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Blue Dragon + Mass Effect
Bamelin
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I found Blue Dragon today for 20 bucks so I picked it up at Best Buy after returning "The Fountain" (blu-ray)which my wife informed me "sucked".
Later at Future Shop I saw Mass Effect marked down to 34.99 so I decided "what the hell why not".
You guys have to understand that as strange as this may seem I don't normally play single player games ... in general I never finish them and find myself getting bored alot of the time. This includes "greats" that I really wanted to enjoy like Bioshock, Halo 3 campaign (I had to play co-op to enjoy it), and many many other single player titles most other folks seem to really like. A part of it is that I don't have the time to invest in 40 hour campaigns, not and still have time to play alot of the multiplayer titles I really enjoy.
I haven't opened any of the games yet, I'm wondering if I should just take them back given my usual distaste for single player stuff.
Blue Dragon I'm thinking maybe I'll like as I used to enjoy old school JRPG's (we're talking really old school, like 8 bit Dragon Warrior 1 old school), but found my interest wane after RPG's went 3D. Still I've heard that Blue Dragon has a Dragon Warrior feel to it, so for 20 bucks I figured why not.
Mass Effect on the other hand is a whole other animal. I've never played a Bioware game before (never played Knights of the Old Republic, or any other game like this one) I love good sci fi stories, so I thought I might give it a shot. I'm not really sure what I'm in for as I haven't touched this "style" of single player game ... well ever. I read the threads here at PA of course and it seems like the story will be enjoyable ....
Generally you'll find me playing in depth multiplayer strategic titles (Civ, Star Chamber, PC RTS's etc), board games like Catan and Ticket to Ride, or hardcore FPS's like Gears, Halo 3, BF:BC etc (multiplayer or co-op campaigns only).
So what does Penny Arcade say? Should I keep these titles and give them a try, or based on my multiplayer fetishes should I take them back?
I'm feeling really torn. It's not like they cost alot of money (60 bucks total after tax), but at the same time, I'd hate to open them, play each for an hour and then go "meh, I'm heading back to Battlefield".
Later at Future Shop I saw Mass Effect marked down to 34.99 so I decided "what the hell why not".
You guys have to understand that as strange as this may seem I don't normally play single player games ... in general I never finish them and find myself getting bored alot of the time. This includes "greats" that I really wanted to enjoy like Bioshock, Halo 3 campaign (I had to play co-op to enjoy it), and many many other single player titles most other folks seem to really like. A part of it is that I don't have the time to invest in 40 hour campaigns, not and still have time to play alot of the multiplayer titles I really enjoy.
I haven't opened any of the games yet, I'm wondering if I should just take them back given my usual distaste for single player stuff.
Blue Dragon I'm thinking maybe I'll like as I used to enjoy old school JRPG's (we're talking really old school, like 8 bit Dragon Warrior 1 old school), but found my interest wane after RPG's went 3D. Still I've heard that Blue Dragon has a Dragon Warrior feel to it, so for 20 bucks I figured why not.
Mass Effect on the other hand is a whole other animal. I've never played a Bioware game before (never played Knights of the Old Republic, or any other game like this one) I love good sci fi stories, so I thought I might give it a shot. I'm not really sure what I'm in for as I haven't touched this "style" of single player game ... well ever. I read the threads here at PA of course and it seems like the story will be enjoyable ....
Generally you'll find me playing in depth multiplayer strategic titles (Civ, Star Chamber, PC RTS's etc), board games like Catan and Ticket to Ride, or hardcore FPS's like Gears, Halo 3, BF:BC etc (multiplayer or co-op campaigns only).
So what does Penny Arcade say? Should I keep these titles and give them a try, or based on my multiplayer fetishes should I take them back?
I'm feeling really torn. It's not like they cost alot of money (60 bucks total after tax), but at the same time, I'd hate to open them, play each for an hour and then go "meh, I'm heading back to Battlefield".
Bamelin on
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As for Blue Dragon, I've played the demo and it didn't interest me enough to ever buy it. Now that it's at such a low price, though, I'm thinking of giving it a shot.
So, yeah, keep both and play them. If you only keep one, it's gotta be Mass Effect. It's just so good.
Shogun Streams Vidya
The Blue Dragon game was fantastic.
The Blue Dragon itself was kind of bluish.
Mass Effect: also super awesome, and definitely a keeper. Any game where you can punch a reporter in the face on live TV is thumbs-up by me.
Funny... he doesn't look Bluish.
Blue Dragon, well....I've never played it but you can't really go wrong for $20.
I love Spaceballs.
Trust me I've tried to enjoy single player games. Oblivion is a perfect example. I bought it, and marvelled at technical genius the game displayed. In terms of gameplay however I just found myself getting bored.
Mind you with Oblivion I despised the "everything levels up with you" system but still I think it was still partly because the game was single player only.
Sometimes I wonder if part of the problem is that I was raised on short single player entertainment -- as a child of the 80's I grew up in arcade's where experiences were measured in quarters and 10 - 20 bucks could finish even the longest of arcade hits. Console titles (Coleco/Atari/Intellivision) were basic at best .... which is partly I think why I DO find XBLA single player titles very appealing. I've put a shitload of time in to Pac Man:CE for example.
I'm still sort of puzzling things over myself. It was a running joke over at 360A my multiplayer fetishes (fine I admit Fuzion Frenzy 2 sucked!). :P
Since Oblivion I've been very cautious when dropping cash on single player experiences.
yeah i was going to say
i enjoyed mass effect but couldn't get into blue dragon
I'm talking about shit before that. You said you've never played a bioware game. If you didn't play Neverwinter Nights I feel so bad for you. But if you love multiplayer games go play EverQuest or something I played that for years in highschool.
Shogun Streams Vidya
I host a podcast about movies.
I would say go for Mass Effect. It's shorter, for one, and the story is action packed and whatnot so it should keep your attention.
JRPGs tend to be overblown and take dozens of hours to beat, so if you have trouble finishing single player games you may not finish it.
That said, I've only played Mass Effect and I do recommend it.
I did go through an MMO phase ... my favorite to this day is 10Six, which is still run independantly by the community. 10Six though was more like a combination of an third person shooter/RTS (think MMO Battlezone).
I did actually play a little bit of Neverwinter Nights but my computer didn't run it very well.
I do have abit of ADD, maybe that's why I find I never finish single player stuff.
edit: And I'm pissed now I took The Fountain back. Wifey's tastes in movies are usually in line with mine, but when it comes to fantasy not always
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire,
The game is too easy, which may be a good thing as you'll be able to breeze through it quicker rather than getting bored. If you want it hard, though, the hard mode download off Live makes it work better.
XBL/PSN/Steam: APZonerunner
The Fountain is rather...ambiguous. But very poetic, and it's absolutely beautiful, so it's a great blu-ray.
I guess I was having a bout of buyer's remorse. Your all making me feel abit better about the purchases.
You know movies that you go and watch again and again because they're just so damn good? Yeah. Mass Effect was that for me, in video game form.
I owned Mass Effect, it was the third Bioware game I'd played and the second one I'd sold back after less than 10 hours of playtime. The only one I've completed was KotOR and I don't really know why. Never tried Blue Dragon but only because I made a vow to myself to never buy another RPG a few years back when I realized I had a fetish for buying RPG's for my PS2, but never actually playing any of them. I used to tell myself I loved the games, but never seemed to have any interest in playing them.
If you don't find yourself enjoying single player games I suggest not trying either of those games.
Since it's been mentioned, I'd just like to point out that enemies don't scale with you the same way they do in Oblivion (except on the harder difficulties in ME). Some places are damn near impossible to get past if you aren't a certain level. Thankfully most of those places are not the main storyline, although Noveria might give you some problems
Yeah they pretty much spell it out for you.
But off the top of my head
Citadel
Rescue Liara
Get Wrex
Get Garrus
Feros
Noveria
Virmire
Seriously.
It's about time someone suggested that.
He'll like 'em. Only a soulless monster would not like Mass Effect.
His tastes seem very similar to mine.
If you're looking at the game and trying to figure out whether you'll enjoy it, here's what jumps out at me, based on your first post (and follow-ups). There's probably some stuff that politically, I shouldn't say, but hey, you've given me your money, so I owe you. With that in mind:
Combat: If you like Gears of War, you'll find a lot of the combat similar. Not identical. I think we do some things better, and I know we do some things... um... differently. There's a wide range of different abilities that you can play around with if you want. If you don't want, fire up a soldier, and you've got yourself a pretty straightforward experience. I recommend finding something you like -- biotics, tech, firearms -- and picking something with at least a couple options for those things. I always got the most mileage out of crossover characters (Vanguard, Infiltrator, Sentinel), but your mileage may and will vary.
Opening: The first hour of the game has a lot of cool conversation stuff and worldbuilding and drama. Also, if you like action games more than RPGs, it's gonna feel combat-light. Please believe that combat is going to happen soon. Don't agonize over what conversation option to pick. Don't waste time exploring the whole area. You can find some nice things, but it's nothing that you'll die because you missed. Just get to the ass-kicking as quickly as possible.
Noveria: Don't do it first.
Side Quests: The main quests are indeed laid out for you pretty handily. People say not to do the side quests (which breaks my poor writer heart, as that was about all I did, given that I was just in there to sub in for a major writer who threw out his back). This isn't entirely fair. The uncharted worlds aren't awful. What they are is simple and repetitive. The problem, basically, is that they're laid out in a fashion that encourages you to do a bunch of them at once, when really, they're best used as something to cleanse the palate after finishing a major world. Like the talky bits on the Citadel, the biggest problem is that it's a whole bunch of the same thing right close together. In this case, the talky thing is driving the Mako to a point, killing some guys, and then either getting a short conversation and a chance for a Persuade, or a few brief follower interjections that sound a bit like something Daphne would say on Scoobie Doo to explain what was happening, since they didn't have the budget to animate the plant monster. So I won't say not to do them -- in some cases, I (unbiasedly, the guy who wrote some of them) think that they have some nice emotional pull. And hey, if you like the combat, the uncharted worlds offer more combat. After finishing the Citadel, I really felt like killing stuff with as few words as possible for awhile. So if you feel like a simple (and occasionally just a tiny bit repetitive in a few minor parts) fight, hit an Uncharted World. As soon as it feels like an annoyance, hit one of the major quest planets. If you want some roleplaying time, head back to the Citadel. (Do not do all the Citadel quests all at once. They involve a lot of talking, and people end up feeling like, well, they've just done a lot of talking. This often doesn't feel fun. Do them until you get bored, and then go off to an uncharted world to blow things up. Or go continue the main plot or something.)
How to do Uncharted Worlds: I strongly recommend using the map and setting destinations and ignoring all the exploration stuff, because unless you're one of the 10% of the gaming population that likes the damn Mako, you're going to be annoyed after spending half an hour getting up a fricking mountain in order to get a mineral deposit. Let me spoil it for you. Unless you're a completionist, there is nothing you need to find that isn't clearly labeled. If you're looking for pirates on a planet, hit the map and set as your destination the place that says "Pirate Base". Things like "Anomoly" might be cute, but don't break your neck trying to get there. Unless you enjoy the exploration (and if you don't, really, don't push it -- the Mako doesn't magically get better with practice), skip the mining. You'll be rolling in credits at high levels anyway.
Persuades: It's worth getting to a fairly high rank in one or the other (Charm or Intimidate). Charm is usually nicer for roleplaying reasons, while Intimidate is more fun to watch. If you have the points to spare, drop some ranks in it so that you can get slightly cooler endings on side quests, and a few main missions options that aren't otherwise available.
Followers: Talk to them if you want to. If it starts to feel like an obligation, stop. Yeah, there are achievements here and there, but really, are a few fake-money points worth a long conversation you didn't want to have? You won't wreck the game by not talking to Ashley, so only talk to Ashley if you actually enjoy it. I, as a writer on the game, officially give you permission not to talk to Ashley unless you actually enjoy doing so. Kaiden, too. Not Tali, though. You have to talk to Tali. Sorry.
Inventory Management and Stores: Yep. Sorry.
Anyway, I hope that helps. Regardless of whether you end up taking it back or not, thanks for giving it a try.
2) Rent Blue Dragon
3) Return the Fountain, buy the Prestige
4) Thank me later
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
Another point that he brought up: Don't sit in the citadel and do all those quests at once! Same goes for the story planets and sidequests! Space them out so you have something to do when you don't want to continue the story.
Bamelin, since you love sci-fi stories, I would listen to as many conversation options as possible so you can unlock all the codex entries. The codex is freaking amazing, and as a sci-fi fan you will probably love all the stuff about aerospace combat, alien races, etc.