Game of the Generation Preliminaries: Mass Effect 1 vs. 2

ass effect 2 by a long shot.

Basically this

While I think ME1 had a much stronger main arc, the way choice was handled and the overall gameplay improvements made 2 the better game.

2 was too streamlined. There was no suprise and progress felt like was crossing off a checklist

Personally it is 1 but 2 is probably the better game overall. Both fantastic and love 'em.

2 is the better game but I see why people would prefer one. But the technical issues just stack up to much.

As far as FPS/RPG mixtures are concerned, ME2 is the best there has been so far ... full stop. It melded the 2 almost perfectly having FPS be the forefront where it needed to be yet RPG mechanics still made a major difference where they needed too, its rare to see 2 things match up so well.

avoided part one like the plague.

Mass Effect 2 isn't an FPS.

You people are monsters.

1 is overall a better game.

2 has a smaller scope, more polish, and a pretty dumb ending. I really thought they were going to go somewhere with the different gear manufacturers, maybe crafting. And planetary exploration and maybe some interesting starship command stuff. But no we got a 3rd person hallway crawler.

I would've picked Mass Effect 1 if there were no rover sequences... The soundtrack, though, is definitely superior.

I can certainly see some people preferring the first game's stricter RPG focus, but I personally really liked the direction the gameplay took with the second game and generally liked a lot of the character and plot moments (aside from the ending).

I like Mass Effect 1, but 2 is probably more deserving to be called the "game of the generation" for its direction. 1 is a bit all over the place and I didn't find the shooting much fun.

Mass Effect established a galaxy and had an incredible scope to it. It felt like a vast and alien environment that mixed exploration with the storyline in an intelligent and creative way.

Mass Effect 2 was far more restricted in scope and scale, and was a poorer game for it.

Not even close. ME2 was one of the best games of the generation.

Mass Effect 1 you crazies! Despite the rover sequences being mostly ass, they added more than they took away I feel. They made the universe feel bigger in scope. Bioware could've made these into something amazing in ME2 but instead we got the lame ass planet mining mini game instead which is as fun as put X's on a spreadsheet for several minutes.

They removed too much from ME1 in a bid to make it too mainstream. Why take out so much of the aspects that made it an RPG? It's a single player game so why change the fiction on how guns work. I modded my shotgun so it would never overheat so it could fire infinitely and it was awesome.

ME2 probably is the better game as it's a lot more focused and refined but I just don't care about it the same way I do for the first 1 even though I do recognise many of the issues that were fixed in 2 (looking at you samey interiors).

Fuck ME2. Mass Effect 1 was the best. Still pisses me off that their fix for the inventory system was to remove it. I liked that Mass Effect 1 had a ton of different weapons and items and I could lug it all around.

I like the first Mass Effect game a lot more, but ME2 is the better game.

From a gameplay perspective, ME1 is an absolute wreck. Inventory and squad equipment management was time-consuming and cumbersome. Skill-specific cooldown timers meant you could go 30 seconds without a skill to use while you wait for your one useful one to come back up. That damned Mako. All of these issues created a game that was stop-and-go in the worst possible way. I consider ME1 a necessary evil for folks looking to play the series because of it's strong storytelling, but holy hell, if I hadn't started with ME2 (before going back to do a proper 1-2-3), I don't know if I would have bothered with the rest of the series.

@hailinel: Wow sorry, TPS, outside of snap cover there is a REAL big difference.

It's also barely an RPG...

Also, a few other things I disliked about 2:

• They completely removed the planetary exploration altogether.
• The terrible scanning mini-game.
• They completely removed the inventory management.
• The story was almost non-existent - the game is mostly just small vignettes with almost no focus on the overarching narrative.
• For the most part, the cast of characters are far less interesting/cohesive than the original's.

Mass Effect 2 had polish and slickness, but the sheer sense of discovery in Mass Effect 1 is unrivalled. There's nothing in 2 that comes CLOSE to the first Citadel section in ME1, landing on it, walking around, being space cop. And also, removing the Mako/exploration may have removed a clunky part of the game, but it made the galaxy feel tiny.

You's makin' the wrong choice here.

1 by a fucking mile.

As junky as a lot of the systems were in Mass Effect, I prefer it because the feeling of exploration (even if largely shallow and in case of the Mako sections, empty) helped give the universe they created a more textured and real feel, where Mass Effect 2 felt more gamey, with the worlds you visited feeling more like corridors with enemies to shoot. Jacob's loyalty mission being an example that pops in my head, taking place on a cliff of undeveloped land where a ship crashed and its crew has a makeshift community out of the rubble, which you proceed down a straight line to the objective. Contrast this Feros where you meet a few survivors of a colony, you get missions to go into the sewers of the colony, drive the Mako on a future highway, go into a future medical research building, then go underground to fight a giant plant monster.

Could be misremembering a lot of how ME2 went down, but I never made it through a second play through, meanwhile I've done three for the first.

I probably personally prefer ME1, but ME2 is clearly the better game so that's where I put my vote. They are both ridiculously fantastic though. They're probably my top 2 games of this generation if I'm being honest.

I prefer Mass Effect 1... even playing it now it just feels more grand and majestic. It really conveys that feeling of a vast, new galaxy, full of potential and mystery. The characters are less interesting than they are in the following games but I feel like the character of the world itself is so much stronger than it is in 2 or 3. It's truly fantastic to go through and explore.

Mass Effect 1 is a very unique feeling game. Mass Effect 2 and 3 are really good third person shooters.

Did nobody else really think the MAKO sections were genuinely fun? Because I did.

Mass Effect 2 i found to be actually fun to play and has an "almost as good but not quite" story and everything else related to that.

Story, characters, universe, atmosphere, music and all that are absolutely stellar in Mass Effect. But the gameplay is a steaming pile of shit.

I prefer the original Mass Effect just ever so slightly over Mass Effect 2, but man... both are completely stellar games all the same.

I'd probably go for Mass Effect 2 over ME1. It may win in terms of atmosphere, but I think there is a certain ruby tint to the way that people view the characters and story in the first game, to not even get into the gameplay. A lot of the dialogue in that game is just force feeding lore to the player and that's kind of what your alien crew members do with a lot of their conversations on the Normandy. It's more RPGish and open, yes, but it's not an especially good RPG. The environments are either cramped or empty, the exploration involves going through identical buildings fighting identical enemies and then there are the Mako segments... Actually, this all came off as a bit harsher than I intended. I like the first game a lot, but I don't think I could play it again anytime soon.

I feel like the second game ditches a lot of those trappings to positive effect, and instead focuses on Bioware's greatest strength in making it a bunch of connected vignettes. Also the characters are way better. Either way, Dragon Age Origins is still superior to both.

If I were asked "which game do you think is the best of this generation?", my answer would be the Mass Effect trilogy. And if I hade to pick one out of those games, I'd pick 2. So 2 wins.

ME1 was a much better RPG, but ME2 was a better streamlined game. I don't really think any of those qualify as game of the generation, but if I have to chose, I'd go with ME1.

I LOVED the mako exploring sections, they were the only times in the series where you're not essentially walking down dressed up corridors. You could find the outpost, find a good vantage point and snipe the guards. That and the fact the Serren and the reaper reveal were much cooler than collectors/fighting the reapers, makes ME 1 my favorite.

Two words: Suicide Mission.

In all honesty though, that last mission wasn't that well designed, but damn if it didn't feel badass while playing it. I also really liked the whole structure of the game, broken up into little, easy to consume pieces. Also the all the characters were fantastic. Mordin is still one of my favourite characters this generation.

I'm a huge RPG fan, but I never thought the first Mass Effect had deep enough, or good enough, RPG mechanics to begin with, so I never really cared that they further streamlined the game in Mass Effect 2. Didn't lose much in my opinion.

As for the other aspects of the game, I prefer Mass Effect 1's story and world building. It just has a bigger scope, and did a masterful job at setting up that world. But overall I have to give it to Mass Effect 2, because of the gameplay. Mass Effect 1 always felt like a slog to play to me, and Mass Effect 2 improved on the gameplay in every single possible way. It's close though, but overall: Mass Effect 2.

I think gameplay wise Mass Effect 2 was better but overall I enjoyed Mass Effect more. I still remember the first time I played Mass Effect and being amazed by it.

2 definitely improved on a lot of 1s messier bits, but it just lacked so much of the character that made the first one so engaging. 1 was like a good, classic sci-fi novel. 2 was like a modern, action, throw-away sci-fi TV series. Many parts of 1 are still vivid in my mind. The only thing I vividly remember about 2 is "I'm commander Shepherd, and this is my favorite store on the Citadel."

I get why some people are sad aspects of ME1 were removed in 2, but overall I think the second game is better in every aspect.

Mass Effect 2 got rid of all the junk holding ME1 back. Great game.

Second game is technically better where as the first game felt better to me personally. I think the story in the first was better and it wins for being an original IP, rather than a sequel.

I really, really liked Mass Effect 1 when I played it. I loved Mass Effect 2 though. I can get why people got annoyed at the removal of some things from ME2, but the game overall I think is just so much stronger as a whole. I'm a sucker for this franchise though, I thought ME3 was utterly brilliant until the ending pulled the rug out from underneath me.

for the record 2 contains BOTH of the two most irritating mechanics in game history:

1. the harbinger's dialogue, dude can hurl the same idiotic lines of garbage at you over and over and over, mercilessly wearing you down with sheer crapness. the only way to defend against this diabolical power is to turn the dialogue volume to 0.

2. the stagger mechanic, where you *STAND UP* *IN FIRE* and shake your head back and forth like you've just done a shot of tequila. And as ludicrous as that reaction is, after a while it can seem like this is the game's only weapon against you.

Ugh... Mass Effect 1 was absolutely brilliant. From the ability to explore the entirety of the Citadel to the absolutely immersive soundtrack and universe. Although, what bogged it down was the choppy combat controls and very bland and limited level design. ME2 improved on all of that with the inclusion of fantastic side missions with your crew, immersing you even further.

This isn't even a debate. Mass Effect may have more things that RPG purists can latch onto, but it's not as though they are done well. Inventory management is a tedious chore you are forced to every so often and the uncharted worlds are barren plots of land with cookie cutter buildings strewn about. The presentation is full of jank and the character development doesn't come close to the quality of Mass Effect 2. And let's not forget the combat, with too many redundant powers, a cooldown system that promotes a quick frenzy of powers and then 30 seconds of waiting, guns that all feel the same, and a nagging feeling that it comes up shy of playing like a proper action game.

Mass Effect 1 has a better overall plot than ME2, but let's not forget that a majority of the game's length is spent in repetitive uncharted world missions; the main story only consists of a handful of missions. The difference in quality between the main content and the side content is vast, and there is far more side content in the game. In ME2, like 80% of the game consists of proper designed missions with dialogue and cutscenes (be it story, recruitment, or loyalty missions).

I love both games, but Mass Effect 1 is too concerned with checking boxes on an RPG feature list, and the majority of them don't work in the context of story driven sci fi game with third person shooter combat. Mass Effect 2 is only concerned with just being a great game, and it succeeds. Sure, they may have gone too far in spots with the removal of features that didn't work instead of refining them, but that's a minor blemish on what is a great playing game with fantastic character stories.

Mass Effect 2 is GotG.

1 is good, but it has some deep flaws and runs terribly on consoles.

Although Mass Effect 2 is a better-designed game, I enjoyed Mass Effect 1 more - it felt like a whole game and made more sense. Neither game will win Game of the Generation, and that's probably for the best.

1 has a better story, but 2 was a better game...

3 had more huge fans than the internet would have you believe. I'm bummed that it's instantly out.

As much as I love the story in 1, 2 is better in every other aspect to me.

I fully accept Mass Effect 2 played better, I just think in terms of story, tone and setting 1 is just better. The Mass Effect 1 story as a real driving force behind it, and actually feels like a fully developed story. 2 just lent on the crutch of vignettes too much, it felt less like a plotted story and more like a theme park, with the player choosing which ride to go on next. Also you fight those same three groups of mercenaries in grey and brown corridors and warehouses way too much in 2.

Furthermore, 1 captured that feeling of going out the horizon just to see what's there. The world just unfolding out before you as you want just felt wonderful, everything felt new and mysterious. In the end, I think 2 is on the whole the more polished game and has more peaks and less troughs than 1, but the peaks it has never reach the heights of 1.

Anyway, both the games are excellent, I think they outclass the vast majority of the other games of the generation.