Does anyone actually prefer ME1 to ME2?

[ChristofferC]

I'm currently playing ME2. Will come back to this thread when I have finished it. Right now after playing a couple of hours of ME2 I would vote ME1.

I played ME2 for some 10 hours and now the game crashes on startup. Oh well, it was a really shitty game anyway. Run to next cover -> shoot -> run to next cover -> shoot for 10 hours.

Voted ME1.

 

[Monocause]

ME2. I don't really know why I even bothered to finish ME1, guess I had nothing better to do at the time. I was quite surprised to realise that I enjoyed ME2 when it came out.

- In ME1 I didn't find any of the characters interesting. The only thing that caught my attention was Ashley's xenophobia, but then it turned to be just wasted potential. In ME2 I found pretty much all the NPCs interesting except for Grunt (understandably, he's a killing machine) and Tali.

- ME2 succeeds at the "Action Sci-Fi" angle having exploited numerous Sci-Fi concepts in side missions. The genophage one, or the Jacob's mission come to mind, and there was more. In ME1 there was just that hypnotic plant, the rest was standard Bio writing in which you could easily swap energy weapons with swords and it'd work just the same.

- ME1 was a corridor cover-based shooter just like ME2; just that the second part got the mechanics better and made corridor shooting from cover more enjoyable. If you call ME2 an interactive movie then ME1 was an interactive movie with extensive "turn into omni-gel" and "switch mark V to mark VI" sequences.

- Collar-grabbing in ME2 felt like proper action movie sequences, unlike in ME1 in which it felt comically forced. Much "fuck yeah!" moments in the second game.

Really, I can't remember a single thing that I'd say ME1 did better. For me ME2 was a huge improvement in all aspects.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

- ME2 succeeds at the "Action Sci-Fi" angle having exploited numerous Sci-Fi concepts in side missions. The genophage one, or the Jacob's mission come to mind, and there was more. In ME1 there was just that hypnotic plant, the rest was standard Bio writing in which you could easily swap energy weapons with swords and it'd work just the same.

I'd definitely agree with this. I thought the character side-missions in ME2 were very well done.

 

[Freelance Henchman]

The "meat" of ME2 really were the side missions, the "main quest" was laughably inane. I'm wondering if the guys that took over the writing for ME2 simply wondered what the fuck the ME1 guys were thinking coming up with zillions of god-like ultra-powerful killer robots as the antagonists, and simply decided to put that whole matter on ice for the moment until they can come up with something that makes sense on how to deal with them (well, sense for a shlock sci-fi B-movie).

 

[J_J_M]

Where's my option for "Mass Effect sucks, and I'm not butthurt about it"?

 

[Pegultagol]

They are both mediocre, but ME1 won out just by a hair's breadth.

I didn't care for the cast of characters in ME2 that much more than I did those in ME1. I was also very underwhelmed by the lack of weapons and simplified inventory system in ME2, instead of improving upon them. The planet scanning minigame is absolutely putrid, and actually worse than the Mako planetary exploration in comparison, as far as I am concerned. I hated the premise of Shepard being 'resurrected' as a pretense of disregarding all the previous relationships that did not carry over, nor did I care for the treatment of the few remaining characters that are just cast aside harmlessly or relegated to DLC episodes. ME1 I feel had more varied environments, and I believe better realized some of the more interesting encounters and plot twists outside of your companion sidequests like showdown with Benezia and Saren, as opposed to the Collector General and Terminator Reaper.

 

[Longwinded & Pretty]

What's all this nay-say on the Mako? Good way to enjoy that is to remove your pants, sit on your sub-woofer, and fire the main cannon. Now tell me that doesn't tingle just a wee bit

Now lets answer this seriously:

Though I have yet to get around to finishing #2 (put it down after the first encounter with the collectors, not out of Rage, Boredom, or any other derogatory reason, but rather due to a friend giving me a USB stick of Bullethell heaven and a potential hint of AD... ooo! Pwetty penny!) I still did get a rather good impression of the differences between it and ME that are noteworthy. It's funny how I usually end up mentioning Starship Troopers (the films for the record) in attempts to describe the Sci-Fi B-movie cheesyness of ME's setting, as I'm seeing the differences in the ME games are comparable to the change of style between the first two movies as well (ST1 being more grandiose and epic, ST2 being more focused and claustrophobic... Third movie? I have no idea what you're talking about!)

Playing ME2 I kind of do miss the scale of things when running around and shooting, like the sequence on Noveria where you wander & shoot around for a bit, then get in the Mako to drive & shoot to the lab where all the hullabaloo is going on. Sure the Mako is more than a little wonky around the corners, but at least you're doing something more than "click hangar door, loading screen, Boop! We're there!" as ME2 would give you. Roaming around in the Mako is still a more fun way of killing time to explore rather than the clickity-click-clickness of scanning for minerals.

That's about where I'd end giving ME props in this comparison (well, other than it actually being an RPG, albeit a lite, sugar free one) as ME2 is kind of better in the other regards. Characters are a little more varied and I'm liking them so far (as previously mentioned, only up until the 2nd round of recruitment so far), combat is definitely more refined and I'm liking the effect that the shield/armor/fleshy-insides system has in regards to effective skills & powers, and I particularly do like the customisability of Shepard's armor options as compared to the first, though I do wish there were options to do so for everyone involved.

So, yeah, until I get around to beating number 2 (which would involve being able to finish the first level of Hellsinker first) I'm going to withhold my judgement on which is better and why. But what the hell do I know, I'm just of of dem fandagled 2010 newfags aren't I?

 

[Krraloth]

The mako wasn't so bad, all in all; frustrating at times and tedious on the side...I see it as a wasted potential with uninspiring planet terrain, no customizable hardpoints and overall suckage of the side missions.

@Lesifoere I believe you wanted to say "Dronw in the vinegar" which has much more style and burns like hell.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

Combat, weapons, and character skill points were definitely better in me1. Everything else having to do with choices, story, and theme were better in me2.

You pretty much never have to worry about what weapon your equipping in me2 because the game will automatically choose the best one and they always get better. Only time you need to modify what your equipping is when you want like a different big weapon or have that shitty one shot shotgun.

 

[Smallpox]

They were both pretty shit as far as roleplaying goes. Story was a bit better in 1 IMO, but much better presented in 2. The end boss was just fucking retarded for both of them. Both had pretty typical shootan game combat, except Mass Effect 2's was actually fun. All the dumbing down in Mass Effect 2 would have bothered me if the skill points and inventory management in Mass Effect 1 was worthwhile. Overall, i liked Mass Effect 2 a lot better.

 

[Excidium]

The only thing from ME1 I missed on ME2 is that side mission on the moon, it's just so fucking cool seeing the Earth back there while walking on the moon surface. Some of the side missions were set in pretty cool enviroments.

...

Yeah.

 

[Spectacle]

ME1

ME2 has slightly better shooter mechanics, but loses out overall because of the story. ME1 may have been campy B-movie grade Sci-fi, but it served the game well and kept the action moving. In ME2 from start to finish, at no point does the main plot make any sense whatsoever! It doesn't have plot holes so much as it has holes of plot in a huge mass of derp.

Both ME's are better than Dragon Age, though.

 

[attackfighter]

ME1

ME2 has slightly better shooter mechanics, but loses out overall because of the story. ME1 may have been campy B-movie grade Sci-fi, but it served the game well and kept the action moving. In ME2 from start to finish, at no point does the main plot make any sense whatsoever! It doesn't have plot holes so much as it has holes of plot in a huge mass of derp.

Both ME's are better than Dragon Age, though.

What doesn't make sense about it? It's pretty simple, Shepard has to recruit a team of bad motherfuckers to accompany him on a suicide mission to blow up the bad guys. The only plot holes I noticed were the ones retconning it's prequel.

In ME there are glaring plot holes at every step:
1. All the protagonists believe that Shepard's hallucination is a foreboding prophecy (as opposed to foreshadowing his insanity).
2. Shepard becomes a "Spectre" for no reason - no reason for him to have earned the promotion in the first place, and no reason for the game to have spent time on something that ended up being insignificant to the plot.
3. Shepard travels to 3 planets almost arbitrarily, and out of billions of planets in the galaxy somehow those 3 possesed coordinates to Saren's base. *Phew* what a stroke of luck that was.
4. Shepard blows up Saren's base, which was making Krogans for no reason, and then Sovereign gives the laziest villain's expostition ever.
5. Shepard goes to some other base... or something... and then he drives his truck through a mass relay (recieving more exposition from a robot on the way) and then he fights his nemisis, who has the power of necromancy apparantly.

 

[sser]

Bad motherfuckers don't have daddy issues, which is like, what, almost every single fucking member on the team? The only remotely interesting storylines in ME2 were those of the weird alien scientist and his relationship with the weird alien brute. Tali's had a lot of potential because the idea of a roaming fleet a la the game Homeworld is pretty cool, but that turned out to have some of the dumbest dialogue and premises of them all.

 

[angerpowered]

I liked ME2. Can't bring myself to play through ME1. Gameplay is better in ME2. Much better. Which is fairly important because combat is pretty frequent and easy. Lots of cool stuff though. Yeah fuck you guys I like doing cool stuff, which is the point of combat in most RPGs nowadays anyway.

To people complaining about the combat being uninteresting... I find that playing a soldier is pretty stupid. If I have the power to do cool shit, why wouldn't I? Adrenaline rush? Fuck that play a vanguard. Charging a krogan, making him fly off into a pit, while blasting a shotgun shell into his buddy feels badass and exciting. It's even more exciting when you realize you're fucked if you don't find cover. And charge let's you speedrun levels too. It's extremely satisfying to pinball through a level using fast reflexes and positioning skills to beat a combat sequence that normally lasts 10-15 minutes in about 3.

I kinda liked thane. I thought it was pretty badass how garrus went rogue and was slaughtering mercs so badly that the top 3 gangs on omega needed to team up on him.

I was a fan of legion. Generic but cool.
I couldn't take grunt seriously because krogan make me lol but he was pretty cool too.
Jack was hilarious. Silly emo chick. Why the hell would anyone want to tap that anyways?
Liara and talia were welcome additions.
Samara was cool in a teenage boygasm way. Blue, big breasted, all powerful, slightly psychotic, xeno religious fanatic. Yes please
Mordin was a total badass.
Kasumi was okay.
Zaeid or whatever his name is was okay. I can't really blame Kasumi and zaeid because they were DLC and won't be as integrated into the story.

All the characters were cliche in some sense. They were all enjoyable though.

Just had an awesome though. Imagine if the illusive man turned out to be... The G-man in disguise :0

Miranda and Jacob were...okay. The chick Miranda is modeled after is pretty hot though.

 

[20 Eyes]

In ME there are glaring plot holes at every step:
1. All the protagonists believe that Shepard's hallucination is a foreboding prophecy (as opposed to foreshadowing his insanity).
2. Shepard becomes a "Spectre" for no reason - no reason for him to have earned the promotion in the first place, and no reason for the game to have spent time on something that ended up being insignificant to the plot.
3. Shepard travels to 3 planets almost arbitrarily, and out of billions of planets in the galaxy somehow those 3 possesed coordinates to Saren's base. *Phew* what a stroke of luck that was.
4. Shepard blows up Saren's base, which was making Krogans for no reason, and then Sovereign gives the laziest villain's expostition ever.
5. Shepard goes to some other base... or something... and then he drives his truck through a mass relay (recieving more exposition from a robot on the way) and then he fights his nemisis, who has the power of necromancy apparantly.

Were you paying any attention to game?

1. It was pretty obvious that the beacon did something to Shepherd, considering that it levitated him and made a big fucking lightshow when he activated it. Once you get Liara, she pretty much confirms that Shephard's visions are legitimate.
2. The council was considering making Shepard a Spectre before the game even starts. Shepard was only able to go wherever the hell he wanted and apprehend Saren because he was a Spectre himself.
3. The game clearly explained why Shepard goes to investigate those planets.

Ok, I'm convinced I'm being trolled at this point. If you're serious, the plot isn't amazing, but next time turn off the Green Day album you were listening to in the background when you were playing before you try to dissect the 'plot holes'.

 

[Andyman Messiah]

1. It was pretty obvious that the beacon did something to Shepherd, considering that it levitated him and made a big fucking lightshow when he activated it. Once you get Liara, she pretty much confirms that Shephard's visions are legitimate.

In a world where you can travel through eight galaxies at the speed of eight seconds, a light show means diddly shit. Also "did something to Shepard" can be read as "turned Shepard insane". Furthermore, Liara is suspect because of the whole "her mother is Saren's ally" thing. Plus, she's been booted off to her research dig alone precisely because her stupid shit theories are not taken seriously. She's really not a good witness. As far as the visions go, Shepard is a moron and Liara is a moron. Even if they aren't, really, but we don't know that.

Also, Shepard's "why are you not listening to me you should be listening to me god you're so stupid!!" rhetoric is not effective.

2. The council was considering making Shepard a Spectre before the game even starts.

Keyword is "considering". They reconsidered after Nihlus was killed under mysterious circumstances. Literally the only reason Shepard is made Spectre is because Saren's gone into some rival union space or something and they don't want to start a conflict. Shepard is made Spectre because of pure necessity and not because of an evaluation. Shepard himself at one point can state that he's only a "test project".

I have a question. The evidence Shepard (and Tali) find about Saren's mischief is a SOUND RECORDING. Are you telling me, for real, that SOUND is definite proof and not something that is easily manipulated? Because let me tell you, they are very easily manipulated. Same goes for video, really. Shepard takes this unsubstantial proof to the Council and the Council is all "whoop whoop this proves without a doubt" yeah fuck you. I'm not buying that.

 

[20 Eyes]

1. It was pretty obvious that the beacon did something to Shepherd, considering that it levitated him and made a big fucking lightshow when he activated it. Once you get Liara, she pretty much confirms that Shephard's visions are legitimate.

In a world where you can travel through eight galaxies at the speed of eight seconds, a light show means diddly shit. Also "did something to Shepard" can be read as "turned Shepard insane". Furthermore, Liara is suspect because of the whole "her mother is Saren's ally" thing. Plus, she's been booted off to her research dig alone precisely because her stupid shit theories are not taken seriously. She's really not a good witness. As far as the visions go, Shepard is a moron and Liara is a moron. Even if they aren't, really, but we don't know that.

Garrus was investigating Saren on Citadel for a while. Obviously, he is going to believe Shepard and join the party. Tali was the one with the dirt on Saren, so she knows what's up. The humans were both following Shepard when he was just an Alliance Commander, they were in from the start. Liara knows Shepard is for real. I don't remember Wrex's details, but he'd probably just join for the fight.

All the characters have a logical reason to follow Shepard. There is no plothole on why these people are following Shepard. The Council is skeptical about the whole 'reaper thing' even into the second game. Few others have any insight into the whole situation. Shepard is implied to have an uncanny leadership ability anyway.

2. The council was considering making Shepard a Spectre before the game even starts.

Keyword is "considering". They reconsidered after Nihlus was killed under mysterious circumstances. Literally the only reason Shepard is made Spectre is because Saren's gone into some rival union space or something and they don't want to start a conflict. Shepard is made Spectre because of pure necessity and not because of an evaluation. Shepard himself at one point can state that he's only a "test project".

Shepard is the first human spectre, so naturally he is a test project. You said it yourself, Shepard was made a Spectre out of necessity. He obviously had the ability. He was there when Nihlus was killed (there were neutral witnesses), he had dug up the dirt on Saren, and the Council had been considering giving a human Spectre status (specifically Shepard). And besides all that, Shepard's ship had revolutionary stealth abilities and they wanted the mission to be low key. Shepard was the obvious choice. Where is the confusion here?

I have a question. The evidence Shepard (and Tali) find about Saren's mischief is a SOUND RECORDING. Are you telling me, for real, that SOUND is definite proof and not something that is easily manipulated? Because let me tell you, they are very easily manipulated. Same goes for video, really. Shepard takes this unsubstantial proof to the Council and the Council is all "whoop whoop this proves without a doubt" yeah fuck you. I'm not buying that.

Sound pulled from the memory of a destroyed geth, right? Maybe their memories weren't capable of being tampered with. Maybe there was a date and time in the file that was damning. I don't know the details behind the sci-fi tech, but you're thinking about this one way too much.

 

[Freelance Henchman]

I'll add myself to the "Why the hell is Tali's recording in ME1 so frickin damning evidence?" list. I remember that the very moment she plays this to the council they just fall over like a house of cards while a moment before they pretty much seemed to think Shepard is an ass and humans in general are irritating newcomers with delusions of grandeur. This was a pretty jarring moment really.

Not that ME2 wasn't full of plot holes, the worst one to me was really the moment the entire team of badasses files into the shuttle right before the Collectors come and kidnap the entire Cerberus crew. At this point in the game you can have about 14 or whatever it was specialists, who wouldn't even fit into the thing AFAIK.

 

[Andyman Messiah]

All the characters have a logical reason to follow Shepard. There is no plothole on why these people are following Shepard.

Did I say there was one?

Shepard is the first human spectre, so naturally he is a test project. You said it yourself, Shepard was made a Spectre out of necessity. He obviously had the ability. He was there when Nihlus was killed (there were neutral witnesses), he had dug up the dirt on Saren, and the Council had been considering giving a human Spectre status (specifically Shepard). And besides all that, Shepard's ship had revolutionary stealth abilities and they wanted the mission to be low key. Shepard was the obvious choice. Where is the confusion here?

No confusion. I'm just saying there's a difference in being the throwaway choice rather than the chosen choice.

Sound pulled from the memory of a destroyed geth, right?

How can we prove this without bringing forth the geth unit? The Council is just taking Shepard's word for it and Shepard (not to mention Anderson and Udina) is taking Tali's word for it. Who is Tali anyway and how did she get that recording? From the Shadowbroker, a mysterious criminal mastermind blackmailer. Fucking A, yeah sure, that'll go over well.

edit:

Let's all ride the shuttle!

Yeah, that was definitely

I mean, jesus christ, at least have SOMEONE stay onboard as security!

 

[Gord]

Yes, this recording thing was pretty poor.
If they would at least have tried to give some explanation as to why it is considered legit - preferably after a thorough testing - it would probably make some more sense.

Even puny present-day humans could quite easily come up with tampered video showing Saren anal-raping the counsil with a strap-on should they want to and yet they don't even seem to try checking the source of this audio recording.

But ME1 is full of lazy stuff like that. Take all the mind reading done to Shepard. I would certainly think twice before letting an alien I barely know tamper with my brain (especially one working for Saren before, as on Feros)

 

[Andyman Messiah]

Also, don't the Council have more Spectres on hand? Nihlus dies, Saren goes rogue and they don't have anyone to send to clean the shit up? Everyone's busy, gotta recruit more Spectres? Yeah, not buying that.

 

[MicoSelva]

Obviously, there are no other Spectres. Have You met even a single one in ME2? Didn't think so.

 

[Freelance Henchman]

Obviously, there are no other Spectres. Have You met even a single one in ME2? Didn't think so.

You DO meet one in the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC.

Spoiler

(and kill her)

 

[Freelance Henchman]

How can we prove this without bringing forth the geth unit? The Council is just taking Shepard's word for it and Shepard (not to mention Anderson and Udina) is taking Tali's word for it. Who is Tali anyway and how did she get that recording? From the Shadowbroker, a mysterious criminal mastermind blackmailer. Fucking A, yeah sure, that'll go over well.

She didn't get the recording from the Shadow Broker, she was just trying to sell it to him but got double-crossed by that night club owner:

On her travels she began hearing reports of geth, who had never ventured beyond the Perseus Veil since driving her people into exile, and became curious. She tracked a patrol of geth to an uncharted planet, waited until one was separated from its unit, then disabled it and removed its memory core. She recovered a file from its audio banks that revealed Saren Arterius was behind the attack on Eden Prime, but possessing the file put her in grave danger. She was pursued by Saren's forces, and escaped to the Citadel.

On her way, Tali was shot and had to go to the Med Clinic for treatment. She told Dr. Chloe Michel she wanted to trade her information to the Shadow Broker in exchange for a hiding place, but was double-crossed by Fist who was working for Saren. She was expecting to meet the Shadow Broker in person but met a "messenger" with a group of assassins.