Mass Effect Impressions

[DesR85]

A few questions:

• What about in-game performance? Is it smooth or choppy?

• What are the system requirements for this game? I hope it's more specific as those mentioned in Bioware's site is pretty vague, especially the processor part.

[Lady Dragonfly]

Originally Posted by DesR85

A few questions:

• What about in-game performance? Is it smooth or choppy?

• What are the system requirements for this game? I hope it's more specific as those mentioned in Bioware's site is pretty vague, especially the processor part.

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Mass Effect - README
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System Requirements
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*Minimum System Requirements

* Windows XP or Vista
* 2.4 GHz Intel or 2.0 GHz AMD
* 1 GB RAM (XP), 2 GB RAM (Vista)
* 12 GB free HD space
* 1x or better DVD-ROM drive
* NVIDIA GeForce 6800 or better (7300, 7600 GS, and 8500 are below minimum system requirements)
* ATI X1300 XT or better (X1300, X1300 Pro, X1600 Pro and HD2400 are below minimum system requirements)
* Shader Model 3.0 required
* 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card and drivers.
* DirectX 9.0c October 2006 (Included)
* INTERNET CONNECTION, ONLINE AUTHENTICATION, AND END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT REQUIRED TO PLAY.

*Recommended System Requirements

* Windows XP or Vista
* 2.6+ GHz Intel or 2.4+ GHz AMD
* 2 GB RAM
* 12 GB free HD space
* 1x or better DVD-ROM drive
* ATI X1800 XL series, NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX, or better recommended
* 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card and drivers.
* DirectX 9.0c October 2006 (Included)
* INTERNET CONNECTION, ONLINE AUTHENTICATION, AND END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT REQUIRED TO PLAY.

Game Known Issues
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In Mass Effect you will occsaionally find elevators that connect different locations. While riding in an elevator the game is loading significant amounts of information and modifying data. We recommend against saving the game after an elevator is activated until the player departs the elevator. Saving during elevator trips can occasional cause unusual behaviors.

Mass Effect does not run on a system using a GMA X3000 video card, a general protection fault error appear after double clicking the start icon.

Mass Effect does not run optimally on the Sapphire Radeon x1550 series of video cards. We recommend that Mass Effect is not played on a system with this video card.

Mass Effect does not run optimally on the NVIDIA GeForce 7100 series of video cards. We recommend that Mass Effect is not played on a system with this video card.

The ATI X1950, and X1650 have a known issue with minor pixilation of some visual effects in Mass Effect. An upcoming Catalyst 8.6 video driver from ATI update will address this issue.

Mass Effect does not run optimally on a computer with a Pentium 4 CPU with a FSB below 800 MHz under Windows Vista. We recommend that Mass Effect is not played on a system with this CPU and operating system combination.

The NVIDIA 8800 Series of video cards can require significant time (30 seconds or more) to change resolutions. This is due to a required recalculation of thousands of video shaders.

I hope it helps.

[BuckGB]

Now that some of you have picked up the PC version, how do your impressions compare to mine (spoilers within)? I haven't yet had a chance to fire up the game on PC yet, so it's possible a couple issues I had with it have been addressed (like controlling your squad members and piloting the Mako).

[Foss]

I just finished ME on PC.

And I must say I really enjoyed it. Though there were several low points during the game.

One thing though which most likely influenced my experience was that I had relatively low expectations to the game, as most of what I had read and seen involved tactical combat which is not something I find interesting.

But luckyly for me I didn't find the combat to be too irritating, and I actually enjoyed it most of the times. It gave me a sort of Alien (the movies) impression.
Hard to explain. Perhaps because the way I fought was very non tactical and more brute force/shoot at everything. Which reminded me of the marines in Aliens.

Story wise, I think it was really good. I like how it evolves over time and I really like the Codex (Your Lore book) where new lore got added as you found out more about the world. Reminded me alot of The Witcher and how the journal works there. I also felt it was quite an original story.

Main quest/side quests wise, I think the main quest was well made though a bit short and very different from the side quests which I didn't like that much. Side quests should have been made more interesting. It was fun in the start but got to repetetive after some time.
It also felt weird that the planets/buildings in your side quests were almost identical and rather cheap made, and then the main quests locations were much more grand.
That also play a bit into the fact that there weren't many civilised places you could go to. I would really have loved to have several cities like in KoToR that you could visit.

But overall I enjoyed the game, expecially the story and I also partly enjoyed the combat which seems always to be a weak point for me. I did however never really go into full tactical mode. I mostly played my own chr as a "solo" player and left my squad to do whatever they wanted to do during combat.

[Foss]

To add a bit to the above post.

At a role playing impression it wasen't particular a good RPG.
I didn't feel there was much you could do through dialog. Dialog was a way to enhance or add to the story but it didn't feel like you could change much through it, except the Charm/Intimidate feature. There didn't seem to be an influence gained or lost with your squad members like in KoToR or NWN MOTB.

Also, the whole lvling up aspect didn't seem to have much effect either. You become a bit better at something, but it didn't seem that important. Might be because of the lvlscaling.

The Paragon/Rebel seemed to remind me a bit of Light/Dark in KoToR but seemed less significant. I can't remember it having any influence on the game except the fact that it could increase your maximum Charm/Intimidate talents. And that was also the only reason I chose to focus on one of them, so my Charm could get higher and by that influence some situations.

Interface/loot wise it reminded me alot of KoToR. Alot of weapons and upgrades but seemed very static. You might have 6-7 different rifles which had a rank from 1-10 or something. Avenger I, Avenger II etc.
I enjoy a Fallout system much more, unique names and more interesting descriptions of a weapon. I sometimes felt there was to much, and I hated to have to go through my squad members to make sure they had the best of the best of the 4 weapon types + upgrades.

But I liked the story. And thats the most important for me. And the combat was simple enough for me and at many times quite enjoyable.
And it made me enjoy the game.

[Lady Dragonfly]

Foss is quite right: the game is enjoyable if your expectations are not set high. This game should be viewed and played as FPS, not as RPG. FPS, because the squad members just contribute to your own firepower and there is no interaction while you are running around frying everything that comes at you during the look-alike missions set in a generic environment. The best word to describe such galactic adventuring is "omni-gel".
Aside from the main quest, NPC interaction is reserved for Normandy only, KOTOR-like, but without humor or dark mystery. As I mentioned before, there is not much depth or insight to be found in any of the "dialogues".

The fancy Codex feature, imo, feels optional. It is crafted for those who enjoy sci-fi reading, but you don't have to read all this info to understand what is going on. Perhaps Codex adds some flavor but I'd rather have the designers concentrate on more important features.

Buck summed it all pretty well in that mini-review of his.

That makes me wonder at the direction BioWare is moving, farther and farther departing from RPG genre towards hollow action clothed in flashy graphics. From BG to KOTOR to NWN to ME to Alpha Protocol. I don't hold high expectation for any of their games any more.

[Foss]

Originally Posted by Lady Dragonfly

That makes me wonder at the direction BioWare is moving, farther and farther departing from RPG genre towards hollow action clothed in flashy graphics. From BG to KOTOR to NWN to ME to Alpha Protocol. I don't hold high expectation for any of their games any more.

Isen't Alpha Protocol being made by Obsidian?

Another game that RPG wise I don't have high expectations for, since I haven't seen many RPG features there. But thankfully that doesn't mean I can't enjoy it.

[Lady Dragonfly]

You are right, it is Obsidian, another shapeshifter.

Substitute AP with JE then. From BG to JE and ME. I guess action games sell better.

[Foss]

Hmm, one thing I forgot to mention aswell, though which I am not sure is 100% correct but from what I remember it looked like it. Is the Charm/Intimidate feature in the dialog.

That, there was no way to fail at Charm or Intimidate, since if you would fail you wouldn't be able to choose the answer in the first place, it would be grayed out. And would be in blue if you could choose it and then it would always succeed.

That limits the consequences/options.

A normal RPG with these features, like intimidate, charm, bluff, persuassion, ect. ect. doesn't automatically succeed. You normally get the option no matter how much you suck at that particullar skill and therefor has the chance to fail aswell, which would, optimal, create some new consequences and options.

[Lady Dragonfly]

Has anybody noticed this weird glitch: in several posts (not only in this thread), text after a certain word gets chopped off. Weird, isn't it? The word is RPG...

[Shrap]

Well Im almost done with the game, and I can agree with the majority here:
As an Action-RPG its 'ok', as a BioWare product Im disappointed, though not suprised since they have been assimilated by EA.
Visually, yes, its one of the best 'looking' RPGs I've ever played. Cutscenes are amazing, facial features, body movements, camera angles...sometimes I felt like I was watching a movie.
As a BioWare product, this game is VERY much below the quality of stuff I've been used to. Maybe because its console to PC and not the other way around
Its a different kind of fun, rpgs I feel a mental accomplishment, this game has the same feel as when you clear a board in a shoot em up: Loot it all, sort out the best guns, reload. Next level

[snnoopypw]

Started the game a couple of days ago. Satisfied so far.
I chose Sentinel, don't know if that's smart, but it seemed likea good idea...we'll see.
Currently in Citadel. So far so good. A bit annoyed by "untrained" weapons thing, but hey...it's real! and so is the overheating.
great game! I'm sure I'll have a lot of fun with it.

[der Moench]

I own the PC version, and have now played through the game 3 times.

I liked it very, very much.

On the positive side:
- Excellent graphics; it was more than the graphics, though. The manner in which they managed to make human movement seem realistic on a 'puter was really, really impressive. I'm only a casual gamer, so I don't know of everything out there, but it sure beat my previous recent purchases all to heck (NWN2, and Witcher). I noticed that the credits mentioned motion capture - does that mean they body-acted some or all of the movements? Crazy; but a fine end result.
- Good voice acting.
- A nice, intuitive control system on the PC. I am not a FPS person, but doing FPS in this game was easy enough (though that also may be a fault; see below).
- Good music - nothing spectacular, but definitely on the positive side of the ledger.

On the negative ide:
- Limited role-playing. They did an OK job with interactions with your companions, but nothing special. I'd like to see something more, something like (or, preferably, an improvement on) BGII or PsT.
- Combat was too easy - ? As noted, I'm no powergamer, so I hate stuggling for every encounter through tough fights, but this game did throw pretty soft fights at you. Last time around a bumped difficulty to 'veteran,' but I didn't even notice the difference.
- A bit repetitive. When every planet you go to has the same things, and every interior space is built off of the same templates, it's a sign that they were running out of time or money.

That's the highlights, in my mind...

I guess what I'd really like to see is another game with the same engine; an expansion of this kind of beautiful graphics/animation into another place or time. Anyone know of any plans?

Peace.