Mass Effect virgin almost five years later

[Thoughtful_Salt]

Mass Effect 1 is, to my mind, one of the greatest hard science fiction experiences in any medium. There's no real wonder in its universe, it's about the reactions of the characters and their backstories to the story. Yeah, The Mako is clunky, the vast majority of side-missions are copy-pasted rooms and caves and the combat can be a bit unwieldy, but this was the first step in the franchise, a risky venture that paid off handsomely for Bioware, the overreaches in terms of gameplay were largely corrected in ME2, which I consider one of the greatest games ever made (don't get all snarky about it, it was an amazing experience for me and a whole lot of other people). But back to the main point, the core strengths of ME1 were it's plot and characters. The characters weren't one-dimensional glorified power rangers, no, they were multi-faceted in terms of their histories and motives for the task at hand. Take Wrex for example, he starts out seemingly as one of the many mercenary characters in every sci-fi game ever made, but, as the game progresses he reveals himself to be a wounded soul, only driven to his position as a hitman because of the madness involving his people's impending cultural and biological demise. it is this regret at his abandonment of his race, that precipitates a major plot point (which I won't spoil for you) that has major consequences. Heck, even your personalized commander shephard has ghosts from his/her past that reverberate through the story and dialogue. The story is as viscerally thrilling as any of the great hollywood epics and it is only made more thrilling because you are invested in yours and your squadmates characters. What's more is that you literally will not have the exact same experience twice as you navigate your way through the choices and repercussions of such choices. That is why I enjoy ME1, it's can be a hell of a grinding experience, but the journey is worth it.
P.s. yes I went into a bit of detail, so what. I love this game and want to share that joy with others.

 

[BanZeus]

Not everyone likes Mass Effect. Not everyone likes chocolate. Some people like Nascar.

 

[Kahunaburger]

hard science fiction

Doesn't it feature FTL, telekinesis, and "embrace eternity"?

 

[Zero Serenity]

Update: So I'm 15 hours in and I can say I feel more invested in the plot, but couldn't care really about the characters. I can say the shooting has gotten slightly better now that I have money and have decent equipment, but having enemies with rockets that are a one hit kill are rage inducing if not for the fact that flinging grenades is rather inexact.

Here's my understanding of the plot, but since you all probably finished 3 (don't talk about the ending in this thread please, stick to the first game) I'm not spoiling anything. So this rogue Specter named Saren is off to attept to revive the Reapers (basically the Shivans from Freespace ripped off wholesale) to...achive...something...and it's up to Shepard and his cast of surprisingly gung-ho friends to put a stop to his plans. The friends in this case seeming to be rather easy about this whole thing and after just a little conversation decide to go along as if they had nothing else to live for. Along the way you'll go through and murder plenty of robots and aliens while driving around a planet looking for resources and random guns/armor/attachments.

It's a bit boring, but it's at least tolerable enough to finish, unlike this other game I borrowed, Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- which is about as slippery as the Mako in Mass Effect. Ha ha!

 

[Warped_Ghost]

Start with ME2 then buy the comic book dlc.

 

[octafish]

Unfortunately you chose the dullest class - soldier. So combat will continue to be dull. Any other class is better, or at least more varied than shooty shoot shoot. I quite like ME, it stands out from the dross that surrounds it for my mind. It certainly has a more mature attitude than ME2 which is just fan-service and stupid decisions. What would I know though? I prefer ME to ME2 and I prefer Alpha Protocol to either of them.

 

[Saladfork]

Mass effect is one of my favourite series in any storytelling medium (except for that one bit we don't talk about).

Different strokes for different folks, I suppose. I will say that I though that each of the trilogy was better than the last in the gameplay department, though, so you may find your issues with the forst one fixed in the second.

 

[Don Savik]

Don't really take is seriously when they mean "self-directed story" because you don't change the story. You will always be a space hero that gathers a bunch of ragtag mercenaries and saves the day. What interaction you have is what little bullshit dialogue options you pick, and at they're mostly their to give you paragon/renegade points to get paragon/renegade abilities. Basically it forces you to either be all good or all evil or suffer the lack of bonuses.

Its a third person cover shooter with a nice looking universe and dialogue options. The combat, for me, isn't even Gears of War quality. A couple reasons.

A. Enemy variety. You either have slow as balls zombies that can't reach you before you gun them down, or you have soldiers. Soldier sometimes have giant robot suits, but you just equip a grenade launcher and kill them in 3 hits. The enemies don't really make you think on your feet and change up your tactics all that much. Compare it to gears of war were you have tickers and brutes and prophets...and yea, its not THAT good. (Gears of War despite being what some consider the jock game of third person shooters, its surprisingly high quality in its mechanics)

B. Weapon/skill importance. Shotguns suck. Pistols suck. Snipers are OP. Most abilities are just different colored damage blasts that do a rock/paper/scissors of damage (shield, health, armor). But honestly, consistent headshots can clear enemies faster than anything....so skills don't add any depth, just choice of pretty color. Oh some skills let you summon probe robots...which kill enemies for you. Because why play the game?

C. Movement. Some say its smooth, but its rather jerky and clunky, especially when sticking to and from walls. I dunno, maybe its a third person shooter thing. Its not very smooth in its transitions, but then again most third person shooter suffer from this.

So if you can get past the lackluster combat and choice that doesn't REALLY matter (you can make friends and enemies....but you can't change the story) then there is fun to be had. I know I must sound like I'm attacking the game, but I'm just informing you of the mechanics so you know what you're getting into. A lot of rpgs suffer from iffy combat, and this wont be the last.

 

[Asita]

Update: So I'm 15 hours in and I can say I feel more invested in the plot, but couldn't care really about the characters.

Well to be fair, ME packs most of its characterization in the main plotline missions, talking to the squad after each mission (main or sidequest) and during the long elevator rides. The last of those actually has some rather nice gems if you're bringing along the right characters. That said, I did feel that ME2 did a LOT better at making the characters feel alive and interesting. Mass Effect 1 was largely concerned with introducing you to the universe, which Bioware put a great deal of effort into (as the Codex entries alone can testify).

 

[RaikuFA]

I agree with OP. This game bored me. Plus the people whining about 3 for some vague reason you can't understand unless you get the secret decoder ring turned me away big time from the series.

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

Like any other rpg game Mass Effect relies heavily on your willingness to buy into the epic nature of the story and your personal hero. Essentially it's a confirmation bias based enticement that, because you want to enjoy it, you will. If you don't want to enjoy it, if you're approaching it with a skeptical attitude and weighing the experience as you go along the entire time, you won't get nearly as much out of it as you would if you just played along with the features it presents. Which, again, is the same for almost any game out there - as well as any book, movie, and any other entertainment medium.

I have the same problem with games from genres that I don't usually play. If I don't give them a real fair chance, even when I say I'm being fair to my fiance who got me to play the thing in the first place usually, there's nothing they could be or do that will actually win me over or please me. So my advice is to stop weighing the experience as you go and give yourself over to it and do your assessment afterwards.

(edited for clarity)

 

[TheGreatAndPowerfulZOG]

"Why does the game feel like a visual novel with some shooty bits?"

Haha, hit the nail on the head there, bro. I enjoyed it for what it was, but honestly, don't expect the depth of The Witcher, or even KoTOR. It's a lot of time to spend on something you don't love. Also, I feel I should let you know that the first game has by far the most variety and depth in combat, so don't expect it to get better.

As for other recommendations, I cannot stress enough how awesome Alpha Protocol is! They basically got everything right that Mass Effect got wrong. Great variety in combat, an awesome dynamic conversation system, real non-linearity, funny not-over-serious writing.

Also, Dark Souls is one of the best games of this generation. The story isn't forced down your throat like in most RPGs, but it's there, and it's a great story. And the combat is unmatched.

 

[TheSteeleStrap]

I am having the same experience, but I'm not as far in as 9 hours. I love a good story, I am cool with it being delivered in cut scenes and conversations, I like side quests. Everything is there on paper that should keep me going, but it's just not scratching me where I itch. I like how the combat sometimes has a habit of sneaking up on you, but I'm finding the combat kinda bland for the most part.

 

[Zipa]

The first one is not that great, it sets the scene but the pacing is bad and some elements are just aweful (the mako)

The second one was a ok game, but nothing spectacular it is basically the empire strikes back of the series, a chase movie if you will focussed on the characters.

Three is by far the best game, it does so much right as is shown by how shall we say passionate people got with how it ends. It must really invoke people into the universe for people to want to throw money at EA to change a 10 minute section of a 30+ hour awesome game.

 

[BrionJames]

Don't know how to say I'm not flamebaiting but here goes anyway. It seems that even you guys admit the first game doesn't live up to much of the whole game thing but rather is more for storytime. *Shakes head* I guess it's really not for me then.

Whoa, Whoa! Now I agree the ME2 had some really cool characters and ideas. That game was gutted of all its RPG heart. The inventory was redone, as well as the skills system. Now a lot of people feel like that was an improvement, but by condoning these actions from (at least used to be) a beloved RPG developer, it was only encouraged to continue on this path of action shooter from sci fi action RPG. The original ME is my favorite by FAR, it had a wonderful storyline, compelling choices to make, good dialogue and writing. Combat is weak in this installment, but this was because Bioware had decided to make this non-turn based which is okay if the combat flows correctly, ie current Fallout series. Whenever I play Mass Effect, I always wonder if this would've been a better game if the on-foot combat had been turn based. Anyhow, the RPG's you've listed don't necessarily match up with what of Mass Effect which is a true RPG/Action hybrid, at least that's what it was attempting. The other titles in the series are more shooter than RPG, with a scaled up dialogue system and side missions. My suggestions to you are to get your hands on a copy of Fallout and Fallout 2. They are exceptional examples of western RPG's, which is why I can't wait for Wasteland 2. EXCELSIOR!

 

[Batman]

I am having the same experience, but I'm not as far in as 9 hours. I love a good story, I am cool with it being delivered in cut scenes and conversations, I like side quests. Everything is there on paper that should keep me going, but it's just not scratching me where I itch. I like how the combat sometimes has a habit of sneaking up on you, but I'm finding the combat kinda bland for the most part.

The combat will never pick up in ME1 but the story will, right after the Virmire mission (not spoiling anything).
To be honest I enjoyed the pacing of ME1. Very slow to build up. Once it does pick up everything that occurred in the past few hours suddenly fall into place like a good puzzle and the pacing of the story starts accelerating and doesn't quit till it reaches a climax at the end (I don't know how intense the revelations and everything leading from that will be to you since when I was playing it I had no idea what I was going to come up against or what would happen next).

It will be a good 20+ hours till you reach the point where everything becomes frantic however and you have to decide if it's worth waiting for.
The best time to play mass effect would be when you have no other games demanding your immediate attention and you can really sit down and enjoy the game over a good weekend.

 

[TheSteeleStrap]

I am having the same experience, but I'm not as far in as 9 hours. I love a good story, I am cool with it being delivered in cut scenes and conversations, I like side quests. Everything is there on paper that should keep me going, but it's just not scratching me where I itch. I like how the combat sometimes has a habit of sneaking up on you, but I'm finding the combat kinda bland for the most part.

The combat will never pick up in ME1 but the story will, right after the Virmire mission (not spoiling anything).
To be honest I enjoyed the pacing of ME1. Very slow to build up. Once it does pick up everything that occurred in the past few hours suddenly fall into place like a good puzzle and the pacing of the story starts accelerating and doesn't quit till it reaches a climax at the end (I don't know how intense the revelations and everything leading from that will be to you since when I was playing it I had no idea what I was going to come up against or what would happen next).

It will be a good 20+ hours till you reach the point where everything becomes frantic however and you have to decide if it's worth waiting for.
The best time to play mass effect would be when you have no other games demanding your immediate attention and you can really sit down and enjoy the game over a good weekend.

I keep trying to get that done. One of my friends keeps telling me the ME seres is his favorite video game series ever, so I'm trying not to be so quick to write it off. Unfortunately, I have so many uplayed games on my shelf, I have no idea when I have no others wanting attention. I will get to it.

 

[veloper]

Is that what we call Bioware fans nowadays?

I like the topic title.

For good CRPGs that are also not JRPGs, play VTM Bloodlines with the latest fan patches. Still a bad shooter/action game, but much better in the other departments.

 

[Zero Serenity]

22 Hours In: I'm finding myself having fun "wasting time". I've explored most of the Milky Way and still hate the Mako, but have beefed myself up to a comfortable level 36 while barely touching the story missions. I don't find the characters engaging at all and I specifically wanna punch Ashley in the face. Shepard I'm enjoying a lot because of the range of options for responding to things. He feels fsr less binary and the lack of a binary good/evil meter and instead a meter for each does feel fun and fresh.

The time wasting does feel rather bland but tolerable. The problem I have is why in hell surveying minerals requires a simon says like game. (I suppose you could call them quick-time events) I'm not a fan of the thresher maws since it's a fight entirely in the Mako. It would be fine if you could lock onto the beast, but fights seem like such a delay on the fun bits. I did, somehow, pick up the ability to buy Specter gear which makes me think I'm a bit overpowered since the gunfights when from annoying to flying by faster than I can tell.

I have settled into Tali and Garrus as my team as it's basically Assault, Defense and Sniper with the technology bits for show. Again, as I said before, it does make fights go by rather quickly.

I do think it's odd that I'm feeling the "it gets better later" vibe, considering FFXIII had that complaint, but this one seems to skirt by.

 

[The_Lost_King]

hard science fiction

Doesn't it feature FTL, telekinesis, and "embrace eternity"?

They are all explained and make sense though.(well except for embrace eternity but what ever.
OT: This isn't your kind of game. I like it all though, but the story and characters are the best part. If you want to just travel around and make your own fun may I suggest The Elder Scrolls series or Warband.