They both just feel too short to accomplish what they want to with the characters and ME really is only a few hours shorter than KotOR for most people's first playthrough. And I can easily finish KotOR in 15 hours while hitting every bit of dialogue with my party members and it's far more than is present in ME for each individual character.
Maybe it's just me, but I actually like that the game is a bit shorter. For most RPGs, especially Bioware ones, I'd like to replay them, but since they're so bloody long, I never get around to it. I can actually do so with ME because it's not quite as epic, and not the mention Paragon vs Renegade (as well as MaleShep vs FemShep) can change the game quite a bit from the dialogue standpoint.
I'm on Hardcore. One other problem is that I've been finding no useful gear, so I have no ammo upgrades at all and almost no weapon upgrades or amps. I just keep getting shotguns and snipers and heavy human armor. But that's just bad luck (and I think I accidentally sold the one or two upgrades I might have had).
exploring some ucws should helps you pick up some ammo mods, as for amps i spent all my cash buying one at the citadel, those are harder to pick up exploring.
If you find WetWare kits, they will ALWAYS have two Amps in them.
I've found them in the following places:
Tuntau in Tonn Actus' lair
Chasca has two (I think it was Chasca, one of the worlds covered with Creepers at any rate)
One of the Crimelords from Hostile Takeover, Mavigon
The Rachni Freighter
Virmire in the med lab
The Cerberus homeworld
I have a list somewhere with all eight that I could find. Something of interest to me is that NONE of these worlds with WetWare kits are unlocked when you first get your ship.
They both just feel too short to accomplish what they want to with the characters and ME really is only a few hours shorter than KotOR for most people's first playthrough. And I can easily finish KotOR in 15 hours while hitting every bit of dialogue with my party members and it's far more than is present in ME for each individual character.
Maybe it's just me, but I actually like that the game is a bit shorter. For most RPGs, especially Bioware ones, I'd like to replay them, but since they're so bloody long, I never get around to it. I can actually do so with ME because it's not quite as epic, and not the mention Paragon vs Renegade (as well as MaleShep vs FemShep) can change the game quite a bit from the dialogue standpoint.
I think you're missing the point.
The game isn't appreciably shorter than BioWare's other recent efforts (in fact, it's quite a bit longer than Jade Empire), but it accomplishes far less with its characters than their previous games have. There is so little dialogue, especially in the romances, that it feels like instead of things developing naturally, more happens off-screen than on to develop the supposedly complex relationships that are supposed to be developing.
It makes the relationships between your character and their party members feel less developed, less natural, and less engaging. For some characters, this works fine. For the romance characters, especially, it doesn't. It didn't work well in Jade Empire where the romances were rushed through because of the game's length. It doesn't work all that well in Mass Effect either.
I don't really blame the length of the game. It's the volume of the interactions. With everything tied so closely to the number of story missions there are so that someone who only does those can see everything develop and the number of story missions being so limited, the interactions with your party, especially the romances again, feel neutered.
And it's not even that I don't like it. I love what's there. I especially like the romanceable characters, though I don't like Ashley all that much and no, it's not because she's racist.
Ashley is one of the rare cases of a love interest character that I don't immediatly hate on some level as soon as I meet them. I think it has something to do with the fact that I don't have to be nice to her, and can just tell her to man up and come kill things with me if I want to.
When playing, I saw her as a fellow soldier that happened to be quite hot, and would sleep with me if I played my cards right. The asari chick felt like a love interest (since she seems to only talk about how she feels a connection with you or some such), and so I ended up ignoring her.
Nice that they've got both types in there.
I like 'em hard to get. That's why Wrek>Garrus. Garrus is too easy, and will just follow you no matter what. Wrex has balls
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JacobkoshGamble a stamp.I can show you how to be a real man!Moderatormod
On one of the Geth outposts in the... early-four-systems-have-outposts-in-the-same-quadrant area. On the snowy world, I keep getting utterly destroyed by the Colossus and half-dozen missile troops. The Mako's too useless to go in, and there's no good hiding or cover spots that I've found in a few tries.
Am I missing something? Too low level? Does the Mako ever get upgrades to "not useless"?
I still feel like I'm doing something very wrong.
I realize it's a page or two back, but:
The mako does "level up" once every 6 player levels, but you can't spend talent points in it, make its guns bigger, etc. It just gains some more shields and health is all.
Can you quickly cannon the geth troppers, and then try hopping over the colossus' blasts? Otherwise, the colossus blasts aren't too fast, so you could try popping in and out of cover and whittle it down with small arms fire.
Haha, that's awesome. Tali would always die on me, much like Garrus is getting destroyed on my current Hardcore run.
My level 12 Adept with Garrus and Wrex get owned by almost any combat. Am I doing something wrong? I had to leave Noveria because I couldn't get past the end of the tower. Hold down the fort for me, Fai Dan!
I'm regretting all my Intimidation points, but it doesn't seem like I'm being retarded with my point distribution. There's just not enough points yet. Now I'm doing all the talking quests on the Citadel and hope that I can get enough levels to make me better.
low levels are pretty tough no matter what. My first run through I did noveria first and it took me forever. 2nd run through I did a bunch of ucw stuff first to get my levels up. Even with that I've left noveria for near the end of the main quest worlds. It seems to be the one with the steepest difficulty curve. I goes kinda like this: easy easy easy oh shit i'm dead.
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Zen VulgarityWhat a lovely day for teaSecret British ThreadRegistered Userregular
Allow playlists of Codex entries to be played while driving around in the Mako or exploring planet surfaces. At least we could get educated while exploring.
Samphis on
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Iron WeaselDillon!You son of a bitch!Registered Userregular
Yeah, me too. I was thinking that some simple upgrades to the Mako might make a good money sink. It wouldn't have to be fancy or anything either. Maybe one or two levels of damage upgrade for the weapons, improved heat damping and/or accuracy for the machine gun, quicker reloading for the cannon, tougher shields and thicker armour. Maybe reflect the upgrades with a new paint job and slightly altered weapon sound effects.
Regarding the relationships, I would agree that things often seem hurried and I for one found myself wishing that I had more to talk about with my companions. At the same time, we are strictly speaking in a Race Against Time, so I suppose that a certain feeling that time is short isn't a bad thing. I hope that in the sequel there will be more opportunity to interact with our companions, new and old.
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Allow playlists of Codex entries to be played while driving around in the Mako or exploring planet surfaces. At least we could get educated while exploring.
That's all I have left to do. I could run around and look for random planets or derelict ships, but I run the risk of visiting several planets over again, wasting time. I'm aggravated because:
A> I don't think I'll be able to complete one of the romance subplots. Kaiden's pretty much made his intentions known, but it ended with, "We'll pick it up after the mission."
Blargh
B> There are a few side quests that I'm sure I won't get the chance to do. The Fan didn't come back after completing the third quest planet, and I never was able to find the junkie.
Allow playlists of Codex entries to be played while driving around in the Mako or exploring planet surfaces. At least we could get educated while exploring.
That's a damn good idea.
Also, it would be great if once the entries were unlocked (and read) they stayed unlocked (and read) for all subsequent playthroughs. I know there's the small XP reward for finding new entries, but I don't think it woud break subsequent games if players didn't get those on playthroughs after the first. At the very least, a complete GC should roll over when we start a New Game+.
Allow playlists of Codex entries to be played while driving around in the Mako or exploring planet surfaces. At least we could get educated while exploring.
That's a damn good idea.
Also, it would be great if once the entries were unlocked (and read) they stayed unlocked (and read) for all subsequent playthroughs. I know there's the small XP reward for finding new entries, but I don't think it woud break subsequent games if players didn't get those on playthroughs after the first. At the very least, a complete GC should roll over when we start a New Game+.
I wouldn't mind if there were entries that you cannot unlock until your second or third playthrough. It would help keeping the codex "fresh" a while longer and it would also give us a reason to keep exploring after the first playthrough.
I wouldn't mind if there were entries that you cannot unlock until your second or third playthrough. It would help keeping the codex "fresh" a while longer and it would also give us a reason to keep exploring after the first playthrough.
Yeah, I can dig that. It's just kind of annoying to open up the menu and see the flashing CODEX button, knowing that you've already read the damn entries.
to be fair none of what you wrote is even remotely a big spoiler.
I risk nothing with the forum that got upset when some found out you...
fight Bowser in Mario Galaxy.
i remember a brilliant set of posts in the twilight princess thread where someone mentioned the final boss and people were getting pissy about spoilers.
I died last night on Therum (Liara's Dig Site) by driving the Mako into an area that was off the main path, but not lava, and not very far from the main path, either. It was a side area with lots of pipes, and I just thought it'd be neat to look around. I clearly had full health on all characters, and on the Mako, but it just decided that I was dead. There wasn't even any lava anywhere near where I was.
I didn't cross any rocks, or anything. It's the area right after the first tunnel, to the right.
Samphis on
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Zen VulgarityWhat a lovely day for teaSecret British ThreadRegistered Userregular
I died last night on Therum (Liara's Dig Site) by driving the Mako into an area that was off the main path, but not lava, and not very far from the main path, either. It was a side area with lots of pipes, and I just thought it'd be neat to look around. I clearly had full health on all characters, and on the Mako, but it just decided that I was dead. There wasn't even any lava anywhere near where I was.
I didn't cross any rocks, or anything. It's the area right after the first tunnel, to the right.
Yeah it's pretty amusing the few times they kill you in the Mako for no explicable reason (map borders).
I did this on Noveria. I was driving down the outside path on the way to Peak 15. I was intrigued because the terrain showed I was on a rise, and there was a whole valley next to be I could drive down into, whereas the map showed the path I was on to be the only path... so I drive over the edge, and start rolling down the 45-30 degree slope and about 2 seconds going the mako just... dies. The "yuo fucked up horribly" music starts, and the Mako starts burning. All while sitting there safely on a hill.
I also liked the time on Feros where I was killing geth on the highway, but I wanted to kill them all on foot for the bonuses. So im fighting the armature, I kill it, and now there are no enemies about. Coast is clear. I head back to the Mako and notice it's burning pretty bad... so I hop into the Mako to drive off/repair it and... we all die.
Apparently the mako itself was fucked, but we were just fine until we climbed into the hellish chemical inferno that was the super-heated Mako interior. I guess we should have just walked...
Considering what I've read on the Bio boards, David Gaider still have nightmares about how overwhelming Baldurs Gate 2 was for him. Long RPG's aren't profitable enough apparently, so the chances to see an RPG in the same caliber as BG2 is pretty low.
It's not sales so much as deadlines that drive decisions on game length and depth. Creating and debugging a game engine consumes a lot of what Dave calls "zots" - units of time and effort by the team. There are limits to what we can accomplish while still in the process making a new engine work.
We always try for a Napoleonic-scale game, but we scale back when that proves unfeasible. I've mentioned before that I had a bunch of my plots cut from ME over a year before ship. That choice was made because we needed to focus on getting the core elements of the game working and the critical path polished. Do I, personally, regret that lost content? Sure. But cutting it was the correct decision for the overall quality of the game.
I died last night on Therum (Liara's Dig Site) by driving the Mako into an area that was off the main path, but not lava, and not very far from the main path, either. It was a side area with lots of pipes, and I just thought it'd be neat to look around. I clearly had full health on all characters, and on the Mako, but it just decided that I was dead. There wasn't even any lava anywhere near where I was.
I didn't cross any rocks, or anything. It's the area right after the first tunnel, to the right.
That happened to me on Feros, but it was even more retarded. I was on the main path, going to the ExoGeni building. I get out to go through one of the little side-areas on the road, and I get a game over. Shepard and everyone is still standing there, full health. As soon as I got out, that was it.
I actually got my mako stuck upside down. On Liara's Dig Site planet, when you go around on that first blockade I destroyed the tower then ran straight over the rubble and it flipped my mako upside down and it got stuck that way.
So can you only get one "Ally" achievement per playthrough?
I assumed you would get two, along with the associated bonuses.
You can get two.
? I'm sure I used two characters for just about 90% of the game, yet only got one.
Wonder what happened.
I used the same two characters for the entire game and got none They seem to be a bit buggy. Also, my understanding is that only plot related missions count towards the achievements, not the sidequests. At least that'll make subsequent playthroughs going for the ally achievements a bit shorter...
So can you only get one "Ally" achievement per playthrough?
I assumed you would get two, along with the associated bonuses.
You can get two.
? I'm sure I used two characters for just about 90% of the game, yet only got one.
Wonder what happened.
I used the same two characters for the entire game and got none They seem to be a bit buggy. Also, my understanding is that only plot related missions count towards the achievements, not the sidequests. At least that'll make subsequent playthroughs going for the ally achievements a bit shorter...
Trust me on this. The ally achievements count every little quest you do as long as that ally is in your party. Hell, I got one when I surveyed a mineral.
Very much no. You have to do 15 story missions and 45 sidequests with an ally to get their achievement.
Can someone clarify what this means exactly? Does the ally need to be with you the whole time? Like, when the quest is assigned, from start to finish? Does it only count when an ally is there when you complete the quest? Or when it is initially assigned? I ask because this is my first play through and I am keeping Wrex and Garrus in my party. I feel like I've had them around the whole time, but in the process of wandering the citadel and picking up those two, I got some of the sidequests with Kaiden and Ashley in tow...and swapped them out as soon as I could.
We always try for a Napoleonic-scale game, but we scale back when that proves unfeasible. I've mentioned before that I had a bunch of my plots cut from ME over a year before ship. That choice was made because we needed to focus on getting the core elements of the game working and the critical path polished. Do I, personally, regret that lost content? Sure. But cutting it was the correct decision for the overall quality of the game.
Would it be right to assume, then, that you guys will have more zots in ME2 & ME3 to implement more story and features, because you got the engine pretty much down this time?
Your cut content could come back in some form, yes?
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Maybe it's just me, but I actually like that the game is a bit shorter. For most RPGs, especially Bioware ones, I'd like to replay them, but since they're so bloody long, I never get around to it. I can actually do so with ME because it's not quite as epic, and not the mention Paragon vs Renegade (as well as MaleShep vs FemShep) can change the game quite a bit from the dialogue standpoint.
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If you find WetWare kits, they will ALWAYS have two Amps in them.
I've found them in the following places:
Chasca has two (I think it was Chasca, one of the worlds covered with Creepers at any rate)
One of the Crimelords from Hostile Takeover, Mavigon
The Rachni Freighter
Virmire in the med lab
The Cerberus homeworld
I have a list somewhere with all eight that I could find. Something of interest to me is that NONE of these worlds with WetWare kits are unlocked when you first get your ship.
twitch.tv/Taramoor
@TaramoorPlays
Taramoor on Youtube
I think you're missing the point.
The game isn't appreciably shorter than BioWare's other recent efforts (in fact, it's quite a bit longer than Jade Empire), but it accomplishes far less with its characters than their previous games have. There is so little dialogue, especially in the romances, that it feels like instead of things developing naturally, more happens off-screen than on to develop the supposedly complex relationships that are supposed to be developing.
It makes the relationships between your character and their party members feel less developed, less natural, and less engaging. For some characters, this works fine. For the romance characters, especially, it doesn't. It didn't work well in Jade Empire where the romances were rushed through because of the game's length. It doesn't work all that well in Mass Effect either.
I don't really blame the length of the game. It's the volume of the interactions. With everything tied so closely to the number of story missions there are so that someone who only does those can see everything develop and the number of story missions being so limited, the interactions with your party, especially the romances again, feel neutered.
And it's not even that I don't like it. I love what's there. I especially like the romanceable characters, though I don't like Ashley all that much and no, it's not because she's racist.
I just found Ashley annoying, although I think her reports of being ugly are overstated (except when you first meet her, that was terrible).
When playing, I saw her as a fellow soldier that happened to be quite hot, and would sleep with me if I played my cards right. The asari chick felt like a love interest (since she seems to only talk about how she feels a connection with you or some such), and so I ended up ignoring her.
Nice that they've got both types in there.
Next week we can change it to THERE IS NO SPECTRE ARMOR.
YES THAR IS
I realize it's a page or two back, but:
Can you quickly cannon the geth troppers, and then try hopping over the colossus' blasts? Otherwise, the colossus blasts aren't too fast, so you could try popping in and out of cover and whittle it down with small arms fire.
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low levels are pretty tough no matter what. My first run through I did noveria first and it took me forever. 2nd run through I did a bunch of ucw stuff first to get my levels up. Even with that I've left noveria for near the end of the main quest worlds. It seems to be the one with the steepest difficulty curve. I goes kinda like this: easy easy easy oh shit i'm dead.
Allow playlists of Codex entries to be played while driving around in the Mako or exploring planet surfaces. At least we could get educated while exploring.
Regarding the relationships, I would agree that things often seem hurried and I for one found myself wishing that I had more to talk about with my companions. At the same time, we are strictly speaking in a Race Against Time, so I suppose that a certain feeling that time is short isn't a bad thing. I hope that in the sequel there will be more opportunity to interact with our companions, new and old.
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Spoilers, in case jail disables spoiler tag.
A> I don't think I'll be able to complete one of the romance subplots. Kaiden's pretty much made his intentions known, but it ended with, "We'll pick it up after the mission."
Blargh
B> There are a few side quests that I'm sure I won't get the chance to do. The Fan didn't come back after completing the third quest planet, and I never was able to find the junkie.
C> WHERE THE HELL IS THE LAST KEEPER?!
:-(
I risk nothing with the forum that got upset when some found out you...
i remember a brilliant set of posts in the twilight princess thread where someone mentioned the final boss and people were getting pissy about spoilers.
I didn't cross any rocks, or anything. It's the area right after the first tunnel, to the right.
I assumed you would get two, along with the associated bonuses.
You can get two.
Yeah it's pretty amusing the few times they kill you in the Mako for no explicable reason (map borders).
I did this on Noveria. I was driving down the outside path on the way to Peak 15. I was intrigued because the terrain showed I was on a rise, and there was a whole valley next to be I could drive down into, whereas the map showed the path I was on to be the only path... so I drive over the edge, and start rolling down the 45-30 degree slope and about 2 seconds going the mako just... dies. The "yuo fucked up horribly" music starts, and the Mako starts burning. All while sitting there safely on a hill.
I also liked the time on Feros where I was killing geth on the highway, but I wanted to kill them all on foot for the bonuses. So im fighting the armature, I kill it, and now there are no enemies about. Coast is clear. I head back to the Mako and notice it's burning pretty bad... so I hop into the Mako to drive off/repair it and... we all die.
Apparently the mako itself was fucked, but we were just fine until we climbed into the hellish chemical inferno that was the super-heated Mako interior. I guess we should have just walked...
OMG U GAWT IT 2?! LOL plasma grenade upgrade is sweet. You buy it from the hidden UNC officer.
Final Fantasy XI -> Carbuncle - Samash
It's not sales so much as deadlines that drive decisions on game length and depth. Creating and debugging a game engine consumes a lot of what Dave calls "zots" - units of time and effort by the team. There are limits to what we can accomplish while still in the process making a new engine work.
Don't believe me? Consider this - the only games BioWare has made on a complete, preexisting engine are BG2 and NWN: HotU. Those are also considered the BioWare titles with the richest and most varied content. Why? Because the programmers, technical designers, and testers had enough free zots to implement and polish the more complex and outré ideas the team came up with.
We always try for a Napoleonic-scale game, but we scale back when that proves unfeasible. I've mentioned before that I had a bunch of my plots cut from ME over a year before ship. That choice was made because we needed to focus on getting the core elements of the game working and the critical path polished. Do I, personally, regret that lost content? Sure. But cutting it was the correct decision for the overall quality of the game.
? I'm sure I used two characters for just about 90% of the game, yet only got one.
Wonder what happened.
B.net: Kusanku
I used the same two characters for the entire game and got none
I believe you have to have the character with you for 15 missions and 45 assignments.
Trust me on this. The ally achievements count every little quest you do as long as that ally is in your party. Hell, I got one when I surveyed a mineral.
twitch.tv/Taramoor
@TaramoorPlays
Taramoor on Youtube
Can someone clarify what this means exactly? Does the ally need to be with you the whole time? Like, when the quest is assigned, from start to finish? Does it only count when an ally is there when you complete the quest? Or when it is initially assigned? I ask because this is my first play through and I am keeping Wrex and Garrus in my party. I feel like I've had them around the whole time, but in the process of wandering the citadel and picking up those two, I got some of the sidequests with Kaiden and Ashley in tow...and swapped them out as soon as I could.
Would it be right to assume, then, that you guys will have more zots in ME2 & ME3 to implement more story and features, because you got the engine pretty much down this time?
Your cut content could come back in some form, yes?