User blog comment:Mike Gilbert/Which RPGs are lower, equal, or better than Mass Effect?/@comment-24200891-20140629182412

Most of RPGs I played were made by Bioware, I also played both Witcher games and Deus Ex Human Revolution, so I'll compare ME to those games.

Story- Main Story of ME1 was quite short but interesting with interesting plot twists, ME2 had more themes than ME1 and it was longer, but episodic and had more plot twists and tone was darker. In ME1 we had to stop on invasion of geth on Feros, find out what terrible experiment went out of control, cripple a rogue soldier and stop his big boss. In ME2 we had to recruit certain characters, but all we went was a chaos, sometimes it just happened like on Krolus, missions were shorter and more episodic than in ME, some of them were interesting, but stories of each mission were shorter and simpler. In ME3 a politician, which I disliked and there plot was rushed and quite predictible, more missions were and again they were episodic, but had much simpler stories than ME2. However I find story of Deus Ex Human Revolution as more complex and more interestingly constructed, also philosophies in DXHR were more mature and more realistic than in ME series. I like Witcher game series and I find story of the first game as more complex and with bigger variety of themes than Mass Effect. In the Polish game we had many conspiracies, a big and complex criminal investigation, many criminal activities and a war. In Witcher 2 we had far more complex consipracies and the most interesting in them was that some of them were connected to each other, the story was very unpredicitble. KOTOR was more mysterious than ME1 and ME2 and more complex situations - corrupt tribe chief, a nation that could be our allies or enemies and playing an enemy, however in those stories we had same goal, to find clues, which could help use defeat enemies, when in ME1 we had missions to find our enemy and terminate him, but we also had to save those planets. Dragon Age: Origins had interesting stories, but solving most of them was simple, it was combat, however mysteries behind missions were quite intriguing and there we had some interesting conspiracies but not as interesting as in Witcher series. DA2 had a poor, boring and predictible story, problems of our companions were more interesting than the main story, the best stories were in DLCs. Summarizng that section, I find Witcher series and Deus Ex as games with more complex and more interesting stories than whole Mass Effect.

Combat - this is a matter of taste, melee or ranged combat, there Mass Effect is more convienient than Deus Ex Human Revolution as shooter, in KOTOR we had marksmen, but shooting in ME is more realistic and more convienient. Sometimes I prefer to fight melee and that's where Witcher 2 is the best, melee combat is like in an action game. Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Witcher 2 and Mass Effect had more realistic fighting because not as poor as in RPGs, but as rich as in Action and shooting games. Mass Effect wins with Deus Ex because targeting and shooting is more convienient. However in both KOTOR and Dragon Age series we could switch playable characters and control them directly, ME didn't give us such luxury and using some power directly would be more convienient like decoy proximity mine or biotic protector. The 1st and the 2nd power could be learnt by our PC, but companions using them are still useful even if hard. So I find ME series as the best in combat. I guess if we had more melee oriented companionsm we could switch between them.

Characters - ME had the biggest variety of companions as DA, some of them could be romanced. I find ME characters as more interesting to listen than DA characters, in the latter many characters had extreme views hard to agree with, especially in DA2. Witcher series doesn't have companions, but has supporting characters, but quite few, what's a disadvantage of the series, but they have adavntage in quality, they are interesting to listen even if their philosophies aren't as deep as ones of ME characters. In W2 the major characters are more complex than in W1, in both games we have a troublemaker womanizer very oriented in politics, a darven mercenary watching all from distance and a witch we can't figure out, we can't be sure if she's a peaceful politician or a power hungry conspirator, when in W1 we have a kind hearted nurse, a stubborn revolutionist and a knight seeing world black and white and needing to mature, when in W2 we have a another revolutionist but more open-minded and watching the world more realistic than his brother in arms in the previous game and a patriot using brutal methods, but very cunning and charismatic enough to plot and ruin plots of others, his emotions are very realistic and like in human nature. In ME series the most interesting complex characters are our assassin full of compassion, a cop turned vigilante with sense of humor and desire to take bad guys down more effectively, a synthetic trying to understand organics, a member of a brute race desiring to change fate of his race, a pshyco that matures in time and confused with own nature and a soldier from different times trying to understand a bit the new times. So ME series has the best characters.

Romances - in DA, ME and W were romances, but to me romance isn't just sleeping with beloved, it's mainly talking to the beloved, trying to understand beloved and sometimes trying to change views of beloved, I also like when someone cares for me because I am nice. In DAo and Witcher 2 we had sexy cutscenes, but as I said to me romance is understanding my love interest. In that case it's DA series because we can try to understand our beloved and influence on their POVs.

Morality - in ME it seemed complex before we saw consequences ME3, but my hardest choice in ME was Ashley or Kaidan, rest of choices were quite easy. DA series is the most moraly ambiogus, but DAO and DAA had impacts, when in DA2 no matter what you do is always the same. Witcher series had some moraly ambigous chocies, but not as hard as in DA. However DAO had the hardest and the most interesting choices - incompetent honorable king or a backstabbing competent king, allying or antagonising with a power hungry but competent queen, risking death or pact with a devil, saving a city or own fortress In DEHR only hard choice to me was the ending. In Witcher 2 were more realistic, but also complex choices and the most interesting in the story was that not everyone gets what deserves, the hardest was always a question "Who should I trust". For now I think Dragon Age Origins had better moral ambiguity than ME series.

Summary - Witcher has the best story, Mass Effect has the best combat and the best characters, Dragon Age has the best morality guide and romance.