So, I recently got a 360, and have just now gotten around to playing one of the four games I deemed necessary: Mass Effect. My sister adores the game, telling me it was pretty much KOTOR with a bunch of Pew-Pew lazers thrown in. So, that's nice and all, but I can't help but feel like I'm missing something.
I played Bioware's Star Wars games, and they were at a rational level of difficulty, but I just keep dying in their spiritual sequel. Take, for example, one of the very first firefights, in which you have to shoot some dudes and dismantle a few atomic bombs. Subtle U2 refrences aside, I follow the instinct based in years of FPS games- make some distance and snipe the bastards. I die six times with this method, for god knows why. Then I say, "To hell with it," and take the direct, AKA ten feet away from the enemies' faces route, and the whole thing's a breeze.
This trend has continued in my few meager hours with Mass Effect- be at the right place at the right time or die- and I must say, I find it very disruptive to an otherwise beautiful and fun game. Considering past gaming experiences, I am awefully tempted to think that I am missing a simple, albeit vital factor in the game, so I am now asking yall, rather than immediately condemning it as poor design.

You really need to rely on the cover system in this game most of the time. This really is not a KOTOR-like game in terms of gameplay, as it's more along the line of an action game like Gears or Rainbow 6 Vegas really.

Also, do set up your buddies/AI companions in the proper spots to provide cover while you are trying to dismantle the bombs.

I suppose it depends on your character, really. I haven't played in almost a year (crap, gotta get back on that), but my main weapon was definitely the shotgun, so, in good gaming fashion (because a shotgun could NEVER be used for long range), I stuffed that bad boy down their throats until they were shitting buckshot. Worked pretty well, actually. Died occasionally, but nothing too extreme.

cainx10a:
You really need to rely on the cover system in this game most of the time. This really is not a KOTOR-like game in terms of gameplay, as it's more along the line of an action game like Gears or Rainbow 6 Vegas really.

Also, do set up your buddies/AI companions in the proper spots to provide cover while you are trying to dismantle the bombs.

^^ That.

It is very easy when you use offensive tactics, as they mostly stick behind a couple of areas. Use your team mates to flank and counter... you CAN'T do everything yourself.

Wellll...what you're saying is pretty true. There were times when I was playing that game and I couldn't take two steps into a combat zone without doubling over. You do get used to it, though. It's all about using that funny command window pause thingy properly.

Also, I played it on PC. Maybe that made it easier.

Im sorry to butt in here, but i found the game bad... I dont know why... I LOVED KOTOR, And even KOTOR2's funny unfinnished plots and lack of sense. But i just found this well... bad, i only played for about 5 hours before i was thinking 'i cant be arsed with this im going to play assassins creed' and i dont know what it was... Maybe its the huge amounts of FPS iv been playing lately, But i can still enjoy a story driven game... i just didnt get into the story of it... Now i love RPG games... but i didnt feel any role play element to your main character

Yeah the difficult curve in Mass Effect is a little strange for me as well. At first it was really quite difficult, but close to the end of my first play-through I was dominating. Essentially I think, because the enemies all level up with you, it's probably pretty important to have good gear. Also important are your team mates. Too often they will get stuck on a corner and all their shots will go straight into the wall.

Erana:

This trend has continued in my few meager hours with Mass Effect- be at the right place at the right time or die- and I must say, I find it very disruptive to an otherwise beautiful and fun game. Considering past gaming experiences, I am awefully tempted to think that I am missing a simple, albeit vital factor in the game, so I am now asking yall, rather than immediately condemning it as poor design.

Yeah I died at some epic battle parts and found it a little deflating. I think you're probably just adjusting. KOTOR wasn't the sort of game where you had to be really concentrating and paying attention not to die. Mass Effect on the other hand, is quite easy to die even on the normal difficulty. All the one-hit-kill (or almost) attacks actually require you to be on your toes.

What the other people said is about right. Cover is your friend.

The opening level can be difficult for newcomers, especially if your chosen skill set doesn't mesh well with Kaiden and Ashley. Learn to send them in if you're in a pickle.

I dunno, it just doesn't seem fun, to me.
Today, I was on some random planet, and I open a door only to be attacked by over a dozen husks. I'm sorry, but it breaks game flow to have sparkly, blue zombies gnawing at my ankles and your character can't use a shotgun at point-blank range.
And the sniper rifle: I'm sorry, but at ten feet away from the target, you should be able to have a half-decent grip on your gun.
And most recently, I boarded this ship only to be attacked by terrorists. They killed the hostage, then proceeded to kill me eight times within the first four seconds. Seven seconds, if I was lucky. There was no decent cover available, or anything.

Now, before I seem like I hate the game, I must admit that its very fun, and more importantly to me, eyepoppingly gorgeous. It was like biting into fresh berries and creme fraische on creme broulee in the same spoonful. And then the battle's like the raspberry seeds. Seemingly unnessary, to me.

Yeah. Sniping in Mass Effect is really crappy. The gun sways too much at range to aim effectively, one shot is never enough to kill (that I've noticed), the first shot always alerts the enemies, you can't zoom in far enough to make the distance an effective defense against opponents, etc.

But then again, Mass Effect had a few major problems in my opinion. The point of a leveling system in an RPG is that you begin to feel stronger than old enemies, and facing newer, stronger enemies. But that doesn't click in Mass Effect. All of the numbers go up once in a while, yeah, but everyones numbers go up. Enemies get tougher the instant you level up, you get more XP, more money, weapons do more damage. there are no set *baselines*. You don't even get a cheap palatte swap - the first geth you see is exactly the same as the ones you fight when you're in the last area. There's that little thought in the back of your head that says "Hey, I'm hitting him for 300 damage now instead of 30!" but that's suppressed by the fact that he has 1000 health now instead of 100.

The subquests are... hellish. The first few are kinda fun, but after the 10th time you make planet fall you really just wish there was an option to skip straight to the mission. Driving is at best mildly fun, at worst frustrating, and completely unnecessary in the first place. All of the mission zones are nearly identical copy-pasted clones with a few boxes shifted around and a Villain of the Week around every corner.

Oh. And very low replayability. Really, clearing the game with a pistol isn't a whole lot different than clearing it with a rifle, even if you can throw an glowy blue ball that might do something (if you're lucky) once every minute. The glowy green ball helps mix it up a bit, but you don't get either until you're far enough into the game that you're so bored you don't care anyway, so it doesn't matter either way.

Also, what's this 'Be at the right place at the right time or die' thing? There are only a few timed events and none are terribly hard. If you're talking about things like dodging massive balls of energy, well... yeah. That's part of playing a game with fighting in it: don't be in front of the bullets.

shadowform:

Also, what's this 'Be at the right place at the right time or die' thing? There are only a few timed events and none are terribly hard. If you're talking about things like dodging massive balls of energy, well... yeah. That's part of playing a game with fighting in it: don't be in front of the bullets.

Back to the bomb scene- I used cover, I used what few abilities I had, and what not, but I kept dying when I used the route on the right. I use the route on the left once and kick ass.

When I got swarmed by husks, I died several times by making distance and standing slightly left of the door, but beat them with hardly any damage when distanced and to the right of the door they were coming from.

MMM masseffect, it's pretty hard at first until you get your character figured out. I have to ask what type are you playing as I don't remember the classes but is it soldier scout tech or the "force" character. If playing a "force" guy the game gets much easier about 25% though it as you cast shield, warp, and the throw moves etc.

I found that the most effective tactic was generally to grab a pistol, flip on Marksmanship, and charge, using shield recharge and Immunity to soak most damage coming your way.

The stealth and tactical aspect is fairly negligible. And fighting enemies with biotic powers is pretty much just a crapshoot.

-- Alex

I tried to play the game like an FPS at first, using cover, and what not, but my party was of course always standing in the open, or at the very least behind a rock that needed to be crouched behind for cover. Eventually I'd run out, shoot up what i could and then retreat fifty yards back behind a wall or rock or something to heal, and repeat...it annoyed the crap out of me but worked...

The first level is (by some odd twist of fate) the hardest, and mainly because of the time limit. Remember to keep using cover, and using your squadmates as bullet magnets.

Pro-tip: Don't bother aiming for the head either. Bullets do the same amount of damage no matter where they hit.

Erana:
I am awefully tempted to think that I am missing a simple, albeit vital factor in the game, so I am now asking yall, rather than immediately condemning it as poor design.

Fun fact: In mass effect play as "soldier" and run right into the middle of every fire fight or get your ass handed to you. The game's level design, stats and buffs, and general theme are all built around that one class. The magic / force powers are damn near useless wastes of time, the first level is the only one really built for sniping (I enjoy sniping game-play so chose to be a sniper class my first playthrough... yoish, I got really good with the pistol)

It's not really "bad game design" as the game works really well if you play as a soldier, it is just that it was a game that was made for the one class and because BioWare is BioWare they through in all these other "classes" because it is their style.

They just never charged the game designers with building levels to be appropriate for multiple classes / play-styles or build levels that would gimp the soldier class in proportion to the other classes.

This has to do with the scrum methodology they've adopted at the company, it's not conducive to creative and thorough game design (which is why mass effect is just like a billion hours of the same freaking crap)

First time I did the bomb scene I got raped like a mofo. Second time through not so much. The trick is to learn to cope with the incredibly shity squad tactical controls (set them to take cover and point them to a specific spot whenever possible). Boost Mr McWhiny's TECH powers during this first mission and then never include him in your party ever again because red mages are shit. Use overload, especially on those Geth with the rockets. Oh and the first mission is probably the only part of the game where you will remember/need grenades, so get behind cover and use those frisbee's of death.

Anyway when you start to think "slick swat team" instead of "l337 james bond commando shoot out!" you do alot better.

Oh, and learn to love Tali, and boost her Quarian Technician and Tech skills to the max asap and stick a shield mod in her armor.She becomes damn near unkillable, unlocks shotguns later, and with enough leveling up can use that shield recharge power so... go nuts! Ignore hacking!

My Mass Effect team consists of ME (Vanilla premade Shepard, put like 5 or 6 points into assault rifle and armor to get heavy armor, max out spectre and soldier training immediatly, oh and I took commando), my sweet beautiful Tali who is more deserving of a romance plot then the blue ditz but doesn't get it with maxed out tech skills and shields, and... some random person with a high first aid. Varies depending on if it's a character mission or not, usually Ashley or the Turian whose name I forget. Sometimes Wrex if I feel like having the lovable guy around. Dr. Blue ass is too fragile and Kaiden is a red mage, which automatically ='s suck.

What class are you using?

If you're using anything but the Soldier use your pistol for the first half of the game. I know people say that the Shotgun kicks arse (and it does) but it only kicks alien butt when your good with it. An un-trained shotgun in Mass Effect is nearly useless. The only gun that's good at a low level is the Pistol.

Use the Pistol untill fully leveled Shotgun, Assualt Rifle or Sniper and then you can use that. You should also upgrade your pistol but make the other guns a higher priority. Don't forget about everything else you can level (Biotic powers and what have you) because often a high level one of those is much better than a gun. Barrier for example.

A fully leveled Sniper Rifle though, is the best against troops and big troops. It's the only thing that will get you through some later missions that have you fight a couple of Geth Amretures (sp?). On hard anyway. At fully leveled it is a one hit kill against most of the enemies and with the right modifications you can pull of three shots without having to worry about the cool down. While this sounds bad, remember that most of that time will be spent hiding from other snipers and missiles so often you'll fire two shots and then have to duck behind cover, cooling down your gun.

It seems like the biggest problem you where having in the first fight was with the snipers. These things are a bitch to fight at long range, especially when your guy can't hold a damn gun straights. Just look out for the red glow, when you see it hide behind cover.

If you're playing as a soldier take Liara with you. Her Biotic powers come in very handy, especially when they get to a high level.

And the most important thing is to take Radioactive rounds. They deal more damage than standard rounds and poision the enemy. They make everything a little to easy.

I can't relate to anything said so far. I never had a problem with Mass Effect's combat and thoroughly enjoyed it the first three times I played through. For reasons unknown, I went the Infiltrator class, despite it being a bit of a pointless class. I found the sniper rifle to be simple to use, even ducking in and out of cover, with the pistol being useful to take off those few bars of health if they get too close.

I don't see what the problem with Husks is. IF they get close, run in and melee them. It pushes them back a fair way and seems to delay their discharge a fair bit. The only time ingame I found challenging was when I got to the hardest difficulty and had to deal with Krogan with that invulnerability power. Then it was only because I insisted on starting a new class per difficulty, rather than carrying over my superior previous character.

I found Mass Effect to be a rather...inconsistant FPSRPG. It seemed very much in love with it's own story, but it never felt RPG'ish to me because I could always pwn the face off anything that came close to me. It didn't seem to make a difference as to what my build was, because I always won. I never felt any challange in the game, so I played it once and put it on the shelf.

Erana:
Back to the bomb scene- I used cover, I used what few abilities I had, and what not, but I kept dying when I used the route on the right. I use the route on the left once and kick ass.

When I got swarmed by husks, I died several times by making distance and standing slightly left of the door, but beat them with hardly any damage when distanced and to the right of the door they were coming from.

Uh, well... that's because there's no cover if you use the path on the right. If you step out into the open in the middle of a gunfight what do you expect?

Spleeni:
I found Mass Effect to be a rather...inconsistant FPSRPG. It seemed very much in love with it's own story, but it never felt RPG'ish to me because I could always pwn the face off anything that came close to me. It didn't seem to make a difference as to what my build was, because I always won. I never felt any challange in the game, so I played it once and put it on the shelf.

All of the enemies level at the exact same rate you do. It doesn't matter where the RPG part of the game says you are: you're always at the same spot relative to the enemy as you always are. About the only abilities you really need to worry about are Overkill/Carnage/etc, Shield Charge, and Adrenaline Rush.

shadowform:

Erana:
Back to the bomb scene- I used cover, I used what few abilities I had, and what not, but I kept dying when I used the route on the right. I use the route on the left once and kick ass.

When I got swarmed by husks, I died several times by making distance and standing slightly left of the door, but beat them with hardly any damage when distanced and to the right of the door they were coming from.

Uh, well... that's because there's no cover if you use the path on the right. If you step out into the open in the middle of a gunfight what do you expect?

What about all those boxes and pillars my character was using? Don't tell me that a shorter cover location is more effective than one you can stand behind...

shadowform:

Spleeni:
I found Mass Effect to be a rather...inconsistant FPSRPG. It seemed very much in love with it's own story, but it never felt RPG'ish to me because I could always pwn the face off anything that came close to me. It didn't seem to make a difference as to what my build was, because I always won. I never felt any challange in the game, so I played it once and put it on the shelf.

All of the enemies level at the exact same rate you do. It doesn't matter where the RPG part of the game says you are: you're always at the same spot relative to the enemy as you always are. About the only abilities you really need to worry about are Overkill/Carnage/etc, Shield Charge, and Adrenaline Rush.

I know! I could never seem to be a god, but the game just felt like... I was arm wrestling a fast aging child. Sure, the kid gets a little scarier and stronger while I'm ripping his arm off, but he still goes crying home to his mom.

I played on hard with a soldier, ignored all the weapons except for assault rifles and went everywhere with Garrus and Wrex, who also had maxed assault rifles and just enough tech and bio skills to hack everything and use the occasional biotic. The game was a cakewalk. Plus Garrus is by far the most interesting party member in the game and Wrex is just cool to have around so it's a good setup.

1. Use cover. As others have stated, it's pretty integral to the combat. It'll keep you alive longer.

2. Use your companions. Set up crossfires, set them up in ambush positions, use them to draw fire from you, the list goes on.

3. Use the right weapon for the right job. A sniper is for sniping and in fact makes the game too EASY at times since you can often engage entrenched enemies before you're supposed to. My infiltrator breezed through the last parts of the game since they are mostly wide open areas where I was free to take stuff down however I damn pleased.

4. Pistols are good. Contrary to popular belief, pistols in Mass Effect are very solid weapons. They are accurate, fire fast, heat slow and have decent damage (especially if properly modded). My Infiltrator spent as much time with his pistol as with his sniper rifle. Even had to take the last boss down with it (too close for sniping).

5. Use your special abilities. Dropping enemy shields, overheating their guns, tossing them around, lifting a whole enemy squad into the air... the list goes on. Engineering and Biotic skills are easily overlooked and yet very useful. There is no "mana" system or such nonsense, so you might as well pop them when they cool down.

6. Use the terrain. And not just for cover. Lure enemies back, set up ambushes, get them in exposed areas, etc. You mention getting swarmed by husks. Lure them back down a narrow corridor if you can and just mow them down.

7. Use grenades. Just do it.

ME is harder than KotOR. Granted, KotOR was piss easy, so that's not saying much. ME has a few hard parts, but nothing some trial and error won't solve.

Aardvark:
I can't relate to anything said so far. I never had a problem with Mass Effect's combat and thoroughly enjoyed it the first three times I played through. For reasons unknown, I went the Infiltrator class, despite it being a bit of a pointless class. I found the sniper rifle to be simple to use, even ducking in and out of cover, with the pistol being useful to take off those few bars of health if they get too close

Ducking in and out of cover isn't a problem when there is cover to duck in and out of which is not something that is provided for in a huge proportion of the game. There is also more than one situation where you're walking around and the game just throws you into the middle of a fuck-fest. No sniping and taking cover means wasting time dying. If the game were properly designed the infiltrator class would not be a pointless class. But that's the point, all the classes (except soldier) are pointless classes.

As an infiltrator with a maxed out sniper rifle ability, if I was on a planet's surface and wanted to blow up those big guys that shoot a million miles (I never bothered learning what they were called in the first place) I was dead, no place to take cover, not even a freaking hill. That tells me that the game was not designed for play styles conducive to multiple classes.

Imagine being the magic user class equivalent.

And while the game-play is fairly easy, if you are going to just stop by the thread to talk about how awesome you are at gaming, thank you, but we're not talking about that. For me, BioWare has hugely fantastic ego for little honest reason, Mass Effect took four years to develop and they gave us a game that did not, in my opinion, live up to the quality standards that length of development time promises. They just had a lot of stuff, and that simply does not cut it, quality is expected in games today, not quantity.

I don't get it. I was under the impression that I sucked at these types of games, yet I had no problems with 99% of the combat. The biggest trouble I had at the beginning was trying to obey the stupid-ass tutorial commands that won't shut up and won't leave you alone "HAVE KAIDEN USE HIS THROW ABILITY ON THE GETH STORMTROOPER" or whatever it was. Just let me shoot it already!

Of course, it may just be that I have way more patience than most people for dying over and over.

I enjoyed the game, but there was just something fundamentally lackluster about it--more of a "huh, that's kind of neat" then forget about it reaction than anything else.

Remember, Mass Effect may look like an FPS but it isn't; it's a RPG. So every shot you take is predetermined by your stats, abilities active, and other factors (how far away you are). Overall, the game has great game play but it also has AI issues, such as bull rushing enemy soldiers and repetitive side quests...

Anyway, made by Bioware, BUY IT.

mark_n_b:

Imagine being the magic user class equivalent.

The biotic? If you play a biotic you sneeze all over most of the game. Oh, it's an enemy. Launch it into the air. Oh, they're charging me. Throw them back 30 feet off the cliff. Bye. Toward the end of the game if you took Kaiden and Liara with your biotic character, you hardly had to do anything in combat--it could actually be difficult to find a non-floating or knocked-over enemy to *shoot* at.

The science classes could easily be disgusting as well if you boost Electronics to the sky. You get so much bonus Shields that the enemies stop doing damage to you. This becomes especially disgusting if you play a Biotic AFTER playing a Science class when you can now choose Electronics as a bonus skill.

The best strategy I found was to pick only a few skills and max them out completely as soon as possible--then max out your class so you get the fastest cooldown on all of your abilities. Then use them a lot.

It's best on PC due to an improved command system. Oh, and the ability to actually fucking aim.

I liked Mass Effect overall: I loved it until I ran out of new things to find, after which it eventually lost its shine. I didn't find the combat a lot of fun, but it never seemed broken or unreasonably difficult. So I'm going to have to say yes, you are missing something.

mark_n_b:
If the game were properly designed the infiltrator class would not be a pointless class. But that's the point, all the classes (except soldier) are pointless classes.

I played through as the Infiltrator on Normal and found the difficulty always seemed totally reasonable. The pistol was fine at first, and the sniper rifle was outstanding once I put a few points into it. I rarely died except when I got careless with my shields - which was often enough, but it usually felt like my fault rather than the game's. If I play it again I'll try Hard, and I don't usually go for Hard mode on games. Maybe you put your stats into bad skills?

If you can't find cover in Mass Effect you should look harder. Sometimes it might mean running away, but never more than twenty metres or so. Even standing in a corridor is a form of cover: it reduces the enemies you're engaging to one or two at a time, instead of ten in an open room.

mark_n_b:
If the game were properly designed the infiltrator class would not be a pointless class.

The Infiltrator's not exactly pointless. It's one of three classes that are Soldier-y enough to make the game easy to play. They have access to Shield Boost and Immunity just like Soldiers. They also get the benefit of the huge extra shield from Electronics (Soldiers can get it, too, with the "bonus skill" feature); the actual combat effect of Electronics is pretty handy, too. The Infiltrator's pistol skill is more than enough to face any enemy at any range; you can pick up Assault Rifles as a "bonus skill" if that's what you want to use. Altogether this means that they have defense and offense comparable to a Soldier's.

-- Alex