play the first one its worth it.

>>333762863
First and Second are pretty good.
If you're not too interested in the story you can go ahead and play Three as well, but if you are then stay the fuck away.

>>333762863
Mechanically the games improve as you go on, for story it is the reverse and the series ends very much as if they were expecting a 4th game. The terrible story and the outrage over the ending and how it was handled ended that series.

The new mass effect is doing everything it can to distance itself from the previous game while still clinging to the name.

>>333762863
It's a solid game by its own merits, but it's definitely setting the stage for a sequel.

>>333762863
>Is the ending conclusive or is it a cliffhanger?

It's both. The story set up at the start is concluded by the end and there is a set up for a sequel. The sequels unfortunately don't go anywhere with that setup but down the drain so just make your own headcanon.

>>333762863
Mass Effect 1 is like Star Wars: A New Hope. It introduces a cool world and has a dramatic arc. The big problem of the day is wrapped up by the end with hints at further adventures in the future. You'll be just fine playing it by itself. Mass Effect 2 is also worth playing, though avoid the DLC if you care about ending on a good Status Quo.

I personally recommend the whole series, but I think each game accomplished something different.

ME1: Comfy atmosphere, solid sense of exploration, most coherent main narrative. Nice planetary exploration, but multiple copy-paste side quests.

ME2: Less emphasis on central conflict, but more time granted to develop characters with the best final mission of the series.

ME3: Most investment comes from knowing who the characters are and trying to wrap up the different plot-lines they've set up. Has good standout moments, even if the final section doesn't live up to the hours of build-up.

>>333762863
Honestly the story in 1 is where the games always should have been. Its gameplay and characters were iffy.

The characters in 2 is where the games always should have been. Its gameplay is worse than 3, but the lack of mods make its improvements over 1 feel dumbed down regardless. The story 2 in is pretty pants on head outside of Lair of the Shadowbroker which, in many ways, could have bridged 1 and 3 all on its own without the rest of 2.

3's combat and the extent of its upgrades over 2 make its upgrades and combat where the games should have started, and improved from there. Its story is shit except for the Krogan section which is the ONLY section that actually delivers on choices and consequences from prior games. The new characters are shit, and the returning characters are often misused, except thta Liara has a couple scenes that actually manage to complete and round out her character in a way earlier games should have.

I think i enjoyed the first game the most out of the others.

>>333765331
Also all three games are packed to the brim with bugs and animation fuck ups.

Yeah, kind of. Just pretend that the threat you ended in ME1 was all of it, and nothing else is coming afterwards

>>333765331
> ONLY section that actually delivers on choices and consequences from prior games
Tuchanka's the best, but I still liked Rannoch. Even if the Geth's motives could have been handled better.

>>333762863
Ehh.... it depends entirely on how much you value gameplay. ME was the first game in the series and it shows in how awful the gunplay felt, how pointless all the mods and perks were, and how unfun or straight up unviable some builds were (biotics).

The story was arguably the best though since it wasn't so convoluted and felt very much like a true space opera.

>>333762863
They're all alright. The third one deserves every ounce of the hate for how hard they cut corners in production.

I think that video games can be a good story telling medium but the industry and its hiring practices aren't really conducive to this. ME3 is a shining example of this in action.

>>333765792
I disagree on the grounds that Rannoch is the result of the shift to the, "Because AI!" shit that 2 set up with how they changed the geth and what it devolved into with 3 and its shit writing. Not even getting into the ending, just rannoch, and how they decided the best way to represent the quarrian side of that conflict to weight things so highly in favor of the geth by either demonizing the quarrians or making them out to be idiots. Bioware have often struggled with gray area, and this is a clear example of their inability to do gray, and come into what should be a serious issue with the kid gloves. This wasn't an accident, they did this to make the writing easier on themselves.

>>333766010
>Unviable
>Biotics
Come the fuck again? Easiest insanity playthrough I ever did was a biotic Shepard/Liara/Tali run. Kind of hard for stuff to shoot you when it's flying through the air or frozen in place.

>>333766010
iirc, the combat wasn't that bad. It just didn't feel very "reactive".

>>333766416
Its not just a problem with Bioware but a lot of the industry.

Appeals to emotion are so much easier because they don't require the same amount of world building that a rational approach would require.