Topic: |||THE ULTIMATE MASS EFFECT 1 THREAD|||

[W7RE]

One key skill seems to be a specter skill which allows you to revive your party after they have been incapacitated. That has done wonders.

I just got the skill that refreshes all your other skills, just so I could use that revive more often. I can't keep these retards out of harms way, and usually once they're under fire they're down within 5 seconds or so.

I've got a question. Can I seek multiple love interests simultaneously, or will the girls get jealous of each other and hate me? Should I back off with one of them?

[iPPi]

You won't be able to romance both characters.  You can only choose one. 

All this talk about Mass Effect makes me want to play it again... it has been about two years now anyway.

[Quemaqua]

I'm hoping to get some good time in with it this weekend, possibly finish it.  Then I can pick up 2 on Tuesday.

[Ghandi]

I've got a question. Can I seek multiple love interests simultaneously, or will the girls get jealous of each other and hate me? Should I back off with one of them?

/insert relevant gpw post here

[MysterD]

You won't be able to romance both characters.  You can only choose one. 

That was the cool thing about Jade Empire - you didn't have to choose one.

[iPPi]

That was the cool thing about Jade Empire - you didn't have to choose one.

Dragon Age is the same.

[MysterD]

Dragon Age is the same.

Oh....you can?
Damn, you must really have to work your gifts and relationships and cunning skills to achieve that!

EDIT:
I've really been trying to work w/ the relationship thing w/ Leilana...

[Pugnate]

So I've gotten some kick ass equipment after completing the "Bring Down the Sky" DLC, and I am really enjoying the game now. What I really love is going on that galaxy map thing and just exploring and reading about the planets. It gives me such a strange feeling.

[Quemaqua]

I love that too.  Granted, the sidequesting is a bit thin, but I actually like that they took the time to write these interesting descriptions of planets you can't even visit.  I really enjoy going through each system and just seeing what's there, then exploring what planets I can and enjoying the offroading on the big landscapes.

[Pugnate]

It is strange. I am loving some of the stuff people seemed to have complained about. Some people complained about coming across only some planetary history etc., rather than anything solid to do on most planets.

I actually have found all of that stuff fascinating and even a bit exciting, and have poured every word of every little planet's history. And I felt a lot of joy when I came across earth's solar system, and simply had to see what had developed on each planet.

All of this stuff is more fascinating because it feels a bit grounded in reality. It makes me wish I could see the stars and actual alien life.

The other thing I am really enjoying is the vehicular stuff. I think it controls fine, and don't get all the bitchin' about that. I wonder if it was worse on the console?

But I love how that Mako or whatever it is called really grips the planetary surfaces, and I am getting a kick out of going over the higher terrains. I also think the vehicle is fun to kill with, especially using the scope.

I really enjoy going through each system and just seeing what's there, then exploring what planets I can and enjoying the offroading on the big landscapes.

haha, yea it makes me feel a touch giddy.

Granted, the sidequesting is a bit thin

Yea, I think that's the worst aspect of the game. I saw the IGN review, so I am glad they paid attention to it in ME2, but the sidequests (so far) are so cookie cutter, that they almost feel bits added to make the game feel longer. I can't remember them being this bad even in Oblivion.

I think it felt worse because they were overloaded in the very first phase of the game (the Citadel). I think I ran around for hours obtaining and completing quests that were triggered and accomplished with a few lines of conversation.

I normally enjoy those types of quest because they normally tell interesting little side stories, but these were just dull, and the conversation choices felt superficial.

I am just explaining my earlier rant though, and not saying it was a huge problem or anything. Having gotten deeper into the game, I have really started to enjoy it. Both the sidequesting, and the action elements seem to have been resolved on way or the other.

[Quemaqua]

I'm curious to see how things develop with 2.  Some of what I've read sounds good, some of it doesn't at all.  For instance, removing the elevator rides with the great dialogue you'd sometimes get, where at the very least you could swing the camera around and look at the character models, and replacing it with loading screens?  Fuck that.  Who the hell thought they needed to complain about that?  I absolutely can't stand loading screens, and this is one of the reasons that I kept feeling irritated by Dragon Age... everything was so compartmentalized, felt so disconnected, like you had these little pockets of space you could go into, but the world itself as a whole was just puzzle pieces fitted together.  That's really just too much time spent with huge, open-world games, I think, and it makes more sense in a game like ME because space is huge and you can't exactly just go walking around all the time.  But still... I fucking hate loading screens.  Why did anyone think this was going to be the better choice?

And then they took out all the planetary exploration stuff.  Which isn't necessarily a problem... but it seems like they could have built upon that foundation rather than just removing it.  Though I suppose ultimately the story has changed enough where that wouldn't really work as much, anyway, and I don't know enough about what the game is doing to know what they might have replaced it with.

Either way, I want to see what they did, but I'm a little apprehensive.  These days people have a tendency to streamline a bit heavy-handedly.  And while listening to your fans used to be a great thing, these days there are so many morons corrupting the general gaming populace that I'm not so sure.

[Pugnate]

Both my sister and I are playing this on our respective PCs, and she having played the console version for a bit first, tells me the elevator rides were extremely long, and have gotten much better on the PC.

Like yourself, I think it is a senseless trade off. I actually enjoy looking at the character models (like Tali's rear ) during the elevator rides, and appreciate the bits of conversation. I think it is incredible they swapped that for loading screens, though I never experienced the elevator rides on the 360.

And Mass Effect was already far too simplified for my taste, so yes, it is a bit worrying that they've gone even further in ME2.

And then they took out all the planetary exploration stuff.  Which isn't necessarily a problem...

It just hit me. I remember them talking about that in the IGN video review.

I can see it irritating some people, but to remove it completely? That's ridiculous.

[MysterD]

It is strange. I am loving some of the stuff people seemed to have complained about. Some people complained about coming across only some planetary history etc., rather than anything solid to do on most planets.

You know, I'm surprised some of the planets you can't even do anything with just didn't wind up eventually as a place you could explore in some sort of DLC.

The other thing I am really enjoying is the vehicular stuff. I think it controls fine, and don't get all the bitchin' about that. I wonder if it was worse on the console?

B/c the camera doesn't follow behind The Mako itself - yeah, it actually follows the gun instead - I just wish there was some sort of hot-key I could press if I just want to reset the camera to go instantly right behind the Mako. That was a VERY minor complaint of mine - my only complaint w/ the Mako controls.

[iPPi]

The problem with the Mako is its turret.  The turret fires straight +/- 15º.  Basically, what ends up happening is if you have to have vehicular combat, you have to be on an even plane with your target otherwise you can't hit shit.

[Xessive]

The problem with the Mako is its turret.  The turret fires straight +/- 15º.  Basically, what ends up happening is if you have to have vehicular combat, you have to be on an even plane with your target otherwise you can't hit shit.

True, unless you zoom in (shift button) then it seems to align properly. It was driving my nuts when I was shooting from the hills until I tried rocket-sniping and realized that it's actually working.

[Quemaqua]

That's not the case on PC.  You have perfectly decent range of motion with the turrent via mouse control.

[Pugnate]

Yea it seems pretty perfect on the PC.

[W7RE]

Until I read this page of replies, I didn't realize that you could zoom with the Mako gun. Makes things a lot easier lol.

[Pugnate]

I am not totally on board with the conversation system. It isn't bad, but mostly you don't get a fair representation of what Shepard is going to say.

And so often he is just a real dick/asshole.

[iPPi]

I am not totally on board with the conversation system. It isn't bad, but mostly you don't get a fair representation of what Shepard is going to say.

And so often he is just a real dick/asshole.

It took a while for me to get used to that as well.  I remember the conversation choices were very general.  It was either a good, neutral, or bad response.  If you have persuasion or intimidation you would get some other dialogue choices as well.  What I do like about it though is at least your character talks.  In Dragon Age your character is silent which was kind of awkward for me.

[Pugnate]

I think it was easier for them to do that in Mass Effect because you are either a human male or female, which limits the recorded protagonist dialog.

Anyway, I am sorta starting to see some of the complaints regarding the planetary exploration, as some of the novelty has worn off for me. I still like the richness of the fiction written up for each planet, and I love the art that went into creating the various zoomed in images of the planets -- all of that is still interesting.

What really blows is how cardboard thin everything is on these random side planets (the ones you can land on). I know it is all side stuff, and I know they probably didn't have the resources, especially considering that it was a new franchise, but I really feel they missed a trick with the side planetary exploration. They could have gone a little Star Treky or something.

Basically every planet I've managed to land on the side has varied only in the color of the terrain, and the wind speed in the atmosphere. They are all the exact same otherwise, and every time the so called survey teams are found dead for one reason or another. Not once have I found someone alive aside from random hostiles, or those giant worm creatures that inexplicably are the exact same on every random landable planet light years apart.

It is a bit disappointing. Even the interiors of the mines on these planets are the same, as are the interiors of the random shuttles/space ships in distress.

My problem is that I am a bit of a completion freak. Even though I realize that if I've seen one planet, I've seen them all (hell I just went to a random planet that was described as earth-like, but was devoid of any trees or water bodies. Hell, it was the same as most other planets, except its terrain was green ), I simply must land if I am able to.

Having said that, the quests that are part of the main or side story are pretty tight still. The planets for these are varied and interesting... but yes, I can sorta see why they took out the random exploration bits in the second game. I guess you shouldn't do something if you lack the resources to do it right.

I am overall enjoying this game a lot still.

I think the characters are pretty well written. Ashley is weird and hardcore, but in a very believable and realistic way. I can see how someone can be like that.

The only character I really don't like is the Krogan. 

edit:

If my comments sound like random yammering, that's because it is 1:30 am here on a weekday... and I am so exhausted.. *yawn*)

[W7RE]

I am not totally on board with the conversation system. It isn't bad, but mostly you don't get a fair representation of what Shepard is going to say.

And so often he is just a real dick/asshole.

Haha, yea. I had one where it was something like, "we're done here" and I chose it, and Sheperd punched the person in the face!

I was also surprised that when you choose an option like, "I'll kill you" it's not always going to lead to a battle. Sometimes you'll just straight up execute someone in the cutscene.

[W7RE]

I just finished, and wow. The ending was a lot more satisfying than I expected. I would seriously start another playthrough if I didn't have ME2 sitting here.

My last autosave just before the last part is 38 hours 56 minutes. So 39 hours for the first playthrough. Though I did get the Completionist, Asari Ally, Soldier Ally, and Renegade achievements, which required a lot of side quests.

[idolminds]

FYI, Mass Effect is $10 at GoGamer. Gonna make a madness sale thread, but this was already at the top so...

[Pugnate]

So I got off Feros which was totally awesome, and decided to do some companion sidequests, which really sucked ass. I mean talk about amateur. It is always the same lifeless planet/abandoned shuttle with an uninhabited mine or something which all look *exactly* the same. It is fine once or twice, but I've probably wasted time on ten of these planets and five of these shuttles, each time hoping for something exciting.

I think iPPi probably had the right idea when he said to visit the main planets, which are actually quite sweet.

[W7RE]

Well I guess you can explore random planets and stuff. I never did any of that. When I would go to do a sidequest that I picked up elsewhere (mostly from Citadel), I don't recall it ever telling me which planet in that system I was supposed to go to. Only 1 planet would have the land option though, so I'd scan the other planets in that system.

If you're playing on PC (and thus don't have achievements), I'd probably skip most of the side quests. Basically anything that tells you to collect something or is on a random planet, you won't miss much. Though there are some cameos in ME2 for characters I only interacted with in side quests in ME1. Nothing related to the ME2 story, but a nod/conversation about something I've done in the past.

I would definitely do the side quest about the rogue VI though. You get a reward. This quest will come from a transmission you get on the Normandy, just before or after a main story mission I think.

(click to show/hide)

You get to advance your class to a new one depending on which class you're playing. For example my soldier could choose Shock Trooper or Commando, which gave me a new ability or something.

[Quemaqua]

There are achievements on PC, btw.  At least, as I recall.  Some sort of medal system where you can earn things for doing stuff.

[gpw11]

Yup, the same achievements are on the PC.

[Pugnate]

Finished it a couple of days ago. I thought overall the reviewers were a bit generous with Mass Effect, but the game was very good, still. I thought the story was pretty well told, and the game was quite good provided one stuck with the main plot.

What stood out for me was the cinematic style to the cutscenes, which were quite solid.

So yes, overall a good title, though not one that I'd play through again... ever... the weaker aspects were just too taxing for me to play this again.

[W7RE]

I think my situation with ME1 was that I expected it to have a lot of broken stuff in it, and it wasn't as bad as I'd expected. I've decided that when I do play through ME2 again, I'll be playing through both games again. I don't know if I'd play the first one for a third time though, the second I definitely would.

[MysterD]

Mass Effect 1 PC = $10 currently on Impulse to download.
NOTE: Securom Internet DRM still enforced in this version, it looks like.

[scottws]

I bought this game off of Impulse a couple weeks ago and finally beat it last night at 3:00am.  At first I thought it was a little cheesy, but the gameplay was fun and the story really started picking up steam about 2/3 of the way through.  The main mission worlds were a total blast.

I was so pumped at the end of the game that I bought the closing credits song off of iTunes.  I sort of regret that, but it was a dollar so it's not a big deal.

It was the first RPG-like game since Grandia II that I plowed through in such a manner.  It was also the first RPG or RPG-like game that I played as an asshole.  At first it was really easy, but later on I started to feel like a real jerk because the Council members and human ambassador hated me and were always talking about regretting their decision.  But still, it was fun to needle people and see them shrink under the pressure or in Wrex's case actually warm up because of it.

I went with Garrus and Wrex, which worked out for most of the game until about halfway through when I started seeing hard encryption and Garrus didn't have a high enough skill in that.  He also didn't have a high enough skill to retrieve anything from the downed satellites or probes you see on the various planets.  But Wrex was a complete wrecking ball.  By the end of the game he had some crazy armor with 455 shield strength and was just a beast.  His biotic abilities also helped immensely in many of the harder fights.

Kaiden was an annoying puss so I let him die.

Can't wait to get ME2.  Damn Gogamer.com for having it for $10.90!  I was going to buy it off Impulse, but ended up suggesting it as a gift for me for Christmas and now I have to wait.

[Cobra951]

I played through several times.  You shouldn't let your team auto-level.  At least pick the important skills manually first.  Thing is, you don't know that hacking and decryption are so important until after you've gained some familiarity with the game, and by then it may be too late.  After my first time through, I always made sure Garrus was up to speed on these, unless I was the techie guy.  Another thing I did was use the Quarian for loot gathering while I ramped up someone else's tech skills.

Great game.  Kept me going for quite some time.  What is the song at the end?  Now I can't even remember.  Weird, considering I must have heard it a half-dozen times.  I'm not likely to forget "No Heaven" at the end of Borderlands, so maybe I just didn't like the ME closing tune.

[Pugnate]

ME2 is significantly different from ME1. Think of it as a 3rd person shooter with some great storytelling, and minor RPG elements.

[scottws]

I played through several times.  You shouldn't let your team auto-level.  At least pick the important skills manually first.  Thing is, you don't know that hacking and decryption are so important until after you've gained some familiarity with the game, and by then it may be too late.  After my first time through, I always made sure Garrus was up to speed on these, unless I was the techie guy.  Another thing I did was use the Quarian for loot gathering while I ramped up someone else's tech skills.

Great game.  Kept me going for quite some time.  What is the song at the end?  Now I can't even remember.  Weird, considering I must have heard it a half-dozen times.  I'm not likely to forget "No Heaven" at the end of Borderlands, so maybe I just didn't like the ME closing tune.

It's called "M4 Part II" from a group named Faunts.  I have no idea what the lyrics are.  I just like the overall "feel" of the song.

Edit:  I didn't know how to turn off auto-leveling for the squadmates, and it wasn't too much of a concern so I didn't bother.

[MysterD]

Can't wait to get ME2.  Damn Gogamer.com for having it for $10.90!  I was going to buy it off Impulse, but ended up suggesting it as a gift for me for Christmas and now I have to wait.

ME2 is awesome - so worth that $10.90 + shipping.
My favorite game of 2010 BY FAR.

[scottws]

Yeah, too bad it sold out at that price already.

[MysterD]

Yeah, too bad it sold out at that price already.

Bleh.
ME2 is amazing.

ME2 is more of a Shooter/RPG, whereas ME1 feels more like a RPG/Shooter.

[gpw11]

Oh man, I'd love to be able to walk into ME2 fresh again.  Have fun with it.

[Quemaqua]

Still haven't finished this because my computer's still fucked.  I'd love to, though, and I have the CE of ME2 waiting in the wings for someday.