Mass Effect movie on XBL market place

[Serenity Painted Death]

Number 6 will bury this game in an untimely grave if the dialogue is anywhere near as long/intensive as in their past games (Jade Empire comes to mind, good grief).

Five minute conversations everyone!


And count me in the weird-nightclub-light hater group.

 

[ZiFF]

That aliasing is horrible.

 

[slider]

I don't like RPG's... But this kind of reminds me of Elite (which I'm always bleating on about) so I'll pick it up on release.

For creating a sheer sense of scale I think Bioware should be applauded. Just hope it isn't a big empty galaxy!

 

[mckmas8808]

That aliasing is horrible.

But everything else looks great, so why complain.

 

[pipo]

But everything else looks great, so why complain.

Indeed.

The game already looks better than it did in teh E3 demo and it's still in the works. When it comes out, it's going to be absolutely stellar.

 

[czekon]

I think it looks absolutely fantastic !. Great characters, nice atmospheric gfx, some minor shadows glitches but overall looks great.

 

[scooby_dooby]

IGN's fake HD:
http://media.xbox360.ign.com/media/718/718963/vids_1.html

720p:
http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/4529

It looks really good and the dialogue system seems cool. The artifacts on some of the shadows is annoying though, although that may venture into nitpickiness. Likewise you can spot some noticable aliasing (seeing as UE3 does not use MSAA) which is more pronounced than Gears of War, probably because it is slower paced (thus little motion blur) and because Mass Effect seems to have more high contrast areas where Gears seems to be more reserved to less contrasty greys, blues, and blacks.

Anyhow between the previews from the press and Biowares history this would seem to be a game is well on pace to be a great title.

Ya I noticed these issues as well. The aliasing didn't bother me much as it was very subtle, but I hope they do something about the dynamic shadows.

Hard to nitpick this game though, the entire thing looks like a cut scene, it's pretty amazing. I really like the fighting as well, basically pseudo FPS where you don't actually aim (or hardly) and it's more tactical. The world map, awesome, the amount of planets looks amazing, can't wait!

p.s. The guy doing the voice over, Casey Hudson, my ex roomy works with his dad. Small world!!

 

[pc999]

Visually it looks fantastic, one of the best I saw IMO.

Gameplay looks very nice too, althought it may lack some action/tactics to my taste.

 

[heavenlyglory]

Bioware greatness. I can't wait.

 

[silhouette]

This game simply shapes up amazing.. Great facial expressions/gestures, very very cool dialogue system (no need to read a long sentence just to listen it again after selecting it) which also allows additional actions (like drawing gun and pointing to the other person ), nice navigation system, and hopefully a cool story. However, two things bothered me much. First, as other ppl pointed out, the shadows. I guess they were using low-res shadow maps and it is quiet disturbing as everything else looks pretty nice. Hopefully it will be improved before the game ships. Second, some of textures especially used on the main character are really low-res. I watched the trailer both in a 46" DLP tv via xb360 and on a small laptop screen. Although, it is not apparent on LCD screen, it is pretty evident on TV especially when there is a close-up shot. I hope they also up texture-resolution because TV is where most people are going to play this game.

Btw, I also downloaded the video that presents how Halo3 trailer was made.. Boy, these two videos shows how the presentation can make a difference.. Presentation of mass effect seems really dull when you watched it after Halo3 presentation... I guess Bioware could have done a much better job if they can present it like Halo3.. Though, I guess they don't want to spend much time on this, and I can not blame them

 

[Gollum]

Damn I want this game! IMO it simply looks amazing. Maybe not technically stomping all over the competition, but the way art direction and technology come together has got to be one of the most convincing looking next-gen efforts yet!

Some issues to be fixed:
- obvious aliasing
- some pretty low-res textures
- low shadowmap resolution causes shadow flickering
- many repeating NPC character models in just that one nightclub, are we gonna run into the same people a 1000 times throughout the whole galaxy?

But overall they don't really change my very positive impressions of the game and its more than pleasing visuals. They also got plenty time left to adress at least some of those. Looking forward to see more...

 

[patsu]

Wow, you guys have very sharp eyes
If it's an extension of KOTOR, it should be a good game. I only played the first one, and liked the story. How long is the game under development ?

 

[AlNom]

Wow, you guys have very sharp eyes
If it's an extension of KOTOR, it should be a good game. I only played the first one, and liked the story.

This is a new IP, new story, so it has zilch to do with the Star Wars universe. (Sorry to burst your bubble!)

I believe they started development as soon as they finished Jade Empire, just a guess. They might have done some pre-production during JE development though, of course. *plans for the future*

edit:

According to this interview, dated July 11 2006:

IGO: How long has the game been in development?

CH: We started working on it a little over 2 years ago. It takes a long time to build a galaxy!

 

[EndR]

Woaaa..
Some people are really hard to impress...

IMHO, this game looks stunning but if you remember Kotor, that wasn´t entirely about looks either and it was still one of the best games released last gen..

If Bioware can deliver an experience that matches (and surpasses) the audiovisuality, then we will have one of the best game during next gen..

the best part is that Mass Effect is a freakin trilogy with episodic content to download in between parts. This game sounds HUUGE..

 

[Inquisitive_Idiot]

This is a new IP, new story, so it has zilch to do with the Star Wars universe. (Sorry to burst your bubble!)

I think he was implying that the game is based on the foundations established in KoTOR with regards to how important character interaction is to outcome of the story and how you are perceived.

 

[Serenity Painted Death]

My initial impressions were based on screens, but I've now seen the video.

It definitely comes off as more impressive, but my basic opinion remains intact. The actual gameplay (as in, shooting the bad guys) footage is good, but not mind-blowing, though the cutscenes are fantastic. I love the "entirely in-engine" blurb before the video begins... which is actually quite a bit more honest than a lot of the stuff we've seen (in-game could technically mean the same thing, but is generally used to try to promote /gameplay/).

I think we've seen a few games that are more impressive graphically, but (my complaints of horrid horrid horrid art/models aside) this is nothing to be ashamed of. Bioware generally makes good looking games, anyway, regardless of how they play.

(and it does seem they shortened the dialogue immensely).

 

[Serenity Painted Death]

I think he was implying that the game is based on the foundations established in KoTOR with regards to how important character interaction is to outcome of the story and how you are perceived.

Except that all the responses and progressions are entirely bland and black/white.

A) Kill the bitch!

B) Rescue her kitty!

C) Ignore her!

Simply captivating!!

I've yet to see a game with a more complex good/evil system than the old Ogre Battle/Tactics games.

Even Fable good/evil/whatever is more interesting than what Bioware has offered in KOTOR and Jade Empire.

 

[AlNom]

I think he was implying that the game is based on the foundations established in KoTOR with regards to how important character interaction is to outcome of the story and how you are perceived.

It was somewhat ambiguous because he mentioned that he liked the story, but sure.

 

[Tap In]

Late to the party here....


WOW! this game looks utterly amazing

The dialogue system appears to be great but I'm not sure how I'll like the shooter aspects over the shoulder, but we'll see.

 

[patsu]

It was somewhat ambiguous because he mentioned that he liked the story, but sure.

Sorry for not being clear, I was trying to do short posts instead of long-winded replies.
As Inquisitive_Idiot mentioned, I do believe that Bioware will borrow whatever was/is successful in KOTOR and apply it to subsequent titles where it makes sense.

As for the story... since Bioware has one or more good interactive story teller in the company, I assume he/she has the necessary skills and depth to repeat the same mechanics in a new game... I enjoyed the scale, depth and the final twist in KOTOR.