Mass Effect

[Paragon Badger]

How dissapointing. :smallannoyed:

Side-quests were mildly interchangible...

Main plotline was a bit weak and unoriginal... Machines are evil, Oooo!

I did enjoy the fact that often, morality wasn't so cut and dry. I just wish they didn't heap on renegade points for doing what's needed, not what's ideal. :smalltongue:

All in all, It has not lived up to its hype. :smallfrown:

[Dhavaer]

I loved it myself. I've no idea if it lives up to the hype, as I never heard any, but it's easily the best game I've got for my Xbox so far.

AIs always being evil and the very slow lifts (except the Citadel ones, because of the talking) were the only things that really annoyed me, but not nearly enough to spoil the game. I give it 9/10.

[Revlid]

I have to agree with Dhavaer. I went in with no expectations and came out very pleased, aside from the boring lift journies and the evil robots.

[Ranis]

Personally, I enjoyed the game. It will sit on the shelf for just a while before I get back to playing through again with the renegade side instead of paragon.

I heard the DLC for it was subpar and I'm not really upset that I didn't opt to get it.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

I'm waiting for the PC version next month. And to a hopeless BioWare fanboy like me, it can do no wrong.:smalltongue:

[Guancyto]

It's a pastiche of every sci-fi cliche that is and has been. Of course the robots are evil. :smallwink:

Also, I liked how you got to send Carth to his horrible doom. :smallbiggrin: Even if Kaidan was much neater than Onasi-kins, it was still very cathartic.

[Paragon Badger]

Yes, indeed.

Besides, Ashley is cooler. :smalltongue:

Don't get me started on the elevators!? You have machines capable of taking you from one side of the galaxy to the other in 4 seconds, but going 12 feet vertically takes half a minute!?

[TehJhu]

I'm the only one who agnoized over who to kill?????

[Mr._Blinky]

I'm the only one who agnoized over who to kill?????

Well, I had the fact that one of them had to die and you chose who spoiled for me in advance. So I'd already decided before hand. It was either A) The person who I'd been working on the romance subplot with and was actually a useful party member, or B) The guy I never used because his class sucked ass. It's actually a testament to how well the story was done that even having worked it out before hand and having never really used one of them, I still felt really bad about the whole thing when it took place.

[EvilElitest]

Was it as good as Jade Empire
from
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[Logic]

The download content was good, but not great. It was like a mini-mission planet. There was more to do than on any explorable world, but not by much.

Yes, I agonized over who to leave behind as well. But what helped my decision was who I left at the nuke, who my romantic subplot was going forward with, and the fact that I had some really good armor on the one I saved that I was planning on using myself.

Also, was anyone else able to save Wrex? I hear some people sacrificed a particular character because they were unable to save Wrex.

[Mr._Blinky]

@Logic:
Yeah, I was able to save Wrex. You need a maxed out Persuasion/Intimidate though.

[TehJhu]

Well, I had the fact that one of them had to die and you chose who spoiled for me in advance. So I'd already decided before hand. It was either A) The person who I'd been working on the romance subplot with and was actually a useful party member, or B) The guy I never used because his class sucked ass. It's actually a testament to how well the story was done that even having worked it out before hand and having never really used one of them, I still felt really bad about the whole thing when it took place.

Are you kidding? Did you put points into Lift?

Hello rampaging, charging krogan. Oh! You're up in the air now? Mind if I snipe you while you float helplessly around the ceiling for awhile?

[Felizginato12]

When I the game I almost forgot how much time a good game can leech from my life.

I had it for about 4 days and I beat it three times. I was glued to the seat. Then I sold it for less then half of what I paid >_< (damn Gamestop).

I liked the story...the twists were well planned out and the progression was well paced (even if it was sorta in the vein of KOTOR). The evil robots didn't do it for me until the moment when you find everything out (right before you go to the citadle for the last time). The atmosphere that is created as you ask the ancient AI everything is just amazing.

I liked the morality in the game much more then in KOTOR. Yes, I hated being labeled a renegade at the end of the game when I decided to let the council die. Besides that I had never spent so much consideration in my choices. I actually got pissed off when I picked the wrong response on accident.

The combat was amazing as well. I found it very easy (pistols = own in the Mass Effect universe) to win battles. Some bosses were a pain but thats about all. I really wish there was a multiplayer version of the Mass Effect combat xD (same goes for Bioshock).

The only let down was the length of the game. You spent too much time on a single planet and overall it was sorta short. KOTOR had me traveling to many different planets to complete the main quest. Sure, there are the uncharted lands in Mass Effect but there is little to do there. But then again, whenever I love something I always hate when it ends.

I really think the entire universe is very detailed and gives grounds to a new series of Sci-Fi. It does draw from other sources but not so much that it seems a clone.

A letter grade? A- in my book. That's very good though.

The only game that captivated me more in 07 was Bioshock.

[thubby]

wrex can die?! *double blink*

the choice was easy for me. it was either my only medic or the soldier, and you get plenty of combat units, and i was a scout. still hated dong it though

aside form lifts of doom i thought the game was awesome. combat was very tactical (at least with my scout), the ease with which you can coordinate teammates attacks can leave even krogan groups in pieces. though i didn't like that my only respectable weapon was DEM'ed into uselessness in the final fight :smallmad:
the story and morality are probably the biggest step forward in rpg history since kotor.

[Dhavaer]

@Logic:
Yeah, I was able to save Wrex. You need a maxed out Persuasion/Intimidate though.

You can also save Wrex if you find his family armour for him, regardless of your Charm/Intimidate.

I saved Ashley the first time, because I didn't want to accidentally end up with Kaiden instead of Liara. Every time after that I saved Kaiden, because he's more useful and also more pleasant.

[Cyclone231]

On the subject of "always evil" AIs: I'm not sure that's quite correct.
If I recall correctly, the story of the Geth and the Quarians goes thusly:
Quarians build Geth. Geth get smarter. Some Geth go over to the Quarians and are like "what's the meaning of life?" The Quarians are like "oh crap, intelligent machines? DIE DIE DIE." Then the Geth go "Screw organics, and screw you, Quarians." And then the Quarians become nomads.

[Grod_The_Giant]

OH MY GOD. SINGLE MOST AWESOME GAME EVER! I know there are problems (load times/elevators/occasionally bad AI), but the sheer awesomeness FAR overwhelms them. I love the duck-and-cover combat- it's brief, intense, and doesn't require incredible skill. And the storyline and cinematics... wow. I wish half the movies nowadays were this good. At the end (an accomplishment in and of itself...I rarely play all the way through a game), I was torn between two feelings: 'holy crap, that's an awesome ending' and 'NO IT'S OVER!!:smallfrown:'
It made me do something I have never, NEVER, done in a video game before- put down the controller and think about the consequences of my choice. For several minutes. Especially at the end, the save the Council/you fellow humans thing.
I can't praise it highly enough. And I hear the PC version has some corrections to the few problems...<drool>

Oh, and on the subject of cliches- what about goblins always being evil? Or dragons always being old? Cliches exist for a reason- they work. And sure, it was a little 'simple,' maybe...but I don't play a video game for complex post-modern analysis crap...I want good gameplay and a kickass story!

[PhallicWarrior]

How dissapointing. :smallannoyed:

Side-quests were mildly interchangible...

Main plotline was a bit weak and unoriginal... Machines are evil, Oooo!


And I quote the revered and reviled TVTropes, before the Great Server Crash of '07:

Mass Effect is a Cliche Storm. This is OK, because A) That's kinda the point and B) It's done brilliantly.

I also quote my dad, who normally hates video games because of that whole Hot Coffee thing:

"This is kind of cool. Wait, is this a movie or a game? A game? Huh. You're actually talking to that guy? Cool. Waitwaitwait. Who's they lizard guy in the red and black armor? Is he the bad guy? " etc. Point being he liked watching me play, even if he didn't want to actually play. I don't think anything could actually get him to play a game.

[Revlid]

The only other problem I actually had was the renegade/paragon system. It could easily have been labelled "Tactless/Polite" system. Why can't I be a man who will go to any lengths to get things done, but nevertheless isn't an ass to his superiors?

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Or "Snarky" and "Nice", like in The Bard's Tale.:smallwink:

[Maerok]

I let the Rakni Queen go, but she never ended up helping me out later with swarms of allies like I thought she would...
Did the Asari Matriarch want to mend or whatever with that thing?

Pssh. Asari Matriarch... The Asari are practically blue space drow.