I greatly appreciate this review, wonderful writing!
Personally Mass Effect came out a bit late in my "gaming career". KOTOR was my first great RPG love and remains so, at least in my mind. I haven't actually played any games in about 8 years.
Consequently my initial reaction to Mass Effect was that it was an inferior if modernised variant on KOTOR, and though I enjoyed it I never formed any emotional attachment to its story or characters. I sadly never got around to MEII or III before I stopped (paused?) gaming altogheter.
Yes, in my experience the "first love" factor is usually even stronger with video games than with music. I got to KOTOR later than Mass Effect, and am still open to its own enchantments. On the other hand, like I wrote, it took me several tries to become addicted to ME, so sometimes it might just be a matter of "clicking" if it catches you in the right mood.
Fantastic review, but I think this bit came out wrong:
"The main thing that separates the atmosphere of an RPG from that of an adventure game – and, consequently, the main reason why I tend to usually prefer the former over the latter – is that the constitution of any given RPG, by its very nature, is more «technical». The typical RPG world is generated algorithmically out of a set of predetermined building blocks, and the larger it is, the more obvious, transparent, and, eventually, ridiculous and annoying those building blocks may feel to the player."
Surely you meant that you prefer the latter over the former?
I greatly appreciate this review, wonderful writing!
Personally Mass Effect came out a bit late in my "gaming career". KOTOR was my first great RPG love and remains so, at least in my mind. I haven't actually played any games in about 8 years.
Consequently my initial reaction to Mass Effect was that it was an inferior if modernised variant on KOTOR, and though I enjoyed it I never formed any emotional attachment to its story or characters. I sadly never got around to MEII or III before I stopped (paused?) gaming altogheter.
Yes, in my experience the "first love" factor is usually even stronger with video games than with music. I got to KOTOR later than Mass Effect, and am still open to its own enchantments. On the other hand, like I wrote, it took me several tries to become addicted to ME, so sometimes it might just be a matter of "clicking" if it catches you in the right mood.
Fantastic review, but I think this bit came out wrong:
"The main thing that separates the atmosphere of an RPG from that of an adventure game – and, consequently, the main reason why I tend to usually prefer the former over the latter – is that the constitution of any given RPG, by its very nature, is more «technical». The typical RPG world is generated algorithmically out of a set of predetermined building blocks, and the larger it is, the more obvious, transparent, and, eventually, ridiculous and annoying those building blocks may feel to the player."
Surely you meant that you prefer the latter over the former?
Yes, of course, thank you!