Fanbase Phenomenon: The Latest ME is Always the Worst

Can this actually be true? I mean, the G in RPG stands for game, so wouldn't a good RPG automatically be a good game too? A good RPG as opposed to, say, a game which checks off a lot of boxes on the Things That Are Supposed To Be In RPGs list.

I rather enjoy the open world concept... it really gets my OCD revved up...

To be honest with you, I am just shocked at how negative a fan-made board is towards the series that it is made to discuss.

If ME dies with Andromeda, than the fanbase bares part of the guilt.

I am certainly quite attached to it. Got me through some dark days, but yeah, no need to REEEEEE at each other over differences in taste.

I would put ME:A before ME1, but I agree with your thoughts on it and EA.

I also feel your pain with the reception of ME:A. I was mad at the world for a couple weeks tbh.  Shit, I still partially am.

Don't even mention crossover to EA. Those idiots would do it.

I still think 2 & 3, (in that order) are better than ME:A, but the margins are so thin that the boundaries begin to blur... what can I say, I fucking love Mass Effect!

While there are many things I love in ME2, it had too many problems for it to be ranked anything but last on my list. Not saying it is a bad game, since I love all the Mass Effect games but like all lists among favorites something has to be last. 

Fair enough!

"Good RPG" means not only conforming to the historic definition of what makes a CRPG, but doing those things well.

cRPGs began their life when developers attempted to bring over the tabletop experience to the PC and failed. Offline RPGs were user created stories and technology was nowhere near able to replicate this in a single player PC game. So what they brought over instead were tabletop war games and PCs emulated the combat experience. This combat experience (like in the tabletop counterpart) would use the skills of the characters to defeat enemies, so historically skills of the character (as opposed to the skills of the player) to defeat enemies were part of an "RPG" experience.

Other attributes of an "RPG" have to do with the inability in the past to bring aspects of tabletop games to the PC, and people's calls to include them now, but that's not really relevant. At the end of the day, utilising "character skills" isn't my definition of an RPG, that's just what cRPGs have always been about.

cRPGs being computer RPGs (I think someone was confused by that term a while ago.)

Worst statement I've heard on any Bioware forum.

They just became more dumbed-down, streamlined Battlefield clones which are turning more and more in to shooter first and rpg second.

ME:A had 5 years...5 YEARS!( ME1, ME2 and ME3 had 2-3 years between each) to work out all the problems it shipped with. It's not my problem they couldn't get their shit straight. I'm a consumer that only cares about the end product as all consumers are.

While I liked the game enough to buy and play it that doesn't mean I have to be happy with the way it shipped.

And people wonder why the Reapers come around every 50,000 years?...it's because the fanbase sucks ass and needs a purging.... ......


Seriously tho..i agree...i came into the series at ME2 (PS3) without knowing anything about the series and i instantly loved the game. I did read fans criticisms about how the game moved away from it's RPG elements, but i thought the game was great, but that outrage over the endings in 3?.... ....I still thought the endings could have been done better, but they didn't deserve the backlash they got over it.....it's like any other game you play in the series...the game is written to have a particular ending. 

There was really no way Bioware was going to satisfy everybody's outcome. I thought they did a good job of transitioning info from ME2 to ME3....decisions made in ME2 mattered in ME3...people seem like it's easy to just code and program this stuff....i've taken a few C++ programming classes and that s**t is highly frustrating just writing and trying to run 20 lines of error free code.....imagine writing over 300- 1000 lines of code and testing and redoing..etc....

Sheeit....there's a reason why alot of programmer's are balding on top of their heads looking like homie the clown......s**t is stressful...

ME1 is still my favorite game in the series. It's the most recent ME game that I've played as well before anyone throws out the rose colored glasses reply. I honestly think the games have gotten worse as they've gone along. The only that's improved is the combat, but that's low on my list of things that make an RPG enjoyable.

In ME1 the introduction to the races, the lore, everything just makes the game interesting. Saren was a great character. I hated him, wanted to kill, then finally felt sorry for him, and was happy he got to go out on his own terms.

Virmire is still my favorite mission in the series.

Contrast this to ME:A, which really didn't have that much depth to it. There wasn't really any lore or history to it. The villains were weak, never feared them, never hated them, never really felt much for them at all. The crew didn't really stand for anything, they all just had their personal issues. You didn't have a Wrex who told you about the Krogan rebellions, or spoke up for his people when you found rachni or were going to destroy the base on Virmire. You have Ashley who was a nationalist/xenophobe whichever one you choose. She didn't really trust the aliens on her crew and was willing to kill one if he didn't go along with the plan. You got the crew as part of the story, Ashely was defending Eden Prime, Garrus was investigating Saren, Tali had the evidence about Saren, Liara was the Prothean expert and her mother was helping Saren. In ME:A, people just show up in the middle of the desert and tag along.

ME1 was a story set in a galaxy of many stories, that was just deep and intriguing. In ME:A is felt like they created the entire galaxy to fit this one story and there was nothing else. Advanced race created these vaults > vaults can only be used by Ryder > Ryder can only use these vaults with the help of the advanced SAM > Ryder only has advanced SAM because the father died. Your role wasn't being a Pathfinder, it was activating vaults and fighting Kett.

I didn't hate ME:A, but aside from the combat, the rest I found to be just meh, and if the combat is the best aspect of an RPG to me, then odds are I didn't like the game.

ME1 > ME3 > ME2 > ME:A, last two could be swapped depending on when you ask me. I didn't start praising ME2 when ME:3 came out, and I didn;t start praising DA2 when DA:I came out. I didn't really like either second installment when I played them originally, and that didn;t change much after I played the games that followed them.