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[Hitler Stole My Potato]

Seriously neojubei, why the fuck do you even own a 360? Your schitck around here is incredibly annoying.

 

[Zzoram]

Thanks for being a jerk,




Well, I will wait for RPG fans get a hold of this game and give impressions of how well it is balanced. I'm still on the fence for this game.




That just killed it for me.

:lol

You watched the video, you saw how it is, don't pretend to be surprised. Although it's GRAW style, it's not a real shooter, you don't need to be good at aiming and stuff as you have more aim assist than real shooters. Damage and accuracy can be improved by gaining levels and getting better weapons. You don't even need to use guns, just use the biotic powers, which require even less aiming, just pointing in the general direction of enemies.

You can set your AI allies to different combat profiles, where they can be aggressive or defensive, use both weapons and powers, or just one or the other. Party members that pass out during a battle will revive as soon as the danger is over, assuming someone in the party is still alive at the end, if they make it like KOTOR (which I'm sure they did).

 

[Stahsky]

Thanks for being a jerk,




Well, I will wait for RPG fans get a hold of this game and give impressions of how well it is balanced. I'm still on the fence for this game.




That just killed it for me. I do not want to babysit my teammates, now I feel bummed out. This game does look and seem epic and something my sci-fi side would want to play, but if this is GRAW/Rainbow vegas stuff, then I have to leave it.

You won't be missed.

 

[AndersTheSwede]

A poster in the Mass Effect forums who got to play it:

I’m back from Gameworld (a games expo here) and I’ve played ME for more than an hour. They had two Xboxes there with ME running on them, and of course I pushed everyone away from one and had a great time. I’ve seen the character creation (didn’t do it myself ‘cause I didn’t want to waste time, so I’ve picked the iconic John Shepard) – two guys on the other Xbox were having a contest at creating the ugliest femShep. I must say that if you want to create a fugly girl here, you can.

My impressions in short…
You may have heard that this game is great. It’s not true. It’s BEYOND [Scooby-Doo] AWESOME!!!

Everything works like magic in this game. It is beautiful. I completely agree with all the Xbox staff there, this game should undoubtedly get GotY. Nothing like this has been done before. I love the conversation system, I love everything in it. Well, there are some problems, but we’ll talk about them later. One of the guys working there said “it’s the only game that actually looks as good as its trailers”, and I have to agree with him.

I’ve had the time to run through Eden Prime, look at the beacon, and do stuff at the Citadel (which is one of the most beautiful environments ever created in a videogame…it’s simply stunning). The controls feel great, after five minutes you’re already comfortable with them. The pace of the game is great too – it’s slow and relaxing. You’ll spent most of your time in dialogues and/or cutscenes.
I’m not sure however this was the final version, but it looked damn final to me, except that “…THING NEEDS TO BE REBUILT” (pathing maybe?) which you can see on every screen. Or maybe it had nothing to do with the game, maybe it was something with the screen itself, I dunno.

The problems:
The only ones I’ve noticed are with graphics. Again, this might not be the final version, but I’ll list them anyway.
Antialiasing should be mandatory for all modern games. It sometimes such a shame, because an otherwise beautiful picture is ruined by those jagged edges. This is where I start hoping this wasn’t the final version. I just don’t get it, why don’t developers do at least 2xAA by default.
Shadow problems are unfortunately noticeable. As a lot of attention is centered around the faces of different characters, sometimes the picture gets ruined by some weird shadow which pops up (usually near the nose). It looks more like a torn black piece of paper than a shadow.
Oh sure, the film grain effect masks both the AA and the shadow issues. But then I don’t like it. I turned it off and played without it.

Then a small issue that is out of the graphics field: you can’t talk to any people but quest NPCs and merchants. I know it’s not that important, I know hearing the same generic phrases over and over (like in Oblivion) is kinda stupid, but the one fact that you just can’t talk to pedestrians is disturbing for me. It’s like they’re not alive and are there for decoration purposes only, like that tree over there. Not a major issue, but something that could have made the game even better.

I saw that some armour has tech/biotic protection values, which is nice.

I leveled up Shepard and the rest of his crew. It’s quite easy, with accurate descriptions of what you get for every point spent. I got 6 xp points a level, so at first glance the progress is quite fast. Also, Charm and Intimidate are both limited to a maximum level of 3 points. So getting a max in one of them is quite cheap actually.

About weapons: it looks like I won’t go Vanguard, simply because shotguns suck (at least in the beginning). The ones you get in the beginning (from traders, too) overheat after 2-4 shots. However, the assault rifle definitely rules. Pistols are great, too. Forgot to try the sniper rifle.

http://masseffect.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=596027&forum=104

There are pictures off his phone at the link plus spoilers at the end.

 

[Zombie James]

What a perfect time for my 360 to die

 

[Zzoram]

Thanks for being a jerk,




Well, I will wait for RPG fans get a hold of this game and give impressions of how well it is balanced. I'm still on the fence for this game.




That just killed it for me. I do not want to babysit my teammates, now I feel bummed out. This game does look and seem epic and something my sci-fi side would want to play, but if this is GRAW/Rainbow vegas stuff, then I have to leave it.

I suggest you at least wait for reviews, to see how flexible combat is for people who aren't good at shooters. Maybe listen to some 1UP podcasts after the game comes out, to hear what Shane has to say. Last I heard, he was interested but a bit intimidated by the combat, but he hadn't really played it, he'd just watched videos.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

One of the guys working there said “it’s the only game that actually looks as good as its trailers”, and I have to agree with him.

Rawr?

 

[AndersTheSwede]

Rawr?

I chuckled too, but lets not go there in this thread.

 

[karasu]

Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect are like two of my fantasies fully realised

and this pic just confirms that again

Tatooine!

 

[SPEA]

Thanks for being a jerk,




Well, I will wait for RPG fans get a hold of this game and give impressions of how well it is balanced. I'm still on the fence for this game.




That just killed it for me. I do not want to babysit my teammates, now I feel bummed out. This game does look and seem epic and something my sci-fi side would want to play, but if this is GRAW/Rainbow vegas stuff, then I have to leave it.

So long!

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

I chuckled too, but lets not go there in this thread.

No, I mean, really, Uncharted really does look just as good as its trailers, if not better. I don't think Mass Erect needs to play that card. It's got a lot of its special juicy goodness going for it. Same way Rock Band doesn't need to come out and say it's the best Guitar Game out there.

 

[Zzoram]

Why are JRPG traditionalists so hostile towards RPGs with real time combat? If Mass Effect had swords, would it be more appealing to JRPG traditionalists?



I don't mean this to be combative, I'm just a bit confused.

 

[neojubei]

:lol

You watched the video, you saw how it is, don't pretend to be surprised. Although it's GRAW style, it's not a real shooter, you don't need to be good at aiming and stuff as you have more aim assist than real shooters. Damage and accuracy can be improved by gaining levels and getting better weapons. You don't even need to use guns, just use the biotic powers, which require even less aiming, just pointing in the general direction of enemies.

You can set your AI allies to different combat profiles, where they can be aggressive or defensive, use both weapons and powers, or just one or the other. Party members that pass out during a battle will revive as soon as the danger is over, assuming someone in the party is still alive at the end, if they make it like KOTOR (which I'm sure they did).

I suggest you at least wait for reviews, to see how flexible combat is for people who aren't good at shooters. Maybe listen to some 1UP podcasts after the game comes out, to hear what Shane has to say. Last I heard, he was interested but a bit intimidated by the combat, but he hadn't really played it, he'd just watched videos.

I'll wait for reviews from RPG/non-shooter fans, but thanks for taking the time to help ease some of my issues with this game. I just hope the developers don't think everyone playing this game is expert halo/GRAW players.

Why are JRPG traditionalists so hostile towards RPGs with real time combat? If Mass Effect had swords, would it be more appealing to JRPG traditionalists?

Swords? I stayed far away from Oblivion, I even used a 10 foot pole.

So long!

From what? The internet?

 

[Stahsky]

I'll wait for reviews from RPG/non-shooter fans, but thanks for taking the time to help ease some of my issues with this game. I just hope the developers don't think everyone playing this game is expert halo/GRAW players.

wat

 

[Zzoram]

I'll wait for reviews from RPG/non-shooter fans, but thanks for taking the time to help ease some of my issues with this game. I just hope the developers don't think everyone playing this game is expert halo/GRAW players.




Swords? I stayed far away from Oblivion, I even used a 10 foot pole.

Oblivion's combat left... a lot to be desired. The leveling system was kinda wonky, you could get to like lvl 20 on nothing but Alchemy and Acrobatics and be useless in combat :lol

I definitely understand the worry though. For the longest time, I never played shooters because I couldn't aim. I used to stick to turn based RPGs and RTS games, and some turn based strategy like Civilization. Since then, I've played tons of shooters so I'm a lot more comfortable with the genre than in the past.

The only genre I'm actually still bad at is the Action stuff like DMC and Ninja Gaiden.

 

[karasu]

Archery in Oblivion is really fun though. The arrows really make those monsters fly when your Marksmanship in in the 70's.

 

[duffey]

I'll wait for reviews from RPG/non-shooter fans, but thanks for taking the time to help ease some of my issues with this game. I just hope the developers don't think everyone playing this game is expert halo/GRAW players.

I don't think you'll be doing a whole lot of aiming for heads or anything as the target looks to be a sticky target, i.e. you point and it locks on until you move it (someone can certainly prove me wrong though, but that's what it's appeared to me in all the combat videos that I've seen). It looks like it's not going to require quick reflexes or anything if that's your concern.

 

[Zzoram]

Archery in Oblivion is really fun though. The arrows really make those monsters fly when your Marksmanship in in the 70's.

I won't lie, my aiming in that game was so bad I just gave up on Archery. I couldn't hit moving targets. I just used swords since it was really easy to just click on enemies a lot :lol

 

[neojubei]

Oblivion's combat left... a lot to be desired. The leveling system was kinda wonky, you could get to like lvl 20 on nothing but Alchemy and Acrobatics and be useless in combat :lol

I definitely understand the worry though. For the longest time, I never played shooters because I couldn't aim. I used to stick to turn based RPGs and RTS games, and some turn based strategy like Civilization. Since then, I've played tons of shooters so I'm a lot more comfortable with the genre than in the past.

The only genre I'm actually still bad at is the Action stuff like DMC and Ninja Gaiden.

I thought Oblivion was incredibly ugly, the character designs were some of the worst I've seen, which is one aspect of Mass Effect that I like. The character designs are quite impressive, as a sci-fi fan I am loving it. The voice acting seem top notch and ship designs makes me think I am in a star wars film. So everything on that level is definitely appealing to me. The combat is just the only thing.

You are bad at action games? That is a genre that I love!!!! Yes I am buying Ninja Gaiden II, so you people looking for a witch hunt and move on by.

 

[AndersTheSwede]

I'll wait for reviews from RPG/non-shooter fans, but thanks for taking the time to help ease some of my issues with this game. I just hope the developers don't think everyone playing this game is expert halo/GRAW players.

The game is not a twitch shooter. If you notice at the end of the recent combat video when he snipes the turret, the crosshair is waving across the screen. This is because his characters skill in snipers is low and thus he is pretty inaccurate. Your accuracy and potency in combat is directly related to your skill level, which is the essence of a common RPG. This is a similar system to what was used in Deus Ex, which was an alright game...
The ability to pause the combat and move the camera around as seen here (http://www.gametrailers.com/player/24945.html), further takes it away from a twitch shooter allowing you to slow down what would be a frantic gun battle and plan your tactics as much as you want.

 

[neojubei]

The game is not a twitch shooter. If you notice at the end of the recent combat video when he snipes the turret, the crosshair is waving across the screen. This is because his characters skill in snipers is low and thus he is pretty inaccurate. Your accuracy and potency in combat is directly related to your skill level, which is the essence of a common RPG. This is a similar system to what was used in Deus Ex, which was an alright game...
The ability to pause the combat and move the camera around as seen here (http://www.gametrailers.com/player/24945.html), further takes it away from a twitch shooter allowing you to slow down what would be a frantic gun battle and plan your tactics as much as you want.

I wish people will stop using examples from games that I hate. I want to like Mass Effect.

Tactics? So I cannot just level up and throw a huge fire ball at my enemy? Can you level grind in this game?

 

[Zzoram]

I wish people will stop using examples from games that I hate. I want to like Mass Effect.

Tactics? So I cannot just level up and throw a huge fire ball at my enemy?

What's Deus Ex like?

The biotics didn't look like you had to aim much. The power where you suspend people in the air, it looks like you toss a wave in the general direction. I assume eventually you get offensive powers that might be like tossing a huge fireball at an enemy, or at least I hope so

I agree that Oblivion had mega ugly faces :lol

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

I wish people will stop using examples from games that I hate. I want to like Mass Effect.

It seems abundantly clear that the game is not for you. If the basic mechanics of the game, the ones that have been elucidated clearly by BioWare for almost a year now, do not appeal to you, the onus of getting you to like the game isn't on us or a specialized segment of the game reviewing community.

 

[Zzoram]

It seems abundantly clear that the game is not for you. If the basic mechanics of the game, the ones that have been elucidated clearly by BioWare for almost a year now, do not appeal to you, the onus of getting you to like the game isn't on us or a specialized segment of the game reviewing community.

I don't think you can say that until the game comes out and we know everything. For all we know, there's a heavy sticky-aim option for lock on to enemies that we don't know about.

 

[neojubei]

What's Deus Ex like?

The biotics didn't look like you had to aim much. The power where you suspend people in the air, it looks like you toss a wave in the general direction. I assume eventually you get offensive powers that might be like tossing a huge fireball at an enemy, or at least I hope so

I agree that Oblivion had mega ugly faces :lol

Ugh!!! I think I will wait for reviews. I want to buy this game, but I do not want to jump into a game I paid 60 bucks for and might hate like Lost Planet, which was 70 dollars actually.

I don't think you can say that until the game comes out and we know everything. For all we know, there's a heavy sticky-aim option for lock on to enemies that we don't know about.

Yea I'll wait for the game to come out and be reviewed. The videos really does not tell me much about the game mechanics.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

I don't think you can say that until the game comes out and we know everything. For all we know, there's a heavy sticky-aim option for lock on to enemies that we don't know about.

He doesn't seem to like stuff like squad based combat. I don't think it's just the aiming thing.

 

[AndersTheSwede]

Tactics? So I cannot just level up and throw a huge fire ball at my enemy? Can you level grind in this game?

I'm just going to ignore your first sentence.

By tactics I simply mean what skills your party possess that you are going to use and who to use them on and when.

There are no fireballs, but you can create singularities.

 

[Zzoram]

Ugh!!! I think I will wait for reviews. I want to buy this game, but I do not want to jump into a game I paid 60 bucks for and might hate like Lost Planet, which was 70 dollars actually.

I thought the MP demo for Lost Planet was cool but didn't buy it. I played a bit of SP and was so lost/stuck.

You seem like the type that would like Lost Odyssey, Infinite Undiscovery, and The Last Remnant. You read anything about those?

 

[Zzoram]

He doesn't seem to like stuff like squad based combat. I don't think it's just the aiming thing.

You can take control of any of the party members at any time. You can customize how their AI works to some degree. It should be ok.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

I thought the MP demo for Lost Planet was cool but didn't buy it. I played a bit of SP and was so lost/stuck.

You seem like the type that would like Lost Odyssey, Infinite Undiscovery, and The Last Remnant. You read anything about those?

I really hope he at least has Blue Dragon.

 

[AndersTheSwede]

You can take control of any of the party members at any time. You can customize how their AI works to some degree. It should be ok.

I don't think you can actually take control of them. You can control how aggressive their AI is, and direct them to specific places or to attack specific enemies, but not direct control ala kotor.

 

[neojubei]

I really hope he at least has Blue Dragon.

Not after playing the demo on xbox live.

I don't think you can actually take control of them. You can control how aggressive their AI is, and direct them to specific places or to attack specific enemies, but not direct control ala kotor.

That's good to hear.

 

[Zzoram]

I really hope he at least has Blue Dragon.

I used to be excited for that game because I do like JRPGs, but the demo kinda gave me headaches. I thought it was the attack animations, but maybe I was just coming down with something. If I find Blue Dragon used for cheap somewhere, I might still get it.

That plus, the demo was bad and out of context. I had no idea what was going on.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Not after playing the demo on xbox live.

Aw, man. You should've waited to hear from those RPG fans who've been actively jizzing all over the game since 2006 while at the same time wondering why MS and Mistwalker bothered to make such a non-representative demo of the game available to the public.

 

[neojubei]

Aw, man. You should've waited to hear from those RPG fans who've been actively jizzing all over the game since 2006 while at the same time wondering why MS and Mistwalker bothered to make such a non-representative demo of the game available to the public.

Actually I have and I still won't buy it, unless it was 15 bucks.

 

[Zzoram]

Actually I have and I still won't buy it, unless it was 15 bucks.

My cutoff is $20. We have some rental stores nearby that sometimes sell used 360 games 2 for $40, which is an amazing deal. If I see Blue Dragon there along with a game I really want then I'll pair them.

Frankly, Lost Odyssey looks like it'll be waaay better than Blue Dragon.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Actually I have and I still won't buy it, unless it was 15 bucks.

:lol

$15. I'd be very surprised if you purchased this game in 2009. Stunned, actually.

 

[Wiktor]

I've always wondered... are the quests integrated into gameworld? I mean...from videos it looked like you walked around in sort of RPG hub and when you took on the quest you were transported into separate combat level. Do you actualy explore, talk with NPCs etc on those missions? Also...how much non-combat quests are there in comparision to violent ones?

 

[SnakeXs]

Why have you all ruined this thread?

Ruined. Ruined! Ruined!!

 

[MWS Natural]

Ugh!!! I think I will wait for reviews. I want to buy this game, but I do not want to jump into a game I paid 60 bucks for and might hate like Lost Planet, which was 70 dollars actually.




Yea I'll wait for the game to come out and be reviewed. The videos really does not tell me much about the game mechanics.

Head first into Lost Planet and hesitant about Mass Effect...I don't even have a gif to express how that statement sounded to me.

 

[traveler]

He doesn't seem to like Western game design.

Fixed.

 

[AndersTheSwede]

I've always wondered... are the quests integrated into gameworld? I mean...from videos it looked like you walked around in sort of RPG hub and when you took on the quest you were transported into separate combat level. Do you actualy explore, talk with NPCs etc on those missions? Also...how much non-combat quests are there in comparision to violent ones?

Yes, absolutely they are integrated. The only types of western RPG's that would do that today are Diablo-style games.
Don't know how many non-combat quests there are, but it seems a significant part of the game, with both intimidation/persuade playing key parts to avoid violence, and social quests (alliance/good samaritan/romance/collection/crafting) all present.

 

[Wiktor]

Anyone remember Planet's Edge - the old PC game from New World Computing?

That game was awesome. This game will be awesome. My GOTY.

The first thing I though when Bioware unveiled ME was "oh... looks like Planet's Edge"

 

[Lebron]

What a perfect time for my 360 to die

Sorry, that sucks


also, this current page has already turned to mess. I guess this is what happens when Che doesn't keep us updated! JK, Che, your impressions have brought many smiles to my face. Many thanks

 

[Willy Wanka]

I just preordered the special ultimate limited edition tin of shiny awesome.

Roll on the 16th!

 

[AfunkyArcadeStick]

What a perfect time for my 360 to die

Fucking ditto.

Fuck you Microsoft.

 

[MCermak]

Head first into Lost Planet and hesitant about Mass Effect...I don't even have a gif to express how that statement sounded to me.

Don't mind him. Obviously he needs a game with more androgyny than mass effect provides.

@neojubei; Sometimes I don't understand other people and their apprehension to buying certain games, but I guess everyone is different. I don't want to sound like a bioware fanboy, because I'm not. But, if there is a company deserving of fanboys it is definitely bioware. Based on what we have seen and the developer pedigree, this is about as close to a shoe-in for GOTY contender as you can get. I think just about everyone knows right now that mass effect is going to be above 90 percent in terms of review scores, the question is just how high above? Definitely worth your money -- especially if you're an RPG fan.

 

[xbhaskarx]

Good work, neojubei.

 

[Zzoram]

You guys do realize that Che will only tease us a bit every couple of days to drive us nuts until launch right? By the time Nov.20 gets here, we'll all have such mass erects :lol

 

[RumFore]

Any word on if the CE will come in a tin box? Everything seems so mum.

Anyone getting the guide/art book?

Book Description
* Two Books: a $40 value - The Collector's Edition will include the FULL Mass Effect strategy guide PLUS the 192 page exclusive Mass Effect Art Book.
* Concept Art and Commentary - Prima's Mass Effect Art Book will include commentary from the developers at BioWare on the evolution of Mass Effect's elements, from ships to aliens to locations.
* High-Quality Collector's Box - The books will be packaged in an exclusive slipcover of durable card stock, printed on all sides with art from the game's development.
* Clean Box Art - Prima's one sheet for the box will fall away when the shrinkwrap is removed, leaving pristine art, unmarred by logos, barcodes, or taglines.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0761556230/?tag=neogaf0e-20