The story has tons of detail and they obviously put a lot of effort into fleshing out the universe. Some of the dialogue is very well written and there is a wide range of things you can say in conversations. It's worth playing just for the atmosphere. The story is not particularly realistic though and is very reminiscent of Star Wars, essentially a fantasy that happens to be set in space.
The base game is very short, with only five or six main missions. There are numerous side quests but most of them are quite tedious, since they reuse the exact same level design over and over again. I did them just to see the final conversations associated with them. The game can actually be dramatically improved by binding the Unreal engine's slomo command to a key to speed up the game. Your guy moves very slowly by default and there is no way to upgrade your speed, so you end up wasting a lot of time just running around between places. I found the game far more enjoyable after I started using this. My total time was 32 hours after doing all of the side quests except for the ones about finding minerals, although the actual time was less since I went through all the boring parts on quad speed.
The combat in general is very easy, and I only remember two or three parts near the beginning that posed any challenge at all. Your squad mates are totally worthless in combat, even if you keep upgrading their equipment, but you can easily handle everything on your own so it doesn't matter.
The graphics are subpar for such a recent game, despite the relatively poor performance. A few areas have good artwork but it generally looks very similar to Unreal 2, a 2003 game. There are a number of bugs and stability issues as well. Some of the music was quite nice though.
6. Annoying inability to save during combat. OK, I know, it makes it tougher and more of an accomplishment to get through battles, but I got really tired of cleaning out an entire room only to have some jackass with a shotgun+carnage come running around a corner, through my allies, and blast me twice in the face before I could get a Barrier up. THAT bugged me.
*SNIP*
*SNIP*
Graphics were sub-par? WTF????
I now officially hate you.
Graphics were sub-par? WTF????
I now officially hate you.
That actually applies to most of the ME aliens in general. They are all just humans with different heads screwed on. :DSo are aliens in pretty much all science fiction. :rolleyes:
That actually applies to most of the ME aliens in general. They are all just humans with different heads screwed on. :DSo are aliens in pretty much all science fiction. :rolleyes:
How about the Shivans? :pJust like star wars. Yet, look at how well that did? ;7
You're right that this is a common problem in sci-fi, but the ME ones were particularly generic. They not only looked like humans, but talked and behaved like humans in just about every way.
That actually applies to most of the ME aliens in general. They are all just humans with different heads screwed on. :DSo are aliens in pretty much all science fiction. :rolleyes:
How about the Shivans? :p
You're right that this is a common problem in sci-fi, but the ME ones were particularly generic. They not only looked like humans, but talked and behaved like humans in just about every way.
You must not have played much else in the last few years. After you disable those nasty film grain and frame smoothing effects, the lighting and character models make the game look very similar to Unreal 2 or UT2004, but with much lower framerates.
That actually applies to most of the ME aliens in general. They are all just humans with different heads screwed on. :DSo are aliens in pretty much all science fiction. :rolleyes:
don't be ridiculous nobody talks to kaidanI did. :(
No, I'm just not a spoiled graphics whore. The graphics of ME was great. Not uber-extra spectacular, but then again it doesn't have to be.
Too many games focus so much on looks they forget gameplay anyway. For me, the game only has to look "good enough".
There's a couple of exceptions. I forget what they were called, but the ones that spoke in a monotone were kind of interesting. The Rachni and the Thorian, as well.
don't be ridiculous nobody talks to kaidan
don't be ridiculous nobody talks to kaidan
A lot of people disliked Kaidan because he reminded them too much of Carth from KotOR. I'm not one of them, but I do think he's one of the less interesting characters.That's actually why I liked him. Carth was a really cool character IMHO. He seemed like the most logistical one in conversations. Kaiden seems like a more emotional incarnation of Carth, but I still liked him.
I always start out using Ashley and Kaidan and then only switch when I get Tali, then bye-bye Kaidan. About Ashley, has anyone actually explored everything she has to say? It gets more interesting after main mission 3 (4?) Before the last one at least.I did, and I just always hated how one-dimensional Ashley's character was. The only thing I remember her telling me was something about a High school boyfriend problem...
Her sister. She also reads poetry :p.
Her sister. She also reads poetry :p.
I think that was her dad actually. I told her the poetry was crap. :p
I meant that it was her dad's poetry. (I think, can't remember for sure)
I'm exploring a lovely, verdant green planet with a horrifyingly toxic atmosphere, and I stumble across a Prothean ruin with a floating, silvery Sphere in the centre. I activate it, and it's triggered by a trinket that the Asari Consort on the Citadel gave me for helping her out with that Septimus douche. Suddenly, I'm treated to the life of a Cro-Magnon on Earth during the Prothean observations, with Shepard experiencing it like that TNG ep "The Inner Light". It's obscure stuff like this that really blows me away.
I found all characters interesting.
Come on, you need to have an asshole to hate too
Did you go through the conversations with him? He's not an idiot at all. You can even persuade him into shooting himself in the head, which was awesome.That's exactly what I did. That's what made him seem like an idiot, because of how easily I controlled him.
It's obscure stuff like this that really blows me away.I still remember talking to Garrus about the organ doctor he had to chase down, and about how he would sell Krogan testicles for 10,000 credits each.
That's exactly what I did. That's what made him seem like an idiot, because of how easily I controlled him.That's more to do with Bioware's overly simplistic roleplaying than any issue with the character.
It's a side quest on the Citadel. I didn't find the AI to be anything special really. Although I wasn't displeased with it's motives and objectives.