Lot of text, if you are strong enought please read.

I beat it of course, and I am wondering where all the praise for this game is coming from?

          Okay, I like a good story, which this game does not have. A vast Universe, greatly created, magnificent places, but story line very, very dull. I've seen it before, I felt like I read this somewhere, and no I didn't read what they came from. It is just your typical story. Universe in danger, man saves universe, man's a hero, we all live happily, with a few deaths here and there. There wasn't anything original, in that context. It was a great concept but I think it fell short. It kind of reminded me of Babylon 5 for some of it. There were cheesy lines, typical lines that are common.  Oh my favorite line was when Shepard told Joker, "On the double, Mister" that had me cracking up laughing. There were many laugh out loud moments in that game, not because it was funny but because it was stupid. For example, the very end when Shepard is standing on your screen with the planet and ships in the background it was such a typical "epic pose" that I couldn't help but laugh at it.

Characters:

            Speaking of Joker lets talk about names. They were so unoriginal. Joker? What because he made jokes, how ingenious of them, I would have never thought to call someone who made jokes, Joker. But who would want that as a nickname? Shepard, how about more generic name, lets say Johnson. John Johnson, hey it has alliteration, I think it works. Kaiden and Ashley, what in the world…I mean I love the name Kaiden, but for this character that was an odd choice. Ashley, what a dumb bitch and I let her die because of it and that's all I'll say about her.

            The only characters I liked were Kaiden and the blue chick, but yet I wasn't involved with them enough to care. I was nice to Kaiden and a bastard to everyone else. Though I wouldn't care if all of them die and that isn't a good thing. The game didn't make me care about any of the characters. Never talked to the weird chick with the mask, never talked to the tall skinny dude and only talked to Wrex when I had to. And Wrex what an original name there!!!! Anyways, it wasn't too engaging as I hoped it was. But as all games I finish what I start and I finished it within three days doing only the side missions that were forced upon you and some small side quest by others. I found myself hitting the spacebar a lot to skip the talking.

            There was only one person on the ship I wanted to have romantic relationship with, but I couldn't, not as a male character at least. I won't be buying the next one day one, unless they add the romantic type of interest that I want. If not, then I'll wait till it is $20 again. I mean they did it in Dragon Age, but of course this isn't why I don't like the game as much as others.

Other:

            I was disappointed that it wasn't what I expected.  When I opened the case and saw one disk, doom came to my mind as many PC games have like 1000 that you need to install. We all know DVD don't hold much data so when we see multiple we are happy. I had a sad face.

Graphics:

            The Graphics weren't that great. I have a good PC, just bought a new one with a good graphics card and processor, and everything was set on as high as it could go. A lot of the places I went to were very dry, especially planet surfaces, very repetitive. For a game so big, it was very linear. Some textures were good others not so great. The game play wasn't that great either. It was hard for me to use the cover system. If I had three hands I could do it better, how do they expect me to use the arrow keys when I'm fighting. The pause thing wasn't any help I still had to take the time and face where I wanted them to go.

            One thing I can say that it does better than Uncharted 1 and 2, is Shepards ass is very bubbly, way better than Drakes. I mean the side view of drakes ass on Uncharted was flat but damn Shepard's was all over the place lol.  (I only mention Uncharted as everyone talks about Drakes ass, not because of how great graphically it is praised.)

            Now I didn't do this to bash the game, I think it has a great setting but the plot wasn't matching up to that setting. I just wanted to give my opinion on it, as most people seem to find this game so great, so I ask, what is it about this game that you found so impressive?

Just wanted to add, I loved, Loved KotoR1 and 2.

Thanks for reading if you did.

While I don't rave about the game's plot myself, I feel compelled to point out that condensing any story like that makes it sound stupid. Allow me to demonstrate:

"The story of the New Testament is that some baby is born, he grows up, does a bunch of miracles, then dies nailed to a piece of wood."

Long story short: you're not giving it enough credit!

As to the characters, I HATED Liara. Hated hated hated. How can you rail against the game's cheesiness and cliches, and then NOT hate Liara? It makes no sense!

I also hated Kraiden, but that's only because he had the same voice actor as Carth Onasis. If they'd chosen anyone else, I'd have been okay with him. He's kind of bland, but...

And don't diss Wrex, man. Wrex is my boy.

For what it's worth though, I otherwise tend to lean towards your opinion as well. Good game. Very fun. I loved learning the backstories. But the plot itself? Cheesy, kind of boring, really overrated.

Well, you are soooo right about the New Testament, same old story. LOL

Well, at first I liked Liara then I started not to, but i didn't hate her.

Maybe that's why I liked Kaidan because he was voiced by the same person.

Well i though the game was really impresses. The graphics were great, characters were proficient, and story was just fine.

Blasphemy! Hang him! :p Mass Effect is the most awesome game on the 360, maybe the PC ruined if for you.

Well, If you all would answer my question at the end would help, because i just don't see the awesome in this game. You need to go indepth about what it is about this story that is awesome, not just saying it was great, awesome or impressive.

@Feylic, if the PC ruined it, than the 360 version must have sucked!

I'm just joking by the way. And don't take it the wrong way, I'm just looking for an answer.

Here's my long answer to you:

Mass Effect was one of the first next generation RPGs and quite a special one in it's gameplay alone. I believe that there are many types of RPGs: some with great stories and poor gameplay, some with poor story and great gameplay and some with a good balance between the two. Mass Effect has a good balance between gameplay, story and especially backstory.

Personally, I just like the whole storyline. I thought it reminded me a lot of Star Trek with all the different cultures, races, the Alliance (like the Federation for Earth), etc. That's one of the reasons why I thought that the story was going to be awesome because everything made sense. And because you learn all the backstory between the races, the action scenes get even more interesting. You know why you're Spectre, you know what are your implications, etc. We also get a great view of how the political affairs take place in the not-so-distant future! Even if there are not a bunch of battles, it sure gets intense whenever there's one!

With that said, we haven't seen a game as mature as this one before, especially set in a sci-fi world (which makes it even better in my book). Also, did you ever feel sad when finishing a good game (kind of like any Zelda game really)? Well, same thing happened to me for this game, and I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking the same thing. God, the ending was just too epic, especially when you have invested a couple of months in the game like I did. I always thought "Oh, this is how it all ends? Hmmm, ok..." but then another fight starts and another cutscene appears, etc. Let's just say I haven't been so proud to watch the credits of a game in my entire life (and the music was pretty good, it matched the style)! I was sad at the same time because I would have to wait years for a sequel... Luckily, ME2 comes out next year!

So that's my 2 cents.

Thanks for the well thought out reply. I guess maybe because i didn't get it right when it was released I have been jaded by all these other games I think are vastly better in story line.

Now I do think, like I said, the Universe is great. I never said anything bad about that. The way things work though have basically nothing to do with the plot. The plot is, as others don't like how i put it, Universe in trouble, one hero saves everyone. A big bady wanting to kill everyone because they can and want to. I think the plot could have been much better. The Universe only effects the setting, which is sci-fi, and what types of things can take place in this setting.

For example, lets move the setting to a fantasy world. The council would still be there, the Alliance would be something different, but it would be a warrior, with the help of some mages, other warriors, stoping the bad guy from killing everyone on the word because they, the bad guy, has the power to do so.

I had expected some cool twist in it, not like M. Night or whatever, but something that would make me go wow, i didn't see that coming. I never had a wow moment in this game.

I've never felt sad when finishing a game. Even Zelda, which i have finished. I always feel good, especially if the story is great. I feel like I accomplished something, with Mass Effect I didn't feel that way.

It's impossible in Mass Effect to feel like you didn't accomplish anything when the whole point is your decisions impacting the world around you. That is basically what an RPG is. If you don't like the game, well, thats understandable but theres no way you can say nothing was accomplished.

tagged. gotta read this thread tomorrow.