First things first - I'm not a native english speaker, so please have mercy if you find spelling or grammar problems.
Now, let's dive straight into it...
Mass Effect
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The main plot line of the first ME-Game is ridiculously good. I'd not say there has never been a story this good - humanity is looking back at over 3000 years of storytelling, but it is clearly on the good side.
The Geth and Saren shown as the big threat in the beginning and then it turns out, they are only the thralls of the real bad guys who are almost godlike in power.
There were some points that really stood out like the necessity to choose between one of the crewmates while the other one is sacrificed, and the point where you have to choose your dialogue (and previously your skills) wisely or you'll lose another crew member.
But the biggest plotpoint for me was the ability to talk Saren into the idea that he is about to doom the whole galaxy if he continues so he chooses suicide over the first part of the final fight. This was absolutely awesome.
But being the first game of the series it also had some big flaws.
- The inventory system was hideous, and re-equiping your squad a horror. This was so bad, I chose to play on casual difficulty and only change loadout once near the end of the game, so I just didn't have to bother with it.
- The side missions were hardly distinguishable between, not only due to massive level recycling and rather bland sidequest characters. This is especially sad looking at all the cameos of the sidequest Characters in ME2, so ditching all those sidequests will make you miss out on a lot in ME2.
- The fighting and cover-system wasn't refined, yet, and especially when fighting biotics you were often tossed around to lay on the ground helplessly until being taken out finally.
- The Citadel was way too big and hard to navigate for more casual players. Actually the first visit to the Citadel after Eden Prime was so lengthy and for may people boring, that they never got to play further that this point and ditched the entire Series.
-The Stat system contained of so many small steps, you never noticed you actually got better unless you unlocked new abilities.
Graphically the game has never been top notch, but good enough for atmosphere to build up, so while many people might complained about that, I'm fine with it.
I completed Mass Effect 1 five times, but I did 3 out of those 5 runs, to be able to import the save game into ME2 and to be able to say "I did it completely from ME1 on".
While the main Story is absolutely fantastic, ME1 in my opinion is still the weakest game of the series due to its shortcomings in Mechanics and Level recycling.
Mass Effect 2
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Mass effect 2 is somewhat like Mass Effect 1 turned upside down.
The Main story is rather weak, while most of the Companion Quests are absolutely great. The N7-Sidemissions are short, mostly action based side missions that didn't hurt, but they didn't contribute too much either.
But back to the main story.
The destruction of the Normandy is okay, especially because the Normandy 2 is the cooler ship. To introduce it, the old one has to go, so that plot point is fine. Having Shepard killed and "repaired" during TWO YEARS is bullshit and Jesus-analogies don't fail here. The space-messiah coming to save the galaxy. This could have been done a lot better without the need to resurrect shepard.
Similar things go for the main antagonist. Aside the Arrival DLC, the reapers simply aren't there and instead another enemy had to emerge, the Collectors. While this isn't the best choice (hich would have been the Reapers), but they do work pretty well as antagonists nonetheless. And finally the Collectors can be associated with the reapers, so it's semi-fine.
It is a pity to see, that ME2 suffered somewhat from rushing it out. The Quality of the game itself gladly did not suffer, but you were forced to hire some of your crew first and others later and one in the end, while the game had features, that clearly showed the player was to choose freely from the beginning - so did Legion for example have dialogue for Garrus' recruiting level and so on. It is sad to see, that this great game could have been even better it they just had some more time.
Another point are some small but nasty plot holes:
- Why does the whole universe including the geth and Batarians suddenly use heat sinks to pop out of weapons (like ammo) instead of letting them cool down by themself like in ME1 - sure the mechanic and it's advantages are clear, but it's not explained until a side dialogue in ME3. Also, if the Heatsinks are universal as claimed by the lore, why can't I use heat sinks that I allocated for my pistol in my, say - assault rifle, if the need arises.
- If I recruit an Assassin, I put him anywhere but in Life support until I know and trust him.
- The same goes for that synthetic master-hacker geth - while the location might be irrelevant for a hacker, I'd still put it anywhere but the AI-Core where he could also do physical damage to the ships computer.
Mechanic wise the game has well adapted to the demands of the community and completely ditched weapon modding and the inventory system, as well as the hideous skill system. You just could choose between the weapons you found during the game and the skill system was greatly reduced to a very simple systems with big and noticcable steps.
This step was very radical and the community complained now that there are almost no roleplay elements left in ME2. I do share this notion somewhat, but it's a very small complaint since the new systems worked a lot better than the ones from ME1.
The greatest thing about ME2 is that your choices mattered in the end. A lot. While this was true during the game in ME1 in several spots throughout the game, in ME2 a lot of choices done throughout the game matter in the end. Did I recruit everyone, and did I do everyones loyality mission? If I didn't recruit a character, that charater will not be there in the final run (and subsequently not appear in ME3). If I didn't make sure the character is loyal when starting the final mission, chances are good, he won't survive the last mission.
If I choose the wrong people for the assignments in the suicide run, those people are going to die.
Even after playing through the game several times, this causes an oddly satisfying feeling of "I did it right" when you complete the game and nobody was killed.
On a sidenote, the humor in this game hit my spot exactly. Even it might have felt out of place for some people I really liked it and even the atmosphere was supposed to be somewhat grim, it didn't really hurt it, but made the mix just right.
Grafically ME2 improved a lot in comparison to ME1, but given the advancements made during this period it still wasn't the looker it could have been. But my statement of ME1 still stands - the atmosphere was there, it doesn't have to look ultra realistic and be THE graphic title to be a great game.
The Story-DLCs (because I neither got the extra weapons - enough already in game - or the different outfits for crewmates - just eye-candy) were brilliant and tied wonderfully into the rest of the game.
Despite of it's shortcomings in the main story line, ME2 is absolutely great, because it dependet so much on your choices and really let you "bond" with your crewmates. If the ending of ME3 would have been even remotely as satisfying as the one form ME2, it would have gotten that cake, but as it is, ME2 is the best game of the series.
Mass Effect 3
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ME3 is a two edged sword. The mechanics are very similar to the ones from ME2 but improve on them a lot. Both Weapons and the Skill system is enhanced a little to give some more RPG elements than ME2 without going back to the clusterf**k of ME1, and Shepard can now even jump in places where the Leveldesign demands it. Mechanic wise ME3 is definitely the most refined game in the series.
The Story (if you do not look at the ending) is very well written and if you do not do a savefile import, it is very grim and gives you some very difficult choices going far enough to even eradicate a few species completely, to be able to deal with the Reapers, which have finally come to to the galaxy to harvest each and every intelligent species. If you do a save import, you are mostly able to avoid those really grim situations and can broker a best outcome, which is a nice reward for playing at least 2 games or even the full series (or buying the Genesis tools maybe - I never tried them). In comparison to ME1 and ME2 some the open world aspects have been taken away and you are now forced to play in chapters from priority mission to priority mission, but this is quite well done and does never really feel like a restraint. Due to the scenario the galaxy is now in, the whole atmosphere is a lot darker but it is all fitting very well done. The humor got a lot less in most parts, but that fits the situation. Where humor is present, it is funny and fits the situation. This would be the best Mass effect game, if there wasn't the ending and a few other indications of horrible rushing, but lets get to those pity parts later on.
Graphic wise ME3 shows yet some improvements over ME2 in most places, with the exception of a few points where you - again - get the feeling, that the game was rushed out.
Horrible low res textures and background animations in some places, weapons get drawn in QTEs (Quick-Time-Events), that you never equipped, objects in QTEs that disappear in a different camera angle (the Rannoch rock).
Lazy photoshops and the list goes on and on. While I'm not a graphic sensitive person (as you can see in the texts about ME1 and ME2), the things mentioned here ARE immersion breakers. You start to wonder and make jokes about it, instead of getting caught in the atmosphere as it was meant to be. This is sad, because the Ranoch-Rock scene could have been really moving, if it was done right.
The small N7 Missions are still present, but are both longer and more flashed out, they also contribute a lot to the atmosphere, and you feel like you're still doing something important - this is a big improvement to ME2.
So, lets get to the part where it all went wrong. The end of the story, directly after the second last mission, it says the reapers have taken the citadel to earth. This already feels dumb. The Humans aren't the most advances species - the Asari are. Centering the ending on the Humans doesn't make sense there already, but it gets worse. A lot worse. The final mission itself is fine. You're having a hard time getting through the ruins of London to the citadel lift-beam, and once there, the **** hits the fan. A final encounter with the Illusive Man can be resolved similar to ME1 Saren - it's still nice to be able to talk a main antagonist down, but since you could do the same in ME1 it doesn't feel as satisfying anymore. Now all the focus is taken away from Shepard and the crew and a new character (mockingly named starchild by the community) appears. He gives you three choices how to end the game. Gamewise, every choice is valid, but NONE of them is satisfying in any way.
I do not buy Biowares statement about artistic freedom - this is a rush job. The game needed an ending but the time to make a meaningful one wasnt there, so this hackjob of an ending was done. Even with the extended ending DLC this didn't get much better. Yes, there was more closure and information than before, but the ending still took the focus from the main character and the choices were still dumb.
If that would have been done right, including the graphical anomalities described above, ME3 could easily have been the best game in the series and one of the greatest games of all time, but EA chose to press for a rushed release (like it does so often) and so a huge fanbase was given this crapload of an ending to an epic game trilogy.
So, how could it have been?
Here my Ideas: Take away that whole last mission and insert another one, where you have to find the real catalyst (not the spacechild-crap) and make sure it reaches the crucible. If necessary, this can be the Citadel, but it was not moved to earth, since this is complete BS.
Te crucible fires, using the mass relays to spread a signal that disrupts the immense kinetic barriers of the reapers. Now they are still formidable enemies, but a lot more vulnerable to fire from the united races.
Now it should depend on how many points the player scored by getting war assets (Multiplayer and cross platform games like Infiltrator should not be needed here and only give a marginal bonus, if any at all). If he didn't get much, the kinetic barriers are still too strong and the combined fleets of the races too weak - the Reapers defeat the fleet and the cycle continues. The player has lost.
If he got a medium amount, the combined fleets can defeat the Reapers, but at a horrible prize, the normandy and it's crew is destroyed. A victory at the cost of a lot.
If he got most or all of the Assets, the kinetic barriers of the Reapers should fail completely and the united fleet can destroy them with losses, but relatively easily. The big happy end where the universe is freed from the returning horror once and for all, "only" having to repair the damage already done by the Reapers.
In this outcome it would again depend on the players actions how satisfying the ending is. I would have loved an ending like that with lots of cutscenes of Space battles.
The DLCs were again superb (speaking again of the Story-DLC only, I once more ditched the weapon and optical only stuff). While the retaking of omega was good, but not groundbreaking (still it's good stuff, get it if you haven't already) the big one is Leviathan. This one gives three missions learning a lot of the background behind the reapers and their origins. The atmosphere is dark but great and in between the missions you get to play detective in a lab. Really nicely and very, very well done. The final DLC "Citadel" is a lot of pondering to the fanbase (which is not necessary a bad thing in my eyes) with lots of interacting with current and former crew members embedded in a neat story about a shepard-clone and a ton of side activities thrown in. The mood in that one is so lighthearted, that it would fit most after the good ending I described in my own idea of the end to the ME-trilogy above, and not in a pre doomsday environment, but thats where the players imagination can cut in and pretend it was like that. Again very well done DLC with a slightly unfitting mood filled to the brink with humor. I really enjoyed this lighthearted piece of action.
Finally we have the multiplayer.
When I heared the first rumors that ME3 will have multiplayer, I was almost disgusted. I thought they should use the ressources that they spend there for making the singleplayer experience better, and I still stand by that - maybe the ending wasn't that bad, if the people in multiplayer-devellopment would have helped the in the singleplayer devellopment, BUT Multiplayer is surprisingly fun. It's a 4 Player horde mode - simple as that, and still it's a lot of fun and I still play it, even it has it's flaws as well. There are some characters, that are a lot more powerful than others and some that just don't fit the lore. The Battlefield 3-Soldier for example is horrible cross-promotion, that just doesn't fit the theme. Also the Awakened Collector... Collectors are just the prothean husks and can not awake. The descision to put that one in is... dumb. The Volus Characters are at least funny to watch...
Final Thoughts
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The Mass Effect series was great and I enjoyed every single one. Sadly it is also a prime example what can go wrong if the publisher applies too much pressure on the develloper and forces them to release a game before it's done right. While ME2 suffered only a little from that, it is easy to see in ME3 at all stages of the game, but very prominently at the end. ME3 could have been the Masterpiece in the series. The wonderful conclusion to a story about a Galaxy struggling to survive and break free from an ancient repeating curse. Now the ending makes me, and following the outcry a few days after release when the first players completed the game, almost everyone, sad and angry. It's like a really good book having a botched horrible ending. The whole book feels kind of bad afterwards.
I still say thank you to Bioware. Thank you for a Universe with rich lore and lots of background. For a franchise, that hopefully produces a lot more titles, because it is very nicely fleshed out and feels a lot fresher than most SF-Settings.
And I say a big "Fu*k you" to EA for rushing out and almost destroying one of my most loved game-series. I hope you learned from this and from similar botches like Dragon Age 2 and Sim City 5.
Finally I say thanks to the still active Community providing me with lots of good and bad Multiplayer runs up to this day.
Cheers,
WarChicken78
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