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I've been so disappointed by mass effet. After finishing fallout 2 recently, I looked up for some quality material, and people oversold it to me so I bought it
by sametmax 10y ago
I've been so disappointed by mass effet. After finishing fallout 2 recently, I looked up for some quality material, and people oversold it to me so I bought it on steam.
Yes, having a SF + FPS + RPG is an nice innovation. And the atmosphere is really well done. All in all it's a decent game, with several endings, and a finely crafted epic touch.
But it's nowhere close to the hype it got.
The dialogues are terrible. Star wars episode 2 level.
The environments are incredibly dull. Empty. Repetitive. "Illusion of openness" but really just closed connected corridors except on the empty planets. What saves the game is the space exploration system making you feel you are really bad ass.
The combat system is a mess. I never could tell when I was winning because of my skill or some chance. Does my new equipment works ? Was this spell used right ? No idea. I just powered through the last 2 levels because it was just more efficient. Like in any modern game, healing is so easy anyway.
The UI Is terrible. Your bag is full, but you can't mass manipulate things to sell them. Reading an item description takes a split second, which cumulatively makes choosing gear a torture.
The game is buggy. FPS drops (it's an old game on a recent graphic card, damn it), characters stuck in walls, camera not moving... I was ok with that... on the PS1.
The writing isn't close to any classical RPG (fallout, baldur's gate, final fantasy 7, tale of fantasia, chrono trigger...). The motivation of characters are underwhelming: you feel no passion, anger or driving emotion of any kind, nor intellectual master plans. Everything seems a reason and a shortcut to get going. The person you are playing has the charisma of an oyster. The backstories are the only thing not messed up, and each of your comrade have a cool unique personality.
And god, half of the game time is spent on those awful planet exploration transitions with the mako. Not to mention moving anywhere is slow and clunky while being a good part of the game. And those unskipable animations (docking, mako droping, elevators, mass relays...), really what were they thinking ? The game is basically unplayable without using the apparently famous "bind game acceleration to middle click" hack so you can just speed up time and not become crazy. Having to cheat in a game not to win but to be able to enjoy it is not good design.
- kiksy 10y agoMass Effect series was a weird one for me. Each game had its flaws, and each game fixed some of those flaws, but then introduced a ton of new ones. There's an excellent breakdown for each on gamedesignreviews.com
- sametmax 10y agoGreat write up !
- overcast 10y agoWell, Mass Effect never put itself in the category of those CRPG's, ever. It's absolutely inline with Star Wars, as that is what it was HIGHLY influenced by. If we're talking crummy UI, and buggy gameplay. ANYTHING in the Fallout series isn't exactly something I would hold up in high regards :) Mass Effect is supposed to be a space opera, not an open world like you were looking for. It's very much a story driven, go to x y z story line. With some branching. If you've only played the first one, I can see why you'd have these reactions, it's A LOT rougher than the sequels. Which are far more polished.
- sametmax 10y agoI don't understand why you have been downvoted, since your reply makes sense. HN is a weird place, so many intelligent people and so many emotional reactions. > ANYTHING in the Fallout series isn't exactly something I would hold up in high regards :) Yes, it's the only one in the list though. Plus Fallout 1 and 2 (the goods ones) are more complex and old than mass effect. I didn't play KOTOR so I couldn't compare to it. The space opera part is definitely a success, so I didn't hate the game. I quite enjoyed it. It's just not on my "must play" list, which contrast with everything I heard or read about the game, some even stating it was the best game of their life. I got too high expectations.
- overcast 10y agoWasn't so much the gameplay for me, but the 100+ hours of story, and the universe that was created. If it wasn't for that god damn ME3 ending, it would have been a perfect trilogy for me.