Bioware General (Mass Effect/Dragon Age/Other)

[Raga]

Man, I want to get home and play this but my stupid sister invited me over for dinner and my stupid mother is going to cook excellent pot roast for everyone and in general my stupid family wants to see me. So yea...

Pot roast. Then Mass Effect.

[Vol]

Haha, Raga has a family that likes her and wants to spend time with her!

Oh...

As for Eos:

► Show Spoiler

Finished the vault, ended right as it was getting long in the tooth, plus it had pretty decent hidden content. Plus I have no idea where the plot is going, so I'm impressed. Now I have what appears to be a safer planet to faff on, but I'm not sure if I should gun for more main quests or not.

[DarkStorm]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpKhH_sQHRI

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6KNe9r5xw8

[TheodoricFriede]

Man, I want to get home and play this but my stupid sister invited me over for dinner and my stupid mother is going to cook excellent pot roast for everyone and in general my stupid family wants to see me. So yea...

Pot roast. Then Mass Effect.

Hah, Sucks to be you!

...Oh.

[TheodoricFriede]

Just want to say my take on the crew thus far.

Cora: The most interesting of the generic female human companions thus far, but still pretty generic. The one aspect of her that I do find interesting is that her time with the asari seems to also have seeped into her religious beliefs.

Liam: Floating somewhere between completely Jacob, Vega, and Sera. At times infuriating, at times Boring, and occasionally amusing.

Vetra: She's the denmother. Her whole thing seems to be that she really really wants to be helpful, and make sure things go smoothly at all times. Its early, but i do like her.

Suvi: Seems to be a cut and paste Traynor as of now. Not bad, but not original.

Gil: Funny-ish? Wierd. Too early to tell.

Dr. Lexi: Shes a doctor.

Kallo Jaath: Takes his job seriously. Smart. If he was a romance option (hes not), id say he'd be sassy and gay.

Havent met the others yet. Ill update later.

[Vol]

There is seriously a ridiculous number of lesbian couples in this game. ME3 too. I would've thought gay guys would be way more prevalent, and yet.

I want a human guy openly vocalizing his want for aliens of both genders, dammit.

Cora: She's cool. Has an interesting hook to Ryder, and her history, but I've not gotten any investment out of her yet. She has a role though, the second in command.

Liam: Yeah, I got nothing for him. He seems like Jacob crossed with Vega, and I liked them, but not the combination.

Vetra: Cutey-bird. She seems to like Ryder, competent, and good in combat. Top squaddie so far.

Suvi: Had a very familiar ME1 conversation with her, which was nice. Otherwise, not much has happened.

Gil: Can't remember who he is.

Dr. Sexi: I like her. Want to really like her, if possible.

Kallo: He's cool. Bit one track, but I like him.

Peebee: Well, she's not Sera-tier. Quirky, but low-key. Her face needs more work, the rigging is off, because the other asari face works fine, so it must be the custom job. I don't know what to think of her yet.

Brogan: I mean. He's basically Wrex before becoming Shepard's friend.

SAM: Nothing to feel either way, not EDI in any sense.

Addison: Oh fuuuuuck off.

[NCLanceman]

Addison: Oh fuuuuuck off.

Abso-goddamn-lutely.

Forget the "tired face" line -and that's hard to do- she's just insufferable. I'm glad the story seems to involve a lot of political maneuvering between you and the Nexus Leadership, because she's gonna lose every time if I get my way.

[TheodoricFriede]

I'm glad the story seems to involve a lot of political maneuvering between you and the Nexus Leadership, because she's gonna lose every time if I get my way.

Meanwhile, Nakmor Kesh is about to be pretty happy.

[TheodoricFriede]

Ok I cant fucking believe how bad the Auto-Save is in this game.

It is the worst autosave i have EVER seen in a game.

[Raga]

Whelp, just encountered my first completely bugged quest that couldn't be finished. Only lost 2 hours of gameplay backtracking. Nice. Fortunately most of it was dialog so I can just skip through it quickly.

[Someone With Mass]

All of this makes me wonder how the game is without the day one patch. Because it sounds like the rest of BioWare just left the team in the dust whenever a problem came up.

[Vol]

So with regards to AI...

► Show Spoiler

Ryder's just inherently okay with it then? Family history, defined personality, but I'm not seeing any options to not support letting AI run free and be in my head. Started that side quest with the hacked Avina, and the choices all seemed frame as if Ryder's 100% on board with AIs existing, which is really wild for a Milky Way person to be saying.

[Someone With Mass]

Well, there are four corporations that research and develop AI with sanction from the Citadel Council, so I'd say that AI isn't completely taboo in the Milky Way.

That said, I doubt that stretches to "hey, I'mma let this AI into my brain. What's the worst that could happen?" levels of comfort.

[Grand Admiral Cheesecake]

So with regards to AI...

► Show Spoiler

Ryder's just inherently okay with it then? Family history, defined personality, but I'm not seeing any options to not support letting AI run free and be in my head. Started that side quest with the hacked Avina, and the choices all seemed frame as if Ryder's 100% on board with AIs existing, which is really wild for a Milky Way person to be saying.

Look some families have a tradition of baking cakes in festive shapes.

Other families have different weird hangups...

[DarkStorm]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOvg--BNXyQ

[magnuskn]

*edit* <Looks above> Ah, double post. Ups.

[Vol]

"Golly, lemme explore this vault that no one's pointed me to yet, adventure!"

"Huh, this is easy, all Assemblers, really..."

"What's a Destroyer?"

[Mobius_118]

Angaran homeworld...

Fucking hell, goddamn Jurassic Park up in there, complete with giant Dilophosaurus.

[Alienmorph]

Angaran homeworld...

Fucking hell, goddamn Jurassic Park up in there, complete with giant Dilophosaurus.

That the first new thing the game has that somewhat intrigues me. Any screenshot?

[Mobius_118]

Nah I was busy shooting.

Like...shooting a lot. Doing the hover and burn is pretty viable against non-firearm toting animals.

[TTTX]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n36L4CG-IU0&list=WL&index=11

[Azint]

I find it funny how the kett and the angaran have the exact same body structure. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be clever character design, that the two native Andormeda aliens look the same, or laziness, that the two native Andromeda aliens look the same.

I forgot how much I liked the Carnifex. Even after all these years, it still feels so right.

[Someone With Mass]

To be fair, the same card can be played when it comes to the humans and the asari.

When it comes to pistols, I'm going with the Phalanx no matter what.

[TheodoricFriede]

Whats everyone's current build? Because for all people are saying this game is too easy, im consistently getting my ass kicked.

[Someone With Mass]

Whats everyone's current build? Because for all people are saying this game is too easy, im consistently getting my ass kicked.

Well, I won't have the game for another three hours and fifteen minutes or so, but I reckon that the Tactical Cloak, Turbo Boost (the not-Marksman ability) and Assault Turret will be among the first. Maybe Overload too. Then I'll dump some points into passives that boost damage. Not going with a sniper rifle at first, though. I'll do as I always did in the multiplayer and use the best heavy hitting shotgun I have along with my Infiltrator build.

[TheodoricFriede]

My issue seems to be with shields.

They're tissue paper, and take for ever to respawn.

[Someone With Mass]

My issue seems to be with shields.

They're tissue paper, and take for ever to respawn.

Charge or that Backlash thing should work, then. Charge gives you shields when used and I'll assume that Backlash doesn't halt any regeneration. Or maybe the portable cover ability (it's a tech power and I'm drawing a blank on the name), which also grants shield boosts.

[Spartanburger]

This is a quick out-of-context quote from my legal textbook on negotiable instruments.

Cullen writes on the side of a cow, "I, Cullen, promise to pay $500 to the order of Merrill."

Dunno. It stood out because dragon age.

[TheodoricFriede]

Charge or that Backlash thing should work, then. Charge gives you shields when used and I'll assume that Backlash doesn't halt any regeneration. Or maybe the portable cover ability (it's a tech power and I'm drawing a blank on the name), which also grants shield boosts.

Im trying to avoid Biotics this time around. My Shepard was a Vanguard, and thats great, but im trying to make Ryder a character that is sufficiently different from my Shepard that im not just playing the same character.

I may have to try that portable cover ability though. I think its actually in Combat Powers.

[SciFlyBoy]

Whats everyone's current build? Because for all people are saying this game is too easy, im consistently getting my ass kicked.

Engineer (or whatever it's now called) on Hardcore. My ass gets handed to me in combat quite often.

[Raga]

My issue seems to be with shields.

They're tissue paper, and take for ever to respawn.

If you want to get in people's face and you aren't a biotic, energy drain is your friend. I haven't played long enough to know how viable it is in this game but it and cloak are *the* things that make shotguns viable for non biotics in ME2 and ME3. Shotgun infiltrator with energy drain is just broken especially if you pick the perk that lets you use abilities while cloaked. That build lets you one-shot armor, shields, or barriers.

[Someone With Mass]

My issue seems to be with shields.

They're tissue paper, and take for ever to respawn.

If you want to get in people's face and you aren't a biotic, energy drain is your friend. I haven't played long enough to know how viable it is in this game but it and cloak are *the* things that make shotguns viable for non biotics in ME2 and ME3. Shotgun infiltrator with energy drain is just broken especially if you pick the perk that lets you use abilities while cloaked. That build lets you one-shot armor, shields, or barriers.

That's the build I went with in ME3 multiplayer when I got the salarian Infiltrator. Cloak, energy drain and then stick the Claymore up their nose and pull the trigger. Instantly killed everything short of the mini-bosses.

[TTTX]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8P2pSFbRrA

[SciFlyBoy]

Having an issue with the Militia Access on Nexus. Am I supposed to get the 'off line' response until later in the game?

[Raga]

You mean the strike team console? That thing is confusing as hell. It shouldn't be offline but if you are early game you only have like 1 team so you spend a good part of the early game locked out of various missions until you get higher level and can recruit more.

[SciFlyBoy]

You mean the strike team console? That thing is confusing as hell. It shouldn't be offline but if you are early game you only have like 1 team so you spend a good part of the early game locked out of various missions until you get higher level and can recruit more.

Oh yeah, the strike team. I can open it, but I can't log in. It sounded like an XBox Live connection thing, but I was connected so I'm not sure.

[Vol]

I just had a really fun combat moment.

Drop off a cliff in the Nomad, pop out, catch 2 kett in a Singularity, pop them with Lance, pick off another with my infinite ammo rifle, then flush 2 others out of cover with an explosive container. Everything clicked and lined up just so, and it was glorious.

[Someone With Mass]

So...I don't know if I ran into a bug, but I lost my sound entirely (all the sound from all the other programs worked) and after about five minutes, it crashed.

[Vol]

Prolly. Game's got bugs for sure. Alt+tabbing out seems to use 1% of my RAM each time, I've had 1 hardlock, an unloadable save in a vault, some clipping issues, etc.

[Vol]

Heh. There's a turian that can appear on Eos. Talked to her a few times during the circuits, found myself oddly enticed by her despite being a normal, plain NPC.

Just found out the VA was Liz. Subconscious, baby, never fails.

[magnuskn]

Alright, first impressions:

The story is okay so far. I haven't left the Nexus yet, so I'm not very far along. Addison is a bitch, the Salarian dude is a skeevy racist. The other leaders seem okay.

Combat (playing on Insanity, might downgrade if it gets too long to replay sections) is pretty tough. The context-based cover is not as good as the old one was. Cooldowns are really hard on my preferred playstyle (Vanguard), but I suppose it will get better when I get more points into biotics. So far I'm helping myself out with Pull. The Avenger still hits like a wet noodle, so I hope I get a better gun soon, like the Mattock.

Conversation animations are baaaaad. People just stand there, almost no gesticulation, no dramatic camera work. Facial animations on humans are hilariously bad, I'm still on ME3 and it really is so much better (coincidentally, I just did Tuchanka and that was an amazing piece of storytelling, too). Human females all seem to have gotten beaten with the fugly stick. Asari are not much better. Oh, well. I'm a-hunting Turian, anyway, unless Peebee manages to be super interesting.

The Kett are also terribly animated. I mean, the foot soldiers have identical faces with absolutely zero facial expressions? Unless that is a deliberate plot point, that is just pathetically cheap.

Otherwise graphics look good. Exploration is a bit finicky, with all the jetpack jumping and ledge-grabbing. Having to scan every nook and cranny is getting already annoying.

[Vol]

It is really hard to take the angara seriously when their faces are so cute, and they wear little 3 fingered mittens and socks as combat gear.

[MeaslyBinkie]

The lack of a quicksave is maddening, I honestly don't understand why they included manual saves without quicksaves. Also, what is up with netcode in multiplayer? I hosted a bunch back during ME3 and I didn't feel any lag or hear complaints and that was with 30 download and 1 upload, now with 100/10, I'm rubberbanding so hard I'm getting flashbacks of BF3's launch.

All in all though, I'm liking a helluva lot more than I thought I would.

[Vol]

I'm getting manual saving fast down to muscle memory. Esc + Save button + hover + space bar + space bar. I'm fairly sure there's no quicksave because it'd probably be difficult with the way the backend is designed. It should come eventually if the game is supported. Haven't touched MP.

Also, word of advice: TAKE A BREAK FROM PLANET EXPLORING TO DO MAIN QUESTS. Because oh boy did mopping up Eos get frustrating, until I did a story mission and things happened.

I'm about 20 hours in, minus idle time. I've not seen even a single pixel of cleavage. I have seen Liam shirtless, twice, once while working out. And alien men, nude, twice. At this point in ME1, I'd fucked the Consort, ogled their dresses, checked out the strippers, and learned from Liara how asari fuck. I know there's some good stuff later, though I don't know what, but c'mon.

[TheodoricFriede]

PeeBee - Not as bad as i thought. Still frustrating, and not a character I expect to love or even like, but shes tolerable.

Drax - Hes more than just Wrex 2.0. I think hes actually worked out a lot of issues, and while still a Krogan personality, is actually a kindly old man at heart. Could be wrong though.

Im actually fairly confident in this crew so far.

[Someone With Mass]

Whoever worked on the facial animations should be either sent out on forced education or fired. One moment, Ryder looks like something that is kinda close or even passable for the emotion he's supposed to feel and the other, he goes cross-eyed. I can tolerate it, but I would also like to have some kind of improvement. Also, how am I supposed to feel anything for the kett when they can't even convey emotions?

I'm also not a fan of the cinematography in the way some interactions with NPCs are handled. The "zoom in slightly while focusing on whoever's talking" way of having dialogues feels cheap. As if they're not worthy of having their own camera setup during their scenes.

The multiplayer's fine, though. Managed to kill two Chosen with one headbutt from my krogan engineer, which was funny. Much like ME3, it's probably going to get old fast if they don't update it regularly.

[DarkStorm]

Yeah, I hope they keep up with the multiplayer.

[Deano]

Very slight spoilers about a quest which I'm hoping someone could shed some light on:

► Show Spoiler

I got an email from Bradley, saying to talk to Hainly about a mission on Eos, when I go to talk to either of them they mention nothing. Is this glitched or will it be available later?

[magnuskn]

This game has one of the most unintuitive, shit menu systems everrrrrrr.

Anybody know how to make color customizations on your casual outfit actually stay put? I can change my jacket, but not the damn color.

And where is the armory where I can change weapons and armor?