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Dec 11, 2009, 9:33pm

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Topic: Fire it up (Read 150 times)

Quiburg
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Fire it up
« Thread Started on Mar 16, 2008, 4:36pm »

Hey all, there's been a long stretch of forum inactivity but that's gonna change.

Thought I'd spark up a thread to see what everyone's playing at the mo, maybe throw some recommendations around.

This probably needs it's own thread but I've just finished my first playthrough on Mass Effect - I'm pretty wowed by the whole experience, not necessarily the 'game' part of it, but as a piece of entertainment it's near impervious to critisism for me. Of course, I'm discounting the obvious flaws in the actual gameplay but as a piece of science-fiction I'm genuinely impressed - even though on the surface it appears little more than a pulpy imitation of Star Wars, the sheer weight and quality of some of the Codex entries are a worthwhile time investment and go a long way to negating some of the more comical elements to the fiction. I'd go as far as to say it's the most comprehensive sci-fi universe in a videogame to date - not bad for a debut title!

So what's everyone else playing at the mo?

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Re: Fire it up
« Reply #1 on Mar 23, 2008, 5:29pm »

I'm no authority on Mass Effect but allow me to turn this into a pick-up game none the less... it was precisely the hackneyed universe BioWare established that threw me off after my initial break-in period (say four hours at the most). The blandness of the characterisation and the uninspired scenery - with the one exception of the flight-deck - didn't warrant the investment of a full play-through. To set a single-player game with all the trappings of an MMO in a world void of excitement and originality - well established and comprehensive as it may be - was a ghastly move.
The (semi)realtime combat did little to ease the tension with neither the depth of a turn-based system nor the intricacies of a dedicated shooter, the combat - and the package itself - all seemed rather middle-of-the-road. The rumour of a trilogy does little to scintillate.
Which brings us to an interesting topic: the sequel fever that seems to bubbling under the foreheads of execs all over the industry. Discuss.

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Re: Fire it up
« Reply #2 on Mar 24, 2008, 5:28pm »

Agreed, the scenery in the opening hours of the game is a little spartan - more akin to Trek than Wars - and while reading the prequel novel many of the environments were better re-created in my mind's eye than actually appeared in the game.
I purposfully avoided the obvious critisisms in my original post, but saying the universe is void of anything likeable is something of a mystery to me and either reflects on you not peeling back any narrative layers or simply boils down to personal taste.
Although the overarching narrative is borrowed, there are intricacies to the interrelations between races and individuals that keep the universe interesting and exciting.
In addition, the only similarity to the MMO genre I can find are perhaps the side-quests to other worlds, which are typically bland and serve only to empower the player i.e. grinding.
Mass Effect is indeed penned out as a trilogy and the second game in the series is well into its development. If you don't like the universe then there's little to tantalise you back other than the liklihood of a panolpy of gameplay issues getting redesigned (something already hinted at in the Bringing Down the Sky content recently released via Live).

Sequels have been apparent since the industry became commercially viable, they make money, they're a good business decision.
There aren't enough original IP's around, and the barrage of the likes of Tom Clancy sequels/rehashes isn't helping, especially considering how well they sell. But it's not all bad, some IP's are worth revisiting and have a lot to offer.

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Re: Fire it up
« Reply #3 on Mar 24, 2008, 8:38pm »

I'll concede that the Mass Effect narrative wasn't sliced enough on the chopping board of my brain, but that brings us onto an interesting discussion about narrative differences in linear and non-linear titles. Mass Effect and titles like it (-yep MMOs can be inserted here) allow the player to craft their own protagonist and heroes journey. This is something daunting for a player like myself reared on single-player adventures were moral decisions are pre-ordained and it's something that typifies how unique the videogame medium is in respect to any other art form.

Watch out for the curve-ball I'm sending here: Is the lack of a clear heroes journey in titles like Mass Effect genuine avant garde experimentation and the key to sandbox-freedom or is it a placebo in modern titles? I distinctly recall the title Republic being touted as the revisionist title of the freeform play age. It wasn't. Then they told us GTA was...

One of the points I'm making here is that it's been nigh on ten years since the sandbox model came to full fruition, but the sandbox has been very much restricted to the gameplay - not the narrative - mechanics. What's the next move for the narrative sandbox? And don't say "light" and "dark" endings...

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