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[Zzoram]

Spoiler

Che works for Turn10, doesn't he?

Oh yeah :lol

Okay, that alleviates some of my concerns. I just want to see a big marketing push for this game, and soon.

 

[RTS83]

Ya I played Forza 2 for a bit but it wasn't for me. I've never gotten into driving games, and I don't have a love for cars.

I played it almost to completion and then just quit. I'm going to go back here and use the money glitch to get the achievements and maybe enjoy the online but I'm burnt out on the main game itself.

 

[Zzoram]

I played it almost to completion and then just quit. I'm going to go back here and use the money glitch to get the achievements and maybe enjoy the online but I'm burnt out on the main game itself.

I have like 1 Froza 2 achievements, I'm pretty bad.

 

[AndersTheSwede]

This isn't a forza chatty.

 

[chespace]

My neither, my heart literally fell through the floor lol...all that talk about a hugely descriptive post of awesome and we are greeted with, "Forza 2 is better"...

*sadness*

Sorry, sp0rsk trolled me so I had to throw out some filler.

If I had to rate the different aspects of the game, I would put it in this order:

1). Story/characters -- both of these play into each other and combined makes Mass Effect one of the most immersive RPGs ever made -- and think about it, RPGs are many things but they're not typically "immersive" like an action shooter. The characters are quite memorable, especially your own party, who do offer up exchanges with each other at random moments, but mostly when you're in elevators for some reason. But when it happens, it's pure gold.

I'm at the 23 or so hour mark and I'm still pretty obsessed. The story is very well done, although there is the occasional melodrama that doesn't quite click (actually, I'm only really referring to one scene in particular that was like suddenly seeing B movie quality acting and lamenting in what's been so far a triple-A experience -- I dunno, some of you may not have a problem with it).

There is so much rich characterization and dialogue and exposition in this game. Bioware is really not afraid of giving you a ton of backstory (all of it is optional, and if you do explore the satisfyingly meaty dialogue trees, you gain a small amount of XP as incentive) to a very interesting universe. There is so much I could say here, but it's hard without giving up some spoilers so I'll refrain.

2). Graphics and ambience (including soundtrack) -- The graphics continue to be fucking insanely next-gen, despite occasional problems with slowdown and tearing, something Gears of War didn't really have much of a problem with if memory serves correct.

One thing to note is that I am playing Mass Effect off a "green disc", which is a pre-retail DVD that is sent to journalists. Green discs load much slower than retail discs and they have contributed to some of the jerkiness I've experienced. We ran into the same problem with the greens we sent out for Forza 2 as well, to the point where we actually considered sending them discs they can install to their debug HDDs.

Anyway, the game is jaw-droppingly gorgeous, and like I said in my earlier posts, you really can't do the sort of ambitious space opera type of scripts (where you're staring at character's faces all day while they emote) without really good graphics that can express subtle emotion.

Another really nice thing about Mass Effect, and still amazing to me when I think about it is the fact that all of you will have a vastly different image of the game in your mind, simply based on your custom avatar charater's face. You do spend a lot of time staring at it, so my advice is to create a face you really like and one that you would like to see in an epic sci-fi movie or serial.

Personally, I really like my character Mako and when I think Mass Effect, I see Mako's face in my mind, much like others would see Master Chief or Sam Fischer's face in their mind when they think Halo 3 and Splinter Cell.

It's too bad the cover art for Mass Effect is so generic in terms of the leading character. He's just such a square-jawed Biff-type. In reality, the game, both visually and narratively, allows you so much leeway for customization, it makes the cover sleeve a little misleading. In fact, when I saw it earlier in this thread, it was almost jarring for me because that's not the Mass Effect I'm currently experiencing.

3). Combat System -- This aspect of the game will definitely be the most controversial. To put it in very rough terms, the action-oriented combat system in Mass Effect (and yes, it's very fast, very chaotic, and sometimes very unforgiving) is more fun, and works better than say, the melee (or ranged) combat system of Oblivion.

Strip away the stats and powers and modifiers and you've got a 3rd person shooter a la GRAW and it's pretty fun. Add in all the customization you can do and the character stats/evolution and party management/pausing action and you've got a pretty unique marriage of KOTOR and something like Gears of War (it's pretty obvious Bioware played a ton of Gears).

Right now, I'm playing a soldier class, and since I did quite a lot of "grinding" (i.e., random exploration of planets and leveling up by finding loot or killing enemies), my character is pretty handy with guns, allowing me to engage combat more like a straight shooter affair (take cover, pop out, fire off a volley, throw grenades). Meanwhile, I've got 2 "biotic" experts who use decent pistols but they're deadly with all these crazy powers. As soon as we get into a skirmish, these biotic guys are lifting fools and throwing them across the room and casting gravitational blackholes, etc. Anyway, the combo works.

There are two negatives about combat so far -- one of them you can workaround and the other doesn't happen that often but it's definitely noticeable.

First of all, since there's really no slowing down time or anything, combat is fast and furious and you will die often if you get gangbanged from all sides while your shields are down. This isn't that big a deal since, like a good shooter, every time you reload the game, the action happens differently and you learn various tactics depending on the layout of the room/environs to not get caught with your pants down again. The important thing to do is to save often -- as often as you would in any PC shooter or RPG. The other more annoying aspect of combat is the occasional framerate chug when the action gets insane, like there are 8-10 guys shooting you in the room, and your biotic characters are lifting enemies and furniture and all sorts of crap into the air with these crazy plasma effects AND you're firing like crazy, trying to survive. If you're a framerate whore, consider this your warning.

Anyway, I'm going to get back to the game now. It says volumes about the game at 23 hours in when I've got an unopened copy of COD4 on my desk and have no real desire to turn off Mass Effect.

 

[BigDubs]

Thanks for your contributions Chespace. Very much appreciated

 

[Rezbit]

**Impressions**

Wow, nice write-up. Seems like a pity about the framerate drops. By the sounds of it, you can have a different experience to a traditional shooter with the biotic stuff. It sounds like a really deep combat system.

 

[BigDubs]

One thing to note is that I am playing Mass Effect off a "green disc", which is a pre-retail DVD that is sent to journalists. Green discs load much slower than retail discs and they have contributed to some of the jerkiness I've experienced.

This has more than likely caused the weird texture problems seen in the other ME pics thread.

 

[Belgorim]

And with that I can now sleep soundly

thanks!

 

[chespace]

Happy to answer any other questions.

I also have this point I want to make about role playing in Mass Effect but I'm all typed out right now.

 

[BigDubs]

Another really nice thing about Mass Effect, and still amazing to me when I think about it is the fact that all of you will have a vastly different image of the game in your mind, simply based on your custom avatar charater's face. You do spend a lot of time staring at it, so my advice is to create a face you really like and one that you would like to see in an epic sci-fi movie or serial.

I'm really hoping someone puts out some sort of tutorial/guide on how to best match the in-game avatar customization to a real life face (ie. photo). It would have been cool to be able to overlay a photo from the live vision camera over the custom avatar screen so you could tweak the various options more accurately (make sense?)

 

[DreamMachine]

Happy to answer any other questions.

I also have this point I want to make about role playing in Mass Effect but I'm all typed out right now.

You mentioned that you can't slow down combat, can't you pause and issue commands? that would slow down combat, wouldn't it?

 

[chespace]

You mentioned that you can't slow down combat, can't you pause and issue commands? that would slow down combat, wouldn't it?

You can pause and tell your teammates to change weapons or use special abilities, but you can't pause and tell them where to go, who to attack, and whether or not to retreat or follow you. All of that is done real-time via the d-pad. But yeah, I guess, whatever, you can interrupt combat for a breather if that's what you're getting at. But it's literally like pausing the game during Gears of War, because as soon as you unpause, the shit continues to fly towards the fan.

 

[Risette]

I think he was talking about slow-mo.

 

[DreamMachine]

You can pause and tell your teammates to change weapons or use special abilities, but you can't pause and tell them where to go, who to attack, and whether or not to retreat or follow you. All of that is done real-time via the d-pad. But yeah, I guess, whatever, you can interrupt combat for a breather if that's what you're getting at. But it's literally like pausing the game during Gears of War, because as soon as you unpause, the shit continues to fly towards the fan.

Oh shit, they must've changed it since the 06 demo real.. Haven't been to up to date..

I wonder why they decided to change it , thanks for the awnswer!

 

[Risette]

Oh shit, they must've changed it since the 06 demo real.. Haven't been to up to date..

I wonder why they decided to change it , thanks for the awnswer!

Strange, that seemed to be a well liked feature from 06.

 

[VALIS]

Happy to answer any other questions.

I'd love to hear more about the planetary exploration.

In your estimation, how many planets could you actually land on? Dozens? Hundreds? More?

Also, how different are the environments from planet to planet?

Are any of these random planets populated, or just ones that have to do with the main storyline?

Thanks, Che.

 

[durden]

You can pause and tell your teammates to change weapons or use special abilities, but you can't pause and tell them where to go, who to attack, and whether or not to retreat or follow you. All of that is done real-time via the d-pad. But yeah, I guess, whatever, you can interrupt combat for a breather if that's what you're getting at. But it's literally like pausing the game during Gears of War, because as soon as you unpause, the shit continues to fly towards the fan.

Thanks for the great impressions, much appreciated! This is easily my most wanted game at the moment.
On the pausing and telling the teammates who to attack etc, I was sure I saw in recent videos the player using the wheel that came up, along with a red targeting thing, to tell the teammates to use their powers to attack specific targets, has this now been changed? Or do you mean they just use the power on that one target, then go back to firing on whoever they want? (I hope that makes sense)

 

[neojubei]

Happy to answer any other questions.

I also have this point I want to make about role playing in Mass Effect but I'm all typed out right now.

Che,

If i am not into Gears or GRAW would I even like this game ?

 

[Green Shinobi]

The story is very well done, although there is the occasional melodrama that doesn't quite click (actually, I'm only really referring to one scene in particular that was like suddenly seeing B movie quality acting and lamenting in what's been so far a triple-A experience -- I dunno, some of you may not have a problem with it).

If they're okay with "well then this is either the best decision you've ever made or the worst," I'm sure they'll be fine. No dialogue can be as bad as that scene from Halo 3. None.

 

[Risette]

Che,

If i am not into Gears or GRAW would I even like this game ?

"not into" does that mean you don't like it or that you don't play them much?

 

[Tabris]

This is my most anticipated game of the year assuming Lost Odyssey is not scheduled for 2007 which I don't believe it is (but please correct me)

...and it looks like it's shaping up not to disappoint.

 

[Y2Kev]

I'm playing as the default. He looks perfect to me.

 

[Green Shinobi]

I'm playing as the default. He looks perfect to me.

How do you have the game already?

 

[TheWolf]

Oh shit, they must've changed it since the 06 demo real.. Haven't been to up to date..

I wonder why they decided to change it , thanks for the awnswer!

yeah, i totally thought you COULD do that and saw it in videos...

 

[Tabris]

I'm playing as the default. He looks perfect to me.

You want your guy to be a generic space marine? I hope I can make someone who doesn't look horrible like my Oblivion character did. God that game had a horrible face creation tool. It's like let's make it look as plastic as possible and take out all artistic merit.

 

[chespace]

Thanks for the great impressions, much appreciated! This is easily my most wanted game at the moment.
On the pausing and telling the teammates who to attack etc, I was sure I saw in recent videos the player using the wheel that came up, along with a red targeting thing, to tell the teammates to use their powers to attack specific targets, has this now been changed? Or do you mean they just use the power on that one target, then go back to firing on whoever they want? (I hope that makes sense)

Yes, you can pause and tell your guys to attack specific enemies with their powers, but for some reason, can't tell them to just focus their guns or regular attacks in the same way.... unless I'm missing something here.

The friendly AI is adequate -- again, they will get raped if you send them into a horde with fire from all directions, just like you. If I die during an encounter, I reload and take a different approach. Bait the enemies into a narrow corridor where you have some cover and make them come to you, although enemies can be surprisingly smart.

As for the planetary exploration -- there are "plot" planets and then there are just either random planets or sidequest planets. Plot planets are elaborate set pieces with lots to do and lots of folks to talk to (and lots of combat too), whereas sidequest or random planets are almost always huge desolate (but atmospheric and at times a little unnerving) places with usually one or a handful of outposts to explore (and they usually pack a lot of good loot) with some combat to boot. Vehicular combat is surprisingly satisfying (zoom in on some dude and blast him with your Scorpion Tank-like cannon) and there's enough of it sprinkled throughout.

As for the number of these random planets... I have no idea. I have spent 10+ hours visiting random places (basically the equivalent of doing sidequests and "grinding") and I probably visited maybe 15% of the systems out there. In terms of how many planets you can actually land on, a rough estimate could be 20 or more. I honestly have no idea. It's probably not as much as some of you are fantasizing it to be, but then again, there's definitely enough here to pull off the illusion.

 

[Darkman M]

Che,

If i am not into Gears or GRAW would I even like this game ?

The fuck?

 

[HAL_Laboratory]

I can't fucking WAIT for this game!!!

I hope I can make someone who doesn't look horrible like my Oblivion character did. God that game had a horrible face creation tool. It's like let's make it look as plastic as possible and take out all artistic merit.

I know. It was like no matter how you set the face, it always looked like the same person. :lol

 

[bathala]

this is the only game I'm going to play for the rest of year and then some

 

[SnakeXs]

Che, how does the game handle enemy and loot types during exploration?

Is it scaled? Are there anything in the way of rares or somesuch? Are you simply limited and not allowed to explore some (harder) planets?

 

[Hunter D]

You want your guy to be a generic space marine? I hope I can make someone who doesn't look horrible like my Oblivion character did. God that game had a horrible face creation tool. It's like let's make it look as plastic as possible and take out all artistic merit.

The default guy's face is based on supermodel Mark Vanderloo's face. I love when game devs use a person's face in a game and people call it generic.

 

[beerbelly]

The fuck?

The dude is mental. He's posted 11 posts in this thread asking others to convince him not to like this game.

He also doesn't seem to have a problem with Uncharted's Gears of War gameplay but it's all of a sudden the biggest issue for Mass Effect.

 

[MWS Natural]

Have that bigger and widescreen?

 

[chespace]

Che, how does the game handle enemy and loot types during exploration?

Is it scaled? Are there anything in the way of rares or somesuch? Are you simply limited and not allowed to explore some (harder) planets?

Loot is pretty streamlined, at least in the way you collect it. You can either get it from electronic lock boxes and such (i.e. crates/chests) or you win a combat encounter and it automatically gets put into your "loot queue", whereby the next time you go to your inventory, it will show you the list of items you've gained and what you want to do with it (either keep it or turn it into omni-gel, which is a tech currency).

In terms of what kind of items there are... everything is categorized -- assault rifles, sniper rifles, shotguns, pistols, armor, upgrades (for everything), and biotic amps. The generic stuff you find in random dungeons probably scale to your current level, but I dunno. I've been leveling up pretty much and maxing out combat skills and I am not finding the game to scale with me on parity, although I'm sure there is scaling. The higher my level, the more I feel bad ass and the easier I can take down tougher shock troops.

All this character development or growth has really gone to my head, as a player. Whereas I began the game answering meekly or nicely to every response, my newfound ability to kill anything that moves and look sexy doing it has made me a little arrogant as a player, and as a result, I find myself often choosing the more confrontational responses. Or it could have something to do with the fact that my intimidation (as well as charm) skills are now maxed out. :lol

Anyway, good times.

 

[AndersTheSwede]

I have spent 10+ hours visiting random places (basically the equivalent of doing sidequests and "grinding") and I probably visited maybe 15% of the systems out there.

Awesome. Looks like the exploration is far superior to Kotor. The number of hours of game play that can be put into this game are extreme.

 

[Odrion]

When I get this game I hope that there will be some sort of tutorial on how to recreate Harrison Ford's face.

And Che, just how frequent is the loading?

 

[temp]

The default guy's face is based on supermodel Mark Vanderloo's face. I love when game devs use a person's face in a game and people call it generic.

Mark Vanderloo is generic. Deal with it.

 

[AndersTheSwede]

There are two new screens up at the official site:

http://masseffect.bioware.com/_commonext/images/me/screenshots/2007/masseffect_63_1280x760.jpg

http://masseffect.bioware.com/_commonext/images/me/screenshots/2007/masseffect_64_1280x760.jpg

They say they're going to be releasing screens tomorrow as well.

 

[bigswords]

Good stuff

So awesome...so so so awesome, Mass ERRECT!!!!!

 

[Woakes]

There are two new screens up at the official site:

http://masseffect.bioware.com/_commonext/images/me/screenshots/2007/masseffect_63_1280x760.jpg

http://masseffect.bioware.com/_commonext/images/me/screenshots/2007/masseffect_64_1280x760.jpg

They say they're going to be releasing screens tomorrow as well.

I'm sure this will be an awesome game, however in that seconed image that womans physique is just all kinds of wrong. I mean seriously wrong. The upper/under arms and hips are seriously bad, and if those leg armours pivot where the texture implys she's gonna break her hips when she stands straight up again.

It's funny because I bet it all looks brilliant in motion, but for gods sake Bioware, stop releasing screenshots :lol

 

[underfooter]

Damn, I want this game, but I still want to have a life come later this November.




Is that possible?

 

[SnakeXs]

Damn, I want this game, but I still want to have a life come later this November.




Is that possible?

Of course it is child.

A life in the world of Mass Effect. It's all yours. Enjoy it. Embrace it.

 

[jordan0386]

Damn, I want this game, but I still want to have a life come later this November.




Is that possible?

controllers over hoes

 

[Dina]

Good impressions there chespace. Despite the few negatives I'm still pumped for this game.

No 'generic' spacemarine for me, however. I think I'm gonna go for the girly biotec type.

 

[RPS37]

1,000+ word Hype-Fest and follow-ups

That sounds very cool. Thanks for the impressions.

 

[R0nn]

Thanks for the impressions Che!

Could you elaborate some more on the loot? Is it all just generic stuff you get (like in KOTOR) or is there some rare and really cool stuff as well (by completing certain quests etc.)? I'd really like to see some special kinds of weapons and armor in this game.

Also, how bad can the framerate get? Is it as bad as in KOTOR? That game could be all over the place in regards to fps.

Thanks!

 

[Psychotext]

The default guy's face is based on supermodel Mark Vanderloo's face. I love when game devs use a person's face in a game and people call it generic.

Wow... they did an excellent job with his likeness.

 

[neojubei]

The fuck?

What is your deal, I am asking a simple question. Does that damage you in any way. There isn't a demo for me to try the game out, so i am asking questions for me, not you.

As for the planetary exploration -- there are "plot" planets and then there are just either random planets or sidequest planets. Plot planets are elaborate set pieces with lots to do and lots of folks to talk to (and lots of combat too), whereas sidequest or random planets are almost always huge desolate (but atmospheric and at times a little unnerving) places with usually one or a handful of outposts to explore (and they usually pack a lot of good loot) with some combat to boot. Vehicular combat is surprisingly satisfying (zoom in on some dude and blast him with your Scorpion Tank-like cannon) and there's enough of it sprinkled throughout.

As for the number of these random planets... I have no idea. I have spent 10+ hours visiting random places (basically the equivalent of doing sidequests and "grinding") and I probably visited maybe 15% of the systems out there. In terms of how many planets you can actually land on, a rough estimate could be 20 or more. I honestly have no idea. It's probably not as much as some of you are fantasizing it to be, but then again, there's definitely enough here to pull off the illusion.

Whoa 20 is a good number. Thanks for the impressions. This game sounds like star wars without the George lucas ego. My sci-fi side of me is totally into the exploration part of this game.

 

[Lostconfused]

What is your deal, I am asking a simple question. Does that damage you in any way. There isn't a demo for me to try the game out, so i am asking questions for me, not you.

No, its because you are comparing 3 rather different games.