• Almost free: Mass Effect Legendary Edition

    From Anssi Saari@21:1/5 to All on Tue May 7 15:33:11 2024
    Spotted on RPS, there's a Steam sale for Mass Effect Legendary Edition,
    which is the 2021 update. All three games with the 4K graphics updates
    and all DLC for 6�, $6 or �5, until May 13th.

    Hard to resist. I played ME2 quite a lot and ME3 too so not that
    interested in a replay. But it's been a long time since 2007 and the
    original Mass Effect. I even played it on an Xbox 360 since it was the
    dark times of PC gaming and there was no word about a PC version even
    though it did come out in mid-2008.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Justisaur@21:1/5 to Anssi Saari on Tue May 7 08:26:54 2024
    On 5/7/2024 5:33 AM, Anssi Saari wrote:

    Spotted on RPS, there's a Steam sale for Mass Effect Legendary Edition,
    which is the 2021 update. All three games with the 4K graphics updates
    and all DLC for 6€, $6 or £5, until May 13th.

    Hard to resist. I played ME2 quite a lot and ME3 too so not that
    interested in a replay. But it's been a long time since 2007 and the
    original Mass Effect. I even played it on an Xbox 360 since it was the
    dark times of PC gaming and there was no word about a PC version even
    though it did come out in mid-2008.

    That's *very* tempting. I have them all on CD, so they're not on steam,
    and I never got the DCLs. I doubt I'll ever want to play them again
    though. Andromeda is also $6 I see, which I never played, that's a bit
    more tempting.

    --
    -Justisaur

    ø-ø
    (\_/)\
    `-'\ `--.___,
    ¶¬'\( ,_.-'
    \\
    ^'

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  • From Mark P. Nelson@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Wed May 8 04:44:46 2024
    Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> wrote in news:[email protected]:

    I'd say it's quite a tempting deal.... except I already finished the
    purchase before I got to the end of this post. ;-)

    Yeah, I own the original, but I went for the LE too. The graphical improvements are most
    obvious for the first game, and I really wish they had retooled all the games to use the same
    user control interface.

    It *is* nice to have all the DLC (except the one they lost the code for) all included, even if I
    *loathe* everything about the hammerhead missions.

    The mako in the first game is still as awful to control as it ever was, too.

    Hope you have fun with it ;�~

    Mark.

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  • From Xocyll@21:1/5 to All on Wed May 8 20:22:16 2024
    Anssi Saari <[email protected]> looked up from reading
    the entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the
    signs say:


    Spotted on RPS, there's a Steam sale for Mass Effect Legendary Edition,
    which is the 2021 update. All three games with the 4K graphics updates
    and all DLC for 6�, $6 or �5, until May 13th.

    Hard to resist. I played ME2 quite a lot and ME3 too so not that
    interested in a replay. But it's been a long time since 2007 and the
    original Mass Effect. I even played it on an Xbox 360 since it was the
    dark times of PC gaming and there was no word about a PC version even
    though it did come out in mid-2008.

    Never played any mass effect games so this looked like a really good
    deal.

    Right up until: Incorporates 3rd-party DRM: EA on-line activation and
    Origin client software installation and background use required.
    Requires 3rd-Party Account: EA Account

    NOPE!

    I trust EA about as far as I could throw Jupiter out of the gravity well
    of a black hole.

    Xocyll

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Anssi Saari@21:1/5 to Xocyll on Thu May 9 14:03:33 2024
    Xocyll <[email protected]> writes:

    Never played any mass effect games so this looked like a really good
    deal.

    Right up until: Incorporates 3rd-party DRM: EA on-line activation and
    Origin client software installation and background use required.
    Requires 3rd-Party Account: EA Account

    NOPE!

    I trust EA about as far as I could throw Jupiter out of the gravity well
    of a black hole.

    Indeed. I have some freebie/cheapie/oldie EA games from their store and
    used to have their Origin client which has apparently been renamed to
    just EA at some point. I guess last time I played anything there was
    when I got the Command & Conquer remastered edition. Wasn't as much fun
    as I had hoped.

    Another downside for this Mass Effect Legendary Edition, it's all the
    games and DLC in one and it takes 110 GB of storage and the download is
    almost as big at around 97 GB. Here I thought I could just quickly
    download the first game and have a go.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From candycanearter07@21:1/5 to Xocyll on Thu May 9 15:50:10 2024
    Xocyll <[email protected]> wrote at 00:22 this Thursday (GMT):
    Anssi Saari <[email protected]> looked up from reading
    the entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the
    signs say:


    Spotted on RPS, there's a Steam sale for Mass Effect Legendary Edition, >>which is the 2021 update. All three games with the 4K graphics updates
    and all DLC for 6€, $6 or £5, until May 13th.

    Hard to resist. I played ME2 quite a lot and ME3 too so not that
    interested in a replay. But it's been a long time since 2007 and the >>original Mass Effect. I even played it on an Xbox 360 since it was the
    dark times of PC gaming and there was no word about a PC version even >>though it did come out in mid-2008.

    Never played any mass effect games so this looked like a really good
    deal.

    Right up until: Incorporates 3rd-party DRM: EA on-line activation and
    Origin client software installation and background use required.
    Requires 3rd-Party Account: EA Account

    NOPE!

    I trust EA about as far as I could throw Jupiter out of the gravity well
    of a black hole.

    Xocyll


    Yeah, any kinda third party account or third party drm is an instant
    nope for me. I went out of my way to buy the 3DS Phoenix Wright games bc
    the AJ Trilogy was under Denuvo on Steam.
    --
    user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Xocyll@21:1/5 to All on Fri May 10 15:27:56 2024
    Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> looked up from reading the entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
    say:

    On Wed, 08 May 2024 20:22:16 -0400, Xocyll <[email protected]> wrote:


    Right up until: Incorporates 3rd-party DRM: EA on-line activation and >>Origin client software installation and background use required.
    Requires 3rd-Party Account: EA Account


    In fairness, the Mass Effect PC games have /always/ either required
    Origin or had some sort of online activation. It's not a new addition
    to the Legendary Edition.

    Not saying it's wrong to avoid games because of that but it's an
    argument decided a long 16 years ago when the first "Mass Effect" game
    was released.

    New to me, but then I do not think I've let an EA game through the
    firewall in over 20 years.

    I have no fucking interest in playing a game in single player, that
    requires me to have an account somewhere or some spyware installed on my system.

    Diablo3 was the last one with that nonsense, all the downsides of being
    online (lag, disconnects, trouble connecting at all, etc) to play a
    single player game.

    Xocyll

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From candycanearter07@21:1/5 to Xocyll on Sat May 11 22:00:01 2024
    Xocyll <[email protected]> wrote at 19:27 this Friday (GMT):
    Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> looked up from reading the entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
    say:

    On Wed, 08 May 2024 20:22:16 -0400, Xocyll <[email protected]> wrote:


    Right up until: Incorporates 3rd-party DRM: EA on-line activation and >>>Origin client software installation and background use required.
    Requires 3rd-Party Account: EA Account


    In fairness, the Mass Effect PC games have /always/ either required
    Origin or had some sort of online activation. It's not a new addition
    to the Legendary Edition.

    Not saying it's wrong to avoid games because of that but it's an
    argument decided a long 16 years ago when the first "Mass Effect" game
    was released.

    New to me, but then I do not think I've let an EA game through the
    firewall in over 20 years.

    I have no fucking interest in playing a game in single player, that
    requires me to have an account somewhere or some spyware installed on my system.

    Agreed. The only maybe exception would be Minecraft, but that at least
    has a point. And you don't need constant connection.

    Diablo3 was the last one with that nonsense, all the downsides of being online (lag, disconnects, trouble connecting at all, etc) to play a
    single player game.

    Xocyll


    Don't forget the microtransactions!
    --
    user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Xocyll@21:1/5 to All on Sun May 12 08:43:25 2024
    candycanearter07 <[email protected]>
    looked up from reading the entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The
    Augury is good, the signs say:

    Xocyll <[email protected]> wrote at 19:27 this Friday (GMT):
    Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> looked up from reading the
    entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
    say:

    On Wed, 08 May 2024 20:22:16 -0400, Xocyll <[email protected]> wrote:


    Right up until: Incorporates 3rd-party DRM: EA on-line activation and >>>>Origin client software installation and background use required. >>>>Requires 3rd-Party Account: EA Account


    In fairness, the Mass Effect PC games have /always/ either required >>>Origin or had some sort of online activation. It's not a new addition
    to the Legendary Edition.

    Not saying it's wrong to avoid games because of that but it's an
    argument decided a long 16 years ago when the first "Mass Effect" game >>>was released.

    New to me, but then I do not think I've let an EA game through the
    firewall in over 20 years.

    I have no fucking interest in playing a game in single player, that
    requires me to have an account somewhere or some spyware installed on my
    system.

    Agreed. The only maybe exception would be Minecraft, but that at least
    has a point. And you don't need constant connection.

    Never played that either.

    Diablo3 was the last one with that nonsense, all the downsides of being
    online (lag, disconnects, trouble connecting at all, etc) to play a
    single player game.

    Don't forget the microtransactions!

    The day that I hit a wall in Diablo3 and could not progress (cause the
    drops were tuned to force you into the RMAH,) was not the day I gave
    into Blizzard's transparent scheme and gave them more money, it was the
    day I uninstalled Diablo3.

    Diablo2: on and off my machine(s) for a decade. (More on than off.)
    Diablo3 got maybe a month, uninstalled, no desire to ever reinstall.
    Haven't bought a damn thing from Blizzard since.

    The best game in the universe isn't worth playing if it comes with a
    bunch of unnatural attachments and requirements.

    Xocyll

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dimensional Traveler@21:1/5 to Xocyll on Sun May 12 08:25:12 2024
    On 5/12/2024 5:43 AM, Xocyll wrote:

    The best game in the universe isn't worth playing if it comes with a
    bunch of unnatural attachments and requirements.

    Wouldn't the inclusion of a bunch of unnatural attachments and
    requirements by definition make it NOT the best game in the universe?

    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Anssi Saari@21:1/5 to Kyonshi on Sun May 12 18:56:57 2024
    Kyonshi <[email protected]> writes:

    your post inspired me to finally install and run that Mass Effect
    Legendary Edition I got from Humble ages ago. So far I am 4h into the
    first game and... it's a pretty clunky game, isn't it?

    I suppose, I haven't actually played the PC version before now and I'm
    maybe four hours in like you, or a little less. But an Xbox 360 game
    ported to PC in that era, what else could it be? Even with mouse and
    keyboard support added back then and whatever improvements they did for
    the 2021 release.

    I feel the mechanics are awkward, the layout of places is needlessly complicated, pacing of the story is slooooow, and I don't care about
    any of those characters at all.

    Shrug. That's in the eye of the beholder. I can't say I remember what I
    felt about the story back in 2008. Liked it well enough to play the
    sequels, especially Mass Effect 2.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From candycanearter07@21:1/5 to Dimensional Traveler on Sun May 12 21:40:02 2024
    Dimensional Traveler <[email protected]> wrote at 15:25 this Sunday (GMT):
    On 5/12/2024 5:43 AM, Xocyll wrote:

    The best game in the universe isn't worth playing if it comes with a
    bunch of unnatural attachments and requirements.

    Wouldn't the inclusion of a bunch of unnatural attachments and
    requirements by definition make it NOT the best game in the universe?


    Yeah, because it wouldn't be "perfect" until you bought everything..
    --
    user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Xocyll@21:1/5 to All on Mon May 13 05:11:49 2024
    Dimensional Traveler <[email protected]> looked up from reading the
    entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
    say:

    On 5/12/2024 5:43 AM, Xocyll wrote:

    The best game in the universe isn't worth playing if it comes with a
    bunch of unnatural attachments and requirements.

    Wouldn't the inclusion of a bunch of unnatural attachments and
    requirements by definition make it NOT the best game in the universe?

    Ahh but it could have been the best game in the universe _before_ those unnatural attachments and requirements.


    Kinda like Ready Player One's Oasis, and the plans the evil dickwad had
    for it if the 101ers got the keys.

    What was that line: "Our studies show that we can fill up to 80% of
    someone's visual field (with ads) before we induce a seizure."

    Xocyll

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Justisaur@21:1/5 to Kyonshi on Mon May 13 09:56:28 2024
    On 5/11/2024 1:33 PM, Kyonshi wrote:
    On 5/7/2024 2:33 PM, Anssi Saari wrote:

    Spotted on RPS, there's a Steam sale for Mass Effect Legendary Edition,
    which is the 2021 update. All three games with the 4K graphics updates
    and all DLC for 6€, $6 or £5, until May 13th.

    Hard to resist. I played ME2 quite a lot and ME3 too so not that
    interested in a replay. But it's been a long time since 2007 and the
    original Mass Effect. I even played it on an Xbox 360 since it was the
    dark times of PC gaming and there was no word about a PC version even
    though it did come out in mid-2008.
    your post inspired me to finally install and run that Mass Effect
    Legendary Edition I got from Humble ages ago. So far I am 4h into the
    first game and... it's a pretty clunky game, isn't it?
    I feel the mechanics are awkward, the layout of places is needlessly complicated, pacing of the story is slooooow, and I don't care about any
    of those characters at all.
    I would say it's because the game is so old, but I remember GOOD games
    from that time that had a gripping story.

    You might like the other ones better then. I rather enjoyed the
    original ME, it felt unique and a good space action rpg at the time. If
    I'm remembering correctly anyway. I wrote in one of my comments here
    that it felt like KotOR with the numbers filed off, and KotOR is
    probably the best sci-fi RPG.

    The next two made it increasingly bland and same as every other game, consolized, less RPG and more FPS. Which made them more popular of
    course. I didn't care for ME2 much, I did finish it at least, so
    there's that. I never bought ME3 as it looked to go even further in
    those directions I didn't like. It's possible I'd like it now as I've
    cooled a bit on not liking consolized.

    Here's my "bombing" of ME2 here, though a lot of my complaints probably
    stem from my relatively behind the times computer at the time.

    https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg/c/HNtLwmkxt5Y/m/Jqo2fVyedkAJ

    Now I'm tempted to get the pack of them so I can play ME3 and Andromeda.

    --
    -Justisaur

    ø-ø
    (\_/)\
    `-'\ `--.___,
    ¶¬'\( ,_.-'
    \\
    ^'

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From JAB@21:1/5 to Justisaur on Tue May 14 10:39:04 2024
    On 13/05/2024 17:56, Justisaur wrote:
    On 5/11/2024 1:33 PM, Kyonshi wrote:
    On 5/7/2024 2:33 PM, Anssi Saari wrote:

    Spotted on RPS, there's a Steam sale for Mass Effect Legendary Edition,
    which is the 2021 update. All three games with the 4K graphics updates
    and all DLC for 6€, $6 or £5, until May 13th.

    Hard to resist. I played ME2 quite a lot and ME3 too so not that
    interested in a replay. But it's been a long time since 2007 and the
    original Mass Effect. I even played it on an Xbox 360 since it was the
    dark times of PC gaming and there was no word about a PC version even
    though it did come out in mid-2008.
    your post inspired me to finally install and run that Mass Effect
    Legendary Edition I got from Humble ages ago. So far I am 4h into the
    first game and... it's a pretty clunky game, isn't it?
    I feel the mechanics are awkward, the layout of places is needlessly
    complicated, pacing of the story is slooooow, and I don't care about
    any of those characters at all.
    I would say it's because the game is so old, but I remember GOOD games
    from that time that had a gripping story.

    You might like the other ones better then.  I rather enjoyed the
    original ME, it felt unique and a good space action rpg at the time. If
    I'm remembering correctly anyway.  I wrote in one of my comments here
    that it felt like KotOR with the numbers filed off, and KotOR is
    probably the best sci-fi RPG.

    The next two made it increasingly bland and same as every other game, consolized, less RPG and more FPS.  Which made them more popular of course.  I didn't care for ME2 much, I did finish it at least, so
    there's that.  I never bought ME3 as it looked to go even further in
    those directions I didn't like.  It's possible I'd like it now as I've cooled a bit on not liking consolized.

    Here's my "bombing" of ME2 here, though a lot of my complaints probably
    stem from my relatively behind the times computer at the time.

    https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg/c/HNtLwmkxt5Y/m/Jqo2fVyedkAJ

    Now I'm tempted to get the pack of them so I can play ME3 and Andromeda.


    It's definitely going back a bit since I played them but I think I
    preferred 2 over 1 although why I can't remember although I think the
    way that resources could be mined from planets being made less of a
    grind helped.

    Number 3 I never played as I think it was tied to another launcher or
    maybe not even on Steam and although I enjoyed the first two games I
    can't say I thought they were must haves.

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  • From Anssi Saari@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Tue May 14 15:11:32 2024
    Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> writes:

    Your appreciation of ME2 really depends on how much you like the whole 'loyalty-quest' mechanics the game introduced to the genre (you know
    the ones: a new NPC joins your party, and you do a specific series of
    quests that earns their undying loyalty... and maybe the ability to
    romance them). Those quests take up more of the game than the actual
    main story. The main plot is okay, if a bit railroady for my taste.

    Wasn't there also a skill or level boost to the NPC if you did their
    loyalty quest(s)? Can't say I remember ME2 very clearly other than
    putting the band together was a big part of the game.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From candycanearter07@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Tue May 14 15:30:11 2024
    Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> wrote at 14:17 this Tuesday (GMT):
    On Tue, 14 May 2024 15:11:32 +0300, Anssi Saari
    <[email protected]> wrote:
    Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> writes:

    Your appreciation of ME2 really depends on how much you like the whole
    'loyalty-quest' mechanics the game introduced to the genre (you know
    the ones: a new NPC joins your party, and you do a specific series of
    quests that earns their undying loyalty... and maybe the ability to
    romance them). Those quests take up more of the game than the actual
    main story. The main plot is okay, if a bit railroady for my taste.

    Wasn't there also a skill or level boost to the NPC if you did their >>loyalty quest(s)? Can't say I remember ME2 very clearly other than
    putting the band together was a big part of the game.

    I don't recall if there were specific bonuses. I do remember you got
    nifty matching uniforms for the band if you did their quests. More importantly, the end-game results of "Mass Effect 2" were heavily
    dependent on whether or not you did the loyalty missions. "Un-loyal"
    NPCs tended to die... and only by saving all the NPCs did you get the
    'best' ending.

    The game itself wasn't really that dependent on stats anyway. It moved
    the franchise away from dice-rolls and became a lot more dependent on
    the player's skill than the characters.

    My biggest gripe with "Mass Effect 2", though, was how obvious the
    game made it than the vehicular sections were intentionally removed to
    be sold as DLC. The original game came with settings for vehicle
    controls, even though there was no vehicle in the base content (you
    needed to buy the "Firewalker" DLC to get ground transport). This was especially egregious since Electronic Arts had -shortly before the
    release of "Mass Effect 2"- pledged it wouldn't be cutting content
    from its games to later market as DLC (e.g., all DLC would be
    'expansion' material created after the original game published that
    was never intended to be included with the base game). Even for EA,
    that degree of blatant hypocrisy was a bit much.


    Dang, you'd think they would at least hide those settings before
    release.. of course, it could be considered advertising.
    --
    user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

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