Mass Effect (PC).. first impressions; can't say I hate it

[KazikluBey]

It's bloody annoying that the same key that lets you skip dialog lines (space, left mouse) is the same that selects your response, and that wheel doesn't show up immediately when a character reaches a line that can be responded to, so it's not uncommon for me to teleport to an entirely different location in the Citadel or to give the wrong response in dialog.

 

[DefJam101]

The combat system for this game is starting to get very aggravating. The enemies are very easy to kill at range, on any difficulty, but you pretty much die instantly whenever they decide to blindly charge you with no regards to their personal safety. Even on the easiest difficulty the perspective and relatively low power of your weapons makes surviving one of their melee rushes extremely difficult. Your partners seem to stand by and do nothing with this enemy runs towards you at (I shit you not) 40 miles per hour and proceeds to kill you in one hit.

It makes the combat feel random, as fights are easy until one of the NPCs randomly decides to leave cover and fly towards you and it suddenly becomes Far Cry all over again.

 

[MetalCraze]

you forgot to add that during Virmire mission you can get weapons that are on a par with Mako's machine gun. after that rushing anything is easy as hell. average geth falls dead from 3-4 shots.
now add to this the "recharge shields while in combat" ability that you can shamelessly spam as it recharges faster than those damn robots put down your 300-400 shield points you have by that time.

 

[Jaesun]

Even on the easiest difficulty the perspective and relatively low power of your weapons makes surviving one of their melee rushes extremely difficult.

Lift FTW!

I have been playing basically with me (Vanguard) + Liara T'Soni + Tali'Zorah nar Rayya.

Those biotics who zerg you in the "Rescue the Hostage Mission"? OWNED in seconds. <3

 

[RK47]

I just hate the mini games, I havent' met a mini game that I like, the Mako is crap vehicle control and wtf is up with the in-game tutorial giving me the wrong key to EXIT?! And the security disabling made me scratch my head a few times before I understood the controls. I don't really hate the overall game at the moment but the mini games detract from my enjoyment.

 

[Azrael the cat]

I just hate the mini games, I havent' met a mini game that I like, the Mako is crap vehicle control and wtf is up with the in-game tutorial giving me the wrong key to EXIT?! And the security disabling made me scratch my head a few times before I understood the controls. I don't really hate the overall game at the moment but the mini games detract from my enjoyment.

So glad someone else brought up the Mako exiting thing - that had me stuck for fricken ages. Yep, I hate minigames, and I'm glad a couple of reviewers called them on that - I hope more do so that developers get the message: it just isn't fun doing a minigame when you're going to have to do the exact same game 500 times across the game (especially when you've invested points in the skill, makes it feel like you're progress is pointless). The ONLY mini-game I've seen work is Pazaak in KOTOR - completely voluntary, you can choose WHEN to play it, logical, and with suitable rewards - like a separate little bonus game rather than a hoop you have to jump through repeatedly.

I'm not sure why I'm easier on Mass Effect than Oblivion etc - for some reason I still enjoy it, nothing brilliant, but not a waste of time either. I guess partially it might be that I can see Bioware's new (ie crappy post-BG2. And heck, crappy pre-BG2) games as things that console gamers might pick up, think 'oh wow this genre is awesome', and get as obsessed with it as I was as a kid with Wizardry 1-3 and Ultima 1 and 2 (how I ended up never playing ultima again until U7 - THIS YEAR - is beyond me). Whilst those games had tactics and difficulty beyond any current game, their storylines, roleplaying and C+C were way below even the current Bioware games, but we (like current console gamers) simply hadn't known anything better. And as more of those games came out, and got increasingly stale, we started demanding more story, more C+C, more roleplaying and we got it. I guess I can see the Bioware games as something that could start the console market along similar lines, whereas games like Oblivion (or Dungeon Siege for the PC) seem to encourage a different direction altogether. Two steps backwards for roleplaying, but one that might allow for a step forwards again in the future.

 

[MetalCraze]

even more - Bioware managed to dumb down even pazaak/black jack type minigame in Mass Effect.
now you don't even have an opponent - and as soon as you gain 18-21 points you are automatically a winner.
and there's a side quest where you can get a device which will let you win in 100% of games.
shitty minigames reached a new low.

 

[RK47]

mini games are alright if they just incorporate optional stuff that actually fits the setting. Arcade side shooter in entertainment centres, card games the mirrors real life gamlbing counterparts, slot machines within in-game casinos.

I can do those card and slot machines in Java but they had to put Frogger in Security hacking , wtf is this shit?

 

[Jaesun]

Well I just got hit by the Big Fucking spiked staff of C&C. That was brutal. No happy, "Let's save everyone!" option. 1 choice.

Very well done. +1.

 

[MetalCraze]

the ending is such a trash it made me actually LOL hard

apart from the shit Kingston pointed out - *yes spoilar*

Saren blows his brains out - falls down through the glass on the lower floor and then...

Shepard says "go check if he's dead"
I fucking lol'd
but there's more - Ashley goes down and shoots Saren in the head again - blowing the other part of brains out.

you think that's it?
no - Saren appears to be not entirely dead (I mean those were two headshots from point-blank range, man - still not enough) and you have to fight what's left from him. and then your fleet so easily stops the whole robot invasion. and you wonder how those robots managed to survive all this time, not speaking about killing other races just for lulz.
the writing is so shitty it made me lol multiple times.

the worst and most non-existent Bioware story to date, linear as stick. and also the shortest game from them.

also there are absolutely no consequences to your actions. no matter if you did it the bad or badass way - the worst things you will get are a call from Lance Henriksen and a report on the radio in those 10 minute riding lifts.

 

[Volourn]

Skyways is a moron. He is full of shit too. ME is longer than KOTOR. Period. And, JE. And, liekly those two earlier games BIO made.

Skyway is a fool, and a tool; anyone who believes him is not cool.

 

[MetalCraze]

Volly I was completing every shitty secondary quest possible (except the one for Wrex, because I really wanted to shoot him) just because of sport's angriness or something.
by the end savegame timer barely showed 20 hours (it showed 30+ in KotOR)
now consider that you spend like half of a hour trying to get through the edgy, randomly textured mountains, that remind me of 2002 and not in a good way, in your Mako that shines with a blinding bloom just to reach that damn copy-pasta building in every planetary secondary quest.
and the main storyline after citadel is just 5 quests (Noveria, Ferros, Virmire, Ilos, Citadel) that are "go from point A to point B, shoot robots" with only Noveria and Ferros being exceptions where you have to do small quests just to be able to continue on.

 

[Fez]

Well I just got hit by the Big Fucking spiked staff of C&C. That was brutal. No happy, "Let's save everyone!" option. 1 choice.

Very well done. +1.

How is it handled? It's not really good C&C if they just present you with the same choice at the end no matter what you did before. That's just the same sort of shock tactics used elsewhere.

 

[Fez]

Skyways is a moron. He is full of shit too. ME is longer than KOTOR. Period. And, JE. And, liekly those two earlier games BIO made.

Skyway is a fool, and a tool; anyone who believes him is not cool.

You're saying that it is longer than BG 1 and 2?

 

[Jaesun]

Well I just got hit by the Big Fucking spiked staff of C&C. That was brutal. No happy, "Let's save everyone!" option. 1 choice.

Very well done. +1.

How is it handled? It's not really good C&C if they just present you with the same choice at the end no matter what you did before. That's just the same sort of shock tactics used elsewhere.

I'm not sure how you mean how it is handled..?

SPOILER***********************************

Spoiler

Option 1: Save the Other force that suddenly is under attack and 1 of your crew members.
Option 2: Save the other crew member who has armed the Nuke, but is also under attack.

Off hand I cant really think of a single RPG that had a Decide who in your party HAS to die option. Story wise, this choice/situation makes sense, and I felt was well executed. *shrug*

 

[Fez]

Spoiler

So you suddenly get an "either or" choice at that point no matter what? Not really good C&C, just not them having a Disney happy ending. Was that the only big decision like that in the game? Right at the end? Deus Ex 1 and 2 dumped the "choose your ending" on you at the end and I didn't like that as it had little to do with your efforts through the game.

 

[Jaesun]

Spoiler

So you suddenly get an "either or" choice at that point no matter what? Not really good C&C, just not them having a Disney happy ending. Was that the only big decision like that in the game? Right at the end? Deus Ex 1 and 2 dumped the "choose your ending" on you at the end and I didn't like that as it had little to do with your efforts through the game.

Spoiler

Keeping in mind that this game is made for a future sequel, this is good in that it could play a bit on the story in the future. Or not, who knows.

I don't get why you think this is not good C&C (and no, it is not right at the end. I still have a few more areas to visit to get to the end). I fully expected a Disney ending with this choice, and was pleasantly surprised, there was not. Especially for a Bioware game. So far, YES this has been the ONLY C&C in the entire game. I am hoping some of the other decisions you made, while seemingly harmless will have a greater impact on you in Mass Effect 2, as well as this 1 C&C. But again, we don't know.

EDIT: You also can lose another NPC if you do not have a high Charm/Diplomacy Wrex will leave you permanently because of the Genophage experiments going on here which could cure his people of this. This is of great importance to him and his people, who are slowly dying out as a species.

 

[MetalCraze]

Spoiler

companions were so bland that I didn't really feel anything about that "choice". I lol'd when the team went "sorry Kaidan" such dramatically - considering that it took me just 1 sec to decide who will die - all I cared about is that much hyped "sex-scene" which turned out to be a 3 second long nothing.

blowing wrex' brains out also was easy. really - I didn't care at all - though the dialog between Garrus and Ashley afterwards made me lol as well
Shepard shoots Wrex because Wrex wants to save his race (!)
Garrus: why did you kill Wrex?!?!?!
Ashley: better Wrex than Commander
Garrus: ah ok

literally

 

[Jasede]

Spoiler

penis

 

[Licaon_Kter]

wtf...this is the "ME suxx yet everybody got it and played it to the end" thread... wtf??????????

 

[Fez]

If they didn't the complaint would be "how can you know it is bad if you haven't played it?!?!?".

 

[MetalCraze]

the reason why I finished ME is (because there isn't anything else to play right now) the same as the reason why people keep watching shitty movies about something they like till the end - just to lol at stupidity of those movies and at how they try really hard to take themselves seriously.

Mass Effect in everything stinks of Andromeda and Lexx (zomg supership with cool captain and his crew of typical galaxy saviours) I bet that if it was Obsidian we would be getting Babylon 5.

btw another proof why Bioware so horribly sucked with ME.
as it was stated before - robots invade galaxy every 50000 to wipe everything out just for lulz. well - there's even more. during the game Shepard has the whole 3 chances to ask "why are they doing this?"
the first one is directly to the robot leader - Sovereign.
the answer: "you won't understand anyway"
then Shepard asks Saren the same.
answer: "you won't understand anyway"
and then Shepard asks the artificial intelligence system of a race that is older than humans by 50.000+ years.
the answer is: "you won't understand anyway"

Bioware probably really believed that they can get away with such shitty excuse for a backstory.

 

[Jasede]

In all honesty, it's pretty sad. No wonder Volourn sometimes makes fun of guys for buying Oblivion even though everyone sane could have told them they wouldn't enjoy it.

If a game looks like you won't like it, you don't buy it. You don't even torrent it. You could spend the time meeting girls or getting drunk.

 

[yarpen]

Skyways is a moron. He is full of shit too. ME is longer than KOTOR. Period. And, JE. And, liekly those two earlier games BIO made.

No, it's not. It may be better for some, as it's subjective, but longer it is not. I finished ME in ~13 hours (X360 version, main storyline with occasional sidequest or two, but they all seemed similar so I focused on the main line). KOTOR took me over 30 hours.

 

[Starwars]

I gave a serious try to complete some side missions and explore planets, but I just can't stand it anymore. The whole Mako stuff is so terrible, ugh. Easily the worst part of the game.

Guess I'll just complete the main mission and Citadel sidequests from now on.