MovieChat Forums > Mass Effect (2007) Discussion > Did I miss something?

Did I miss something?

posted 10 years ago by twofacetoo
23 replies | jump to latest

So today I was picking through the old junk we keep in our garage, and I came across a battered plastic bag full of old video-games. I had collected a few up and intended to give them to a charity shop, but had never gotten around to it. So for a few years they'd been sitting in the garage, collecting dust.
One of them was 'Mass Effect', which I'd bought on disc before Steam rolled around and made discs obsolete.
I'd never played it because I hadn't been in possession of a computer capable of running it's epic graphics at the time, but since last year, I've owned a high tech gaming computer and realised I was finally able to play it.
So I installed it on my PC, played it for a while... and got bored.
Granted, maybe I'm just not into the good stuff yet, but I have to be honest here guys. The game is boring to me. I'm up to the part where Shepherd touches the Beacon thing and has his vision of war or whatever, and I am just so bored. Nothing in the game is interesting to me. Not the characters, not the enemies, not the weapons or the combat scheme, nothing.
To me, the game just feels far too political. It's all 'Council' this and 'protocol' that. I just can't enjoy it when it's all dialogue about something I don't understand and don't WANT to understand.
So what I'm here to ask is: what do YOU enjoy about the game? Because chances are, I've either not played long enough, or I've simply missed whatever it was you all enjoyed enough to rate this game 9.4/10
So, yeah, what is it that you love so much? I'm not trying to start a debate. I'm just asking for your opinion. What do you personally like so much?

[–] Jarmo13 10 years ago

Well, you aren't even 2 percent into the game. So there's that. Keep playing. If you don't love it, there's no skin off either of our backs. It just may not be your cup of tea. And that's okay. The reason, the game has a 9.4 is because not everyone thought it was amazing, otherwise it would have a ten.

Now on to what I love about this game.

The story is complex. I don't think there is another story as compelling as Mass Effect, in video games, that I have played. Also, the game is very cinematic. It draws me in. It feels more like I'm playing a movie rater than a game.

There is also the choices that need to be made. The first time I played ME, I was completely torn on some of the decisions that I had to make. The game can be emotionally brutal at times. Though, in order for you to really feel the impact of what's going on, you have to care about the characters. You say, you don't like any of the characters. I would advise talking to them more. Get to know them. All of them have very deep, and interesting and distinctive traits. They feel real. And that's what makes the game so emotionally gripping.

Now, if action is the only thing you care about, then this game is definitely not for you. There is a lot of story, and there will be many hours of time where you don't even pull out your gun. That's fine for me, because I enjoy exploring, the vast world Bioware created. Again, that may not be your cup of tea...

One more thing. I would strongly advise playing through this. Mainly for the reason that Mass Effect 2 is really awesome. The combat system is upgrade, and is exponentially better than the first. And the story only gets better. But if you, play for more than 15 hours, and you still aren't into it, I would suggest scrapping the whole thing, because you probably won't enjoy the rest.

[–] Jarmo13 10 years ago

One more short thing.
If you have a problem with how structured, and militerized the game is, go renegade. You don't have to listen to anyone. The council are *beep* anyway. So it's really fun to give them as much *beep* as you can.

[–] ttaskmaster 10 years ago

As mentioned, the story hasn't even started up yet!!
You're about to start finding out who is who, what they do, etc etc.
I played something like 70 hours worth just on my first playthrough.

ME2 and ME3 are simply unbelievably cool. 1 gets a touch repetitive, in the same way that Assassin's Creed 1 was, but stay with it. If you prefer, just blaze through the main story and then play the massively better 2 and 3.

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[–] twofacetoo 10 years ago

I'll stick with ME 1 for now, thanks. I'm not sure if I'll enjoy this franchise on a story level just yet, so I'll play ME 1, let it grow on me, and I'll see how I feel after finishing it.

[–] blades_of_chaos77 10 years ago

feel in love with bioware at Star wars kotor on,but not everybody will love these type of games thats why they have so many genres.

fat pink mast!

[–] twofacetoo 10 years ago

True, and I love the KOTOR games. I mean, I ADORE them. But Mass Effect... I STILL haven't gotten back to playing it. I just have no interest or reason to. I didn't feel invested in any of the characters or events, and I'm just kinda bored by it.

[–] Magic_313 10 years ago

I don't get how you could even be invested in anyone that early in the game. All you've met so far are creepy Kaidan and crazy Ashley.

[–] twofacetoo 10 years ago

Well, so far nothing has grabbed me. I've still yet to pick up the game again to go back and play it. My save is just sitting there on my computer, gathering the dust of un-use.

[–] Magic_313 10 years ago

It's data. It will be there as long as no one deletes it, or the hardware becomes dust.

The point was, and is, that you didn't even finish the intro, which ends with you arriving at the Citadel. If you still don't like it at the end of the opening act, which ends with you leaving the Citadel again for the first time, you really shouldn't bother continuing.

Let me say it another way to be clear. You are about 30 minutes into the game now, at the point where you leave the Citadel, you should have played roughly 4 hours, of a 40 hour game.

[–] twofacetoo 10 years ago

...*beep* THAT.
I don't even have the attention span to do an optional mission in GTA:SA!

[–] naptime84 10 years ago

Your not the only one who was bored by this game.I played this game for a While waiting for it to pick up but eventually I had to stop and admit that this wasn't for me.I bought the mass effect trilogy for 25 dollars because everyone had been raving about them for years.after I gave up on the first game I tried the second one and I was even more bored. I spent more time making my character than I did on the game.to say I was dissapointed is an understatment.

[–] ttaskmaster 10 years ago

I tried the second one and I was even more bored. I spent more time making my character than I did on the game.to say I was dissapointed is an understatment.

Yeah, I feel your pain, Brother... I also know how traumatic a ridiculously short attention span can be and how it inhibits your quality of daily ooh look, a squirrel!!

Seriously?
It takes, what, 10 minutes to set up a character from scratch, including some farkling with the face? So you're judging a game that I spent something like 70 hours on each installment (over 200 hours gameplay, that is) based on 10 minutes - Did you even get as far as the main titles??!!

[–] naptime84 10 years ago

I played the first game a couple hours.The beginning of the game was promising but once you have to go start exploring planets was where it lost me. The first planet I went to had some kind of beacon and you had to kill a giant worm that was way more trouble than it should have been.the second planet had a building you had to shoot your way into but there was a bug in the game that allowed one of the enemies inside to shoot me through a wall. After trying that part so many times was when I said forget it and moved on. I had the same problem with Assassins Creed.I barely finished the first game but picked up the sequel be cause everyone said it was better and ended up not liking that one either.

[–] ttaskmaster 10 years ago

The first planet I went to had some kind of beacon and you had to kill a giant worm that was way more trouble than it should have been.

Way more trouble?
Have you *seen* the Tremors films??!!

The Thresher Maw is supposed to be one serious sonovabitch. People speak of them in legend. Heck, later on in the series, one slightly-larger-than-average Thresher Maw single-handedly DESTROYS a whole Reaper... all by itself!! These things are top-end badasses... so how in the name of GOD do you expect little baby Shepard and a couple of his/her chums should be able to take one down with only pop guns and their little Mako peddle-car??!!

If it's that much of a problem, you can always just drive away very quickly...

[–] dobraye_utra 10 years ago

Forget Tremors; try watching Dune.

"Who doesn't want to be Johnny Gat?"

[–] ttaskmaster 10 years ago

Starting off small...

Besides, one generally does not ride a Thresher Maw!

[–] member-id 9 years ago

So I was dreaming up that scene where Wrex and Grunt race them through the Tuchanca desert?

[–] poem 10 years ago

Hu !

I dont get how you can possibly like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, but not this game, but to each their own.

The story and characters are about same level, the game is much more free, and the combat is just as trivial as in KotoR.

Theres a bit grinding in the game, though.

The first game starts pretty boring, with only human allies, but you quickly accumulate more people, and its fun to see the world unravel through your missions.

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A gentleman will not insult me, and no man not a gentleman can insult me.

[–] twofacetoo 10 years ago

With Star Wars KOTOR, it was the Star Wars part that sucked me into the world. I'm a fan of the franchise, so going in I knew to expect lightsabers and the Force and such
But with this game I know nothing going in, and not much is being explained. And like I said, it's just so political, with everything being a matter for 'the council' and always having to report to superiors. Nothing feels free or fun in the game. It feels more linear than anything.

[–] ttaskmaster 10 years ago

Mass Effect 1 is pretty linear in some respects, as all roads lead to Rome, in a way. You can travel whichever one you want whenever you want, but you're still funnelled toward the endgame. It's not open-world.

It's also pretty old these days, almost a decade, but was damn amazing when it came out so try and give it some slack. 2 and 3 are vastly more engaging, too!

Political??!!
Not really. Not more than is neccesary to make you utterly HATE the fecking Council and their ignorant, interfering ways that stop you from getting the bloody job done... but that's just part of the story and you'll have a chance to do something about this later!

Reporting to superiors - Well, yeah. You're not some Call Of Dooty grunt here - You're an officer, responsible for and heading up a whole ship of personnel. You'd damn well better report and explain things. These are peoples' lives you're playing with, here!

Overall, it is very cinematics-centric, but that's all part of the fun too. You'll find yourself reloading and replaying to make different choices and see the different outcomes - Some are simply hi-LAR-ious!!!

[–] twofacetoo 10 years ago

Like I said, it just feels like nothing is happening. Like I SHOULD be off saving the world and cowboy-riding nuclear missiles, but instead I'm stuck behind a desk filing paperwork about correct missile-riding procedure.

[–] poem 10 years ago

I was no Star Wars fan before I played KotoR. And to date, KotoR is still the best piece of Star Wars that I know about. I like the movies, too, and the tv show was entertaining enough.

Star Wars is already very political, how can you possibly miss that ? Mass Effect even more so. Though what you describe is the military part, not the political part. I especially liked Mass Effect 3 for the political part.

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A gentleman will not insult me, and no man not a gentleman can insult me.

[–] twofacetoo 10 years ago

Star Wars was only political in the prequels. The original trilogy, and even most of the EU stuff like games and comics, kept the focus on the characters, their dilemmas, and the action
Like I said to someone else, Mass Effect feels like I'm sitting behind a desk signing forms rather than actually doing anything.