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BTTP : the original Mass Effect

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UnluckyKate

Member
After loving and playing through every angles of ME2 and 3, I stood back and realise I played only once through the original ME when it got released so I need to go back at it.

Well... maybe that was a mistake. When many people say its the best, I'm having the worst exeprience. First, i made the mistake to roll and Adept, when there is now power combos (biotic explosions) and the cast class is really underpower. It's been really buffed and revamp in 2 and 3. I had trouble with combat because it's wonky but also because of my very limited class.

second of all, the PC port is really bad. Like, I didn't remember this bad. Some texture are damn fine. Others are just... Wrong. Garrus' face first. Seriously, why his face texture isn't loading ?!

Also, I have the feeling that every random NPC I encounter are from ME2 or 3. Oh wait... And that's not it. Every assets is just balantly re use again and again through the game but also through the trilogy. It doesn't feel like the world is united or credible. It just feels really lazy.

Finaly, my biggest complain so far : wonky combat + incredibly bad pacing and check point system. Yes, auto save is on, yes, combat is easy, but I got on shot from many enemies in the first hours of the game. The first massive encounter on Prime were deadly to me. Team mates power weren't casting properly, MediGel can take forever to register and actually work, etc... Sometimes, like on Therum, you walk out of the Mako, fight your way through many areas and enemies, got a cut scene, start a boss fight (Geth Colossus) and I die instanly because of a laser something. ok. Back to mako. SERIOUSLY. This happens ALL THE TIME. I just died from Benezia and I'm all the way back to some place I did an hour ago. All the exploration ? hacking ? conversation ? side quests ? GONE DO IT AGAIN spitted the check point system to my face.

Seriously, how broken the game is ? Or is it just me missing something ? I beated the last 2 on insanity with many classes but I keep dying on easy in the first one ?
 
how funny I made this thread not too long ago and I got a bunch of people telling me to "stick with it, it gets better"

And that's sorta true. The combat hasn't necessarily gotten better as much as I'm now over powered and the auto-save system hasn't necessarily gotten better either I'm just now less likely to die and therefore don't need it.

So in that sense they were right those concerns largely went away, but like last night I was doing the seen with the AA towers and it was a good 30 minutes until they let me save. That's silly.

Story is getting better and combat's not so much a chore. But the Mako is still a terrible TERRIBLE vehicle and making you drive it for a third of the game is an awful game play choice.
 
Mako Defense Force here.

(Are there even ten of us?)

I like how it felt like you were exploring worlds, which was the whole point of the game at that time. Yes, there wasn't much to do on them, and yes, a lot of it was reused, but there were a few instances that made it all worth it. A couple glorious views which I won't spoil.

Really made me feel like I was out in the galaxy, which is something ME2 and ME3 dropped the ball on to such a large degree.
 
UnluckyKate said:
Also, I have the feeling that every random NPC I encounter are from ME2 or 3. Oh wait... And that's not it. Every assets is just balantly re use again and again through the game but also through the trilogy. It doesn't feel like the world is united or credible. It just feels really lazy.
Click to expand...

Seriously? Are you aware of what you're saying? I don't get your logic.

Mass Effect came before ME2 and ME3, just so you know. *rolleyes*

ME2 feels united? You just freaking teleport to point A to point B, without any kind of exploration.

Damn Call of Duty generation.
 
Haven't played ME3 yet, but while I think ME2 was a better game from the standpoint of moment to moment gameplay, ME1 is far and away a more interesting game.
 
If you think the PC port is bad, you didn't see the 360 one. (Never played it, but its a horrible horrible mess from what i heard)

Auto saves sucks in this game compared to ME2 and ME3, so try to use quick saves as much as you can. Combat sucks too, but it wasn't so bad with my Infiltrator the other day, once i had the Sniper Rifle skill nearly maxed and with explosive rounds, i could one shot anything.

Really, the only reason i go back to ME1 is for the ambience and atmosphere. But its totally worth it just for that.

I just wish we could run all the time instead of just during combat. It takes forever to get from point A to B.
 
Haven't finished my Shep's quest to stop the reapers (or whatever he ends up doing in ME3) but Mass Effect is my favourite out of the first two.
 
Complex inventory systems are useless if every weapon is just a slight variation on another. i'd rather have 6 distinct weapons as opposed to 20 with slight point modifications.
 
I loved every minute of it. I thought the Mako wasn't that bad myself. I thought that navigating through the worlds was like a puzzle. If ME had ME3's combat, some of the banter, a simple inventory system ala ME3, and more unique places in the uncharted planets it would have been amazing.

I consider ME to be my favorite out of the trilogy. Bring Down the Sky was so good. There's nothing like exploring a massive hub like The Citadel or Feros for the first time and being in awe. I got all the achievements in it after over 300 hours logged it. I miss the elevator banter in the later ones. Wrex and Garrus were my go-to people.
 
Mass Effect was the worst in terms of gameplay, but they gave the player so much more freedom. I loved the Citadel in ME1, not just a few layers of streets, but an entire city where you could get lost if you didn't know where to go. I love shit like that. Also while the Mako itself wasn't implemented very well, I loved the idea of it. Going to random planets and explore them? Being able to get out of the Mako and walk around planets? Hell yes! It didn't quite work out that way of course; all planets had the same gravity and there was absolutely nothing to do or find. The few structures you did find where just copy/paste buildings.

I just wish ME2 and 3 had improved on it instead of dropping it. Much like the inventory system. It sucked balls in ME1, but they pretty much dumbed everything down or jettisoned it completely in the sequels. No more upgrades etc. Everything was so cut and dry. That's my main gripe with the sequels: they dumbed everything down instead of improving on it.

So in that regard ME1 is still my favorite: it had the best ideas.
 
eXistor said:
Mass Effect was the worst in terms of gameplay, but they gave the player so much more freedom. I loved the Citadel in ME1, not just a few layers of streets, but an entire city where you could get lost if you didn't know where to go. I love shit like that. Also while the Mako itself wasn't implemented very well, I loved the idea of it. Going to random planets and explore them? Being able to get out of the Mako and walk around planets? Hell yes! It didn't quite work out that way of course; all planets had the same gravity and there was absolutely nothing to do or find. The few structures you did find where just copy/paste buildings.

I just wish ME2 and 3 had improved on it instead of dropping it. Much like the inventory system. It sucked balls in ME1, but they pretty muich dumbed everything down or jettisoned it completely in the sequels. No more upgrades etc. Everything was so cut and dry. That's my main gripe with the sequels: they dumbed everything down instead of improving on it.

So in that regard ME1 is still my favorite: it had the best ideas.
Click to expand...

This is a pretty good summary of the series tbh.
 
I actually thought Adept was pretty overpowered when I played through ME1 on Hardcore right before ME3 came out. Most fights are a joke thanks to all the CC you get, to say nothing of Barrier.

Though my only point of comparison is my Infiltrator playthrough from years ago, where combat basically boiled down to "Use Marksman, hold down RT, repeat."
 
eXistor said:
Mass Effect was the worst in terms of gameplay, but they gave the player so much more freedom. I loved the Citadel in ME1, not just a few layers of streets, but an entire city where you could get lost if you didn't know where to go. I love shit like that. Also while the Mako itself wasn't implemented very well, I loved the idea of it. Going to random planets and explore them? Being able to get out of the Mako and walk around planets? Hell yes! It didn't quite work out that way of course; all planets had the same gravity and there was absolutely nothing to do or find. The few structures you did find where just copy/paste buildings.

I just wish ME2 and 3 had improved on it instead of dropping it. Much like the inventory system. It sucked balls in ME1, but they pretty much dumbed everything down or jettisoned it completely in the sequels. No more upgrades etc. Everything was so cut and dry. That's my main gripe with the sequels: they dumbed everything down instead of improving on it.

So in that regard ME1 is still my favorite: it had the best ideas.
Click to expand...

What? There is plenty of upgrades in ME3. Whether its new guns ranks, new weapon mods or armor parts/sets. Sure, there isn't millions of them(seriously, how many shitty ammo mods and guns did we ignore in ME1?), but i think there is just the right number of items in ME3.
 
I respectfully disagree. I still love Mass Effect 1 and I can still go back to it.

Yes, there aren't power combinations, but the lack of a global cooldown means that I was constantly firing off powers (although you could get close to this in ME3 if you were smart and only carried one light weapon and grab any cooldown skill you could get).

I'll admit the combat is not as good as in ME2 and ME3, but I love the seamless feel of the game.

I love the feeling of exploration I get every time I hit an uncharted planet.

I am also the crazy guy who completes every side quest every time I play the game. And I've played and beaten it fully 6 times now.

It's my favorite game, warts and all.
 
Patryn said:
I respectfully disagree. I still love Mass Effect 1 and I can still go back to it.

Yes, there aren't power combinations, but the lack of a global cooldown means that I was constantly firing off powers (although you could get close to this in ME3 if you were smart and only carried one light weapon and grab any cooldown skill you could get).

I'll admit the combat is not as good as in ME2 and ME3, but I love the seamless feel of the game.

I love the feeling of exploration I get every time I hit an uncharted planet.

I am also the crazy guy who completes every side quest every time I play the game. And I've played and beaten it fully 6 times now.

It's my favorite game, warts and all.
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Bingo.

There was a sense of a whole universe in Mass Effect, a sense of scale that 2 + 3 just did not capture.

I still think it is the best in the trilogy, mainly due to 2 + 3's respective endings.
 
Mass Effect 1 gave me a universe to discover, explore and immerse myself in. Mass Effect 2 gave me a bunch of linear levels to complete (with obligatory end of level screen) and the less said about ME 3 the better. I would take ME 1 over 2 and 3 any day of the week.
 
Best Mass Effect game by far, and probably Bioware's last [flawed] masterpiece. I've played through it about 7-8 times and while I won't try to convince anyone that movement, combat and asset reuse are not an issue, it is still a damn fine game. Probably the one with the most soul, and much closer to that classic Sci-Fi they were trying to emulate. It has it's great story moments, cool characters, it's corny in the right ways, and is a real space adventure in general.

I might just play it again soon.
 
eXistor said:
So in that regard ME1 is still my favorite: it had the best ideas.
Click to expand...

Personally, I don't see the value of games having great ideas if they're not implemented well. I also loved the idea of driving around on a variety of planets, but after poking around nondescript planet #5, the illusion fell apart.

I'll provide another example. If the narration in Bastion was terrible, its inclusion would have detracted from the game even though the concept is great.

eXistor said:
That's my main gripe with the sequels: they dumbed everything down instead of improving on it.
Click to expand...

I think that removing poorly designed elements from ME1 was absolutely a valid way to improve the series. ME2 and ME3 had improved inventory systems because I didn't have to pause the game and delete things constantly. Replacing the barren and empty planets with more focused side quests was an improvement. So while I would agree that ME2 and ME3 could have incorporated concepts from ME1 in a better way, I wont agree that leaving them out made them inferior to ME1.

The things that I wish would have carried over from ME1 to the other entries were the things that it excelled at. ME1 had a better main story thread than the next two games. ME1 had a better defined atmosphere and sense of place. ME1 had a more distinctive and fitting overall sound design. ME1 had a much more satisfying ending sequence (in terms of gameplay and narrative payoff). ME1's hub areas felt larger and offered more activities. etc.
 
The only decent ME game.


It's not perfect, the inventory system is pretty much crap (and what makes it worse, it's not it was Bioware first game or anything, so what the hell), the Mako Sections were poorly implemented and repetitive (and yet i liked them, they managed to make you feel like there was this big universe to explore out of there, a magic that Mass Turd 2 and 3 completely lost) and some characters were pretty boring (zzzzLiara).

And yet, it had its own charm, it managed to set up a decent universe and create an interesting mix of genres. I remember when i finished it, i was looking forward the sequels because i hoped they'd fix the issues ME1 had, making them better.

Then ME2 came with its lolcollectors plot and corridors words completely killing the series. Good Job Bioware.
 
I played through it recently too, picked the save file just for Saren battle, my god the graphics aged terribly compared to ME3. I loved the rpg elements in ME1 more.
 
OP needs to use quick save, it'll get rid of any progress head aches entirely. Feel free to spam it after every combat encounter if you're paranoid.

I've never felt ME1 had a huge leg up on the rest of the games. Best thing I can say about it is that you were always in control of Shepard. You would actually have walk out of the Normandy when docked, you actually had to traverse the Citadel and sit through elevators, and you actually had to explore planets.

Very cool, but honestly it's all "extra fat" in the end. Expediting the process with simple load screens and moving along with the action/plot in the following games wasn't a bad thing, plus it only made sense that you'd be patrolling solar systems (edit LOL) in the first game since your focus was on being a Specter. The following games had different agendas.
 
UnluckyKate said:
second of all, the PC port is really bad. Like, I didn't remember this bad. Some texture are damn fine. Others are just... Wrong. Garrus' face first. Seriously, why his face texture isn't loading ?!
Click to expand...

You haven't seen the source material (i.e. X360 version), have you? Compared to that PC port is glorious. Well, Garrus' face aside. You can get it fixed through mods though.

Finaly, my biggest complain so far : wonky combat + incredibly bad pacing and check point system. Yes, auto save is on, yes, combat is easy, but I got on shot from many enemies in the first hours of the game. The first massive encounter on Prime were deadly to me. Team mates power weren't casting properly, MediGel can take forever to register and actually work, etc... Sometimes, like on Therum, you walk out of the Mako, fight your way through many areas and enemies, got a cut scene, start a boss fight (Geth Colossus) and I die instanly because of a laser something. ok. Back to mako. SERIOUSLY. This happens ALL THE TIME. I just died from Benezia and I'm all the way back to some place I did an hour ago. All the exploration ? hacking ? conversation ? side quests ? GONE DO IT AGAIN spitted the check point system to my face.
Click to expand...

You're playing on PC and you rely on autosave? Press F5 (quick save) every once in a while (after every encounter, cut-scene or conversation :P) and you're done.

Patryn said:
I am also the crazy guy who completes every side quest every time I play the game. And I've played and beaten it fully 6 times now.
Click to expand...

Internet high-five! I've played through the game 5 times (I wait for a new PC to replay it few more times :P), and each time I tried to do all missions and collect all the junk collectables. The game has its flaws, lots of them (the horrible inventory being the main one), but I still love it.
 
I did not care for it one bit. The controls just always felt "off" for both the Mako and when just running around the world.

Part of my issue (and many other people's) could be that it looks soooo much like a third-person shooter, but it is really just an RPG. It does not compare favorably as a shooter to even B and C tier shooters this gen, which then leads to it feeling like a failure in that aspect.

I did enjoy the story from what I played, and the music was great. I am just not willing to put up with what I felt was awful moment-to-moment gameplay.
 
Playing the PC version for the first time (first experience in the Mass Effect series). Really like it but I can already see where the complaints stem from. Inventory system and tactical system is janky as fuck.
 
ME1 was easily and far away the best story and plots, very bad gameplay
ME2 greatly improved gameplay, forgettable story with no meaning, just a bridge to pt3
ME3 even better gameplay, much better story but not close to ME1
 
Also forgot to mention the PC version defaulted on a grain filter effect when I played. Aside form being the stupidest effect I could think of for a pristine/futuristic setting, it also made it look like ass. Anyone currently playing the PC version might want to check that status of that filter if you'd like to improve picture clarity.
 
never forget..
the difficulty of tilting cannons
http://youtu.be/PdxQGlhra0k

I loved not having ammo, pausing combat to strategize, rolling adept with only a pistol, hovering with the mako, lens flare and film grain, holstering my weapon, loot driven progression, experience progression everywhere including per enemy, the lack of 'bullet trail' for biotic powers

so janky, and age will only amplify the tech issues.. but amazingly it's the things above and the awesome lore and atmosphere that i will remember.

also why would you change lift to pull in the sequels... so stupid.
 
BlueTsunami said:
Playing the PC version for the first time (first experience in the Mass Effect series). Really like it but I can already see where the complaints stem from. Inventory system and tactical system is janky as fuck.
Click to expand...

Protip: sell or turn into gel everything you're sure you're not going to use as soon as you can. When a message about inventory limit starts to appear, especially during a mission, you will know that you will spend the next few minutes maniacally turning everything into gel.

Arklite said:
Also forgot to mention the PC version defaulted on a grain filter effect when I played. Aside form being the stupidest effect I could think of for a pristine/futuristic setting, it also made it look like ass. Anyone currently playing the PC version might want to check that status of that filter if you'd like to improve picture clarity.
Click to expand...

I dunno, I liked the filter. It helped hiding low-res textures. And those were horrible at times. First time I saw Dr. Chakwas I closed the game and started fiddling with my graphic card options because I thought something is faulty. :/
 
Arklite said:
Also forgot to mention the PC version defaulted on a grain filter effect when I played. Aside form being the stupidest effect I could think of for a pristine/futuristic setting, it also made it look like ass. Anyone currently playing the PC version might want to check that status of that filter if you'd like to improve picture clarity.
Click to expand...

I liked the grain filter and kept it on. Motion blur can go fuck itself though.
 
^To each their own I guess.

I think I was spoiled by screenshots of ME2 before I played through all of the games myself so I had this image in my head of ME games having a very clean look.
 
I turned the grain filter and motion blur off. The grain didn't bother me until there was a cutscene with a close-up of someone's face. Looked like my gpu was having a meltdown.
 
ME1 just has a different feel when I play it. It has a much stronger and cohesive story than the others and a much greater ambitious feel to it from a gameplay standpoint. It doesn't feel lazy and rushed and every response from Shepard lets you respond with a choice, even when all of the choices result in the same line it at least makes you feel like you chose it.
 
Speaking of lines... why is it that ever since the first game(and i assume other Bioware games), they give us dialogue choices, but what our character actually say sound nothing like that?

Example : I chose "You're an idiot!"
Shepard says : "I don't have time to waste with someone like you."

Whyy?
 
I love ME 1.

That being said I have been a member here for a while and have been dying to know what does LTTP and BTTP stand for?
 
The story was good and cohesive, but that was about it. The sequels improved alot of the flaws. As for a world to explore, I didn't get any of this as the game was just as linear as the sequels. The only unique aspect of ME1 was how large and explorable the Citadel was.

2 and 3's flaws are in the story and it didn't help that the universe's creator involvement left after the 1st and others took over. If Drew K stayed as lead writer throughout, things would have surely been far more cohesive
 
I started with Mass Effect 1. Out of the three I think it had the greatest sense of exploration, even if moving the Mako around was pretty wonky.

Mass Effect 2 and 3 went for a more linear route. There's nothing wrong with linear games but in this case I would of liked if they worked on expanding the sense of exploration instead of eliminating it entirely.
 
Bisnic said:
Speaking of lines... why is it that ever since the first game(and i assume other Bioware games), they give us dialogue choices, but what our character actually say sound nothing like that?

Example : I chose "You're an idiot!"
Shepard says : "I don't have time to waste with someone like you."

Whyy?
Click to expand...

Because people are too lazy to read whole lines, or think it's redundant to first read all the choices and then make Shepard repeat the whole line you've just read yourself. Also, it helps creating an illusion of choice. Very often you have a "choice" what to say, but eventually Shepard will say the same thing no matter what you've chosen.
 
hlhbk said:
I love ME 1.

That being said I have been a member here for a while and have been dying to know what does LTTP and BTTP stand for?
Click to expand...

LTTP = Late To The Party - you're playing an old game for the first time
BTTP/RTTP = Back To The Party/Return To The Party - you're replaying an old game
 
What I posted in a previous LTTP thread:

Just finished my second playthrough of Mass Effect. I originally played through it three years ago but it fell along the wayside and I never got around to Mass Effect 2 even though I enjoyed ME1 quite a bit at the time.

My plan was to get my current character, male/paragon/vanguard up to level 60 (at 56 after two playthroughs) then play through the game once more with a female/renegade/some other class before finally importing both of these characters and playing through Mass Effect 2. Now I'm second guessing that plan...I'm not sure I have the stamina to force my way through the game one more time. Double suck: unfortunately I initially bought the game before I built a decent gaming PC so I'm stuck with the Xbox version.

The game is waaaaay more janky and rough around the edges than I remember. There are so many places where it just didn't hold up during my second playthrough...

Combat: It's usually awkward, sometimes boring and occasionally completely fucking broken. The AI is generally atrocious. Combat in the Mako is a fucking joke...the shield recharges so absurdly slowly that certain sections of the game I had no choice but to drive forward, take down one Geth Colossus, drive back, wait 5 minutes for shield to recharge, rinse, repeat (playing on Hardcore difficulty).

Dialogue: The writing is hit and miss but the bigger problem is that 90% of the dialogue choices are completely meaningless. Half the time Shepard says something only vaguely related to whatever I chose as his response. Or whatever he says could have applied to any of the three choices presented to me.

The pacing sucks: The first quarter and last quarter of the game are actually pretty engaging and interesting. The main reason I don't want to replay it is the complete snore of the middle 50% - I don't know if I can raid those hot labs or whatever one more time without completely losing interest.

The Xbox version blows: Every cutscene has texture pop-in, the inventory system is a total mess and the framerate tanks constantly. The performance, in general, is fucking atrocious.

The biggest surprise, though, was how all over the place the production values are. I mean jeez, for such a hyped-up, high budget production it's poorly stitched together in a huge number of ways. The same animations are repeated constantly. Every character you engage in dialogue makes the same awkward jerky movement with their head and right hand no matter what they're talking about. At this point I can mime it exactly. And they all exit the frame in the exact same awkward, jerky fashion every damn time.

The cutscenes are generally well done but it's way too obvious when the game switches between the cutscene engine and the gameplay/dialogue engine.

And what's the deal with the architecture and interior design in Mass Effect's universe? They build giant, towering structures and fill them with two boxes and a small computer. This struck me at the point where I was raiding ExoGeni's headquarters. What the fuck kind of company is headquartered in a building like this? What do they do all day with their gigantic, empty concrete rooms? How does one run a business out of that?

Even the Citadel doesn't make sense. The consulate for an entire species is one person at a desk in a giant empty room. What the hell?

It's not even worth getting into the elevators. Elevators everywhere. I'm exploring a ruin that's tens of thousands of years old. Gotta take an elevator to go deeper inside. Huh? Stupid.

Anyways, I really want to see some of the moments in the game as an evil female (and I've heard the female VA is quite good) but I don't know if I have the gut to do all that hot labs nonsense one more time. And this is before I even begin playing Mass Effect 2.

EDIT: oh yeah and the side quests are mostly boring nonsense so the game itself ends up feeling pretty linear. Overall, I give it a 7.5/10. Maybe an 8. Maybe.
 
Complaints about the PC version inventory system is kind of funny remembering what a huge improvement it was over the 360 system. I know that that doesn't matter now, but at the time...

And the grain filter was there, if I recall correctly, because Bioware wanted to do a throwback to old-school space operas. So it wasn't really initiated as a "futuristic series." That idea (very cool in my opinion) obviously went to hell in the later iterations. Mass Effect 3 doesn't even have the grain filter option!
 
Best game in the series, and along with Dragon Age it marked the end of the old Bioware before they turned into a mass-market chasing arm of EA.

Love the complaints about jankiness and that people would rather not have something than have it be janky. That's why we're left with little more than a bland-ass Gears clone two sequels in, multiplayer and all.
 
Sulla1980 said:
Complaints about the PC version inventory system is kind of funny remembering what a huge improvement it was over the 360 system. I know that that doesn't matter now, but at the time...
Click to expand...

Now matter how atrocious the inventory was in X360 version, it's still bad in PC. No sorting option, no grouping, no mass-actions (selecting several items and selling/gelling them all at once). It's amazing no one thought about that during the development or even playtesting.
 
Piano said:
EDIT: oh yeah and the side quests are mostly boring nonsense so the game itself ends up feeling pretty linear. Overall, I give it a 7.5/10. Maybe an 8. Maybe.
Click to expand...

What I like about ME's sidequests is stories behind them. All the stories told in sidequests complete the overall story or themes presented in the main campaign. You get the feeling that whatever mission you're doing, it's still the same universe, that everything is connected. The whole Cerberus arc in ME1 is told throughout few sidestories. This is something ME2 lacked. In that game all the sidequests are disconnected from the main campaign - they either tell a completely separate story or there's no story at all (land there and kill X mercenaries/robots).
 
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