Support NeoGAF

[Zzoram]

My gameclock says I finished ME after about 24 hours (I did enough sidequests to get the "Completionist" achievement), but then again, I also burned through Baldur's Gate II in around 30 hours, so maybe I'm just a freak with BioWare games.

You beat BG2 in 30 hours?!?

 

[JayDubya]

My gameclock says I finished ME after about 24 hours (I did enough sidequests to get the "Completionist" achievement), but then again, I also burned through Baldur's Gate II in around 30 hours, so maybe I'm just a freak with BioWare games.

Considering I did EVERYTHING in BG2 on at least two playthroughs, I'm looking at well over 150 hours burned on just BG2 alone. Add in BG1, Tales of the Sword Coast, and Throne of Bhaal, and you're looking at a lot of stuff for one character to go through.

I often like to check every nook and cranny - most squares on the map in BG had about the same amount of events and areas of interest as the uncharted planets do in this game; about four or five with different levels of complexity.

I also tend to like sitting idle and enjoying graphics and music, even when replaying old Infinity Engine games, so I imagine my Mass Effect experience will be a lengthy one if the current eye candy and music quality on display are indicative of just how awesomesauce things are gonna be. Couple that with my sheer glee at min maxing and appreciation for unlockables and hard difficulty settings, yeah, it'll last longer for me.

But yeah, KotOR and Mass Effect are built to be cinematic and more mainstream than BG was. They also push the 3D graphics envelope whereas BG2 didn't really reinvent the BG wheel, just gave it a facelift.

 

[BastardSamurai]

For my first BG2 playthrough which I had to do in a hurry, yea. Granted, not the optimal way to play, and I wasn't even close to the level cap. Smart use of the right spells plus some lucky dice rolls got me through encounters like the red dragon or Irenicus and his bajillion shield spells. The trickiest fights were with stupid mindflayers, and I didn't bother going after the demilich the first time.

Second playthrough where I took more time and acutally reached the level cap and junk was more in the typical 50-60 hour range. I did that so that my dude was buffed up for Throne of Bhaal.

 

[BastardSamurai]

Considering I did EVERYTHING in BG2 on at least two playthroughs, I'm looking at well over 150 hours burned on just BG2 alone. Add in BG1, Tales of the Sword Coast, and Throne of Bhaal, and you're looking at a lot of stuff for one character to go through.

You just made me sad that my BG1-through-ToB half-elf ranger is now a memory, as the disk I kept him on must be long gone by now.

 

[JayDubya]

I honestly don't know how you beat Irenicus or Firkraag, yeah. I have to imagine you skipped Firkraag.

I can't believe I still remember his name, but he was so damn personable, that Firkraag. Quite a sassy sonuvabitch. That was actually the second quest I did in Athkatla - first one was the circus, where I picked up Aerie. Then I did Firkraag's quest.

Biggest asshole quest giver betrayal EVAR. I was so ready to kick his ass, too, until I found out what he really was. :lol Then I filed that one under "do this side quest as the absolute last thing before you go rescue Imoen." And lo, I did. Hard as hell. But the Caromsyr was sweet, and the evil bastard had it coming. And there was much rejoicing.

 

[Zzoram]

For my first BG2 playthrough which I had to do in a hurry, yea. Granted, not the optimal way to play, and I wasn't even close to the level cap. Smart use of the right spells plus some lucky dice rolls got me through encounters like the red dragon or Irenicus and his bajillion shield spells. The trickiest fights were with stupid mindflayers, and I didn't bother going after the demilich the first time.

Second playthrough where I took more time and acutally reached the level cap and junk was more in the typical 50-60 hour range. I did that so that my dude was buffed up for Throne of Bhaal.

I remember getting the demilich, man Baldur's Gate 2 was such a great game.

Mindflayers were sooooo tough, especially against my 1 intelligence dual katana barbarian half-orc :lol

 

[Zzoram]

Oh man, my Dual-Katana Barbarian Half-Orc with 19 strength solo'd the red dragon :lol

All I did was buff him with spells, then left my party behind and charged the dragon.

 

[JayDubya]

I have to also imagine that some people claiming they beat ME in like 8 hours were playing it on whatever "Easy" mode is called. I know "Hard" is called Veteran, and that's what I want to do. We'll see how long I can stomach it, but I aim to go through the whole game that way.

I want to unlock Insane difficulty ASAP. I hope I don't have to go through Hardcore first, because that's just a big investment with the same character to go through the same game three times.

KotOR and KotOR2 darn near required hard mode if you wanted to play a combat monster and still have any challenge. Not so much if you were playing as a Consular type, not early on. But if you were a Soldier / Guardian or Guardian / Weapon Master? Oh yeah. Hard mode, set it in the beginning of the game or prepare to be bored.

 

[Zzoram]

Ya Mass Effect starts with 3 difficulties, then 2 unlock after beating it. I'm going to go with the hardest one I can, and probably play a Vanguard, then carry him or her over to New Game+ on the new highest difficulty.

 

[JayDubya]

Also, I felt your pain on the mind flayers.

My Cavalier had the following stats as of the end of BG1 (wearing no gear, but using all the tomes).

STR 19, DEX 19, CON 19, INT 4, WIS 21, CHA 19 :lol

Bah. Holy rollers don't need intellect. The game really should have punished me for doing that, though. :lol All those dialogue options should have replaced with "LUrrrr?"

 

[Zzoram]

Also, I felt your pain on the mind flayers.

My Cavalier had the following stats as of the end of BG1 (wearing no gear, but using all the tomes).

STR 19, DEX 19, CON 19, INT 4, WIS 21, CHA 19

Wait, how is that even possible? I never played BG1, but in BG2 you definitely couldn't have stats that amazing.

To get high STR, DEX and CON, I had to sacrifice INT and CHA down to 1. I had to roll for hours to even get the number of stat points I got.

 

[JayDubya]

Wait, how is that even possible? I never played BG1, but in BG2 you definitely couldn't have stats that amazing.

To get high STR, DEX and CON, I had to sacrifice INT and CHA down to 1.

Rerolled and rerolled until I got the absolute highest number of points to invest in my stats possible.

That came out to enough to get 18(xx), 18, 18, 3, 18, 18. Add in three tomes of Wisdom and one tome of everything else, and there you go.

 

[Zzoram]

Also, I felt your pain on the mind flayers.

My Cavalier had the following stats as of the end of BG1 (wearing no gear, but using all the tomes).

STR 19, DEX 19, CON 19, INT 4, WIS 21, CHA 19 :lol

Bah. Holy rollers don't need intellect. The game really should have punished me for doing that, though. :lol All those dialogue options should have replaced with "LUrrrr?"

You do have fewer dialogue options with 1 INT I believe. Fallout definitely punished you for that, the first time I played Fallout I set 1 INT and although I could understand NPCs, my only response options were "LUrrr?" and "Ungas lusangsg" and other such gibberish :lol

 

[Loudninja]

I have to also imagine that some people claiming they beat ME in like 8 hours were playing it on whatever "Easy" mode is called. I know "Hard" is called Veteran, and that's what I want to do. We'll see how long I can stomach it, but I aim to go through the whole game that way.

I want to unlock Insane difficulty ASAP. I hope I don't have to go through Hardcore first, because that's just a big investment with the same character to go through the same game three times.

KotOR and KotOR2 darn near required hard mode if you wanted to play a combat monster and still have any challenge. Not so much if you were playing as a Consular type, not early on. But if you were a Soldier / Guardian or Guardian / Weapon Master? Oh yeah. Hard mode, set it in the beginning of the game or prepare to be bored.

The msot i heard from the 1up show was 20, and someone else said 14

 

[Eric WK]

The msot i heard from the 1up show was 20, and someone else said 14

And Luke's at 20 with what he estimates to be about half of the main story completed.

 

[JayDubya]

You do have fewer dialogue options with 1 INT I believe. Fallout definitely punished you for that, the first time I played Fallout I set 1 INT and although I could understand NPCs, my only response options were "LUrrr?" and "Ungas lusangsg" and other such gibberish :lol

Yeah, right from the start of Fallout 2 things are obviously not ideal for you. IIRC, and these aren't 100% accurate...

"The village needs this ancient relic called a GECK to survive..."
"Alright."

vs.

"GECK... Find GECK. Vault 13. Thurrrrteeeeen."
"Hurrrg?"
*sigh* "Do your best, chosen one."

 

[Lostconfused]

You do have fewer dialogue options with 1 INT I believe. Fallout definitely punished you for that, the first time I played Fallout I set 1 INT and although I could understand NPCs, my only response options were "LUrrr?" and "Ungas lusangsg" and other such gibberish :lol

That alone is worth playing through the game with 1 int.

 

[Munin]

I hope I will get 20+ hours out of this. I think I played through KotOR in about 20 hours as well, and that is one of my favourite games of all time.

I just hope that length can be achieved with playing 'normally', i.e. not by forcing yourself to do every single sidequest, just one or two here or there. :/ That's how I play through most RPGs usually.

 

[Loudninja]

And Luke's at 20 with what he estimates to be about half of the main story completed.

Whatever it is the game has good length

 

[Eric WK]

Whatever it is the game has good length

And girth. Oh God, the girth.

 

[Dina]

Although very offtopic, I like this BG2 chatter. I am replaying the game as we speak (never finished it, yeah I'm bad) and having a blast. BG2 has aged so very well.

I'm around lvl 12-14 now, if that is any indication.

 

[Lostconfused]

I hope I will get 20+ hours out of this. I think I played through KotOR in about 20 hours as well, and that is one of my favourite games of all time.

I just hope that length can be achieved with playing 'normally', i.e. not by forcing yourself to do every single sidequest, just one or two here or there. :/ That's how I play through most RPGs usually.

Dont take this too seriously.

Force me to do side quests? No sir i dont want to get xp and level and get shinny new skills.

Although very offtopic, I like this BG2 chatter. I am replaying the game as we speak (never finished it, yeah I'm bad) and having a blast. BG2 has aged so very well.

I'm around lvl 12-14 now, if that is any indication.

I think if you start a new character you get bumped to lvl 8 or something like that.

But then again i am too used to DnD 3rd edition by now.

 

[Zzoram]

BG2 characters start a bit higher since you can potentially import BG1 characters over. I'm not sure, but I think the level cap in BG2 was like 18 (or was that with Throne of Baal expansion?)

 

[Dina]

Yeah I started a new one. I cba going through BG1+TOTSC since I believe it aged considerably less well then BG2 has.

Party, if anyone is interested, is: Me (Berserker), Korgan, Edwin, Viconia, Yoshimo (Imoen when I get her back) and Jan. I'll probably swap Jan for Mazzy, but not sure atm.

 

[CrunchinJelly]

Warning, very large GIF, but so worth it:

 

[Lostconfused]

BG2 characters start a bit higher since you can potentially import BG1 characters over. I'm not sure, but I think the level cap in BG2 was like 18 (or was that with Throne of Baal expansion?)

I thought throne of Baal bumped you up to epic levels?

Warning, very large GIF, but so worth it:

I love how the pyramid just appears as you cross over the hill.

 

[JayDubya]

Yeah I started a new one. I cba going through BG1+TOTSC since I believe it aged considerably less well then BG2 has.

Party, if anyone is interested, is: Me (Berserker), Korgan, Edwin, Viconia, Yoshimo (Imoen when I get her back) and Jan. I'll probably swap Jan for Mazzy, but not sure atm.

Woah, Mazzy won't join that party, or won't stay with it if she does. Mazzy considers herself a Paladin despite the fact the game won't let her be one on account of her race. :lol

 

[Nab]

There is a new video on Exploration, too.

That exploration vid is the same that has been on IGN for a couple days now, is why I didn't mention that, but yes, if you hate IGN's videoplayer like I do then Gametrailers now has a solution for you with regards to that trailer.

 

[itxaka]

Warning, very large GIF, but so worth it:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/r.flynn/me_exploration2.gif[][/QUOTE]

just found that piramid! awesome!

I´m about 15 hours and still on the half of the game, at least. So about 30/40 hours for me (love to explore planets and find those materials)

 

[Dina]

Woah, Mazzy won't join that party, or won't stay with it if she does. Mazzy considers herself a Paladin despite the fact the game won't let her be one on account of her race. :lol

So far I've been pretty neutral in everything I did and the evil character haven't complained once. Also the guys who are pretty neutral (Jan but Yoshimo primarily) aren't complaining at all.

Anyway, it's still up for grabs. I have two melee characters, which is enough. I'd like a paladin and since I think Jan is the weakest char (weaker archer then Yoshimo, far weaker mage then Edwin) in my group he's gonna be the first to go. Still, Jan is pretty funny at time. If I keep him after all, he's gone when Imoen gets back anyway.

 

[Zzoram]

Did anyone else mostly solo the first 10 hours of BG2? It's pretty funny leaving everyone in their cages :lol

 

[Kildace]

I just beat the (MASS EFFECT PLOT SPOILER)

Spoiler

matriarch, it's the first of the two planets I had to explore after I was made spectre

after 10 hours of play. How far in am I?

 

[Naeblish]

Did anyone else mostly solo the first 10 hours of BG2? It's pretty funny leaving everyone in their cages :lol

Can you solo the complete game? I only played through it once, although i had a save with about 150 hours.

 

[Zzoram]

Can you solo the complete game? I only played through it once, although i had a save with about 150 hours.

No, I tried, eventually I needed a thief, healer, and buffer to survive higher areas. I just left them way back and mainly used only my main character though. Thieves disabled traps for me, healer refreshed me between battles, and buffs helped out in tough spots like the red dragon.

 

[temp]

I just beat the

Spoiler

matriarch, it's the first of the two planets I had to explore after I was made spectre

after 10 hours of play. How far in am I?

All this BG2 talk made me forget this was a Mass Effect thread and I started to read this spoiler. :lol

 

[Naeblish]

All this BG2 talk made me forget this was a Mass Effect thread and I started to read this spoiler. :lol

ROFL, and i had it half selected when reading your post, my mouse went on lightspeed to the left :lol .

 

[Sullen]

It is possible to solo BG2 with a properly geared monk, they are absurdly powerful in that game.

 

[Kildace]

Sorry about that, I edited my post so people don't highlight the spoiler by mistake.

 

[AzerPhire]

I just beat the (MASS EFFECT PLOT SPOILER)

Spoiler

matriarch, it's the first of the two planets I had to explore after I was made spectre

after 10 hours of play. How far in am I?

About halfway, theres still

Spoiler

3-4 main planets left

 

[Kildace]

About halfway, theres still

Spoiler

3-4 main planets left

Ok thanks. I was hoping it would be more like 1/3rd. I don't want it to end

 

[xbhaskarx]

Warning, very large GIF, but so worth it:

Wow.

 

[Iama]

Anyone that wants to use a male character?
Only I?

I don't understand (yet) which romance are avaiable using male char. I suppose I'll se by my self

 

[Iama]

Now, look here at the lovers. Little details that make a game, a BIG ones.

 

[∀ Narayan]

Anyone that wants to use a male character?
Only I?

I don't understand (yet) which romance are avaiable using male char. I suppose I'll se by my self

I'm planning on making a male Shepard that either looks like me, or looks pretty darn close.

After that, I'll make a female.

 

[JayDubya]

Anyone that wants to use a male character? Only I?

I don't understand (yet) which romance are avaiable using male char. I suppose I'll se by my self

I intend to, but I doubt I'll use the default face. As for the romances, that'd be Ashley or Liara. For a female Shepard, that's Kaiden or Liara.

 

[Kordos]

No, I tried, eventually I needed a thief, healer, and buffer to survive higher areas. I just left them way back and mainly used only my main character though. Thieves disabled traps for me, healer refreshed me between battles, and buffs helped out in tough spots like the red dragon.

Man, I remember playing through with a buddy (yay coop) - we were both Shapeshifting Druids. Stoneskin + Wolf Form ftw.

 

[Lostconfused]

Yay! I just got an email confirming my Mass Effect LE shipped from BestBuy.ca

 

[Surfheart]

This game is just wow.
My mind is blown.
It's surpassed all my expectations.

 

[Roat]

A valid nitpick considering how quickly you can warp around so it's not there to just mask loading. However once in a while it proves to be an entertaining experience. The designers used the elevator sequences as a means to have your party members interact in meaningful chat and convey background history through the loudpseaker news announcements. Those news announcements also serve as a bonus since hearing at least one of them gives you a side quest.

Honestly, the loading is what I'd consider the flaw of the game. It's pretty much the same as KOTOR/II as to the amount of proper indoor area you can go to before having to go to another level. There's loading in the elevators along with loading at random points (you're running around and suddenly it freezes) and delayed texture loading every now and then. If you've played KOTOR/II/Jade Empire it's exactly like that so at least we're used to it.

Tycho referred to the 360's lack of total hard drive support. I'm sure it would help being loaded from a hard drive, but then again it didn't help that much with the PC versions of the older games or the Xbox copies (although they couldn't do a total install)

The only other thing is the slowdown in some parts, which we're also used to from the previous games, and it happens in the same way. Some of the graphical effects they use when you pan the camera around make it less obvious/obtrusive though.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Honestly, the loading is what I'd consider the flaw of the game. It's pretty much the same as KOTOR/II as to the amount of proper indoor area you can go to before having to go to another level. There's loading in the elevators along with loading at random points (you're running around and suddenly it freezes) and delayed texture loading every now and then. If you've played KOTOR/II/Jade Empire it's exactly like that so at least we're used to it.

Tycho referred to the 360's lack of total hard drive support. I'm sure it would help being loaded from a hard drive, but then again it didn't help that much with the PC versions of the older games or the Xbox copies (although they couldn't do a total install)

The only other thing is the slowdown in some parts, which we're also used to from the previous games, and it happens in the same way. Some of the graphical effects they use when you pan the camera around make it less obvious/obtrusive though.

Gah! The loading on KotOR was brutal, especially in some of the indoors sections; it could take forever to move accross an area due to multiple loading gates.