*Warning: Spoilers!*

Hm, I'm going to have to go with Oblivion on this one.

I'm a big Bioware fan, but I just didn't enjoy Mass Effect nearly as much as I thought I would. The glitches just ruined it for me, and I got sick to death worrying about them. Just to name a few from my two and 1/100th playthroughs...

1. During my first playthrough, my game glitched in the Therum mine right before saving Liara. It crashed during the Prothean elevator to the Krogan boss fight, so I tried reloading. Every saved game file was glitched save the one before I entered the mine in the first place. The worst glitched file was so bad that all the weapons on my character disappeared upon loading. Every bloody one, and seeing Shepard trying to aim an invisible shotgun was hilariously terrifying. If it wasn't for that last save file, I would have lost at least ten hours of gameplay. Therum glitched again on my third playthrough, before I even entered the mine, and that is when I gave up on the game and stopped playing it.

2. On Noveria during my first playthrough, my game glitched repeatedly at both the garage and the Mako section. Audio would cut out, the Mako was more wonky than usual, and my characters glitched upon level up, gained messed up stats, and rapidly died for no reason while we were in the Mako under no enemy fire. I had to reload to like the third to last save before I even entered the garage and try a couple times to get the game to work right.

3. During my second playthrough, Feros began to glitch horribly. I blew up the Geth transmitter in the sewers, but it didn't register. I reloaded, and that worked, but then the power cell from the car on the broken highway wouldn't register as picked up. Then my characters stopped responding to commands and stood in place, completely broken. Fun. I reloaded about 7 times, with the game breaking on one quest or the other and crippling my party members, before it chose to work.

4. That fire planet with the listening post and rachni nest is infuriating. It has glitched every time I've gone to it, requiring multiple reloads and attempts before luck sets in and it stops going all nutty on me.

And on and on. I began to get so nervous about glitches that the game was no longer fun for me. I was worried that I'd lose all my progress because of the bugs in the system, and I really started to hate the game. Not to mention that the Mako was kind of cruddy, the uncharted worlds were repetitive and devoid of content, the inventory system was incredibly vexing (melt item to omni-gel, and be warped to top of list. That's a lot of fun with such long lists of upgrades), loading times were abysmal and the elevators didn't mask them too well, texture pop-up was unbelievable and occurred during cutscenes with frequency, and the soap opera plotline just began to felt tacky.

Everything had to be so melodramatic, with one character always having to be pro and the other anti. You'd think Ash and Garrus would agree that the rachni queen was a threat to the universe (Ash being pro-human and Garrus pro-council races, with the queen potentially threatening both), but no. One must defend it, and one must condemn it. Same thing if you take Wrex and Garrus. Wrex defends it, Garrus decries its very existence.

What if you take Wrex and Ash? Will both defend it? NO! One changes its mind, because it wouldn't be melodramatic if both agreed with you. For the sake of melodrama, one of them must break character to create a contrived moral dilemma. And don't forget the obnoxious Council. That Turian is never happy no matter what you do, and the Salarian is always looking for the rainbow during the class five hurricane. You killed the rachni? Turian is angry about genocide while the Salarian is saying that you did what you have to do, but you must be mindful of consequences. Spared the rachni? The Turian is angry about you endangering the galaxy and not committing genocide, while the Salarian twiddles his thumbs and gives basically the same dialogue.

Honestly, Mass Effect is probably one of my least favorite games ever. I liked it less and less as I played it, and found that without the level grinding I had no incentive to play it after level 60. I just didn't care unless I was grinding xp after awhile, having become so disillusioned with the soap opera storyline and mindlessly tedious, cookie cutter, and monotonous uncharted worlds. Heck, after awhile even the level grind with new characters couldn't tempt me. I hate it.

Oblivion was much better in my opinion. It had its flaws, and the dungeons could get repetitive as well due to limited dungeon types and set pieces, but I played that game for over 187 in-game days with my main character, and really had a blast. Its flaws, while certainly bothersome, were readily overshadowed by the game's inherent sandbox appeal and amusing randomness. I'd just go exploring and have my own adventure, never really worrying about things. I don't actually even remember the game crashing on me once on the 360 version, and I can honestly say that it was one of the best gaming experiences of my life.

Edit Addition: Sorry to any other Bioware fan that takes offense at my commentary. I just really don't like Mass Effect anymore.

To Fallerboy:

You aren't Fontaine's son. Did you get all the audio logs? You are Andrew Ryan's son.Ryan impregnated his mistress, and Fontaine used his connections to acquire that fertilized egg and speed up its development. You see, Ryan coded most of the important systems of Rapture to his own DNA/genetic code. In order to get close to Ryan and destroy him, it was necessary to build an assassin filled to the brim with Ryan's nucleic acid goodness.You are the end result of*Fontaine's efforts to make such, and you are even more powerful than he could have hoped.Ever wonder why you can use the vita chambers despite the fact that they are coded to only work for Ryan? Yep, you are his kid and you are practically immortal with those chambers around.

edit additon: jeez, even my spaces between words aren't safe. I think gremlins are lurking the boards or something.