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Mass Effect: RIGHT BUMPER IS THE MAKO CANNON LERN 2 REED
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The 'conversation' you have tugs all the right strings with me I guess.
Steam: Feriluce
Battle.net: Feriluce#1995
On another topic, femShep kicks so much more ass. Is anyone else rockin the black lipstick? I forgot to do the eye editor though, so it looks kind of weird with black hair and green eyes, but I'm not doing it and sitting through the intro again (it's awesome, but it gets tiring after a while and I hate hate hate not being able to skip it).
Schalar Achievement: any consistent way to get this other than examining everything you see? I tried to to that but I didn't get it this playthrough.
I got mine before I was even finished with the Citadel, I think.
That's not the point.
That said, I totally nuked the bitch on my Renegade run.
I'm certain it's not. In three of my playthroughs, I had gotten every single entry in the game except for the Prothean one in the prologue during the briefing before landing on Eden Prime.
On my fourth playthrough, I made absolute sure to get that entry and I still didn't get the achievement until I got the extinct species entry on Noveria.
I think it's Council Races, Non-Council Races, and Extinct Races.
Yes, and it seems most people tend to miss the Prothean entry you get in the prologue.
The black lipstick looks trashy, I tried it, then went back and used red.
I got that achievement on my first playthrough before leaving the Citadel the first time.
Steam: Feriluce
Battle.net: Feriluce#1995
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There was an entry before Eden Prime? Oh well, next playthrough..
Tactician is actually a really easy achievement.
Being a Space Bitch is so much fun.
And Ambassador Udina demands action!
My first play through I talked to everybody about everything. If done right, you should get it after talking to Captain Anderson just before you enter the Normandy after becoming a Spectre.
Steam: Feriluce
Battle.net: Feriluce#1995
Man I got scholar about 1 minute into my first steps on the citadel. Just talk to everyone in sight and you get it easy. Didn't have to muck about with any planets or anything.
I never asked for this!
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
In that moment, I realised that I missed my character; the guy I had just been controlling on his 30 hour (I like to dawdle) quest to save the galaxy was gone, and had been replaced by someone I didn’t care for. Sure they still called him Shepard, he still spoke with the same voice, and I could’ve even taken all the same conversation choices, but it was startlingly different. It was then that I became aware of just how attached I had grown to my on-screen avatar, followed by the greater realisation that this is a shining example of what makes every single playthrough so unique. Having grown accustomed to playing as a single, identifiable character through a game, usually one I’ve been familiar with well in advance of actually playing, it feels remarkably different to become so attached to a face and personality that I have shaped myself. I’ve played games that allow you to choose from a selection of pre-made faces (BioWare’s Knights of the Old Republic, for one), or even been allowed to create the face of my character in ways that seem more detailed than what is present here (EA’s Fight Night, or the likes of Oblivion, both allowing for more finer modification), but ME seems more centred on letting you make a realistic face. Now I’m not going to pretend that this face creation is the sole purpose for my attachment, not even slightly. It’s the result of a whole group of factors, not least of which the fantastic writing and branching conversations, which allow you to shape your character as you see fit. The point I’m trying to make here is that, for me, this was the first time I had ever felt this much of a connection to a character that I had created. This is the face that I associate with the story and universe, but to someone else, it would be completely alien to use the same character. My advice is to skip the option of playing as a default, and take the time to make your Shepard.
The other important aspect of this character identification, as mentioned above, is the conversation system. As has become fairly standard in this kind of game, when you talk to someone in the game you are presented with a selection of responses that can range from polite to rude, as well as lines of inquiry for more information. The first point here is that, rather present you with complete lines of speech to read and interpret, you are instead given more the tone that your character will adopt, and the following speech reflects this. This allows for a more flowing and interesting conversation, and one that makes both parties worth listening to. Secondly, these branching conversations allow you to shape and craft your character. You can be rude or polite, and other characters in the game will treat you accordingly. Take things far enough, and you can end up punching someone out or shooting them. Take them the other way, and you can talk down a fight into a more peaceful conclusion if that’s your thing. The point is, this gives your Shepard a great deal of character and personality to identify with, and it’s all down to the choices you make. What’s more, it isn’t always left clear what is the ‘right’ response. It’s not that the game gives you a choice between hugging puppies or enslaving humanity, your goal is always to save the galaxy, but you get to decide how you want to go about doing this, and not every choice and repercussion are easily discernible. There are times when trying your best to do the ‘right’ thing may not always win you favour. The best way I can think to summarise it is that your choices are rarely easily divided into “right†and “wrongâ€, but are always treated appropriately.
As a sci-fi title featuring alien races and technologies in the year 2183, BioWare have clearly taken their time in settling on a solid style and atmosphere for the game. While we all may have been getting used to heavy-duty armour and rusty, bleak aesthetics, it’s been well-documented that the intention here was to adopt the clean, clinical style more common to sci-fi from the 60’s and 70’s, rather than the more familiar dirty, dystopian style that has followed since the likes of Blade Runner. In a move that I find somewhat ironic, the music draws heavily from the synthesizer of Vangelis, who is readily associated with the iconic, aforementioned, Blade Runner. Whatever the style, it works beautifully to create a perfect ambience. Again, everything just seems to fit into place and feels intrinsically right. The armours you find are never excessively huge, the weapons look comfortably portable, interiors mostly look clean and neat (appropriately, things don’t look immaculately spotless), and it is all the more refreshing for it.
Now I’m going to take a break from this near-hyperbolic torrent of praise, because this game is not without its flaws and it would be frankly rude of me to ignore this. Mass Effect has issues. Maybe the most prominent is the ‘texture pop-in’ which occurs frequently, and much to the frustration of some. As seen in the likes of Halo 2 and Gears of War, in-game models frequently appear untextured until properly loaded in, which can look pretty jarring and breaks up the otherwise gorgeous visuals. This appears to be most prominent after loading a saved game any time, but does happen almost constantly through the game. It also has framerate problems, which become more noticeable when chaotic action kicks off, but only (as far as I was concerned, so take it as you will) got really bad at a couple of points. Coupled to that, there is some v-sync tearing which can get in the way sometimes.
There are also complaints about the combat system, where the game takes on the appearance of a 3rd-person shooter (bearing the familiar over-the-shoulder views of Resident Evil 4 and Gears of War), but is actually working away as an RPG in the background. As such, twitch reflexes and thumbstick accuracy aren’t necessarily the most relevant skills, since the game is constantly making dice-rolls in the background to determine how much damage you’re actually doing. Then again, I mostly used the shotgun for my ‘peacekeeping’ duties, so it was more a case of getting things roughly lined up and pulling the trigger. I found the AI teammates sometimes got in my way while trying to make effective use of cover, but this was more of a slight irritation than anything else. If it were to be billed as a 3rd-person action game then there may be an excuse for some disappointed faces, but I personally found it a good change of pace for an RPG. I found it immensely satisfying to stroll into a combat situation and set about ordering my teammates to wreak havoc among the unfortunate aggressors, sabotaging shields, overheating weapons, hacking AI, sending them flying helplessly into the sky for an easy target or any other multitude of really cool things. My standard approach to this kind of game is to assume the role of a tank, and to bring similarly-minded teammates along. Here, I found myself taking advantage of the full gamut of available options, since every one proved useful and entertaining.
There is also the lack of a real tutorial, and a lot of things that you have to learn the hard way if you don’t want to be reading the manual. In some ways, it’s nice that the game doesn’t patronise your character by sending you through some kind of refresher course even though you’re a seasoned veteran who’s been doing this all his or her life. In other ways though, it can throw you in at the deep end and watch you attempt to not drown (thanks Penny Arcade). Another point of issue is the mini-game that pops up every time you try to hack a terminal, open a secure container, survey ore, investigate some Prothean ruins or any of the other wreckage that is scattered liberally around on the many planets, which can get a little tiring. While I don’t have any problem with pressing the correct buttons to follow on-screen prompts, some variety in these wouldn’t have gone amiss, and would’ve helped bring some more logic to proceedings. Similarly, there can be a lack of variety in the locations for your side-quests, but this didn’t really bother me.
See though, here’s the thing. Like I said, Mass Effect has its issues, and I’m not going to pretend that they’re small or insignificant. They’re there from the first cutscene to the final set-piece, and they will always nag at you. But after about 5 minutes, I was too engrossed in the story I was unfurling, the characters I was interacting with and the one I was developing, and the universe that I was very much a part of. I found it to be one of those games where I just didn’t want to put the controller down, because there is always something more around the corner, always a new character to see, some more XP you can grab, another level to go up, new items to pick up, planets to explore (with some jaw-dropping vistas), or any other number of cool things to do. If you want to fight, there’s side-quests galore (which maybe can get a little tiring if you try to take on many of them back-to-back, but I liked keeping them as an option for when I felt like a fight, and they do often neatly branch off from the main storyline, which gives another nice feeling of consistency). If you would rather talk, there’s a plethora of characters to meet and converse with, and what must be obscene amounts of well-acted dialog to hear.
This review has likely gone on too long, so now I shall instead bring things to a close and wheel in the conclusion, as I could go on talking in great detail for a long time indeed. It’s already apparent that I love this game, and I hope the mass of text above goes some length to explain why. There are flaws which I expect a number of people will take issue with, and if that’s you then fair enough, it’s your decision. I would ask these people to at least consider renting the game first though, as they would be missing out on something special. Even now, just discussing stories from the game draws differing responses from anyone who’s played it, swapping tales of how you handled this event, what conclusion it led to, and how that affected things down the line. Did you manage to calm the situation by talking, or did you have to shoot first. It’s the issues that make it tough to flat-out recommend, since not everyone is comfortable with a game like that. However, I firmly believe that the majority of people would very easily fall under its spell, as long as they afford it the time it takes to get comfortable.
The Division, Warframe (XB1)
GT: Tanith 6227
I appreciate that you made an effort to be fair, pointing out some of the game's major flaws. I noticed that you didn't mention the Inventory system, which needs some work - but perhaps you disagree. I think that any review also needs to mention the Mako, because it's a major gameplay element (there are Mako sections on every story world, to say nothing of the uncharted worlds). The Mako controls take some getting used to, and because almost every UCW you land on is the Planet of the Himalayas, getting around can be frustrating. It's also a shame because you spend so much time watching the ground, trying to find a pass through the mountains, that you don't have a chance to enjoy the glorious sunsets or marvel at the gas giants hanging in the sky.
That said, I generally agree with your comments, particularly the connection to one's avatar. It's going to be weird playing another male Shepard who looks different from the first one I created.
The Division, Warframe (XB1)
GT: Tanith 6227
Yeah, I wanted to make it a bit more about my own personal reactions to the game. I probably should've mentioned the Mako and the inventory system (still can, it's just up on my blog and hardly a big deal), but I didn't have too many issues with the Mako, and once I understood the inventory system, it seemed to work okay. It takes a while to navigate if you're turning crap into omni-gel, and item stacking would be nice, but otherwise, I found it okay.
Also, it felt like it was getting really long, and I didn't want to drag things on even further.
I am now actually starting to warm to my 'new' Shepard, but it's still a bit weird.
B.net: Kusanku
It's stupid, I know.
-edit- I share the packrat mentality, which has led to a WoW bank full of crap and resulted in my hitting the item cap once or twice in my first ME game. Now that I've adopted sell n' gel, my inventory is nice and lean.
The Division, Warframe (XB1)
GT: Tanith 6227
I do the same thing in almost every RPG, but Mass Effect has taken my inventory hoarding to a new, unique level of sickness. That Edge II might be useful later at some point--better not sell it or break it down.
I'm thinking an intervention or 12-step program might be needed here.
Ng Security Industries, Inc.
PRERELEASE VERSION-NOT FOR FIELD USE - DO NOT TEST IN A POPULATED AREA
-ULTIMA RATIO REGUM-
It doesn't get in the way of enjoying the game, however. You can still manage your inventory enough to get by, and as long as you can get to a point where you just say fuck it and equip whatever looks nice and has suitably high (eventually rather arbitrary) numbers on their stats bars, you'll be fine.
That's one thing I really do appreciate about the inventory system.
It's so easy it is to sell or omni-gel your junk. Honestly, there is nothing easier than knowing you have a complete set of V gear, plus a few VI, going to the vendor, and just pounding the 'sell' button until you see everything IV and under go away.
Plus, even though I don't know what characters need what equipment, I can basically do the same thing with weapons, etc. I know Wrex needs a new shotgun, I don't know what, but I'm fairly certain that since I have a Shotgun VI in my inventory, all I need to do is sell everyting IV and under, compare stats on a couple guns, then sell away.
PLUS, you have a vendor in the basement of the ship! There is no reason to let your inventory get out of control.
PLUS, PLUS when you go to equip stuff, the highest level item is always listed first, so the scrolling is minimized. I guess having like stuff stack would be a slight improvement, but the way everyone is bitching about the inventory system, calling it a hack, or last minute add...I'm not seeing it.
Seriously, how much easier do you guys want it?
1) Stacking like items, to make the list shorter. Pressing A or Y sells or gels one item at a time.
2) Tabs! I would like to be able to use the triggers or bumpers to cycle through different item lists: weapons, weapon mods, armour, armour mods, ammo/grenade mods and omni-tools/implants. Not possible? Then at least have all the weapons get listed, followed by all armour, and so. Having stuff scattered all over the list is annoying.
3) I would love, love, love to be able to use the Compare function to see what people who aren't in my party are using. I find it irritating to find some new Krogan armour for sale and not be sure how it stacks up with what Wrex is wearing, for example, and I'm not going to walk back to the Normandy just so I can put him in my group, walk back, compare, and then go BACK to the Normandy, etc...
-edit- One other thing I do to manage my inventory is to equip everyone with the best possible weapons of all types. I won't buy them all four pieces of Spectre gear, of course, but even though Kaiden will never fire a sniper rifle, I’ll still give him a Harpoon VII. Once I know that everyone has the best in every category, I hold a fire sale in the Normandy’s hold, dumping every weapon on the list and watching my credit total go up and up.
The Division, Warframe (XB1)
GT: Tanith 6227
How about as easy as 90% of modern RPGs? Why can't we equip our characters without going in and out of lockers? Why don't items stack, making item lists incredibly long (and slow to scroll through, since there's a slight pause on each item) when selling/gelling? Why can't we view all our character items for comparison in shops instead of just the three in the party... or just Shepard in the Normandy?
It's just little things that make the system unwieldy, and no one's complaining too loudly about it, but to say the system is ideal as it is is pushing it slightly.
edit: beat'd, but I'll be back! Just you wait and see!
Thanks for bringing up the lockers thing, which I forgot. I can live with the lockers if BioWare is married to the idea, but I wouldn't mind if they changed it from 6 seperate lockers to something faster to use. For example, the same row of lockers, but make it one big interactable object called "Squad Lockers" and from there you can use the triggers to cycle through and equip each companion. The companions come up in alphabetical order, or the order you recruited them, or whatever.
Again, the inventory is not a mess, it's just not as good as it could be. I have no clue how much work our suggestions/wish lists entail, but some of the ideas are really minor changes that would result in large improvements, so hopefully some of them will make it into ME2 - or could even be implemented as DLC (again, I have no idea if that is practical or possible, but I can dream!)
The Division, Warframe (XB1)
GT: Tanith 6227
I can remember the basics for my party (tank out Wrex with big armor and powerful shotties), but keeping track of fine details is a pain: like who has what ammo or omnitool, or what armor your tech/biotic party members are currently wearing and if they have the best support weapon currently available them. There is no easy way to do a quick compare or contrast on all 6 members, so you can end up spending an inordinate amount of time making sure your gang has the best toys you can afford.
A beefier inventory interface where you can view all party members and all of their currently equipped gear at any time in-game would have been a huge help here. Being able to view skills with inventory would help as well.
Ng Security Industries, Inc.
PRERELEASE VERSION-NOT FOR FIELD USE - DO NOT TEST IN A POPULATED AREA
-ULTIMA RATIO REGUM-
why do you equip every member anyways? From what I've seen, everyone grabs the same 2 party members for an entire run through.
B.net: Kusanku
The Division, Warframe (XB1)
GT: Tanith 6227