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[sh4mike]

Ten hour power start-up today. Love the game. The world seems so fresh and inviting -- reminds me of my first day playing Oblivion.

My stat whore darkside has taken a back seat for the first playthrough. Going as a soldier to find out which weapons I like best. So far I'm not overly impressed with the high-level weapons (AR/shotty/snipe) over a basic pistol with maxed Marksman. After Pistol achievement unlock you have 20 seconds of killing spree off a 45 second refresh.

Probably going to add bio/tech skills to all my other classes rather than a weapon bonus talent.

Love the tap-LB for weapon switch and tap-RB for weapon power. Not loving selection off the power wheel -- input is too sensitive between powers (=too many selections).

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Ten hour power start-up today. Love the game. The world seems so fresh and inviting -- reminds me of my first day playing Oblivion.

My stat whore darkside has taken a back seat for the first playthrough. Going as a soldier to find out which weapons I like best. So far I'm not overly impressed with the high-level weapons (AR/shotty/snipe) over a basic pistol with maxed Marksman. After Pistol achievement unlock you have 20 seconds of killing spree off a 45 second refresh.

Probably going to add bio/tech skills to all my other classes rather than a weapon bonus talent.

Love the tap-LB for weapon switch and tap-RB for weapon power. Not loving selection off the power wheel -- input is too sensitive between powers (=too many selections).

:O

Reading this is the first time I realized why I had no access to powers. Fucking RB. (And I don't mean Rock Band this time.)

 

[MaizeRage25]

Does anyone have some combat tips for a Vanguard?

Maybe its because I'm at a lower level, but the weapons (pistol and shotty) seem ineffective and I'm kinda getting my ass kicked. I'm kinda regretting not being a Soldier, as I don't have training with the assault rifle. Right now I'm just sitting back trying to pick people off with my pistol, perhaps I should just charge in with my shotgun blazing.

Also, not sure how to manage my teammates. So far I don't do much for them and they just stand there and get killed.

I'm open to any suggestions.

 

[pilonv1]

Anyone else playing as an Infiltrator?

 

[IronicallyTwisted]

If you are playing as a Vanguard set your shotgun up with some chemical rounds. The DOT they apply works well enough over long ranges you won't be completely shit. Getting that weapon upgrade basically turned the game around for me.

My second play through is as an infiltrator, and they seem roughly the same in terms of power. Use a pistol for short range combat and your sniper rifle to waste everything at range.

 

[MaizeRage25]

Ten hour power start-up today. Love the game. The world seems so fresh and inviting -- reminds me of my first day playing Oblivion.

My stat whore darkside has taken a back seat for the first playthrough. Going as a soldier to find out which weapons I like best. So far I'm not overly impressed with the high-level weapons (AR/shotty/snipe) over a basic pistol with maxed Marksman. After Pistol achievement unlock you have 20 seconds of killing spree off a 45 second refresh.

Probably going to add bio/tech skills to all my other classes rather than a weapon bonus talent.

Love the tap-LB for weapon switch and tap-RB for weapon power. Not loving selection off the power wheel -- input is too sensitive between powers (=too many selections).

So do you have the marksman mapped to RB?

 

[plaidtopia]

It adds a nice spritual bent to the proceedings. And when Ashley's all "Yo, help me out and shoot this dude," John is all [I]"IT'S NEVER [U][B]BEEN[/B][/U] EASY!"[/I][/QUOTE]
:lol Wow, your Lost obsession runs deep.

How long are people generally spending creating their character? I'm fully planning on the first hour or so solely being spent there.

 

[Jswanko]

HELP! i need help finding the party member garrius. i met wrex first and killed that one club owner already and now its says i dont need to find garrius. I really want him my party however and i was wondering if anyone knows where he hangs out if this happens. My little brother met wrex at the club, then went to a medic place to find garrius, then got wrex and i seemed to have skipped that series of events.

 

[Bulla564]

Let me get my early criticisms of this game out of the way...

4 hours in, the impression that I get is that this is next-gen Kotor (which is a good thing), in a much bigger scale, and better dialog interactions (unfortunately, not the dialog itself, yet). The story has not had any sort of impact on me yet, even though the character models and facial expressions help the presentation A LOT. It is a very predictable story, even though choosing my own background is a very nice touch. I guess my expectations were too high.

The graphics in some areas are more impressive than in others, but other games have already raised the bar enough to not let me slobber all over the graphics here. Add the fact that I get slowdowns (tearing has never really bothered me in any game), and textures load pretty slowly, and this game leaves some to be desired.

It is a great game, but I'm starting to feel that 8.5 from gamespot is somewhat justifiable. The Citadel felt a bit lifeless (have only traveled to 3 other planets), the game could use better inventory management, elevators are annoying already, I have felt the dialog options I chose don't translate well into what he ends up saying, and side quests I have done, don't feel all that rewarding.

HOWEVER, the game did hook me in for almost 5 hours straight, because it is a great RPG. I'll see how the story pans out, but in gameplay, it surpasses Kotor already, despite its flaws.

 

[Insane Metal]

Oh, right. He doesn't have broadband. Okay then. :lol

So you don´t believe me? I live in brazil. Some people (actually something like 90% of the population) don´t have BB connection. He is included.

I´ll get the pics of his 360 later.

 

[kaching]

I'm completely hapless with these decryption challenges. Somehow I'm always missing the timing on the last button press.

 

[Ned Flanders]

Yeah I have some issues with the smoothness as well...its not your usual framerate drag, but rather a weird "chunking" type of stutter that seems to sporadically occur unprompted. The art in this game is top notch, and the detail seems on par with the best stuff from last year, but its a shame there wasn't a bit more polish to the overall visual product (texture loads etc), especially given that the assets have been established for so long. I'm gonna try the cahce clearing trick and hope for an improvement.

Bulla, your impressions seem spot on to me. The inventory and character menu seem like one step forward, one step back. Although I can respect them trying something different with the menus, its just wonky in places and I can't help but feel that a traditional RPG system of item lists would have been preferred. The gameplay is something less than a polished 3rd person shooter, and I think I would have liked the option for something turn-based (a la how KotoR allowed you to customize your combat presentation). I noticed that you can give the general order to attack, but you can only specify skill-based attacks and not regular weapon fire. Also, there doesn't seem to be a way to cycle targets other than by pointing in their direction, which can be counter-intuitive at times.

In all, its just not as polished as I had hoped on the gameplay front, and while the graphics didn't suprise me (hard to be suprised when we've been seeing media for months), they certainly delivered in terms of overall presentation.

In all, it seems like the storytelling, cinematics, and characterization are to be the real groundbreaking strengths of this game. I'm disappointed with the character control and overall combat (seems like a tweaking/slight upgrade of KotoR's approach), but neither appear to be so bad or broken as to keep me from going further.

 

[Xenon]

Yeah I have some issues with the smoothness as well...its not your usual framerate drag, but rather a weird "chunking" type of stutter that seems to sporadically occur unprompted.

reminds me of a Max Headroom <- showing my age here.

 

[Ned Flanders]

reminds me of a Max Headroom <- showing my age here.

Fair description. And yes, we're old..

 

[soco]

finally got to sit down and spend some time with the game. there are parts of the game that have some gorgeous graphics. best i've seen this year. the music and voice acting are also top notch.

while the animation may not be the best ever, for the amount of detail placed in the game especially with the customizable characters and such, it's pretty amazing. the characters, for all their depth, still don't look or animate realistically, but i still think it's a pretty big technical achievement. all the characters look light years above Oblivion. you've actually got a lot more detail with all the movements and such. it really feels like an interactive movie in parts. the film grain helps a bit with that

 

[Lefty42o]

wow what a game. just beat it it did alot of the side stuff but not alot. i was so caught up in the story.

bout to set it tot he hardest difficulty and just do evberything in the new game +.

oh man i canlt wait for more mass effect. the stry is that good.

 

[gray_fox224]

wow what a game. just beat it it did alot of the side stuff but not alot. i was so caught up in the story.

bout to set it tot he hardest difficulty and just do evberything in the new game +.

oh man i canlt wait for more mass effect. the stry is that good.

Damn, you guys finish games so fast. People finished Uncharted, SMG... My mind is blown.

 

[Spire]

The autosave feature in this game is ass. Just lost an hours worth of play thanks to it.

 

[VALIS]

I just played for nearly 12 hours straight. My eyes are watering and my legs are cramped. The story hooked me in and I've been trying to hear every option of every speaking NPC. Hell, I'm only on my first non-Citadel planet and just got the Mako so I'm not very far into it at all. My slow ass, read everything method of playing while probably make the first playthrough 50 hours or something.

The story doesn't seem all that interesting at first, but it really does get better and better the further you go and the more people you talk to. They really did a great job giving everyone a distinctive personality instead of a bunch of Generic Angry Guys and Generic Desperate Guys and so on. I'm really hooked and wanting to know more.

Some of the races are just wild, especially the Elcor. That's one of the more fascinating races in any sci-fi media I can think of.

The Mako is really a bitch to control. Gonna take some getting used to. And I thought people in this thread said it could climb nearly any surface? I can't even climb up even like 40 degree inclines. But I am on a mission (Pier 15), maybe the Mako's climbing ability is only in the free exploration modes.

Yeah, the engine is wonky with the frame rate and tearing, but it's hardly unplayable or anything. It seems to be running better once I turned motion blur off. 95% of my game so far has been watching people talk, anyway.

Just some random thoughts. This game really is living up to my expectations so far and my expectations were very high. Manna for sci-fi nerds.

 

[Varshes]

Anyone else playing as an Infiltrator?

I am, loving it all so far.

 

[VALIS]

The autosave feature in this game is ass. Just lost an hours worth of play thanks to it.

You learn the hard way to save yourself. I did.

For those who haven't yet lost a good chunk of play after dying because the auto save pushed you much further back than you thought it would, some advice: USE THE MENU SAVE OFTEN.

 

[duffey]

For those who haven't yet lost a good chunk of play after dying because the auto save pushed you much further back than you thought it would, some advice: USE THE MENU SAVE OFTEN.

Yeah on the way to

Spoiler

saving Liara

I never saved and had to backtrack quite a few times, it got kind of annoying.

That being said, here are my impressions for anyone that cares:

-- The Codex is so full of stuff that it's insane and it's all narrated! I was kinda surprised by that. There's a lot of really cool stuff to read there, I'm totally digging this.

-- The texture/pop-in stuff is kinda more prevalent than I would like personally, and this was after clearing my cache. Also, yeah there are framerate dips but it's Bioware and if this was an action game it'd probably bother me more but I'm in the RPG frame of mind so it's not too bad.

-- I really like the battle system. It's definitely in the vein of GRAW but pausing the game for the wheels is an absolute must. In a way it's really nice to play an RPG without a turn based battle system for once.

-- The voice acting is really really good. The characters are ridiculously detailed and move so fluidly, it's so weird coming from Bioware. They've definitely done something special with the virtual actors.

-- Oh man the soundtrack rules.

So far it's been worth waiting for. I like it a lot.

 

[dirtmonkey37]

I know this has been asked before (see: thread title), but does anyone here actually like playing with the grain filter on? I don't have the game yet, but it seems like something that would enhance the atmosphere and cheaply, but effectively, "ambiguify" low-fidelity assets. I love it in Silent Hill 2 -- will I like it here?

 

[Lefty42o]

Damn, you guys finish games so fast. People finished Uncharted, SMG... My mind is blown.

yeah got the game last nigth at midnight. just dod the main quest so i could see the story. beat it in around 15 hrs. i have started my second playthrough. this time i will be doing every last thing i can. i would expect thios playthrough to go 35 hrs atleast. also playing on the hardest dificulty/

 

[TheMissingLink]

I know this has been asked before (see: thread title), but does anyone here actually like playing with the grain filter on? I don't have the game yet, but it seems like something that would enhance the atmosphere and cheaply, but effectively, "ambiguify" low-fidelity assets. I love it in Silent Hill 2 -- will I like it here?

Looks great, I play with it on. Looks too...KotOR-ish with it off, imo. And like you said, it does enhance atmosphere - it kinda gives me that classic sci-fi feel, for whatever reason.

 

[Dartastic]

You learn the hard way to save yourself. I did.

For those who haven't yet lost a good chunk of play after dying because the auto save pushed you much further back than you thought it would, some advice: USE THE MENU SAVE OFTEN.

Yeah... Auto save is nice, but it's always, ALWAYS a good idea to save right before you quit. ALWAYS.

 

[Timan]

I had to turn the film grain effect off. It reminded me of the days of gaming with the RF adapter :lol

 

[Robert R1]

I know this has been asked before (see: thread title), but does anyone here actually like playing with the grain filter on? I don't have the game yet, but it seems like something that would enhance the atmosphere and cheaply, but effectively, "ambiguify" low-fidelity assets. I love it in Silent Hill 2 -- will I like it here?

Yep. Big fan of the grain filter. Gives it a real film like look and feel. Makes the scifi experience much more immersive for me. Turned it off for about 10 mins and turned it right back on.

 

[ndiicm]

I had 2 million and now with the new game+ I´m at 3 million :lol

Spoiler

how was your conforntation with saren? I left the council die, my ship just cut the communications with them and the Reaper ship/monster die with no problems. Before that Saren was revived as a cyborg (also I forced him to shot himself trough talking, earning an achivement by the way) and was very difficult compared with any other guy on the game.
Did your end went that way? I didn´t save the game before that so i gotta go through the game again to see what happens If you help them.

Did saving them change anything?

Spoiler

Wait wtf? You got Saren to shoot himself ??? You must have had your intimidation maxed out or something. What happened at the end after you killed the council I wish I let those fuckers burn. If I play the game again will I still have my money from the first play through? Or did I miss read. I had to kill Saren again after he turned into that General Grievous thing it was awesome

Mass Effect fucking rapes! I wish it had co-op that would have been so sweet. Is there going to be a part 2 and 3 or are those just rumours? Also if they made this the first console mmorpg that wouldn't be bad either.

Infiltrator ftw!

best ammo

Spoiler

the toxic rounds that do +33% damage and turn them to green vapour

 

[Roat]

I know this has been asked before (see: thread title), but does anyone here actually like playing with the grain filter on? I don't have the game yet, but it seems like something that would enhance the atmosphere and cheaply, but effectively, "ambiguify" low-fidelity assets. I love it in Silent Hill 2 -- will I like it here?

I usually have it and motion blur off, it's like the poor man's AA

 

[temp]

So how do the romances work as far as being a dick? Do you have to act paragon or what?

 

[ACE]

You learn the hard way to save yourself. I did.

For those who haven't yet lost a good chunk of play after dying because the auto save pushed you much further back than you thought it would, some advice: USE THE MENU SAVE OFTEN.

I'll second that, happened numerous times to me and if i'd done any sidequests I usually didn't do them the second time around. No wonder I finished it in 11 hours.

 

[a Master Ninja]

Being a jerk is fun.

 

[ndiicm]

So how do the romances work as far as being a dick? Do you have to act paragon or what?

I went paragon and ended up with ashley. I tried to get both ashley and liara I guess it won't let you. You get it right before

Spoiler

going to Illos (sp?) once you have completed the other main planets: feros, valmier, novera and gotten liara of course. Basically right after stealing your ship from the citadel

 

[Eric WK]

This might be a tad bit premature, but this may very well end up being my favorite game ever. I'm in love right now.

 

[Solo]

Sooo remember when I said that I just couldn't get the right Jack Shepard together? Well, look who I ended up finding instead...

It adds a nice spritual bent to the proceedings. And when Ashley's all "Yo, help me out and shoot this dude," John is all "IT'S NEVER BEEN EASY!"

Awesome. Rock out with your Locke out!

 

[Geoff9920]

Ok, do I just suck or is it normal to die fairly often in the beginning of the game? I just left

Spoiler

the citidel to find Matriarch whats'r'name's daughter. I found the planet I think she's on, went through the vehicle portion, a little ground combat, and promptly got my butt handed to me during an ambush. My party was dead before I even got a chance to give them orders and I died shortly after. I didn't think I'd have this much trouble as a Vanguard. Not that it's impossible, it's just more difficult than I expected.

Also, just ran into my first thrasher maw on a random uncharted planet, wow. :lol The Maco didn't stand a chance. Are these guys beatable, or are you just supposed to avoid them as much as possible? He had this nasty habit of popping up out of the ground beneath the maco, even when I was moving.

 

[Munin]

Ok, so I just finished. I clocked in at 15 hours.

No need to repeat what others said before: A grand, majestic experience and easily the best I've played in 2007. I did not have nearly as many problems with the graphics as others apparently did.

However, it really felt too short. Most are gonna say, "But you didn't do all the sidequest stuff!" and yes, I only did 5-6 sidequests, but it's not like I rushed through it. I really took my time in the citadel and so on. And yet, it kinda "felt" short. Someone said earlier that Mass Effect was much more epic than KotOR, and I would disagree, because even though it only took me 5 hours more to finish KotOR, that one felt like a much longer and "completed" game.

I mean, after all, there were only

Spoiler

4 to 5 (depending how you count)

story planets, which did not have much to offer besides the main story quests. There's always a mako action sequence, some 45 to 60 mins of linear on-foot action, and that's it. Even though KotOR did not have more planets either, it seemed like visiting actual, living worlds, whereas in Mass Effect, it was more like going from one (impressive) set piece to the next. I did not know that I was actually in the last 10% of the game when I visited the final planet; I previously presumed that I had been halfway through at most. Even with all the side quests I can't imagine how some people get to 40 hours. I would love to know!

Of course, apart from that, it's an incredible game. I seem to be in the minority when I say that I like the film grain filter as well. And I'm gonna revisit the game in the next few days on a higher difficulty and with a different character. But at the end of the day, Mass Effect seemed like an introduction to something much bigger. An awesome introduction, but still just an introduction. And I hope I don't have to wait three years for the next installment...I guess this is the price we pay for such a fantastic presentation.

 

[sh4mike]

So do you have the marksman mapped to RB?

Tap-RB triggers weapon power. With pistol out, tap-RB for Mark, once overheat then tap-LB for change to Shotty, tap-RB for Carnage. Very smooth.

 

[mysticstylez]

Can you que up commands when in battle like in Kotor? I'm thinking no, but there is so much to this game I might have missed it.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

This might be a tad bit premature, but this may very well end up being my favorite game ever. I'm in love right now.

Some standouts:

- I am very pleasantly surprised at how much I LOVE the combat, especially after all the grousing. Very fun stuff.

- I LOVE my Kooky Kast of Komrades in my party! What a crazy, fun-loving, and diverse bunch! Putting together a squad is such a blast. And even that boring vanilla dude is interesting (

Spoiler

with the whole outmoded chip thing, awwww

).

- While there are a lot of ass-looking human models, the aliens, every single one, are just IMMACULATELY rendered. The textures, reflections, design, all of that. Just so gobsmackingly good looking.

- The depth of the universe/rewarding curiosity. Not only do I chat up people for the XP bonus (appreciated, thx) but everyone I've talked to has been damned fucking interesting. And since I'm tooling around the galaxy as John Locke, I do wish the good doctor from the ship was available for a romance path. He seems a little old for the rest.

Anyway, yeah. After being drowned in a sea of personal Rock Band hype, Mass Effect has really shone gloriously.

 

[epmode]

Ok, so I just finished. I clocked in at 15 hours.

it only took me 5 hours more to finish KotOR

It's like we're not even playing the same games.

 

[Y2Kev]

I'm being a paragon, and unlike in KOTOR, I find it actually hard to do. Shepard is badass, but being a badass paragon means ratting people out even when you're benefitting.

damn you shepard

ITS NEVER BEEN EASY

 

[TheWolf]

Can you que up commands when in battle like in Kotor? I'm thinking no, but there is so much to this game I might have missed it.

nope.

i'm loving the game so far, but the mako portions do kind of suck. i killed one of those sand worms, but it took awhile causing the damn thing kept spawning underneath me when i was on the run.

 

[Geoff9920]

nope.

i'm loving the game so far, but the mako portions do kind of suck. i killed one of those sand worms, but it took awhile causing the damn thing kept spawning underneath me when i was on the run.

I ran into one of those and the same thing kept happening, what strategy did you use to beat it?

 

[TheWolf]

just kept circling at shooting. don't get too far away and it will usually pop out around the same spot, but don't get too close that it can claw you. also, press RB for the missiles.

 

[joelseph]

Is there a way to have a quest NPC needed for an assignment marked on the map to make them easier to find?

Also, how do I apply upgraded ammo and such? I am still in the Citadel.

Thanks

 

[sprocket]

Ugh how did this game get 9s again?

graphics = god awful
frame rate = awful
shooting = god awful
noise filter = makes me want to kill someone
pacing = very slow
controls = almost bearable
most planets = barren and dull
story = generic

 

[MrCompletely]

Anyone else playing as an Infiltrator?

I am, or as subclass of the infiltrator, the 'Complete Asshole Infiltrator'

I pumped up my intimidation skill as high as it will go at my level, and now I can verbally harass almost anyone.

 

[mysticstylez]

Ugh how did this game get 9s again?

graphics = god awful
frame rate = awful
shooting = god awful
noise filter = makes me want to kill someone
pacing = very slow
controls = almost bearable
most planets = barren and dull
story = generic

Excellent contribution, I love how you explain your gripes.