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I finished playing through the Mass Effect series kind of a while ago. There's a lot going on in the series, and it's long, so between the varied gameplay mechanics, the general romance options that are pretty important to people, the overall plot, the much-derided ending, ect, et al, I didn't know what to focus on and kind of gave up commenting until shit settled like sediment and I could get an idea of what I wanted to say about what.
But really, what always happens is that the moment gets lost and I'm left holding a much vaguer, more generalized attitude about the game more suitable for a somewhat gauzy press-release statement than critical commentary. I've got the time, though, and I don't want to totally just flake on it, so I figured I'd go ahead and spit something out, considering that it's been over a week since I've posted anything here.
First, the trilogy is pretty huge. 1 and 2 are fairly quick, though I have to admit that I landed on literally every planet that Mass Effect 1 would let me land on. Three was probably about as long as 1 and 2 put together with the DLC, especially the ending and the Citadel DLC. I missed free DLC for ME1 and regret it. I think that I got the Kasumi DLC and Katie got the Leviathan, From the Ashes, ending, and Citadel DLC for ME3 and Lair of the Shadow Broker for ME2. The fact that some of it is free now is great. The content is really good, but if I had just purchased the trilogy instead of having them on the shelf for literally as long as I've been here, I'd probably feel pretty frustrated at having to pay anything extra for important content.
Through the whole play through, I couldn't really imagine wanting to play Renegade and I'm pretty indifferent to most romance options presented in most games that I play. ME is one of those games where if you go about it correctly, you can almost always have your cake and eat it, too, so there's nothing that I think I'd really feel I have to go back to the game to experience. The gameplay is consistently good across the series, and really smooth in 3, so that I could pretty easily see going back to the games for the gameplay aspect, to play different DLC and spotlight different characters in my party while playing a different class and making slightly different decisions for funsies. Even after I'm done playing it, I have absolutely no qualms about keeping it on my shelf. The world building is likewise pretty top-notch (even though the beginning of ME1 is awkward and almost a little nonsensical).
Like I said, though, it tends to be pretty long. In reading terms, it's like tackling a few Iain Banks novels in a row. Certainly possible, and even enjoyable, but if you have a huge gaming, literary, and movie queue, it can be kind of hard to justify going back to a 160+ hour series. But if you dig RPGs and science fiction, I feel like it's something you'd do well to aim for at least once.
But really, what always happens is that the moment gets lost and I'm left holding a much vaguer, more generalized attitude about the game more suitable for a somewhat gauzy press-release statement than critical commentary. I've got the time, though, and I don't want to totally just flake on it, so I figured I'd go ahead and spit something out, considering that it's been over a week since I've posted anything here.
First, the trilogy is pretty huge. 1 and 2 are fairly quick, though I have to admit that I landed on literally every planet that Mass Effect 1 would let me land on. Three was probably about as long as 1 and 2 put together with the DLC, especially the ending and the Citadel DLC. I missed free DLC for ME1 and regret it. I think that I got the Kasumi DLC and Katie got the Leviathan, From the Ashes, ending, and Citadel DLC for ME3 and Lair of the Shadow Broker for ME2. The fact that some of it is free now is great. The content is really good, but if I had just purchased the trilogy instead of having them on the shelf for literally as long as I've been here, I'd probably feel pretty frustrated at having to pay anything extra for important content.
Through the whole play through, I couldn't really imagine wanting to play Renegade and I'm pretty indifferent to most romance options presented in most games that I play. ME is one of those games where if you go about it correctly, you can almost always have your cake and eat it, too, so there's nothing that I think I'd really feel I have to go back to the game to experience. The gameplay is consistently good across the series, and really smooth in 3, so that I could pretty easily see going back to the games for the gameplay aspect, to play different DLC and spotlight different characters in my party while playing a different class and making slightly different decisions for funsies. Even after I'm done playing it, I have absolutely no qualms about keeping it on my shelf. The world building is likewise pretty top-notch (even though the beginning of ME1 is awkward and almost a little nonsensical).
Like I said, though, it tends to be pretty long. In reading terms, it's like tackling a few Iain Banks novels in a row. Certainly possible, and even enjoyable, but if you have a huge gaming, literary, and movie queue, it can be kind of hard to justify going back to a 160+ hour series. But if you dig RPGs and science fiction, I feel like it's something you'd do well to aim for at least once.
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