Board 8 > Rate the VG Story Day 31: Mass Effect

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Next up is the first game in the Mass Effect franchise. How would you rate the story on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest?
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Previous Results:
Outer Wilds - 9.82 (19 votes)
Omori - 9.6 (5 votes)
Nier Automata - 9.25 (31 votes)
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty 8.76 (28 votes)
Metal Gear Solid - 8.73 (24 votes)
Disco Elysium - 8.58 (12 votes)
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective 8.35 (18 votes)
Final Fantasy X - 8.28 (50 votes)
The Last of Us - 8.24 (32 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - 8.13 (37 votes)
Life is Strange - 7.91 (29 votes)
Doki Doki Literature Club - 7.8 (21 votes)
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair - 7.68 (25 votes)
Bioshock - 7.6 (22 votes)
Celeste - 7.5 (23 votes)
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - 7.38 (28 votes)
Tales of the Abyss - 7.34 (27 votes)
Super Paper Mario - 7.14 (18 votes)
Hollow Knight - 6.98 (20 votes)
Dark Souls - 6.86 (19 votes)
Chrono Cross - 6.77 (15 votes)
Death Stranding - 6.73 (13 votes)
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc - 6.62 (25 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All - 6.43 (26 votes)
*DOOM (2016) - 6.25 (12 votes)*
Professor Layton and the Curious Village - 6.1 (13 votes)
Final Fantasy IV - 5.62 (27 votes)
Uncharted: Drakes Fortune - 5.41 (26 votes)
Final Fantasy XIII - 4.77 (24 votes)
Fallout 4 - 4.39 (14 votes)

You can still rate previous days games if you missed them, just write <game name> <rating>. If you want to change your rating you can just specify that you are changing your rating. Nominations for future days are also welcome, nominate as many games as you like and I will get to all of them.

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I'll go...7/10

It does a fantastic job of world building and it's got some great story beats toward the end. However, a lot of the characters feel kind of wooden and generally not super interesting aside from being infodumps.

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8.5

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8.7

It is good. Minus points for not being able to romance the good characters...
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7

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4/10

Pretty disappointing honestly. A few very cool characters and mostly solid dialogue, but I felt like a lot of the obstacles Shepard faced and the way the plot progressed just didn't feel natural or coherent. Maybe in the context of the rest of the trilogy it's better, but I never played 2 and 3.

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8/10

ME1 is a sloppy game overall, but the story is its strong point thanks to compelling worldbuilding, side characters, and dialogue options. The first half of the journey especially shines, while the latter half feels rushed. Still, this is a prime example of a mediocre game that is worth playing thanks to a compelling narrative, so I'm handing out an 8.

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7

What Leon said.

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7

What Leon and KP said.

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Nominate: Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic

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Nominate: Final Fantasy Tactics
Nominate: Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

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6.5

The extra 1.5 is almost all for the decent characterization. Most of the best story moments in this series come from the latter two games.

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7/10

ME definitely doesn't hit its stride until ME2. Still, the scope here and immense lore that came with it can't be denied, using familiar tropes but going beyond them and truly delivering one of the most original sci-fi universes of the 21st century. Characters are fine if a little flat, and the presentation of the dialogue and direction of scenes would definitely see improvement later on, but this is really a world you want to inhabit and it's a blast being able to participate in that directly.

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6.5

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8.5

Imo the best standalone story of the 3 games, and I love the feel of Feros, Noveria and Virmire with their more self-contained stories. But some of the characters here aren't as good as they are in later games.

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7.5

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10

The Mass Effect trilogy made me fall in love with gaming again. One of the great sci-fi epics in any medium.

9

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Pretty much what everyone else has said, but I'm actually gonna go with a 6, because I just can't help but to compare it to the superior sequel.

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7
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Unfair that everyone is comparing it to its goat sequels instead of the rest of video game storytelling

ChainLTTP posted...

Unfair that everyone is comparing it to its goat sequels instead of the rest of video game storytelling

I mean I'd probably rank it even lower if I tried to subjectively compare it to every video game story I've experienced.

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ChainLTTP posted...

Unfair that everyone is comparing it to its goat sequels instead of the rest of video game storytelling

If anything I'm being kind by taking into account what the series eventually becomes

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I clearly know how your brains work better than you do

8.5


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7.5

Felt like a game with untapped potential yet immense possibilities, fully realized only in its sequel. I liked the character interaction but not necessarily the characters themselves (which is why Mass Effect 2 is just so good). It is also standalone in its story arc and Saren is a really good antagonist. It is by far the weakest entry in the trilogy in almost every facet, even more apparent for me after playing the Legendary edition.

Nominate Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Speaking of BioWare games

KamikazePotato posted...

Nominate: Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

Hooo boy. Can't wait for that day.

8/10

7

What Leon, KP, and xp1337 said.

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8/10

Extra points for the world building/planetary flavor text.

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6.6

Decent worldbuilding. Okay premise. A lot of junk in the middle. The game is absorbing because of the gestalt atmosphere, but I don't know I'd say the story is that great.

God, I'm gonna have a field day trying to rate Character Recruitment Sim 2010.

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6

Echoing what others have said about the worldbuilding. I'd rate it higher because I do enjoy its worldbuilding a LOT, but this is a very clear example of overdoing it to the point where it gets in the way of other things. However, the atmosphere of the parts that work are top-notch.

I'll drop the hot(?) take that NONE of the Mass Effect games have a good plot. These games ride or die for its characters and world, which unfortunately for ME1 are at their weakest.

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colliding posted...

planetary flavor text.

Oh yeah, I've actually paid more attention to that than ever in this playthrough. Some of the little nuggets you get out of that are really great.

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7.5. Top tier worldbuilding, decent story. The only Mass Effect story where it feels like your choices actually have an impact on the overall narrative not just small details.

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7/10 for the first game

The main plotline is hyperfocused and quite good, but the individual characters didn't become endearing until the sequel.

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