Topic: Mass Effect Series Discussion Thread

I got Mass Effect 2 the other day. I was sooo excited, I'd been dying to play it ever since I completed Mass Effect 1. It is completely awesome!!! I'm really enjoying it, and so far I've made it just past the mission on the Collector Ship. Omega and Illium are great but the Citadel is a bit disappointing and probing is boring as hell. Still, the combat is pure awesome and the galaxy is so big! Also, I love the new Interrupt system and it's great to see my Shepard (I created a female Vanguard) continue her story. Has anyone else here played the ME games? If so, what do you think of them (1 and 2) and what are your hopes for the third game?

You'd have better luck in the Xbox thread, but still, I'll mention that I've played a bit of Mass Effect 1, it's one of the only Western RPGs that I actually like, and I'm glad other games are taking valuable tips from it. I don't care about creating characters, but I love in game decisions, and ME nails that perfectly in my eyes. I got some friends who love it a lot, and I watched the beginning of ME2 on Rob's laptop back in high school.

I hope the third game is a more even mix of action and exploration. ME1 nailed the exploration, but the combat needed work. Judging from what my friends tell me, ME2 scaled down horrendously on the RPG and adventure elements to accentuate and improve the action and combat, which I'm told it did beautifully. If it can balance the two, it would be the best game ever, IMHO.

@Mickeymac I agree that the combat needed improvement, and ME2 certainly improved it (you can rip enemies in half with biotics, send them flying, set them on fire, drop explosive crates on them, etc), but if you ask me, the exploration in ME2 was far superior. I don't know if you played many of the side quests in ME1 but it soon became apparent that the side-quests were just cut-and-paste environments with a few generic enemies thrown in, and the Mako was an absolute horror. It took ten minutes to climb a hill and collecting elements/finding anomalies was a chore. In ME2 every side-quest is unique, with a completely different feel and environment, and some great places to explore. Also, the Mako is gone, and with it, trudging across barren landscapes to get that last piece of plutonium. Sure, ME2 might have got rid of some of the RPG elements, but overall it's less fiddly and much more fun. If you ask me, finding and upgrading hundreds of different weapons and gadgets was tedious, and while there are still different weapons in ME2 and upgrades as well, they've been handled in a more efficient and fun way.

But I LOVED driving in barren wastelands and upgrading hundreds of different weapons! And I know I'm not alone, my friends used to complain incessantly about those omissions, especially the upgrading. Streamlining is one thing, but it sounds like they took it too far, and now they need to scale it back a bit so they can please both schools of fans.

I agree that vehicular exploration should be brought back. If they can bring back proper customization and upgrading without making it complicated and tedious, then we'll all be happy. Also, I spent over 50 hours driving around on uncharted worlds, so it wasn't completely awful, it just felt like a chore to me. But hey, different opinions.

Yeah, that would be perfect.

I have both on Steam, and I'll get around to playing them soon enough. I played a little bit of Mass Effect and the story presentation is very nice.

I loved both Mass Effect titles. The equipment screens were a pain in the ass for the first game after awhile (although I hear the P.C version cleaned it up a bit) so I was glad to see ME2 more streamlined in that regard. I think that there should be some happy medium for the third game.

The Mako segments might be a welcome return, but only only if they can liven them up a bit. I found the aimless wandering almost as tiring as resource mining in part 2, especially since the payoff was rarely worth it.

Still eagerly awaiting the XXX sex scenes some news sources insisted the series contains, though. Shepard needs to get his freak on.

@TheFox I agree with everything you said. BTW, trust me, it's more fun if you play as a woman. You can even start a relationship with Kelly Chambers.

I have my fingers crossed that in two hours when the Steam Store updates, Mass Effect will be part of its giant weekend sale. I really want to play it, as I started it on 360 prior to the glorious RROD #3 and never got back to it. I want to play it, and then ME2 and ME3 are must buy titles for PS3.

For anyone interested, here's a link to the first ME3 trailer! It looks epic, and I'm really happy because it's set in London, with the Reapers burning everything and Big Ben standing tall amongst all the destruction! I cannot wait for Summer 2011!
http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/masseffect3/video/6285288

I never thought I'd ever hear someone being happy that London and its valuable heritage buildings were burning down. Ah well, it takes all sorts.

@HolyMackerel I just read back my comment and realised how demented I sounded. I'm happy because a big game is finally being set in England. It's usually New York or LA that get all the aliens.

"Mass Effect 3: Taking London's Burning to a whole new level."

It is nice to see the aliens destroying another country for a change. It's getting tougher and tougher for the US to get alien insurance after all those attacks.

In all seriousness, that trailer looks pretty sweet.

Haha! Anyhow, the trailer looks interesting. Would be nice to see if the gameplay feels more "epic" than it did in the second. I haven't quite beaten the second, but the gameplay all feels the same...

@LuWiiGi its coming out in november not in the summer?

@BlackFira Well, at the end of the trailer it says "Coming Holiday 2011", so I assume it's in the summer.

For anyone who has ME2, get the Shadow Broker DLC, it's fantastic! There's an awesome car chase through the skies of Illium, two epic boss fights, some great environments (the lair looks unbelievable) and a few nice rewards at the end.

I started the first one and though I didn't play a lot ,what I did see, I liked. Its currently on the 'To do' pile.TBH ME2 sounds a lot better but I'm gonna have to finish the first because I really like the idea of carrying over your character to the next game.( I wish more games had this idea, especially Fallout ,damn DeathClaws are wupping my ass in Vegas )
@LuWiiGi I'm with you on the London thing buddy,Its great to see the Aliens getting out of their comfort zone for a change. Hopefully they'll blow the Houses of Parliment up while all those greedy ,two faced politicians are inside too

About halfway through Mass Effect PC now and loving it and will preorder my copy of ME2 this weekend!