Why You Need To Play Through Mass Effect Trilogy (Again)

Prima Games explains why Commander Shepard's journey is well worth taking again.

[FrightfulActions]

Play again to be reminded more vividly of how little your choices matter in the end.

[Summons75]

Play again to see the fall of Bioware before your eyes.

[fossilfern]

Its like a car crash happening before your eyes, you know you shouldn't look but you cant help but notice. I have been playing through KOTOR, Dragon Age Origins and Neverwinter nights again (well I never got round to finishing DOA!) and I just sat there and thought to myself how did this company fall from grace?

Ah well CDProjekt have took their place!

[I_LOVE_MYSELF]

I need to play it through, period. How have I not played through these games yet?

[Tetsujin]

I only played 2 and 3 on PS3; now I can start from 1 then 2 then 3.

[yesmynameissumo]

I played some of 1 on the 360 and beat 2 on PS3. I have 3 and it's still sealed. I have no idea why I have zero desire to play. I just keep playing other games. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed 2 and series is enjoyable. I think it's just one of those good games that for whatever reason, doesn't scream "PLAY!" at me. I am tempted to buy 1 on PS3, replay 2 and THEN play 3, but honestly...that shit probably won't happen.

[guitarded77]

@ -GameTimeUK-
Yes, you must play through, they are totally worth your time. You see a lot of people complaining, but they wouldn't be complaining if they didn't have unreal expectations for an already great series. ME is one of the best franchises ever, and expect to clock in some serious hours if you're a collectionist like me.

[FrightfulActions]

While I agree that anyone who hasn't should definitely play it (the Trilogy is perfect for newcomers) I disagree with this accusation that people had 'unreal expectations'. Our expectations were what BioWare made them to be.

We were promised a conclusive story where our decisions throughout the series played an important role in shaping the outcome. Different outcomes, different endings, being rewarded and facing the repercussions of your actions throughout the series.

What we got in reality however was a game that completely overlooks and in some cases flatout ignores all these decisions you've made. Is it wrong that people felt like their story would be just a little bit unique based off of their own experience and journey when BioWare themselves promised such a ending?

I'm pretty sure its still advertised as such aswell. A real "shape your story" type game. Fun games and definitely my favorite game series that I still play regularity (have ME on pause as I type this, infact) but that doesn't change the fact that the final game was nothing like what they promised it'd be.

People had a right to be upset by it. Promise someone candy and then give them stale bread and they tend to hold a grudge about it.

[fossilfern]

Playing it again reminds me of how little it reminded me of an RPG in the later 2 games. Love ME1

[DivineAssault]

EA ruined bioware

[Tzuno]

Because you played?

[MadMen]

Wont lie, I only played ME1 and I loved it - this trilogy is very welcomed on my end, ME2 sounds great I am a bit confused on rather ME3 is good compared to the rest...

[crazysammy]

It is VERY good. I can tell you honestly that the people complaining are a small number of the players. They are very loud, but they are not high in numbers. I know I will get killed on this site for saying so because a lot of people that frequent this site will disagree.

I have no problem with the ending, because I knew that all the choices I was making were allowing different paths to the same end. I always had that expectation of the story. Maybe I got lucky by being in that mindset the whole time, because people that expected there to be a billion different endings were disappointed.

I loved all 3 games, and they are worth playing. One thing I recommend that might help, is that remember that Mass Effect 3 is the ending to the series. I mean in the sense that the whole game is the ending, not just the ending 15 minutes.

It was a great journey.

[MadMen]

I appreciate you taking the time to lay that out.

Likely pick up ME2 soon.

[medman]

I agree with you 100 percent. The trilogy is fantastic and is without a doubt my favorite gaming experience this generation, bar none. The Uncharted series would come 2nd to Mass Effect series for me. It's brilliant. I have no idea why some people had such a problem with the conclusion of ME3. It's as if they were willing to discredit the phenomenal overall experience that was ME3 because they didn't care for the final 15 minutes of a 35 hour game. I can understand if you don't like the ending Bioware chose to go with, I wasn't over the moon with it either, but that doesn't ruin the entire game or trilogy. To think so is to have never really loved the series in the first place. The Mass Effect series has established for me characters I will never forget. Liara, Tali, Mordin, Garrus, Joker, Edi, Subject Zero, and even Miranda will live on in my memory for years to come. I have nothing but good thoughts when I think of the trilogy. Bioware did something right.

[crazysammy]

My favorite game series of all time is Metal Gear, because they built an amazing universe and mythology that ties into real world events that happened. What is amazing is that Metal Gear is only slightly ahead of Mass Effect for me, and it has been around 25 years! Mass Effect accomplished an amazing feat in all in one console cycle!

[aliengmr]

Well if you can ignore the abysmal writing of the ending which stands in stark contrast to the beautifully written sub-plots you will like it. If you are the type that picks up on inconsistencies in storytelling then you might take issue.

Just to be clear it was NOT a small number of people that had an issue with the ending. If it had, BioWare wouldn't have released the extended cut. Unless a case can be made that a small group of people can threaten long-term sales.

[PersonaCat]

Just finished ME1 last night. It's a crime going into ME2 without playing the first one. While I appreciated the comic bioware gave PS3 owners, it just doesn't compare to the experience of the first game.

[tigertron]

Good job we now have all three on the PS3.

I'm about 13 hours into ME1 on the PS3 and I love it more now than I did when I completed it on the PC.

[rainslacker]

I agree. Having played both ME2 and 3 this year already I will probably hold off on repeating them for a while. But loving ME1 again since I haven't played it since it's release on the PC way back when.

[MasterD919]

I'm replaying through ME2 now and I just may go back to ME1 and restart the trilogy again. It really is a great series, despite its storyline issues.

ME4 wouldn't probably be on the table were it not for the convoluted ending of ME3...hopefully there is a redeeming quality there. I can say that all of the games had a genuine feeling to them, which is why I prefer ME2 the best...It felt like an actual space adventure, whereas ME1 was all about planet-side battles. ME3 had great controls and action, but left very little for the average gamer to enjoy as far as their character was concerned. All and all- they are all worthy of playing through.

[pandehz]

I did this recently and lemme say it is well worth it.

There is NO game on this planet that makes you feel so dam sad and nostalgic by the time your at the third game.

Try it and you'll realise the ending had to be linear in some way. They shouldnt even had 3 choices, just too frickin complex to have endings based on 3 games choices.

Regardless it was one hell of a trilogy, beautiful experience.
Most ppl know horsecrap about game design, I have some idea so I'll just say bravo to Bioware for making such a fine trilogy.

[aliengmr]

Or they could have gone with an ME2 style ending where your performance in the final mission determines the ending you get. Get killed right when the door drops, Reapers win and you get a cinematic showing how badly you f'ed up. Make all the right choices and survive and you get to do what you set out to do in the first place, defeat the Reapers.

By the time you get to the end of ME3 there aren't many choices that matter. Mainly it comes down to who is there to help.

Personally, ending it at the beam would have been far better than the one we got. I would have preferred to see Harbinger stomping Shep into paste than being offered a choice of RGB from an entity that had no business being there in the first place.

The issues with ME3 have far less to do with "game design" and more to do with it piss poor writing. So much just didn't make any sense at all, even before the "icing-on-the-absurdity-c ake" ending.

Good rule of thumb is; if your audience has more questions than answers at the end of a trilogy something went wrong. A 3 act trilogy is supposed to resolve the vast majority of questions for the audience. LOTR is an example of how you end a lore heavy trilogy. While that is an extreme example, ME3 didn't even come close. In fact the original ending didn't even have a resolution.

You would have had to be completely insane, drunk, or high to think that the original ending was an acceptable way to end a trilogy. Had it been a movie or a book it would have been torn to pieces by critics.

[Aloren]

"So much just didn't make any sense at all, even before the "icing-on-the-absurdity-c ake" ending. "
Like what ?

[pandehz]

I did not have many questions

Every game we tend to fill in the blanks, well almost every game dont we? We dont ask why did Nathan drake not die after falling through wood for the 50th time or why did blah blah etc there are numerous things we as gamers overlook in almost every media which cannot fully express every detail of every side of every topic.

Also LOTR is not a good example at all from your point of view, I Have read the book and have overlooked a lot.

So plz dont be biased.