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Mass Effect |OT| Alien love in an elevator

Belgorim

Member
Solo said:
Walk around the Citadel and see if you can honestly say that with a straight face.
I have no problems with framerate in the citadel. I just don't see it. I actualy havent had any framrate problems walking around anywhere, not in firefights or anything. Only in cut-scenes do I get the framerate issues.
 

Solo

Member
My game was absolutely chugging in that area. Its been fine most other places, but its really noticeable there.

And conversely, the cutscenes have been fine for me :lol
 

Naeblish

Member
The only problem i had with the inventory was reducing upgrades to omnigell, because they have the best on top, and every time you reduce one, it jumps back to the top. At shops you could just keep pressing A to sell.
 

Belgorim

Member
Naeblish said:
The only problem i had with the inventory was reducing upgrades to omnigell, because they have the best on top, and every time you reduce one, it jumps back to the top. At shops you could just keep pressing A to sell.
When I omnigel stuff, it does not jump back to the top, it omnigels the item I have targeted and then selects the item just above it, so if I go from the bottom I just go straight through the weak items fast.
 
Belgorim said:
The inventory system outside of being on the normandy when you cannot access your squadmates works fine for me. Takes less than a minute to sell all the crap you want to sell, since I just go by the number pretty mch, I sell everything less than X :)

Though since maxing out the gold I just omnigel everything. thats pretty easy aswell, just go to the item on any character, scroll down the list and start the Y/A treatment until your up to the items you want to keep.

I never realy let the system bother me, not sure what you are trying to do with it that makes it so anoying.

I agree...I honestly could not imagine that people would be complaining about the inventory system if not for message boards....I could see the pop-up, and maybe the elevators being issues (Although, I can't see what the difference between an elevator and a loading screen is....the game has to load somehow).

The only thing that makes it frustrating is that it's not really on one unified screen (In other words, you have to either go to lockers or have them in your party outside the ship)....it's inconvenient, but certainly not difficult by any means. I enjoy the customization quite a bit, the common theme in many games these days is to add silly minigames (Even Mass Effect has that button thing), but to me, this is a "minigame" in and of itself, and I love it. People aren't talking about the OUTSTANDING IMPROVEMENTS this system had over the Kotor games, the most recognizable one being how easy it is to tell which weapons/armors are better then others with the simple numbers and red/yellow bars. One thing I absolutely hated about Kotot was how odd it was picking the most powerful weapons. More often then not, it was just a bunch of weird numbers like "+ 18 - 15" or something like that...I never could tell if my lightsabers were correct, it's pretty easy to tell what you need to have in Mass Effect. The 150 item thing hasn't get me once, it warns you around 130, and even then, I've only been warned twice. The fact that money is "imbalanced" with "nothing to buy" (What exactly are people looking to buy, btw? I can't for the life of me think of anything to buy but weapons and armor) is actually an advantage in conjunction with the inventory system, as I find myself just omni-gelin the shit out of stuff after I got around 2 million.

The game also got rid of quite a bit of customization, shit like glasses, belts, arm bands, left handed weapon, right handed weapon, droid shields, etc etc etc that was in Kotor is gone now. On one hand I liked this stuff, as I said, I do love the customization, but on the other hand, this crap was redundant, and I like that I can spend a lot more time looking intricately at each character in ME, as opposed to Kotor, where I just sorta half assed it most the time and just made sure everyone had something. In ME, I can make sure that characters have upgrades that suit the weapons, and style of how I use them. Stability/Accuracy is a must for sniper guys, I go for the power in Shotguns, and try to lessen the overheating on pistols/AR....works nicely for me.
 
chase said:
Things like your relationships with your squadmates...which don't really seem to exist. And how quickly you meet them all and add them to your crew. And they hardly have anything to say on sidequests. Many, not all!, of the sidequests don't seem to have improved since last-gen...they're really banal. There are just a lot of little (the side quests are banal, but they're not bad) things like this that stick out and add up to rather significant detractions from the game that, as I said, I didn't notice as I was being overwhelmed by the experience in the beginning. The issues I'm noticing now are particularly problematic regard the immersion and, most importantly, role-playing elements.

I hope hope hope that these are all results of deadlines and not things that they felt weren't necessary and that they'll be improved for the sequel. There is so much potential here that, with more time and money able to be spent on the story aspects rather than technical ones, hopefully they'll be able to live up to it.


This is something that I and many others have been fairly adamant about on the official ME forums. I think that it was simply a matter of them having so much to have to work with in terms of laying down the initial foundation for the game, and I really do believe things will be improved for the sequel.

They definitely need to look back at KotOR and KotOR 2 (even though they didn't make the latter) relationships. Every now and then in ME we would get some dialogue but for the most part things seemed somewhat simplistic since you have to keep discussing things with them in the Normandy. I believe that many of these things were pulled due to time constraints and difficulty, which the devs pretty much said as much.

An example is in an earlier trailer for the game where your team runs by some kind of miners outpost, and Garrus mentions something about there not being time or something. Ashley argues, and Shepard even has the option to break up the fighting in mid-sentence in quite a violent fashion in grabbing Garrus. You could imagine how deep many instances like this could go if multiplied, and how deep of an effect it could have on how your party members feel about you. The risk of who you bring with you would be deeper as well, as many such negative reactions could possibly evolve into more
wrex like encounters, whether peaceful or not
, which could result in party members lost, thusly making your Paragon and Renegade decisions much deeper as a result.

And yeah one of the biggest things they are looking at are UCW's. To me there isn't any reason why we couldn't have about 7 large plot driven planets along with deeper UCW. If its a time issue then I will gladly wait until the end of this generation to get a proper sequel.
 
One feature that was definitely in Kotor 2 and may have been in Kotor 1 (I honestly just can't remember) was the "Swap characters anytime" feature. One thing I will never be able to forgive these games for is their "3 party system", why can't we have the whole crew rolling with us during missions? Is it just a matter of resources? Computers not powerful enough to run this AI? Or is Bioware (And other developers) just opposed to this for some reason? I feel that this is one of the main reasons that characterization feels funny (As it did in Kotor and Kotor 2), because you got 2 or 3 characters that NEVER LEAVE THE SHIP talking to you as though they are just soooo involved in the mission and have gotten to know you soooo well. I LOVED the beginning of Virmire, it's one of the few times in ANY of these games where I actually felt we were a REAL party. The whole gang is there on the beach, along with the Salarians. Of course though, as soon as the "real gameplay" resumes, you have to go back to the limiting "pick two members" (Or in this case, 1 actually)...and the other fellas just seem to disappear into nowhere.

This is something that has always bothered me, I don't want to not accept party members just so I can have a small enough group to feel intimate with, but I hate having all these characters just sitting around.
 

NewLib

Banned
What would be a really cool feature is when you are on the mission planet, see the other people not in your party doing things.

You are walking around, getting in firefights, and all of a sudden you see Kaiden and Garrius run inside a building. Boom then you here an explosion with them running out.

Stuff like that would really help in atmosphere.
 
Solo said:
Yeah, I did find it weird that Ive assembled all my crew (minus one empty slot; although he or she could be on this planet too for all I know) on the first planet. Rather rushed. KotOR handled this better, when you picked up a squadmate on every few planets, rather than 5/6 on the very first one, and most of them were tied into the story too, whereas most of MEs havent really been.

I enjoyed getting them early, I felt as though having them there in the beginning was more believable, given the context of the game world. I disliked in some of the Kotor games how some characters just sorta got thrown in at the very end (Depending on the order of the planet you traveled to) and were still supposed to be taken seriously as characters who fought for the same goals as you. All the characters in Mass Effect seemed to have a real reason to be there with you, and they were all mostly there from the very beginning (Liara gets picked up when you chose to do so of course, but even then, she's tied into the story as much as anyone).

Kaiden - Alliance soldier, one of the first characters you meet, "in the fight" for obvious reasons.
Ashley - First "tag-along", Alliance soldier, lost everything on Eden Prime, Captain Anderson personally transfers her to your unit.
Garrus - C-Sec agent, already looking to bust Saren, hates his job and C-sec anyways, tags along both for his investigation and for his personal beliefs about justice.
Tali - On her pilgrimmage, her people have been devestated by Geth, just genuinely wants to be apart of something big to make her people proud.
Wrex - At first I didn't really know why Wrex joined the party, but if you talk to him about his history, you learn that he actually knew Saren before, and was so afraid of him that he didn't even take a payment that was owed to him. I believe that he's in this simply to kill the evil bastard.
Liara - Benezias daughter, expert on Prothians, initially joins the party for safety (At least in the order I recieved her, which was first, not sure what happens if you get her after killing her mother).
 

Cipher

Member
Belgorim said:
When I omnigel stuff, it does not jump back to the top, it omnigels the item I have targeted and then selects the item just above it, so if I go from the bottom I just go straight through the weak items fast.

He's talking about upgrades though. When you reduce an upgrade to omni-gel it goes back to the top of the list. Which is very annoying, so I save dealing with upgrades at shops.
 
So yeah, I get to
Ilos
, park the Makos, and then proceed to find a way to open the blast door to let me in. When I finally do, I go back and travel through the doors without the Mako because, well, I forgot about the damn thing and I didn't think I needed to drive it down that hallway. Big freakin' mistake. It didn't dawn on me that I was doing it wrong until 10 minutes later when I was at the end of the second hallway segment. I was about to turn around but I reached the
Prothean AI
and I was thinking that I may not even need the Makos. So I went down to the end of the rest of the hallway until I finally reached
the sewer system with a 30ft drop off
and I couldn't go any further. I needed that damn vehicle. I then took another 15 minute walk back to the car. I could've kicked my own ass for being so stupid.

At least that section is pretty.
 
Hitler Stole My Potato said:
So yeah, I get to
Ilos
, park the Makos, and then proceed to find a way to open the blast door to let me in. When I finally do, I go back and travel through the doors without the Mako because, well, I forgot about the damn thing and I didn't think I needed to drive it down that hallway. Big freakin' mistake. It didn't dawn on me that I was doing it wrong until 10 minutes later when I was at the end of the second hallway segment. I was about to turn around but I reached the
Prothean AI
and I was thinking that I may not even need the Makos. So I went down to the end of the rest of the hallway until I finally reached
the sewer system with a 30ft drop off
and I couldn't go any further. I needed that damn vehicle. I then took another 15 minute walk back to the car. I could've kicked my own ass for being so stupid.

At least that section is pretty.

Play a bit further and you will see why you really really REALLY need the Mako for this....
 

bigswords

Member
HOly shit the ending is awesome so awesome, so epic. I can forgive all the elevator shit the ending is awesome so awesome!

A few questions
where's the new game+ option after you completed the game, I started a sentinal with the shotgun skill tree is this counted? Plus I could start the whole game again from the start with my current level and equipment, but I can bring it across to the new character?
 

Belgorim

Member
Cipher said:
He's talking about upgrades though. When you reduce an upgrade to omni-gel it goes back to the top of the list. Which is very annoying, so I save dealing with upgrades at shops.
ah, k... weird in that case. Have only sold upgrades to shop.
 

Zerachiel

Member
Has this game made anyone else think about the nature of justice?

I suppose it's because I've been fortunate enough to never be harmed by anyone enough in real life to truly desire revenge, or justice. After my readings of Bertrand Russel, I was convinced that justice as practiced in our society was merely socially sanctioned sadism; that as our court systems practiced it, it merely lead to rejoicing in another's suffering, and nothing good could come of it. Put offenders in prison to isolate them from commiting future crimes, or to deter others from commiting the same crime;but vengeance was not admissible.

But as I went through the Feros quest, I began to question whether the desire for vengeance and the desire for justice were truly the same emotion. I felt something different than merely rejoicing in my enemy's downfall- I wanted those bastards to stand trial for what they'd done (which made me rather mad that there wasn't a reckoning with the higher-ups in the evil organization, but whatever).

I'm not sure if it will convince me of the rightness of putting people in jail for justice, as opposed to utilitarian concerns, but Mass Effect has at least given me a better appreciation for the other side of the argument.
 

IoCaster

Member
I'm enjoying the game, but some of these side quests/planets are a pain. Driving that Mako up. over and across moutainous terrain while getting blasted by turrets and those rocket launcher wielding punks is irksome. It's probably just me, but the controls for that jalopy are really counterintuitive.

I haven't really noticed all of the popup and framerate drops so many others have had. My fps dropped low in a few places, but it never got unplayable or anything. Usually in the middle of a crowded firefight or some of the melee situations I've encountered. Being an old PC player has probably made it easier for me to gloss over some of the graphics problems. Anyway, the game is good enough that it hasn't detracted one bit of enjoyment from the experience.

Oh well, I'll run along now and get back to the game. I'm heading over to Therum or wherever to rescue Liara.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
Sir Fragula said:
Okay, what's the deal with
Banes
? Do we ever get to meet him?

It's tied to
Cerebus
- and their story is spread out over several side quests.

bigswords said:
HOly shit the ending is awesome so awesome, so epic. I can forgive all the elevator shit the ending is awesome so awesome!

A few questions
where's the new game+ option after you completed the game, I started a sentinal with the shotgun skill tree is this counted? Plus I could start the whole game again from the start with my current level and equipment, but I can bring it across to the new character?

For "New Game+" you select a pre-existing character from the New Game menu. Everything is strictly tied to the character that finished the game though.


Hitler Stole My Potato said:
Oh, I know. I finished it the other day. I was just thinking about that part.

Kinda curious to see if anyone else did it too.

Yeah, I almost missed it the first time. The second time, I noticed that the NPCs remind you about the Mako as you pass it.
 

Walshicus

Member
firehawk12 said:
It's tied to
Cerebus
- and their story is spread out over several side quests.

Yeah, but he's supposed to be dead right? And yet he's the one threatening the
doctor in the Wards
...
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
Sir Fragula said:
Yeah, but he's supposed to be dead right? And yet he's the one threatening the
doctor in the Wards
...

Yes, but it's possible that it's not him, right? I mean, you never see him...
 

Uncle

Member
IoCaster said:
I'm enjoying the game, but some of these side quests/planets are a pain. Driving that Mako up. over and across moutainous terrain while getting blasted by turrets and those rocket launcher wielding punks is irksome. It's probably just me, but the controls for that jalopy are really counterintuitive.

I usually go to a higher ground and blast the enemies as long as my shields hold and then back up to a cover for a while. The makos turret is badly desgined though, since it can't aim down so you have to place the vehicle accordingly.
 
Use the jump feature of the Mako to just jump over the projectiles. Time it right and you can park right next to turrets and they will never hit u.
 

Draft

Member
SuperEnemyCrab said:
Use the jump feature of the Mako to just jump over the projectiles. Time it right and you can park right next to turrets and they will never hit u.
Jumping is the key to Mako combat. I found that out during my first sand worm battle :lol
 

Uncle

Member
SuperEnemyCrab said:
Use the jump feature of the Mako to just jump over the projectiles. Time it right and you can park right next to turrets and they will never hit u.


If there are lot's of turrets and geth around then it's a bit difficult since there's so much shit coming at you.
 
Hitler Stole My Potato said:
Oh, I know. I finished it the other day. I was just thinking about that part.

Kinda curious to see if anyone else did it too.

This is my comment back on page 100, I actually enjoyed making the mistake. Was my favorite part of the game.


kirbybreezy said:
beat the game last night, and I now realize my time with Mass Effect is just beginning. I can see myself playing through at least 3-4 more times in the immediate future to get all the achievements and try different things.

For those of you who haven't beat it yet I would like to make a suggestion. This first part is not a spolier, it only includes a planet's name and nothing else but I will tag it regardless.

When you get to Illos, do not use the Mako to travel

This second part is a spoiler for anyone not near the end of the game.

When the door to Illos was opened for some reason I ran past the Mako and into the Great Archive Halls on foot. The sense of scale is mind boggling and the archives go on for what seems like over a game mile. I actually physically walked it, taking it all in, the running water, the light from above, and the hundreds of capsules which you find out were for the Prothean.

Too often in games you never get to just experience something like that. Just walk through an environment and not be shaken out of the wonder of it all by the obligatory "enemy encounter"/ choke point, for a theater of war.

Turns out you need the Mako eventually to make the long drop later on and I had to jog back and get it. But I wasn't even in the least bit angry I had to do this or mad at myself or the game for having to backtrack the mile back to get the Mako. Driving through the same space that had just so enthralled me on foot with the Mako made it just another set peice, a means to an end.

This was my favorite part of the game and I could have missed it had I played "normally". In fact I know some may not even see it as that big of a deal as they zoomed through on the Mako in the first place.

But trust me, on foot, the Archives were breathtaking.
 
Uncle said:
If there are lot's of turrets and geth around then it's a bit difficult since there's so much shit coming at you.

True. In those cases though i usually park way off and get out and just snipe. Might not have the kick of the big gun on the mako, but if your assassination is high, you can still do considerable damage, and of course you can zoom in farther with the rifle. Soldier class strategy though, obviously.
 

IoCaster

Member
Uncle said:
I usually go to a higher ground and blast the enemies as long as my shields hold and then back up to a cover for a while. The makos turret is badly desgined though, since it can't aim down so you have to place the vehicle accordingly.


Yeah, I've come to that realization. The problems I've had were mostly due to the terrain in combination with the just plain klutzy control scheme. As I would maneuver over the uneven ground it would tilt the camera/viewpoint. This would cause me to lose orientation on the enemy for long enough to take some serious damage. There was just a 'painful' period of adjustment involved. I'm much better with it now.

SuperEnemyCrab said:
Use the jump feature of the Mako to just jump over the projectiles. Time it right and you can park right next to turrets and they will never hit u.


Roger. Good copy.
I actually discovered that by accident with some frantic, finger fumbling. It sure does help.
 

JayDubya

Banned
The Mako was a godsend on Veteran mode on those crucial first few side quest planets. Just remember to get out when you take out anything big, like a Thresher Maw or a Heavy Turret or a Geth Juggernaut / Prime or Armature / Colossus. That's huge xp. Ideally you could take these things down on foot entirely, but on Veteran or harder, when you first run into them, haha no. Soften 'em up with the big gun, though. And you can always jump the Geth energy balls and rockets and thresher acid.
 

Shinjitsu

Banned
Anyone else tired of the people crying about the framerate in this thread?

I've played the game in its entirety six times now. Sorry but the framerate is not "game breaking", and it in no way makes the game "unplayable".

If you can't get past a few technical limitations, and enjoy a truly good game, maybe you should find a different hobby. Just sayin'
 

FFChris

Member
Shinjitsu said:
Anyone else tired of the people crying about the framerate in this thread?

I've played the game in its entirety six times now. Sorry but the framerate is not "game breaking", and it in no way makes the game "unplayable".

If you can't get past a few technical limitations, and enjoy a truly good game, maybe you should find a different hobby. Just sayin'

As good as this game is, the framerate is horrible.

People aren't complaining about a little thing here, the slowdown is everywhere. Still, I think people are only complaining because the game is so damn good already that if only they had fixed it then the game would be spectacular.
 

beerbelly

Banned
I just saved
Wrex
and I'm in a tough situation now.
Kaiden is at the AA Tower now and Ashley just started the nuke. Can I save both of them? If not, which character is "better" to choose to save? To be honest I don't want any of my characters gone :(
 
beerbelly said:
I just saved
Wrex
and I'm in a tough situation now.
Kaiden is at the AA Tower now and Ashley just started the nuke. Can I save both of them? If not, which character is "better" to choose to save? To be honest I don't want any of my characters gone :(

Not sure if you can save both, I opted to save Ashley, as I'd taken her on most o the missions throughout the game, but yeah.. it's a tough choice. If you manage to find a way to save them both, let us know!
 
Woot finally got a couple of the majority complete achievements.

I got the Wrex one after opening the garage in Noveria and the Gallus one after doing the quest for the doctor in the Peak 15 labs.I'd say overall it took me about 15 hours.

Has anyone posted a good summary for getting the codex entries achievement? I plan to tackle that while getting Liara/Tali ally + all of the Engineering achievements.

(Working on the level 60 + Kaiden and Ashley achievements right now)

Hitler Stole My Potato said:
At least that section is pretty.

Not to add insult to injury or anything but your squad-mates suggest that you should grab the Mako before you go any further.
 

Coop

Member
GauntletFan said:
Not sure if you can save both, I opted to save Ashley, as I'd taken her on most o the missions throughout the game, but yeah.. it's a tough choice. If you manage to find a way to save them both, let us know!

It's not really a tough choice, Kaiden is boring. he is like Carth redux only a lot worse.
 

Shinjitsu

Banned
BrokenSymmetry said:
Anyone else annoyed by the extremely slow recharching shields of the Mako?


Now this I will agree on!:lol

I've honestly had my shields taken down by a nasty rocket volley in insanity, hid behind a hill and left to make myself lunch because it takes FOREVER.
 
PepsimanVsJoe said:
Not to add insult to injury or anything but your squad-mates suggest that you should grab the Mako before you go any further.


Yeah, I know that now but I didn't hear 'em at the time. In my defense though, sometimes if you're not in earshot of those guys it can be difficult to hear or understand what the hell they're saying. It's especially hard when the music is blarin'. The only time I actually heard them say anything during that walk was how remarkable it was that there were all of those
Prothean stasis chambers
in the wall.

I do remembering wondering why in the hell I'd never read any complaints about that section when I was walking through it. It was like the end of Shenmue 2 where you just kept walking and walking. God I'm an idiot.


So yeah, anyway, I finished the game the other day and started a new character with the intention of choosing all the renegade conversation options and I've come to the conclusion that I hate this bitch. Sure, going renegade is cool in several occasions but most of the time my character comes off sounding like a class A asshole.
 

Kittonwy

Banned
Shinjitsu said:
Anyone else tired of the people crying about the framerate in this thread?

I've played the game in its entirety six times now. Sorry but the framerate is not "game breaking", and it in no way makes the game "unplayable".

If you can't get past a few technical limitations, and enjoy a truly good game, maybe you should find a different hobby. Just sayin'

Having played the game six times you probably wouldn't notice the framerate at this point, if you've just recently come off a game with a better framerate the choppy framerate is more apparent, especially when it comes to controlling your character and the level of responsiveness, that said it isn't unplayable, just sluggish for those of us who just come off playing other games with better a framerate.

I'm more annoyed by things like the load times and the elevator rides but I'm willing to play it further, not a huge fan of the combat though, but that's only because I've been playing games with a much better shooter component.
 

Shinjitsu

Banned
Kittonwy said:
Having played the game six times you probably wouldn't notice the framerate at this point, if you've just recently come off a game with a better framerate the choppy framerate is more apparent, especially when it comes to controlling your character and the level of responsiveness, that said it isn't unplayable, just sluggish for those of us who just come off playing other games with better a framerate.

I'm more annoyed by things like the load times and the elevator rides but I'm willing to play it further, not a huge fan of the combat though, but that's only because I've been playing games with a much better shooter component.

It's not a shooter:D
 

IoCaster

Member
Hitler Stole My Potato said:
Sure, going renegade is cool in several occasions but most of the time my character comes off sounding like a class A asshole.

For a male character it sounds like fun. I enjoyed being evil in KoTOR. Maybe it's just difficult to roleplay a female character being a complete asshole? I always play as a male, so I really have no idea.

*shrug*
 
IoCaster said:
For a male character it sounds like fun. I enjoyed being evil in KoTOR. Maybe it's just difficult to roleplay a female character being a complete asshole? I always play as a male, so I really have no idea.

*shrug*

I always play female characters and I'm always a complete ass. It's opposite land whenever I play videogames. =/
 

JeStaH

Member
PepsimanVsJoe said:
I always play female characters and I'm always a complete ass. It's opposite land whenever I play videogames. =/

I'm on my second playthrough ( hardcore ) as a female and my plan was female renegade. I started out like a total bitch but for some reason it is much harder for me to be a total dickhead! I can only do it to those who truly deserve it. I can't even kill those innocent creatures you see roaming certain planets.. I did run over a few monkeys though :)

On my 3rd ( insane ) I am going to try really hard to be a complete asshole.. We'll see.
 

DarkKyo

Member
Just beat it. Good stuff.
Last two Saren fights were a little drawn out for me and my squad died immediately.. but still pretty epic. Can't wait for the next game.

Probably been asked a hundred times in here but what is the song during the credits? Me likey
 
I like using singularity on the monkeys.
Actually I like using singularity on a lot of things. Something about having a bunch of furniture and thugs swirling around makes me smile a little.
 
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