this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2025

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Mass Effect 1 is still my favourite sci-fi game of all time (media.piefed.social)

submitted 1 month ago by cloudless@piefed.social to c/patientgamers@sh.itjust.works

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This game made me feel like the captain of a space ship. There was nothing like it at the time it was released, and even now I have not experienced any other game making me feel this way. I loved Fallout 3 too, but Mass Effect had something special. It was so well crafted, I listened to every dialogue of every NPC. The characters are so memorable with amazing voice acting. The Citadel is the best city in video games, felt really alive. Most sidequests add to the story instead of just padding the gameplay time.

After playing the game, I wondered how Star Wars (movies) sucked so badly, when a video game could create a much more interesting sci-fi world and story.

Unfortunately Bioware is no longer the same company.

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[–] undeffeined@lemmy.ml 68 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This post is my favorite post in the Citadel

[–] Hubi@feddit.org 16 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I should go.

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[–] absquatulate@lemmy.world 38 points 1 month ago

Had to be Bioware. Someone else might have gotten it wrong.

[–] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 32 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Seems to be an unpopular opinion, but 1 was the best in the series as far as I'm concerned.

[–] rustydrd@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 month ago

Imma upvote this so hard, it'll turn your opinion popular.

[–] FluffMongo@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

May be unpopular but I'll stand by it being right!

[–] theskyisfalling@lemmy.dbzer0.com 28 points 1 month ago (5 children)

Maybe I should finally play this game......

[–] Weirdfish@lemmy.world 33 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Oh to play this series blind again, I envy you.

The parts are all good, especially with the remaster, but the sum of its parts is something really unique.

[–] Talaraine@fedia.io 5 points 1 month ago

I still remember the first time I drove the Mako. Man they did so well with the atmospheric feel of other worlds in 2005. Could have done a bit better with the wild landscape tho xD Ride em cowboy!

[–] theskyisfalling@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I have that feeling with some other games so can relate.

I really know nothing about it other than hearing people rave about it for the longest time. I might have to look up some info at least to see if I'd like it, literally all I know is "space RPG" xD

[–] Talaraine@fedia.io 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The words I'd use would be 'Space Opera' as it's bombastically big in scope and stakes. Even if the game wasn't as goshdarn good as it was for the time, the fact that they told one giant contiguous story that actually made sense (looking at you Ubisoft) keeps me coming back to it like an old friend.

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[–] Weirdfish@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Look up game mechanics and progression to see what style of char you want. 3rd person cover shooter w classes, squad mechanics, and RPG elements.

Avoid story and character spoilers as best you can.

Your save files carry over through the three games which was unique at the time and really ties the games together in a meaningful way.

[–] loutr@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago

Your save files carry over through the three games which was unique at the time

Still pretty unique, isn't it? I remembered this feature a couple days ago, and couldn't think of another example.

[–] Atomic@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago

I picked up the legendary edition trilogy and loved it.

My advise. Take your time. And don't worry about your choices. They don't matter. Just do what you feel is right and it will all work out.

Except for one thing. Whatever Jacob says. Do the opposite. His advise is always, at best, redundant, and at worst, catastrophic.

[–] Carnelian@lemmy.world 17 points 1 month ago (5 children)

There’s a graphically updated version of the trilogy, regularly goes on sale for a few bucks

[–] mephiska@fedia.io 7 points 1 month ago

Yep, totally worth the $5 when it comes up for sale. PC controls updated from original so works with controllers now too.

[–] Deebster@infosec.pub 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I just bought the Legendary Edition on Steam for not much at all, cheers

[–] Zephorah@discuss.online 4 points 1 month ago

You don’t need graphic updates, those power ranger body suits are great as is. Nothing says style like a bright yellow avian evolved alien.

[–] theskyisfalling@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Oh no. EA play, fuck that shit.

I'll have to find a repack or something -_-

[–] Carnelian@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Ha, yeah I actually also haven’t purchased legendary edition, for that exact same reason. But it seems we are in the minority in boycotting EA play, so I usually don’t let it stop me from recommending this particular series.

For disclosure, I played all of them on xbox 360 back when they came out, and loved them. I also have friends who bought the LE and had a great experience, I watched them play a bit too and everything seemed to hold up very well

[–] theskyisfalling@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 month ago

Yeh that is fair enough, there is a DODI repack anyway so I'll probably grab that. I have been considering a 360 recently what with the new exploit that has been made available so maybe I'll grab a cheap 360 so I can relive some of my favourite games from there too.

[–] theskyisfalling@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 month ago

Maybe I'll keep an eye out for a good price then!

[–] absquatulate@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago (7 children)

Do it. All mass effects are great. Even Andromeda ( despite the lackluster story )

I've been itching for a similar game these past few weeks and I swear there is nothing contemporary that is quite like Mass Effect. KOTOR is close, but is has aged like milk ( graphically ). Maybe the deus exes? I am still open to suggestions.

Also you'll want to play the legendary edition, I think they fixed some of the less pleasant gameplay quirks ME1 used to have.

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[–] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 month ago

The first is very much a story first, combat second style game. I wouldn't pick a "caster" focused character for a first play.

[–] Goodeye8@piefed.social 6 points 1 month ago

The first game is worth playing even if you dislike the rest of the trilogy, it's just that good. Some people like the second or third game more but the first game absolutely nails the sci-fi setting and mystery of the reapers that the latter games IMO are lacking.

[–] Zephorah@discuss.online 25 points 1 month ago (1 children)

ME, as a trilogy, plays on most of the tropes in scifi. The voice acting is pretty great too, barring the Resident Evil 1 level Liara in ME1.

And then Bioware lost all capacity to write dialogue stronger than a wet, overcooked spaghetti noodle.

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[–] tacosanonymous@mander.xyz 19 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The menu music and sounds live rent free in my head.

[–] undeffeined@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 month ago

The galaxy map music was amazing

[–] B0NK3RS@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago

It took me a few tries back in the day but ME1 is my favourite of the 3. It has the best storyline and the other 2 games were more action/adventure.

[–] Vince@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago

My favorite game of all time is Star control 2, and this was the closest thing I could imagine to a modern version it.

They simplified some of the planetary resource gathering, ship upgrades and exploration, and I was hoping they would expand on that in the sequels. Unfortunately they did the exact opposite and simplified it even further.

[–] A_Union_of_Kobolds@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Driving the Mako (is that what it was called? God its been ages) was so damn fun for some reason.

[–] Hubi@feddit.org 20 points 1 month ago

[–] TwoBeeSan@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Yo fiddy hit that ramp

Doing jumps off those unreal 3 ass landscapes was more fun than it had any right to be

[–] A_Union_of_Kobolds@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

I know right? Especially back then, there weren't a lot of games where you could drive around other worlds like that. I loved it, it felt like actual astronaut shit

[–] FlexibleToast@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Amazon is creating a Mass Effect TV show. I hope they draw inspiration from Fallout rather than Halo or even Last of Us.

[–] VerilyFemme@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I hope they draw inspiration from the Mass Effect games.

Not to be negative, but save for Last of Us Season 1, none of those series are great adaptations.

Fallout had some great dialogue that was very reminiscent of the games at points, but the lore decisions they made were questionable at best. Ghoulification was changed to be less mysterious and more like the process of mutation; the Sino-American war was simplified from a resource war into Capitalism vs Communism; and the NCR, an imperialist nation and I believe the largest in that area, has been all but destroyed by one nuke to their capital. Also all of the survivors of the NCR are communist, for a reason I'm sure.

Maybe I just needed to rant about the Fallout show. Either way, I sincerely hope they get some huge Mass Effect fans on the team for this one that care about the story the games present above all else.

I'm really tired of this attitude that Hollywood has toward adaptations, where they all want to make it their own. You adapt the story to the best of your ability, and the decisions you must make to adapt to a new medium make it your own. Not rewriting what has come previously.

Mini rant over

[–] FlexibleToast@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I mean, obviously from ME. Fallout has been by far the best video game adaptation so far. It wasn't really an adaptation though because it is its own story. They seemed to really respect the source material. The lead actor played the game so she could do justice to the franchise. Both shows are made by Amazon, so I have somewhat high hopes.

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[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 9 points 1 month ago (4 children)

I loved the way weapons worked in ME1, and they had such a logical thought process behind it written in the little lore snippets. But then when ME2 came out they scrapped it for something more traditional.

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[–] glorkon@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

My favourite sci-fi game of all time is Elite. Because I am old.

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[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 month ago

I should go.

[–] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (4 children)

Personally, I find Star Control II, Star Trek 25th Anniversary & Judgment Rites, to be better than Mass Effect 1 & 2 when it comes to science fiction and consequences of choice. Mind, I haven't gotten around to Mass Effect 3 since I abhor DRM and walled platforms, so I might be missing the ribbon that ties the trilogy together.

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[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 7 points 1 month ago

Unfortunately Bioware is no longer the same company.

They weren't even the same company when ME1 came out. Jade Empire and KOTOR 1 and 2 were even better, while ME had clear signs of EA sucking their soul out before they even actually announced the sale of the company to them.

[–] ashenone@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 month ago

If your a reader at all give the revelation space series a read. It's what the Mass Effect games story was based on and its a great ride

[–] Ashtear@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Even though I liked ME2 and 3 a bit more, the series overall still has my favorite Bioware cast by a mile and one of my favorite casts in gaming.

The ironic thing is I actually find the setting kinda hokey, but the moment-to-moment action is fantastic. The exposition dump towards the end of ME1 that sets the stage for the larger conflict was so satisfying. A classic example of solid script writing and characterization elevating overall plot and setting.

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