Yahtzee reviews Mass Effect, LOL

[silversparrow]

Another hilarious review (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/zeropunctuation/2738-Zero-Punctuation-Mass-Effect). :D

[Glockstar]

ROFL!!! Hilarious! You da man, ss.

Btw, I had no idea there was a sex scene going into the game. It rather surprised me. Though I must say I was pleasantly surprised. Glad I pursued that "love" angle; made it very worthwhile. :D Booty!

[Glockstar]

Oh btw, I've done a(nother) 180 on Mass Effect.

[Don't mean to hijack your thread, ss... it's just that I can't find the other threads we were talking about this game in.]

GOTY candidate? I can see it.

I just finished the game. (46 hours on the game clock; Level 50.) And I am like... wow. WOW. The game definitely has it's flaws, but in the end it overcomes them and takes a proud step into the light of greatness. Forget about all of my bashings earlier... well, don't forget about them, consider them fair warning that some frustration and a myriad of imperfections do await you... this really is a must-play game. It is one of the greatest role-playing games evar. If not the greatest. I mean role-playing wise, it is the quintessential experience.

The framerate issues that I b!tched about so loudly turned out to only be an issue for parts of a couple of chapters. I thought it was going to be a big thing because it was a big problem in two of the first three missions that I was tasked with, but I never had any (real) problems after that.

I understand the '12-15 hours to complete the main story-line' thing now too. This is a game that you are going to want to play repeatedly. You are going to want to try different things, different angles, different paths, different choices... there are so many things to do differently next time... you are going to be glad that the game only takes 12-15 hours to get through. Otherwise... well, you just wouldn't do it. But this way, you can try it a bunch of different ways, without forfeiting the rest of your life. :thumbsup:

I was ready to kick BioWare to the curb there... but they pulled it off, and remain "tops" with me.

[Tappy_Tibbons]

He DOES tell the truth about lameass JRPGS

[Mochan]

Well we knew it would happen. I'll have to watch that later when I get home.

As for Glockie now you have me curious at what the game does so well that it could turn things around from your last tirade. I'll find out in like a year or two once the game finally hits the PC.

[Dancer O_o]

Well we knew it would happen. I'll have to watch that later when I get home.

As for Glockie now you have me curious at what the game does so well that it could turn things around from your last tirade. I'll find out in like a year or two once the game finally hits the PC.

I beat it once and started all over again making the exact opposite choices to see the difference. Now that I am 5 hours into doing the opposite I have to say that the experience so far is not so dissimilar as the first time through. I am going through this time as female and being as naughty as possible and it simply does not stray very far from the good path, even the way people respond to asinine comments makes me wonder sometimes if they heard me correctly (I just told you to F'off and you still think I'm the light of the universe? Whatever). I think the best thing about this game is the combat and the story. The texture pop-in and framerate issues were there for me throughout the entire game. I have popped in a few other games and my 360 runs fine, ME is just stutters.

I've heard that the actual game engine is the new Unreal engine, that would make a bit of sense on reflection. The game plays and runs fine when in combat, but this is not an engine designed for huge exploratory levels, and it shows. It is designed for smaller high quality spaces I think, a few hundred square yards at a time. Sometimes when running across an environment you get a load then stutter for a few seconds a lot, plus the slow loading at the beginnings of a levels. Bioware tried to make it stream smoothly, but in the end simply could not get it to work perfectly, it's pretty good though. This may be a 360 limitation and not game engine so much, I don't know though. The game has a nice feel to it and at times is a looker. I'll definitely finish a second play through, and that is a rear thing for me to do in truth.

Oh, and making a class change from Soldier the first time through and being an engineer the second time through has distinct differences in actual gameplay and what weapons you have access to and abilities, nice touch and effective.

[ThaMaskedGamer]

I'll find out in like a year or two once the game finally hits the PC. LOL!


Anyway, it is interesting to hear all these comments about the game. I didn't click through sparrow's link, cause I don't want to be spoiled. But this game sounds very interesting, can't wait to play it.

And I totally agree with you Glock, the best rpgs, give you all kinds of alternatives that you will want to explore. In games like Morrowind you never really do it, because the game is so long. I don't think that is bad, but i'll never play a Morrowind twice. Normally i'd say a sub 20 hour RPG is too short, but if there are real meaty alternative game options, then that can make up for brevity. And also, when we talk about brevity, let's keep in mind this is brevity from an rpg standpoint. Other nextgen games we are lucky to get 10 hours.

[Mochan]

Now that I am 5 hours into doing the opposite I have to say that the experience so far is not so dissimilar as the first time through. I am going through this time as female and being as naughty as possible and it simply does not stray very far from the good path, even the way people respond to asinine comments makes me wonder sometimes if they heard me correctly

Sounds like another Vampire Bloodlines sort of deal. Bloodlines gave you lots of freedom in how to respond to situations but in the end the actual differences were minor. And at least there the NPCs respond appropriately if you select badmouthing options or other kinds of rebellious behavior.

We actually saw a lot more branching and differences in say NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer -- where your choices really did have some consequences, though you still ended up doing a similar main quest even if the people you had with you and the way you got there could change drastically. We saw a similar story in Arcanum and of course Fallout 2.

If the changes aren't as drastic as you say Dancer then this is just another case of overhype, and console gamers who are too ignorant of past games doing the same thing that they think this is some new method to have sex.



And I totally agree with you Glock, the best rpgs, give you all kinds of alternatives that you will want to explore. In games like Morrowind you never really do it, because the game is so long.

Actually, in Morrowind you don't do it because 99.99% of the quests are the same no matter what you play as. The freedom in Morrowind comes from creating your character how you want, and romping around the world however and whenever you choose. But when it comes to actually doing the myriad of FedEx quests they all pretty much play the same with no alternate methods, and more importantly no consequences for doing things one way rather than the other. After a quest basically you forget all about it like yesterday's toilet paper.

[Glockstar]

I beat it once and started all over again making the exact opposite choices to see the difference. Now that I am 5 hours into doing the opposite I have to say that the experience so far is not so dissimilar as the first time through. I am going through this time as female and being as naughty as possible and it simply does not stray very far from the good path, even the way people respond to asinine comments makes me wonder sometimes if they heard me correctly (I just told you to F'off and you still think I'm the light of the universe? Whatever).

Oh yeah, I'm not expecting big differences with regards to the dialog. I already experienced how a number of the different dialog trees got the exact same response in my first playthru.

But I know that storylines and cinematics are affected by your responses/choices. That BioWare created all of these alternate takes (with regards to the cutscenes) impresses me greatly. And seeing them all... well that's something that I just have to try for.


I think the best thing about this game is the combat and the story.

The combat was great. (When the framerate dips weren't fracking it up.)

I got the Tactician Achievement, and felt like I actually played it pretty tactically (shutup; it's a word now). I mean, I had fun shooting from behind cover, advancing while seeking cover, and felt fairly rewarded when issuing squad commands. I felt the squad tactics, though very basic, played out very nicely. And I liked the friendly's AI - a hell of a whole better than COD4's.

I played as a vanguard, but didn't get into the Biotics until almost the very end. I didn't understand them enough at the beginning - and because of my problems with the framerates and the way it affected a few battles early on, I was uncomfortable using them (pausing the action, queuing up a skill, and aiming it, etc.) - so I didn't advance my skillpoints in them very much. (Because of the framerate issues) I honestly felt like my pausing the action would overtax the engine and make the game freeze up (I swear it was only 1 or 2 frames away from freezing up anyhow); I had no confidence in the mechanic.

But going back to my lack of understanding on the Biotics: That reminds me of yet another knock I have on this game: BioWare did a poor job of explaining some things. Why, there were even quite a few HUD icons that I had no idea what they were for the longest damn time!. Even the manual was no help in that regard. That's just poor.


Like so many other aspects of the game, the story was also Jekyll-and-Hyde-ish. But as with the whole of the game, the story overrall was ultimately fantastic.

And not just the overarching story, but some of the in-game mission decisions and "sidequests" too. The game fracked me up there (emotionally) for awhile. Yahtzee picks on the way your party members blabber at the mouth (which was funny, because he is kind of right), but at the same time you do feel a connection or bond growing as a result of the time and effort you put into your conversations with them. I did anyways. Only natural I think. But I invested myself a little too much in a few of the characters, and grew a little too close to two of them in particular. The wrong two - if you know what I mean. (We won't speak anymore of it here; we don't want to spoil anything for anybody.)

I'm going to say the winner for Best Story in 2007 is a tie - between Mass Effect and BioShock. Mass Effect should have won it on it's own, but as I said earlier not all of the story parts are very good. In fact, all of the storylines relating to Captain Anderson (no small parts, let me tell you) were awful. They were like 5th-grader quality, and it was embarassing to be a part of. They were hack. And they bring the overall story's grade down considerably, in my book.


The texture pop-in and framerate issues were there for me throughout the entire game. I have popped in a few other games and my 360 runs fine, ME is just stutters.

I've heard that the actual game engine is the new Unreal engine, that would make a bit of sense on reflection. The game plays and runs fine when in combat, but this is not an engine designed for huge exploratory levels, and it shows. It is designed for smaller high quality spaces I think, a few hundred square yards at a time. Sometimes when running across an environment you get a load then stutter for a few seconds a lot, plus the slow loading at the beginnings of a levels. Bioware tried to make it stream smoothly, but in the end simply could not get it to work perfectly, it's pretty good though. This may be a 360 limitation and not game engine so much, I don't know though. The game has a nice feel to it and at times is a looker. I'll definitely finish a second play through, and that is a rear thing for me to do in truth.

The framerate has a stuttering problem throughout the entire game. I didn't mean to say that it didn't. I was just saying that it was at it's worst near the beginning. But yeah, from combat to just walking down a corridor, there were stutters. Even during the end credits! :blush2:

But unlike you I was most bothered by the dips during combat. The times during exploration - that was just a minor annoyance; at worst it could be embarassing.

But the dips during combat... that was more than just an annoyance. That $h!t's major.

[Mochan]

I went through Yahtzee's motormouthing and thus far the game really sounds like KOTOR x Torment. Which is not really a good thing for me. I didn't particularly enjoy either title. Torment had some good gameplay going for it but was crippled by the "Cut and Paste Novel into the Game Dialogue" approach which irked me to no end. KOTOR did not have this issue however according to Yahtzee this game does, and that's already a bad sign. Most gamers for some reason feel that having a ton of text to read means a game has a good story and great writing but I tend to disagree (cueTMGomgwtfbbqMochanhasshortattentionspanonlylik esdumbrunandgunshooterscan'tappreciateagoodthinkin gman'sstory) and seeing that this is Bioware, who has a penchant for character writing that I utterly detest, I think it's a no-brainer for me to hate this game.

Well, as is my tradition with all Bioware games that have ever been released, I will give the game a spin later on and I totally expect to be disappointed as usual.