What's your favorite Mass Effect Game?

What's your favorite Mass Effect Game?

  • Mass Effect

    Votes: 17 39.5%
  • Mass Effect 2

    Votes: 13 30.2%
  • Mass Effect 3

    Votes: 1 2.3%
  • None of the Above

    Votes: 12 27.9%

  • Total voters
    43
  • Poll closed .
Mass Effect
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My favorite part of Mass Effect is the sense of mystery and the powerful lore behind that universe. Listening to the Codex entries always had me glued to the screen (and speakers) - and I was fully engaged in that way.

Even something as simple as the introduction took hold of me completely, because of the music and the initial words serving as a presentation.

As a science fiction action adventure, I find Mass Effect to be nearly unsurpassed.
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copy paste :)
with the adendum of exploration in the first entry.

ME2 and ME3 had their moments and I enjoyed playing them. ME2 were much more fluid in the game mechanics department but cut to much.
ME3 suffered hard from being late in a console generation with memory restrictions (animations, duh!).

ME1, story and just total immersion (but a bit clunky...)
ME2, better mechanics and fluidity, but cut to much options
ME3, a bit of consolitis but ok combat. some of the DLC very good.

Taken as a whole, wort every penny spend.
C
 
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Mass Effect 2, because in my opinion of the three games this one´s the most successful at achieving what it had been set to achieve.
It provides the most polished experience, comes with a solid combat system (better than ME1, worse than ME3), features the most robust dialogue system and has the best character writing. It´s at its best when putting players into recruitment/loyalty missions which happen to be the focus of the game, culminating marvelously during the final mission.

In my opinion the biggest pitfalls of each game would be:
ME1 - unsuccessful attempt at marrying RPG and shooter mechanics leading to the game being incompetent at both, inventory system, repetitive planetary side missions, abundance of fake dialogue choices (choices leading to exactly same things being said)
ME2 - core plot being irrelevant within the context of the trilogy, RPG mechanics being oversimplified, planetary scanning
ME3 - bad choice of lead writer resulting in haphazardly put together core plot, final combat mission, lack of reactivity to ME2´s final choice

Some of my favourite elements in each game would be:
ME1 - the way(s) it introduces its universe/lore to players, core plot, Virmire mission which delivers a great mix of gameplay, plot development and player involvement
ME2 - overall level of polish, soundtrack mainly during recruitment missions (develops as these progress), the final mission featuring a fairly unprecedented amount of variables stemming from players´ actions (a rather weak conclusion of the core plot notwithstanding), Legion and Mordin characters which I consider the peaks in the BioWare´s catalogue, variety of settings at times successfully building upon lore laid out in ME1 (Tuchanka or quarians) and laying foundations for ME3
ME3 - combat system, Normandy which is probably my favourite iteration of a player base to date, the conclusion of the genophage story arc that thanks to its writing and variables involved is in my opinion the biggest BioWare´s RPG storytelling achievement to date as well as one of the best of its kind within the whole genre, conclusion to the Conrad Verner story arc which, despite its briefness, may as well be my favourite easter egg-y content in a game

All three deliver mostly excellent voice acting (particularly when the sheer amount of it is taken into account) and I consider the possibility to pick between male and female protagonists to be the series´ notable asset, particularly because it leads to a very different experience, even though the lines are mostly the same.
All three games also come with overall excellent soundtrack. I feel ME1 uses/introduces the biggest amount of memorable themes, while ME2 is the most successful at incorporating music into missions. ME3 is probably weakest in this regard but still very good.

As a perhaps unusual plus I´d add that I rather appreciate that all three games belong to the same "gen" audiovisual-wise because it helps making the transition between the titles smooth, resulting in it being fairly easy to imagine the trilogy as one game.

I´d also mention that story DLC for ME3 (including the extended ending) in my book transform the game from the weakest of the three to one that I find as enjoyable as ME2.

With the inclusion of DLC I score all three games within 8-9/10 range, for often different reasons. I do so with taking what they´re attempting to be in heavy consideration, rather than mulling over what they´re not. The uniqueness of the experience provided plays an important role as well.
 
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Didn't vote, as it's hard for me to decide between ME1 and ME2.

ME1 had the better story, it was mysterious, had a good universe (which later games abandoned in important aspects), and world and story made sense. I guess I'm one of the few people who liked the Mako, not necessarily those repetitive environments, but some of the missions were quite neat. All in all, it managed to transport the KotOR vibe pretty well.

ME2 was quite a forced romp through the galaxy, with lots of questionable decisions. However, it was definitely a much more polished experience. I'm a bit ambivalent regarding the Bioware character treatment game (it becomes a bit like a forced ping-pong match in the breaks after a while), but some of the characters were nicely written and memorable. The game played very smoothly and I had no problem with bringing my whole squad to safety. I can't talk about any of the sold DLC, as I never bought any, but the free stuff fit pretty well in. All in all, it was probably the better game, but a worse RPG.

I like both games, ME1 and ME2, petty much. I don't care for ME3.
 
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Mass Effect One was the best, no question. The second was a serious drop in quality, the third....wtf is the third even doing on this list?? I demanded my money back for that drek, the terms "favourite" and "Mass Effect Three" should never be in the same paragraph, let alone sentence.
 
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'none of the above'. I don't really consider these games RPGs, more like interactive movies…
10 Cutscene
20 Choice (blue = good, red = evil)
30 Move around
40 Fight
50 Goto 10
 
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I voted for ME2, pretty much agree with what Turjan said. I liked story and lore in ME1 and loved the NPCs in ME2; but I think Bioware's main strength *was* NPCs (like Thrasher pointed out) and I enjoy that part the most myself :)
 
ME1, because it had a "wow!" effect that the others didn't. Exploring all the unknowns of the ME setting was quite an experience.
 
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Pretty much what "DArtagnan" wrote on the first page.

ME felt very much like "RPG-lite" when it first appeared, but it had a fascinating story and many, many game elements that while flawed could still be improved upon. I did much speculation on how the rpg-aspects could be improved upon in the inevitable sequel, how new rpg-mechanics could be added to the game and how the planet-exploration and other things could be enhanced & given more depth.

However, when ME2 arrived I had the eerie feeling that Bioware had been eavesdropping on my thoughts (tinfoil-hat ON!!) and then done pretty much the opposite of everything I wanted and had held hopes for. The end result felt like nothing but one long interactive movie, with bland and repetitive action-mechanics representing the "interactive" parts.

ME2 was the game that finally taught me that there actually *is* such a thing as "tears-of-boredom", before that I had always thought that it was just a melodramatic expression.

Game Over….:'(
 
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