So about this Mass Effect series... (Gaming)

by Ragashingo , Official DBO Cryptarch, Sunday, February 19, 2017, 02:14 (2616 days ago) @ Oholiab

Cool video - thanks for posting.

I know next to nothing about ME except that I enjoy its music (thanks, Pandora), and I hear it has a compelling story. I downloaded it when it was free on XBL, and I gave it a whirl in between Destiny expansions.

I did not get far before giving up. If I remember, I think the issue was that it felt I was on rails. The story seemed worthwhile, but I couldn't get past the gameplay.

Does the gameplay improve in the later games? What type of game should I be expecting? Will I be totally lost on the story if I jump in to the series with this new release?

The gameplay improves a ton! Mass Effect 1 is not really a good representation of the series. It has a certain charm to it in that it was sorta a cross between a numbers RPG and a bad 3rd person shooter. There were some interesting things you could do like have one squad member suppress a powerful enemy's ability to shoot, and another strip its shields, then hit it hard with one of your own powers or guns. But the gameplay simply is not smooth or really even fun. At best it was tolerable because it had a bunch of good story. Gameplay wise, it doesn't stand up well at all today.

Mass Effect 2 and 3 did a ton to clean up the gameplay. Playing them really is like playing an entire different game than ME1. Mass Effect 2 and 3 play much more like a Gear of War. They are both very much cover based shooters where there's always some chest high walls or desks or something to take cover behind. And the way you can use and combine powers between you and your squad works really well. In short, they are actually fun to play. The gameplay is just worlds more crisp and... playable.

As for jumping in on Andromeda, I'd say its actually the perfect time! Andromeda is almost completely disconnected from what happened in Mass Effect 1,2 & 3. Basically, you're part of a big colony expedition that left before things started getting really bad for our galaxy in Mass Effect 2 & 3. Andromeda starts 600 years later and it's likely that few if anybody around you know that anything about what happened to our galaxy at all. So, story wise, its almost going to be a clean slate and therefore much easier for players new to the series to jump in.

There will surely be the occasional humorous or subtle reference to ME 1,2,& 3, but the story is being purposely set up to stand on its own. And the gameplay looks better than ever. I have no qualms about suggesting you jump in to Andromeda day one, but if you want to wait a bit I'm very sure myself and others here will be giving reviews and impressions about it pretty quickly after release.