Just played through 1 and 2, starting 3.. Without the whole ending catastrophe, these games still manage a stale solid 7 simply due to all the bullshit they added or removed for no fucking reason.
>first game has massive list of weapons and armor, slots for upgrades, lots of powers to level up, customization, and great pacing to find or add all these things. All you had to do was explore planets and hit a button to find all resources, making the mako the only redundant missions, but they were still fun with the extra treasures and combat you can find. Desicions that have consequences have some sort of set up to que you in. Only negative side is maps are massive and the poi system is confusing.
Mass effect 2
>LOL FUCK EVERYTHING THAT WORKED IN 1. We're only going to have fucking 3 or 4 guns for snipers, assault, pistols, etc, and one set of army with a few pieces to change. All you can do is level up your ammo and a few powers, if you wanna upgrade have fun spending hours scouring random planets with a painfully slow probe system (even when upgraded). BTW no more exploring planets, everything is linear now! We made the maps easier, and also made WAY less side missions so have fun spending hours running back and forth! Ontop of it too all of your decisions don't add up till the end of the game where everything becomes irreversible :D
Mass effect 3
>yeah we know this is supposed to be a fun shooting game, but let's start off by having a boring intro with a pistol, an unwinnable chase scene, dialogue dialogue, the citadel, boring slow motion dream sequence, oh yeah this is a game! P.s. We fucked up the point of interest system on the maps again, and your journal is vague as fuck as to where you're supposed to go and how your supposed to trigger their scripted bullshit.
Why? Why did they do this shit? For every game did they fire everyone and start over new? Did mouth breathing fans complain about everything? WHAT?
EA.
ME1 > ME2 > ME3
Prove me wrong
>>332313635
Your opinion is correct.
>>332313513
nah, this shit is on bioware
EA didn't tell them to make the game(s) shit; bioware fucked it up themselves
>first game has massive list of weapons and armor
That all look the same, or look one of two ways and act the same within its weapon class.
>slots for upgrades
Which were largely pointless since upgrading shields or damage against synths/organics always trumped everything else.
>lots of powers to level up
A handful of which were fun to use due to the generally shit combat
>great pacing
agreed
>All you had to do was explore planets and hit a button to find all resources
better than the garbage scanning in 2 certainly
>making the mako the only redundant missions, but they were still fun with the extra treasures and combat you can find
I feel as if I've wasted my time now. You found the mako and planet exploration fun, you are clearly brain damaged.
>Desicions that have consequences have some sort of set up to que you in.
I'm really not sure what you're trying to say here
> Only negative side is maps are massive and the poi system is confusing.
That is a huge negative considering how much time you'll spend in the mako for side missions, and I don't know what a poi system is
I'm pretty sure ME3 is what triggered my cynicism for video games. when I first played ME1 I played it like a crazy autist, I did mako missions entirely on foot, replayed NG+ over and over again.
when ME2 came out I was still optimistic so I didn't realise how inferior it was to 1 until way later so I still had a lot of fun.
Me3 was a kick in the teeth, I tried to look past the terrible gameplay, shit plot and the fucking ending, I tried to even deny the ending was terrible.
>>332314380
>Which were largely pointless since upgrading shields or damage against synths/organics always trumped everything else.
May be, but I personally enjoyed turning my weapons into DAKKA that sent my enemies flying at the rear wall of the room. The game is easy enough to not require metagaming.
>>332313293
I played these all back to back and I ended up liking ME3 the most
ME3>ME2>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>ME1
ME1 is pretty much unplayable
Controls are shit, gunplay is bad, biotic abilities are painful, combat in general is abhorrent, inventory is cluttered, loot system is awful, Mako is horrible, planets are copy-paste, giant and crap, locations are reused as fuck
Also for a game that was x360 exclusive it runs like crap while looking bad and having eternal load times
Only fucking reason I even finished it is because I looked forward to the sequels, and they fucking delivered
>>332314380
>I feel as if I've wasted my time now. You found the mako and planet exploration fun, you are clearly brain damaged.
Different, but I didn't find the Mako missions boring. Sure they weren't exactly exhilirating either, but the planets were nice, I wanted to collect everything and they didn't take more than a couple of hours. Maybe I'm just used to grinding, playing shit like Warframe, but exploring planets in the vaccuum of space was actually enjoyable. Pic somewhat related.
>>332313293
I agree on the linearity part, and the powers part to some extent, but ME1's equipment system was way worse than ME2/3's. The "massive list of weapons and armor" has no real variety whatsoever. Every gun handles the exact same, and even aesthetically it's just the same two models per weapon type being recycled over and over. For this very reason the item progression is almost entirely linear, so there's no real customization at all. Most of the loot you find is complete trash and with the limited inventory size eventually becomes nothing more than a burden.
The upgrades were the only good part about it. They were unbalanced as fuck, but there was no reason to scrap them completely.
You make quite a lot of valid points.
1 wasn't perfect. The inventory was awful and very cluttered. It was horrible to find anything.
Mako missions were much better than 2's planet scanning.
I'm not sure if 2 did have less side quests but 2 did have better ones than 1. 1's side quests felt very low budget compared to the game's main quest whilst in 2 they were on par most of the time.
>>332315072
It wasn't great, but ME2's was worse. Fucking heat sinks and no real upgrades.
Why do people hate the Mako? I thought it was fun flying and bouncing around with it.
>>332315321
An MMO grinding experience in a singleplayer game is hardly a positive thing.
>LOL FUCK EVERYTHING THAT WORKED IN 1
You mean the atmosphere and arguably the plot? Because 2 still has great atmosphere and the plot is bad instead of being serviceable.
>We're only going to have fucking 3 or 4 guns for snipers, assault, pistols, etc, and one set of army with a few pieces to change.
Almost all of which acted differently, giving much more variety to the combat, and the armor pieces made for much more meaningful decisions to be made than "find the armor with more green bars."
>All you can do is level up your ammo and a few powers
They did scale back way too far on powers, agreed, though ME1 felt bloated since too few of the powers were interesting. ME3 had the best system here.
> if you wanna upgrade have fun spending hours scouring random planets with a painfully slow probe system (even when upgraded)
biggest piece of shit ever, I don't know how it made it past playtesting
>BTW no more exploring planets, everything is linear now!
If Bioware did not have the talent to make exploring fun, and ME1 showed that they did not, they might as well go linear, since linear is not an inherently bad thing and good linear levels beat shit nonlinear ones any day
>We made the maps easier,
How? All I remember about the maps is that there was 200% more variety and more well thought out for combat
>and also made WAY less side missions so have fun spending hours running back and forth
There were less reasons to have to run back and forth so have fun running back and forth? What?
>Ontop of it too all of your decisions don't add up till the end of the game where everything becomes irreversible :D
I guess this is true, though ME1's decisions felt so inconsequential that I didn't really notice or care
>>332313293
How come there are no Mass Effect clones? The franchise has been pretty successful and yet nobody cares to emulate it. There are Halo, GTA, STALKER, Dark Souls, etc clones but no Mass Effect like games. Why is the Sci Fi/space action RPG subgenre so underrepresented. The only game that I can think of that feels like ME is Advent Rising but that one came out before ME and the gameplay is way worse.
>>332315321
Terrible controls
It handles worse than the warthog from Halo CE
>>332315321
It's fun for the first hour, but there's only so much flying and bouncing you can do before it becomes boring, especially when there's no variety whatsoever in maps, enemies, or weapons. Even more when you're trying to go for a 100% playthrough or minmaxing and have to check out every single anomaly on every planet, meaning you spend 10-15 minutes in the fucking thing every time.
>>332315454
Mass Effect is a third person shooter. There is no prime example for third person shooters, only variations.
>>332315826
Gears is still the de facto TPS that 95% of games in the genre borrow from, in terms of core mechanics.
>>332313293
The fan bases enjoyed 2 a lot, and the only big complaint was the lack of an inventory system which 3 corrected with many guns and customization. The system in 1 sucked, and we didn't want it to be eradicated like it was in 2, but not have 30 guns that look alike minus the name and color.
The powers are better in 2 and 3 since it felt like there was oomph in your powers. Biotics in 1 was you turning blue, then seeing a guy fall.
You're wrong on the side missions. They are best in 2 since each side mission was unique with it's own art style and map. Yeah, it was linear, but better then having the same generic base on every damn planet with people yelling, ENEMIES EVERYWHERE! Then the enemy variation beyond the story missions were crap in 1 since it was either humans/aliens with a shit load of shields, or basically zombies. The krogan and vorcha in 2 + 3 felt unique to their own race and strengths.
>yeah we know this is supposed to be a fun shooting game, but let's start off by having a boring intro with a pistol, an unwinnable chase scene, dialogue dialogue, the citadel, boring slow motion dream sequence, oh yeah this is a game! P.s. We fucked up the point of interest system on the maps again, and your journal is vague as fuck as to where you're supposed to go and how your supposed to trigger their scripted bullshit.
>Only focusing on the first 40 minutes
If that happen for 6 hours, then I would see your point, but you are literally looking at the first mission that wasn't different in the 2nd game where you had a hallway tutorial in Cerberus base.
Some of your complaints are legit, but some are misguided, and some are bullshit. You get 5/10.
>>332315971
And those mechanics fucking suck on the PC. Cover based combat systems are fucking awful.
>>332316057
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mi2NKZ37YE
>>332315826
ME2 and 3 are TPS, ME1 is an action RPG.
>>332313293
Bioware got bought by EA shortly before the first game was released, that should be all you need to know.
>>332316232
Awesome! That sums up the enemies on most side missions. I enjoyed the outside of the various planets on side missions, but either there were 2 base variations with teh same shit.
>>332313293
They fucked up hard. This is also an easy way to spot Sonyfans. They started with 2 since the first wasn't available until later on the Playstation, and they declare 2 to be the best in the series all the time. It's mind boggling.
I own ME1 and 2 and I only beaten ME1 and I've beaten it multiple times. I think I even beaten it on the 360 before as well. I refuse to play ME2 or 3 cause I'm scared they ruined the story so bad that I would lose faith in the gaming industry. I choose to keep playing ME1 and remembering the series as a really fun and awesome action RPG.
>>332316057
The powers blow in 2 because they added a fucking universal cooldown to shit. ME1 powers were great because you could fucking unload all your biotics on a dude and annihilate them instantly.
ME to this date is still my favorite space opera game.It s flawed at some point and ME 3 was a bit of a letdown tryed to be too dark and meta.
But overall i consider this saga amazing.
There s nothing else right now that even is on the same scope of Mass effect.
>>332316954
>ME1 powers were great because you could fucking unload all your biotics on a dude and annihilate them instantly.
I'm not sure that matters when the powers themselves are a complete bore to use.
One had the best writing and the strongest direction. The gameplay was mediocre and the RPG elements were poorly implemented.
Two had the best characters and sidequests (unless you consider loyalty quests part of the main plot), but had an atrocious filler plot and barebones TPS gameplay. The RPG elements were practically nonexistent.
Three had the best gameplay by far, with the single best plot arc in the trilogy. The beginning and ending were terribly written, and the vanilla ending sucks donkey dick. DLCs were all-around great, though.
>>332316896
The story in 2 is fine, even if it's feels side tracking from the first game a bit. Then in 3 I enjoyed the story until the last mission. A lot of major lore comes into play throughout the game, but the ending is where they drop the ball.
>>332316954
>Wanting it to be super easy
Pleb.
>>332313293
>first game has massive list of weapons and armor
And they all felt exactly the same. By the endgame you had literally picked up hundreds of assault rifles.
2 had many fewer weapons, but they were all distinct and had their own particular uses in certain builds.
>>332317189
did the dlc ending make it better? is it possible to not even play the ending of ME3 vanilla story and get the DLC ending? also did they abandon all RPG elements and make it more of a shooter in 2 and 3? i'm really good at shooters but I liked the slowed down RPG action of the first game.
>>332317119
I didn't find them boring at all. The only interesting power 2 added was the biotic rush where you phased through shit.
>>332317189
The system 2 implemented didn't make it more difficult, I just had to sit in cover for ten seconds twiddling my thumbs waiting for the cooldown to fuck off.
Did I mention they changed ammo types as a fucking ability in 2? Jesus Christ.
>>332317837
I only watched the DLC ending then experiencing it first hand, but in my view it made the ending from an F/D- to a C/C+. I flip flop between the grades depending on the day, but it at least provided a little closure after whatever choice you made. That said, it's still art images over moving cutscenes.Also unless your game has never been updated, which I don't know if it's really possible since they forced the updates nowadays, then the DLC ending is the main ending now.Depending on your ending it'll show the remaining survivors throughout the system rebuilding the relays, then it'll show the Normandy eventually leaving the planet they crashed on, and it'll show at least some impact of your actions in regards the Reapers helping out, or the synth option with everyone being a hybrid race, or the destroy ending showing dead reapers in the background while the relay is being rebuilt. Finally the relays are being rebuilt one way or another in every ending.
>>332318957
Yeah I only beat and played 1. I own 2 but refuse to play it so I have no idea what those endings are suppose to mean. Like I know what all those things are but I have no idea what was happening before that ending. So was the ending just really anti-climatic?
>>332313293
>first game has massive list of weapons and armor
they were literally all reskins of the same 2 weapons and armor
>if you wanna upgrade have fun spending hours scouring random planets with a painfully slow probe system (even when upgraded)
lel you played on console
>>332319412
I recommend 2 a lot since the story didn't become a disaster until the ending of 3. Hell, I enjoyed the story in 3 until London. That is where it fell apart, but the story when you are involved with the genophage to the Quarians was great shit. Then the ongoing war with the Reapers when they invaded Asari space was good. My only complaint minus the ending was the shit with Kai Leng was weak. His boss battle was fun, but his character was shoe horn in with no personality. I didn't mind the Cerbeus angle at all, and I enjoyed the missions in which you fought in their base and discover more about their experiments.
>>332314380
>I feel as if I've wasted my time now. You found the mako and planet exploration fun, you are clearly brain damaged.
>Not being an adhd baby means there's something wrong with you
wew
>>332319412
Really anti-climatic, because it was very rushed. Out of fucking nowhere you're put in front of the ending choice, this one character who really shouldn't be there gives you a sketchy explanation, then you pick one of three colors and things completely out of your control happen. The DLC at least added closure to the character arcs, but did nothing (and couldn't have done anything) to fix how improvised the whole thing feels.
>>332320603
This. You can tell they needed at least 6 more months, probably a year. While it's easy to blame the staff at Bioware, but I put most of the blame on EA when they moved the original writer who wrote ME1 to TOR, then have a guy come in and he takes the original concept, and gets rid of concepts like dark matter which was clever since dark matter was discovered when the first game was being made. Instead their approach to make you ponder about machine vs man wasn't a bad idea, but poorly executed since they fucked up how you can prove star child wrong with your handling of the geth, but they gave no leeway to bring that up until the DLC ending. Even in the DLC ending he cops out, "IT WON'T LAST!" How in the fuck do you know your little piece of shit?
Ive been saying this for years. I played through Mass Effect twice before even startibg ME2. ME2 took me nearly a year to finish. ME3 I barely even started and wont finish any time soon.
They took a great game and dumbed it down. Fucking trash.
When ME1 came out, people complained about the inventory system, the side missions, and the elevator loading screens but said the game was great other than that.
EA then bought Bioware and told them to just take all of that shit out rather than bother fixing it. They then bribed the shit out of reviewers and it ended up getting better reviews than the original.
>Want to play on it on PC
>No controller support.
I hate it when developers take shit out of games just to fuck with people.
>>332323383
There's mods for full controller support for all three games. Just check the Nexus.
>>332315321
I really liked it on the xbox
replaying on PC now, gonna see if the controls are that bad on mkb
>>332320214
Alright I'll give 2 a shot after I beat ME1 again for the ... 6th time? Dunno, lost count.
>>332320603
alright. So really the devs aren't really to blame for blowing it? The game actually was good till then? I think I feel restored a bit and will play the DLC endings for ME3.
Thanks anon, I think I'm getting over the fear of continuing this awesome series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWtEy_Snf6A
>>332324223
Devs deserve some blame since Mac Walters and their director went full retard with their convoluted philosophy of man vs machine which was executed poorly due to how things play out in 3 that contradicts star child. I understood what they were aiming for, but it wasn't executed well conveying the philosophy behind the issues brought up.
All they had to do for ME3 was give it a serviceable ending. It could even be slightly clichéd, at least it wouldn't have soured the entire trilogy.
No instead we get some pseudo intellectual bullshit about how man and machine will never get along despite having clear indications to the contrary. Oh and we're just going to fuse you together because that's clearly the best solution for everyone.
All you had to do was make the reapers a malfunctioning AI or someshit you faggots.
I will always be mad. I can't bring myself to play 1 and 2 anymore. It's all for naught anyway.
>>332322684
Thats how I felt too. All my mates loved the second and 3rd one and found the first to be boring.
Mass effect 2 was the first time I realized games where gradually being dumbed down and made accessible and fast forward today and I play the same few games over and over. Can't get into anything any more.
>>332324441
>>332324223
having only 2 years instead of 3 to make a AAA game can really fuck you
The ending of 3 is so bad that it spoils the other games.
>>332313293
>>332313293
all the guns in the first game are the same
>>332313635
Not possible to disprove, everyone who says otherwise is a faggot who hates the immersion, customization and open endedness that made things so interesting
>>332322971
yes. some people dont realize ME2 was released while journalism was completely controlled. gamergate wasnt a thing yet.
>>332324856
Someone like me!
>>332314380
>I feel as if I've wasted my time now.
just wait until you finish the 3rd game. buddy you dont even know
>>332315207
Ones side quests or "assignments" were meant to be short and sweet so you can level up or upgrade.
Twos side missions were about making sure the crew survived the mass relay, while also unlocking Normandy upgrades so more crew can live. They pretty much ditched the leveling up system being important.
Also for everyone saying the first inventory system was cluttered and useless, I completely disagree. Sure the armor and guns only were rendered different colors, but I enjoyed getting the next upgraded version of ammo or armor to swap around giving edges in cool down, accuracy, or damage.
>>332315424
>almost all acted differently
One is a regular assault rifle, one fires in bursts, one is a laser rifle, and one is a specialized gun you can select among 4 others that is slightly stronger. Seeing as ME games are long, you still will not be swapping through weapons every other mission, so you stick with the same thing the entire game
>Me3
Hey council remember those reapers I've been warning you about for fucking years? They're here now and they're fucking shit up, can you help?
Council: Nah fuck off
>>332313293
ME2 was quality over ME1's quantity.
Fucking no body liked stopping their game every couple hours for half an hour to go through the shitty inventory to turn all their near-identical weapons and mods into goop.
>>332332803
>speaking sense
HOW DARE YOU? DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE?
FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU
>>332331445
Seriously, the Citadel Council is a bunch of dicks and the cause of most of the deaths through the series, no matter what you do.
>ME1: guys there's this murderous machine from outer space coming for you please trust me
>No
>ME2: guys you've seen it with your own eyes and I've saved your asses please help
>No
>ME3: guys the reapers are here and the galaxy is on fire help
>Mayyybe we'll lend a hand but you'll have to work for it!
Fucking idiots.
Multiplayer was dope tho
>>332332803
I did. I liked swapping around shit to get the edge in accuracy or damage, then fucking around with my crews guns as well.
2 was piss poor. Having 4 guns and ammo as "power upgrades" is quality? Fuck off
>All you had to do was explore planets and hit a button to find all resources, making the mako the only redundant missions, but they were still fun with the extra treasures and combat you can find.
>they are still fun
>honestly expecting anyone to believe you just played through this for the first time
> We made the maps easier, and also made WAY less side missions so have fun spending hours running back and forth!
What?
>Ontop of it too all of your decisions don't add up till the end of the game where everything becomes irreversible :D
So?
>>332320603
What about the 4th choice?
>>332334384
The one that's basically a giant middle finger to the player for not chosing one of their epic 3 endings?
Yeah that one's the best.
