liveinabin

Looks utterly dull. Thoroughly unlikeable stereotypical characters AGAIN and the same dreary meandering between cutscenes, grinding as you go. I'm so glad that the western RPG has flourished lately. I'm so done with the JRPGs now, and FF in particular. It's a shame that such a promising genre got so stifled. I'm skipping FF13 and instead I'm going to do Mass Effect 2 again. Now that's how to do an RPG.

Yeah, a sub forum in Modern gaming seems the better way.

I've staunchly avoided all cover shooters (I didn't even know it was a subgenre) so even that's fresh to me. As for ME1, while the inventory is a little confusing at first, I got to love all the tinkering by the end and really missed it in the sequel.

Buy. Buy now. It good.

No matter how well you look after your 'real' discs, it's fairly likely they'll develop faults over the next 20 years. As for DLC, you get to back that up and, assuming it's not tied to an account on a long dead server, it should be good forever. I see why people want the boxed article, I really do, but i just wanted to add some balance to the debate.

I'm mad as he'll about it. I started another play through but it feels more like work than pleasure - and I'm sure it's more difficult second time through. Unfortunately, it does mean that I'm almost certainly going to be playing ME3 with one eye on a walkthrough in case they pull this crap again.

In other news...I finished ME2 today. Very disappointed with one major aspect (which is kind of a spoiler but everyone really ought to know it in advance): Between the penultimate and final missions, you are allowed to run around the galaxy, clearing up whatever loose ends you like (in anticipation for the big finale). However, what you're not told is that the clock is ticking. Every little side quest you do between these two missions results in people dying! See, usually in RPG's, you get to the point where some NPC is asking "Are your men ready? We are about to attack the big final bad thing", at which point you get to spend months finishing up side quests while they wait, because you won't get the chance later when the credits roll. Not so here. When the baddies take what you prize and bugger off beyond the veil, you need to get after them ASAP. And the side quests/ extra DLC? Turns out you get to carry on playing all that when the main quest is through. Thanks for not telling me Bioware. Looks like I'm starting ME2 again!

Still playing Mass Effect 2. I don't know whether to finish it (fairly near the end) or wait for the extra free DLC that drops in late March.

I love Pixel, a very pretty dot-matrix style platformer in the Kirby style. Also bought Shoot1up on general recommendation from this thread. Great game. I must say, the vast majority of indie offerings look terrible. Of course I'm not expecting Mass Effect, but they don't even try to make them look presentable, like they've drawn the gfx in MS paint.

Right after completing Mass Effect (on my new 360), I jumped right into Mass Effect 2. Superb games both, I'm about half way through ME2 right now, doing absolutely every little task. What an amazing game world Bioware built.

Sold Dragon Age as it very quickly fell back on the old Fantasy cliches and has the worst visuals (both from a tech and design standpoint) that I've seen in a game this generation (and that includes the Wii). And I bought...Mass Effect 2! My goodness, it looks like the first game remade as a movie! Astonishing. Some of the interface changes suck a bit (I liked the old inventory, changing armor was so much quicker) but the game overall is amazing. Best opening sequence ever.

@moycon. Yeah, it's a shame they ditched the exploration aspect. Some of the planetscapes in ME1 are stunning. Slightly off topic, but I've persevered with Dragon Age and the Bioware quality is showing through, albeit only in the plot and audio. It still looks like a first gen Xbox 1 game. Anybody read any of the Mass Effect books? Thinking of picking them up if I can find them in a digital format.

The only one that's really worth bothering with is 'Bring down the sky' - the other one is just a bit of a Fight Club. It's a good little dramatic story. Took me an couple of hours to complete. So I guess it's a little pricey but I'm really glad I played it. It really felt like a core piece of Mass Effect.

Which I might be getting sooner rather than later. Just started Dragon Age this morning. How can Mass Effect 1 look so great but Dragon Age look so terrible. Besides, all the same old Fantasy cliches and fake British accents are pissing me off already.

Just finished Mass Effect 1. What a ride! Still shaking I played through it with a female character. I don't usually do that. However, Jennifer Hales - pretty much the best voice actor in videogames, did the voice for female Shepard so it was an easy choice. Spent AGES on the character generation bit, making sure she looked just right. I didn't want a typical Hollywood actress type - she had to have a bit of experience behind those eyes, an open face and a hint of authority. What do you think? I present - Cmdr Alice Shepard

Bought the PS3 version as it was on sale. Can't play it yet (finishing ME and starting Bayonetta) but I've downloaded the free stuff already (as the offer runs out in April). I like the way that, even though I registered the PS3 version, I still get to have the Blood Dragon armor for ME2. That's some cross platform love.

Is the voice acting good in DAO? Being English, I really notice the kind of hokey fake British accents that you tend to get in fantasy games. I'm hoping this is better.

I really hated the demo on the first play. I just spent the whole time wondering why I was needed. I felt like I was watching CSI while playing Simon. Still, it was worth another evaluation. On the second pass I was impressed how my different interactions with the girl produced a different outcome. Quite well done. What I can't escape, though, is the feeling that this is another game that's trying to be a movie. Given that, there's only so good that it can be. Games have their own visual style, their own identity and, I think, it's kinda disrespectful to the medium to assume that it needs to leech wholesale from another. Still, the graphics are very slick and I'm sure it'll have some decent writing. Not sure about the magic detective glasses though.

It's by Sumo so I can imagine it'll be good. Unfortunately, the demo seems to be an Xbox Live Gold exclusive - in UK at least.

I'd love a download of Katamari Damacy. Then I could get rid of my PS2.

Nope. While all hdmi cables will give a very crisp picture, it seems be the depth of color that improves with a decent cable. That said, I'm beginning to doubt that you can buy decent av/hi fi cables in US. All I see anyone write about is either cheap stuff or monster cable (which is rubbish overpriced tat). There's loads of actually well made stuff in UK and Europe. There must be some decent cable over there, surely.

Trust me, hdmi cables are NOT the same. A good, well made cable will yield better results than a cheap one. While it is 1s and 0s, the better the cable, the more accurate the data transfer. I'm no expert on this (I can only report what Ive seen first hand) but I'd estimate that what gets lost across the wire gets subjected to error correction at the other end. Looks like that data includes color saturation because it sure makes a difference. By the way, all my cables are just 1 meter runs.

I got my xbox this week and, as I have no more hdmi ports free in my amp, I ordered the component lead. It arrived after the xbox and, while waiting, I borrowed the hdmi lead (a good one - QED Qunex) from my DVD player. Now I've got it hooked up with component and, I have to say, I think it's just as good (my tv is a 37" samsung). I think it wholly depends on your tv. Some flat panels are less happy with component input so, I guess, if you've got a port free, go hdmi. One other thing, not all hdmi leads are equal. That 'it's digital so they're all the same' argument you'll read in forums is bull. I got a $30 techlink wires cable and a $80 QED cable and did a test. My wife watched the same image from the PS3 on both cables (without knowing which) and the QED was better by a mile. Both were great but the depth and color saturation on the Qunex was amazing. So spend as much as you can afford on a decent bit of wire (but don't buy monster cable).

Huh, yeah. Seems to boot off hard drive by default if it sees an install.

Heh. I was wondering this too. I'll try it with Mass Effect 1 tonight.