Well unfortunately I cannot change that I haven't played the rest of the series, so would it please you if I limited the talk to just MGS1 for a more fair comparison?
Anti-Bioware? KotOR 2 is probably my 5th favorite game story of all time bro (after MGS1-4).
Mass effect is my least favorite Bioware game I have played, but it has nothing to do with Bioware, and everything to do with the game. And its not like I hate the game, I just find the claim that it even approaches the greatness of MGS crazy.
MGS is a real work of art, one that Hideo Kojima poured his heart and soul into in making, a ground breaking story about nuclear weapons and genes, liberty and control, loyalty and the times.
Mass Effect is basically just your standard action sci-fi epic, it is not expertly crafted like MGS, it does not have the same unique vision or a real artistic theme to it, no heart whatsoever.
Nope, I'm just the only one here who puts things properly into perspective. People seem to have either forgotten how great MGS is, not ever realised it or are just in plain denial. I could write essays on its greatness.
Fact of the matter is that it completely revolutioned videogames. It was the first ever 3D stealth game, and played completely unlike any game had ever done up until that point in time, whether you were hiding in lockers or crawling through narrow spaces, creating distractions by throwing an empty magazine on the floor, knocking onto a hard surface with your fists, exploiting the blindspots of surveillance cameras etc, all of these things were highly innovative at the time (with absolutely expert level design linking everything together). Of course, there was so much personality and so many quirks, from the nudie magazines to the cardboard box which needs absolutely no further explanation I hope, with really unique boss battles such as Ocelot deflecting bullets across the walls or Gray Fox's stealth camo battle... and arguably the greatest single moment in videogame history, the Psychomantis Battle, a moment that completely redefined what it meant to break the 4th wall, and how to use both story and hardware to communicate to the player.
What's more, it was the first game to ever have such a cinematic approach, with real movie like production values, whether it was the world class voice acting, memorable soundtrack, groundbreaking graphics.
The story was absolutely incredible, the concept of Metal Gear was completely unique and explored a hypothetical of nuclear deterrence theory that hadn't been explored in any form of science or war fiction anywhere, and was filled to the brim was so much heart, such personality, romance, and tragedy, mystery and intruige, even the side villains were so compelling they felt like star characters, with Snake arguably the best character by far ever in videogaming. And what's more the game did such a good job of evoking the feeling that you were a secret agent, whether it was the extensive briefing files at the main menu of the game, or the codec system of calling your field members.
As I said, you'd have to be crazy to think Mass Effect deserves to even be in the same planet as MGS. You might think that statements like "gameplay is just as good, only different" cut it but they absoltuely do not and are kind of disrespectful to the greatness of the MGS series, not to mention so bizarelly inaccuarte. And saying that the story is just as good as eually laughable. MGS conceived of a completely original weapons threat, built a scenario around that, and filled it with interesting and unique characters, and beyond that just injected so much style and well placed humour, and in the process experimented around with how videogames could be used mess with the heads of gamers. Mass Effect was your typical "long forgotten or mysterious alien menace, imprending invasion/disaster, rogue agent used as tool by these people, mysterious artifact imparts mysterious powers/knowledge onto protagonist, up to him to stop the threat" story, the story was filled with a bunch of filler, it had no real style or anything, it was simply just unimaginably inferior to MGS, no two ways about it.
Also what's so impressive about the MGS main series was that they made each installment its own fresh installment, not feeling even slightly formulaic, switching things up with the gameplay and storyline drastically, and innovative in both gameplay and storyline each time, and striving for the impossible, which was living up to that psycho mantis battle, and coming damn close numerous times.
__________________ MMA Predictions: 3-5 (37.5%)
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Last edited by TheOneOfMortis on Dec 15th, 2012 at 11:58 AM
The problem isn't with me going overboard, it's with you going udnerboard and people like Tzeenth trolling.
Fact of the matter is that I have been speaking in truths, and if what I'm saying sounds pretty extreme it's a testament to how extreme the reality of the situation really is, and that is how great the MGS franchise really is, and if you truly knew that, you wouldn't be comparing Mass Effect favourably to it.
You have a game that basically invented a genre, can claim to possess arguably the most iconic and groundbreaking moment in videogame history, pioneered cinematuic storytelling in videogames, vs any other Bioware RPG mixed in with a cheap imitation of Gears of War shooting gameplay.
A game with such a varied campaign, that every boss battle, ever cutscene, every area, are all like a single act that collectively come together to form this great and vast opera vs arrive on planet, do siede uests, solve planets problems, go to different planet.
Unique scenario that raised hyopthetical questions regarding nuclear deterrence theory vs mysterious alien impending doom storyline.
Me not revering MGS as the greatest game ever made isn't going underboard in the slightest. You just really love the game, we get it.
The Mass Effect Series (and yes, I said series) is to me, comparable to the MGS Series. You don't have to like it, nor can you say it's factually incorrect, because it's not.
Only hold two weapons, grenades without needing to switch weapons, recharging health, a new control scheme that almost all current FPSs are based on, customizable multiplayer, etc...
No. A question such as which is better is purely subjective.
In what magical world does ME somehow catch up to the fact that it hasn't really done anything innovative vs the father of videogame innovation? You think Mass Effect does such an amazing job with what it is that it makes up for being so cliched and derivative?
This is the fanboy in you talking friend.
Let's compare similar scenes from the two games maybe:
Where MGS has such heart and warmth, such thematic resolution, and the enigmatic conversation at the end, ME is basicallly... the definition of a boring, cliched, uninspired ending to a sci fi action epic... like, it's literally the definition of cliched and formulaic.
Come on... this is so cliched and lame! Also, you really start to see the different between a scripted, directed scene, with the weird flow and pacing of the conversation system - dramatically it loses a lot of impact. And the change in Saren comes across as really forced and sudden, and just in general lame.
Liquid is infinitely more charismatic and interesting, he actually has real presence. And his motives are certainly far more unique and interesting, as is the plot of the game.
I can find other comaprisons if you want, but there is a clear master and ameteur at play here.
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Dec 15th, 2012 10:51 AM
