[360] Mass Effect

[silhouette]

Good for PC users. The game is one of the best I have ever played..

I think that's the comprimise MS has to give to EA to keep PS3 out of equation. I won't be surprised if we see ME2/3 on 360 and PC at the same time.

 

[AlNom]

Some more info on the DLC (and screenshots):

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/854/854699p1.html

Casey Hudson: The Batarian pack includes 90 minutes of gameplay for any particular character which includes a main story plot (the mission to stop the Batarians from crashing an asteroid into an inhabited planet) and some additional side-quest content. This does include a mix of story and action. Players can choose to play this content as a paragon or a renegade, which will result in different outcomes. The two paths are not completely separate bundles of content, however.

Perhaps we'll see more of the Cerberus group or the Shadowbroker in the side quests.

Hudson: The only stipulation is your character must be onboard (or able to get to) the Normandy, because your character will actually obtain the mission and fly to the asteroid via the Galaxy Map interface.

Makes sense.

 

[AlphaWolf]

The DLC (Bring down the Sky) is now available on Live for 400 points.

 

[silhouette]

Qualitywise, the DLC is somewhere in between the main quest and side quests/world exploring in the original game. More things to do on the astreoid compared to a regular world in the game, but less compared to the places you visit for the main quest.

The story is nice and again puts you to make a tough choice once more. From the story, I understand we will see batarians more, I guess at least until the reapers decend to the galaxy.

It took me 2 hours to beat the DLC. You have to stop the asteroid decending to Terra Nova in 90 minutes, but the game continues a little bit more afterwards.

XP wise, it makes me go from 54 to 55. It also awards you nice paragon/renegade points.

Btw, if you feel lazy to begin the game again (you have to play the game again at least to the point where you get the ship), it does not take more than 2.5 hours to get to that point.

 

[ShaidarHaran]

I want this game on PS3. Don't make me buy a 360... Capcom gave me Lost Planet (which is awesome, btw) but there are still a few titles exclusive to 360/PC that I'd like to see come over to PS3, especially if done well.

 

[silhouette]

I want this game on PS3. Don't make me buy a 360... Capcom gave me Lost Planet (which is awesome, btw) but there are still a few titles exclusive to 360/PC that I'd like to see come over to PS3, especially if done well.

That's why they make exclusives (so that they can sell the console to you) But, you can still play the PC version although I am not sure if you get the same cinematic feeling. If you do not play in front of a large TV set with good surround sound system, I think you will miss the overall feeling of the game.

 

[Squilliam]

That's why they make exclusives (so that they can sell the console to you) But, you can still play the PC version although I am not sure if you get the same cinematic feeling. If you do not play in front of a large TV set with good surround sound system, I think you will miss the overall feeling of the game.

Move your PC! Stick in an Xbox controller (See! They're getting you there too!) And play it.

If you don't have the graphics capacity you can always upgrade to higher than PS3 spec and do the decent thing and become a die hard pc gamer!

 

[ShaidarHaran]

That's why they make exclusives (so that they can sell the console to you) But, you can still play the PC version although I am not sure if you get the same cinematic feeling. If you do not play in front of a large TV set with good surround sound system, I think you will miss the overall feeling of the game.

My PC is hooked up to my 42" 1080P LCD so no worries there If I can get my hands on a decent sound card and an EVGA 9800-series card that does audio pass-through to output both video and audio through HDMI then I'll have sound covered too.

 

[silhouette]

My PC is hooked up to my 42" 1080P LCD so no worries there If I can get my hands on a decent sound card and an EVGA 9800-series card that does audio pass-through to output both video and audio through HDMI then I'll have sound covered too.

Yeah! You are almost covered [And, ME is coming to PC on May!]

 

[joker454]

Just played thru the downloadable content, took about 2 hours. Pretty cool. It got me wondering about one thing though, which I'm not sure anyone can answer yet but maybe someone has read something someplace about it. I'm on my third play thru the game, this time I'm going more for renegade, so I'm being a total bastard to absolutely everyone, except for the ladies on my crew whom I still treat like royalty I've noticed that being renegade is resulting in more death in some of the plots. I also read that the sequels to Mass Effect will look at your save game and it will affect what happens in the sequels.

So...will it look at the results of your last play through to determine what state the universe is in? In other words, since my last play thru will be as renegade, is that what will set the stage for whats to come in the sequel? I'm playing renegade mostly just to see the changes in plot and conversations, but I'm ultimately more of a paragon player myself and would prefer paragon style of play to be what affects the sequel.

 

[archangelmorph]

Just played thru the downloadable content, took about 2 hours. Pretty cool. It got me wondering about one thing though, which I'm not sure anyone can answer yet but maybe someone has read something someplace about it. I'm on my third play thru the game, this time I'm going more for renegade, so I'm being a total bastard to absolutely everyone, except for the ladies on my crew whom I still treat like royalty I've noticed that being renegade is resulting in more death in some of the plots. I also read that the sequels to Mass Effect will look at your save game and it will affect what happens in the sequels.

So...will it look at the results of your last play through to determine what state the universe is in? In other words, since my last play thru will be as renegade, is that what will set the stage for whats to come in the sequel? I'm playing renegade mostly just to see the changes in plot and conversations, but I'm ultimately more of a paragon player myself and would prefer paragon style of play to be what affects the sequel.

Wouldn't the sequel just prompt you to select a save file from which to draw all the relevant stats from..?

 

[Gradthrawn]

Wouldn't the sequel just prompt you to select a save file from which to draw all the relevant stats from..?

Maybe joker didn't follow the IEEE standard for RPG game saves, and hasn't kept his different play throughs on seperate save files. tsk tsk

 

[AlNom]

The game actually autosaves a completion file every time you finish the game. This file is used to start a new game with the old character. You can actually finish the game, reload that character at an earlier point and finish the game again, and when you go to start a new game you'll have the choice of either completion file. It's not known what exactly gets recorded beyond the usual stats and inventory if anything is...

If BioWare wants to be flexible for a sequel, then at the time you start a profile in ME2, they could do the whole "missing data" event, just like was done during the character creation process, and the player could just fill in the blanks for major events. Or they could go the route Obsidian went with KotOR2 and maybe disguise it as news events in-game or as early sidequests to bring you up to speed. For example, Shepard could start ME2 alone and maybe do an interview with a news reporter looking for sensitive data... (all just guessing)

That at least does not require the player to go back to ME and finish the game differently in order to see things differently in ME2. I guess we'll see.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Really enjoying this game. Sometimes the conversations are long winded, but I'm starting to get the hang of which conversations I can skim and which I actually want to listen to. Pretty addictive overall.

My one complaint about the game - the tank really sucks. Some planets have terrain that is far too erratic and nearly vertical. It's such a pain in the ass to navigate. Also, I find sometimes I'm sitting on a slight incline away from my enemy and the tank will not be able to hit them. It's like the barrel of the turrent is not able to aim downward at all, so you better be on level ground or leaning towards your enemy. Exploring the planet terrain isn't a lot of fun either, but I haven't had to spend much time doing that.

Oh and I'm playing as somewhat of a mix of paragon and renegade. I'm a complete ass and heavy handed with anyone I don't like. I'm pretty noble to everyone else. I like that I can be a dick when I want, or even shoot a guy in the face to end a conversation.

 

[obonicus]

The funny thing though, is that that even though much of the terrain is huge mountains, the Mako can still navigate it even if you head up the mountain head-on. The really, really steep stuff you can climb by going at an angle. The controls are exceedingly floaty.

And it's not a bad game, it's just really short if you go for the main story, and the extra quests are pretty cookie cutter. Get ready to see the same base/mine/ship interiors a lot if you decide to do them.

 

[Scott_Arm]

The funny thing though, is that that even though much of the terrain is huge mountains, the Mako can still navigate it even if you head up the mountain head-on. The really, really steep stuff you can climb by going at an angle. The controls are exceedingly floaty.

And it's not a bad game, it's just really short if you go for the main story, and the extra quests are pretty cookie cutter. Get ready to see the same base/mine/ship interiors a lot if you decide to do them.

Yeah, I've been going the completionist route and the cookie cutterness is very apparent. I also wonder if all of the terrain was generated randomly without any tweaking. Could be why they allowed the mako to drive up a vertical with easy, and would also explain why it's so frustratingly bouncy

Still, minor gripe for me in the overall game. I'm having a good time with it.

 

[RobertR1]

While the side quests aren't amazing, the main quest completely makes up for it. The dialogue interaction is the best in a game, period. Once the install to HDD option kicks in on the 360, this will get replayed again. So far, this have been in my top 3 of games played this generation, so far.

 

[Scott_Arm]

While the side quests aren't amazing, the main quest completely makes up for it. The dialogue interaction is the best in a game, period. Once the install to HDD option kicks in on the 360, this will get replayed again. So far, this have been in my top 3 of games played this generation, so far.

Yeah, I'm not into long drawn out conversations and extreme verbosity in games, but the ability to even have a bit of input and steer a conversation the way I want it makes it more enjoyable.

The first thing I did with my character was max out charm and intimidate, which has been pretty useful and entertaining. Plus I have lots of dollars. I chose that combat/biotic mix class.

Is the DLC worth it?

 

[obonicus]

Yeah, I'm not into long drawn out conversations and extreme verbosity in games, but the ability to even have a bit of input and steer a conversation the way I want it makes it more enjoyable.

The first thing I did with my character was max out charm and intimidate, which has been pretty useful and entertaining. Plus I have lots of dollars. I chose that combat/biotic mix class.

Is the DLC worth it?

More or less. It's the busiest map by far, there's some quest variety, though you also have 3 base maps to clear. There is one original map. I got it on my 2nd playthrough, at level 58, and for me it was somewhat worth it because it gave me a chance to get Heavy Colossus X armor. I was having horrible luck finding it in stores.

As for dialog interaction, I thought it was about standard for Bioware games. Solid, but not inspired. It's still a fun game -- I mean, I'm on my 3rd playthrough, just to see if I can get to 60 (59 now).

 

[Scott_Arm]

nteraction, I thought it was about standard for Bioware games. Solid, but not inspired..

I played Kotor. They also made Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights, correct? Anyway, I think the dialogue is a little more concise than in Kotor. Kotor was way too long winded for my taste, and you always had your teammates running up to nag you about their personal history. Still, it isn't mind blowing stuff in Mass Effect, but I think it's suitable and gives you just enough options to make it add something positive to the game.

I highly doubt I'll hit 60 before the game is done, but I'm trying to pretty much do everything as I go. So far I've completed every secondary quest I've had before I've continued in the main story.