Mass Effect » Lady Jess

Try It You Might LIke It

Feb 132012

This is something we get told as kids, by our parents. Sometimes they were right, others not so much. But When Belghast posed the challenge for SWTOR, he WAS right. I love it. And so many people have told me I should try the Mass Effect series, and I tried…and still couldn’t get into it. I assumed they were just wrong, it isn’t my “thing” and quit trying. Especially after my last Commander Shepherd got lost in the Citadel.

Well, with all the fuss about ME 3 my Tumblr is flooded with, I was tempted to try it again. I gathered some advice from the fandom, and created my Commander Shepherd. Well, after I reinstalled the game that is.

The first obstacle for me, is ALWAYS looks. If I can’t stand looking at my character, that breaks the whole deal. Hell, I have rerolled characters in WoW many levels in, because something about them didn’t look right. BEFORE recustomization existed. I’ve done it a hundred times in SWTOR.

Well, I’m past the first hurdle. Meet Commander Vetta Shepherd. Earthborn adept, Sole survivor of the Akuze mission.

So far so good. Though the graphics in the game are less than what I’m used to…I like her.

She kind of came with her own characterization. Look at her. She looks straightlaced and by the book. She seems to have a tinge of sadness to her. She’s the type that comes off cold, but has a big heart for her squad, and always puts their safety first. She’ll tell Ashley not to blame herself for the loss of her squad, while still blaming herself for the loss of hers on Akuze.

So, that’s hurdle one cleared. Now if I can just get the hang of the UI. At least at the moment I can shoot things and throw them around with her Adept skills.

Another Casualty: Mass Effect

Mass Effect 2 Responses »

May 112010

Well, I gave it a shot. I got up to two hours invested in ME and it never really clicked. For a variety of reasons.

1. I couldn’t get into the RP. Your dialog choices are not clear at all. They hint at what you’re going to say. Unlike DA:O which lets you choose from exact sentences. With ME I never know what is going to come out of my character’s mouth, choosing what looks like the right option can sometimes result in an answer I really wouldn’t have chosen. It’s like RNG with voices.

dialogcomp

2. Related to my first complaint, the dialog choices in ME are in the scene view. In the above case right on my character’s neck. It’s obtrusive. I love catching screenshots in games. CLEAN ones. Frequently I’ve now had what could have been nice shots, screwed up by the location of the dialog. Same goes for subtitles. In DA:O they are at the top of the screen, out of the way, with your choices at the bottom. In ME, subtitles are mid screen across the scene. Very annoying. I tend to play with the subtitles on, so I can keep my volume down while others watch tv, and avoid using a headset. Headsets hurt my ears/jaw no matter how cushy they are.

3. More Aesthetics. As Samodean mentioned in a comment on my last post, they’ve managed to make ugly look best, and all attempts at attractive look…not so attractive. Let’s compare shall we? ME is on the left, DA:O on the right.

npccomp

I compare the two, because they are both Bioware games. I realize graphic engines differ. But considering the same company did DA:O just a year later, it should have THAT much disparity between the two.

3. The player character voice. I’m not dissing the voice actor. I just don’t like having a voice all that much. I thought I would, but I found I much preferred imagining my PC’s voice as I played. That and my Fem Shephard is seriously monotone. Ugh.

4. Controls- I only have one complaint here. I like having a mouse cursor that I can move and click and hover on things. Such as in WoW, DA:O, Torchlight etc. I would rather steer by keyboard, or by pressing both mouse buttons. In ME you walk by using WASD, and steer with the mouse. I’ve missed many interactive objects, just because my mouse didn’t hit the specific area as I panned around.

5. Slow story building. It’s an RPG, it has a story. But I’m two hours in and it feels like it’s crawling. The snail in my frog tank is running rings around it.

6. Combat. Surprisingly no complaints here. It took some getting used to, but it’s actually pretty cool. I like the combination of shooter+3rd person RPG. If only my character looked a little less…strange from behind. Or in front for that matter. Girl has a serious swayback thing goin on.

An RPG has to meet some criteria for me. Unfortunately, ME falls short.

Female protagonist. Check
Fast unfolding storyline. Not warp speed chaos (Hello DA: Awakening…looking at you), but not crawling slow. Minus.
Aesthetically pleasing in a consistent manner. Minus.
Ease of controls. Check in combat, minus in exploration.

I may go back and try further, but it’s not calling to me to play. Whereas WoW, and DA:O do. I’m on another set of 6 characters in DA:O now. Four are complete, and ready to play through the xpac, 2 are almost finished. But ME is just not clicking for me, there’s very little desire to see what’s next, even though it’s my first time actually playing. Whereas DA:O, I’ve played 10 times over, all curiosity satisfied but I’m still finding ways to RP the same game.

Trying New Things Again and Again

Games, Mass Effect 5 Responses »

May 102010

With all the good things people have said about Mass Effect, I tried it once. I didn’t last more than 10 minutes. I tried it again, same thing. I tried yet again today, and after I finally hit an hour of total played time between all three tries…the Steam Community was down and I didn’t get credit for it. Regardless, I got through the first mission. After I killed us all a few times. Hint: diffusing 4 bombs on casual difficulty should allow more than 4 minutes ok? I mean first you have to FIND all four bombs. Then you have to shoot the bad things while you’re trying to find said bombs.

I do NOT like the player character model face at all. The character generator makes me cry. No, really. Look at one Dragon age face compared to an ME face. I’ll demonstrate.

mevsda

Also, I can’t use the correct resolution, because 1900×1200 doesn’t exist in ME. I know, I know, it’s probably better in ME2. But I can’t PLAY ME2 until I drag myself through ME1 and decide after a full game whether I like it or not.

At least the villains look impressive I guess.

MassEffect 2010-05-10 16-47-23-22

Controls are still awkward. RPG+Shooter in 3rd person perspective. But I’m TRYING dammit. Just keep that in mind when I complain ok? I at LEAST am fuly trying the damned game.