The format of these posts is simple: let’s discuss a specific game or series!
Let’s discuss the Mass Effect series. What is your favorite game in the series? What aspects do you like about it? What doesn’t work for you? Are there other games that gave you similar feelings? Feel free to share any thoughts that come up, or react to other peoples comments. Let’s get the conversation going!
If you have any recommendations for games or series for the next post(s), please feel free to DM me or add it in a comment here (no guarantees of course).
Previous entries: Metroid, Journey, Resident Evil, Polybius, Tetris, Telltale Games, Kirby, LEGO Games, DOOM, Ori, Metal Gear, Slay the Spire
I enjoy the mystery around the galaxy in ME1. I enjoy the interactions in ME2 the most. However it’s a TERRIBLE TERRIBLE sequel. ME3… Honestly It’s disappointing compared to what came before, however the multiplayer was some of the best fun I ever had. Then they come out with Andromeda which has some weird retcons or interference with ME3s lore which boggles my mind. Pick a lane Bioware!
Honestly I’d reccomend the original trilogy. After more than 10 years I have learned that if you are super into ME then its best off not digging too deep if you enjoy it! I dont even go into detail pointing out the problems anymore as I dont want to spoil anyones fun! lol
ME3 was an amazing game up until the last ten minutes
I acutually have many problems with ME3. Some are little things and some are big things. Like I’m not a fan of the click npc and stand around or run in circles while they all talk to each other thing personally. Im much more into the whole chatting thing via the dialogue wheel. (But that’s just a preference. I also wish they had kept Mordins original VA)
Most problems in ME3 can be boiled down to a poor framework left in ME2. ME3 starts with you under house arrest after a bit of a time skip. So you are instantly dropped off into a situation that you dont really know whats going on with people around you that you have relationships with that you dont really know. Then instantly its all “we need to save earth”… because reasons… like I get it… saving Earth is important… but it’s mostly marketting. “Take Back Earth!”. Earth isn’t important when it comes to stopping the reapers. Then you have to get to mars because the Prothean Archives are bigger than originally thought (because reasons) and they think there are some plans for a superweapon left by the protehans (maybe?). It’s an asspull. The entire crucible thing is just thrown in there because they had nothing set up from the previous games. Don’t get me wrong, the writers did great considering they had written themselves into a corner, but it’s a hell of a lot worse than it could have been.
The Mass Effect Trilogy will always be known to me as a trilogy that only scratched it’s potential. I eagerly wait a remake of the series with a lot of these problems ironed out.
I consider myself a pretty big science fiction fan. I’ve read a ton of science fiction novels, both old and new. I enjoy Star Trek. Love Star Wars. I like a lot of science-fiction themed video games, like Zone of the Enders, the original Bioshock, Borderlands, Prey (both the original and remake), Halo, Metroid, Half-Life, Fallout, etc.
I utterly loathe Mass Effect. I consider it one of the worst pieces of science-fiction ever created. I consider the overly sleek aesthetic of everything, from the ships, to the weapons, to the armor hideous. I consider the characters underwritten. The political entity that runs the galaxy is an uninteresting and derivative bureaucracy. The conflict between the various member races and their respective histories are far more interesting than the looming conflicts of the giant undead space robots looking to destroy the galaxy. And as a game, the gameplay is repetitive and uninteresting. Many of the enemies eventually just become damage soaks. The weapons and abilities are generally forgettable. I don’t think I’ve ever had less mentally impactful combat in a game before (as a note, I consider this a general issue with third-person shooters). And the inventory management in the first game was painfully terrible. I remember getting to the end of the game and having to spend an hour to manage my fucking inventory right before the last fight because I literally ran out of space and at a certain point all the crap you’ve collected just becomes worthless and pointless to have.
I played the first two games. I hated the first one when it came out and still hated it when I revisited it years later. I did like the incredibly janky Mass Mobile, as it was so poorly implemented that it was hilarious to watch it bounce off of random pieces of landscape like it was made of rubber. The second game I also really disliked because of the bifurcated Paragon and Renegade oppositional morality system that seemed really popular with that era of RPGs. And I didn’t even bother with the third. The games are just dull and frustrating, and I’ve never understood the love people have for them.
Funny, I feel the same way about Fallout and The Witcher. Just… don’t get the appeal. As always, to each their own. Hence why I generally try to avoid yucking other people’s yums.
If anyone enjoys the game, that’s great. Nothing I say should take away someone else’s fun, but from my perspective, if you let another person’s negative perception of something you enjoy diminish your enjoyment of that thing, the only one who has “yucked your yum” is yourself.
Ahh yes, the old “sticks and stones” defense that completely ignores human nature and basic decency. I use the same logic when I tell other people their babies are ugly. “Look, if you ask me your kid is an eyesore but it’s just my opinion so I don’t know why you’re so mad right now…”
I’m emotionally incapable of accepting that other people dislike things I enjoy and I perceive their criticism of those things as personal attacks. When they tell me that this is a personal problem that I have and that I should learn to accept that people are complicated and that enjoying something someone else does not is perfectly valid and shouldn’t impact my sense of self-worth, I piss and shit myself and tell them that they’re calling my baby ugly. Because that’s how I think of the mindless entertainment I consume: as the closest thing I’ll ever have to children.
Fascinating. Thank you for sharing.
Even though I agree with you and feel that you did nothing wrong with your original comment, I believe that there are less combative ways to point this out.
Femshep renegade is the only way to go
