any word on whether mass effect is jade empire 1.5?

[Himu]

I've got my copy pre ordered but if it's another Jade, I'm going to have to cancel that pre order.  I guess we won't really know until fans get their copies because journo's love to suck Bioware's dick.

I mean, Jade Empire isn't even bad. It's an okay but highly flawed game. However, I paid less than 20 dollars for it so I wasn't miffed. If I paid 50 dollars for Jade I would have been PISSED. I'm not willing to pay 60 for it!

[tiesto]

I paid $55 for the Jade Empire Limited Edition the weekend after it came out

[Himu]

I paid $55 for the Jade Empire Limited Edition the weekend after it came out

I feel for ya, buddy.

[Bloodwake]

Jade Empire was a massive step down from KOTOR, that's for sure. Good, but so, so flawed.

I hope to god that Mass Effect kicks all ass. My wallet's counting on it.

[Himu]

Jesus Christ the arena was god awful. THE LOAD TIMES AUGH

[demi]

KOTOR was boring, Jade Empire was more tolerable, and still boring

BioWare is boring

Why am I buying Mass Effect? I am in the "me too" crowd

[TVC15]

People are too hard on Jade Empire. . .and I am usually one of the people that is too hard on Bioware.  It was overrated, but play it without the veil of the hype and of IGN's shitty shitty reviews, and it's a pretty good game.  A step down for Bioware, who had already taken a step down with KotoR, but it's a fun and worthwhile experience that isn't a chore to play, which is more than I could say about most games.  It's probably a 7 or 8 out of 10.

[Himu]

I wouldn't say Jade 8/10, but more of a 7/10. I enjoyed the first half, but the second half was so goddamn rushed and shitty. A part of my enjoyment of these games are the sidequests, and that was what was keeping me from throwing Jade into the garbage during the first half. The second half was devoid of any side quests at all. If they kept the pace up and had just as many side quests for the second half as they did for the first, it would have easily been 8/10 for me.

[Valcrist]

Honestly, the previews or screens don't do anything for me, but I'm hyping the shit out of it in my mind.  The first thing I thought when I saw this game was my fantasy come true.  It was going to combine the vast feeling of space and discovery that EVE online has with a deep sci fi story and planet exploration.  I seriously took everything I've ever thought was good from everything I've ever read or seen about space and crammed it into my vision of the game.  maybe LOTR scaled epicness in space?  At worst it would be Oblivion in space.  I liked Oblivion, but the story didn't do anything for me, and some parts of it felt empty, although it still is a wonderful game.
I also didn't play Kotor and Jade empire, so I'm not sure what to expect.  But I am fucking excited for this game to come out. Am I expecting too much?

[TVC15]

I'd probably say a 7 overall.  The game is good, but the presentation is significantly better than the actual gameplay, which is probably why I was thinking 8 earlier.

[Himu]

yes you are val

[Smooth Groove]

Read a preview somewhere from Che that says it's not like Jade Empire at all, which he considered a good thing. 

[Valcrist]

yes you are val

:'(

oh well.  at least I can show my friends intergalatic space lesbos.

[Himu]

Read a preview somewhere from Che that says it's not like Jade Empire at all, which he considered a good thing. 

But che works for ms lololol

[T234]

Man I still can't believe how goddamn hung up everybody on the various forums is about where various industry people work. He ain't gonna outright trash it for no reason or anything, but fuck.

[Himu]

so where can i read these impressions che has posted some where?

[T234]

I dunno. Check his blogs.

[Eduardo24]

The videos don`t anything to me, looks like Gears with stats tacked on and this is suppossed to be an rpg. Most of people saying this like "mass erectzzz" are shooting fanatics that probably care very little about rpgs.

[hyp]

i'm becoming a little suspect as to how good this game is.  considering it's only 2 weeks away, there's barely been any talk or media hype surrounding the release.  i'm assuming MS will begin the onslaught a week before street date, but considering how much publicity and marketing gears & halo received the entire month and months before their release, this is not looking good for mass effect. 

i don't expect much polish after viewing the combat video.  screen tearing and hiccups galore.  i really just hope it's the capture.  nonetheless, this is a day 1 purchase for me since i tend to like bioware games.

[Himu]

It doesn't even look that great of a shooter.

When you have shit like this it just ceases to be an rpg.

Hyp: Bioware games aren't exactly about polish.  Unpolished to the ninth degree. They usually make good games, but they are so unpolished that it's impossible for me to LOVE them. THe only one I love is BG2.

[disgruntled_jojo]

Wow, didn't expect this thread to actually be about the game - figured it would be about the horrible game-breaking bugs in Jade Empire.  For my part, I was enjoying JE until the fourth chapter (in the City), where I managed to get it into an unfinishable state.  I did both the arena (action) and talking (social) routes to get to see as much of the game as I could.  Unfortunately, I got to the point in the social chain of quests where the guy is like "go back to your ship and I'll send the boss to meet you" (or whatever it was) and every time the game faded to black to start the cinematic for this meeting, it would hang.

Here's hoping Mass Effect isn't a buggy, glitchy mess like KoTOR and JE. 

Well, at least this time around they can actually patch the console version.  To be safe I'll probably wait and play it sometime next year after they finish the game.

[Himu]

"I'm playing this game right now. It certainly does look insanely good. I mean, it's ridiculous at times how good it looks. Not sure why those 149 screens were all captured with shaders uncached, but there you go. Still an eyegasm."

"You can definitely turn off both motion blur and the grainy filter, but I actually like the graininess. Makes the game look so **** cinematic. Gaaaahhhhh...."

"oh my dear god, this game is amazing so far....wow. I haven't really followed Mass Effect through the stages, except the occasional screenshot, but jesus christ the graphics in this game are ridiculously good... and what, Bioware basically created a 3rd person shooter a la GRAW, complete with cover system. Then underneath that is a deep RPG with an intriguing story and really good voice acting. Only a few hours in so far so take these impressions with a grain of salt. but whoooa, 30+ hours of this sort of bliss? who knows, maybe it'll suck in the 20th hour.

I can see myself leaving COD4 in its wrapper until I'm done with Mass Effect. I'll post more detailed impressions once I get further into the game."

"I'm literally scratching the surface of the game. So far, it's fairly linear but I've only had a few encounters on the first intro planet. Tutorial dialogue boxes are literally still popping up.

Still, I've been really impressed with the gameplay so far. There's none of the faux action game here a la Jade Empire. This is basically a 3rd person shooter first and RPG second, with a ton of other stuff going on underneath the action, as well as the ability to pause the action and tell your party how to kick butt."

" KOTOR doesn't hold a dying matchstick to Mass Effect so far, simply on the merit of gameplay alone. And then there's the graphics... bleeping ridiculous!"

"I had plans to do an elaborate post about this the whole time I've been playing.

"I'm about 8.5 hours into the game now and it's just gotten better and better.

Too much to talk about really, so I guess I'll just answer RStein's question.

Combat is really fun. There are occasional problems with the AI, but it's really nothing 3rd/1st person shooter fans aren't already used to in teammates found in the genre (GRAW, RS: Vegas, etc). I set my squad to "active" which lets the AI use both defensive and offensive abilities on their own (without you having to pause the action, choose targets, and say "perform a neuro blast" or whatever). They definitely get the job done and I often find them stealing my kills. Thankfully, XP and loot goes to the party and it's up to you to divvy up items.

When I said earlier that this game is a shooter first and an RPG second, I was wrong. It's really a great balance of both genres. Mechanically speaking, this is an action game through and through. You dodge bullets, spring to cover, and do all the things required of you in games like Gears of War. You point your gun at something and fire and there is a 1-to-1 cause-and-effect reaction and **** takes damage and blow up, etc.

Stats act more like modifiers. For instance, if I do a full auto burst with my assault rifle, the reticle will gradually grow wider and bigger the longer you fire, representing the kick and recoil of the assault rifle. As a result, the spread of your shots will go from tight to practically useless through the duration of your burst. As you invest in your assault rifle skill, that behavior improves so your spread is tighter even if you fire longer. Of course, if you play the game like I do and just do controlled bursts, it really isn't too much of a problem.

This basically goes for all weapons (sniper rifle, shotguns, etc.) and I think it works great. In the end, combat is an action affair and really there's no other game like Mass Effect where it combines my favorite genre with a genre I no longer play. It's such a nice RPG homecoming.

The only aspect of the combat that can be clunky at times is trying to get under cover mode against an obstacle that's shorter, as it requires you to duck. Whereas Gears of War automatically makes you duck and puts you against lower cover, you have to do so manually here so there's the added click of the left stick -- and in the heat of combat, it can be frustrating... particularly because combat is really chaotic and crazy at times.

Anyway, I know it's too early to know what's GOTY at this point since I haven't played SMG, COD4, or Uncharted, but I know for a fact that Mass Effect is already an easy contender.

I'll take some phone pics and post 'em tonight. This game is RIDICULOUSLY gorgeous and 8 hours later, I am still slackjawed."

Ugh. Third person shooter with rpg elements underneath that. Ugh.

[Eduardo24]

This is basically a 3rd person shooter first and RPG second]This is basically a 3rd person shooter first and RPG second

No buy, the shooting has always looked mediocre.

And the whole things sounds like hyperbole.  I know he doesn´t work at EGM anymore, but his old comrades write the same way.  They should be critics (someone that destroys everything to pieces) instead of kids playing their christmas birthday.  This game is now garanteed 9s all over the place.

[Himu]

This is basically a 3rd person shooter first and RPG second]This is basically a 3rd person shooter first and RPG second

No buy, the shooting has always looked mediocre.

And the whole things sounds like hyperbole.  I know he doesn´t work at EGM anymore, but his old comrades write the same way.  They should be critics (someone that destroys everything to pieces) instead of kids playing their christmas birthday.  This game is now garanteed 9s all over the place.

This.

The shooting does look average and nothing special. I may pass this up now, but we'll see. It COULD be a genius blend of genres like System Shock. SS is still an rpg in my eyes.

Mass Erect? More like Mass Shrinkage.