Mass Effect

[Surly Yerby]

I talked about this game alot leading up to launch and even got it the day of.....only to pop it in for 20 minutes and determine that I didn't yet want to invest the time in it. Meanwhile the buzz surrounding the game died down quite alot and it seemed like nobody even cared about it anymore. I pretty recently even considered trading it in....not sure why.

Anyway, I finally popped it back in the day before yesterday determined to get somewhere in it. And hot damn, I love this fucking game. Growing up watching things like Star Trek, this game is RIGHT up my alley. I'd say to BioWare that they should work on making their games a little more accessible from the beginning, because I literally spent an hour having no idea what the hell was going on. But once you figure out the interface, and really figure out how to play this game, it really stands out as a phenominal RPG experience.

I finally get the BioWare fanbase. I played both KOTOR I and II and never understood it, but thats largely because I never really got into the Star Wars storyline. The movies? Cool movies. Thats about where my interest stops. Jade Empire? The time period and setting never appealed to me. But I am now finally part of the BioWare niche market.

So, am I too late to the party for anyone to care, or is anyone else still exploring this game?

[Dkittels]

It's definitely well-tread territory around here, but I was ultimately disappointed with the game. Mostly because I was hyped up by the prospect of exploring a big, open universe, only to find that most of the worlds were a few acres of land that might as well have been randomly generated. Also the sidequests were boring as hell. The main campaign itself was shorter and less interesting than Bioware's best previous games.

But I didn't hate the game. It just failed to live up to expectations. I definitely don't find the current DLC content all that enticing, but if they want to release more and eventually bundle it at a cheaper price point, I would be interested at giving the game another spin. As it stands I'm interested to see what they do with a sequel, but at the same time I'm not considering a "must-have."

[FooManChu311]

It's definitely well-tread territory around here, but I was ultimately disappointed with the game. Mostly because I was hyped up by the prospect of exploring a big, open universe, only to find that most of the worlds were a few acres of land that might as well have been randomly generated. Also the sidequests were boring as hell. The main campaign itself was shorter and less interesting than Bioware's best previous games.

But I didn't hate the game. It just failed to live up to expectations. I definitely don't find the current DLC content all that enticing, but if they want to release more and eventually bundle it at a cheaper price point, I would be interested at giving the game another spin. As it stands I'm interested to see what they do with a sequel, but at the same time I'm not considering a "must-have."

I pretty much 2nd everything D said. The game was a blast imo, and although it felt like it had some SW elements, it was definitely more along the lines of Star Trek. I think the main quest could have been a tad bit longer, mainly cause I would have dug a bigger and more elaborate story, but it did it's job well. The side quests, even though kinda boring, I still found fun and the old level your character gameplay never really gets tiresome. Overall I felt that it was about an 8.0-8.5 title, definitely a great game worth owning, just not the mind boggling action rpg experience it was hyped up to be.

Don't let that dissuade you though, like I said, definitely a lot of fun and I did consider playing thru it again after finishing it(a good friend of mine beat it 4 times!)

[Donutta]

...that might as well have been randomly generated.

I believe they were. Randomly-generated levels = shite. One of the reasons I hated Diablo. Let's hope with the next Mass Effect they take the time in to actually generate some decent planets with some interesting societies.

[Randolph]

Thats what ultimately left me wanting as well, nothing outside of the main storyline is really worth the effort. A big expansive universe full of samey looking and boring crap. So the game only stays awesome if you follow the main plot, but if you do that, it's a fifteen hour game. I have to say I prefer KOTOR, I like the Jedi theme, and the sidequests were actually thought out with some remote kind of care, as opposed to being randomly generated blaa blaa bloo.

[gorilla STAMPEDE]

I had resurrected an old ME thread last week or so to sing the praises of this game. I had just gotten it through Gamefly and have been floored since starting it up. I've been trying to blow through it rather quickly so as not to take too much time with the rental but I definitely plan to pick it up down the road. I'm about 2-3 hours away from finishing the game and there's so much I didn't get to. Apparently the side quests aren't all that great but I did the same fumbling around for the first couple hours of the game and would like to go back through the entire game as some other classes.

I'm very interested to see how they integrate the saves from this game to the sequel. If they pick right back up based on your last save, I can see myself maxing out a few character classes before picking up the sequel. Again, I never imagined the game would suck me in this much.

[JonathanL]

I thought it was the best game released in 2007. Sure, it had its shortcomings, but overall, I thought the game was what I play games for; getting laid by aliens.

It also felt like a true sci-fi experience, with a rich mythos just waiting to expand.

[duxup]

Mass Effect seems like the typical Bioware game, great idea, execution leaves something to be desired.

It plays alright if a bit wonky in the frame rate. The characters were enjoyable although I would have liked to get some of the back story in something other than just the on ship conversations. The inventory system is a mess where it doesn't bother to tell you how many items you have (apparently in space nobody can count). The driving sequences felt like some 1999 budget game. The reused level designs stank to high heaven. After a while showing up to do a mission and finding the same level layout was enough to make me nearly turn back and give up on the mission. The constant moaning by Shepard regarding the government just gets tiresome. I also thought the ending felt a bit rushed and left something to be desired, not that anyone knows how to end video games these days anyhow.

[mmd]

...that might as well have been randomly generated.

I believe they were. Randomly-generated levels = shite. One of the reasons I hated Diablo. Let's hope with the next Mass Effect they take the time in to actually generate some decent planets with some interesting societies.

At least in Diablo you get slightly different formations each game. Mass Effect had the random looking terrain with none of the benefits.

[Randolph]

I also thought the ending felt a bit rushed and left something to be desired, not that anyone knows how to end video games these days anyhow.

I thought the ending was one of the best parts, easily. It was absolutely epic just how much stuff was going on.

[duxup]

I also thought the ending felt a bit rushed and left something to be desired, not that anyone knows how to end video games these days anyhow.

I thought the ending was one of the best parts, easily. It was absolutely epic just how much stuff was going on.

Everything is explained and happens all of a sudden, you just do your usual fighting while all the cool stuff happens elsewhere, then Shepard moans about how nobody understands him, again. It was epic in the sense that a lot of stuff happened, not that you got to do much of it.

[JonathanL]

The denouement did feel a bit abrupt, and a bit cheesy, but I felt like it was such an exciting first chapter that I didn't mind. I liked most of the game, and I think BioWare is smart enoguh to fix some of the problems for the next chapter. I really like that they're doing ME2, insted of letting someeone else do it, or moving onto a new property, so I can see what BW can do when they're following up their own work, something they've yet to do on consoles.

[Dan]

I'm with Jon here (except it was the second best game last year to Bioshock, not the first). I can see the complaints people had, but I thought the game was still fantastic. Probably the best story told in a game, maybe ever. Fun combat. Cool mythos. Good graphics.

Again, all of the complaints made here are totally legit, but they just never deterred my enjoyment of the game. Except for those f'n space worms that pop up from under the ground to insta-kill you. That was a design decision that needed to die.

[Dkittels]

Probably the best story told in a game, maybe ever.

I'm confused by this claim, I honestly am. I mean, I haven't heard it from a lot of people, but I have heard it from more than one and it just confounds me. I mean it was a pretty good story all told but I can easily think of games with plots, characters and settings I found a lot more compelling, including some of Bioware's former works.

[gorilla STAMPEDE]

The denouement did feel a bit abrupt, and a bit cheesy, but I felt like it was such an exciting first chapter that I didn't mind. I liked most of the game, and I think BioWare is smart enoguh to fix some of the problems for the next chapter. I really like that they're doing ME2, insted of letting someeone else do it, or moving onto a new property, so I can see what BW can do when they're following up their own work, something they've yet to do on consoles.

Do we know how BioWare plans to handle the transition of Mass Effect game saves to the sequel, if at all? A friend of mine told me how KOTOR2 asked a series of questions at the beginning of the game to determine how the player beat the first one. Do you think that's how Mass Effect will be handled?

[mmd]

The denouement did feel a bit abrupt, and a bit cheesy, but I felt like it was such an exciting first chapter that I didn't mind. I liked most of the game, and I think BioWare is smart enoguh to fix some of the problems for the next chapter. I really like that they're doing ME2, insted of letting someeone else do it, or moving onto a new property, so I can see what BW can do when they're following up their own work, something they've yet to do on consoles.

Do we know how BioWare plans to handle the transition of Mass Effect game saves to the sequel, if at all? A friend of mine told me how KOTOR2 asked a series of questions at the beginning of the game to determine how the player beat the first one. Do you think that's how Mass Effect will be handled?

Supposedly the choices you made in ME will effect the sequel. I guess that means you can import an old character.

I just hope 2 has online coop and a better fighting system.

[JonathanL]

I think the story has lots of potential, but it's somewhat derivative and hasn't done anything yet. I'm waiting for Mass Effect Strikes Back to see the series open up and really deliver the goods.

[gorilla STAMPEDE]

I think the story has lots of potential, but it's somewhat derivative and hasn't done anything yet. I'm waiting for Mass Effect Strikes Back to see the series open up and really deliver the goods.

Does anyone see themselves going back to the original Mass Effect once the sequel and, eventually, the third game come out? I would imagine it would still be a unique enough experience by itself.

[JonathanL]

I think the story has lots of potential, but it's somewhat derivative and hasn't done anything yet. I'm waiting for Mass Effect Strikes Back to see the series open up and really deliver the goods.

Does anyone see themselves going back to the original Mass Effect once the sequel and, eventually, the third game come out? I would imagine it would still be a unique enough experience by itself.

I think so for sure. It'll be rougher, no doubt, and the side quests won't be worth playing, but the story will still be worth it. Deanna Troi and whatnot.

[joshtheboss]

I loved Mass Effect. I will definitely pick it up again to play through on different settings (I was so evil the first time through. ) But I gotta replay Bioshock before I do that.

[gorilla STAMPEDE]

Just beat the game..... WOW!! :shock: :D

I loved it!! So glad I played it. Technical issues abound but the gameplay and environment were epic. Nuff said.

[Alex]

I'm playing it at the moment, borrowing from a friend - it's a really cool game and will probably be the first RPG I actually finish. The sense of being part of something epic is probably my favourite thing about it. The graphics are good and the voice animation is probably the best I've ever seen. I haven't touched it in a few days though, the combat system needs redoing.

[Crimsonpug]

I've played through it twice already.. once a full runthrough of every mission and sub-mission on Evil, the second a "Hardcore" run through of the story only as a good guy.

Believe it or not, but no matter how you play it, Shepard's a hard ass. So the "good" doesn't really change that much. Although the few "good-evil" choices you make in the last act of the game REALLY do change the ending in a couple of different ways, from how many time you have to fight the bad guy, to what happens to the council. Pretty cool.

BTW, first run through took about 35 hours, second play took 10 hours.... Does that REALLY mean that I spent 25 hours on side quests????

[DJ_Lae]

BTW, first run through took about 35 hours, second play took 10 hours.... Does that REALLY mean that I spent 25 hours on side quests????

Probably. My first playthrough took me about 16 hours, and I did sidequests for a little while before getting fed up with them.

[Crimsonpug]

BTW, first run through took about 35 hours, second play took 10 hours.... Does that REALLY mean that I spent 25 hours on side quests????

Probably. My first playthrough took me about 16 hours, and I did sidequests for a little while before getting fed up with them.
I guess it makes sense. I DID spend about 40 hours doing side quests in FF7, and just recently I added a good 35 hours to my Lost Oddysee game time exploring the world...
But at least in those games the side quests consisted of more than a randomly generated planet and the same damn warehouse every 10 minutes... Not to mention the frackin worms. I only ran into three of them the whole game, but I hated them from the beginning.

[Randolph]

I spent nearly ten hours just perfecting my space vixens eyes. :)

[gorilla STAMPEDE]

I've spent the day rocking out to the ending theme. It's cheesy to be sure but it kind of nails home that sense of "I just kicked a lot of ass but there's still so much more ass to be kicked."

I thought the music overall was superb and I'm really looking forward to picking up the soundtrack.

[Alidar]

KOTOR II had you tell the game if you had a male/female, and if you were Jedi or Sith. I think the main reason is that while it could have looked it up, both games were on PC and Xbox. What if you played the first on Xbox and the second on PC? Even then it wouldn't have been much of a problem as it is just story reference, as you had totally new characters. What if you could continue your character and their stats? If you played ME1 on the 360, but the best version of ME2 is on the PC, would you be "locked" into the 360 if you wanted to keep your info? And how does the PS3 play into all of this, given that it doesn't even have ME1 but will very likely have ME2? That's the problem I see with being able to read your saves, sadly. All the games that I played that let you load clear data from a previous game were all exclusives (Suikoden games, Xenosaga games, etc.).

[Alex]

I spent nearly ten hours just perfecting my space vixens eyes. :)
I have to say that was probably the most time I've spent on character customisation.

[DJ_Lae]

The character customization pissed me off because the model they used there didn't seem to match up particularly well with the in-game model. More than once I ended up with a very pinch-faced female character because the lighting didn't necessarily represent what I was going to be playing the game with. I had to give her kind of a chubby face before it looked remotely normal in-game, and even then she was kind of frightening looking. I'm still waiting for a game with user-created characters that allows you to make ones that aren't, well, butt-ugly.

[Dkittels]

The character customization pissed me off because the model they used there didn't seem to match up particularly well with the in-game model. More than once I ended up with a very pinch-faced female character because the lighting didn't necessarily represent what I was going to be playing the game with. I had to give her kind of a chubby face before it looked remotely normal in-game, and even then she was kind of frightening looking. I'm still waiting for a game with user-created characters that allows you to make ones that aren't, well, butt-ugly.

Oh man. I spent like an hour trying to get my lady character's face just right. And after I'm satisfied I start the game up, and it wasn't until a couple hours later I noticed her CHEEKS WERE INCREDIBLY GAUNT.

Man it bothered the hell out of me for the rest of the game, just not enough to restart it.

[DJ_Lae]

Oh man. I spent like an hour trying to get my lady character's face just right. And after I'm satisfied I start the game up, and it wasn't until a couple hours later I noticed her CHEEKS WERE INCREDIBLY GAUNT.

Man it bothered the hell out of me for the rest of the game, just not enough to restart it.

Maybe we were making a pre-war Shepard, and the in-game version is older and malnourished because Joker keeps eating all of the dehydrated food supplies aboard the Normandy.

[mmd]

The character customization pissed me off because the model they used there didn't seem to match up particularly well with the in-game model. More than once I ended up with a very pinch-faced female character because the lighting didn't necessarily represent what I was going to be playing the game with. I had to give her kind of a chubby face before it looked remotely normal in-game, and even then she was kind of frightening looking. I'm still waiting for a game with user-created characters that allows you to make ones that aren't, well, butt-ugly.

Oh man. I spent like an hour trying to get my lady character's face just right. And after I'm satisfied I start the game up, and it wasn't until a couple hours later I noticed her CHEEKS WERE INCREDIBLY GAUNT.

Man it bothered the hell out of me for the rest of the game, just not enough to restart it.

I did the same thing. My guy looked like an anorexic orphan who had never been in the sun.

[Hailinel]

The character customization pissed me off because the model they used there didn't seem to match up particularly well with the in-game model. More than once I ended up with a very pinch-faced female character because the lighting didn't necessarily represent what I was going to be playing the game with. I had to give her kind of a chubby face before it looked remotely normal in-game, and even then she was kind of frightening looking. I'm still waiting for a game with user-created characters that allows you to make ones that aren't, well, butt-ugly.

Oh man. I spent like an hour trying to get my lady character's face just right. And after I'm satisfied I start the game up, and it wasn't until a couple hours later I noticed her CHEEKS WERE INCREDIBLY GAUNT.

Man it bothered the hell out of me for the rest of the game, just not enough to restart it.

I did the same thing. My guy looked like an anorexic orphan who had never been in the sun.Sounds a lot like my first attempt at a character in the Oblivion character generator.

[Donutta]

Ironic. 10 hours of actually decent gameplay in Mass Effect = Game of the Year. 6 hours of wonderful gameplay in Heavenly Sword = Rip-off of the Year. Nice to see some ridiculous double standards alive and well in the video game world. And before you start ripping on Heavenly Sword (or anything else) I remember that Fable was torn to pieces for only 8 hours of actual solid gameplay back in the day. Yeah, nice to see that bias is disguised as objective opinion. :roll:

[Dkittels]

Ironic. 10 hours of actually decent gameplay in Mass Effect = Game of the Year. 6 hours of wonderful gameplay in Heavenly Sword = Rip-off of the Year. Nice to see some ridiculous double standards alive and well in the video game world. And before you start ripping on Heavenly Sword (or anything else) I remember that Fable was torn to pieces for only 8 hours of actual solid gameplay back in the day. Yeah, nice to see that bias is disguised as objective opinion. :roll:

Hey don't look at me I bought Mass Effect expecting a long lengthy adventure and ended up getting a pretty decent RPG with a lot of filler. Had I known that I would have passed on it till it was cheaper just like Heavenly Sword.

As for Fable, I tear it to pieces for having basically 0 hours of actual solid gameplay, but being a pretty interesting collection of half-ideas besides.

[Lafinman]

Trolling aside...

I'm gonna be downloading the exspansion pack tonight. Gonna get geared up and ready to play some nonstop Mass Effect starting Thursday night leading on to Friday. I haven't played the game in months, but I need to set aside alot of time cause I play it straight through. i get all geeky on all the conversations, missions, the music, side missions, Shepard being bad ass, hell they whole sha-bang.

Man even though alot of the planets you never get to land on, I still read all the descriptions of them.

Also am I the only one who has the "Whalers on the Moon" song form Futurama in his head when you go there to shut down that base? lol thats what I get for passing out to Futurama every night.

I already had a Female Shepard so I'm gong Male this time cause I want to knock boots with Ashly. And I've done it 4 times already, but sending Carth do his death is always fun.

[JonathanL]

Ironic. 10 hours of actually decent gameplay in Mass Effect = Game of the Year. 6 hours of wonderful gameplay in Heavenly Sword = Rip-off of the Year. Nice to see some ridiculous double standards alive and well in the video game world. And before you start ripping on Heavenly Sword (or anything else) I remember that Fable was torn to pieces for only 8 hours of actual solid gameplay back in the day. Yeah, nice to see that bias is disguised as objective opinion. :roll:

I love Fable. I'm literally playing it right now; started a new game about a week and a half ago, and it's the only game I've played outside of Halo 3 Night. But I'm a sucker for games that aspire, even if they don't always reach the stars they gaze upon.

And my female Shephard was hot, but also had a very long neck that I just couldn't get past. So my "Renegade" (you know, the one who had it made, until they finally found him) will be a dude again. Besides, I'm trying to procreate with humans this time, now that I've had a transcendental experience with blue alien Barrymore.

I may go back to it after this Fable run.

[Randolph]

Glad I'm not the only one who noticed female Shephard is a giraffe.

[duxup]

Glad I'm not the only one who noticed female Shephard is a giraffe.

When I was looking around the ME forums on FAQs a while back there were a ton of comments like that. You are certainly not alone.

[JonathanL]

It killed the female game for me. My female protag is hot, and yet she looks almost alien with that neck, and I had to move on.

[Lafinman]

I didn't have any problem with my Female Shepard.

She looked like a bad ass though, but I'd say she was still attractive. Maybe I just like long necks. lol

[GaijinDevil]

I've decided I'm not buying games from companies who plan a trilogy before the first one is ever released. All that seems to do is set it up for an excuse for the first game sucking. Bye-bye, Too Human.

[JonathanL]

I've decided I'm not buying games from companies who plan a trilogy before the first one is ever released. All that seems to do is set it up for an excuse for the first game sucking. Bye-bye, Too Human.

Yeah, but Mass Effect was awesome, so that doesn't really follow.

[duxup]

I've decided I'm not buying games from companies who plan a trilogy before the first one is ever released. All that seems to do is set it up for an excuse for the first game sucking. Bye-bye, Too Human.

Considering Too Human's history I think there are plenty of reasons to doubt it other than that it is a trilogy. Is it really a trilogy when that at this pace it won't be finished for a couple decades?

[Randolph]

Considering Too Human's history I think there are plenty of reasons to doubt it other than that it is a trilogy. Is it really a trilogy when that at this pace it won't be finished for a couple decades?

Buh but... it's all Unreal Engine 3's fault!!!!! :aimsad:

I'm starting to think Duke Nukem Forever could make it to retail before Too Human Chapter one.

[Lafinman]

Considering Too Human's history I think there are plenty of reasons to doubt it other than that it is a trilogy. Is it really a trilogy when that at this pace it won't be finished for a couple decades?

Buh but... it's all Unreal Engine 3's fault!!!!! :aimsad:

I'm starting to think Duke Nukem Forever could make it to retail before Too Human Chapter one.

Now there's some action I'd like to get into.

We should start a pool on this.

[Crimsonpug]

I've decided I'm not buying games from companies who plan a trilogy before the first one is ever released. All that seems to do is set it up for an excuse for the first game sucking. Bye-bye, Too Human.

Considering Too Human's history I think there are plenty of reasons to doubt it other than that it is a trilogy. Is it really a trilogy when that at this pace it won't be finished for a couple decades?
I dunno... The last couple vids I've seen of this game are looking pretty good. MUCH better than the E3 crapfest they had out there. If Silicon can fix the control issues everyone was complaining about, then this may end up being a sleeper hit. I'm not anticipating its release or anything, but if there seems to be good word of mouth floating around this new build, I may check it out.

In ten years, when its released.

[Lafinman]

I tired playing last night and couldn't get into it. I kept missing my original female Shepard. In fact that's all i thought about was my original Shepard. The way she bullied people, bithced out the council, etc etc.

*sniff* So I think I'm going to start over with her again.

Not even making the male Shepard look like me helped. Yeha he was cool, but he wasn't the bitch I think I'd be if I was a chick. lol