Mass Effect Trilogy ..... any good?

Eshelmen

Eshelmen

Supreme [H]ardness
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Feb 3, 2004
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Ok before we jump to conclusions here. I want to start off by saying, I just need another ps3 game to play until I find the ps4 is worthy enough of titles before I buy one.
That being said. I've come across an issue.
I've run out of ps3 games in my interest to play.
End of the drawing board? Maybe. Maybe not.
Went into Game Stop today to pick up one of my favorite franchise games new release. (MLB THE SHOW 14)
Meh.......

Anywho, so this colorful enthusiastic employee goes on about Mass Effect, you gotta try it , you gotta try it.
I caved on it, since all 3 games were only $40 new as a set.
Apparently , I am to play the first one and so on after.

How did you all enjoy this series?
Any advice on what not to do?
I love a game that fluctuates with your decisions.
It's raining like a SOB here in San Jose, California and I'm off all week. GENTLEMEN, I've got work to do.



OH WOW.Also like to point out, I have hit my tenth year on hardforum. Woo hoo!
 
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It's very, very story-driven. BioWare has a specific style, if you've never played a BioWare game then you're either going to love it or hate it. There are a lot of cutscenes/dialog choices and the like.

Personally I thoroughly enjoyed the series but I have yet to finish ME3, I've played the other two multiple times already.
 
Just play them, worry about shit like plot holes and stuff afterwards. If you just play, you won't really notice any of the stuff everyone always seems to complain about. It's a fun series, now get on with it :p
 
Gameplay wise, easy for new players but it might be too simplified for the old time WRPG players.

The story is simply epic, they got the details for almost every single thing in the galaxy. I read all the entries and planet description, kinda like a galaxy history textbook.

I would not spoil the story for you, so i'll keep my opinion about the story and its ending.
 
Amazing series that should be played IMO.

Lose yourself in the universe. It can be a talky game with NPCs but it’s more up to the player. Usually if they have any sidequest it is very apparent. Any talking after that is just for immersion of the world that is Mass Effect.

They should be played in order. Choices you make will carry over to the next game. Play paragon or renegade (think of them as good cop/bad cop), not both. It will hurt yourself later if you try to do a middle of the road kind of character.

Just to warn you ME1 can be a bit slow at first. There is a lot of time spent on the Citadel just running around talking. Push through it, the game will open up and get much better after that. ME1 combat will also feel a bit clunky, just know the combat is greatly improved for ME2 and even more so for ME3.
 
I felt the game pace moved very very slowly for me so I became bored with them easily after about 4hrs of play. I've played them all but never finished them
 
Mechanically, the first one will feel like an old game, but it was a great story. I loved the storyline and played all 3. I played ME2 the most, with several run throughs. Definitely a good time waster, and one of my favorite storylines and gaming experience of recent memory, possibly ever.
 
the only thing i have to say is going from the first game there was a reinvention of the way the game played in the first game you did not have ammo the 2nd and 3 game does have an ammo system. the change is enough that i have a hard time transitioning. Be sure to get all the me3 dlc the party is hilarious...

you can spend well over 200 hours each game if you do all the side quests so prepare yourself alternately you can skip most of the stuff and do all 3 games in 6 hours... there is missable things and some are time sensitive in me3

in me 1 i liked to use the assault rifle and the sniper rifle in 2 and 3 i liked the psionic powers and shot gun and sniper rifle...

and dont get attached to the mako...
 
Lunas said:
the only thing i have to say is going from the first game there was a reinvention of the way the game played in the first game you did not have ammo the 2nd and 3 game does have an ammo system. the change is enough that i have a hard time transitioning. Be sure to get all the me3 dlc the party is hilarious...

you can spend well over 200 hours each game if you do all the side quests so prepare yourself alternately you can skip most of the stuff and do all 3 games in 6 hours... there is missable things and some are time sensitive in me3

in me 1 i liked to use the assault rifle and the sniper rifle in 2 and 3 i liked the psionic powers and shot gun and sniper rifle...

and dont get attached to the mako...
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I think you're overestimating the time sink... 200 hours each game? My first time playing the first game it took me about 30 hours to get 100% of everything available to your morality of choice. Once the bonuses from achievements/trophies are unlocked and you know what to do, it takes me about 10-12 hours, probably 15 hours including Pinnacle Station and Bring Down the Sky.

If you like to min-max, the Pistol has the best DPS and handling in the first game. In ME2 it was the Assault Rifle, but the Shotgun is more fun ;). It's kind of a wash in ME3 because I think they tried to balance everything to the same DPS based on the tier of the weapon. And I don't think that it should take too long to acclimate to the ammo system after the first game.

To the OP, please don't play as a Soldier. I think you would be depriving yourself of some of the better gameplay mechanics if you do. If you plan on trophy hunting the first game, however, I would recommend playing Soldier(Normal)->Engineer(Hardcore)->Adept(Insanity) so you can unlock some good bonus powers on your subsequent playthroughs for the power classes. In addition, Adept makes the harder difficulties easy-mode. All three games do have NG+, so don't worry if you don't reach level 50-60 the first time.

As far as Morality goes, in ME2 you have to go full Paragon or Renegade. Unfortunately there are some key and major events that you won't be able to resolve when the time comes if you have been mixing it up at all. You can be more relaxed in this regard in the first and third games.

That's pretty much all I can think of off the top of my head. The story was really great despite some plot holes and unresolved plot lines. It was a real emotional rollercoaster for me (in a good way :cool:).
 
Don't fight with an angry Wrex, there's a point where a lesser, dumber character can prove she's human waste.

Retrieve Wrex's family armor and give it to him, get a lot of paragon and renegade points, and choose wisely. He's a great character.

There are quite a few minor characters you can save.
 
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Bottom line? Hell yes. The first is radically different from the last two so expect a more full fledged active RPG. The story is great and the characters are incredibly well fleshed out.

Its 100 percent worth playing if it interests you.
 
I started playing ME1 once or twice then dropped it, and I do own part 2 as well. So just asking since this is very related, sounds like it's ok not to "overdo it" on the dialog? When I was talking to someone, I kept clicking all the dialog options I could until I heard everything they had to say. Often for quite a bit past feeling I had enough. Can you reasonably play without doing that or will the player end up confused and not know what to do?
 
texuspete00 said:
I started playing ME1 once or twice then dropped it, and I do own part 2 as well. So just asking since this is very related, sounds like it's ok not to "overdo it" on the dialog? When I was talking to someone, I kept clicking all the dialog options I could until I heard everything they had to say. Often for quite a bit past feeling I had enough. Can you reasonably play without doing that or will the player end up confused and not know what to do?
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Most of it is just story based but some selections you will need to make in order to do a quest/mission

Luckily in ME3 they give you the option to remove that which I appreciated. I like it in the elder scrolls games but in ME your choices don't really mean much
 
I really enjoyed the games. The gameplay is pretty clunky (like a bad Gears of War knock-off) but the storyline is compelling.
#1 is especially rough, although the plot in that one is probably the best of the series. By the time they got to #3 the gameplay was better, but it's still so-so at best.
I found that I kept wanting to play more and more in spite of the weird mechanics.
 
Personally I really liked Mass Effect. I thought the first two were great. I liked the third up until the end, but that doesn't make it a bad game.

If you like Science fiction at all or liked Knights of the Old Republic, you owe it yourself to play all three mass effect games.
 
If you have any love for very dialog heavy and character oriented Sci-Fi Space Operas, like Star Trek and especially Babylon 5, the Mass Effect serie is one of the best games of last generation. The ending falls flat horribly but the journey there is amazing. The story is great and characters are something you will subconciously develop a bond on and start to care about.

Regarding gameplay its a mixed bag. Mass Effect 1 has the best story and the world still has this hardcore Sci-Fi feeling which is what first hooked me into the game, but gameplay is quite rough on the edges. Especially the inventory system. Lots of wandering around too which at the times felt very atmospheric but sometimes got boring, especially on multiple playthroughs.

ME2 gameplay is polished (though also stripped down to barebones. No inventory!) and characters IMHO are the best but the background story is flat. Also the hardcore scifi roots were stripped in favor of hollywood flash which I found dissapointing. Also the mining is boring bullshit. However, this was the game I played the most. Spent hundreds of hours replaying it and doing something different. I loved it!

ME3 tries to combine the best of both and in some ways it succeeds (quite several heart tugging moments which I will remember forever) but unfortunately the game was very rushed, ending in a finale that caused a shitstorm of epic proportions back then though DLC's fixes it somewhat. The game is not exactly KOTOR2 level of unfinished (though without DLC it almost is) but you see they had no time to make good sidequests and do some final polishing. Still the game is very good but unfortunately but it didnt have the same replay value as ME1 and 2. This is the Mass Effect game I played the least, which is something I did not expect.
 
I loved the shotgun in the first game. with the right mods it would hit like a rocket launcher and heat was a non-issue. but it was hard to argue with adrenaline rush for soldiers in ME2/3
 
Very good series. It has good gameplay, good dialogue, good cut scenes, good storyline, intresting characters, interesting mechanics, etc. etc.

Overall it was an extremely well done game. There are also many things that you can nitpick about, especially the ending of ME3. But the game was really fun, especially if you like Sci-fi.
 
Mass effect is great. I honestly felt like the first was the 'best' game in the trilogy, albeit the worst functionally. They fixed a lot of the loading issues and texture pop in in the later games. However the story, presentation and boss battles of 1 go unmatched for me.

After I beat 1, I felt like I had just experienced the best easily digestible and fun space story since Star Wars. 2 and 3 were good, but not as strong story-wise. I really should play through them all over again though.
 
theNoid said:
Mass effect is great. I honestly felt like the first was the 'best' game in the trilogy, albeit the worst functionally. They fixed a lot of the loading issues and texture pop in in the later games. However the story, presentation and boss battles of 1 go unmatched for me.

After I beat 1, I felt like I had just experienced the best easily digestible and fun space story since Star Wars. 2 and 3 were good, but not as strong story-wise. I really should play through them all over again though.
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Precisely. IMHO Mass Effect 1 managed to create a Sci-Fi world that is equal to greats like Star Wars, Star Trek and Babylon 5 in depth. Together with Babylon 5 the Mass Effect is my favourite scifi world to this day.
 
Armenius said:
I think you're overestimating the time sink... 200 hours each game? My first time playing the first game it took me about 30 hours to get 100% of everything available to your morality of choice. Once the bonuses from achievements/trophies are unlocked and you know what to do, it takes me about 10-12 hours, probably 15 hours including Pinnacle Station and Bring Down the Sky.

If you like to min-max, the Pistol has the best DPS and handling in the first game. In ME2 it was the Assault Rifle, but the Shotgun is more fun ;). It's kind of a wash in ME3 because I think they tried to balance everything to the same DPS based on the tier of the weapon. And I don't think that it should take too long to acclimate to the ammo system after the first game.

To the OP, please don't play as a Soldier. I think you would be depriving yourself of some of the better gameplay mechanics if you do. If you plan on trophy hunting the first game, however, I would recommend playing Soldier(Normal)->Engineer(Hardcore)->Adept(Insanity) so you can unlock some good bonus powers on your subsequent playthroughs for the power classes. In addition, Adept makes the harder difficulties easy-mode. All three games do have NG+, so don't worry if you don't reach level 50-60 the first time.

As far as Morality goes, in ME2 you have to go full Paragon or Renegade. Unfortunately there are some key and major events that you won't be able to resolve when the time comes if you have been mixing it up at all. You can be more relaxed in this regard in the first and third games.

That's pretty much all I can think of off the top of my head. The story was really great despite some plot holes and unresolved plot lines. It was a real emotional rollercoaster for me (in a good way :cool:).
Click to expand...

i logged 260 hours on me 1 over 3 playthroughs getting to cap level 60 then when the ps3 trilogy version came out i bought it me1 took 16 hours 100% level 30-36 me2 60-70 hours me3 took 120 hours as i did a full completion with all dlc
 
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