Mass Effect - "the" Xbox360 title to get

[Steel_Wind]

Not really. Because there's only like 6 different maps for the sidequests, they get old real quick.

They do indeed. This is one of the major knocks on the game. While vastly detailed planetary sidequests may well have been beyond the intended scope of the game, I am not persuaded that the planetary missions that were presented in the game were a "legitimate" default design choice.

Just because vast and complex is inappropriate, does not mean that sketchy, underwhelming and repetitious is defenceable. There ought to have been a middle ground, imo. I can only conclude that BioWare thought they could get away without doing the work - and spending the money to QA - that was required to reach that middle ground.

Seeing as they sold millions of copies of ME and got very positive metacritic reviews and a dozen or more RPG of the Year awards, maybe they were right.

In terms of replay value, the single best choice for replay value would be choosing the female Sheppard. The same voice actor who did Bastilla in KotOR, Jennifer Hale, does the voice acting for the femme Sheppard (though not in her "Bastilla" voice).

Hale's voice talent is reason enough to make the female Sheppard the "default" avatar in the game.

 

[Felon]

Now dont get me wrong, overall i enjoyed my play through, but i dont think it was deserving of all the praise it was getting. Kind of like how i felt about Fable, with just a few more hours of play tacked on to the end.

As a good as ME was, it felt very rushed and rough-around-the-edges in many areas...which is positively bizarre, because it was in development forever. The implementation of sidequests, the AI, character-building, and character-equipping were all very half-hearted.

And yes, ultimately the paragon/renegade thing really doesn't amount to much. I've reloaded enough encounters to know that more often than not Shepard winds up saying the exact same thing regardless of how you choose to say it.

 

[Felon]

They do indeed. This is one of the major knocks on the game. While vastly detailed planetary sidequests may well have been beyond the intended scope of the game, I am not persuaded that the planetary missions that were presented in the game were a "legitimate" default design choice.

Just because vast and complex is inappropriate, does not mean that sketchy, underwhelming and repetitious is defenceable. There ought to have been a middle ground, imo. I can only conclude that BioWare thought they could get away without doing the work - and spending the money to QA - that was required to reach that middle ground.

Yeah, I was really surprised that thresher maws were the sole form of alien life that you encounter on a planet.

Seeing as they sold millions of copies of ME and got very positive metacritic reviews and a dozen or more RPG of the Year awards, maybe they were right.

If they just wanted to sell lots of copies of ME, they achieved their goal. If they're trying to create an enduring IP, they may find themselves overshadowed by upcoming games like Too Human.

 

[Felon]

Has it gotten better? It's had an extremely troubled development, and it's last public showing (before this year's GDC at least) was tremendously disappointing.

I sure hope they surprise me, because right now I'm likely to ignore it. I'm glad you seem optimistic, though (overly, IMO! ).

Vast character-building options? Check. Vast character equipment selection options? Check. Those things really appeal to me.

What was so disappointing?

 

[John Crichton]

In terms of replay value, the single best choice for replay value would be choosing the female Sheppard. The same voice actor who did Bastilla in KotOR, Jennifer Hale, does the voice acting for the femme Sheppard (though not in her "Bastilla" voice).

Hale's voice talent is reason enough to make the female Sheppard the "default" avatar in the game.

I couldn't agree more. Her lines were delivered much better than the male VA. Her badass level was higher because of it.

 

[John Crichton]

Yeah, I was really surprised that thresher maws were the sole form of alien life that you encounter on a planet.

You didn't hunt down any of those docile horse/cow things and disintegrate them? For shame!

If they just wanted to sell lots of copies of ME, they achieved their goal. If they're trying to create an enduring IP, they may find themselves overshadowed by upcoming games like Too Human.

I don't think Too Human will have much effect at all concerning future sales of the Mass Effect franchise. Anyone who liked the first one is already lining up for Part 2.

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

Liking Mass Effect and liking Too Human are not mutually exclusive. I can like both, and even buy both. While I certainly acknowledge many of the complaints with ME's gameplay, I think the IP will remain strong and compelling despite flaws in the actual gameplay.

Vast character-building options? Check. Vast character equipment selection options? Check. Those things really appeal to me.

What was so disappointing?

Ironically, my understanding was that the gameplay was really poor and obviously underdeveloped, specifically the camera and the control scheme were really interfering with play.

I will grant you that this was almost two years ago and likely Too Human has changed since its first showing However, there is one difference: Mass Effect is out in the market as a finished product, and Too Human is not. Right now, there can be zero comparison between the two, because one is a completed product and the other is not.

 

[Arnwyn]

What was so disappointing?

As GoodKingJayIII mentioned, both the gameplay and camera (and then both of them together) were very poor. For a while, the graphics were also substandard (though recently cleaned up a little bit, thank goodness for small improvements, at least). Since gameplay and camera are pretty much among the two most important things for a game, this has caused a fair amount of concern, unsurprisingly.

After I read your comments I went back and checked IGN's coverage - and indeed, the gameplay and camera problems, while improved from the last E3, were still there at GDC, which were the same from a few months before when IGN went up to St. Catherines, Ont. to have a further look. Needless to say, there are still issues for a game that's been forever and a day in development; thus, your "blow away ME's gameplay" certainly raised my eyebrow, since all the reports so far say the exact opposite...

But, like I said, I'm glad you're optimistic, and I sincerely hope it's warranted (since I've been keeping an eye on it since it was announced for the PS1, for pete's sake!).

Right now, there can be zero comparison between the two, because one is a completed product and the other is not.

Agreed.

 

[Vocenoctum]

Now dont get me wrong, overall i enjoyed my play through, but i dont think it was deserving of all the praise it was getting. Kind of like how i felt about Fable, with just a few more hours of play tacked on to the end.

I thought it felt a lot like Fable, and also suffered from the "announcement issues" of Fable. Watch the old debut footage of what Mass Effect would be, and you'll see how it failed. Fable 2 looks to be doing great so far, and I hope ME2 cleans stuff up and enhances the franchise. In both cases, the initial game has enough good to make me want a sequel.

I guess part of my problem is i went in hoping for a KotOR type story/character interaction and it simply wasnt there. Im not a huge star wars fan, but i managed to play both of them about 4 times a piece, because things actually felt different on some of the play throughs, i didnt get that with ME.

When I was playing it, I kept thinking of different ways in which KotOR was a better game. I abhorred KotOR 2, so hopefully the ME franchise works out better.

 

[Felon]

You didn't hunt down any of those docile horse/cow things and disintegrate them? For shame!

No, but I did mow down a few monkeys. They were annoying.

I don't think Too Human will have much effect at all concerning future sales of the Mass Effect franchise. Anyone who liked the first one is already lining up for Part 2.

And they may well get out of line as other games show them up. It happens. People don't still line up around the block for the next Doom or Quake, because now they have Halo. I think the number of people who played it and had a rather "meh" experience is not small.

Liking Mass Effect and liking Too Human are not mutually exclusive. I can like both, and even buy both. While I certainly acknowledge many of the complaints with ME's gameplay, I think the IP will remain strong and compelling despite flaws in the actual gameplay.

Don't get me wrong, all the stuff that's disappoinging about ME only lowers it to about 4-out-5 stars. But I'm not just going to buy it on blind faith--unless, of course, there's nothing else that catches my interest at the time.

Ironically, my understanding was that the gameplay was really poor and obviously underdeveloped, specifically the camera and the control scheme were really interfering with play.

I will grant you that this was almost two years ago and likely Too Human has changed since its first showing However, there is one difference: Mass Effect is out in the market as a finished product, and Too Human is not. Right now, there can be zero comparison between the two, because one is a completed product and the other is not.

There can certainly be more than zero comparison. It just can't be a conclusive comparison. For instance, I can already draw the comparison about equipment and character-building options. I'm hearing other people's negative impressions, and you can't have a bad impression without an implicit comparison to some other product that serves as the benchmark for quality.