Mass Effect Series Catch-All

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Since all kinds of different threads get side-tracked into discussion of the Mass Effect series as a whole and how the different games relate/compare to one another, here's a catch-all for all conversation related to Mass Effect 1, 2, 3, and any future installments.

Mwahahaha! It's kind of about time, really.

It is long, long, LONG past time for this thread to exist.

2 > 3 > 1

There, end of thread.

maverickz wrote:

2 > 3 > 1

There, end of thread.

Agree, if we're talking about gameplay, mechanics, character building and side mission storytelling...

Disagree if we're talking about the exploration, world design and overall major plot development (and Mako).

In that case it's 1 > 2 (thereisno3)

maverickz wrote:

2 > 1 > 3

There, end of thread.

FTFY

Dyni wrote:
maverickz wrote:

1 > 3 > 2

There, end of thread.

FTFY

Come on, now.

I've been revisiting the series. I still see 3 as the best, with 2 being great, and 1 being good.

I idiosyncratically refuse to divide the series for ranking purposes. It's all just Mass Effect for me, and it's all great.

I love all mass effect equally. You are all haters.

I think Mass Effect is preeeeeeetty great. That is all.

SpacePPoliceman wrote:

I idiosyncratically refuse to divide the series for ranking purposes. It's all just Mass Effect for me, and it's all great.

Agreed. I've been replaying it for the first time since my initial binge (I didn't play ME1 or ME2 until the run-up until ME3 and pretty much shotgunned the entire series in two weeks). It's one of the few game properties that I don't think overstays its welcome (even with the knowledge of another game in the series) and I'm really, really stoked for more. Even if it's not Shepard.

maverickz wrote:

2 > 3 > 1

There, end of thread.

This is my favorite post on the Citadel.

To build on things people were saying before the derail got moved here, each installment does something(s) uniquely better than the others. That conversation leads me to believe that people's preference for one over the others is often not so much about the game as a whole, but rather it's because that installment of the series is the one that pushes more of the right buttons for them.

My preference for 3 is based on superior game mechanics, more thought-out game design, and a story that delivers in spades. It is easily the best of the lot; truest to the vision of a Golden Age inspired scifi series.

I miss my Shepard.

Enjoyed 2 due to Miranda Lawson. So sue me!

maverickz wrote:

Enjoyed 2 due to Wilma Deering. So sue me!

FTFM(e)

I like turtles.

cheeze_pavilion wrote:
maverickz wrote:

Enjoyed 2 due to Wilma Deering. So sue me!

FTFM(e)

You have good taste.

I think ME3 is the worst, even setting the ending aside. Javik, Citadel, and a few character moments here and there the only things I like about it. Less conversation options, blow up doll EDI, Kai-Leng, mostly boring main plot missions, terrible Reaper chase mini-game, terrible fetch quests, Rachni Queen clone, too many far fetched ME2 cameos, Hackett (he sucks), worst Normady in my opinion, IM character assassination, dream sequences and the list goes on. I also don't like the enemy design / combat encounters, but I think we've had that discussion half a dozen times.

kyrieee wrote:

I think ME3 is the worst, even setting the ending aside. Javik, Citadel, and a few character moments here and there the only things I like about it. Less conversation options, blow up doll EDI, Kai-Leng, mostly boring main plot missions, terrible Reaper chase mini-game, terrible fetch quests, Rachni Queen clone, too many far fetched ME2 cameos, Hackett (he sucks), worst Normady in my opinion, IM character assassination, dream sequences and the list goes on. I also don't like the enemy design / combat encounters, but I think we've had that discussion half a dozen times.

Wait, I'm a little confused, so you didn't like ME3?

ME3 definitely does have the worst Normandy, though. ME2's was awesome, then I get into ME3 (I finished ME2 the night ME3 released, timed it pretty well) and I'm like...they ruined my ship.

Also, the stop-and-beep scanner wall thing can go straight to hell. Who let that in?

3-2-1-mobile app

maverickz wrote:
cheeze_pavilion wrote:
maverickz wrote:

Enjoyed 2 due to Wilma Deering. So sue me!

FTFM(e)

You have good taste.

Recently, I've been more inclined to think about Diana

IMAGE(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-uUkf_pHt-Y/TGLgmZfYgPI/AAAAAAAAFkI/gmVJZ3GKnbA/s1600/photo-diana.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/NyHEnvl.png?1)

I'm on board with the 'can't separate them' crowd, leaning more towards lumping 2&3 together since they are much more mechanically similar to each other than to 1. It's very interesting to see the pendulum swing on how they changed the mechanics from the first to the 2nd, and then refined them to the 3rd.

I just finished a new play of ME1 on Tuesday night and immediately fired up ME2 on Wednesday morning, and man, the graphical improvements are still WOW!

ME1 feels really, really old. (2007 isn't that old; ME1 feels much older than HL2, which came out years before.) ME2 feels like it could have come out a couple years ago even today, and that's one of the more amazing things about it.

ME1 had a weird staticky filter.

LarryC wrote:

My preference for 3 is based on superior game mechanics, more thought-out game design,

Yeah, as far as that kind of stuff, I'd say that the, um, 'issues' surrounding ME3 caused that to slip under the radar of the conversation. The more I played 3, the more I appreciated those kinds parts of it you're talking about there, the more I liked that installment.

maverickz wrote:
cheeze_pavilion wrote:
maverickz wrote:

Enjoyed 2 due to Wilma Deering. So sue me!

FTFM(e)

You have good taste.

I couldn't look at EDI's hair without thinking of Twiki's pageboy.

cheeze_pavilion wrote:
LarryC wrote:

My preference for 3 is based on superior game mechanics, more thought-out game design,

Yeah, as far as that kind of stuff, I'd say that the, um, 'issues' surrounding ME3 caused that to slip under the radar of the conversation. The more I played 3, the more I appreciated those kinds parts of it you're talking about there, the more I liked that installment.

maverickz wrote:
cheeze_pavilion wrote:
maverickz wrote:

Enjoyed 2 due to Wilma Deering. So sue me!

FTFM(e)

You have good taste.

I couldn't look at EDI's hair without thinking of Twiki's pageboy.

Her hair was the least of her worries

IMAGE(http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0sej1IQe41qkhjsco1_500.png)

The differences between the installments are really striking. If (as I said in another thread :)) 1 was inspired by '60s/'70s SF cinema, then 2 is a heist film, and 3 is a contemporary Hollywood summer action spectacle.

It still perplexes me, though, that the ME series simultaneously tried to be enlightened re: sexual orientation while also getting more hetero-male-gaze-heavy with each installment. I can just imagine the meetings between the development and marketing teams, and am glad I didn't have to be there.

This is all I have to say.

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