Mass Effect

[n0wak]

I picked it up yesterday despite the big, orange text on the top of the box saying "DO NOT SELL BEFORE NOVEMBER 20" -- the street date was broken a week ago so, I guess, everyone is selling it now. Played a couple of hours in and so far, so alright!

My very first impression was not a good one. On the initial mission where you learn how to play the game, after the first battle against some battle droids I got completely lost. The game had no waypoint marker (kind of stupid when you're introducing people) and after a cinematic I was left facing the wrong direction. That was the route I took and all I could find was dead ends and a "treasure chest". That little treasure pickup threw me off because it made me think I was progressing. After several minutes of I went back to where I came from and realized that it was where I needed to go. Stupid lack of landmarks.

After that things improved.

So far the combat has been limited, but it's interesting. Definitely feels like a cross between Gears of War and an RPG. I never played KOTOR, but I did play Jade Empire and I hated the combat in that enough to get me to stop playing after the first boss encounter. Here, I am compelled enough to want to see more of it so that I can play around with the different abilities and weapons.

Still too early in the story to comment on it. The dialogue options are kind of interesting so far, the voice acting is competent and the writing is decent enough. Will have to see how that develops though.

One thing that is obvious early on, though, is how this game looks. It's gorgeous (texture pop-in and semi-awkward animations notwithstanding). The designs are very good, even if a lot of the art direction feels very familiar (seems to borrow a lot of cliche sci-fi conventions that have been overdone in a lot of films before). Still, in a game like this it does come across as a little fresh.

Looking forward to playing more!

Oh, and the soundtrack so far is totally :tup: :tup:

[DanJW]

Yeah, the sci-fi clichés were actually intentional. In an interview the devs said that they wanted it to look like a certain kind of scifi movie that we all remember.

Anyway, good things. It definately sounds like a game that is less than easily accessible for the masses to which it has been marketed, but for Bioware fans I'm guessing it won't dissapoint.

[Wrestlevania]

I've been flip-flopping about Mass Effect ever since it was announced.

On the one hand, it sounds like a stupendous sci-fi production and so should be something I'd absolutely rave about. But on the other, it sounds hugely dialgoue-dependent which doesn't sound fun to me. And, more over, I simply failed to care about either KotOR - even at the height of my Star Wars fanboyism years ago.

I still like the original/traditional* Star Wars universe and settings, but not enough to play a KotOR 3 I think. And Mass Effect doesn't even have that going for it to my mind, so I'm passing on it.

* And yes, before you say it, I'm well aware that KotOR is set a good 4,000 years before A New Hope.

[LOPcagney]

# Cave Story (Doukutsu Monogatari) [PC] [/Quote]

Totally off-topic, but:

Cave story is one of the greatest free games I've ever played.

I've been excited for Mass Effect since I saw the first trailer, which sucks because I don't have and will probably never get a 360. I just hope it gets ported to PC.

I think I'm so excited mostly because of the dialog system. I feel like it would be worth $50 just to play around with that, interactive movie-style.

[Roderick]

A PC port sounds very likely.

I'll probably try Mass Effect out sometime in a while. I've never played a new-school Bioware RPG, so I don't know what to expect. KOTOR never managed to interest me much, in any case (I mean attract me without playing it).

[miffy495]

As I'm in Canada and wanted to get the collector's edition, there was exactly one place I could order it from. My copy should be on the way about now, so I'm eagerly anticipating getting my Bioware on over the next while. Especially with Rock Band delayed a month, this seems about the perfect antidote.

[n0wak]

I'm a few hours deeper into Mass Effect and only like two real battle sequences have passed in that time. In a way this feels a lot like an adventure game so far. If you like a constant stream of dialogue, this is the game for you! Seriously, there is a lot of talking here. There's so much to this universe.

I just got to my first new planet and so far... a lot of talking and bickering with some corporate managers. It's almost like being at work!

Still keeping me interested though.

[Cigol]

Sounds a lot like KOTOR in that respect.

What are the more traditional RPG elements like? When you say a lot of dialogue is there much freedom of choice? I certainly enjoyed the KOTOR games so if it's anything like that I'll look forward to a Mass Effect port (in 1 or 2 years ).

[n0wak]

OK. After a bit more back and forth in the Citadel and a lot of talking -- go to this person, they have a problem with that person, go to that person, try to persuade them, go back, etc.. -- I finally got back on my ship and the galaxy was open to me. There were two obvious missions available and a third little quest to, I think, get another character... but you can essentially go anywhere in the galaxy at this point. I went to the big, shady corporate planet.

And there it was... more talking. And negotiating. A small battle or two... then more talking. I managed to get to the outside, vehicle parts (the vehicle parts in Mass Effect feel VERY awkward) but by that point I was already tired of that world so I flew off and went to some uncharted planet for a little surveying.

After that I went to Ferros, one of the places reporting a geth attack. Almost instantly I was in battle. Then more battle. Then I ran into a geth Destroyer. I guess I should be careful what I wish for cause after wishing for fights I finally get one that kicks my ass. I tried again and again and failed both times. I was starting to think that maybe I was doing something wrong -- was my level too low? Was my gear too crappy? Should I have gone somewhere else instead?

But I realized that my problem was in my tactics. I was playing the battle too much like it was Gears of War, relying on the shooting rather than playing it as a tactical RPG. After some careful planning and use of talents the battle was a piece of cake.

I'm almost done all the planet's missions -- the final encounter is kicking my ass though since I'm low on supplies -- and, apart from the vehicle controls and some annoyances (CURSE YOU UNSKIPPABLE CUT SCENES :frusty: ) I'm enjoying myself a lot. With all the battles on this planet I've managed to level up quite a bit and get some useful abilities/gear.

The dialogue. Well, a lot of it is the typical dialog tree. "Tell me about this thing", "tell me about that", "tell me about you". To be expected, as there is a lot of exposition in the universe, but often times you can choose your reactions to the characters and this affects how they perceive you and how they deal with you.

At one point a woman approached me and asked me if I can use my authority to spy on this other guy and get her the information. I kindly said "It's my duty to uphold the law, not to break it" (or something similar) and... she went away. I got my "Paragon" points (I'm trying to play through as a good guy) and never touched that quest.

There are enough choices to make me want to replay the game as a "Renegade" (bad guy) just to see how differently things pan out.

Oh, and depending on your skills sometimes you have extra "charm" and "intimidate" options in addition to the regular answers. There was a situation that was quickly spiraling out of control that made me wish that I had upgraded my charm talents some more. Could have avoided shooting the guy in the face

[Marek]

I'm a few hours in (still messing around in the Citadel).

So far I like it, but don't love it (yet?).

I think the dialog sequences are great. Hooray for close-ups and subtle camera movements! Hooray for an excellent dialog system! (One that allows you to make dialog decisions extremely fast.) The characterizations aren't too terrible so far either.

When a game does a lot of things like that right though, it makes the shitty parts all the more obvious. Like the cliche sci-fi / video game plot. Sure, all games do this, but when a game like Mass Effect does it, it's twice as annoying. (EARLY-GAME SPOILERS AHEAD.) One moment you're on a mission to retrieve some ancient but rather unspectacular-looking interstellar beacon mcguffin and next think you know the fate of the entire galaxy hangs in the balance.

Characters immediately assume that the beacon holds the key to hundreds of years of technological progress. Deceases could be cured! Because it's, like, a beacon, and it's super high tech! Then some dude shows up and kills some other dude, and it's automatically assumed that this character will destroy everything, break up The Alliance, and end humanity as we know it. The main character also has a vague beacon-induced nightmare and everyone is like... OMFG. Then the beacon explodes and I guess nobody cares about it anymore.

I mean, sure, I don't mind a story about the Fate of Humanity and the Destruction of the Galaxy, or whatever. But could we please ease into it a little? What if it wasn't a beacon but like ... an ancient intergalactic sandwich maker? Calm down you idiots.

Anyway, whatever. I'll continue playing.

[DanJW]

Haha, space opera is like fantasy. Most writers get carried away with the possibilities. It would be great to have a plot more akin to those in Firefly, where most things happen on a much more personal level (disregarding the Serenity movie).

[n0wak]

Stuff

Yeah. There's a lot of that in the story but it's still interesting enough, with all the dialogue options, to keep me going. I give them credit for fleshing out such a large universe though.

It's a good game and a decent space opera, but it has a lot of problems to keep it from being great. I'll still play through it a second time.

[lobotomy42]

I've been hyped for this game since it was announced, basically, but the actual gameplay elements have me a little turned off. How much of a shooter is it, really? (Side-rant: Why do all Western RPGs these days insist on making the combat less turn-based and more like action games? That's stupid.)

I like the idea of the plot, and another BioWare game with lots and lots and lots of talking...but I don't want lots and lots and lots of boring combat. Heck, I could do without the combat entirely. (KOTOR at least gave me this option via the "Force Push" power which eventually turned into a "kill everything on the screen" power.) Furthermore, I've been hearing bad things about the sidequests...namely, that it's just the same sidequest repeated about 200 times. Is this true? God, I hope not...

I don't know. I'm lukewarm right now.

Really, I just want KoTOR 3. And I want KoTOR 3 to NOT be an MMO.

[Marek]

If you play the occasional shooter you should have no trouble with the combat. I set it to normal and it's fine.

I've done the first mission now and messed around in the first large area (the Citadel) up to the point where you get your ship. So far it's been 90% dialog and like 10% combat. In fact, for a large part it feels pretty much like an adventure game.

[Marek]

Haha, space opera is like fantasy. Most writers get carried away with the possibilities. It would be great to have a plot more akin to those in Firefly, where most things happen on a much more personal level (disregarding the Serenity movie).

Heh yes that would be great. But it would also be nice to just see a space opera that doesn't explode all over the place plot-wise. Mass Effect's cliches would be a lot more tolerable if it just started out with you preventing Saron (sp?) let's day... wanting to assasinate one important diplomat or something, without you yet knowing what's really going on. Star Wars starts out slow too, with basically just a farmer kid on a ranch doing stuff.

[Karimi]

Heres my "Thats great but..."

The graphics are great...but you get framerate drops and those HORRIBLE elevator rides. I didn't turn in a quest just because I didn't feel like going down 3 elevators.

The dialogue is great...but the pacing in the game is completely off. You get a decent slice of action, then a lot of wandering, then some talking, then too much, then walking. You don't get enough interesting dialogue. I'm a spectre, most interesting human in the galaxy, I don't want to be talking to shop owners. Some characters have names but nothing to say, why does a useless mechanic have a name ?

Party members are really interesting...but you don't get to talk to them ? One thing I liked about KoTOR was that you could take a break from the mission you're doing and just talk. I haven't really been able to do that yet so my companions are mainly for combat and the occasional interjection in a conversation.

Spoiler about conversation:

After killing the matriarch I get to free or kill the queen of the rachni (sp?) and the Krogan didn't really make much of an argument. Come on man you clearly don't like these things at least give me a 2 minute backstory

Combat is really great at parts ...but is a bit tough at others, I thought the boss fight with

the matriarch

was way too tough on normal. Then again I was auto-leveling up to then, I've put more points into useful skills and the game just got MUCH easier.

[n0wak]

Some characters have names but nothing to say, why does a useless mechanic have a name ?

Typically, I've found that if they have a name they do have a quest related to them. You just might not have encountered it yet. There was this one guy that was all "Bugger off" to me but then I was delivering an item for him and, all of a sudden, he's kinda chummy and we get into a dialog tree.

[Wrestlevania]

Typically, I've found that if they have a name they do have a quest related to them. You just might not have encountered it yet. There was this one guy that was all "Bugger off" to me but then I was delivering an item for him and, all of a sudden, he's kinda chummy and we get into a dialog tree.

See, that's exactly the kind of thing I had a problem with in the KotORs; it spoilt the sense of immersion.

[miffy495]

My copy arrived in the mail today. Haven't had much chance to play it, as I work early tomorrow and swore up and down that I'd turn it off after an hour so I could get some sleep (on my way there now, but figured impressions first) and managed to only go over that limit by 15 minutes. Just got to the citadel, talked to a couple of people, then saved. So far:

Holy uncanny valley! I think I would have preferred the graphics if they'd just not had humans at all. The aliens all look completely fantastic, Volus and Turians in particular (first time I watched Nihlus talk my jaw physically dropped), but the humans just look wrong. Not that there's anything wrong with the graphics at all, but I'm sure most of you know exactly what I mean. I know it'd probably be a harder sell to have a game where it's only aliens interacting with other aliens, but at the moment watching these claymation-ish humans talking to these fantastically detailed and believable aliens is just distracting.

Combat isn't particularly tricky, but I'm in this for the RPG elements and came in expecting to be pausing and managing every step of the way. I can definitely see how n0wak was tempted to play it like Gears though, they even have the roadie run for god's sake.

Lastly, literature! With a game! How I'd missed you! I think it's collector's edition exclusive (whole reason I went to the trouble of an online order for the game) but that codex book you get is great. Not nearly as beefy as books that you used to get with a high-profile RPG, but dammit it's a separate book that's nothing but backstory to introduce you more in-depth to the game world. I love this crap and wish more games would bother, even if I have to get the fancy metal-case version to get it.

lobotomy42, I'd recommend it for you. Just do what I did. I decided that I wanted to play an RPG, not a shooter, so I set the combat to casual and am focusing on the roleplaying. As such, I like what I see so far. Keeping in mind I'm just over an hour in, of course. Still, the alien races are fascinating and the potential from the bit I've played so far seems staggering. I'm pumped for the rest of it.

[Marek]

I have no problems with the elevators and haven't noticed any framerate issues, though I rarely notice framerate drops anyway.

The aliens look amazing indeed. I have that big guy in my team all the time just for the small chance of seeing another closeup of him during a dialog sequence. Shephard on the other hand looks like an action figure.

[Karimi]

The aliens look amazing indeed. I have that big guy in my team all the time just for the small chance of seeing another closeup of him during a dialog sequence.

Hahaha me too !

Just finished the game. Loved it :tup: bit too short though. Only took me 15 hours and I've done a bunch of side quests. 5 of those hours were spent on the elevators .

[lobotomy42]

lobotomy42, I'd recommend it for you. Just do what I did. I decided that I wanted to play an RPG, not a shooter, so I set the combat to casual and am focusing on the roleplaying. As such, I like what I see so far. Keeping in mind I'm just over an hour in, of course. Still, the alien races are fascinating and the potential from the bit I've played so far seems staggering. I'm pumped for the rest of it.

Alright, you've sold me. I'll add it to the list...

[ThunderPeel2001]

Have to say to all those who gave KOTOR a wide birth that it's a brilliant game. An utterly, wonderful, brilliant game. I'm not remotely interested in Extended Universe stuff, it was just a brilliantly crafted game.

Mass Effect feels a LOT like KOTOR, but much bigger. So far I'm not really sure what the point of adding all the space is, though. I never got lost in KOTOR, and that was nice. I don't remember thinking "ooh, I wish I had more space to wander around", so it's odd that they've made the Citadel so big.... and yet so BORING and generic. There is hardly ANY variety in the architecture or decoration, no matter where you are. In KOTOR at least there was variations and, I think I actually preferred the overall look, too (although the graphics, technically, weren't a patch on Mass Effects' stunning visuals).

There's a ton of references to sci-fi stuff (intentional or not I don't know). The idea of an "above the law" bunch of assassins sounds like an interesting take on Star Wars' Jedi, especially the idea of a rogue one. The Citadel's design makes me think of Neuromancer. Some of the background story reminds me of The Forever War. The idea of consorts been given a lot of respect is, of course, similar to Japanese Geishas, but is also straight out of Firefly. But mostly it seems like a darker, more "grown up" re-imagining of the Star Wars universe.

Speaking of the consort. She's supposed to be this regal, incredibly important, elusive figure. You would imagine her to be the embodiment of beauty, charm and elegance. Geisha style. (Like the the same character was portrayed in Firefly.) But when she appears, she is identical (IDENTICAL - right down the to clothes she's wearing) to her assistant on the door...! When you enter her room which, considering the importance of the people she supposedly entertains, you would imagine would give the impression of elegance, opulence and taste, it looks like someone's house from Star Wars Galaxies: A generic room with bare walls and one unique item. (In this case a tasteless purple, round bed... that is barely large enough for her, let alone anyone she's entertaining.)

I can imagine that if there's a Special Edition that this will be one of the things they add, but it's surprising, considering how much detail is visible elsewhere in the game, to see such a jarring "unfinished bit" so early on. (Actually, now that I think about it, a lot of the rooms I've visited in the Citadel have that "unfinished" look to them. Hmmm.)

So far the blandness of the environment in the Citadel is beginning to grate, something that was never a problem in the smaller, more refined KOTOR, but I will perservere, as I'm sure it will improve! Plus, since I enjoyed KOTOR so much, I'm hoping it will get as enjoyable as that was, at some point.

[Dr.Gash]

I finished this on Sunday and I immediately felt sick to my stomach. The ending was such camp scifi and cherry pie that it made me physically gag while I was watching it.

I felt the side-quest NPCs were often more fleshed out and believable than some of the more major roles. Unfortunately as soon as the side-quests were done the characters were out of the picture, exiting stage left (every single fucking time) never to be heard from again.

A few days on and my opinion has mellowed somewhat. It's a beautiful game, at times breathtaking, and showed hints of quality gameplay. Unfortunately the combat lacked tension, the talents were too few to allow any true customisation and the overarching story was not at all to my tastes.

The mini narratives saved this game from being sold before completion but I won't be going back for a second look.

[Nachimir]

Woo for Christmas bonus 360's! I probably wouldn't have bought one, but I must admit I'm liking it a lot. Just finished Mass Effect, and have Dead Rising and Crackdown to go. As well as a huge pile of games to borrow from my boss.

I just got to my first new planet and so far... a lot of talking and bickering with some corporate managers. It's almost like being at work!

The first part of Noveria was indeed pretty meh , probably the worst thing for them to open up after the first part in the Citadel. Overall I thought it was a great game. I just finished it with normal combat, completing all of the sidequests I could find, which took nearly 40 hours. It was good

I had the same problem as you with the fighting once I met a lot of coordinated rocket drones, but the abilities really make the combat flow quite easily.

I've never played KOTOR, but the first thing my housemate said on seeing me play Mass Effect was that it looked a lot like it.

It kind of seemed like a few things got a bit ropey toward the end of the game - the way objectives were referred to and tied together in the journal for some of the last missions was occasionally a bit strange, though never misleading or impenetrable. Some of the narrative things near the end were also quite tacky I thought:

The Salarian commander's speech about "holding the line" and the dialogue choices leading up to the love scene with Ashley both had me giggling into a clenched fist, and the "Shepherd's dead... oh no, there he is!" right at the end seemed really cheap.

It didn't stick as badly for me as for Dr.Gash though

I can't believe just how many SF cliches it hit. Slavering biological threat? Check. Army of rogue AI? Check, x2. Ancient progenitor species? Check. Species extinction? Check. Saving the galaxy? Check... it's space opera squared.

The planets all being bland heightmaps was a bit meh - no interesting rock formations, no lakes, rivers, oceans, volcanism, caves... very few interesting things at all, as well as all of the installations and ships using the same layouts and art assets was a bit meh, but then again they were all disposable dungeons, not worth the development time to make them really unique.

Inventory management and selling could have been easier, given the amount of equipment lying around to pick up, the lists could really do with some filters.

There are more gripes I can't be arsed to go into, because despite all of this, I really, really liked it. The level where

you were climbing the exterior of the Citadel Tower, with the Geth using a lift to ambush you

and the architecture for the Mako segment of Ilos, as well as the Thai landscapes on Virmire were all good. I was impressed with the art and variety on all of the main missions.

I reloaded and played through a couple of sections twice to mess with the dalogue tree. I really like the system of left = slower, right = faster, up = cooperative, down = antagonistic, but after trying to play through a few conversations using completely different answers, I found they all tend to elicit exactly the same responses and outcomes . It seems the only real influence they have most of the time is on your paragon/renegade score.

Overall, I felt like it was giving an illusion of influence most of the time. Nonetheless, with

the council during the final space battle, and the death of Ashley or Kaidan

it succeeded in throwing up the odd hard choice nicely tied to the narrative. I also like that picking charm options

in early conversations with Saren

had an effect later on.