I'm more like you, the whole idea is to win as many risk cards as possible to get the extra armies, amazing how many people don't seem to get that idea! My brother in law is one of those that just sits in a couple of areas with uber armies, it annoys the hell out of me!

Risk and a case of beer...sad, but one of my favorite pass times

I just wanted to say that I got this game when I bought my XBOX 360 a few months ago. It came with it. I've recently started playing it (because I'm bored of all my PC games) and it's actually REALLY good. Though the shooting parts seriously need a damned mouse. But yea, overall it's a really nice game. I'm definitely getting absorbed into it.

Gah...I've got 2 friends bugging me already that I need to buy a new pc and play Mass Effect ASAP. They want to talk to me about the game but can't cause I won't tolerate spoilers. Puts a serious strain on our friendship.

No but seriously, I want it even more now. Ghey.

I'm sure the pc version is even better. There are some graphical issues on the xbox that probably aren't there on the pc version. Most consolers probably wouldn't notice, but since I come from the high-end pc segment I do. :p

Anyway, yea, it's fun. Very similar to KOTOR. You have your self and several teammates... you pick 2 to go with you. Everyone levels and you equip weapons, armor, weapons upgrades and armor upgrades. And when you level you distribute points into the various powers. There're basically 3 "classes"... combat, electronics and biotics (some simplication) so you try to kinda balance the 3 person team and build up the skills accordingly.

I haven't figured out how to use ammo upgrades... though I guess I haven't read the instructions either. :p Still, it's a pretty good game. You can fly to all kinds of systems even without having any missions there and there's a bit of exploration. I think it's pretty much all voice acting as well.

Bleh, anyway, you should totally get it. You can build a decent gaming rig for only a few hundred dollars now. Especially if you're willing to gut your old box and reuse components like the case, optical drives and HD.

Yeah, I know it's not that expensive atm. But I really can't miss any cash right now (at the very least until the end of this month, but probably longer) and I want to build a powerhouse when I do so. I don't mean the latest of the latest with a 500-dollar GPU but definitely the high-end range.

Just to prepare myself for a wonderful gaming winter with a box that can handle almost all games at near max performance.


Just a question though: is the party 'dying' system the same as Kotor and NWN2? I.e. they don't 'die' but pass out and regain consciousness with 1 HP after the danger is over? Just wondering, had a discussion with a friend about the idea recently.

Basically he was pro (because it spares you the hassles of rezzing, having to run back to cities to pay for rez, etc etc) and I was con (breaks immersion, makes you care less about the wellbeing of your party members). In the first act of NWN2 I played I used party members as nothing more than bait and decoys, knowing they'd get up 20 seconds later anyway.

Ok, I sometimes did that in BG2 too But that's when I knew it was a good option (ie sending thief in to soak initial fireball blast because of his high reflex saves, etc). Or because I was trying to get Keldorn and Anomen chunked.

hah....yes... it has that mechanic as well. If your party members die, they drop to the ground. You get a skill that can combat-rez your party, too. Of course, if you bite it that's it... I wish there was an option to let your teammates clean everything up and rez you, but whatever.

Toward the beginning of the game, combat was pretty hard. My team got wiped out a LOT. Now that I'm approaching the end game it's rarely hard. I don't know how much of that is my improved skill and how much is just balance problems.

So if your main goes down you're done for? Even if party members are still up? That kinda sucks...I think in Kotor you could go on as long as one party member was still alive.

Anyway, thanks. Gonna play this regardless of the death system but still curious! As for the combat...is it 'realistic' that you're getting easier fights? Ie, the opposite of how realistic Oblivion's roving gangs ultra-rich deadric-wearing street robbers at higher levels? Is there a clear plot reason for you becoming uberpowerful or not really?

The set-piece battles that you encounter as you hit the end of the game are still challenging at times. For the most part, though, the guys that would totally own me go down in a half second of me pumping rounds into them with my high-end assault rifle. I did finally figure out how to apply ammo upgrades, so my lack of using ANY upgrades at the beginning may have caused some of my difficulty.

BTW, I finished the game yesterday. It's pretty good and the storyline is pretty epic. I'm not sure if I can play through it again... parts of it (mainly the side quests) get pretty repetitive... drop to planet in rover...blow stuff up and drive around, kill stuff, done.

I heard about some of the planets being pretty similar in process yeah. I'll try to minimize the time I spend on those.

Having a bad day. Went out drinking yesterday, then took the bus home and got off half way with my drunken ass. Walked for 45 minutes, then fell asleep in front of the TV. Woke up at 6, slept for another hour and then went to work...little crisis moment on the bus, you know the kind: cold sweat, pale, feeling like you're gonna faint/barf. Was over in 5 minutes but still, that shit ain't cool. If I were a wise man i'd stop drinking.

Can't wait for Mass Effect, in any case. What were you guys' backgrounds btw? I created a character on a friend's pc (Jean-Luc Shepard ) but never got farther than that.

heh....I was a soldier type, hero of whatever. I went mainly for the paragon style of play, specialized in assault rifles and sniper rifles. I used my other characters for bionic and tech powers. If I do decide to play again it'll probably be as a biotic.

Mass Effect 2 to be presented at the GDC in March

http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/static/ ... kDxEiW.php

Mass Effect 2 release date set for early next year


http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/static/ ... JRwCKH.php

ME2 teaser.

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/rpg/mas ... ailer?hd=1

heh...that trailer really doesn't give much of anything away, does it.

Well, it does show a Geth in Shepard's combat suit...which can still mean a gazillion things, really

Might be good to know that you can load your ME1 savegames into ME2...so I don't suspect Shepard will be very dead.