I know reddit loves Mass Effect [bracing for downvotes], but it has never really worked for me. I played the 1st one and I couldn't get into it. The combat wasn't that great. Enemies seem to just rush right into you, so you back up around cover and then once the fight is finished you walk through an empty battlefield that was never used. I got stuck on objects and had to reload several times, and there was that terrible land-rover. I know, those are just technical quibbles, after all Mass Effect is an RPG. But, the RPG parts of it didn't sit well with me either. The equipment and loot felt like micromanagement and getting something new didn't provide the same sense of satisfaction as other games. There were classes but I saw little need to specialize at all. Then there is the story, the most important part of an RPG and the most lauded aspect about Mass Effect, but it didn't really work for me. A lot of it felt like a rehash of older science fiction works, particularly Babylon 5. The cutscenes would show you a vibrant world or a bustling city, but actually moving around there didn't make me feel like that was the case at all. Instead it felt like I was moving around figures in a diorama. Finally, the characters, with the exception of the unfortunately named Wrex (who is impossible not to love), seemed bland and, while having fleshed out back stories, 2-dimensional. Then there is Shepard himself/herself, who is characterized via the conversation wheel. While the concept is awesome often I would oick a response that wouldn't be "as advertised" and Shepard would come off as some bipolar mental patient going from understanding to douchebaggy in a moment's notice.

I played some of Mass Effect 2 and I am liking it a lot better. Conversations are tighter, combat is better although not great, characters are a lot more interesting, particularly the ones that come back from Mass Effect 1, and I really like the way it is paced with the character missions. I still don't think the inventory system (or lack of it) is that great, but in general I'm enjoying the second a lot more, and I'm glad that I played the first one because I get to see the repercussions of all my actions.

But, when reading comments in r/gaming I hear people saying how much they liked the first one when compared to the second. I know it is all opinion, but I really think Bioware worked to make the 2nd one answer the problems of the first and it is a better game for it. So, why do you guys love mass effect 1 so much.

tl;dnr: Didn't like mass effect 1, thought 2nd was better, confused why many like the 1st more.