Mass Effect - PC version

[kaffra]

thats great news, i was planning to get the xbox360 just for this game.

[Swordnyx]

I guess I'll buy this when it comes out for PC and find out what everyone's talking about. (I don't have it for X360..I know sad.)

[Darrian]

This is great news, because I refuse to buy a 360 just for this one game and was extremely upset when it was announced to be a 360 exclusive.

[Ran Sagy]

Glad to see BioWare regained their sanity. Maybe this and Dragon Age will do some good to PC gaming, Although, With the supposed heavier-attention-on-action port going on here, I wonder if the RPG genre is really dead on the PC. R.I.P. Baldurs Gate.

[Smigit]

Good, atleast we can run it at a playable FPS - The Console version is a joke.

I had no problems with that on the 360, but I had a HUGE issue with the bloody loading screens every 30 seconds, especially in the citadel. And yes, I count elevators as glorified loading screens as thats all they are. For an action rpg it really took you out of the game.

lthough, With the supposed heavier-attention-on-action port going on here, I wonder if the RPG genre is really dead on the PC. R.I.P. Baldurs Gate.

It'll probably be the same as the 360 with the benefit of hotkeys. Don't expect a step up over the console. For traditional RPG's theres dragon age and NWN2 (which I quite liked although I agree it wasnt BG2...was closer than NWN1 was but) Edited February 16, 2008 by Smigit

[Brandon]

On that note... Im gonna go play it now!

[Ran Sagy]

Well, Baldur's Gate or not (definitely not), I hope it will be a good game to play. I've had a serious shortage of entertaining RPGs lately ( = last few years).

[That Guy Veteran]

Any predictions on the specifications? I can play Crysis in max apart from AA which has to be set on 2x - how would it play compared to that?

[Ran Sagy]

I'd assume it will be more or less akin to NWN2's performance, maybe slightly higher. BioWare uses their own engine for all of their in-house developed games.

[ViperAFK]

Any predictions on the specifications? I can play Crysis in max apart from AA which has to be set on 2x - how would it play compared to that?

Probably alot better than crysis.

[Elliot B.]

Any predictions on the specifications? I can play Crysis in max apart from AA which has to be set on 2x - how would it play compared to that?

Yo never mentioned a frame rate there, which would be no higher than 20 FPS.

[mundox]

I still havent decided if I should get this on x360 or pc

[Smigit]

I still havent decided if I should get this on x360 or pc

well depends if you want to wait or not. I doubt the PC version will change an awful lot besides quick slot support and having the downloadable content there so if you have a 360 maybe just go that.

[That Guy Veteran]

Yo never mentioned a frame rate there, which would be no higher than 20 FPS.

I haven't actually checked, so I couldn't say. However, it's not laggy at all for me, and it plays as smooth as I need. Anyway, I can't wait to see what all the fuss is about, as I have yet to see a bad review about it.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Apparently the expected release date for Mass Effect (PC) is May 2008. It's a few months away but I have a feeling it'll be worth the wait. I'm glad I didn't get the Xbox 360 version when the game came out because I wouldn't have been able to play it (dead X360). It shouldn't be too demanding, hardware wise.

[Smigit]

What I'm most interested to see is how they treat loading on the PC version. I imagine the game will be ALOT more pleasant if they can get those times down since the data will be on the hard drive.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

I figured it's time I resurrect this thread, now that it's actually released and all. I must say the game is amazing. It runs so well on my PC and the load times are short. The decryption mini-game is fun (and hard at times). As expected, the graphics are superb.

Here are my specs:

• Intel Core2Duo E6750 @ 2.66GHz
  
• ASUS P5K mobo
  
• 2GB DDR2 667MHz
  
• ATI Radeon HD 2900XT 512MB
  

The game has a launcher where you can pre-configure the graphics before launching the game itself. Upon clicking configure, it scans your hardware and determines the graphics settings for you. With my specs, it auto-set everything to high with 4xAA and anisotropic filtering enabled @ 1440x900. Increasing the resolution to 1680x1050 resulted in gameplay that was very playable with very few slowdowns.

You won't be disappointed if you waited for the PC version like I did. Kudos to BioWare for a wonderful game. They didn't simply port the game to the PC platform. They improved on it and made it even better.

NOTE: The DVD is not required to play the game. It is only required to install it.

[:: Lyon ::]

Oooh...can't wait to play it! It's been a while since a good RPG came out.. it's all about FPS (First Person Shooter) these days :(

[Smigit]

You won't be disappointed if you waited for the PC version like I did. Kudos to BioWare for a wonderful game. They didn't simply port the game to the PC platform. They improved on it and made it even better.

NOTE: The DVD is not required to play the game. It is only required to install it.

My post was the one before yours and while months old I may as well ask, hows the loading times in this game? Would be good if your in a position to compare it to the XBox version but any comments appreciated.

Not that I'll buy it since I beat it on the 360, but I'm rather curious.

[Darrian]

Great game, but the configuration utility crashes, so I can't go above 1280x1024 :/

[CY:G]

Great game, but the configuration utility crashes, so I can't go above 1280x1024 :/

I think you can change the resolution inside the game..., you dont need that utility...

I have been playing it for a bit, i already finish the game on the 360, and the graphics and FPS controls on the PC are enough reason to go through it again, that and the fact that the game rocks.

[Darrian]

Yes, you can... and the highest resolution I can change it to is 1280x1024.

Update: I found the .ini file with the settings and changed it there... and it worked! I'm happier now, it looks a lot better, though it was pretty sweet even at a low resolution.

Edited June 3, 2008 by Darrian

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

My post was the one before yours and while months old I may as well ask, hows the loading times in this game? Would be good if your in a position to compare it to the XBox version but any comments appreciated.

Not that I'll buy it since I beat it on the 360, but I'm rather curious.

The loading times are short. It loads once at the beginning for about 15-25 seconds. After that, you play through until there's a major cinematic cutscene. In that case, it'll say "Loading" on the screen for a second or two. I've only played the Xbox 360 version once at a friend's house so I don't know how it compares. However I can say it's much better than other PC games I've played. Quite frankly I'm surprised at how fast the game loads, considering the amount of content in it.

[Flash]

Does anyone have a 8800GT? How well does it run at 1920x1200 no AA 8x AF?

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

PCGH (PC Gaming Hardware) has a performance review for Mass Effect. Unfortunately, the highest resolution benchmarked was 1680x1050 with max details and 16xAF. Here's the image (click to enlarge):

SOURCE