Just finished MASS Effect

[Jax]

On the X Box 360...

and wow what a fantastic game from bioware despite some frame rate issues and minor bugs, the game really raised the bar for Bioware IMO. I was never a fan of the RPG genre and after playing the game to begin with with the solider class I struggled to adapt and stopped. However a week ago I decided to try again with the Vanguard class and that made it much easier for a RPG newbie to get into the game and dam those Biotic powers are fun

In about a week, I did over 95% of side missions and the main mission in just over 35 hours of gametime and plan to do it all over again, I also did my a gamespot review and it joined the small elite club of games to get a score of 9.0 (never given higher) have a read and tell me what you think ?

REVIEW

Anyone users on here who finished the game ?...I cannot wait for number 2 and I have heard rumors of co-op

 

[Delsaber]

Loved it to death, especially the ending. Hell, the entire last act of the story was fantastic and probably executed better than any other game I've played in years. Can't wait for the next one.

 

[BigFoot]

I played (and finished) the game about a month ago on the PC. I gotta say I really loved the whole experience and I can't wait for ME2.

 

[Skywalker]

Agreed, one of the best games I've played in a long time. BioWare never disappoints, as far as I'm concerned (I even loved Jade Empire, though I acknowledge its flaws).

I hope we won't have to wait three years for ME2.

 

[BigFoot]

ME2 just might be the game that will convince me to pick up a 360. unless the PC version comes out at the same time which I doubt will happen.

 

[firehawk12]

http://scholarlygamer.blogspot.com/2008/04/mass-effect.html

That contains some of my thoughts on the game.
Anyhow, despite it's many minor problems, I loved the game enough to play it through 4 times with 100% completion. I know I was grinding to get the Ally achievements, but it didn't matter.
I also picked up the first DLC pack and I'm hoping they put out another one sooner rather than later.

While I agree that the final act was breathtaking, the BioWare gang still don't know how to end a story with a proper denoument. Shepard just walks away? While I don't really love the LOTR movies, at least the first and second films had decent endings that set up the following film.

I don't know if ME2 will have co-op though. It's just not what they do and I'm not sure how it'd work within the confines of the story they're trying to tell.

On a side note, the second Mass Effect novel just came out. It follows a "side story" and this one is about the Cerberus organization that plays a large role in the game's side mission storyline.

 

[Jax]

I plan on playing the DLC when I carry my current character over to a new game so I can reach Level 60 (48 or 49 at the moment). Only stuff I know about Mass Effect 2 is that...

* It's due out for November 2009 release

* At least the 360 version will be affected by what you did in the 1st game should you choose to keep your saved files.

2 player CO-OP is the big rumor though if any co-op would be put in then it probably would be 3 player to accommodate the team sizes of Mass Effet but I doubt your saved files would carry on in CO-OP mode nor your character from 1st game.

 

[firehawk12]

I don't know if they'd do a 2009 release unless BioWare does both Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 in the same year. There's also the Sonic RPG that needs to come out soon too, but I suppose that's more of a side game than anything else.

They've confirmed that you will be able to port your saves over. I just wonder what they bother saving. I kind of wonder if people have decompiled PC version saved games yet.

The big thing about Co-op is the story. Unless they do the Fable 2 thing where the second player is basically just a "henchman" that can't do anything during the storytelling moments, I'm not sure how it'd be interesting for two people to play the game at the same time.

 

[Delsaber]

Hmm, I thought Microsoft had a moratorium on transferring save files from one game to another? I'd love to be wrong, though, considering all the little decisions which are just begging to come back and bite us in the sequel; the Rachni queen comes to mind immediately. However, I could see this being a problem for the developers and writers in regards to Ashley, Kaidan, and Wrex... and the permutations increase even more if the romantic stuff will also carry over. But hell, if Bioware can pull it off, I'll want the game that much more.

 

[firehawk12]

I'm not sure how their policy works.
I mean, the Tom Clancy games check for saved games and reward you based on what you have previously played... so, I'm not sure.

 

[Jax]

I plan to complete the game with a new rutless character and with my current character again so I will have two completed characters, so I assume Mass Effect 2 will let me choose which profile to start from

 

[Skywalker]

I plan to complete the game with a new rutless character and with my current character again so I will have two completed characters, so I assume Mass Effect 2 will let me choose which profile to start from

I'm sure ME2 will read your HD/memory card (whichever) and some sort of prompt will come up after you go to start a New Game, offering you the chance to load data from your ME1 save games. It'll probably load the data of every saved character.

 

[Evil Twin]

I think my biggest gripe with the game was the planetside exploration in the Mako. Incredibly boring and tedious, not to mention the repetitive, cookie-cutter nature of most of the building interiors you find on those planets. Because of that, I don't really feel a desire to play it again any time soon.

 

[Jim Steele]

Agreed, it's absolutely fantastic. Felt like playing a a season of a really good TV show (like B5...).

Want to play through it and do the sidequests I missed, mainly the geth/Tali stuff which I barely touched. For all its faults (like Evil Twin said, the Mako stuff is mostly tedious, and the cookie cutter locations did not go unnoticed to these tired fat man's eyes) it's one of the greatest games of this generation.

Hey NX_01 Mark:

Spoiler: The Ending

Did you save the council or let them die? I saved them, but I wonder how letting them die will affect ME2

 

[Jax]

Hey NX_01 Mark:

Spoiler: The Ending

Did you save the council or let them die? I saved them, but I wonder how letting them die will affect ME2

Spoiler: The Ending

I let them die because I felt holding the fleet back was the correct tactical call to make but I don't like how the game made it out to be a call made from disliking the council during the dialogue sequence

 

[Rii]

Still playing it. 30 minutes here, 30 minutes there, I'll get there.

 

[Skywalker]

I think my biggest gripe with the game was the planetside exploration in the Mako. Incredibly boring and tedious, not to mention the repetitive, cookie-cutter nature of most of the building interiors you find on those planets. Because of that, I don't really feel a desire to play it again any time soon.

Yeah, I tried to grind through the game again right after finishing it the first time, but the tedious Uncharted Worlds made it really difficult, so I put the game back down, hoping a break would make it better. I haven't gone back to it yet, though.

 

[Delsaber]

I'd like to know what the cats at Bioware were thinking of when they designed the Mako segments. That thing simply does not behave like any vehicle should, fictional or otherwise. This is easily the biggest problem which needs to be resolved in the sequel, even more so than the UE3 glitches.

...that said, I did all the sidequest stuff anyway. Everyone else I know beat the game in about ten or fifteen hours, I clocked in at over forty. Heh.

 

[Jax]

...that said, I did all the sidequest stuff anyway. Everyone else I know beat the game in about ten or fifteen hours, I clocked in at over forty. Heh.

Its worth doing the side missions I felt and not just for XP/Money, a lot of them where quite fun. The MAKO at first was a little dodgy but it grow on me in time

 

[firehawk12]

I'm almost done Star Control 2 based on a podcast recommendation and I'm amazed at how much it inspired Mass Effect.
You have planet driving sequences, a huge galaxy map with planets to explore and the pre-requisite ancient, but long forgotten, alien race who has left technology around for other species to find. But, for whatever reason, the world just has so much more character because there's a twisted sense of humour and just more varied alien species.

I'm hoping that BioWare does some more freaky things with the aliens this time around. Those Elephant dudes and the Jellyfish dudes are only the start of they could do.