ME1 Combat & Gameplay

Man... I forgot to talk about the grenades! Coming from other shooters, I was constantly trying to reload with the "R" key and I almost blew myself up multiple times. But it's sort a unique take on grenades in that they are like discs and fly straight to where you aim, which is kinda cool.

You're right about the abilities. I wasn't sure if that counted under gameplay or more mechanics or whatever that's why I didn't mention it, but that's easily my favorite part. There's multiple paths you can choose to go down or not in order to really tailor it to how you like to play the game.

OH and the fact that you can customize your squads armor... god, do I miss that! Everyone gets onyx armor, all the time. No weird catsuits with impractical sections cut out to show flesh in a vacuum or space environment, no helmetless squadmates, etc.

I agree. ME1 combat was a bit clunky, but much better than its reputation. I think the bad rep comes mostly from that it's difficult to get into and yes, the AI is shameful. It would have been much better with the AI of the later games.

Combat in the other games is much more approachable and easier to understand, as is the levelling system. They are much better at throwing you in and making you get used to the mechanics quickly. That way, it is more mass market friendly, since someone used to Gears of War or something will have no problem getting into ME2 or 3. I hope this doesn't sound condescending, it's just that not everyone wants to learn comparably unintuitive combat and play the game through 10 times or more.

Another problem of ME1 is balancing. It has some really nasty difficulty spikes (especially on Therum) and more instadeath than I'd like. Once you get your N7 gear, it becomes pretty easy, which means the mid-to-end-game tends to be easier than the early-to-mid game.

That said, the more often I played through the trilogy, the more I liked ME1 combat and the less I liked ME2 combat.

- the elephant in the room for me is variety. ME1 mixes very close combat scenarios (freighter ships full of crates) mid-range scenarios, and very long range scenarios. Sometimes there's cover everywhere, sometimes there's no cover at all. This forces you to take different approaches and it gives different classes severe advantages and disadvantages in different situations. Playing vanguard is much more different from playing infiltrator than in the later games. Of course, add the Mako and you have even more variety.

This is the thing I hate most about ME2 combat: it is pretty much the same from start to finish. It's basically always the same corridors with convenient waist-high cover all over the place, 90% of it mid-range combat. That makes it more boring the more you play it, and it's the reason why I find ME2 combat actually the least enjoyable in the series. ME3 mixed corridors with arena-style levels, which is to me the main reason why ME3 combat is better than 2's.

Eden Prime is a good example. When approaching the railway station, I crouch towards the top of the hill, trying to check the area beneath and get a good shot without exposing myself too much. No such thing ever happens in the sequels.

- "organic" cover. ME2 and 3 have this digital snap-to-cover system. Once you're snapped to cover, you can move left and right and can't accidentally leave it. As long as you're snapped, enemies can't hit you. Too primitive for my liking. In ME1, I try to find good cover (there's also bad cover), and I try to find a good spot from where I can get a good shot but don't risk being hit too much. Moving too far makes it easy for enemies to hit the exposed part of you. That is more realistic and more engaging.

This is one thing I really love in Andromeda. It gets rid of the ubiquitous on/off-cover of 2 and 3, it basically goes back to ME1 but makes it much smoother. Absolutely nails it.

- also, overheating weapons instead of ammo clips. Makes it feel more sci-fi and is more fun imo.

- the instadeath issue I mentioned earlier also has an upside: more threatening enemies = adrenaline. ME likes to talk about how dangerous the Krogans are, but in ME2 there's little that separates them from other enemies. In ME1, when a Krogan charges at you, you're in trouble. They take a lot of damage, they can revive themselves, and if they manage to enter close combat, you're dead. As I said, much more adrenaline, and good grounds to show some damn respect. Similarly, husks and other zombies can be extremely dangerous in close-combat environments--in ME2, they're just cannon fodder.

The problem in ME1 is, if you just resort to shooting, it's not very rewarding--and playing on default difficulty, the game allows you to do that. That way, you may not learn how good the combat can be. More than in most other games, I find it rewarding to go for the hardcore difficulty because it forces you to make good use of powers and everything, a much more rewarding experience.

I'm not saying that they didn't improve gameplay in 2 & 3. They obviously did... my point is just that I don't think ME1's is some massive hindrance to the game (and that there are some cool things that got left out later, ie overheating/lore, ability to crouch, etc.) I just feel like people hold it against ME1 too much. Anyway,

For crouching, I don't mean when you're in cover... it's when you're out of cover and using things for soft cover (as DerekG put it). That's a fun thing to do imo. Another thing I forgot to mention about the crouching is that I like how it increases your stability and accuracy, so if you need to hit someone further away you can crouch and line up your shots for better accuracy. 

I didn't mention the mako for a couple reasons. 1. I'm not that far into this ME1 playthrough 2. The only comparison is ME2's hammerhead which was optional and MEA's Nomad, but this is about the trilogy. Though, to clarify I don't like any of them. I think their entire point is just to add pointless filler of fake "exploration" to the game and tons of driving through empty places to pad out play times. It's tedious and boring in all the games. So it's not really something I'd use to prop up any of the entries in the series. However, at least the Mako and Hammerhead have offensive capabilities.

As for weapons, I totally agree that variety is always better. I, however, haven't played ME2 in a loooong time so I can't remember exactly how it worked but, quite honestly, I like that only certain classes can use certain weapons EFFECTIVELY in ME1. It just makes sense to me that someone trained extensively to be a biotic god, wouldn't be as effective with snipers or someone trained in CQC weapons like shotguns wouldn't be as effective trying to hit someone at 300 yards with weapon sway and weather affecting the shot.

I also don't know about the tech powers being underwhelming in ME1. Kaidan's sabotage knocked a Krogan on his ass in Chora's Den last night. lol But to your point, why shouldn't Biotic powers be over the top? Makes the characters the powerhouses that would make sense for people to be afraid of. If it barely does anything without a combo like in the later games... why are people so skeptical (or in awe) of biotic users in the games?

All that said, I will be looking to compare more once I make it to ME2 & 3 in this playthrough. Thanks for the input! 

First of all, I think you've made quite a lot of good points.

In the case of overheating weapons, regardless of which you prefer, what ME2 does with it makes no sense at all in terms of lore. Let's assume they're better than ME1's overheating weapons or whatever. The game never explained how within two years the entire galaxy switched to ammo clips, and it never explained how the fuck all recharging weapons from two years ago suddenly disappeared in the entire galaxy.

Thankfully, I'm not one to be anal about consistency, I'll just take it as a game design decision, no matter which I prefer.


Very good point. Weapons aren't exactly satisfying in ME1. There are four weapon categories, the differences within are arbitrary numbers. Done. ME2+3 definitely did a better job at making different weapons. As much as I prefer overheating weapons over ammo clip ones, there is zero doubt that 2+3 made more interesting firearms.

On Therum you mean? I just discovered you could do that and tried it not long ago. I dont remember a differing cutscene though

Oh and hi Opus! Fancy meeting you here

Just another note on the vehicles... I don't mind if it's sections like on Feros or Noveria where you need it to get from point A to point B or there's no way to get there in time or due to weather. Throw in some enemies and you have a serviceable section that isn't empty and tedious.

AnDromedary maybe the biotics weren't so ridiculous for me as I rarely had them in my party unless I was a biotic. (Ash and Garrus is my go to squad lol) I do like the over the top version of them though. Maybe ME2 got that right with the different types of defenses and such?

PHRASING.

Don't know why people talk bad about the AI in ME1, it didn't improved too much - if at all - in the later episodes.

Miranda in ME2 and Liara in ME3 sure loved to be in front of bullets. And Collector Assassins. And Banshees. All the time.

One of the tunes THEY listened while making ME1

Shepard: "Ok squad, form a line, 5 meter spread."

...

"Guys, when I say "line", I mean line up next to me, not in front of me."

I agree that while it was not as bad as people say, it definitely isn't good compared to the sequels (although in some ways, ME1 actually had some betterideas, just executed quite badly.


They left out this one, which Jack Wall definitely must have listened to at one point, judging by Therum's soundtrack: