![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Mass Effect: early thoughts
I promised many people my thoughts, but I don't have much to say yet. We're maybe 12 hours in. Picked up Liara but have otherwise been focusing on sidequests so far. Playing a fem!Shep Infiltrator named Jane (I tend to use the default name my first time through any RPG). She's a Spacer, a War Hero, and a Paragon through-and-through. The shooting part of combat isn't going too awfully, but I am worse than useless at handling the Mako. (May-ko or Mah-ko?) Fortunately, this is what I have a husband for.
Seems like we end up with a fair number of grayed out dialogue options. Is this because our Charm and Intimidate scores aren't high enough? Or do I need to get more Paragon points? (I think we've chosen something like three Renegade options so far, so I don't expect to build up much there.)
Also, we have yet to manage to open a single safe or locked door without use of omni-gel. Even the ones marked "Easy". Am I missing something, or is the unlocking game just stupidly hard?
Is it worth going to talk to the other team members on the Normandy on a regular basis, or do you get through most of their conversation options the first time through? Will the game make it clear when the options change, or do I need to just keep checking in with them?
I'm finding everyone on the team interesting so far. Shepard is getting along with everyone, although she's not thrilled by Ashley's anti-alien attitudes (she's a big believer in interspecies collaboration), and she and Tali got into a bit of an argument about whether the geth were justified in defending themselves. At the moment, Kaidan looks like the romance she's more likely to pursue, although it's early days yet.
I like the political stuff, predictably. The Council versus the Alliance, humans as upstarts and the jealousy of the older races that feel like humanity is getting its perks too soon. The various other interspecies rivalries. The Progenitors and the question of who came before. Shepard's vision and its implications. I look forward to seeing what comes of all of it.
Thanks to fandom osmosis -- and the fact that we attempted ME2 first, so we ran through the tool that lets you set up your choices and create an import -- I've been spoiled for quite a bit of this game, so I can relax my usual anti-spoiler rules a little bit, but I'd still appreciate it if everyone could keep spoilers vague and to a minimum in comments. Thanks. :)
Seems like we end up with a fair number of grayed out dialogue options. Is this because our Charm and Intimidate scores aren't high enough? Or do I need to get more Paragon points? (I think we've chosen something like three Renegade options so far, so I don't expect to build up much there.)
Also, we have yet to manage to open a single safe or locked door without use of omni-gel. Even the ones marked "Easy". Am I missing something, or is the unlocking game just stupidly hard?
Is it worth going to talk to the other team members on the Normandy on a regular basis, or do you get through most of their conversation options the first time through? Will the game make it clear when the options change, or do I need to just keep checking in with them?
I'm finding everyone on the team interesting so far. Shepard is getting along with everyone, although she's not thrilled by Ashley's anti-alien attitudes (she's a big believer in interspecies collaboration), and she and Tali got into a bit of an argument about whether the geth were justified in defending themselves. At the moment, Kaidan looks like the romance she's more likely to pursue, although it's early days yet.
I like the political stuff, predictably. The Council versus the Alliance, humans as upstarts and the jealousy of the older races that feel like humanity is getting its perks too soon. The various other interspecies rivalries. The Progenitors and the question of who came before. Shepard's vision and its implications. I look forward to seeing what comes of all of it.
Thanks to fandom osmosis -- and the fact that we attempted ME2 first, so we ran through the tool that lets you set up your choices and create an import -- I've been spoiled for quite a bit of this game, so I can relax my usual anti-spoiler rules a little bit, but I'd still appreciate it if everyone could keep spoilers vague and to a minimum in comments. Thanks. :)
no subject
Not sure on the unlocking game - did they port the version with Simon Says or XBox? Or the Frogger one from PC? If it's the Simon Says, I recall having to slow down and be very deliberate or I'd hit the button twice and fail. (Also, if I recall correctly, the higher your... and your squadmates? I think it combines, although it may simply be whoever is highest, unlocking talents, the easier/slower it goes - but you can still only screw up once.)
Teammate conversations unlock about one per major plot planet, although you can unlock them earlier by doing lots of sidequests. This is useful if you, say... get Liara, Wrex, or Garrus later, so you can get all the conversations. (You can also get some ambient dialogue by talking to them randomly in the field - not as deep companionships as DA, but still charming.)
Kaidan is adorable, and that is all I have to say about that. XD
no subject
We have all the companions -- that's why we went to fetch Liara rather than starting with sidequests. Do conversations queue up, or do you miss them if you don't go talk to the companions after each major quest?
Thanks for the info. :) I'm sure I'll be back, bugging you for more.
no subject
But that's not a huge danger. If you talk to everyone before and after each Main Subplot, you ought to trigger them all... and get turned away a couple of times in between. Once after every main mission is usually sufficient. :)
And, if you find it noteworthy, there are a few variances: the dialogue will change somewhat depending on the order you do the planets in, sometimes the dialogue will change depending on whether you've triggered it from sidequests or a major plot. Ashley, at least, has a turning you down dialogue different from her normal dialogues if you talk to her immediately after leaving the Citadel for the first time. Etc.
I'm not sure about the Hacking/Decryption minigame. I want to say, the higher your talents, the slower it goes... But only because I remember it being much harder in the beginning. It's possible I either got used to it or the PS3 made it faster. >_>
But then - OmniGel. Heh.
no subject
I found it really helpful my first time through to save before attempting locked doors so that I could retry them without having to resort to omni-gel.
I also talked to everyone after almost every sidequest because I was so hellbent on making love interests out of characters who aren't. :) Like
Also, did you spring for either of the DLC? Pinnacle Station is skippable, but Bring Down the Sky is worth playing, IMO.
no subject
As I mentioned on Tumblr, T and I are playing together, and if I try to talk to my crew after every single sidequest, I think it might be grounds for divorce. ;) But I can get away with after ever major quest, although unfortunately I missed Eden Prime -- we didn't do our first walk around the Normandy until after Artemis Tau.
Glad it is not just me with the unlocking game. T did a little Internet research and came across a lot of people complaining about it, so it might be a bug. Oh Bioware.
no subject
Which is a shame, because Pinnacle Station is worth it, imo, if only for Ahern, the view from Shepard's apartment, and the unlimited grenade locker. XD
I second Bring Down the Sky, though. :)
no subject
o_O You'd think I wouldn't be surprised, because EA is EA, but somehow I am! Wow.
I got bored/frustrated with Pinnacle Station before I unlocked the apartment, so I just Youtube'd videos of it and let it go. Possibly I would have finished all the mini-games if I hadn't been playing on Hardcore, but I didn't realize at the time that the missions scaled to the difficulty level. Some of those time trials are brutal when all the baddies are heavily shielded.
no subject
I played through the first time on my Insanity run with a level 60 Shepard (as I understand, the enemies scale as you level as well as with the difficulty). It took me three days to get past the Volcanic Hunt level (it's glitched on XBox so that after a certain point, you stop gaining time for your kills).
I still don't know whether I like more it because I surmounted the challenge in the end or if I would have liked it anyway. Or if I'm simply
stupidcrazy. ;)no subject
no subject
no subject
How does the story in Mass Effect compare to Dragon Age? I assume the games are equally as story heavy?
no subject
no subject
I've made paladin play these games through for me so many times. I probably ought to do it myself, but....aaaaah shooters noooooo.
no subject
I knew going in that it was the same voice actress; what's interesting to me is how different they sound, most of the time.
no subject
They're so different that I actually didn't realize they were both Ali Hillis until paladin was playing Mass Effect 3; I was over by the bookshelf doing an UFYH sprint, and I suddenly popped up over the couch and went "What is Lightning doing in Mass Effect?!" because Liara's voice had taken on that deep tone that kind of exemplifies Lightning to me, and then I proved it on IMDB and it was deeply, deeply weird.