Mass Effect 3

[kotora]

Fallout 3 has more RPG elements than Mass Effect, especially the second which went even farther down the TPS road.

[DMKA]

So is Mass Effect an RPG or is it an FPS that everyone likes to call an RPG like Fallout 3?

Well, for a start, I'm pretty sure it's a third person shooter rather than first person shooter. You'll spend a lot of time talking and walking around rather than shooting. I'd say it's more RPG than any Tomb Raider game, easily, and I wouldn't call them standard third person shooters either. But yeah, 50/50. I can't say I've played Fallout 3, mind you.

Ah cool. Does it have an actual intriguing plot or just a "here's a sad excuse for a story we pulled out of our ass for the sake of a few cutscenes to continue the shooting along" plot? Also is there an actual main character or is it one of those "you are the character now make your own character who will say little to nothing the entire game" deals?

I'm honestly really interested but I can't find these answers anywhere.

[Vyk]

Customizable stat progression, lots of character interaction, boat loads of equipment upgrades, and a 30+ hour story. Sounds like an RPG to me. I think maybe the reason people don't want to consider them RPGs is they have a tough time swallowing the genre blending, and want shooter games to stay in their own genre. But if its not an RPG, its definitely doing a good job imitating the mechanics

Edit: It has a long plot, which I found intriguing. It pulled inspiration from old sci-fi shows. Back-alley interrogations reminded me of Blade Runner and stuff. There's a few mysteries to solve, and a chase to the end. There's a lot of action, but depending on how you progress, you could get more out of the plot than the fun shooting and killing stuff

You can design your own character to a degree, though there is a default, and they have a last name, which everyone in the game refers to you by. "Commander Shephard". Which allows them to BE addressed, no matter your gender or anything. And your character is as much a character in the story as anyone else. Easily as talkative as any other character. He has his own personality, but you get to decide what parts he shows the world. You can choose to be an asshole, or try to be a nice guy. But its all Commander Shephard. Not sure if I'm explaining it properly, but yeah

[kotora]

Bioware set themselves at the top of the industry with the way cutscenes/conversations are handled in this game. Atm there's no game that handles them more immersive than Mass Effect does. They're an example for the rest to follow, especially them japanese, who are still stuck in the SNES era when it comes to this kind of stuff, could learn a thing or two from them. One can only hope Bioware will continue their good work.

[Jessweeee♪]

You can customize everything but your surname. You're always "Shepard" so cutscenes don't get awkward with those "you"s and "that guy"s that you normally get with customized players. However Shepard is fully voiced and has plenty of personality. A lot of personality, depending on the dialog options you pick. Whether you're the nicest person in the world or a total dick, at the core Shepard still has his/her own personality. It's nice, because Shepard feels as real as the rest of the cast, unlike a lot of self-insert hero games.

Here's a short spoiler free cutscene if you want to see it at work. But uh, don't look at the titles of the related videos if you want to avoid spoilers. (Catfight! Language is NSFW)

YouTube - Mass Effect 2 - Loyalty Conflict Cutscene (Miranda vs. Jack)


Personally I find male Shepard's voice to sound a bit bland every now and then, but female Shepard is great. As for the plot, I only played Mass Effect 2 and I found it fascinating. However FFXIII is one of my favorite games, so you might not value my opinion on that. The ending is what makes the game if you ask me.


EDIT:

Also, if anyone is interested but was not aware, Bioware is doing the same thing in Dragon Age 2. You'll be playing "Hawke" and there will be a dialog wheel just like Mass Effect's, but with some sort of indication as to how the line will be delivered. Which is nice, because in Mass Effect there was the occasional option that came out more flirty than I intended. Not very original, but it's better than what they had in the first Dragon Age

[kotora]

Yeah, Dragon Age used the same old system they had in Kotor which was really a step back. Then again all of Dragon Age felt like a medieval themed mod for Mass Effect made by fans.

[Vyk]

Yeah but in those games, what you chose to say, was actually what you did say. In Mass Effect, since you have that wheel in the middle, you're given a paraphrased statement to choose from, since there's not enough room around the wheel for whole sentences. Then you end up choosing a sarcastic statement seriously and end up sounding like an asshole when you didn't intend to. I like that they're planning on adding an emotional guide to the wheel, so it tells you how each statement is meant to sound. But I still prefer choosing the actual response than guessing how he'll actually say what I chose

[kotora]

I liked it because reading the entire things first and then having to hear it is kinda tedious and would take up a lot of space on the screen. The paraphrased statements are usually pretty accurate about what he's gonna say.

plus I always sound like an asshole anyway

[Jessweeee♪]

For the most part the "mean" responses are at the bottom and the "nice" ones are at the top, so most of the time I only slip up when I choose something like "tell me about yourself" and Shepard is like "I like you tell me more you sexy sexy man wink wink."

[DMKA]

Holy cow those are some hideous characters.

Can you alter their appearances?

[Jessweeee♪]

Just Shepard. I find the defaults look best. She always comes up kind of ugly when I customize her. Your team mates have alternate costumes you can unlock if you do their optional loyalty missions, but they aren't that different from the original (except for Jack, she actually has clothes instead of that weird strap across her nipples.)

[DMKA]

Just Shepard. I find the defaults look best. She always comes up kind of ugly when I customize her. Your team mates have alternate costumes you can unlock if you do their optional loyalty missions, but they aren't that different from the original (except for Jack, she actually has clothes instead of that weird strap across her nipples.)

Ah. Oh well, I still want to try it out. I played Baten Kaitos with no problem and it's characters were a million times uglier.

[Vyk]

Talk of RPGs with ugly-ass characters always makes me think of Beyond the Beyond xD and wow, I never realized they designated the "mean" comments to the bottom. Sometimes it was left and right, when it was blatant Paragon/Renegade answers, which were also designated in blue and red. But those were obvious. Guess I shoulda paid better attention. And the models mostly only look ugly in certain lightings. A lot of the game itself is played in areas where its not so bad. But it still crops up now and again. I'd say Ashley looks better than any chick in Oblivion :}

And I guess the tedium of choosing to hear a phrase I just read was padded by the fact that an entire conversation usually resulted along the lines of the original statement. So instead of choosing a line, I was directing the conversation towards a scene. Though now that you mention it, the games that let you choose whole sentences always had mute main characters. So they probably had your complaint in mind when they made the paraphrased wheel

[Mirage]

Holy cow those are some hideous characters.

Can you alter their appearances?

That video's got a horrible looking shepard, and it makes sense that Jack looks like she does, considering her back story. It is also impossible to make an all right looking female shepard. The default is the "best", but default shepard looks better from an objective standpoint. I just don't choose him because he doesn't have tits.

It's also too bad you can't get Liara on your team in ME2, she is pretty hot. You get an asari in ME2 too, but she's like 800 years old and looks like an old hag.

[kotora]

I found it impossible to make a normal good looking Shepard, whether male or female

best alternative is to make them look azn