Mass Effect

[Saga]

I'm thinking of getting this game. How long does it take to beat by average player?
Does the "technical issues" that i keep hearing about that bad ? such as slow downs and stuff like that.

havent noticed any slowdown in my game, but much to my surprise i got stuck yesterday. that side quest where you have to find that alliance guy Kyle who leads a cult; there's a big uranium deposit you can mine. after you mine it a little orange thing drops on the ground. i thought it was something i could pick up so i ran on top of it and got stuck. controls wouldnt respond either except L and start. really sucked.

[Bweigelt]

I'm thinking of getting this game. How long does it take to beat by average player?
Does the "technical issues" that i keep hearing about that bad ? such as slow downs and stuff like that.

Average playtime with minimal side quests is like 15-20 hours I think. But this is definately a game you will want to play though multiple times for the different scenarios and endings. Also the technical issues aren't that bad. It's just things like textures slow to load after a cutscene and such. Nothing gamebreaking, and the rest of the game more than makes up for the tech shortcomings.

[Hellboy]

the only things that really bugged me were the elevators, the mako not being able to shoot directly in front of it and below it, some texture pop in, and cruddy framerate on a couple snowy planets. Other than that, I spent about 45 hours of playtime on trying to do every single thing I can in the game.

but really tho.. play as a soldier >>

[Exoduso]

Am I the only one who thought the elevators took FOREVER? >.<

[Elesirdur]

Am I the only one who thought the elevators took FOREVER? >.<

I just flip over to my TV and watch CBC Newsworld or BBC News Service for a minute or two during the elevators.

The texture LOD is a bit annoying at times, but it's understandable considering the high quality graphics.

[Kaelan]

Am I the only one who thought the elevators took FOREVER? >.<

http://s46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...assEffect2.jpg

[chellebell]

lol


on another note did bioware tone down the lesbian scene with that alien chick?

[Exoduso]

omg that comic is so true.. ><

[Elesirdur]

Just finished my first play-through and goddam was the ending epic.

The emotional attachment I formed for the crew and my character in such a short time was fantastic. I seriously felt a bit remorseful when I returned to the Normandy after the Velius mission to not see Kaidan at his station for a chat. Major props to the writing and CS teams, they seriously deserve to be entered into the MPAA Oscars for their work.

I'm watching the credits roll right now and hope that I can still continue to play the side quests once the main quest is achieved. If not, then don't embark on that Virmire mission until you've done everything you want.

[Elesirdur]

Bah, looks like once you go off to Ilth (sp? the planet you must reach through the Mu Relay to find the last beacon after the Virmire mission) you are locked into the ending of the game and then nothing after that. Your last save game will be the auto-save before the final confrontation.

However, you can still boot about the galaxy before going off on that last mission - despite the rather dubious status of your ship. Maybe going back to The Citadel after Cpt. Anderson's shenanigans wouldn't be good?

Nevertheless, it's a bit of a weird plot hole to be receiving mission requests from Alliance Fleet Command after you steal one of their ships and one of their officers commits treason to let you run about the galaxy.

[Maguspk]

What games have memorable round characters?

Metal Gears, most Final Fantasy..etc. You know those games where character development play an important role in the plot. Even game like starcraft/warcraft had more interesting character imo, even if the story is kinda short.

Bioware rpg are usually closer to tabletop rpg, and main character represent yourself. Because of that, he wont have any personality, even if he can have a complex backstory like in kotor.

I guess then it highlights a design decision by game developers. The final fantasy games feature character development by and large for every member of the group but you are kind of on a rail leading to some inevitable conclusion. Very few FF games varied their endings depending on the decisions you made during the game (FFVI is the only one I can think of where the ending varied even a little). Chrono Trigger took it a step further, where the decisions made had a serious impact on how the game ended, but the development of the main character was non-existent. The same is true of a lot of PC RPG experiences. Most of the time in order to make decision-making by the primary protagonist believable you kind of have to make him a blank slate so the player doesn't feel out-of-character by making any kind of decision. Planescape did it best because most of the game was figuring out what kind of man you used to be before you found yourself on a slab in a mortuary. Turns out the conclusion of the game hinged on whether or not you liked who you used to be or not. To me that's genius

You could sell party members into slavery? WTF. When I played Planetscape on my trial all it reminded me of was an FPS with lots of players. The only cool part to me were those big ships that tons of people could ride on. That's about it. Also, warpgates took forever to work iirc, it was really annoying. But I didn't know Planetscape had much of a story...

Mass Effect looks fun, is it a rental or a buy?

[Exoduso]

I'd rent it first since the way the storyline works seems to be a hit or a miss for a lot of people.

[Isiolia]

What games have memorable round characters?

Metal Gears, most Final Fantasy..etc. You know those games where character development play an important role in the plot. Even game like starcraft/warcraft had more interesting character imo, even if the story is kinda short.

Bioware rpg are usually closer to tabletop rpg, and main character represent yourself. Because of that, he wont have any personality, even if he can have a complex backstory like in kotor.

I guess then it highlights a design decision by game developers. The final fantasy games feature character development by and large for every member of the group but you are kind of on a rail leading to some inevitable conclusion. Very few FF games varied their endings depending on the decisions you made during the game (FFVI is the only one I can think of where the ending varied even a little). Chrono Trigger took it a step further, where the decisions made had a serious impact on how the game ended, but the development of the main character was non-existent. The same is true of a lot of PC RPG experiences. Most of the time in order to make decision-making by the primary protagonist believable you kind of have to make him a blank slate so the player doesn't feel out-of-character by making any kind of decision. Planescape did it best because most of the game was figuring out what kind of man you used to be before you found yourself on a slab in a mortuary. Turns out the conclusion of the game hinged on whether or not you liked who you used to be or not. To me that's genius

You could sell party members into slavery? WTF. When I played Planetscape on my trial all it reminded me of was an FPS with lots of players. The only cool part to me were those big ships that tons of people could ride on. That's about it. Also, warpgates took forever to work iirc, it was really annoying. But I didn't know Planetscape had much of a story...

Mass Effect looks fun, is it a rental or a buy?

I think you're remembering Planetside, not Planescape.

[SupHammer]

Mass Effect looks fun, is it a rental or a buy?

Definite buy. I'm just about to start my third playthrough just to see all the variations of each quest and mission. The "renegade" ending was one of the greatest endings for a video game ever.

[Charla]

this is what he meant (although I read planetscape at first too).

[Kayos]

Mass Effect looks fun, is it a rental or a buy?

Definite buy. I'm just about to start my third playthrough just to see all the variations of each quest and mission. The "renegade" ending was one of the greatest endings for a video game ever.

TBH I would rent it. It is a great game, but after a while it becomes so repetitive. ie. go to this planet, kill Geth > go to the next planet , kill more Geth > go to the next planet, kill Geth yet again. It does have some replay value because of the different choices you can make but I am at like 24 hours and have completed the entire main story and 95% of all the quests (of killing lots of Geth).

[SupHammer]

TBH I would rent it. It is a great game, but after a while it becomes so repetitive. ie. go to this planet, kill Geth > go to the next planet , kill more Geth > go to the next planet, kill Geth yet again. It does have some replay value because of the different choices you can make but I am at like 24 hours and have completed the entire main story and 95% of all the quests (of killing lots of Geth).

I can think of more repetitive games that become stale after hour 8. hi2u Assassin's Creed. I mean yeah, most of the planets seem the same, but at least you can change the story and play through with a different class and different abilities.

I'd rather spend $60 on a game that gets 50 hours of play over a game that gets 10 hours.

[Kayos]

TBH I would rent it. It is a great game, but after a while it becomes so repetitive. ie. go to this planet, kill Geth > go to the next planet , kill more Geth > go to the next planet, kill Geth yet again. It does have some replay value because of the different choices you can make but I am at like 24 hours and have completed the entire main story and 95% of all the quests (of killing lots of Geth).

I can think of more repetitive games that become stale after hour 8. hi2u Assassin's Creed. I mean yeah, most of the planets seem the same, but at least you can change the story and play through with a different class and different abilities.

I'd rather spend $60 on a game that gets 50 hours of play over a game that gets 10 hours.

Agreed. However, there are only so many Geth I can kill. The other issue that bothered me about the game is the currency aspect. I couldn't afford anything at the start then all of a sudden I had millions and millions of money and nothing to spend it on.

[Elesirdur]

TBH I would rent it. It is a great game, but after a while it becomes so repetitive. ie. go to this planet, kill Geth > go to the next planet , kill more Geth > go to the next planet, kill Geth yet again. It does have some replay value because of the different choices you can make but I am at like 24 hours and have completed the entire main story and 95% of all the quests (of killing lots of Geth).

I can think of more repetitive games that become stale after hour 8. hi2u Assassin's Creed. I mean yeah, most of the planets seem the same, but at least you can change the story and play through with a different class and different abilities.

I'd rather spend $60 on a game that gets 50 hours of play over a game that gets 10 hours.

Agreed. However, there are only so many Geth I can kill. The other issue that bothered me about the game is the currency aspect. I couldn't afford anything at the start then all of a sudden I had millions and millions of money and nothing to spend it on.

That did kind of bug me a bit. Honestly, the vendors so rarely sold anything that was either a) better than what I had and affordable at lower levels, or b) better than anything I had looted in the later stages of the game. The only real stand outs were things like Medi-gel and Grenade inventory upgrades, some non-human armor, and then the bad-ass Spectre stuff you get near the end of the game.

Though I was pretty stoked to see that when you start a new game with the same character as a completed game you have ALL your weapons, armor, upgrades, credits, and your team mates are at your level. Talk about awesome.

[SupHammer]

Yeah beginning of the game you wish had the money for all the awesome equipment upgrades. Then when you can actually afford them, they are all outdated.

I just wish you could change your class when you start a new game with all your goodies.

What bothers me the most is the "run" button. You don't move faster, they just change the camera angle to make it seem like your running.