f13.net

So, I'm pretty sure I like it. My biggest gripe (which oddly, isn't the elevators) is probably the amount of flavor dialog. There's just... tons of it. I like good dialogue as much as the next guy (obligatory Deus Ex reference), but there's so much here that it makes you compelled to investigate even the simplest conversation, which mostly results in wasting time. When there's something important it's always HEY HEY LOOK AT ME :NEON_SIGN:. Which makes things easier I suppose. But not for the completist.

I like the combat as it is definitely Resident Evil 4 lite. I like that vast majority of the alien racers. Garrus and Tali are who I keep around the most, their dialogue is pretty spiffy when in elevators (I think it's important to pick characters who don't drive you nuts, especially when in the Citadel). The upgrade system is neat, though I didn't notice it until, oh, 2 hours in. Manuals? Heh. Really though, I can't help but compare it to Oblivion, and in that way, it's so above and beyond what BethSoft gave us that I can't help but play through it. Probably won't get many replays as my time with games these days gets lessened, but what I've played has made me put everything else aside for it.

Girls need more, better hairstyles. Otherwise, the future holds nothing for "hot chicks."

Yea, I'm playing a chick. What of it?

-

Buy it.

Ok.

I see how it's going to be.

I just died doing something, it kept giving me experience and then asked me to reload. I lost 6 hours of quests.

I thought we were past this?

No savepoints?

YOU RACK DISSIPRIN!

I said this on the phone.  It's all your fault.

What kind of maniac relies on auto-save systems? Who games for 6 hours straight without thinking it's a good idea to save once in a while? Your 360 could explode.  You could have a power outtage.  Was I the only person that had triple digit saves?

Future hints: it tells you when it's auto saving.  And it really only auto saves at the beginning of planets or during a handful of key moments. You're going to want to save more often around combat anyhow, when snipers or rocket attacks can make short work of you.  It didn't save here because you were just doing a bunch of minor side quests.

Anyhow, now that you've done it, you could get through all of those quests in less than 2 hours.  Just hit X through all of the dialog and use the tram system heavily.

Edit: Heh, my saving OCD could be a bi-product of never having more than 2 hours to game at a time.  I can rarely afford to lose half an hour anymore.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.  Sucker.

By that I could imagine you writing your posts in notepad and pasting them in.

By the time I finished the game I was at save #600 something, I'm kinda OCD about that.

Pretty much the same way here, but then I also read in advance that the auto save kinda sucked.

I got so wrapped up in playing that I forgot to save and lost over an hour of time myself.

My saves averaged around 50 for both playthrus.

It's an artifact of gaming so much on the PC. When you have the chance to save manually, you save that motherfucker. That's the one thing that annoys me a bit about most console games, they don't allow you to save anywhere, anytime. I hate save points.

Its showing again that you dont have a current gen console Haemish. I would say 60% or more of the games I play on 360 let me save when ever I want.

I was actually thinking of Metroid Prime Corruption for the Wii, which doesn't let you save anywhere anytime, but only at your ship or at save points. Now whether that qualifies as next-gen or not depends on how many schilds  you have on the "HATEZ WII" chart.

Metroid has been doing that since what, the gameboy? Super Nintendo?

It doesn't count as next-gen because the mechanic is NEARLY 15 YEARS OLD.

Or because the Wii isn't next gen. I want one but let's be honest, it's sort of 1.5 to the other platforms 2.0. (and yes I'm aware we're well past the 2nd generation of consoles, I'm just too lazy to actually figure out what gen we're on, 5th or something crazy like that I think.)

Yup, the only part of the Wii that is current gen is the controller.

You also have to turn auto-save on for it to work.  They allow you to disable it.

Guys.

I just realized the biggest problem with the game.

The distinct lack of bacon salt.

Respondent opinion.  I'm probably ten hours in and I just found another side quest on the Citadel.  I love this game.  It's next-gen KOTOR.  I don't see the Oblivion connection at all.  You even have a squadmate with the same voice as Carth Onassi, for fuck's sake.  It's like KOTOR version four with all the gay-ass Star Wars shit removed and replaced with a mixture of every sci-fi ever, which I mean as a compliment.  Babylon 5, Star Trek, Star Wars, it's a great mix and so far the things I can do are great.  I don't want to spoil but having the option to shoot a bad guy just because I don't like him is awesome.  Me rikey.

Put me on the list of the people with several hundred saves. Oh and Schild, its ok that you are playing the girl. Hell, this is one of the first voiceover games I know of that lets you play either gender with full voices for each. For anyone who didn't know, in addition to them reusing Carth's voice actor, the actress that voiced Bastila Shan is the one doing the female Sheppard (without the required Starwars Universe English Accent)

I thought it was familiar. Ashley is awesome.

And of course is KotOR 3. It even has its own Mission....er, Blue Girl....whatever.

I'm in two minds about this game. It seems like it would be a better fit for the PC, and also like it's fucking long. And I find longer game sessions more comfy on the PC as well. Also, KOTOR3 is all well and good, but a big part of the appeal of KOTOR for me was the glow-sticks and general Star Wars universe done in a non-shitty way in a videogame. I'll probably wait till it's discounted in the 360's Greatest Hits catalogue.

Funnily it was improved by the removal of the Kotor-corset. They had total control of the universe and the story and did quite well without being tied down by some sort of canon. The story they did wouldn't have worked in an already established universe.

Honestly?  I wished it had been longer.  Alot of the length for me was ultimately driving around in the damn Mako.  The parts I was into the most, the plotty missions and stuff, especially the main arc, way way too short.  I'd have preferred one or two more times to face off against Saren and really make the rivalry something more than, "Oh hey.  I have a rocket sled!" and "I'm back, bitch!  And so's my sled!" 

Well, I haven't played it, but games that I'll actually finish before I lose interest or get distracted by other shiny things are a bonus in my view. Games that are too long tend to get put to one side for awhile, and when that's happened you can really only pick them up again if they're mindless (Doom3, most FPS games) or close enough to mindless (GTA-games).

The first N64 Zelda got put aside for a little while, not because it was bad, just because I took a break from it. When I came back to it, I had no fucking idea what I had done or needed to do or what the fuck was going on. ME seems like it may fall into that particular realm for me.. especially without the Star Wars.

Tebonas - That was the thing about KOTOR - they set it what? 2000 years before Ep1? That gave them enough freedom to do whatever they liked with the Star Wars universe since they were establishing their own world and universe that only had to have a certain amount of connection to the established canon. Also, bonus points to you for being able to spell canon correctly. (for serious).

I've never finished a Bioware game, but I will definitely finish Mass Effect. This game is great. I hate saving and shutting down the 360 whenever I get a chance to play.

FIFY.

I finished KotOR twice and played through most of KotOR2 before deciding I'm going to wait fifty years for Team Gizka to finish the Restoration Project. I'll be surprised if Gizka is done before Mass Effect hits the PC, even though it took foooorever to get Jade Empire.

Hey, I need to finish Jade Empire! Cool beans.

Outside of Bioware games, I hardly ever finish RPGs. Oddly, with Bioware the only ones I never completely finished were the Baldur's Gate series.

BOOOO! Heathen.

I can understand not finishing Baldur's Gate 1....But the second was fucking Great. And Epic.

Are they going to release it for the PC? For some reason I assumed they weren't. If they do that's a definate wait.

Gizka have really seemed to slow down as they got closer to finishing it over 2007. With 8 issues left (4 being tweaks and 4 being minor) I'd have hoped they perhaps could have gotten them done in the last 2 months, or at least the next update will be the release one...

First off, PC port = :drill:.  Second, I hope that said port is at least as moddable as the KotORs were.  The lack of mods to play around with is probably why I couldn't muster a second playthrough of Jade Empire.

I don't tend to finish any RPG's since they take too damn long. I can only think of 2 off the top of my head that I played from beginning to end.

I finally left the Citadel got back around to doing the main quest around the 7hr mark. Too much time spent scanning keepers and searching for missing marines. Only came across one quest (some sort of issue with Scientists) that kicked my ass so many times, that I just left and decided to do it later when I got geared up a bit more.

I've only been on 3-4 different planets and so far the Mako parts aren't as bad as I thought they would be. I actually don't mind sitting on a mountain top, shelling a mercenary encampment from afar.

Mass Effect and Jade Empire shouldn't be mentioned together.  Mass Effect is way better.  As for length, I am only playing the main story while my wife is awake but I can easily spend an hour exploring some planets or doing side missions.  There is a shit-ton of side missions, and I love it.  The story-mission worlds are clearly marked, so you can beeline or avoid as you see fit.

My wife and I are both very impressed with the incredible depth put into the world.  If you're someone that enjoys getting into a new sci-fi universe, you'll love this.  Tech details, race histories, planetary environments, they are all incredibly detailed.

Ashley Williams sucks.  I hate that bitch.  I roll with Tali and Wrex, or Garrus and Wrex if I know there's only fighting going on.  Problem is, if I encounter something on a planet like a probe and it tells me I don't have the engineering skill to scavenge from it, when I go get Tali and come back it only lets me bypass with omnigel.  Not that I'm low on omnigel but it's the principle.

My only complaint about Mass Effect is a big one: the item interface sucks krogan balls.  It's a huge failure.  If you guys get a PC version, hopefully something will be done about it.

So, after 2 or 3 weeks of looking at the ME box sitting on my desk, I finally cracked the seal and gave it some serious game time.  

I think I'm the only one that is extremely disappointed in the game:
1)  Too much dialogue and cutscenes that drag the game down as far as pace of play is concerned  
2)  I can't jump over ledges or walls that don't come to my knees??
3)  Weird shadow graphics (glitches?).  Even on a HD TV, it looks like the spray paint option on MS paint was used
4)  Driving / fighting in the Mako is an exercise in frustration
5)  First game I've ever had to read the manual to figure out all the options and controls
6)  Too many load screens that hiccup the game too often
7)  Not enough autosave points

It's worth noting that if you expect Mass Effect to be a PC-ish RPG before you boot it up, your list isn't something to worry about.  Instead you'll bitch about the UI and lack of logs and combat numbers.  If you are expecting a console FPS, then it's a valid list of complaints.  Not trying to put words in your mouth, but I think your expectations set you up.

About the Mako, practice makes perfect, also I think it gets tougher as I level up.  Not sure since I have gotten pretty good at avoiding the thresher maw loogies.

You're probably very right in terms of my expectations regarding an FPS vs straight up RPG.  I suppose I was hoping for something more actiony, faster paced.

And most of the the music sucks.  Sounds like something out of a '70's sci fi movie; Blade Runner comes to mind.

Mako combat got a ton easier after I found the zoom option.  (edit: just realized it was pointed out here in the other thread).

Also, I'd kill for a PnP RPG set in the ME gameworld.

Its really funny how different expectations can change perceptions. I was glad that the game had a lot of story in form of dialogue and cutscenes and doesn't cater to the typical short attention span crowd (god knows enough games already do). And I found the 70s sci fi movie sounds perfect for a game that went for exactly that scifi feeling.

I felt the music fit the atmosphere and it wasn't cloying, so I'm OK with it.  Could have been worse.  I actually appreciate the general lack of music; I even disable the music completely in Forza 2.  The musical high-bar in scifi games for me is Phantom Dust.

Counter to other posters here, I seek out and read all of the text and engage all of the dialog I can.  This is difficult when you're trying to get Renegade points and the bottom response is often "End Transmission" or "No thanks" or "How about I just shoot you instead?".  I was bothered that I told a reporter to fuck off and it just completed the side mission without giving me any points, but I hadn't saved recently enough to justify a redo.

Awesome game.  Just beat it at 19 hours /played, and I didn't even complete most of the sidequests.  I'll probably play it through again to get most of the subquests done, though there's only a select few I am really interested in doing.  Very good game, even with some of its flaws.

I don't know. However, they actually did say they'd never release Jade Empire on PC, and eventually did. I think the long time between releases hurt JE's pc sales, though. If I wasn't a bioware fanboi, I wouldn't have bought it for the pc. I waited forever for the announcement of the pc version, finally gave up and bought the xbox version from the bargain bin and was put off by the low-res graphics, it's the first game that demonstrated to my fiancee why I'm a graphics whore.

Still don't like the control scheme, but what can ya do?

Gizka...you can't really go by the WIP. You have to watch the Mantis tracker. As they solve some bugs, new bugs crop up, sometimes they just crop up anyway. One bug was keeping them from testing Malachor, so some new Malachor bugs will probably pop up. They did bang out the translations pretty quick, I bet the translator folks were chomping at the bit to get it done after all this time. You can't expect much from a side project, they have to be sooo tired of the damned game by now. But it's been soooooo long. I bought KotOR2 last year out of the bargain bin because I was worried it would be off the shelves and unavailable online by the time they finished.

I probably wouldn't have so much a problem with the dialogue if there was a means to skip it on a scene I have already..seen.  I was redoing some content last night because I forgot to save before going after Matriarch Benezia and died.  So, I had to go through ALL the goddamn dialogue options and hear ALL the spiel - multiple times because I died several times.

If I've already heard it?  Give me a chance to skip past it.

And the loading screens suck.

Skip with X button.

I've pressed every button on the damn controller.  Does this skip the cutscenes or dialogue, or both?

Cuts to the next line/segment of dialogue.  You don't want to be too spazzy with it though, else you'll autoselect a dialogue option you might not want to.  I'm fairly certain it'll cut through most cut scenes too, but I could be wrong on that one. 

Just dialog.  The Benezia scene is nearly all dialog you can rapid fire X through.  Plus, certain points autosave in that encounter. 

OK.

So, I've readjusted my attitude with regards to ME.

I'm enjoying it immensely, but with some somewhat minor issues:
1)  Occasionally causes my frame rate to drop waaaay way down - mostly due to some of the really big booms and biotechs going off I suppose
2)  Still not a fan of the music
3)  More than a few game stopping bugs (can't get doors to open without saving, closing it out, and reloading it is the main culprit).  Some odd graphical oddities.  Lizabeth's daughters gun was hanging in mid-air pointed at my during the dialogue sessions is an example.
4)  Hate not being able to hop up on ledges and such

Other than that, I've really gotten into the story.  Since I've gotten better at it all the way around (UI, mods, etc), I'm tempted to start over with a new character and go full renegade.

I had to restart the Benezia fight twice.  First time, after she knocked me down at the start of the fight, Shepard lost his ability to move.  Since the enemies were hiding behind crates out of my line of sight, I had to reload.  Second time, I just got killed.  Somewhat related, I did the fight with her before I went into the hot labs, and that scenario was obviously not tested by Bioware QA.  Otherwise I haven't had many notable bugs... unless I can count the entire inventory system as a bug.

The inventory system blows major chunks.  With such a looty game, it makes inventory management an absolute chore and exercise in futility.  Especially upgrades.

Edit:  This game is also BEGGING for online co-op play.

A good way to alleviate some of the inventory system pains is to sell stuff after missions to the supply officer instead of turning it into omni gel.  It's much faster. And you won't ever need 1000 omni gel anyways.

Omni gel was kind of a silly waste considering I had Tali with me on every mission. Who ever decided to have the inventory jump back to the top after breaking down something should be shot though. Also, who ever decided that the save system would overwrite the newest save by default instead of the oldest. Having to scroll down every time I saved - which I'm OCD about, I hate redoing stuff in RPGs - got annoying after a while.

I think it's the first game that made me decide to say fuck finishing the rest of the side missions, I want to finish the main plot. I usually obsess over every side mission I can, but ended up doing about 75% and then finishing it. Still took around 35 hours played I think.

Actually, thats the order I did it as well and didn't have any problems with that fight (other than dying 3 times normally).  My son did the hot labs first and the remaining security guards attacked him when her went to the dormitory section saying they were under Benezia's orders. 

I really love exploring all the side star systems and checking out the planets.  That concept is something a mmorpg SHOULD be able to capitalize on but no sci fi game to date really has pushed the Exploration aspect.

There's a cap of 300 omnigel and I tend to stay there, especially now that I know how to drive the Mako properly.  Agree with the back-to-top issue, though.  My main issue with the inventory is that I'm a control-freak and I only want to sell my crappy assault rifles, for example.  Figuring out which two or three to keep is a massive pain.  I suppose it's possible that I need to RTFM but I don't know of any way to filter the column.  I could probably save loads of time and grief if I would just sell off shit and let God sort'em out, but sometimes a version IV rifle is better than a version VI from a different manufacturer.

I also want to be able to compare the current item to everyone's equipped items, not just Shepard or the current party.  Also the lag from loading the graphic for each item is balls.

The equipment mod screen is only moderately annoying.  It needs a B-to-cancel in it.

The thing that seemed broken about doing the hot labs after Benezia was how that Russian guy and Sheperd talked about her like she was still alive.  Being locked out of the entire facility after that with no closure was also rather lame.  Also, if I really did kill everyone in there, I should have gotten some Renegade points at least.  I need closure!

Nod. I rented Jade Empire on X-Box (after all the hype) and lasted about 10 minutes, because of the combo of low-res graphics and gamepad controls. I just picked up a new copy of the PC-SE off ebay the other week for dirt cheap, hopefully it will arrive in the next day or two so it can take it's rightful place amongst the pile of stuff I may never get around to playing. I'm still seeing KOTOR2 around here and there, but it's still 50% more expensive than it should be, so I'll continue to wait. Ah well, plenty to tide me over for a year or two before seeing if ME gets a PC release...

I was wrong in that the omnigel cap seems tied to the number of main-story-worlds you complete.  It was definitely 300 for a while but now (at +55 hours) I have completed the second story-planet and I have more than 340 omnigel.  Or I did before that thresher maw surprised me.

I complain about the inventory system, but this game is so much better than Jade Empire that it's ludicrous.

I spent a TON of time (for me) playing this weekend and finished off Noveria. After reading about the difficulty with Benezia, I had done Feros and got Liara first, then did a TON of sidequests so I was outfitted with Spectre weapons.

Benezia didn't last long.

I finally got to the point though, where I am tired of driving around planets to get every node, crash, and anomoly checked out. I only have two more side-quest planets to explore, and I'm at the point where I land, head to research facility/base/mine to complete quest and then leave the planet.

I finished the collections last night.  Didn't get anything special.  I am still surveying anyway because it pays well, and I enjoy it.

Stopped surveying when I got to 9999999 creds.

And this?


Heretic! respect your sci fi music roots.

One point that isn't obvious in the game is that you get less exp for killing things while you're in the Mako.  Which means it's almost always to your advantage to get out of the Mako and kill things on foot.  If it's big stuff, you can soften it up in the Mako, then jump out and finish it off on foot.  Also, trying to get a particular type of armor is a pain, and I wish there were a mechanic in place by which you could get whatever armor you want - at least, eventually, without reloading a thousand times.

I tapered off my playing a bit after my second full playthrough, about 1/3 of the way through my Insanity playthrough.  The game is really quite short, at least in the main story aspect.  Most of the older BioWare games have been longer even if you skip side missions and plow through the main story.  I suspect the amount of voice acting had something to do with that - I just hope ME2 and 3 are longer in main storyline and less random 'clear out this bunker here' stuff.

Still, I think it's the best BioWare game in a while.  Compares favorably to the Baldur's Gate series, which I still consider their top achievement ever.  In different ways, though, all things considered.

The main gripe I get in the end is one that I only really started noticing late into my second playthrough.  All these cool choices you get never actually come back and give you any consequences later, it seems, either beneficial or detrimental.

(Edit: Somebody tell my G15 that pause/play does not mean 'click post on a forum').

Yeah, I loved bringing the big worms to low health and then finishing them off per pedes.

I don't worry about the XP much.  My guys are level 49 and I have never even been to Virmire.  Also I'm almost at 9999999 credits.

If you get the Master Spectre gear from the guy at CSec, it makes the game ridiculously easy.  I haven't tried Hardcore yet, but on Normal the game was a breeze once I got the Master Spectre assault rifle.  I never used the pistol or sniper rifle, and only used the shotgun on the undead looking guys.  I maxed out Spectre and Assault Rifle skills before anything else, and absolutely flew through the game.  The same guy also sells some pretty narty armor with 60 something damage protection, but 240+ shields.  I don't think I ever used any of my specials once I got that gear.

http://gamepolitics.com/2008/01/14/conservative-blogger-claims-mass-effect-offers-customizable-sodomy/

Finished this on the weekend and when it all ended I really felt like I [spoilers] had just put the Galactic Empire in power. [/spoilers]. Renegade ftw!

Awesome game, looking forward to replaying it.

Amazing.  Just amazing.

Ooo!

(http://forums.f13.net/Smileys/classic/pedobearwall.png)

(http://forums.f13.net/Smileys/classic/The_Villagers_Are_Restless_by_Zikes.gif)

So he rates it Buy It, then?

Chop that review down to 400 words and front page it   :grin:

I saw a blue butt on my play-through!   :ye_gods:

Did you customize yourself to sodomize it?

The first go-round didn't give me the sodomy option, and when I asked to "go again", damn Joker interrupted.

GamePolitics should have called McCullough up and Socratized his ass.

My copy of Mass Effect is bugged.  So far, absolutely zero dick-in-ass action.  Also the "Enlarge Breasts" slider is missing.  I'm writing the doctors about this.

Have you installed the Hot Earl Grey Tea mod?

Apparently I need the PC version.  /sadf

I am amazed at the amount of pornographic material in this game.  Wherever I looked there was hardcore sodomy and fornication!

This is the most disgusting game I never played.

Is that the right color?  I forget.

I think facetious comments about the high degree of sodomy and digital chip rape in games is supposed to be in this color

Depends on what species you are sodomizing.

Fox got wind of this, it's an  :awesome_for_real: and fair assessment of Mass Effect:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/163925.html

keke normals

Burning through my second campaign run through of this now.  I think my favorite thing about the game is the anatomical fidelity.  When the protagonist has his/her back up against cover, then rolls around to sprint to the next bit of cover, that shit looks exactly right.  It looks like a movie, including the shakycam.  I never get tired of seeing it.

Little things do make a big difference imo.

I agree, like how Shepard leans as he turns in a run.  They should have had the mocap guys do the item interface.

Should have had them do the shadows as well, especially on the faces. :uhrr: