I'm considering purchasing one of the Mass Effect games. I usually play strategy games, but have heard good things about the series. When I play RPGs, I'm usually more interested in the game mechanics ("just one more level up") than the story. Which one should I get and why?
Play them in order. So play Mass Effect 1 first; the story is worth it.
ME 1 has more RPG elements. longer missions (better side missions), more items more exploration and the conversations seem to have more effect. You can also gain more levels and there are more options in character skills and powers - it is not unending like the elderscrolls, so at some point you can't just level and level and level everything end seventually and you're only option is to complete the game.. However, there are fewer characters. ME 1 does have some problems - there is a permanent and apparently unpatchable graphics glitch with one character's face that essentially makes it low detail no matter what. exploration especially controlling the tank aren't great and (surprise) it's older, so it's not as pretty.
ME 2 is more a shooter than an RPG, there are few guns, but the differences are more noticeable. head shots matter, but there are fewer powers and they aren't nearly as useful -though they are easier to use. one downside is not everyone can use every weapon. if you want the best rifle in the game you have to pick the right class. The conversation and story telling seems more forced, but there is a bit more variety in what your character can do or say (it feels like it matters less....) Another thing to consider is exploration, while ME 2 does have it, it's done by spaceship, and it costs money, and mostly it only gets you resources. But without loot money is finite (essentially) so every time you explore you worry that you might not be able to afford a ship upgrade that might save the life a teammate, a dynamic that stifles one of the most important parts of being in space. This, in turn, pushes you toward the DLC (of which ME 1 has only 2 -the first good, and free, the second bad- me 2 has.... well, alot. they're pretty good, but it feels you're being nickeled and dime to get to play the whole game and all of it will cost about an extra $50, give or take)
For me, however, the biggest issue is story telling. ME 1, I feel, does a better job at telling a compelling story and instilling a sense of awe. It lets you know how big space is, it makes you fear the enemy and wonder at the marvels of aliens. ME 2 is pretty with more complexity, but it does a poorer job at making you care about characters, threats or the moral decisions you have to make (though overlord DLC is a awesome excpetion, so if you get ME-2 get that one. definitely).
In short, if you like the RPG elements, or if you want to invest in a good story get ME 1 (at least get it first). If you just want a space shooter with pretty graphics, get ME 2.
hoped that helped.
PS cheating in ME 1 is easier, in ME 2 it's neigh impossible. Also, you can't redistribute points for your character in ME 1 so if you want the same guy and the same class but different skill set you have to start all over. In ME 2 you can buy a skill reset in game (or even buy a new special skill)
oh yeah
ME 2 regenerative health
ME 1 Health packs (or regen w/ the correct armor, upgrades, skill and/or achievement)
The thing that people love or hate about ME2 is that it streamlined things a lot. In ME 1 you could find 50 versions of the same sniper rifle each doing slightly more damage the one before it. In ME2 there were only a few weapons of each type, so you could choose between a slow firing high damage sniper rifle and a more rapid firing low damage one. But instead of finding a +25 slow firing sniper rifle and having to swap out the +24 one from your inventory, you instead just found a new piece of technology that upgraded all of your sniple rifles. It resulted in about the same thing but with far less inventory management hell.
I personally liked ME2 much better because of the streamlining and because I didn't think they things that were taken out added much to the game. But obviously people who loved the things that were taken out hated it.
As the previous poster said though, both games do have a great story. I personally could not slog through all of ME1 to complete the story but I do sometimes regret that.
The thing I hate about ME2 combat is that they give you almost no ammo for a lot of weapons. (ME1 had infinite ammo.)
On low difficulties, not so much a problem as you can work with a couple weapons that do have decent ammo counts mostly. But on high difficulties, facing a dozen or two enemies who take 3+ sniper shots to kill is. (In some areas, standard infantry can take up to 5 pulls of a sniper's trigger to kill.)
Also dislike how little most equipment upgrades actually mean. Especially armor. And that you don't do much with allies' equipment, as you can't change their armor at all.
Oh, and you lost the majority of level up options, too.
I liked them both about equally. I hated the vehicle exploration in 1. The mining in 2 was also a chore, but it wasn't horrible.
What I dislike about 1 was being a great soldier who (at first) could barely shoot. I love that about video gaming. They make you out to be a supersoldier who can't hit the side of a barn. Whee.
Mass Effect 1 and 2 are all about the story. If all you are interested in is the game mechanics, I'd play WoW, Diablo, or something else. Or, actually, Fallout 2 would be a good bet, though if you don't want to deal with the story, play Fallout Tactics (available cheaply online).
The series is designed to be played in sequence. Your choices from ME1 will reflect in ME2 when you import your character,. If you skip ME1, it will assume you made certain choices, and you'll miss a lot of interesting stuff. So I recommend starting from the beginning
ME1 is on sale on impulse today for $5. Just a heads up.
This was my experience as well. The writing is good, but the gameplay was meh. 1 was a lot more RPGish, but the combat engine was pretty poor and the sections with the vehicle were so bad I stopped exploring planets altogether after the first couple. 2 had a MUCH better combat engine and a larger cast of party members, but everything else was severly dumbed down and they replaced the vehicle sections with the even worse probing mini-'game'. Which you unfortunately cannot avoid since the only way to get the best ending (aka everyone lives) is to research the ship upgrades. As already pointed out, 2 also suffered from severe ammo issues. I played on one setting above normal, and pretty much had to cower and spam powers to win simply because I couldn't use my guns normally.
To its credit though, the final mission in ME2 was amazing. Too bad it seems like the devs spent half their time making that one mission compared to the rest of the game.
If you're going to bother with the series, start with 1 since major decisions carrier over into 2. If you start with 2, the game assumes you picked the asshole (or 'renegade' as ME likes to call it) choices the entire game. Of course you also miss a large chunk of the story, which again is the whole point of the series.
Thanks, everyone! I wasn't expecting so many responses.
I ended up getting ME1. Mostly, because of this tip:
I've been playing for about a day now, and I understand what everyone's saying about the story being more important to the game than the gameplay. Unfortunately for me, I'm absolutely compulsive about listening to every dialog, even though it's not my primary interest in the game. I think that I'm going to enjoy ME2 more than ME1, but I'm not unhappy with my decision to devote howevermany hours of my life to ME1 (especially for only $5).
Thanks again!
If that's how you play the game i think you'll enjoy them both regardless of their flaws. Good luck and aim for the head (even though it doesn't matter in ME1)
Glad the $5 sale heads up helped you out. That was the case with me as well. I enjoyed ME1, but like ME2 a lot more. Both are good though.
I bought the game during the sale, I have my serial and receipt, but I can't download it, and it says it's temporarily unavailable now. What should I do?
Shoot an email to sales@stardock.com and/or support@stardock.com and I'm sure they will sort you out.
Alright, I'll try that. Thanks man
I would strongly suggest you just stick the with main missions and get through it at painlessly as possible. Talk with your party members between missions and do the subquests on the main planets of course, but I'd skip the side planet stuff. You won't miss anything except some boring Mako sequences and more loot that you won't need. Being at max level at the end of ME1 doesn't drastically improve you in ME2, and your equipment doesn't transfer over, so there's no point in levelling more than necessary to finish the game. Do horde money though, as you start with a large bonus in ME2 if you ended up a millionaire and money is scarce in 2 due to no equipment drops.
I have to disagree, i've noticed that getting to level 60 gives you a significant advantage over 50 and completing the first DLC mission does give some awesome loot. Also, some of side missions have easter eggs or allow you to have a better understanding of things like "the shadow broker" before having it crammed down your gullet in ME 2. And at least a couple of them are designed around the back story you give your character. Of course if you're interested in game mechanics the thing to do is to play it again and again so i'm sure our esteemed friend will be able to decided the importance of those mission without our input.
Personally I felt that ME2 was easy enough as it is even on hard mode, that I don't think you need to worry about getting extra advantages in the previous game. You might even enjoy ME2 more if you don't eliminate what challenge there is.
As for the side missions, I guess it really depends on how much you actually enjoy ME1. It's nowhere nearly as well paced as ME2 is, so the side missions may sometimes feel like more of a painful slog depending on how much you enjoy the mechanics. But there is definitely some story there. So if you are enjoying the game and want to extend it then the side missions might be good to do, if you feel like your just doing it to get to the next game then you may want to skip them.
Get 2 if you're more into the game play. The mechanics of it will keep you replaying it even after you eventually "beat" the game.
I found ME1 a more of a RPG, while ME2 more of a action game with some rpg elements. If I had to describe the games in one sentence I would say ME1 feels more like a PC game while ME2 feels more like a console game (I know ME1 is also a console game ported to PC).
Both games have problems that were already mentioned in this thread (about their methods of artificially prolonging playtime, something that almost any RPG today suffers from as also shown by DAO and Fallout 3). But both are fun and worth of playing.
As far as mechanics go, ME2 is more forgiving game (easier) and also you can more easily play a pure caster while in ME1 pure casters are support characters (although if you got more then 1 in your party some tougher fights are much easier).
just a quick question if anyone can answer it:
How long does it usually take for a response from support? I'm on the end of Day 3 waiting for a response
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