Topic: Mass Effect

[Ceric]

I started playing Mass Effect and it seems we want to talk about it.  I'm liking the game even though I've just done maybe 45 minutes of it.  Dig the Sniper rifle but, I'm probably going to be starting from scratch.  Why you say?

Class choices.  I hate when a game makes you choose your class first without letting you sample what makes them different.  I went with the default Shepherd but tonight I'm going to reset my game and try a different one.  I really like the Sniper rifle it seems so I like one that will help with that but, should I be more engineer or magical...  I've only hacked one thing and I haven't used any adept abilities...

[Morari]

I didn't try any of the sniper rifles. If I recall, I played as a Vanguard. Shotguns and heavily modified pistols were kind of the thing.

[oohhboy]

I couldn't stand the terrible combat or the tank(Effectively most of the gameplay elements) long enough to even get a 1/4 of the way through the game, if you are restarting, I highly suggest that you pick Female Shepherd if only for the better voice acting. Male Shepherd comparatively sounds like he is reading a phone book.

The amount of background fluff was impressive though.

[Ceric]

I couldn't stand the terrible combat or the tank(Effectively most of the gameplay elements) long enough to even get a 1/4 of the way through the game, if you are restarting, I highly suggest that you pick Female Shepherd if only for the better voice acting. Male Shepherd comparatively sounds like he is reading a phone book.

The amount of background fluff was impressive though.

So Ms. Shepherd has a nicer voice then Mr. Shepherd.  Duely noted.

I'm thinking of doing Vanguard and then picking up the Sniper Rifle.  Though I hate supporting AI.  I do like healing in WoW though and other player based games.

[ymeegod]

In the first game the friendly AI was a problem--like them shooting at walls or even at you:0 but in the sequel they work great and have combo attacks to boot.

As for the combat, yeah in the first game using some of your abilities like pull and lift didn't work so great because you couldn't aim objects all that well.  Again it works great in the sequel.

It's to bad Bioware didn't release an enhanced version of the first game with the improvement in the sequel.

[Ceric]

Supposedly Squad placement is better in the PC version.  That being said Mercy on the 360 players soul.  Its terrible.  I want my guys to go ahead of me because I ended up picking infiltrator.  I want to be at range and I want them in mid-close range. 

I really wish I could tell them that "Hey when I stop scout a little ahead unless I explicitly tell you otherwise."  Makes them hard to manage and I've found myself in a few situations where positioning them was so bad that I ended up soloing a room full of mobs.  I also hate when your low on health you can't use your secondary zoom.  Making the sniper rifle useless even if I'm at range in cover.

Out of all the characters I swear Wrex is the most realistic of the bunch.  Seeing him in the cutscenes makes me think I'm watching a man in a very good suit who is recorded even though I know they are rendered in game because the armor and weapons change to what the character has equipped.  Though I had to turn Film Grain off.  It just made it look muddled.

I'm to The Citadel and well I've been at The Citadel for all of yesterday and I played about 6 hours and I still have quests to do it seems.  I also have all my party members except 1.  I'm hoping they give me a way to change my squad beyond getting members but that's probably later.  I wish I was out and about.  This section is getting long in the tooth.

[Morari]

Supposedly Squad placement is better in the PC version.

It is significantly better from what I've seen of the console version. It seems to unarguably be the superior version. Not only do you get great graphical capabilities and a fast, precise input method for aiming, you also get completely redesigned and streamlined menus and interfaces. It still doesn't fix the scroll-list inventory crap, but it's much better than before. Plus you get far more control over what your team mates do, programmable hot keys, and even improved controls in the Mako. I think that the hacking minigame was changed up as well.

As for Mass Effect 2, I don't think it was changed much. It came out for both platforms at the same time though, whereas the first took its sweet time being fixed up for the PC. Regardless, you still get sharper graphics and better aiming.

[Ceric]

Supposedly Squad placement is better in the PC version.

It is significantly better from what I've seen of the console version. It seems to unarguably be the superior version. Not only do you get great graphical capabilities and a fast, precise input method for aiming, you also get completely redesigned and streamlined menus and interfaces. It still doesn't fix the scroll-list inventory crap, but it's much better than before. Plus you get far more control over what your team mates do, programmable hot keys, and even improved controls in the Mako. I think that the hacking minigame was changed up as well.

As for Mass Effect 2, I don't think it was changed much. It came out for both platforms at the same time though, whereas the first took its sweet time being fixed up for the PC. Regardless, you still get sharper graphics and better aiming.

I don't have very much control at all over my team.  I'm going to hit up all the tutorials tonight or tomorrow and see what I must be missing.  The hacking game is Frogger on the PC essentially.  I like Frogger so it works. 

Now on equipment I would like 2 things to happen.

1. A button to press to allocate all your unused upgrades to the team.  Even if it was just random but done to their most used weapons.
2. When you bench somebody put all their equipment back into the pool so it can be placed on the current squad.

[iDraTion]

Yea, definitely play a female character because the male voice actor just doesn't cut it compared to Jennifer Hale.  There were times where I just couldn't take him seriously and it kind of ruined part of the role-playing part of the game for me.  An adept based class is definitely the way to go for the first game because the engineering skills are basically just mines that have different effects, but they don't feel super fun or anything.  Way better to lift and throw everyone around.


If you continue on to Mass Effect 2, they actually make the engineering skills/classes a lot more fun.  I enjoyed my infiltrator character just as much as my vanguard.  More options you can actually have different kinds of combat fun with.  Inventory problems were also basically removed completely in the second game.  Combat felt a lot smoother also, but I played both on PC, so I wasn't too frustrated to begin with. 

[Ceric]

I got out of Citadel and to the Planets.  I don't really feel compelled to play know for some reason because I'm not sure where to go at times and their is a lot of travel.

[alegoicoe]

Mass Effect 2 and 3 for WiiU, I wish hummm.

[TJ Spyke]

Why not release all three on Wii U in a bundle? Mass Effect: The Trilogy, I think they could at least make a profit on it.

[Ceric]

Why not release all three on Wii U in a bundle? Mass Effect: The Trilogy, I think they could at least make a profit on it.

I can think of some squad management I love to do with the controls.  They could cleanup 1 & 2 graphics and UI to be consistent with 3.  Add the DLC.  Allow for seamlessly going from 1 to 2 to 3.  Lots of potential.

[Shaymin]

Why not release all three on Wii U in a bundle? Mass Effect: The Trilogy, I think they could at least make a profit on it.

I think Microsoft has the console publishing exclusive for Mass Effect 1. At the very least, it's why they didn't put 1 out on the PS3 before they dropped 2.

[Ceric]

Why not release all three on Wii U in a bundle? Mass Effect: The Trilogy, I think they could at least make a profit on it.

I think Microsoft has the console publishing exclusive for Mass Effect 1. At the very least, it's why they didn't put 1 out on the PS3 before they dropped 2.

Consider how they worded the contract.  Their could be a way around that.

[RABicle]

I LOEVE MASS EFEFCT
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Why not release all three on Wii U in a bundle? Mass Effect: The Trilogy, I think they could at least make a profit on it.

I think Microsoft has the console publishing exclusive for Mass Effect 1. At the very least, it's why they didn't put 1 out on the PS3 before they dropped 2.

Consider how they worded the contract.  Their could be a way around that.

Deg suggested some sort of "Special Edition" (or jsut Mass 1 redone wit the Mass 3 engine)

I got out of Citadel and to the Planets.  I don't really feel compelled to play know for some reason because I'm not sure where to go at times and their is a lot of travel.

Go anywhere. Do anything

[alegoicoe]

Mass Effect 2 and 3 for WiiU, I wish hummm.

Microsoft owns the publishing rights for the first one, i know it sucks. But Bioware can bring it like they did on PS3 with a comic book like novel of the first one, letting you make most of the important decisions from mass effect that carry over to mass effect 2.

[kraken613]

OMG I LOVE MASS EFFECT!

I can't wait for ME3!

[alegoicoe]

I feel ya^

[Ceric]

Welp, I came back to Mass Effect.  Let me tell you there is nothing more infuriating then getting a good hour in and dieing to only realize the auto-saved was an hour ago...

Another one is I got an Omni tool 3 which was a huge upgrade for me.  Then got picked off a second later and haven't gotten that out of the loot box ever since.

I keep getting tons of Weapons and Armor and I check to see if there upgrades and...  they almost never are.

Vehicles... For goodness sakes... I died the other day because the Mako got stuck in a tunnel Straight up.  I couldn't even get out of the darn thing.  The driving is really loose and the guns aren't that powerful.

The difficulty I'm either blowing everything away or I'm getting maimed and just loading till I get lucky.  I don't really feel like I'm truly in control of my own destiny and having squad mates is about useless.

Blah... This game is just infuriating on a whole lot of little things that make the joy in the big things much less.

[Kirbyo]

It is a great shooting game and when i played this game first time than i got in the craze of this game and now i play this game daily for two three hours daily.

[TrueNerd]

Ceric, you should just jump into ME2. Literally every complaint you just listed is completely fixed if not thrown out altogether. The Mako is gone, the game works much more like a real, actual shooter, no difficulty spikes, all the upgrading is super streamlined, etc. And the good stuff that ME1 does like the world building, all the characters and lore they all have and such is done even better in ME2. So yeah, if Mass Effect 1 is getting in the way of you playing Mass Effect 2, just skip it.

[Ceric]

Ceric, you should just jump into ME2. Literally every complaint you just listed is completely fixed if not thrown out altogether. The Mako is gone, the game works much more like a real, actual shooter, no difficulty spikes, all the upgrading is super streamlined, etc. And the good stuff that ME1 does like the world building, all the characters and lore they all have and such is done even better in ME2. So yeah, if Mass Effect 1 is getting in the way of you playing Mass Effect 2, just skip it.

I want to bring over my character and I'm not sure you can do that without completing the game.

[Morari]

Ceric, you should just jump into ME2. Literally every complaint you just listed is completely fixed if not thrown out altogether. The Mako is gone, the game works much more like a real, actual shooter, no difficulty spikes, all the upgrading is super streamlined, etc. And the good stuff that ME1 does like the world building, all the characters and lore they all have and such is done even better in ME2. So yeah, if Mass Effect 1 is getting in the way of you playing Mass Effect 2, just skip it.

Yeah, it's really quite sad. MA2 is nothing more than a glorified cover-based shooter. There is no inventory, barely any upgrades, and a fairly boring storyline about recruiting a team. Compare that to the first game, which had a broad storyline, slightly overwhelming inventory management, and actual RPG aspects in how you upgraded weapons and characters.

It's like they took the things that could have been tweaked from the first game and instead just threw them away. As an example, the inventory could have had a better layout, it didn't need to be outright killed. The only thing that MA2 does better is dialogue. You're given far more choices (even if they don't matter) and the interrupts are a lot of fun.

With some luck, we'll see MA3 go back to being an RPG... I'm not holding my breath though, not when things like mutliplayer are being pushed instead.

[Ceric]

If I was going to MA here are a few things I do:

Better system to find out where to go for quests
A place to look at all of your inventory
A lot less Mako
Radar = Minimap as well
A lot less equipment drops.  I'm sorry but Killing a room of bad guys shouldn't give me 20 items that I already have better.
A way to quickly sell everything that isn't an upgrade.

In the MA3 Demo I had ammo for my weapons... I don't like that at all. 

I think they took the feedback and really ran with it way to far from what it seems.  Just toning down some of these elements and enhancing some of the quest tracking would have been enough.