Mass Effect - "the" Xbox360 title to get

[LightPhoenix]

This is definitely a must play for me, but I don't have an XBox 360. I have a friend with two, I may see if I can borrow one, just to play ME. Otherwise, I'm not going to buy a console for one game... even if it's Bioware.

 

[WhatGravitas]

I hope it's good, because I'll probably get a 360 sooner rather than later. But I really was very disappointed with Jade Empire, so I'm not getting my hopes up about this.

Huh? Jade Empire was great (though I only played the PC version), what wasn't good about it?

And seriously, after the last BioWare games, I cannot imagine that Mass Effect could be bad in any way! (well, it could be for PC... *shrug*)

Cheers, LT.

 

[trancejeremy]

Huh? Jade Empire was great (though I only played the PC version), what wasn't good about it?

I thought it was a very shallow game. The combat, for instance, was too actiony and there wasn't a whole lot of depth to your characters (Something I think will even be worse in Mass Effect). It was short, indeed, I thought it seemed half-finished (I'm done already?). Even the ending was short. The setting was a great idea, but the characters in the game were largely forgetable. The xbox version suffered from horrible loading times.

 

[horacethegrey]

I thought it was a very shallow game. The combat, for instance, was too actiony and there wasn't a whole lot of depth to your characters (Something I think will even be worse in Mass Effect). It was short, indeed, I thought it seemed half-finished (I'm done already?). Even the ending was short. The setting was a great idea, but the characters in the game were largely forgetable. The xbox version suffered from horrible loading times.

No depth? You're telling me that those long talks with the likes of Kang the Mad, Wild Flower, Sky or even Henpecked Hou did nothing for you? Each of them had such complex and wonderful backstories (sometimes hilarious, in the case of Hou ). Even that homicidal brute Black Whirlwind had some real depth to him in the end.

As for the combat, I thought it was a good idea to make it a bit more action oriented. Sure it could have been a horrible mess had Bioware screwed it up, but I thought they did it quite well. And I think it was nice evolution from a standard RPG engine.

 

[Vocenoctum]

I liked Jade Empire also, not sure how it did. (I guess it did well enough for a PC version to come out...)

Different strides, I thought FEAR was a great game with a good backstory, other folks I know said it didn't HAVE a backstory...

 

[takyris]

Jade was the last game I got to play with a clean palate. Everything after Jade is gonna be something that I've either had a hand in or at least heard the dirty laundry about.

I liked it, but mileage is gonna vary for everyone. People who wanted a hardcore fighting game were disappointed when the combat wasn't very difficult by action standards, and people who wanted a deep tactical RPG combat system were disappointed when the tactical aspect was traded for action. It was a deliberate choice made to keep the game simple enough for traditional RPG people, but there were strong arguments on both sides.

It worked for me -- I play a lot of RPGs, but not as many action games, so the difficulty was just right for me.

I don't know the exact sales numbers offhand, but if I'm remembering right, it was (is) around a million. Not a smash hit, but very strong for a) a new IP that was b) coming out on a soon-to-be-retired console.

 

[horacethegrey]

I liked it, but mileage is gonna vary for everyone. People who wanted a hardcore fighting game were disappointed when the combat wasn't very difficult by action standards, and people who wanted a deep tactical RPG combat system were disappointed when the tactical aspect was traded for action. It was a deliberate choice made to keep the game simple enough for traditional RPG people, but there were strong arguments on both sides.

Have to say it wasn't the gameplay aspects that made go wow over the game, but the story. Jade Empire hands down had the most epic and moving storyline that I've ever had the pleasure of taking part in an RPG. And no, I'm not ashamed to admit that the good ending moved me to tears.

 

[WhatGravitas]

No depth? You're telling me that those long talks with the likes of Kang the Mad, Wild Flower, Sky or even Henpecked Hou did nothing for you? Each of them had such complex and wonderful backstories (sometimes hilarious, in the case of Hou ). Even that homicidal brute Black Whirlwind had some real depth to him in the end.

Hmm... perhaps that was a problem of the game: The stories were very sidequested. Unless you dug deeper, you've got close to nothing about most of them. I'm a compulsive sidequest player and dug Kang, so I got a lot of mileage out of it, as well as my girl-friend, who digs the atmosphere and the story very much (but then, she's a bit otaku-anime-japan-crazy).

For the combat system: It was a fresh breeze of air - it was unexpected and a nice middle ground between RPG and action, though I see why people may dislike it.

Well, I'm still hoping for a Mass Effect for PC...

Cheers, LT.

 

[Truth Seeker]

-Uncloak-

A 20 minute Featurette trailer, of Mass Effect-

-Recloak-

 

[Felon]

I was, from late October to late June. Now I'm off of M.E. and on an unannounced project (still at BioWare). I don't have the battle scars of the guys pulling the all-nighters for the past couple months (although as a writer, my need to pull all-nighters at this stage of the game were shaky at best, which is why I was given back to the project that had lent me to M.E. last year, when a writer WAS necessary), but I was there for a good chunk of time, and I'm in the credits and everything.

So, short version: yes. Writer, so not much programming-fu on my end, but I can answer most common gameplay questions without making an idiot of myself.

Thanks again, Takyris. My main concern has to do with the FPS portion of the game. I've always been puzzled at how popular FPS's are on a console that doesn't have a mouse accessory--thumbpads are lousy for work that requires both speed and accuracy IMO.

Now, I think you've already addressed this somewhat in a previous post, but how much time do you think players will spend just wasting ammo hitting nothing? IBioshock had a lot of great gameplay features, but the FPS element soured me on it. I could not understand why they'd have highly-mobile enemies bobbing and weaving to evade shots that aren't easy to make in the first place. I know in ME that there are bad guys that scales walls and hop around a lot. Is there any auto-aiming that assists a player? Or is the need for accuracy minimized by things like explosives, homing weapons, spraying with automatic fire, and using the various tech and biotic powers?

I'm much more interested in exploration and problem-solving than killing stuff, so I hope the action part is nice and streamlined.