Be Excellent To Each Other

I have just essentially lost my progress in Mass Effect thanks to a 'known issue' that Bioware won't fix.

Linky

Basically, in the last part of one of the very first missions (on Feros), you use one of the many elevators in the game... and it seems that if you save in the vicinity of the elevator (or indeed, inside it) you get trapped in a 'load' elevator... which is to say, a fake piece of level that is there to trigger the transition to the next area. The doors don't open (because the elevator isn't attached to anything) and pushing the elevator button causes the game to enter a loading screen for all of eternity.

On the last page of that thread Bioware say they can't fix the broken savegame (they could if they wanted) but what's really, really pathetic is that they haven't patched the game in the NINE MONTHS they've known about it. Of course, if they didn't arbitrarily switch the 'save' option in the menu on and off throughout the game I would have saved again after leaving this elevator and wouldn't be in this situation. But no - after you emerge you have a long and tricky fight ahead and one you'll almost certainly die during at least once or want to have a do-over.

All it would take to fix this would either be a console-command style line of code to move the player to a 'proper' area (tricky with a console game) or a patch that makes the elevator button in this fake elevator take us to a proper area when pushed (easy enough).

So, that's three evenings worth of play, wasted. Suffice it to say, Mass Effect is going onto my shelf and won't be touched again for a very, very long time.

This is the only bit that anyone needs to actually bother reading.

Ditto.

I am part way into my first playthrough, but I think I am going to wait for the dashboard update until I carry on. Playing off the harddrive will hopefully be better.

I really liked it.
Would have been pissed off by that error though.

My fury has been tempered somewhat by my determination not to be defeated by the contempt of the developers (Bioware clearly haven't learned anything from the anger they attracted for leaving KoTOR2 unfinished) and so I started again.

Having spent so much time playing the game meant that the early sections were easily conquered, and, still upset, I have just done all of the Citadel making a point of being as rude and unpleasant to everyone I encountered.

So, four and a bit hours done, I am now finally heading off on the mission proper.