Did you like ME1 or ME2 better?

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Team Obi Juan

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I had 11 days off in a row so I beat Mass Effect 1 and just started on Mass Effect 2.

I miss ME1 dearly.

1) Having to pick up ammo is a huge step back.

2) Where is my equipment screen so I can swap out weapons and ammo and armor and upgrades?

3) How did we go from having guns that didn't need to reload to now needing them? I miss not reloading... this is futuristic.

4) During combat, I feel there's a huge shortage of information on my screen. In ME2, I could see shield levels, status, and health bars of my squad all at the same time. Am I missing it now?

I'm only about an hour into the 2nd and am pretty letdown.

And another one... why are there rooms on a ship I can't go in... when I'm in charge? Grrr.
 
For me it boils down to ME1= better story ME2= better gameplay.

At first I hated the ammo system in ME2 just like you did, but I got over it fairly quicky. It forces you to use a bit more strategy since you have a limited ammo supply for any given fight. Granted, I still prefer the unlimited ammo/ overheating system of ME1.

Biotic and Tech powers in ME2 were FAR superior to ME1. My original character in ME1 was a Vanguard because it was described as having strong biotics and bonus to close combat (basically get in the enemy's face and dominate), and I was very disappointed to find out that the biotics were borderline useless (except for singularity...that was extremely OP). Ended up with me just shooting things from a decent distance. ME2, on the other hand, had my Vanguard charging around the room, levitating things, pushing things, blasting ridiculously powerful shotguns in peoples' faces.
 
ME1, no lame "scanning" planets for stuff. I loved romping around in the Mako in ME1.
 
There were definitely things I liked in both. I agree with the ammo mechanic in 2 being a bad choice as well as the planet scanning being different, but no less tedious than some of the planetary exploration in 1.

While there was humor in both, I found some of 2's to take things a little too far—hilarious, but enough to kill the immersion a bit.

But despite its quirks 2 still strikes me as a more rigorously tested and polished game, surely an overall step forward.
 
I missed the lack of ammo from the first one, but not the inventory management issues (maybe that's an Xbox only thing). Story I give the edge to the first one, gameplay and overall 'polish' I think the second is better. Hopefully the third is a balance between the two.
 
ME1 for sure. Feel like I wasted 60 bucks on 2, only played it once. Wish I would have waited for it to hit 7 bucks like it is now.
 
ME1 was without a doubt a deeper game.

But...I am enjoying playing ME2 more. I even like scanning the planets. I was up till sunrise exploring, scanning and mining planets. I think I am just trying to stretch the game out though cause it is time for me to go through the Omega 4 relay. :(
 
ME2 felt more polished gameplay-wise. Sure, ammo can be seen as a step back, but as a whole it was smoother. I found the story in ME1 a bit better, though. Both are fantastic, play through it a little more and I guarantee you will enjoy ME2 more than you do now.
 
Yeah I had the same feeling playing ME2.
Then I got used to it and felt the way they did it was far better.

Only thing I really didn't like was Tali's ass looked better in ME1! :D

Check this place out:
http://www.masseffectsaves.com/mods.php

You can change certain things like no more ammo pickup etc..
 
Overall, I enjoyed ME2 a little more then ME1. While I thought the streamlining of the RPG elements (inventory, level ups, etc) was a bit harsh, I can see why they did it. The space travel "mini game" reminds me of the Sega Genesis version of Starflight which I enjoyed a lot during my childhood.

I just hope ME3 doesn't continue the trend of removing the RPG elements.
 
ME1 the inventory between all the different characters was an absolute mess.
I loved the ammo though, and the mod ability of the equipment.

both games, the grinding sucked, me1 it was visiting planets, me2 it was scanning solar systems.
turns out though me2 you really don't need to both collecting all that much elements.
me1 that stuff is linked to achievements, money and abilities, so not something to pass up.

me1, elevators are damned annoying. some say that is required because of game loads, well the game starts up much faster than the damn elevators take
 
I enjoyed both games, but ME2 was better in my opinion. I enjoyed the story line more and it felt a bit more epic.
 
Difficult.

I miss many aspects of Mass Effect one. Not least being able to find cool things / extra story by hacking... rather than just accessing a computer / playing the mini game. The character / weapon customisation was so much better in the first, and I really enjoyed the fact that you were discovering things for yourself, rather than having it all spoon to you (Like knowing how many characters you were going to get in your team / being told where you can find most of them). I was also one of the few people who enjoyed just driving around the planets in the Mako... and the first version of scanning in ME2 (pre patch, pre upgrade) was horrific. Can't believe they thought that was a good idea. The Cidatel was so much better in ME1 too... and the ending section was properly epic, vs the end of ME2 which fell flat for me.

ME2 runs so much better though, which pleases my inner graphics whore... and you don't really get bogged down in endless menu screens, It's barely an RPG though, and I can't help feeling that they dumbed it down a little too much... that said, I'm about 80% of the way through my insane play-through and it's more fun than ME1 was, mostly by virtue of that streamlining.

Hmmmm... I really don't know. Can I have ME1 with ME2's engine, and a few bits of ME2's streamlining? I doubt I will though, I reckon ME3 will be Gears of Effect. A shame because I can't help feeling that it wasn't just the RPG aspects that they dumbed down in ME2, but the complexity of the story (especially the political aspects of it).
 
I prefer ME1 over 2 for most of the reasons already listed above. Not to say ME2 is bad by any means I just would have preferred they tweaked the little annoying things in the first one rather than watering down the whole RPG element of it.
 
Me1 in my opinion is a must play but is no where near what they brought to the table with Mass effect 2.
 
ME2.
Driving a Mako for hours on end is a old, boring game mechanic. I never finished ME1 because it bored me.
 
ME1
Like other, I miss the RPG elements and the story was better.

ME2 did run better though.

Hopefully ME3 finds a balance between the two.
 
OP here:


ME2 feels just like a shooter. It's like 75% shooter, 25% RPG. You can't even level up till you end the mission you're on.

It's growing on me more, but the combat is still annoying at times. I hate how you are vacuumed into a cover position by running near a wall. Can't count the number of times that I've sucked up against a wall, except on the wrong side of it so I'm getting decimated by enemies. Very annoying.
 
After I beat the game, I spent some time on the Bioware message boards. Most people seem to think that ME1 had better story, ME2 had better game play, and the planet scanning was dumber than the Mako.

I did miss the some of the traditional RPG elements that were missing in ME2. I like finding cool stuff for my dude (or dudette as the case may be).

I also had some pretty extensive posts over there on cool stuff I wanted in ME3. What it boiled down to was that I wish that ME3 would make me feel more like "Commander" Shepard instead of just a foot soldier. I wanted to be able order maneuvers in ship to ship combat and build, upgrade, and maintain mining bases to find resources as well as do other commander-y things.
 
me2 had better combat but me1 was much better written and flowed more logically so I'm going to have to give it the nod
 
also.... the side missions were better in ME2. Some don't like them. in ME1 though all the side missions used about 3 templates. in ME2 they were all different.
 
mdameron said:
OP here:


ME2 feels just like a shooter. It's like 75% shooter, 25% RPG. You can't even level up till you end the mission you're on.
Click to expand...

Oh ya, that's one thing I hated about ME2. The 'end mission' screens took me out of the game and killed the immersionthat the first had. I preferred the elevators actually, and never had a problem with them pausing the action in ME1.
 
I enjoyed the feel of combat in the second one, but I really hated the ammo component. ME2 does not feel like a complete game to me, it is all just a series of go there and recruit that guy... then game over. The end boss is crazy stupid too, I wont spoil it for anyone that hasnt played it, but get ready for a movie flashback.
 
I like ME1 a little better, they are both really good games though.I wouldn't bother with anything other than the two highest difficulty levels, it can be laughably easy. I'll try to list positives and negatives of the second compared to the first (Im playing it on PC)

positive:

-The characters more interesting with maybe one or two exceptions. Its been a while since i liked almost every character in a game.Its really something.
-I actually like the ammo system: It adds a small layer of strategy, try using skills that knock enemies down and then rushing and mele-ing them on the ground to save ammo. Use powers as much as you can. I cant sit back and snipe every guy I come across. It was annoying at first, then i liked that I had to dig deeper into my bag of tricks to finish a fight.
-Paragon/renegade actions during conversations- more immersive/ interactive
-Getting rid of the inventory limit on items: It was annoying trying to figure out what you need to keep in ME1 when your just starting out.
-It looks better, the beginning is especially jaw-dropping.
-Using the sniper rifle is more fun, and the pistol is more useful.
-more humor: I never get tired of Mordin saying "direct organ trauma" when i make a headshot
-heavy weapons are a nice addition
negative:

-The major enemies you come across aren't as interesting or cool.
-Planet scanning is kind of a grind- its only mildly amusing for 10 minutes. only bother to scan "rich" planets, it will save you a lot of time
-Story is perhaps too focused on the characters at the expense of the main story arc.
-I'd like the health bar to be there along with the other visual cues
-Less stats and leveling management: They went a bit too far to make it accessible to GOW fps type players. It is still deeper than you might think at first because they wanted it to appear less intimidating. It wasn't totally gutted.
-less weapon customization with mods. The upgrades don't change the weapons nature as much as the mods did.
 
for all the fleas, 1 felt bigger. Two was so linear, even with finding the side missions. One was more sandbox feeling. I played it through 2.5 times, then got screwed on the character import on 2 because it only took a save from 1s end game.

Dunno, 2 just felt flat, rushed and constrained. More "EA"-d. Couldn't be arsed to play it through after the first run.

Not sure I really care enough about 3 at this point.
 
IcedEmotion said:
Oh ya, that's one thing I hated about ME2. The 'end mission' screens took me out of the game and killed the immersionthat the first had. I preferred the elevators actually, and never had a problem with them pausing the action in ME1.
Click to expand...

Ahhh, I had forgot about the end game screeen. Totally killed the game's immersion. Heres to hoping ME3 is the best of both games.
 
I enjoyed the plot and scenario of ME1 better. ME2's gameplay was MUCH better, though.
My real gripe with ME2 was that you were on all of these huge planets and giant cities, but you never really got to explore any of them. You just got your 5-6 screens that they featured and that was it. It felt a little claustrophobic as a result. While I truly hated the Mako missions in ME1, it gave the game some size. Instead of killing those off, I wish they'd just made them less tedious...kind of like the Mako sequences that were part of the story.
 
Yeah, you never really got to feel like you were on any of the planets in any meaningful way outside of the DLC hammerhead missions, which were really dodgy in places too.

I really missed just being able to drive around on a random planet, even if the side missions were entirely cut and paste.
 
So I'm done with ME2 now, and ended up with only a couple different models of guns for each type? That sucks compared to how many weapons there were in ME1.

All in all, I liked the first a little better.
 
I'm playing ME1 for the second time, it's been a while but I had forgotten how godawful the combat/cover system was.
 
mdameron said:
I had 11 days off in a row so I beat Mass Effect 1 and just started on Mass Effect 2.

I miss ME1 dearly.

1) Having to pick up ammo is a huge step back.

2) Where is my equipment screen so I can swap out weapons and ammo and armor and upgrades?

3) How did we go from having guns that didn't need to reload to now needing them? I miss not reloading... this is futuristic.

4) During combat, I feel there's a huge shortage of information on my screen. In ME2, I could see shield levels, status, and health bars of my squad all at the same time. Am I missing it now?

I'm only about an hour into the 2nd and am pretty letdown.

And another one... why are there rooms on a ship I can't go in... when I'm in charge? Grrr.
Click to expand...

You can't go into those room's on your ship because they're locked right now, as you recruit more members of your squad those rooms become open until you've reached all the possible members and all the rooms will then be open.

I'm in the middle of replaying ME2 right now, haven't played it since after it's released and I'm replaying it for the first time, I'm going to be getting all the DLC too so it'll be a different game. I can't wait until ME3, maybe Bioware will combine what was awesome about ME1 and what was awesome about ME2.
 
wrangler said:
ME1 was without a doubt a deeper game.

But...I am enjoying playing ME2 more. I even like scanning the planets. I was up till sunrise exploring, scanning and mining planets. I think I am just trying to stretch the game out though cause it is time for me to go through the Omega 4 relay. :(
Click to expand...

Tip: Don't waste too much time before using the Omega 4 relay!! That's all I'll say about that. ;)
 
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