Mass Effect (2007)

I originally bought this game so long ago it came on a disc in a paper box. But now I also have it on Steam due to the most recent holiday sale, so why bother going to the attic.

Steam only sells Mass Effect 1 and 2, not 3, which is annoying, but I can deal with that later.

*spoilers*

I'm going into this cold, except I know you can play as either female or male for the first two games, then later only as male, I think. I'll just go with the default male version for my first (we'll see) run through.

Installed. Settings, max out graphics. Choose the default character setup, John Shepard, default difficulty normal.

I am quickly overwhelmed by all the story, and all the game options. And yet, I am not bothered because I know it will make sense in time. Some games slowly lower you into the pool, some just toss you in the deep end. Most are in between, and this game is a more deep end. Which I'm OK with, if it pays off in the long run.

Is this for real - is there really no jump key? I feel like I'm back to the early 90s.

I am not OK with all these fixed length cut-scenes, as I can't find a way to skip if I reload.

Things are getting difficult quickly, I can't keep my squad mates alive after a few firefights, while we're trying to disarm some bombs. That's enough to absorb in one night, time to break.

2015.03.18

I'm not into this game yet, that'll probably take a few more hours. I'm still bewildered by all the story and game mechanics to absorb. It's almost as overwhelming as System Shock type games, but at least I'm used to those now, I can just drop in and out of one. This one has at least as many controls if not more, and they're in all different places.

There's something to be said for just hitting the ground running, but my squad mates are suffering from my ineptness. I have very mixed feelings about having computer controlled team mates in game, because while it is really neat to see how their AI works with me, its really frustrating to see how it doesn't, and I take their deaths somewhat personally. I fondly remember the allies in Half-Life 2, and would reload often to replay a scenario so I could bring them with me alive. Only to have them all wiped in some scripted scenario that was unavoidable. I wonder if that's whats going on in Mass Effect.

It seems safe to read the manual. A careful search proves that there is no jump button, but you don't need it. I guess I'll just have to wait and see how they handle this. I extract an image of the key bindings, this will be handy to keep up on my second screen while I play.

I often complain in games that while you may be playing a soldier or security officer, you are usually contrived to start with almost no equipment for game reasons, whereas in real life you should have much better access. At least in this game you start off with a nice set of starter equipment, no need to scrounge. Now I'm in the awkward position of playing a leader and not knowing how anything works, but I can get over that.

The main menu music is really starting to grow on me.

I play through that last scenario a few times, its getting easier but I'm still getting the X on my squad mates sometimes. I decide to let it go, and find they are following me around some time later, with few hit points. I guess they were only knocked down, and either revived themselves or each other. That makes life a little easier.

Between the manual, and the ever-growing in-game Codex, I've got some reading to do.

2015.03.20

The Citadel is overwhelming, which it should be considering all its story baggage. This game reminds me of Star Wars a lot, in that it is an easy to grasp space opera on the surface, but there's tons of back story if you want it. A great example of this is all the different corporate names of all the different brands of stuff in this game, something I rather enjoyed finding out in Star Wars. While you'll probably never hear the words Kuat Drive Yards mentioned in Star Wars, I love the universe all the more because its there.

The Citadel has a very classic science fiction feel to it, reminding me of Rendezvous with Rama and Eon.

2015.03.21

Done with the Citadel, and its time to move on. There are many obvious comparisons to Star Trek and Star Wars, but this universe is quickly developing its own unique personality, and I think I like it.

2015.03.25

Haven't been able to play in a little bit, looking forward to the new possibilities of being able visit worlds. Trying to keep a hand in by listening to the world-building voiceovers.

This game is taking on a lot of big transitions quickly, from crossing the galaxy to APC fighting to ground fighting. So far it seems to be working.

There's a scripted event, then we can fight. I keep losing my squad, and having to watch the cut scene over and over again, I can't skip it, then finally a crash. Time to break.

2015.03.27

The pattern re-asserts itself, I hit a wall, back off, come back, sail right through. By using cover and throwing grenades, the fight is over quickly. As suspected, we acquire the last member of the team, whose shadow could be clearly seen in the squad screen.

So that's what this big round room is for, team meeting. Its the exposition room.

I like wandering around and picking up little breadcrumbs of world building. Just walking from the meeting room to the bridge, I pick up several fun tidbits of how space combat works, and the importance of heat management in spacecraft operations.

The UI is chock full of spoilers. Not only did I get a good idea of who was going to be in my squad, I also have a good idea of what Shepard can become.

2015.03.29

I like how squads work. You pick two squad mates and you pool skills, so when you go to unlock or decrypt something, its like you are one character, and you don't have to take the time to tell an individual group member to do something, its as if you were doing it.

I'm now in what I assume is the real mechanics of the game. You go to a cluster, you explore the systems, you check every planet to gather survey knowledge or collectibles, occasionally you land and discover more collectibles or fight some pirates, perhaps a few minor plot tokens are expanded, then you head back to the Citadel to tie up any loose quest ends, then back out into the universe to hit another cluster. A few clusters are relevant to the main plot, but most are just there for you to build up your character and have fun. The game isn't keeping track of what worlds I'm done with, so I started a text file.

2015.04.03

I'm glad I went with the default character, it makes learning this world so much easier.

I like what I'm seeing so far, but I don't know if there's all that much replay value in it. But if I play a female Shepard, and a Renegade instead of a Paragon, and play as a biotic (wizard) instead of a fighter (soldier), it might just be different enough.

2015.04.04

You have a ship, you can go anywhere in the galaxy you want, and yet Earth is not on the map? I'm glad they finally addressed this. And there's even something for you to do there. 11 billion people on Earth, and they had to call you in on this little job? Maybe its more of a discretion issue than difficulty.

Progress bars spoil that I'm halfway through the game, when out of nowhere (after leveling) I'm asked to specialize my class. I like this mid-game specialization, feels very RPG, and it might increase replayability. I go with sniper.

2015.04.05

Take heed, System Shock based gaming systems, Mass Effect shows a better way to manage large numbers of RPG character variables. Whereas in Shock systems everything is just laid out in front of you, all clamoring for your attention all the time, Mass Effect shows you only what you need to see contextually. If you're a soldier class, you don't even see magic. If you're not actively looking at your weapon upgrades, you don't even see them. The tradeoff is you have to learn where everything is homed, and until I did I felt quite lost, because at least with Shock's method you do get to see everything. But now that I know what's where, its so much more streamlined. It doesn't matter that much, because by the end of the game you are mastering it either way, but Mass Effect has a more long lasting aesthetic appeal.

Snapshot of me and the crew making a pit stop, filling up on fuel and snacks, checking out the cheesy local tourist attractions, trying to avoid pushy kids hawking souvenirs.

I like how the world building keeps on dripping in, at a rate that one can easily absorb. The world keeps getting richer as you go along. Yet to be addressed and at this point I kind of hope they don't - the universal language that everyone is speaking. Of course it makes no sense that 26 years after first contact every human is speaking the same language every alien is speaking, and even worse its all the same language. I can imagine a game where they take the trouble to work it in, but half the game will then be about translations and diplomacy, which could be a very interesting game, but it wouldn't be a simple space opera kind of game.

I like how they did not let the thread of Matriarch Benezia's corruption die in that the Feros colony is acting squirrely since the Geth established a presence. At least that's what I hope the game is doing. It puts you in the awkward but interesting position of trying to help save this colony, meanwhile knowing that if they are becoming corrupted due to the Geth, you might end up having to fight them.

2015.04.06

So these colonists could be unzombified, but Liara's mom could not?

Looks like 999 is all the omnigel (gray goo?) you can carry, so might as well start burning some off on the mini game that you have to play every time you open something. Its not a bad little mini game, but I never thought skills I learned 30 years ago playing Frogger would still be relevant today.

With the 150 item limit, every now and then I have to break from the action and have a yard sale. I have to rummage through everything and see if I can make any little marginal upgrades, then toss out what's obsolete. I also have to do this for my two team mates. And I should be doing more of this back on the ship, to the rest of the extended team. I've been skipping that because I thought I could just use two characters exclusively, but there are some character specific missions coming up.

2015.04.07

The most addictive part of an RPG for me is the middle. I've finally got a grasp on how the world works and the plot, and now I'm in the long slow grinding process of building up my character with side quests so I can tackle the end of game problem. In Mass Effect, that means surveying many worlds, and spending a lot of time driving your APC over rough terrain, with the occasional firefight.

Any game that doesn't take place in a sealed structure has to deal with map edges, especially when you are outside. Some games are just in your face with how the world ends here at this arbitrary line, and there's an invisible force field you can not cross. Here there is a red border on the radar, and if you go past it your mothership helps you by grabbing you and dumping you back in the middle of the map. This is usually OK, but awkward when you find some minerals to survey in the red zone, which thankfully seems to be rare.

I really like how the world keeps on building, whether its talking to team mates or surveying worlds. As I understand the plot, there was a great civilization thousands of years ago that go wiped out by some great menace, and maybe another one before that. And in a routine survey I come across a planet millions of years old that bears the mark of some ancient conflict.

2015.04.08

The game strikes a good balance between follow the breadcrumb trail of the plot versus open sandbox. If anything it errs on the side of the open sandbox world, because I don't feel any pressure to save the galaxy at all. I can keep surveying worlds for valuable rocks and getting cats down from trees, while the menacing alien plot patiently waits for me to come calling.

I'm done with the collectibles. Unlike most games, you can keep on finding more collectibles and keep getting little xp and cash bonuses for them. Also unlike most games, there's no big prize at the end once you get them all. No cool weapon unlock, or even story adds, it just goes from orange to gray in the to do list. It didn't seems like much xp, but now I have 4 million credits. I keep coming across better weapons, so I never go shopping anymore, but I should visit the Citadel and get whatever grenade and medkit quantity upgrades they have.

2015.04.10

I like this poignant little hint that the Geth might not be machines of pure evil, that they may have feelings too. Not only that, but they might harbor more than just ill will for their creators. Is it possible to even have an evil enemy in stories any more? Does every bad guy have to be redeemed? From the Klingons to the Zerg, they weren't really bad, they were just misunderstood.

I've started to get bored as I wrap up all the side quests. Then I start on the next bit of plot and things get turned up to 10, and in some places 11. I love how the opponent keeps coming up with new surprises for us to discover, and yet they feel like a natural fit for the world. As you grow to fill the shoes he vacated, its becoming clear how open to abuse the position of Spectre is, and how he built up so much power in secret. The rachni came back from the the dead, as did the geth, so why not the krogan too. I really like to see how passionate the krogan member of the team is about saving his race from genocide, and what a line Shepard has to walk to get him to hold off.

While you are mulling over the philosophical and human rights implications of letting the genocide go on for the good of the universe, you get hit with something a little closer to home. This is exactly the kind of moment I love in a game, where they really put you in the position of doing what your character has to do, in this case, decide who lives and who dies. That's what your character has to do, and for a moment, that's you.

And then you also get to see your fellow commander have to give his troops a pep talk, as they face their likely doom. The fact that this other team is non-human could have been played a number of ways, but they played it straight, and I love it for that. After nearly falling asleep in what seems like endless hours of rock surveying, I've suddenly been dropped into a much more exciting movie, and I'm starring in it. I like the little bit of hope that is offered, that if you play the next part of the game right, you might save some lives.

2015.04.11

I've already said spoilers, now we're moving ahead to double-spoilers.

So the run and gun through the base was straight forward until you meet the power behind the throne, the dark glowing AI robot spaceship of exposition. He goes into Bond villain detail about everything except the reason why they allow sentient species to flourish and then kill them suddenly. Then another life or death decision needs to be made, a nuke is set off, there's a sex scene with a blue alien, you present your findings to the galactic council, you have to surrender your badge and gun as you are put on administrative leave, and then you steal your ship (and crew) back to go after the bad guy. I think that's about it.

I'm OK with just about everything except why is the Council now reluctant to allow Shepard to take the Normandy out to check on possible bad guy activity? The risk is low (there's a whole fleet guarding the Citadel now, they can spare a tiny stealth frigate) and the consequences are high (everyone dies). Shepard has already proven the unlikely and the fantastic to the Council several times over, so they could just humor and him and say sure, go on your wild goose chase, then come back. If the Council just wants to shut down his crazy theory, then the best thing to do would be to just let Shepard go look, find nothing, embarrass himself, come home, and allow the Council to say we told you so. Putting him on hold while leaving him on the Citadel to stew is just asking for trouble.

Obviously, for the game to continue you need to get back out there and keep chasing the bad guy, and of course you need to leave the home base in your ship, but they didn't have to do it in this cliched way. The game has been doing so many things right for so long, that it feels very tired to suddenly force the Council to carry the idiot ball. I know I'm nitpicking and the only answer is to move on, but I have to also ask where are the recordings of Saren's and Sovereign's big revealing villain speeches. Playing those for the Council would have gone a long way in getting them to listen. Is the game somehow implying that this many centuries in the future there aren't full audio video recorders in everything, running all the time? Even if Shepard's suit recorder is off by default, that would be a great time for him to casually switch it to on and preserve the true villain's reveal for posterity.

Back to the story, and its getting good again, really good. Its nice to learn the whole backstory, and realize just how much trouble you and everyone is in. The whole exposition on Ilos, talking to the last surviving Prothean virtual intelligence, was riveting in ways that exposition usually isn't. And then a headlong and unexpected rush back to the Citadel. I love how something from the beginning of the game, a little throwaway statue, turns out to be a pivotal key in the endgame. The humor of the APC landing is very cute. I do remember thinking from the earliest hours of this game that the Citadel seemed a little too beautiful and peaceful, and that things would go horribly wrong here, but I can't be sure if its an honest premonition or I saw spoilerific screenshot some years ago.

Things move very quickly from here, a few more combats, one big combat, some cut scenes, and one more big life and death decision, and its over. I want the story to continue, I want to immediately load Mass Effect 2, but I know from past experience to just pause now, and let it sink in.

A few hours later, and I'm not thinking about Mass Effect at all, Mass Effect 2 is all I can think about. Where is the story going next, and what will happen to these characters? How can they make a game out of it if you are supposedly playing the same person, and you are already almost maxed out your character in the first game. I've seen other RPGs handle this in various ways, usually poorly, so I am greatly interested to see how the Mass Effect series handles this old problem of resetting a recurring character.

All this while I was thinking I would do another run through, and trying out a different kind of character, Renegade instead of Paragon, Female instead of Male, Mage instead of Fighter. Is it a waste of time? Will I learn anything new? What's left to enjoy or experience? Could I just watch a few YouTube videos and answer all these questions almost as well as bothering to play the whole game over again?

I click through the Mass Effect page in Steam, and find a "Guide for New Mass Effect Players" [ http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=123753085 ], that promises to go easy on the spoilers. I think its worth a risk, it might help me decide what to do next. It is interesting reading, without much spoilage, but it doesn't really answer the question of am I done here.

2015.04.14

I have been wondering for days why the ending of Mass Effect leaves me nonplussed. I was really into the game up through the full reveal of what happened to the Protheans and how they effected one last dying stab at the Reapers, and how it set into motion millenia ago everything that is happening today. And it was very cool to return to the Citadel and get to fighting in what used to be a safe haven. And then suddenly there's a long sequence of cut scenes and the end credits are rolling. I'm not in the ending of this game. Sure, you have to personally put down a Saren who's been plumped up Sark style by the Master Control Program Sovereign, but other than that you are watching a sequence of events play out. Of course Shepard put this sequence in motion, and it is a culmination of choices he has made, but I feel disconnected. Choosing to save the Council or not was an interesting touch, but it was such a no-brainer choice, like having to choose earlier to save the nuke or not, that it made for a completely non-controversial safe choice. If you have to choose between saving a few people or the whole galaxy, there really isn't much agonizing to do over your choice.

I reload, watch again, and it feels better this time but there is still that disconnect. I still feel a bit like I watched a movie of how the game ends, more than I made it happen. Maybe that is on purpose somewhat, as the big battle happens outside the window, while Shepard basically has to defeat Sark and dodge debris. Of course he set in motion the defeat of the big bad, but its not quite personal. The awkward animation and timing of the final cut scene doesn't help. Where's Shepard? Big dramatic pause, as if he didn't make it, then he strides out of the wreckage nursing a broken arm, and gives a strange smirk. Some ball was dropped here, but thankfully there is one more scene. This one also has a weird moment where Shepard just basically walks away from the conversation, but at least it is clear that he has earned the right. He just saved the galaxy, and everyone knows it, and he has a big voice in how things are going to happen next. It's a very interesting position for you character to be in, and all the more interesting how they are going to handle the next installment.

Now that I'm OK for spoilers on the first game, I can go through the in-game achievement list. Lots of interesting things to earn that I wasn't even aware of, but "Unlock Character Levels 51-60" stands out. There are more levels? And I play again using the same character? Same exact game, just more difficult to match my starting over at level 50? So many questions, I'm willing to risk a little spoilage and do some more searching, and find The Mass Effect Beginner's Guide, [ http://www.reddit.com/r/masseffect/wiki/index ] which promises to try and minimize spoilers.

The section on classes is interesting, I think I would like to try Infiltrator next if I play again. I have no regrets playing Soldier first time through, but I want to experience the tech skills a bit, and maybe later try biotics. From what I saw in the game, I wasn't that impressed by the magic system, and I think it would be difficult to play that way using teammates as fighters, but I might try it.

The thing I want to know the most is what transfers to Mass Effect 2, and what more can and should I do in Mass Effect (1) before moving on. It seems that the bottom line on that is only a few choices, a little bit of resources, and alignment transfer over, and not much else. The most important thing that transfers over is a sense of continuity, which I didn't consider but makes sense in story heavy RPG. In that light, I shouldn't start a new character, but keep playing the same character right through Mass Effect 2 and 3, and maybe come back to the beginning if I want to play through again.

2015.04.16

I'm about to start Mass Effect 2, and because of the timing it feels like I'm just loading up the next episode, not saying goodbye to a game, especially since I might actually play it again. I feel like I can't really review Mass Effect by itself as a standalone product, but for a while it was only that. It's a good game and worth playing, and leaves me wanting more, so its off to Mass Effect 2.