Mass Effect, overrated. Spoilers!

Period. I have been sorely disappointed in this game after all the hype from gamesites and people here. I find the gameplay extremely linear and the story is all cutscenes. Now I know where the 12 gigs of harddrive space went, movie clips!

The leveling up is mediocre and the first time you see the galaxy map, you go wow, tons of places to go. Then as you start to travel you realize with the exception of game critical locations, most of the galaxies only have 1 or 2 planets you can land on and when you do, they all look the same, including the structures. With the pathways lined out you can't even explore the structures and planets you do land on. I've never been killed while in the buggy, so what's the point of even battling, it gets very boring.

I've used the same team members for the whole time as there is really no reason to use the others. Even at this point my character can't use an assault rifle or the full range of Jedi powers? WTF? and from what I gather, never will. There's been maybe three battles that challenged me, the rest is pretty boring, same structures, same enemies, same, same, same. I would've preferred less environments with more depth. A very shallow game.

I was really hoping for a KOTOR experience but instead have found myself booting up Lego Star WARs for some real fun!

EA isn't going to have to worry about me using up my 3 installs of the game. Back to Oblivion!

/signed

Although I did enjoy some parts, overall disappointed.

I played through the game about 6 times. I'd hardly call it overrated.

I couldn't disagree more, I found it to be better than KOTOR in every way (aside from the Star Wars appeal).

• Alien & world design is first class
• Combat is 10X better than KOTOR's
• Galaxy map was loads better than the old one(I really like the effects & individual planets)
• Facial animation was incredible
• Story sucked me in and kept hold until the credits rolled

I mean, what more could you want from a game? Sure the main story is linear, but the game was expansive enough to get distracted in the side quests. I'm going to be playing through again this summer with a new character!



SPOILER










In KOTOR I always wanted to kill Carth, this time I got to do it!

I have to also disagree big time. I just started playing Mass Effect (PC FTW) a few days ago. I am totally sucked in. Spring mentioned a lot of the big improvements (compared to KOTOR, I played KOTOR I and II as well) and great things about the game.

I have to ask what difficulty you are playing it on? I am playing at the hardest difficulty it lets you for the first play through and I have died about 6-8 times so far, 4 hours into the game. There have been some challenging parts. If you don't have the difficulty cranked up I would suggest trying that.

I am extremely pleased with the game so far. I think in many ways it is better than KOTOR. Sure I like the SW universe but there is something about this universe that is very intriguing.

mrgreenjeans said:

I've never been killed while in the buggy, so what's the point of even battling, it gets very boring.

I've used the same team members for the whole time as there is really no reason to use the others. Even at this point my character can't use an assault rifle or the full range of Jedi powers? WTF? and from what I gather, never will. There's been maybe three battles that challenged me

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If you're not being killed, set your difficulty higher. Not every class can use the AR or biotics, did you pick the right one?

Springbok said:

I couldn't disagree more, I found it to be better than KOTOR in every way (aside from the Star Wars appeal).

• Alien & world design is first class
• Combat is 10X better than KOTOR's
• Galaxy map was loads better than the old one(I really like the effects & individual planets)
• Facial animation was incredible
• Story sucked me in and kept hold until the credits rolled

I mean, what more could you want from a game? Sure the main story is linear, but the game was expansive enough to get distracted in the side quests. I'm going to be playing through again this summer with a new character!
SPOILER
In KOTOR I always wanted to kill Carth, this time I got to do it!

Click to expand...

Alien worlds are a yawn. Exactly how many did you actually land on or get a message, surveyed, found ore or some such and you're done? How many did you get to explore outside of the little map provided? None.

Combat~wombat.The control for party members sucks and they rarely will follow orders.

Galaxy map was a lot of empty pretty colors. Quests involved going to the right planet, driving around a very simular map, check out the icons shown on the map, following the path through one or two identical structure layouts. The only thing that changed was the location of the crates inside.

Facial animations were all cutscenes, read pre-rendered "movies", that took up most of the 12 gigs of hardrive space the game sucks up. Pixar does it better.

I agree with the last one, the "story sucked."

And what would I expect? After games like Oblivion and Stalker, I would like to see one or two fully rendered planets to explore. The whole game would've been much better had they focused on several complete locations than a couple of dozen identical locations. Even in the citadel you're limited to the paths the game allows. No exploration etc. I'm playing the expansion pack for Oblivion and I can climb the freakin' trees. The characters in ME can't even jump! The locations are all eye candy, movie props with very little interaction, and very little virtual reality. Pretty to look at but no substance. In KOTOR you could explore the grounds and find stuff, not so here. Nada except were neatly packaged.

I'll probably finish it, i think I'm near the end unless it really picks up, but for the hype, really let down. No, let's say bored.

I very much disliked this game also, got up to just after the citadel part, and gave up, pretty much confirmed I hate this type of game, then again I also didn't like KOTOR2.

although the game is linear, i still liked it... although, most of the reviews over hyped the story line too much... some even saying that it's the best story ever told in a video game... that everything will come together during the big reveal... i was waiting for this "big reveal" since i started playing the game only to play passed it without even realizing that was it...

Fighting Sauren now. zoom only works half the time and he gets to overheat your weapons every 5 seconds. a real thrill not ride. Is this the final boss battle? if so add very short to my list of observations.

And yes, I did every side quest I found except ore and item hunts.

It´s somewhat overrated. Primary story was pretty well made for most part but their secondary quests and such are pretty lousy. Especially on graphics department, there are only 3-4 different building types, vehicle fighting is pretty stupid too. Why would anyone use so slow, non-homing anti-tank missiles? No enemy tanks either? When you are playing main quest it´s almost like a different game.

mrgreenjeans said:

Facial animations were all cutscenes, read pre-rendered "movies", that took up most of the 12 gigs of hardrive space the game sucks up. Pixar does it better.

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everything else you said, is your opinion. you didn't care for the game, we aren't going to change that. BUT...what you just said here...is NOT an opinion. Its just plain wrong.

Cut-scenes by definition ( or at least as far back as i can remember ) is the direct OPPOSITE of pre-rendered. Pre-rendered = rendered in advance. aka: FMV's. Cut-scenes = on the fly rendering. aka: your computer/360 is rendering those scenes on the fly.

First dead give away...The equipment you are wearing in-game is what you are seen wearing in the cut-scenes. This CANNOT happen if the video is pre-rendered ( unless by chance, or on purpose you choose to wear the defult outfit ).

the 2nd give away was the popping in of textures when the cut-scenes were playing. this was especially noticeable on the 360. this again cannot happen when pre-rendered video is playing.

those pixar movies are pre-rendered. Your DVD player isn't rendering those faces on the fly, like your computer is. If it was, you simply would NOT be able to watch the video. None of us could.

so yeah, i had to point that out. Its NOT pre-rendered, and there is a reason why pixar movies look better.

Maybe i'm being anal-retentive. But then again, this is a thread about a guy who's posting his reasons for not liking a game. So i think some anal-retentiveness is perfectly legitimate on my part. I couldn't let this slide. Even though it won't change your view on the game, hopefully it will help you distinguish between cut-scenes ( on the fly rendering ) and pre-rendered video's in the future.

Mrgreenjeans is way off on the pre-rendered part.

Zex is correct, the cut-scenes are not pre-rendered FMV. The facial animations are amazing in this game and they are REAL TIME! Not sure where you get the idea that they are movies.

The 12gigs of space is getting to be the norm in gaming. A lot of it is the dialogue and most is for everything else that makes this game amazing to look at.

Yes the game is pretty linear, you can choose what ordered to do certain things but you end up doing the same thing. Though of course you can accomplish the same things in different ways, I am playing a paragon for my first play through.

A friend of mine loved the KOTOR games and was thinking of getting this. Is this something recommended for those players?

I have done two missions after leaving the citadel. the game is alright, I played through both KoToR games and enjoyed them quite a bit, this one just hasn't hooked me yet. I've gotten quite frustrated in a few fights, be it the people that I chose to fight me with or whatever, but sometimes they just seem... retarded. They stand out when there are snipers, they die, they 'respawn' stand there, and die again. they ignore my orders and things as well.

I have to agree that Kotor was a better experience (due to the star wars theme) but not neccasarily a better game. I think Mass effect has incredible viduals and pretty much every small detail is executed perfectly, from the voice acting to the storyline. i have to agree in some elements kotors fighting was alot more fun since it was 'in your face' style fighting with the light sabers an all and played better as an RPG since ME was more action esq'e.
But to say the game was overrated is not true, mass effect truly was a good game..and
definately has an effect..on me....lol

*had

a Mass Effect?

To SteveLord, I played Kotor 1 and 2, loved those, Mass Effect is made by the same people and I think most folks who like the Kotor games will like Mass Effect.

To Janus I will agree that the team AI could be better. I have had some frustrations, though it has not ruined the game for me. I still am loving it so far.

IR1 said:

The 12gigs of space is getting to be the norm in gaming.

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Crysis is 6 gigs installed, Oblivion 5.6. bioshock under 6, so where you get 12 gigs as standard is beyond me.

As far as pre-rendered, you're telling me that the dialog choices, the back grounds, the Non AI characters are going to be different the next time you play? Not! The only difference is an algorithm that applies your character choices, facial features, etc. etc. over a pre-existing skeletal frame, already rendered and placed in the scene. Every time you enter into one of those conversations your character will adopt the same stance, and graphic geometry regardless of the 'dressing' you chose. The characters you are addressing, 'interacting' is a loose term and suggests a choice of action, and your choices are severely limited, are pre-defined with a combination of pre-defined courses of action. The non AI character portrayals will be identical each time you play the game and your choice selections will be the same regardless of how your character looks. Your party selections though different will stand in the same place and react exactly the same, each time you play.

Sir, that is what I would term as pre-rendered.

Oblivion is 3 years old man. I didnt say 12 gigs is standard but I am saying that this is getting to be the norm. You can't tell me this isnt true, games certainly are not trending downward in size. Heck MGS4 took up an entire blue ray disc at 50GB!

You are a little confused at what pre-rendered actually means, Mass Effects cutscenes are not pre-rendered, it is rendered in real time using the graphics engine on the spot.
They are using the actual games engine to render the cutscenes in real time. The audio is pre-recorded of course.

To your question, YES it can change next time I play, maybe I choose different squad mates, maybe I wear a different weapon or armor combination. They are not going to pre-render a video for each possible option, which is why they are using in game real time cutscenes.

However a pre-rendered/video is one constant stream that you sit and watch like a movie. Just think of it this way pre-rendered = pre-recorded video. In a cinematic movie each character does the same thing and says the same thing in the same order every time. In Mass Effects cutscenes you choose the order and what you wear and what characters are around you.

With your definition the entire game itself could also be considered pre-rendered, because you are still inputing options for everything but the options have all been layed out ahead of time. Like where I move how the gun fires etc. When you talk pre-rendered you are talking about a movie or FMW sequence that cannot be changed or manipulated midway.

One good example is 3Dmark, they are real-time as if they were in game, so it can test the 3D engine. A pre-rendered video does not use the 3d engine, it is basically a 2d image/movie. In this case your video card can have very little effect on how well the video plays. A real-time cutscene like Mass Effects uses the in game engine and the FPS will be affected greatly by the video card you have.

Check out wiki's explanation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-rendered