Francium34

I actually play every madden, and fifa since 98 (though i prefer WE/PES these days), and NBA live/2k. Every year the EA sports presentations don't tell me anything I care about, like improved passing mechanics, or franchise mode options, etc (sites like operationsports are the place to go for hardcore analysis as things start to trickle out).

So it's weird that the way they present it, aside from "look how good this year's game is!", doesn't excite EAsports non-fans nor hardcore fans like me. Does it do anything for anybody?

I thought the occasional in-battle chat was in Awakening as well?

Really tempted to get this now. Beat Awakening, Conquest, Revelation...... Can't quite get into Disgaea 5

PS. best srpg of all time: (PC only, released only in Asia, not even in the GB database......)

Sangokushi Sousouden (Legend of Cao Cao)

30+ special weapons/armor/accessory that gain power with XP (Lu Bu's stuff is really powerful, but you kill him and take all the goodies, and his woman...)

pretty cool one-on-one battle cut scenes

moral alignment system that leads into 2 story lines (divergent 10+ levels and ending)

easily modded, a couple very cool total conversion mods for other historical periods exist

it was the fifth and last sRPG from KOEI, at the height of their powers, who since then have made way too many Mosou games instead...

yeah, I've liked Ben a lot so far, but that wasn't the right time

Part of the reason:

Giantbomb 2014 Best New Character of the Year, Iron Bull (DAI)

I haven't heard the crew clamoring for any of the new characters (nor would I).

DAI also was helped that past characters and conflicts were still present, whereas MEA had to reinvent completely new characters and storylines, and none of them were good enough.

I want to say this is the Dragon Age 2 of Mass Effect (new protagonist/setting with less ties to the previous, parts look clearly rushed, new design direction-- action combat for DA2, open world for MEA--that may or may not work for you, some writing isn't up to old standards, and even similar dialogue wheels.

Then I remembered I at least completed all loyalty missions for DA, and only 2/6 here. 1) I'm a tired/bitter old man now. 2) the writing. 3) fetch quests and traveling (especially with the 20 second mandatory cut scenes between planets) weren't worth it.

If MEA had less bugs, better animations and character creation, it would have (and deservingly) the ~80 DA2 got.

@jijipose: a lot of possibilities on what went wrong. I only used "pull" at that point, and wasn't trying to throw people off, still ran into the same bug.

I'm suspecting even though the mission objective suggests doing the remaining 2 in any order is fine, this can only be completed as the third? (I also came directly here after PB, got stuck. I then went to finish the other first, came back and was able to progress)

It's sad that a Mass Effect game became the "so broken it's good to stream for laughs" kind of game... Was genuinely hoping BEast would like it more.

I got stuck at the same spot. Left and came back later, had to fight the enemies again, then the one last generator to turn off miraculously was able to be interacted with. A shame that this happened.

There are still moments that make one feel that it's Bioware. For instance, the first time you meet the main krogan (ironically exactly where Vinny got stuck on the stream), dialogues are different depending on who you took into the mission. (He is much nicer if you have someone who can vouch for you. But if it's just the other humans, he doesn't give a F). Some of the emails and the ship crew post board writing is pretty funny. Not enough though.

Apparently Bioware Edmonton (A team basically) is working on a new IP. We'll see how that goes.

If you love the franchise enough, maybe get it later after they cleaned up some bugs (not sure about DLC plans, but additions there might help too). To me this is the Force Unleashed of Mass Effect. ~73 on Metacritic, everybody can agree it's somewhat mediocre. But if you love the IP, it's still enjoyable.

about 70% would be what I give for the game, 20 hours or so in.

1) Animations: some of the worst do come early, though later ones are still noticeable. Weird stares, unnatural twitches, clunky gestures, etc. But that's really the least of the problems.

2) BUGS EVERYWHERE! On PC, I had T-poses, doors that wouldn't open until I reloaded, transient disconnect from server while assigning strike teams, missions that didn't progress even though the fight should be over (actually, the one that Vinny got stuck at. I came back later, fought the enemies again and it worked...), waypoints pointing in the wrong places, black screens while people were talking in a cutscene. It seemed like every hour or so I would run into something that pulls me out of the game. In a particular bonding scene with a squadmate, the squadmate warped into 2 copies, neither of which was in focus as back stories are revealed--hard to put any emotions in with that ridiculousness in my face.

3) Poor designs, UI problems. The menus are terrible, I didn't even know where the settings/go to desktop options were for the first 10 hours. Weapon and profile descriptions require a slight bit of scrolling to read. Also, no equipment changing on the fly is annoying. The map is often unhelpful, especially with terrain a hassle to traverse--4/6 wheel drive switching might sound good on paper, but plain waste of time. Speaking of waste of time, the slow panning to each planet meant I stopped visiting any non-mission planet. The effect (which doesn't even look like loading screens) gave the sense of exploration (and technical prowess), the first few times. Same with the weird turn around animation that runs everytime you talk to a squadmate. They start from back towards you, then turn a bit, then cut into another animation that turns full to you, then cuts into a close up shot where you start choosing the conversation options (especialy PB is basically doing a 360 for no reason!) A lot of these can be cut, and I feel like I would have save hours.

4) Writing. Some of the setup is actually very promising. I don't want to comment since I haven't seen it to the end, but nothing so far has been surprising. Quite a few times I felt like the options just weren't there. The dialogue system seems more restricted in terms of asshole options, and a few times Ryder just didn't ask the key/obvious questions. One side quest, at the end, the NPC asks "Don't you want to know why I did that?" My thought was "That was my first question, but the writers apparently didn't want me to ask it"

5) Quest design. My god the MMO design is infuriating. Talk to this guy, press a button near him (what is the point?) , then run around several areas scanning (maybe also check you email in between). Way too many of those quests involve "oh the target is not here anymore, but here is the trail" Not enough payoff or clever writing. Adding in how much I hate the planet traveling cutscenes and on-planet driving, I have basically stopped doing side missions.

6) Too much space magic? I haven't finished so maybe this gets redeemed, but so far it sure seems like SAM's adventure. Ryder isn't particularly trained, which some sees as refreshing being different from Specter Shepard. However Ryder has no instincts, no strategy insights, or technical ability. Almost every hurdle is SAM hacks, SAM finds a solution, SAM offers options, SAM "interfacing" the console. I had the same feeling as Alex seeing dad make red lines into that triangle. ???? and the feeling hasn't diminished.

So how is this still a 7? Combat can be cool. Environments can look great. Story bits here and there feel Mass Effect-y. Mobility is nice (although asking me to do platforming isn't). Multiplayer is still good. As a ME fan, I had to see it for myself (QL actually is a really good representation), and 25% off on preorder. So no regrets here, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone without prior experience of the series. This is not to say the original trilogy didn't have some similar problems, however the overall ride was enjoyable enough I didn't dwell on the blemishes. Not the case here.