| S.T.A.G.E. said:
1) Speech (maxing out of speech) points was almost pointless. it only played into who lived and died. In Part 1 and 2 the RPG element of speech went a long way preventing wars, changing peoples opinions of you and more. In part three it didnt matter. Renegade and Paragon had some of the same responses and reactions as well. It was pointless to fight the linearity of the game. If you say something different you should get a different reaction. We might as we have just sit and watched the child in the beginning run from us instead of trying two different styles and giving him a staggeringly similar response. 2) Farming for resources on certain planets expanded the longevity if your playthrough. 2 and 3 did not have this and were finished quicker due to the casualized farming experience. They also provded a chance for you to gain exp in battles with terrestrial creatures. 3) Armor- The armor in ME3 is so weak its not even funny. In part one you found or purchased more potent armor than before. The resistance these bits of armor from (obviously from part 2) had was horrible compared to the last game. 4) The balance of party choice- Even though you were rewarded for sticking with one memeber in previous Mass Effect titles they all had a tactic which benefited a mission. In hindsight, its funny we are having this argument but I realized in Part three the only person I used over and over again was Javik. This was never so for me in other Mass Effects where I would switch from character to character to utilize their valuable points. Javik was like the ultimate partner which created a lack of balance in the crew. 5) Where are the side missions? The first mass effect had good side missions but part two had great side missions. This game had the least amount of playthrough time out of all of my Mass Effect titles because of it. My first play through of ME1 was about fifty hours, about forty+ for two ME2 and ME3 was like twenty hours (not counting multiplayer). I mean, I think we can all agree that ME3 was the vastly more streamlined experience. |
1) Is that a joke? If you don't have enough Reputation in ME3, you can't make peace between the geth and quarians, and that's just the start of it. The Reputation system in ME3 was much better than the zero-sum system of ME1 or the all-or-nothing system of ME2, because it allowed you to play the way you wanted while still being able to maintain choice-making.
2) You are the first person I've ever talked to who has defended the resource farming in ME1 and ME2. They are terrible. We are all better of for not having to deal with that insidious slog.
3) THe Armor in ME3 is highly customizable and functional. No it doesn't give you thirty-five different sets of armor to dick aorund with, all of which do mostly the same thing with one clear best; it allows you to set up individual pieces that give you bonuses according to your playstyle, so that the armor is actually meaningful (my Vanguard Shep runs +60% weapon damage at all times). ME3's armor system was the best simply because you actually had to pick your benefits and they actually affected your combat performance.
4) Javik is the ultimate partner because he is awesomely written, not for his combat abilities - though Dark Channel is phenomenal if you have any kind of biotics on Shepard, I'll grant you that. Each Shepard synergizes well with different teammates. In ME1, the key to winning on any difficulty is to bring along Liara and let her use Singularity whenever she feels like it.
5) The side misisons in ME3 were all over the place, though they often didn't feel like side missions because they were all delivered very urgently. ME1 and ME2's campaigns aren't actually longer than ME3's; you can finish ME1 in about 9 hours if you don't dick around and just go do the missions, and that's with the enormous bloat of the Mako sections.
That is the biggest problem with ME1 in terms of pacing: bloat. It (and ME2, to a lesser degree) is full of tedious bullshit that does not actually benefit the player, it only serves to lengthen individual playthrough time. ME3 cuts away a lot of that.
You still haven't addressed that ME1's writing, characters, worldbuilding, and combat are the worst of the series.
