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Update 7: Visions
Video: Monorail Fight
Today's update is mostly fighting, which is good. I honestly like Mass Effect's combat a lot. We start with these two troopers, who are mowed down quickly.
The second guy runs behind the crates, so we apparently saved Powell in just the nick of time.
That bar under my gun represents the heat index of my gun. Guns in Mass Effect 1 don't have ammo. Instead they have heat bars. You can fire a gun over and over again, so long as you don't max the bar out. If you do, you overheat the weapon and have to wait for it to cool all the way down. Assault rifles tend to have the best heat absorbtion, and sniper rifles are universally the worst, usually only getting about two shots max before the weapon overheats.
Next up are some Geth Assault Drones, which replace the piddly Geth Recon Drones in the base game.
You can get the jump on some Geth from the top of the platform if you hang around the corner. It makes taking the lift a bit easier, plus the corner has plating, making it a really good piece of cover.
The Geth Destroyer is a new type of enemy, and it's the weakest of the "tall" Geth. An Elite level enemy, it carries a shotgun and likes to charge at you. It can also use Carnage, like a soldier. Carnage HURTS, so try to avoid it. Usually this enemy is threatening, but...
they're still affected by physics-manipulating biotics. Lift and throw is one of the most basic biotic combos in the game, but oh man is it a great one. It deals extra damage when they land. Hell, this Destroyer was killed because I tossed his ass off a cliff that's over there.
The rest of the enemies are just basic Geth Troopers. Here's something that they hadn't implimented before this fight though, mainly because I think I killed them too fast: an energy barrier. They can use it to create impromptu cover. However, it gets destroyed only after a few gunshots, so it's mostly just a speedbump more than anything.
Nothing else interesting happened this fight, so I just throw up a barrier, activate marksman, and murder me some robots.
Hitting the train controls takes you to the next area, and the final fight of Eden Prime.
Video: Leave No Evidence
Video: Beacon Site Fight
The gimmick to this fight is that it's on a timer. You have five minutes to find four bombs and disarm them. To disarm them you have to walk up to them, push X, and wait about three seconds. It's incredibly underwhelming that they don't even put the Simon minigame here.
The enemies are all on the other bridge. It's pretty much impossible to hit them with anything other than a sniper rifle, but since we aren't proficient in those, we can't look down the sights.
See those white flags on the mini-map? Those are the charges. Yes, they're placed THAT close together. Can you see the problem with this encounter yet?
They give you WAY too much time, and barely introduce any new elements. This fight should be super memorable and challenging, but instead just oozes a squandered gimmick.
(barriers turn more red the closer they are to being destroyed) It wouldn't take much tweaking to make it great either. Cut off two minutes of time and put the Destroyer here instead of on the train, to give you something to really sweat about.
Then maybe make the charges a bit harder to disarm than "push button and wait". Like I said, even the Simon minigame would be more involved. I'd at least feel the fear that I could fuck up and waste my precious seconds.
They introduce the Geth Shock Trooper, which is the strongest "standard" sized Geth troopers, capable of doing everything the regular trooper can do, but also able to use Carnage. They aren't scary at all and could have been introduced on the train, and the Destroyer here. There's enough space here for one.
It's not like there aren't cool fights in the Mass Effect series. Hell, it's not like there aren't cool fights in THIS VERY GAME.
I just hate wasted potential, that's all. I mean, look how much time I have left. I don't think I've ever felt threatened by the timer in this fight, ever. With just a tiny bit of tweaking, this could have been a really memorable end to an otherwise interesting beginning to a great game. Instead it's just "that one fight with a generous timer".
That's where the video ends. This next part I consider a seperate fight, and it's really easy.
You got some basic Troopers and a few Husks. Nothing special.
After the fight, there's some safes and lockers and things you can unlock for extra goodies and experience points.
Once you're done with them (or you don't care enough to get them), investigate the beacon to finish up the mission.
Video: Something Must Have Activated It...
: It wasn't doing anything like that when they dug it up.
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: Something must have activated it.
Kaidan approached the beacon. I'm not sure what he did...
but it sent out this pulse of energy and started to draw him to it.
I grabbed him and threw him out of the beacon's pull, but was caught in it myself.
I was then lifted into the air, and then...
what I saw would change my life forever.
No, I'm not putting in individual shots of the visions. It ruins the whole point, I think. If you want to see them, watch the video.
The beacon exploded. I lost consciousness. Between this, losing Nihlus, and the amount of lives lost on Eden Prime, the whole situation was FUBAR.
Video: Galaxy Class Hissy Fit
[A walking pile of fanservice walks up to Saren. Counciler Dianna Troy then reports to him.]
: They managed to save the colony.
: And the beacon?
[Saren then throws a temper tantrum, knocking things over and making angry noises. I think it's supposed to be threatening, but it's honestly kinda hilarious. I don't riff on this game very often, and I don't plan to, but goddamn, if you watch ANY video this LP, make it this one.]
THIS UPDATE IN A NUTSHELL:
A couple of cool fights happened, we got some trippy visions from an exploding pillar, then Saren threw the most goddamn hilarious shitfit ever.