Mass Effect

[Lazybones]

Well I am by no means done the game but here are my impressions, as it has already consumed over 17hrs of my life and shows no signs of stopping.

I have not been a big on RPGs but I have enjoyed them in the past, also I kind of prefer a space setting over a dark ages setting.

Mass Effect is set in the far future, humans have advanced to having faster than light travel by discovering alien technology. Well as it turns out most of the races use this ancient alien tech, so the humans aren't alone on the borrowed tech front.

As far as game play goes I was surprised by the combat system, it moves very fast but you can pause and direct special attacks. The NPC party members aren't that intelligent in battle but they do help and you can force them to go where you want if needed.

The game play world appears to b huge and ripe for many more stories, hell I can't even tell how far I am in the current one...

So far I am really enjoying it, with only a few nit picks:
- You can only level up my characters when they are in a party / mission. You can however change their equipment out side of a mission.
- There are sand worm type creatures on both dry hot world and cold ice worlds... don't ask me why.
- The NPC party members just do not function well in battle without a lot of direction some times.
- Hard to get away from the errand boy feeling found in all RPGs (mostly a side quest issue)

As far as RPGs go I have been really impressed with the speak options in conversations and the feeling that my actions will have impact on the world. I assume later in the game some of my actions will come back to haunt me.

[Mr. Analog]

Nice summary man.

[Darren Dirt]

Any thoughts on the voice acting? Hella good collection of talent . So is it still immersive, or do you feel like Frank Black is talking to Chris Griffin and Commander Troi?

[Mr. Analog]

Any thoughts on the voice acting? Hella good collection of talent . So is it still immersive, or do you feel like Frank Black is talking to Chris Griffin and Commander Troi?

Yay! Jennifer Hale! She's like in every modern Canadian cartoon ever.

[Lazybones]

Jennifer Hale is the only one that I keyed in on... I really wasn't thinking about it the voices as I played, but now that I have been reminded, ya you notice Seth Green.

I would say they play their characters well.

[Mr. Analog]

Jennifer Hale is the only one that I keyed in on... I really wasn't thinking about it the voices as I played, but now that I have been reminded, ya you notice Seth Green.

I would say they play their characters well.

Dude, Seth Green!? Off the hook!

I gotta get me this game

[Lazybones]

He's your cocky smart ass pilot. Just for fun I went through all his current dialog to see what he would say.. I think I need to complete a major story mission before he will have more dialog options.

[Darren Dirt]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Effect#Cast

The cast of Mass Effect includes Mark Meer as the male Commander Shepard, Jennifer Hale as the female Commander Shepard, Keith David as Captain David Anderson, Lance Henriksen as Admiral Hackett, Marina Sirtis as Matriarch Benezia, and Seth Green as Jeff "Joker" Moreau.

and hey hey hey, local boy done good: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Meer

[Thorin]

and hey hey hey, local boy done good: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Meer

Okay, that link led to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panties_Productions
Which led to: http://www.pantiesproductions.com/
Which led to: http://www.pantiesproductions.com/frames.htm
WTF??

[Darren Dirt]

and hey hey hey, local boy done good: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Meer

Okay, that link led to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panties_Productions
Which led to: http://www.pantiesproductions.com/
Which led to: http://www.pantiesproductions.com/frames.htm
WTF??

...which led to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Dead_Trolls_in_a_Baggie , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wes_Borg , and eventually http://deadtroll.com/wes/goopage.html

[Lazybones]

After being distracted by GTA IV, I am back on to Mass Effect and still loving it. The story and voice acting are still great.

More thoughts
- Base/Level design is fairly repetitive for site missions (the main story has huge unique levels)
- You may actually have to make some difficult decisions in the game
- Some battles become a frantic mess when the enemies just rush in among your team
- This might be the first Story Driven / RPG game that I have a desire to play through again. Normally I ether don't finish or play this kind of game once.

[Lazybones]

Well I have completed the game, and I must say I enjoyed almost every minute of it.. It is a GREAT game and a GREAT story.

On the voice acting front Lance Henriksen puts in a good performance, even if you don't get to see his character. Almost every line in the game is delivered well, which is a good thing, because there is a lot of dialog in the game.

On thing I found refreshing was the difficulty curve / length.. On normal/default difficulty I rarely found frustrated with the game, I would still die occasionally and some of the larger battles took a few attempts but over all I was able to just keep playing and enjoy the ride. I have played too many RPGs were I have just given up due to nearly impassable sections.

Although you can choose different outcomes for various missions, the impact of these decisions doesn't actually impact your play through as much as I had hoped. There are tie ins and some of the conversations and site missions only appear dependent on another but over all the main story continues on. I really hope that some of the bigger things you do in Mass Effect 1 carry over to Mass Effect 2.