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Mass Effect |OT| Alien love in an elevator
- Thread starter Mr. Spinnington
- Start date
Solideliquid
Member
So I just beat Virmire. About how far am I into the game? I've also completed feros.
arhra
Member
4 complete games (three with all/nearly all sidequests, one quick run through doing just the story for the Insanity achievement), one near-completion (for wrex/garrus and renegade; i'll be finishing it soon just to get the renegade ending) plus a couple of partials to grab things like AI hacking/neural shock/stasis/singularity.Jax said:
Still planning on doing a from-level-one Insanity game, too :lol (my renegade game started out as that, but as i was also going for the wrex/garrus achievements and had picked infiltrator, it was far harder than it needed to be thanks to a lack of biotics, so i dropped back down so i could actually make some progress). Oh, and i've got this crazy plan to get a character with maxed out charm/intimidate without spending any talent points on them, by using new game+ and the free points you get from becoming a spectre/filling up your renegade/paragon meters. I'll probably finish that one shortly before the sequel releases...
WHOAguitarninja
Member
Just beat the game. How many different endings are there? I've seen one other on youtube that was different than mine.
My thoughts...
Wow...what a ride. I'm extremely glad I kept my expectations in check and managed to avoid reading much about the game (I didn't even really know the general premise...just knew there was a bad guy named Saren). The whole thing was then fresh and unspoiled. I can't remember the last time a game pulled me into the world like that. The writing was fantastic and the plot was maybe my second favorite videogame plot/world of anything I've played (legacy of **** series is still the tops).
I think it's pretty telling when I can say it was probably the most unpolished and glitchy/stuttery high profile game I've ever played and I still was completely engrossed. However, the frequent bugs and general lack of that spit shine that usually distinguishes top level games from the rest did hurt a bit. The combat felt rather clunky and unrefined, the framerate was all over the place, the game frequently stuttered and stopped for no explicable reason, frequent disc read errors (though that may be the fault of my 360) and a very graphically inconsistent presentation...but the game was still a great experience in spite of it.
My thoughts...
Wow...what a ride. I'm extremely glad I kept my expectations in check and managed to avoid reading much about the game (I didn't even really know the general premise...just knew there was a bad guy named Saren). The whole thing was then fresh and unspoiled. I can't remember the last time a game pulled me into the world like that. The writing was fantastic and the plot was maybe my second favorite videogame plot/world of anything I've played (legacy of **** series is still the tops).
I think it's pretty telling when I can say it was probably the most unpolished and glitchy/stuttery high profile game I've ever played and I still was completely engrossed. However, the frequent bugs and general lack of that spit shine that usually distinguishes top level games from the rest did hurt a bit. The combat felt rather clunky and unrefined, the framerate was all over the place, the game frequently stuttered and stopped for no explicable reason, frequent disc read errors (though that may be the fault of my 360) and a very graphically inconsistent presentation...but the game was still a great experience in spite of it.
beelzebozo
Jealous Bastard
the writing in this game is great. the graphics are beautiful, even the 70s grainy filter.
but good gravy this is a stuttery mess
but good gravy this is a stuttery mess
WHOAguitarninja said:
Well, all the endings are fairly similar but are kind of modular; as far as I can see, there are 8 different ways the final scene can go. This is influenced by:
1. Whether you are Paragon or Renegade
2.
Whether the Council lives or not
Whether you pick Anderson or Udina.
The first choice influences the effect of the second, and both affect what happens with the third choice.
BenjaminBirdie
Banned
Wow, this was a pretty big Shepard-Ton:
Looks like the sequel is Shepard-Centric after all.
Looks like the sequel is Shepard-Centric after all.
Kill Your Masters
Member
It has to be. Because I see ME1,2,3 as one big whole game which spans on 3 DVDs (lets say like BD or LO), but doesn't come in one Box 
So everything else, but not continuing the story how WE played it on the first DVD, would be a disappointment IMO...
So everything else, but not continuing the story how WE played it on the first DVD, would be a disappointment IMO...
Kill Your Masters
Member
Exactly. Just give us Insanity or Hardcore Difficulty right from the start and let us rise to Level 120 or so.Draft said:
arhra
Member
Roughly speaking, there are 4 endings (although there are minor changes to each of those 4 based on one of the choices you get at the end), based on a combination of two factors - the 'big' choice near the end, and your paragon/renegade alignment:WHOAguitarninja said:
1) Save the council
2) Let the council die (Concentrate on Sovereign also goes here)
A) More Paragon than Renegade
B) More Renegade than Paragon
Combinations as follows:
1A is the standard 'paragon/good' ending - humanity is granted a seat on the council, with them going on about how awesome you and humanity are and the sacrifices you've made, etc etc, everyone is happy and nice (except all the dead human crewmembers sacrificed to save the council, of course...).
1B is slightly unusual, and not one that you'd generally see unless you specifically tried to get it to see what happens. Basically the same as 1A, but with different tone to the dialog with the council - something about you "showing that humanity is willing to do whatever it takes to succeed, and that being exactly what's necessary in these dark times" (paraphrased).
2A reforms the council in it's previous, multi-racial form, but with a human member (possibly implied to be the leader/chairman in some sense, it's a bit ambiguous).
2B is the basic 'renegade/evil' ending - you form a new, all-human council, and even if you say you don't want that (that you only let the council die because it was a pragmatic choice, and that Sovereign needed to be the priority), Udina will overrule you, saying that he's watched your actions and that you believe in forcefulness and stomping all over the little people, and blah blah humanity has to take advantage of the opportunity etc etc (very paraphrased).
Plus minor variations based on whether you recommend Anderson or Udina for a position on whatever council ends up running the show, or decide not to choose (i think in that case each option has a 'default' choice it picks - Anderson for paragon options, Udina for renegade i think; far from certain on those though, as i've always nominated Anderson, since Udina is a massive tosser who needs to go eat a bag of dicks).
2) Let the council die (Concentrate on Sovereign also goes here)
A) More Paragon than Renegade
B) More Renegade than Paragon
Combinations as follows:
1A is the standard 'paragon/good' ending - humanity is granted a seat on the council, with them going on about how awesome you and humanity are and the sacrifices you've made, etc etc, everyone is happy and nice (except all the dead human crewmembers sacrificed to save the council, of course...).
1B is slightly unusual, and not one that you'd generally see unless you specifically tried to get it to see what happens. Basically the same as 1A, but with different tone to the dialog with the council - something about you "showing that humanity is willing to do whatever it takes to succeed, and that being exactly what's necessary in these dark times" (paraphrased).
2A reforms the council in it's previous, multi-racial form, but with a human member (possibly implied to be the leader/chairman in some sense, it's a bit ambiguous).
2B is the basic 'renegade/evil' ending - you form a new, all-human council, and even if you say you don't want that (that you only let the council die because it was a pragmatic choice, and that Sovereign needed to be the priority), Udina will overrule you, saying that he's watched your actions and that you believe in forcefulness and stomping all over the little people, and blah blah humanity has to take advantage of the opportunity etc etc (very paraphrased).
Plus minor variations based on whether you recommend Anderson or Udina for a position on whatever council ends up running the show, or decide not to choose (i think in that case each option has a 'default' choice it picks - Anderson for paragon options, Udina for renegade i think; far from certain on those though, as i've always nominated Anderson, since Udina is a massive tosser who needs to go eat a bag of dicks).
At least, i think that's all right. Any corrections gladly accepted.
Domino Theory
Crystal Dynamics
Is there any Krogan armor that's better than the Colossus X that I should be on the look out for? Just wondering if I need to continue armor-hunting..
Lvl 50 Vanguard, btw, if that helps.
Lvl 50 Vanguard, btw, if that helps.
Honestly they needed to give
at least *some* reason to pick Udina over Anderson. Like Udina pulling you aside and saying that if you support him you'll get a free pass to do whatever you want from the Council. As it is the choice is between a total jackhole and a badass who sticks up for you throughout the game
Azih said:
Very good point and I agree. I had glossed over this because it was so easy for me to pick the other guy/not involve myself.
Sort of related, it's part of the reason I like quite a few characters on the new BSG still but lost interest in NBC's version of The Office.
Solo said:Which made it all the more easy for my renegade to pick said jackass
I didn't play renegade, but does he support you more if you show him an 'Earth First' type of agenda?
Working through it as a renegade now, but started a soldier so I can run through with Liara and Tali/Kaidan.
Things I would do for the sequel:
1. The inventory thing. No need to bring it up again.
2. I would actually like to see some diversity to the equipment. How about pitch-dark caves or power-cut facilities where you must fight with night vision or infra-red goggles? How about tools to hack into doors and locked boxes instead of that dumb minigame? Maybe item creation?
3. As much as it'll make me sound like I'm pining for KOTOR, I'd like to see melee combat. They don't have to be mystical, magical swords or lightsabers, but things like vibroswords, riot batons, or the old-fashioned boot knife would be cool. (I mean, the klingons had swords for ceremonial reasons, didn't they?)
4. One thing that seems to have bothered only me is the lack of diversity in weapon models. All told, there are nine weapon models in the game- two pistol, two shotgun (virtually no difference), two sniper rifle, and three assault rifle (which look good, especially the pulse rifle). I know you don't see your own weapon very often, since your back is to the camera, but with so many armor designs, it kinda seems lazy.
5. Heavy weapons? They might slow you down but pack a hell of a lot of firepower, like a small cannon or light machine gun. It might strain credibility, but it could be done if they have...
6. Elcor party member! Or, specifically, bring the other non-council races into the party mix, although a hanar might not be the fiercest ally. The volus could work though (although their culture is more mercantile... kinda painting myself into a corner with this one).
7. As weird as it sounds, show the female members of the salarians and turians. They might not be as attractive as asari or humans, but it kind of strains the believability of the galaxy if we only see male turians and salarians.
8. Populated alien worlds. I got tired of seeing the same dustballs populated by either slimy corporate scumbags (more properly, a snowball) or poor, grungy colonists. Lets see what turian, salarian, and asari architecture looks like, and a closer look at how their societies work.
9. Is all the galaxy a desert? Some worlds with trees, rivers, and large wildlife would be nice. If I didn't know better, I would say that the uncharted worlds were made barren so that the Mako would have an easier time maneuvering. Speaking of which...
10. Tighten the Mako controls and allow some customization, or remove it entirely. I used it to cross long expanses on those uncharted worlds, but not much for combat unless I had to fight a really big enemy. I don't mind running to my destination on foot. Hell, the final area
was my favorite part of the game.
11. The art direction. This is hard to argue, but I think Bioware went into overkill with the realism. The Citadel and the colonies feel so sterile that I don't like being there for any reason besides finishing off assignments. A certain, much-hated JRPG series that I enjoyed the most recent installment of had a slick future punctuated by family-run bars and restaurants with their own style far removed from the futuristic city they were in, offices that were suited to their owner's aesthetic tastes, even churches. I would like to see more of a humanist feel in Mass Effect 2.
12.
Even with a list that long, it's still my GOTY and my favorite console game ever.
Things I would do for the sequel:
1. The inventory thing. No need to bring it up again.
2. I would actually like to see some diversity to the equipment. How about pitch-dark caves or power-cut facilities where you must fight with night vision or infra-red goggles? How about tools to hack into doors and locked boxes instead of that dumb minigame? Maybe item creation?
3. As much as it'll make me sound like I'm pining for KOTOR, I'd like to see melee combat. They don't have to be mystical, magical swords or lightsabers, but things like vibroswords, riot batons, or the old-fashioned boot knife would be cool. (I mean, the klingons had swords for ceremonial reasons, didn't they?)
4. One thing that seems to have bothered only me is the lack of diversity in weapon models. All told, there are nine weapon models in the game- two pistol, two shotgun (virtually no difference), two sniper rifle, and three assault rifle (which look good, especially the pulse rifle). I know you don't see your own weapon very often, since your back is to the camera, but with so many armor designs, it kinda seems lazy.
5. Heavy weapons? They might slow you down but pack a hell of a lot of firepower, like a small cannon or light machine gun. It might strain credibility, but it could be done if they have...
6. Elcor party member! Or, specifically, bring the other non-council races into the party mix, although a hanar might not be the fiercest ally. The volus could work though (although their culture is more mercantile... kinda painting myself into a corner with this one).
7. As weird as it sounds, show the female members of the salarians and turians. They might not be as attractive as asari or humans, but it kind of strains the believability of the galaxy if we only see male turians and salarians.
8. Populated alien worlds. I got tired of seeing the same dustballs populated by either slimy corporate scumbags (more properly, a snowball) or poor, grungy colonists. Lets see what turian, salarian, and asari architecture looks like, and a closer look at how their societies work.
9. Is all the galaxy a desert? Some worlds with trees, rivers, and large wildlife would be nice. If I didn't know better, I would say that the uncharted worlds were made barren so that the Mako would have an easier time maneuvering. Speaking of which...
10. Tighten the Mako controls and allow some customization, or remove it entirely. I used it to cross long expanses on those uncharted worlds, but not much for combat unless I had to fight a really big enemy. I don't mind running to my destination on foot. Hell, the final area
with the Citadel arms locked up, running across the interior with geth ships overhead and Sovereign looming threateningly above
11. The art direction. This is hard to argue, but I think Bioware went into overkill with the realism. The Citadel and the colonies feel so sterile that I don't like being there for any reason besides finishing off assignments. A certain, much-hated JRPG series that I enjoyed the most recent installment of had a slick future punctuated by family-run bars and restaurants with their own style far removed from the futuristic city they were in, offices that were suited to their owner's aesthetic tastes, even churches. I would like to see more of a humanist feel in Mass Effect 2.
12.
I would think that, knowing that the mass relays, the citadel, and mass effect technology itself were all created by the Reapers, would spur the Council races to try to develop technology of their own, like energy/ballistic weapons, or their own kind of FTL travel. Or, perhaps they had a look at what was left of Sovereign and made further advancements on their existing technology?
Even with a list that long, it's still my GOTY and my favorite console game ever.
Tokubetsu
Member
Just got mass effect finally and I'm in need of some help. Is there anyway to redo stats? I'm level 20 or so and I feel like I might have spread myself a little thin as vanguard. I wasn't completely sure what to put stuff into so im a bit all over the place. I had to put quite a bit into Throw to get into Lift which has been really useful so I don't regret that as much. But I hated having to go into pistols get shotgun. And then there's charm, intimidate, assault training and spectre. Ugh, too many possible trees to put things into.
Wow, this game has amongst the worst side quests I've ever experienced.
The Mako-based terrain exploration is surprisingly half-baked and unsatisfying. Especially on those larger planets with horrible weather conditions. Frame-rate takes a dive in those.
The Mako-based terrain exploration is surprisingly half-baked and unsatisfying. Especially on those larger planets with horrible weather conditions. Frame-rate takes a dive in those.
Domino Theory
Crystal Dynamics
markom58 said:woohoo finished my first ME run through (40 hrs, lvl 50, Paragon). Great game, awesome ramp up at the end! I may or may not go again as renegade, not sure yet. Kudos to Bioware for an enjoyable 40 hrs =) Now the wait for ME 2 begins! Holiday 08 pls!
There's a glitch to get full Renegade/Paragon achievements in one conversation so you can do the glitch, get the Renegade achievement, and then play Paragon again your second playthrough if you feel like it. That's what I did because I didn't have the heart to be an ass to Ashley or Liara.
Wow.
As much as I'm really digging the backstory (a lot, I love it when my games give me tons of good shit to read), Mass Effect is like the worst of KotOR (lifeless and pointless exploration) combined with the worst of Gears of War (samey and half-baked third person shooter combat), with the worst of the Halo franchise (uninspired and half-baked vehicular combat). I'm also stunned to see how much mileage they get out of the same three sidequest building structures, and this one janky as fuck QTE mini-game for hacking, decrypting, unlocking, salvaging, pillaging, surveying, etc. WTF.
Once again, I play a Bioware game and fail to see the appeal. It'd make for a better book than game, so far.
Now that I've got the brunt of the early-game sidequests out of the way, I'll FINALLY be able to focus more on the story, and here's hoping that, at least, starts to deliver. I'm about 15 hours in, and so far, only about 2 hours of it has been even remotely worthwhile.
I really wish I knew what I was missing. I freaking grew up on Western RPGs and CRPGs. They were a lot more fun and involved than what Bioware's been shitting out the past few years.
As much as I'm really digging the backstory (a lot, I love it when my games give me tons of good shit to read), Mass Effect is like the worst of KotOR (lifeless and pointless exploration) combined with the worst of Gears of War (samey and half-baked third person shooter combat), with the worst of the Halo franchise (uninspired and half-baked vehicular combat). I'm also stunned to see how much mileage they get out of the same three sidequest building structures, and this one janky as fuck QTE mini-game for hacking, decrypting, unlocking, salvaging, pillaging, surveying, etc. WTF.
Once again, I play a Bioware game and fail to see the appeal. It'd make for a better book than game, so far.
Now that I've got the brunt of the early-game sidequests out of the way, I'll FINALLY be able to focus more on the story, and here's hoping that, at least, starts to deliver. I'm about 15 hours in, and so far, only about 2 hours of it has been even remotely worthwhile.
I really wish I knew what I was missing. I freaking grew up on Western RPGs and CRPGs. They were a lot more fun and involved than what Bioware's been shitting out the past few years.
beelzebozo
Jealous Bastard
i think the story is pretty compelling, mejilan, but otherwise i essentially agree with your points
I'm loving the story and characters. The manual and codex (in-game and out-of-game) were fun reads. Digging deep to unlock in-game codex entries has a Metroid Prime-like scanning quality to it, and I loved it there too.
Hell, I might even browse through the bonus disc I got, which I rarely do!
Actually, I'm hoping now that I got most of the Citadel stuff out of the way (hopefully) and will now be focusing on the story quests, that the game will take a significant turn for the better!
Hell, I might even browse through the bonus disc I got, which I rarely do!
Actually, I'm hoping now that I got most of the Citadel stuff out of the way (hopefully) and will now be focusing on the story quests, that the game will take a significant turn for the better!
BenjaminBirdie
Banned
Mejilan said:
I felt that it did. I was wrapped up in the side quests and leveling and shit and then I started in on the off world story stuff and now I'm thinking I might just barrel through it and do sidequests on my next playthrough. It's just fucking riveting at this point.
What happens is the accumulation of all the great dialogue detail. I just had a legitimately interesting conversation with Ashley about her friggin' sister of all people. And you'll have shit like that with 85% of the people you run into. It adds a lot more depth to overarching threat. You go into towns and you talk to people and, thanks to the dialogue system and the great model performances, you actually give a shit.
Anyway. I'll just say, stick with it.
And combat is now also an absolute blast. It's great to revisit these massive enemies that were smoking you early in the game and just lay the fuck out of them with a Master Carnage blast from your shotgun.
I was kind of disappointed at the beginning of the game because of the jankiness, because you spend like seven hours with hardly any fighting on a really boring version of Coruscant with the most ANNOYING transport system ever and then you get off world and it's SORT OF cool but you learn quickly that they're recycling almost every place you walk into. But everything just accumulates and you just start really feeling the Universe and your place in it and the sidequests themselves have a tremendous amount of variety (Euthanasia!!) and then you get deeper into the main plot and by then your Level 36 and Liara is just using Lift on her own recognizance and you're shooting robots out of the air and you just realize, "Yes. I fucking love this game."
It will happen.
Mark my words.
Chairman Yang
if he talks about books, you better damn well listen
So I finished Mass Effect (as a Paragon) with about 31 hours on the clock, doing basically all of the sidequests, and reaching level 50. Based on that info alone you might think I had a blast with the game. You'd be wrong--at a certain point I was disgusted with the game but kept playing to see how Bioware would screw things up. I also think that despite Bioware's poor effort, the core Western RPG structure of Mass Effect (inherited from far better games) keeps the game playable.
Here are some specific criticisms:
Graphics: I hate them. People have adequately covered the technical problems (pop-in, horrible framerates, tearing, etc.) but the real killer for me is the horrifically bad art design. Everything is so damn bland and uninspired--the ships, the aliens, the planets--everything. Yeah, the facial animations are cool, but older games (like Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines) did cool things with that too without looking so ugly. Visual diversity in general is a huge problem in this game. Trawling through planets that were 95% identical then finally landing on one that had some visual flavour made me feel like a starving man finally stumbling across a chunk of stale bread.
Sound: The music was cool, but the voice acting was surprisingly bad. Specifically, the male Shepard's. I guess Bioware was trying to go for a neutral voice that could accommodate both the Paragon and Renegade responses, but it was too damn bland (I'll use that word a lot in this review).
Controls: You'd think that after years and years of excellent WRPG interfaces, Bioware would be able to get this one right. They didn't. The equipment screens are sloppily-done and unintuitive (with bizarre, random control changes depending on which screen you're at) and the Mako controls are mediocre (a very bad thing when you spend so much time with them exploring planets and fighting enemies).
The worst thing for me, though, was trying to skip dialogue. Like in most RPGs, I put on subtitles and skip a lot of the voiced dialogue. Mass Effect had that option, but some genius at Bioware decided to make the X button not only skip dialogue but also select responses. Combined with the inconsistent behaviour of skipping, that meant that I was frequently frustrated. I'd go through a conversation, accidentally pick a dialogue option, and then have to reload the game. Eventually, I had to pay close attention to picking the right dialogue to skip, and it became a horrible game in itself. Screw you, Bioware.
I also thought ME's save system sucked. The autosaving was basically useless, and there was no quicksave. Manual saving took too long, and there were only a few slots to do it in.
Gameplay: Before release, I thought that combat would be the sore point for me in an otherwise excellent gameplay experience. I was wrong. The combat's not bad. Not good, mind you--it's just a crappy third-person shooter with some sort-of interesting abilities--but better than the increasingly dumbed-down, half-assed real-time hybrids Bioware went with for their last few games. As is now usual for Bioware, there's no interesting challenge to be had (it's a consequence of the "play however you want" philosophy, I think). The Mako combat also sucked, as I alluded to earlier.
What about the rest of the gameplay? It basically didn't exist. Hacking, exploring, disarming, surveying, etc. all basically boiled down to one of the worst Simon Says minigames I've seen in recent times. Conversations had no interesting gameplay, and basically consisted of picking the blue or red (Paragon or Renegade) options when you could (it didn't help that Paragon/Renegade were basically interchangeable). Exploration meant following the radar on dozens of identical, boring planets, or entering indoors locations that were basically all warehouses with a bunch of boxes. That's it.
Story/Setting/Characters: The story is packed with cliche and ripped off from so many better sources. I started watching Babylon 5 recently (it's awesome, by the way), but ME's "homages", as I watched the show more and more, disgusted me. ME would take a cool story or setting element, plop it into their universe, then dumb it down. I also have trouble thinking of a single original or fresh idea in the game's story. I mean, yeah, everything takes inspiration from old stuff, but good media ADDS to that in some way. Mass Effect doesn't.
The characters were mostly bland. Not much to say here. They villains were also ruined by a stupid, cop-out plot element--namely,
I thought Ashley was sort of interesting, I guess, and the stereotypical badass character (in this case, Wrex), always seems to work no matter how much they tread the same ground.
The setting is about as bland as everything else (with the usual Star Trek-style "humans with funny faces" standing in for real aliens), but there is a bright spot here. The Codex had lots of interesting detail with some realistic, well-thought-out justifications for the universe. Unfortunately, this well-made hard sci-fi element was mostly confined to the Codex and didn't really translate into realism or maturity in the story, but I still appreciated it.
Miscellaneous: ME's much-vaunted size and scope was illusory. Everywhere felt dead, even supposedly bustling centers of the galaxy like Citadel Station. 75% of the content was basically worthless, being another boring planet. I ran into a bunch of gameplay bugs, something that didn't happen in older Bioware games, even the astoundingly complex Baldur's Gate 2. Hmm...what else? That about covers it, I think.
Final Thoughts: In all, Mass Effect kept my interest to the end. It had a reasonably exciting last few hours, and the basic Bioware quest structure remains incredibly strong. But honestly, this game has cemented my worst fears about the company. It continues the trend of every one of their games since Baldur's Gate 2--it's more dumbed-down, blander, less content-packed, buggier, and more focused on technical merit instead of creative design than its predecessors. It's a huge disappointment to me, and, as far as I'm concerned, Bioware is basically dead to me (we'll see if Dragon Age can resurrect their corpse).
tl;dr version: Mass Effect has good music and a good quest structure, but otherwise sucks in every other way. It's definitely not GOTY material. It's not even RPG of the Year material. It's a dull game elevated by hype, ignorance of better alternatives, and forgetfulness of Bioware's past glories.
Here are some specific criticisms:
Graphics: I hate them. People have adequately covered the technical problems (pop-in, horrible framerates, tearing, etc.) but the real killer for me is the horrifically bad art design. Everything is so damn bland and uninspired--the ships, the aliens, the planets--everything. Yeah, the facial animations are cool, but older games (like Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines) did cool things with that too without looking so ugly. Visual diversity in general is a huge problem in this game. Trawling through planets that were 95% identical then finally landing on one that had some visual flavour made me feel like a starving man finally stumbling across a chunk of stale bread.
Sound: The music was cool, but the voice acting was surprisingly bad. Specifically, the male Shepard's. I guess Bioware was trying to go for a neutral voice that could accommodate both the Paragon and Renegade responses, but it was too damn bland (I'll use that word a lot in this review).
Controls: You'd think that after years and years of excellent WRPG interfaces, Bioware would be able to get this one right. They didn't. The equipment screens are sloppily-done and unintuitive (with bizarre, random control changes depending on which screen you're at) and the Mako controls are mediocre (a very bad thing when you spend so much time with them exploring planets and fighting enemies).
The worst thing for me, though, was trying to skip dialogue. Like in most RPGs, I put on subtitles and skip a lot of the voiced dialogue. Mass Effect had that option, but some genius at Bioware decided to make the X button not only skip dialogue but also select responses. Combined with the inconsistent behaviour of skipping, that meant that I was frequently frustrated. I'd go through a conversation, accidentally pick a dialogue option, and then have to reload the game. Eventually, I had to pay close attention to picking the right dialogue to skip, and it became a horrible game in itself. Screw you, Bioware.
I also thought ME's save system sucked. The autosaving was basically useless, and there was no quicksave. Manual saving took too long, and there were only a few slots to do it in.
Gameplay: Before release, I thought that combat would be the sore point for me in an otherwise excellent gameplay experience. I was wrong. The combat's not bad. Not good, mind you--it's just a crappy third-person shooter with some sort-of interesting abilities--but better than the increasingly dumbed-down, half-assed real-time hybrids Bioware went with for their last few games. As is now usual for Bioware, there's no interesting challenge to be had (it's a consequence of the "play however you want" philosophy, I think). The Mako combat also sucked, as I alluded to earlier.
What about the rest of the gameplay? It basically didn't exist. Hacking, exploring, disarming, surveying, etc. all basically boiled down to one of the worst Simon Says minigames I've seen in recent times. Conversations had no interesting gameplay, and basically consisted of picking the blue or red (Paragon or Renegade) options when you could (it didn't help that Paragon/Renegade were basically interchangeable). Exploration meant following the radar on dozens of identical, boring planets, or entering indoors locations that were basically all warehouses with a bunch of boxes. That's it.
Story/Setting/Characters: The story is packed with cliche and ripped off from so many better sources. I started watching Babylon 5 recently (it's awesome, by the way), but ME's "homages", as I watched the show more and more, disgusted me. ME would take a cool story or setting element, plop it into their universe, then dumb it down. I also have trouble thinking of a single original or fresh idea in the game's story. I mean, yeah, everything takes inspiration from old stuff, but good media ADDS to that in some way. Mass Effect doesn't.
The characters were mostly bland. Not much to say here. They villains were also ruined by a stupid, cop-out plot element--namely,
the whole mind-control thing. I hate mind-control unless it's done really well, because it essentially strips away interesting motivations from characters and removes any need for the writers to justify characters' actions. The villain is doing some crazy sh** again? Don't explain it in a way that sheds light on interesting character motivations, just say it was mind control!
The setting is about as bland as everything else (with the usual Star Trek-style "humans with funny faces" standing in for real aliens), but there is a bright spot here. The Codex had lots of interesting detail with some realistic, well-thought-out justifications for the universe. Unfortunately, this well-made hard sci-fi element was mostly confined to the Codex and didn't really translate into realism or maturity in the story, but I still appreciated it.
Miscellaneous: ME's much-vaunted size and scope was illusory. Everywhere felt dead, even supposedly bustling centers of the galaxy like Citadel Station. 75% of the content was basically worthless, being another boring planet. I ran into a bunch of gameplay bugs, something that didn't happen in older Bioware games, even the astoundingly complex Baldur's Gate 2. Hmm...what else? That about covers it, I think.
Final Thoughts: In all, Mass Effect kept my interest to the end. It had a reasonably exciting last few hours, and the basic Bioware quest structure remains incredibly strong. But honestly, this game has cemented my worst fears about the company. It continues the trend of every one of their games since Baldur's Gate 2--it's more dumbed-down, blander, less content-packed, buggier, and more focused on technical merit instead of creative design than its predecessors. It's a huge disappointment to me, and, as far as I'm concerned, Bioware is basically dead to me (we'll see if Dragon Age can resurrect their corpse).
tl;dr version: Mass Effect has good music and a good quest structure, but otherwise sucks in every other way. It's definitely not GOTY material. It's not even RPG of the Year material. It's a dull game elevated by hype, ignorance of better alternatives, and forgetfulness of Bioware's past glories.
Chairman Yang
if he talks about books, you better damn well listen
Oh, one more thing: the whole Paragon/Renegade paradigm was lame and basically motivated by laziness on Bioware's part. I actually would have preferred the normal good/evil choices, because at least then you have more choice in your actions.
Why? Because Paragon/Renegade basically railroads you into following the mission. The reason Renegade is more "get the job done at any cost" than pure evil is because of that "get the job done" part. It means Bioware doesn't have to bother accommodating someone who DOESN'T want to get the job done (or who wants to do something else). And worst of all, Renegade basically IS evil most of the time--it consists of thinly-veiled racism, unnecessary violence, and "sacrifices" that don't actually have to be made (since you can accomplish everything and save the galaxy by being a nice Paragon--no compromises necessary).
Why? Because Paragon/Renegade basically railroads you into following the mission. The reason Renegade is more "get the job done at any cost" than pure evil is because of that "get the job done" part. It means Bioware doesn't have to bother accommodating someone who DOESN'T want to get the job done (or who wants to do something else). And worst of all, Renegade basically IS evil most of the time--it consists of thinly-veiled racism, unnecessary violence, and "sacrifices" that don't actually have to be made (since you can accomplish everything and save the galaxy by being a nice Paragon--no compromises necessary).
I haven't played through the entire game yet, clearly, but my thoughts are trending just like Chairman Yang's so far. And the whole X-button to skip dialogue and select conversations branches thing pisses me off to no end as well. Ditto on the crap menus.
Edit - And as far as side quests go, all I have left open are the many lame collect-a-thon quests, which I'll leave open and probably complete as I progress through the rest of the game and side quests, and the Helena Blake quest. I've already killed her two crime lord rivals, and now I'm apparently supposed to meet up with her again for my reward. However, seeing that she's no longer waiting for me on the Citadel, and has apparently returned to her own base, I'll probably have to kill her as well. I'm alright with that. Except that I expect that her "base" is the one of the same 3 warehouses I've already cleared out half a dozen times in other missions. Blah.
Edit - And as far as side quests go, all I have left open are the many lame collect-a-thon quests, which I'll leave open and probably complete as I progress through the rest of the game and side quests, and the Helena Blake quest. I've already killed her two crime lord rivals, and now I'm apparently supposed to meet up with her again for my reward. However, seeing that she's no longer waiting for me on the Citadel, and has apparently returned to her own base, I'll probably have to kill her as well. I'm alright with that. Except that I expect that her "base" is the one of the same 3 warehouses I've already cleared out half a dozen times in other missions. Blah.
Chairman Yang
if he talks about books, you better damn well listen
Draft said:
The Witcher, Mask of the Betrayer, and (hopefully) Fallout 3 and Dragon Age beg to differ. They're filling the vacuum left by the absence of good Bioware WRPGs. People shouldn't lower their standards for the genre just because ME happens to be the only recent high-profile console WRPG.
Chairman Yang
if he talks about books, you better damn well listen
Mejilan said:
It sort of does. The main story has some high points (especially near the end), but the sidequests just get worse and worse.
Sadly, the frequency of Codex entries becomes less and less as the game progresses. I enjoyed them too, but don't expect many new ones.