Mass Effect - "the" Xbox360 title to get

[Vocenoctum]

Okay, just finished it. (Restarted after 6 hours with my current vanguard, and had some disc issues last night.)

Length is good I think, though of course I did a good amount of side missions, so there's that.


Probably one of the best end-games I've had in a long time, the final location leading up to the boss battle was quite a fun scene. The finale was a lot of fun, though combat was a bit hectic with It.

So, final review (until I replay again next week :
1) Dialogue system is very nice and cinematic, except that quite a few times, IMO, the dialogue choice did not match the tone/response implied.

2) Combat was iffy, okay once you get used to it, but still a bit slow for a real shooter, since its not one, we'll make an exception, but still. The sniper wobble is horrible, and the heat system makes my pistol almost as good as an assault rifle, which is fine I suppose. Grenades didn't really capture my interest, though they were nicely done in concept.

3) Mako was not fun, not like a Warthog... That said, my early problems only seemed to work for the linear quests, rather than the "open world" missions. Though, it's still not the greatest in combat, and I'd often just snipe&hop, which isn't a very dynamic combat experience.

4) Characters were fun, I especially liked Tali and Wrex, though Garrus might be better given time. They didn't seem to have as much dialogue as KotOR, and it's always odd to have to pick 2 people from a sixe man team.

5) Achievements: mostly very boring actually. "kill 150 things with pistol" or whatnot. I'm not sure why I didn't get the Krogan and Quarian unlocks, I used them for 95% of the missions once I got them, but I guess it means "majority of the game" with completing all the side quests. Bleh. It is neat that some of them unlock other stuff though.

6) Equipment: the gel system is fine, but the menu's need some polishing for navigation and stuff.

7) Story: starts off good, continues along good, great ending. The only issue I had was how some of the stuff just seemed "done" before. Once you think of the Quarians as Battlestar Gallactica it's hard to forget. The comparisons of the Protheans with Forerunners (Halo) and Eloh (Tabula Rasa) are pretty fresh in my mind too.

Overall, definetly worth the purchase, though;
8) the disc. It said it was unreadable after a certain point, when I tried to clean the disc, I saw scuffs on it. After a little poking around, I found others had the same problems with ME discs, and a heavy cleaning removes whatever that scuff material is. Scratched my disc in the process of course, but it works fine. I haven't had this issue with any other discs.

 

[Felon]

But, but... you get Unity!

UNITY!

Sure, you ge the spectre special training, but just comparing to what the classes themselves offer, the alien NPC's get a better deal.

Actually, I've enjoyed the pistol much better than the assault rifle. (I'm a vanguard, the sol/bio split.)

Really? What makes the lower damage and fewer shots worthwhile?

Well, in defense, you DO get a lot more points than the others.

Not sure what you mean there. My armor, health, and shields are the equivalent of any other crew member with similar investments in armor, Fitness, and Electronics.

I'm just not sure why Wrex isn't just a soldier. Leave the Vanguard to Ashley or something.

What I don't get is the big bonus he gets on melee attacks. Other than stomring, there is no melee.

 

[Felon]

3) Mako was not fun, not like a Warthog... That said, my early problems only seemed to work for the linear quests, rather than the "open world" missions. Though, it's still not the greatest in combat, and I'd often just snipe&hop, which isn't a very dynamic combat experience.

Never played Halo, but the Mako's default camera view should have been to stay forward-oriented until a player actually used the right thumbstick to swivel it around.

5) Achievements: mostly very boring actually. "kill 150 things with pistol" or whatnot. I'm not sure why I didn't get the Krogan and Quarian unlocks, I used them for 95% of the missions once I got them, but I guess it means "majority of the game" with completing all the side quests. Bleh. It is neat that some of them unlock other stuff though.

According to the Xbox forums, the various "ally" achievements are incredibly demanding. You won't get the one for Liara unless you acquire her as soon as her mission becomes available, and then use her forevermore afterwards. Personally, that seems like a bad idea for an achievement, essentially penalizing a player who makes tactical decisions about which crew members to bring on a given mission.

 

[Howndawg]

Just recently polished it up myself. Loved it.

My biggest critiques:

-Shield recharge on the Mako is pathetically slow. Too many battles consist of running in, killing as much geth as I can, then retreating and waiting ten minutes for my shields to recharge. Repeat until geth are destroyed.

-An overreliance on stock "dungeons". Too many missions have the same maps.

-Saren was too much of a pushover in the end.


Aside from those and perhaps a few other minor beefs, I thought the game was excellent. For those who think Shepard is a bit too weak, after the lunar mission and unlocking of class specialization, he really begins to shine. My soldier took shock trooper as his spec and by the end of the game was a nigh unstoppable juggernaut.

 

[Enforcer]

I haven't finished yet, but once I bought the Master SPECTRE weapons for my Shepard (Soldier) he became an unstoppable badass. With the Master SPECTRE assault rifle and maximum talent points in that skill, my target reticle doesn't expand at all, even if I lay on the trigger. And with over 60 shots required before overheating, the thing is more like a minigun than an assault rifle.

Some more nitpicks though: What the hell do some of the upgrades do? What's Hardness? I know +9% Hardness must be good for my armor, but what does it DO? Why do Polonium rounds seem to work on the Geth?

I love this game, as evidenced by my only getting 4-5 hours of sleep the past few nights, but I wish some of the game terms were better explained. How is Accuracy actually calculated? Weapon Accuracy + points from talents? And does 100% or more mean I never miss, supposedly? More Accuracy=Good I get, I just would like to understand how the system works.

Anyways, how cool are some of the achievements? They actually improve Shepard in later play. For example, with Assault Rifle Expert supposedly even an Adept Shepard will be able to put points into Assault Rifle when I play it again. Or at least that's how I read it. That makes the idea of playing through on Hardcore or Insanity pretty palatable. And Rich opens up the SPECTRE gear, which dramatically changes gameplay.

 

[Vocenoctum]

Sure, you ge the spectre special training, but just comparing to what the classes themselves offer, the alien NPC's get a better deal.

Sorry, was humor.

Really? What makes the lower damage and fewer shots worthwhile?

With Marksman, I could fire as fast as I could pull the trigger and never overheat. Even without, I rarely had any overheating with the pistol, whereas the rifle was spiking in heat pretty quickly. Damage on the pistol was usually around 75% of the rifle, but I tended to get more shots with it.

Not sure what you mean there. My armor, health, and shields are the equivalent of any other crew member with similar investments in armor, Fitness, and Electronics.

You have 3 skill points to their 2, then 2 to their 1, then 1 to their 1.
You get more points to use for skills to keep ahead of them. (though of course you might have more skills to use)

 

[Vocenoctum]

Never played Halo, but the Mako's default camera view should have been to stay forward-oriented until a player actually used the right thumbstick to swivel it around.

Well, if you don't like FPS, then it's a waste obviously, but Halo 1 or 2 is dirt cheap. The Warthog is the jeep, and it's probably the most fun I've had in a video game vehicle. It's not exactly "realistic" perhaps, but quite fun and easy to control.

According to the Xbox forums, the various "ally" achievements are incredibly demanding. You won't get the one for Liara unless you acquire her as soon as her mission becomes available, and then use her forevermore afterwards. Personally, that seems like a bad idea for an achievement, essentially penalizing a player who makes tactical decisions about which crew members to bring on a given mission.

I had Tali & Wrex with me for just about every mission I think. I may have walked around without them once. I got them real quick too, since I'd planned on a Tali/Wrex mix from the start.

But, I think it's not "completed the core storyline", and there's no way I even completed half of the total missions.

Do they say if there's a benefit?

 

[takyris]

Some more nitpicks though: What the hell do some of the upgrades do? What's Hardness? I know +9% Hardness must be good for my armor, but what does it DO? Why do Polonium rounds seem to work on the Geth?

No idea why polonium is the way it is. I guess that their systems are vulnerable to radiation.

Regarding Hardness, that's essentially "resistance to tech and biotic attacks". It's one of those things I usually ignore until I meet 10 crazed biotics or a dozen geth stalkers, at which point I pay really close attention to how much "resist tech attack" stuff I have on hand.

I'm only answering the stuff I know. Sorry it's confusing.

 

[Felon]

Anyways, how cool are some of the achievements? They actually improve Shepard in later play. For example, with Assault Rifle Expert supposedly even an Adept Shepard will be able to put points into Assault Rifle when I play it again. Or at least that's how I read it. That makes the idea of playing through on Hardcore or Insanity pretty palatable. And Rich opens up the SPECTRE gear, which dramatically changes gameplay.

Well, you can see the achievements for yourself from the startup screen, under Extras. The bulk of them are for completing missions, for using skills and making kills, and for doing missions with the same ally for gobs and gobs of missions.

 

[takyris]

Also, regarding the ally achievements. Yep, they're tough to get. Also, they give you some kickass benefits permanently. They're not designed to be benefits that everyone casually gets. If you get a permanent +10% to your health on all future characters (as I understand it), you're going to have earned it.