[aries323]

Not rumours in any way, but some news about Mass Effect.

There's a nice interview with Ray & Greg + Casey Hudson at Gamespot.com

Here's the link

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/rpg/...om_clk=topslot

Even better news is is that finally, the good doctors + Casey Hudson talk about some of the rpg elements in Mass Effect, the choices & consequences that all leads to different endings and such things.

On a lighter note, there is a new extended video up on gamespot, who apparently ends with a romantic scene between -- well -- you should see it for yourself.

And finally, the ESRB has rated Mass Effect as a Mature game, due to partial nudity which in this instance mean 1) there's some women wearing thong underwear in bar (which mean you can see their buttocks) and 2) there's 1-2 discrete love (or sex) scenes in Mass Effect in which you (maybe) see silhouetted dimmed breasts.

As the PEGI's boards guidelines for 16+ ratings clearly states that naked butts and breasts are not to taken for (partial nudity) as are pictures of woman breastfeeding etc. then we can hope that the PEGI rating will be 16+.

[Fop]

Oh my god, this game will pervert the youngins! No one should learn the general shape of a breast until they are allowed to drink!

[Spiwak]

Originally Posted by aries323

On a lighter note, there is a new extended video up on gamespot, who apparently ends with a romantic scene between -- well -- you should see it for yourself.

Two consenting humans?

[aries323]

Originally Posted by Fop

Oh my god, this game will pervert the youngins! No one should learn the general shape of a breast until they are allowed to drink!

Yes, is is sort of interesting --- let's just stay at that word -- to see how the ESRB reacts to the the (female) breasts in Mass Effect, even if it is shown in a dimmed silhouetted profiled way.

My guess is that you can see one dimmed breast in a silhuette profile after two consenting adults have well - made discrete tender love - and the women is lying in bed, possible looking out on either us or up at the man she's with - in the bed.

Even more interesting is it to see how the ESRB reacts to women in thongs (in bars). Nothing you can't see on any beach in Europe...and in many places in the US, too.

The ESRB also gave the Mature rating for Blood & violence, although I fail to see why it did so. There's nothing in the extended trailer (can be found at gamespot.com) for Mass Effect that I would deem warranted a blood & violence descripion. (spoiler warning)

Spoiler:

OK, there is some violence and some blood, but mostly it is animated violence. The trailer just shows you Shepard driving the MAKO, shooting some Geth, and a council meeting in which Shepard get his mission.The hefty embrace between the two consenting adults is maybe 2-3 seconds long.

It does show the choice to have a love affair, a romance, but as far what people do in romances, it really doesn't add anything to that. Unless maybe being the first RPG(ish) game to add such a scene...

[Spiwak]

If silhouetted boobs and thongs are enough for a Mature rating, then God help our depraved souls.

I think the violence is probably where it really hit, as many parents think visceral violence where you're controlling the killing (I suppose over the shoulder is close enough to first-person) is the worst kind of violence.

[TiAgUh]

read this please - http://www.destructoid.com/pax-2007-...phtml#comments

[insane_cobra]

Originally Posted by TiAgUh

read this please - http://www.destructoid.com/pax-2007-...phtml#comments

I did earlier today and it's the most ridiculous thing I've read in ages. It goes against what everyone else has been saying about the game. Not to mention that he says Mass Effect has generic FPS gameplay when in fact it's a RPG with TPS combat - no FPS elements in sight whatsoever. He also says the voice acting and facial animations are bad, which everyone who's seen any of Mass Effect's dialogue videos knows is completely untrue.

Don't click on the link, they probably wrote the article just to stir the controversy and get themselves some hits. Here it is in its entirety:

Watching the first 20 minutes of Mass Effect played by a cute BioWare representative, I couldn't help but be reminded of a ventriloquist I saw on America's Got Talent a few nights ago. Why I happened to be watching America's Got Talent is none of your business, but let it be known that I wasn't happy about it.

Now, the thing about Mass Effect is that it seemed, more or less, like a ventriloquist's dummy. Of course, it was a very nice-modeled, well-rendered dummy with nice textures, but nothing more. The game, much like Pinocchio, lacks life.


The gameplay looks like your standard FPS fare, which is to say that I didn't see anything great or remarkable. There's a variety of weapons and abilities to use, but my pants didn't get wet or tight because of them. Gameplay is kind of hard to judge without an actual controller in your hands, so I'm going to reserve judgment on that.


Where the presentation really fell short, however, is in the emotionless voice acting and subpar facial animations. Not only did the conversation lack the natural ebb and flow to which we were all looking forward, but it was as if the voice actor's took commas, question marks, and exclamations points out of their repertoire. The dialogue has about as much emotional engagement as a grocery list. Even worse, the facial animations match the shoddy voice acting: the mouths move, and that's about it. It'd be great for a Joan Rivers botox sim, but it doesn't really make for a compelling video game.


At worst, Mass Effect is disappointing. The best reaction I've heard all day was this: "It wasn't that bad, just more of the same." If "not that bad" is all you've got going for you ...


Ho hum

[aries323]

Last night at 2.45 AM in Denmark, Bioware was showing Mass Effect at PAX in San Francisco. Here's a link to the Bioware's ME forum's thread about this:

http://masseffect.bioware.com/forums...1720&forum=104

Also, here's the footage on gamespot

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/rpg/...en;all;title;7

You'll need to go to the last 15 minutes of so of the show, but it's the best 15minutes of the show anyway

You might be able to find these 15 minutes or so on gametrailers or perhaps even on youtube.

[Melanie68]

To be quite honest, I have no idea what this game is about (and haven't been looking at screenshots or anything). I did find this comic very funny though.

[Ninja Dodo]

While I think the game looks interesting - mostly for its dialogue system - I have to agree the facial animation is lacking. From what I know they're using a lot of mocap and my guess is they're using it on the faces too either with the shiny dots or image capture. Some would tell you that this yields very lifelike results but frankly I'm not convinced. It fails to capture any nuance and lacks the exaggeration, the distilling of the essence, that real animation has.

It's the difference between Polar Express and The Incredibles.

[TekPunk182]

Originally Posted by Ninja Dodo

While I think the game looks interesting - mostly for its dialogue system - I have to agree the facial animation is lacking. From what I know they're using a lot of mocap and my guess is they're using it on the faces too either with the shiny dots or image capture. Some would tell you that this yields very lifelike results but frankly I'm not convinced. It fails to capture any nuance and lacks the exaggeration, the distilling of the essence, that real animation has.

It's the difference between Polar Express and The Incredibles.

All of the in-game footage is completely in-engine. The character you create is your own, so if they want to have him (or her!) represented in a scene, they have to do it this way.

What I have seen looks great, from the conversation system to the non-twitch combat, to the story that Bioware is sure to deliver (yes, I read the novel). I, for one, am looking forward to this game VERY eagerly.

[aries323]

On the Bioware forums and on other web-sites aong the internet, people are really getting excited, both in a negative or a positive way, over the prospect
or possibility that you can get a little 'girl on girl action' if you choose to play as the female Shepard aka Jane Shepard.

I have tried to tone down this aspect and try explain that you won't see any 'porn-like' girl on girl action in this game. But yes, you can choose to romance Liara, an asari woman. If you decide to romance say Ashley, I think instead you might see a female nude breast in very brief and discreet love (or sex) scene. For this reason and for the moderate violence, the BBFC did rate Mass Effect 12+, while the USK in Germany gave an age rating of 16+ to Mass Effect. [Myself, I don't see any moderate violence in Mass Effect - especially if you choose the ruthless option during character creation...].

On the Bioware forums and also on other sites on the internet, there is a big discussion about whether or not the asari women are 'women' or 'female' - at least in our sense of the word. The asari women can be perceived as an all 'female' race, at least from a human point of view, but will they themselves perceive them as females, when their culture doesn't seem to have any (understanding of the) gender concept at all ?

[samIamsad]

Bioware has become pretty damn formulaic. Once the possibilty of engaging a romance was a means to enhance character interaction, now it's a goddamn feature (ROMANCE!™) printed onto the back of a box. It's that horrible, yes. I'd be surprised if you won't be able to choose between some clear-cut GOOD™ and EVIL™ path along the ride.

Again.

[Catbert]

^ That. It's a nice addition, but limited as hell, and you also get the feeling it's there because it's treated with a little (just a little) sensibility to let nerds think they could score for real if they acted like that in real life. EXPLOITATION OMG

[aries323]

Originally Posted by Catbert

^ That. It's a nice addition, but limited as hell, and you also get the feeling it's there because it's treated with a little (just a little) sensibility to let nerds think they could score for real if they acted like that in real life. EXPLOITATION OMG

No, it't not. It is tthere because Bioware realizes that a lot of women play videogames And it is the women on the bioware boards&forums who have been much vocal about the possibilities of a romance with say Kaidan or Liara.

If you look at the Dragon Age forum as well as the Mass Effect forum, you will see that some men & some women also wants same-sex romances in Mass Effect and Dragon Age.

If you don't want to do the romances in either Mass Effect or Dragon Age, then just down fo to that road...

[Fop]

It'd be nice if they made the female character a bit more worthwhile than just something you can choose if you want to check out some softcore lesbian porn and see a nice ass almost constantly on the screen for the 40 hour duration of the game.

[Spiwak]

What more do you need?

[aries323]

Spoiler links ahead, click at your own risk.

In this thread

http://masseffect.bioware.com/forums...orum=104&sp=15

over at the bioware forums we talked about

Spoiler:

Krogans, the mission, a certain phage and wrex's reaction to it all.

(it is sortof spoilerisk so click on the link at your own risk)

The link that is mentioned in this thread has direct link

http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2007/...ad-e3-buzzing/

WARNING:
THIS LINK IS A BIG SPOILER ABOUT

Spoiler:

SAREN, WREX

AND -ehm- some other stuff. View at your RISK.

I just have to say that after seeing & watching this short preview video from MTV, my doubts about Bioware making a full fledged RPG with realistic choices has been blown away - (figuratively off course).

Spoiler:

The choice you're about to make in this scene could have ramifications throughout the game, and it seemed to be made within the 1½-2 hours of the game.

This game is not Halo 3, not is it an FPS-game. It is full fledged rpg game in which you make choices, choices that often have serious and dramatic consequences.

If you have been paying attention in class, ehn, in Mass Effect's previews,

Spoiler:

the choice you're about to make shouldn't really come as a surprise to you.
All I can say is this: It is a tough call to make --- and the one choice seems as impossible as the other e.g. bad or worse...

edit:

for those of you who can't see the video at MTV, here is a link to it on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMRi8tYYnEs


/aries323

[Fop]

How about using the spoiler tags?

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Character spotlight part 2 HD (10/5)

Selected in-game cutscenes (notice the voice work of Marina Sirtis, who had played Counselor Troy in the Star Trek TV series).

Combat gameplay HD (9/17)