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[voltron]

Mass Effect == great game. I gotta get back to my 2nd play thru / lvl 60 chase. Got sidetracked by GTA4.

Really, really enjoyed my 2nd play thru so far too. Cant wait for the sequel.

 

[gregor7777]

Just played the game a lot (wow, lost track of time completely) and I'm really enjoying it. The combat's more fun with some level ups and the renegade dialog options universally rock. I like the NPC teammates, no annoying bullshit every time you do something questionable, unlike the vast majority of the characters in kotor. I don't think real interaction with them should be limited to the ship, that's definitely a step back from BG2, but it's not a big deal.

Great time. I'll avoid the "go to this planet" sidequests for the most part as from what I understand those are all the same and can drain your enthusiasm with the game.

Yeah, it's easy to get lost in ME.

As far as the sidequests go, I'd say just try and avoid the fetch quests and do 2-3 regular sidequests between each story mission. That kept a good pace for me.

 

[kbear]

I loved the grain filter. Gave the game a real cinematic look..

 

[K.Jack]

A few questions that I hope some of you will answer.

1. My specs: 8800m GT w/512, 3megs of Ram, Intel Core Duo t1550 @1.88mhz. My Vista rating for games is at 4.5. Processor rated at 4.8, Gaming Gfx at 5.8. How will it run on my laptop?

2. I travel 5 days a week, but am mainly a console gamer. Need some games for the road and the 360/Ps3 is too much to lug around. So...is there a preset for controllers in the game? I would hope that they would since it was a 360 game.

Thanks in advance for your answers/feedback.

You should run it well, but why'd you go with the weak CPU?

 

[Double D]

I played ME for about 2 hours when it first came out. I had just rented it, and I think some other stuff came out that pulled me away from it. Anyways, I bought it from gamefly for cheap, and have been playing it for the past few days.

I tried starting from my save from months ago, and had no idea what was going on, so I just restarted. I'm on Feros now, and I think I'm getting close to wrapping it up there. I'm loving the game so far, and my only gripes right now are that grenades suck.

Spoiler

I ended up killing half of those fucking colonists.

I had heard the Mako was crap, so it actually wasn't as bad as I had anticipated.

Currently, I'm battling the

Spoiler

Thorian

, and have 1 med pack. I thought I could melt shit down to omni-gel (which I thought was the med-pack), but that didn't seem to do anything. So, I pretty much have to go through that whole deal very strategically. Does anyone have any advice on this part, or can at least tell me how to get more med-packs?

 

[kbear]

I'm loving the game so far, and my only gripes right now are that grenades suck.

Spoiler

I ended up killing half of those fucking colonists.

Spoiler

Did you not get the gas grenades or whatever they were? You just throw them at the colonists and they get knocked out. And if you run out of grenades, you can melee them. I didn't have one die on me.

 

[_dd_]

Spoiler

Did you not get the gas grenades or whatever they were? You just throw them at the colonists and they get knocked out. And if you run out of grenades, you can melee them. I didn't have one die on me.

I killed all but one.

 

[Uncle]

Currently, I'm battling the

Spoiler

Thorian

, and have 1 med pack. I thought I could melt shit down to omni-gel (which I thought was the med-pack), but that didn't seem to do anything. So, I pretty much have to go through that whole deal very strategically. Does anyone have any advice on this part, or can at least tell me how to get more med-packs?

There are med stations through out the game that will give you more med-packs. There's one in your ship for example (in the med bay). And omni-gel is used to open locks and repair the Mako.

 

[SuperBonk]

Currently, I'm battling the

Spoiler

Thorian

, and have 1 med pack. I thought I could melt shit down to omni-gel (which I thought was the med-pack), but that didn't seem to do anything. So, I pretty much have to go through that whole deal very strategically. Does anyone have any advice on this part, or can at least tell me how to get more med-packs?

You get medpacks for killing shit so try to kill as many enemies in the area as you can. If you have health regenerating armor, make sure to equip it. That's how I got through that part.

 

[Uncle]

You get medpacks for killing shit so try to kill as many enemies in the area as you can. If you have health regenerating armor, make sure to equip it. That's how I got through that part.

Yeah, after I got a good medical exoskeleton upgrade, I very rarely used med packs.

 

[nubbe]

Currently, I'm battling the

Spoiler

Thorian

, and have 1 med pack. I thought I could melt shit down to omni-gel (which I thought was the med-pack), but that didn't seem to do anything. So, I pretty much have to go through that whole deal very strategically. Does anyone have any advice on this part, or can at least tell me how to get more med-packs?

My best tip is to run up to the zombies and knock them down with a melee attack and put shotguns on your team mates if you can.
It is easy.

Try taking it on as a fresh Engineer with Tali and Kaidan on Insane mode... that is thrilling

 

[Double D]

Spoiler

Did you not get the gas grenades or whatever they were? You just throw them at the colonists and they get knocked out. And if you run out of grenades, you can melee them. I didn't have one die on me.

I got those, I just can't throw a grenade for shit, especially in chaotic situations.

And thanks to everyone else, I'll try those strategies. And I guess I'm a moron, because I didn't know there was a melee attack. What button does this?

 

[SuperBonk]

Same button as fire. You melee instead of shoot if the enemy is really close to you.

 

[gregor7777]

I got those, I just can't throw a grenade for shit, especially in chaotic situations.

And thanks to everyone else, I'll try those strategies. And I guess I'm a moron, because I didn't know there was a melee attack. What button does this?

Right trigger when you're close in.

 

[Uncle]

My best tip is to run up to the zombies and knock them down with a melee attack and put shotguns on your team mates if you can.
It is easy.

I did the opposite, I always advanced just enough for some of them to waken up and then backed up to a better position. That way they couldn't rush me. I also used the sniper rifle on the ones that were up and about on the other side (either killing them or making them charge up to me alone).

 

[Killthee]

I got those, I just can't throw a grenade for shit, especially in chaotic situations.

And thanks to everyone else, I'll try those strategies. And I guess I'm a moron, because I didn't know there was a melee attack. What button does this?

It's the shoot button. You run up to them and shoot, if your close enough you'll knock them out with your gun.

 

[SuperBonk]

Yeah, I pistoled and sniped my way through the Thorian part. High explosive rounds pretty much never disappoint.

Damn, this thread really does make people want to go back and play through it again.

 

[Double D]

Well, thanks for that. Hopefully I should be able to plow through that part pretty easily. I'm guessing this is pretty much the last thing I have to do on this planet.

Since I've got everyone's attention, I've got another question: I'm a vanguard, and my sniper rifle and assault rifle says "Untrained". Can I do anything about that, or can I only improve my Shotgun and Pistol skills? Also, any leveling recommendations would be appreciated.

 

[SuperBonk]

Only Infiltrator and Soldier classes can level up the Sniper skill. Only Soldier classes can level up the assault rifle skill. I think that if you get 150 kills with either, you can unlock the skill in the next character you create, no matter what the class.

 

[Double D]

So that's it then? Both of those weapons are essentially worthless to my character throughout this entire playthrough?

 

[SuperBonk]

Yep.

If I was a Vanguard, I'd probably level up the pistol to the point where I'm pretty comfortable with it and then start leveling up the shotgun to max. The armor, spectre, and any offensive biotic power slots would also get priority.

 

[Double D]

Great, thanks for the help. I'm on a roll now, so here's another. Is there any loot you can specifically think of that makes any of the sidequests worth it?

 

[SuperBonk]

Well, the loot is usually (always?) random, so I can't tell you anything specific about worth. But I can tell you that I have gotten some pretty good loot doing sidequests. The mission on the moon is a necessity, however.

 

[Double D]

Oh, I didn't realize the loot was random. Well, thanks. Now I wish I was at home so I could try all this crap. I guess I can always spend the rest of my workday scouring the internet for Mass Effect tips. That, or actually work.

 

[cleveridea]

so can someone confirm the situation with the PC version of the game? I already have the 360 one, so I don't need to buy again especially at full price. this is my favorite game of all time though.

Did they remove the copy protection (the recent gamespy 5/5 review says you only get 3 installs)?

How is the packaging? color manual etc?

edit:- this is their mention of not using copy protection

“BioWare has always listened very closely to its fans and we made this decision to ensure we are delivering the best possible experience to them," said Watamaniuk. "To all the fans including our many friends in the armed services and internationally who expressed concerns that they would not be able re-authenticate as often as required, EA and BioWare want you to know that your feedback is important to us.”

“The solution being implemented for Mass Effect for the PC changes copy protection from being key disc based, which requires authentication every time you play the game by requiring a disc in the drive, to a one time online authentication,” he concluded. “This system has an added benefit of allowing players to seamlessly play the game without needing the DVD in the drive.”

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=18603

 

[gondwana]

Bought the PC version yesterday and I'm enjoying it so far. I skipped out on KOTOR, and BGII is the only Bioware game I've really gone in depth with. So this is a real treat to say the least.

Hardware wise, it's running a lot smoother than I initially expected. I say initially because I saw those benchmarks someone posted a few pages back, and it looked like It could be choppy at max settings. Totally not the case.
(q660, 8800gt, 2gb ram)

 

[firehawk12]

Honesty, since loot scales, there's no reason to worry about what you get now anyway.
The only stuff that's good at the 20s-30s are the weapon mods. After 30, you get crap that's almost unusable... so keep all those +30 against Organics/Synthetics mods that you find because they're ultimately better than the mods that lower your accuracy or cause your gun to overheat after one shot.

I'm still disappointed that there's no editor. Too bad.

 

[MNC]

So how would this run on a P4 with a 7600GT? No need for insane high resolutions with this TFT monitor, ofcourse.

 

[dejan]

Just recieved the message that my US copy of Mass Effect won't be shipped until next week. Weekend canceled :/

 

[Danj]

Seems like the PC Mass Effect doesn't come out in Europe till 6th June?

 

[bee]

Seems like the PC Mass Effect doesn't come out in Europe till 6th June?

yep thats right, im in no rush to get it with playing conan right now, but if your desperate to get it its easy enough to find a proxy and get it off direct2drive

 

[Riskbreaker23]

Just recieved the message that my US copy of Mass Effect won't be shipped until next week. Weekend canceled :/

same here did you order from amazon?

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

this is stragne, I could not stand the blur or grain filters on when I played it on the 360, but now on my PC, I really like them on. I don't know why, maybe the higher res and higher fps might help, dont know, all I know it looks a little "to clean" with them off.

edit: anyone know when "bring down the sky" for PC will be available, I'm in the ship now and want to go there

 

[K.Jack]

Got the game made my d00d. I've played through the first mission, and I already love this game. It runs well on my laptop also.

For those interested, I ran through the entire mission with FRAPS running to benchmark the frames per second.

Specs:
T7250 2.0 C2D
3gb RAM
8600M-GT 256mb DDR2 overclocked @ 625/1250/530
Vista Premium

1280x768, settings on medium, blur off grain on
During the mission fps - min: 25 max: 45 avg: 31

If you turn on the blur, you'll lose a few frames, between 2-5fps. I tried turning on just 2xAA, but that took off ten to fifteen frames.

I just realized I had a Dreamscene running on my desktop during my playthrough -.-'

Screens (with Fraps in upper-right corner):

I like the grain filter, and found it too plain looking without it once I'd gotten used to it being there. I only turned off the blur so I could stay steadily >30 at my resolution of choice.

edit - even with particles and textures set to High, my average fps was only 3 frames lower than when on Medium.

 

[zoku88]

Anyway you can try it without Dreamscene? I have an 8600M GT 512...

So medium and high doesn't have that much a difference for you?

 

[MNC]

 

[Lakitu]

This game still remains my favourite game of this gen (but I think MGS 4 will have something to say about that). I even now, feel like replaying it, doing the story again and all the side missions while munching muesli. Good memories.

I hope Mass Effect 2 is revealed soon and is released in 2009.

 

[Hootie]

This game still remains my favourite game of this gen (but I think MGS 4 will have something to say about that). I even now, feel like replaying it, doing the story again and all the side missions while munching muesli. Good memories.

I hope Mass Effect 2 is revealed soon and is released in 2009.

While it may not be my number 1 favorite game this gen (Halo 3, GTA IV, Oblivion), I still believe it it definitely in my Top 5. I agree about replaying the story, it's sure get's epic once you reach Virmire I think I've already beaten it 4 times :lol It's just such a fun space romp and the atmosphere, characters, and history really pull you in. I am eagerly anticipating the second game.

 

[Sanjay]

Could some one please confirm if Anti-aliasing works with this game?

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

I hope Mass Effect 2 is revealed soon and is released in 2009.

me too

I having a lot of fun playing this again

 

[bee]

Could some one please confirm if Anti-aliasing works with this game?

haven't got the game but a quick look in nvidia driver profiles shows "AACompat: 100c5" so forcing it through drivers must work

 

[Danj]

Looks like Mass Effect's DRM is working after all... rumour has it that the pirated version has the galaxy map and manual savegames stopping working after about an hour or two's gameplay, and also apparently people who are running the pirated version can go legit by buying the game off Direct2Drive, reverting their exe file to the original and entering their new legit CD key. Smart moves by EA/Bioware there.

One thing that's not so smart is the late European release, Europe is a bigger hotbed of PC piracy than the US and if the crack gets fixed before the 6th of June EA/Bioware will lose the opportunity to tempt those European pirates into buying the game.

 

[Dreavus]

Just got the game today, and managed only to arrive at the citadel... and then spend half an hour looking at codex entries. :lol The universe bioware has created is pretty damn awesome.

 

[Lakitu]

Gonna start this again today. Playing that will be the best hangover cure I could ask for.

 

[MNC]

So no 7600GTers playing this game?

 

[Iced_Eagle]

So I just picked this up, and WOW... Just wow. This is one of the best games I have ever played and I'm just getting started.

Spoiler

I just got into the Spectre's and just got my ship What was crazy that when I gave the motivational speech to the crew, even though I was the one selecting what to say, it still gave me goose bumps. I think it's because of the great camera angles they did during the speech and the excellent voice actors. But still, if an RPG can get me to feel inspired based on what a character says during a dialogue tree that I choose, then they have to be doing something right.

I give BioWare a standing ovation for a great game, and a great port to the PC (it runs very smooth and looks great at the same time). I can't wait for the Bringing Down the Sky pack.

I really wish they would have used Games for Windows Live for achievements and what-not, but I suppose that would complicate them putting out patches and new content and such.

Oh well, I'll probably just eventually buy it for cheap on the 360 once it makes it's way into the bargain bin.

Consider me sooo pumped for Mass Effect 2. Though I'm hoping that they do a simultaneous release on 360 / PC, and have PC use the GFW Live network.

 

[godhandiscen]

I want to play this game so badly, but not until EA releases the patch for Phenom users and I can max the settings. If those benches of pages ago are true, then I can max the game at a decent framerate, but the config will crash because of a nasty bug. ARGHHHH sometimes I hate PC gaming,

 

[alistairw]

I give BioWare a standing ovation for a great game, and a great port to the PC (it runs very smooth and looks great at the same time). I can't wait for the Bringing Down the Sky pack.

The port's done by Demiurge, who do some really great, really inventive ports. They're good people.

 

[Iced_Eagle]

The port's done by Demiurge, who do some really great, really inventive ports. They're good people.

Thanks for the correction.

Well then great work Demiurge!!

 

[Phthisis]

So I just picked this up, and WOW... Just wow. This is one of the best games I have ever played and I'm just getting started.

Spoiler

I just got into the Spectre's and just got my ship What was crazy that when I gave the motivational speech to the crew, even though I was the one selecting what to say, it still gave me goose bumps. I think it's because of the great camera angles they did during the speech and the excellent voice actors. But still, if an RPG can get me to feel inspired based on what a character says during a dialogue tree that I choose, then they have to be doing something right.

Wait until you get to the end of the game :lol