Mass Effect - Major Events Timeline

BoboTheMighty said:

First was the most unique, but in some aspects it really did not age well.
ME1 felt more influenced by 80's sci fi, later games were more "modern".
Best main story, best ambiance, sense of mystery, lore, music.
Character writing? Not so good, more exposition dumps. Really poor progression system, itemization/weapons ( though shotguns/sniper rifles sounded awesom), economy and exploring barren planets/whole second half was just tedious.
I'd kill for remake with Andromeda gameplay in it.

Click to expand...

Yeah, it was the overall atmosphere that made ME1 good. It really felt like a grand space opera, and that feeling, at least to me, was greatly diminished in ME 2 and almost entirely absent in ME 3.

I liked the companion quests in ME 2 and felt like the main story was on par with ME 1, but almost everything else was a step backwards imo. The level design was much more linear, and there was far too little variety in the enemies and combat in general.

I thought ME 3 had the worst story by far, but I enjoyed the combat more than in ME 2, and I think it generally gets a worse rap than it deserves. That said, it was a somewhat disappointing end to the trilogy.

Ragnaris said:

I never played Andromeda, so I can't comment on it, but I've heard good things about the gameplay. I wouldn't be opposed to seeing ME1 overhauled with Andromeda's gameplay mechanics, so long as everything else remained the same (aside from perhaps a graphical update and quality of life features in the menu to meet modern standards). Would be fun to play as a Vanguard character again (shotgun/biotics), I always had a ton of with that.

Click to expand...

Indeed. The gameplay, especially the combat, in Andromeda is light-years (no pun intended) ahead of the original trilogy. I mostly played as a Vanguard type in Andromeda btw.

You should try it though. As cheap as it is, there's really no reason for anyone who liked the other titles not to play Andromeda.

I don't think I will ever play Andromeda simply because I hate Origins so much (why can't they get rid of this certain platform exclusivity? Sigh)

Of ME trilogy, I enjoyed ME2 best since I usually value companion interaction more than most of you. In saying that, I really loved the story of ME1. It's just a shame just about everything else I disliked over ME2 (I found ME1 VERY clunky).

purpleblob said:

I don't think I will ever play Andromeda simply because I hate Origins so much (why can't they get rid of this certain platform exclusivity? Sigh)

Click to expand...

ME 3 was also Origin-only though. You didn't play it?

JDR13 said:

ME 3 was also Origin-only though. You didn't play it?

Click to expand...

I did, and I regretted it big time. I didn't really enjoy ME3, I actually took a break here and there. Ended up forgetting my login and password, and had to sign up again - I'm positive I have at least 3 accounts, and I can't remember login details of all my accounts anymore lol.

ME2 and ME3 were good games, but not good RPGs. Too dumbed down and shooter'ish. Also, the bit JDR13 said about ME1 feeling like a "grand space opera" and the other 2…not so much...they were more like collections of shooter missions.

JDR13 said:

Indeed. The gameplay, especially the combat, in Andromeda is light-years (no pun intended) ahead of the original trilogy. I mostly played as a Vanguard type in Andromeda btw.

You should try it though. As cheap as it is, there's really no reason for anyone who liked the other titles not to play Andromeda.

Click to expand...

I'll give it a look if it's cheap. I really enjoy the universe of the series, and if Andromeda retains that in some way then I'm sure I'll enjoy it, animation issues aside and all.

ME1 was fantastic with atmosphere, tone, pacing, mystery, all that. Though admittedly I wasn't a fan of the combat and especially unhappy with inventory management, even during release. It certainly wasn't perfect, given that it suffered from severe stuttering, too. Still, I think it was the one that felt the most limitless in terms of scope. There was so much lore at your fingertips, and learning about each alien race was intriguing. Hopefully I'll see some of that in Andromeda.

JDR13 said:

It really felt like a grand space opera, and that feeling, at least to me, was greatly diminished in ME 2 and almost entirely absent in ME 3.

Click to expand...

Agreed. I felt hints of it in ME2, but you can tell it took a back seat. And by the time the Reapers became the central focus in the third game, I don't think anything other than impending doom was left much breathing room.

Mass junk three was one of the very few games that I ever demanded a refund for, combined with that experience and a very rational dislike for the Origin platform, those are the reasons why only the first two games exist for me. If Woodhead and Bradley designed a brand new Wizardry game, but Origin was the only place you could play it, I wouldn't buy it.

Dragon Age Inquisition and Mass Effect Andromeda get a lot of negativity on this site but I personally enjoyed both. What pissed me off was the canceled DLC for Andromeda.