Mass Effect Trilogy

[Amentep]

While there were aspects of the buggy that I liked (I enjoyed humming the Moon Patrol theme while doing it too), ultimately the big drawback is that it consists of large swaths of nothing to do.

 

This was replaced by the planet scanning which consisted of large swaths of nothing to do.

 

Both would have been better by more focused use of the time.

 

That said, I didn't hate either and actually always do as much as I can on both when I've played the games.

[alanschu]

I'd agree that the first was more RPG.

 

I was actually really disappointed with the reaction to Alpha Protocol, because to me it played a lot like ME1.

[HoonDing]

Calling it now: Necrons.

[Calax]

Personally, I'd hope that they took the Mako and brought it back, but the missions you do on it are legit "I'm an explorer" side quests where you land on a planet and make your way through terrible terrain before finding something. Heck, make it vehicle platforming, so instead of making "challenge" based around combat, you also have to figure out just how to get from point A) to point B).

 

And do a sort of "stranded" quest, where you and your crew are stuck in the Mako for a while moving from place to place in hostile territory, trying to make it to an extraction zone.

[babaganoosh13]

I just wish the Mako could scale mountains a lot better, so you didn't have to find just the right spot and angle, which was a real bitch even on my 6th playthough.

[Gorth]

While there were aspects of the buggy that I liked (I enjoyed humming the Moon Patrol theme while doing it too), ultimately the big drawback is that it consists of large swaths of nothing to do.

 

This was replaced by the planet scanning which consisted of large swaths of nothing to do.

 

Both would have been better by more focused use of the time.

 

That said, I didn't hate either and actually always do as much as I can on both when I've played the games.

Planet scanning was awful. That's being nice to it. The moon buggy game became tedious after a while, but I'm not sure how things work at Bioware. Sometimes, it's like rather than improving things with potential they throw in the towel and just toss it out, replace it with other filler (i.e. planet scanning). The search, grab and run stuff in ME3 was actually a decent compromise and I'll admit I enjoying the getting out of a system by a hairs breadth on occasion before the Reapers got me. I think they could have run with the moon buggy idea though and expanded on it.

 

As for combat, after having played all 3 game back to back, I don't find that ME2&3 compares very well to 1. Something about the larger, open spaces, the feeling (illusion?) of physics being at play etc. just creates a much better experience, even if enemy AI probably was better in ME3.

 

What we need is a ME Redux pinching the best of all 3

[alanschu]

I am purely speaking from a fan perspective, but there could also be tech challenges that the Mako had (ME1 was a rough dev cycle)

[babaganoosh13]

The Mako thing for me is just nitpicking. I liked searching every square inch of the grid, finding every survey location, and uncharted building. Not to mention Thresher Maw hunting. I didn't miss it that much in 2 based on the mountain scaling, and I liked the (few) Hammerhead missions. I just assumed they couldn't figure out the mountain thing, so they scrapped it.

[alanschu]

The Mako used to be able to climb 90 degree surfaces

 

(There's a great internal shirt about the Mako Exploration Team which shows the Mako going straight up hahaha)

[babaganoosh13]

I wanted to find a straight up commercial for an r/c car that goes up a wall, but I couldn't and that makes me a sad panda.

[Nepenthe]

I really liked the crit path Mako missions, and hoped until the bitter end that there would've been one in ME3/DLC. I found it vastly preferrable to the arcade minigame-y Hammerhead.

 

I really need to do another run-through of the whole trilogy.

[HoonDing]

So is the entire trilogy going to be retconned for ME4?

[Bos_hybrid]

So only 18% of players played femshep.....

 

ME4 will feature a male only protagonist.

[Halaster]

The Mako subconsciously made the ME universe that much deeper. Being able to select a system, then cluster, and then some random planet, and just land on it, possibly uncovering some prothean ruins or Cerberus base ... made the thing feel real, big and open. I spent hours just landing at places and enjoying the vistas.

 

As a mini-game, Mako got dull real quick - almost as quick as planet scanning in ME2. Perhaps if the devs had put in an 'upgrade' that let the Mako scan for the stuff (never thought I'd be proposing a quest-compass mechanism...)

 

But if ME1 had not had the Mako or Tali, I'm guessing ME would not have been in with a chance at becoming a huge part of pop culture, before ME3 even credibly aspiring to dethrone Star Wars.

[kirottu]

So... *cough* I finally got around and finished Mass Effect 3. Well I finished it twice, because apparently shooting Catalyst in his stupid little head wasn't proper way to end things. You wont get "long service medal" or "legend" achievements from that. Then I remembered my Shepard was pure paragon and I went for the synthesis ending, where everyone lives happily ever after with creepy green glow.

 

The Bad:

Dream sequences : I have no idea what these were supposed to be or supposed to represent, but I don't think they worked in any way.

 

Kai Leng cut scenes : Why? Just why? Shepard just stands there watching Kai Leng kill Thane. Why couldn't I just lift them both in the air and put two bullets in Kai Lengs head. When I actually get to fight Kai Leng another cut scene comes and would you look at that: Kai Leng wins. Whee. Only thing worse than watching my character be totally powerless in a cut scene is winning a fight when I lose the fight it in the next cut scene.

 

Catalyst dialogue : 30 million years of bull****. What the hell? I got Legion and Tali work together in 2. I made peace with the geth in 3 and I have to stand there and listen when Catalyst tells me there can never be peace between synthetics and organics?! It was like who ever made that dialogue hadn't actually played 2 or 3.

 

Shepard "The Stalker" quests : "I heard you were looking for this so I went deep in to Reaper territory and got your *whatever* back"

 

Over all I felt there was too many cut scenes and too many dialogues that just play out without my input.

 

Otherwise it was a good game.

Edited January 28, 2014 by kirottu

[FTL_Dodo]

Mass Effect 3 really killed whatever interest I might have had in the sequels, moreover, it retroactively killed all my enjoyment of preceding games. It was the first time ever that a game was able to do something like that to me - I can't even replay the original which I adored and played more times than I care to admit. I just think about stupid, stupid Crucible and stupid, stupid Reapers, and Shepard being an utter moron, and I just can't. I still can't believe how they could take such a wonderful, fresh, beautifully constructed universe, and wreck it like that. Well done, BioWare.

[213374U]

So... *cough* I finally got around and finished Mass Effect 3. Well I finished it twice, because apparently shooting Catalyst in his stupid little head wasn't proper way to end things. You wont get "long service medal" or "legend" achievements from that. Then I remembered my Shepard was pure paragon and I went for the synthesis ending, where everyone lives happily ever after with creepy green glow.

 

The Bad:

Dream sequences : I have no idea what these were supposed to be or supposed to represent, but I don't think they worked in any way.

 

Kai Leng cut scenes : Why? Just why? Shepard just stands there watching Kai Leng kill Thane. Why couldn't I just lift them both in the air and put two bullets in Kai Lengs head. When I actually get to fight Kai Leng another cut scene comes and would you look at that: Kai Leng wins. Whee. Only thing worse than watching my character be totally powerless in a cut scene is winning a fight when I lose the fight it in the next cut scene.

 

Catalyst dialogue : 30 million years of bull****. What the hell? I got Legion and Tali work together in 2. I made peace with the geth in 3 and I have to stand there and listen when Catalyst tells me there can never be peace between synthetics and organics?! It was like who ever made that dialogue hadn't actually played 2 or 3.

 

Shepard "The Stalker" quests : "I heard you were looking for this so I went deep in to Reaper territory and got your *whatever* back"

 

Over all I felt there was too many cut scenes and too many dialogues that just play out without my input.

 

Otherwise it was a good game.

 

Yeah... the ending was universally panned, with good reason. I get that the game is not supposed to be about a feel-good trip, but slapping you across the face by ignoring everything you have done so far for the sake of an "artistic vision" is a huge step back in this medium. This is also without getting into how nonsensical, quackish, and generally awful the writing that facilitates it all is.

 

A collection of cool and touching moments, brought down overall by writer egomania. Certainly not the climactic finale it was set up to be.

 

The MP was kind of addicting, though.

 

You made the right choice the first time around, btw. Shoot the bugger in the face, then alt+F4.

[Oner]

On a related note: www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/131538-Update-Fan-Fixes-Mass-Effect-3-Ending-With-A-539-Page-Rewrite

[Malcador]

Yep, Bioware fans are mental.

[Hassat Hunter]

I consider the open exploration worlds of ME1 to be its detriment.

Sadly, it got replaced by planet scanning.

Which was a LOT worse (I actually liked the Mako).

And then they had to introduce the Hammerhead, which was by far the worst few missions of ME2.

I certainly will skip those if I ever replay it. It was so bad, give me back my MAKO dammit!

It was like adding insult to injury...

When I actually get to fight Kai Leng another cut scene comes and would you look at that: Kai Leng wins. Whee. Only thing worse than watching my character be totally powerless in a cut scene is winning a fight when I lose the fight it in the next cut scene.

They obviously haven't learned the Malak lesson.

*swoops down all health in 1 strike* Bastila; "He's too powerful, let me sacrifice myself"

Me: *facepalm*

ME3 devs: Best. Moment. Ever!!!

 

Over all I felt there was too many cut scenes and too many dialogues that just play out without my input.

I actually really liked ME3. Not as much as ME1, but way more than plotless ME2.

It had issues, but the main plot was pretty good, dispair could be felt, important choices to be made. The earth leadup was awesome.

Shame they had to ruin it in the end...

 

Yeah... the ending was universally panned, with good reason. I get that the game is not supposed to be about a feel-good trip, but slapping you across the face by ignoring everything you have done so far for the sake of an "artistic vision" is a huge step back in this medium. This is also without getting into how nonsensical, quackish, and generally awful the writing that facilitates it all is.

 

A collection of cool and touching moments, brought down overall by writer egomania. Certainly not the climactic finale it was set up to be.

I can't help but think the game would have been so much better if it all ended there on Earth. You're actually defeated (so no happy ending), the enemies have won, and all of that which they wished to portray happened.

 

But noooooooooo, they had to add spacekid rather than a proper "you're screwed over, here are the results of your loss" (an awesome thing Game of Thrones had when loosing the bossfight, but here it would be just the generic ending, taking in account what you did in the past).

 

I'm sure some people still would be dissapointed (as always seen with non-happy endings), but it wouldn't be as **** as the current way.

Edited January 28, 2014 by Hassat Hunter

[Meshugger]

I still haven't played ME3. The whole ending debacle made me lose all interest.

[Gorgon]

So only 18% of players played femshep.....

 

ME4 will feature a male only protagonist.

Only played femshep. 

 

 

So... *cough* I finally got around and finished Mass Effect 3. Well I finished it twice, because apparently shooting Catalyst in his stupid little head wasn't proper way to end things. You wont get "long service medal" or "legend" achievements from that. Then I remembered my Shepard was pure paragon and I went for the synthesis ending, where everyone lives happily ever after with creepy green glow.

 

The Bad:

Dream sequences : I have no idea what these were supposed to be or supposed to represent, but I don't think they worked in any way.

 

Kai Leng cut scenes : Why? Just why? Shepard just stands there watching Kai Leng kill Thane. Why couldn't I just lift them both in the air and put two bullets in Kai Lengs head. When I actually get to fight Kai Leng another cut scene comes and would you look at that: Kai Leng wins. Whee. Only thing worse than watching my character be totally powerless in a cut scene is winning a fight when I lose the fight it in the next cut scene.

 

Catalyst dialogue : 30 million years of bull****. What the hell? I got Legion and Tali work together in 2. I made peace with the geth in 3 and I have to stand there and listen when Catalyst tells me there can never be peace between synthetics and organics?! It was like who ever made that dialogue hadn't actually played 2 or 3.

 

Shepard "The Stalker" quests : "I heard you were looking for this so I went deep in to Reaper territory and got your *whatever* back"

 

Over all I felt there was too many cut scenes and too many dialogues that just play out without my input.

 

Otherwise it was a good game.

 

Yeah... the ending was universally panned, with good reason. I get that the game is not supposed to be about a feel-good trip, but slapping you across the face by ignoring everything you have done so far for the sake of an "artistic vision" is a huge step back in this medium. This is also without getting into how nonsensical, quackish, and generally awful the writing that facilitates it all is.

 

A collection of cool and touching moments, brought down overall by writer egomania. Certainly not the climactic finale it was set up to be.

 

The MP was kind of addicting, though.

 

You made the right choice the first time around, btw. Shoot the bugger in the face, then alt+F4.

 

The ending was too structually perfect. Didn't think the whole organic vs synthetic warrented that much spelling out. It got tedious. Much better to have focused on your team menbers in the final mission like ME2. Making decisions, who lives and who dies. That kind of thing.

 

Dream sequences with the kid were horribly annoying.

[Enoch]

I finished it twice, because apparently shooting Catalyst in his stupid little head wasn't proper way to end things. You wont get "long service medal" or "legend" achievements from that.

 

I did the same thing when I played it, and was infuriated that the last save point was just before jumping into the beam-thing on Earth.  Stumbling forward very slowly down long corridors is not a fun way to end a video game that is mostly about being a kickass sci-fi commando.  Doing it twice, doubly so. 

 

 

As you might see if you look back at the earlier part of this thread, my bottom line on the game was similar-- apart from the plot nonsense it was a good game, but not as good as ME2 was.  The 3rd game had less enemy variety, less encounter-design variety, and fewer and less-interesting companions.  But the core formula of pausable 3rd-person powers/guns combat, paired with in-depth character-focused dialogues and solid sci-fi world design remains enjoyable. 

[Hurlshort]

I enjoyed the whole trilogy from start to finish.  The expanded ending was a satisfactory conclusion for me.

[Nepenthe]

 

I finished it twice, because apparently shooting Catalyst in his stupid little head wasn't proper way to end things. You wont get "long service medal" or "legend" achievements from that.

 

I did the same thing when I played it, and was infuriated that the last save point was just before jumping into the beam-thing on Earth.  Stumbling forward very slowly down long corridors is not a fun way to end a video game that is mostly about being a kickass sci-fi commando.  Doing it twice, doubly so. 

 

 

As you might see if you look back at the earlier part of this thread, my bottom line on the game was similar-- apart from the plot nonsense it was a good game, but not as good as ME2 was.  The 3rd game had less enemy variety, less encounter-design variety, and fewer and less-interesting companions.  But the core formula of pausable 3rd-person powers/guns combat, paired with in-depth character-focused dialogues and solid sci-fi world design remains enjoyable. 

 

 

Pretty much could've written this myself, but I didn't feel like there was less variety in encounters... but I did find the ending from Thessia onwards (Horizon was good, but Thessia, earth and the ending were pretty dire) very disappointing. Agree that fewer companions was another critical failure, even if the citadel dlc patched something back in.

 

Remains the biggest gaming disappointment I have endured. And that includes not getting NWN to ever work properly.