Poll: Should I even bother with Mass Effect?

[Longstreet]

Just play all 3, since especially the first great story wise.

However, in ME 3, when you to Marauder Shield, the one that stands before a big light beam going up, let him kill you. Let him kill you and think to yourself, well that was the ending. You will thank me later.

 

[Boogie Knight]

I'm not enjoying ME1 as much because I'm seeing how clumsy the game is heading toward the main plot so soon, and the combat. However, I still advise trying all three games because in spite of the clusterfornication of the ending and some of the choices made with the main story... I still think that overall they are pretty solid games. BioWare games have this weird effect of making me want to keep seeing what happens next. Yes, there are problems, but many games dream of being as good.

 

[Zeldias]

Found the ME trilogy to be pretty amazing, although I think it would've been a lot better as a duology because ME2 is basically "Screw around until crunch time!" I think ME3 is really fun and while the ending itself isn't so hot, the entire ride is great. I also found ME3 to be the best in terms of conversations not sounding stupid as hell.

Most of the drama that I've read about ME is mostly related to head-canons being impossible, beloved character deaths, and stuff like that. I'm not saying that all of the complaints are just irrational because someone was denied a chance to imagine their Shep having blue babies with Liara or whatever, I just think that for the most part, the reactions are just pointless to immerse yourself in.

Play the first one, and if you find yourself intrigued, play the second and third. If you don't find yourself engrossed, don't bother. I think it's kind of pointless to go out and ask people whether this series is one you should try. Too many emotions involved (and rightly so, as this is a story that people had a lot of time to build a lot of investment in). I think it's best to go with your gut. If you're curious, just dive in and see.

 

[DEAD34345]

Play all three, definitely. If you liked Dragon Age: Origins as you say, I'd be very surprised if you didn't end up enjoying the Mass Effect series. Mass Effect 1's game-play is never so bad that it overshadows the rest of the game, but I wouldn't recommend doing all of the sidequests, as a large amount of them consist purely of the crappy TPS gameplay in various identical military installations on various identical barren planets. Those kinds of quests don't tend to have any lasting story implications either, so it's safe to avoid them.

Also, brace yourself for crushing disappointment at the end. A better option would be to turn off the game just before it finishes and never have to see the ending, but I realize trying to convince anyone of that before they've actually seen it is futile.

Play all three for the sake of completing the series, but I would recommend Mass effect 1 over the rest in terms of the RPG mechanics, 2 for Mordin and Grunt, and 3 for the more freedom into the combat and the Citadel DLC, but not as much for the story, as they tend to kill off good characters (WHY DID THEY KILL MORDIN?! (D' )

Spoiler

Mordin didn't have to die. "They" didn't kill him, you killed him with your crappy choices. Shame on you.

 

[In Search of Username]

Play either just the first, or all of them. There's no point playing the others without the first, and there's no point playing just 2, as so much of it leads into 3. Besides, the gameplay in 1 isn't particularly exciting but it's not ARDUOUS. It's just not the main draw of the game. And as for the ending of 3, don't worry about it. With the extended cut, it's still nothing mindblowing and could have been foreshadowed better, but it's basically satisfactory.

 

[AnarchistFish]

put it this way

think back to the backlash over the ME3 ending. and think about how much people would've had to have cared to create that much of a backlash

play all 3

 

[TT Kairen]

Complaints about ME 1's combat system are mostly hyperbole. Personally I find ME 1's combat to be vastly better. I like the heat management rather than the ammo system of 2+3, the upgrades for guns and armor allow for a much greater degree of playstyle customization. Ammo types not being class specific, abilities not having universal cooldowns, the gunplay not being as married to the concept of cover shooting, etc.

There's quite a noticeable shift in gameplay and themes between 1 and 2. If you are going to get into the series, I'd say either play ME 1 and skip the other two, or Skip the first game and play II+III.

Abilities having 40-60 second cooldowns, 4 gun types with minor stat changes rather than a large assortment of weapons that act differently allowing more loadout customization based on playstyle, ammo upgrades not making sense with the games' lore, non modular armor, gun skill points making absolutely no sense (I'm the highest level of special forces and I cannot hold my gun straight? Right.), there are plenty of valid complaints against the ME1 combat system. I can go into greater detail if you'd like.

EDIT: People keep saying "Da RPG mechaniks!!11!1" in ME1... but they never quantify it or explain further. Could someone enlighten me?

 

[Therumancer]

I've loved Bioware's other work, such as Dragon Age Origins, and I've really wanted to get into more sci-fi as opposed to fantasy.

Conversely, I heard that Mass Effect 1 is arduous to play. And, well, Mass Effect 3's ending...that's a litany of topics in and of itself.

On the one hand, I'm largely unspoiled, including 3's ending, and the idea of an epic, multi-game, sci-fi Shooter/RPG sounds pretty sweet.

On the other hand, I hate the thought of having to trudge through 1 before getting to the good gameplay of 2 and then get to the end of 3 and be disappointed with the conclusion.

Third option: I've considered just playing Mass Effect 2 on its own. I'm a PS3 owner, so I can get the PS3 version with the interactive comic of 1 plus all the DLC (And it's CHEAP! As in $5 cheap.) Can I just enjoy 2 as its own thing and forget about 1 and 3?

I welcome all manner of gaming advice on this.

My advice is to avoid them. If you must play them there is no replacement for starting with the first one and transferring your personal Shepard between all 3 episodes of the game.... that is pretty much required for the full experience and to sort of "Get" how so many people got invested in it like me.

That said the ending of Mass Effect 3 will retroactively ruin the entire experience for you, if it doesn't, consider yourself very lucky. There is however a reason for all the rage, and the infamy, and really your just better off not setting out to subject yourself to it. Of course knowing what's coming ahead of time might lessen the impact somewhat causing more of a "meh" response. Jumping on the bandwagon late doesn't give the same "experience" a lot of fans had given years of waiting/anticipation and the whole community experience of the entire thing that lead to the sheer sense of disappointment and betrayal that lead to the explosion.

 

[mysecondlife]

If you have thirst for RPG, Mass Effect series is a poor choice to begin with.

Its a fine shooting game series though (for most part). If you like shooters, then go for it.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

If you care about the main plot, play all three. If you just want to see interesting characters, you can safely skip 1 and 3.

ME1 had the best main plot, and I personally preferred the combat but I understand some people found it too clunky.

ME2/3 had a drastic drop in plot quality, and it became more like a cover-based shooter, but the characters are a lot more interesting especially in ME2.

Don't let the ending of ME3 be the thing that discourages you from playing it; it's only 15 minutes at the end of a multi-hour game. There are plenty of better reasons to hate ME3.

 

[Souplex]

Mass Effect 1 has phenomenal story, and slightly sub-par gameplay.
Mass Effect 2 has a somewhat dumb story, and the gameplay has all the RPG elements ripped out.
Mass Effect 3 has a good story until the ending, and the best gameplay in the series.

 

[TristanBelmont]

Huh. You weren't kidding, I was the first one to pick "ME3 Only".

 

[KR4U55]

Play them, finish the third and cry. That's what all of us did.

 

[Mr C]

Play all 3. If you know nothing of the story (I realise this is unlikely) there is a moment in the 1st game that a digital comic cannot replicate. This part of the game will also lose all impact if you play 2 and/or 3 first the decide you wished you played 1 afterall.

The shooting is not as fun in the first game and the side quests are pretty much the same, but the core story is great. Plus, knowing Garrus and co from the get go will make the reunions in the sequels all the better.

 

[Arina Love]

Play the first one, everything after that is not a rpg, it's a dudebro shooter with lousy ending.

 

[AceTrilby]

All three games, 100%, no question.

I actually just finished replaying the series with someone else watching so that I could share the experience, and it was a hell of a ride even the second time around.

Despite all the complaints about combat being clunky and ending being bad, in the end how much you enjoy the series depends on you. Don't listen to people vilifying it or singing its praises, just play it for yourself and decide. But if you do play it, do it all the way through. That's just my advice, and you can take it or leave it

 

[omega 616]

The first ME is ropey at best, it looks like the textures next quite pop in, the citadel is confusing as all fuck and the item management is persistent. Saying that, there is something nice about doing a trilogy run, playing the comics is ok but actually seeing and doing the missions that lead to those missions is much better.

I think 2 is the shining light of the 3. The third game has a fucked up ship, that fucking security check point! Though it is cool ...

Spoiler: Mild spoilers

that you're seeing the destruction all around you. Like in one mission to get a race on side you have to go to a planet under siege, find a high ranking guy, inform him he is the big cheese now, but he wont leave till his out post is more secure. It's just very atmospheric and you feel that everything you know is on the verge of destruction.

 

[Machine Man 1992]

One and two are pretty good for different reasons, one for it's scale and depth, two for streamlining and tacticool combat.

Three is just a mess. A great big ball of stupid and severely cut down content. I guarantee your desire to replay the other games after ME will plummet faster than a Gundam Wing colony.

 

[Spiridion]

As someone who didn't like the ending of ME3 (even after the extended cut), I'd still say play all three. Everything else makes it worth it. Or, at least, you should try to play ME1 and if it feels like too much of a slog as far as gameplay goes then go ahead and jump into ME2 with the interactive comic.

 

[Tono Makt]

I've loved Bioware's other work, such as Dragon Age Origins, and I've really wanted to get into more sci-fi as opposed to fantasy.

Conversely, I heard that Mass Effect 1 is arduous to play. And, well, Mass Effect 3's ending...that's a litany of topics in and of itself.

On the one hand, I'm largely unspoiled, including 3's ending, and the idea of an epic, multi-game, sci-fi Shooter/RPG sounds pretty sweet.

On the other hand, I hate the thought of having to trudge through 1 before getting to the good gameplay of 2 and then get to the end of 3 and be disappointed with the conclusion.

Third option: I've considered just playing Mass Effect 2 on its own. I'm a PS3 owner, so I can get the PS3 version with the interactive comic of 1 plus all the DLC (And it's CHEAP! As in $5 cheap.) Can I just enjoy 2 as its own thing and forget about 1 and 3?

I welcome all manner of gaming advice on this.

It all depends on what you want out of the game. If you want pure gameplay, avoid ME1 as it is quite different from ME2 and ME3. If you are looking for a 100+ hr story across 3 games, play the shit out of all three games on the easiest setting. Yes, you can go and do the 15min interactive comic book thing instead of playing ME1, but that misses a LOT of the little things that WILL come back to be referenced in ME2 and ME3, and while they aren't huge they are like wonderful little Easter eggs. (Emily Wong, I'm lookin' your way! And the Asari scientist who was studying Indoctrination. And the list can go on for a long, long time.)

If you can, get all the DLC for 1 and 2 that is Storyline based. Weapons and Appearance packs, meh, screw'em. But ones where you're doing missions - Overlord for ME2, Bring Down The Sky for ME1 (I think that's the name of it, can't remember off hand and not interested enough to google it) - are also important and referenced in ME3.

As for the end of ME3... yeah, the last 15 minutes is pure crap with a few chocolate sprinkles thanks to the Extended Cut. The rest of the game is still worth playing, and had the game ended right when Shepard pushed the button to activate the Catalyst, it could have been one of the best games ever. So once you get to that point, just put the game on mute or turn it off and don't let the ending ruin it.