Mass Effect
Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2021 4:42 am
Let me start with technical matters.
Graphically it is a bit better than the original. Eventually something was done with the hopeless face shading, nowhere is black background appearing instead of textures (Therum - after patch). Only once, after quite a twisted maneuvering of the camera, I managed to look "behind" the textures. And that the graphics level of ME is not above average? It is nothing that we see on the screen that allows you to fully and enjoy the story being conveyed. That's enough for me.
Errors with sound design are finally also gone. It is true that in the ME 1.0 version they were not there either, but after the update to 1.1. it almost hit me. And the soundtrack itself is ... okay, a few old songs (e.g. on a galaxy map), some new ones, nothing that would stay in my memory for a long time. I really like the opportunity to listen to the songs from the first part in the captain's cabin, a small thing, but I'm glad. Another thing for me is important - the ending song (after all, they say for a reason that no matter how you start, it matters how you finish) - I know, it's purely a matter of taste, but I just didn't like it. Too pompous track for such a solution of the action.
On the one hand, the new interface is great - I am a supporter of minimalism in this matter - because if we do not bring up the skill field, you can hardly see it and in terms of color, it suits me very well (and personally, I would completely remove the map, in ME locations you cannot get lost anyway ), but on the other hand, it has two disadvantages that a PC game simply does not have to have. Where are the keyboard shortcuts and wheel mouse support? In ME1 I read the code in full, I did not do it here, because how much you can manually scroll non-short texts.
Another issue concerns loading locations. Perhaps this is due to the weakness of my equipment (or its poor optimization - 8800GT, 2GB RAM, Athlon X2 5600+), but loading locations on Normandy took a long time (not counting the captain's cabin), sometimes even longer than such an Omega or the Citadel. I realize a lot of people didn't like the elevators theme in ME1 (we even have a reference to it in Miranda's quest), but instead we have images of Normandy and game hints from the devs (and for what the hell? - the same goes for the tutorial screen and achievements popping up when you least need it). At least every now and then there was some dialogue in the elevator.
On a different barrel: it did not happen often, but a few times I got on some crates so that it was impossible to get off them, only the earlier entry helped. My companions sometimes bent the laws of physics to their own will and they carelessly ran in the air. Plus, they've got their own teleportation devices up their sleeve, too bad Shepard didn't get one. However, it must be admitted that NPCs were much less likely to mindlessly exposed themselves to being shot, and even had some benefit from them. There is a clear improvement, maybe we will get a really refined AI to close the trilogy. And one more serious mistake - in Thane's loyalty mission, every time I tried to act like a Paragon during an unexpected meeting with a mechanic, my game stuttered - the effect of not being able to successfully complete the mission. In the end, I had to knock out the poor man, only then did the action proceed normally. Also, for 50 hours of playing, there aren't too many bugs and they don't bother you a lot (as long as someone makes frequent entries, like me). It is positive.
I wonder what happened to ME1's lead location designer, whether he was fired or revised his views, and Attack of the Clones is no longer his favorite Star Wars movie. The locations are nice, atmospheric, there is something to look for (Ilium landscapes, tropical planets) and finally they stopped repeating. Even side quests take place in unique locations - which should be standard from the start, not just now, but importantly there is. The NPCs, although mostly built of the same bricks, do not offend enough to bother you (well ... if you do not look at the dance floor). Even if they were a little bigger and there were several paths leading to the destination more often, I would be very happy. In the current version, the linearity of the location does not let you get lost anywhere even for a moment, so why the radar on the side?
It is a pity that the developers have almost completely removed the old locations from the game. I was really looking forward to the journey around the rebuilding Citadel, and here is such a zonk. Certainly, somewhere you could buy some sensible armor for our hero, or at least piranhas ... Fortunately, there are many references to the first part, be it in the Codex, local news or in NPC dialogues. And if at least some of the mail we receive was changed into meetings with living people, it would be great.
I even like the new combat system (because I like good shooters), the previous one was also dependent on our own skills, now the creators have gone in this direction even more. It is true that this system is far from the loveliness of battles with Gears of War, and possibly
Graphically it is a bit better than the original. Eventually something was done with the hopeless face shading, nowhere is black background appearing instead of textures (Therum - after patch). Only once, after quite a twisted maneuvering of the camera, I managed to look "behind" the textures. And that the graphics level of ME is not above average? It is nothing that we see on the screen that allows you to fully and enjoy the story being conveyed. That's enough for me.
Errors with sound design are finally also gone. It is true that in the ME 1.0 version they were not there either, but after the update to 1.1. it almost hit me. And the soundtrack itself is ... okay, a few old songs (e.g. on a galaxy map), some new ones, nothing that would stay in my memory for a long time. I really like the opportunity to listen to the songs from the first part in the captain's cabin, a small thing, but I'm glad. Another thing for me is important - the ending song (after all, they say for a reason that no matter how you start, it matters how you finish) - I know, it's purely a matter of taste, but I just didn't like it. Too pompous track for such a solution of the action.
On the one hand, the new interface is great - I am a supporter of minimalism in this matter - because if we do not bring up the skill field, you can hardly see it and in terms of color, it suits me very well (and personally, I would completely remove the map, in ME locations you cannot get lost anyway ), but on the other hand, it has two disadvantages that a PC game simply does not have to have. Where are the keyboard shortcuts and wheel mouse support? In ME1 I read the code in full, I did not do it here, because how much you can manually scroll non-short texts.
Another issue concerns loading locations. Perhaps this is due to the weakness of my equipment (or its poor optimization - 8800GT, 2GB RAM, Athlon X2 5600+), but loading locations on Normandy took a long time (not counting the captain's cabin), sometimes even longer than such an Omega or the Citadel. I realize a lot of people didn't like the elevators theme in ME1 (we even have a reference to it in Miranda's quest), but instead we have images of Normandy and game hints from the devs (and for what the hell? - the same goes for the tutorial screen and achievements popping up when you least need it). At least every now and then there was some dialogue in the elevator.
On a different barrel: it did not happen often, but a few times I got on some crates so that it was impossible to get off them, only the earlier entry helped. My companions sometimes bent the laws of physics to their own will and they carelessly ran in the air. Plus, they've got their own teleportation devices up their sleeve, too bad Shepard didn't get one. However, it must be admitted that NPCs were much less likely to mindlessly exposed themselves to being shot, and even had some benefit from them. There is a clear improvement, maybe we will get a really refined AI to close the trilogy. And one more serious mistake - in Thane's loyalty mission, every time I tried to act like a Paragon during an unexpected meeting with a mechanic, my game stuttered - the effect of not being able to successfully complete the mission. In the end, I had to knock out the poor man, only then did the action proceed normally. Also, for 50 hours of playing, there aren't too many bugs and they don't bother you a lot (as long as someone makes frequent entries, like me). It is positive.
I wonder what happened to ME1's lead location designer, whether he was fired or revised his views, and Attack of the Clones is no longer his favorite Star Wars movie. The locations are nice, atmospheric, there is something to look for (Ilium landscapes, tropical planets) and finally they stopped repeating. Even side quests take place in unique locations - which should be standard from the start, not just now, but importantly there is. The NPCs, although mostly built of the same bricks, do not offend enough to bother you (well ... if you do not look at the dance floor). Even if they were a little bigger and there were several paths leading to the destination more often, I would be very happy. In the current version, the linearity of the location does not let you get lost anywhere even for a moment, so why the radar on the side?
It is a pity that the developers have almost completely removed the old locations from the game. I was really looking forward to the journey around the rebuilding Citadel, and here is such a zonk. Certainly, somewhere you could buy some sensible armor for our hero, or at least piranhas ... Fortunately, there are many references to the first part, be it in the Codex, local news or in NPC dialogues. And if at least some of the mail we receive was changed into meetings with living people, it would be great.
I even like the new combat system (because I like good shooters), the previous one was also dependent on our own skills, now the creators have gone in this direction even more. It is true that this system is far from the loveliness of battles with Gears of War, and possibly