Mass Effect vs The Witcher

So I'm finally giving my computer a drastic overhaul. Parts should come in at the end of this week. I've been tracking both Mass Effect and the Witcher for quite some time now, but I've been waiting to get around to upgrading my computer to get the most out of these games.

If you had to choose one, which would it be? Have you played one or perhaps both? Does one have merits that may trump the other?

Granted, one's sci-fi, and one's fantasy, but so is Starcraft and Warcraft and I like them equally.

WTB Fallout but until then.....

Rock the vote!

I hated voice acting in Witcher (i didnt finish witcher so i cant give my final thoughts) but both games are TRUE RPG

So far i enjoyed Mass Effect more

Witcher Enhanced > Mass Effect > Witcher

because i enjoyed them both so much

I've played through all of Mass Effect - its a really polished and well written game. I was very surprised at the quality of the port.

I've have only played the demo of the Witcher but the Enhanced Edition is supposed to be superb with improvements to all aspects.

mass effect is all about cinematic qualities, excellent voice work, movie like story.

Witcher is all about being a bloody amazing game and is better

Even without the Enhanced Edition I think The Witcher is better. But only by a very, very small margin. The EE just seems like it'll widen the gap between the two.

Mass Effect carries a much better presentation and cinematic experience, but The Witcher offers a better role-playing experience.

mass effect for sci-fi

the witcher fantasy

Also in Mass Effect you get companions and what not and in the WIthcer you don't but that doesn't mean the Witcher isn't a bad game.

I prefer Mass effect but only by a very very very very small margin

Haven't played Witcher, but it's hard to top the shallowness of Mass Effect's gameplay, so I'm voting Witcher.Erlkoenig

Its not shallow.

Havent played Mass Effect properly.

Havent played enough Witcher - Even though I own the collectors (waiting for the EE patch).

[QUOTE="Erlkoenig"]Haven't played Witcher, but it's hard to top the shallowness of Mass Effect's gameplay, so I'm voting Witcher.biggest_loser

Its not shallow.

Then you must not have played many good computer RPGs. Hell, it's even more shallow than Oblivion. Character customization is close to zero.

[QUOTE="biggest_loser"]

[QUOTE="Erlkoenig"]Haven't played Witcher, but it's hard to top the shallowness of Mass Effect's gameplay, so I'm voting Witcher.Erlkoenig

Its not shallow.

Then you must not have played many good computer RPGs. Hell, it's even more shallow than Oblivion. Character customization is close to zero.

Thats just blatantly wrong. You have to increase your skills to effectively use weapons.

Wtf question is this?

Witcher Enhanced for sure, no doubt at all.

[QUOTE="Erlkoenig"][QUOTE="biggest_loser"]

[QUOTE="Erlkoenig"]Haven't played Witcher, but it's hard to top the shallowness of Mass Effect's gameplay, so I'm voting Witcher.biggest_loser

Its not shallow.

Then you must not have played many good computer RPGs. Hell, it's even more shallow than Oblivion. Character customization is close to zero.

Thats just blatantly wrong. You have to increase your skills to effectively use weapons.

But when you have so many skill points that characters of the same class end up being not very different from each other, customization is close to zero.

And I don't want to start on the bland abilities/skills and horrible equipment system (click HERE to see the lack of flavor and variety).

IN mass effect is about choices and action style combat with a LOT of tactics all that choose choose kinda colides the ocvering sytem action style the game has choices in dialogies and its sci fi, you create your own character and how it looks apply skills mainly in the beigining and what character class will be! there is no worldmap or towns or buy guns eg mostly its missions and choices

The witcher had many crashes in me and savegame curraption but the enchanesed version, anyway so you cutumize THE character not making your own and you change skills and advance, skills upgrade some aiblites they are not like eg stregth L75 you got a skill like fallout perk changes some artibutes! the story is great like a novel you mainly follow your character storyline but there are stuff to do around also like mas it has chapters, there is a worldmap but mostly you move in paths you dont go everywhere and jump in the water like oblivion! also its longer than mass effect really long game!

both games got bad combat balancement

so withcer hardcore, amazing story rpg

mass effect a little simplier more misison based and choices

For me id go for fallout 2 till fallout 3 comes out, or the broken gothic series however there is also oblivion a mix of those too and or fable which is mostly an action adventure (eg a boss that takes no damage unless you roll around and dodge attacks so you hit him in the back not much rpg? and the maps is levels which aint bigger than my backyard, not openended!)

But when you have so many skill points that characters of the same class end up being not very different from each other, customization is close to zero.

And I don't want to start on the bland abilities/skills and horrible equipment system (click HERE to see the lack of flavor and variety).

Erlkoenig

There is a character cl*ss where you can use special powers like telekentic abilities to lift enemies.

I didn't know you could do that as a soldier.

Mass Effect is really good - deep plot, great character development, awesome character models.

They're both great RPGs that deserve some applause, but I'd say Mass Effect is better IMHO because I enjoyed it more. You might also want to add some other good RPGs to your arsenal such as Oblivion, etc.

[QUOTE="Erlkoenig"]

But when you have so many skill points that characters of the same class end up being not very different from each other, customization is close to zero.

And I don't want to start on the bland abilities/skills and horrible equipment system (click HERE to see the lack of flavor and variety).

biggest_loser

There is a character cl*ss where you can use special powers like telekentic abilities to lift enemies.

I didn't know you could do that as a soldier.

You missed some words in my post.

[QUOTE="biggest_loser"][QUOTE="Erlkoenig"]

But when you have so many skill points that characters of the same class end up being not very different from each other, customization is close to zero.

And I don't want to start on the bland abilities/skills and horrible equipment system (click HERE to see the lack of flavor and variety).

Erlkoenig

There is a character cl*ss where you can use special powers like telekentic abilities to lift enemies.

I didn't know you could do that as a soldier.

You missed some words in my post.

I know you said that they're not very different but you also said customisation is close to zero: if certain ****s can only use certain weapons then thats incorrect.

I don't view picking a class and a first name as character customization, but that's just me.Erlkoenig

If you pick a non-soldier class then obviously your skill points are not going to go towards heavy weapons since you can't even use them.

character models and combat are the only two things that Mass Effect has edge over The Witcher, and a good CRPG does not those two things make.

mass effect is all about cinematic qualities, excellent voice work, movie like story.

Witcher is all about being a bloody amazing game and is better

nutcrackr

totally true !

@Erlkoenig

You cannot tell me Mass effect has no customization.

First off, you have 6 classes to choose from each offering something significantly different that the other classes.

Second, where you put your points to customize what you want your character to be. If you were a sentinel you can really customize your character with the points you get.

Third, when you create your character in the beginning but I'm pretty sure you acknowledged that.

Fourth, look at your ally's and your character. You can customize their weapons and armour. If you get the choice to level up your characters by yourself it adds a new level of customization.

The Enhanced Edition of The Witcher just got an 8 on Eurogamer.

It's the only PC RPG of the last couple of years which has committed to a high level of production values (at its best, the game is genuinely beautiful) to a traditional design (heavy on the conversation) with enough twists to make it feel novel.

The Enhanced Edition of The Witcher just got an 8 on Eurogamer.

It's the only PC RPG of the last couple of years which has committed to a high level of production values (at its best, the game is genuinely beautiful) to a traditional design (heavy on the conversation) with enough twists to make it feel novel.

Baranga

They don't consider ME a PC RPG!? It also has great visuals. Maybe they meant PC only or something!!

Mass Effect is about hackneyed story, which by the end of the game you're bored of completely. It's about totally idiotic inventory (to the point of being unusable) and items' system without any flavor or originality in it. It is also about linear gameplay, pseudo choices that don't matter at all, and some graphical bling designed to make you blind to the enormous shortcomings of the game. Sidequests that make Pac-Man look like a pinnacle of RPG gameplay. Hard to imagine it was made by same company that made KOTOR.

Havn't played The Witcher, yet.

Mass Effect is about hackneyed story, which by the end of the game you're bored of completely. It's about totally idiotic inventory (to the point of being unusable) and items' system without any flavor or originality in it. It is also about linear gameplay, pseudo choices that don't matter at all, and some graphical bling designed to make you blind to the enormous shortcomings of the game. Sidequests that make Pac-Man look like a pinnacle of RPG gameplay. Hard to imagine it was made by same company that made KOTOR.

Havn't played The Witcher, yet.

kpsting

The story is great, hinting at the players past, while also including themes of racism.

Why does the inventory have to be original?

Its linear yes, so? And you rated Far Cry 9.6..

Some of the choices do matter, some don't. Not everything you choose in life is going to come back to haunt you.

Many of the side quests unravel the universe and more of the story.

Mass Effect has a better story, but overall, Witcher is better.DanielDust

In conclusion:

Mass Effect is the best you can get in the Sci-Fi area and the Witcher is the best you can in the fantasy area right now. :P

...and I predict the second and third installments will be published only for consoles. So don't get too excited.

Why? The publisher will claim that the PC version didn't sell well, too much piracy, etc., and so isn't worth the development cost.

You heard it hear first!

And remember, PC gaming isn't dead!

:D

IN mass effect is about choices and action style combat with a LOT of tactics all that choose choose kinda colides the ocvering sytem action style the game has choices in dialogies and its sci fi, you create your own character and how it looks apply skills mainly in the beigining and what character class will be! there is no worldmap or towns or buy guns eg mostly its missions and choices

The witcher had many crashes in me and savegame curraption but the enchanesed version, anyway so you cutumize THE character not making your own and you change skills and advance, skills upgrade some aiblites they are not like eg stregth L75 you got a skill like fallout perk changes some artibutes! the story is great like a novel you mainly follow your character storyline but there are stuff to do around also like mas it has chapters, there is a worldmap but mostly you move in paths you dont go everywhere and jump in the water like oblivion! also its longer than mass effect really long game!

both games got bad combat balancement

so withcer hardcore, amazing story rpg

mass effect a little simplier more misison based and choices

For me id go for fallout 2 till fallout 3 comes out, or the broken gothic series however there is also oblivion a mix of those too and or fable which is mostly an action adventure (eg a boss that takes no damage unless you roll around and dodge attacks so you hit him in the back not much rpg? and the maps is levels which aint bigger than my backyard, not openended!)

thenewau25

But seriously, am I the only one who has NO idea as to what his first two paragraphs even say?

...and I predict the second and third installments will be published only for consoles. So don't get too excited.

Why? The publisher will claim that the PC version didn't sell well, too much piracy, etc., and so isn't worth the development cost.

You heard it hear first!

And remember, PC gaming isn't dead!

:D

attirex

Umm, wrong, Bioware have already stated Mass effect 2 and 3 will be on Pc shortly after the 360 versions.

[QUOTE="kpsting"]

Mass Effect is about hackneyed story, which by the end of the game you're bored of completely. It's about totally idiotic inventory (to the point of being unusable) and items' system without any flavor or originality in it. It is also about linear gameplay, pseudo choices that don't matter at all, and some graphical bling designed to make you blind to the enormous shortcomings of the game. Sidequests that make Pac-Man look like a pinnacle of RPG gameplay. Hard to imagine it was made by same company that made KOTOR.

Havn't played The Witcher, yet.

biggest_loser

The story is great, hinting at the players past, while also including themes of racism.

Why does the inventory have to be original?

Its linear yes, so? And you rated Far Cry 9.6..

Some of the choices do matter, some don't. Not everything you choose in life is going to come back to haunt you.

Many of the side quests unravel the universe and more of the story.

The story was descent for a game, but to the best of my knowledge there is only one real encounter that is directly related to your past and that can be totally missed since it is a side quest. Also no matter what history you choose for your character you can still end up doing the side quest for the other history choices, which brings up the question, what makes your character so special that he/she is chosen to become a Specter?

The inventory system in ME is really, really terrible. When the inventory system of old games like Diablo, BG and most other RPGs is much better and easier to use than those of ME you know something is wrong. I can understand why they did it like that for the console, but even so it is really bad (especially when you need to sell/buy items). Also the lack of veriety in item models is very disappointing. Every weapon/armor looks virtually the same with the only difference being color schemes. How in the world can armor/weapons made by different manufacturers owned by different species all look the same?

As for choices, there were only 3 points in the game where the choices you made really meant anything, even then they had no real effect on the story, and the way they try to justify this is that you are some kind of untouchable enforcer who can do whatever they want and no one will care. There is just no follow through on the decisions you make.