Are we alone in being slightly slack-jawed at the fluid, cinematic conversation that plays out? Should we maybe wait until we've seen more to set up lawn chairs outside our local game store in preparation for November? Nay, we say. If loving well-constructed dialog is no longer "hip", then we'll be in our room, playing The Adventures of Willy Beamish.
Are we alone in being slightly slack-jawed at the fluid, cinematic conversation that plays out? Should we maybe wait until we've seen more to set up lawn chairs outside our local game store in preparation for November? Nay, we say. If loving well-constructed dialog is no longer "hip", then we'll be in our room, playing The Adventures of Willy Beamish.
Reader Comments (69)
Posted: Jul 18th 2007 11:04PM JonahFalcon said
Notice the details of the facial features, and the subtle semiotic reactions from the blue alien scientist. Shephard acts like a bit of a jerk here, but it’s a good way to see how your responses affect other non-player characters.
This game is so hot, it’s on fire. It can’t come out soon enough.
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This game is so hot, it’s on fire. It can’t come out soon enough.
Posted: Jul 19th 2007 2:48AM (Unverified) said
November can't come soon enough.
Only thing that bugs me is the voice acting seems a bit off. Not necessarily bad, just a bit strange in tone, but I imagine to keep it dynamic they had to take some liberties with expressions.
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Only thing that bugs me is the voice acting seems a bit off. Not necessarily bad, just a bit strange in tone, but I imagine to keep it dynamic they had to take some liberties with expressions.
Posted: Jul 19th 2007 7:36AM Triforceowner said
Will putting a disc that's on fire in my 360 red-ring it?
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Posted: Jul 19th 2007 7:28AM Peacefuloutrage said
I actually own that. Never finished it though. Extremely long load times.
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Posted: Jul 19th 2007 12:10PM (Unverified) said
I think I technically own it as well; my mom dropped off all the old Amiga stuff she had. Unfortunately, I don't have the time or space to set it all up and finish the game. I had gotten just to the end of the frog race.
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Posted: Jul 18th 2007 11:17PM (Unverified) said
I'm sorry commander for this extremely boring scene.
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Posted: Jul 18th 2007 11:20PM (Unverified) said
God damn, my posts keep getting butchered. Just vote them down if you could.
Anyhow this game looks more fantastic every time I see it. Can't wait.
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Anyhow this game looks more fantastic every time I see it. Can't wait.
Posted: Jul 18th 2007 11:29PM (Unverified) said
Wow. After holding out, and resisting the lure of even Halo 3... I may have to get a 360.
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Posted: Jul 18th 2007 11:30PM (Unverified) said
Darnit Microsoft, release the "Falcon" 360s already! I'm going to need a reliable console if I'm going to play this game for 36 straight hours.
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Posted: Jul 18th 2007 11:34PM DashShiron said
200+ Hours of Oblivion and still working flawlessly here. Either I lucked out or The 360 isn't as faulty as the internet claims it is, but we all know that the internet isn't known for over exaggerating things.
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Posted: Jul 18th 2007 11:35PM (Unverified) said
im with you dude. im missing out on all these great 360 games cuz im too paranoid about the RRoD issue. MS needs to release a more reliable console asap!
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Posted: Jul 19th 2007 12:12AM SeNiLe911 said
Just buy from Costco or Costco.com, they have a life time warranty at no extra cost on most everything including the Xbox 360. I have been buying Xboxes from Costco for about 6 years now. I am on my 3rd Xbox 360 since launch. Never got the red ring of death on any of them either but returned them no hassle.
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Posted: Jul 19th 2007 7:06AM SSUK said
I wont come out and say there is no problem with 360 units, but even if 33% of them are defective, like sources have cited, then it's still a 3.3/10 chance that you'll pick up a defective unit when you purcahse an xbox 360. And even if you do, you are covered by a 3 year extended warrenty now. I've had my 360 since November 06 and I've had 0 problems with it outside a few dashboard crashes which were probably caused by the 360 checking my LIVE connection (my wireless router blows balls).
The reason the red ring of death has become such a huge thing is because you never hear of people with perfect, working 360s... Only when people have things go wrong is when you hear about them. Plus, the PS3 fanboys are using this as a propaganda tool.
Personally, I'm not really scared of getting a RRoD and you shouldn't be either. At least you know you're covered if the 360 does break down for any reason, but as I said, I've yet to encounter any problem in the 9 months I've had the 360.
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The reason the red ring of death has become such a huge thing is because you never hear of people with perfect, working 360s... Only when people have things go wrong is when you hear about them. Plus, the PS3 fanboys are using this as a propaganda tool.
Personally, I'm not really scared of getting a RRoD and you shouldn't be either. At least you know you're covered if the 360 does break down for any reason, but as I said, I've yet to encounter any problem in the 9 months I've had the 360.
Posted: Jul 18th 2007 11:49PM cchance said
it might have LOL... you notice at one point he had the "really i'm interesting?" that he didnt choose... wonder if that direction went into a direction more... umm... friendly :)
According to reviews of the closed door demo, theirs some thing they showed during a conversation that basically shifted the entire gameplayfor the rest of the demo... but their under NDA and cant say what it was just that if theirs alot of choices like that in the game then you'll be playing mass effect over and over to try different paths.
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According to reviews of the closed door demo, theirs some thing they showed during a conversation that basically shifted the entire gameplayfor the rest of the demo... but their under NDA and cant say what it was just that if theirs alot of choices like that in the game then you'll be playing mass effect over and over to try different paths.
Posted: Jul 18th 2007 11:46PM (Unverified) said
Bioware Rep-Would you guys want to see this game September or November?
(Evil)-freaking duh we wan't it to come out early!
This game is awesome!
(Good)-Well....if the developers want it to come out later so they can fix minor bugs and stuff like that then I'd like to see it sometime a further than september...
(Rational)- *time warps* I GOT THE GAME WOOHOO!!!
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(Evil)-freaking duh we wan't it to come out early!
This game is awesome!
(Good)-Well....if the developers want it to come out later so they can fix minor bugs and stuff like that then I'd like to see it sometime a further than september...
(Rational)- *time warps* I GOT THE GAME WOOHOO!!!
Posted: Jul 18th 2007 11:50PM (Unverified) said
Graphics are amazing, but too bad they couldn't fix the robotic dialogue.
Also, why are you playing as Jack from Lost?
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Also, why are you playing as Jack from Lost?
Posted: Jul 19th 2007 2:10AM VampireHunterZ said
How is the dialogue robotic? Have you ever watched any sci-fi? The conversations remind me a lot of Star Trek. It's classic space sci-fi dialogue. They are being professional so their tone isn't too flirty. Either way the conversation was engaging enough to grab my interest.
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Posted: Jul 19th 2007 7:22AM ncxcstud said
Andre -
You can customize your character into whatever you want...there is no 'set' look for Shepard. Besides, I still think the 'default' character Bioware always uses looks more like Lincoln Burrows from Prison Break then Jack from Lost.
But, in the retail version of the game, you can select what your character will look like.
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You can customize your character into whatever you want...there is no 'set' look for Shepard. Besides, I still think the 'default' character Bioware always uses looks more like Lincoln Burrows from Prison Break then Jack from Lost.
But, in the retail version of the game, you can select what your character will look like.
Posted: Jul 19th 2007 7:49AM (Unverified) said
Probably the same reason that Ray Liota plays your grandad in The Darkness.
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Posted: Jul 19th 2007 12:21AM (Unverified) said
I don't think it's that impressive. Sure it loads the audio fast but the animation isn't any better than say halflife 2
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Posted: Jul 19th 2007 12:27AM Geist said
I agree on the graphics front. In fact, I was more impressed by Half Life 2; here it seems like they're overacting, like when he says "I should go (raise eyebrow)"
It creates fluidish conversation, yes, but all that is is giving the option of conversation choice early, and auto-selecting if the player is too slow.
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It creates fluidish conversation, yes, but all that is is giving the option of conversation choice early, and auto-selecting if the player is too slow.
Posted: Jul 19th 2007 12:27AM Negativecool said
In my opinion (which is not superior to yours) facial animation doesn't go far enough, that's where this game comes in.
I've never seen the combination of increadible facial animation and true to life body language and gestures done this well! Just makes it that much more real and engaging. They did a lot of work with actors and it shows.
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I've never seen the combination of increadible facial animation and true to life body language and gestures done this well! Just makes it that much more real and engaging. They did a lot of work with actors and it shows.
Posted: Jul 19th 2007 12:23AM Negativecool said
I think it's pretty safe to say that I'll be hitting on everything that looks remotely female. What a jerk, calling her boring. I'd be like, "Yea that's totally intersting...whats in your digital pants?"
Kinda like I did in SNATCHER...remember that game. "I MUST have you!"...ha ha ha..priceless.
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Kinda like I did in SNATCHER...remember that game. "I MUST have you!"...ha ha ha..priceless.
Posted: Jul 19th 2007 2:12AM Ironmanxrs2 said
I loved Snatcher. One of my top 5 games ever. It was so beyond anything out there at the time. Willy Beamish was rad too. I loved games that gave you options and werent too blatantly linear. Those two games made SegaCD worth every penny. If I could just erase Ground Zero Texas from my memory banks forever....
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Posted: Jul 19th 2007 8:15AM (Unverified) said
All the in game conversations are done real time in-engine. No prerendered cutscenes.
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Posted: Jul 19th 2007 12:29AM (Unverified) said
welcome to mass effect.... this is the 360 killer app next to gears
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Posted: Jul 19th 2007 12:41AM (Unverified) said
Wow... I hope every NPC has a different voice, unlike Oblivion. I loved the Oblivion conversations, how every character had a name and history, but Mass Effect could blow it out of the water. I love how the camera angles changed to show her body language. It's like watching a movie. I was really into it actually.
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Posted: Jul 19th 2007 9:20PM Bobbo said
Well...it's cool to play as a charachter that may actually resemble you in some way shape or form every once in a while. Being able to play as someone other than a white male is pretty cool to me.
It's closer to my reality rather than just yours apparently.
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It's closer to my reality rather than just yours apparently.
Posted: Jul 20th 2007 3:40AM (Unverified) said
Not quite impressed with the actual interaction. Conversation trees are a simple concept.
The facial and character animation is top notch though! So good job on that!
Personally though, regardless of the "OMG JOYSTIQ SAID IT WAS AMAZING SO I'M GUNNA SAY DA SAME" I want this game, and can't wait until it comes out. The next 6 months are going to be great for gamers!
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The facial and character animation is top notch though! So good job on that!
Personally though, regardless of the "OMG JOYSTIQ SAID IT WAS AMAZING SO I'M GUNNA SAY DA SAME" I want this game, and can't wait until it comes out. The next 6 months are going to be great for gamers!
Posted: Jul 19th 2007 2:38AM Shagittarius said
I'm not sure why but I thought for some reason this video was going to end with the blue alien lady saying, 'Sometimes when I'm nervous I put my hands under my arms and then I smell them like this!'
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Posted: Jul 19th 2007 2:40AM (Unverified) said
"CGI looks just amazing... very fluid"
That is not a computer generated image. That was a cut scene using ingame graphics.
The videogame ignorant masses still say videogames are NOT art.
The amount of time taken to get the facial annimations good enough for the characters to answer mulitible choice questions not to mention an entire world that needs to be more and more realistic with every hardware generation.
Making a movie must be easy compared to the AAA games of this generation.
Mass Effect
Killzone 2
GTA 4
MGS 4
These AAA titles have huge teams spending countless hours to deliver us a memorable gaming experience.
Videogames I believe are the ultimate art form.
It is the ONLY one that can actively interact with it's audience in ways that NO OTHER art can boast.
Someday (soon I hope) Videogame creators will get the proper respect of they deserve. In 10 years I think videogames will be the #1 form of entertainment for the most of the planet.
What awaits us as gamers of the REAL (sorry Wii, I am just being realistic, the Wii is just not capable of producing the kind of games that the 360 and PS3 can) next-generation during this console lifescyle will be nothing short of spectacular.
Reply
That is not a computer generated image. That was a cut scene using ingame graphics.
The videogame ignorant masses still say videogames are NOT art.
The amount of time taken to get the facial annimations good enough for the characters to answer mulitible choice questions not to mention an entire world that needs to be more and more realistic with every hardware generation.
Making a movie must be easy compared to the AAA games of this generation.
Mass Effect
Killzone 2
GTA 4
MGS 4
These AAA titles have huge teams spending countless hours to deliver us a memorable gaming experience.
Videogames I believe are the ultimate art form.
It is the ONLY one that can actively interact with it's audience in ways that NO OTHER art can boast.
Someday (soon I hope) Videogame creators will get the proper respect of they deserve. In 10 years I think videogames will be the #1 form of entertainment for the most of the planet.
What awaits us as gamers of the REAL (sorry Wii, I am just being realistic, the Wii is just not capable of producing the kind of games that the 360 and PS3 can) next-generation during this console lifescyle will be nothing short of spectacular.
Posted: Jul 19th 2007 10:29AM (Unverified) said
"That is not a computer generated image. That was a cut scene using ingame graphics."
Ok, and the in-game graphics aren't created by a computer right, but instead by Bioware's newest technology: happy faerie dust from planet Ziquod.
What you were watching was CGI. The term you thought the original poster was using was "pre-rendered".
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Ok, and the in-game graphics aren't created by a computer right, but instead by Bioware's newest technology: happy faerie dust from planet Ziquod.
What you were watching was CGI. The term you thought the original poster was using was "pre-rendered".
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