Mass Effect (XBOX 360)

[Thatz]

Just beat the game and it was a very enjoyable experience. Took me around 18 hours. Now it's time to do it again and hit up all the sidequests and whatnot.

HUZZAH.

18 hours

Shucks.

[Captain Eo]

Just beat the game and it was a very enjoyable experience. Took me around 18 hours. Now it's time to do it again and hit up all the sidequests and whatnot.

HUZZAH.

18 hours

Shucks.

[Riceman 4K]

Just beat the game and it was a very enjoyable experience. Took me around 18 hours. Now it's time to do it again and hit up all the sidequests and whatnot.

HUZZAH.

18 hours

Shucks.

You're saying that 18 hours is too short, right? He said he didn't do all of the sidequests. From what I've read, if you do every side quest in this game it'll take 30+ hours.

[tristy]

I love how there are TONS of side missions to occupy you if you don't want to focus on the main storyline. And traveling the universe = awesome. The combat system leaves alot to be desired, and sometimes the interaction between characters is a bit robotic, but it's miles ahead of anything I've ever seen before. It's a step in the right direction.

So far, so good.

[Reddaye]

I've only put about eight and a half hours into it so far (damn work), but I've hardly even touched the main story. I picked up Liara and I'm about half way through Noveria. Unless the story is extremely short I'm going to get some serious playtime out of it.

This was totally worth the two year wait

[tristy]

How the fuck am I supposed to get points so I can upgrade my stats? This is pissing me off.

[KevinStorm]

You get experience by doing damn near everything, and you get more stat points when you level up.

[The Kraig]

Anyone else having crashing issues with this? I can't even get past the fucking create a character screen without it going 'BRRPT' then either going to a red screen, or freezing on that screen.

What the fuck is going on? I'm very, very angry. So angry. -__-

[Gongsun Zan]

Sounds like a faulty disc to me.

My copy works fine, and other than minor texture loading delays, I've yet to encounter the dreaded slowdown everyone keeps mentioning.

Edited November 24, 2007 by Gongsun Zan

[The Kraig]

I switched to Halo 3 and that crashed too. And it made a giant scratch in my Halo 3 disc in the process. My anger can only be expressed in aggressive, bloody, defecation.

[Gongsun Zan]

({)

[The Kraig]

I will accept your arms around me, however my arms shall not move to you. Such...rage...building...I swear I'm about to get the red lights.

Got it working. Hopefully Halo 3 isn't too damaged to play. :'(

Edited November 24, 2007 by The Kraig

[Reddaye]

Well I finished the game last night and it brought me my only real major complaint about the game...but it's also probably the worst thing that could have happened. There's a few other lesser problems so I'll start with the cons and then discuss the pros. WARNING: this could get lengthy.

I loved the storyline (although it was somewhat disjointed)...but where did it go? About eight hours into the game (most of that side quests) I decided to focus on the story missions. Exactly eight hours later and I'm done. I think that I could actually go through the main storyline in about six to eight hours no problem. KOTOR's story was lengthy and even Jade Empire had a longer main quest than Mass Effect. All in all it was over in exactly sixteen hours (although I ended up skipping a large number of side quests).

My other big problem is the lack of interaction with your party. I understand why we can only really deeply converse on the Normandy, but why so few topics? Tali, Wrex, and Garrus especially lacked a lot of things to talk about. Bioware really set the bar with KOTOR (most party members had 20+ topics to discuss) and Jade on how much there was to discuss with your party members...Mass Effect is really a step backwards in that regard. The characters themselves all have good personalit, but sadly there isn't enough of it for you to experience. I also have to note that all in all there's not as much of Saren as I had hoped.

A few technical issues bring it down a bit too. Texture pop-in is frequent (although that's an UE 3 issue; the lack of being able to use the HDD causes problems as well). The framerate can be jittery, and I ran into a few odd glitches here or there. Lastly there's the MAKO, which I have a love/hate relationship with. I like driving the thing around, but trying to do any kind of combat with it, especially close quarters is a huge hassle.

Everything beyond that I found myself enjoying. Although the story was short and didn't seem to all fit together nicely what was there was very good. At first I wasn't really feeling it, but as I came closer to the end some twists and turns really pulled me in. The eventual climax and the choices you have to make are incredible and really made me wish there was more. I won't spoil anything but let me say that I particularly liked the revelations about Saren's ship, and the Citadel.

Although I felt the interaction with my party members was missing a bit when compared to other Bioware games; what was there was very good. I particularly liked Ashley who had her own motivations and a bit of humorous side to her. I actually felt that pound for pound she felt more "real" than any of the other characters. I liked the other characters but they felt too much like characters, if you catch my drift. Supporting characters such as Joker, and Captain Anderson were actually better as far as having a certain "life" to them than several of my party members.

My last comment on characters is reserved for Saren. Once again I won't spoil anything but the ending I chose with him honestly made him one of the greatest villains I've ever faced in a video game. I had read the novel Mass Effect: Revelation beforehand and I thought I'd had Saren pegged as your typical "I'm evil because that's the way I am," kind of guy. Boy was I wrong. My advice to everyone: get your Charm or Intimidate skills as high as they'll go and pay attention to what's going on with Saren and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Most everything else is a high point. Good graphics, excellent music, and voice over. The universe itself has a lot of depth. Plenty of side quests (seems like every time the Alliance has trouble even so much as wiping their ass they give you a call). Ultimately I enjoyed the game but after two years of waitings I'm a bit let down by the short story and lack of conversation I can have with my party members. This was built to be a trilogy and I think it shows in that regard.

Edited November 24, 2007 by Drifter_2000

[abundant]

Charm or Intimidate are crucial skills to max out, especially at a certain point in the game.

Spoiler: Click here to view

At some point in the game, you’re tasked with eliminating the Krogan cure, which starts a heated argument with Wrex. Wrex either dies by your hands or Ashley’s, unless you have a high enough charm/intimidation rating to calm him down quickly.

[Boogey131]

Anyone else not a fan of the save feature? Maybe I'm too used to the FPS 12 checkpoints a level but I always go through long cutscenes, a boss battle (Take the Matriarch Benezia battle) go through a another long conversation, make a big choice, fell all good about myself(or bad depending on which I choose) then get to where I need to go, find out what I need to do next then get killed by somehting stupid, and have to do ALL of it again. Very frustrating. I wouldnt mind so much if, there was a save button, kinda like what Oblivion(I think?) has so you dont forget to save as you go along, rather than relying on the auto-save.

Other than this small problem, I am in love with this game, the minor graphical problems are easy to look past and the storyline so far has been very nice.

Edited November 25, 2007 by Boogey131

[abundant]

There is a save button just like in Oblivion, works just the same; hit start, choose Save, then pick a slot. Takes no more than 10 seconds.

[Boogey131]

I meant on the control pad in Oblivion you just press the save button(I want to say it was the back button to save) and its done. It may not seem like much but for me personally, I didn't need to think about when I saved the game I just pressed the button naturally after any big quests, whereas here, I expected the auto-save feature to have saved for me and didn't think about going through the menu. Eh, I've learnt my lesson, it was just really frustrating going through all that again, but like I said, its the only bad point I can think of within the game, and even then, its a badpoint thats highlighted by my own mistake.

[EddieRuckus]

Played through this once, beat it in 9-10 hours. It's an AMAZING game and I totally spaced out that it was a trilogy. I love everything about it, and I find myself enjoying the combat. Some of it took getting used to, I wasn't even sure if I bought the right game. It's slowly grown on me and is definitely the GOTY for me.

Playing through it a second time and it's so crazy how different it is when you play as a woman. I also find myself enjoying it a lot more, and I plan on playing through at least two more times after my second time.

[Krone]

I got this game, but it just seems somewhat tough for me to get into the game. The same thing happened with Oblivion. I got Special Edition and played it for 2 hours, hated it and didn't play it for two months. Picked it up one day and loved it to death. The only thing that bothers me with it is that it's not like Oblivion where you can talk to everyone and I seem to be stuck in the damn Citadel. When do you really get into the battles?

[Captain Eo]

What's different when playing as a woman?

Also I'm trying to seduce Ashley but in a random hitting of th B button I accidentally shut her out and now she's always busy cleaning or something, is there another chance at love with her?