Well, catching you off guard is kind of the point. Just like real conversation.Laxman9292 said:
Review: Mass Effect 2
- Thread starter Susan Arendt
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The Space Hamster thing was pushing it, it's a spelljammer referance (even in Baldur's Gate 2, where it was a "minature giant space hamster").
Truthfully I can't figure out what Bioware was thinking here. I think people didn't like the inventory system because they were either shooter fanatics, or really didn't care for the fact that there were only a comparitively few items being updated in numerical value, so once you figured out which "brand/name" was best for a given class everything else became kind of pointless.
As many said they should have gone with an inventory/equipment system like Knights Of The Old Republic, and that approach to itemization. Scrapping the inventory system pretty much removed a lot of the RPG aspects and turned this into a customizable shooter, which I don't think was a good idea.
While a decent game, I think more reviewers should be critical of the fact that this is being called an RPG, and really on those grounds it fails because even as an action RPG there really aren't that many items or stats.
I think games like this and Bordelands should be called "customizable shooters" (which is not nessicarly bad) more than trying to hit the "RPG" buzzword.
I doubt that many people will agree with me, but such are my thoughts. Still a game I like a lot but a lot of the changes they made were pretty much in a direction I don't care for. It feels like they virtually gave up on trying to balance it as a hybrid.
I will also say that the Mako sequences weren't terrible, but they really needed to add more stuff to the planets and so on for you to do in the Mako. Running around looking for rocks and artifacts was kind of boring especially since you'd wind up driving up these steep mountais and such. I'm somewhat disappointed that instead of adding more content to make it more exciting, they pretty much scrapped it.
Also I'll be honest (for those who read this far) in saying that as a veteran of games like "Starflight" where you did the same basic thing, the Mako planetary exploration was actually pretty good. It sort of reminded me of Starflight/Sentinel Worlds/Hard Nova with modern technology. I hate to see such unrealized potential go to waste.
Not very far into ME 2 (on the first colony) but these are my thoughts so far based on my experiences and what people are saying.
Truthfully I can't figure out what Bioware was thinking here. I think people didn't like the inventory system because they were either shooter fanatics, or really didn't care for the fact that there were only a comparitively few items being updated in numerical value, so once you figured out which "brand/name" was best for a given class everything else became kind of pointless.
As many said they should have gone with an inventory/equipment system like Knights Of The Old Republic, and that approach to itemization. Scrapping the inventory system pretty much removed a lot of the RPG aspects and turned this into a customizable shooter, which I don't think was a good idea.
While a decent game, I think more reviewers should be critical of the fact that this is being called an RPG, and really on those grounds it fails because even as an action RPG there really aren't that many items or stats.
I think games like this and Bordelands should be called "customizable shooters" (which is not nessicarly bad) more than trying to hit the "RPG" buzzword.
I doubt that many people will agree with me, but such are my thoughts. Still a game I like a lot but a lot of the changes they made were pretty much in a direction I don't care for. It feels like they virtually gave up on trying to balance it as a hybrid.
I will also say that the Mako sequences weren't terrible, but they really needed to add more stuff to the planets and so on for you to do in the Mako. Running around looking for rocks and artifacts was kind of boring especially since you'd wind up driving up these steep mountais and such. I'm somewhat disappointed that instead of adding more content to make it more exciting, they pretty much scrapped it.
Also I'll be honest (for those who read this far) in saying that as a veteran of games like "Starflight" where you did the same basic thing, the Mako planetary exploration was actually pretty good. It sort of reminded me of Starflight/Sentinel Worlds/Hard Nova with modern technology. I hate to see such unrealized potential go to waste.
Not very far into ME 2 (on the first colony) but these are my thoughts so far based on my experiences and what people are saying.
\m/ ^_^ \m/ Starflight FTW!Therumancer said:
I think you nailed it; Bioware scrapped everything we had a complaint about rather than improving on it. The inventory system they adopted in the first one sucked eggs and the Mako handled like it was undersprung, massless, and in dire need of new shocks (LOL). While I'm certain I'll play the heck out of the new game I find it a shame that they stripped out so many of the components of the previous game rather than fixing them.
...and coolant clips?! Serisously!? I am never getting over this.
Firstly: who edited my post? I didn't put Baldurs Gate 2 in there.Mr.Tea said:
Secondly, I was talking about the hamster, not the games. The hamster is in a game setting, it's in a fantasy game (which I'm pretty sure Susan is fond of) and it's got connections to D&D (which I'm sure Susan is also fond of) I wasn't commenting on the game at all, jeez, why do I always end up offending someone through the most innocent posts?
Ok. I've finished my first play through.
Verdict -
Story - Excellent. Very strong, flexible based on the your choices, darker and yet lighter in some places. Excellent ending, won't spoil any of it.
Gameplay - Combat, very improved, conversations improved, PC interface...slightly backwards.
Environments - They seem abit smaller than ME 1 and yet...well, much more alive.
Overall, very high marks, but I need ME 3 now!
Verdict -
Story - Excellent. Very strong, flexible based on the your choices, darker and yet lighter in some places. Excellent ending, won't spoil any of it.
Gameplay - Combat, very improved, conversations improved, PC interface...slightly backwards.
Environments - They seem abit smaller than ME 1 and yet...well, much more alive.
Overall, very high marks, but I need ME 3 now!
See I would have to disagree with you there. I think Mass Effect is far more deserving of it's RPG titling than a lot of other games in the genre.Therumancer said:
In my opinion, an RPG is ideally about identifying as your character versus merely taking on the role given to you, and also being able to make choices, preferably lasting and game altering decisions. Identifying as your character is an individual experience - thus making that hard to nail down for anyone but the person playing, but the game has certainly allowed for much more freedom and lasting consequences in the choices aspect than say a Diablo or a Final Fantasy.
Video game RPGs are constrained due to their technical restrictions. They are often faced with either forcing linear story and sacrificing freedom or sacrificing story telling and allowing freedom. I feel so far Mass Effect has done a fine job of riding the line between the two, delivering a story it wants to tell but while allowing the player to effect the world the story takes place in. And this, for me, makes the experience more inline with what I think an RPG is, which is more than just a level system, items and stats.
Kollega said:
The Council is burying their heads in the sand and refusing to believe that the Reapers are real. Udina and Anderson believe, but their hands are tied. The Alliance Navy's hands are tied. When you go back to the Citadel for the first time, and talk to Anderson or Udina, they make this clear to you. Cerberus is the only organization willing to commit its vast resources to stopping the Collectors and the Reapers. Desperate times call for desperate measures; working with Cerberus is a desperate measure. People keep mentioning Nazis in this discussion...well, the Allies in WWII fought with Russia for a common goal. Then, all of those countries went right back to decrying communism. Stalin was no angel, either, but turning down help when the fate of the world or the galaxy is at stake is just plain stupid. Standing on principle is fine and dandy when it's only your own life at stake, but we're talking the destruction of all sentient life.
As far as being a Paragon, the Paragon options for conversations with the Illusive Man, or with people asking about Cerberus, make it pointedly clear that you're not working FOR Cerberus. You're working with them and tolerating it, for only as long as your goals are the same. Illusive Man never orders you to do anything, and tells you more than once that you're free to turn your back, because he knows how fragile the alliance is. Instead, he gives you reasoned arguments about why you should help him. You don't have to trust him to agree with logic.
Personally, I think it adds a lot to the story, showing just how desperate everyone is. Sheperd is willing to work with a detestable organization because it's his or her only option, and Cerberus is willing to give Sheperd free reign because it's their only option.
As far as being a Paragon, the Paragon options for conversations with the Illusive Man, or with people asking about Cerberus, make it pointedly clear that you're not working FOR Cerberus. You're working with them and tolerating it, for only as long as your goals are the same. Illusive Man never orders you to do anything, and tells you more than once that you're free to turn your back, because he knows how fragile the alliance is. Instead, he gives you reasoned arguments about why you should help him. You don't have to trust him to agree with logic.
Personally, I think it adds a lot to the story, showing just how desperate everyone is. Sheperd is willing to work with a detestable organization because it's his or her only option, and Cerberus is willing to give Sheperd free reign because it's their only option.
Finally loaded and started playing through the game. As promised, the coolant clips aren't all that bad and they SORT of make sense the way they are presented. I do still wish they'd allowed weapons to cool off naturally rather than treating it as an absolute ammunition limit, but it's tolerable. I guess (lol).
Cerberus Group, yes they're major jerks, yes they did terrible things to Toombs (and possibly you too), but you have to trust Bioware. It does work, there are horrible consequences, and it just makes sense. Have some faith in them, it's not like they're directing prequels to some of your most beloved childhood memories. It will be okay. -_^
Am I the only one that misses the elevators? The first game immersed you, and never ever let go. ME2 drags you into its world and then dumps you back out of it with a splash screen every few minutes, then you have to spend a few seconds reimmersing yourself. I suppose I'm in the minority though, but I still enjoyed listening in on the news reports and the crew chatting. Nice way to pick up a bit more on the world without having to dig through the codex.
Finally, yes they dumbed it down quite a bit. Probably for the Halo tards and the GoW fanboys. I find it obnoxious, but not that bad I suppose. I suppose it allows you to dive in faster, but I miss that elitist feeling I'd get as I mastered the existing system to greater degrees and started pulling off some awesome, jaw dropping stuff. The radial menu still pauses the game which I consider a good thing, but they eliminated squad move ordering from it which I consider a bad thing; now I'm forced to rely on thier hotkey system which ties up bindings that I would really rather use for something else entirely.
I have to admit though, I DON'T miss the old inventory system one iota.
Cerberus Group, yes they're major jerks, yes they did terrible things to Toombs (and possibly you too), but you have to trust Bioware. It does work, there are horrible consequences, and it just makes sense. Have some faith in them, it's not like they're directing prequels to some of your most beloved childhood memories. It will be okay. -_^
Am I the only one that misses the elevators? The first game immersed you, and never ever let go. ME2 drags you into its world and then dumps you back out of it with a splash screen every few minutes, then you have to spend a few seconds reimmersing yourself. I suppose I'm in the minority though, but I still enjoyed listening in on the news reports and the crew chatting. Nice way to pick up a bit more on the world without having to dig through the codex.
Finally, yes they dumbed it down quite a bit. Probably for the Halo tards and the GoW fanboys. I find it obnoxious, but not that bad I suppose. I suppose it allows you to dive in faster, but I miss that elitist feeling I'd get as I mastered the existing system to greater degrees and started pulling off some awesome, jaw dropping stuff. The radial menu still pauses the game which I consider a good thing, but they eliminated squad move ordering from it which I consider a bad thing; now I'm forced to rely on thier hotkey system which ties up bindings that I would really rather use for something else entirely.
I have to admit though, I DON'T miss the old inventory system one iota.
I don't recall a miniature giant space pony in a previous bioware game, so I doubt that'll happen. Scanning isn't that bad (I take my time with to to where I usually find two or three spikes after the planet is depleted), but I'm an astronomy/physics nut so everything like this about a sci-fi game is usually awesome to me.
I love ME2 - on my 3rd play through and it is alot of fun the play 
The only problem I have with the game is that it feels like the 'real' story (ie, collectors etc) is about 2/3 missions long.
You start off and say "Oooh! Collectors bad, lets stop them! But first I need to assemble a kick ass team!" - ok I can live with that because the 'aquire' quests are good in themselves.
Once you've got your team, in order to actually finish the game without them all getting wasted you need to do a loyality quest as well. You always get a dialog option that says "If we have time", but there is NO time limit before the collectors do anything really bad - so you've got more than enough time to keep everyone happy.
If you do all of the team member quests & loyalty quests it feels like you start off saying "Lets get this damn alien abductors" but each guy you meet says "but can you take me here first please" and the game becomes more and more about pleasing these guys than doing any collector ass kicking at all.
The only problem I have with the game is that it feels like the 'real' story (ie, collectors etc) is about 2/3 missions long.
You start off and say "Oooh! Collectors bad, lets stop them! But first I need to assemble a kick ass team!" - ok I can live with that because the 'aquire' quests are good in themselves.
Once you've got your team, in order to actually finish the game without them all getting wasted you need to do a loyality quest as well. You always get a dialog option that says "If we have time", but there is NO time limit before the collectors do anything really bad - so you've got more than enough time to keep everyone happy.
If you do all of the team member quests & loyalty quests it feels like you start off saying "Lets get this damn alien abductors" but each guy you meet says "but can you take me here first please" and the game becomes more and more about pleasing these guys than doing any collector ass kicking at all.
I played the first ME long enough to get to know my crew and figure out what's going on in the galaxy
...oh and to get totally annoyed by the game mechanics from the combat controls to the stupid menus
then I put it down and didn't bother trying it again...and then I picked up ME2
well okay some decisions were made for me but for the most part they were things I woulda done anyway...
and I gotta say...ME2 really does satisfy both the RPG and FPS (more so than say...Borderlands)
heck, maybe I'm crazy but I didn't mind scanning planets...it was rewarding in a very lazy (engineering student?) sorta way...meh
...oh and to get totally annoyed by the game mechanics from the combat controls to the stupid menus
then I put it down and didn't bother trying it again...and then I picked up ME2
well okay some decisions were made for me but for the most part they were things I woulda done anyway...
and I gotta say...ME2 really does satisfy both the RPG and FPS (more so than say...Borderlands)
heck, maybe I'm crazy but I didn't mind scanning planets...it was rewarding in a very lazy (engineering student?) sorta way...meh