Mass Effect (2007)

To preface, this review is probably going to have more negative points than positive purely because I went into this with very high expectations after years of hearing everyone talk about the franchise, so I went into it expecting to have my mind blown and when I didn't I ended up picking it apart a little more. That said, this was still great, I enjoyed it a lot, and I'm sure a lot of my 'disappointments' (if you can even call them that) will be fixed once I play the rest of the series.

The positives:

• I love that the codex entries were read aloud. At the end of each main quest I'd just click through them and let the voice-over play while I checked notifications, got a drink etc. and it made it much more engaging.
• I love that dialogue was phrased in a way that never made Shepard sound like they lacked obvious in-universe knowledge but still let the players familiarise themselves with new terms. For example, a character might mention X, something the player hasn't come across before, and there'll be a dialogue option to ask about it, but what Shephard will say will be closer to "Isn't X that one thing?" or "Oh yeah, X, what ever happened with that?" so you get a natural explanation while still having it be clear Shepard would have heard of these things before.
• The Mako controls weren't as bad as I've always heard (I assume they were fixed a little with LE)! I didn't really struggle with it and got accustomed to it quickly - sometimes it would do a 180 spin or end up airborne for no particular reason just to keep things interesting, but it was never annoying.

Some criticisms:

• The graphics and sound design are a little janky; I giggled a little at scenes like Jenkins' death because it was so anticlimactic as a result. It was pretty obvious during the scene where Shepard rescues Ashley from the Beacon, too - it was basically just silence and every so often a misstimed impact sound.
• I do kinda wish they'd gone harder on the alien designs. less Asari-type "human women but blue" and more designs like the Hanar or even the Salarians, though I do understand that they would probably want to keep the romance options at least somewhat humannoid. I am glad we got Garrus, at least.
• I wish there was a way to mark quest locations as your destination from the journal rather than having to read the mission description, remember the location name, and go there/mark it yourself.
• Dialogue options aren't always labelled well, which is a general Bioware issue but seemed more prevalent here than with the Dragon Age games. My Shepard was very kind but would often come off harsh because a dialogue option would be written to seem like a nice thing to say and then would turn out to be a blunt accusation or something. Sometimes, there also seemed little difference in options - for example, the dialogue options would be "What did you just say?" and "Explain yourself", and selecting the first would have Shepard say something like "You'd better start explaining", which seems identical to the second option. Later on, multiple dialogue options turned out to lead to the exact same voice-line being played.
• I wanted some more variety in planets. The previews showed some really interesting and pretty worlds in a broad range of colours and environments, but most of the ones you could actually land on and explore were the same barren red deserts.
• The game was a little tell-don't-show sometimes. There were a lot of long stretches of dialogue exposition where a character explains the plot to you while you stand there listening. Sometimes I got the impression some broad revelation with huge implications had just been dropped, but it was delivered so anticlimactically - e.g. what Sovereign was, the pre-Prothean civilisations - that I couldn't really see it as a big deal.
• Speaking of anti-climaxes again, I played a paragon Shepard first playthrough so Saren ended up shooting himself and it was very abrupt with basically no lead-up. It felt like it went from 0-100, "I have no doubts I'm going to kill you all" to "I'm so sorry I was wrong I must die" over the course of a single click.
• Ending on a random still shot of Shepard just superimposed on a picture of space was a weird choice.

This is neither a positive nor a negative, more just a neutral note - I did feel very overpowered by the end. Pretty much every lesser enemy was a one-shot kill with a pistol, Sovereign-controlled Saren was dead within a minute, etc. I don't personally mind this, I play games for the story and have very little interest in combat or difficulty, but it did make some things feel a little rushed and underwhelming.

I didn't feel very emotionally invested in any of the characters, but I do like them all fine, and I assume a) this is compounded by the fact that I didn't engage with any of the first-game romances as none of them clicked with this Shepard, and b) this will change as I progress through the series and get to know them over a longer period.

I am on a quest to beat 360 random xbox 360 games. Here is my next adventure.

Game number 10 was Mass Effect 1. I played Mass Effect on an original disc, on the xbox 360. There are tons of remasters and remakes out there that probably fix some of the game's frame-rate/graphical drops, but I did not play those. Going forward, I decided that every 5th game I play will be chosen (not random) because I have tons of games on my shelf that haven't been played.

Mass Effect is a 3rd person shooter RPG/visual novel. Okay, it's not really a visual novel, but the amount of dialogue makes it feel like it at times. It's a good thing that I love dialogue and am not bothered by listening to tons of it. Furthermore, the dialogue in this game is all voice acted very well and the discussions are interesting. Throughout the game, I was enthralled by all the conversations between Shepard and his friends.

I can't stress how good the world building is in Mass Effect. There is a codex and had information that was actually interesting to learn. I distinctly remember going in to mark all my stuff as read, but then spent 5 minutes learning about the laws surrounding genetic engineering in this world. It was amazing how thought out and detailed everything is.

Gameplay is where I have to knock a few points away from this game. The super powers are pretty cool to use, but most of combat was just shooting random things that came towards me. It was fun and serviceable, but nothing memorable. I cared way more about the places I was going than the journey.

In conclusion, I think that anyone who likes a good story should play this game. The world is endless and the story is great. My favorite part of the game was the banter between characters and the decision making that I felt actually affected the plot. The gameplay, on the other hand, wasn't memorable and I hope that it evolves in the sequels. (3.5/5)

I spent 18 hours, 5 min, and 12 sec playing Mass Effect

My total time spent on the Road To 360 challenge is 132 hours and 3 min

Next game: Wheel of Fortune

Legendary Edition

Grouvee has the Legendary release—which packs the first three Mass Effect games into one release—separate from the individual titles, but I want to review the games individually. But it's important to note that this is the Legendary version, given it's a remaster/brush-up of the original release.

I tried starting Mass Effect several times previously. The first time was probably ten years ago, give or take, and I didn't get beyond the first mission (exploring Eden Prime's fairly linear path, taking out enemies, etc). The second time was after I finished BioWare's excellent Dragon Age inquisition (still one of my all-time favorite games) and looking for that same high elsewhere. Didn't even make it through the first mission.

To be fair to me, sci-fi action is not my favorite genre. I've struggled with Halo (a game I still haven't finished), I've struggled with Crysis. Even the dystopian-flavored stuff like the Fallout series and Borderlands. I like reading sci-fi (as long as it doesn't get too bogged down in political/war stuff—looking at you, Dune), so I'm not sure why I can't get into video games of this genre.

But no matter. Decided a few weeks ago that I needed to try Mass Effect again. And this time it clicked. Maybe it's because I decided to ignore the old Xbox 360 versions of the games in my library and upgraded to the Legendary edition, with its improved graphics (I'm a basic enough gamer to need better graphics when available), nicer UI, and much better feeling shooting. But mostly it boils down to mood. I was in the mood to flail my way through the learning stages of the game, and I did so to the point that I was able to let the characters and story drive my engagement. Then I was able to get into what Mass Effect offers as a shooter.

Mass Effect—as most people reading this probably know—puts you in the shoes of Shepard (I picked female/soldier/military brat). She's a part of the Alliance—the human army—and while on Eden Prime sees some things that indicate some galactic problems, not the least of which being Saren, the council's best-respected spectre. The council is basically the highest government in the universe, a multi-species trio featuring the most prominent alien species. This doesn't include humans, who're still fresh on the intergalactic scene. Spectres are kind of like spec-ops agents: Operating outside the law, answering only to the council, super capable and among the best the galaxy offers.If a spectre is on the scene, it's an important mission that can't go awry, right? Given how much leeway is given to spectres to do their job, it takes a lot to get your spectre status revoked. Treason, as it happens, is one of those things. And treason is what Shepard witnesses from Saren. But without evidence, it's a case of his word vs hers, and guess how the council leans?

So that's the setup as we guide Shepard through the storyline, using a mixture of conversation and action to advance. For me, the conversations and general exploration of occupied regions (so, like, Citadel and the early part of Noveria) stand as Mass Effect's highlights. It's sort of like worry-free immersion into the world: Interacting with NPCs—some who have dialogue branches to interact with, others just offering a single line—sometimes just for flavor, sometimes getting a side mission. Scouting around for loot or cool things (I love some of the architecture!). The stuff that is, I guess, more the RPG side of Mass Effect.

Yet it's a testament that as much as I loved those breaths of stillness in between the "shoot anything that moves" sections, I also ended up connecting with the action. In a gaming environment that gets hyped up on the latest "git good, nerd," twitchy action grindfests (FromSoftware being the obvious example here, but I'd include basically anything where there's not a lot of sympathy for sucking ala Call of Duty), Mass Effect's action feels downright casual. And I'd call that a good thing. Not every game needs to be an example of immaculate controller manipulation to avoid getting wiped out. In fact, if I look at the sort of action games I've enjoyed in the past, Mass Effect falls right in line: Lots of cover, you can (usually) take your time to line up shots, if you're dying it's because you're not using cover right or failing to heal, and enemies don't swarm/respawn. In fact, Mass Effect goes a step beyond that by having unlimited ammo. If I had read the codex there might be some explanation for how the weapons work, but the game controls overuse of weapons through overheating rather than ammo limitations. And I love that so much. I always hate having to split my attention between scurrying around for ammo vs shooting enemies and this felt like a very clean way to avoid the ammo drain, but also keep the guns somewhat balanced. (To be fair, the overheat issue doesn't truly balance out not having to grab ammo, but for me it's a more interesting problem to manage than bustling to dropped enemies to grab more bullets.) Also should be noted that it feels like Mass Effect has fairly forgiving hit boxes; you don't have to have godlike aiming or anything: You may not always hit (especially with weapons like shotguns), but generally the shots that should be hits register as hits with a few "fhew! don't know how that hit!" moments for good measure.

Mass Effect feels a bit short, but I think that's mostly by modern standards. I could have put more time into it if I was obsessive about visiting every galaxy, roaming every planet that could be landed on, searching every nook and cranny. And had I known I was entering the final main mission section, I might have taken that time. But even as is, I think I found most of the side quests (at least those procured through conversation), so that extra exploration would have been more about finishing the collectables quests (which I rarely prioritize; happy enough to collect when I stumble upon things, but I hate specifically trying to find those needles in haystack-type quests) and gathering more resources "for the fun of it." So maybe that extra exploration would have revealed another handful of side quests, but mostly would have been tedious.

Ultimately, had a blast. Enough so I quickly moved on to Mass Effect 2 (which I'm currently working on, with mixed feelings I'll explain in its review), and I'm never the sort to immediately advance to sequels. Four stars may sound kind of low, but—while unfair—I hold Dragon Age Inquisition as such a peak of what BioWare does, both with player connection with the companions and map exploration, that Mass Effect can't really stack up. And it's not that Mass Effect is bad at companions or maps, but it feels very unrefined in comparison. Not unwarrentedly so for a game released seven years before DAI, but nonetheless.

Still highly recommended.

ME 1 is a good looking sci-fi rpg but I have to say that I really enjoyed ME 2 way more, even though they're not too different.

ME 1 lacks quality of life innovations that were implemented only in its succesor. There's no quest marker and often the journal entries are not clear on where to send you or what to do. I know that in a way maybe you should find out yourself but to me this just feels a little outdated. I had to google how to leave the Citadel because it was not properly marked on the map.

I played the legendary edition by the way. I am a bit suprised that they didn't adjust these things in the new version, but that's probably due to the idiotic purism of nostaliga culture in the community.

Before I get into anything, lets talk about what is really IMPORTANT: The sex scene you are rewarded at the very end is extremely laughable, and honestly I will never understand Bioware fans and their lowest standards for romance ever, all Bioware romance ever has been is dorky remarks and then an awkward softcore weirdly directed shots of sometimes but usually one grinding on the other ones leg.

Now, with that said, let's talk about the weird child of Star Trek and Halo, that's really what comes to mind first, its obvious Mass Effect was meant to be video games own take on everything that inspired it from the sci-fi genre (especially considering Bioware probably lost the license of Star Wars, here the force is just known as "MASS EFFECT"), but really all I can see of it is if the Star Trek universe was pro-open carry, basically an excuse to make a high sci-fi opera setting include a lot of guns and military stuff, sure there might be one original idea here or there, but it really is about humanity in a big space bureaucracy going up against the borg- I mean the reapers. But yes, I couldn't help but think of the entire aesthetic reminding me of Halo.

The structure of Mass Effect is extremely odd, and from what I remember, when this game came out not many people enjoyed it either, it is one of those games that "Takes a while to get good", I had even at one point stopped playing after 5 hours, only to try out the game a little more 1 month later and THEN get hooked, that on on its is sadly something that is worth wagging a finger at in terms of pacing design, but it doesn't stop there, sadly after the middle point, Mass Effect also overstays its welcome as: when the wonky strategy and cover based shooting grows on you and you actually learn how to appreciate it, when you finally start getting some good upgrades to your character and the nice feeling of being overpowered in these action RPG comes Then a deep steep happens and everything in this game overstays its welcome, I feel bad for those who only had this game to grind with, because you reach a certain point where it just becomes repetitive, there aren't any upgrades anymore besides that one skill that you ignored on purpose, and leveling up takes longer.

Everything you get at the start is pretty much everything you get, ammo is unlimited, the whole grenade and heal slots I think are limited to 6 (start with 5 without upgrades), it is like impossible to unequip weapons, it is more of an RPG game than it is a third person shooter.

At this point, the game essentially tells you: Well, you've built your character, live with it and the game just keeps going on and on. I cannot describe the way this functions any better but that by the ending the game drags, and it overstays its welcome. Any side-mission you did by impulse were probably gonna be the only side-missions you've done, and there are some side-missions that are harder than the very last level and it basically says You should have not let the game automatically level up your character because clearly you needed a personal overpowered build for your companions.

Speaking of COMPANIONS AND PACING. Good LORD. I have not seen companion pacing worse in any game. Going back on how the game tricks you to allow the characters to be leveled up on their skills automatically, I feel as if, if you gradually got your characters as time went throughout the game, you would feel more inclined to customize them. And its not like they couldn't do this, because its obvious that they give you more than one type of character in the game, the only reason they did this, is an absolute horrid reason: to spoil the fuck out of the player. Who cares about pacing and a more satisfying idea of getting grow on your characters, actually build them and spend time with them? NAH. Here we give everything to you on a fucking platter, whats that? You cant seem to take some time to enjoy each? You cant connect to any of them because they feel like fast food characters dropped out of nowhere? I sincerely find the way this game drops things on your lap abhorrent, like this is a start of a big big trilogy or so Im told, and you'd think they'd have enough games in the series to build something up. But if you are expecting a deep development, no no no.

I can't even begin to appreciate any of the characters because I get a new one 10 minutes in when you start the game, I can only have 2 members in a party, why did they give me 6 in the FIRST HOUR. SOME OF THE SAME CLASS! They dump everyone like that on you in the begginning supposedly so that when it gets slow in the middle you get to try each? BUT IT'S JUST BAD PACING. It's just stupid because you need to do things like talk to them. So when you unlock all of them at once, it's like you really have to force yourself to use other characters rather than gradually get to know each.

I literally used Gurrus for like 20 minutes, and I'm switching him. I don't know that much about Garrus, not that I guess there is much to know of him, all he really is is: EX-COP. Nobody gives that much of a shit about the humans, Bioware said fuck pacing, and call me old fashioned but it would be better if they gave me one character per planet, space out the missions some out more, and the way they're introduced is so forced too is the thing, you are investigating a crime scene, you meet a cop, cop is like: Oh you are on the same case as I am! Let's become LIFE PARTNERS FOREVER. +1 PARTY MEMBER. And then you go to the crime man, and save a woman set up by the CRIME MAN, and THEN YOU GET SOMEONE ELSE, IN A SHORT SPAN. It is insane. I have never seen pacing done this bad, there is 0 like connection, I am supposed to think that this enough reason to go on a universe-saving mission. There is no grandueur, there is no proving yourself, you are just THE HERO and everyone COMES TO YOU, and this isn't party members but everyone is like "Oh my god that's the HUMAN!" WE NEED TO PAMPER THEM WITH ALL OF THE SPECIAL NEEDS.

Some of the NPCs that were a little interesting were like: You know humans were just here for a few seconds and no they're already a big part of the system that controls the entire universe, and that feels so funny to comment because this series just start with Shepard going to the secret society that sorta is the biggest system: hey... Can I be the ultimate assassin since one of your guys is bad and kickstarted my plot into this conspiracy. Space Illuminati: No. Sheppard: Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaase. Illuminati of Space: Ugh fine ok.

I just solved 1 easy crime casa which was just go in a mafia's base guns a blazing and kill 1 big bad, how am I the highest soldier rank in all of the universe?! It is so funny because some people skip this game and in those games you were just supposed to know some people and it's ok if you don't know who half of them were because REST ASSURED, you didn't even know them that much, you were just The Guy. The Chosen One. Leave it for Bioware to think that if you are good looking thats all it takes for introductions, it really does feel like an alien approach to friendship. oh just because i met you once and we were doing 1 thing we now are ride or die for each other and i havent said a single word to you besides "join my team im going around the galaxy doing spy shit". Bioware is literally the face of a developer who does not know how human connections work. But what do I know? Maybe aliens are just like that, maybe they’re like weird dogs, you give them food and boom it loves you forever!

After the most ham-fisted opening to a story I have ever seen in modern video games, which felt like the director was going Alright alright you get it, on with it with the hand motion meaning to go forward, which I was ironically doing around the end, the start is rushed and the ending is dragging. BUT After the game opens up, there is this little moment of joy I got, and weirdly enough, I kinda like the buggy exploration segments, when it was novel at first.

In concept, getting to explore a planet on a buggy like your NASA on the moon, and every now and then stumbling upon a pre-set dungeon (theyre not really dungeons but most planets would have a place you enter made up of preset maps similar to Bethesda dungeons where youd get to fight a few enemies and get a lil prize), or something to scan. Like at the first, lets say, 15 planets, it seems like an ok structure, but then you realize this is practically most of the game. They basically give you one big Deus Ex like section with NPCs and missions, and the rest is just BUGGY. AND THEY WILL PUT BUGGY SECTIONS AT ANY MOMENTS NOTICE WHENEVER THEY CAN.

I am pretty sure Half Life 2 has ruined game design beyond belief because someone has to be blamed here for making Bioware think that buggy segments have to be this long, mass effect isn't particularly interesting, I felt as if I had to force myself to get any enjoyment out of it, the plot isn’t that interesting, the UI in mass effect kinda sucks, which for an RPG seems like a really important aspect, organising items is weird, and for a RPG buy/sell system from 2008, it sure feels worse than every other RPG game when it comes to that, a huge menu with huge text and you can only select 1 item that takes up the entire screen, I’ve seen games designed for console with better item screens than this.

But yes after the first level and first big city exploration it's like: hey, open world... Sorta, you can buggy to places! Mass effect charm comes from how wonky it is and how unintentionally funny it is like how some enemies instant kill you or how sometimes physics just freak out and who could forget... the acting. The buggy is from what I’ve heard, the number one reason most people just skip this entry in the series. At first it is extremely boring and the cover based shooting isn't that good, but they do improve the map design later on, I would say it is sadly too late as most people who play this game today just drop it in the first hours.

One of my friends said that games from 2008 do not simply Not age well theyre just bad. I think what they meant is that by 2008 you should know what makes good game design, but to Mass Effects defense, it is a WRPG, and WRPGs have always been weird with being good and playable, they’ve always kinda had a low budget feel to them, Mass Effect is a weird exception of sorts? But what Im trying to get at is that maybe there is an excuse the textures all look like a GMOD map, because look at Morrowind, it is from 2002 but looks like it is from the 90s.

The world really isn’t that interesting, it is like a child’s introduction to space opera, like they really force feed you concepts like “Hey if you haven’t realized it yet! There is space racism! Everyone is a space racist! Did you get it? Did you get that space has a lot of species?!” Outside of that just overly obvious be nice to one of your companions and each chapter it’ll be made more obvious that by the end you’ll have sex with them, wow, so connected. Such a deep relationship has been formed here.

I am running out of things to say but what review of Mass Effect is complete without commenting on it’s other infamous aspect: Elevator rides, there is two things this game loves and it is BUGGY segments and ELEVATOR RIDES, however you really can pinpoint these two things to one crucial element of the game: LONG CORRIDORS, I get the impression that this game loves to put long corridors because it gives the idea that the places feel “Real”, you know, immersive? Sure there’s a few fast travel points but wow this game is just filled with long distance A to B situations that just drag on, and they give your character this puny run animation that feels like it only zooms in the camera and doesn’t actually make you faster, I’d be surprised if it did, you can ONLY ACTUALLY RUN IN-COMBAT, which is a dumb design choice considering most of the time I am exploring these FAST HUGE UNNECESSARILY COMPLEX PLACES.

A lot of this game sacrifices level design for the sake of world building, everything wants to feel likea big space colony even if it is really simply a badly designed Halo level where you go from point A to point B.

The moments in which you have that sparkle of RPG where you get the choice to do whatever you want are actually kinda few from the amount of linear action segments, but when they happen, it is so funny how blunt they are, they just happen. I’ve accidentally become a bad perosn by sheer accident (that corporate ice base where they had scientists comes to mind, so many people accidentally did it the evil way cuz it is just easier to do it that way), however, if you are gonna become an RPG, why not go the whole way and allow me to kill everyone? It is so sad that not every game can program itself to be the next Fallout New Vegas but… Well, what you get is a deeply flawed RPG that tries to be a third person shooter but didn’t really succeed in that much (it’s not the worst and sometimes the design of sending in ally to do suppressing fire is actually satisfying, plus gunfeel isn’t that bad), so it is wonky in all departments and GOD why ARE CUTSCENES UNSKIPPABLE, there are like sins of every RPG you shouldn’t do happening here.

«Mass Effect» одна из самых перехваленных игр в истории.

Здесь в очередной раз разыгрывают стандартный для «Bioware» сюжет про избранного (только Шепард, прикоснувшись к Маяку, начинает видеть какие-то мутные видения, только он может разобраться!).

Здесь опять есть элитная организация в которую мы вступаем по сюжету — Спектры. Это как Орден Джедаев, Серые Стражи и всякое такое.

Здесь опять мы сражаемся с Древним Злом, которое хочет уничтожить всё живое.

Весь «глубокий» лор — солянка идей, спёртых из научной фантастики. История берёт бодрый старт, но быстро превращается в унылый недоделанный детектив, где мы гоняемся за плохим Спектром. В конце концов эпика всё-таки отсыпают, но это только первая часть, ждите продолжения.

Хотя у игры и не отнять атмосферы: разнообразные расы (даром, что по большей части гуманоидные), музыка, даже эффект зернистой плёнки для картинки — в сочетании с какой-никакой, но научной фантастикой. После засилья одинаковой фэнтезятины — могло и увлечь. Тем более, что первая часть буквально всю игру обещает, что вот сейчас начнётся эпик, будет масштабно и круто, и... заканчивается на жирном многоточии.

Выясняется, что Сарен, за которым мы гонялись всю игру (по ходу дела решая всякие локальные конфликты) был всего лишь пешкой. А настоящая угроза — Жнецы. Таинственная, полумифическая раса древнее древних! В конце мы дичайше превозмогая уничтожаем одного(!) Жнеца. И вот оно — Совет, который всю игру считал, что Жнецы сказка уверился, что был не прав. Значит в будущем нас ждёт что-то совсем грандиозное. Ведь мы еле победили одного Жнеца, а их тысячи!

И только эти обещания чего-то интересного, но потом, и заставляют пройти игру до конца. Потому что играть в «Mass Effect» очень скучно. Это попросту плохой шутер.

Автоматическое прилипание к укрытиям работает криво, повышение разброса при непрерывной стрельбе, перегрев оружия, вместо перезарядки, кулдаун способностей и спринт на 2 секунды — всё это должно, наверное, добавлять тактики перестрелкам. Но на деле превращает игру в Gears of War для бедных. Нищих, я бы сказал. А враги безумно тупые. Как и напарники. На среднем уровне сложности проще и быстрее перестрелять всех самому в духе Рэмбо, а прятаться только когда щиты собьют.

Левелдизайн — говно. Пустые, длинные и серые коридоры, где всё окружение ящики-укрытия. Исследование галактики — говно. Каждая необязательная планета это поездка по горам до одиноко стоящего здания, в котором нужно перестрелять кучку врагов и полутать ящики. Мало того, что это само по себе уныло и бессмысленно — деньги тратить не на что: лута в принципе мало, а всё лучшее выпадает из врагов, а не продаётся в магазинах. Так ещё и ездить заставляют на «Мако»! И это пиздец! Этот драндулет управляется примерно как желе на пружинках, и ездить на нём приходится слишком много даже по сюжету. Господи, да тут есть миссии, где надо минут 10 ехать по дороге, отстреливая местных зомби!

Вариативность и решения. Ну, заданий напарников я даже не помню, потому что напарники — унылый картон. Хотя в одном задании можно загеноцидить целую расу! Но и это кажется скучным. Кроме плохого шутера и огромного количества пустопорожней беготни у игры есть ещё одна проблема — очень пресный текст. И если Кодексу это простительно — ну это ж типа справочник для игрока, то скучные разговоры — даже в моменты которые должны вызывать эмоции — это приговор. RPG в которой хочется проматывать диалоги не может называться шедевром. Да и озвучены они так же, как написаны — люди честно отработали зарплату, но не больше. Все звучат ровно и скучно. Даже хвалёный Джокер не вызвал у меня никаких эмоций.

Единственное, чем по-настоящему поражала «Mass Effect» — постановка. Теперь это не просто говорящие головы, а настоящее кино. Все персонажи полностью озвучены, перемещаются в кадре, жестикулируют и пользуются мимикой. Вот только если проходить игру сейчас, то видно, что постановка бедненькая: ракурсов мало, перемещаются персонажи редко, жестикулируют скупо. И это заметно не только на фоне современных игр, а по сравнению с «Mass Effect 2».

Just when they show a sign of change, EA goes and shows their commitment to "scumbaggery" yet again.

I just finished building a new PC rig and last night as I was looking through my game library, I scrolled past Mass Effect and thought, you know it may not be the LE but I think I'll revisit it anyway. So, I installed my Steam copy.

This morning, as I was drinking my coffee, I thought "Hmmm, I wonder if this supports cloud saves on the Gamepass version. Probably not but let's check anyway." So not seeing any feature listings in the Gamepass app, I realized it might be listed in the new cough EA Play app that they force you to install. Now here is where I'm about to go off the rails. The short answer is no, of course not, optimistic thinking on my part to begin with, even as I thought it.

As I was looking through the games page listing in sigh EA Play, I saw an icon that stated I should upgrade to "Pro" of all its features. I thought "Wait a second, I have All Access and it includes EA Play." So, I clicked the icon, knowing I wasn't going to like what I found. Sure enough, they have a new paid tier above EA Play...."PRO!!" Wow, just wow. So, I thought, I'd like to vent about this, and remembered that I'm a member here! So, I'm here this morning to cry my woes to any who would like to commiserate.

Now, I'd like to qualify my trepidation for this before I continue. I actually paid for an annual subscription to EA Play on Steam last year before I knew I was going to get Xbox All Access. I've long thought that their yearly paid tier was a ridiculously excellent value if one enjoys any of the titles on that list. It's only $30 for the entire year, so it's easily worth it. I also know that it's their way of finding a way to milk all the pennies they can from their aged library and to try and gain what shreds of good will are left to them. Despite my angst towards EA, I still like to pay for the services that I use, and it was a no brainer really.

To make matters worse, over the past few months, I've been hearing small nuggets of news in which it sounds like EA have learned from their complete cluster of f'ups over the last few years and seen how much damage they've done to their already abysmal reputation. And then this. This is a very first world problem, I know. There are much bigger things to worry about, but I just felt the urge to rant about this one.

See, they have taken their current paid tier and relegated it to the new free tier "plus" so to speak. They hope to take all of those who have been using their memberships from Gamepass and EA Play on other platforms and converting them to "Pro" members so they can play titles such as the new Mass Effect LE as part of its "amazing value". Don't get me wrong, $15 versus $60 for a game that I'd play less than a month is worth it, and I might have considered paying for a version of this if not for how they've implemented it.

I don't know, to me anyway, it just feels like they've devalued what was a nice benefit and cheapened it because they still want to get you to pay them that $15/mo and they are locking the new stuff behind it.

I also think that if they wanted to earn some good will, yet still have an upgraded tier, they should have offered current EA Play members from Gamepass and other platforms a small upgrade option of like $5/mo. I would have still griped about it a little just because it's EA and it's become par for the course, but.... I would have easily done that because I would have felt like it was worth it for the new shiny content.

I don't know. I could be reading into it too much because it's EA and they've made themselves such a large and easy target for even the smallest of complaints. Maybe I'm just being an ass about it. To me, it just feels like the latest, unsurprising, and sleezy thing they've done this week.

I regret that this is the first thing I actively engage in after not having used Grouvee for so long, but thanks for reading my petty contrivances, nonetheless.

The original Mass Effect has long been overshadowed by its sequel, an effect made even worse by its 5-year console exclusivity to the Xbox 360 and its awkward spot as an early title of that generation. In many ways, it was a clear step above the prior generation, but very quickly began to look dated and clunky. Though it lacked the more polished visuals and more action-friendly gameplay of later entries, it is a remarkable example of worldbuilding and storytelling in an action game. We'll see after I replay the others, but it is likely still my favorite in the series.

Though some awkward animations remain (mostly in the faces), the Legendary Edition's new coat of paint is a dramatic improvement throughout the entire game. This additional level of detail goes a long way for immersion. Of course, it's unable to live up to the visual detail and pizzazz of modern game worlds like Cyberpunk 2077, but it makes up for it in its variety of environments and amazing character designs for its many alien races.

Unlike most modern RPG games, Mass Effect's open-endedness extends only as far as an ability to travel somewhat freely between several long linear levels. It is largely a cover shooter based around a set path between long corridors and occasional more open rooms. This could result in a tiresome gameplay loop, but it is to the game's benefit here. I found these levels both nostalgic and refreshing, very focused, easily digestible, and each having a really natural-feeling arc of narrative and gameplay.

Though it is basically just a cover shooter, there is some flexibility in combat. Different classes, weapons, and combinations of party members can make a noticeable difference on the gameplay's feel. You can command your party members' movements with the D-Pad, and their actions to an extent, though I found this to be a detriment to the game. With the D-Pad occupied, only one button remains for mapping combat abilities, forcing the player to constantly pause combat and open the ability wheel to use their full arsenal.

Another mechanical aspect of the game that I question these days is its famous morality meter. From big choices made in the narrative down to morally-coded dialogue options in each conversation, most non-combat actions are graded as either "Paragon" or "Renegade." In the years since this game, titles like The Witcher series have offered much more natural roleplaying experiences. I think this kind of design in combination with the game's tendency to misrepresent its own dialogue choices discourages actual roleplaying flavor in favor of min-maxing meters. I tried to completely ignore it, but occasionally was put off by how big story moments were framed in this manner.

Even worse are the game's romance arcs, which have their moments but mostly are rushed-feeling side objectives that boil down to picking a few agreeable dialogue options while visiting a character on your ship, and declaring your interest before seeing a quick PG-13 sex scene and getting an achievement. Your partner will comfort you in a couple late game scenes and they do the bare minimum to establish sexual tension and romantic interest, but these relationships feel tacked-on to me these days. Even beyond the romance interest, there should be so much more interaction between the characters besides party banter and a few scenes and dialogue trees on the ship. They feel like static objects in the world. Compare to a similar game that's even just one step above like The Outer Worlds where characters move around the ship and interact with one another unprompted -- that's just a game mechanic too, but it makes Bioware's games relatively feel so much less alive.

Luckily, the game's actual story is excellent, quickly setting up its big mysteries and major players and knocking that setup out of the park at almost every step of the way. After a long introduction, the player is given a few missions to do in whatever order they want, and each does a nice job fleshing out different aspects of the galaxy and the villain's plans. These culminate in the game's most famous level, where one party member may turn on the player to his own demise for very valid reasons, another must be sacrificed for the mission to succeed, and the player finally confronts the game's villain and the real one pulling his strings. This is really what the series is all about, a level full of exciting moments, big revelations, and tough choices.

It may be a somewhat flawed game, but in comparison to other story-driven action-RPG games, this is a masterpiece and a must-play for sci-fi-loving gamers. This latest release has made it even better, a memorable and exciting start to one of the 21st century's most iconic gaming franchises.

This is my 2nd time playing Mass effect 1. I played it around 5 years ago as I went through the series. I expected that these games weren't as good as I remembered. I was very wrong, in fact they were BETTER THAN I REMEMBER. I played the legendary edition of the game, which has some notable improvements, mainly in gameplay. Overall, the game is still the same, just ironed out a little bit.

When I was younger, I would play games with the sound off so I could play games with a lot of cursing. This game doesn't really curse, but I still did it because it was rated M. Because of this, I never got to hear many of my crewmates voices or the score of this game. The soundtrack is fantastic, it perfectly captures the feel of the universe. The voice acting is also pretty good when it needs to be. It's nothing amazing and gets better in the future games, but definitely not bad.

The story is the textbook example of what a new IP should strive to achieve. It's an interesting world with a pretty good plot that is written even better. Seriously though, the writing of this game is just perfect. I was anticipating the next segment of the game where I would get to talk to people, not shoot them. That brings me to the biggest problem with this game, the gameplay. It's not as bad as most people say, but it's definitely not engaging 100% of the time. In the final level, I was running past enemies because I just didn't feel like fighting them. This game gets so much right for a first installment, but this gameplay holds it back. I would love to give it a 9, but this series isn't there quite yet.

8/10

After playing for a few minutes, I wasn’t happy with my first attempt at setting this up, so I restored my backup of the vanilla game (don’t forget to delete bioengine.ini!) and reinstalled the mods largely as before – but this time adding MEUITM separately (via its own installer, after ALOT, following advice from this Reddit thread), without ReShade. I added Daemonjax’s soft shadows shader afterwards – dropped in the files and deleted the local shader cache.

Now, everything seems to be looking a lot nicer overall, although I’m getting some dropped frames – might have to look into improving performance…

Reinstalled this (with DLC) and used ME3Tweaks Mod Manager to add a bunch of mods (with the help of this handy guide): ME1 Recalibrated; Faster Elevators; Same-Gender Romances for ME1; ME1Controller; Black Blobs Fix for AMD CPUs; N7MAKO; ALOT for ME1 (with 12.1 Update, Improved Static Lighting for ME1, and Liara ME3 Face for ME1); ALOV for ME1 (+ ALOT Addon); MEUITM (installed alongside ALOT with the ALOT installer, including most of the optional updates – such as Soft Shadows and the ReShade preset); and MERLIN.

I bought this ages ago but have never played it, so I was unsure which mods to choose (or even if I installed everything correctly – apparently DLC installation for the Steam version can fail). Anyway – looking forward to getting stuck in!

Having just completed another run of Mass Effect, I’m thinking about the Mass Effect Legendary Collection. Specifically, I am thinking about the fact that BioWare stated they have retooled the original game to unify the gameplay experience. This leads me to some questions, or even concerns. While a lot of people find combat clunky in Mass Effect, it’s my favourite of the three games. ME2 and ME3 are more action friendly, but they are a step back in several ways if you are a power user like an Adept or an Engineer. Mass Effect is also considerably clunkier at the start than it is at the end because you are initially limited in you abilities. But once you fill out your ability tree, the game is a joy to play as a power user. Especially if you set squad mate powers to manual. When you reach end game and you are flattening enemies with a barrage of attacks from all sides, it’s incredibly satisfying.

As a result the following are on my mind:

1. Will they allow us to map squad mate powers to the d-pad to match ME2 and ME3? I suspect yes, but this has me worried. One of the backward steps that ME2 took was the loss of fine control over your squad members. In ME you have access to order move, order attack, order hold, order rally. In ME2 you have rally, squad attack, and your squad powers combined with attack. On paper the latter might seem better, because you can send squad members after separate targets. But I dislike two things about the new setup. One is that a single squad attack order also allows you to send a unit to a position. Often when you press d-pad left or right to issue the command to use a power, if the game misreads where you are pointing, it will send the squad member charging directly to the enemy. Moreover, you can’t actually send squad members after separate targets without also burning a power cooldown. This control scheme also does away with the hold command, something I use a lot in the original Mass Effect for strategic reasons when drawing enemies into a trap.
2. Will there be a global cooldown? Mass Effect does not have a global power cooldown. This is another step back that I disliked when moving from ME to ME2. It’s designed to force the player to spend less time in the power wheel and focus more time on real-time combat, which drives the increased action shooter aspect of ME2 and ME3 over ME. However, I enjoy my ability to plan wave after wave of attacks from the power wheel. It’s very effective for crowd control and setting up attack combos. I am really hoping a global cool down isn’t introduced to the revamped control scheme of ME.
3. Unity: unity was nerfed and oversimplified in ME2, as it was combined with medi-gel. Using Unity revives and instantly heals all party members in ME2. In ME Unity and medi-gel are seperate, allowing you far more control over reviving and healing as seperate actions. I am sure plenty of people enjoy the simplified healing of the sequels, but it bugs me that because Unity is a power, it’s on a cooldown. And if someone like Jacob runs headfirst into a Krogan (as he is wont to do) just after you’ve fired warp, you have to wait to revive him. It may be minor but overall I prefer the approach in ME and hope they don’t change it.

One think I am hopeful for is that they fix the glitch where you lose access to squad powers when squad members spec into too many abilities. If you have ever fully kitted Liara out with every ability you’ll learn that you can’t access a couple of those abilities, and she won’t use them unless you set her to automatic (which I refuse to do). I hope that if they are breaking other things I like that they at least fix the one thing that has always bothered me.

Two new reasons I love the Xbox Series X|S:

1. I can easily capture images and video from old games without a capture card.
2. Microsoft has made it super easy to access your captures from your phone or other device automatically. There's no need to transfer or push phots rom the console to another service. They just show up in the Xbox app. It's phenomenal.

Happy N7 Day. It’s happening!

Mass Effect Legendary Edition

Mass Effect Legendary Edition will include single-player base content and DLC from Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, and Mass Effect 3, plus promo weapons, armors, and packs – all remastered and optimized for 4k Ultra HD. It will be available in Spring 2021 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC, with forward compatibility and targeted enhancements on Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5. More information to come in the new year!

Even more exciting:

Meanwhile here at BioWare, a veteran team has been hard at work envisioning the next chapter of the Mass Effect universe. We are in early stages on the project and can’t say any more just yet, but we’re looking forward to sharing our vision for where we’ll be going next.

Disclaimer: I played this game live on stream for about 4 hours per day. It took me a total of 28 hours to finish it with most of the sidequests done.

I feel that it is very hard to write a short review about this game, because it has a lot going on.

Overall: If you have this game on your backlog or mind, and think about playing it, you should. One of the best Bioware RPGs out there, with plenty of dialogue and a great setup for a universe full of lore worth investigating. Gameplay can get repetitive quickly, though.

Story: A very solid setting; Humanity is new to the galactic playfield and begrudgingly welcomed by most space-faring races. The player (male or female Shepard) now has to face threats to the universe as a commander of the human alliance, all the while the universe watches how humanity handles this new experience. I recommend reading at least a couple of Journal entries (the important ones are narrated) because it helps alot to understand the current state of the present-day political climate and helps with immersion. All in all definitely worth it, very immersive.

Gameplay: This is one of the games in which the Bioware-formula shines: impressive scale of voice-acted dialogue combined with a simple "choices matter" mechanic that alters even the main story. Other than that, you will find that leveling up your crew and outfitting them with current gear equally matters and has a big impact on your performance. Cover and the right timing of abilities are the most important things, otherwise Shepard might quickly die, especially on higher difficulties. I do not like the idea of your main character dying being a " game over", however. Additionally, planet surveys and exploration can get repetitive very quickly.

Graphics:

Can't say much about this part, I played the game with texture mods. afaik, the base game has 720p textures, so the following mods are recommended.

1. MEUITM
2. A Lot Of Textures (ALOT) for ME1 (adds extra high-quality textures)
3. A Lot of Videos (ALOV) for ME1 (upscales ME1 videos up to 4k resolution)

I play through every game I review live, watch me complain on https://www.twitch.tv/justgonzi

I realised that even though I talk quite a bit about Mass Effect, my girlfriend knows nothing about it beside the fact that I love it. I would like to introduce her to the world, story and characters of the series, but I'm having trouble coming up with the correct setup. Watching me play the three games would suck for both of us, since there's nothing for her in watching me killing endless droves of enemies or driving the Mako up impossible cliffs. Watching some play-through on YouTube will be similarly frustrating plus the fact that she wouldn't get to play her Shepard and make her decisions.

Ideas?

Some years ago I rewatched the movie Contact and realised that the design for the mass effect relays was clearly inspired in the machine of the movie:

You've got the rotating gimbals that puts a capsule through some kind of wormwhole as they accelerate.

But a couple of weeks ago I started to read the novel and there's much more inspiration. In the world of Contact, the machine transports the capsule through a network of interconnected black holes much like the mass relay network. In fact, here's a paragraph from the book:

They were, it seemed, high above the Milky Way Galaxy, looking down on its spiral structure (...). A network of straight lines appeared, representing the transportation system they had used. It was like the illuminated maps in the Paris Metro (...). Each station, she deduced, was in a star system with a low-mass double black hole.

This, mi friends, is a very clear description of Mass Effect's Galaxy Map, written more than 2 decades before the release of the first game.

Not only that, but in the same novel, the aliens explain that they didn't build the network, they found it there, abandoned by some previous civlisation. Now, the whole idea of The Precursors is a trope for a reason, but there more evidence pointing to the connection between the aliens in Contact and the Mass Effect universe.

In Contact, the alien speaks of a whole galactic (and cosmic) community of different species. He also tells Ellie that his species was the first to find the black hole network. His species is shown to be capable of reading people's thoughts.

What do you call the first species of a galactic community to discover a vast relay network left by an long-gone race? That's right, they are the Asari.

If i knew this before finishing the game, my life would be easier bc i'd just jump into ME2. Mass Effect 1 have (as the others) a brilliant and massive lore. Seriously, its' fucking big and great. Loved it.

In the other hand, the mechanics of the game are terrible. Combat system is VERY dated, has one of the most terrible inventory i have ever seen, the rover you use to explore planets it's insanely frustrating because of the controls, aaaaaand the sniper aim is awful. Plus, the characters rarely have emotions in their faces and it feels very robotized.

You probably will play this game only for the story and lore, but man, i really just found this part of the game enjoyable. The plot, the villains, Shepard itself (i played with female cause the voice acting is better), ALL the characters, the story missions, the relationship with your crew... All stuff related to the lore are truly amazing, that's the only reason i kept playing and finished it.

If you guys bother with what i said in the second paragraph, just start the saga with ME2. You won't regret it.