3 ms·

Not a fan of the first 3 Mass Effect games? They would feel pretty shallow without the storyline that made you care about the characters

bluefirebrand 1y ago
Mass Effect is actually one of the game series that convinced me that video game stories aren't really worth it. Taken as a series, Mass Effect is a pretty bad story with wildly inconsistent writing quality. Taken as individual games they are all pretty good for different reasons, but they don't really form a coherent whole trilogy. I didn't bother playing Andromeda Mass Effect 1 had the worst gameplay, honestly. The shooting mechanics weren't good, the RPG mechanics felt tacked on. It did have the best story and most developed lore and characters though, but they aren't good enough for me to ever want to replay it 2 had the best gameplay imo, but ths story took a nosedive. Some of the characters are alright, but overall it's a really bad story here 3 was probably the middle ground between them. The story picked up a bunch of the hanging plot threads from 1 that 2 wound up ignoring. It also changed the gameplay a bit from 2 in ways that weren't good imo I used to think this sort of thing was the pinnacle of video games. Now I prefer playing stuff like Monster Hunter or Dark Souls, where the story is not the focus, but the gameplay is very fun and dynamic
- nothercastle 1y ago
  Witcher is the best AAA implementation of a great story driving an otherwise decent game. I actually think that cyberpunk was weak mostly because they focused on Star power and the story was meh.
  - bluefirebrand 1y ago
    Witcher 1 might have the best story ever written but I'll never know because the gameplay is tedious Witcher 2 was a serviceable game with a serviceable story Witcher 3 was a vast sprawling story with gameplay that got old fast and it made the story a slog to get through. I had to force myself to finish it I played Cyberpunk four times in a row just because it is so damn fun to actually play and try out different builds and approaches to completing the missions
    - nothercastle 1y ago
      W1 had a tighter story. W2 expanded the world and w3 world is so huge it’s easy to lose the main story line. What I loved is that every individual sub story was well written and really made the world come to life. Cyberpunks world is a mismash of different sci fi themes and not consistent, the gameplay is good but the story is a bit cringe.
      - bluefirebrand 1y ago
        I cannot imagine weighting story and writing higher than gameplay when judging the quality of a videogame Every videogame journalist who writes about games from a "ludonarrative" perspective just comes across as someone who failed to get into writing about movies I have one criteria: is the game fun to play I can put up with a lot of cringe in a story if the game is fun After all, cutscenes and dialog are almost always skippable. Gameplay isn't I'll take Dark Souls minimalist storytelling or Cyberpunk's cringe storytelling but fun gameplay over any kind of game with mid gameplay and amazing writing Edit: I guess what I'm really saying is that for me, a good story and characters is icing, but games must be fun first. A bad game with good writing is still a bad game. A good game with bad writing is still a good game I do not understand why people place so much emphasis on non-gameplay elements when judging a game. Watch a show or read a book instead if story is your main concern
        nothercastle 1y ago
        A good story is relatively cheap and can make up for other issues in the game. If starfield had decent writing it could have been a b/c tier game dispite lackluster gameplay. The players imagination would have helped fill in the gaps

bluefirebrand 1y ago

Mass Effect is actually one of the game series that convinced me that video game stories aren't really worth it. Taken as a series, Mass Effect is a pretty bad story with wildly inconsistent writing quality. Taken as individual games they are all pretty good for different reasons, but they don't really form a coherent whole trilogy. I didn't bother playing Andromeda Mass Effect 1 had the worst gameplay, honestly. The shooting mechanics weren't good, the RPG mechanics felt tacked on. It did have the best story and most developed lore and characters though, but they aren't good enough for me to ever want to replay it 2 had the best gameplay imo, but ths story took a nosedive. Some of the characters are alright, but overall it's a really bad story here 3 was probably the middle ground between them. The story picked up a bunch of the hanging plot threads from 1 that 2 wound up ignoring. It also changed the gameplay a bit from 2 in ways that weren't good imo I used to think this sort of thing was the pinnacle of video games. Now I prefer playing stuff like Monster Hunter or Dark Souls, where the story is not the focus, but the gameplay is very fun and dynamic

nothercastle 1y ago
Witcher is the best AAA implementation of a great story driving an otherwise decent game. I actually think that cyberpunk was weak mostly because they focused on Star power and the story was meh.
- bluefirebrand 1y ago
  Witcher 1 might have the best story ever written but I'll never know because the gameplay is tedious Witcher 2 was a serviceable game with a serviceable story Witcher 3 was a vast sprawling story with gameplay that got old fast and it made the story a slog to get through. I had to force myself to finish it I played Cyberpunk four times in a row just because it is so damn fun to actually play and try out different builds and approaches to completing the missions
  - nothercastle 1y ago
    W1 had a tighter story. W2 expanded the world and w3 world is so huge it’s easy to lose the main story line. What I loved is that every individual sub story was well written and really made the world come to life. Cyberpunks world is a mismash of different sci fi themes and not consistent, the gameplay is good but the story is a bit cringe.
    - bluefirebrand 1y ago
      I cannot imagine weighting story and writing higher than gameplay when judging the quality of a videogame Every videogame journalist who writes about games from a "ludonarrative" perspective just comes across as someone who failed to get into writing about movies I have one criteria: is the game fun to play I can put up with a lot of cringe in a story if the game is fun After all, cutscenes and dialog are almost always skippable. Gameplay isn't I'll take Dark Souls minimalist storytelling or Cyberpunk's cringe storytelling but fun gameplay over any kind of game with mid gameplay and amazing writing Edit: I guess what I'm really saying is that for me, a good story and characters is icing, but games must be fun first. A bad game with good writing is still a bad game. A good game with bad writing is still a good game I do not understand why people place so much emphasis on non-gameplay elements when judging a game. Watch a show or read a book instead if story is your main concern
      - nothercastle 1y ago
        A good story is relatively cheap and can make up for other issues in the game. If starfield had decent writing it could have been a b/c tier game dispite lackluster gameplay. The players imagination would have helped fill in the gaps