Mass Effect

[anonymo]

Ok...so October/November is about to crush my bank account with great new games (COD4/AC/GH3/Halo3/+PC games) and now Mass Effect looks to be trying to take my soul...that's all I got. Mass Effect = GOTY!

[JackieChan]

Ok...so October/November is about to crush my bank account with great new games (COD4/AC/GH3/Halo3/+PC games) and now Mass Effect looks to be trying to take my soul...that's all I got. Mass Effect = GOTY!

I see you were playing it yesterday too.

 

Pretty fun game so far. My character had physical interactions with a female alien...

[anonymo]

Ok...so October/November is about to crush my bank account with great new games (COD4/AC/GH3/Halo3/+PC games) and now Mass Effect looks to be trying to take my soul...that's all I got. Mass Effect = GOTY!

I see you were playing it yesterday too.

 

Pretty fun game so far. My character had physical interactions with a female alien...

You hear about the short ban this game received in Singapore (no surprise). They didn't list the alien "relations", they didn't care about same sex "relations" but what they listed as the cause of the ban? Female alien/ female human relations...yeah...I lol'd

 

I feel like I need a whole day to spend playing this game, so it looks like I'll really get into it on Saturday (if I'm not playing HGL all day...)

[VooDooPC]

The game was banned and unbanned in Singapore on the same day.

[JackieChan]

so it looks like I'll really get into it on Saturday (if I'm not playing HGL all day...)

Indeed. I need to fix some time so I can play this game for a long time. Kind of sad that I didn't get the chance to play it yesterday or today... and probably not tomorrow either.

[boiler]

Ok, I'm in need of a little guidance here.

 

I've looked at the previews, read the review, watched the gameplay videos, and heard people rave about how awesome this game is.

 

I have never been much of an RPG guy - Oblivion and the like look completely uninteresting to me and I will probably never touch an MMORPG - but this one has me intrigued. I love love love love all things Zelda (Ocarina of Time is still one of the best games I have ever played - the biggest reason why I never sold my 64) which I know has RPG "elements" to it, but it was still mostly action type things the majority of the time. I also appreciate good story lines that aren't always predictable. I'm ok with some "fetch" quests (though they can be tedious after a while). I obviously like action and shooters and the like.

 

My question is, would this game be up my alley? I would like some real and honest feedback from you guys that are playing it. Strengths/weaknesses and the like. How are the combat mechanics? (If they are bad, then I definitely won't be playing it) One thing that does look like a pain is the Biotic usage thingy. I saw a gameplay video of a guy attacking with one biotic, then throw someone in the air and do something else, but they had to pause the game to switch. If fighting is always that clunky, then thats a big turn-off. I know that you can choose a class that doesn't use biotics as much though, so maybe that's not as big of an issue.

 

The only other big issue I have is that I never have 8 consecutive hours to play ANYTHING, so my potential playtime would be an hour or two at a time. Will I be able to stay sane under these conditions?

 

Thanks for the feedback guys - all these great games coming out and tight money, and I still have to pick up CoD4!

Edited November 25, 2007 by boilersax

[JackieChan]

I need to play the game some more to give you real honest feedback because I don't want to overhype your expectations then end up not liking it.

 

To me so far though, I've experienced more action than RPG. The only real RPG elements I've seen is leveling up your character. Other than that, it's run and gun.

 

I also recommend watching the GameTrailers.com review on it since it doubles as a preview as well. You get to see what the game is about while the person reviewing it tells you more about what you already know.

[VooDooPC]

I beat it last night and I thought it was great. Took me around 20 hours, not doing all the side missions. The game is more actionful later on because after your characters realize what they are doing it's all about storming bases and invading planets.

 

I played the game as a good female bionic. I didn't mind pausing the game too use certain bionics, it lets you aim them while it's paused, which I found helpful. You can also put one bionic on a hot key, so you tap that instead of having to pause the game to use it.

 

After you beat the game you can play again with the same character if you want. It keeps your level, equipment, and makes the bad guys more too your level. I was going to do this to get too level 60 but I decided too make a new evil guy instead. Already 3 hours into it again.

[boiler]

thanks for the feedback guys!

 

still waiting for the official anonymo review since he spent all of this weekend playing it!

[boiler]

still waiting for the official anonymo review since he spent all of this weekend playing it!

*cough* still waiting *cough*

[JackieChan]

still waiting for the official anonymo review since he spent all of this weekend playing it!

*cough* still waiting *cough*

Mo needs to finish campaign.

 

On another note, I finally beat Dead Rising last night... WHOO.

 

Was a lot easier than I thought... especially with dual wielding small chainsaws (not really).

[anonymo]

Ok...appreciate this cause I'm over 40 hours this week and it's thursday (morning)

 

No, don't get it.

 

Yes it has action elements but they don't play out nearly as smoothly as an FPS or strictly action game would. There are a few clumsy controls that only an RPG fan would accept. Also, there are long, long, long, LOOOOOOOOOOOOO(gasp)OOOOOOOOOOOOONG periods of no action whatsoever (albeit the voice acting, dialog and story are just amazing, and I dig promiscuous aliens, but that's beside the point). Also, it's time consuming. If it wasn't obvious already, this game can be a life sucker. Voodoo did it 20 hours with no side quests. I'm close to 13 hours and I've been doing all the side quests I can find and doodling about here and there (level 22). One section (read: planet) of the game took me 4 hours (yes, not the Citadel) to complete. You are constantly looking for that next crate of goodies and are in constant fear of getting into fights as your health replenishing methods can trip you up.

 

Maybe rent it and try it out...but I think you might get fed up after your first 8 hours.

 

Quick addition: Playing the role of the bad guy is so much fun...I just love killing people who disagree with me!

[boiler]

much appreciated, thanks for fitting it into your schedule

 

I don't mind extended periods of limited action, as long as there is a good/great storyline to flesh out that time. My biggest concern is the TIME factor, since I can't spend 4 hours completing a big task, and I'm not the type to quit in the middle of one. I don't want to give my wife grounds for a divorce already due to negligence.

 

Looks like this may be a future rental, which means my current wish-list reads:

 

1. CoD4

2. Orange Box

3. Guitar Hero III (although this may be coming sooner than the others - the wife played it and got hooked as did I, go figure)

[VooDooPC]

I did some side quests, just not all of them.

[boiler]

I rented Mass Effect this weekend and have been able to play for 4 or 5 hours. I did a fair amount of exploring in the Citadel, and am doing my first planet exploration.

 

I gotta say, I'm pretty hooked. The leveling-up structure is easier than I thought it would be - I was thinking it would kill momentum of the game too much, and it hasn't. The combat has been enjoyable to this point - definitely not as smooth and intuitive as Gears or something, but it hasn't been a deal-breaker. I bypassed most of the character creation stuff in the beginning to get into the gameplay, so I'm playing as a soldier right now. I haven't seen much of anything of the Biotics to this point.

 

The story has really sucked me in, and I think it's one of the key reasons that I'm considering buying this game after I return my rental. I even got into trying some of the side quests in the Citadel, which I wasn't sure going in would be interesting enough. I did find that I needed to upgrade my conversational skills to unlock some new responses - I didn't know why some responses weren't accessible and told this guy grieving over his dead wife's body to basically go screw off because I couldn't get a different response, lol.

 

Main gripes:

1. The equipment screen was very confusing to use at first until I finally figured it out and how to manage upgrades.

2. The friendly AI is very poor, although I haven't tried using any squad commands yet. I guess CoD4 spoiled me and I forgot about the need to control squad mates!

3. I keep trying to drive the Mako like it's a Warthog. Maneuvering could be better with it.

 

 

Like Mo said, it might be possible that I'll get fed up in the future - I haven't played for 8 hours yet - but right now, this skeptic has been swayed by the engrossing story, conversation system, and decent-enough combat system.

 

If it can keep this up, I'll buy it and probably end up replaying it as a different class as well.

[Leveller]

I picked this up on Sunday and have probably got around 3 hours under my belt, I'm really getting pulled in by the story. I've just taken control of the Normandy and travelled to my first planet, so I'm really not far in, but am really enjoying this for the story more than the game itself (I really have to agree with points 2 and 3 of Boiler's post above).

 

In my experience in very few games do you get a sense of being a part of the story rather than being carried along by it, this is definitely one where you feel a part of it.

[anonymo]

Yeah the learning curve is a little steep at the start but I found it a little lacking actually when I finally got the hang of it.

 

The story I suggest you follow right from the get-go. ME lets you start a "New Game+" when you finish it so run through the story first then play again and do all the crawling (side quests basically). It really helps keep the story fresh in your mind because taking some side quests can cause you (like it did me) to kind of lose your place in the story line (in your head, not in the game) especially considering you're probably only playing for a few hours at a time.

 

I love the leveling - it really scales well so later levels don't seem to take ages to advance like in other RPG style games.

 

Oh man the mako...such a pain but so potent.

[boiler]

I don't know how I managed to pull this off, but I played for 4 hours last night

 

Officially hooked. I am doing side quests though to a fair degree, haven't gotten lost mentally or anything, but then again I'm not sure I've advanced the story much either. Just finished Feros and heading to Noveria.

 

I also blew my chance with the alien chick already by being too nice >_< looks like I'll have to sweet talk Ash a little more now!

 

 

I found that the combat at the beginning was VERY frustrating since I had crappy weapons and poor skills at everything, but that got much better pretty quickly. Seems like if you can pull yourself through the first 4 or 5 hours or so, then it's all good from there.

 

and I am definitely buying this now. I want to play through as a different classssss

Edited January 16, 2008 by boilersax