It seems this guy plays the game for the combat and not the story.
Mass effect has ok combat, which improves significantly on the latest titles.
However, the real meat of the game is in the dialogue and story. I have the suspicion that your friend didn't pay much attention to the story
This. Your friend has the wrong expectations for this series. Combat gets better but if you’re gonna enjoy ME you have to be willing to get into the story and choices.
I drive the mako, I hate the mako, and yet I love the mako, for its awful mechanics and controls make it what it is.
And also firing a cannon right into a thresher maw is really fun
It's the worst vehicle ever, but hey, it ***works***. I may have a concussion or two and gotten into 47 firefights on the way from point A to point B, but I'm nonetheless at point B!
I love the janky combat but hate that I keep accidentally tossing nades and then remember that they just fly forward forever because fuck me, but still I love it because you can get fun surprise nade kills
ME1s janky combat is fun AF. ME2 had the best overall combat. ME3 I felt had the best “powers” combat with all the combos and how hard the powers can hit - offset by the rushed design where too many times your cover would block your own power. IMO.
I think ME1 combat is my favourite, despite any jank, due to being able to "stack" powers, because they all had their own separate cooldowns. Being able to lift enemies and then immediately throw them without a delay made you feel like a proper biotic god.
The weapon upgrade system was also pretty cool with all the different attachments and ammo types.
There is also a LOT less exploration in later titles. Even though the first is the shortest story I believe it can FEEL like the longest if trying to do any, decent, amount of side questing.
**The** thing that drives ME3 combat for me is the feel and sound of the weapons. I don't know who made the decision to put that much of a focus on it, but I hope they're proud of their work because the gunplay feels visceral to me in 3.
Every weapon feels different. Every weapon has a unique sound. Even some of the lesser weapons sound and feel great.
Variety is really the word for it. ME1, the guns are all pretty samey. ME2, there's 3 or 4 per slot, but they're all unique. But ME3 has what feels like a dozen guns per category, and they all feel different and fun
I don't use it much, but that Turian police gun is one of my favorite sounding weapons.
*budda budda budda* erweeep *budda budda budda* erweeep *budda budda budda*
I remember seeing an article in PCPP (Aussie review magazine) at the time talking about how insanity turned everything into shielded bullet sponges and that put me off ever trying that difficulty lol.
I like a mechanical challenge to some degree, but as the top comment mentioned I do want to keep playing through the story without stopping!
Yeah, they decided to do the endlessly spawning enemies until you pass a certain point in that area to stop it and just stack the health as a difficulty design vs actually designing enemies that will intelligently advance and flank. Really frustrating step back from 1.
Yeah all in all most combat began to feel the same with exceptions like the DLC where you can sneak around Batarians and then have to fight off an army of indoctrinated people alone, or the first time you fight each faction before you realize there’s no real variation. 3 probably is the worst offender with just the two enemy types of Reapers and Cerberus which makes sense lore wise but man is it generic especially Cerberus
The combat and Mako driving are BAD in ME 1. If mass effect wasn’t my all time favorite series and I wasn’t obsessed with the lore I’d probably try and speed run through that first one. Andromeda combat/movement with ME 1 story/exploration 👌🏾
Reminds me of a friend who went through the entire game and didn't really react to Sovereign's speech. Then after they finished I mentioned biotics and they asked me what a biotic was.
did you watch them play it or did they wait a week or two then said "*yeah bro I totally beat em all. I cried when \*checks google\* Virmire Survivor died*"?
I was pretty much like this at first. I had tried the original game a few times and never made it past being made a Spectre. I was confused and lost. I didn't fall in love with the series until my wife bought me the Legendary Edition and adult me gave it the attention it needed.
I feel like this explains a lot about why people don't get Kaidan or think he's too whiny lol. As a Vanguard I felt I could relate to the importance of his biotics a lot better.
I didn't. ME trilogy was my first ever RPG and I didn't know I could. Haha
When I completed it I checked online to see what I missed and realized it was A LOT! 😭😂
I mean if someone isn't interested in the RPG elements he ain't going to be interested in ME1. Maybe could be interested in future ME, but even that doubtful.
I think they’re probably referring to the driving from location to location for a bit plus the interior fighting, which is basically a combination of the second and third level of CE
I think you mean silent cartographer, the 4th mission. T&R was the stealth mission where you board the CCS Truth and Reconciliation. Silent cartographer has the tropical island you explore in warthog to find the location of halo's control room (but you don't go to the control room until the next mission)
I've played CE more than any other campaign. Reach comes close
As someone who loves both series I can see it.
Virmire at the beginning 80% vehicle combat and driving and 20% on foot combat, then switches to fully on foot for the interior of the facility. That's pretty similarly structured to a Halo level, plus Virmire is also very superficially similar to The Silent Cartographer mission in terms of landscape, both being abundantly green shorelines mixed with tree covered cliffs, though Virmire is definitely leaning more on the shoreline part than CE.
They're completely different games, but Virmire and bits of CE are superficially similar enough that I could see someone who cares more about gameplay than dialogue or story making the comparison.
Honestly it could be just that 1 is pretty dated now. I actually prefer the amount of skills and abilities in 1, but I played when it was released. I imagine as a newcomer it would be harder to get into than 2 or 3.
Nah I'm almost completely a newcomer (I tried ME2 demo ages ago) finally got around to playing Legendary Edition for the first time. Out of all games, 1's combat was the most inoffensive and only the final boss was annoying (I played all 3 games on Insanity). I found the controls far more frustrating in 2 and 3, I'm not a fan of the cover system and how so many actions are tied to 1 button/key. I also liked the abilities in 1 more
Problem is, ME1 is more of a narrative experience rather than an Action RPG, a friend of mine also tried ME1 but he didn’t like it and he stepped away from the franchise, his exact words were: “it’s too clunky and gameplay is boring, some scenes where cringy, for example the first scene I saw Shepard was like: WTF!! And I laughed so hard, I don’t know, maybe this franchise isn’t for me” and I was like: oh…
I've maintained for several years now that Mass Effect 1 isn't a great game.
Instead, it's a good game with a GREAT story.
It's a rough place to introduce new players in 2024, because so much of it still feels so awkward, janky, and clunky, especially compared to modern games. So there's naturally going to be some valid criticism there.
Honestly while i love all the mass effect games, 1 is my least favorite. Mainly because the exploration is slightly tedious, and because the equipment system sucks.
Is your friend 11 years old? How do you complete Mass Effect and THAT’S all you can say about it? Dude was probably watching TikToks during the dialogue.
Lots of people saying he didn't pay attention to the story, but I'll play devils advocate here: Mass Effect's story is much more impactful when you play it for the first time as a teen. Lots of "cool moments" are not as cool when you're older, some things now come off as just edgy, and you might already be very familiar with the sci-fi tropes from other media. I can see someone who pays A LOT of attention to the story also disliking Mass Effect and considering it inferior to more "high minded" or complex stuff.
Just tell him the first game’s combat isn’t great, ME2 is top-tier.
Some people don’t play the game for story :/ I didn’t at first, but once I was invested in the characters it was all I played for.
My friend had a similar opinion. She had to be convinced to move on to ME2 after she finished the first one. Even with LE, she thought ME1 was very outdated and didn't enjoy the gameplay at all. She was slightly intrigued at the idea of the Reapers, but that was about it.
Then ME2 started and she really got into it. She started connecting with the characters more (Tali and Garrus in particular) and loved seeing the outcome of her choices and actions. Hope your friend has a similar reaction!
this thread has taught me that mass effect fans are annoying as hell jesus christ
i play these games for the story too but the first one was an absolute slogfest.
Mass effect isn’t for someone with ADD or ADHD. I’m not saying he has however honestly the first game is slower than the rest. For me, it doesn’t really start to get interesting until your conversation with Sovereign. he’ll be singing a different tune with the Mass Effect two. Then he’ll be doing backflips for Mas effect three which has the best combat.
I feel this in my soul. My best friend hates on Mass Effect because he found the first game boring. It drives me crazy because ME LE is one of my all-time favorites chilling on my PS5, ready to be replayed again whenever I need something great to come back to... and he's like "meh". My feelings are hurt.
NGL I agree with him, ME1 is by far the weakest of the trilogy and the only thing going for it is the _solid_ worldbuilding it had. Everything else from story, gameplay, set pieces, were all boring af
Yep, I sped through it with the legendary collection so I could get to the lot more streamlined and better gunplay me2. Love the story and the characters but my god is the combat a chore in that first game.
Yeah exactly. I still have fond memories of the mako randomly flying into the sky and exploding. The story definitely set a good baseline but especially in terms of modern audiences the combat doesn’t hold up
Totally agree. Almost didn’t continue after the first one. Barely made it through the first one to be honest. Wanted to give up.
Fortunately, things got better with 2.
I don’t think Virmire is that fun as a mission, honestly I see where he’s coming from.
You’re basically zooming through in your warthog (Mako) check point to check point and running around all over the damn place. Plus the whole Ashley/Kaiden thing when I don’t really care about either one.
ME2 is a far better game, and the suicide mission is arguably the best ending in the whole trilogy. So I think he has fine taste if he’s at least willing to keep playing.
Honestly, put buddy onto Andromeda. For All its faults, Andromeda objectively has the most refined Combat.
But most likely, he's got a different taste. Find another game to bond over.
Honestly on my first playthrough I didn't really start getting into it at all until Virmire. Then I would say I only got fully into it just before the credits of the first game. Now I've replayed the series at least 8 times.
Personally I think the 2nd one is so much better than the first. I didn’t have a good experience in me1 so I really got attached to me2. Fingers crossed they do
He’ll enjoy 2 and 3 more - the series becomes increasingly more accessible as it goes on, and it makes you to look back on earlier entries more fondly.
I admittedly held the same opinion as your friend and was ready to forgo Mass Effect until a buddy of mine lent me his copy of ME2 and insisted I try again after I gave up on 1. Everything clicked at that point, to the point where I went back and started my head canon play through of 1 and 2 in anticipation of 3 which was my first midnight release.
Vermires the best one! Gotta save Wrex from himself and Ashley, blow up the base, save Captain Kirahe, murder Ashley (Yeah I said it!), and a huge plotting of revenge sequence that follows. I imagine my shepard pacing back and forth ploting to rip Sarens spine out via Charge
Tell him 2 and 3 are better lol I was the same way tbh and then I played 2&3 (just finished the trilogy a couple days ago and played all 3 in a week) and now I’m wanting ME 4 to come out but it’s not scheduled to release until 2029 😩😩💔
The combat is a tool to get more story, so if your friend is playing for the combat they’re going to end up disappointed. Combat gets better in 2 and 3, though
I could understand that pov. I don't agree with him but it's fine. The virmire mission is a big long in tooth. ME 1 I love mostly due to it's more indepth rpg mechanics and story vs it's combat. imo the reason ME 3 is my favorite is because that's when they got the combat and the story with the mechanics right.
In fairness, ME 1 felt like a slog for me the first time I played it. But after having to finish it 6 times for those class achievements it grew on me a lot.
Either way, I'm sure your buddy will like ME2
To each their own. Seems like this guy isn’t a big RPG fan, which is completely valid.
He’ll probably enjoy 2 and 3 more, but no shame in it if he doesn’t.
Reminds me of my buddy that played the last of us and disliked it becuase he didn't understand what was going on. Found out his stupid ass was skipping all the cutscenes.
I’m really sorry to say it! I really am! But for those that don’t grow up with mass effect, this is very often the opinion!
Two gets a grip and figured out how to add energy and intensity to the shoot outs. I have soooo many friends that can’t get through one and it’s not even that long
Well, to be fair, the first game is really showing its age at this point in terms of the combat and controls. The true charm of the game is the world building and characters.
Idk man. Maybe it’s just not your friend’s type of game. ME is one of my favorite game series ever. I guess it’s just not for everyone. I really felt like there should have been more weapon types. The inconsistency of the way ammunition works in 1 compared to the other two also kind of bothered me. The overheating was an adjustment at first, but then I had to adjust back to finding ammunition for the other two. I’d have been happy with one or the other, but all 3 are still in my top 5 games from the PS3 to PS5 era, despite this. The only other issue I had was the fact that you don’t get enough skill points to level up everything. I mean even within your own class. Well, Idk, maybe some classes don’t have as many skills, but I always go Soldier, and 102 isn’t enough to max out everything. Not even close. I think even the squad members fell short of maxing out theirs too, if I remember correctly. Once again, it’s still an incredible game though. The whole series is simply incredible. I can’t think of any other way to describe them.
Well, as much as I like Mass Effect. I just replayed the first one, played a bit of the second but am busy to play rn. Anyway, I found myself dreading every main mission in the first game. I just kinda find the boring and dragging on a little too long.
At least your mate finished it. I lent Metroid Prime Remastered to my mate and he returned it after beating the tutorial mission. It wasn't his thing I guess.
Admittedly, I did find the ground vehicles and gunplay of 1 a bit draining. Making tbe rest of the game less enjoyable. Still plan to finish it but I tried mass effect 2 and overall the experience felt better and not just rhe combat.
Nah I don’t think it means he has bad taste, just different taste. Other than us hardcore mass effect fans, ME1 is the least attractive. I would take it as far as to say the combat is bad, especially when you look at where shooters were at the time the game came out and now. ME1 was always behind the ball combat wise. I love the story and exploration but every gamer that’s not a huge ME nerd usually tells me they sped through the first one and enjoyed 2 and 3 better. It would be a dream to get a full re-make of the OG one day.
Tell your friend that “originality” is a myth. Everything has been done before, just reskinned, repackaged and resold back to us. In essence there are only seven story archetypes in literature…
- overcoming the monster
- comedy
- tragedy
- rags to riches
- voyage and return
- quest
- rebirth
To that end some literary historians have turned these seven story archetypes into only one. “Who am I?” It’s pretty much every story… a journey to get to know a character.
My condolences to your friend who lives out the rest of their life with every show and movie and book being Halo.
My gf (now wife) thought the first game was ok and the last mission was really good. She absolutely fell in love with the series in 2 and is now a hardcore fan.
Give your friend a chance!
I can understand it to a certain degree. It's not fun combat, which isn't great as there's quite a lot of it. Side quests are fine, but the mako drove me insane. But the story is genuinely interesting and was more than enough to keep me going.
idk man I kinda feel that. I for some reason played ME3 first, then did ME2+ME3 and only then ME1+ME2+ME3. I felt like ME1 dragged on forever and every mission is kinda the same. It was only interesting to me for the story and being able to do a whole playthrough
Hopefully he sticks with it. Won't lie, at points I also got te feeling that ME1 was bootleg Halo CE, I didn't dislike it, but it did get repetitive some times, ME2 changed that completely for me, they finally got the gameplay/story balance right.
Sounds like he might not be used to playing RPGs. You should ask him if he's going through all the dialogue, exploring, talking to NPCs and the team, doing the side missions, and exploring all of the planet's. If he's skipping the cutscenes and the the extra dialogue and side missions and other stuff it's not going to be worth playing.
For people that aren’t already fans of BioWare rpgs, mass effect 1 is just kind of a bad game. If I want to get a friend into BioWare’s style, I’m going to recommend Dragon Age: Origins, Baldurs Gate 1, or KotOR first. Otherwise neophytes should just skip to ME2, then go back and play one if Mass Effect ends up being their jam.
I agree that the story is the biggest part of the Mass Effect series combat gets better into and three but I agree with another commenter that combat and Andromeda was great! As a matter of fact I loved Andromeda the choices, the romances, ( especially the Jaal Romance), the combat, the weapons, armor modifications for everything, and the powers! It was so awesome! I saw a lot of people bitched about glitches and lips not synced up with words. I never had any of those issues unless I put my system in sleep for days at a time still playing the game for days. Don't play the game for 4 days straight it doesn't start to lag. I was really disappointed that we didn't get the DLCs they were planning for it! They even teased it at the end of the game! The only thing that was not in the game that I would have liked to have seen, and I know this is weird but bear with me, I really hope we would have gotten a scene with Vetra! She's not the first Turrian Romance but both never had any "romantic" scenes. I can't be the only one curious! LMAO
It seems this guy plays the game for the combat and not the story. Mass effect has ok combat, which improves significantly on the latest titles. However, the real meat of the game is in the dialogue and story. I have the suspicion that your friend didn't pay much attention to the story
This. Your friend has the wrong expectations for this series. Combat gets better but if you’re gonna enjoy ME you have to be willing to get into the story and choices.
The truth none are ready to accept Andromeda has the best combat
My only issue with Andromeda combat was that they limited you to 3 abilities. Give me the full hotbar, cowards!
You'd be to powerful xD
You’re correct and you should say it!!!!
Heresy!
Look into your heart You know it to be true
I may be in the minority, but I love the janky combat of 1
I did like the janky combat and loved the rollerskate mako the best
The Mako is my favorite car in all of gaming. It's janky physics are spectacular. Truly balletic in its grace, beauty, and defiance of gravity.
I drive the mako, I hate the mako, and yet I love the mako, for its awful mechanics and controls make it what it is. And also firing a cannon right into a thresher maw is really fun
It's the worst vehicle ever, but hey, it ***works***. I may have a concussion or two and gotten into 47 firefights on the way from point A to point B, but I'm nonetheless at point B!
Picturing Shepard with his arm out trying to hold wrex and Garrus in their seats.
Them asking if they're there yet like kids while Shepard screams "we get there WHEN WE GET THERE!" as everyone gets knocked around 😭
🤣🤣🤣
Like a drunken hippo... 😁
I love the janky combat but hate that I keep accidentally tossing nades and then remember that they just fly forward forever because fuck me, but still I love it because you can get fun surprise nade kills
ME1s janky combat is fun AF. ME2 had the best overall combat. ME3 I felt had the best “powers” combat with all the combos and how hard the powers can hit - offset by the rushed design where too many times your cover would block your own power. IMO.
I like them all for different reasons. Only problem I felt with 2 was ammo was quite limited.
Soldier was definitely more of a challenge to play in ME2 Insanity because of this. The other classes *cough* Sentinel, made Insanity a joke though.
I think ME1 combat is my favourite, despite any jank, due to being able to "stack" powers, because they all had their own separate cooldowns. Being able to lift enemies and then immediately throw them without a delay made you feel like a proper biotic god. The weapon upgrade system was also pretty cool with all the different attachments and ammo types.
Yeah, it's absolutely my favorite to play an adept in. Everything just floating around and praying the xbox doesn't crash 😂
Legendary Edition actually has me preferring ME1 shooting to ME2's shooting.
There is also a LOT less exploration in later titles. Even though the first is the shortest story I believe it can FEEL like the longest if trying to do any, decent, amount of side questing.
Reminds me of a friend who said Andromeda was much better than the originals because the combat was good.
I actually think the combat got progressively more boring having just replayed all 3. Yes it gets smoother but it's also overly simplistic.
**The** thing that drives ME3 combat for me is the feel and sound of the weapons. I don't know who made the decision to put that much of a focus on it, but I hope they're proud of their work because the gunplay feels visceral to me in 3. Every weapon feels different. Every weapon has a unique sound. Even some of the lesser weapons sound and feel great.
Variety is really the word for it. ME1, the guns are all pretty samey. ME2, there's 3 or 4 per slot, but they're all unique. But ME3 has what feels like a dozen guns per category, and they all feel different and fun
I don't use it much, but that Turian police gun is one of my favorite sounding weapons. *budda budda budda* erweeep *budda budda budda* erweeep *budda budda budda*
Very true. I love the sticky grenade pistol for Banshees. Nothing like it screaming and teleporting to just get blown up five seconds later.
With biotic classes I use the executioner pistol. I also have surround sound on my pc. OH BOY is it loud. But it helps with immersion.
ME2 is just waves of enemies in hallways for the entire game which is so damn boring
I’m slogging through Insanity on ME2 and I’m ripping out hairs
You could say it's making you go insane Ba dum tiss
I think I’ll go back to my JRPGs
Yeah I had to take an extended break because of ME2 insanity. Still haven't finished it.
I’m barely done recruiting Mordin. You gotta play pixel perfect 🤣
I remember seeing an article in PCPP (Aussie review magazine) at the time talking about how insanity turned everything into shielded bullet sponges and that put me off ever trying that difficulty lol. I like a mechanical challenge to some degree, but as the top comment mentioned I do want to keep playing through the story without stopping!
Yeah, they decided to do the endlessly spawning enemies until you pass a certain point in that area to stop it and just stack the health as a difficulty design vs actually designing enemies that will intelligently advance and flank. Really frustrating step back from 1.
ME3 is fine. As is ME1. 2 is a Trainwreck however. Such terrible gameplay design.
Yeah all in all most combat began to feel the same with exceptions like the DLC where you can sneak around Batarians and then have to fight off an army of indoctrinated people alone, or the first time you fight each faction before you realize there’s no real variation. 3 probably is the worst offender with just the two enemy types of Reapers and Cerberus which makes sense lore wise but man is it generic especially Cerberus
It seems that guy is an idiot lol
If that’s true, he very likely will enjoy ME2 and ME3 more
The combat and Mako driving are BAD in ME 1. If mass effect wasn’t my all time favorite series and I wasn’t obsessed with the lore I’d probably try and speed run through that first one. Andromeda combat/movement with ME 1 story/exploration 👌🏾
And it's totally cool to just play the game for combat or whatever. That being said the friends opinion is wrong /j
Reminds me of a friend who went through the entire game and didn't really react to Sovereign's speech. Then after they finished I mentioned biotics and they asked me what a biotic was.
They probably don't know who Cortana is
Who is Cortana?
did you watch them play it or did they wait a week or two then said "*yeah bro I totally beat em all. I cried when \*checks google\* Virmire Survivor died*"?
I…what…how?
I was pretty much like this at first. I had tried the original game a few times and never made it past being made a Spectre. I was confused and lost. I didn't fall in love with the series until my wife bought me the Legendary Edition and adult me gave it the attention it needed.
I feel like this explains a lot about why people don't get Kaidan or think he's too whiny lol. As a Vanguard I felt I could relate to the importance of his biotics a lot better.
Ask him if he talks to crew mates between missions A lot of gameplay first folks don't and it's why they get confused by the hype
I didn't. ME trilogy was my first ever RPG and I didn't know I could. Haha When I completed it I checked online to see what I missed and realized it was A LOT! 😭😂
My heart and my head hurt right now.
When I finished the trilogy I started a new ME1 immediately to do it right. 👍😂
Now I think about it, Virmire is pretty similar to the first couple Halo levels
Honestly? Yeah I see it
In terms of environment it definitely has Silent Cartographer vibes.
it seems your mate has been indoctrinated
sounds like the kind of person who skips dialogs and cutscenes
I guess they'll like that mode in 3 that makes all the choices for you so you don't have to think about it and go back to shooting things.
Man i hate people like that, like what's the point, like how can you?
It sounds like he prefers constant action/combat games like Halo to story based games like Mass Effect. It very well might be over for him - lol
Yeah and I hope OP doesn't try to push it on him or lay it on too thick. I'm sure they can find another series to play instead.
Divorce
NTA, divorce the friend, marry the quarian.
Medbay up, hit the reporter, delete the extranet.
I mean if someone isn't interested in the RPG elements he ain't going to be interested in ME1. Maybe could be interested in future ME, but even that doubtful.
I don’t even see how it’s comparable to Halo: CE at all? It’s got grass and water?
The structures look like the ones in CE's second level
Maybe a little? Not nearly enough to call it a bootleg
I’m a new comer to this franchise and have in-fact compared quite a bit of it to halo tbh
I think they’re probably referring to the driving from location to location for a bit plus the interior fighting, which is basically a combination of the second and third level of CE
I think you mean second and fourth. The third level is Truth and Reconciliation.
I did mean T&R, I just forgot the order lol
I think you mean silent cartographer, the 4th mission. T&R was the stealth mission where you board the CCS Truth and Reconciliation. Silent cartographer has the tropical island you explore in warthog to find the location of halo's control room (but you don't go to the control room until the next mission) I've played CE more than any other campaign. Reach comes close
They were playing as a soldier and thinking of the game as a shooter rather than an RPG.
As someone who loves both series I can see it. Virmire at the beginning 80% vehicle combat and driving and 20% on foot combat, then switches to fully on foot for the interior of the facility. That's pretty similarly structured to a Halo level, plus Virmire is also very superficially similar to The Silent Cartographer mission in terms of landscape, both being abundantly green shorelines mixed with tree covered cliffs, though Virmire is definitely leaning more on the shoreline part than CE. They're completely different games, but Virmire and bits of CE are superficially similar enough that I could see someone who cares more about gameplay than dialogue or story making the comparison.
When your only reference is Halo, every other game will be \[adjective\] Halo
It's sci-fi and it has guns?
Answer with "I should go" and never talk to him again. NEVER.
Ok, but who died?
Asking the only real question here
*Average Jacob enjoyer*
Get new friends, you don't need that kind of negativity in your life
Your friend is an idiot.
My fiancé is playing the game for the first time now and I’m nervous. If he hates the game, I’m gonna have to cancel the wedding, right?
Personally I think it all depends on how he feels about your favorite love interest. That's the real determination of if you need to cancel.
True. We’ll have to see how he feels about Garrus.
Sounds like your friend would love Andromeda.
Honestly it could be just that 1 is pretty dated now. I actually prefer the amount of skills and abilities in 1, but I played when it was released. I imagine as a newcomer it would be harder to get into than 2 or 3.
Nah I'm almost completely a newcomer (I tried ME2 demo ages ago) finally got around to playing Legendary Edition for the first time. Out of all games, 1's combat was the most inoffensive and only the final boss was annoying (I played all 3 games on Insanity). I found the controls far more frustrating in 2 and 3, I'm not a fan of the cover system and how so many actions are tied to 1 button/key. I also liked the abilities in 1 more
He deserves to die like a batarian
Problem is, ME1 is more of a narrative experience rather than an Action RPG, a friend of mine also tried ME1 but he didn’t like it and he stepped away from the franchise, his exact words were: “it’s too clunky and gameplay is boring, some scenes where cringy, for example the first scene I saw Shepard was like: WTF!! And I laughed so hard, I don’t know, maybe this franchise isn’t for me” and I was like: oh…
Haha fair enough = go fuck yourself twat.
If you're playing Mass Effect 1 for the combat, with or without mods, I feel bad for you.
Tell me without telling me you’ve never said one word to your crewmates.
He'll like 2
I've maintained for several years now that Mass Effect 1 isn't a great game. Instead, it's a good game with a GREAT story. It's a rough place to introduce new players in 2024, because so much of it still feels so awkward, janky, and clunky, especially compared to modern games. So there's naturally going to be some valid criticism there.
Honestly while i love all the mass effect games, 1 is my least favorite. Mainly because the exploration is slightly tedious, and because the equipment system sucks.
Ex friend right he's clearly been indoctrinated
Is your friend 11 years old? How do you complete Mass Effect and THAT’S all you can say about it? Dude was probably watching TikToks during the dialogue.
Lots of people saying he didn't pay attention to the story, but I'll play devils advocate here: Mass Effect's story is much more impactful when you play it for the first time as a teen. Lots of "cool moments" are not as cool when you're older, some things now come off as just edgy, and you might already be very familiar with the sci-fi tropes from other media. I can see someone who pays A LOT of attention to the story also disliking Mass Effect and considering it inferior to more "high minded" or complex stuff.
I first played it when I was 30. It slapped.
He seems like the type of dude who saves Ashley because "hot girl" and not because he actually cares about her
Just tell him the first game’s combat isn’t great, ME2 is top-tier. Some people don’t play the game for story :/ I didn’t at first, but once I was invested in the characters it was all I played for.
Your friend couldn't hold the line
Whoops. *Disconnects*
My friend had a similar opinion. She had to be convinced to move on to ME2 after she finished the first one. Even with LE, she thought ME1 was very outdated and didn't enjoy the gameplay at all. She was slightly intrigued at the idea of the Reapers, but that was about it. Then ME2 started and she really got into it. She started connecting with the characters more (Tali and Garrus in particular) and loved seeing the outcome of her choices and actions. Hope your friend has a similar reaction!
If he said “Ilos had an unnecessarily confusing, gamefied map,” I might have been willing to let him cook.
this thread has taught me that mass effect fans are annoying as hell jesus christ i play these games for the story too but the first one was an absolute slogfest.
Mass effect isn’t for someone with ADD or ADHD. I’m not saying he has however honestly the first game is slower than the rest. For me, it doesn’t really start to get interesting until your conversation with Sovereign. he’ll be singing a different tune with the Mass Effect two. Then he’ll be doing backflips for Mas effect three which has the best combat.
tbh i got lots of halo vibes off that one
Ww're here for you bro.
I feel this in my soul. My best friend hates on Mass Effect because he found the first game boring. It drives me crazy because ME LE is one of my all-time favorites chilling on my PS5, ready to be replayed again whenever I need something great to come back to... and he's like "meh". My feelings are hurt.
One of my friends hated ME2. He also avoids side quests like the plague. Coincidence? I think not.
NGL I agree with him, ME1 is by far the weakest of the trilogy and the only thing going for it is the _solid_ worldbuilding it had. Everything else from story, gameplay, set pieces, were all boring af
The first game is pretty janky tbf
Yep, I sped through it with the legendary collection so I could get to the lot more streamlined and better gunplay me2. Love the story and the characters but my god is the combat a chore in that first game.
Yeah exactly. I still have fond memories of the mako randomly flying into the sky and exploding. The story definitely set a good baseline but especially in terms of modern audiences the combat doesn’t hold up
Totally agree. Almost didn’t continue after the first one. Barely made it through the first one to be honest. Wanted to give up. Fortunately, things got better with 2.
You need to shoot him then do it again 47 more times
I don’t think Virmire is that fun as a mission, honestly I see where he’s coming from. You’re basically zooming through in your warthog (Mako) check point to check point and running around all over the damn place. Plus the whole Ashley/Kaiden thing when I don’t really care about either one. ME2 is a far better game, and the suicide mission is arguably the best ending in the whole trilogy. So I think he has fine taste if he’s at least willing to keep playing.
Honestly, put buddy onto Andromeda. For All its faults, Andromeda objectively has the most refined Combat. But most likely, he's got a different taste. Find another game to bond over.
😔
He'll be fine. The combat in 2 and 3 will be right up his alley I suspect, or at least significantly more so than 1.
ME2 should whet his shooter appetite, but only if he lets the storyline in, since the first five minutes forces him to.
Honestly on my first playthrough I didn't really start getting into it at all until Virmire. Then I would say I only got fully into it just before the credits of the first game. Now I've replayed the series at least 8 times.
Personally I think the 2nd one is so much better than the first. I didn’t have a good experience in me1 so I really got attached to me2. Fingers crossed they do
Jail. Immediately.
He’ll enjoy 2 and 3 more - the series becomes increasingly more accessible as it goes on, and it makes you to look back on earlier entries more fondly. I admittedly held the same opinion as your friend and was ready to forgo Mass Effect until a buddy of mine lent me his copy of ME2 and insisted I try again after I gave up on 1. Everything clicked at that point, to the point where I went back and started my head canon play through of 1 and 2 in anticipation of 3 which was my first midnight release.
Bruh moment
I think they’ll like ME2 a lot. If not then they dum dum
I think its time you find new friends, lmao. Just send him the "I don't want to live on this planet anymore" meme.
Sorry for your loss OP. Hope you can find a good friend with class and taste.
Vermires the best one! Gotta save Wrex from himself and Ashley, blow up the base, save Captain Kirahe, murder Ashley (Yeah I said it!), and a huge plotting of revenge sequence that follows. I imagine my shepard pacing back and forth ploting to rip Sarens spine out via Charge
Ask them what happened to Wrex.
This guy is on something FuNkY
Ask him how does he feel about the visions from the beacon? Because that’s the only time he’ll see your friendship ever again.. in visions!
Tell him 2 and 3 are better lol I was the same way tbh and then I played 2&3 (just finished the trilogy a couple days ago and played all 3 in a week) and now I’m wanting ME 4 to come out but it’s not scheduled to release until 2029 😩😩💔
Smh. Not all are fit to stop the reapers.
The combat is a tool to get more story, so if your friend is playing for the combat they’re going to end up disappointed. Combat gets better in 2 and 3, though
I could understand that pov. I don't agree with him but it's fine. The virmire mission is a big long in tooth. ME 1 I love mostly due to it's more indepth rpg mechanics and story vs it's combat. imo the reason ME 3 is my favorite is because that's when they got the combat and the story with the mechanics right.
Your friend might be an elcor
Dumb
He’s not wrong. I love Mass Effect but the first game is easily the worst one.
In fairness, ME 1 felt like a slog for me the first time I played it. But after having to finish it 6 times for those class achievements it grew on me a lot. Either way, I'm sure your buddy will like ME2
To each their own. Seems like this guy isn’t a big RPG fan, which is completely valid. He’ll probably enjoy 2 and 3 more, but no shame in it if he doesn’t.
I’m a sucker for old Star Wars game but I love Mass Effect more than knights of the old republic.
If he is comparing something to CE and in a negative way, he definitely has bad taste,
Reminds me of my buddy that played the last of us and disliked it becuase he didn't understand what was going on. Found out his stupid ass was skipping all the cutscenes.
I’m Commander Shepard and this is my least favorite friend on the Citadel
I’m really sorry to say it! I really am! But for those that don’t grow up with mass effect, this is very often the opinion! Two gets a grip and figured out how to add energy and intensity to the shoot outs. I have soooo many friends that can’t get through one and it’s not even that long
Well, to be fair, the first game is really showing its age at this point in terms of the combat and controls. The true charm of the game is the world building and characters.
The entire game went over this guys head. Remarkable really.
Ew
You should eat him
Idk man. Maybe it’s just not your friend’s type of game. ME is one of my favorite game series ever. I guess it’s just not for everyone. I really felt like there should have been more weapon types. The inconsistency of the way ammunition works in 1 compared to the other two also kind of bothered me. The overheating was an adjustment at first, but then I had to adjust back to finding ammunition for the other two. I’d have been happy with one or the other, but all 3 are still in my top 5 games from the PS3 to PS5 era, despite this. The only other issue I had was the fact that you don’t get enough skill points to level up everything. I mean even within your own class. Well, Idk, maybe some classes don’t have as many skills, but I always go Soldier, and 102 isn’t enough to max out everything. Not even close. I think even the squad members fell short of maxing out theirs too, if I remember correctly. Once again, it’s still an incredible game though. The whole series is simply incredible. I can’t think of any other way to describe them.
Well, as much as I like Mass Effect. I just replayed the first one, played a bit of the second but am busy to play rn. Anyway, I found myself dreading every main mission in the first game. I just kinda find the boring and dragging on a little too long.
At least your mate finished it. I lent Metroid Prime Remastered to my mate and he returned it after beating the tutorial mission. It wasn't his thing I guess.
Combat improves pretty significantly in the 2nd game
Admittedly, I did find the ground vehicles and gunplay of 1 a bit draining. Making tbe rest of the game less enjoyable. Still plan to finish it but I tried mass effect 2 and overall the experience felt better and not just rhe combat.
I prefer me1 but ya he’s right
Back to Fortnite for that scrub
its time to plot a muder
Nah I don’t think it means he has bad taste, just different taste. Other than us hardcore mass effect fans, ME1 is the least attractive. I would take it as far as to say the combat is bad, especially when you look at where shooters were at the time the game came out and now. ME1 was always behind the ball combat wise. I love the story and exploration but every gamer that’s not a huge ME nerd usually tells me they sped through the first one and enjoyed 2 and 3 better. It would be a dream to get a full re-make of the OG one day.
Tell your friend that “originality” is a myth. Everything has been done before, just reskinned, repackaged and resold back to us. In essence there are only seven story archetypes in literature… - overcoming the monster - comedy - tragedy - rags to riches - voyage and return - quest - rebirth To that end some literary historians have turned these seven story archetypes into only one. “Who am I?” It’s pretty much every story… a journey to get to know a character. My condolences to your friend who lives out the rest of their life with every show and movie and book being Halo.
Guy would sacrifice Ashley *and* Kaidan if he could.
ME1's experience is far more focused on the Role playing aspect of RGS. It isn't for everyone and they will likely enjoy ME2 and 3 more.
I love the series but it took me 13 years to finish the first game. It really does drag at points and already felt outdated a decade ago.
My gf (now wife) thought the first game was ok and the last mission was really good. She absolutely fell in love with the series in 2 and is now a hardcore fan. Give your friend a chance!
He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who enjoys these types of games
I can understand it to a certain degree. It's not fun combat, which isn't great as there's quite a lot of it. Side quests are fine, but the mako drove me insane. But the story is genuinely interesting and was more than enough to keep me going.
idk man I kinda feel that. I for some reason played ME3 first, then did ME2+ME3 and only then ME1+ME2+ME3. I felt like ME1 dragged on forever and every mission is kinda the same. It was only interesting to me for the story and being able to do a whole playthrough
Virmire is my favourite mission in ME1, what is this guy smoking?
Shame
Indoctrinated!
Hopefully he sticks with it. Won't lie, at points I also got te feeling that ME1 was bootleg Halo CE, I didn't dislike it, but it did get repetitive some times, ME2 changed that completely for me, they finally got the gameplay/story balance right.
Sounds like he might not be used to playing RPGs. You should ask him if he's going through all the dialogue, exploring, talking to NPCs and the team, doing the side missions, and exploring all of the planet's. If he's skipping the cutscenes and the the extra dialogue and side missions and other stuff it's not going to be worth playing.
Time to put him in the port cargo and space him in about 20 seconds.
For people that aren’t already fans of BioWare rpgs, mass effect 1 is just kind of a bad game. If I want to get a friend into BioWare’s style, I’m going to recommend Dragon Age: Origins, Baldurs Gate 1, or KotOR first. Otherwise neophytes should just skip to ME2, then go back and play one if Mass Effect ends up being their jam.
He is normal, nobody likes mass effect 1 gameplay, it sucks
Im gonna get shot for this but i like ME1 combat the best. I DO NOT mean the legendary edition but the original 1 gameplay including the mako.
Throw this primitive out the airlock.
Well to be honest, 2 is better. I still disagree with this opinion, but I think whoever this is will like the second one better.
I agree that the story is the biggest part of the Mass Effect series combat gets better into and three but I agree with another commenter that combat and Andromeda was great! As a matter of fact I loved Andromeda the choices, the romances, ( especially the Jaal Romance), the combat, the weapons, armor modifications for everything, and the powers! It was so awesome! I saw a lot of people bitched about glitches and lips not synced up with words. I never had any of those issues unless I put my system in sleep for days at a time still playing the game for days. Don't play the game for 4 days straight it doesn't start to lag. I was really disappointed that we didn't get the DLCs they were planning for it! They even teased it at the end of the game! The only thing that was not in the game that I would have liked to have seen, and I know this is weird but bear with me, I really hope we would have gotten a scene with Vetra! She's not the first Turrian Romance but both never had any "romantic" scenes. I can't be the only one curious! LMAO
Unfriend immediately
Oh boy
2 and 3 are significantly better than 1. I said it
Mass effect 1 has aged really poorly in fairness. Even with the legendary edition.
I think you need better friends with tastes. No one needs this kind of negativity in their life 🤣🤣🤣
The real question is, who all survived virmire?
There’s only one thing you can do. Throw him out the airlock