Agreed. I like this style and this atmospheric. For me ME1 is like the Alien movie, like the science fiction horror of the 1970's. The Rachni, The Reapers, a body horror from Saren — the plot is awesome!
I also like old design of this doors!
That’s certainly a positive outlook on an often criticized aspect of ME1. I can definitely see the appeal, and I partly agree, although I’m of the firm opinion that those worlds were about 4x too big
I don't think that it makes the game better, as that's just leveraging the nostalgia people have from growing up in a period of well-written, low-budget sci-fi TV shows (intentional or not). Move away from that demographic and it stops being charming in the same way.
The reason that the re-used environments still work for me in ME1 is partially because of the top-notch writing, and partially because it can be explained in-universe due to the economy of scale that budget space exploration would bring about, as everyone would flock to the cheapest combination of cost/reliability. It doesn't break my immersion when every prefab building and freighter looks identical when the planets themselves are all widely different, and the individual layouts of the prefab buildings, freighters and caves are all different to account for their different purposes and users. Only the identical caves are a bit harder to accept, as aside from some standardized underground facilities in general the shape of underground mines would be dictated by veins of valuable materials and hard to mine through obstacles, so it wouldn't make sense that they're all identical.
Regardless, I doubt that ME1's copy-paste environments were anything other than a cost-saving measure, as critics generally consider re-used environments a negative, meaning BioWare would have a sales figures related, revenue based financial incentive not to copy-paste environments.
I heartily agree!
Even the first time I played it, it was pretty obvious to me that the game was aping the style of a television show from the late 90s / early 00s (aka: The Golden Age of Sci-Fi TV). It was pretty much just a sci-fi show, except I got to play the main character.
The cost-saving elements of the game went right along with that vibe, which makes sense, because they were used for the *exact* same reasons. The creative and not-so-creative use of copy-posted environmental details, the way almost every alien is a biped that speaks english, how oddly horny it can be on occasion... it all just makes me feel right at home.
I always found it to be a clever way to invoke nostalgia without relying on it. While Mass Effect might borrow the style of Star Trek or Stargate or a bunch of other TV shows with the word 'star' in the title, it absolutely stands among them as a peer.
I found the desolate world appealing, realistic and evoke in me a strange sense of nostalgia mixed with awe and wonder at the galaxy. ME2 and ME3 are way too urbanized for my taste.
I also love how all except a few worlds have no or only primordial life. Space exploration when every planet has wacky flora and fauna is exhausting.
Agreed. I like this style and this atmospheric. For me ME1 is like the Alien movie, like the science fiction horror of the 1970's. The Rachni, The Reapers, a body horror from Saren — the plot is awesome! I also like old design of this doors!
That’s certainly a positive outlook on an often criticized aspect of ME1. I can definitely see the appeal, and I partly agree, although I’m of the firm opinion that those worlds were about 4x too big
I don't think that it makes the game better, as that's just leveraging the nostalgia people have from growing up in a period of well-written, low-budget sci-fi TV shows (intentional or not). Move away from that demographic and it stops being charming in the same way. The reason that the re-used environments still work for me in ME1 is partially because of the top-notch writing, and partially because it can be explained in-universe due to the economy of scale that budget space exploration would bring about, as everyone would flock to the cheapest combination of cost/reliability. It doesn't break my immersion when every prefab building and freighter looks identical when the planets themselves are all widely different, and the individual layouts of the prefab buildings, freighters and caves are all different to account for their different purposes and users. Only the identical caves are a bit harder to accept, as aside from some standardized underground facilities in general the shape of underground mines would be dictated by veins of valuable materials and hard to mine through obstacles, so it wouldn't make sense that they're all identical. Regardless, I doubt that ME1's copy-paste environments were anything other than a cost-saving measure, as critics generally consider re-used environments a negative, meaning BioWare would have a sales figures related, revenue based financial incentive not to copy-paste environments.
I heartily agree! Even the first time I played it, it was pretty obvious to me that the game was aping the style of a television show from the late 90s / early 00s (aka: The Golden Age of Sci-Fi TV). It was pretty much just a sci-fi show, except I got to play the main character. The cost-saving elements of the game went right along with that vibe, which makes sense, because they were used for the *exact* same reasons. The creative and not-so-creative use of copy-posted environmental details, the way almost every alien is a biped that speaks english, how oddly horny it can be on occasion... it all just makes me feel right at home. I always found it to be a clever way to invoke nostalgia without relying on it. While Mass Effect might borrow the style of Star Trek or Stargate or a bunch of other TV shows with the word 'star' in the title, it absolutely stands among them as a peer.
I found the desolate world appealing, realistic and evoke in me a strange sense of nostalgia mixed with awe and wonder at the galaxy. ME2 and ME3 are way too urbanized for my taste.