Uh oh.... (Mass Effect)

[Rod.H]

It's a bit more then two throughway's to get the some of the achievements I want for the first game....those darn "Complete 75% of Game with x" ones that's at least three complete replays of ME there. 'Side ain't the Renegade options in ME2 better?

[Sweno]

I preferred ME1 vs ME2 when it comes to replayability.

It felt like the squad composition actually made more of a difference in combat and what options were available when poking around places.

also, was I the only person that liked the loadout options in the first game?

Having the ability to swap weapons/upgrades made a large difference in how combat turned out (I know that gearing everyone up with the 'slows recharge of powers' weapon mod made the boss fights much easier).
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[Rod.H]

I like the combat in ME1 more for the fact that the only ammo I have to worry about is grenades & medigel.

[Black Aeronaut]

The Xbox 360, on the other hand, has pretty much given up on that idea.
While it is still based in part on PC architecture, it's been loaded
down with so much custom gear that it really is its own platform now.
Granted, the software developed for it can still make standard DirectX
calls to get everything done, which in theory means an easy port to PC,
but in practice it's supposedly not quite so trouble-free. (I have not
developed for the 360, but I've talked with some people who have...)
And
then there's the mindset, as well. Microsoft *wants* 360-only titles,
because they need to turn a profit on the blasted thing. If someone
already has a PC, and the title is coming out on PC, then they
*probably* won't buy a 360 to get the game.

Half the reason people would rather have a PC over an Xbox is that the damn things break too damn often.  Sure, you get a few lucky SOBs out there that has a 360 that has lasted for-freakin'-evaahhhh!  But for the most part, 360s seem to be designed with a lifetime somewhere between three-to-six months.  :p
Microsoft would make a helluva lot more money if they actually made the things LAST.  You know, employ some real QC people and quit sub-contracting their shit to the lowest bidder just because they were the lowest bidder.  Sure, they probably won't sell that many more Xbox 360 consoles... but I bet they'd sell a hell of a lot more games.  And they'd sell even more games if they made it so that one disc can either run an Xbox or install into your PC - take your pick, it don't matter.  If they understood this, Microsoft would be turning a tidy little profit.
Also, the Consoles have a distinct advantage over PCs in that they can devote pretty much the entirety of their processing power to the game with very little overhead.  With a PC you usually have all kinds of crap running in the background that can pull on your system resources.  Sure, you can go through and close out all those background processes that you don't need at the moment, but that's a pain in the arse.  Although I will concede that it would be kickass if someone came up with a keypad-and-trackball arrangement for console systems.  Make FPS and RTS games such a joy to play...

[Sweno]

To derail the topic further, my understanding is that console-vs-desktop performance boils down to known hardware, not background tasks.

Every console has exactly the same hardware, and you can write to bare metal if you so desire. Sure the hardware in most desktops is going to be better, but the cost of abstracting code to the point that it doesn't matter what graphics card they have can be more than offset.

That doesn't mean that it will (and every new graphics card that comes out makes that gap bigger). Or that the production house will have devoted the resources necessary to wring every last polygon out of it. But I know there were games made for the PS2 (and I assume this is true for Xbox/Xbox-360/PS3) that did absolutely mind blowing things given the hardware constraints.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[Ankhani]

Adding more fuel to the fire:

Consoles, in my opinion, suffer from a fatal flaw that all the hardware and performance power and coding will never, ever solve. It has an abominable control&interface design. Absolutely nothing it can do better than a keyboard and mouse. Valles' said it best, one page (and two years) ago:

Unlike most things, there is a One True Way to control a manually-aimed shooter game.

FUCKING TWIDDLY FUCKING MINI FUCKING JOYSTICKS IS NOT IT.

---

The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."

>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI

[Black Aeronaut]

I'll just leave this here.

http://trackballcontroller.com/

[Rod.H]

Well I finally finished 1 playthough of ME on the 360 and accidentally got the Destiny Ascension destroyed while trying to speed up the conversation and I only got Kaiden's achievement. At that rate it's gonna be 5 more to get the rest.

[Black Aeronaut]

Crimany, I just reread this whole freakin' thread. Shit.

In response to the comments about Metroid Prime's controls vs. standard FPS-on-Consol controls... I dunno why people hate on it. MP's control system seemed pretty much flawless...

There
are several FPS games on console (Metroid Prime springs to mind) that
use the aiming stick as a 'deflection off center' control, or
positional. So when you release the joystick, your aim snaps back to
straight and level. Doesn't sound so bad, until you have to try to
shoot someone who is above/below you and a good distance away, and
discover it's a bloody pain.

That's why they had the target-lock feature - one of my favorite things in the game.  Get your target reticule anywhere near your intended target (and believe me, that's just about anything that moves and even a good deal of things that don't) pull the target lock trigger, and you're locked on and able to strafe around your target as you please.  No fucking around with that second joystick at all until you need another lock-on.  Granted, sometimes there are a few moments when target-lock is useless.  Usually, this is when you've got a target rich environment where it doesn't matter how badly your aim sucks, chances are you're hitting them.
Also, the game had some very handy options that lets you adjust the acceleration rate of your 'look' as well as the option to 'auto-center' once you let it go.  jpub - you probably had auto-centering turned on this whole time and never really realized it.  If you still have a copy of the game and a Gamecube console around, then you may wanna check it out.
Seriously, I wish that other FPS games had this feature.  Can you imagine the sheer carnage in something like Halo or Mass Effect if you could lock-on to a target with just the push of a button and then strafe around them as long as you held that lock?
Anyhow, for those that REALLY want to use a keyboard and mouse on an Xbox360... Fret no more.  The Xbox Input Machine, XIM3, is here.  http://xim3.com/
Using a wired Xbox360 controller (not one of the cheap knock-offs, the real deal please), and any standard USB mouse and keyboard, XIM3 will translate your mouse and keyboard inputs into something the game's aim-assist can comprehend so you get smooth action.
There's only two problems with it.
First off, every game has a different aim-assist setup - that invisible targeting reticule that kinda nudges your cross-hairs in the right direction and makes scoring those sweet headshots easier.  Some are square shaped.  Some are circular.  And some are really weird shapes like teardrops, trapezoids, and whatnot.  For each one, the people that make this wonderful piece of hardware have to carefully play each FPS and slowly tweak the translator profile to account for the aim assist in said game.  Not an easy process, but these guys do it for the love of good gameplay.  And for that reason, they're basicly going down the list of most played games on Xbox Live's statistics.  Mass Effect 3 is probably going to go to the top of said list the moment its released.
The other issue?  Too popular.  Right now they're sold out and you have to get on a waiting list to get one.  I haven't bothered checking how long it is, but just make sure you go the cash set aside for it - a hefty $150.  Worth it, though, considering its the only one of these out there on the market that works as effectively as this one does.  Hey, I'd buy it if I had the cash.  As it is, I'd probably settle for one of these instead, with the joystick equipped with one of these.

[Logan Darklighter]

Femshep trailers (cause that's how I roll.)
(She even looks not too dissimilar from my own default main soldier Sassinak!)

[Logan Darklighter]

And.... DAMN!!
O_O
(EDIT: Watch in FULL HD on YouTube at FULL SCREEN on both of these trailers - SERIOUSLY!!)

[CrimsonKMR]

Well, I just finished my first ever playthrough of ME1 and ME2...
too bad it will be a LONG time until I play 3, for a couple reasons
1) Day 1 DLC is evil. Bad bad Bioware/EA for cutting part of your game that was finished and then selling it on the same day as launch. When it goes down in price that cost + DLC = current price or less... then we can talk
2) Not available on Steam. I buy all my games on Steam. Why should I have to go to another service just for ONE game?
There is no coincidence, only necessity....
- Clow Reed

[dark seraph]

[Shader]

My copy of ME3 is about a week away...

However given the current ... discontent... over the ending of ME3 as it stands, I think I may hold off installing it for a bit.

[Matrix Dragon]

The ending of ME3 has taught me something. Video game fans are the biggest bunch of self-entitled whiners I've ever seen. It's disgusting. The ending is big, dramatic, not entirely perfect, and I liked it. It doesn't answer everything, it doesn't tell you what happened to every single character in the game. But I felt that it was a good ending. It could have used a little more expansion on some plot details, but five seconds thought answers a lot of the questions I had anyway. The ending certainly didn't RUIN FOREVER the hundred and forty hours or so I spent on this version of Shepard across all three games, no matter what the whinging fucks declaring it the WORST GAME EVAH would like to believe. Right now I'm finishing another ME2 playthrough to take some other paths through the Reaper War.

Go ahead and install. Play it as fast or as slow as you want. See what happens to all your crew, to the people you've met over the past few years. Take Earth back. I think you'll enjoy it.

[dark seraph]

I'm already planing for a second play through... but that's because I mistook the meaning of the Priority missions and thought I had to do them as soon as the popped up.

So I missed a ton of side content that made me a little sad, I didn't get to chat to *Spoiler* or *Spoiler* before the died.

And one of the best moments for me so far in the game, was the last poem of Carr to the Blue flower of Ilium. That was almost a tear jerker and came about from some minor side quest.

[s3yang]

The atmospheric bits on the Citadel were _great_, the conversations aren't tear jerking, but they are a little... heart panging. And some of the minor bits if you paid attention to stuff in ME _kick you in the ribs_ when you least expect it. Like the above Charr example. The worst one though, for me, was when I realized that Dorn'Hazt, (On the quarian Rannoch mission) is the father of the same kid whose mother you hear getting killed in Tali's mission back in ME2. (I think that's vague and minor enough to not be a spoiler).

Also, you can't save everyone you've ever met. No matter how hard you try.

@darkseraph: What you did was probably pretty ideal. You've probably seen the bad-case scenario, now you get to do a the little bits and have a lot of new stuff come at you in your second playthrough. (Me, I purposely did a male shep first so I have Jennifer Hale's voice acting to look forward to on my second playthrough >.>).

[dark seraph]

I missed out on talking to Thane... poor Thane.

[Matrix Dragon]

It's a well documented fact that Jennifer Hale makes everything more awesome.

[Ankhani]

I'll probably be picking up ME3 around my birthday later.. I can say that Jennifer Hale voicing the Trooper is one of the main reasons I've kept playing SWTOR despite the clear temporary nature of my involvement there.
---

The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."

>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI

[classicdrogn]

Excellent article on why the ending fails. It goes far, far beyond "It's not happy enough!" to the extent of logically contradicting the founding principles of the game.

- CD
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Ankhani]

I find all of the discussion really quite amusing. It doesn't sound like the perfect butterflies and sunshine ending that I usually prefer, and on some level that's disappointing. The last minute of the game still doesn't invalidate the 200+ hours I'll likely have put into the series by that point. The Game is fun, I intend to enjoy it. Any ending is preferable to No Ending, even if the ending isn't that good.
Perhaps most amusing, though, is the fans on the boards grasping at straws to try and construct a "It's all a hallucination" argument. There's also the rumor that EA is making a "The Real Ending" DLC to be released later.... Personally, if it does happen, I think it would be just as awesome if they pulled a even bigger Gainax Ending with an End-of-Eva style DLC.
---

The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."

>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI

[s3yang]

I find all of the discussion really quite amusing. It doesn't sound like the perfect butterflies and sunshine ending that I usually prefer, and on some level that's disappointing. The last minute of the game still doesn't invalidate the 200+ hours I'll likely have put into the series by that point. The Game is fun, I intend to enjoy it. Any ending is preferable to No Ending, even if the ending isn't that good.
Perhaps most amusing, though, is the fans on the boards grasping at straws to try and construct a "It's all a hallucination" argument. There's also the rumor that EA is making a "The Real Ending" DLC to be released later.... Personally, if it does happen, I think it would be just as awesome if they pulled a even bigger Gainax Ending with an End-of-Eva style DLC.

So essentially what you're saying is that we should be satisfied with a terrible ending and not complain? I admit, I think the people going 'all the time ever spent on this game is no RUINED' is going too far. On the other hand, I found that the ending literally soured my perception of the series, even more so simply because everything leading up to that point is so very good and involving. The other reason why it's bad? It partly killed my motivation for a replay, because now there this sense of... futility.

[Ankhani]

The only thing I'm suggesting is at least they had and ending. A bad ending is bad, and they should feel bad; but No Ending is worse. I may feel differently when I play it, but knowing ahead of time, I don't much expect to be violated and demand my life back.
---

The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."

>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI

[s3yang]

The only thing I'm suggesting is at least they had and ending. A bad ending is bad, and they should feel bad; but No Ending is worse. I may feel differently when I play it, but knowing ahead of time, I don't much expect to be violated and demand my life back.

I'm a little confused. Are you saying that 'better this than ME3 being somehow canceled?'. Given that ME3 exists as a game, I'm uncertain as to how it would otherwise be possible for there to be no ending.