Mass Effect (2007)

That's a wrap for Mass Effect 1. What a game. It had been a while since my last playthrough so I was a bit worried of how it might hold up. It holds up perfectly well. Although the gameplay is still dodgy in some parts and the inventory system is as awful as ever. But the story, the universe and the characters are timeless. That dialogue with Sovereign is still iconic, and probably the highlight of the game. I just love how dispassionate he sounds. He feels like a god talking to ants, but also like a relentless force of nature with no will of its own.

The Legendary Edition has some neat graphical upgrades and I think they must've changed quite a bit of textures and models to the first game to make it more consistent with the other games. For example, I don't remember the original having Kodiaks parked around, or the circular holo in the doors.

However, it's also technically a mess. Every single gaming session included at least one crash to desktop, including a weird freeze during the final Saren fight, which had me force-closing the game with the task manager. I had some audio glitches, enemies teleporting out of cover and back and missions triggers that would not advance unless I reloaded a save. I don't understand how a remaster was released in such a sorry state. I will probably play the original version for my next playthrough in a couple of years.

Now on to Mass Effect 2!

The AI in the legendary edition really is fucked up. I've just want through Feros and the Thorian Creepers would just run in circles in front of us. I don't recall enemies being this dumb in the original version. My allies also don't fare much better. I see them shooting at enemies behind cover as if they could see the enemy but not the walls. I'm also getting this weird problem that the triggers sometimes stop reacting for a few seconds after I activate a power.

Besides the graphical update, this remaster is very disappointing. That said, the game is still great. I love how low-key creepy the colonists feel when you first talk to them and how the mystery opens up slowly.

Boy, Mass Effect still holds up. At the same time, it shows it's age. The start is sooo slow. You walk around the ship, have a short tutorial mission and then spend three hours walking around the citadel talking to diplomats. It's really remarkable how little actual combat you get into. But I love that. It makes the world feel much more real and alive, and every conversation drips with worldbuilding.

In retrospect, the dialogue is not the greatest. The conversation tree make for awkward and disjointed exchanges. A lot of "Tell me about X", "What can you tell me about Y?" that is the elcor doing Hamlet of talking. But it's still functional enough and the writing is still good.

Also, Tali is still the best.

I mull over the idea of returning to the series.

Its been 14 years since I closed the steelbook collectors edition of ME3. The trio still on my shelf. Tomes of a time and place, now sitting farther back in time than memory.

I'm afraid to return. What if I see things anew and ruin the journey I cherished? What if I recall more clearly, the writhing anxiety I desperately escaped from? The gameplay and corridors like a forgotten smell.

Mass Effect is one of those games that has become a classic in terms of quality (and reminds us of the time when EA used to publish decent games). I focused on playing the main story, mainly because I'm not as young anymore and work and family responsibilities don't allow me the time to chase after side missions (I only did the one on Luna to unlock the advanced class).

Well, the plot is simple, but it's captivating. It's not a game with a complex narrative; it involves the standard elements of science fiction stories, that is, various races, political dynamics, corruption, and distrust in the face of alarming issues.

Just as they had to invent climate crises as an enemy to unite (and deceive) humanity (they tried aliens, but it didn't work so well), the game also creates an enemy to unite the alien races. With this plot, there are political manipulations by a "united races" summit (while they are incredulous about a real threat, in the real world, our summit is the one inventing enemies to manipulate the globe, haha).

The graphics of this game are beautiful! It's a 2007 game, but it has aged well. I couldn't run it in Full HD, but it was comfortable at the highest possible resolution. I just felt that the grain filter (imitating a cinematic filter), although great, might have accentuated the lighting problem, as the game tends to be quite dark.

Maybe the darker environment is intentional. I remember the artists from the first Jurassic Park used this method to camouflage the graphical issues of the time, and to this day, I am amazed by the quality of the film (to the point where those who try to replicate it end up with a horrible result compared to the original from 1996).

The voice acting is very good, and the possibility of making choices is fantastic. I was astonished when I found out that the saves could be used in subsequent games (as I write this review, I'm already downloading the second game).

It's good to see a group of heroes composed of both men and women, but having in Shepard the figure of a masculine, confident man, capable of leading and feeling empathy for his subordinates. Nowadays, in times when female protagonism and the portrayal of men as fools proliferate in the media (increasingly invaded by progressive thoughts), playing a simple game in search of basic fun is great, without having to deal with political-ideological agendas.

Games today are getting worse, not only because of progressivism — it would be reductive of me to say that — but there's a nostalgia in playing good games from a time when the world seemed less tedious than it has become today. :)

It's great that Game Pass brings these gems to be enjoyed. ^^