Mass Effect: Andromeda Thread

NightAntilli

Well-Known Member
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I personally cannot wait for this game. Mass Effect is my favorite franchise of all time. Sorry DOA xD

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Release Date: March 21st (now confirmed)
Platforms: Xbox One, PS4, PC

Backstory
-Around 2185, at the height of galactic progress, unaware of the impending Reaper invasion (though after Sovereign), several species band together for the "Andromeda Initiative"
-4 Arks, each carrying a different race, are built, housing thousands of individuals to chart a course to Andromeda

More on the Andromeda Initiative:
"Founded in 2176 and launched in 2185, the Andromeda Initiative is a civilian, multi-species project created to send scientists, explorers and colonists on a one-way trip to settle in the Andromeda Galaxy. With powerful benefactors lending their support, the program has grown substantially in scope since its inception. The Initiative’s ultimate goal is to establish a permanent presence on the seemingly resource-rich frontier of Andromeda, and eventually create a reliable route between it and the Milky Way Galaxy."

-Turians are confirmed in the game
-The Heleus Cluster is noted as having a significant amount of "Golden Worlds", or planets ripe for life
-Each ark is led by a "Pathfinder"
-The Pathfinder, recon teams and others onboard are in cryosleep, unaware of what transpires in the Milky Way after they depart
-You play as either Scott or Sara Ryder (you can change your name), the children of Alec Ryder (pathfinder of the human ark)
-Alec Ryder is voiced by Clancy Brown
-Events at the start of the game occur that pass this role down to you, you are untested and unproven, unlike Commander Shepard of the previous trilogy
-This doesn't mean Mass Effect is Ryder's story from now on, they want the game to feel like a complete story (while teasing other stories that could happen)
-More customization options than previous games
-You can customize your father and your sibling, though not as extensively
-The "Nexus" is basically a forward command center staffed by multiple species that arrives in Andromeda early to pave the way for the Arks
-The Hyperion (humanity's ark) arrives at an incorrect location that's volatile and loses contact with the other arks and Nexus

Even more, not actual spoilers, but otherwise it's going to become too long;
Inspiration
-The (much improved) Mako of ME1, the loyalty missions of ME2, the multiplayer of ME3

Combat
-Global cooldowns are now replaced by individual timers
-Pausing returns but only for switching weapons or using consumables; powers are instead hotkeyed for quick use in combat while squad commands are in real time
-Dynamic cover system (ala TLOU)
-Still a cover based shooter with a goal to get the player moving around the battlefield more
-Jetpack allows for more movement variety; you can quick dash instead of rolling
-Jetpack has a hover function that allows you to hit enemies seeking cover or survey your surroundings
-Less emphasis on linear, clearly telegraphed environments that tell you a combat encounter is coming (though linear areas are still in the game)
-Game Informer's hands on was positive, feel the game has a clearer identity in combat than previous games
-You still queue up attacks, combos, order your squad, etc
-All key elements are still intact but the studio wanted to encourage more experimentation and wider variety of abilities

-Class system is gone; instead you have full access to abilities from all classes, you can mix and match skills from tech, soldier or biotics
-Goal is to allow players to try different approaches to combat without being locked in at the start
-However, you can still specialize once you invest enough points into a category of skills, you unlock a profile that can get you bonuses for your particular play style
-This is where class names like "Vanguard" (invest in combat and biotics) and "Adept" (invest in biotics) resurface
-Invest in multiple categories and you unlock the "Explorer" profile
-There is a narrative reason that allows you to reconfigure your points throughout the game so that you can try out multiple gameplay approaches without making multiple characters
-You can customize your helmet, chest, shoulders, arms and legs, more extensive than previous trilogy
-Many familiar weapons return, as well as new melee options like swords and hammers

Enemy/Environments/Crafting
-The 'Kett' are the main enemy
-The team wanted players to experience the first time encountering a new alien species vs already having it established in prior games
-Rather than painting them as mortal enemies, BioWare wanted to make them feel foreboding but not ugly as they want you to also empathize with them
-Instead of having "linear slices" of planets that you land on, you explore these planets from the surface to their underbelly
-Critical paths, optional planets, major hubs, loyalty missions return
-Your land vehicle is designated the "Nomad", and the team got special guidance from NFS developers on its handling.
-The Nomad isn't sluggish and cumbersome like the Mako, it's very fast, still boosts and maneuvers much better
-The Nomad doesn't have weapons, you can customize things like its speed and appearance
-BioWare did not want to repeat having things like mineral nodes and multiple identical outposts scattered across planets
-Points of interest include combat encounters, puzzles, narrative beats etc on planets
-One planet, called 'Elaaden', is flagged as a possible habitat zone, however the surface is hazardous (no water, extremely hot); you can be pointed in this direction in multiple ways, for example, a Krogan can request the Pathfinder to find a missing colony ship or you can just choose to land on the planet yourself and see what you find
-On planets, one of your priorities is to scout for drop zones for your crew that drop "forward stations" that establishes a foothold for you
-These stations allow for changing up your loadout, fast travel point, etc
-Planets can have multiple dangers like acid pools, burning wreckage, weather etc that can all kill you
-Most planets have at least one major enemy base
-Planets can have areas, encounters and "super bosses" that are too tough for you to handle at first, encouraging players to come back later
-Since Andromeda is a new galaxy, Ryder can actively scan and discover things in the environments; that gets sent back for analysis and unlocks new technologies for the player
-Scanning and discovering these things also allows you to obtain blueprints to craft weapons and armor for yourself
-You can create a wide array of items, not just ammo types and weapon mods, items that haven't been seen before in the Milky Way (thanks to new alien tech)
-Some plot threads and missions lead you across multiple planets

Squadmates
-Peebee (nickname): Asari squadmate shown in previous footage. Went off on her own after arriving on the Nexus and described as having a "bubbly personality". She's smart and not concerned with social norms and "niceties".
-Liam: Arrived with the Pathfinder, former police officer and described as having a "light attitude", bringing levity to situations

The Tempest (Your Ship)
-Important to harken back to the Normandy as it was a fan favorite
-There are no loading screens as you move through the ship
-Galaxy map returns but rather than piloting a mini ship on a map, it is more immersive, you select a planet, the game gives you sense of traveling towards that planet, and when you back out, you're immediately at your destination
-You don't pilot the ship manually, but it feels seamless as you go from planet to planet and see them from your bridge getting closer in the window
-They wanted a seamless experience from picking a planet to walking down to your cargo hold, hopping into the Nomad and landing on a planet. There is a landing sequence and you get off the ship. No more loading screens and instantly popping up on the surface of a planet.

Relationships/Characters
-There are more relationships in the game than any other Bioware game (as they noted fans make a big emphasis on romance in the games)
-The squadmate with the least amount of lines in Andromeda has more lines than the squadmate with the most amount of lines in ME3
-Due to complications in the awakening process, your sibling won't join you in combat but you can interact with them and build a relationship
-Many of these dealings are optional, and discovering more about the Ryder family is a plot thread
-BioWare is confident the details of this story are what differentiates it from a traditional "hero's journey"
-Loyalty missions return but they are not critical to the ending of the game; you can complete them after you complete the main story path for example
-Emphasis that relationships don't just culminate in a sex scene, but rather characters can just want to get in the sack, while others are interested in long term relationships and others still aren't interested at all. Bioware wanted to capture more "shooting bottles with Garrus" moments in the game, of which there are plenty

Multiplayer
-More evolved and refined form of ME3
-Card based economy where you earn XP and credits
-There are microtransactions but no real world money is required, you can unlock normally
-You still set the map, enemy, as before but you can also activate modifiers that can give you decreased health (for greater reward) or more damage (less reward)
-Bioware also plans to release custom crafted missions with unique modifiers that players can't change themselves
-These custom missions give you a 3rd currency, "mission funds" which allow you directly purchase items and weapons vs the mercy of random card packs; however these items are only available for a limited time in the store and can change often
-In MP, you play as the "Apex Force", a militia strike team from the Nexus
-Different enemies require you to use different tactics (some are shield heavy, some use heavy biotics etc)
-Playing MP will have advantages for the single player but it absolutely does not affect the ending of the game
-New "Prestige" mechanic added: With several types of characters, you earn regular XP and prestige XP. The prestige XP goes into every character of that 'type', for example 'tanky' characters. Earning enough prestige can grant you added health for all tank characters, etc.

Choices
-No more Paragon/Renegade system
-They want more nuance and subtlety and giving the player more opportunity to express themselves
-You can agree or disagree with someone without being punished or cornered into a paragon or renegade choice
-Dialogue option tones: heart, head, professional and casual.
-These don't affect you or sway a meter one way or another, rather they allow you freedom without worrying about unintended consequences
-"Narrative actions" (previously "interrupts) return but rather than giving a "red"=bad or "blue"=good choice, it can say "shoot", leaving more ambiguity to your choice
-Decisions aren't necessarily obvious "right" or "wrong", there are pros and cons to each and you'll just have to play the game the way you want

The future
-Mass Effect: Andromeda leaves the door open for more games (obviously)
-New game+ mode allows you to change your gender if you choose
-BioWare is coy about multiple endings; "it's a suprise", "it's different than the trilogy

All official trailers;


This one's probably my favorite;




And for the ones that want to remember a few awesome moments of the prior games;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYX3tmIlaPA
 
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P2p1mbs

Well-Known Member
Any word if save games from the original trilogy carry over to this game? The fact that the console versions are for the newer consoles imply they wont but I can imagine EA releasing a remaster of the original trilogy to fix that. If not, I hope they dont do that stupid interactive comic thing from the ps3 versions of 2 and 3 and just keep the story completely separate from the previous games.
 

Argentus

Well-Known Member
Honestly...i'm the BIGGEST mass effect fan, but I just do not care about andromeda. Like, at all.

At this point i'm just waiting to see if Quarians return.

Any word if save games from the original trilogy carry over to this game? The fact that the console versions are for the newer consoles imply they wont but I can imagine EA releasing a remaster of the original trilogy to fix that. If not, I hope they dont do that stupid interactive comic thing from the ps3 versions of 2 and 3 and just keep the story completely separate from the previous games.

This game has nothing to do with the original trilogy, so there's nothing to carry over. The whole point to Andromeda is the bad writing of 3 trapped them in a corner, plot wise, so they had to literally abandon ship to a whole other galaxy.

Although then they just use all the same races tech and everything, defeating the point of being in a new galaxy.
 

DestructionBomb

Well-Known Member
Standard Donor
I enjoyed the Mass Effect series greatly. 3's ending still made me feel a bit disappointed with how it ended, but the games before that were pretty good.

@Forlorn Penguin We can't forget to bring in FP here as well.
 

P2p1mbs

Well-Known Member
3's ending still made me feel a bit disappointed with how it ended

I'm sure most players felt the same way. The extended endings actually made some endings more unlikable for me. I rarely ever go back to playing 3 from start to finish since I hate the last few missions so much starting with the Thessia arc (Liara's whining in that level actually ruined the game for me more than the ending did).

Which ending color did you pick? I personally HATED the synthesis ending and almost always went red.
 

Argentus

Well-Known Member
I originally went synthesis just because.

Honestly, I feel like the game should've ended on Rannoch. I like to pretend it did and that reaper you take down with the Migrant Fleet bombardment was Sovereign itself.
 

P2p1mbs

Well-Known Member
I read that this time around, both the male and female player character will appear in the story regardless of the gender you choose to play as. I hope this means that the Ryder you dont use become a playable at some point as a plot twist but I would be ok if they became a squadmate. I wonder if this means we have to customise both genders.

Also, I fully expect that Richard will be a very popular name for the male Ryder.
 

Jadeinchains

Well-Known Member
Honestly I think right now I'm in the same place ASA you @Argentus for this game, I loved the original Mass Effect trilogy. The characters and locations were great. Then Mass Effect 3's ending screwed up so much, suddenly there was a star child and the galaxy getting messed up so I'm interested to see how Andromeda is. ( to be honest I actually teared up a little bit at the ending. )
 

Argentus

Well-Known Member
I read that this time around, both the male and female player character will appear in the story regardless of the gender you choose to play as. I hope this means that the Ryder you dont use become a playable at some point as a plot twist but I would be ok if they became a squadmate. I wonder if this means we have to customise both genders.

Also, I fully expect that Richard will be a very popular name for the male Ryder.
What you mean like how in the one Metal Slug your player character gets abducted and you have to spend the rest of the game as one of the others while your old PC becomes an NPC?

Honestly I think it's just gonna be that there's an NPC in your crew/the story who will simply always be "the other gender you didn't pick". Nothing special.


Also I'm totally okay with Richard Ryder, because dirty joke aside, that's the real name of Marvel's Nova

Nova1adigranov.jpg
 

P2p1mbs

Well-Known Member
What you mean like how in the one Metal Slug your player character gets abducted and you have to spend the rest of the game as one of the others while your old PC becomes an NPC?

I was thinking more like the joker sequence in 2 when the Normandy gets boarded.

Honestly I think it's just gonna be that there's an NPC in your crew/the story who will simply always be "the other gender you didn't pick". Nothing special.

Seems like a waste for the"other Ryder" to be just a random npc. I really hope that they can at least be a major supporting character. Maybe they can even be a coop character if they ever do that.
 

NightAntilli

Well-Known Member
Any word if save games from the original trilogy carry over to this game? The fact that the console versions are for the newer consoles imply they wont but I can imagine EA releasing a remaster of the original trilogy to fix that. If not, I hope they dont do that stupid interactive comic thing from the ps3 versions of 2 and 3 and just keep the story completely separate from the previous games.
Nothing yet. We'll likely hear about it on N7 Day... But I suspect if there is anything to connect the games, it would be like they did with Dragon Age Inquisition.

But I don't think they will do anything significant to the story. Ever since I saw the 2015 trailer of N7 I had an idea of how things were going to start with the game...

Copied from another forum;
From all that we've seen, I've concluded that the story will be pretty much completely cut off from the prior Mass Effect games, particularly the ending, so I doubt you'd have to worry about it.

I suspect that when the alliance knew the reapers were coming, Shepard (along with Anderson and Hackett probably) assumed the worst, which is that the reapers would wipe every race out within the Milky Way galaxy. The council didn't listen, so, they took it into their own hands to create an N7 team for the survival of the human species, and approached the other species seeing if anyone else would want to join the cause. The team would consist of at least two individuals of the most 'important' species if they agreed to tag along, probably more for genetic diversity. The goal for them would be simply to let those species survive within the Andromeda galaxy, which is the closest to our own.

Based on the trailer with Femshep 'signing off', it sounds as if that's a message to a Recon team being sent to the Andromeda Galaxy with no way back and I suspect that's where the game starts, and then follows with everyone going into some sort of cryo freeze, to be woken up again when arriving at Andromeda. Lack of resources would be the likely explanation for not being able to travel back to the milky way, although it wouldn't be recommended anyway in case the reapers won. It's therefore quite likely that this game plays off way later than the events of ME1-3.

This would give them a clean slate for the story, while still acknowledging the existence of the prior games, enabling more exploration etc.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1595578/...a-releasing-in-early-2017/20_20#post_25036672


All trailers released after it still support this.
 
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NightAntilli

Well-Known Member
Although I do think ME2 is vastly overrated, I also think ME3 is vastly underrated due to the ending. The first Mass Effect had so many flaws, but it was still the best one in the series in terms of being immersive and in terms of plot. Yes the games after it changed, but for me, it's still my favorite franchise of all time. I will be getting Andromeda.

Yes I'm aware that barely anyone that worked on the original Mass Effect is working on Andromeda. But I have to give the game one more chance. The series has been too impactful on me to just ignore Andromeda. We will see how it turns out.

For a long version (and yes it is VERY long) of my thoughts on ME1 vs ME2 vs ME3;

As always... ME3 is receiving too much hatred, and ME2 is receiving too much praise. For tl;dr, look at the end of this post. And, huge spoilers ahead.


Let's start with ME1 vs ME2.

ME1 had something ME2 didn't have.. Fights could happen anywhere. For example, take the Citadel, particularly Chora's Den. Just a club right? Well, fights happened there.. You were ambushed on your way there.. Take Feros.. Just a colony right? Well, fights happened there as well. Point is, the levels supported both combat and exploration at the same time. In ME2, these things were pretty much always completely separate, and the combat levels were sealed off from exploring once you completed a mission, which imo sucked. The missions themselves in ME2 might've been more interesting, but the setup of missions in ME1 felt like a part of the world, and that also made them arguably more interesting than ME2 missions because of the additional immersion and engagement. You could visit a peaceful place once and have that same place be a bullet fest moments later. That stuff just doesn't happen in ME2.

Yeah the stable framerate and improved combat was most welcome in ME2. It was necessary actually. Releasing the second game just as buggy and clunky would've been a huge failure. I just felt a little disappointed that it came at the expense of other things, especially because they were so small and added so much to the immersion.

I remember the first time I played ME2, and being completely annoyed by the plague zone on Omega after recruiting Mordin, and finding out I couldn't go back in there again to explore how the place changed after clearing the plague.. I mean, there's a plague where no one is allowed, and you can go in. The plague is cleared and it's safe, suddenly the place is off-limits to you? What kind of nonsense is that? And that's where I started feeling the restraints of the game compared to ME1, and having all places feel small. Not only the Citadel, but also Omega, Illium and Tuchanka. Sure, they were big if you take the combat levels into account, but very small on the exploration side, especially since a lot of the levels in ME1 that you couldn't visit again, had you driving around in the Mako. Think about finding Liara, or the Virmire mission etc. It still had an exploration taste to it, even if it was a linear combat mission in essence. It felt big and immersive. That's one of the reasons I liked the Overlord DLC in ME2, because it was slightly closer to ME1 in that regard.. But ME2 felt like a really linear and restraining game in general. And that's where I agree with a lot of people when they say that it feels like a TPS rather than an RPG. It still remains an RPG though despite what people say.. TPS don't put emphasis on dialogue while all the ME games still do.

The first time I played, and I recruited Mordin, and had to land again to go get Archangel, that simply annoyed me. It didn't feel like a continuity, but as a bunch of pieces thrown together that just happen to work as a whole. That's how I felt the whole time playing game actually, while ME1 felt like a continuous game.. Let's just say that ME1 felt like a very delicious food, while ME2 felt like tasting each ingredient of that food separately.

I also had no problem with the elevators in ME1.. Your characters would interact with each other in there and you'd hear galaxy news on the radio and stuff. You only had to actually use each elevator once (except the one to the Normandy if I remember correctly) because if you didn't like them you could quick travel using those car/cab things and you'd get a short loading screen instead. Don't remember their name right now. So I think the elevator hate was blown out of proportion. I also loved the feeling that you could get lost on the Citadel when you started out in ME1. It made it feel big. ME2 nor ME3 have that.

Yes, fighting Cerberus in ME1 was repetitive, and that was less repetitive in ME2. The sidemissions in ME2 are arguably better than ME1, but in ME1 there's a clear distinction between side missions and the core story. In ME2 those lines are pretty blurry. I don't know which approach is better, although the core story of ME1 is better.

You know, I wonder why they didn't just let us pilot one of those drop shuttles in ME2. It seems like a perfect vehicle for exploration. Yeah. It wouldn't be too hard to simply mount some simple guns on the thing.. Would make more sense than finding this full working Hammerhead vehicle on a deserted planet in the middle of a freaking volcanic eruption... I mean, the drop shuttles are known to be durable.. So.. Instead of having place for 14 people, let it have 4 people, mount some guns and a scanner on it if you wish, and boom, you have a full working exploration vehicle. It could've even been another side-mission or whatever.. Upgrading it just like you were upgrading the Normandy. No need for this weird Hammerhead thing. But meh.. The Hammerhead worked too, except in ME3 we get to learn that it was lost.

I loved the Mako. For some reason, when people think of the Mako they only think of the barren planets, but they forget that it also played a key role in the exploration of the level design on core planets and main story of the first game. The main missions on Feros, Virmire, Ilos, Therum all used the Mako and did a brilliant job too. The missions would be a lot more dull without it.



On another note... The storyline in ME2 sucks.. Let's see, in the first game:

- Humans are newbies and the council and races do not trust them
- You were trying to join the council to help the alliance and humans get a higher status within the other races
- You discovered that a spectre has gone rogue
- You tried to convince the council, but they didn't listen
- You needed to get proof to show them
- You got it, and they told you to go after him
- You needed to find where he was
- You needed to find out why he was working with the Geth
- You needed to find out where he got that huge space ship
- Then you found out the Geth nor Saren were the real issue, but a reaper was
- You found out not all the beliefs about Protheans building everything were true
- You tried to warn the council about the reapers, but again they didn't listen
- You needed to break the rules to stop the reaper
- You get ready to keep fighting the reapers that are still to come

That was the ME1 story in a nutshell. Note that I left a lot of the stuff out, like Noveria mission etc.. The story goes a lot deeper than that, but, that's the main story. What's the main ME2 story?

- You died by an attack from some unknown vessel
- Cerberus brought you back because human colonies are disappearing
- You need to find out why
- You find out the collectors are taking them with the same vessel that killed you
- You need to find out why
- You find out the collectors are actually genetically re-engineered protheans by the reapers
- You find out they are creating a human reaper
- Kill the human reaper
- You get ready to keep fighting the reapers that are still to come


We didn't learn anything significant about the reapers in the whole second game, nor did we gain anything significant (maybe the new Normandy o_O), while that's where the first one left off. We were supposed to be preparing for the next coming invasion, gathering resources and information about the reapers to protect ourselves.

Instead, the council is turning you away again, you barely have contact with the alliance, and you're out there working for an organization with a bad reputation for no apparent reason. And even worse, the illusive man simply tells you no one does anything about it. You should've at least been able to go and talk to them multiple times, finding evidence etc, and then go back to the illusive man when they still don't listen... That would have drastically improved the story.

At the end of the game, you apparently got some info on Harbinger, but, it was never addressed HOW you got that information, nor what information it is. That really ruins the story and immersion compared to the first game.. They should've had some kind of better way to tell how you got it..


How people are arguing that this is somehow the best plot is beyond me. It's definitely the worst of the three. I left the sidestories out. The main story is still collectors vs humans through the whole game, and there was never a plot twist. The first game had many more important stuff going on. When you thought you knew your enemy, it turned out to be someone else. At the beginning you think, oh it's the geth, then you think, oh, it's saren and the geth, and then you think, wait, it's actually Sovereign. The geth and saren are just pawns.
In the 2nd game, the collectors are your enemies the whole time, and yet, they fail to be scary. In the end, you find out it's the reapers again (no surprise there), but, aside from the last boss battle and final dark space scene, there was no other real threat than the collectors. Some issues of your team mates.. But, you gotta admit, if they couldn't die, you probably wouldn't go through all the trouble of making all of them loyal... Well, maybe you would, but, you gotta understand, that they are not really a part of the main story, but side-stories. If they die, they don't impact ME2 itself, but, ME3 instead.. So it makes the story of ME2 itself weaker..

Don't get me wrong. Mass Effect 2 added a lot of details and expanded the knowledge about the whole universe further, but, the main plot itself is the one that simply lacks. The game has so many set-ups for the 3rd game, but at the same time they kind of forgot the core story a little bit. Basically, you spend most of your time with your team mates, solving their problems. Basically "side-issues" compared to the real threat.. And then we have the ignored dark energy stuff of ME3, but whatever.

In ME1 a lot of things had more importance. The story was unpredictable and everything happened for a reason. As an example, your accident with the prothean beacon at the beginning of the game is what gave you the visions, which triggered your interest to find out what they mean, is what made the council doubtful of you because they saw them as delusional dreams, it was the reason to get cypher to understand the vision better, which allowed you to understand the messages on Ilos left by the protheans etc. The beginning is connected to the end in all ways.

In ME2, you never really use the cypher, and lots of things seem backwards. It's like they didn't really know how to continue the story.. So they thought of improvements to the mechanics instead, and then tacked the story on there later. ME2 story can be completely ignored if you look at it. At the end of ME2, the collectors are destroyed (not to mention ME2 didn't use the cypher at all), so no more relevance to them in the next installment, and whether or not you keep the base, cerberus will come after you in ME3, the reapers are still coming. You could literally skip ME2 and start with ME3, and the only thing you'd actually miss is the new characters, and a few details that could be easily implemented in the codex or in a single mission in ME3. It's the same reason people were saying that the Arrival DLC undermines the whole ME2 game story-wise.. Arrival could've also been used at the end of ME1 and would've worked perfectly.

Case and point, ME2 should have gone beyond "the reapers are coming" since ME1 already did that. Don't get me wrong.. ME2 is still one of my fav games this gen, but, ME1 is higher on my list because of the story.. I'm not trying to hate on ME2, it's just my opinion. I do think it's the worst of the three. ME3 has a superior banter system for example, plus deeper combat and so on.. I'll just list everything below instead of making this a bigger wall of text on how ME2 is inferior to ME3.


Overall...

- ME1 had barren planets which were tedious to explore, shooting mechanics were crap, cover mechanics were crap, all classes played almost the same, had a bunch of time-wasting elevator rides, terrible performance and pop-in issues, tedious inventory and skill tree system, weapons overheating bug, getting stuck in environments, annoying mini-games..
- ME2 had almost no RPG mechanics whatsoever, main story sucked compared to ME1, was mainly a bunch of side quests, planet scanning was a drag (imo worse than mako), barely any exploration because of way too small locations (Citadel, Omega and so on), awful loading times, repetitive mini games, predictable fighting environments, being stuck in environments, apathetic characters (barely interacted with each other), lack of weapons and armor.
- ME3 has inferior journal, less exploration than ME1, confusing ending, glitches like teleporting characters, lip-sync issues, ME1 import issues, too much disc swapping (X360 only), too many shallow side quests, slightly less choice during conversations.

On the flipside..

- ME1 had the best overall story, the most exploration, the deepest RPG elements and conversations, the most immersion.
- ME2 had improved shooting mechanics, better sidequests, better DLC support, better performance, better animations in conversations, better graphics, better action, better and more character support, each class was really unique.
- ME3 had improved cover-based mechanics over ME2, more verticality in gameplay, more cinematic moments, more variety in enemies, more emotional peaks and valleys, slightly deeper RPG elements than ME2 (weapon mods, skill trees etc), bigger Citadel, best interaction between characters, more variety in weapons..


I apologize if I forgot anything on any of the games. But point is....

Reading what people in general are saying and comparing it to the pros and cons of all three, it doesn't seem that people hate ME3 because it's actually worse. It's because they disliked the ending that they're nitpicking about everything in ME3, even if it's superior than in the prior ones in many (if not most) ways. The issues of the other two listed above are not somehow irrelevant. You can easily love ME3 for what it is and simply forget about the ending for a second, but most people have chosen otherwise. I don't really get the hate for ME3 specifically while the other ones also had huge flaws, if not bigger flaws... But whatever.


TL;DR
All three games have problems. ME2 is overrated, ME3 is underrated.
What I want from the next ME is the combination of the best things from all three... That would be;

From ME1:
- Sense of scale
- Exploration
- Immersion
- Story
- Dialogue options

From ME2:
- Ending
- Characters
- Side quests

From ME3:
- Emotional impact
- Character class gameplay variety (the multiplayer characters play quite differently, so they should add that to the single player experience)
- Weapon weight system, Power system & Combat mechanics (It's the deepest of the three)
- Banter system
 

DestructionBomb

Well-Known Member
Standard Donor
Mass Effect needs to retain some of Dragon Age's portion in regards to complexity and vastness within environment. When you think of Mass Effect, you expect the game with space involvement and planet traveling to be added with more freedom and not as restraint compared to most games of similar genre. All 3 Mass Effects has this issue, not just one of them.

BioWare's Dragon Age series mostly is involved with a role-playing party system in play of multiple characters and two gameplay functions of free movement or tactical based of auto movement with placements to go from one spot to another, whereas Mass Effect is closely to 3rd person view combat in action-role playing. In terms of the two, Mass Effect should really apply large amount of vastness in terms of story and directions rather than just point A to point B, but somehow you are unable to return to point A. Basically there is always something new with DA games that creates new unique dialogue depending on how you role with the story and progression paths. Mass Effect games option that is close to that is really the Heroic/Renegade path to such things that makes it unique compared to most, but it's really one of the only thing it provides on unique offering..as well as who you are with via different characters of your choosing to side with you to impact the story etc.
 

P2p1mbs

Well-Known Member
I was thinking, 3's multiplayer came about after a failed attempt at making a mass effect fps. Anyone hope they add a 1st person mode for this game?
 

Argentus

Well-Known Member
I was thinking, 3's multiplayer came about after a failed attempt at making a mass effect fps. Anyone hope they add a 1st person mode for this game?

i'm just hoping they bring back 3's MP. That's where most of my playtime went
 

NightAntilli

Well-Known Member
I was thinking, 3's multiplayer came about after a failed attempt at making a mass effect fps. Anyone hope they add a 1st person mode for this game?
To me it's completely unnecessary to add 1st person gameplay. Mainly because you have to command a squad as well; first person will limit your field of view quite a bit. Or it has to revert to 3rd person when you pause the game to issue commands to your squad mates. But that would require you to pause the game. I played ME3 on insanity barely pausing the game. It's the most fun that way, which is why I think retaining 3rd person is the best option. I wouldn't have a problem if they add it as an optional camera view, but I definitely won't be using it.

i'm just hoping they bring back 3's MP. That's where most of my playtime went
They surely will. The ME3 MP component was extremely popular and there are active players to this day.
 
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