2008 Awards Round-up

[janjetina]

The PC version is a 2008 game. I don't own a console, so I disregard console releases and I consider ME a 2008 game. Mass Effect seems worse than the games you mentioned partially due to my style of play. When I play a game, I always try to complete all available quests, including the side quests, that my PC is able to complete (restricted by his class, race, alignment, morale etc.). However, ME sidequests that I have encountered were so lackluster, with the horrible "lunar vehicle" and generic areas full of boxes and robots to shoot. After too many such areas, I decided to unistall the game and replay Arcanum with Drog's patch. Maybe I haven't given the game enough chance and should have concentrated exclusively on the main quest, but side quests are also a significant part of the game. In the case of ME, the developers shouldn't have included them in the game in the first place. As I remember, SOU and KOTOR didn't have such atrocious side quests.

Another big failure of Mass Effect are the interface and the controls, which are less intuitive and more consolised than those in KOTOR and SOU.

Atrocious twitch action real-time combat is the worst I have encountered in any RPG I've played, including KOTOR. Driving around surface of a generic planet in a vehicle whose name I forgot and shooting things adds a whole new meaning to the word abysmal.

Dumbed down dialogue wheel system is definitely worse than standard dialogue trees of KOTOR and SOU.

Character system of ME is definitely inferior compared to DnD based system of NWN and even to KOTOR's system, especially since most skills are combat skills, and combat is a horrible real time clickfest.

ME has minigames. SOU and KOTOR don't. EDIT: KOTOR has minigames, I blame my memory lapse on KOTOR's forgetability.

The only redeeming quality I found in ME was story, which conforms to Bioware standards, i.e. it can be enjoyed if you don't expect too much. However, it would take VTMB or MOTB type story and characters to redeem the game with such flaws.

I consider SOU and KOTOR average games (both worth only a single playthrough), while ME is just mediocre.

 

[Volourn]

"ME has minigames. KOTOR don't."

That's it. The rest can be mostly passed off as opinion but this is utter bullshit. Can't take someone seriously when they fuckin' flat out lie. KOTOR most definitely has minigames.

P.S. The only thing KOTOR does better than ME is inventory yet KOTOR's inventory sucks. Combat, controls, characters, writing, story, dialogue, exploration (yes, even including the dissapointing random worlds) are all better in ME.

 

[Wyrmlord]

ME has minigames.... KOTOR don't.

What?

WHAT?

One of the most minigame infested games of all time doesn't have minigames?

Have you ignored the mandatory racing minigame which is needed to go past the game?

Or the mandatory turret fighting that comes in intermittently?

Not to mention the fact that there was a minigame related quest with the Yavin guy, wherein beating him 10 times in a row in high stakes pazaak would get you a deep discount on his goods.

And then puzzles, like adding up fluids in containers in the right order. Or the electrical transfer puzzle in Korriban.

 

[janjetina]

I must have blocked them out from my memory (I've played KOTOR only once, when it came out). If I remember correctly, Pazaak was thankfully optional, and there was one obligatory swoop race (the rest were optional), if I remember correctly (please correct me if I don't). In ME decrypting minigames are around every corner.

Edit: Yes, it seems that I've blocked out horrible turret fighting as well. I concede that KOTOR was also minigame infested. It doesn't change my opinion that it's an average game. The towers of Hanoi puzzle and other adventure type puzzles were not a bad thing.

 

[Volourn]

You can avoid the ME decrypting mini game for locks and stuff.