How important is it to play these RPG predecessors?

[Bleunappy]

I've been looking into some RPG games to spend my time on and I mainly have my eye on these three:

Diablo III
Mass Effect 2
KotOR II (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic)

Obviously as Diablo III isn't out yet this is more of a speculative question on how important it was for the second installment and whether or not that will likely carry over to the third.

Anyways, my question is for anyone who has experience with any of these series(if you don't have experience with all, please say which you do in your post), how important was it to play the first installment before the second? Was it really significant in understanding and enjoying the game or would I be better off not spending my money on the first and just buying the second?

Edit: And one other question.. how long did/have you played these games? My main issue with buying console games is that I hate spending money on one only to beat it in a couple weeks then never play it again, so I'm hoping these aren't similar.

Also.. I'd be playing these on my computer.

[blackangel209]

Mass Effect 2 CAN be played without ME1 if you get the Genesis DLC(or PS3 version), but you don't really get the full experience(there's a ridiculous amount of carry-over, though you get to skip overly repetitive floor plans and fetch quests so it's a trade-off). You should play the first KotOR because it was actually made by Bioware.

I've never actually played Diablo, but I'm gonna pick up the third one because it looks awesome.

[Caiada]

Both KoToR games are worth playing.
ME is too, not sure how important it is, but both awesome games anyway.
Diablo games are relatively separate, but the story provides some cool background, and the campaigns are not extremely lengthy if you only go through normal.

[Ajax Epic]

Only have experience with the KoToR games. KoToR 2 was good, but it fell short of the greatness the 1st game had in my opinion and I'm sure many would agree.

I've also thought about picking up the Mass Effects and giving them a shot...but having a strong dislike for guns, having limited time, and no money...I decided to pass on ME till a later date.

KoToR was awesome, KoToR 2 was good. GL and take care =)

[Dtloweca]

Really depends on the game there isnt a universal answer. But most games for the sake of making money can be played even without playing the first.

[noahjam326]

You can definitely play Mass Effect 2 before playing Mass Effect 1. The story is not hard to pick up at all, and it's just a fun game. Playing the first game will definitely enhance the experience, but it is not required at all. I think the same of KOTOR2, the game is pretty good about letting you know how stuff went down.

[Konviction]

Diablo isn't really a true RPG in terms of Genres, and has it's own genre. Hack and Slash.

The first two games are great RPGs and I would recommend both games (as someone said earlier, KoToR 1 was actually made by bioware and was fantastic)
Diablo III will be an interesting development towards the Hack and Slash genre, but can't really be considered an RPG.

On a side note, if you're playing these on the PC, I highly suggest checking out Neverwinter Nights II. The game is simply amazing, and if you get the expansions, you can easily dump 60+ hours into each storyline. Not to mention all the custom content available via their vault.

[Punks]

Just play Mass Effect 2 already.

[darigan]

Concerning ME the main question is, if you are a 100% player. If yes, I would highly recommend to play the first because you will recognize many, many decisions in the first part as different results in ME2. Players of your Party can and quite sure will die in ME1. And it's a big difference sending one of your friends for a suicide mission knowing they maybe will die or to select a name on a list of characters you didn't meet yet. Also there is one choice in ME1 with big inpact on the general world of ME2, which you are not able to decide without finishing the first part.

What should be not forgotten are the countless boring side-missions, which are more or less nice because of different choice possibilites but not much more than that.

[Yooya]

You should play Diablo 1 & 2, because they are good games, but its non-essential. Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 should be played if you care remotely about the plot/story. Same with Knights of the Old Republic. You could (likely) follow along without prior-knowledge but I think you are missing out.

If you go for (100%) completeness in one play through only Diablo and Diablo 2 won't give you 30 hours or more. Its probably too late to be getting into online play, but if you did there is a lot of fun to be had (or there was).

[Deleted]

None need the first one to be played, as they all seperate themselves save for Mass effect 2, that needs DLC or a crappy console version to work correctly with the plotline.

[Pool of the Dead]

I've been looking into some RPG games to spend my time on and I mainly have my eye on these three:

Diablo III
Mass Effect 2
KotOR II (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic)


Obviously as Diablo III isn't out yet this is more of a speculative question on how important it was for the second installment and whether or not that will likely carry over to the third.

Anyways, my question is for anyone who has experience with any of these series(if you don't have experience with all, please say which you do in your post), how important was it to play the first installment before the second? Was it really significant in understanding and enjoying the game or would I be better off not spending my money on the first and just buying the second?

Edit: And one other question.. how long did/have you played these games? My main issue with buying console games is that I hate spending money on one only to beat it in a couple weeks then never play it again, so I'm hoping these aren't similar.

Also.. I'd be playing these on my computer.

Diablo 3 not so much, as it has a story but it isn't really "in-depth" and you play different characters.

Mass Effect 2 - Definately play through 1 first, it gives a lot of backstory, and it continues the story where you end once you begin 2.

Kotor - I would suggest playing number 1 at least, number 2 is kind of screwy with the story, still an amazing game in its own right, but Kotor 1 is where the story is at. Though with tor coming you can just go on the main website and go to the Holocron timeline and read the story of the Kotors if you aren't interested in playing through old-school games

[starkey]

Diablo 1 and 2 are great 2 is great single player, but online its lost its appeal as its mainly turned into spam bots and bots playing the game

[Deleted]

Not gonna comment on Mass Effect 2 and KotOR II but if you plan on playing Diablo 3 you should atleast pickup Diablo 1 as it explains why we can keep killing Diablo.

[inboundpaper]

I still have both kotor's and have done ~5 playthroughs each.

[Devirae]

What most said, Mas Effect 1 sets the universe you'll be playing in and will introduce all the races and many key locations. You could play Mass Effect 2 without playing the first, but if you're into story, playing the first one will make the second about 149% more awesome. About the longevity of the game, I finished Mas Effect 2 in 60 hours, that is without any DLC but with doing all the side missions. This is while casually playing and taking the time to speak to every NPC that has something to say.

[Doylez]

For Mass Effect and KOTOR I'd say it is definitely required to play the first part. But they are still great games so that shouldn't be an issue.

[Beetlejuice]

I played mass effect 2 without playing the first part and i enjoyed it a lot. Can't comment on what i might have missed out but it is definitively playable without playing first part. But from what i heared mass effect 1 was great too and since it has an awesome story it sure does not hurt to play 1 first. On diablo i would say it does not matter at all. KOTOR is to long ago, not even sure which part(s) i played. My memory isn't the best .

[Mroz123]

Mass Effect 2:
Standard play time. It's good to play ME1 first, since the story of ME2 starts exactly where ME1 ended and you can import your save game from ME1. Oh and some choices from ME1 will have some impact in ME3

KotOR II:
Quite long play time. KotOR 1 and KotOR 2 are more or less independent games with only a few aspects which are well explained in KotOR 2. However both are good titles definitely worth playing