RF Generation Message Board

Here's the latest project for the 360 from the team that brought us KOTOR:

http://previews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1207/Mass-Effect/p1/

I realize the trailer has only a very small amount of in game footage, but the detail looks amazing!

They brought us much much much more than just KOTOR. And I will buy any of their games blindly.

True. Jade Empire and many others. And I agree that I'd buy most of their games blind as well...

Didnt they do some of the first Baldurs Gate PC games?

They are a great company! Has EA bought them yet?

Yep, They made the greatest game of all time; Baldur's Gate.

If EA buys them I'll be very very sad.

I thought that Blizzard was the developer on the Baldur's Gate games...I could be wrong, though...

It's Bioware. Blizzard doesn't do D&D stuff, I think they Bioware did Neverwinter Nights too.

As will I. I was sad when thew bought Westwood Studios.

Here's the latest media pages on the game. Looking sweet!

http://media.xbox360.ign.com/media/718/718963/vids_1.html

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/22841.html

November can't get here soon enough...

Here's some more info on the latest RPG epic from Bioware...

http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?pager.offset=0&cId=3162854

I highly recommend the prequel novel as well, it sets up the entire fictional history of the game. Everything you see in the trailers and such including alien races, uniforms, factions etc are all explained and you see where it fits together.

^DAAAANNNG man! I take it you've already reserved your copy of the game?...I know I have. 8)

You gotta hand it to BioWare, not only do they make kick-ass games, they listen to their fans as well. Somehow they managed to snag 1000 copies of Mass Effect Limited Collector's Edition for us Canucks.

BestBuy/Futureshop had an estimated 1000 copies between them for online preorder. I got mine several hours ago. I think there's 250-300 left at the time of writing if any of my fellow Canadians haven't got one yet.  :)

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10096937&catid=

http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0926INGFS10096937&catid=23378&logon=&langid=EN

^Congrats! Mine's already bought and paid for...just waiting for the 20th to pick it up. I took the 21st off from work, too. 8)

Nice. Mass Effect looks pretty damn awesome. I hope you all like it.

Thanks, Tony. 8)

Just picked up my copy at lunch today. Looking forward to playing it!

Awesome. The reviews have been good so far (lol gamespot, you and your 8.5 for Mass Effect and your 8 for Uncharted). Hope you like it.

^Thanks.

And regarding Gamespot, they also gave GH3 only an 8.0. They're getting pretty stingy lately.

Yeah. I think Gamespot might be doing it for attention though...

Some Sony fans (I've seen a lot of them on PS3Forums) are saying that MS is paying Gamespot to give PS3 games low ratings, which just seems absurd.

Nah, ever since Gamespot changed their review system they've been reviewing much much harsher (personally I like it) and IMO is more accurate than their previous reviews. However they're Halo 3 review is IMO too high. The game was pretty cool at first but now it's a pretty boring game, even online is getting rather stale.

Anyway,due to the new review system if you are looking at Gamespot for reviews, don't compare their reviews to other websites. Compare them with other reviews on Gamespot. Their criteria is much much different and they try to see through the hype.

I don't know about that. When you play Uncharted, you can just feel that it isn't an 8. But of course that's my baised little opinion.

So, I was watching the Mass Effect special on Sci-Fi Channel, and saw Wayne Brady was on it. Is he in the game or is he just on the special as "Look at me I'm Wayne Brady! Buy this game!"?

Many would argue the same with games such as Skies of Arcadia Legends, Symphony of the Night, Metroid Prime 3 etc, however Gamespot does raise many good points with the games that receive lower than expected reviews.

Been playing it this afternoon/evening and so far it's pretty sweet! 8)

The story/backhistories are incredibly comprehensive! Solid combat. Amazing graphics. And I'm just scratching the surface.

I'm currently at a tough spot in the early game where I died a few times trying to take down an underground character named Fist in his "Gentlemen's club" so I decided to take a break. ;D

I died about four times trying that.  So I went and did side quests to level up.

^I'll give it another try or 2. And if it's still too tough I may have to sidequest as well. BTW, have you been buying up licenses?

Not really but I haven't bought very much yet.

Cool thing though, Both Captain Anderson and Joker look like their voice actors

Captain Anderson
[img width=500 height=281]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v326/freak-boy124/David_Anderson_Mass_Effect.jpg[/img]
Keith David.
[img width=450 height=319]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v326/freak-boy124/KeithDavid.jpg[/img]

I couldn't find a picture of Joker but he does look like Seth Green.

Not the best mashup but it get's the point across:

I got past the part with Fist by using Wrex and Garrus. Gotta use the squad commands.

That's the shady runt from the bar right? I found that a handful of grenades thrown from the door cleaned up the bar rather nicely, followed by slamming his face into a bulkhead just before I shot him execution style. ;)  :evilhappy:

The only time I use squad commands is when I want my teammates to stay behind me so I get to step into the action first. :P

I chose Vanguard as my class, so I'm kind of letting the others take fire first. I've been using the pistol more than anything else.

Stupid question: Anyone know how to melee? A lot of skills have melee bonuses but I haven't figured out how to use it in combat. Is it just a matter of not having your weapon drawn? But then they refer to having the ability to hit them with your weapon as well...?

I chose Vanguard as well, I love me some shotgun action and Vanguards have the skill maxed out at default. My current shotgun runs 213 damage with a +25 because of hammerhead ammo @ 67 accuracy I believe. ;)

^What about the melee? Have you ever used it in combat?

Can't say I ever have. Though my guess would be clicking down on one of the thumbsticks perhaps?

Edit: Quoted from a developer on the official forums:

You automatically use melee when you press 'A' to run while you have your weapon drawn.  You will automatically bash whomever you come in contact with.

^Cool. Thanks. 8)

Just got my specialization class. I chose Shock Trooper.

@Tan, were you able to find all 21 keepers on the Citadel? I'm stuck on 19.

Just finished beating the game for the first time, unbelievable experience. The last hour or so was "non-stop seat of the pants holy sweet fuck" moments. :o

The last two keepers were buggers, they move around a bit. If you keep checking everywhere from time to time they'll show up eventually. Oddly enough one of them was the very first one I had ever seen and didn't notice it was gone for the longest time.

Best game ending I've ever had the pleasure of. The cinematic experience was unlike anything a game has done before. Like going to a big budget sci-fi flick and when the action gets hairy they give you a controller and tell you to become the director. Hats off to BioWare, you've outdid yourselves with this one.

Congrats man. I think I'm roughly at the halfway point. I finished Feros and have rescued the doctor on Thelus (?) to add her to the team. Now I need to go back to Novaria (when I'm ready) and eventually Virmire. Tons of sidequest stuff to do before then, though.

2 things that slowed me down considerably (and probably why it's taking me so long) is that I tried going through Novaria too early on (before I had a health regen power up for my armor) and I didn't realize for hours (until I checked the instructions) that the Mako had a cannon on it. Doh! :P

I'm still stuck on Benezia.  The fucking bitch keeps kicking my ass.

I've been leveling up before going to Novaria or Virmire. I'm at lev 33. Just finished the "destroy the Geth colonies" quest in the Armstrong Cluster.

Also unlocked the "Rich" Achievement last night by having a balance of over 1,000,000 credits.

Bioware was very smart to add the mechanic to liquify stuff into Omni-gel. That's been very useful in the Mako missions.

Tan, since you've finished the game already, were you able to unlock any of the "ally" achievements?

I just landed on Virmire as the last planet to visit (for me) and still need to go through that, but I've had Ashley in the squad for the bulk of play and haven't gotten the achievement yet.

Any idea on the requirements?

I kept the same two human characters in my party throughout the game, with the exception of the character specific sidequests for Wrex, Liara and Garrus. Here's the achievements I got from my first playthrough:

Distinguished Service Medal
Complete Eden Prime

Spectre Inductee
Player is Spectre

Search and Rescue
Found Liara in Artemis Tau Cluster

Medal of Exploration
Land on an uncharted world

Rich
Exceed 1,000,000 Credits

Shotgun Expert
150 Shotgun Kills

Dog of War
150 organic enemy kills

Pistol Expert
150 Pistol Kills

Geth Hunter
250 synthetic enemy kills

Throw Mastery
Use biotic Throw 75 times

Medal of Heroism
Complete Feros

Sentinel Ally
Complete the majority of the game with the Alliance sentinel squad member

Completionist
Complete the majority of the game

Honorarium of Corporate Service
Complete Noveria

Assault Rifle Expert
150 Assault Rifle Kills

Renegade
75% of total Renegade points

Charismatic
Resolved impossible situation with Charm or Intimidate

Power Gamer
50th level character

Council Legion of Merit
Complete Virmire

Paramour
Complete romance subplot

Soldier Ally
Complete the majority of the game with the Alliance soldier squad member

Tactician
Complete playthrough with shield damage greater than health damage

Medal of Honor
Complete Mass Effect Playthrough

Crap. I didn't know that Liara had a sidequest. I probably picked her up too late in the game. :P

Oh well. Hopefully I'll have a chance to finish my 1st playthough this weekend and maybe start the 2nd. I know I'm going to approach the 2nd playthrough much differently than the 1st...

Well it's half sidequest, half alternate reaction.

Spoiler (hover to show)

Since Benezia is Liara's mother, you get a different reaction and dialog for fighting her with Liara in your party.

"half alternate reaction"...meaning dialogue?

Yes. There are several dialog choices in this game that not only affect the outcome, but even gameplay as well, this is one of the minor ones. It's quite entertaining to reload a save file and try things differently for some of these encounters. I'm impressed that they went so far as to completely program both sequences.

A couple of them just blew me away they were so different and contrasting. Much more so than Jade or KOTOR ever were.

I finished my first playthrough yesterday and started a new campaign with my current character...going renegade this time. 8) And trying hardcore difficulty.  :freakboy:

I'm certain I'll be contributing a review on this game in the near future. It's awesome! There's definitely some room for improvements, but overall this is a can't-miss game.

I just beat Benezia on my second run through.  I gotta tell ya she's a lot easier when you're level 50 instead of level 20.  Those extra thirty levels really help you with not dieing after two shots.

^Yeah. The main "Story" planets are much tougher to take on if you go after them right away. Levelling up with sidequests and exploration will help get through the story planets more easily.

Confirmed. A sequel is coming!

http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/15346/BioWare-Confirms-Mass-Effect-Sequel/

Glad the EA buyout isn't going to impact it. Hopefully they keep the same Bioware team on the project so EA doesn't f### it up!

That's kind of old news. When they unveiled the game 2 years ago they said it was a planned trilogy that would be completed on the X360 and that the story was written that way. That's the same unveiling where they said your character would be imported into each sequel. I'm surprised so many people had forgotten that.  :o

^Hadn't forgotten it.

However, at the time of those announcements EA hadn't acquired Bioware. So it's just good to know that they're sticking to the plan.

I was really worried when I got to the end and they left it open for a sequel because it looked like it would focus more on action than story.  But I'm glad that they had the plan to do it anyway.  I'm glad that it was something that was planned way ahead of time so as long as EA doesn't try to fuck with them it should be good.

You should really grab the prequel novel if you haven't already. It's the story of Captain Anderson and his dealings with Saren. Written by the game's lead writer and he has a second one coming as well. ;)

Getting close to the end. All star clusters and sidequests are done, all I have to do is Virmire and the endgame. Still stuck on level 58, but I'm close to 59. I'm hoping that I'll be able to get to 60 by the end of the game...I want that achievement! ;D

No new achievements unlocked in my last session. I'm surprised I haven't unlocked First Aid yet...hard to believe that through 2 playthroughs I haven't used Medi-gel 150x yet.

Finished my 2nd playthrough! Unlocked 4 new achievements: Turian Ally, Asari Ally, Playthrough on Hardcore, and 2 playthroughs. Unlocked the Insanity difficulty.

Chose a different path for the ending. I have a feeling that there's still at least 1 more ending that I don't know about.

I'll probably be writing a review after Christmas. 8)

How do you people get to such high levels? I just finished it at level 45 (or something) and I did nearly all side quests I could find.

Did you completely explore every planet and survey everything even after the mineral quest was complete? Every planet you can land on has extra things to investigate that aren't on the maps and can only be found by use of radar and systematic searching. Don't forget the ships and asteroids that show up on the map as small twinkling stars, easy to miss in most cases. Also you get experience from using tech skills to unlock crates, lockers etc. more than you would if you use omni-gel. Plus there's also quests found by overhearing conversations and revisiting parts of the citadel more than once.

On your first run through there's a level 50 cap for players which will unlock level 60 when beaten. I reached level 50 well before the game was beaten, and I know I missed a thing or two, namely finishing the codex. :P

I did not completely explore every planet. I did when I started, but lost track of the planets I had visited and didn't want to search for unexplored planets. I didn't really see the fun in driving around on a barren wasteland.
I did always use my tech skills for unlocking and had succes with that 99% of the time. I also found several new quests on my returns to the citadel. And I finished the codex.

I guess not reaching level 50 is a result of a lot of little things I missed. Anyways, I'm going to play through it again, so maybe I'll fare better now. Although I don't plan on exploring all those crappy planets, just to find some minerals or weapons.

My 1st playthrough on Normal, I ended at level 49. And after the 2nd playthrough on Hardcore, I ended at level 59. Getting to level 60 is a bitch!

I did go through all the planets and completed all but 1 sidequest. I just took it one star cluster at a time. Most of the missions you acquire will be based on information you get on the Citadel, but new quests come in gradually throughout the game. For example, Wrex and Garrus also have sidequests if you talk to them.

Going through all the non-mission planets was somewhat fun for me. I likened going after the minerals and stuff to Orb Hunting in Crackdown. Some were tough to get, others rather easy. Whenever I felt that it was getting redundant, I'd go to one of the mission planets (Feros, Noveria, Artemis Tau, Virmire). You can tell that there were some planets where the terrain was not quite "smoothed out" and I think that these were likely to be still in the works when they were at the deadline. I wonder if they're going to incorporate some DLC into the game using the planets where you find Prothean Ruins; those were kind of cool to find. We'll see.

One thing I agree with you on is that they did "Over"-inventory you with stuff when you get to the higher levels. They needed to expand your credit amounts to the 10s of millions and the omni-gel count to the thousands.

Would it matter wether you use intimidation or charm to avoid having to fight?

I finished the Father Kyle quest yesterday, by intimidating him to turn himself in. If I hadn't done that I would have had to kill about two dozen of his followers, which probably would have gotten me more xp.

I wouldn't have gotten any renegade points that way, but they don't matter for leveling up anyway.

That's the fun of being a renegade, you can get 300 exp points from avoiding a fight, or 1000 from blasting him and his cronies while they beg for their lives. ;)

Best use of the intimidation/charm is on the beach with Wrex, if you've played that part already then you know what I mean. I tried it both ways, I foresaw a confrontation of sorts so I saved it just before so I could try it.

I was a good guy through my first play through, so I charmed him to do what I wanted. This time I'm evil, so I can intimidate him or have him shot. I haven't decided yet. I don't have him in my team, so I won't miss him.

I'm doing the exact same thing.  I was all super goody my first time through, and now I'm all super Jackassey.

My Mass Effect review is up. 8)

Where? The game page only has a small review by Tan.

His was on the regular version, mine on the Limited Collector's. I've made sure both reviews are on both pages now.  ;)

Mass Effect LCE (http://www.rfgeneration.com/cgi-bin/getinfo.pl?ID=U-115-S-02380-A&)

Mass Effect (http://www.rfgeneration.com/cgi-bin/getinfo.pl?ID=U-115-S-02380-B&)

I agree with most of the review, apart from the praise for the graphics. I think it's an ugly game. Mostly because of all the dull designs and the dead worlds. Even the wards, which supposedly is a notorious 'slum' known all over the universe, is an empty, grey, clean, metal collection of hallways. Playing the gorgeous Assassin's Creed before this one probably didn't help either.

After my second play through I just discovered you can start an old game with a new character. That'll make reaching level 60 very easy.

I guess I should've been more specific regarding the graphics. I was blown away by the character models when you're in dialogue. They did an excellent job there. You're right that some of the areas seemed barren, however I think that what they were able to accomplish is quite impressive overall.

As far as reaching level 60, I've played the 1st time on Normal difficulty and got to level 49. The 2nd time through I used the same character on Hardcore difficulty and made it to level 59. And the jump from level 59 to level 60 is a pretty big gap. So it looks like I wont reach that until I play it again with the same character on Insanity difficulty.