Mass Effect

isn't it technically a 3rd person shooter a la advent rising or something?

they call it an RPG becuase you gain levels, pick different classes, have a party, etc. but yeah, it looks amazing

but oblivion was an RPG that looked like an FPS

True, it is third-person, not first-.

Oblivion is either first-person or third- (depending on your chosen camera angle), but so much of the game seems traditionally RPG: walking around, exploring castles, accumulating stuff, selling it to merchants ... is it just that the lines between genres are becoming more fluid?

Mass Effect looks more like a KOTOR or Rogue Galaxy space opera RPG, exploring different planets and such. RPG doesn't have to mean D&D/LOTR/Conan swords and sorcery stuff.

I guess I always assumed that RPGs were exclusively turn-based. My ignorance here due mostly to my hatred for turn-based RPGs, I guess.

Ahhh, no I think this is technically an action RPG. Anything goes, there.

I think in Mass Effect you have the choice - you can play through the combat sections as a straight-up shooter, or semi-turn based, where you select what you and your team does on some kind of pause screen, and then they go do it...

So far it seems to be all action. You can instruct your team to do the work for you and lag behind, but you're either shooting in real time or hiding in real time.

just bought it. too many games to buy.

I've heard a bit more about the combat, and why it sucks/doesn't suck, depending on who you ask.

It's a well-masked RPG system. You aim through the sight of your sniper rifle, but if you pull the trigger while the crosshairs aren't over the enemy, it doesn't mean you'll miss, or vice versa. It realizes who you're shooting at and rolls the dice, with your sniper skill vs. their not-get-hit-by-bullet skill, or whatnot. This pisses off al the non-KoTOR fans who got bamboozled into buying it, but it will just be a nicer look for those who already loved KoTOR.

Anyway, I get paid Thursday... be picking it up then. And I have, finally, an incredibly SLOW weekend coming up... no parties, and friends out of town for Thxgiving. I am gonna play the shit outta this. (if I can keep Orange Box and CoD4 out of the machine long enough, that is... maybe I can beat episode 1 and 2 of HL2 in two days? oh dear)

yeah plenty of gaming for this weekend!

My enthusiasm for this game has cooled a little, but I'm not exactly sure why. I think it's a little like you guys say - there's just so many games to play right now - I feel very occupied and satisfied with by a 3-way rotation between Super Mario Galaxy, Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty 4 - and can't really see adding another long game into that mix (for the time being). I also got some old games I'm thinking of getting back into this weekend if I can find the time. I definitely still want to eventually pick up Mass Effect, but I do feel like I can wait for a while - maybe till next year? Anyhow, I'm looking forward to reading the impressions of those of you here who have picked it up (so please post 'em).

Mass Effect just seems like a rental to me. I'm not convinced I would still want to play it after hour 20 or so.

How many rentals will it take you to get past hour 20?

coming tomorrow. cannot wait.

i just picked this up tonight. Excited! So far, have not made it past the character generator. I am paralyzed by choice. Do I want to be angry universe saving bad-ass, nebbish universe saving scientist, sultry universe saving woman? Decisions!

pick the fucking default character and get going

how's the narrative?

My girlfriend was a little stoned watching me play this and the character creation thing BLEW HER MIND (she's not a video game person). "So you just MADE that man... And now he's in the GAME?"

i just picked this up tonight. Excited! So far, have not made it past the character generator. I am paralyzed by choice. Do I want to be angry universe saving bad-ass, nebbish universe saving scientist, sultry universe saving woman? Decisions!

Badass, nebbish woman saving the galaxy with science is the only choice here. Sort of like a female Lex Luthor or something. Do it!!!

I am getting this in 24 hours. Just found out I have company up for the weekend. Not evne MY friends... the gf's friends. AAAAAAAAAARGHHHHH.......

ups guy come soon pls/girlfriend's parents who are staying at my house for holiday go to bed early pls thanks

gf dad came in as i was happily playing cod4, shooting marines in the head etc and told me it was "depressing," all the killing and death. it gave me pause

That's probably the first time three consecutive posts have mentioned girlfriends in the history of gaming messageboards.

bioware obv attracts a more well-kempt breed of gaming nerd

Ok, I got a few hours into this last night. So far it's fantastic.
Having a main character who isn't a mute cipher is a nice change of pace in a CRPG - you have lots of spoken dialogue, history, NPCs you come across will recognize you and reference events from your past and things you've done so far in the game world, etc. The massive amount of recorded dialogue also makes the game very immersive - I havn't felt the urge to turn on the subtitles and fast-forward through any conversations yet. This is furthered by the slick, minimalistic interface and elegant menus. Visually the game is absolutely gorgeous, and it has a great Blade Runner - esque synth and ambient soundtrack that's a nice change of pace from blaring, cinematic, epic horns and clashing.

Combat is very fast for an RPG and definitely gives the illusion of an FPS battle - cover is very important since once your shields drop you take damage very fast, you can hug it and pop out for shots, use "biotics" (aka mind powers) to move enemy cover out of the way, etc. The weapons don't seem to do vastly different amounts of damage so much as they're useful for different situations - pistols for accuracy, shotgun for point-blank ranges, assault rifle for mid - long range, sniper rifle for long range, etc. The party AI seems pretty good so far, and they're very responsive to your commands to seek cover, engage specific targets, etc.

My only complaint so far is a lack of documentation / info re: the mechanics behind combat, how stats affect it, etc, but I'll figure it out as I go along.

the soundtrack is amazing. i only got to play like 1.5hrs last night but god damn

That's exactly what I thought after playing it for an ohur or two was DAMN, this is the first video game where I seriosly considered getting the soundtrack to listen to while not playng the game.

The above is a lie; I have listened to many vg soundtracks :( but... this one is different.

Speaking of gf, I tried to get her to put her fine arts skills to use to help me make a main character who looked like me. I trusted her fully. The end result is so UGLY that I'm considering starting the game over. Seriously, she made my character look like his parents were cousins. And also, both cows. Cow cousins.

What class are you guys playing? I picked adept, but I, uh, haven't figured out how to use spells yet. So I am running around shooting things w/ pistol. Also, what backgrounds? I took sole survivor earthborn.

Sole Survivor Spacer, Vanguard. Use your biotics with the right bumper -you can map a single power to activate when you tap the bumper, or you can hold it for a radial menu with all your powers, e.g Throw, Warp, Barrier, whatever (and other abilities) in it - the game will pause, you select your power, line it up, and fire.

Is throw any good? I accidentally auto-levelled Karsh or whatever his name is in this game (lol KoTOR voice actor coming back) and it gave him a bunch of... throw.

Apparently everyone in every podcast i listen to went the vanguard route. which makes sense because it is somewhat badass-seeming. i went adept just to not be like them (seriously, it was like 9 vanguards, one guy did infiltrator)

you listened to 10 separate mass effect podcasts?

just three or four different video game podcasts with 2-4 people each

Anyway, I am at the point in the game where it really opens up and you can run around exploring the galaxy. It is so fun. It really feels almost like Master of Orion 2, with the wonder of flying around looking at random planets and learning about their old dead cultures, but isnstead of not actually being able to explore thme ,you get this KoTOR-style closeness to the planets. It is really, really fun exploration-y stuff, and THEN on top of that... there's the actual storyline. Also, you can totally do dumb things, like fight guys you're not yet strong enough to fight, which I miss in video games. Too much railroading in games... they should let you get into trouble sometimes.

I really like this game.

i just bought this and the clerk said "good man!" which makes me want to kill myself.

ha ha!

What I'm curious about is how much of the game is conversation? And if the conversation parts hold up to be actually interesting, or is it just a bunch of pseudo-sf jibber-jabber that you wish you could skip through?

A huge amount of it is conversation. I really dig it; the world is actually interesting and rich enough that I want to learn more about it. I turned off subtitles after a while, because just listening to it is a lot more immersive. I find the conversation very interesting, but I can't really explain why. I even like flying to the uncharted worlds and surveying for thorium deposits or whatever. I am just very into this game. Once my speakers and etc are set up again (we been painting) I am going ot wear headphones to play, though, because I keep getting interrupted by gf/blenders/cat/other shit that makes me not hear things. It's probably a good thing that I don't live alone though, because I would jsut boot this game up and... not stop playing.

i think the conversation is in no way annoying. the characters and voices are all thoroughly interesting! need to log some more hours, though...

Ok, I finished it a while ago, and despite its shortcomings, this game was really, really awesome.

PC version is out in May with possibly some improvements... according to the press release...

* Optimized controls designed specifically for the PC.
* High resolution visuals - Mass Effect for the PC features highly detailed textures, characters and environments.
* Fully customizable controls - PC gamers can re-map the control scheme any way they like.
* Run & Gun Control - Players can assign biotic powers or skills to 'hot keys' allowing them to play Mass Effect with a heavier focus on action.
* New decryption mini-game.
* New inventory screen GUI and functionality - The enhanced inventory system makes it easier for players to equip and modify their weapons and armor.

May!? I was hoping it'd be much sooner than that.

Is this game anything at all like Battlestar Galactica?

I'd say that it's more like Star Trek or Babylon 5 in terms of the back story (a federation of different races, each with their own strengths), and more like Star Wars in the sense that you have powers that are Jedi-like. It has the cool, austere feel of BSG, and with a soundtrack that's reminiscent of Vangelis's work for Blade Runner.

There isn't any (user controlled) space combat, and you don't use the lunar lander's attack capabilities very much.

I bought this last night. I hope I don't regret it. Haven't opened it; waiting to finish Bioshock, which should happen whenever I have time to actually play it again.

i used the car thing's attacks all the time. especially the cannon.

i used the car thing's attacks all the time. especially the cannon.

Did you ever struggle to dispatch anyone with it? I really liked the feel of driving around in the lander, but it just seems like that aspect of the game was very underdeveloped.

yes, the driving part is terrible.

I agree the driving is a bit lame, but apart from that i think it's totally awesome.

I found the game became a lot easier after getting decent a sniper rifle and decent sniper skills

more like ass effect

You guys hear about that ridiculous DRM they're putting in the PC version? Like, it's bad enough so many of these new games put SecuROM on it (as a freakin' WIndows service that's hard to remove) but now if you pay $50 for the privilege of owning this game, it'll check every 10 days over the internet if your key is legit. If your internet is down, too bad, you wasted your money on a single player game.

The sad thing I was actually considering buying this, but like Bioshock, I guess I'll spend my money elsewhere.

i didn't say it was the best way, just an acceptable one

surely there are better ways to wait for death than yet another on-the-rails generic sci-fi rpg from bioware?

name one

witcher dlc?

okay name two

wait there's a new Torment game????

yeah kickstarted - https://torment.inxile-entertainment.com/

i'd much rather be on rails in space than left to my own devices surrounded by bombed-out americana. love, the guy who pans every bethesda game ever

(well, just the fallout and elder ones)

I really hope the critical success of Witcher 3 leads the other AAA RPG producers to consider writing for adults.

...and consider having a good voice director and completed dialogue before hiring voice talent. It's audible from playthroughs that each character's dialog in single conversations was recorded over multiple sessions, suggesting a lot of rewrites.

...and if Frostbite is that difficult to script facial animations for, perhaps Bioware should return to something they can work with.

witcher 3 is so anomalous in terms of its writing (and uniqueness of setting) that i imagine some of it is having rich source material to work from. i find that mass effect (or, ugh even worse, dragon age) are far more generic than even bethesda's fallout or elder scrolls games - esp if you expand the parameters to include Morrowind (which the studio deserves credit for) or Fallout 1 & 2 (which they do not). mass effect does relationships better, and the actual prose is probably better (tho this might just be cleaner prose i'm not sure that any of it is actually memorable or effective). none of them are comparable to witcher 3 and honestly it really exposed to me how bad AAA contemporary western RPGs are (esp these very open-world models, i think deus ex: mankind divided was - despite coasting on the mythos of the franchise - remarkably tight in terms of plotting and writing maybe bc of how short and somewhat on the rails it was, but we will discuss it more in coint + plick i'm sure).

Nothing prevents a game developer from licencing. There are comparable, "less generic" fantasy and science fiction worlds that would make great IPs. For example, Morecock's Brecht-inspired Elric saga (and Chaosium's tabletop RPG Stormbringer). Iain Bank's Culture series, etc.

The bigger issue is that there's only a handful of VG companies that can afford the entry fee into the AAA RPG domain. So Bioware has its generic fantasy and space opera series, as does Bethesda (Starfield will be the original sci-fi IP). Perhaps the hope resides in nations with lower development costs. Hey CD Project Red, you've heard of Stanislaw Lem, haven't you?

the important thing is that they've heard of cyberpunk 2020

the problem with shadowrun (which I've played and gm'd irl and find the same problems there) is that it's basically a generic fantasy game grafted onto a low quality Gibson urban setting. Consequently I've found all the recent vg releases to be pretty lackluster. Also the underlying mechanical system is totally broken and unbalanced.

Didn't (think to) find this thread till now, anyway, I'd been thinking that I made a mistake starting off as an Infiltrator since the sniper rifle is so hard to use... and then I maxed out sniping, and now it doesn't drift anymore! Nice! But I'm still not sure how useful it's going to be in typical combat situations (taking out Geth Destroyers when I'm surface-rambling).

The series has its faults, but balance between combat classes isn't one of them. Thinning the ranks from a distance works fine, you just won't need Garrus anymore. It's a good class for a more strategic player, who is willing to trade time for better odds. For fun, though, choices other than Vanguard are suboptimal.

It's a good class for a more strategic player

lol this is not me! I don't think I've actually used Garrus after I recruited him (it's been Tali/Liara partytime as much as possible for me).

Also the PS3 port's graphics are total butt compared to what I've seen of the XBox version.

the multiplayer in ME:3(?) was fun as hell. I didn't think it had any right to be, but it was.

Just found out that Thresher Maws are easier to kill on foot than in the Mako! Game-changer!

Oh man, so I made a BIG DECISION on one mission, and let's just say I can safely sell all my human heavy armor now. ;_;

the vibe and soundtrack in the first one are all-time, it's a shame they went down the orchestral bombast route in the other games.

gameplay aside, the film grain and synth jams were like all i had ever wanted out of a game when it first came out.

the vibe and soundtrack in the first one are all-time, it's a shame they went down the orchestral bombast route in the other games.

That's too bad, soundtrack is awesome.

I beat the game this weekend, and I did not expect to get so wrapped up in it! Obviously the parts where you decide who lives (RIP Council). Now to free up space on my HD to be able to download ME2.

Started playing and when I saw Tali on the first real mission I was like YAY getting the team back together! But then noooo, she wouldn't come with and then my entire team from the first game is scattered across the stars, and even though I only ever used T and L, the remoteness made me sad.

Am I right in thinking that Miranda is an indispensable if not OP member to have on your team? And that teaming her with Jack covers most enemy types?

And am I also right in thinking that "Mass" stands for "Miranda's ass"?

Am I right in thinking that Miranda is an indispensable if not OP member to have on your team?

None of them are indispensable in terms of gameplay, I think. Your choices really only affect the story.

Did the Shadow Broker missions last night, excepting for how long they were, hella fun, probably because I've gotten a hang of the combat mechanics now.

In the mission where you recruit Kelly, there's a room with a damaged Geth crawling on the ground -- I punched it dead right away, but then I thought it looked like a Quarian and I was really bothered by the possibility that I killed it.

Two ME games in, and there's yet to be a vehicle-confined mission/assignment that isn't painful. (Well OK, the Shadow Broker chase isn't too bad, since I don't have to shoot anything.)

I beat ME2 yesterday! But two of my squad died (because I didn't get the sub-team assignments right, everything else is set up for an "Everybody lives!" ending), so thankfully there's an autosave where I can restart the entire mission (I overwrote the one save file I have).

Like, what was I thinking putting a tank-born krogan in charge of a squad?

It might be rudimentary, but I really liked how the ME2 ending lets you choose different team members to lead different squads or perform a specialized task to create the sense of teamwork (beyond having your two AI squaddies shooting enemies). Hearing my tech specialist tell me that it's getting hot in the pipes definitely immersed me further.

Started into ME3, I finished the Priority: Tuchanka mission, and omg, Mordin! Right in the heart!

This installment feels like the most fully inhabited in that I actually enjoy the conversations with the characters. The dialogue is generally sharper (even if a lot of Shep's dialogue branches still have that bad habit of paraphrasing the preceding statement) and the characters have more concrete personalities.

Gameplay-wise, I don't enjoy the combat as much as I ended up liking ME2 (of course, that may just be the learning curve), but one thing for certain is that my left hand hurts from holding the L1 button down so much.

The War Asset mechanic thing seems promising in that decisions seem to be a little more consequential, specifically that some decisions invariably involve tradeoffs no matter your paragon/renegade level -- I'm thinking of the Salarian who wanted me to sabotage the genophage cure.

Oh noes I missed the Thane cameo permanently. :(

Which was better, ME1 or 2?

ME2 easily. The writing is generally better (ME1 has too much extraneous detail that made it easy to lose track of what was going on), your squadmates are better developed, and obviously the gameplay is better.

Finished the game yesterday! I kind of stopped following the details of the main plot by the middle of ME1, so the plotholes don't bother me so much; the ending(s) don't seem horrible (aside from the possibility that Tali gets stranded on an alien planet after just helping to reclaim Rannoch, that is some cold Exodus-style blue balling) and in fact had some great pathos IMO.

So: loved the character interactions (in other RPGs I have little patience for running around my ship to see if ally dialogue is unlocked, but in ME3 it was a highlight of the game), gameplay not so much (the last level that spams Banshees == no thanks (I finally cheesed it by using tactical cloak to get to the goal)).

I'm envious of the fact you've been able to play these back to back, odd thing about playing them as they got released meant that through ME3 I was bumping into minor NPCs who were telling me about the outcomes of choices I'd made 5 years earlier, and I had no memory of the characters or of anything they were talking about.

lol I don't know about that, I finished a bunch of ME3-specific side quests where Shepard sez "Here's this thing you said you needed" to some NPC and I have no idea when I picked it up or even talked to the NPC.

Apparently the Citadel DLC is the exact sort of fanservice that I want but $15??? I paid $30 for the whole trilogy!

Are there ever any DLC sales?

Found a copy of the "Legendary" edition for $10. I will get around to it in ... 2024.

https://kotaku.com/playstation-plus-mass-effect-legendary-biomutant-leaks-1847556405

You're welcome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC2ib_efdRs

https://kotaku.com/mass-effect-teaser-n7-day-andromeda-1850999958

Gonna have to play the original trilogy (for the first time) this winter.

Looking forward to you finding out that the people fueling the ME3 ending controversy were screaming babies.

I played ME3 not having played any previous entries so my response to the ending was entirely "???".

I thought the whole deal with the series is that each one builds on the previous, and your decisions matter? Funny you started with ME3.

Don't know anything about a controversial ME3 ending, except that people don't like "Andromeda."

The non spoiler summary of the controversy is that you get presented with the same set of choices at the end no matter what character and story routes you took in all the preceding gameplay, and supposedly contradicted the "choices matter" ethos of the series. As someone who doesn't believe in free will, I didn't much mind.

An illusion of choice is an apt summation of countless video games. It's an aspect of their novelty, that they can produce compelling gameplay even when the typical conclusion (survival! victory!) is preordained.