[quote=@Dynamo Frokane] [quote=@Fabricant451] [quote=@Dynamo Frokane] Mass Effect 2 is fun filler with a witty script and a thrilling-ish final mission a 'great' game does not make.[quote] I didn't say Mass Effect 2. I said "There has been one great Mass Effect game". I stand by that. [quote]Maybe 20 seconds wasnt convincing enough. [hider=Its not mass effect 3's ending so its a good game.....right?] [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-msmx9yW5Q[/youtube] [/hider] [/quote] No no, I've seen the meme videos and everything and I still think the game isn't a dumpster fire of a disaster of a travesty because it's not Witcher 3 or whatever it is the popular gaming culture subreddits and boards cream the jeans over while spouting off about cuckoldry. Andromeda is on par with what BioWare has been putting out since, oh, Dragon Age 2. Except the shooty shooty bits are an improvement. When a new team comes together and deals with leavings and layoffs and the collective pressure of people that put 10/7/5 year old games they put on pedestals breathing down their necks well here we are. That people are being all "7/10 WORST EVER" speaks to why gamers are the worst people with the worst hobby. [/quote] Do you think the first one is the best? The action aspect of the gameplay is barely functional but its my favorite out of the trilogy. I wouldn't say its a great game but its definitely an important game to the genre. 3 has the best gameplay but the plot is extremely newcomer unfriendly and some of the story telling is a bit weird. I dont think for second ME Andromeda is a shit game, I think its an average to enjoyable game that has more problems than it really should. I do think Dragon Age 2 is a piece of shit though but thats a discussion for another time. [/quote] I do indeed think the first one is the best. Mass Effect 1 had the most...let's call it realized...vision. It's not perfect, no game is, but there was nothing quite like it in video games at the time. That sense of exploration, that sweeping space opera style narrative and presentation, the way the world felt realized and lived in with politics and conflicts showing that this idyllic looking galaxy wasn't exactly pristine. The story was the most consistent and contained with things like the conversation with Sovereign and the use of the song Vigil being highlights not just for the series but gaming as a whole. Mass Effect 2 comes off as a filler arc in its own trilogy with no real purpose or relevancy other than the Collector reveal. It introduces concepts and lets them go nowhere. It improved the shooting but at the expense of dropping the deeper RPG mechanics and exploration. It offered a view of the non-Citadel aspects of the galaxy but all the areas felt less...immersive since they were clearly divided into combat arenas and not. That the game pretty much forced players to stick to Paragon/Renegade to ensure the best possible result turned interactions and roleplay into a binary option. Why would Miranda or Jack not give it their all because the other hurt their feelings and you didn't invest enough Blue/Red points to say something? It made a lot of the decisions hollow. ME2 has some okay character moments but it's pretty inessential as far as sequels go. Mass Effect 3 improved upon the gameplay and the paragon/renegade system but sort of neutered the conversation aspect further. Mass Effect 3 attempted to tie up pretty much everything even if it meant it came at the expense of established characters and plots. Illusive Man became just a simplified villain. Ashley/Kaiden returned to their "DON'T TRUST YOUUUU" ways for most of it. Their attempts to add depth to Shepard's struggle was laughable. But it also had genuine moments that were only possible because of the characters built up over the games. Like Mordin and the elevator or just shooting guns with Garrus. It is a deeply flawed game but like ME 2 it has good character moments, which is why Citadel is such a wonderful piece of DLC and the perfect coda to Shepard and Friends. Both 2 and 3 lost, to me, what made Mass Effect 1 such a fantastic experience. It improved the moment to moment gameplay but it came at the expense of the charm and sense of awe that came with every location in Mass Effect. You lost that in 2 when side quests were just shuttles down to a combat arena and in 3 side quests boiled down to scanning and eavesdropping. 2 and 3 felt less like Mass Effect and more like a shooter in space. They are both good games in their own right, it's just that Mass Effect 1 is such a great experience.