Mass Effect

[Drift3r]

Just re-posting my view on the game which I had put up in another thread.

I bought the D2D version (I hate having cd's/dvd's in my drive) of the game and it works fine on my rig. The game is a freaking blast on par with KOTOR in terms of RPG goodness. I am glad EA/Bioware waited to get it done right. The duologue system is pretty awesome. If you are fast enough in your selections the conversations seem almost seamless. The controls are also pretty damn nice. I love how you can duck behind cover and then lean out to shoot bad guys.

 

[Drift3r]

Originally posted by: TheVrolok

Originally posted by: duckiesarefun
Im getting it, it was one of the only reasons I though about getting a 360 in the first place.

Ditto. Interesting reviews. Guess my 8800GT won't do 1680x1050 at high details? Ouch. I feel like the 8800GT got dated fast. Eh, I'll probably play it at 1280x720 on my TV anyway.

Hmmm I know for sure I can do 1680x1050 with everything set to high on my 8800GTX and still get very nice frame rates.

 

[Boztech]

Was the first to pick it up at my local Best Buy today (they had to get it from the warehouse), and it will not launch for me in Vista. I'm hesitant but I may reload my XP image to give it a shot, or wait for a reliable patch/fix to come down for the Vista issues.

 

[MTDEW]

Originally posted by: Boztech
Was the first to pick it up at my local Best Buy today (they had to get it from the warehouse), and it will not launch for me in Vista. I'm hesitant but I may reload my XP image to give it a shot, or wait for a reliable patch/fix to come down for the Vista issues.

I dont have the game yet, but i did read that you have to run it as administrator in Vista to get the game to start.

 

[AMDZen]

Originally posted by: Drift3r

Just re-posting my view on the game which I had put up in another thread.

I bought the D2D version (I hate having cd's/dvd's in my drive) of the game and it works fine on my rig. The game is a freaking blast on par with KOTOR in terms of RPG goodness. I am glad EA/Bioware waited to get it done right. The duologue system is pretty awesome. If you are fast enough in your selections the conversations seem almost seamless. The controls are also pretty damn nice. I love how you can duck behind cover and then lean out to shoot bad guys.

Are there any disadvantages to buying D2D? I thought I read somewhere that you can't use mods or something? I think it was Oblivion, I read that mods didn't work unless you had the retail copy and I also think I read somewhere that updates were different for the D2D versions.

Are these true?

 

[warcrow]

So, I got the game yesterday(via the EA Downloader, took 2 hours to DL it at 1.1MB/Sec. Zero issues with the DL and installation--I'm very pleased). I didnt even get a chance to play it past the first 10 minutes because we had a dinner party last night and people were arriving at that point. I have to say this--I'm impressed.

Demiurge Studio clearly knows what they're doing when they handled this port. The first example of this is, they allow you to access the configuration options (video, sound, controls) before the game even starts. One pet peeve of mine about some PC games is that they'll load up and play some videos before you've had a chance to adjust video settings. Heck, there are some games out there that wont allow you to adjust video settings until the game actually begins playing--annoying! (Ex:WoW)

I fired up the configuration menu, and at first run, it will automatically analyzes your machine and will recommend some settings for you. Here are my machine specs:

- Q6600 (OC @ 3Ghz)
- 4GB DDR2
- 8800GT 512MB

It maxed out all the settings but recommened some odd resolution of 1430x1020 (my native is 1680x1050). I adjusted the resolution to 1680x1050 and fired up the game.

It was immediately obvious to me that the games translation doesnt suffer from console-itis. Navigation of the menus (during gameplay as well) with the mouse felt very natural and not tacked on. All hints that this use to be a console game has been erased. Buttons and menus had been adjusted accordingly to make sense in a PC environment. This makes me very very happy.

I made my protagonist look as mean as possible and launched the game. I could hardly wait to see how this game looked and ran on my PC. After a few cutscenes I was given control and...the game looks and feels amazing. Running around, chatting and examining things immediately felt very natural and good with the KB and mouse. I didnt have a frame counter up, but from my experience I was definitely getting way above 30 FPS. I cannot stress to you how great this game looks at max settings at a high frame rate.

I cannot wait to beat this game for a 3rd time.

 

[jonks]

Originally posted by: warcrow
So, I got the game yesterday(via the EA Downloader, took 2 hours to DL it at 1.1MB/Sec. Zero issues with the DL and installation--I'm very pleased). I didnt even get a chance to play it past the first 10 minutes because we had a dinner party last night and people were arriving at that point. I have to say this--I'm impressed.

Demiurge Studio clearly knows what they're doing when they handled this port. The first example of this is, they allow you to access the configuration options (video, sound, controls) before the game even starts. One pet peeve of mine about some PC games is that they'll load up and play some videos before you've had a chance to adjust video settings. Heck, there are some games out there that wont allow you to adjust video settings until the game actually begins playing--annoying! (Ex:WoW)

I fired up the configuration menu, and at first run, it will automatically analyzes your machine and recommends some settings for you. Here are my machine specs:

- Q6600 (OC @ 3Ghz)
- 4GB DDR2
- 8800GT 512MB

It maxed out all the settings but recommened some odd resolution of 1430x1020 (my native is 1680x1050). I adjusted the resolution to 1680x1050 and fired up the game.

It was immediately obvious to me that the games translation doesnt suffer from console-itis. Navigation of the menus (during gameplay as well) with the mouse felt very natural and not tacked on. All hints that this use to be a console game has been erased. Buttons and menus had been adjusted accordingly to make sense in a PC environment. This makes me very very happy.

I made my protagonist look as mean as possible and launched the game. I could hardly wait to see how this game looked and ran on my PC. After a few cutscenes I was given control and...the game looks and feels amazing. Running around, chatting and examining things immediately felt very natural and good with the KB and mouse. I didnt have a frame counter up, but from my experience I was definitely getting way above 30 FPS. I cannot stress to you have great this game looks at max settings at a high frame rate.

I cannot wait to beat this game for a 3rd time.

Nice, thanks for the mini rev. Looking forward to getting to this.

 

[Drift3r]

Originally posted by: AMDZen

Originally posted by: Drift3r

Just re-posting my view on the game which I had put up in another thread.

I bought the D2D version (I hate having cd's/dvd's in my drive) of the game and it works fine on my rig. The game is a freaking blast on par with KOTOR in terms of RPG goodness. I am glad EA/Bioware waited to get it done right. The duologue system is pretty awesome. If you are fast enough in your selections the conversations seem almost seamless. The controls are also pretty damn nice. I love how you can duck behind cover and then lean out to shoot bad guys.

Are there any disadvantages to buying D2D? I thought I read somewhere that you can't use mods or something? I think it was Oblivion, I read that mods didn't work unless you had the retail copy and I also think I read somewhere that updates were different for the D2D versions.

Are these true?

You can use mods with D2D versions and yes that includes Oblivion. Here is a list of all the games I've purchased off D2D and they all work fine no problems.

Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer
Mass Effect
Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
Supreme Commander Forged Alliance
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Knights of the Nine Downloadable Content Collection
The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
World in Conflict(TM)
Civilization IV Warlords
Civilization 4
Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword
Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms
Company of Heroes
WarHammer: Mark of Chaos
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Winter Assault
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
Medieval II: Total War
Titan Quest
Titan Quest: Immortal Throne
Supreme Commander
Heroes of Might and Magic 5
City of Villains
Neverwinter Nights 2
Hoyle Poker Series
Thief: Deadly Shadows
Civilization 4
Lineage II
City of Heroes
Eve Online: The Second Genesis

 

[mindcycle]

The game has been cracked already.. Good news for those of us (like me) who bought the game and don't want to uninstall applications just to get it to work.

Read the support doc below for info on all that..
http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/..._adp.php?p_faqid=14673

Maybe they'll wake up and realize that no matter what DRM they put on the game, it WILL be cracked, so it would make more sense to just ditch it all together.. Wishful thinking, I know..

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: mindcycle
The game has been cracked already.. Good news for those of us (like me) who bought the game and don't want to uninstall applications just to get it to work.

Read the support doc below for info on all that..
http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/..._adp.php?p_faqid=14673

Maybe they'll wake up and realize that no matter what DRM they put on the game, it WILL be cracked, so it would make more sense to just ditch it all together.. Wishful thinking, I know..

That took all of one day .
EA must feel vindicated .

 

[mindcycle]

Originally posted by: Modelworks

That took all of one day .
EA must feel vindicated .

Haha, yeah. ..and with all the negative press and people canceling their pre-orders because of the DRM.

Retarded.

 

[pontifex]

so if i didn't really care for KOTOR, i should skip this game?

 

[RS8]

I finally bought the game, I come home and I see the torrent lol. Good stuff. They'll probably get around to releasing the DLC stuff as well.

In re: to uninstalling stuff, people still have it working even with the apps installed. I only have to worry about Daemon if a problem pops up.

 

[AMDZen]

Originally posted by: mindcycle
The game has been cracked already.. Good news for those of us (like me) who bought the game and don't want to uninstall applications just to get it to work.

Read the support doc below for info on all that..
http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/..._adp.php?p_faqid=14673

Maybe they'll wake up and realize that no matter what DRM they put on the game, it WILL be cracked, so it would make more sense to just ditch it all together.. Wishful thinking, I know..

Yep, so much for their super hardcore DRM. Cracked about 4 hours ago

 

[AMDZen]

Originally posted by: pontifex
so if i didn't really care for KOTOR, i should skip this game?

Pretty much. Although I've yet to meet an RPG fan that didn't like KoTOR. In fact I've yet to meet one that didn't think KoTOR was one of the best RPG's ever made

 

[mindcycle]

Originally posted by: RS8
In re: to uninstalling stuff, people still have it working even with the apps installed. I only have to worry about Daemon if a problem pops up.

Ok good. I don't want to have to uninstall Alcohol 120% as I use it for burning.

..i'll probably just crack it anyway once my copy shows up from gogamer. Just in case. I wish I didn't have to say that, but.. F these lame DRM schemes that obviously don't work.

 

[RS8]

I know uninstalling A120% is a pain lol, I never bothered with it much unless I had to... so I stuck with Nero and Decrypter/imgburn instead.

As PC games and apps go, what works for one person might not work for you. YMMV on 120% and whatever else is reported on the bioware forums.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: AMDZen

Originally posted by: pontifex
so if i didn't really care for KOTOR, i should skip this game?

Pretty much. Although I've yet to meet an RPG fan that didn't like KoTOR. In fact I've yet to meet one that didn't think KoTOR was one of the best RPG's ever made

i've never played KOTOR

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon
i've never played KOTOR

Abandon what you are doing and go to the nearest PC game distributer and acquire a copy.

It does not matter how far the distributer is from you, you must go...

Make some coffee and after you have patched the game, play it.

 

[fallenangel99]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon
i've never played KOTOR

Abandon what you are doing and go to the nearest PC game distributer and acquire a copy.

It does not matter how far the distributer is from you, you must go...

Make some coffee and after you have patched the game, play it.

I have Witcher, Oblivion GOTY. I want to get into RPGs (casually)

Should I try to get KOTOR 1 or 2 or stick with the above games first?

 

[StevenYoo]

Originally posted by: fallenangel99

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon
i've never played KOTOR

Abandon what you are doing and go to the nearest PC game distributer and acquire a copy.

It does not matter how far the distributer is from you, you must go...

Make some coffee and after you have patched the game, play it.

I have Witcher, Oblivion GOTY. I want to get into RPGs (casually)

Should I try to get KOTOR 1 or 2 or stick with the above games first?

holy freakin cow, drop everything and play KOTOR 1!

I only played a bit of KOTOR 2 and I just couldn't get into it, oh well

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: fallenangel99
I have Witcher, Oblivion GOTY. I want to get into RPGs (casually)

Should I try to get KOTOR 1 or 2 or stick with the above games first?

What are you coming from? If you are coming from RTS games or third person shooters with stats like Diablo 2, then I suggest the IceWind Dale series and then the Baldurs Gate series (on the PC).

If you are coming from FPShooters, then try Dues Ex 1 then Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines (both are on steam, if you play Vampire: TMB (do not confuse it with the other Masquerade game) then make sure you have the last official patch installed and one of the latest unofficial community made patches as well. It was shipped buggy and Activision downsized the developer before they could finish it properly).


FWIW, Oblivion has almost nothing in common with KotoR.

I have never played Mass Effect, The Witcher or KotoR 2, so I will not comment on those.

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: fallenangel99

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon
i've never played KOTOR

Abandon what you are doing and go to the nearest PC game distributer and acquire a copy.

It does not matter how far the distributer is from you, you must go...

Make some coffee and after you have patched the game, play it.

I have Witcher, Oblivion GOTY. I want to get into RPGs (casually)

Should I try to get KOTOR 1 or 2 or stick with the above games first?

Dude, get KOTOR1 ASAP. It really is a great game. I am not even a huge star wars fan and I loved the game.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: Excelsior

Originally posted by: fallenangel99

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon
i've never played KOTOR

Abandon what you are doing and go to the nearest PC game distributer and acquire a copy.

It does not matter how far the distributer is from you, you must go...

Make some coffee and after you have patched the game, play it.

I have Witcher, Oblivion GOTY. I want to get into RPGs (casually)

Should I try to get KOTOR 1 or 2 or stick with the above games first?

Dude, get KOTOR1 ASAP. It really is a great game. I am not even a huge star wars fan and I loved the game.

My RPG recomendations are Planescape Torment(very old game but classic),KOTOR,The Witcher and Arx Fatalis,as to KOTOR2 its not a bad game and worth buying if you liked the first one,just remember KOTOR2 is not as good as KOTOR IMHO.

 

[fallenangel99]

Thanks guys. I'll try to purchase KOTOR 1. So far, Walmart is the only retailer that has KOTOR 2, I'll scour ebay for KOTOR 1.