Mass Effect 2: What's the big deal?

[IFS]

Yeah the Mass Effect series plot falls apart starting in 2 and really collapsing into stupidity in 3, 2 is often overlooked because the companions are all good characters and have interesting stories and most of 3's numerous problems are overlooked because the ending is so awful it distracts from it. In the end ME2's plot outside of turning Cerberus into the villain sue organization and the Arrival DLC has no real significance in the series plot as a whole. Smudboy on youtube has a great analysis of the problems of its plot and Spoiler Warning covered it more thoroughly in a Lets Play. Basically all the problems you're seeing never get answered, plenty of other people have noticed them as well, and really they only get worse.

As sad as it is its probably best (imo) to consider the reaper threat ended after 1 and consider 2 and 3 noncanon fanfic expansions. 2 Does give some fantastic characters but thats about it, and 3 has only one good sequence from Palaven through Tuchanka which is mostly only good for the interplay between the characters of Wrex and Mordin.

 

[Grimh]

Yeah, to me the overarching story of Mass Effect 2 and the general Cerberus stuff is basically garbage. Luckily that's like four missions.
It's all the other bits with the teammates and the look at the underbelly of this universe that I like.

But it seems like you don't even like that so yeah, there's nothing really there for you I guess. I can understand your dissapointment.

 

[DaWaffledude]

As sad as it is its probably best (imo) to consider the reaper threat ended after 1 and consider 2 and 3 noncanon fanfic expansions. 2 Does give some fantastic characters but thats about it, and 3 has only one good sequence from Palaven through Tuchanka which is mostly only good for the interplay between the characters of Wrex and Mordin.

You know, I was just thinking about how ME2 felt more like a fanfic than a sequel. It reminds me of those Harry Potter fanfics where Dumbledore is paying the Weasleys to pretend to like Harry to get his money, but are foiled by background character #12, who shows Harry his true destiny as a descendant of Merlin or some crap like that. Completely disrespcting the story of the original, and making the characters do whatever the author wants regardless of what makes sense.

(And yes, I could probably go to fanfiction.net right now and find one of those within a minute of searching)

 

[Arina Love]

Me2 is a big deal because it's ruined Mass Effect franchise. Instead of working on RPG elements and refining them Bioware+EA opted for quick cash grab and turned ME in to dumbed down broshooter.

 

[Naeras]

Mass Effect 2 had the Vanguard-class, and thus had entertaining gameplay*. Can't say the same for Mass Effect 1, which was just a bad cover shooter. Supposedly with some good writing, but the gameplay was still a slog, and I put it down after an hour of play.

*provided you actually play as a Vanguard, that is. The rest of the classes were just as boring as in ME1 :<

 

[Use_Imagination_here]

I don't know why more people didn't complain about the game play shift. Yeah mass effect 1 needed an overhaul but absolutely every bit of 2's gameplay SCREAMED "dumbed down for mass appeal". It's like you can feel the filthy hands of EA wiping themselves on everything.

I didn't mind that it went from RPG to FPS, I mind that they did absolutely nothing with the FPS aspects. Formulaic cover based shooting, basically non-existent weapon options in anything expect heavy weapons, ridiculously over simplified skills and talents to level up... ugh. I did a mental sigh when I saw the new upgrades menu. I played through the first 10 hours expecting more shotguns or assault rifles or fucking ANYTHING and then gave up.

If you're making this an FPS I'm expecting some fucking weapon variety, and I certainly don't expect you to remove every single weapon attachment and destroy any sense of tactics. The armor attachments were the closest this game got and they still felt mostly inconsequential.

The upgrades were a fucking joke. 10% to assault rifle damage doesn't add anything tactical to the game. It doesn't feel like they even tried. Maybe they could have thought about it and added some "this or this" upgrades, or a single upgrade that was actually FUN, or felt RELEVANT but fucking NOOOO. It didn't feel even in the slightest bit satisfying which is the opposite of what you want for an upgrade system.

I can't think of anything relevant that they actually added to the game, except heavy weapons. Worst of all it didn't feel like my squadmates were actually meaningful as anything except bots (important, useful bots but still bots) which is to be expected when you remove everything expect 1 or 2 abilities and give them a shared and individual cool down.

And then they completely removed the planet exploration system which just needed some major adjustments, and replaced it with a fucking mini game. A boring, stupid, repetitive minigame. I ended the game with barely half the upgrades because I couldn't be arsed to go through the fucking bullshit.

Feels like everything that just needed to be tweaked was either removed for no reason or dumbed down ridiculously, and any additions to gameplay (except the heavy weapons) were half arsed and boring.

They basically sucked everything out of the game play to turn it into a mainstream (=dull, unremarkable) FPS.

The gameplay wasn't bad, it was just mediocre at best. The story was what held it up for me, and luckily I disagree with you on just about everything there. It was a good game because of the story, and in spite of the gameplay for me.

 

[Mr C]

And of course, the crew members. Can I just toss them all out into the vacuum of space? Except for Jacob I suppose. Jacob's alright. Everyone else seems to be a psychopath

Just opinions matey. You've made some very valid criticisms of the plot that others noticed. I was able to get over it though, Mass Effect is my favourite series from last gen. I quoted the above (unless I've deleted too much again!) because it made me laugh that you like the one character I find to be the most boring in the entire series Mordin is awesome though, you need lunatics for a suicidal save the galaxy mission! Play the series to end, even you don't like it, it's important and needs to be played. Kinda like how Star Wars, Alien and 2001 need to be watched.

 

[DaWaffledude]

And of course, the crew members. Can I just toss them all out into the vacuum of space? Except for Jacob I suppose. Jacob's alright. Everyone else seems to be a psychopath

Just opinions matey. You've made some very valid criticisms of the plot that others noticed. I was able to get over it though, Mass Effect is my favourite series from last gen. I quoted the above (unless I've deleted too much again!) because it made me laugh that you like the one character I find to be the most boring in the entire series Mordin is awesome though, you need lunatics for a suicidal save the galaxy mission! Play the series to end, even you don't like it, it's important and needs to be played. Kinda like how Star Wars, Alien and 2001 need to be watched.

It's not so much that I like Jacob, it's just that at the time of writing, he was the only crew member I felt I could trust not to kick a puppy while my back was turned.

FPS

Not to sound rude, but "FPS" stands for "First-Person Shooter" ie, games where you shoot people with a first-person camera perspective. I think the term you're looking for is "third-person cover-shooter".

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

ME3, from what I saw in Let's Plays, went too streamlined with removal of hacking/bypassing minigames, not to mention the "your choices matter" blatant lie.

You choices did matter. There was a direct mechanical system that accounted for this (Readiness) that affected the final outcome. Granted, this system basically amounted to little as only a consistent history of making the worst possible choice in each scenario combined with only playing through plot critical missions in ME3 would result in getting the worst endings. For those who don't know, in the OC, if your readiness is low enough the earth is destroyed and everyone who accompanied you unquestionably dies in the final run.

Then there were narrative threads that carried through that resulted in the context of various missions you might play. Miranda's mission in ME3, for example, doesn't carry much weight if you get generic Alliance Agent rather than Miranda. And then, notably, you have the fact that the nature of the narrative itself changed even if the final ending is only marginally affected.

For example, consider the battle of the Thermopylae (That is, the historically inaccurate version where 300 Spartans hold a pass for three days before being killed). Now consider two versions of that tale: in one, the Spartans willingly volunteer to stay behind and hold the pass until they are overcome and another where they wanted to retreat but were cut off from doing so. The ending is the same - 300 spartans held a pass until they died but the nature of why they were there is crucially important when it comes to interpreting the story. The former is easily seen as a symbol of selfless heroism in the face of impossible odds where the latter is just another tale about a grim and meaningless last stand - hardly the story that would endure for millenia.

The context of the story matters.