This game was a hot mess, but I beat it 11 times even before the remaster, so that should tell you how enamored I was with its sci-fi world and charming characters back in the late 00's.

I was already a die-hard BioWare fan, with Neverwinter Nights being one of my first games period, Knights of the Old Republic blew my elementary schooler mind, and Jade Empire was fascinating. (Eventually I got to Baldur's Gate as well, but I was terrible at it) So really, it was inevitable that I'd blow past all the janky TPS gameplay to get to the stuff I was really looking forward to from a BioWare title: the dialogue and RPG bits.

I was not disappointed. The game was pack full of interesting details and fun drama. Even 13 years later and after writing and publishing a novel, I'm still incredibly impressed by how well BioWare set up their world. I'm definitely more critical of the writing than I was before, though, but I still appreciate a lot of that.

It used to be with the community that new players were ushered right to ME2 once that came out, I always took issue with that because ME1 is really where the foundation of the story is laid. Thankfully, now the remaster exists and it's smoothed over enough of the rough edges that I don't think any self-respecting sci-fi can weasel their way out of it.

Play Mass Effect. It's not long (for an RPG).