Current Events > Controversial opinion time. Mass Effect 1 is a bad game.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I fucking love mass effect but the first game is...not really good. The story is great which carries it but the gameplay is just so clunky.

-The recharging weapons were insane, some weapons it only took one shot for it to need to be cooled.
-The Mako
-Auto-saving almost being non-existent.
-Feros
-Way to many customization options. Not a bad thing normally but a lot of them were unnecessary. Felt like quantity over quality.
-You shoot enemies and they do not react at all. Once their health hits 0 they just die. They do not react to getting hit.
-Not being able to run in the citadel. (This is small but super annoying, takes so much time to get anywhere.)
-Maybe it is just me but I felt grenades were super hard to come by.

The second and third games are great and the story in all 3 is fantastic Aside from the last 5 mins of 3 but I cannot go back and play the first game again. I wanted to replay the trilogy as femshep but I just cannot do it.
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The gameplay is ass, but the story is amazing.

Is it really controversial opinion?

Menardii posted...

The gameplay is ass, but the story is amazing.

Once you know the story though the game is such a chore. It is not fun the second time around.
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same except 2
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the game itself sucks, story is fine.

mass effect 3 was the best, in spite of the ending

real controversial opinion: the mako sucks
yeah, lets just explore this vast empty world with literally nothing in it.... with shitty controls.... fun.....
the hovercraft stages from 2 or 3 or w/ev were far more fun
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vocedelmorte posted...

Is it really controversial opinion?

Some people love the first game. Cant see how but I have seen people who do.
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the combat was kind of crap. though despite how bad it was i really loved the mako...
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it's still good but it's weird how far people will go to defend the clunky rpg mechanics and driving
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monkmith posted...

the combat was kind of crap. though despite how bad it was i really loved the mako...

I would have loved using the Mako if it was done right but it felt slapped together. On Feros The worst area in the trilogy I got the Mako legit stuck and since it does not autosave, I had to go back 20 mins to make it back to the same spot.

Also exploring an entire planet just for a maw to come out of the ground and one shot you is not fun. Why they were not able to have an autosave every time you enter a building is beyond me.
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vocedelmorte posted...

Is it really controversial opinion?

Yes, ME1 is the best in the series. PC version definitely lessens a lot of the problem, the only really bad thing is the terrible menu interface.

On topic, I'd love a Mass Effect 1-3 Remake on PS4/XB1. Fix the gameplay in 1 and I'd be on fucking board.

SF_Okami posted...

vocedelmorte posted...

Is it really controversial opinion?

Some people love the first game. Cant see how but I have seen people who do.

I think its just nostalgia for them. First game is really bad, only good for one playthrough. Side missions are horrible, Mako is horrible, everything you said is true

lmao you want controversial?

ME1 > ME2

ME2 turned into a generic cover shooter with a weak story and weak RPG elements

ALLCAPSNOSPACES posted...

lmao you want controversial?

ME1 > ME2

ME2 turned into a generic cover shooter with a weak story and weak RPG elements

My heart YUHH. You just shot me there.

Menardii posted...

On topic, I'd love a Mass Effect 1-3 Remake on PS4/XB1. Fix the gameplay in 1 and I'd be on fucking board.

that would involve redoing the whole combat system. despite how much people bitched about it the cover system from 2 and 3 was a huge step forward in play-ability.
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ALLCAPSNOSPACES posted...

lmao you want controversial?

ME1 > ME2

ME2 turned into a generic cover shooter with a weak story and weak RPG elements

I disagree completely, but I would rather have a generic cover shooter over whatever the hell ME1 tried to do.
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ALLCAPSNOSPACES posted...

lmao you want controversial?

ME1 > ME2

ME2 turned into a generic cover shooter with a weak story and weak RPG elements

Not to mention it replaced the somewhat enjoyable planet exploration with the boring as hell planet scanning. What were they thinking?

ALLCAPSNOSPACES posted...

lmao you want controversial?

ME1 > ME2

ME2 turned into a generic cover shooter with a weak story and weak RPG elements

Enjoyable gameplay > everything else

somewhat enjoyable planet exploration

Lol

vocedelmorte posted...

somewhat enjoyable planet exploration

Lol

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Freddie_Mercury posted...

vocedelmorte posted...

somewhat enjoyable planet exploration

Lol

I would have loved planet exploration if it was good. But it is complete shit in 1. Almost nothing in such giant worlds. I actually thought using the Mako on planets where they set you on a path to the end was fun. The lava planet was a good one, I forget the name. But driving aimlessly around a dull wasteland was not fun.

What really annoys me is they put hidden loot and mission items on each planet. WTF, you are expected to explore all of these empty planets for a Turian insignia or some crap. No way. I did it with an online map.
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SF_Okami posted...

-The recharging weapons were insane, some weapons it only took one shot for it to need to be cooled.
-The Mako
-Auto-saving almost being non-existent.
-Feros
-Way to many customization options. Not a bad thing normally but a lot of them were unnecessary. Felt like quantity over quality.
-You shoot enemies and they do not react at all. Once their health hits 0 they just die. They do not react to getting hit.
-Not being able to run in the citadel. (This is small but super annoying, takes so much time to get anywhere.)
-Maybe it is just me but I felt grenades were super hard to come by.

- Only an early-game issue, and only applies to shotguns and sniper rifles, both of which sucked ass in the first game. Stick to pistols and assault rifles, especially since later on with the proper passive abilities and gun mods, you can fire non-stop and your gun still will never overheat.
- Lolyeah, Mako controls were horrible. I'd still take it over the tissue-paper Hammerhead in 2 tho
- Well, that's compensated by being able to save nearly anytime you're not in combat. Which you should. Nobody should rely on autosaves when you have manual anyway, that's a bad way to play any game
- Don't get the problem with this one. What's wrong with Feros?
- Well, this one goes with a lot of games, not just ME1. Inventory/customization options being blatantly obvious as in which ones are best isn't a unique thing.
- Eh, it's been a while since it came out. Don't really see this as a problem, aesthetics are just eye candy for the most part. On the plus side, as long as you're not shot dead you can be peppered with bullets and still fight back as well(unlike the sequels), so it runs both ways.
- Fast travel is pretty ubiquitous in the Citadel to minimize this issue, but yeah, I somewhat understand. Thought you'd take more issue to the elevator rides though.
- Grenades that you don't ever need for the whole game, though. I honestly forget they exist all the time, unless when you have to stun the crazy colonists in Feros, and even then you could just beat them unconscious with your gun if you run out.

It's the first game in the series and they were trying out new things, I admit the controls and physics are somewhat clunky and not well-balanced, but that doesn't make it a 'bad game', especially when the story and world-building more than makes up for it.

Personally, I view it better than 2.
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I just really REALLY hated Feros. The mako was annoying, as I said it got stuck on me, and I felt that it was very unclear where you were supposed to go.

Also it is not just eye candy for the enemies being hit. It makes me feel as if I am weak, like I am not doing any damage. I shoot a guy and he just stands there and keeps shooting at me. In halo for instance, you shoot the elite shields and they dont react, makes sense. Once they have no shield, they react when they are shot. It just makes the game feel more flowing. Shooting an enemy feels good in a game like that and when you beat them you feel good. When I kill something in ME1 I feel nothing because all they do is shoot shoot shoot until they had enough and then they just fall over.
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The gameplay is rough, but I think the tone is really great. It's a flawed gem for sure.
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Boo! Boo!

Boo you sir! Mass Effect 1 is great.
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I can't get into the game. It requires WAAAAY too much conversation.
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I've never been able to get into it, which I hate, cause I love KOTOR, DA:O, Jade Empire, etc. I just cant get into the third person shooter combat, it's just not fun, like, at all to me. Never made it past the citadel.
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WafflehouseJK posted...

I've never been able to get into it, which I hate, cause I love KOTOR, DA:O, Jade Empire, etc. I just cant get into the third person shooter combat, it's just not fun, like, at all to me. Never made it past the citadel.

Wait you hate ME combat but like KOTOR combat?

Ok...
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The first time I tried it I thought it was boring and lame. It takes way too long to get off of that Citadel place or whatever its called. I tried playing it again a year later and it started to click with me. The story seemed more interesting and the gameplay felt more fun to me. I got a little bit further than I did thexpected first time but unfortunately my ps3 was really messed up at the point and I couldnt play anything on it anymore. So I never finished the game
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Solid Sonic posted...

I can't get into the game. It requires WAAAAY too much conversation.

Lmao good one
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UnfairRepresent posted...

WafflehouseJK posted...

I've never been able to get into it, which I hate, cause I love KOTOR, DA:O, Jade Empire, etc. I just cant get into the third person shooter combat, it's just not fun, like, at all to me. Never made it past the citadel.

Wait you hate ME combat but like KOTOR combat?

Ok...

Hell yeah, KOTOR combat is great.
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I don't really see why you hate Feros so much. All of ME1's story locations were far better and more memorable than the ones in the sequels.

I get not liking the first game for the combat and the inventory, but there are still a couple things ME2 failed to improve on. Side missions for example. They're at their best in ME1, but they take place in a lot of bland environments. Like most interior settings are the same. ME2 flipped it. Amazing settings but the side missions themselves were absolutely awful.
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Rika_Furude posted...

real controversial opinion: the mako sucks

this might be the least controversial opinion of all time
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WafflehouseJK posted...

UnfairRepresent posted...

WafflehouseJK posted...

I've never been able to get into it, which I hate, cause I love KOTOR, DA:O, Jade Empire, etc. I just cant get into the third person shooter combat, it's just not fun, like, at all to me. Never made it past the citadel.

Wait you hate ME combat but like KOTOR combat?

Ok...

Hell yeah, KOTOR combat is great.

:/
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ME1 definitely plays more like a 'classic' BW game, and I actually didn't mind a lot of the changes they made in ME2. Except for... thermal clips.

BW claimed they were responding to 'fan concerns' with the switch from mods in ME1 to thermal clips in ME2, WHAT IDIOTS WERE COMPLAINING ABOUT HAVING UNLIMITED AMMO .

Literally the ONLY thing that thermal clips did was take the game back to the decades-old cliche of 'Everyone in the game except YOU will always have infinite ammo'.

So for ME2, BW took out the weapon customization and put in 'thermal clips' that supposedly upgrade the guns. Only problem is what they really do: they turn the weapon system into the old and tired "Your party and your enemies will always have infinite ammo but you have to conserve your shots or run out" BS that's been in every FPS since Wolfenstein 3-D. In all the FPS and 3PS games ever made, the player character is the ONLY character that has to adhere to this mechanic. It was overdone by the late 90's, and it's just laziness now.

Now, ironically enough, they didn't have to put in thermal clips. All they had to do was what they already did: remove weapon customization. If you can't customize a weapon, then of course you can't affect its overheat rate. I mean, they had different weapons with different stats, so bothering with thermal clips was pretty much a pointless backup.
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DiScOrD tHe LuNaTiC posted...

BW claimed they were responding to 'fan concerns' with the switch from mods in ME1 to thermal clips in ME2, WHAT IDIOTS WERE COMPLAINING ABOUT HAVING UNLIMITED AMMO .

Literally the ONLY thing that thermal clips did was take the game back to the decades-old cliche of 'Everyone in the game except YOU will always have infinite ammo'.

Thank you!

Christ.

I'm not going to pretend ME1 had perfect shooting but "Hey, ME1 tried something differnet. Let's go back to generic every single shooter ammo system!" was crazy
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The gameplay was really bad. The mako segments were fucking awful. I got about 75% through the game and gave up on it.
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vocedelmorte posted...

Is it really controversial opinion?

Yes. There were always people who would get personally offended if you said you hated how 1 played. 2 moving away from the rpg roots (when removing a lot of the bloat and changing some of the broken mechanics made the flow of gameplay smoother) made them angry.
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nobody really has any argument against the mako segments being bad. they were very bad.

but what made 1 great was the way that combinations of combat abilities could yield really powerful combinations in results--far more significantly so than the 'biotic combos' in ME2.
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Darkman124 posted...

obody really has any argument against the mako segments being bad. they were very bad.

I liked them

I agree that it sucked how every planet was 1 square mile of barren wasteland.

But it was great fun to switch seamlessly from tank combat to standard shootouts, finding secrets, killing Threser Maws, getting resources.

Felt like an adventure.

2 and 3 had nothing like that.

They missed a trick by getting rid of it rather than improving it
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2 and 3 still had thresher maws to deal with, secrets to explore, you were just on foot for all of it, so to say they had nothing like that isn't true

i do agree that exploration of open spaces to find the specific spaces that pertain to your mission is a preferable element to closed corridor shootin'

just, you gotta populate those open spaces better, and preferably encourage use of the primary gameplay elements and not a secondary vehicle gun

the 'tank combat' just felt very shoehorned
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Darkman124 posted...

2 and 3 still had thresher maws to deal with, secrets to explore, you were just on foot for all of it, so to say they had nothing like that isn't true

And both Papers Please and Call of Duty have shooting down armed terrorists.

They're not the same experience.

The Mako broke up the corridor shooting perfectly and gave the universe scope.

ME2 and 3 just had corridor shooting. They tried with the hammerhead but it wasnt the same.

Seriously what do you explore in ME3 other than the Normandy for toys? Planet scanning isn't exploration.

Remember that giant Prothean Orb that gives you flashbacks to prehistoric man? The Shifty looking Cow? The cave full of monkeys? The Thresher Maw arenas? The Secret Radio message? the jokey pop-culture references?

2 and 3 had none of that.

Darkman124 posted...

just, you gotta populate those open spaces better, and preferably encourage use of the primary gameplay elements and not a secondary vehicle gun

I agree, there was room for improvement.

But the Mako was still good. And getting rid of it was still a mistake.

ME:A was a step in the right direction but sadly too late and in a much worse game.
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I think one of the funniest things BW did was listen to the people complain about the long elevator rides in ME1, then in ME2 replace that with...a graphic of the elevator moving.
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SF_Okami posted...

Menardii posted...

The gameplay is ass, but the story is amazing.

Once you know the story though the game is such a chore. It is not fun the second time around.

That is why you just use the digital comic and skip to 2.
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I prefer 1 in pretty much every way
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RiderofHogs posted...

SF_Okami posted...

Menardii posted...

The gameplay is ass, but the story is amazing.

Once you know the story though the game is such a chore. It is not fun the second time around.

That is why you just use the digital comic and skip to 2.

Digital comic doesn't do the experience justice at all.

It's like reading erotic vampie books instead of having sex.
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I dont see this as a controversial opinion myself, as its clearly garbage to everyone not enamored with the deep lore or looking back on it with nostalgia goggles. The gameplay is embarrassingly bad.
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