Lasereth

I can't believe there's not a Mass Effect thread on here already!!!!!

Mass Effect is a game for Xbox 360 coming out in November. It's made by Bioware, the same team that made Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) and Jade Empire. KOTOR is one of the best games I've ever played...it was amazing for its time, especially since it came out of nowhere and had almost zero hype. It was one of the highest rated games on XBox. Combining Star Wars with an RPG style worked out better than anyone expected. It had amazing graphics, awesome gameplay, great characters, incredible voice work, and a plot that many consider better than the Star Wars movies.

The spiritual successor to the KOTOR series is Mass Effect, a new RPG by Bioware. It takes place in our universe (the beginning of the game actually takes place in our solar system) and is the beginning of a trilogy. I won't go into detail about the plot but you're basically saving the universe from the main bad guy (Saren) who's teamed up with the Geth. You visit dozens (literally) of planets and take control of every conversation in the game. You can be good or bad. The main character is Shepard and again you're able to customize your character to look or act in any way you want. Shepard actually talks and is a main character in the story arc.

Here's some screenshots (which look unbelievable if you ask me since they're all in-game):

<a href="http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/770/770710/mass-effect-20070306014521019.jpg"><img src="http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/770/770710/mass-effect-20070306014521019.jpg" height="253.3" width="426.67"></a>

<a href="http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/770/770710/mass-effect-20070306014524628.jpg"><img src="http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/770/770710/mass-effect-20070306014524628.jpg" height="253.3" width="426.67"></a>

<a href="http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/819/819051/mass-effect-20070910021757561.jpg"><img src="http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/819/819051/mass-effect-20070910021757561.jpg" height="253.3" width="426.67"></a>

And finally, a game trailer in HD!!

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DarkPho

Please can we replace the images with links? Firstly my screen isn't that wide and secondly, I have a measly 512kb connection

And I would love to buy this on release, but when would I play it? I've completed PGR4 and Halo 3 sure, but only in the Career and on Heroic respectively. Then we have Forza 2 and Splinter Cell waiting for me to play. I think a full fledged Bioware RPG might make me have to quit my daytime job!

Life's hard, sometimes.

Prophecy

I'm a huge Bioware fan. Reviews be damned, they release a game I'm buying it day one (at least till Jan. 2008 rolls around). That said, I have high hopes for this game it's one of only two games I'm looking forward to next month.


Also, Las you made a little mistake. The Mass Effect is not the main bad guy(s). From the official Bioware forums:


The main antagonist(s) is Saren and his army of Geth.

Lastly, for those that want more info on the game.

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Lasereth

Ah, I guess the article I read in EGM about a year ago was too early about the info then. Updated

Baraka_Guru

I got the info on his game months ago, and it looks pretty darned good. Those screenshots are amazing; the depth of field usage is dramatic. I like that. But I really think this will be about the gameplay and story. I'm not quite sold on the combat mechanics, but time will tell. I don't have a 360 though. I'm a PC Gamer, so it looks like I might have to upgrade next year.

I think I'd prefer this to Halo, since I'm an RPG geek.

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xepherys

I have mine pre-ordered. Hopefully I'll be most of the way through The Witcher (PC) by then. Otherwise there will be some serious conflict, lol.

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Esoteric

Only a couple more weeks...

parched_son

Mass Effect looks to dominate the market this Christmas season. In addition, Assassin's Creed should be incredible as well! I know I'm pretty stoked for both.

Prophecy

The street date on Mass Effect was broken today.

So for those trying to avoid spoilers for the plot, beware the blogs and forums. Also, the retail store (K-mart) has already talked to MS. No more copies are gonna be sold unless you find a lucky store.

If you're one of the lucky people with the game feel free to share you impressions, but no spoilers please.

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Lokus

Mass Effect had me at lesbian alien sex.

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Lasereth

Ha ha ha a coworker mentioned this today and I was like "well, that's a plus"

Lasereth

Launches tonight ladies and gentlemen!!

93 on metacritic!!!!!!!!!

Bring on some freaking RPG if you ask me! It's been so long since I played a console RPG (FFXII was the last, almost a year ago!). I'm pumped for this, especially since my brother sold me his HD TV for $50 to play it on.

Lokus

Hmmm I'm going to have to wait until I'm done with school and Thanksgiving this week then I can get my Mass Effect on. I've been playing the NWN2 expansion lately so it should be interesting to compare the two.

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Cyborg Ninja

This game looks absolutely amazing. I have always wanted to play a videogame with its own fully-actualized galaxy that I can explore. The environments look gorgeous and I love the design of the characters, especially the aliens. The gameplay looks interesting, although I have never played a squad-based combat game before, and first-person shooters always gave me motion sickness. I don't have much of a choice at the moment however, because I don't have a next-gen console. They're still far too expensive for me.

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Lasereth

I started it up last night! I spent 30 minutes simply trying to make my character. So many freaking options. Which class, which background, which personality, how they look, make or female, healer or warrior, etc.

YaWhateva

I really want to get this game, is it as awesome as everyone says?

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Willravel

This game does look really good. So far I've been fine sticking with my PS2, but this actually had me pricing 360 Elites last night.

Church

This game is everything I have ever wanted in a game. I don't think I've ever cared so much about story and character development in a game as I've expereienced here. The look, the feel, the music, the ambiance... everything in this game is by far above par. I already can't wait until ME2.

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Esoteric

Yeah, this game is excellent. The combat can get a bit hectic at times, but it's not frustrating. However, from what I've seen your squad AI can be pretty stupid at times. I'm only about 11 hours into it though.

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Lokus

I'm having a great time, one of the best RPGs I've ever played, hands down. First off, the catch. The game looks great but I hear it doesn't take advantage of HD caching because of the xboxs that don't have hard drives so while the actual loading screens aren't too bad, you'll frequently encounter elevators that move at a snails pace while it loads the next area. Also, sometimes you'll pause in the middle of a large room while it loads and you get slowdown in some large fights. Those are really my only complaints and the rest of the game more than makes up for it.
The game is simply beautiful, not quite as good looking as Gears of War but up there. It's got some cool film grain, depth of field and motion blur effects. The dialogue is very good, well written and all of it spoken with the characters themselves making facial expressions and gestures, really immerses you in the world. Every conversation is interesting, a nice change from some RPGs with blah characters and quests. Combat is pretty good, it plays like a 3rd person shooter but takes some time to get into it.
I highly recommend this game to anyone that even vaguely likes RPGs, you won't regret it.

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Prophecy

I love the game, and yes it doesn't take full advantage of hard drive caching, thanks MS for your everything has to play on the Core rule.

I've never seen any slow down in the game, however, I have seen some bad texture popping. The dev teams says that's the fault of the Unreal Engine 3 and the code was streamlined as much as the could. I figure it's also because they had to make the game work without a hard drive.

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Nikilidstrom

while the elevators and decontamination room screens are tedious, they feel alot more organic then if they had just placed some static image load screen there. Excellent game all the way around. It ate up most of my Thanksgiving vacation.

Lasereth

I'm about 15 hours into it and this game is freaking awesome. I admit that the first few hours in the Citadel were getting annoying, but only because I did every single quest there so there was a whole lot of fetching and not a lot of action. Now that I'm actually in the game so to speak it's kicked into overdrive.

<UL>Pros:
<LI>Graphics are incredible. In some areas it looks better than Gears of War and the atmosphere rivals Bioshock.
<LI>Character models are so detailed. Every armor piece has its own graphic. Every square inch of every location has been detailed.
<LI>Plot is genuinely interesting. Back stories of human civilization (it actually explains how humans have the technology to shoot lasers and space travel only 150 years from now) are completely "fleshed out."
<LI>Best voice acting in any game I've played. The quality is the same as Metal Gear Solid, but every.single.person you talk to speaks, and I haven't met one character that had a bad actor yet. The game is also written <I>very</I> well.
<LI>The game plays a lot like Gears of War with the cover system and shooting angles. It does it well. Not as good as Gears of War, but good enough to be way funner than an RPG should be in combat.
</UL>

<UL>Cons:

<LI>Someone mentioned the game never slowed down on them. Whoa whoa whoa!! This game has a downright shitty framerate at times. It never goes above 30 FPS. It's usually hovering at 20-30 FPS, and at times I've seen it drop to 10 FPS. Thankfully it never affects the combat, but in cities like the Citadel the framerate definitely takes away from the experience.
<LI>There needs to be a better skill mapping function. The one in Mass Effect works, but it could be better...how about using some of the other buttons on the controller for abilities that you use often in combat? Also, there should be a "go here" button for your squad like Half-Life 2. Currently there is retreat, come with me, go forward, but no "go here." It works, but in combat your squadmates don't pay attention sometimes.
<LI>There needs to be a way to access your entire squad's armor, abilities, and statistics no matter where you are. I hate having to go to my ship to check people's armor and talents. In KOTOR you could do this by simply pressing the menu button. Why can't we do it in Mass Effect??
</UL>

None of the cons are game-breaking and I am currently having a blast (pun intended) with this game. I highly recommend it.

guthmund

You can. It's under two different sub-menus in the start menu, but it's there. I can check what gear my team is equipped with and their talents. I don't remember exactly what the option is, but it's up and down after hitting start. Is that what you're talking about or am I totally misreading that?

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Lasereth

You can check your 2 teammates in this menu, but not all 7 of your actual party.

For example: say I just picked up a new rifle. I want to see who can use it in my party before I give it to someone. You can't. All you can check is the 2 people with you and Shepard. KOTOR allowed full access to your entire party even if they weren't with you.

Nikilidstrom

Pressing up on the crosspad sends your squad to where your crosshair is aiming. Now I admit that the party doesnt always listen so well, but that is as close to a go here option you are gonna get in a console game.

And as far as the framerate, I have not had one slow down yet, regardless of level size or number of enemies on the map. Not even during large explosions like when you shoot one of those fuel cannisters.

alin8456

One of the only issues I've found so far is that you can't really read any of the text without an HD screen

Prophecy

This is one of my few major issues with the game. That and you can't check the talents of anyone but Shepard when you're on the ship. I can check everyones equips, granted I have to use the lockers, but how do I check talents? The issues aren't game breakers, but it is a bit annoying at times.

I've gotten around the first problem by only selling items on the ship after I've checked the weapons lockers unless the item is really low level.

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La Fede È Il Mio Schermo,
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Lasereth

This is literally impossible. The Citadel runs at 15 FPS if you're in the courtyard area. I mean it doesn't go down to 5 FPS or anything but it's definitely not above 30 FPS.

I've also noticed that the game doesn't "slow down" when there's lots of enemies or explosions, the framerate is just substandard all the time regardless of what's going on.

Prophecy

I recently just started my third play through and first time with a male PC. Is it just me or did the female lead VA do a better job as Shepard? It seems she gave the dialogue more emotion than her male counter part.

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Non salti Ciecamente In Incertezza,
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ObieX

Thats what i heard in all the reviews. The male voice is poorly acted.

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Lasereth

I agree about the male voice. The male voice acts well in the actual main-plot dialogue, but in all of the side-quest dialogue scenes (especially the "give me more info" questions) the tone isn't right at all. The acting is decent but the tone just isn't there. You can tell they recorded all of the question-asking at once instead of recording an actual conversation with responses. I haven't played as the female yet (well I played about 10 minutes into it) so I can't really judge her dialogue.

Lokus

Even the female Shepard seems a bit lacking in emotion to me. I especially noticed that during the romance scenes. My partner, the asari, sounded really sweet and in love while Shepard seemed a bit reserved even when asking for hot alien sex. It was also a bit weird to get your romance on after having maybe one conversation broken into pieces that lasted around 10 minutes. Ah well.

It's a great game, just a bit disappointing that it was pushed out the door. You can tell it's rushed by the framerate issues and some rather unpolished stuff like the Mako. Also, some lines of dialogue are the same no matter which response you pick.

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guthmund

You know, you're absolutely right. I didn't change my party at all once I acquired Wrex, so, I never bothered to check for the rest of the team. Mea culpa.

I didn't much care for the Mako. The driving was fine, but the combat was always an exercise in controller squeezing frustration. And the inventory system...was so very, very bad.

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Lasereth

I don't get how they had a perfect inventory system in KOTOR and it downgraded!! I bet it will be fixed in ME2.

Nikilidstrom

thats one place where I will agree with your guys. The inventroy system, especially the stores, are driving me crazy. Simply sorting items by type, and listing like items together (Tornado V, VI, VII, etc...) would have made everything so much easier, and couldn't be that much of a hastle to program.

I still disagree with the framerate issue though. As an avid PC game player without the money to have a top of the line comp, I know what 15 FPS looks like. Anything under 30 is detectable by the eye, and I am not seeing any slow downs in any areas. Ever since the Feros mission I am seeing several more in area loads, which are annoying, but they only last a second or 2.

Prophecy

Just started playing on Hardcore mode. Started with a level 43 Vanguard. I figured with my improved weapons and skills I'd blow through Eden Prime with ease.

My god was I wrong. The very first mobs I faced ripped through my shields like they weren't even there. I felt like Jenkins.

Before now I've never died on Eden Prime and I know things are only going to get worse.

Still, having to actually plan when and how to use my biotic/tech powers instead of whenever is going to be fun and challenging. To all those looking to play hardcore, remember cover and barrier are your friends!

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La Fede È Il Mio Schermo,
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E Potete Raccogliere Le Ricompense.

Lasereth

So every single reviewer in the industry complains about the framerate going down, multiple people in this thread complain about the framerate, IGN.com which has been reviewing games since the Internet went public, and countless others are saying the framerate is bad, but yours isn't? It doesn't add up. Anything under 60 is detectable by the eye.

The slowdown is bad in this game. On Noveria in the tram station the game was going at 10-15 FPS, almost slide-show material. Hell, the Citadel is going at about 20, I don't see how you think it's going at 60 FPS constant. I hate to badger about it but it's odd seeing someone flat out rebuke the biggest issue with the game.

Nikilidstrom

I haven't spent any time at Noveria, but I have spent more time than I''d like at the Citadel, and there is absolutely no way that it is running at 15 FPS in that environment. And a standard 35mm camera runs at 24 FPS, meaning if you go much below that without motion blur, you would see notable flickering. I dont see it, sorry. The biggest problem I have with the game is the inventory system, followed closely by the repetetive look of the side mission worlds and indoor modules.

Lokus

Games don't use motion blur like film and television do. 30 FPS is different from 60 FPS and I've had Mass Effect go down to at least 10 or 15. The Noveria and Eden Prime tram as well as some fights get very chunky. I have heard that some new and refurbished xboxes come with extra heat sinks or something so that may explain why you're getting better FPS.

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