I really wasn't expecting this game to appeal to me so much. I am not really a sci-fi guy but I did like this game's atmosphere and environment a lot. It kinda feels like playing a video game version of The Fifth Element, given, It's probably inspired by it. The world is vastly more detailed and interesting than other immersive sim-esque games I have played in the past. The shooting is nothing crazy, it is pretty standard, but it is not the highlight of the game. The highlight is the story, or rather how interactive it is. I don't mind that every choice I make is not important, what matters is making you feel like your in the game talking with these characters which I think Mass Effect does a great job at.

Some complaints I do have is that the driving segments suck. Like they are just bad, it's mostly monotonous driving down straight paths, sometimes there's some enemies but they never pose a threat which is probably for the better. The car doesn't control the best either, any small slope flips you all over. I wish there was also more options for good or bad choices in dialogue. I almost had to kill one of my teammates, Wrex, cause my intimidate wasn't high enough until I reloaded. The skill tree is pretty bare bones and the little powers you get aren't that useful besides the damage up ones.

The game was a little short but sweet, I hope 2, which people say is better, is just an improved formula of what we have here. For how old this game is, I wasn't expecting it to actually hold up. I really enjoy this structure it has, and hope the 2nd will be better.

I really wasn't expecting this game to appeal to me so much. I am not really a sci-fi guy but I did like this game's atmosphere and environment a lot. It kinda feels like playing a video game version of The Fifth Element, given, It's probably inspired by it. The world is vastly more detailed and interesting than other immersive sim-esque games I have played in the past. The shooting is nothing crazy, it is pretty standard, but it is not the highlight of the game. The highlight is the story, or rather how interactive it is. I don't mind that every choice I make is not important, what matters is making you feel like your in the game talking with these characters which I think Mass Effect does a great job at.

Some complaints I do have is that the driving segments suck. Like they are just bad, it's mostly monotonous driving down straight paths, sometimes there's some enemies but they never pose a threat which is probably for the better. The car doesn't control the best either, any small slope flips you all over. I wish there was also more options for good or bad choices in dialogue. I almost had to kill one of my teammates, Wrex, cause my intimidate wasn't high enough until I reloaded. The skill tree is pretty bare bones and the little powers you get aren't that useful besides the damage up ones.

The game was a little short but sweet, I hope 2, which people say is better, is just an improved formula of what we have here. For how old this game is, I wasn't expecting it to actually hold up. I really enjoy this structure it has, and hope the 2nd will be better.

It's like the most mid action rpg ever. I think they spent most the budget on the main character models because everything else looks like ass. I wouldn't be bothered by this, and I typically don't talk about graphics because it doesn't matter most of the time but DAMN. They will do these panning shots on the background, and they look like a ps1 game, not even ps2, and I have everything on normal graphic setting with prioritize image quality. My biggest issue however is that the game is really blurry, like so blurry that it affects gameplay. Apparently, it's the depth of field but I don't know that it is, it makes this game so ugly to look at. This game already has a huge problem identifying key visuals during combat because it's a party-based action rpg. I couldn't figure out how to eliminate this issue without using mods but I did minimize it.

Combat is uhm... it's not the worst thing ever. There's a large lack of feedback and visual clarity I mentioned earlier, and enemies don't react to attacks that well enough to understand if you have staggered them. You are limited with ap points to attack, which sucks because it just makes it so you can't play aggressive, you have to eventually just stand still in combat to be able to attack again. It's not that long but its long enough to ruin key moments in combat. Blindside feels really janky, whenever I wanted to do it, I never got it and whenever I didn't, I got it all the time. A lot of this game is just walking back and forth from places you've been in, some of the cities are nice but they are filled with nothing.

The story is a nothing burger with nothing remotely interesting in it. if you do play the game, just skip the cutscenes.

I could keep drilling into this game, but I think the problem is that the budget just isn't there for this franchise to tackle 3D and that's probably why the 2 remake is the highest rated one of this franchise.

I just don't think I like this whole franchise.

Maybe its my fault too.

I first played this series in hopes of finding a action rpg game that I would like similar to KH2, but not a souls-like and/or made by square enix. I enjoy the campy, overly anime story and characters, thats part of what I like. The gameplay is where these games falter for me. The tales of games, even arise, always feel clunky, slow, and limiting. Your moveset is not that interesting and the enemies you fight are neither unique, nor engaging. Maybe it's my fault for expecting a franchise to have one game comparable to a ps2 game. I won't claim that KH2 is the peak of combat in action rpgs, far from it, but I just wanted something similar to that. I saw someone in these reviews describe this combat as fast and fluid, and I wonder what video game they played?

I think a major issue with this franchise is that every game has it's own issues. Like Vesperia has insane difficulty spikes (according to others), Berseria's soul system is not fleshed out, Zestria is... Zestria, Abyss is stagnant, slow and presents nothing of value to the audience, and Innocence that I played for some reason has an awful story. I'll probably play xillia and if I don't like that, I might be done with this franchise.