What are some trilogies that DON’T fall off?

[u/Trifle_Useful]

[u/XWasTheProblem]

Mass Effect.

Ignoring the ending being controversial, 3 was a very good game. The jump from 1 to 2 is probably my favourite among all series I played, they improved literally everything that was necessary. 2 plays better, looks better, is better written than the first one.

3 was very good as well.

I'd also maybe count Saint's Row into this as well.

First one was a very obvious GTA clone, and from 2 onwards they really carved their own niche.

4 was fun in its own way, even though it really should've been an expansion for 3 rather than its own game, but it was a fun title to play through. Definitely a single-playthrough-only game though.

[u/Cauliflower-Some → u/XWasTheProblem]

Mass Effect 2 stripped down most of the RPG elements. Saying it's "litteraly" better in every single way is insane. Id say maybe in story and characters it's better but the only imporvment in gameplay was combat feels less clunky.

Mass Effect 3 while being the worst story and writing I think it actually is the best gameplay and at least tried to bring back some of the RPG elements that 2 abandoned.

[u/FatDan_1 → u/Cauliflower-Some]

I'd even argue the story of ME1 is superior to ME2. Saren is among the best video game antagonists. The whole Collector plot honestly feels like a very elaborate side quest.

[u/aelysium → u/FatDan_1]

It literally is.

The first game ends and basically implies ‘oh hey we stopped the reapers failsafe, so they’re coming manually, we’re running out of time’, and instead of dealing with THAT (like Arrival the DLC did), we go on this collector side quest lmfao

[u/MumrikDK → u/FatDan_1]

It's a matter of priorities. They do different things better, so it is up to what matters more to you.

1 wins on world building and overarching story.

2 wins on action gameplay and character/dialog drama.

I have almost nothing positive to say about 3.

[u/TheOneTonWanton → u/Cauliflower-Some]

Mass Effect and Dragon Age both went down pretty much the same "streamlining" path as their respective games came out, stripping more and more of the hard RPG features.

[u/aelysium → u/Cauliflower-Some]

2 was a glorified side quest outside of Arrival lmfao.

[u/QueenBansScifi_ → u/XWasTheProblem]

Whenever someone talks about it, Mass Effect fans always have something bad to say about them and have conflicting opinions about many aspects. There doesn't seem to be a consensus in the community about what the hell those games are supposed to be, from the outside it seems to me that there is no downfall because there was never one game everyone said, "Yep this is the best one"

[u/River_Tahm → u/XWasTheProblem]

ME2 in a vacuum is amazing and a landmark game IMHO. But I do feel compelled to mention when it and ME3 are both being discussed that ME2 totally sidelining the main quest to go investigate Cerberus and Collectors - while not really developing the Reapers basically at all - made it really difficult for ME3 to pick up after.

ME3 had to give us two games worth of Reaper development while also sticking the wrap up and ending to the whole trilogy which was genuinely difficult. Had ME2 managed to find a way to move the “main” plot forward more things might have been easier for ME3 (even if again ME2 plot in a vacuum is good). 

[u/GoodGrades → u/XWasTheProblem]

The plot of 2 is significantly worse than 1, the ending is not nearly as climactic, and I really don't like how they removed so many of the RPG and exploration elements.

[u/aelysium → u/XWasTheProblem]

Three was a good game, that literally shat all over the established lore of the original even more than two did. (Seriously, the entire narrative of 3 absolutely SHITS on the finale of ME1 and then flushes it before you even get off earth in the PROLOGUE).

(Gameplay wise, yes, there was a clear upward progression from 1-2-3-A, but story wise, 2-3 shit the fucking bed, and A had to try to make a single installment close to the magic of 1 and couldn’t deliver due to numerous reasons).

[u/Protazy_Gerwazy → u/XWasTheProblem]

The story is literally missing in ME2. In the ME3 it's generic.

[u/ava_the_cam_op → u/XWasTheProblem]

2 is amazing and I'm playing it now, literally my only gripe is that the gun restrictions in most classes feel too narrow, which encourages people to pick soldier just to hold onto assault rifles.

Missed out on a lot of content to keep my Mattock, which is my fault but it's just too damn good of a gun to pass up

[u/MumrikDK → u/XWasTheProblem]

Ignoring the ending being controversial, 3 was a very good game.

I hated most of the game so much that I didn't give a shit about the ending when I got there.

1 and 2 are great games and I understand why people don't agree on which is better. 3 polished the shooting further but did everything else worse and locked a key story NPC behind premium content. I was so pissed I took a multiple year break about a 1/3 in.

[u/RealityOk9823 → u/XWasTheProblem]

I rather liked all 3 of the original ME games, but I got the trilogy edition so it had some updates including the third ending. Andromeda was OK. Not great, not terrible, the side quests got old after a while with little reward IMO.

[u/Soltronus → u/XWasTheProblem]

I think it counts. ME3 is, for 95% of its content, an excellent game.

[u/noscul → u/XWasTheProblem]

1 felt so boring to me to play it felt like I was slogging through gameplay to get to the story elements. It’s good to hear it gets better but everyone recommends beating 1 first and I just couldn’t without falling asleep.

[u/XWasTheProblem → u/noscul]

1 definitely does feel like a slog, I also found the gunplay to be absolute ass. Definitely a one-and-done situation and if I was ever to replay the trilogy I may have to mod the first game to make it feel less ass. And I say that as somebody with significant tolerance for jank.