Mass Effect

[Ghost Train]

Voice recognition would be interesting.

/cough ... Hey I'll just be dancing right here, you can pretend we're dancing together.

Don't think I can keep a straight face vocalizing some of Shepard's ridiculous (but apparently highly effective) pickup lines.

[Duke Togo]

Is it just me, or did the Reapers get smaller?

[kaiotheforsaken]

There seems to be a fair amount of variation in Reaper size. In a trailer we see the new walking types that are smaller but move fast, and later we see two of the same "sovereign" type shape, one in the foreground is considerably smaller than one of the same shape in the background, which is towering over skyscrapers.

[CoryHolmes]

There seems to be a fair amount of variation in Reaper size. In a trailer we see the new walking types that are smaller but move fast, and later we see two of the same "sovereign" type shape, one in the foreground is considerably smaller than one of the same shape in the background, which is towering over skyscrapers.

That makes sense when you consider their reproductive cycle, being composed/constructed of many different species.

[Lynx7725]

In case you guys missed this:

Remember, Batarian, not Krogan.

[ly000001]

In case you guys missed this:

Remember, Batarian, not Krogan.

Mutated Elcor: "Menacingly, growl."

There's another demo walkthrough here, where you can hear the dialogue in the game: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-mass-effect/715589

[Lynx7725]

Damn, I got my races mixed up. I was thinking Mutated Hanar....

[BeyondTheGrave]

Damn, I got my races mixed up. I was thinking Mutated Hanar....

This one hopes you die painfully.

[Lynx7725]

This one hopes you die painfully.

Hey, could be worse. I could have mistaken them for the biotic gods, the Volus...

Actually, nasty thought: mutated Asari. With Biotics. Ew.

[Lynx7725]

Resurrection! Sorry, wrong game. Have some medi-gel instead.

ME3 Trailer from GameCon over in Germany.

EDIT: First mover disadvantage. Bioware put up a better quality trailer, switching.

Edited August 16, 2011 by Lynx7725

[BeyondTheGrave]

I find the yt comments about the lack of rpg elements interesting.

[eugimon]

I find the yt comments about the lack of rpg elements interesting.

what were those comments?

[Duke Togo]

what were those comments?

Does it matter? We've seen next to nothing about this game besides trailers and small sections of combat gameplay footage. These commenters don't have any more of an idea about the leveling and customization features than we do.

[eugimon]

That's what I was getting at. Seems to me the haters think that an rpg needs to be turn based and have a tedious loot/inventory system to be good. So I'm always curious to see what new bit of different they've latched themselves onto to whine and complain about.

[Lynx7725]

Always be something to hate.

Doing my Insanity run with my Paragon Sniper... 3rd run with her, she should pick up a vet medal for that. Much much harder -- Krogan are actually quite fearsome now. Armour, regeneration.. if you don't hit them right with the correct combo, they are going to make a mess. Need to get my own Krogan quickly.

Without/ minimal upgrades, the Widow isn't even enough to take down a Blue Suns mook. Sheesh. Can't even use the lighter rifles now, not enough take down power.

[bluemax151]

Seems to me the haters think that an rpg needs to be turn based and have a tedious loot/inventory system to be good.

I honestly can't say that I've ever heard anyone say or seen anyone post that. Not even in general sense unrelated to ME lol. Mostly I just see the "RPGs are about ROLE PLAYING!"

[CoryHolmes]

I honestly can't say that I've ever heard anyone say or seen anyone post that. Not even in general sense unrelated to ME lol. Mostly I just see the "RPGs are about ROLE PLAYING!"

That's just it, though. ME is a role-playing game, not roll-playing. Big difference.

[eugimon]

I honestly can't say that I've ever heard anyone say or seen anyone post that. Not even in general sense unrelated to ME lol. Mostly I just see the "RPGs are about ROLE PLAYING!"

I see people post that, all the time on the bioware FB page, on game blogs like joystiq. Whenever there's a story about ME and now DA, those tired old horses get dragged out and hit a few more times. But they never have an actual argument about why you're not ROLE playing in ME.

All of the hate I see comes down to:

combat mechanics: it's skill based, not virtual dice based

inventory: not enough loot

armor and weapons: not enough customization.

None of those things make the game more or less about role playing.

The other argument I see a lot is that the end game is scripted. Okay... every single bioware game, ever, has a scripted end game. How you get there is up to you but it's not like at the end of KOTOR you can decide to just go to dagobah and build a hut.

Bioware tells stories and uses the medium of a game to do that. If they're not hip to that yet... *shrug*.

[BeyondTheGrave]

The loot argument is annoying and worthless. Ninety percent the stuff i picked up in ME1 was junk when compared to the Spectre grade gear.

Also the thermal clip system vs. your gun overheating and letting it cool.

Edited August 19, 2011 by BeyondTheGrave

[bluemax151]

That's just it, though. ME is a role-playing game, not roll-playing. Big difference.

Every videogame is literally a "role-playing" game. It makes no difference if the role you play is predetermined or not. "roll-playing" is a good way of making a good distinction I suppose but totally flies in the face of what has been established by PnP.

But they never have an actual argument about why you're not ROLE playing in ME.

It's nothing like PnP?

All of the hate I see comes down to:

combat mechanics: it's skill based, not virtual dice based

inventory: not enough loot

armor and weapons: not enough customization.

None of those things make the game more or less about role playing.

Sure, again it's nothing like PnP. Not that that's bad but people are just so obsessed with labels they can't see past them. They should of just gave up on labeling ME as an RPG but they probably won't because then what would distinguish their brand/product?

The other argument I see a lot is that the end game is scripted.

Of course, it's to be expected because of the various limitations in the medium (budget/time/manpower/etc). I totally understand why people are frustrated and I also understand that you can't expect (especially these days) a game of any sort to be truly open ended.

The loot argument is annoying and worthless. Ninety percent the stuff i picked up in ME1 was junk when compared to the Spectre grade gear.

I like the fact you can piece your gear together how you see fit in ME2 better but would of liked some more diversity that wasn't DLC and just a bit more in general really.

Also the thermal clip system vs. your gun overheating and letting it cool.

"Thermal clip" just seems like silly nomenclature other than that and the story explanation for the switch the ammo system is better of course.

I like Mass Effect but supposed genre aside let's face it, it's just another "space marine game". It may play kinda like Halo meets Total Fist Bump Destruction on steroids but in a lot of ways it's not as fun to play as either. I just want to finish my Shep story arc and move onto something else, hopefully something better.

[eugimon]

if it's not your cup of tea, that's too bad. Hopefully the great vending machine will give you something you do like next.

I'm just saying that the RPG "purists" who go and on about how the ME series is not an RPG are nothing but raving fanboys.

[Lynx7725]

Insanity level is just nuts.

Went recruiting Grunt. Spend 3 hours on that mission. Urgh. The front wasn't too bad, Widow sniping made it trival. The middle part -- I must have done some twelve or thirteen or more tries.

Problem was that the checkpoint was off, so when you died you went back quite a bit. And that was the long exposed bridge section with endless Krogan spawning until you got past. And even then, you still have the two initial Krogans to kill. So I died -- a LOT.

Then you start on the long climb up, which is mostly Blue Suns. Not difficult, just consumes the ammo quickly. Ammo drop is a bit random so I ended up going into the Boss fight wtih 3 rounds for the Widow...

Died 4 or 5 times before I figured out how to run that fight, and even then I still had a bit of random luck when the YMIR got hung up on terrain.

Even as painful as this is, I think it's still worth it. I've gotten up to 3/5 Sniper damage from this, and because of that, both AP and Headshot damage mods are now available. And I got Grunt, with his boomstick and massive health. Should make things a bit easier in later missions.

Edited August 20, 2011 by Lynx7725

[eugimon]

Insanity level is just nuts.

Went recruiting Grunt. Spend 3 hours on that mission. Urgh. The front wasn't too bad, Widow sniping made it trival. The middle part -- I must have done some twelve or thirteen or more tries.

Problem was that the checkpoint was off, so when you died you went back quite a bit. And that was the long exposed bridge section with endless Krogan spawning until you got past. And even then, you still have the two initial Krogans to kill. So I died -- a LOT.

Then you start on the long climb up, which is mostly Blue Suns. Not difficult, just consumes the ammo quickly. Ammo drop is a bit random so I ended up going into the Boss fight wtih 3 rounds for the Widow...

Died 4 or 5 times before I figured out how to run that fight, and even then I still had a bit of random luck when the YMIR got hung up on terrain.

Even as painful as this is, I think it's still worth it. I've gotten up to 3/5 Sniper damage from this, and because of that, both AP and Headshot damage mods are now available. And I got Grunt, with his boomstick and massive health. Should make things a bit easier in later missions.

I HATED the end to the recruit grunt mission when I did my insanity run with a vanguard. I finally settled on bum rushing at the beginning of the battle, taking out the boss and then turning on the mech next while garrus and miranda got worked over by the krogans. Pretty damn brutal.

[Lynx7725]

I HATED the end to the recruit grunt mission when I did my insanity run with a vanguard. I finally settled on bum rushing at the beginning of the battle, taking out the boss and then turning on the mech next while garrus and miranda got worked over by the krogans. Pretty damn brutal.

It was kind of ugly, yes. I ended up in cover next to the door, and because the way the game paths the Krogan, they'll always take the ramp there. That allowed me room to snipe, cover from Jedore's rockets, and a nice place for my team (Jacob and Zaeed) to polish off the leftover Krogans who made it up the ramp.

Thankfully, the YMIR glitch meant it never got into the fight, which meant we could take all the Krogans (4 or 5?) out that way. Jedore did manage to eventually plant a rocket that killed both Jacob and Zaeed at the same time, but by then she's out of Krogans and I was able to pistol/ Incinerate her to death from across the room.

[eugimon]

It was kind of ugly, yes. I ended up in cover next to the door, and because the way the game paths the Krogan, they'll always take the ramp there. That allowed me room to snipe, cover from Jedore's rockets, and a nice place for my team (Jacob and Zaeed) to polish off the leftover Krogans who made it up the ramp.

Thankfully, the YMIR glitch meant it never got into the fight, which meant we could take all the Krogans (4 or 5?) out that way. Jedore did manage to eventually plant a rocket that killed both Jacob and Zaeed at the same time, but by then she's out of Krogans and I was able to pistol/ Incinerate her to death from across the room.

If Jedore dies, the krogans don't come out of the tubes, right? I remember I had miranda shock her and I charged her and unloaded some shot gun shots into her, backed off, unloaded my rifle into her till the charge was ready and hit her again. She went down pretty quick so we only had the mech and the 1 korgan left but man... one luck shot from the mech and it was all over.

[Lynx7725]

If Jedore dies, the krogans don't come out of the tubes, right? I remember I had miranda shock her and I charged her and unloaded some shot gun shots into her, backed off, unloaded my rifle into her till the charge was ready and hit her again. She went down pretty quick so we only had the mech and the 1 korgan left but man... one luck shot from the mech and it was all over.

Yes, killing Jedore fast will limit the Krogan releases; that's usually the approach I went with in lower difficulties when the Widow could one-shot her (even in the early, no upgrades state). In Insanity though, that just knock her down to armour (IIRC), so that's just not viable.

Thankfully (and probably by design), she doesn't just release all the Krogan at one go. That'd be bad.

As for the Mech, I actually unloaded some 10 rockets at it from behind cover. You believe that only took the shields down to half? Sheesh.

On an unrelated note, this mission is where I found out that Zaeed apparently could use his Concussive Shot... through a solid wall. M'eh?

[eugimon]

Yes, killing Jedore fast will limit the Krogan releases; that's usually the approach I went with in lower difficulties when the Widow could one-shot her (even in the early, no upgrades state). In Insanity though, that just knock her down to armour (IIRC), so that's just not viable.

Thankfully (and probably by design), she doesn't just release all the Krogan at one go. That'd be bad.

As for the Mech, I actually unloaded some 10 rockets at it from behind cover. You believe that only took the shields down to half? Sheesh.

On an unrelated note, this mission is where I found out that Zaeed apparently could use his Concussive Shot... through a solid wall. M'eh?

luckily between garrus, miranda and my smg, shields weren't an issue. I don't remember what I brought for my heavy but I remember I was down to the shotgun and pistols by the time we cleaned up the mech.

I really hate that mission.

[Lynx7725]

Finished recruiting Jack on the Insanity Run. It was easier than Grunt, but still took 2 hours. The hard part was the middle when the YMIR showed up. Took a number of tries before I figured out running away was the right way.

You get channeled into a trench, YMIR can approach it without taking fire; once it's in the trench with you it's just too late to kill it. So, the correct approach is the run back down the trench to open the engagement range, and pick the YMIR apart -- at least for an Infiltrator. The blasted Vanguard is probably happy that the YMIR is close at hand for destruction!

Mission is also easier because you don't have to kill everything at the Boss Fight to win, like in Grunt. Just kill the shield, assassinate the Boss, and that's it.

I'm finding that at Insanity, it's better to focus on high end builds that stress survivability rather than damage. This is totally different from lower difficulty, where you can afford to build glass cannons. Grunt has double my HP, and his durability shows. Still kicks the bucket regularly, but much less so than the other "sleepers".

[eugimon]

Finished recruiting Jack on the Insanity Run. It was easier than Grunt, but still took 2 hours. The hard part was the middle when the YMIR showed up. Took a number of tries before I figured out running away was the right way.

You get channeled into a trench, YMIR can approach it without taking fire; once it's in the trench with you it's just too late to kill it. So, the correct approach is the run back down the trench to open the engagement range, and pick the YMIR apart -- at least for an Infiltrator. The blasted Vanguard is probably happy that the YMIR is close at hand for destruction!

Mission is also easier because you don't have to kill everything at the Boss Fight to win, like in Grunt. Just kill the shield, assassinate the Boss, and that's it.

I'm finding that at Insanity, it's better to focus on high end builds that stress survivability rather than damage. This is totally different from lower difficulty, where you can afford to build glass cannons. Grunt has double my HP, and his durability shows. Still kicks the bucket regularly, but much less so than the other "sleepers".

yeah, getting to the mech was what was hard for me since the vanguard is really lacking in long range punch and that map is littered with baddies waiting to pick you off. But Charges can often get you to higher elevations in a hurry and then it's easy to tear them apart with a shotgun or the heavy pistol.

[Wanzerfan]

This one hopes you die painfully.

And now we see Atari Force's contribution to Mass Effect. Like the Hanar, Morphea's species don't use self possessive pronouns (Hell, the pronoun "I" is forbidden for that species to use; regular Atari Force #7; her mental battle with Psiclops in that particular issue was classic).

[Lynx7725]

Kotobukiya is apparently working on some ME products

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150278161656645.331731.85811091644

Hope the link works.

As a bushoujo imaging, it works. But doesn't quite come across as Liara.. the commentary is quite interesting in the number of people screaming for less boobage.

[Duke Togo]

Kotobukiya is apparently working on some ME products

http://www.facebook....731.85811091644

Hope the link works.

As a bushoujo imaging, it works. But doesn't quite come across as Liara.. the commentary is quite interesting in the number of people screaming for less boobage.

Yeah, it's Liara, but not Liara. I don't much like it.

[eugimon]

not a fan of the face sculpt. I think they deviated too much from model and wound up with generic anime asari.

[BeyondTheGrave]

The face looks creepy.

[anime52k8]

The face looks creepy.

The fact that they're trying to make a sexy anime-girl figure out of a character with blue skin and slicked back tentacles for hair is creepy.