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Review Mass Effect would have been better without the RPG elements
- Thread starter DarkUnderlord
- Start date
Thalkirst
Novice
Gladi said:
No problem with this naming convention, but there is NOT ONE SINGLE unique item. That's my problem.
fastpunk
Arbiter
Jasede said:
Volourn
Pretty Princess
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2003
- Messages
- 24,986
"Mass Effect is an interesting and often good rpg. It however has a huge number of flaws that hold it back from being a great game. Just my 2 cents."
I dunno about a 'huge number' ; but I never claimed it was flawless. No game is, and ME certainly isn't the first.
I dunno about a 'huge number' ; but I never claimed it was flawless. No game is, and ME certainly isn't the first.
Jedi_Learner
Liturgist
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2007
- Messages
- 894
Volourn, could you start using quotes please? It is difficulty enough to read your posts.
sportforredneck
Cipher
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2007
- Messages
- 7,715
"Volourn, could you start using quotes please? It is difficulty enough to read your posts."
I dunno, I think everyone should post like this lol.
I dunno, I think everyone should post like this lol.
The Feral Kid
Prophet
- Joined
- May 30, 2007
- Messages
- 1,189
So ME has flaws because...eh every game is supposed to have some.
You should admit your situation. There would be more dignity in it.
Depressinator
Novice
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2008
- Messages
- 80
It would have been a lot better better without the graphics, music, voice acting, writing, and gameplay.
Trash
Pointing and laughing.
Absolutely right. What irks me is that ME feels like it could have been much more than it in the end was. I'm very hopefull that BIO can do with ME2 what they did with BG2. Though there is that EA aqcuisition to worry about.
The Feral Kid
Prophet
- Joined
- May 30, 2007
- Messages
- 1,189
You don't work for the space program by the way are you?
Your comment was ridiculous. The reason this game sucked was because of Bio lazyness/crapness not because "all games have flaws" as you so amusingly put it.
Not surprising a simple post can't penetrate that swollen cranium of yours. What is the pressure there?
Sooner or later you're going to have to realize the fact that you're a goddamn moron.
Morbus
Scholar
- Joined
- Nov 2, 2006
- Messages
- 403
I though ME was pure garbage... :\Castanova said:
I played it for about 10 hours and by the first hour I was like "god, if I had something else to play I'd play it!". Sadly, I was alone with a 360 and ME in my cousins apartment, so better bored and busy that bored and doing nothing.WalterKinde said:
That said, I don't even thing ME is worth the time it takes to play. Your better off playing Baldur's Gate, which is shit but has some AWESOME mage fights.
And is pretty.
Another one saying Planescape Torment isn't an RPG. How stupid you sound...Azarkon said:
In a world where the only available RPGs are ME, BG, KotOR, TES and NWN, yes. And then again, KotOR is arguably better. 2The Feral Kid said:
Volourn
Pretty Princess
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2003
- Messages
- 24,986
"In a world where the only available RPGs are ME, BG, KotOR, TES and NWN, yes. And then again, KotOR is arguably better. 2"
The fact you think KOTOR is the best of those makes me laugh at you even more than before. L0L
It's only better than TES; but that's just because TES is perhaps the worst 'successful' franchise ever in gaming.
The fact you think KOTOR is the best of those makes me laugh at you even more than before. L0L
It's only better than TES; but that's just because TES is perhaps the worst 'successful' franchise ever in gaming.
FireWolf
Liturgist
I've not finished it yet, but I am pretty close. So far, I'd say I'm mostly enjoying Mass Effect.
It's pretty enjoyable, the cosmetics are fun (though I do question why 'grainy' is a default option) and there aren't any game-breaking flaws in it.
I am going to bring up some points I don't like about the game, but I feel it's worth mentioning that they've not destroyed the game, made it insufferably bad nor the herald of the end of days for gaming. It's a lot easier to pick out things to criticize than to give thought out praise that isn't interpreted as being another biowhore.
The combat is a little sketchy at times. I can't say I like the space-bar-pause thing and feel it's a hold over from consoles. It sort of interrupts the pace of the combat, and becomes relatively useless when your AI companions are set to use their powers automatically (because they've usually already used them) and too clunky to keep hitting space to target individual powers when they're set to manual control. In this instance a wholely turn-based system would be more useful, but that pretty much takes out the 'fps' nature. I can see why they did it, but the implementation isn't brilliant because of the AI.
When your AI companion uses three crowd control powers (throw, lift,stasis) on a single target it can be very frustrating. They also run out into fire all too often and just stand there getting shot. I've also been shot in the back several times, repeatedly, because I am between an enemy a box, and an ally. The companions would also shoot at objects blocking their field of view constantly and wouldn't move into a space without prompting. When we have games like Full Spectrum warrior, republic commando and even top-down RTS games like Company of Heroes where the units take cover on their own and show rudimentary interest in self-preservation, I have to question how this AI could have been ignored so strongly. It wasn't game-breaking, but babysitting does not make for a good FPS, especially in the environments used.
So many of the environments were too close quarters for my tastes. I made a sniper character (frankly, all but about 2 of the options let you be a sniper, to my distaste) and found frequently that the enemies would charge through a cluttered warehouse (the same warehouse every time) and fight me at two feet. This I did not like. I was not given the opportunity to be a stealthy sniper type, but it worked out to be decently powerful and required minimal aiming at close range anyway. The enemy combat AI was awfully basic. Perhaps I should be playing at a higher difficulty level, but 'normal' used to mean everything's in, easy was giving the player an advantage, and hard was giving the enemy advantage whereas ME makes me question whether normal is code for lobotomised enemies.
Inventory was a chore. Having to click 'compare' to see the details of a rifle instead of the same blurb about the manufacturer was a needless chore. I also felt that there were too many 'duff' weapons in the game. Quantity != quality, I want to be given a choice over characteristics of weaponry, not 'this is garbage on any level' weapons. I'd rather you just give me the credits. Though not too many, because I've found with the sheer volume of useless crap I've sold, I now have 9,999,999 credits, and then the thing stops counting. So I have a bunch of junk I can't sell. But worse, there's nothing really to buy, I've not seen nearly enough items in the stores that are worth buying at any point in my adventures so far. Once again, too many 'duff' weapons and armours. Give me a choice, more shields, less mobility and damage reduction, a balance of all, a fast recharge, different buffs, whatever, just give items a bit more of a function than as sellables. Especially when there's an arbitrary 150 item limit. I have the mako, I have a whole frigate with an empty cargo bay. Why am I restricted to 150 items?
I did not like the Normandy. It was too large. Pointlessly so. I never liked having to move from the bridge to the cargo deck to talk to the majority of my companions, and sticking a tediously long elevator in there to boot. Nice going. Not that there was much point to going down there anyway, barely any talking from any of the companions.
The companions are dull. I can't really say that any of them were picked to go on missions because of their personalities, it was always their combat use, and that was pretty much determined by my selection at the start of the game. Needed a biotic for cc, and a shooter for additional damage. I didn't like the butch rar rar marine girl yet somehow got twisted into some pseudo-relationship with her, the tauren was kinda interesting but never given enough to say to impact the story at all, and we got bloody Carth Ornassi again only with mild headaches that had no bearing on the story (I got stuck with him as my biotic companion throughout). I don't want to give out too much information on your companions since some people might actually still play it.
The Mako bugged the crap out of me. Driving around a square block of terrain is boring. It becomes boring and frustrating when you throw mountains and bullshit around that makes an already onerous task take twice as long. I can't say I ever enjoyed using the mako, the bouncy suspension, poor handling and repetitious terrain felt highly neglected. Why bother stating the gravity of a planet if it has no impact on any part of the game at all if there was going to be an easy way to tie in the gravity, it would be on the mako's handling. But since the mako HAD no handling, this was a moot point. Several times I asked myself why, if I have an atmosphere-capable spaceship, do I have to trundle along ponderously in the bastard child of a mars-rover and an APC. I also can't think of any particular use for the jets than as a crappy way to dodge (since moving makes aiming near impossible). I also had to ask why, if I'm in a vacuum capable spacesuit on a planet listed with extreme high or low temperatures, I have to worry about spores.
Gods I did hate the damned puzzle sections. That goddamn radial game could have done with more variety for the tasks. Practically everything was solved with it and I grew bored with it.
As for roleplaying, it was kind of okay. Perhaps because for my first play through I'm playing the role of a nauseatingly upright soldier that fights for freedom, patriotism and the human way! Though it always seemed that my personal input made the most difference to incidental characters rather than altering the main story in any real way. I didn't like the 'shortened' responses, because I would pick an option that said one thing, and seemingly shepard would completely neglect the main focus of my selection, to spout something that coincided with a particular world view (good, bad, indifferent). The radial might be interesting for a console, but I found it fairly clumsy, and shorthand isn't necessary. I was not a fan of the cinematics which had shepard talking without my input, perhaps he was saying a line that was in keeping with my particular alignment, but I don't like being dislocated from my character when I'm playing an RPG. I do feel that the way my narrative took place was suitable for my character choices, which is at least something.
I do think the setting worked quite well from a gaming perspective. Being in the military gives a bit of focus and a reason for doing certain things, being a spectre provides the freedom to do whatever you want in the universe. I also think the background traits were integrated into the story relatively well and I think Bioware should get credit for at least including a background that is relevant to the story in places.
The game has kept my interest, I've enjoyed playing it, even with its frustrations. But the main thing is that I am having fun playing it, I'm moderately interested in the story and I'm probably going to see it through to the end. Since bioware is now owned by EA, a sequel is pretty much expected, and if they can iron out the problems and concentrate on giving a compelling, less-linear narrative I'll probably pick it up. I won't say it's the best game ever, but it's a lot more interesting than many other titles and it keeps me entertained.
It's pretty enjoyable, the cosmetics are fun (though I do question why 'grainy' is a default option) and there aren't any game-breaking flaws in it.
I am going to bring up some points I don't like about the game, but I feel it's worth mentioning that they've not destroyed the game, made it insufferably bad nor the herald of the end of days for gaming. It's a lot easier to pick out things to criticize than to give thought out praise that isn't interpreted as being another biowhore.
The combat is a little sketchy at times. I can't say I like the space-bar-pause thing and feel it's a hold over from consoles. It sort of interrupts the pace of the combat, and becomes relatively useless when your AI companions are set to use their powers automatically (because they've usually already used them) and too clunky to keep hitting space to target individual powers when they're set to manual control. In this instance a wholely turn-based system would be more useful, but that pretty much takes out the 'fps' nature. I can see why they did it, but the implementation isn't brilliant because of the AI.
When your AI companion uses three crowd control powers (throw, lift,stasis) on a single target it can be very frustrating. They also run out into fire all too often and just stand there getting shot. I've also been shot in the back several times, repeatedly, because I am between an enemy a box, and an ally. The companions would also shoot at objects blocking their field of view constantly and wouldn't move into a space without prompting. When we have games like Full Spectrum warrior, republic commando and even top-down RTS games like Company of Heroes where the units take cover on their own and show rudimentary interest in self-preservation, I have to question how this AI could have been ignored so strongly. It wasn't game-breaking, but babysitting does not make for a good FPS, especially in the environments used.
So many of the environments were too close quarters for my tastes. I made a sniper character (frankly, all but about 2 of the options let you be a sniper, to my distaste) and found frequently that the enemies would charge through a cluttered warehouse (the same warehouse every time) and fight me at two feet. This I did not like. I was not given the opportunity to be a stealthy sniper type, but it worked out to be decently powerful and required minimal aiming at close range anyway. The enemy combat AI was awfully basic. Perhaps I should be playing at a higher difficulty level, but 'normal' used to mean everything's in, easy was giving the player an advantage, and hard was giving the enemy advantage whereas ME makes me question whether normal is code for lobotomised enemies.
Inventory was a chore. Having to click 'compare' to see the details of a rifle instead of the same blurb about the manufacturer was a needless chore. I also felt that there were too many 'duff' weapons in the game. Quantity != quality, I want to be given a choice over characteristics of weaponry, not 'this is garbage on any level' weapons. I'd rather you just give me the credits. Though not too many, because I've found with the sheer volume of useless crap I've sold, I now have 9,999,999 credits, and then the thing stops counting. So I have a bunch of junk I can't sell. But worse, there's nothing really to buy, I've not seen nearly enough items in the stores that are worth buying at any point in my adventures so far. Once again, too many 'duff' weapons and armours. Give me a choice, more shields, less mobility and damage reduction, a balance of all, a fast recharge, different buffs, whatever, just give items a bit more of a function than as sellables. Especially when there's an arbitrary 150 item limit. I have the mako, I have a whole frigate with an empty cargo bay. Why am I restricted to 150 items?
I did not like the Normandy. It was too large. Pointlessly so. I never liked having to move from the bridge to the cargo deck to talk to the majority of my companions, and sticking a tediously long elevator in there to boot. Nice going. Not that there was much point to going down there anyway, barely any talking from any of the companions.
The companions are dull. I can't really say that any of them were picked to go on missions because of their personalities, it was always their combat use, and that was pretty much determined by my selection at the start of the game. Needed a biotic for cc, and a shooter for additional damage. I didn't like the butch rar rar marine girl yet somehow got twisted into some pseudo-relationship with her, the tauren was kinda interesting but never given enough to say to impact the story at all, and we got bloody Carth Ornassi again only with mild headaches that had no bearing on the story (I got stuck with him as my biotic companion throughout). I don't want to give out too much information on your companions since some people might actually still play it.
The Mako bugged the crap out of me. Driving around a square block of terrain is boring. It becomes boring and frustrating when you throw mountains and bullshit around that makes an already onerous task take twice as long. I can't say I ever enjoyed using the mako, the bouncy suspension, poor handling and repetitious terrain felt highly neglected. Why bother stating the gravity of a planet if it has no impact on any part of the game at all if there was going to be an easy way to tie in the gravity, it would be on the mako's handling. But since the mako HAD no handling, this was a moot point. Several times I asked myself why, if I have an atmosphere-capable spaceship, do I have to trundle along ponderously in the bastard child of a mars-rover and an APC. I also can't think of any particular use for the jets than as a crappy way to dodge (since moving makes aiming near impossible). I also had to ask why, if I'm in a vacuum capable spacesuit on a planet listed with extreme high or low temperatures, I have to worry about spores.
Gods I did hate the damned puzzle sections. That goddamn radial game could have done with more variety for the tasks. Practically everything was solved with it and I grew bored with it.
As for roleplaying, it was kind of okay. Perhaps because for my first play through I'm playing the role of a nauseatingly upright soldier that fights for freedom, patriotism and the human way! Though it always seemed that my personal input made the most difference to incidental characters rather than altering the main story in any real way. I didn't like the 'shortened' responses, because I would pick an option that said one thing, and seemingly shepard would completely neglect the main focus of my selection, to spout something that coincided with a particular world view (good, bad, indifferent). The radial might be interesting for a console, but I found it fairly clumsy, and shorthand isn't necessary. I was not a fan of the cinematics which had shepard talking without my input, perhaps he was saying a line that was in keeping with my particular alignment, but I don't like being dislocated from my character when I'm playing an RPG. I do feel that the way my narrative took place was suitable for my character choices, which is at least something.
I do think the setting worked quite well from a gaming perspective. Being in the military gives a bit of focus and a reason for doing certain things, being a spectre provides the freedom to do whatever you want in the universe. I also think the background traits were integrated into the story relatively well and I think Bioware should get credit for at least including a background that is relevant to the story in places.
The game has kept my interest, I've enjoyed playing it, even with its frustrations. But the main thing is that I am having fun playing it, I'm moderately interested in the story and I'm probably going to see it through to the end. Since bioware is now owned by EA, a sequel is pretty much expected, and if they can iron out the problems and concentrate on giving a compelling, less-linear narrative I'll probably pick it up. I won't say it's the best game ever, but it's a lot more interesting than many other titles and it keeps me entertained.
Nobody even regarded your name in ME at all. It's just 'Shepard' to the game world.
The problem with ME is most of the implementation are not really a 'good addition' to the game. RPG wise +5% dmg per level up goes agains the shooter elements. No locational damage either. Going full auto on the enemy's toes sticking out of a crate gets old fast. The biotics spice things up a bit, but the lackluster shooting gets in the way. That krogan is not gonna budge from a shotgun to the face from 1 metre away or 100 metre away.
And as someone already mentioned, the uninspired Gun Mk 1 Gun Mk 2 is just pathetic. Give me a gun that does different things instead of assigning numerical values to it. Shotguns that rapes faces at close range. Flame throwers that burns, Rocket launchers that has limited ammo, Auto sniper vs Railguns, High recoil machine gun vs Lower Caliber stable smgs. Dual pistols etc.
You know why I want it to be a better shooter? Cause it sucks to play the combat like the way it is currently (stupid squad AI and enemy, boring weapons) and everything in the game leads to more combat. If the majority of this game revolves around combat, it better be damn good than half assed. And how about humanoids that actually surrender for a change and give information? You can finally role play a complete bad ass or paragon of virtue IN combat ala Ultima 4. Not some binary crap of:
Take Top Option for Nice Guy (tm)!
Bottom for Bad Ass (tm)!
Or taking care of civilians in combat that limits usage of grenades? It's a pity it's only implemented ONCE in main quest and few in side quests. Minimization of collateral damage ? Or complete disregard ?
The problem with ME is most of the implementation are not really a 'good addition' to the game. RPG wise +5% dmg per level up goes agains the shooter elements. No locational damage either. Going full auto on the enemy's toes sticking out of a crate gets old fast. The biotics spice things up a bit, but the lackluster shooting gets in the way. That krogan is not gonna budge from a shotgun to the face from 1 metre away or 100 metre away.
And as someone already mentioned, the uninspired Gun Mk 1 Gun Mk 2 is just pathetic. Give me a gun that does different things instead of assigning numerical values to it. Shotguns that rapes faces at close range. Flame throwers that burns, Rocket launchers that has limited ammo, Auto sniper vs Railguns, High recoil machine gun vs Lower Caliber stable smgs. Dual pistols etc.
You know why I want it to be a better shooter? Cause it sucks to play the combat like the way it is currently (stupid squad AI and enemy, boring weapons) and everything in the game leads to more combat. If the majority of this game revolves around combat, it better be damn good than half assed. And how about humanoids that actually surrender for a change and give information? You can finally role play a complete bad ass or paragon of virtue IN combat ala Ultima 4. Not some binary crap of:
Take Top Option for Nice Guy (tm)!
Bottom for Bad Ass (tm)!
Or taking care of civilians in combat that limits usage of grenades? It's a pity it's only implemented ONCE in main quest and few in side quests. Minimization of collateral damage ? Or complete disregard ?
Badgermaster
Educated
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2008
- Messages
- 93
RK47 said:
Agreed. You're a top-echelon military unit - there should have been no armor and weapon grinding at all. You should have been given top-of-the-line, bleeding edge equipment right off the bat.
If there needed to be gear-related gameplay elements, it should have been done three ways.
1) Gear customization. Before a mission, modify your armor and weapons with mods that you think you'll need in the Normandy's armory. Has anyone ever seen the types of mods modern special operations units have available for their weapons? I seriously doubt this kind of thing will go away in the future.
2) Research. Take a cue from X-Com. Locate Prothean artifacts and loot Geth technology and reverse engineer them for weapon and armor enhancements.
3) At the technology level the game failed to represent, there should have been nanotech and biotech for the character to modify himself with, and the available options should have been at least as extensive as weapon and armor choices, also with the ability to enhance through research.
This would have made the gear interesting, without any loot grinding, and without the setting-breaking ridiculousness of Shepard having to scavenge and/or buy his own combat gear.
The Feral Kid
Prophet
- Joined
- May 30, 2007
- Messages
- 1,189
Volourn said:
Yours are unforgivable. Both by man and the Lord. For being brother and sister.
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