Shaselai's game reviews....

[Alucard]

Actually yes, I've been doing a lot of the side quests, which I label as PISS POOR in the field of side quests, only because friends told me exploring the random planets was so much fun. I think a needle through the eye would be more fun then this crap. No surprise they got rid of it for the second game.

[darren]

have you really only just started to play mass effect?

[shaselai]

Originally Posted by memory to zack

About the vehicle, equipment and player control I agree as well. About Shepard, I prefer Jennifer Hale (female Shepard) over Mark Meer (male Shepard). Male Shepard sounds a bit ridiculous as Paragon, Renegade suits him better.
You didn't do any extra quests I suppose? Good, because it would involve more Mako and the same 'dungeon' design over and over.

ME2 gets rid of the inventory system and Mako.

the main char (shepherd) is a punk imo. the paragon/renegade thing is OK but if you still have the decide you want to be a paragon on the THIRD GAME then it is a serious flaw - storywise after 4+ years you still dont know if you want to be good/bad and can seemingly switch on the fly?

also i loved the inventory system - what they did now seems like a cop out more than anything else. Too many restrictions imo in this game - they are simplifying things too much

[Alucard]

Originally Posted by darren316

have you really only just started to play mass effect?

Yeah. And I got hassled into playing it now instead of a little later like I planned. Playing console and pc games both sort of screws me. I make a list of games I want to play and play them as I get them. Rarely do I drop everything to play the latest greatest. I'll get to it sooner or later. I'm kicking myself for letting me break my rule by playing this THING early. I've got better games in the lineup to finish. I see mass effect as a waste of time over all.

[memory to zack]

Originally Posted by shaselai

the main char (shepherd) is a punk imo. the paragon/renegade thing is OK but if you still have the decide you want to be a paragon on the THIRD GAME then it is a serious flaw - storywise after 4+ years you still dont know if you want to be good/bad and can seemingly switch on the fly?

also i loved the inventory system - what they did now seems like a cop out more than anything else. Too many restrictions imo in this game - they are simplifying things too much

The problem was that if you weren't reselling inventory often, you would get filled with duplicates of the same weapons and upgrades. You'd reach easily max money and buy everything so easily.

That's why I play my femshep full paragon, my maleshep full renegade. That way main char has a 'sane' personality throughout the three games.

[shaselai]

Originally Posted by memory to zack

The problem was that if you weren't reselling inventory often, you would get filled with duplicates of the same weapons and upgrades. You'd reach easily max money and buy everything so easily.

That's why I play my femshep full paragon, my maleshep full renegade. That way main char has a 'sane' personality throughout the three games.

thats why i think they skipped out on improving the inventory system. You cant customize your companion's armor at all - they get a couple of upgrades but nothing superficial. Also the weapon selection is so much fewer than the original's. This game also doesnt give you any way to make more money so you wont be able to buy everything available. Plus they made the skills really lame - instead of customizing your weapons like before with ammo now ammo is a skill which is not very imaginative at all. And the fact that most of the classes are useless on higher difficulties (due to powers needing no armor etc.).

[Paper exe]

Originally Posted by Alucard

Yeah. And I got hassled into playing it now instead of a little later like I planned. Playing console and pc games both sort of screws me. I make a list of games I want to play and play them as I get them. Rarely do I drop everything to play the latest greatest. I'll get to it sooner or later. I'm kicking myself for letting me break my rule by playing this THING early. I've got better games in the lineup to finish. I see mass effect as a waste of time over all.

Almost going to mention that. You break your rule! lol
I am retarded too you know. I started Dragon Age before neverwinter night. I cannot stop playing it but still feel bad for not starting the older game first.

OMG I just figured out. I'll play them both on the same time. That with Tales of Abyss, Crono Trigger (first time playing it) Monster Hunter 2G and...wait! I am supposed t beat Tales of Eternia before starting Abyss!! I'll play that too. Only one week left must beat them all. Must not fail.

Well excuse me for now I am off starting Neverwinter Night.

[shaselai]

playing white knight chronicles/bioshock 2 currently... wkc is OK and when i play i cant wait for the game to be over....

[shaselai]

oh yeah any suggestions on making future reviews? maybe include sub sections like the good, the bad etc?

[Alucard]

Actually good idea.

[shaselai]

White knight chronicles PS3

Story- 8
the plot is the kingdom of Balandor has been invaded and a kid(Leonard) activates an ancient relic by accident and became the White Knight. The princess got kidnapped and Leonard embarked on a crusade to rescue her - typical horny teen.

good:
Since this game is supposed to be a trilogy there is quite a bit of story in it and there are lots of loose ends so it is pretty good. The story is not too predictable and there are some decent surprises.

bad:
the story is very cliched. This game has a lot of obvious betrayals especially the camera always focuses on the person making evil grins. Some "named characters" never got explored much and some scenes doesnt make a lot of sense (it is a trilogy though)


Graphics - 9
Good:

I think the graphics is very good. The world is HUGE and the scenery are very well done. The characters are done well too - a lot of different races and interesting folks all over. the knights and the enemies are pretty nice looking as well.

Bad:
Sometimes when the characters speak their lips dont move or dont match well with what they are saying. Also, the monster collection could be a little bigger- some monsters are redone with diff color or minor changes like the difference between the boar and the jackal is the boar has tusks...




Sound - 9
Good:
voice acting is overall very good. music is very good as well - a decent variety of soundtracks for bosses, towns etc.

Bad:
combat battle is the same so it gets old after a while...


Gameplay - 8
There are 8 "skill trees" where it corresponds to weapons and magic. Most characters have 6 trees he/she can use. Each tree you can learn new attacks to use. Most attacks uses action points and you accrue them by attacking and/or taking damage. The combat is like FF12 but seems to be slower. You can chain attacks together provided you have enough AC. You can also turn into a knight by using AC as well - then you will stay as a knight until your MP is gone (all attack by knight uses MP) or enemies killed.

This game also has an avatar as a character - he is mostly used online but he is there in the party at all time. Your avatar can make his own virtual town and invite residents over to help you build - interesting feature. There are also quests you can partake (solo or online multi) to increase your guild ranking.


Good:
Lots of different weapon sets you can select per character like magic, axe,sword,spear etc. different variety of party settings.

Bad:
Ai is OK but not that great. the avatar is just there - no story involvement at all. The virtual town is a nice concept but needs too much grinding to make it worth it. The guild quests are nice BUT they are designed for multiplayer so if you have no friends you have to go "offline" solo and a quest with L8+ sugg suddenly becomes L16 difficulty because you are alone taking on what 3 people wouldve faced. It is unfortunate you can have party members for offline run.


overall:8.5
This is a trilogy so there's always room for improvement. the story is not bad although a bit cliched. The battle system needs a bit work but not horrible. I read the sequel your avatar will get his/her knight too so it might be interesting. I also hope the quests are more single player friendly than it is now.

[murray]

Graphics 9?

[shaselai]

yeah i think it is very good graphically.

[darren]

how comes so high compared to the gameranking average (69%) .. even rpgamer only gave it 2.5/5 and they are probebley the only people i trust when it comes to reviewing rpgs these days.

did you not have an issues with the bugs or interface issues people moaned about?

from whats been written about this else where this could be one of the biggest let downs of the years after the great first showing back in 06

how long did it take you to finish it? i've read 30 hours ish?

[Alucard]

I like your new format but I think you should merge the old style with the new. Do your reviews like you did before and at the end have a summary of your thoughts for good and bad.