Mass Effect

[David Floyd]

The first time I tried Mass Effect, I hated it. Too much "twitchy" combat. This confused me, because I'm a huge Bioware fan (Balur's Gate/Icewind Dale series, KOTOR series, Dragon Age Origins/Awakening).

But then I tried it again about a week ago, and I LOVELOVELOVE it

Any other Mass Effect players here?

[DrSpike]

It's a great game and the combat is fine.

The second game has all the juicy goodness of ME without any of the annoyances (mako missions, boring side mission planets, inventory shenanigans). It's my GOTY so far.

[Guynemer]

I wanted to marry Mass Effect.


I want to marry Mass Effect 2, wash its feet, give it a backrub, and make sweet, sweet love to it, all night long.



It's that good.

[Spaced Cowboy]

Played it for a bit on the 360 then lost interest. Bought it for PC and played it through almost to the end where the combat was likely to difficult for me and lost interest again. Hence, have not bought ME2.

[Guynemer]

ME2 is a bit easier, though by no means a cakewalk, especially towards the end (and scattered battles mid-game). The combat is easier to manage, and your squad's AI isn't as bad.

Seriously, I'd finish ME1, and get ME2. It is ****ing spectacular. I've been a Civ diehard fan since the original game, and I can't see any way Civ5 could unseat ME2 from the GOTY slot other than each edition shipping with your own personal blowjob slave.

[onodera]

ME2 is EPIC. The new ammo system annoyed me at first, but after a few upgrades it stopped being a problem.
Also, I should change my PC startup sound to "ASSUMING CONTROL."

[DrSpike]

Played it for a bit on the 360 then lost interest. Bought it for PC and played it through almost to the end where the combat was likely to difficult for me and lost interest again. Hence, have not bought ME2.

There's still time to correct your error.

[David Floyd]

I just beat the game as an Engineer, using Ashley and Wrex for virtually the entire game (used Liara for Feros 'cuz I thought it would prompt a sidequest b/c of the Matriarch - it didn't). I finished at Level 45 - I did almost every sidequest, except that by the end, the Mako missions became so goddamn annoying that I stopped searching for minerals. I also didn't do my Paragon mission, and I never got Wrex's armor.

I loved every aspect of the game EXCEPT for the planetside Mako missions. The story line pieces were fine, but I hated having to traverse mountain ranges over and over again. I hope there's none of that in ME2, which I will absolutely be getting.

[DrSpike]

The second game has all the juicy goodness of ME without any of the annoyances (mako missions, boring side mission planets, inventory shenanigans). It's my GOTY so far.

[Guynemer]

I loved every aspect of the game EXCEPT for the planetside Mako missions. The story line pieces were fine, but I hated having to traverse mountain ranges over and over again. I hope there's none of that in ME2, which I will absolutely be getting.

Your hopes are realized. The inventory system has also been completely streamlined and overhauled; you won't be carrying fifty different guns and ammo mods all the time.

Now, I will say, it is not perfect. There is one aspect of the game that is annoying. But it's not nearly as bad as the repetitive Mako missions.

[DrSpike]

*plunk* tsssh zing

[Guynemer]

[Asher]

[David Floyd]

I have heard the resource mining sucks. Is that what you're talking about? I'm gonna pick it up later today or tomorrow.

[Guynemer]

That is, indeed, the issue at hand. Other than that, the game is, quite simply, amazing.

Luckily, you don't have to spend that much time on the mining stuff in order to get the best upgrades.

[Al B. Sure!]

I played the demo for Mass Effect 2. I really liked the interactions and the dialogue choices (although the ones in the demo didn't seem to make much difference what you picked, I imagine in the real game, it has more of an effect on what happens).

What I didn't like about it was all the combat. It was exactly like Gears of War but without the polish and good control in Gears of War. I can't explain it but there's certain games where the controls just feel right (Call of Duty, Gears of War, Assassin's Creed) and where they feel awkward and not smooth to me and I feel like I'm controlling a puppet (GTA before IV but IV to an extent, Battlefield, Mass Effect). Is there a lot of Gears of War-style combat in Mass Effect? I was hoping for more peaceful exploration and missions. If I wanted to play a third person cover shooter, Gears and Ghost Recon do it a lot better, but I am intrigued if Mass Effect has a lot of parts where you don't fight.

Also, I played with a Jane Shepard and I picked what I figured were the ******* dialogue options... oh man, is there something wrong with me because I found bad Jane sexy as hell

[Guynemer]

I have an evil female Shepard, and she is sexy as hell.

I've never played GOW, so I can't speculate to your question.

[Al B. Sure!]

Well, is it all fighting?

[Guynemer]

Um, no.

[Al B. Sure!]

The demo was all fighting. I don't want to play it if the whole game is me hiding behind unrealistically placed and common boxes sniping at things and using the occasional magical power. Oh yeah, and very small interiors everywhere with no different paths to get somewhere.

[Hauldren Collider]

Am I the only person who didn't hate the Mako? Yes driving over the mountains was a ***** but I found the Mako missions fun...it would have been much better if combat hadn't consisted entirely of jumping over rockets though.

Fun trick with Mako: They ONLY ever aim for the nose of the Mako. Park that behind a rock, leaving the turret exposed and fire away. Works every ****ing time.

[DrSpike]

The demo was all fighting. I don't want to play it if the whole game is me hiding behind unrealistically placed and common boxes sniping at things and using the occasional magical power. Oh yeah, and very small interiors everywhere with no different paths to get somewhere.

Well much of the story wouldn't make sense out of context, so yeah they put some action scenes in the demo.

The bottom line is that the combat is not as good as Gears of War as you suggest. But then nothing is: Gears of War is a game based around its cover based combat, whereas ME is a much broader experience. I think the combat works pretty well in ME2 though, and you definitely have more variety in squad command and the options available to you compared to a standard shooter. As well as a cracking story and great characters.

[DrSpike]

Am I the only person who didn't hate the Mako?

Yes - yours is the only known case of this particular ailment. I hope you get better soon.

[Snotty]

I enjoyed ME2 but didnt leave with the same kind of religious experience others seem to have had.

The cutscenes, dialogue and plot gripped me allowing me to get emotionally attached as only good storytelling will allow. I cant overstate enough how these factors built towards a memorable tale, and provide an extremely high target for other games to aspire to.

However I found combat uninspired, some limp lettuce in an otherwise mouthwatering bacon sandwich. While the combat was by no means bad, I would struggle to describe it as good. Unfortunately the combat sequences make up a not insignificant part of the game. I appreciate how combat is neccesary to drive the story but I left feeling it was something to be endured rather than enjoyed. The combat was still a vast improvement over ME1

Maybe I missed the memo but I failed to understand the fascination with the romance sub plots. I particularly did not understand the internets collective hard on for Miranda. The square jawed aussie ***** just annoyed me. Maybe i misunderstood the conversation but she said she was genetically engineered from her fathers DNA. So, logically, she used to be a man. I mean, whatever makes you happy, but thats not really my cup of tea.

[onodera]

Maybe I missed the memo but I failed to understand the fascination with the romance sub plots. I particularly did not understand the internets collective hard on for Miranda. The square jawed aussie ***** just annoyed me. Maybe i misunderstood the conversation but she said she was genetically engineered from her fathers DNA. So, logically, she used to be a man. I mean, whatever makes you happy, but thats not really my cup of tea.

That's because you get to see her boobs. In my parts of the intrawebs, Tali is the collective wet dream for some reason.

[DrSpike]

Come on - it was Miranda or that crazy chick! Or complete abstinence for a very long mission. My Shepard stepped up and did the right thing.

[Hauldren Collider]

The romance stuff is unbelievably retarded and lame.

[Guynemer]

That's because you get to see her boobs. In my parts of the intrawebs, Tali is the collective wet dream for some reason.

Some people just like nice, noncrazy chicks.

[Hauldren Collider]

I'm honestly getting bored of all the GOW clones, and hope mass effect 3 moves a bit away from the hunker down and take potshots mechanics.

I also didn't really like the shields/barriers/armor/health rock-paper-scissors stuff. I did like how they fixed biotics and other powers. But the missions were too short. And levelling up was too dumbed down for my tastes. Also Jacob is a little *****.

However, the inventory management in Mass Effect 1 was absolutely maddening. I couldn't stand it. It was just ****ing awful. Why the hell can I only carry 100 things or whatever? And can't you make equipping the squad less singularly awful? Mass Effect 2 fixed this perfectly. You STILL cannot level up your squad from within your ship though and that's a huge flaw.

[Nostromo]

Overall, ME2 is the better game, expect for the ending (which was incredibly lame IMO), the uber small levels (the Citadel never felt so small) and the mining mini-game.