Mass Effect

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Mass Effect

PostPosted: Wed Nov 21, 2007 7:44 pm

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Anubis
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Not going to beat around the bush with this one ;) Out in America yesterday, Europe on Friday. I have it on pre-order, who already has it/has it ordered?

You just know that it's going to be Game of the Year, and that I'll harrass you all about how great it is (touch wood) until you play it - so why wait? Get it and post thoughts before I come back on Sunday with a long impressions post ;)
"Perhaps this is what I have always wished for since that day. The loss and destruction of all. That's right, one must destroy before creating. In that case, if my conscience becomes a hindrance to me, then I will simply erase it. I have no other choice but to move forward....therefore!" - Lelouch vi Britannia/Zero, Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch

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PostPosted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 1:54 am

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Ambush
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Im about 6 hours in and just got my last character. Enjoyed the "movie-like" feel the game has. Seems like this isnt going to be on of those "oh well i beat it within 9 hours" type game. :thumb:
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 5:36 am

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ah about 6 hours into it myself.

Its got a lot more Morrowind/Oblivion feel to the universe than KOTOR did, it really wants you to explore.

Planetfalls are pretty damn cool. That said, I have been through a couple minor dungeons now, and they were awfully similar, so there may be some repetition in the side dungeons.

Enjoying it so far, 6 hours in one sitting more or less...
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 4:18 pm

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To set a picture, if you do as many sidequests as you can and really explore the game is touted to be 50 hours plus. So definately not a 9 hour thing ;)
"Perhaps this is what I have always wished for since that day. The loss and destruction of all. That's right, one must destroy before creating. In that case, if my conscience becomes a hindrance to me, then I will simply erase it. I have no other choice but to move forward....therefore!" - Lelouch vi Britannia/Zero, Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch

Forever an eXile and proud of it!

PostPosted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 9:38 pm

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Yeah, I am on hour 7+ with a full crew finally and flitting from planet to planet.
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 23, 2007 6:54 am

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I am 17 hours into it and I still haven't made any head way. Every time I see something that looks like a story mission, I end up getting other missions to do. There never seems to be a lull thats for sure. Btw... If you haven't found all the keepers to scan, hit me up I found em all.
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 24, 2007 10:54 am

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My copy is here. Expect my entended thoughts today or tomorrow.
"Perhaps this is what I have always wished for since that day. The loss and destruction of all. That's right, one must destroy before creating. In that case, if my conscience becomes a hindrance to me, then I will simply erase it. I have no other choice but to move forward....therefore!" - Lelouch vi Britannia/Zero, Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch

Forever an eXile and proud of it!

PostPosted: Sat Nov 24, 2007 7:58 pm

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What can I say about this game. Its great and my own personal Game of the year. As for the sameness of the facilities. Well an excuse say for the Alliance type ones is that they are all built from the same prefab'd templates. Get em up quick as it where.
Combat I've found can be very unforgiving sometimes but alot of fun.
Power Corrupts, Ultimate Power is Fun.

PostPosted: Sat Nov 24, 2007 10:41 pm

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I've spent the majority of the day on it so far and am very impressed. You can tell that its an evolution of KOTOR - really deep conversations, immersive story and characters, etc - and that its done a really good job in many departments. Sound is fantastic, and the dialogue system works brilliantly. Combat so far for me has been good - though there have been a couple of situations where it has stuck as awkward for me, though having said that the same happened in KOTOR.

The lack of a decent tutorial like in KOTOR is disappointing, but it is not incredibly difficult to pick up and start playing. One thing I will say though is that they should not have catered for the Core system - my disk never stops spinning and with autosave on load times are far too long. They should have made it so some of the content dumps onto the HD, maybe something they will do for ME2.
Overall, so far it is Game of the Year by a long way for me and I don't really see that changing. Its very deep, immersive, and a large step forward for both RPGs and the quality of 360 titles in general. There are niggles, yes - but for me its been far too easy to overlook them.

I'll probably post more when I've played more. These are first impressions really.
"Perhaps this is what I have always wished for since that day. The loss and destruction of all. That's right, one must destroy before creating. In that case, if my conscience becomes a hindrance to me, then I will simply erase it. I have no other choice but to move forward....therefore!" - Lelouch vi Britannia/Zero, Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch

Forever an eXile and proud of it!

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 12:51 am

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A little less than 30 hours in, still have a fair bit of exploring to do, though I may save it out and replay the last bits differently.

Expect some tough choices4 main story missions in ;)
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 2:13 am

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Apparently, after you beat the game you can reuse your exiting character on a new game and play through it again. Also if you get an achievement with certain weapons, you can get use them with new character classes. For example, you can use the assault rifle on an infiltrator class. Things like that.

As for choices.. it seems to be getting tougher and tougher as the game goes on. I am amazed at the level of complexity in the game.

On a side note, I can't really see comparing this to KOTOR. I have more of a Jade Empire feel from it.
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 6:07 am

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Just finished it. Missed some things, but got a goof 27ish or so hours of play, will have to fire up the last save and look.

I went paragon, woo'd the blue girl who got the game banned in Singapore and generally had a great time playing it.

Fun. Sleep now.
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:21 am

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How the hell do you melee btw ? If one more Krogan charges me lays the smack down on me I'll cry.... :smack:
Power Corrupts, Ultimate Power is Fun.

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 2:53 pm

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No idea, I just seemed to do it randomly.

I think its probably linked to the attack button, so if you are shooting and they get that close, it clobbers them.

I didn't let them get that close :)
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 3:36 pm

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Inquisitor wrote:No idea, I just seemed to do it randomly.

I think its probably linked to the attack button, so if you are shooting and they get that close, it clobbers them.

I didn't let them get that close :)
Yep, thats the case. If they are close enough and you shoot you automatically hit them with your gun. Happened to me a few times.
"Perhaps this is what I have always wished for since that day. The loss and destruction of all. That's right, one must destroy before creating. In that case, if my conscience becomes a hindrance to me, then I will simply erase it. I have no other choice but to move forward....therefore!" - Lelouch vi Britannia/Zero, Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch

Forever an eXile and proud of it!

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:23 pm

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I had to use the melee alot on Feros. ;p I don't much like straight firing grenades. ;p
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 11:58 pm

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I am actually playing through again...

Trying to be mean, having a hard time of it. Only playing story though, and mixing up the weapons to get achievements.
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 12:03 am

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Inquisitor wrote:I am actually playing through again...
Bioware games seem to have a habit of making you do that. I must have played KOTOR eight times at least over the years, and I will certainly be playing ME through at least twice before moving onto AC to make sure I got as much as possible done.

Bioware do these things very well. Addictive indeed.
"Perhaps this is what I have always wished for since that day. The loss and destruction of all. That's right, one must destroy before creating. In that case, if my conscience becomes a hindrance to me, then I will simply erase it. I have no other choice but to move forward....therefore!" - Lelouch vi Britannia/Zero, Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch

Forever an eXile and proud of it!

PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 12:10 am

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l did KOTOR once plus enough to get to Yavin (the official downloable) and KOTOR II once.

No real reason for me to do it again, the play through with all your stuff and powers and get achievements though...

This seems, better...
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 4:57 am

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Man doin all these side missions I have been doin are a bear. I got some spectre weapons finally and I am really kickin a and talkin names.

Btw speaking of the side missions... I think they are rather well put together. They speak of a bigger underlying plot that tells its own story right along side of the main story.
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 10:48 am

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Indeed I got sidetracked from the main missions doing some of the side missions. I liked Wrex's and Garrus's side missions. Bless him Wrex is beginning to like me....... :lol:
Power Corrupts, Ultimate Power is Fun.

PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 6:21 am

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37 1/2 hours, 427 saves and 47 levels later... I finally beat it. I restarted as a soldier so I can unlock the weapons. Apparently with the various achievements you unlock, most of them grant you special boosts to the game. Nice!
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 2:38 am

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http://www.magicalwasteland.com/2007/11 ... ng_wit.htm

I knew they were going to cut stuff, there was just no way it was going to fit onto one DVD, but ehh.....
About a year ago, a promotional movie for Mass Effect showcased numerous features that were nowhere to be seen when the actual game shipped. The Galaxy Map featured beautifully smooth zooming between levels and planets in dramatic three-dimensional orbits. The combat engine allowed the player to direct the squad to specific individual locations with an interface that paused the on-screen action, and the player could even take control of each member at will. Certain conversation lines seemed interruptible by the player.
Was that all cut? I expected all that to be in there because I saw it at the demo.

What the hell?

PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 3:40 am

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well I think that the second and third games will probably have more of those things that were left out. they do plan some sort of downloadable content in the future. One of the ideas they were kicking around was the ability to go to planets that you were not able to go to before. That would be neat. :)
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 4:17 pm

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BlackDove wrote:http://www.magicalwasteland.com/2007/11 ... ng_wit.htm

I knew they were going to cut stuff, there was just no way it was going to fit onto one DVD, but ehh.....

Was that all cut? I expected all that to be in there because I saw it at the demo.

What the hell?
Wow, after seeing that video I am sort of disapointed. Numerous times I try to get my team mates to take cover but have no ability to move them one at a time, never mind in a paused screen in which the trailer shows. Oh yea, and whats with being able to use your teammates(as in, actually use them as a character, not just tell them where to go)? Ummm, last I checked you couldnt do that, but it opens so much more.
Also I wish my gameplay was as smooth as what the trailer showed.
After seeing this video I guess I'd be angry to see what else they cut from the game.
But I'd have to agree with the items too. I mean, Shotgun II isnt going to cut it, never mind that they all look alike except for colour, oooooo original. The secret loading screens in the elevator are also of annoyance. I believe someone here said (Inq I think?) that they wish they used the ability of HD loading for the 360 like they did with FF so us lucky folk with HDD dont have to sit through loading screens all day.
Im not even 10 hours in, so I still have lots to go.
"Ambush, You Have deceived us! I'm gonna hunt you and your ship to the ends of the universe!" --SSC-Fahd "Ham Chronicles"

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