On the Ball: Scanning, for Fun and Profit
Mass Effect 2's mining minigame actually made me miss the Mako.
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Mass Effect 2's mining minigame actually made me miss the Mako.
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On the Ball: Scanning, for Fun and Profit
- Thread starter Jordan Deam
- Start date
Agreed! I miss the ol' way of doing it, either drive the Mako to a point on a map, or hit the Y button from space to insti-scan the entire planet. Why that version of the scanner was left out of Cerberus's plan for the Normandy is a mystery that shall plague my mind for years to come.
I'm sorry but all i can think of now is Billy Mays saying "Get on the ball! The Oxyclorid ball" after reading the title.
OP: so i geuss Bioware sorta swapped one annoying feature for another?
OP: so i geuss Bioware sorta swapped one annoying feature for another?
I can't say I disagree entirely, the mining "minigame" is without question the single most boring thing about Mass Effect 2, BUT - since I didn't play it on a console, I didn't have the same problem you had, since I just flung my mouse all over the place.
Also, I hardly ever found myself spending that long on scanning for minerals - I had so much of all of them that I was hard pressed to spend it all, and kept trying to find more upgrades for, well, everything.
About the hacking and bypassing - I liked them on my first playthrough, but by the second half of my second time saving the 'verse... well. F**k'em.
By the way; what are you talking about
You have to do that anyways to find all the sidequests!
Also, I hardly ever found myself spending that long on scanning for minerals - I had so much of all of them that I was hard pressed to spend it all, and kept trying to find more upgrades for, well, everything.
About the hacking and bypassing - I liked them on my first playthrough, but by the second half of my second time saving the 'verse... well. F**k'em.
By the way; what are you talking about
?
You have to do that anyways to find all the sidequests!
Yeah, a friend of mine mentioned that some NPC had tipped him off about that, but I couldn't seem to find anyone who knew anything =S ...care to share the secret?Slycne said:
I think i'm one of the only people who enjoys scanning XD
I still preferred the MAKO though. I miss that thing.
On the side quest where you visit the Normandy crash site, i just keep looking at it and thinking why can't i salvage it. We went through so much together, and now its gone ;_;
I personally never found myself running short on element zero. I ran out of palladium far faster.
I still preferred the MAKO though. I miss that thing.
On the side quest where you visit the Normandy crash site, i just keep looking at it and thinking why can't i salvage it. We went through so much together, and now its gone ;_;
I personally never found myself running short on element zero. I ran out of palladium far faster.
Actually, there IS a pattern you can follow. Namely, ignore gas giants. They almost always suck in terms of minerals, the best I saw were rated "Moderate", and they never have quests or anomalies associated with them, since nothing can live on the surface.
After my 1st playthrough, I'd hit all the non-GG planets, and move on. You end up not needed to even look at them or scan them, as there's far more minerals in the game than upgrades requiring them.
I also missed the Mako. Not so much because scanning is tedious, but because I actually liked it. I play the game on a PC, though.
After my 1st playthrough, I'd hit all the non-GG planets, and move on. You end up not needed to even look at them or scan them, as there's far more minerals in the game than upgrades requiring them.
I also missed the Mako. Not so much because scanning is tedious, but because I actually liked it. I play the game on a PC, though.
Let me be blunt; Scanning > Mako. It's not a hard choice. I would want something else than scanning, but at least I didn't have to sit through The Mako again.
Nothing and I mean NOTHING will make the Mako seem like a good idea. Nothing even remotely. Probably one of the worst vechicle sections in a game ever, hell, even Bioware made fun of it(check out one of the t-shirts they sell).
Sorry, but there was nothing random about the Mako, in fact, it's no different now, but atleast you don't have to climb vertical walls hours on end. Here you can send a couple of probes to a planet and be on your way (provided you upgraded the scanner, which you must, unless you're cheap, or stupid, or both). It helps if you take notice what the probes say. A poor or moderate planet is not worth wasting much time on.
I can't believe my eyes when Bioware actually listen about those silly lift screens(I do miss the smalltalk), retarded inventory and mod menus that made me want to jump out of a window - and people start to moan and want them back? Do they whip themselfs before they go to sleep aswell, like flagellants?!
Nothing and I mean NOTHING will make the Mako seem like a good idea. Nothing even remotely. Probably one of the worst vechicle sections in a game ever, hell, even Bioware made fun of it(check out one of the t-shirts they sell).
Sorry, but there was nothing random about the Mako, in fact, it's no different now, but atleast you don't have to climb vertical walls hours on end. Here you can send a couple of probes to a planet and be on your way (provided you upgraded the scanner, which you must, unless you're cheap, or stupid, or both). It helps if you take notice what the probes say. A poor or moderate planet is not worth wasting much time on.
I can't believe my eyes when Bioware actually listen about those silly lift screens(I do miss the smalltalk), retarded inventory and mod menus that made me want to jump out of a window - and people start to moan and want them back? Do they whip themselfs before they go to sleep aswell, like flagellants?!
You know the funny and sad part about the whole scanning dilemma in Mass Effect 2 is that anyone with half a brain in the development room would have seen that this was a MASSively boring system. I think the person who created this system must have been some higher up, because it seemed no one had the balls to tell them this system was a epic failure. It is to the degree of a massive ball of spit and boogers in my epic bacon burger from epic town! btw... WHICH ONE OF YOU SPIT IN MY BURGER! ( http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/776563/ )Jordan Deam said:
They should bring back the Mako. Just make it so the planets don't always look so damn bland. The mining thing really isn't that bad, frankly I've gotten pro at it. Since I also imported a character from ME I had a lot of resources at my disposal and its about 40% of what you need to upgrade everything.
My thought is this:
At least with the scanning, you get the feeling that the developers were just saying: "Look, this is just a little scut work you have to do to earn your upgrades; just spend a few minutes on it between missions and you'll have all you need."
Whereas being on the Mako actually felt like a significant part of the gameplay...and it was a pretty terrible part of it. The empty and desolate landscapes, the silly physics-defying mountain climbing, the ending up at the same three idiotic buildings for every sidequest... Not to mention the fact that you had to play the "opening a lock" mini-game to survey minierals, which made absolutely zero sense.
The scanner system is uninvolved and somewhat tedious, but it's more realistic and it doesn't pretend to be what it's not. The planetary exploration on the Mako pretended to be a crucial, exciting part of ME1's gameplay, and it just never lived up to that promise.
At least with the scanning, you get the feeling that the developers were just saying: "Look, this is just a little scut work you have to do to earn your upgrades; just spend a few minutes on it between missions and you'll have all you need."
Whereas being on the Mako actually felt like a significant part of the gameplay...and it was a pretty terrible part of it. The empty and desolate landscapes, the silly physics-defying mountain climbing, the ending up at the same three idiotic buildings for every sidequest... Not to mention the fact that you had to play the "opening a lock" mini-game to survey minierals, which made absolutely zero sense.
The scanner system is uninvolved and somewhat tedious, but it's more realistic and it doesn't pretend to be what it's not. The planetary exploration on the Mako pretended to be a crucial, exciting part of ME1's gameplay, and it just never lived up to that promise.
While it was annoying it wasn't as bad as driving the Mako around. While traveling the planets was boring as hell because they we're mostly blank, but then again you got to remember that's what space is. A tun of empty space with a tun of floating rocks, not every planet will be full of life. They should of just added a bigger radius and speed, would of made it a hundred times better.
What they really need in ME3 is more involved combat. I couldn't help but feel the combat in ME2, while it is more tactical over shoot em' up it felt a little boring. Not say it isn't fun but I just wish it was a little quicker passed. It may be an RPG first and a shooter second but that's no excuse for having slower passed game play in today's era of gaming.
What they really need in ME3 is more involved combat. I couldn't help but feel the combat in ME2, while it is more tactical over shoot em' up it felt a little boring. Not say it isn't fun but I just wish it was a little quicker passed. It may be an RPG first and a shooter second but that's no excuse for having slower passed game play in today's era of gaming.
The problem with the Mako wasn't the Mako, it was the barren planets and all the jagged mountains you had to drive up. And the Make sucks for climbing up mountains.
If they took away all the mountains, and maybe added a little variety, something tells me the Mako sections wouldn't have been so hated.
If they took away all the mountains, and maybe added a little variety, something tells me the Mako sections wouldn't have been so hated.
They only thing I really have to say about this is the fact that I found maybe 4 different planet guides that were pretty instructive on what were good planets to farm for minerals, what planets had the most of a particular mineral, etc. I know not everyone wants to do research like that but it may have made your life easier. I still think the scanning is stupid but also prefer it to the damned mako.