Hey Duders,

Here is the latest Deep Look! Deep Looks are largely gameplay and commentary like a Giantbomb quicklook; however, I try to cover games that have been out for a while and I intend to use the videos to highlight moments and mechanics that I found particularly worthy of highlighting and exploring. Also I aim to keep the videos under 20 minutes.

In this Deep Look I show off the fun and unique combat of Mass Effect and highlight the many ways it excels. I go over ME's loot system, its upgrade system, and its crazy moment to moment combat. Come see why I believe ME1 actually has the most fun and replayable combat in the entire series.

The projectile speed alone already makes the ME1 combat better than anything the sequels tried to do.

Didn't read or watch, just came to say that the Mass Effect trilogy are the best games ever.

Mass Effect 1: Straight Dumpin'

I loved having no ammo, but having to control my shots to prevent overheating and having all my powers with each having it's own cooldown vs triggering an ability then having a universal cooldown.

I wonder what trigger Bioware to drastically change the combat (and rpg aspects in general) from ME 1 to 2.

If ME 1 have the frame rate stability and cover system of it's sequels it would absolutely be my favorite in the series.

The best part about the original Mass Effect, was because of the Sniper Rifle.

You could literally overload it with ridiculous power, causing 1 shot to deal absurd amounts of damage. As long as you could deal with HUGE over-heating. Almost game-breaking tbh.

I pretty much became a shotgun tank. Its probably my favourite of the series because it was an RPG first and shooter second. They could've handled some of the complaints from 1 to 2 better, particularly the inventory stuff. Tidying that end of it up by giving you fewer options is not the way to go.

Mass Effect 2 is a really good game, maybe around top 30 all time. The others are fine, though ME3 multiplayer can be a lot of fun, though it is admittedly not very skill based relative to similar horde modes; but maybe that's part of the appeal. You have this one character that essentially becomes invincible after 2 consecutive melee kills for instance.

@giynny: It was even more fun if you gave the sniper rife concussive ammo. It turned the sniper into a full biotic push as well as a huge damage hose. I blasted so many dudes off of cliffs with that thing.

@oscar__explosion: I think they changed the games up to chase the supposedly larger shooter audience, rather than the RPG audience they already had. You could see the shift in some of the marketing and in the inclusion of a shooter mode on the new game menu. As a result, they ended up with a shooter that had some strange special abilities rather than an RPG with good action combat.

@thatpinguino: it's unfortunate that they felt the need to tap into a larger potential market rather than continuing to cater to the one they already had. That's how industries work I guess. Makes me wonder would the next two games would have looked like had they not changed up the gameplay so much.

I also don't understand why people liked Mass Effect 2 either. The story was total B.S. Completely filler. Nothing to do with the actual plot of the story arc. It didn;t go anywhere either.

If the lead writer of Mass Effect 1 had continued. We would have seen one of the greatest trilogies of all time. That original Mass Effect, built up such a "mystique". Was unbelievable. They should have carried on that epicness and exploration.

We would have had more of this below.....

(note the me3 title has nothing to do with anything)

@giynny: The characters were really strong and the game's main story basically didn't matter. It had the highest number of squad members and also some of the best squad members in the series. So the talkin to dudes part of ME2 was basically the best in the entire series and for a lot of people that is the best part of each game. I would say that the main story arch of each of the ME games were not particularly great, so ME2's main story being bad was not a huge deal.

I wish that every Mass Effect thread these days didn't devolve into "ME1 was better than ME2, no ME2 was better than ME1."

Last time I played ME1 was for the insanity achievement. It consisted mostly of me holding down the trigger firing dozens or rounds from my pistol into enemies and never being in danger of dying. I wouldn't really call that fun combat.

And no one argues for ME3...

None of the ME games are fun on insane, it is the least enjoyable way to play those games since it exposes all of the flaws in the combat with none of the fun god mode benefits. Also were you playing as a soldier? I have found soldiers to be the least fun classes in the ME games because it focuses on the shooting, which isn't great.

No enemies launched into the atmosphere with biotics. 0/10.

Nah, but seriously, ME1 is great.

My ~400 hours of ME3 multiplayer argues that you're wrong about ME1 being better, though. Having less powers simplifies the game and makes it more fun in my opinion. I found the constant pausing of the game to pick out which power to use to be tiresome at times in ME1. You can play ME2 and 3 mostly in real-time.

@jimipeppr: I go the other way. i like the pausing because it lets me feel like I'm in control of what is happening in combat. But I prefer RPGs to shooters so that is to be expected. I also prefer having as many useful options as possible even if they slow down the pace a little. I've never played the multiplayer in ME3 because the item lottery seemed really messed up.

I remember watching this shortly after beating ME3. If only this had been the real ending...

Your video raises some interesting points. The combat of Mass Effect 1 is sort of symbolic of everything that game did differently than its successors, in that it's sort of a clunky but earnest Action-RPG hybrid rather than a straight shooter with powers. "Clunky but earnest" is how I'd describe a lot of Mass Effect 1, actually, but I'd really rather not turn this into yet another ME1 v ME2 debate thread.

I'll give it this: It's better than Jade Empire's combat, which tries and fails miserably at having good action or meaningful RPG elements. Just spam Storm Dragon (which stun-locks your opponents for a ludicrous amount of time, including the final boss), switch to your weapon or main form and then press X a bunch of times.

It would have bothered me too if playing it wasn't so fun. You can play as different races! Krogan headbutts! Volus biotic gods! Drell trench coats! I rest my case.

@jimipeppr: Krogan headbutts do sound pretty good... But how many hours and or dollars did it take before you were able to play as your ideal character build?

@arbitrarywater: I've never played Jade Empire so I don't really know how that game played. However I do think that the rise of RPG/shooter hybrids shows that the ME1 mechanical mix was actually more potent than the "Gears except instead of grenades you shoot fire" approach the later games took. Though, oddly enough, ME3 probably does the best job of bridging ME1's crazy freedom and superpowers and ME2's chest-high wall shooting. Even still, ME3 probably could have afforded to go even further towards ME1's style of gameplay on some fronts (like loot for example).

@thatpinguino: The "lottery" stuff gives you new/better equipment and characters and basically enables you to play at higher difficulties. I get how that could sound ftp sleazy, but once you get to a certain point, you're unlocking/upgrading stuff every 1-2 games. It does have consumables, but I actually like them in this case. You can build pretty powerful a character around setting up tech bursts with disruptor ammo, but you can't do that every game or you'll run out of disruptor ammo (theoretically).

I spent some money out of appreciation for the updates and expansions they were doing, but it's not worth doing regularly.

Yep. Agree 100%

Riddle me this Mass Effect, how did you get so FUNKY?

I just wanted to say that I fucking loved the combat in ME1. As a full Adept, you were a biotic god. Just flinging enemies around like nothin', forever shielded with an infinite barrier.

Also with a Heat Sink X or two and the best Spectre pistol, you could shoot forever.

ME1 did have the best combat in the series. It felt like they were really trying something new. I wish 2 and 3 would have gone even more RPGey instead of with the more traditional third person shooter gameplay. Not that they weren't also some great games.

@theblue: Dance lessons?

@capum15: Yep ME1 could play like The Force Unleashed if you played as an adept. That is why I used my adept for my video. It is by far the most fun class and it was the class that was hurt the most in the transition from ME1 to 2/3.

@jimipeppr: Yeah I was mostly turned off by the prospect of grinding my way through an OK horde mode for hours to get the character I actually want so I could then keep playing the same horde mode. I haven't really played a competitive online multiplayer shooter since Gears 2 so I'm really not the person the ME3 multiplayer was made for.

@thatpinguino: Jade Empire is okay, the main problem is like other Bioware games it has almost the exact same plot as KoTOR. I actually enjoyed the combat, sure it wasn't difficult but it was interesting; if the game was twice as long I'm sure it could have been much more complex.

I really felt like Mass Effect 1 was my favorite of them all. I still maintain that the series is my favorite of all time, and ME1 is my 2nd favorite game of all time (right behind Ocarina of Time). ME2 just felt too...streamlined. The powers, ammo, and combat all felt like it was too "easy" to use. I'm not arguing that ME1 was skill based, but it certainly felt more raw. In other words, ME1 was chaotic in a fun way to me. I still wish they hadn't added ammo-based weapons. And on the topic of weapons, there was a lot more management involved with ME1 that ME2 just didn't have.

I still love love love Mass Effect 1. Not only because of the cool combat system and story/world building, but also because it has the best music of the trilogy as well as Sovereign actually sounding intimidatingly alien instead of that whiny Harbinger dude.

Good job on the video. I always enjoy when reviews are taken in a frank position of like or dislike. It's quite clear that you like Mass Effect and why you cherish it.

The combat system in Mass Effect is still very unique, but truth be told, it always felt strange because it was in the middle-area in the spectrum of RPG and Shooter. All of the visual action seems contrary to how ordinary firefights look and operate, making almost all of the scenarios appear stilted. Of course, this was also a blemish in the KOTOR games. It took me quite a long time to figure the minute differences between certain powers due to the bio-charged azurite frenzy of the team's powers. However, I do too wish there were more elements from the original used in the sequels, even though I enjoyed the proceeding games more. But, to your point, the general rhythm of Mass Effect 2 and 3 are very ordinary when compared to the invention of Mass Effect.

And gosh, the infinite ammo feature will always be a rush of sensational power.

@thatpinguino: great video. I agree with most of it too. The combat system in 2 and 3 was a let down for me. It felt like a big step backwards when they turned it into a mediocre cover shooter.

That Benezia battle on insanity though. That whole chapter of ME1 was amazing. hahahah such good times.

@tourgen: Thanks! That Benezia fight was such a freaking monster the first time through. I was so unprepared for biotics that it just kicked my ass.

@poortommy: Thanks! I really enjoyed that all of the powers in ME1 worked in some capacity in almost every situation. Tech powers always did damage and biotics always knocked stuff around, even if the enemy had shields. There are so many situations in the later game where biotics just had little to no effect because you had to crack sheilds. Also it was very cool that different enemy types were vulnerable to different skills, rather than the shield system that ME2 and 3 used. Like enemies with guns were vulnerable to sabotage and biotics were vulnerable to dampening. In ME2 and 3 the vulnerabilities were really only dictated by the color of the enemy shield bar rather than by their identity (save for AI hacking).

@fredchuckdave: I've never seen that graphic before, but putting all of the Bioware stories right next to each other like that really highlights how hard they lean into the Hero's Journey as a narrative guideline.

I think I was playing Infiltrator, that's where the bulk of my time has been spent in ME, but I might have been a adapt with a sniper rifle specialization.

I can't stand the ME 1 combat. Everything feels like it takes an absurd amount of time and the weapons seem to be made by people who don't know what the purpose of a gun is. Eventually I'm able to ignore it but boy am I glad they figured it out for ME 2.

@defaultprophet: That was my first class as well. I gravitated towards sniper rifles though. I played ME2 on insanity and it was just the worst experience I have ever had with an ME game since all of the fun of the powers just got sucked away. Doubling all enemy damage and health values definitely makes the game harder, but it also makes the combat overstay its welcome.

@thatpinguino: Really? Weird, I love me2 on insanity with infiltrator. Except for that part on the Ash/Kaiden planet

@defaultprophet: I had a miserable time in the collector base on those stupid flying platforms with my sniper-focused Shepard. It was almost impossible to get shots off accurately as platforms came into view and I ran out of ammo at one point. It was about an hour of getting knocked around by biotics and whittling down armor and barriers. I had to switch my team to Miranda and Thane just because warp was the only effective power against all of the damn armor and barriers. I really hated having to build my party around the color of my enemy's armor type and ME2 on insanity was the absolute peak of that for me.