Comments on: Eurogamer: Mass Effect Review

By: Kieron Gillen

Kieron Gillen — Thu, 29 May 2008 09:15:25 +0000

Alarik: The review copies have a completely different, even more brutal DRM. And if EA’s usual ones are anything, will stop working at all after 28 days or so.

By: Alarik

Alarik — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:24:03 +0000

Well, those review copies are probably highly sought among pirates I guess.

Anyway, regarding the note that Bioware was never great RPG maker – they DID BG and BG2. And I am quite content with that feat. Even if they won’t release anything better ever (and they certainly didn’t so far) I will like them nevertheless – since I am playing BG series even to this day :-)

Seems I will wait for possible price (discount bin :) drop till I try MA.

By: suibhne

suibhne — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:08:25 +0000

It’s embarrassing that, years after the BG games, Bioware is still making the same fundamental mistakes with branching side quests mucking up an “urgent” main plot. There are better ways of handling this stuff, and they don’t even require that much imagination – just a little more creative thinking and a willingness to not follow the same narrative template for more than, say, 10 years at a time. Sigh.

I’m still looking forward to the game. Bioware has never been a great RPG maker, but their action/adventure games are primo. ;)

As for copy protection…I think it’s notable, Kieron, that they didn’t have enough confidence in their own DRM to actually include it on review copies. The previous post is totally off-base, claiming that evaluating DRM is like reviewing the projection for a movie; that would only be true if we consumers had the ability to see the game at a different theater with better projection, so to speak. DRM is an integral part of the game product and should be given at least a mention, particularly since this is basically the most recent version of the scheme that occasioned such a kerfuffle with Bioshock.

By: Muzman

Muzman — Wed, 28 May 2008 15:55:06 +0000

The point about branching plotlines and missing out on content is an interesting area. Wasn’t it the valve guys who said they were against it for that very reason?
I get the fear of it. Lately I have felt that, whenever I hit a branch in some game, I’m less role playing the moment and more deciding which one will produce the best experience just in case I don’t feel like playing it again and/or wondering if this is one of those games which take you a completely different way or just makes you experience the same stuff slightly differently (even then I feel slightly ripped off not getting all the conversation trees or whatever).
All of which is kinda dumb but I sympathise with dev fears. It’s a risk for them; what if the game’s not good enough that people want to explore the options? I have always felt, strangely, that ‘winning’ a game means seeing the whole thing so knowingly missing out on a certain portion leaves a little niggle prodding away at the back of my noodle somewhere. Maybe others feel different.
(nb; I’m not really talking about Mass Effect here, nor am I against choice and branching narrative. Quite the reverse, I’m for it in principle. It’s just the game has to be pretty awesome or pretty short for it not to be something of a problem, I’m forced to admit).

By: Ginger Yellow

Ginger Yellow — Wed, 28 May 2008 14:43:40 +0000

“Certainly it is at odds in a situation of universal peril that developers will thrown in a lot random ‘rescue the cat’ sub missions.”

This is very true. It was probably the single thing that most broke the suspension of disbelief. You’re supposed to in a race against time to prevent the big baddy from reaching something before you, yet you can spend as long as you like running errands around the galaxy without any consequence for the main plot.

By: Man Raised By Puffins

Man Raised By Puffins — Wed, 28 May 2008 12:33:00 +0000

I think I must be the only person who actually likes the film grain effect, apart from the Mass Effect team obviously. For me it really adds to the atmosphere in certain parts of the game, for example when creeping around Noveria.

By: Kieron Gillen

Kieron Gillen — Wed, 28 May 2008 12:18:23 +0000

Keith: I’m told that you could only hot swap between two of the weapons, and not all four. Also, I’m told that while you could order your team as a group, you couldn’t order them individually.

By: Okami

Okami — Wed, 28 May 2008 12:13:25 +0000

C0nt1nu1ty: Writing “Nazi” in parentheses doesn’t save you from Godwin’s Law.

By: kadayi

kadayi — Wed, 28 May 2008 11:59:09 +0000

@C0nt1nu1ty

http://masseffect.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=629059&forum=125&sp=0

By: Keith

Keith — Wed, 28 May 2008 11:58:39 +0000

Um, this from the review:

“Also, you’re able to swap seamlessly between all of your weapons. Oh – and you can order your team-mates to go forward and take up their own positions. These things are all are integrated so well that I was surprised when I discovered they weren’t in the original 360 version.”

You COULD do all that in the 360 version. Hot swapping guns was absolutely there, and you could tell your party members to take positions anywhere on the map you felt like.

By: Rook

Rook — Wed, 28 May 2008 11:26:10 +0000

I kinda agree with Sean Elliot that reviewing something like copy protection would be akin to reviewing a film and then just talking about the projector you watched the film on.

Anyways, the copy protection is:
You may activate the game on three seperate machines, any more and you’ll need to phone up EA support at which point they may tell you to fuck off.
You can install and uninstall the game as many times as you want, but, a major hardware change may count as a seperate activation.
You need to authenticate your copy with EA’s securerom servers before you can play, and if you download any game content (downloadable content etc).
You do not need the disc in the drive to play the game.

Overall, if they just added a way to de-authorize a machine, I’d say this was an excellent step forward in DRM. But without it, I’ll probably just pick up games I’m willing to keep, like Spore.

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 28 May 2008 10:42:02 +0000

HI!

I would also like to know how the dialogue and story compare to Bioware’s previous effort. I couldn’t stand Jade Empire. Alarik’s right about the romance, it was hurlworthy. But I suspect any problems with that game stem from its slapdash hokey pan-Asian setting. Conversely, Mass Effect’s setting appears to have an air of credibility. Does the story deliver?

I always die a little inside when someone mentions BG2, knowing that being too weak-minded to play through the tripped out D&D action sequences means that I’ve forgone what is apparently the War and Peace of CRPGs. Hmph.