8 years ago
Is there a 'right' way?
In the other Mass Effect games there were two ways of playing out the storyline. I used to call them "The Good Guy" and "The Douchebag" You could make positive choices or you could be as previously s...
Some of the choices are designed not to have an impact on the future of the story but to have an impsct on the characters and by extension, you.
On the one hand you have the Asari Pathfinder, a pretty important person for the Asari, which being the human pathfinder Ryder would know. Not only that, she also just swooped in and saved your *, do you return the favor?
Or on the other hand you have one of your best buddies right there asking for people he cares about to be saved. You've been through a lot together. He has had your back many times, do you have his back now when he askes for it?
It doesn't need to have a future impact, just an immediate, in the moment one.
I enjoy those kinds of choices as much as the future impact choices.
I have noticed a few things as far as choices go that shows a lack of depth to the story and really lowers the ability for the story to draw you in and immerse you into the 'new' Mass Effect. That is the individual story lines. Your interaction with your crew. There is very little growth. You find out pretty much everything about every npc in the game from the first conversation. There is no depth. Your interaction and the choices you made in the other games effected your conversations with your fellow crew members and other npc's as well as the story of the game itself. The simple side story of Conrad Verner is a great example. Choices made during missions and loyalty missions would effect future conversations with everyone, even nothing npc's. The problem is, there are very few interactions with your crew after the first one or two, and then only a couple for each loyalty mission.
As I said, I left Drack's guys on the Kett ship and it was completely forgotten after the one interaction after the mission. I could really forgive all of the bugs ect. because EA did not give them the extra time to flesh out the game that they (Bioware) asked for. The story however, is the main reason why the original trilogy became so hugely popular and remains so today, years after it was completed. Even the so obvious main choices leave you with a who cares what I decide feeling. They leave you feeling no impact what-so-ever. Those same type of choices in the original felt like they mattered.
I also want to say that Liam is one of the most lame characters in any game ever. Crisis response, but he freaks out over everything and screws up everything he does? Just a lame story line.
Players seem to remember the trilogy with rose colored glasses.
Pick any of the three Mass Effect games. Do you know what made it great?
The other two.
I played Mass Effect 3 first and didn't think it was anything special.
None of my choices mattered at all in the big picture.
It was only after I backed up and played the first two that it started making sense.
But each game...on it's own...was not great.
I've played all three in the past few weeks. I am a huge fan.
None of them are great alone.
Let's see where this game goes.
@mckrackin5324 wrote:
Players seem to remember the trilogy with rose colored glasses.
Pick any of the three Mass Effect games. Do you know what made it great?
The other two.
I played Mass Effect 3 first and didn't think it was anything special.
None of my choices mattered at all in the big picture.
It was only after I backed up and played the first two that it started making sense.
But each game...on it's own...was not great.
I've played all three in the past few weeks. I am a huge fan.
None of them are great alone.
Let's see where this game goes.
The problem is, they don't intend to make this a trilogy. So if Sara, Scott and their companions aren't good in this game, alone they never will be.
The only stuff that will cary over is like Kett, remnant and angara.
While I adore the big picture a big part of the mass effect games for me was carrying on with the same protagonist and crew members, meeting other new people along the way but also adding more depth to the current.
That's part of what made mass effect feel like mass effect. It did what no other games did in that respect.
I have dragon age for stand alone single game protagonist, team and romance.
Don't want that from ME as well.
Spoilers ahead
@mckrackin5324 My glasses are not very rose colored since I just finished playing through all three as a female character for the first time while waiting for this game. Say what you want, but the story and decisions made, as well as the characters is what made the series so popular. No, they were not perfect, but the story and how it continued was ahead of it's time and has never been successfully repeated, and I am afraid that it definitely won't be here.
@VladVonCastein I agree with everything you said. And your points on the rehash of the story is exactly what some of us have been saying. It's the same story, they just changed the names, who is doing what and the setting.
@onemadvagabond wrote:
@mckrackin5324 My glasses are not very rose colored since I just finished playing through all three as a female character for the first time while waiting for this game. Say what you want, but the story and decisions made, as well as the characters is what made the series so popular. No, they were not perfect, but the story and how it continued was ahead of it's time and has never been successfully repeated, and I am afraid that it definitely won't be here.
@VladVonCastein I agree with everything you said. And your points on the rehash of the story is exactly what some of us have been saying. It's the same story, they just changed the names, who is doing what and the setting.
SpoilerThe Kett are the reapers and collectors. The, forget what they are called who used the remnant tech and Maridian are the Protheans. Someone made it before them. Etc. etc. etc. Nothing new except better environments and slightly better combat and movement. I mean, I liked the game, but it felt hollow.
I do agree that the story in this game is very familiar. Too familiar.