Mass Effect: Love it or Hate it?

Critically Acclaimed Mass Effect: How does it measure up?

Since theres been so many Mass Effect threads recent, peoples been playing the game and being the game owner my self, I thought Id enlist everyone's opinion on the game and thereafter compose a good naturely constructive /bitterly enthralled letter for suggestions on the next Mass Effect title. It will all depend on you guy's inputs.

So please name 3 things you would like to change (so pick them carefully) and talk about them in detail. So give me the what and whys and hopefully some concrete examples/self interpretations to make sense of it all. And also your suggestions for the change.


Example of a feedback that I thought was pretty insightful:

Iceman0124: The only real complaint I have are the side quests, and not how they are done or any such, but simply how they blend into the story. Big bad guy is in process of eliminating all species in the known universe.....so lets cruise around looking for dads fathers day gift, find some antiques, knock off a few mobsters, run a few menial errands, sure you've got the time, not like anything important is going on.......

Anyways, there are always a lot of small quirks that can be improved about ME, but as with all other games. Any a lot of these nuisance such as inventory organization have been addressed multiple times already. It'll be a waste of everyone's time to write two paragraphs to extensively detail these smaller defects.

However do your more interesting insights, try to spark everyone's interest in the game again by sharing unique game play experiences or thoughtfully critique design flaw or storyline inconsistency!

Best of luck in getting everything out.

Reminders:

* Bringing Down the Sky DLC is out

 

The only real complaint I have are the sidequests, and not how they are done or any such, but simply how they blend into the story. Big bad guy is in process of elimating all species in the known universe.....so lets cruise around looking for dads fathers day gift, find some antiques, knock off a few mobsters, run a few meanial errands, sure you've got the time, not like anything important is going on.......Really they should have the ending open to complete things like that, the story conjures up a real sense of urgency, either alter the pacing of the story and give an arc where it makes sense and encourages you to explore and run amuck, or let you do it after the main story.

 

yeh definately, i noticed that too, the scope of the story is too small to be draw n out by sidequests, either introduce a bigger theme and involve the sidequests into the exploration of that theme (evil coporations and corrupt counsil politics anyone?) , or have a linear story line where the main quests unfold fast and furiously. Personally I would prefer the 1st for an rpg game and the second to a shooter, but since Mass Effect is in between, I guess a combination of both?

 

I just finished this today and I loved it, but there are some thing I'd like to see changed.

1) Re-use of areas (on the uncharted worlds). OK, most Bioware games do it to some extent, but never like this. There are literally 4 or 5 areas which are recycled, some more than 10 times each. Every underground base is identical to the others, all ships look alike, every compound on the surface is the same and there is also a tunnel which is repeated a few times. Is area creation really that expensive?

2) A bit more content in the main storyline. It's very good, but quite short. One or two more planets like Feros would have been nice.

3) Mini game is overused. It's fine for decryption, but they really should have something different for surveying minerals and searching for medallions.

 

My main complaints are:

1) Side quests get repetitive, although they are still fun.

2) Overly used character models.

3) Film Grain / Overly blurrly background.

 

1) Too much use of the Mako in side quests, and monotony of sidequests in general. Overused environments, some sidequests were intense, they should eliminate some of the exploration (or make it more exciting) and cut to the chase quicker.

2) Bug can lead to auto kills against Mako when fighting a certain type of enemy

3) Bug rendering something invisible that's crucial to a quest

 

All of the above..I feel like a cosmic gofer at times. Great game but always room for improvement.

No crashes! Hey Witcher..

 

I didnt know about the bugs. So that explain why Mako sometimes die in 1 hit to the projectiles from thrasher maws..

I almost wish they had included a multiplayer portion of this game, online co-op playing downloadable content only?! Event PVP tactics will be a revolutionary multiplayer game since it'll be a perfect blend of 3rdPS and Tactics. God i hope they'll do that in Mass Effect 2.

 

Film grain can be disabled in the in game settings on the main menu (not the launcher menu)

 

I'm talking about the one hit kills when the thresher maw spawns directly under you. The spawning location is random so it feels really cheap when it one hit kills you this way.

 

I"d like to see other playable races, I would have loved to play the game as Wrex, he's awesome, a love child of a klingon and a battle toad!

I'd also like the customer character options to be about 100% deeper.

 

About crashes, ive already gotten 10+ general protection faults. While in The Witcher I only had one crash. Kind of annoying but im over it.

 

Since I got my ATI 3870, I havent had a single in game crash.

 

I only have one major annoyance cum recommendation: the decontamination and re-boarding of the Normandy takes WAY too long to complete.

Another thing that grinds my gears is how you cannot see what armors or weapons looks like pre-completed transaction.

 

oh, that actually never happened to me, I alway run into them when they just appear. And if im going full speed theres really no way to avoid it. They come up pretty damn fast. Its so stupid too because sometimes ill barely skim its side with my bumper and not a second too soon.... red screen of death.

And actually for the hardware issues Im actually surprised that this games running under low system specs. Im running a 8600m gt with 2.2ghz dual core and Im playing 1280 native high/high with aniscopic x4 @ steady 30. Other people with higher cards can easily bring it up to ultra high, which looks amazing for the most part. And I cant even get C&C 3 to run at ultra without noticeable FPS dips. So im pretty amazed for the most part.

 

Thats because the graphics engine was built on console hardware, not current gen PC hardware.

 

Love it, but I would have liked to see an "extraction" bit of the planet side trips. Just clicking "Return to Normandy" is a bit lame..

Now, bring on the Mass Effect MMO. Now that would rule.. It would blow EVE out of the water.

 

Walk to the very front of the airlock so the render beam passes through you, then walk to the very back where you entered the exterior door. It fades to black and completes the decontamination faster.

Overall I loved the game, extremely engrossing, I liked the characters, it was fun, etc.

Things I'd change:

1. More varied environments. While I realize thematically they probably made all the planet bases the same layout because they're colonies of some sort and in-game world, would have been mass produced. Still though, got annoying. Same for underground mines.

2. This is more a graphical complaint: The hair sucked, badly. If I have time I'll get an in-game screenshot of Alyx's hair in HL2: EP2, which so far for me is the pinnacle of female hair design in a game. Default male hair was good, but how hard is it to program a buzz cut?

3. Better inventory management. I got close to maxing out my inventory many times and it was a HUGE pain in the ass to sort through them all and check for dupes / sell the ones that were inferior to what I had. I wasted so much time on that. Plus I didn't once use Polonium/Cryo/Proton rounds anyway so I could have just sold that crap early on.

 

that and elevators.....ughhh

 

The ability to check on your crew's stats while on the Normandy. Especially if you have turned off auto level. It's a pain to dock at a station and take out your crew 2 at a time just to level them up.

Also, inventory items limit can easily be hacked by changing the limit from 150 to something else in one of the ini files.

Guess I'm also lucky, I had exactly 1 crash in over 60 hours of gameplay on 3 different PCs (home/work/laptop).

 

I'm speaking from an Xbox 360 point of view, but I generally agree with all these points:

Enemy AI kind of sucks, and they get repetitive.

The inventory system does indeed suck. They need to make it much easier to use.

All the 'different' guns are just guns with different paint jobs (different assault rifles use the same model, different texture). More variety would help.

The sidequest planets are dull. I only did a very few sidequests before it really didn't seem worth it.

Even though the whole game was supposed to be about making tough decisions, nothing ever really struck me that much as game changing. There was never a decision I made that seemed to have a greater effect than the moment at hand, except at the end when you make that one BIG decision. Even that isn't that big of a deal, because the games ends relatively quickly after you make it.

All in all I still really enjoyed the game and played it for 40 hours before calling it quits. Great story, great dialogue.. while certainly lacking in some areas, it was overall a very good game.

 

Huge RPG fan, and Mass Effect was an engrossing game that I barely put down for a week.

That's not to say that it didn't have it faults (hey, nothing's perfect ... not even me. )

1) The FREAKIN' Mako. Darn thing drove me nuts (if you'll pardon the pun). The recharging on it's shield made up for about half my play time. And it was never upgradeable like everything else in the game. Easily my #1 complaint about the game.

2) The design of the "secondary"/ side quest planets. I know they're just supposed to be random rocks in space, but would it really have killed them to throw in a few interesting rock formations, deserts or trees? A bush here and there? Something? They were repetitive and a bit of a PITA.

3) The inventory system for sure. I'm bad at inventory management ... for starters. And this inventory system doesn't help you out at all. I was constantly forgetting what doohickey I had on which characters weapon, which I should dump, will I need the Armor Piercing Rounds for this next big battle ... who knows? *sigh*

Okay, so I seem pretty down on these points. But, honestly, it's one of my favorite games from the past 6 mos, maybe past 12 mos.

 

Shredder / Tungsten / High Explosive / Inferno (Or Incendiary) were really all you needed.

 

I just want to say that although this thread tends to dwell on negatives it is still one of the top RPGs ive ever played...just so people dont get confused

I also agree with csinth, most of the decisions you made were not game changing. Many of them didn't change much, you just sort of moved on. Albeit Ive only played 85% through once... I tried to make a different choice after everytime my game crashed and I didn't notice a difference.

Compared to The Witcher the choices you make in this game are just sort of 'meh'.

That being said the main storyline in this game is more immersive and action-packed (although its shorter than The Witcher a lot more happens imho), not sure if the ending will be as good/epic as The Witcher though cause im not there yet.

Main storyline only this game owns but if im trying to do it all then The Witcher is the better game.

Basically I love Mass Effect but it could have been so much better if they just did a bunch of little things (maybe they were rushed for Christmas?)

 

Please read other plps comments, most complaints have been repeated multiple times already. In any case..

I do wish that there were more upgrades in general, towards the end, there were only 3 armor upgrades, 4 ammo and 3 weapon upgrades i used. High explosive is wonderful. I moded the HMLV sniper with 2 scream rail IX and Explosive ammo XIII = total ownage. I also loved using snowblind and Inferno to see enemies burst into cider or shattering into a pile of ice.

I definitely agree with you. The main story rocks. Its just boggled down by small mechanic/design flaws. But at the same time, Bioware could have easily made this game into one of the best RPG we've seen i if they hadnt decide split it into a three part series. And we all know why they're doing that (K-Ching!!) This actually piss me off alot and I hope the future of gaming design wont all go down this path.

And talking about game design, this is just something i noticed: while the start of the game was really really slow, going to planet X to rescue some researchers really add nothing to the story, and the game ended in hyper speed as soon as you reached a certain point. I think half the story content was played through in 20% of the time. I would have preferred a more even storyline progression.

So whats in store for us in mass effect 2? I say hopefully Bioware will have paid attention to enough of our complaints to make ME universe closer to what we imagine. OPEN up missions on earth maybe? Where will it go? Thoughts?

 

-- The ability to read the journal while viewing the galaxy map
-- More interaction between crew members, e.g., disagreements and arguments, banter and jokes
-- A social setting on the citadel, e.g., buy drinks (and information) from the bartender
-- A true black market (discounting the Normandy's wares)
-- Extraction points, as opposite to "clicking N to return to the Normandy"
-- Tougher choices and harsh consequences for your actions
-- A touch of land based physics
-- Romantic tension between the player and NPCs


That's about it for now.

While I believe a few of those (nitpick-y) suggestions would enhance the quality of the game by one fold, I also believe Mass Effect is a truly remarkable game in its current state. Truly remarkable!

 

I disagree.

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I'm just pass the point where Shepard had to make a choice between which crew member to abandon during the assault on Serian's research base.

In my case, it was a difficult choice between Ash and Alenko.

I weighed the pros and cons of each character for nearly five minutes before deciding to keep and rescue Ash, thus allowing Alenko to perish.

It was no easy choice; I grew fond of both characters, as I enjoyed their banter and made 'em my preferred crew members.

 

Thats why I said "most of the decisions" . Im pretty much where you are in the game and that was the first real decision. Others just gave me a summary of events during my elevator rides, or I was given a stern warning or positive compliments or *gasp* an interview from third-party characters. Nothing major.

Im only saying this because compared to my recent experience with The Witcher, the decisions in this game aren't as influencial. Otherwise I probably would be raving about them.

 

I only ever used Tali, Liara, and Garrus anyway, so the decision didn't bother me much.

 

I really like the game so far. Just left the Citadel for the 1st time and explored one planet with a pirate facility.

One thing I'd love to see, which I really wished for in KotOR, was more action-type gameplay... Jumping, climbing, etc. I know its not that important but I think it would be great if you could actually climb things in the game, jump off them, do barrel rolls, etc. With the 3rd person type gameplay, I feel this would make an excellent addition to the feel of the game.

Plus they need more varied faces/models... Seeing the same female face with the same hairstyle in the Citadel is kinda dumb.

 

Well, despite some of the flaws. This game is just fun fun fun. I finally finished my first run through after about 65 hours. I did do most of the sub quest so I was taking my time.

I decided to do a second run thru since I know I have missed somethings and I want to try different approach to certain quests. Low and behold, next time I looked at the clock, it's 4 hours later. This game just grabs you and draws you in even on the second run through.

 

My thoughts exactly, what are your favorite mission? What about favorite main story chapter? Biggest let down mission?

Favorite mission for me will have to be Listening post Alpha and Theta. It was fun blasting rachni as they swarm towards you. And the multi part mission really gave insight to the terrorist group Cerebus, which made the later mission on cerebus more relevant contextualized.

I thought the biggest let down was the monkey mission. The whole feel was so nonchalant and made absolutely no sense. How the hell did those stupid monkeys who cant even walk bipedal manage to steal the module? and the idea they you have to search them... omg they've hidden it in their monkey suite, we're doomed! was ridiculous. Bioware should have made it into a planet of killer monkeys instead!

 

I didnt like it.... The menu system was the main thing that annoyed me... I couldnt wrap my head around it.

 

Haha the monkeys yeah that one sucked.

Liara is my favorite main squad member. As for favorite mission... hmm that's a tough one, I liked the whole Peak 15 sequence on Noveria a lot, but I'd have to go with Virmire. That place rocked.

 

I LOVE Mass Effect....will be buying retail soon.

 

I'm thinking that the decisions made will have a huge impact on the next game.

We should start a thread (with massive spoiler tags of course) to discuss various decisions that we made.

 

Well, I mostly gone the Paragon path on my 1st run thru. Now that my Paragon is maxed, I'm beginning to take the renegade path on some quest (still fell like being nice guy to my crew).

 

Being a bastard gets things done quickly.

 

Not if you want so loving from your crew

 

Haha true. Spacebar helps though if you get bored and want to fast forward through the dialogue. I'm still romancing both Ashley and Liara but I'm totally going Liara. Blue aliens are hotter.

 

I had a Female Shepard but I agree Blue Alien are hot

 

Too bad ashley wont agree to having a threesome.. BOOOOOO

 

Imagine what Fox News would have said if that was possible.

 

LOL fox would do what it always do, blow its head off and try to make the producer look like moral terrorists.

They'll need to write the threesome with an anti-fox secret code in the second take of the game. Sadly no word on Mass Effect 2 yet or even a release date for the DLC.

 

Oh gosh there's Mass Effect hentai. I was googling to check out if I screwed up my romance or not and ran across it. Rule #34 of the internet, comes through yet again.

 

Good game, finished it last night. I completed all the sub plots as well. Like joker, i could make the Mako dance as well.

Not one crash during whole game, Mako was beat to shixxt!

 

Actually, Bioware is well into making ME2 already and seeing that they are now owned by EA, it's more than likely it will be multi-platform.

 

Ok im thinking about getting this game. I have some questions that aren't answered very well in the reviews that I have read. My first imprtant question is

is the game a FPS for the most part? I mean I play cod4, ghost recon, GoW, Assassins creed. Would i enjoy this game. I cant download the demo because my net is having issues at the moment, but from what I have read this game appears to be "friendly" to those of us that arent really into RTS orWoW type games.

I really would liek to give it a try if it was based more in the FPS dept. Well let me know guys.

thx

Edit: I cant seem to find the demo ...hmm.

 

I don't think Bioware has done a demo for any of their games in half a decade. At best, they might release one after the game has been out for a while.

The game is essentially a Third Person Shooter as far as combat goes. It has nothing to do with RTS games and is single player (so quite different from WoW).

 

I agree whole-heartedly with -Amadeus Excello-'s suggestions. I would LOVE to see the social aspect of the game greatly improved upon. And, someone else mentioned the stiff hair. That is driving me crazy as well. FYI: I'm still running around the Citadel in Chapter 1 and I brought the game on the first day of release. My few complaints are:

- The landscape is super huge but there isn't enough occupying its many empty spaces. And it's like running through a huge maze at times and you don't have the ability to keep a scaled down version of the map on screen so it tends to interrupt the flow of the game (for me at least).
- The few fights I've been in I've had trouble with the cover system. It doesn't seem to work in my favor much.

And, on the topic of blue aliens and romance.. spoiler maybe?

..did anyone do the side mission with the consort? the "reward" was interesting in itself and it surprised me some because i'm playing with a female shepard who's badass chick like me :0P

end of spoiler