Nick_i_am

Indeed, for much of the plot planets it was very evident, and I wouldn't be talking about it nearly so favorably if it weren't for a very well presented (if slightly liniar) ending. I don't mean a new direction in general for bio though, but by not only making it console-centric (which has been done before) but introducing a completely new (for the genre) form of gameplay it took a risk with it's existing fanbase. I can't say I wouldn't have liked the game to be more liniar though, to cut down on the fluff, and doing so wouldn't even need to detract from the RPG elements, it just needs to be streamlined. In this way i'd say that comparing it to the likes of BG is somewhat unfair since it's a very different beast which still tried (and failed) to appeal to it's oldschool fans as well as attract new ones. Far from a perfect game, but more than enough to have me interested in a (refined) sequel. Moreso, it has given me some interest in the potential of Dragonage.

Yeah, that was my point in both cases, same old biocrap, but in the scifi setting with the high production values it matters a lot less than normal. see That is to say, those games were good at what they did, but I LIKED the fusion. If you didn't, and that was your only point, then that's grand.

Yeah, Full Spectrum is pretty interesting, but an aquired taste.

Like I said, I wouldn't give a crap about the fees if the game itself was actually worth touching, and Eve was almost there. Almost.

That kinda sucks, guess i'm lucky I completely missed all the previews.

sure can: http://eve.klaki.net/heist/ short version: a wealthy player run corporation (guild) spanning 100s of players and several systems has a bounty for the murder of its CEO put on it by a rival. Over the course of months, members of an elite merc unit infiltrate the guild before, at the right moment, symaltaniously stealing and destroying as much equipment as they could while murdering the CEO in a suprise attack. In Eve this 'works' like it does in the real world, the interguild politics effect the 'normal person' since it's the guilds that build and run the space stations and shipping lanes used by these players. It's not a 'story-driven' MMO but it's still a player driven story, and incidents like these create waves through the community. Powerful individuals within the game, heads of corps, pirates or mercs become known as ingame celebrities.

I cant imagine how this would be possible in an MMO. I mean, one persons actions effecting the game for thousands? See Eve.

[ending impressions of the game, assuming this is okay for this thread since it contains spoilers] Man, just finished the game, pretty epic. Very high hopes for Mass Effect 2 if they learn from this re:gameplay and presintation. There's really no reason why the whole game shouldn't have been to the same quality of the ending but I still found there to be too much 'CRPG convention' for my liking. Still congrats to Bioware for taking a risk with a new direction and having it pay off. The plot was cheesy sure, aliens harvesting all life every 50,000 years, or whatever, but almost all scifi is cheesy on paper, and the same goes for fantasy. I mean, it's not like KotoR1 was any better, or any of the other bio games for that matter. Time traveling lizards? hahahahaha. The fact that Sovreign turned out to be a reaper himself was a nice suprise in that I was expecting an endgame flood of crappy 'they destroy the universe but are really easy to kill!' badguys. Likewise, the fact that they actually explained why Serin was being a dork rather than him just being a racist jerk that i'd expected throughout the game. Getting him to kill himself, while easy, was actually quite satisfying despite the fact that i'd been robbed (I assume) of a boss fight. There's still too much weakness heldover from previous biogames though. I spent most of the game with Wrex and Garrus, but not because they were sparkling personalities, just because they comlimented the parts with biotic/tech will still weilding rifles. That and the fact that they were the 'cool aliens'. I mean, when it came to choosing which party member I was willing to let die I couldn't really have cared less, just like i've never cared less about any bioware henchie in the past. That's not to say they're horrible, their writing/presintation is still high compared to the other bio games, and I never felt like any of them were there 'just because' (though only just), but even still, there simply wasn't enough character development/diologue to really justify their existance or my caring for their lives. Actually, it says enough that I cared more about joker than I did about either of my actual human henchies and is a case in point for characters not *needing* to actually justify themselves with reems of pointless diologue (not that backstory is a bad thing) as long as they've got actual personalities and play a real role more than just 'I follow you and shoot things!'. Other members did this, sure, but again, not in any way that really made me care about their existance for the most part. Roleplaying options were limited to standard biocrap (good/evil-lightside/darkside-paragon/renegade) but it's the 'quantity' which seems to really annoy the oldschool biofans who are used to massive sprawling cities and instead end up with about one 'large' town and not much else, which is slightly suspect, even just on the citidel, a spacestation which houses 'millions' and yet is contained within about two areas. I can't say I would have wanted more wondering around though, and idealy they would have allowed me to use the run outside of combat to save me wasting time going from place to place (though I appresiated the rapid transport system). Yeah, that nulifies the fact that I enjoyed the game, having played HL2, Gears of War, Deus Ex, KotoR1/2, BG1/2, Fallout1/2 and Icewind Dale1/2 before it. There's just no way I could play all those games and still enjoy Mass Effect for what it is. Fact is, this is the ONLY bio game that I havn't had to force myself to finish, which is a massive step up on its own. If you didn't like it then judge all you want, but trying to force your 'you should have just done this' opinons are kind of irrelivent to someone who's already finished and enjoyed the game. Thanks for restating my point! Thing is, I expected the gameplay to be weaker because of that, and while it's still not up to the level of the dedicated shooting game it's emulating (on that level) it's still very competent.

I wouldn't give a crap about the monthly fee if I found the games to be actually worth playing. This 'scourge of PC gaming' is just missing the point again.

I don't use them much, but every game should have them.

Not the best combat in the shooting genre (it's weaker than Gears of War, which it tries to emulate), but the handson combat (I played with no autoaim) beats the snot out of the click and wait combat of KotoR.

Enoch is soft and smooth.

Yeah, flawed, but easily bios strongest work.

SOLD wink wink

Great, now I need a shower.

I want one!

Stopped reading.

Did you put lime in it?

Chicks can't be sexist!

Hey! Kerzack neeed those!

Next week on Obsenders! Who's baby is Hades REALLY carrying?

Steal some off Taks!