Mass Effect Series Options

[WyldKnight]

I prefer having a team maybe because I am a very group oriented person. I do fine on my own but when I can depend on others I get much more work done. In RPGs or any team based game for that matter when I have a team with me everything feels a lot more manageable. I played ME 1/2 twice with an Infiltrator and a Sentinel. I only depended on shooting with my infiltrator since the sniper rifle was his schtick. I barely shot guns with the Sentinel unless I was waiting for an extra long cool down. I didn't appreciate the huge changes they made to it either but I made due with them. The armor was cool but he didn't feel as much of a hybrid as he did in the first to me.

[Wounded Ronin]

So, guess what? Koaku has posted some stats about how ME 2. Gee, setting aside the fact that I'm slightly disturbed that someone is collecting stats on how you play a role playing game, I'll have to link to the article since the stats are given on a graphic:

http://kotaku.com/5698422/mass-effect-2-ga...s-soldier-dudes

The article itself highlights that 65% of players play as Soldiers. I don't think that's really surprising at all; like I said before, you either focus on movement, cover, and aim, and get into a zone with the years of first person shooter skills you've built up since the mid 90s when FPS games started to get good, or you repeatedly pause the action to dick around with maagicall poooweeersss. Also, part of that magical powers thing feels like cheating to me, since it's possible to fight your way through the game without using them. I guess I've just been conditioned by playing Halo and Call of Duty on maximum difficulty levels so that response to impossible difficulty is to run it again just a little harder and a little smarter with regards to aim and cover and movement.

I'm probably one of the few holdout fans out there of turn based strategy, but still, if I'm going to play FPS, basically, then that's what I want to do.

What's interesting to me is that the vast, vast majority of players run a male Shepard. In Bioware RPGs, you might spend 5 or 6 hours staring at your character's backside! For me, if I have to do that, I'd rather stare at a female backside than a male backside. Also, I'm actually impressed by Jennifer Hale's voice acting. It's honestly pretty good. I enjoy listening to it.

Sometimes I feel a small amount of dissonance when the female Shepard KOs krogans by punching them, but on the other hand, I'd probably feel that way about the male Shepard doing that as well. I mean, really, the only way that could work is if Shepard looks like Chuck Norris. My first instinct whenever I play a RPG where you can customize your character's face is to make Chuck Norris, so when I do something different, it means I've resisted that urge.

When I looked down at the comments section of that article (I know, I know...) I noticed one person, claiming to be female, said that a lot of RPGs are more designed with a male player character in mind, so she'll start out with a female one, play for a while, and then depending on the vibe she gets, either continue, or start over with a male. I thought it was strange she felt that way.

I think someone else commented that female Shepard is a relatively rare example of a non-sexualized female protagonist in video games. I would tend to agree with that. In the past I've felt embarassed to play some games either because of ridiculous sexualization (like in Dead or Alive), or over the top violence and gore that began to embarass me (I'm looking at you, Alien vs. Predator). I had a lot of fun in Mass Effect because in the first game I decided to make the most ridiculously unattractive female Shepard I could. So I gave her a big prominent nose, loud orange hair, and tried to make her basically look scary, and then picked the Renegade background to start. After I played through ME1 and started ME2, female Shepard looked absolutely awesome with the facial scarring, on top of the scary big nose face. I've never had so much fun with an RPG character's face before.

[Backgammon]

I also played a female Shepard. Made her look south east Asian, reminded me of a badass chick I used to know doing capoeira. I agree throughout the games, both 1 and 2, that for once this was the least sexist game ever. Your character went at it like the true, dedicated soldier she is, rather than some tart with a gun.

[Tiralee]

Erm, it's pretty widely agreed that Fem-Shep is the only way to enjoy Mass Effect to it's fullest. The voice actor actually ACTS and really puts across a good hardass vibe, or a soft kittenish one:)

As to background/face, etc, yep, mix and match and you've got a VERY scary lady.
Oddly enough, my versions trend to look like Sigourney Weaver for some unknown reason. Oh, and you can make a reasonable version of Morgainne from Dragon Age:)

The more annoying decisions were relationship-based: the MShep got ALL the ladies.
Hmm, need to make a MShep looking like William Shatner. Oh, delicious, delicious irony.

-Tir.

[Jhaiisiin]

Hmm, need to make a MShep looking like William Shatner. Oh, delicious, delicious irony.

WIN!

[Whipstitch]

Erm, it's pretty widely agreed that Fem-Shep is the only way to enjoy Mass Effect to it's fullest.

Only in the sense that it is widely agreed that Obama is a good president. And by that I mean it is also widely agreed that he's a bad president.

[Mäx]

The downside is you CAN run out of ammo for a weapon during a mission, unlike ME1 where basically as long as you managed your shot rate, you can fire forever. The in-game explanation for such is rather flimsy, and its a mechanic I hope they dump for ME3.

Nah, i just wish they implement it in ME3 how it was supposed to be in ME2, it was supposed to be similar to ME1 but with slower passive cooling and then you could pop a heatsink if you wanted to instantly cool the weapon down or you could just wait for it to cool down on its own.
There are actually mods for PC version that activate a test build version that does work like that.
And the in-game explanation isn't really flimsy, it's just written for that original version and not to this one that got rid of the passive cooling.

As someone who above all enjoys challenging FPS games, I can go ahead and headshot a distant target in what feels like half a second if I'm really focused and in my FPS zone. If I stop to dicker around with powers or what have you, though, the efficiency of the FPS headshot game just drops, and I end up doing worse, even with the use of the powers. There's a certain zone you get into that's just very very fast reflexes, reactions, and application of general principles, and you can't have that at the same time as pausing the game and hmming and hawing over what power to use.

You do realize there are quick keys to use the powers you've assigned to them with out pausing the game.
Only noobs pause the game for power use. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[Wounded Ronin]

Except I rarely use powers. What I want is to do that for the weapon transitions?

[Explosive Donut!]

My favorite thing to do in Mass Effect? Make the entire field team have biotic powers and watch enemies fly.

[Wounded Ronin]

Biotic powers sound like the deadly burps and farts you release after eating specially marketed packages of yogurt.

[Zyerne]

Picked this up in the Steam sale (which reminds me, I need to check today's specials). I'll get to it after I'm done with Dragon Age and FNV

[Critias]

Mrs. Crit got me Mass Effect 2 for Christmas...but I'm still gnawing on Assassin's Creed 2 and Dragon Age. I'm gonna have to go back and finish Mass Effect before I want to start on ME2, anyhow. Oh well, good thing I've got a couple weeks to kill. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[WyldKnight]

Biowares Mass Effect 3 tease was cool, all those Reapers bodes well for the action part of the experience.

[Wounded Ronin]

Great, I am looking forward to big nosed fem Shepard to ride again.

[Tiralee]

-Finished ME1 again, good times, good times. also 500 xp off level 60. DAMN it.

Started ME2 again, god, I forgot how much I hate those little "pop N go" thermal clips.

Oh, and a ME Shatner will never, EVER be mentioned again. (can't do the hair right...and the voice!)

Sadly, I did a much better Kirk in F3-Vegas. And yes, he fights with his shirt OFF. (Luck 10[now], CHA 10 [now], Int Dump stat, some 3's and a decent str/endurance... Damn me if it's not playable.)
I forgot that the low INT chacacters really ARE disadvantaged in the wastelands. Reminds me of Arcanum.

-Tir.

[SinN]

I played and beat Mass Effect 2 before id played the first one. So currently Im working on the first one, then after its beaten, carry the charactor over to ME2, then beat that again (And get the perfect ending this time) then be ready for ME3 when it comes out. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[Fix-it]

I, also, played 2 before ME1. whoops. then I lost my savegames in hdd migration. good games, but no way am I playing through 1 & 2 again to have a continuity for 3.

/mordin had better show up.

[Jhaiisiin]

Get bored, get sick, or otherwise come up with about 40 hours of free time. It's no biggie! Let the addiction take you to have back your continuity!

[SinN]

Get bored, get sick, or otherwise come up with about 40 hours of free time. It's no biggie! Let the addiction take you to have back your continuity!

Hua!

[Critias]

I went back and finished ME1 (and laughed at myself, because I was apparently about 45 minutes away from finishing it and had no idea how close I was). I ported my character over to start on ME2, got several hours in and was having a ball. I'd, by that point, finished every recruitment mission except Tali (and one other, who I hadn't received a dossier on yet), and I was just having fun with those recruitment gigs -- enjoying the new galaxy map interface, getting the hang of the streamlined new character stat pages, learning the quirks of armor upgrading and research, and having a good ol' time.

Then? Then I realized I didn't want to be a goody two shoes any more.

All through ME1, Gaius Shepard (made while playing a goody two shoes in a Dark Heresy game) was the most righteous of the righteous. Then I was getting Paragon interrupt after Paragon interrupt in ME2, and I just kept thinking "Oh, man, I bet the Renegade interrupt there would've been awesome" in almost every conversation.

So I fired up ME1 and rocked and rolled all through it with a Renegade guy (partially inspired by Jaime Lannister from The Song of Ice and Fire series of books, that I just started) -- just being a total flippant dick to everyone, killing whoever needed killing, and generally just cavorting through the universe as though it existed only for me to draw glory from it by performing "heroic" deeds. I got about five more levels (which should translate to a cooler ME2 guy), I actually topped out my credits (at 9-repeating), and I just plain had a blast not being a good guy for once. Even the ending was fun, cheerfully deciding the fates of thousands because I was pissed off at a Turian for a comment about "a broken clock is right twice a day."

And, to put it plainly, playing back through ME1 all the way just really, really, reminded me of how much I wish Bioware could make us a Shadowrun game.

[Jhaiisiin]

Gods, a Bioware SR game would rule.

[Critias]

Gods, a Bioware SR game would rule.

Honestly, ME is about halfway there, itself. It's not like there's a world of different between biotics and sorcery, their tech guys and SR's tech guys, and a "Soldier" versus "Street Samurai," y'know? Wrex is just a Troll Combat Mage, when you get right down to it. Someone could just put out the right skins for Mass Effect and you'd almost have a Shadowrun game already. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)