I imagine the problem is that they had a finite amount of funds to make the game, and "stunning, life-life facial animations" makes a better bullet point on the the back of the box than anything that has to do with writing. I'm not surprised that they'd focus their efforts on what sells, i.e. graphics.BrokenSymmetry said:
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Mass Effect |OT| Alien love in an elevator
- Thread starter Mr. Spinnington
- Start date
VoloVersio
Member
mcgarrett said:
Oh yes. They built their game around what bullet points they wanted to put on the back of their box.
I'm probably late but...
Mako combat: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/28042.html
Gametrailers also has the Sci vs Fi trailer up, where they talk to some of the devs and voice actors about how cool Mass Effect is.
Mako combat: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/28042.html
Gametrailers also has the Sci vs Fi trailer up, where they talk to some of the devs and voice actors about how cool Mass Effect is.
Cornballer
Member
Ditto. Thanks, Jay Dubya.Doodis said:
UnholySpectacle
Member
Looks like Vangaurd is the way to go for me.
Nab said:
I've always loved the design of the Mako, and it really looks fun to use, especially since it looks like you can drive and aim in separate directions just like the Scorpion Tank in Halo - brilliant!
And the Sci vs. Fi clips were nice - the cutscenes look to be pretty intense as expected...
artredis1980
Banned
so where can i buy mass effect right now? which stores have broken the date?
The next bit of data I really want to compile, since you can't find this shit online, >_< is what every Talent does, including class Talents, and what their sub abilities do.
I think the Vanguard class talent adds more shotgun damage with each rank in it, so forth and so on.
Weapons are obvious, but their subabilities aren't really. I'm assuming each one (Carnage, Overkill, whatever) is only usable with that weapon type, but beyond that?
All abilities seem to be things you can access via the radial menu, basically, special commands that all operate on cooldowns. The Adrenaline ability from Assault Training resets all cooldowns.
It does seem you'll get a few bonus points for charm and intimidate through the course of play, and maybe you'll get bonus points elsewhere, but to max out all 12 talent trees with 12 points each, you'd need 144 points, and you only get 100 @ L60, plus any bonuses you might gain. Also, you don't get to reassign points upon new game +, so what you choose is what you get.
Now, this next one is undeniably a spoiler, even if it's mostly mechanics, since it involves some basic quest details. It should explain something confusing from earlier where I asked a question regarding whether or not Prestige Classes are in the game, since Bioware announced that there were 12 classes, but only unveiled 6. Well, I got two different answers, one affirmative, one negative. The solution to that contradiction is as follows.
This may or may not mean that like, Ashley and Kaiden et. al only have a maximum of 6 ranks in their class talents of Soldier / Sentinel / whatever, for those of you trying to feverishly preplan.
Personally, I'm having a rough time deciding what to do with Ashley since I will also be a Soldier and want having her in addition to Shepard to be viable and worthwhile.
Apparently a lot of people are having success with using Ashley as a sniper, but I worry that's a waste of her heavy armor.
I think the Vanguard class talent adds more shotgun damage with each rank in it, so forth and so on.
Weapons are obvious, but their subabilities aren't really. I'm assuming each one (Carnage, Overkill, whatever) is only usable with that weapon type, but beyond that?
All abilities seem to be things you can access via the radial menu, basically, special commands that all operate on cooldowns. The Adrenaline ability from Assault Training resets all cooldowns.
It does seem you'll get a few bonus points for charm and intimidate through the course of play, and maybe you'll get bonus points elsewhere, but to max out all 12 talent trees with 12 points each, you'd need 144 points, and you only get 100 @ L60, plus any bonuses you might gain. Also, you don't get to reassign points upon new game +, so what you choose is what you get.
Now, this next one is undeniably a spoiler, even if it's mostly mechanics, since it involves some basic quest details. It should explain something confusing from earlier where I asked a question regarding whether or not Prestige Classes are in the game, since Bioware announced that there were 12 classes, but only unveiled 6. Well, I got two different answers, one affirmative, one negative. The solution to that contradiction is as follows.
Apparently to get your Specialization Class, there is a quest, and it involves going to Luna, a.k.a. our moon. In order to get this quest and unlock your specialization class, you have to be at least L20, and you have to have 6 ranks in your class talent. You can't get more than 6 ranks in your base class talent because the last 6 ranks in that talent tree represent the specialization class.
If you never spend the ranks in your class talent, you won't get the quest in the first place. So personally, since I like the Shock Trooper concept, I'll happily get 6 ranks in soldier by L20 and avoid just maxing out one tree at a time.
If you never spend the ranks in your class talent, you won't get the quest in the first place. So personally, since I like the Shock Trooper concept, I'll happily get 6 ranks in soldier by L20 and avoid just maxing out one tree at a time.
This may or may not mean that like, Ashley and Kaiden et. al only have a maximum of 6 ranks in their class talents of Soldier / Sentinel / whatever, for those of you trying to feverishly preplan.
Personally, I'm having a rough time deciding what to do with Ashley since I will also be a Soldier and want having her in addition to Shepard to be viable and worthwhile.
Apparently a lot of people are having success with using Ashley as a sniper, but I worry that's a waste of her heavy armor.
Anyhoo, your second class definitively does not overwrite your second one, it just provides you with the option to spend 6 more character points on a talent specifically for the advanced class in addition to the 6 points you already spent on your base class in order to get there.
So it does make a difference if you have 6 ranks of Soldier or 6 ranks of Vanguard before you take Shock Trooper. IIRC, Soldier gives you more health and some health regen / Vanguard increases Shotgun damage. But that's an interesting trade-off, because Soldier also gets Shotgun sooner and can wear heavy armor. Of course, you have to give up the whole "Force powers" thing, as well, but I'm having a hard enough time assigning points as it is.
So it does make a difference if you have 6 ranks of Soldier or 6 ranks of Vanguard before you take Shock Trooper. IIRC, Soldier gives you more health and some health regen / Vanguard increases Shotgun damage. But that's an interesting trade-off, because Soldier also gets Shotgun sooner and can wear heavy armor. Of course, you have to give up the whole "Force powers" thing, as well, but I'm having a hard enough time assigning points as it is.
Lostconfused
Member
Awesome work JadyDubya. Of course i am avoiding reading it, but i would love to take a look at it after playing through ME, ever consider putting in one place?
Odrion said:
Nope, nor would you gain Combat Armor instead of Tactical Armor. Your other talents remain the same. And the achievement trick only grants new characters access to one achievement related talent.
So you could theoretically make a Vanguard with Assault Rifle if you wanted to. You'd just have to get fairly far in the game with a Soldier first. I'm not sure if you have to beat the game, but based on what I'm reading on other forums, I don't think so.
In theory, one could pick one of the usable weapons or powers they wanted to swap over, play as the appropriate thing for however long it took, then make a new character with that ability as well.
As mentioned before, you don't get a whole hell of lot of talent points, so gaining an additional thing to sink points into is a mixed blessing.
So you could make a hybrid class (Infiltrator, Vanguard, or Sentinel) with some advanced weaponry or biotic or tech talents from the main classes (Soldier, Engineer, Adept). Like a Vanguard with Singularity. Or an Infiltrator with Hacking. Or you could give a Sentinel an actual weapon skill so they might hit something once in a blue moon.
Len Dontree
Animator. Respect knuckles.
Damn, Beerbelly, those are awesome shots. It looks like my copy was shipped today from Lion Games so I should be traipsing through the galaxy early next week. Huzzah!
CrunchinJelly
formerly cjelly
Thank you for making the wait even harder.
Brilliant.
Brilliant.
Damn, after playing a few more hours I can really say that this game looks really great. And what's even more surprising coming from Bioware is the fact that the animation are mostly excellent too. That's a huge step up compared to the horrible stuff they did in the animation department previously (imho).
I've disabled the motion blur, but the filter is still on. I really like the effect. There are slowdowns, as expected, but it didn't affect the gameplay except during one fight so far.
I'm still not a fan of the fighting system (not a fan of shooters, especially tactical shooter, in general) and would love to have some way to have everything done automatically or even just skip it so I could concentrate on the excellent story and exploration. Ha well, it's not a point & click adventure game, but I almost wish it was. I guess the fighting system is very good in its own right of course, but it's just not for me.
I doubt I'll ever finish the game because of this, and also because I'm just totally lost with the incredible number of level up points and upgrade/modss available.
I've disabled the motion blur, but the filter is still on. I really like the effect. There are slowdowns, as expected, but it didn't affect the gameplay except during one fight so far.
I'm still not a fan of the fighting system (not a fan of shooters, especially tactical shooter, in general) and would love to have some way to have everything done automatically or even just skip it so I could concentrate on the excellent story and exploration. Ha well, it's not a point & click adventure game, but I almost wish it was. I guess the fighting system is very good in its own right of course, but it's just not for me.
I doubt I'll ever finish the game because of this, and also because I'm just totally lost with the incredible number of level up points and upgrade/modss available.
Fallout-NL
Member
Chinner said:
.
CajoleJuice
Member
holy fuck
plaidtopia
Member
Wow. That does it. I'm buying this game twice -- once for each eye.
I'm actually streaming my second playthrough (new game+) of Mass Effect here if anyone is interested:
http://stream.gyoru.us/listen.pls (Winamp/VLC)
http://stream.gyoru.us/listen.pls (Winamp/VLC)
Opus Angelorum
Member
beerbelly said:
I know off-screen shots generally make a game looks better, however:
Gyoru said:I'm actually streaming my second playthrough (new game+) of Mass Effect here if anyone is interested:
http://stream.gyoru.us/listen.pls (Winamp/VLC)
I doubt many people will watch in fear of spoilers. I'd rather read some spoiler-free impressions from you.
Gyoru said:I'm actually streaming my second playthrough (new game+) of Mass Effect here if anyone is interested:
http://stream.gyoru.us/listen.pls (Winamp/VLC)
Ugh, don't tempt me.
Can you give some impressions of the game, without spoilers!
Now that I've finally had an opportunity to see this puppy running with my own two eyes on an ISF calibrated plasma screen, I can honestly say, without a doubt, that this is graphically the most impressive console game I've ever seen. The section I saw demoed was flat-out jaw-dropping. I did notice some chugging during the combat sequence, but nothing that I would consider overly distracting.
Can't wait to get my grubby little hands on this masterpiece
Can't wait to get my grubby little hands on this masterpiece
This is one of the best looking and best presented games I've ever seen or played. It's a horrible cliche and I know others have said it but for the first time I feel like I'm playing a movie. It's brilliant. The first time you step down on a planet and pan around is breathtaking.
The Nature Roy
Member
Well I've beaten it (the main quest anyway). Took me about 16 hours, and I did not get the
achievement. The story is really good, which is why I rushed through it without doing a lot of the side quests. But that's what New Game+ is for.
Haven't played much of SMG yet, but this is my GOTY at this point. Yes, it's better than Portal.
complete majority of the game
Haven't played much of SMG yet, but this is my GOTY at this point. Yes, it's better than Portal.
Lostconfused
Member
Snaku said:
Stop hyping the game so much, this wait is inhumane torture.
BrokenSymmetry said:
I disagree. But i am just a bitter gamer from the yester year, yearning for old school depth as in what you can do withing the world they have given. Highest point of pc RPG's is that you can have a dramatic impact in how your comrades behave in and outside of combat. Bioware while hey have canged now, used to be one of those devs that catered to the likes of me.
VoloVersio
Member
mcgarrett said:
What makes you think the writing isn't great?
jordan0386
Member
Want to mention, I watched that stream this morning...and boy was that great...the game has a nice story
But once I saw that they were going on missions, with the Normandy, I turned it off
Kinda wack to see that dude, shooting at people for no reason though
But once I saw that they were going on missions, with the Normandy, I turned it off
Kinda wack to see that dude, shooting at people for no reason though
How does new game + work? Are the enemies harder?Snaku said:Well I've beaten it (the main quest anyway). Took me about 16 hours, and I did not get theachievement. The story is really good, which is why I rushed through it without doing a lot of the side quests. But that's what New Game+ is for.complete majority of the game
Haven't played much of SMG yet, but this is my GOTY at this point. Yes, it's better than Portal.