few bits and pieces. Simplified leveling was also a flaw, though not really a big one because not a whole lot was truly lost vs. the first game, and frankly I wouldn't have even touched it if I didn't get a free copy.

Mass Effect 3 was a mess. I don't think it was an utterly terrible game, but it was obviously rushed. It's significantly shorter and has way less optional content, it has far fewer dialogue options available, the story is horrendously bad, with plot holes at almost every turn, shitty deus ex machinas out of nowhere, etc. Lack of new interesting characters is also a huge flaw, and Kai Leng fell completely flat on is face. The only real improvements made were to combat and level design, and to be fair the game actually shines in those respects... it's by far the most engaging of all of them moment-to-moment due to better enemy AI and more varied tactics they use, plus (slightly) more open levels. If it hadn't been rushed and fitted withe pretty much the worst story ever, it probably would be my favourite in the series, but the writing is just so horrid I have no desire to ever play it again.

For the record: most Codexers think KotOR sucked or at best was utterly mediocre... which it was. Boring gameplay with very little variety, boring predictable story, boring companions with 1 sole defining trait, the only good thing about it was its Star Wars presentation.

 

[Serious_Business]

Jesus christ Codex

The orthodox line here is that Bioware games are shit. Thus, comparing ME to BG or whatever is comparing shit to shit.

But personally I think the ME series are off the hook

 

[sgc_meltdown]

mass effect wouldn't be so offensive if it wasn't described as best goty rpg with best hard science plot since ff7
when you put yourself up high like that you invariably fall further

there's also the pandering to lgbt groups thing, which is just embarrassing for everyone involved

bioware does account for 50% of codex gaming discussion so the industry drama there is varied and offers good value

excellent thread op do make more

 

[Papa Môlé]

Spoiler

so, did anyone else save the psi dude over the chick in this game?

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Mass effect 1's gameplay design is almost universally shit, but with an endearing art and musical theme that appeals to my inner star trek fanboy.

2 is decent enough for a cover shooter.

3 is a royal cunting fuck-up with sloppy set pieces. Ugly, haggered looking visuals and pandering taken to a level i've never seen before in a game.

 

[Andyman Messiah]

ME1 is shit shit. ME2 is great shit. ME3 is shit.

 

[MikeHaggar]

mass effect 1 is great. 2 is mediocre. 3 is an atrocious piece of shit that makes me puke

 

[markec]

ME1 bad game that tries to hard to be a serious but with shitty writing both story and characters end up cliched shit.

ME2 abandons serious business of the first game and embraces it being cheesy B rate entertainment about adventures of Shepard and his merry band of Galactic space friends.

ME3 tries to be emotionally engaging and touching conclusion that will touch the inner feelings of all, but end us as disaster that embarres involved with this game both who made and played this train wreck.

So in conclision: ME2>>>>ME1>>ME3

 

[jagged-jimmy]

ME 1 had bioware old-school approach (more like KOTOR), but had less content, combat was shit, writing was over the top, mostly garbage. Side missions were in the same dungeon mostly. ME 2 streamlined all the shit from the first (driving and copy&paste side missions) and gone for straight instance based corridor shooter with ineractive time events. Combat was still shit (cover based popamole). Story is total shit with on par writing (Someone is stealing colonists! Who?! Teh Collectorz! Woa). Both had mostly fetch quests or good / bad persuation with one liners.

I finished the 2nd recently and was super bored. It was a relief at the end. Uninstalled both immediately. Who in his right mind would want a second playthrough? Like for what? There is really nothing to try out or do differently.

If we are talking about whats bearable - KOTOR was enjoyable - ME 1&2 are just plain boring, ME2 more so. I am surprised there are so many apologists here on the prestigious CODEX. We cant scale to popamole level. Yeah, we're all bored sometimes and want just mindlessly go through some bullshit game - but don't trick yourself into believing it was enjoyable or something. Shit is shit, even if we play it to kill time.

 

[madbringer]

Spoiler

so, did anyone else save the psi dude over the chick in this game?

I did.

Spoiler

She was a Christian, i was doing her a favour.

 

[Telengard]

So. Bioware uses tilesets for level design. In fact, many of the tiles from NWN1 are still alive and well in their games today (maybe not their most most recent ones, but I seriously doubt they've changed any). They have basic generic tiles for the bulk of the level design, which they connect to differently-shaped larger-scale tile set pieces, but which set pieces they reuse repeatedly across all the games, and often multiple times within the same game. Oh, the first time you run into the twisty, cavey trail bit that peters out over a pile of liquid, it will be grey rock over water, and the next time it will be brown rock over lava, but its still the same tile, just reskinned.

On top of that, since they rehash the same characters across all their games, the same story across all their games, and often the same voice actors across all their games, if you play two of their games (no matter fantasy or sf) close together and squint a little bit, you can end up forgetting which of their games you're playing.

But then, using tilesets isn't enough for them. They use tilesets, and then they commit the cardinal sin of re-using levels. Re-using levels is a piss pore thing to do in an individually designed game, but in a tileset game it's god damned unforgivable. How hard is it to slap a few new tilesets together, huh?

Then, Bioware uses a plot formula across all their games, complete with set times for meet 'n greets with your companions. But they don't choose stories that fit their formula, instead they just cram anything they feel like in every which way, usually making only a muddled mess.

But to top it off, in Mass Effect they insert an enemy that is like, "Boo! I am ancient god-like entity come to destroy all life." Usual Bioware. But then. "I so far above you, you not even comprehend how far, but I stop and gabs with you for an hour 'cause you so special, Shep-hard." But why you want to destroy us, god-being? "I so far above you, you not even comprehend my reasoning."

Well, then your eventual reveal of your shhh! secret! reasoning had better be pretty fucking damned incomprehensible then.

And it was. In a "wtf! is this shit!" kind of way.

If you happened to take sniper, then combat was a snore. You finish most fights without ever getting hit. Your companions will get hit, especially if they run back and forth out in the open due to registering multiple goals, which the AI cant handle. But as a sniper, you can handle most fights on your own, so it doesn't really matter if they both go down, as long as you have a path of retreat and don't get backed into a corner. But worst of all, it was a cover-based popamole.

 

[sea]

So. Bioware uses tilesets for level design.

I'm not sure if you realise this, but 99% of games are no longer built from scratch like the old Unreal and Quake games. It's all static meshes and terrain systems. Yes, some of them are designed to snap together, but that's standard practice and you still have to add details, lighting, etc. to every environment, and often simply working with those snap-together pieces isn't enough if you want to do something more advanced or creative. If Mass Effect uses "tilesets" then so does pretty much every single modern 3D game. And given the level of detail expected by gamers these days, it's basically impossible to do everything by hand using CSG-style modeling to achieve the same results - just much too time consuming.

 

[Infinitron]

So. Bioware uses tilesets for level design.

I'm not sure if you realise this, but 99% of games are no longer built from scratch like the old Unreal and Quake games. It's all static meshes and terrain systems. Yes, some of them are designed to snap together, but that's standard practice and you still have to add details, lighting, etc. to every environment, and often simply working with those snap-together pieces isn't enough if you want to do something more advanced or creative. If Mass Effect uses "tilesets" then so does pretty much every single modern 3D game. And given the level of detail expected by gamers these days, it's basically impossible to do everything by hand using CSG-style modeling to achieve the same results - just much too time consuming.

You've just encountered a member of the 2D Scoia'tael. Watch yourself, dh'oine.

 

[racofer]

The Mass Effect series in a nutshell:

(WARNING: this video might cause irreversible brain damage)

 

[Telengard]

So. Bioware uses tilesets for level design.

I'm not sure if you realise this, but 99% of games are no longer built from scratch like the old Unreal and Quake games. It's all static meshes and terrain systems. Yes, some of them are designed to snap together, but that's standard practice and you still have to add details, lighting, etc. to every environment, and often simply working with those snap-together pieces isn't enough if you want to do something more advanced or creative. If Mass Effect uses "tilesets" then so does pretty much every single modern 3D game. And given the level of detail expected by gamers these days, it's basically impossible to do everything by hand using CSG-style modeling to achieve the same results - just much too time consuming.

Mayhap I should explain myself better. OP was stating that Mass Effect is less blocky than what came before. I'm arguing that Mass Effect uses the same rigid grid tileset structure that NWN1 uses, as do all Bioware games, including reusing many of those old tileset blocks from NWN1. So, thus, Mass Effect's design is exactly as blocky as all of Bioware's other games, going back all the way to NWN1. Bioware reskins the blocks, adding better textures, but it's the same blocks.