You guys don't know bad endings till you've played Borderlands

Rizzonater posted...
Borderlands was good on its own, but not because of the story. Borderlands was great if you played co-op though

Pretty much this. Borderlands never really took itself seriously. The focus was not on the story, but on the gameplay. I've played BL both solo and cooperatively and I can tell you the game (while I enjoyed the heck out of it alone) get's much more fun when played with friends. The DLC was also a rare treat if you ever wanted to pony up for it.

Mass Effect on the other hand focused on story. Try playing the original ME for the gameplay and ignore the story and you will probably be disappointed. It's an average third person shooter at best (gameplay-wise). However, once you factor in the story elements, the character interactions, and the original scope of the project (trilogy that built upon your actions and decisions over all three games) the game gets much better. The selling point of the trilogy is the story, not the gameplay. Which is why the ending matters.

The reason people don't make a stink about Borderlands ending was precisely because the game didn't sell itself on its story. The game was about blowing stuff up with awesome guns that made no sense (like a rocket launcher that shot rockets, that dropped rockets as it fired). It's a heck of a lot of fun.