Poll: What is your favorite game in the Mass Effect Trilogy?

[r4zgul]

I just want to get a feel of the general consensus here on the Escapist. My opinion is as follows:

Mass Effect: Pros

- Every single line of dialogue was a dialogue option, and you had more options for dialogue than in later games.

- You had a strong, core cast of squad mates, consisting of Wrex, Garrus, Liara, and Tali. What? What do you mean humans? They don't exist.

- You get to kill one of those boring, annoying, nonexistent human squad mates.

- You have more graphics options, great for my crappy 4 year old PC.

- The RPG elements were deeper and more substantial: more customization.

- The Mako is FUN. I know it's impossible to steer and is armored with paper mâché, but it's FUN, and added much needed exploration and gameplay variety.

- The story was interesting and that's what the game focused on the most. That and universe building, which really helped the later games.



Mass Effect: Cons

- Regardless of the graphics settings, the game is married to the concept of freezing, and is having an affair with screen tearing.

- Humans suck.

- Unskippable opening cutscene. Seriously, I never liked that cutscene.



Mass Effect 2: Pros

- There is a large pool of much more interesting and fun characters, most importantly: better humans. Even Jacob.

- The ending of the game is a damn equation: That's just awesome.

- The deepening of the universe's lore with things like TIM and Legion.

- Almost all of the loyalty missions were fun on a bun.

- It looks pretty.

- Introducing the 'interrupts', which were great fun. At least the renegade ones were. Headbutting Krogan, how cool is that?!

- Planet Scanning



Mass Effect 2: Cons

- Less dialogue options.

- You don't get to repeat certain conversations.

- The game is hardly an RPG.

- The Run/Interact/Cover button is bollocks.

- Where's the Mako?

- Planet Scanning


Mass Effect 3: Pros

- Barring certain ME1 characters, the squad, even Vega, is interesting and fun.

- NPC interactions.

- Kalros.

- The best characters get better endings than the game does.

- A wealth of possible outcomes for the galaxy... at least if you ignore the endings.

- Buddy moments with Garrus Vakarian.

- Fun multiplayer.



Mass Effect 3: Cons

- Day One DLC.

- SEVERE lack of dialogue options.

- Its RPG elements are still laughable, especially the quest log.

- Garrus isn't a LI for male Shepards.

- The game was rushed, and it shows.

- The Ending. Enough has been said about the ending already, so I'll just leave it at: I hate it, I hate the Extended Cut, and even if they made it thematically consistent with the rest of the series, I want a Star Wars ending. (or at least a destroy option that doesn't kill the Geth. WHY DID YOU DO THAT!?)


So ultimately I feel that the first game in the series is the best one, because it had a heart. In fact it shows how much the last two games have lost when Liara proves to be the only (non-Garrus, because I'm a male Shepard)LI that you can actually care for.

 

[TakeyB0y2]

I personally find the first Mass Effect to have the best atmosphere and story in the series. Sure, it had gameplay issues up the wazzoo, but I'd still say it's my favorite.

 

[pilouuuu]

Mass Effect 2.

While ME 1 seems to have a more interesting plot, the Mako parts, boring sidequests and dull combat make it seem very dated.

ME 2 is the best because of the amazing relationships with other characters while recruting your crew.

ME 3 is alright, but the pressure because you're against time don't let you fully enjoy the game and the ending was a downer, even if it now it's much better.

 

[skywolfblue]

Mass Effect 3 by far.

- Tons of epic space battle cinematics
- Epicly awesome scenery
- The EC endings, Krogen babies, Zaeed on a lawn chair, how is that NOT absolutely awesome?
- The multiplayer is a lot of fun. Sure it's got glitches and bugs all over the place, but the way each class plays differently is really enjoyable, I thought I wouldn't play it for very long at first but as time has passed I still enjoy charging around as a vanguard or using biotic combos to blow shit up as an adept.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Well, they all have their pros and cons so in cases like this I let it come down to 'which one plays the best?'

And to be honest, that goes to ME3. All the movement options, different enemy types, weapons and upgrades, powers that are noticeably different depending on how you upgrade them, the weight system. It provides more variety and the combat is by far the most fun. I recently started playing the first game again and the contrast was really jarring.

 

[SomeBritishDude]

Mass Effect 2.

Mass Effect 1 hasn't aged well I feel, the combat was pretty weak at the time and just feels awful compared to later installments. I'm not big enough a fan of the RPGs elements for the dumbing down of them in later installments to be a big deal.

Mass Effect 3 makes a lot of minor adjustments to Mass Effect 2s gameplay that were an improvement, but the ending is a let down (even if I didn't make as big a fuss as most) and I preferred Mass Effect 2s focus on characters rather than the main plot.

 

[Smeggs]

Honestly, the only reason I have to vote for ME3 is the far superior combat/mechanics system. The game played a lot more fluidly than the other two.

 

[Gill Kaiser]

ME3 is such a mixed bag, but I can't say I dislike it. It just could have been much better if it hadn't been rushed and subjected to a change in lead writer.

I would say I like them all, for different reasons.

 

[bojackx]

ME2 wins this one in my eyes, with ME3 slightly behind.

I preferred Mass Effect 2s focus on characters rather than the main plot.

Pretty much that.

All are great games, and I didn't even dislike the ME3 ending, but ME2 still beats it because of the loyalty missions, more squadmates (gotta love Legion!), more dialogue options and the whole focus on characters thing.

Oh, you could also romance Tali in ME2, which is just awesome.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

I personally find the first Mass Effect to have the best atmosphere and story in the series. Sure, it had gameplay issues up the wazzoo, but I'd still say it's my favorite.

just about sums it up. plus, some people have a hard time understanding it's more rpg than it is shooter, (these are the same people that have these same problems with alpha protocol) so just because you are firing at something, doesn't mean you will be guaranteed to hit it(a.k.a. an rpg)

granted I wasn't upset in the slightest in the switch in me2 and me3, but the overall story arc epicness and the atmosphere definitely dropped off. (not to mention that is when EA got their filthy publisher hands on the series)

 

[dimensional]

I enjoyed the first one the most it actually felt more open and I found the combat more enjoyable the mako was pretty bad but was far superior to planet scanning in the second which has to be one of the worst mini game inclusions of any game ever right up there with fable 2s blacksmithing.

I probably enjoyed more characters from the second than the first but it just seemed reduced in scope and it moved to far away from RPG conventions for my liking basically becoming a corridor simulator. I have never played the 3rd one as I lost interest after 2 to a large extent so it would have to be the first for me thats the one I played the most.

 

[MellowFellow]

I love them all, each game has something that makes it great, but also a flaw that holds it back from being even better. Overall it is my favorite video game series right now.

 

[Zhukov]

ME3, post EC.

ME2 was awesome too, but ME3 edges it out with superior combat, better environments, more enemy variety and extensive dialogue between crew members.

ME1 was... alright. The lousy combat, rough pacing and relative lack of good characters holds it back though. I tend to think of it as "that game with Wrex in it that lets me make a Shepard to play the other two better games with".

 

[In Search of Username]

Always loved the first one most. Partly nostalgia, partly the fact I've played it so many times and still not got tired of it, partly it having the most epic, well-paced storyline of the three. The combat's not as good but I honestly like the Mako, and the RPG mechanics made it interesting.

I'd say 3 is my second favourite, 2 being the worst. But they're all great, 2 just didn't seem as exciting to me, and the DLC characters were lazily implemented.

Also that credits music in the first one. Holy shit.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

I played both 1 and 2 more than a dozen times each, but I liked 2 more. It did a lot of things wrong, but it also did a lot of things right. Having more than two personalities between all your squad mates helped a lot.

 

[RatRace123]

First one. My favorite game of all time, and in my opinion, the best installment in the series.
I liked the plot the most
I actually enjoyed the combat and RPG mechanics, enough be irked by their dumbing down in the sequels.
And it had Wrex as a party member, so clearly it's the superior installment.

 

[BartyMae]

Mass Effect 1. I found 2 and 3's gameplay to be boring as well as annoying. All you did is sit behind walls all day, pop out and shoot for a little, wait for your shield to break, hide, wait for it to fix itself, rinse and repeat ad infinitum until all your enemies die. And depending on how lucky you are, somebody flanking you at the wrong time can be inevitable death, regardless of what you do - whether you choose to pop up and try to deal with them or whether you try to wait it out. In 1, at least you can SOMETIMES do things, and you have more abilities that have separate cooldown timers.

I also liked the Mako more than scanning planets. The only thing that really beats it, in my reckoning, is Mass Effect 2's larger pool of companions, as well as the "everything counts" way of handling what you do. The universe, (and its immersion when not scanning planets), also felt more refined in 2 and 3's, but heck, at least I can go places in 1's.

 

[johnnnny guitar]

I loved the first two equally for their own different reasons

Mass effect had a great overarching plot, interesting universe, tons of side missions, hub worlds and dialogue and also interesting characters but it also had pretty shitty combat on the console versions(PC combat was good though) and the mako's controls NOT the environments I think if they had put the hammerhead from ME2 in ME1 environments in the third game that would have being a winning combination.

9/10

Mass effect 2 had great character interactions and development, the dark humour was more relevant than the first game and had multiple awesome moments for the series but it also had a poor overarching plot(It also feel's like the suicide mission didn't matter in ME3) the planet scanning and while I will the say the gunplay was improved the RPG elements suffered a lot.

9/10

Mass effect 3 When I first played the game I thought it was at the very least a 6/10 game but on a recent play through I found even worse.
Bad plot hole riddled overarching space magic/deus ex machina using plot, Very limited dialog and the gun play is fun for about 2 hours then it becomes a massive drag.

Major characters become cameos, one hub world, shit side missions, less squad-mates, ugly animations and horrid cringe inducing voice acting for more than half of the games characters, no vehicle sections, craptacular turret sections, Grinding for war assets ultimately pointless and the gunplay took focus over the story and characters.

Then straw that broke the camel's back the ending(extended cut included) at this point the plot holes turn the game into Swiss cheese.

Granted the game had at least 5 of the greatest moments in the franchise Mordin's death, the geth wiping out the quarians, Garrus and shepard's bromance, The death of Anderson and the first space battle that takes place for earth but in the end its.

4/10.