Is it worth playing the Mass Effect trilogy for the 1st time in 2024?

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Thanks Godex, very helpful.

Codexers should help other Codexers avoid dreadful mistakes, such as playing Bioware games.

 

[jackofshadows]

Well ideally you should've stated some of your favorite games and yes not just RPGs because ME is a very RPG-lite endeavor.

If you're generally ok with BioWare writing and don't mind some light 3rd person view action gameplay then try it for sure.

 

[The Bishop]

I played through ME2 and ME3 for the first time last year, and I don't really understand why almost everyone seems to prefer ME2. ME3 is more of a proper sequel to ME1 and the combat is better and a bit more challenging. Also, the ancient alien companion you get from one of the ME3's add-ons is better than any companion in ME2.

A lot has been said about the ending of ME3, but the current version of the game I played featured an ok ending. Not great, but then again neither is the story that good overall in any of these damn games to begin with.

ME2 is kinda random and silly.
ME3 is literally dumb.

This is a quote from starting cinematic in ME3:
Shepard: You know we're not ready if it is them... not by a long shot.
Anderson: Tell that to the defense committee.
Shepard: Unless we're planning to talk the Reapers to death, the committee is a waste of time.
Anderson: They're just scared. None of them have seen what you've seen.

In what world does this make any sense? If talking to defense committee is a waste of time, them being scared makes no difference. Talking to a scared defense committee is a waste of time. Talking to a not scared defense committee is a waste of time also. Get a replacement brain, Anderson!

This is ME3 in a nutshell. The whole thing, not just the ending. For all its flaws, at least ME2 manages to avoid going full retard.

 

[Ravielsk]

If you really must play them then play the first one. If you can find it in yourself to get invested in the story and characters then skip 2 and play the third one. The second game is literary just a soft reboot bordering on a sidestory. You will miss some of the context in ME3 but trust me its nothing actually worth playing a whole game over.

 

[Zlaja]

For all its flaws, at least ME2 manages to avoid going full retard

No, ME2 goes full retard already at the start with Shepard dying and then being magically resurrected engineered back to life with space magic super advanced tech.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Andromeda has the best gameplay and exploration. Just avoid the retarded default MC, there are less offensive characters to choose.

 

[Tyranicon]

If you missed it when you were under 30, don't bother.

I will say I really liked it when I was younger, but it doesn't hold up to my current hyper snob tastes.

 

[Drowed]

If you missed it when you were under 30, don't bother.

I will say I really liked it when I was younger, but it doesn't hold up to my current hyper snob tastes.

This is a good point to keep in mind. Many games can only be enjoyed fully when you are younger and, consequently, have a lower media literacy. As you get older and your tastes improve, certain things become less tolerable and the flaws more pronounced.

It is essentially this reason why every old man is grumpy and bored. He had to listen to crap all his life. In the first 20 years or so you still have tolerance and expectations, in the next 20 you are already fed up and impatient, from then on hearing the first syllable of certain sentences is enough to make you want to grab someone by the hair and shove their face against the wall 10 times. It's too much torture. It's much easier to be tolerant of certain things when they're new to you.

And that's also why nostalgia is such a powerful drug. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of games that are just as good today as they were 10-20 years ago. But it's undeniable that much of the experience of replaying certain games is precisely in what you feel when you relive the memories of what it was like to go through that experience for the first time. I recognize that many games that I end up replaying in emulators are games that I would undoubtedly not be interested in playing if I had heard of them today. I enjoyed the first Mass Effect and don't regret playing it. However, I never finished the trilogy because I knew about the disappointing ending before playing ME3. If I were playing it today, I probably wouldn't start because the sequels negatively impact the overall experience.

 

[Skinwalker]

Andromeda has the best gameplay and exploration.

 

[mediocrepoet]

For all its flaws, at least ME2 manages to avoid going full retard

No, ME2 goes full retard already at the start with Shepard dying and then being magically resurrected engineered back to life with space magic super advanced tech.

And the end boss. Just wow. God I hate that fucking shitty game.

Also Kai Leng: everything about that lame ass gaylord they have you kick the crap out of so he can win by cutscene and send you smarmy messages. I'm sure some dickless faggot at Bioware was rubbing himself while writing that.

ME1 is a reasonably decent space RPG which is an under served genre. ME2 is a bad action game full of shit like leveling up so you can load your gun with incendiary ammo as a learned skill. ME3 is an okay action game with retarded story beats.

EDIT: corrected dumb typo because autocorrect sucks.

 

[Iucounu]

If you missed it when you were under 30, don't bother.

I will say I really liked it when I was younger, but it doesn't hold up to my current hyper snob tastes.

I was over 30 when I first played, didn't expect much but liked it for what it is (a console game made for teenagers). If you expect a masterpiece you'll obviously be disappointed, but isn't that usually the case?

 

[Iucounu]

It is essentially this reason why every old man is grumpy and bored. He had to listen to crap all his life. In the first 20 years or so you still have tolerance and expectations, in the next 20 you are already fed up and impatient, from then on hearing the first syllable of certain sentences is enough to make you want to grab someone by the hair and shove their face against the wall 10 times. It's too much torture. It's much easier to be tolerant of certain things when they're new to you.

With age also comes the ability to say no to crap. Just throw out your TV, stop playing AAA games, avoid annoying people.

 

[Iucounu]

Also Kai Leng: everything about that lame ass gaylord they have you kick the crap out of so he can win by cutscene and send you smarmy messages. I'm sure some dickless faggot at Bioware was rubbing himself while writing that.

No that was ME3. Also the gay shuttle pilot in unskippable cutscenes before each mission.

 

[Lagole Gon]

If you like "cinematic experience games™" then you might enjoy ME1 and ME2.

ME1 is more of an RPG and Sci-Fi with some classic inspiration. Rather unpolished gameplay.
ME2 is popamole sequel. But the gameplay, arguably, feels better. It's easier to make semi-decent popamole than a semi-decent action RPG.
ME3 writing is offensively stupid. It's so bad it will make you physically ill. The only good thing it had were minor gameplay tweaks.

 

[Turrul]

If you missed it when you were under 30, don't bother.

I will say I really liked it when I was younger, but it doesn't hold up to my current hyper snob tastes.

This is a good point to keep in mind. Many games can only be enjoyed fully when you are younger and, consequently, have a lower media literacy. As you get older and your tastes improve, certain things become less tolerable and the flaws more pronounced.

At least video games are an interactive medium and you can force yourself to tolerate sub-par writing for good gameplay.

Ever since reading a couple of real classics back to back (The Count of Monte Cristo, Les Misarables, The Brothers Karamazov etc.), I feel myself becoming a grumpy asshole with unrealistic expectations when it comes to the writing. It has gotten to a point where I can't even watch modern Netflix anymore.

 

[Iucounu]

What's made me replay ME1-3 over the years is mostly the atmosphere I think, less so the writing or gameplay.

 

[Bumblebee Man]

I really loved the first one and have played it through a few times, ended up playing the second and gave up 5 minutes in. Should probably give it another go one day.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

I enjoyed the first 2 at the time, 3 felt like it kind of fell apart but still probably worth playing if you liked the other 2. I imagine they still hold up decently well since they were kind of modern type shooter RPGs at the time.

 

[Dr1f7]

ME is complete crap if you want a space thing play kotor
ME does a bait and switch thing where the tutorial area seems like a big open rpg city to explore but after the tutorial zone the rest of the game is just a bad third person corridor shooter

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

If you play ME1 before ME2, the plot of ME2 might disappoint you

But why?

ME2's plot is basically an interlude, almost completely independent of ME1 and ME3 (many forum posts have complained about that). Then the plot of ME3 continues where ME1 ended, almost as if ME2 never happened. Maybe one could even play ME1 and ME3 first, then play ME2 as an addon?

But on its own there's nothing too bad about ME2's writing (except for the daddy issues of most main characters), it might even be considered based by today's standards.

No, ME3's plot picks up from ME2, it just happens that said plot point is picked up from a DLC, so if you didn't have it you might be very confused (because of that, but also the fact that you need to watch the anime movie to get the new character's motivations).

I don't regret playing it. I think that, overall, they are decent hollywoodesque action games. ME3 was better than what I expected. I don't remember a single thing about ME2. And ME1 had very clunky controls and ugly fps drops during the citadel. I'm going to see if the new versions do something about it.

Edit: You might want to play the legendary Edition anyways because getting the maximum score in 3 might be hard if not impossible if you aren't going with a full paragon (and by that I mean taking paragon at EVERY moral prompt you see). It also depended on multiplayer, a mobile app, and a browser game. The browser game was still alive when I played it, so I relied on that.

 

[kapisi]

There's nothing quite like it, and probably won't be for a long time. It should be experienced as a trilogy, don't bother with which one is best

Spoiler

it's ME1

.

 

[NaturallyCarnivorousSheep]

No it wasn't worth it back then it's not worth now

 

[Sloul]

If you have time, and nothing else on the horizon, if you like RPG and want to explore more unknown titles: yes it's worth a shot.
Mass Effect is probably the trilogy which has the most connections between its entries, so playing the 3 of them is not a bad idea.
Once you beat the first, keep your save and use it to boot the 2nd, rince and repeat for the 3rd installment (it usually shows as soon as the starting cinematic).
The first one has the best written scenario of the trilogy, but the most decaying mechanics. The 2nd is usually referred as the best of the trilogy, because you get a good balance between writing and mechanics (some of its parts are quite good); and the third has better mechanics than 2nd (but not by much) but abysmal writing.
Also, it was pretty hillarious at the time, following the release of the 3rd, there was a massive backlash because the ending was pure poo, and at the same time, various forums were on fire because someone from Bioware art department simply copy/pasted stuff he found on internet. XD
Don't know if you can still find those, I suspect the ME3 thread on RPGcodex should have them all.
It was not just a single piece of art which was ''stolen'' and ''adapted'' to the game, but quite a bunch.
And I remember at the time, there was a claim from Bioware stating that it was there most artistic game (they were everything but modest about ME3).
Well.

 

[Old Hans]

no its not worth it. the only game worth playing for the first time in 2024 is the 1977 blockbuster hit ZORK I

 

[aloeh]

To me the second game still is one of the best games I've ever played.

But I never bothered to replay the trilogy, or even the dlcs of the third game. Even the remastered edition with a expanded ending can't get me to replay it.

The true hero, Marauder Shields, tried to stop me to witness the crap ending that soured the franchise for me.

But I have a friend whom played with the new ending and liked a lot. So I think you should try.