Mass Effect Forum

Some minor spoilers probably. Might not want to read this if you've yet to play Mass Effect.

Mass Effect is a great game, no doubt about it. One of it's main selling points is the massive (excuse the pun) replayability the game has, as you can make different choices each time through. I took this to heart, and have played the game an unknowable number of times (My 360 harddrive erased itself a little ways back, so I can't check the clearsaves). I even got all the achievements, which everyone knows is a giant pain in the ass. And I have an important message for you all: Don't play Mass Effect multiple times.

It will ruin the original experience for you. When playing through the first time, the game seizes you with a sense of wonder and impact. It feels as if everything you does has an impact, and every choice you make seriously alters your play experience. This is a lie. Going back again and playing through really shows how little the game varies- the linearity is cleverly disguised, but it's still there. Oh? I can choose to save or destroy this colony? Well even if I save it I can't ever re-visit it and no one will ever mention what happened to it besides this Citadel elevator. Oh, I can kill or save this entire species? Bet THEY won't ever re-appear. Even though you're told that your choices will have huge impacts on the galaxy, they do not. Most of them don't even have a self-contained impact- someone will make a comment about your decision, then the story moves forward.

This even carries over to some of the dialouge trees. If you have a conversation and choose one option, then reload and choose anoher, the response is often exactly the same. There are a few honest-to-goodness moments that really do have an impact- the showdown on Virmire was probably the high point of the entire game for me- but these are few and far between really. They do certainly exist, but not to the degree you would think. And let's not even go into sidequests. Because really, I think we all know the problem there.

I'm not necessarily saying this is bad. There's a remarkable illusion of choice built up, and if you're anything like me, that will make your first playthrough downright magical. But when you go back and try to see how you could do things differently, the man behind the curtain begins to show a bit. You begin to see the petty little tricks used to create that illusion, and begin to see the underlying framework of the game, instead of the experience that Bioware's trying to lay out for you. It's simply a matter of using resources practically- it's inefficient to build game content that will only be seen by people who made a certain choice. You're given the illusion of choice, but in reality, are railroaded down a fairly linear story corridor.

Bioware has said they want to tone down the amount of illusory choices in the second game, and make each have more impact, but faced with the prospect of a third game and having to carry over choices to that product, it's likely you won't be able to deviate too much from a preset path in ME2, much the same as in the first game, which is a shame, but probably a necessity to get ME3 out sometime before 2015.

It's ironic, but I think exactly because of the features that Bioware touts make Mass Effect more replayable, the game is better suited to be played once then set down forever. Becuase going back through again will tarnish your first playthrough, make the reality of the situation much more apparent than it was the first time through, when you were wide-eyed and full of wonder. In the case of Mass Effect, ignorance really is bliss.

I played it through again and still had tons of fun, for me a game with tons of real branching choices dilutes a storyline rather then enriches it, and makes each ending less powerful.  Especially since almost every game with plot changing choices has a "cannon" ending anyway, I would rather a single plotline be developed.

@EvilTwin said:

" Not to rain on your parade, but, by telling everyone that the illusion of choice is just that, an illusion, haven't you pretty much ruined the experience for people in the same way that replaying the game would?  Not that I necessarily agree with you that replaying it ruins it.  I just find it kind of funny. "

Shhh. Quiet.

@Lies said:

" @EvilTwin said:

" Not to rain on your parade, but, by telling everyone that the illusion of choice is just that, an illusion, haven't you pretty much ruined the experience for people in the same way that replaying the game would?  Not that I necessarily agree with you that replaying it ruins it.  I just find it kind of funny. "

Shhh. Quiet. "

My lips are sealed.

Great post.  I've only played through it once but this feeling was nagging me through a lot of the game - in fact, already knowing what they were attempting to do with this trilogy kinda undermined my enjoyment.  Instead of just being able to enjoy a great story, it was always in the back of my mind that, no matter how important these decisions may seem to be, they are going to have to gloss over them or disregard them entirely in ME2.  The last 2 or 3 decisions you make in ME1 are so momentous that they would completely change the events of ME 2 and 3 if left unchecked.

It's pretty telling that your original crew seems to be destined to no more than the odd cameo, for example.  They aren't going to record a games worth of dialogue for somebody that might already be dead.

TBH, I think there's a decent chance that ME2 could end up disappointing an awful lot of people - people that Bioware have talked into having completely unrealistic expectations.

The ME gameplay is decent and the main storyline has promise, but ultimately I think the ME trilogy will be a shining example of why people don't make games like this.  I guess kudos to Bioware for trying it, but I think I'd rather have a single outstanding canon storyline than several mediocre ones as a result of a failed design experiment.

If Bioware do manage to pull it off convincingly, I will be extremely impressed and very happy to be proven wrong.

My girlfriend deleted my save data, so I wanted to replay it in order to get the full experience out of ME2.

@PureRok said:

" Playing it the first time ruined it. What a horrible game it was. "

fail.

I was moving onto creating my perfect Shepard before I bought a couple games recently, and stopped, but yeah. I never played it back when it originally came out, so I don't have much nostalgia for it.

Recently I acquired this game and have already been playing through it twice, and pretty much believe I have a good grasp of every possible outcome of every situation.

I don't know.  I've played it eight times all the way through with sidequests too.  Sure nothing tops the first run, but nothing made me think less of it either.  I will probably play it two more times before buying Mass Effect 2.

As far as the paths based on decision, I'm sure you're right to a certain degree.  For example from the first game, when the group splits up and you decide later what happens to one member.

I fully do not agree with you on this one.

I've played through it 4 times since it came out. 2 times right away. While by the 4th, there obviously was no surprise story wise, I don't think it ruined it.

I totally disagree with the OP, arguments are lame. I'm at my 4th completed playthrough going on 5th and this game is still great.

You can get your A.D.D. butt back to halo 3 while I enjoy my mass effect one more time.

As someone who played through ME thrice, I totally agree, and also began to realize that while the story is good, most of the dialogue is pretty shit.

@Lies:

that was a good game. i will totally play it again sometime when i have the time. i already knew the story was linear, but yeah

@EvilDingo: it does not matter. bioware is pretty much the most consistent, and arguably greatest, game developer of all time. they will get it done. ME1 was simply a test to gauge how awesome they could make the second and third games.