What?s Wrong with Mass Effect 2?

[Shamus Young]

What?s Wrong with Mass Effect 2?

Why is Shamus worried about Mass Effect 3? Because of Mass Effect 2, that's why.

Read Full Article

 

[PixelKing]

I think you yourself put it best when you said "In hell the dialogue is written by bioware"
For the record I actually have read all of the article.

 

[Sparrow]

Seemed like a hell of a lot of nitpicking to me. People should really stop getting up in arms about the "stories" we're hearing about EA interfering with the franchise, all you're doing is upsetting yourselves. If some hard evidence comes out which clearly outlines EA's involvement in making the game worse in any way, I will eat my damn hat.

 

[Kahunaburger]

To be fair, Bioware pretty much never writes good plots anyway. They're mostly good at creating a cast of memorable characters.

 

[Tony2077]

i like the game and the dieing part i agree with you on that part and only that part

 

[Shamus Young]

Seemed like a hell of a lot of nitpicking to me. People should really stop getting up in arms about the "stories" we're hearing about EA interfering with the franchise, all you're doing is upsetting yourselves. If some hard evidence comes out which clearly outlines EA's involvement in making the game worse in any way, I will eat my damn hat.

It's cool if you don't need stories that make sense or characters with discernable motivation. But, you know, some of us DO. And we're no longer getting it.

I don't care if it's EA's fault, or BioWare's fault. It's something that BioWare fans are no longer getting. That's why people are getting worried about Mass Effect 3.

 

[Voltano]

To be fair, Bioware pretty much never writes good plots anyway. They're mostly good at creating a cast of memorable characters.

I agree. Last year I played KoTOR to get an idea on how "story-based" RPGs handle to "non-RPGs" like Diablo, and I had my own share of complaints about the story in that game. The characters really did stick out for me, though, such as HK-47 or Mission.

I haven't played any of the "Mass Effect" games, but some of the plot-holes (which sound un-credible or non-coherent) that Shamus listed sound like a good way to ruin a story--whether it is told in a video game or not.

 

[SomEngangVar]

I'm praying ME3 will be more RPG-ey than ME2. Seriously. All I'd like would for it to be more like 1 than 2. I know I'm just dreaming though.

 

[Tony2077]

on some show even if they know its a trap they go in anyway so can't really fault them on that one

 

[Dhatz]

why every game that tries to shorten the voiced answers fails so laughably? Ultimately it should be constructed around what the short options mean and try to convey.

 

[AngryMongoose]

So is this a recap of Mass Effect 2, or a season of Spoiler Warning?

 

[Ghengis John]

The general candor from all the staff on this site seems to be portents of doom and gloom for mass effect 3. You know though guys, fear is infectious. I know you talk amongst yourselves, you must at points, and from a non-insular, outside perspective this is simply tantamount to so much whining and quailing. I'm not saying woes are endemic to your staff, I'm sure some of your readers share them as well. But for the most part there's a lot of unsubstantiated anger and paranoia.

A lot of your "points" are actually not points at all but simply the result of your interpretation of events. Take this for example:

At one point they fed colonists to the thresher maw in order to test the effects of feeding colonists to a thresher maw

No, they lured an alliance military unit to a thresher maw to test the combat viability of the thresher maw. They also were experimenting with being able to CONTROL thresher maws. You have forgotten some pretty important details here and built a case on those flaws (the phrase "A castle built on sand" springs to mind). I could go point by point but that isn't the issue. The issue here is not that you are using examples to build a thesis, but trying to use examples to support a conclusion. And you're shoehorning to do it. You should have double checked your facts or at least run this by someone playing the devil's advocate, someone presenting a differing opinion. From the looks of it though there is nobody on the staff who possesses one. I can't speak with absolute authority but it would seem you yourselves have fallen into a trap, groupthink.

As for Cerberus, what about them seemed bumbling? Yes Shepard mows them down but then again, let's all remember that Shepard is some kind of legendary hero. I mean you don't presume the reapers are bumblers because Shepard thwarts them at every turn do you? To see how the average individual matches up against Cerberus look at how people who aren't Shepard in mass effect one wind up when they cross paths with them. We have scientists who are so scared of them they'ed rather kill themselves than go up against them, we have a high-ranking military official who can't find anything on them and is then somehow abducted and killed and the death completely covered up, we have a hardened soldier who was driven insane by their experiments. They are neither bunglers nor idiots. Shepard is simply awesome.

EDIT:
On the subject of Railroading my hat goes off to Woodsey once again:

I have raged against the railroading (I have to work with Cerberus?),.

I have to work with the Alliance? I have to become a Spectre? I have to oppose Saren?

There's always some railroading, and you at least have the chance to play it as if you are undermining them or agree with them (or a mix).

Complaining about railroading is ridiculous. Games have to have practical limits and constraints, sorry. I'm sure we've all dreamed of the game where we could do anything we wanted to but it hasn't come along yet. Development has costs, media has storage limits.

 

[cynicalsaint1]

Double post, ignore

 

[cynicalsaint1]

Then we get to the "trap." ... Worse, they didn't even need to beat him in a gunfight. They could just have flown off with him and left the Normandy behind.

They tried this. The reason things didn't work out was because EDI was hacking their systems. Thanks to EDI you're able to escape before they can bring all their systems back online.

What was his goal? What was he planning on doing if there hadn't been a trap?

You were there for intel - just blowing the ship away would have made it a bit more difficult.

You're standing on a pile of technology, intel, and proof that the Reapers exist, but apparently it's "too dangerous", because ... I guess everyone else in the galaxy is too stupid to be trusted with it?

How about because EVERYTIME anyone anywhere in the Mass Effect universe begins jacking around with any kind of Reaper Tech the end result is invariably indoctrination, and Shepard having to fight through a ton of Husks.

As for "false binary choices" what the hell do you expect them to do? Come up with every single conceivable option possible? I mean they're already tracking 1000s of choices you make throughout the series - I mean a single new option is an entire new permutation of choices for the devs to deal with. If you're going to allow these kind of decisions and make them flow though multiple games - you're going to have to make sacrifices in order to be able to make the game's storyline coherent, and be able to make the various major permutations manageable from a programming standpoint.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

I assume that was an Arrival spoiler as well. It's probably still new enough to warrant a warning also.

 

[Sparrow]

Seemed like a hell of a lot of nitpicking to me. People should really stop getting up in arms about the "stories" we're hearing about EA interfering with the franchise, all you're doing is upsetting yourselves. If some hard evidence comes out which clearly outlines EA's involvement in making the game worse in any way, I will eat my damn hat.

It's cool if you don't need stories that make sense or characters with discernable motivation. But, you know, some of us DO. And we're no longer getting it.

I don't care if it's EA's fault, or BioWare's fault. It's something that BioWare fans are no longer getting. That's why people are getting worried about Mass Effect 3.

Uh-huh. I'm not sure who this "we" you're refering to is. Some select crowd of well hidden gamers, maybe? Regardless, I'm just not seeing the points you're making. Most of these "plot hole" (yes, I like sarcastic air quotes) you're picking out just seem to be the most minute problems you could possibly pick on.

I mean, honestly, you're pissed because Shepard didn't whip out his/her phone and take a snapshot of the Reaper? What was he going to do next, upload it on his Facebook profile so his squadmates could all like it? The council wouldn't see the evidence in that case, I bet they all blocked Shep's friend requests.

 

[irani_che]

on LOTR, I am distinctly certain the eagles were scared of mordor when sauron was "alive"

 

[gt6mp]

Damn it you TVtroped me. Goodbye 3 hours of my life.