Bioware are getting really lazy as of late. (Possible Mass Effect 2 spoilers)

[Amnestic]

Not really. It just makes your first few researches and purchases easy. You usually never have many credits left after buying things on Omega during your first missions even with 200,000 credits extra. And I was mining for platinum right after the first two missions (Mordin and Archangel).

It seems that I ALWAYS need platinum

In total, 50,000 resources isn't much, and the planets in total have way more resources than you would ever be able to use.

List of required resources for a fully upgraded run. [http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Upgrade_guide]

If you don't mind the scars, it's only 225k Platinum which is only 10k more than Iridium. Eezo is the rarest, but also the least necessary (coming in at an astonishing 31k plus however much you spend on advanced training/retrain powers).

 

[Lux Solis Invicti]

Bioware's collaboration with EA is going to be their undoing. Exclusive DLC (Dr. Pepper, wtf?) and obligatory multiplatform support which ends up in screwing up the PC versions of their games are the root of most problems mentioned in this thread.

 

[Daedalus1942]

To be honest, I enjoyed ME2. However, I think some of the criticism leveled by the OP, as well as the criticism leveled in the blog review linked earlier, are very fair, particularly in light of the fact that this is the second of a planned series, and they didn't seem to tie the stories particularly well.

In my opinion, it's unfair to gauge how effective Mass Effect 2 is as the "tie together" when the trilogy is incomplete.
Would you judge Empire Strikes Back before you saw how it played into Return of the Jedi?

In response to the OP: Some of your criticism is understandable but you have a lot of nitpicks in there too.

1 - I miss the roaming planets too but the Mako had some of the worst vehicle experience I've ever had the displeasure to experience.

2 - I'm very, very glad they got rid of the excessive micromanaging and allowed you to customize existing weapons rather than give you increasingly less-shitty variants. Every weapon had a purpose and an advantage/disadvantage for other weapons of that class. Plus, it means Shepard can actually shoot something without me having to worry "OH, I need to put more points into accuracy."

3 - I experienced a few glitches, mostly clipping errors but they're negligible especially in a game this size.

4 - I also miss the independent cooldown timers but they also took way too fucking long to reset.

5 - I've played the game thoroughly through twice and never noticed a single spelling error.

6 - This nitpick is a bit silly. Sure the black boxes looked a little goofy but they were never deal breakers and they served a useful purpose.

7 - Liara was very fleshed out if you talked to her more and completed all her missions. As for the other characters...you have to be kidding me if you think Bioware was being lazy with them. These are, bar none, the most interesting and developed characters I've seen in all 14 years I've been gaming.

8 - I think the benefits for reaching Level 60 were substantial. Sure, I wasn't a god on earth but I wouldn't want to be. I need a challenge and Bioware handled it well.

9 - I thought the sidequests were great, vastly preferable to the heightmapped surfaces masquerading as "worlds" with maybe 6 different base layouts. Although the mineral scanning does suck something awful, I'll give you that. I generally resort to listening to music when I have to do that.

10 - The suicide mission is roughly 40% of the game and the rest of it is devoted to building an emotional connection to your allies. The purpose of this is to make your choices during the final mission feel like they have weight, rather than you just being able to piss away allies and still feel victorious (see Half-Life 2's final boss fight). I didn't mind the final boss too much and it was satisfying to take that bastard out.


My $0.02

People seem to keep misreading my post. I didn't ***** about the new characters once... They were very well developed, and fleshed out.
It was the old crew members (from the first game) that I personally felt were sort of just tacked on, apart from archangel and Tali. The missions involving your old team members (and even their cameo's in the game) to me felt kind of lazy and pointless.
I didn't whinge about the quests for the new members. I whinged that the entire game is basically just collecting them, doing their loyalty sidequest, and then the suicide mission.
There really isn't much to it in the way of subplots, whereas the first game had several.

 

[Daedalus1942]

Actually, an imported level 60 does let you start as level 5. It also gives you 10,000 of every element and some amount of money I forgot (because you get a much bigger monetary bonus for importing a rich character).

And BTW the mineral thing also happens after you've beaten ME2 once. And it's 50,000 of each resource and 200,000 credits

No, you get different amounts for beating the game. For level 60, it's what I said above, it's less for lower level characters, and it's 100,000 credits for importing a rich character.

So simply beating ME2 gives you more stuff that getting to level 60 in ME!? What a rip-off

How so? It ensures that you have to do scanning your first game, just so you understand it, then it lets you skip it in subsequent playthroughs if you dislike it. It makes sense that they'd force you to really play the game once before giving you the bonuses.

Not really. It just makes your first few researches and purchases easy. You usually never have many credits left after buying things on Omega during your first missions even with 200,000 credits extra. And I was mining for platinum right after the first two missions (Mordin and Archangel).

It seems that I ALWAYS need platinum

In total, 50,000 resources isn't much, and the planets in total have way more resources than you would ever be able to use.

True, come to think of it. Although the 50,000 Element Zero is a godsend, I can't see anyone using even a fraction of that.

I did, several times, when resetting Shepherd so she could use other member's unlocked abilities.

 

[WorthlessSix]

When I did the Samara loyalty mission, the sound suddenly cut off right at the climax of the battle between her and Morinth... I loaded the save file right before that, hoping it would fix itself, but the sound just will not work at that ONE part. Has this happened to anyone else?

 

[Cody211282]

Your facts are wrong, first off: 3 sniper rifles no matter what, buddy.
2nd off: The inventory was a pain in the ass, so was the mako, the majority didn't like them, so unfortunatly(Or fortunatly, in this case.) you, the minority, have to deal with it.

I guess I just prefer my RPG's to be oh I don't know... more like actual Role playing games, rather than jst blasting everything in sight that moves. They removed the strategy and the elements that make you think.

How is ME2 not an RPG, you play a role, make decisions that effect the world around you and have an impact on future games, the leveling system and invintory screen doesn't make a RPG

 

[Slaanax]

When I did the Samara loyalty mission, the sound suddenly cut off right at the climax of the battle between her and Morinth... I loaded the save file right before that, hoping it would fix itself, but the sound just will not work at that ONE part. Has this happened to anyone else?

I had this happen to me so I have no clue what happened.

 

[Azjenco]

I still cannot see what the big issue is. Let me go through it again... !!!Spoiler Alert!!!

Collecting your crew, which is an integral part of the story, takes about 75% of the main storyline. The other important part of the story involves place like Freedom's Progress, Horizon, and the Collector ship where you learn about them. Where you realize that they are the last remnants of the Protheans! Unfortunately they barely touched on the 'new' council, and your spectre status. I would have preferred it if they did a bit more with that, you know, involve your old life in the story. But beggars can't choosers.

Though I feel the submissions where a bit better handled in ME2, they were a few and far between, I will grant you that. What I did love about ME2 was they delved a bit deeper into established lore. I mean come on, you went to the Flotilla and saw the inner workings of the Quarians first hand. You went to Tuchanka where they fleshed out the Krogan beautifully (I thought they were vicious, but damn now you saw why). And not to mention the Justicars and the strange militant power of the seemingly peaceful Asari.
Something else that I liked was how Mordin and his science partner showed a deeper impact of the Genophage. Plus, it is minor, but I loved the darker repercussions displayed by the Citadel since Sovereign's attack.

As for old party members, ME1 had 3 party quests. Garrus' scientist, Tali's geth disc, and Wrex's armor. ME2 at least fleshed your party out, but I KNOW your gripe is not with the new party, it is with how old members where handled. So lets look at that.

You where unhappy with Liara, but she gave you 2 assignments. 2!!! Through the scanning and finding the agent assignments you learn why she acts like 'a cold hearted *****' and still you see some of the old Liara through peeking through. Plus she gave you a kiss if you romanced her!
Ashley was on Horizon, and though she did not give you any assignments, she did voice her anger at you joining Cerberus, which will have effects on the next game.
Wrex became clan leader and helps you induct Grunt into the Urdnot clan. He now protects his clan that he previously tried to get away from, how brilliant is that.
Plus all of them gave valid reasons for not joining you.

As for establishing other lore... Well you have mentioned the heretic Geth, so I will not focus on that. But I still see it as an unanticipated and very welcome development.
Something no one has mentioned was the gang wars. No matter where you go, you cannot help but step into either Eclipse, Blue Suns, or Blood Pact business. This was well handled I think in showing how the more seedy organizations of the ME universe have a hold throughout the galaxy.
You mentioned the Dark Energy bit, but that was minuscule so no need to focus on that.
ME1 had more of a 'fight the good fight' nature to it, while ME2 has more of a seedy side to the universe. Joining Cerberus, the gang wars, and not to mention pretty much everything about Omega.

That's all I have to say, though I think you've already made up your mind, no matter what anyone points out.

P.S. I can't see how anyone could hate the fact that you now work with Cerberus. ME1 does so much to make you hate them, and now you are obliged to work side by side with them. And then you especially get to see from the inside why they are the bastards their reputation makes them out to be.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

I liked Mass Effect 2. A lot. There really wasn't much I could find wrong with the game. In my eyes you are just nitpicking, but we all have our opinions.


Oh, and in response to your comment about the final boss,

Spoiler

It's just basically a reaper fetus, which explains why it's powers don't compare to Sovereign's

Size alone dictated it's power. Dreadnaught's in the game universe (Which Soverign is simply a very large example of) have main guns more than a kilometer long which lend them their power. Simply put, according to the canon of ME, the end boss is, at best, only as powerful as a largish tank. Hell, the Mako would annihilate the thing in short order considering 10 sniper rounds did the job on hard.

 

[Eggsnham]

You are nitpicking and most people don't like nitpicking. Yahtzee's the only one good at it.

 

[ShadowsofHope]

I understand that but it doesn't really explain the significance of why they were building what they built. The thing was massive. It would have made more sense for the final boss to be about the same size as Shepherd and possibly even look similar (or Identical?) Now that would have been GREAT Storytelling!.

Maybe, but it would have been a pretty anti-climactic boss fight...

'Not just any Reaper, a human reaper....' Cue musical crescendo... DEN DEN DEEEEN...

Shepard and crew burst out laughing at the tiny terminator with no legs.

The entire purpose of the Human Reaper was that this Reaper was built by harvesting.. guess what? Human colonies. It is even explained all Reapers are highly advanced synthetic machines that use other species to reproduce from their genetic material. Of course it makes sense the Reaper Embryo (why would it have legs? None of the other Reapers do) would look Human, they made it with human genetic material alongside the mechanical aspect.

..Sheesh.

Edit: Nevermind, I see the intent behind your post now. My criticism isn't exactly at you, as much as it is at Daedalus. Sorry.

 

[Alandoril]

Op, that is what happens when you don't have people like me on the job.

Still, it was a good game. Although whilst playing it I couldn't shake the feeling that Bioware are starting to rest a bit too easily on their laurels.

 

[Flamezdudes]

I agree with almost everything you've said! And you're about the first person I've found who has the same gripes about the game! SO many flaws with that game, but people are too fond of just being happily spoon-fed second-rate sequels; and there is a definite case of fanboy-ism regarding the ME series.

The reason I can't completely agree with you is that I didn't notice any spelling mistakes and the streamlined inventory was, imo, a pleasant change; thats all however.

Or perhap's, you know... people have different opinions?

 

[Bat Vader]

I think hy are branching off.They have the new DA IP fo hardcore RPG's, as well as the old favorite BG 2 and Neverwinter Nights. Then they are using Mass Effect to appeal to a wider audience. I think they are just trying diffrent things.

I'm all for trying new things, but when you replace something people didn't like (the vehicle driving bits)with something else that is even more boring and tedious like mining on planets and not being able to access other planets once you've finished whatever mission Cerberus gives well, I just think that's being lazy.

Arguable, like your entire post/opinion. I don't like scanning very much, but I still enjoy it more than driving around a (mostly) barren planet to get to a mineral/objective.

And the biggest issue I have with your complaints is the side-missions thing. Side missions from ME1 were all very basic and interchangeable...go here, kill this. In ME2 practically all of the side-missions had unique stories or objectives, and I found them to be a hell of a lot more compelling than those in ME1.

None of this has anything to do with Bioware being lazy. If you complete even half of the game, you're still looking at 20+ hours worth of quality storytelling/gameplay. Getting 100% completion in Fallout 3 took me a total of 17 hours. Obviously Bioware is still one of the few developers left that can really qualify as excellent.

Yeah... I call bullshit on your post. There is no way you killed all the behemoths, explored all 120+ dungeons, completed every single quest (including Agatha's Song and Fort Constantine's, collected all bobbleheads and got to level 20 in 17 hours. You're a troll and no-one cares about your opinion.
As for mass effect 2, I could have finished the entire storyline in about 12 hours. I only got to 60 hours because I forced myself to mine everything (which I found was completely pointless) and did every crappy little sidequest there was (so you're saying the sidequest in which you had to give a fake ID to two random Asari women detained in the Citadel was "compelling" and "interesting?"). Or perhaps the side quest where you have to collect the front axel of a car for a Krogan Warlord Mechanic? (I'm not making this shit up).

I didn't say Fallout 3 GOTY, just the original Fallout 3. 17 hours. I'm not trolling. This whole thread, however, does have the stench of troll all over it. I suppose accusing your opponent of what you yourself are doing is a valid tactic, though.

Yeah.. I'm talking about Fallout 3 too (by itself). I wouldn't touch the DLC's with a 20 foot pole. There is no way you finished Fallout 3 completely in 17 hours. You're clearly a troll, please leave my thread? If you'll retract your earlier statement and admit you only finished the story quests in 17 hours, I'll stop harassing you, but there is no way you could possibly have finished the entire game (without the dlc) in seventeen hours!
I've been looking forward to Mass effect 2 sine the end of the first game. I even bought the collector's edition in anticipation. I had some inconsiderate Escapist (wildpeaks I'm talking to you) ruin a major plot point for me and I still completed the game 100%. I love mass effect and was really disappointed in the sequel. As I stated earlier... please.. just, leave my thread...

Disagreeing with you doesn't make him a troll. In fact, I'm getting more of that vibe from you.

You can't tell me he managed to finish Fallout 3 100%? in 17 hours.
And I'm not a troll. I'm a big Mass Effect fan who sincerely anticipated Mass effect 2 only to be severely disappointed when I finally got it.
I avoided reviews and threads on absolutely anything to do with the game so It wouldn't be spiled, only to find Bioware spoiled it for me within the first half an hour.
Even my achievements from the first game didn't carry over (would it have been too much to ask for those little bonuses I acquired in the first to carry over the 2nd game considering they bumped my level back so much?)

I didn't mean you were a troll because of your opinion of Mass Effect 2. It's your opinion, you're entitled to it. I do, however, think that calling someone out for what was at worst a white lie and at best an accidental embellishment as a troll is infantile, and not just because the word "troll" is severely overused as it is.

He started going on about Fallout 3 and BSing about finishing the entire game in 17 hours. If that's not derailing my thread, then I don't know what is.

How do you know he was BSing? Were you looking over his shoulder as he played? Maybe you two just define finishing the game as two different things (for example, you brought up going through every dungeon earlier, but maybe he just thinks he had to beat the major side quests and the main quest)? Besides, he wasn't derailing your thread, he mentioned it once in relation to ME, you're the one who made such a huge deal of it.

He said he'd finished it 100%. Completing all 23 Quests in the game in 17 hours? I don't think so. If he can prove it by showing me a screenshot with his hours spent I will concede and shut up.

I don't see the big deal in this whole Fallout argument. If you don't believe he finished the game to 100% than just leave it at that. Arguing about it is just derailing the thread even more. Just use the ignore function on him and you won't see his posts any more.

On Topic: Do I think Bioware is getting lazy? No, I do not that believe that at all. I found the loyalty missions to be quite enjoyable. Helping someone save their sister or help kill a guy they have been trying to get revenge on for twenty years will most likely make people loyal to you or at least make them like you a lot. I found the loyalty missions fun.

The scanning was not that pointless to me. The minerals I scanned helped me upgrade my ship for the last mission and they also helped me in developing weapons or different upgrades.

It was explained in the beginning of the game that your two main focuses are to find out why the humans are being taken and also build a team to take on the threat. Building your team was essential to the game because based on what characters you used in the final mission helped bring all of the team members home or just some of them. In my first play through both Thane and Zaeed were killed during the last mission.

Since the boss was still technically being built and still an infant I can see why it would be less powerful than the other reapers.

I do have to admit that I wish more of the loyalty missions had big choices to them like Legion's did. The choice you made in that mission could very well help in the war against the Reapers in Mass Effect 3.

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

On a tangent, one of the things I find interesting is that everyone assumes that the Repaers are smart. I got the impression that they were unimaginative and slow to adapt; after all, they've spent millions, if not billions of years doing the same thing over and over again. Combine this with the fact that they're virtually all powerful and they never really need to think about anything. This could even tie in with Mordin's ideas about how technological development beyond a species own abilities can lead to cultural and intellectual corruption.

PS: Introducing global cooldown times was a great idea. In ME1 you could just spam all your abilities in one go. When you reached higher levels and unlocked more abilities it got even worse, epsecially if you had access to adrenaline rush. For example, my Vanguard could use both Barrier and Shield Boost, both of which effectively fully heal you, use adrenaline burst, and the nuse the two abilities again. He was practically unstoppable.

Moderators, I'm bored of this thread now. I've gotten the general consensus that some people liked what they did to Mass Effect 2, and some didn't.
Feel free to lock or delete this thread now. I'm all discussioned out about ME2. I just want to pretty much forget anything to do with it and pray that ME3 is substantially superiour than 1 and 2.

I don't think you get to say that. The moderators are not at your beck and call and they aren't going to shut down a thread just because, as it turns out, people disagree with you. Just because you started a thread doesn't mean you get to end it.

 

[masseyguy911]

Well I enjoyed ME2, and if you don't like that its fine, but a lot of your complaints sound like nitpicking, but hey I do that to.

 

[Woodsey]

The planet scanning wasn't good, but it was bearable if you just spaced it out in between missions.

The inventory from the first game was sooooooooo shit, and this version was far easier to manage and suited the game much better. They could have done with more weapons maybe, but it really wasn't that much of an issue - because it was so much better.

So:

Some of the "flaws" you mentioned were things I either loved or didn't care about, and the rest I never experienced. At all.

In my opinion, Mass Effect 2 was an interactive masterpiece.

This.