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Mass Effect 1 & 2. ME2 is somewhat superior as a game where ME1 is easily superior as serious hardcore Scifi story. (ME2 takes far too many "unscientific" liberties) Have to play both to get best, though this time ME1 isnt as tedious as ME1. Infact it used to be one of my fav Action/RPGs, and story and characters still are overall superior to ME2. But in any case, your character can be imported and choices you have made have an impact on ME2. Hell, it is even recommended as the "default" version of ME2 sucks balls depending on what kind of character you like to play as it has about every apparently-poor choice of ME1 prechosen.
I agree with most of that regarding the first game vs. the sequel. I love Mass Effect 2, but the original Mess Effect just appealed to me more overall. Here's why:
The first game just felt much more open and expansive. Landing on planets, driving around as I pleased.... these qualities gave the game a sense of exploration and vastness that the sequel lacks in my opinion. Everything about ME2 is constricted. The game is broken down into "levels" now with boundaries and a linear path. Along the same lines, everything in ME2 is finite. The resources are limited, the amount of money you are able to ever acquire is limited, the weapons and gear you come across are fewer and much less customizable. Plus now you have to worry about fuel, so even your space travel is finite. Personally, I loved never having to worry about that stuff in the first game.
All this is questionable from a story perspective. Take the dreaded "heat clips." Supposedly guns are MORE advanced now that they have this cooling system and wont overheat, but that's just silly. In essence they took a gun with infinite ammo and gave it a finite amount of ammo. Honestly, which technology sounds more advanced: having clips that cool a gun off and allow it to fire, or having a never-ending supply of ammunition with the caveat being you have to limit the rate of fire? The heat clips would have made much more sense from a story-line perspective if they were
optional. I can see why Bioware chose the ammo restriction given the increased emphasis on combat however.
That's the trade-off. ME2 is able to achieve a level of detail far greater than the original game's regarding weapons, armor, environments and missions. In the first game, all the side-missions felt a bit "cookie-cutter" owing to the same handful of level designs that kept repeating ad nauseam. That was a small price for me to pay however given the sheer vastness of the universe the original Mass Effect was able to achieve. Still, I enjoyed ME2 thoroughly and appreciate the different emphasis in gameplay even if I prefer the original.
Also, since this is head-fi, I feel obligated to mention I felt the original Mass Effect's soundtrack was much more enjoyable than the sequel's. The electronic-based compositions just felt way more space-agey than more traditional symphonic music.
