Mass Effect... Why Is It Good?

[_Fracture8]

Just a rant. Leave now if you're prone to being a fanboy or just can't handle opinions.

 

So after years of mates ripping me out for not playing the Mass Effect trilogy, I've gone and bought it and have just started getting to ME1. I've been told that it's one of the golden titles of gaming, and from the trailers, previews and reviews it seemed like it would be a worthy time sink.

I booted it up, made my own character with the most preposterous face in the history of plastic surgery. Then chose the "Infiltrator" as the class of choice.

So while going through Eden Prime and all that shiz, I noticed the combat wasn't... good. Like. At all.

 

Going Infiltrator was probably my first mistake. The sniper's damage feels underwhelming and the scope prances about as if you're simultaneously drunk and inflicted with parkinson's. Aiming seems to go all over the place if you fire more than two shots in a row.

 

Combat and aiming feels clunky and the cover system takes a "I'll work whenever I bloody feel like it" approach, same thing with automatic Melee. I've been killed far too many times wanting to butt someone's head in only to take a whole round of ammo and die within breathing distance.

 

Although I will admit they're barely upgraded, abilites seem to do little to no CC or damage. The one that apparently "overheats" weapons only seems to affect one target and lasts around the time it takes for the enemy to riddle your corpse full of holes. Which by the way seems to take less than a second if you're caught out of cover. Shame it doesn't work vice versa, as most enemies take 2 - 3 shots with a sniper to kill.

The companions AI feels glitchy and slow to respond, they seem to miss around 80% of their shots (and yes I checked to make sure they used the weapons they were trained in). Their abilities are in the same boat as yours. Practically useless.

 

After killing about as many Geth as it took my mouse it hit "load last save" I got to the Citadel. In which all the Lore seemed to flood in from nowhere. And while that lore is FANTASTIC, I really wasn't keen to be doing 2 hours of it while running simplistic parcel missions in a giant maze of open space. It just got to a point where enough was enough and talking to one more git with a racial issue would send me careening through the nearest window.

Now for the worst part... After getting through the Citadel and looking for Liara I came across a "Stronghold" on one of those buggy/tank hybrid missions. Going inside I found a bunch of camping Pirates inside.

Companions only wanted to rush in with ineffective weapons with which they couldn't aim to save themselves. Only to duck behind a cover system that "didn't feel like working". Then tried to use abilites that had no effectiveness whatsoever. As pirates gunned them down since their firepower and health values outmatched ours 5:1. All in the meantime I'm swearing and cussing at them trying to snipe with my parkinson's-ridden hands doing miniscule amount of damage. While all these A-holes seemed to have invulnerability phases and CAN RESURRECT FROM THE @(*()$ DEAD WHEN THEY FEEL LIKE IT. It just seemed absolutely @(*()$ ridiculous.

I'm trying to get into this game I really am. The lore fascinates me and if only these simple things were fixed I would probably say it's one of the best sci-fi games I've played (Warframe aside of course). I don't know if I'm just playing like a scrub or underlevelled or if this entire rant has some sort of merit. But just playing this game leaves me with a salty taste and clenched fists whenever combat is involved.

If you have any tips on how to improve or get past the these problems feel free. But if I don't a way past this I'm probably just going to give up on it within a day or two.

TL;DR - Mass Effect has horrible combat mechanics yet is praised as the greatest trilogy ever. Noob player (Infiltrator class) here looking for tips.

 

Also was picking Infiltrator a good choice? I feel as though that may have contributed to half of my problem with this game (was thinking of going Vanguard originally)
 

Edited June 2, 2015 by KilelrDrone492

[TheErebus.]

Horrible combat mechanics?
The first game: Okay maybe.

Second game: It's solid and works well enough

Third game: Best of the series in terms of combat.

 

It seems as though you're playing the first game right now, it gets better believe me. The combat does change for the better.

 

It is considered good because the story and universe is very deep.

Character wise: A lot of them are amazing.

Garrus is a bro to the end

Tali is muh waifu <3

Solus is just a badass.

Wrex is AWESOME.

Edited June 2, 2015 by Emperor-Pizza-The-Great

[Spikey844]

Honest answer? Get Mass Effect 2, import a save file from someone who has finished the game and uploaded it for that exact reason, and play that. Its what I did, and I have absolutely zero regrets.

[TheErebus.]

Honest answer? Get Mass Effect 2, import a save file from someone who has finished the game and uploaded it for that exact reason, and play that. Its what I did, and I have absolutely zero regrets.

Yeah, ME2 is the best in my opinion.

Good combat, amazing story and the choices really do matter. Like it feels as if the ramifications of your choices holds a lot of weight.

[Spikey844]

Yeah, ME2 is the best in my opinion.

Good combat, amazing story and the choices really do matter. Like it feels as if the ramifications of your choices holds a lot of weight.

Very true. I haven't got 3, but I plan to eventually. I think for ME2 I have a character for almost every class bar engineer.

[-Nevala-]

Horrible combat mechanics?

The first game: Okay maybe.

Second game: It's solid and works well enough

Third game: Best of the series in terms of combat.

 

Pretty much this. Though the story seems to go in the opposite direction IMO.

[_Fracture8]

Yeah, ME2 is the best in my opinion.

Good combat, amazing story and the choices really do matter. Like it feels as if the ramifications of your choices holds a lot of weight.

 

Glad to hear it gets better. At least EA can improve upon something instead of piledriving it into the ground and drinking the sweet tears of it's fanbase

[Spikey844]

Glad to hear it gets better. At least EA can improve upon something instead of piledriving it into the ground and drinking the sweet tears of it's fanbase

ME2 is probably the only example of this in its entire history!

[Raniu]

ME1 was the worst one in the trilogy (still golden, but worst of three).

 

But you should play it for the story's sake. It'll be worth it. You'' get used to the combat, it's not totally broken, seen worse xD

 

 

Honest answer? Get Mass Effect 2, import a save file from someone who has finished the game and uploaded it for that exact reason, and play that. Its what I did, and I have absolutely zero regrets.

 

No. You'll regret :C

[TheErebus.]

Pretty much this. Though the story seems to go in the opposite direction IMO.

I felt like ME1 was more story focused, but it felt boring and I typically just rush straight through it to get to ME2.

 

Glad to hear it gets better. At least EA can improve upon something instead of piledriving it into the ground and drinking the sweet tears of it's fanbase

Just rush the hell through ME1 if you can't stand it anymore.

[_Fracture8]

It is considered good because the story and universe is very deep.

Character wise: A lot of them are amazing.

Garrus is a bro to the end

Tali is muh waifu <3

Solus is just a badass.

Wrex is AWESOME.

 

Agreed, the lore right off the bat feels incredible. I even read all the planet descriptions ffs...

Shame about that other half of the game *shudders*

[Spikey844]

No. You'll regret :C

Why will I regret? I read up on the story, so I know what happens.

[Omnimorph]

Just play it on easy difficulty so you can enjoy the story.

[_Fracture8]

Just wondering if picking Infiltrator was a good choice for a starting player? Maybe Vanguard would have been a better option?

[TheErebus.]

Just wondering if picking Infiltrator was a good choice for a starting player? Maybe Vanguard would have been a better option?

I picked Soldier. Primarily because the first two games limit your weapons on your class (in the second game, in the first it's just how well you preform in certain weapons) , while the third game opens it up to all weapons, but you can excel at some others.

[Revel72]

Well... Mass Effect series in design and game play managed to do: Gut punch moments (moments when you found out that your actions actually has more meaning than you thought) side characters or normandy crew feels more of friend than actual soldiers in most of the game. Their opinions changes as you do decisions. Your actions actually has real consequences GET OUT OF HERE STALKER! I only played the third one and in first time... I chose Geth over Quarians and Tali commit suicide. That was a gut punch to me. It made me think that... Was it a good choice... Because... OW!

 

The characters actually are really real in the game. Not just we go do this S#&amp;&#036; and get home rich. The game captured. WAR in fashion of Call of Duty Modern Warfare. Gut punches. That is what games should be about that we get that kind of moment... And we start to think deeply. Because without deep thinking on somethings you are actually much more far away from truth than you think. And deeply thinking doesn't even require that much. It is just that. Stop for a moment and just stare at nothing.

[-Nevala-]

I'm used to ME1's broken combat. It's pretty hilarious, extremely wonky but workable. To be honest I liked having the Mako and free roaming around planets, as well as actual exploration quests. Though I hated surveying. A lot. But still, the galaxy sort of felt real. Aside from the Mako dancing off of 89 degree slopes and getting stuck in piles of extremely pointy rocks. 

 

Glitching aside I enjoyed the fact that we got to do all this in ME1. I was sort of disappointed at the lack of vehicles in ME2 [temporary hammerhead doesn't count] but it did at least have some side quests where you could land on planets and have little mini-stories to them. ME3 was by far the biggest disappointment with the utterly ridiculous damn amount of fetch quests where you'd literally hover over a planet, click on it and get the item, then go back to the citadel without even having to land on a planet or engage in combat. I liked the highlights of ME3's campaign, i.e. the major battles, but very little in terms of side quests. The combat was definitely the strongest point though, and the main reason why I still played multiplayer for a while despite not really feeling like playing the story anymore. Though, sticky cover and glitchy movement still apply in certain scenarios. and god damn sync kills. i won't even talk about those.

 

p.s. you can basically have infinite money in ME1 while being dirt poor in 2 and 3.

Edited June 2, 2015 by Kygro

[TheErebus.]

Well... Mass Effect series in design and game play managed to do: Gut punch moments (moments when you found out that your actions actually has more meaning than you thought) side characters or normandy crew feels more of friend than actual soldiers in most of the game. Their opinions changes as you do decisions. Your actions actually has real consequences GET OUT OF HERE STALKER! I only played the third one and in first time... I chose Geth over Quarians and Tali commit suicide. That was a gut punch to me. It made me think that... Was it a good choice... Because... OW!

 

The characters actually are really real in the game. Not just we go do this S#&$ and get home rich. The game captured. WAR in fashion of Call of Duty Modern Warfare. Gut punches. That is what games should be about that we get that kind of moment... And we start to think deeply. Because without deep thinking on somethings you are actually much more far away from truth than you think. And deeply thinking doesn't even require that much. It is just that. Stop for a moment and just stare at nothing.

While I do agree that the characters feel "real", you cannot say the same for the romance characters.

It doesn't feel like there is any connection whatsoever, like the romance doesn't even exist until you tell them "I wanna sex you". 

 

As opposed to another game (Persona) where even after you romance the characters, the romance still continues onwards and doesn't just end there.

Now while it does continue into the other games in ME, the only one that I feel is more of an actual romance is the Liara arch. Primarily because there is a lot of drama going on and tons of development you and Liara gotta get through.

[letir]

First ME heavily relaying on stats. Underleveled character without modded guns are weak, you should wait a bit. If struggle is too much, try to play Soldier first and open Assult Rifles for everyone - it will help.

 

Infiltrator is good, if you know what to do and mod your weapon right. Pistol is good all-rounder (after Assult Rifle), and Sniper Rifle will help on open plains of secondary missions. In ME2-3 it's basically OP character, who can take down pretty much anyone with his invis.

[Revel72]

While I do agree that the characters feel "real", you cannot say the same for the romance characters.

It doesn't feel like there is any connection whatsoever, like the romance doesn't even exist until you tell them "I wanna sex you". 

 

As opposed to another game (Persona) where even after you romance the characters, the romance still continues onwards and doesn't just end there.

Now while it does continue into the other games in ME, the only one that I feel is more of an actual romance is the Liara arch. Primarily because there is a lot of drama going on and tons of development you and Liara gotta get through.

 

I never cared about romance in games completely. I spoke in over all the characters towards player are not at all disconnected. One thing what really was a gut punch to me was exactly fem shep and liara romance. I just thought "Okay... It can happen in real life but... I just need a brain wash now..."

[StellaPotato]

oh mass effect,

yeah i was given the same spiel about it,

one of the biggest regrets of my gaming life

wish i could just forget it

 

the only one in terms of actually feeling good and responsive and having any semblance of a polished gameplay is the third one.

 

"where others games came out at the same time of Me 1 and 2 and had stellar gameplay so there was no excuse for them to not have it"

 

 

but my biggest issue is what people go on and on about

the story

 

where to even start?

 

well for one, its really really boring,

too many of the characters are entirely one dimensional to the point where you can run two playrthoughs,  be too completely different types of Shepard in terms of personality" ill get to this too"

 

and they respond the same

 

example

 

garrus is just a bro no matter what you do,

doesn't really make any sense

 

what it does mean is in terms of him and alot of others, your choices mean nothing they respond the same to you killing man or saving his life.

which makes zero sense.

 

 

the lore is constantly forced down your throat in a choke hold point instead of spread around nicely for steady ride with ups and downs like good story driven game should

basically its akin to taking all of the harry potter novels and shoving the highlights into you brain and giving no actual context

 

its awful writing and poor lore management

 

 

but the biggest issue is the entire story and point of the game is  on too things

the reapers and shepard

the story has so many sci cliches its begging to be remade into a poor movie like alot of things in hollywood

 

 

but while the reapers are mildly interesting to a degree,

 

all of that gets over shadowed by how utterly uninteresting Sheppard is no matter how you build

and  as trilogy it all is flying at an unsteady pace towards the end

which is just painfully bad

its like they had no idea how to end it and just came up with it on the fly

literally the end makes any choices you made along the way meaningless

keeping in mind those choices feel meaningless the whole way.

 

 

its a really poorly written story with average gameplay mechanics in its best moment with either brain dead AI or too clever AI

no sense of balance or intent to make good game at all

 

 

and for game that is trying to tell a story it does a great job making that story badly written, its players  get more and more detached from it.

im firmly aware im playing game the whole time

nothing to lose myself to

no way to personalize with the characters of the tale and giving us a multi choice system that means nothing and even if its as different as murder everyone or save them

 the response of the universe and its people at large is far to similar to make either choice matter.

 

basically having played the whole trilogy 3 times each way

its just awful

why it ever was considered good blows me away but then again

people consider AC3 to be a great game so there you have it

 

 

let me give an example of damn good story driven game

infamous

one of the best franchises to tackle this in long time

infamous has weight to its choices

they blur the moral line and personalize it with more depth in one game then most games have in a trilogy in any given moment

infamous takes the concept of being a superhero and having powers

and strips away the state of mind of being a superhero

you never feel like that

you just person, a human being thrown into this extraordinary situation and you have to make your choices and live with them like human.

its never easy or meaningless

and you struggle under that weight of choices in a world that because of what you

no longer can you chose and be free

your a slave to your choices and the burden grows and compels you to stay to the path or change it like human being does.

 

 

I could go on for years about how well written infamous is and how literally everything about the games is well done

like all games it has flaws but they small and few and not game breaker like all of mass effects many flaws

ive tried many times to see it in a different light

listened to friends and podcast done researched  gave it many trys

but every time

ME merely proves how utterly poor it is at everything it attempts.

 

 

 

Basically stop now

you want a good sci game

go play the dues ex games and skip invisible war

 

you want stellar story with wonderful writing and plot driving with amazing mechanics

go play infamous  or the outstanding game that is the last of us

 

just drop this now

 

or finish it i dont really care but its just a disappointment

 

'note"

they had to add dlc with a better ending for the trilogy because it was that @(*()&#036; bad

 

 

let me put it this way

 

nathan drake is a better written character then anyone is on ME on their best moment and nathan drake is about as stereotypical thief guy but not a bad guy as it gets

[Gr33hn]

I take it you never played Baldurs Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic or Dragon Age: Origins. Bioware was a great name in the CRPG genre and the ones who did those games best.

 

CRPGs was about the story and sucking you into a fictional universe, not so much the gameplay mechanics, Mass Effect pretty much follows their previous formula, but have no fear, the sequels are more "Action RPGs" than anything.

[Neutralred]

ME was worth it for fleshing out the universe, but its actual gameplay was mostly awful. (I STILL HATE YOU, MAKO) Classes were all mostly the same, and many were terribly balanced. Play it once, toss it. Oh, and Infiltrator is just about pointless, it takes ages to get your skills up enough for sniper rifles to be worth it and Garrus does the same thing but with assault rifles. You can change class when you import to ME2 anyway. Just go Soldier for lulz and facerolling.

 

ME2 took the story down to a personal level, and had really satisfying combat while making your choices feel like they made all the difference. Classes were more restrictive but with much more divergence, which gave the game more replayability. The endrun was possibly the most satisfying endgame experience I've ever had. It was excellent overall.

 

ME3... was.

[SHIR0B0N]

Well, I can tell you that, as a Mass Effect fan myself,

 

I think Mass effect is the greatest trilogy, Story-wise. The universe it is set in, is very rich and detailed, plus you have the choice to impact the story in numerous ways.

 

In terms of gameplay, I hated ME1 (even though its my favourite mass effect) because of its horrid mechanics (WHO PUTS THE GRENADE ON R ,FFS).

 

ME2 and ME3 was better, but still not as good as it should have been. I feel you're quite restricted in your movement.

 

 

As for weapons, I always go soldier, because its the only class who can handle all weapons from the start. I don't use snipers in ME1 because of the reason you stated, only shotguns and rifles. And even then, the accuracy of the weapons is sub-par, unless you find cover and shoot from there, the crosshairs will stay smaller.

 

I will also add that character development was great in Mass Effect, as it is the only series of game who made me shed a tear over the death of an NPC.

Edited June 2, 2015 by SHIR0B0N

[Morgax]

I started with Mass Effect 2, at the time i was VERY skeptical about Third person / role playing game hybrids.

The combat for me was pretty solid, i guns very different enough to keep me interested in, story got more interesting, eventually i managed to complete the game with less than favourable results, needless to say i replayed the game with higher difficulty.

 

Mass effect 1 felt somewhat unfinished, cover system didn't worked properly, mako levels were tedium, story was interesting, i felt it was worth playing for the story alone.

 

Mass effect 3, oh boy where to begin, i know that scifi games are infamous for throwing out logic out window but dear lord there were some points where i had to cringe, (in short they chose drama trip instead of logic and reason).

a bit spoilerish part, check the fire power needed to destroy same enemy ship in different levels, it won't make sense.

 

The ending, if you ever watched Stanley Kubrick's original or remastered version of Space Odyssey, expect heavy influence there.

( i watched movie after finishing the game, it had the same effect on me, i was confused and disapointed).

 

But hey multiplayer is fun.

Edited June 2, 2015 by Morgax