@KillyDarko: It was absolutely amazing, it pains how I could have waited this long to play it. Not though with it yet though, planning on getting through "bringing down the sky" and a bunch of side missions. Really looking forward to grinding my teeth into Mass Effect 2.
@TheSeductiveMoose: Completely caught of guard and blown away. I haven't had this intense of a videogame experience in a couple of years actually.
I'm sitting here looking for words to describe how I feel after the first play through of Bioware's masterpiece Mass Effect . A gaming experience that was just as huge as I had hoped for and then took it into overdrive in the final segments. Bioware reaches new levels of narrative and storytelling in videogame context with a world so meticulously well-made that all other sci-fi settings should be ashamed of themselves.
I was touched by the friendliness and warmth when I talked to my fellow humans I found deeply troubled persons who share their life stories willingly with me. I discovered that the act of sex was nothing compared to the social engagements we later shared on Normandys deck in the vastness of space.
As the end credits rolled I rose from my chair, trying to form words but nothing but whimpers came from my mouth. All the moral dilemmas, the lives lost, shattered love. It gnaws away at my mind.
Williams.
Mass Effect is nothing short of a masterpiece which, despite its shortcomings, is a unique experience with a world that completely suckes you in. And to imagine I still have Mass Effect 2 left to play. God help me.
*** this post was a follow up to my previous one found here: http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/azumichan/mass-effect-for-the-first-time/30-75489/ ***
@Pabba: I usually find it hard playing as a jerk, I tend to get major guilt issues if I make my character behave like an ass-wipe to everyone heh :3 So most of the time I just end up playing mister nice guy, one of the exceptions being the Fable games. Being angel-like there just attracts all the population to buzz around you like horny bees and that always annoys me beyond all senses.
Killing a few and causing some chaos usually teaches them too keep and extra mile between you and them.
@JJWeatherman: I intend to try and post some of my thoughts while going into this (it's the first game I'm playing, after that I intend to pick up the second one). With all the buzz going about Mass Effect since it first came out and now with the second game being named "game of the year" on a lot of sites and with the third one incoming I simply could not hold up any longer.
I'll post thoughts at the end of the day, way too wrapped up in the game so far. I might just be in love ♥
Hard to believe I've managed to avoid playing Mass Effect (or the sequel) entirely. Flabbergasting actually. But that is a story that ends today, right now, this very moment. The installation on my 360 switched to 100% completed. This is it.
-The Tasty Stuff- Jaw dropping visuals and absolute state of the art production. Probably the strongest original audio score of the year so far.
-The Rotten Stuff- Nonsensical manuscript lost in high production values. Slow and dreary mid section that will put most movie goers to sleep.
Take TRON, a 1982 nerd-classic. Bask it in the glory that is modern computer generated graphics and then remove and fun.exe that still might be present. Also, insert some Olivia Wilde for sex appeal and you have TRON Legacy in a nutshell.
Enter Sam Flynn, the son of prodigal computer wizard Kevin Flynn, also the founder of ENCOM international as he makes one of his yearly heists to upload the latest ENCOM OS onto the grid for free access to the public. He is later that same evening confronted by his dads old co-worker Alan Bradley who's received a mysterious page from a disconnected number once belonging to Kevin. Sam moves out to investigate the old arcade.
This prompts a nice little retro kick of a scene with sweet tunes of Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics and an abundance of early 80's arcade machines. Complete with the blips and blops. Needless to say, it's a treat to the senses if you grew up during that magical era of early video gaming.
He fins his dads old secret workroom complete with a still running and functional computer even though some twenty years have passed. As he sits down and start to fiddle around he accidentally transports himself onto the grid and is almost instantly thrown into a set of gladiatorial games (simple known as "the games") as he is captured by sentinels.
Here we are treated to some amazing visuals that will make the jaws of most movie goers hit the floor in a collective thud as the characters duke it out in disc and lightcycle battles. There is no mistaking in the stylized visuals of lit red/orange/white upon dark polished surfaces. This is where the visual concepts of the original TRON is taken to its fullest and completed.
After a visual bombardment we are introduced to the main antagonist Clu and his reigning arena champion Rinzler as Sam is subdued and exposed as a human "user," rather than one of the Grid's programs. He's challenged by Clu to a lightcycle battle on the Grid which he nearly wins just before Clu destroys his bike. At the very last minute he is rescued by a mysterious program called Quorra (enter Olivia Wilde) and taken to his dads hideout in the wasteland.
It is here we learn of the isomorphic algorithms or ISOs, digital beings that would serve to jump start Kevin Flynns revolution in science, medicine and religion. Clu, designed with the command of creating a "perfect system", sees these ISOs as imperfections and commits cybernetic genocide, ending the lives of all but one of the ISOs; Quorra (surprise).
As such, Kevin has been stuck on the Grid protecting this one being and learning it about the human ways. Sam proposes that he and his father could escape The Grid via a portal to the real world, but is dismayed when Kevin, despite being trapped on The Grid for 20 years, refuses to pursue an escape. Kevin then reveals that if he were to be captured by Clu, it would be possible for his creation to escape into the real world through the use of his identity disc, which is effectively a "master key" to The Grid.
Sam being all but pleased about being stuck on the Grid is confronted by Quorra giving him information on the program Zuse which she believes will be able to provide safe passage to the portal and out of the Grid.
With this information in mind Sam dashes of in his fathers vintage lightcycle to meet up with Castor (who supposedly knows the location of Zuse) at "the end of the line". A nigh club positioned at the top of the tallest skyscraper on the Grid. Here he confronts Castor (who is later revealed to be Zuse) and his femme fatale companion Gem. One of the sirens that helped him prepare for the gladiatorial games in the beginning of the movie.
But rather than assisting in Sam's escape, Zuse calls for the black guards who storm the night club and a neatly choreographed fightscene breaks out to the tunes of Daft Punk (who also makes an appearance as two mp3 programs functioning as DJs at the club). Quorra together with Kevin makes an entrance to help Sam escape, managing to barely escape but not before loosing Kevins disc to Zuse who then offers it to Clu in exchange for total city control.
Clu takes the gift, playing along to Zuse demands but ultimately blowing him and Gem up together with the whole nightclub. Insert shiny flashy explosions.
Sam, Kevin and the badly damaged Quorra boards a solar sailor (transport vessel) in an attempt to make a run for the portal. After fixing the damaged code in Quorra and rebooting, she and Keving engages in a conversation in which she reveals her desires to come with them to the real word (big surprise there...).
From here on the end battles plays out over a drawn out period of eye pleasing air combat scenes in digital warships and ending in Sam and Quorra escaping while Kevin stays behind to reboot the TRON system and in doing so sacrificing himself and getting rid of Clu and all of the other programs. The end. Game over. Please insert coins for further credits.
This movie is by no means bad, it's just very much lacking in everything beyond the visuals and audio. It works almost like an incubator for cutting edge CGI while leaving a gaping hole that supposed to be filled with narrative. Judged solely as eye-candy, the follow-up, enriched by a superb soundscape crafted by Daft Punk, merits a recommendation. But as optically impressive as it is, it's also dramatically inert.
** edit (1) ** changed the somewhat misleading title.
Oh, the one user name I didn't think of trying ..... thanks guys. Now I just need to try and move it to this account and have the other one suspended / removed. :3
So it seems I've activated my xbox live account (Azumi Chan) on another GiantBomb account I had way back for which I don't know the password, nor the user name. Also tried password recovery but all the email I use seems to be unregistered here. Therefor I started this new account I wanted to link my xbox live to it of course.
Question is, how do I / admin / mod solve this in a proper manner. How do I prove that I am the owner of this xbox live account which is already linked?
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