alt Hacker NewsPersonally I think Mass Effect Andromeda has the best gameplay of the series but everything else ranges from just okay to bad
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In terms of pure gameplay and mechanics, the first Mass Effect is incredibly rough, it's really hard to go back to.
That it was such a success and led to an incredibly successful franchise despite that, shows the power of its writing and strong characters and world-building.
A similar thing goes for another legendary series: Assassin's Creed. The first game is borderline unplayable, but it was still enough of a success to spawn AC2 which was a masterpiece of storytelling, although the fundamental mechanics weren't really smooth yet even at that point, and improvements were made all the way through brotherhood to AC3 and then black flag.
Over time, the story-telling and characters weakened, although there were some gems along the way such as odyssey.
Unfortunately "gameplay" wasn't why the franchise was popular or bought by their fans.
And I really enjoyed Veilguard, I think the combat systems were just great and I loved taking on all the optional challenges towards the end. Some of the side character interactions were very good too - Lace and Emrich especially. But it doesn't change the fact that overal the game wasn't that good.
Agreed. I really liked how the new progression system didn't force you into choosing a particular path.
Sadly, though, the story left a lot wanting. It felt like multiple writers had inserted their own incomplete story lines, so by the end of the game, you're left with unresolved plot threads regarding the Remnant, the Scourge, and the Kett, among other things. The only somewhat resolved plot thread is colonization via ending up inside the Remnant dyson sphere, but that basically renders all the effort you just spent terraforming planets throughout the game moot.
At least with the original trilogy, you're defeating Sovereign in the first game and the collectors in the second game, giving you some form of resolution, even if it was always clear the trilogy was going to lead to a full reaper invasion in the third game. And across all of them, your singular focus was on the reapers and not spread across multiple threats.