Mass Effect I Like Mass Effect 1

[Beans00]

I'm surprised people even remember the plot in these games. I played ME1 and ME2, I thought they were mediocre with mildly interesting lore.

Mostly bad gameplay, there were better pop up shooters at the time.

 

[Hagashager]

ME 1 is the only ME I liked consistently. I played ME 2 and was dissapointed. I never bothered with ME 3. By the time the 3rd game came out I had moved past heavy gaming.

ME 1 still holds a place in my heart. Like OP said, it's a nod to Golden Age sci-fi. There're almost no games released in the 15 years that comes close to that concept. It's obvious inspiration is Star Trek and Babylon 5, but there're few nods to '50s-'60s John Campbell era works too.

What I really want to see is a Sci-Fi RPG that goes all-in on the Campbellian Sci-Fi schlock. I want to play a chisel-chinned Himbo in a jumpsuit flying a spaceboat with fenders and shooting bulbous ray-guns at Lovecraftian monsters in order to save some Bimbo while exploring a Frank Frazetta-esque landscape.

Real John Carpenter of Mars shit.

 

[KafkaBot]

The one thing that I never forget about ME1 is how it lets you talk the final boss into killing himself. Nothing new or innovative, sure enough, but I tend to see that one moment as proof that, for all of ME1's faults, Bioware was still an RPG studio trying to create something good. It is perhaps poetic that the company's last breath as a good studio came out merely two years later.

 

[Lemming42]

Does talking Saren into offing himself alter the subsequent fight at all? I might be wrong but I remember being supremely pissed off that you're forced into the crap fight with Cyborg Zombie Saren regardless of how you deal with him, seemed like yet another totally fake choice. I think it even plays the exact same cutscene after his death as if you'd shot him yourself.

 

[BosanskiSeljak]

Does talking Saren into offing himself alter the subsequent fight at all? I might be wrong but I remember being supremely pissed off that you're forced into the crap fight with Cyborg Zombie Saren regardless of how you deal with him, seemed like yet another totally fake choice. I think it even plays the exact same cutscene after his death as if you'd shot him yourself.

If you don't convince him, you fight Saren himself. Then, no matter what, you fight Saren's corpse controlled by Sovereign

 

[KafkaBot]

Does talking Saren into offing himself alter the subsequent fight at all? I might be wrong but I remember being supremely pissed off that you're forced into the crap fight with Cyborg Zombie Saren regardless of how you deal with him, seemed like yet another totally fake choice.

It doesn't, but it makes little difference, since the "true" final boss is just a pushover. I'm just speculating here, but I wouldn't be surprised if forcing the player into a fight was something implemented due to external meddling. It is so poorly-made that it feels like they nerfed the guy just to make sure it was still a diplomatic victory in spirit.

 

[Camel]

For a military themed game, I didn't see a single occurrence of military slang, or people respecting rank when talking, or anything being tough or manly. It was like seeing men through women's eyes, witnessing their complete lack of understanding. None of those writers served in the army or did any research. They just made shit up, and it was boring and painful to see such laziness and decline get praise from the normies.

Sorry but that's bullshit.
1. Shepard starts as the Normandy XO of captain Anderson.
2. When you enter/leave the Normandy you always hear masked loading screens "The Commanding Officer is aboard. XO Pressly stands relieved." Or, "The Commanding Officer is ashore, XO Pressly has the deck."
3. When the Alliance rear admiral Mikhailovich visits the Normandy Ashley/Kaidan commands ten-hut etc etc.

 

[Drowed]

I honestly like ME1. As many have already said, it has an atmosphere that intensely evokes series like Star Trek/Stargate/etc. Many have mentioned that ME1's story is bad, but do you really remember the episodes of Star Trek? How many absurd and cringe-worthy situations appeared? And I'm not saying this as a criticism, for me it's almost part of the style of these series. Perhaps that's precisely what makes these series nostalgic for me, how seriously they took themselves while depicting silly situations that somehow ended up being charming.

Not that they didn't also have interesting themes or serious moments. No doubt they existed - just like in ME1. Yes, if you start questioning too much the story crumbles without much effort, but the same can be said about most of these series. And games, really. ME1 falls into the sweet spot that allowed you to be carried away by the setting to question the mystery behind the technology and the plot. In fact, the game's own name, Mass Effect, seemed to allude to something central to the story.

That is until ME2 took the story in a completely different direction and narrative style, and ME3 was so pathetic that they managed to make one of the most infamous endings of a famous franchise in gaming history. I remember that the original writer was supposedly sidelined and replaced by someone else, and if that's true, it shows. ME1 wasn't an amazing game but it had something captivating about the setting. Something that was lost in the next games in the series, which ended up being just "another Bioware game, but in space."

 

[Dr1f7]

No. ME1 is bad and ME series was a mistake

 

[Lemming42]

I honestly like ME1. As many have already said, it has an atmosphere that intensely evokes series like Star Trek/Stargate/etc. Many have mentioned that ME1's story is bad, but do you really remember the episodes of Star Trek? How many absurd and cringe-worthy situations appeared? And I'm not saying this as a criticism, for me it's almost part of the style of these series. Perhaps that's precisely what makes these series nostalgic for me, how seriously they took themselves while depicting silly situations that somehow ended up being charming.

The absurd and cringeworthy situations aren't the problem for me, it's the way they're all squandered. Star Trek turned all kinds of high concept ideas into really memorable and unique stories, but Mass Effect has to crush everything down to fit BioWare's typical formula.

Compare Feros in ME with This Side Of Paradise in TOS - the latter's plot resolves in a very funny and creative way (Kirk screaming racist abuse at Spock to try and get him pissed enough to snap out of the plants' influence) but ME's version of the same scenario necessarily has to conclude with Shepard shooting trash mobs and then shooting the plant, because that's all BioWare could think to let the player do in the game. Star Trek turns the psychic plants plot into a story about a test of friendship, Mass Effect turns it into a corridor shooter. Same for every other plot - you can probably compare TOS' "Devil in the Dark" with Mass Effect's Rachni Queen mission with similar results (a story about having the courage to trade hate and fear for compassion, versus a story about shooting waves of Geth and then waves of Rachni and stopping for two minutes to briefly chat with the Rachni Queen, having just shot Liara's mum and her waves of Asari).

Ultimately the main feeling the game has left me with years later is that they had the chance to make a really creative sci-fi RPG, they came up with a very good world and setting which is surely the hardest part, they had all the pieces in place, but then they crushed their Star Trek-sized setting down into a tiny cover shooter-shaped hole (and all the fake choices add insult to injury). ME2 and ME3 aren't really any worse IMO, it's the same case of decent ideas being given the most boring possible intepretations. I feel like the setting deserves another chance but I don't imagine it'll get one beyond another Andromeda-tier fuckup.

 

[BosanskiSeljak]

To be fair, Mass Effect 1 is retroactively made worse by the future games because it was made with those in mind, while those literally threw every plot point from 1 in the trash.

Also those "corridors" were pretty open, and the seamless transitions between breather sections with story & dialogue vs. combat in mission alleviated that, as opposed to the other games where it's loading screen --> obvious combat area --> loading screen --> dialogue in new location.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

it's better than most rpgs because you get to shoot people dead

For shooting people, most Codexers prefer Oblivion with guns and skill-checks.

ME 1 is the only ME I liked consistently. I played ME 2 and was dissapointed. I never bothered with ME 3. By the time the 3rd game came out I had moved past heavy gaming.

ME 1 still holds a place in my heart. Like OP said, it's a nod to Golden Age sci-fi. There're almost no games released in the 15 years that comes close to that concept. It's obvious inspiration is Star Trek and Babylon 5, but there're few nods to '50s-'60s John Campbell era works too.

What I really want to see is a Sci-Fi RPG that goes all-in on the Campbellian Sci-Fi schlock. I want to play a chisel-chinned Himbo in a jumpsuit flying a spaceboat with fenders and shooting bulbous ray-guns at Lovecraftian monsters in order to save some Bimbo while exploring a Frank Frazetta-esque landscape.

Real John Carpenter of Mars shit.

You're confusing the relatively hard science fiction promoted by editor John Campbell Jr. with the "sword and planet" and "space opera" types of science fiction from the '20s and '30s that the "Campbellian Revolution" attempted to destroy.

 

[Camel]

I remember many memorable moments and cutscenes hold up.
1. Seeing the Citadel for the first time.
2. Captain Kirrahe's speech.
3. The conversation with Sovereign.
4. Punching a journalist.
5. Jumping through a relay on Mako and climbing the outside of the Citadel in zero gravity.
6. The battle of the Citadel.

 

[Vorark]

ME1 is a case of the whole being more than the sum of its parts.

 

[NwNgger]

I like it too for the same reasons. Mass Effect 1 has many nods to Star Trek--including several cast members who do voice acting for the game.

I liked finding planets and roaming, even if the mako was turbulent and most planets bleak. The first game reminded me a lot of Star Control II, which is a compliment. The classes and abilities were good. So were the NPCs and overall writing. It was familiar but it's own thing. I enjoyed ME2 quite a bit, but ME1 really hit the mark. I have played it through fully probably half a dozen times.

Star Control 2 was a heavy inspiration. They had to scale the game back because it was originally going to play like a bigger budget version of SCII. Which you can really see in the Mako segments and the planets you can visit.

Mass Effect 2 was a travesty of Bioware giving up on every good idea they had for Mass Effect 1 so they could make a bad action game.

 

[Maxie]

it's better than most rpgs because you get to shoot people dead

For shooting people, most Codexers prefer Oblivion with guns and skill-checks.

ME 1 is the only ME I liked consistently. I played ME 2 and was dissapointed. I never bothered with ME 3. By the time the 3rd game came out I had moved past heavy gaming.

ME 1 still holds a place in my heart. Like OP said, it's a nod to Golden Age sci-fi. There're almost no games released in the 15 years that comes close to that concept. It's obvious inspiration is Star Trek and Babylon 5, but there're few nods to '50s-'60s John Campbell era works too.

What I really want to see is a Sci-Fi RPG that goes all-in on the Campbellian Sci-Fi schlock. I want to play a chisel-chinned Himbo in a jumpsuit flying a spaceboat with fenders and shooting bulbous ray-guns at Lovecraftian monsters in order to save some Bimbo while exploring a Frank Frazetta-esque landscape.

Real John Carpenter of Mars shit.

You're confusing the relatively hard science fiction promoted by editor John Campbell Jr. with the "sword and planet" and "space opera" types of science fiction from the '20s and '30s that the "Campbellian Revolution" attempted to destroy.

So what

 

[santino27]

It's the only Mass Effect game I liked, even if the shooting part of it was mediocre.

 

[Ol' Willy]

Calling ass effect an RPG is insult to the whole genre

ass effect is a corridor shooter with dialogues and flavor skills, with controls made for consoles first and foremost

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

You're confusing the relatively hard science fiction promoted by editor John Campbell Jr. with the "sword and planet" and "space opera" types of science fiction from the '20s and '30s that the "Campbellian Revolution" attempted to destroy.

So what

 

[Maxie]

Calling ass effect an RPG is insult to the whole genre

ass effect is a corridor shooter with dialogues and flavor skills, with controls made for consoles first and foremost

Makes it better than rpgs

 

[Aarwolf]

I still love ME1, and don't care about the rest.

 

[ShiningSoldier]

As for me, ME1 stuck somewhere in between. It was not enough RPG and not enough shooter. The plot had some interesting elements with all these "ancient civilizations destroyed a long time ago by some mysterious force", but the implementation was relatively boring most of the times. For example, there were no interesting quests - almost all were like "go there and talk to this guy", "kill this person" or "walk among some rubbish and find 10 pieces of shit".

 

[frankenchrist]

Mass Effect is tricky because, when compared to the games from the 90s and early 2000s (even the ones that Bioware themselves made), there's not even a comparison, the only redeeming qualities of the og ME being: 1) it has quite an expansive world created from scratch (it may not be that original but you have to be extra stubborn to not give the devs some credit on that front, even though they did manage to fuck it all up in the future games); 2) the devs at least tried to engage in the racial/inter-spicies discussion/conflict, even though when comparing to something like Arcanum, the results are weak. ME's gameplay though, even at the time of release, was wonky at best and complete and utter shit at worst (saying as someone who played it back then and replayed the original version this year).
On the other hand, when comparing it to the stuff that came out post-2008, after the gaming industry morphed into the disgusting abomination that we are still forced to suffer to this day, ME is a true giant among giants of the big budget role playing genre. Is that some great achievement? Hardly. It is more of an indictment of how shitty things have become.
Also, you have to be a fool not to try and study/analyze the ME phenomena - why it managed to to draw in the normies, women, fan-fiction obsessed degenerates and all the other scum that consequently destroyed our hobby. The story of Bioware is an actual microcosm of what happened to vidja games during this century, i.e a developer builds up its success on a niche, hardcore audience, slowly dumbs it down with each iteration, sells company to satan, injects a (small at first, but later lethal) dose of lgbt degeneracy and leftism, supposedly gets a bigger, more diverse (a.k.a females, fanfic-crazies, etc.) audience, becomes obsessed with pandering to the whims of said audience much more than actually making the fucking games, slowly fades out of relevance (<-- we are here with Bioware), gets sold/closed, rinse and repeat.

 

[Beans00]

I remember many memorable moments and cutscenes hold up.
1. Seeing the Citadel for the first time.
2. Captain Kirrahe's speech.
3. The conversation with Sovereign.
4. Punching a journalist.
5. Jumping through a relay on Mako and climbing the outside of the Citadel in zero gravity.
6. The battle of the Citadel.

The most memorable thing for me was. In ME2 I played the game bad on purpose to get all the companions I did not like killed. For anyone who doesn't know, in ME2 if you don't do companion sidequests or or upgrade the ship maybe(I can't remember the exact specifics) they would die in a cutscene attacking one of the final areas.

I remember the ugly bitch getting killed by a lazer
I remember tali getting blown up in an engine room or something
I think I got someone killed in vents

I can't remember but I got more than half of biowares shitty companions killed. Except Garrus, I liked Garrus .

The whole time I was laughing maniacally. My girlfriend and twin sister were watching me beat the game(mass effect were console games so I played them on 360). They were asking what was wrong with me and why I was happy my friends were dying. I had to explain to them that these were forced companions with poor writing, and not my friends.


Oddly enough, I'm one of those bozos who kept dogmeat,ian,tycho,katja alive through the cathedral and military base several times.

 

[Technomancer]

Sovereign

did nothing wrong.