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

[Kingston]

I've already commented on "the big choice" and silliness of the storyline. But I will have to counter Volourn's comment, because it really is the shortest Bioware game. Took me around 15 hours including a few planetary sidequests. Even if it were longer, it feels really short, because they are packing all these huge planets and big areas into tiny spaces and segments, so it has a slight rushed feel.

Most of the game bored me, unfortunately, I found the ending pretty fun, but I doubt I'll replay the game just to see the different outcomes of choices, because the game is just meh.

 

[Fez]

Worst and shortest Bioware RPG so far then?

 

[Wyrmlord]

Well, it's difficult to say how long a game is, because are we assuming that the player did all the sidequests or skipped them completely?

People said STALKER was 60 hours. I never bothered with the boring side-missions(Find Chunk Of Meat Artifact), and I am pretty sure I finished it in around 10 hours.

Torment is a fairly long game if you try to do every sidequest you find, probably 60 hours. But if you focus solely on the main quest, it will be over in 5.

 

[WalterKinde]

According to those i have talked to ,around 25hrs is the max for ME if you have less than stellar rpg skillz.
This is including all the sidequests.

 

[Kingston]

Worst and shortest Bioware RPG so far then?

Well, depends on how you look at it. RPG-wise its definitely an improvement in the choice and consequence department, with interesting choices terribly implemented. Dialogue skills do work, there's charm and intimidate but I don't think they differ much in the outcome. You can be nice or nasty but the effect is always the same, I think. You can't piss someone off so that they don't give you an item when they would if you were nice. So its a bit cosmetic. But there is definitely a difference of using dialogue skills or not using them, getting you extra items or solving quests diplomatically. The story, however, is the shittiest in the Bio games I know, as are the characters. Combat isn't exactly boring but it isn't thrilling either, its just a way to pass the time.

I was really disappointed by the amount of sidequests. I was hoping for BG2 amount of quality content when in fact there are only a few sidequests on the main planets. A couple in the citadel, a couple in the warzone and iceworld, and that's pretty much it. Then there are the sidequest planets by they feel completely arbitrary. There is a quest where you go to someone else's ship but that quest is five minutes long and consists of killing zombielikes.

The enemies don't change much throughout the game either, which was a bummer. Most of the time you are fighting robots, sometimes you might get to kill some humanoids and then are some weird tentaclemonsters aswell. Quite a letdown in this department.

Mako looks great but handles like ass. I don't understand why the controls are so bad. You tap left and it does a full turn, tap right it does another. Sometimes you are just zigzagging forward, almost going in circles. It speeds up too fast aswell. And its got some pretty fucked up wheels, they stick to anything, allowing you to climb mountains in the weirdest angles, unless there's a magical barrier that makes the vehicle flop over. You won't understand how horrid the controls are until you play it.

The game just feels shallow, there is no substance behind the glitter. Heh, its like watching a movie. In a game, you're supposed to experience the world, go behind the canvas, but not here. Nothing falls to place. It doesn't feel like a coherent world, its just a few slices and that's all you're getting. Why its getting 95% scores is boggling. Its not neccessarily a bad RPG, but just a bad game.

 

[Jaesun]

The story, however, is the shittiest in the Bio games I know, as are the characters. Combat isn't exactly boring but it isn't thrilling either, its just a way to pass the time.

I personally *like* the story (so far). I don't think it is the shittiest Bio game to date. Story wise, I like it better than KotOR. The Xenophobic Christian Ashley and her back story about her Grandfather was interesting, and fits her character. I found Tali'Zorah and the Quarian race interesting as well. The 2 side quests involving Wrex and Garrus, while interesting, were kind of dull.

I HAD hoped that if you had certain characters with you on certain missions you might get a bit more insight with them. Such as I kept brining Tali'Zorah and Liara on missions. I fully expected Liara to comment on more about the Protheans and for Tali to comment on the Geth, but they did not. No matter who you bring with you, the NPC's will just spew off some random talk about the mission, or events that just happened.

I was really disappointed by the amount of sidequests. I was hoping for BG2 amount of quality content when in fact there are only a few sidequests on the main planets. A couple in the citadel, a couple in the warzone and iceworld, and that's pretty much it. Then there are the sidequest planets by they feel completely arbitrary. There is a quest where you go to someone else's ship but that quest is five minutes long and consists of killing zombielikes.

No argument here. It almost seems like they finished the 15 hour Main plot and then just tacked on there dull side quest planets.

The enemies don't change much throughout the game either, which was a bummer. Most of the time you are fighting robots, sometimes you might get to kill some humanoids and then are some weird tentaclemonsters aswell. Quite a letdown in this department.

Agreed. However in the Main Plot, you are fighting the Geth and hired Krogan's, which makes sense story wise. But yea, maybe a bit more variation would have been nice.

Mako looks great but handles like ass. I don't understand why the controls are so bad. You tap left and it does a full turn, tap right it does another. Sometimes you are just zigzagging forward, almost going in circles. It speeds up too fast aswell. And its got some pretty fucked up wheels, they stick to anything, allowing you to climb mountains in the weirdest angles, unless there's a magical barrier that makes the vehicle flop over. You won't understand how horrid the controls are until you play it.

100% agree.

The game just feels shallow, there is no substance behind the glitter. Heh, its like watching a movie. In a game, you're supposed to experience the world, go behind the canvas, but not here. Nothing falls to place. It doesn't feel like a coherent world, its just a few slices and that's all you're getting. Why its getting 95% scores is boggling. Its not neccessarily a bad RPG, but just a bad game.

I think you nailed it. It DOES feel shallow. An OK RPG, but quite a shallow game.

It makes me think, that most of the dev time was in creating the engine (which is quite good), but at the expense of some good content.

With the engine done now, perhaps they can flesh out the game more in Mass Effect 2.

 

[Kingston]

Story wise, I like it better than KotOR.

I'm still not sure. They're pretty much on the same level, which doesn't say much for either.

The Xenophobic Christian Ashley and her back story about her Grandfather was interesting, and fits her character. I found Tali'Zorah and the Quarian race interesting as well.

Ashley is one of the better characters for sure. Tali'Zorah I just found too generic. The mysterious race of people with their traditions and blah blah. None of the aliens appear to have alien cultures. I still find Wrex to be the most enjoyable character, macho no-nonsense is fun, and when you get him in your party (at C-Sec) the cutscene is pretty fun to watch.

Also, why do you get all the party members so early on. When you leave the Citadel you have, what, all but Liara? I liked BG's party progression much more, especially because the characters weren't all that balanced and some had pretty shitty stats. Here all are balanced and you will always have a balanced party.

I HAD hoped that if you had certain characters with you on certain missions you might get a bit more insight with them.

Those long elevator rides would have been perfect for some party banter, but instead they utter two or three lines. I don't recall a four-line conversation there.

It makes me think, that most of the dev time was in creating the engine (which is quite good), but at the expense of some good content.

With the engine done now, perhaps they can flesh out the game more in Mass Effect 2.

They were using Epic's Unreal Engine 3. So I'm not sure where all that time went. They probably added some new lighting systems (for that classic lens flare effect for instance), but I can't see where all that time went. :shrug:

 

[OsirisGod]

I did most side quests i found and i must say this game was short and somewhat borring , but since the number
of RPG titles that i have seen this year is so low i'd have
to call it decent.

Overall to me it felt like KOTOR , played like KOTOR (except some extra tactical shit) , and had retarded
and semi usefull party members (except Liara , fuck
she rocks).

I thought the game was suposed to be a choice and
consequence with an overhyped dialog engine but in
the end the diffrent choices allways seemed to do the
same shit. Charisma maxed was nice though , reminded
me of fallout making the choice Blue and Red based on
Good or Evil dialog path.

In the End , decent game but far from 9.5 it got on review site.

Edit: Btw took me maybe 20 hrs max to finish it and the side quests are the same shit all over(go to planet X enter building ( ! ) kill or charisma someone then reiterate) i just did them to get enough levels to max all skills i wanted to test.

 

[Jaesun]

Also, why do you get all the party members so early on. When you leave the Citadel you have, what, all but Liara? I liked BG's party progression much more, especially because the characters weren't all that balanced and some had pretty shitty stats. Here all are balanced and you will always have a balanced party.

Agreed, This is where I think BIO dropped the ball. Had the spaced out the NPC's you meet, they could have fleshed out the characters a bit more as you travel with them.

 

[Licaon_Kter]

no investigations and fun stuff like KOTOR had? only the "frogger" minigame?

 

[Jaesun]

no investigations and fun stuff like KOTOR had? only the "frogger" minigame?

Yes, exploration is well... boring. It just leads to more l00t, usually a battle or discovering artifacts or rare minerals (which don't do shit other than give you XP and money). I DID do all of the side quests (following a walkthrough). HOPING there might be a nice well written/done one. There isn't. They did a far better job on side quests in KotOR than in Mass Effect.

 

[Volourn]

KOTOR, and JE took about 30 hours. ME took 40 hours. And, that's without counting reloads. Hence it is longer. Sorry, 'tis the truth.

And, quite frnakly, while we can go in circles about play time; only a moron cans eriosuly think that KOTOR is in any way, shape, or form better than ME. ME is eaisly better than that overrated game.

 

[MetalCraze]

KOTOR, and JE took about 30 hours. ME took 40 hours. And, that's without counting reloads. Hence it is longer. Sorry, 'tis the truth.

notice how many people already wrote in this thread about how the game is only 20 hours long. max.
40 hours? you must be very slow

 

[Jasede]

Please consider that a lot of people will actually sit down and listen to -every- line of voice-acting. Yes, I completed KOTOR 1 and 2 in 20-22 hours each- but I skipped absolutely every voice-acting and speed-read the lines.

I bet 20 hours of playtime for some people is sitting down and listening patiently for the NPCs to babble their thing. Only Kreia ever made me want to listen. Great actress she had.

 

[MetalCraze]

I've listened to all lines of voice-acting.
the thing is - they are ridiculously short in ME. you will very rarely have deep conversation in ME with characters speaking something bigger than 1-2 liners.
I didn't skip dialogues I didn't hear before, but I've had my mind wondering off while listening to dialogues many times. ME simply doesn't make you care about something.
the whole storyline can be described as:
"from the very beginning of the game you start to chase Saren - finally you defeat him and save the galaxy on the way". there's no subplots, no deep back/secondary stories. just one line worthy of Lexx/Andromeda episode.

 

[Volourn]

You spend a lot of time on a game you hate so much. LMAO

 

[MetalCraze]

did I say I hate it? it is too bland for that. I wrote my reason why I play it. and besides the game is too short to get annoying. it's like with any other action game - you play it just to play it. except it is an action with wannabe roleplaying elements. and besides ME costs fairly cheap here.
basically Win-Win. and I also will have something to bitch about.

 

[Fat Dragon]

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

Spoiler

It's been some months since I last played ME, but I think Saren only commits suicide if your dialog skills are high enough to persuade him to do so.

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.

Well, at least he had the brains to make sure the fucker was actually dead. It pisses me off when in horror movies the survivors just leave the big bad laying on the floor without putting another bullet into his briain to make sure that the dog has in fact been put down.

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)

Spoiler

Saren is dead. Remember that stuff about implants he was talking about before he dies? Sovereign uses those to take control over his corpse, so you're actually fighting Sovereign, not Saren. Still lame as fuck though.

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

Probably. I enjoyed ME, but I agree with most others here that it is far from being there best work. Still, I really enjoyed that side quest where you can have the Commander punch a smart ass news reporter in the face on live galactic tv.

 

[MetalCraze]

I started with words about Kingston's comment about an ending for a reason - he was talking about this lame persuasion stuff - "you can't stop reapers" - "but we can" - "ah ok". and then he blows his brains out. I simply continued this one.

as for the "implants" part - yes Saren is -technically- dead. yet two point-blank headshots even didn't damage any circuits? even more - what's left from Saren started to show some kewl acrobatic moves - just like your generic boss monster in a generic B-"horLOL" movie.

It pisses me off when in horror movies the survivors just leave the big bad laying on the floor without putting another bullet into his briain to make sure that the dog has in fact been put down.

in an A movie 1 headshot is enough. I mean - it's a headshot from the point-blank range plus the game even shows his brains flying out. I can't imagine someone in an good horror movie doubt that a living creature may survive this.

the good thing in ME was a story of that dead race - it really added some epicness to the story. at first. but then when you see how your fleet easily stops the whole invasion that was wiping out the whole galaxy for countless millenia - you remember that story and go like "what?"
yes I've said fleet stops the invasion. Shepard basically did nothing to stop it rather than giving fleet a shot at the main ship which was destroyed too easily afterwards.
a true galaxy saviour.

 

[Crichton]

the good thing in ME was a story of that dead race - it really added some epicness to the story. at first. but then when you see how your fleet easily stops the whole invasion that was wiping out the whole galaxy for countless millenia - you remember that story and go like "what?"
yes I've said fleet stops the invasion. Shepard basically did nothing to stop it rather than giving fleet a shot at the main ship which was destroyed too easily afterwards.
a true galaxy saviour.

Maybe there's some kind of translation issue here, but you seem to be confusing the Reaper Invasion fleet, which never makes it into our space because Shepherd and Co hack the Citadel, and the Geth fleet which is led by one Reaper ship.

The Alliance can (and do) blow the Geth out of the water, but they can't scratch the one Reaper ship until Shepard shoots it's avatar. (Why does that weaken it? Force feedback? Who knows?)

The real WTF is all the talk about being at war with the Reapers in the final cutscenes when ostensibly no one knows how to reach the Reapers or where exactly they are in "Dark Space".

 

[Volourn]

"but then when you see how your fleet easily stops the whole invasion that was wiping out the whole galaxy for countless millenia - you remember that story and go like "what?"

You are a fuckin' idiot. You can't even pay attention because you are moron who doesn't even undertsand basic stuff. ONE Reaper is destroyed. ONE. Those are Geth ships being destroyed. Moron.

Whata fuckin' tool. How can anyone take your seriously when your criticism is full of shit. At least know what you are talkin' about.

Go jerk off to the overrated KOTOR. Thanks.

 

[MetalCraze]

I alread said that it's hard to pay attention to such boring bland and non-existent story. so basically Volly - I've made 1 mistake but Mass Effect still sucks.

 

[Jaesun]

I just finished Mass Effect, and it has it's good points and it's bad points. *I* liked it, and I actually will probably play through it again.

I did most all the horrible side quests, and since I am a dialog whore, I did listen to all the dialog. I ended my game at 49 hours.

It still seemd short, but I think it was in that all those boring side quests were just... boring.

the good thing in ME was a story of that dead race - it really added some epicness to the story. at first. but then when you see how your fleet easily stops the whole invasion that was wiping out the whole galaxy for countless millenia - you remember that story and go like "what?"

What? A PORTION of the fleet wiped out the Geth and ONE Reaver at massive lost of life/ships. ONE Reaver and a fleet of Geth is not " the whole invasion that was wiping out the whole galaxy for countless millenia". Did you even listen to what the Prothian VI said how the Reavers wipe out all life?

Shepard basically did nothing to stop it rather than giving fleet a shot at the main ship which was destroyed too easily afterwards.
a true galaxy saviour.

You are such a fucking idiot. I really wish we had the ignore function on these forums again.

 

[Starwars]

I'm still playing the game. Surprisingly enough (what with it being a Bioware game), what I enjoy the most is actually the interactions with the party members. While some of them do harbor the classic dark secrets, I actually find them quite believable and some of the best Bioware has done. The Carth guy and Ashley especially feel pretty believable.
It's to bad that the interaction are pretty limited. Maybe having something like the KOTOR2 Ebon Hawk thing going on, where the characters interact with each other on the ship, would've been a good move here.

 

[MetalCraze]

You are such a fucking idiot. I really wish we had the ignore function on these forums again.

me too. your retarded inability to read more than what you want to read, which was proven in NWN2 SoZ thread, is really annoying. otherwise you would've probably noticed me saying that some parts of the dialogues were so boring that my mind was wondering off making me think about something else + translation which didn't help much.