Support NeoGAF

[Kobold]

I reviewed the game yesterdag, as well. Highest score, highest praise! I have a lesbian relationship with the hot alien girl, obviously.

Also, here's the review (in Dutch): http://www.xboxworld.nl/article/742/review-mass-effect/

Can someone help me out here. How do I make those blue hexagonal shield things I can use to take cover? Is that a biotic skill I have to learn?

Do my squad members use skill son their own or do I have to manually tell them what to do everytime? Can they heal themselves if they have first aid learned?

I don't know of a skill to use the blue shields, but the use of your NPC buddy's powers is adjustable in the options.

Yea, inventoryis not perfect, but since I was at 9999999 money really soon, I didn't care, just sold everything constantly and bought everything crossed my path which was better then what I found.

 

[VALIS]

Problems with the inventory increase as you progress in the game. Later on, managing to keep your item count below 150 is freaking annoying. Because the game only tells you that you've reached the limit when you enter your inventory. Then you're presented with the list of new items and you have to convert them into omni gel until you're below the limit. You can't choose to drop them, so if you find a great item, enter the inventory and find out that you have to convert it into omni gel, you're out of luck.

Also, if you collect lots of low-level trash, and at a later point, want to convert it all into omni gel, it can get pretty annoying as well - not because you have to press Y for every single item, but because in the add-on screens for weapons & armor, after converting an item into omni gel, the list scrolls back to the top automatically. Since newer (and better items, i.e. those you want to keep) are listed first, you always find yourself scrolling down for minutes to convert a single item. Then do it all over again.

The inventory is really terrible, and I recommend anyone who has just started out to regularily clean out his inventory because otherwise it will become a fucking nightmare later on.

I see. Yeah, that is lame.

 

[widgetraf]

You know those blue shields the geth used in the first mission. I was under the impression you could use those as well. They're like deployable covers in Halo 3, but six sided and transparent blue.

 

[Quazar]

I see. Yeah, that is lame.

Sure is. That shouldn't of released like that. Anyways reached the citadel last night and have already put 7hours in? I haven't really done shit / touched the surface of Mass Effect yet I would assume. I love how the story has so far lived up to the book, amazing for a videogame.

 

[sixteen-bit]

When did this come out?

I had a few people on my friendslist that were playing the game since yesterday (maybe even day before yesterday) pirates? or did the come out...yesterday.

I was able to buy mine yesterday.

The game shipped the 9th and was street dated for yesterday. K-Mart broke the street date and some people had the game as early as the 9th.

 

[GauntletFan]

7 hours in so far.. Done most of the first citadel sidequests, and already feeling that this is GOTY for me.

Graphics are insanely awesome. Technical glitches are prevelant but they don't interfere with the overall look.. the world is detailed, and convincing.. so much attention to detail.

Gameplay is really fun. I actually enjoy doing all the sidequests and these are things I normally avoid in other titles. Writing, character designs and dialogue are all splendid.

 

[yukoner]

Problems with the inventory increase as you progress in the game. Later on, managing to keep your item count below 150 is freaking annoying. Because the game only tells you that you've reached the limit when you enter your inventory. Then you're presented with the list of new items and you have to convert them into omni gel until you're below the limit. You can't choose to drop them, so if you find a great item, enter the inventory and find out that you have to convert it into omni gel, you're out of luck.

Also, if you collect lots of low-level trash, and at a later point, want to convert it all into omni gel, it can get pretty annoying as well - not because you have to press Y for every single item, but because in the add-on screens for weapons & armor, after converting an item into omni gel, the list scrolls back to the top automatically. Since newer (and better items, i.e. those you want to keep) are listed first, you always find yourself scrolling down for minutes to convert a single item. Then do it all over again.

The inventory is really terrible, and I recommend anyone who has just started out to regularily clean out his inventory because otherwise it will become a fucking nightmare later on.

Simple solution. Goto the quartermaster in the bottom level of your ship, select "Sell Items".

It will list the cheapest stuff at the top, and you can sell it by simply hitting A, no confirmation window so it's extremely quick.

Basically, you just need to make sure you sell the old stuff, which you should do anyways, and you'll never have a problem with inventory in the game.

 

[Quazar]

7 hours in so far.. Done most of the first citadel sidequests, and already feeling that this is GOTY for me.

Graphics are insanely awesome. Technical glitches are prevelant but they don't interfere with the overall look.. the world is detailed, and convincing.. so much attention to detail.

Gameplay is really fun. I actually enjoy doing all the sidequests and these are things I normally avoid in other titles. Writing, character designs and dialogue are all splendid.

Looks like I'm moving at same pace as you.

 

[Quagm1r3]

I don't know if this was mentioned before, but does this game look...fuzzy to anyone? It's almost like I got a bad reception on a TV station. Playing from far away makes it less noticeable, but this weird fuzzy stuff is still really annoying.

I have a 32" Sharp Aquos LCD HDTV

 

[Foil]

I'm stunned that they're not using the cache. I mean, for real? With texture pop-in being as prevalent as it is, that just seems like the most boneheaded technical design decision.

Amazing. I knew that Bioware was on the lower echelon of programming skillz, but that is just hilarious.

Yeah, I love their games but they're not very good at having their titles run at smooth framerates. Could they not fix a lot of this stuff with a patch, and possibly enable the game to use the system cache?

 

[mysticstylez]

Anyone notice that your "Time Played" isn't working properly? I started playing today at 12:33PM at that time I had 2hr and 15mins. My next save was at 2pm and my total time played is 3hours and 2 mins. I've been playing non stop for an hour and a half yet it only registers 47 mins of game time.

 

[VALIS]

I don't know if this was mentioned before, but does this game look...fuzzy to anyone? It's almost like I got a bad reception on a TV station. Playing from far away makes it less noticeable, but this weird fuzzy stuff is still really annoying.

I have a 32" Sharp Aquos LCD HDTV

Heh. Grain filter.

Pause-->Options-->Graphics-->Grain Filter Off


edit: turn motion blur off, too, imo.

 

[FunkyMunkey]

I'm curious but does this game count pause-time towards total game-time?

 

[Undeux]

Heh. Grain filter.

Pause-->Options-->Graphics-->Grain Filter Off


edit: turn motion blur off, too, imo.

I kind of liked the motion blur, but why did they even put the grain filter in? I can understand giving it a film-like effect, but it just looks bad.

 

[ALeperMessiah]

When did this come out?

I had a few people on my friendslist that were playing the game since yesterday (maybe even day before yesterday) pirates? or did the come out...yesterday.

Release date was for yesterday. It was leaked at retail over a week ago though. For example, I picked it up on Friday from an indy store nearby that always breaks street dates.

 

[Quagm1r3]

Heh. Grain filter.

Pause-->Options-->Graphics-->Grain Filter Off


edit: turn motion blur off, too, imo.

Wow. It looks good now!

I can't imagine why they'd leave that sort of setting on default.

 

[CrunchinJelly]

Does turning off the grain filter and motion blur improve performance at all?

 

[VALIS]

Anyone notice that your "Time Played" isn't working properly? I started playing today at 12:33PM at that time I had 2hr and 15mins. My next save was at 2pm and my total time played is 3hours and 2 mins. I've been playing non stop for an hour and a half yet it only registers 47 mins of game time.

Yes, I noticed the same thing yesterday. I played from almost exactly 4pm to 4am and it gave me like 8h27m of game time. I know I paused to do stuff like eat, bathroom, internet, but not 3.5 hours worth. Maybe 1 hours worth.

What happens is it doesn't count your time spent re-doing the same things. If you played another hour from your last autosave, died and restarted from that last autosave, you're not credited with playing that hour.

 

[Quazar]

I don't know if this was mentioned before, but does this game look...fuzzy to anyone? It's almost like I got a bad reception on a TV station. Playing from far away makes it less noticeable, but this weird fuzzy stuff is still really annoying.

I have a 32" Sharp Aquos LCD HDTV

lol yea went and fucked around with HD settings for like an hour trying to get rid of it. Than I realized it's in options to turn off. :lol I think that was a stupid default setting. Really distracting. Think I'm going to take motion blur off as well.

 

[mysticstylez]

Yes, I noticed the same thing yesterday. I played from almost exactly 4pm to 4am and it gave me like 8h27m of game time. I know I paused to do stuff like eat, bathroom, internet, but not 3.5 hours worth. Maybe 1 hours worth.

What happens is it doesn't count your time spent re-doing the same things. If you played another hour from your last autosave, died and restarted from that last autosave, you're not credited with playing that hour.

Yeah it's weird I just played 10 mins of the same thing cause I died, but my game time only went up 1min. So in reality these people that finished the game in 15-20hrs actually took alot more time.

 

[ALeperMessiah]

Anyone notice that your "Time Played" isn't working properly? I started playing today at 12:33PM at that time I had 2hr and 15mins. My next save was at 2pm and my total time played is 3hours and 2 mins. I've been playing non stop for an hour and a half yet it only registers 47 mins of game time.

The timer doesn't count the time between when you die and when you last saved. So if you save, play for an hour, die, and need to load the last save, the game doesn't count that entire hour.

EDIT: beaten, ...badly.

 

[GauntletFan]

I love the grain filter.. looked too sterile without it.

 

[Falagard]

The timer doesn't count the time between when you die and when you last saved. So if you save, play for an hour, die, and need to load the last save, the game doesn't count that entire hour.

EDIT: beaten, ...badly.

The timer is supposed to represent how far you are into the game, not how long you've been playing total. It's so you know which of your saves is the furthest progress into the game.

If every time you saved it just showed your total play time, you could go back to your first save and load the game, then save it again and it would show 18 hrs instead of just 30 mins and you might lose track of which save is your most recent.

It makes sense the way it is, though I guess they could have added total play time somewhere as well without too much effort.

 

[widgetraf]

When I die, are there any negative consequences of resuming instead of loading?

 

[mysticstylez]

The timer is supposed to represent how far you are into the game, not how long you've been playing total. It's so you know which of your saves is the furthest progress into the game.

If every time you saved it just showed your total play time, you could go back to your first save and load the game, then save it again and it would show 18 hrs instead of just 30 mins and you might lose track of which save is your most recent.

It makes sense the way it is, though I guess they could have added total play time somewhere as well without too much effort.

Well atleast I know that I'll be putting in alot more time with the game than what it's telling me. Kinda had me worried when people saying it took less than 20 hours.

 

[ALeperMessiah]

When I die, are there any negative consequences of resuming instead of loading?

not really, they basically do the same thing. Resuming loads your most recent save, it could be a manual save or an auto save. Load lets you load any of your previous saves.

 

[Hunter D]

Hunter D - Yeah man, the Equipment menu is so weird. Why couldn't they just have lists like any regular RPG

You hit the nail on the head. The equip menu lacks order. The screen feels very chaotic to me. Its probably a result of bioware trying to make the menus simpler.

 

[mysticstylez]

Ok I'm stumped at the

Spoiler

X Y B puzzle in the snow level, you have to get the four cubes into either Y or B it's givin me a headache, any help?

Nm got it.

 

[jet1911]

There's some massive slowdown when the

Spoiler

giant bugs

appears on Navaria.

 

[Stahsky]

BY THE BY

I have decided that no matter how much I may end up enjoying ME, it can never, ever top the enjoyment I received from KOTOR, and that is because I cannot draw my gun and spin it around using Y while running around.

Nobody loves you.

 

[RBH]

Has this been posted yet?:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/28140.html


:lol

 

[squatingyeti]

I'm sure you can try to play the game as a shooter, but it's not a shooter and that's obvious. There are some confrontations, like

Spoiler

the fight against the Matriarch

where you'd just get smoked repeatedly unless you paused the game and played tactically.

Maybe I'm playing wrong, but I've got my teammates set to use their skills automatically. I'm just the tank. My first time through I'm just shooting. Next time I'll be something entirely different. I've YET to pause the game and play tactically. I defeated

Spoiler

the matriarch

without stopping once or running like a pussball. Furthermore, it was the first try. It was tough and it got my heart pumping, but my team fought on.

 

[rebel^pudding]

To me its a lot more fun to turn off auto talents and control what each person does myself. Having your teamates do what they want ends with lots of wrex in your way and lots of explosions going off without you knowing wtf is happening

 

[a Master Ninja]

Has this been posted yet?:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/28140.html


:lol

Golden Axe :lol

 

[JB1981]

I don't know if this was mentioned before, but does this game look...fuzzy to anyone? It's almost like I got a bad reception on a TV station. Playing from far away makes it less noticeable, but this weird fuzzy stuff is still really annoying.

I have a 32" Sharp Aquos LCD HDTV

Definitely does not look fuzzy on my CRT.

 

[Robert R1]

As a soilder, can I use any biotic stuff?

 

[puebla]

Has this been posted yet?:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/28140.html


:lol

"my posse's on broadway"

brilliant :lol

 

[Sol..]

I'm 5 in and i'm likin' the game alot. Imma throw in some pros and cons cuz i'm bored. Shield your eyes!

+Character Models ('specially main character)
+Writing and Story
+Presentation
+Exploration Options
+Voice Acting
+Item Depth
+Art
+Seamless Mission/Side Quest Structure
+Did I say writing?

-Combat
-Lack of Interesting and Total Amount of Special Abilities (or do more magically show up?)
-Graphical Glitches (the usuals: pop in, frame rate, etc.)
-Controls
-Squad AI

Spoiler

+Writing!

 

[Tieno]

Can anyone tell me if the ASIAN version of Mass Effect is region free or works on a PAL console?

 

[joelseph]

How do healing abilities work? I am dumping points into first aid for my squad mates yet the ability to heal does not show up on their action ring. Is all healing tied to the Y button?

 

[Quagm1r3]

It seems like it would be blatantly obvious, and I feel kind of dumb by asking, but how do you pause the game to give commands to your squad during combat?

 

[Y2Kev]

How do healing abilities work? I am dumping points into first aid for my squad mates yet the ability to heal does not show up on their action ring. Is all healing tied to the Y button?

Yeah, this is my question. That seems really bizarre.

 

[widgetraf]

Has this been posted yet?:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/28140.html


:lol

Jeff Bell reads *******. :lol

 

[IronicallyTwisted]

How do healing abilities work? I am dumping points into first aid for my squad mates yet the ability to heal does not show up on their action ring. Is all healing tied to the Y button?

In combat you use Y to heal. Putting more points in first aid makes this heal much stronger. It counts the person with the best healing skill, still alive, at that given moment.

 

[GauntletFan]

It seems like it would be blatantly obvious, and I feel kind of dumb by asking, but how do you pause the game to give commands to your squad during combat?

right or left bumper.. cant remember which. I'm at work right now

 

[widgetraf]

A game with a combat system like this really needs a tutorial mission or something. I wonder why they left that out.

 

[VALIS]

I forgot to save and just lost 2hrs. worth of progress through Peak 15, including the reactor core puzzle and lots of inventory management. Nooooo! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

Remember to save, friends. Remember. Remember! Don't wind up like me, holmes. *points to his scarred, gnarled face with a teardrop tattoo next to his eye*

 

[joelseph]

In combat you use Y to heal. Putting more points in first aid makes this heal much stronger. It counts the person with the best healing skill, still alive, at that given moment.

I guess that makes sense, but if I have three members alive why is there a cooldown if all three members can heal? Weird system.

 

[Quagm1r3]

right or left bumper.. cant remember which. I'm at work right now

I'm confused. Right bumper uses special powers and left bumper switches weapons.

 

[GauntletFan]

I'm confused. Right bumper uses special powers and left bumper switches weapons.

Ah gotcha.. not sure about that. I mean, you can pause and direct them to attack stuff and so on, not sure about movement.