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

[AwesomeButton]

Well, is it? I am considering giving it a try, but is it worth the effort? If yes, then just the first one, or all three? Obviously, not even considering Androgyny.

Serious answer - it doesn't matter which year it is but what your age is :D

It's likely why I never got to it. I feel like I've already played it before I've even started.

 

[Turbo normie]

Playing Vanguard is a good way to speedrun combat in Insanity difficulty. But it is indeed very retarded you just spam charge at some point with few shotguns shots in between or heavy melee in the later games.

 

[Qarthadqart]

Infiltrator is fun in LE with the weapon changes. Snipers now have semi-automatic variants, which keep the bolt-action physics damage so you ragdoll everyone. They can somewhat effectively shoot from the hip, so you don't have to live behind cover like the later games.

 

[Skinwalker]

Make sure he ends up dead

He's like the one man in the whole squad, the rest are aliens and womynz. I'm afraid he'll be on this ride for as long as possible.

 

[Skinwalker]

Is there any point in going back to the Citadel periodically? Any new events there or anything? I'm sure the story will force me to go back there, but until then?

Also, why so few armor options so far? I've had the same medium armor for ages now. Shouldn't they give a Grey Warden Specter some exclusive armor options?

 

[jackofshadows]

Is there any point in going back to the Citadel periodically? Any new events there or anything? I'm sure the story will force me to go back there, but until then?

Also, why so few armor options so far? I've had the same medium armor for ages now. Shouldn't they give a Grey Warden Specter some exclusive armor options?

The itemization is shitty in this game. You can check every shop between missions or pray for random.

 

[BosanskiSeljak]

Is there any point in going back to the Citadel periodically? Any new events there or anything? I'm sure the story will force me to go back there, but until then?

Also, why so few armor options so far? I've had the same medium armor for ages now. Shouldn't they give a Grey Warden Specter some exclusive armor options?

Yes

The pacing is mostly Main Mission ---> Do a walk around of everything and repeat

 

[Frozen]

Well, is it? I am considering giving it a try, but is it worth the effort? If yes, then just the first one, or all three? Obviously, not even considering Androgyny.

ME1 almost old BioWare, a new IP space opera, clunky shooting mechanics but OK game overall.
ME2 best game BioWare made-cheesy and edgy, better characters and shooting, simple story. Over the top production quality.
ME3 cringe and all player agency taken away, depressing game, stupid writing starting to show up if you think about it, terrible ending to it all but best shooting mechanics.

Overall, it's worth the ride but it has a super disappointing ending.

 

[Frozen]

Is there any point in going back to the Citadel periodically? Any new events there or anything? I'm sure the story will force me to go back there, but until then?

Also, why so few armor options so far? I've had the same medium armor for ages now. Shouldn't they give a Grey Warden Specter some exclusive armor options?

You hear about events that happened in elevator ride. If you finish all side quests on the Citadel, there is I think one trigger small convo-event that happens when you return for the first time? (Sargent/captain Mihailovich) ...its been a while.

And just near end game there are some smaller quests.

 

[CrunchyHemorrhoids]

Is there any point in going back to the Citadel periodically? Any new events there or anything? I'm sure the story will force me to go back there, but until then?

Also, why so few armor options so far? I've had the same medium armor for ages now. Shouldn't they give a Grey Warden Specter some exclusive armor options?

The citadel c-sec requisitions shop will only put specter master gear for sale if you have a million credits on you.

 

[Frozen]

You need to buy licenses at vendors so they will get better gear.

But best gear in game for any character you could buy at terminal in your space asteroid apartment you got after beating all Pinnacle Station scenarios.

But you need a lot of credits and its randomized what you get, so you have to reload and repeat until you get best gear type you want.

But BioWare did not include that (overall bad) DLC in trilogy edition. Something about losing those DLC files herp, derp.

 

[Skinwalker]

They sure have a lot of very similar "drive around on a planet in a janky moon buggy" sections, huh?

The citadel c-sec requisitions shop will only put specter master gear for sale if you have a million credits on you.

I don't think that's true, they gave me access to Specter weapons as soon as I was promoted to Specter. Or do they have MOAR stuff for rich people?

 

[Inec0rn]

I think the first game is very much worth playing and it has a good enough ending to leave it there. I never completed the full trilogy as ME3 was just awful and shift deleted.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

Everyone telling you to play it are either delusional, or just trying to trick you into wasting your time and maybe some money depending on how you go about getting the games.

Mass Effect, the first game, is at best only ever interesting as a kind of intellectual exercise. The best things about it are its aesthetic choices and it’s codex that gave you lore on the Mass Effect universe and had some entries which were read by Neil Ross.

But on a gameplay level the third person shooting mechanics were horrible, and the open environment areas ranger from lacking to “why is this fucking stupid shit even in the game” levels of bad. You’d be better off playing any number of better third person shooters than playing any Mass Effect game. Hell, just play Binary Domain if you want a third person shooter with sections where you talk to characters and pick what you say to them. Binary Domain’s talking sections aren’t as larger, and you’re on a far more linear path, but the actual gameplay you’re engaging in is more fun thanks to the enemy interactions.

The first Mass Effect has interesting ideas that the game itself never pulls off. It’s the type of game that you finish and you think: Well, that didn’t work, but it’s got some good idea and I know they said they’re making two more of these so I look forward to seeing them improve on those things in the next game. The thing is, instead of trying to improve what was interesting but they didn’t pull off, they just jettisoned it to focus more on the shooting. And the shooting may have been a little better in comparison to the first game, but it wasn’t so good to become the main focus like it did in the sequels. Better than the first game isn’t some great accomplishment either, as the gameplay is so bad in the first it’ll just have you thinking about better games and other directions BioWare could’ve went with the combat system.

 

[mastroego]

I always liked the atmosphere, despite the games' shortcomings.
So much that I consider playing it again, perhaps, sometime.
And probably as infiltrator, again.

Mods you folks say?
What do they improve?

 

[CrunchyHemorrhoids]

The citadel c-sec requisitions shop will only put specter master gear for sale if you have a million credits on you.

I don't think that's true, they gave me access to Specter weapons as soon as I was promoted to Specter. Or do they have MOAR stuff for rich people?

To gain access to VII-level Spectre - Master Gear from the Alliance Requisition Officer or the C-Sec Requisition Officer, you must first unlock the "Rich" achievement by amassing one million credits. To gain the X-level gear, you need to unlock "Rich" Achievement, and be level fifty. The VII-level gear is available to all new careers once unlocked, but each character has to be level fifty in order to unlock X-level.
[...]
only the VII and X sophistication levels of the Spectre - Master gear items can be found in-game

https://masseffect.fandom.com/wiki/Spectre_-_Master_Gear

Seems they changed it for the "legendary" version

Updated May 24, 2021: Changes have been made to Mass Effect: Legendary Edition that allows the player to acquire Spectre gear right away after becoming a Spectre. Level VII gear is available from the C-Sec and Normandy Requisitions Officers right away, but higher level gear requires Shepard to be higher levels. The “Rich” achievement/trophy is no longer needed to unlock the items.

https://gamerant.com/mass-effect-legendary-edition-purchase-spectre-weapons-rich-achievement/
The main complaint the first game got - the shitty accuracy in combat - likely wouldn't have happened if they hadn't hidden the game's accurate guns behind a random achievement unlock almost nobody was aware of. Second biggest complaint was the floaty dune buggy controls. All stuff that could have easily been fixed with a minor patch. Instead they left it as is and for ME2 they got rid of those systems.

 

[Swen]

Barebones action rpg's, still worth it though.

 

[Skinwalker]

It would make zero sense to hide the specter gear behind happening to have 1m dollals at the same time. It's almost as stupid as making you click each individual fucking planet to see if you can land on it or not, and having no way to tell which planets/systems/clusters you've already visited. Basic user-friendliness, ever heard of it?

In my game, I just went up to the C-Sec guy after being appointed a Specter, and he was like "oh, it says here you're a Specter, I'll show you the special Specter gear, enjoy", which makes perfect sense.

 

[mastroego]

So the itch kept itching and I've bought the remaster, heck it was like 8 € for all 3 games + all DLCs.

I may have greatly underestimated, though, both:
- installation size (all 3 games together, 120 GBs, that is like 5-6 days 24hrs/day non stop download with my connection)
- the "necessary" preparatory work with mods.

I wish things were easier and faster nowadays.

 

[Skinwalker]

Oh no, I must choose between saving the menz or saving the womynz!! Whomst've will I ch- I saved the menz, he's actually useful.

 

[Vorark]

So the itch kept itching and I've bought the remaster, heck it was like 8 € for all 3 games + all DLCs.

I may have greatly underestimated, though, both:
- installation size (all 3 games together, 120 GBs, that is like 5-6 days 24hrs/day non stop download with my connection)
- the "necessary" preparatory work with mods.

I wish things were easier and faster nowadays.

Won't help with download speed, but afterwards you can reduce the installation size by removing unnecessary language files. If you just keep the English voices and subtitles, you can get it down to about 80GB.

Spoiler

Run these commands in ..\Mass Effect Legendary Edition:

echo deleting files
del /s *_de.* *_fr.* *_it.* *_plpc.* *_ra.* *_DEU.* *_FRA.* *_ITA.* *_POL.* *_JPN.* *_RUS.* *_ESN.* *_RU.* *_ES.* *_FE.* *_GE.* *_IE.* *_JA.* *_PL.*
echo done!

Each game can also be archived separately to further save space, e.g. if you only want to play ME1, move 2 and 3 somewhere else.

 

[mastroego]

Thanks!
That's neat, very useful.
I mean they could even have added some basic download options, but I guess this is how things are done nowadays.
Before even starting the download I have to clear space though...

 

[Modron]

I mean they could even have added some basic download options, but I guess this is how things are done nowadays.

They definitely could do something like you buy the base game then the languages get added as dlc packs to your account which you could toggle off through the manage my dlc function before starting your download. The gothic 2 total conversion Archolos does this on steam for example.

 

[quaesta]

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.

I feel the same way. Now I cannot read a lot of modern fictional literature, so I read non-fiction.
Why do books open with daddy issues and 20 pages of "haha, I'm an autistic loser, did you get it?" What kind of editor approves this crap?

 

[Zlaja]

- installation size (all 3 games together, 120 GBs, that is like 5-6 days 24hrs/day non stop download with my connection)

Meanwhile in Italy..........*dial-up sound in the background*