The Official Mass Effect Thread

[XtremelyBaneful]

I know that it's great, never said it wasn't, but ME3 became the best one for me, starting with the story which is wayyy better than ME2's. Each to their own.

yes, to each their own. with that being said, I think Me1 probably stands as the most favorited in the series because it's the most RPG like.

as for Me3's story, it is SUPPOSED to be the one with the best story, obviously, it is the reaper war, the inevitable plot that has been built up over 2 games. Some could even argue that Me2 was just filler. Really good filler at that, but still filler.

 

[Andrew Lucas]

Yeah, the first one was the most "RPG" of them, indeed.

ME2 was a filler, it didn't even move the story forward, the Collectors, now that the trilogy is over, turned out to be a waste of time.

ME2's core story is a really small part of the game, which is good because it’s also the worst part of the game. Everything else is polished, engaging, and witty, while the central story features some of BioWare’s sloppiest plot-work in years.

IMO, the main plot of Mass Effect 2 not only fails to stand up to scrutiny, but it retroactively goes back and messes up parts of Mass Effect 1 which worked perfectly fine. It’s cheap, obvious, and tacked-on. It fails to exploit any of the great ideas set up in the original. The only thing it keeps is the idea that “Reapers are coming from beyond known space to kill us all”. But it even screws that up, because it takes the very small number of things we know about Reapers and changes them for no good reason.

Still, a great game, because of the characters.

Miri

 

[Soapy]

word, and I'm guessing that's episode 1?

Correct.

Some could even argue that Me2 was just filler. Really good filler at that, but still filler.

You could argue that. It's telling a smaller, largely self-contained story within a bigger story. However, after Bioware fell flat on their face trying to tell their "big" story, Mass Effect 2 for me ends up having the superior story as it turns out.

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

Yeah, the first one was the most "RPG" of them, indeed.

ME2 was a filler, it didn't even move the story forward, the Collectors, now that the trilogy is over, turned out to be a waste of time.

ME2's core story is a really small part of the game, which is good because it’s also the worst part of the game. Everything else is polished, engaging, and witty, while the central story features some of BioWare’s sloppiest plot-work in years.

IMO, the main plot of Mass Effect 2 not only fails to stand up to scrutiny, but it retroactively goes back and messes up parts of Mass Effect 1 which worked perfectly fine. It’s cheap, obvious, and tacked-on. It fails to exploit any of the great ideas set up in the original. The only thing it keeps is the idea that “Reapers are coming from beyond known space to kill us all”. But it even screws that up, because it takes the very small number of things we know about Reapers and changes them for no good reason.

Still, a great game, because of the characters.

Miri

yeah, it definitely sucks that there were very few actual story missions in Me2. all of the loyalty missions which were pretty much covertly mandatory covered up for that. but luckily, the missions themselves added enough points to outweigh the lack of story missions in the game overall. Not saying the game should be forgiven for that, but just saying it is definitely worth playing, lack of story missions or not.

I wouldn't say Me2 makes the mistakes of Me1 though. The classes are more fun to play and the heat based combat sucked. What about reapers was changed from Me1 to Me2?

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

Correct.



You could argue that. It's telling a smaller, largely self-contained story within a bigger story. However, after Bioware fell flat on their face trying to tell their "big" story, Mass Effect 2 for me ends up having the superior story as it turns out.

agreed.

 

[Benstamania]

I'm still in the "everything turned out fine, I feel" camp. I enjoy all three.. The first one being the only one I find hard to go back to.

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

I got to play the first one only once. I hope the remaster is real.

 

[Soapy]

I do too. I doubt they would completely rejigger the gameplay though. That would be a pretty big undertaking for just a remaster.

I would like it if they did though. The type of RPG systems they tried to implement just didn't go with the game they were trying to make.

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

yeah. all of their resourced are going towards Me4. it is likely that the ME remaster will just be 1080p/60fps, and maybe some higher textures.

 

[Andrew Lucas]

yeah, it definitely sucks that there were very few actual story missions in Me2. all of the loyalty missions which were pretty much covertly mandatory covered up for that. but luckily, the missions themselves added enough points to outweigh the lack of story missions in the game overall. Not saying the game should be forgiven for that, but just saying it is definitely worth playing, lack of story missions or not.

I wouldn't say Me2 makes the mistakes of Me1 though. The classes are more fun to play and the heat based combat sucked. What about reapers was changed from Me1 to Me2?

In game 1, they firmly established that the Reapers were machines. The Reapers had nothing but contempt and disdain for flesh. Then Mass Effect 2 comes along and suddenly the Reapers actually have this supply of organics. In fact, their entire plan seems to involve mostly organics. They maintain this army of organics that live on a barren asteroid base for millions of years (the collectors are actually what’s left of the last race the Reapers conquered) with nothing to do but stare at the walls as the eons tick by.

The collectors weren’t mentioned in the last game, which is kind of odd since that means the Reapers left the Collectors and all their weaponry sitting around doing nothing while Sovereign attacked Citadel Station alone. And didn’t win.

Anyway, the Reapers suddenly pull this army out of their robotic asses and have them harvest other organics (humans) in order to enact their master plan which is never explained. Instead of escalating the conflict with the Reapers and fleshing out the main villain, we end up in this stupid proxy war with bug guys.

ME3 suffered from ME2's lack of progression, it had to deal with so much stuff. For example, the Crucible's existence should have been revealed back at ME2, it would feel much more natural than Liara, out of nowhere, finding blueprints about it.

 

[Andrew Lucas]

yeah. all of their resourced are going towards Me4. it is likely that the ME remaster will just be 1080p/60fps, and maybe some higher textures.

ME2 PS3's version was made with the sequel's engine, while unlikely, ME1 can go through an engine port as well, it's not impossible. It requires a lot of work tho.

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

I think the idea was always there that reapers are a hybrid of organic and inorganic material. That sort of backstory is interesting but they killed it with the leviathan crap in Me3.

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

ME2 PS3's version was made with the sequel's engine, while unlikely, ME1 can go through an engine port as well, it's not impossible. It requires a lot of work tho.

Me2 was but Me1 on Ps3 didn't get any special treatment.

 

[Andrew Lucas]

I think the idea was always there that reapers are a hybrid of organic and inorganic material. That sort of backstory is interesting but they killed it with the leviathan crap in Me3.

What? The Leviathan confirmed it, like the Catalyst did.

 

[Andrew Lucas]

Me2 was but Me1 on Ps3 didn't get any special treatment.

Yes, but I was thinking about a possible remaster. ME1 hasn't aged well.

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

What? The Leviathan confirmed it, like the Catalyst did.

I expected it to be something better than just giant organic squids that reapers are based off of 100%. that felt like the easiest way to write the reaper's backstory and makes the whole organic/inorganic thing less intricate since reapers just seem like fully inorganic versions of the leviathans.

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

Yes, but I was thinking about a possible remaster. ME1 hasn't aged well.

perhaps. Halo 2 got some pretty good treatment in the mcc. but all of the games would get a similar upgrade.

 

[Andrew Lucas]

I expected it to be something better than just giant organic squids that reapers are based off of 100%. that felt like the easiest way to write the reaper's backstory and makes the whole organic/inorganic thing less intricate since reapers just seem like fully inorganic versions of the leviathans.

Reapers don't think tho, they don't have free will. They are machines, the Catalyst controls them. That's what the Synthesis ending does, makes them and every other synthetic "alive".

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

Reapers don't think tho, they don't have free will. They are machines, the Catalyst controls them. That's what the Synthesis ending does, makes them and every other synthetic "alive".

that directly contradicts edi's comment in Me2 of reapers being a hybrid of organic and inorganic material.

 

[Andrew Lucas]

perhaps. Halo 2 got some pretty good treatment in the mcc. but all of the games would get a similar upgrade.

Precisely, I don't think it's possible.

It would be nice to see ME3's combat in the antecessors, but that would probably require having to change the combat areas to suit the update.

ME1 is the game that needs most special treatment, ME2 and ME3 will basically have a graphical update, more lens flares t:

 

[Soapy]

And this is where Mass Effect's story loses me.

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

Precisely, I don't think it's possible.

It would be nice to see ME3's combat in the antecessors, but that would probably require having to change the combat areas to suit the update.

ME1 is the game that needs most special treatment, ME2 and ME3 will basically have a graphical update, more lenses flares t:

I know I'm in the minority with this, but I liked the combat in Me2 more than Me3. I didn't like a lot of the new things they incorporated in Me3, aside from adding a multiplayer component.

 

[Andrew Lucas]

that directly contradicts edi's comment in Me2 of reapers being a hybrid of organic and inorganic material.

They're, but that doesn't mean that they have free will, or else Harbinger would've been their real leaders, he isn't, the Catalyst commands them, that's why there's a control option at the end. With machines I meant that they're just obedient and emotionless hybrids of organics and synthetics.

 

[Andrew Lucas]

I know I'm in the minority with this, but I liked the combat in Me2 more than Me3. I didn't like a lot of the new things they incorporated in Me3, aside from adding a multiplayer component.

Yeah, I'm noticing that lol. MP? Eh, never understood why the large majority of the fan base loved it so much, it's just a cheap horde mode IMO.

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

And this is where Mass Effect's story loses me.

They're, but that doesn't mean that they have free will, or else Harbinger would've been their real leaders, he isn't, the Catalyst commands them, that's why there's a control option at the end. With machines I meant that they're just obedient and emotionless hybrids of organics and synthetics.

but they're not supposed to be just machines. the starchild at the end of Me3 just explains it as if he is an all knowing being with the end answers you're looking for but really that was a bad ass cover up for a horrible explanation to an end means an ending to the game, and the trilogy.