Why I'm Not Playing Mass Effect 2

[UnravThreads]

I have to ask you to reconsider, Mr Funk, and I shall explain why.

Mass Effect 1 & 2 have relatively short main stories. You will get through them in sub-20hrs easily. Dragon Age's story is about the same length, but it feels a lot longer (it's made up of fewer parts but they're longer than any mission in Mass Effect 1 or 2 - Anyone who's done the Circle Tower in Dragon Age can agree with me on that). The "50hr+ epic journey" only occurs if you never skip a cutscene, listen to every NPC thoroughly and do every side quest.
Do what I do all the time with BioWare games - Make your first playthrough a short one. Ignore the side quests as best you can, don't go after NPC and every codex entry, just play the story. You'll have them done in a week and then you can say "Yes, I've done it". Once you've done that, then you go back to a full playthrough. You'll understand the game better (you say you play WoW, so you'll know what I mean. The more characters you have at 80, the better you tend to understand the game), and as such you'll enjoy it a lot more.

Dragon Age is an amazing RPG. I've lost 80hrs to it, and I'm going to lose many more to it. It's got story, character depth, a fairly good itemization system and everything BioWare stand for. Never has a game affected my emotions as much as Dragon Age, with Mass Effect 2 being not too far behind in that department. Once you've done your quick playthrough, you've got a lot of the basic understanding pinned down and that leaves you to focus on the story of the game and therefore see how brilliant it truly is.

If you don't want to do the full experience, then the game caters to that. Like I said, you can just do the main quests/missions and leave it at that, and you'll still have had a pleasant experience. It might not be as pleasant as someone who's 100%'d all 3 games, but it's still one you'll walk away from and remember. You owe it to yourself to play 3 of the best non-MMO RPGs released since KotOR, and you will not be disappointed.

 

[Chipperz]

One thing I will say for Mass Effect 2 is that it has a system that I hope will be implemented in Mass effect 3 and the subsequent Dragon Age games. It split everything up into half hour(ish) segments.

Want to recruit a new team mate? Half an hour.
Side mission? Half an hour.
Team mate's personal mission? Half an hour.
Following up a lead from a message? Half an hour.
Want to get into Miranda's antipodean (and oddly lacy, considering she's wearing a skin-tight latex bodysuit) panties? Half an hour.

While I'm still a student that blasted through the first game in just under a weekend, I can play it knowing that if the next one follows the same formula, I can structure it around work and other real life responsibilities. The only thing I wish it had was a replay function for certain missions, so I can go back and try out some of my favourites again without having to make a third character.

 

[Daveman]

I can see this point as I just this week played through Mass Effect 1. It took me about 12 hours because I did a few extra side quests and I got stuck on one or two aspects of game-play that I didn't understand. Plus I micromanaged items like hell, so I ended up with enough omnigel to have a bath in it. It was great fun, and from what I've heard about number 2, it's also great. You don't want to miss out on the fun. JUST DO IT.

 

[whycantibelinus]

Great article and it hit the nail on the head.

I'm a student and I've just finished some seasonal work. I've been playing Mass Effect for a several days now. I've put in 30+ hours so far and I've just had my first meeting with Saren and have returned to the Citadel; so I have a ways to go yet. If I were working full time there is no way I would be able to play this game. I'd be able to play 3 hours a night, at most, and even that would be difficult. If it's a 50 hour game it would take me about a month to play through that's not realistic. When I was a kid and had all the free time in the world long games were awesome, but now...

Just so you know, you only have like 2 or 3 more main quest missions left until the end of the game, the main quest is incredibly short.

OP: No offense or anything but the way I interpreted the article is like if when Atlas Shrugged came out a literary reviewer didn't ever read it because they had already read their fair share of long books and didn't want to put the time into it. They would only be cheating themselves by not experiencing something great.

 

[Hunde Des Krieg]

My Box RROD'd on me and I have no money, no games for me for a while... :.(

 

[Yeager942]

If Mass Effect 2 can be included in the only 5 games my sister plays (4 of which are bioware) its gotta be worth a buy.

 

[ClockworkKnight]

Mass Effect 2 quests are short enough for a working man. Problem is, I never wanted to stop playing when I started.

 

[conanthegamer]

I beat the first mass effect twice. The first time it took me twenty hours and did a little over 60% of the game. The second time it took me twenty-five hours and did about 75% of it. A friend of mine beat the second one in less than a week. To be honest he just got out of school and because of the economy is having a hard time finding a job. Most of these games if you follow the story and don't get carried away with the side missions (like me playing me2) you usually beat them quickly. Don't let an excuse keep you from playing these awesome games. The biggest time killer in me2 is scanning all the planets. Unless your so anal and feel that you have too. I had one friend like that. I have ADD and cannot hardly do that(except for the 150 hrs playing oblivion). That's one of a few reasons I won't play WOW.

 

[Volafortis]

Pretty much destroyed his own point when he said that he was going to be playing White Knight Chronicles.

 

[Beltaine]

I sat down with Mass Effect and a GameFAQs walkthrough a couple weeks ago and knocked the game out over a weekend.

Gave me a decent save to start ME2 with, and I've been enjoying the hell out of it.

Your excuse-fu is weak, Funk. Put down the mouse and step away from the WoW.

 

[John Funk]

Pretty much destroyed his own point when he said that he was going to be playing White Knight Chronicles.

For work, mind you.

 

[Playbahnosh]

Pretty much destroyed his own point when he said that he was going to be playing White Knight Chronicles.

For work, mind you.

OMG, John, stop being a hypocrite! Sure, it's work, but you damn well enjoy the shit out of it, don't you? Hell, I'm a video game journalist too, and even if I absolutely have to wade through a game assigned to me that I don't really like, it's a game, it's fun! You essentially playing games all day for your paycheck, so stop complaining and using your [fingerquotes]work[/fingerquotes] as a scapegoat for your commitment issues regarding ME2.

Yes, playing a Bethesda or BioWare epic requires commitment. It's not a quick fix or a "let's play something until lunch-break" thing. But you know, you KNOW, that these epics are awesome, well worth your time and energy. Meaningful story, deep character development, many choices, awesome action and fight scenes, immersion... immersion! Yes, they are long, require committing large amounts of time and energy, and I think that's what you're afraid of, the commitment. Once you start, say, Morrowind, Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect or Dragon Age: Origins, you need to see it through to the end if you want the full experience. But, you know, these games have a save function. Most of them even have in-game journals, so you can catch up on the details if you haven't played it in a while. The missions are broken down to digestible pieces, so depending on your pace, you'll only spend 20 minutes to an hour at max to finish one. It's not like you have to sit there all day.

What are you afraid of, John? In you article up there, you are simply listing excuses why you can't commit to a long game, citing the most arbitrary "what if I don't finish it?" reason. That's not a reason, that's an excuse. Why won't you finish it? Will your computer melt down? Earthquakes? Hurricanes? Aliens? Sure, you have your "work", but it's not like you don't have the free time a day to play games to your heart's content, judging by the time you spend on WoW or L4D2 (you brought that up), so what's up? Sure, filling up the generator is clean(*cough*) good fun. There is virtually no story, no need to put in energy or time, just drop into the game, bash some zombie heads in with a frying pan, and you are done. There is no commitment. But there is no lasting experience either. A few years later you might have a fleeting memory of some zombie killing game, a can of gas and a frying pan, but nothing really worth remembering. But with a huge RPG epic like ME, you'll have an experience for life. Hell I still remember almost every detail of my first Morrowind or Oblivion playthrough, the feelings I felt, the adrenalin rush in fights, the story, the characters, and that was some time ago. I also played a lot of CS back in the day, but I'm hard pressed to remember anything significant other than I shot a bunch of people with guns.

Seriously, John, give these epics a try. Sure, they look intimidating at first, and committing to one is not easy if you have that kind of issues, but you can play in small bits if you don't have time for long sittings. The individual missions are not long at all, and you can complete one in one session. One of my friends played Mass Effect for almost six months until he got to the end, but he did it, and he loved it. He is a businessman who travels a lot, BTW, and he could only play at home, that is every other week. Seriously, try it, John, the rewards are well worth it, believe me.

 

[John Funk]

[Snip]

I have no idea whether I will or I won't enjoy it. It's an assignment for work that I'm going to give a chance; it might be good and I'll enjoy my time with it, it might be bad and I really, really won't.

I'm just saying, the fact that I listed White Knight Chronicles as something that'll be occupying my time (thanks to work) isn't an argument at all.

 

[Eldarion]

snip

Honestly, I think you should just have said "I don't want to play Mass effect right now" and left it at that.

How you spend your time and what you play outside of work is your business. I cannot believe all the fanboys here acting like you are both committing some great sin and doing the earth a disservice by not playing the new bioware games.

Besides, I don't even think these games deserve all the praise they get.

Go kill the Lich king, I'm gunning for him too lets race.

 

[Eremiel]

Call it man... just say it: BioWare makes mediocre products that suffer badly when you compare it to Blizzard.

wow.. you're actually serious.

 

[Fearzone]

Call it man... just say it: BioWare makes mediocre products that suffer badly when you compare it to Blizzard.

wow.. you're actually serious.

No, I wasn't. Not that I was wholly being facetious, but I wasn't being dead serious either.

 

[Playbahnosh]

[Snip]

I have no idea whether I will or I won't enjoy it. It's an assignment for work that I'm going to give a chance; it might be good and I'll enjoy my time with it, it might be bad and I really, really won't.

I'm just saying, the fact that I listed White Knight Chronicles as something that'll be occupying my time (thanks to work) isn't an argument at all.

Sure, you won't know unless you try it, that's true. I was just saying, that don't try to make up excuses. You have the time, obviously, you have the means (consoles and a gaming rig), and you are a gamer. Yes, the game is long, but you can play it in small pieces. Just tell the truth, that you don't feel like playing ME2, don't try to hide it behind a wall of bullshit, that you "can't". That's all.

But you are right, work comes first, and it's always a gamble if the assigned game will be any good, I had my fair share of bad surprises, so I know what you're talking about. Lat week, I was assigned to preview Settlers 7, I thought it would be awesome, but it's...not.

snip

Honestly, I think you should just have said "I don't want to play Mass effect right now" and left it at that

Yes, that's the very thing I was saying.

 

[Stylish_Robot]

That sounds like bullshit to me. You don't have enough time? Play an hour a week. You'll be done sometime in June. Also, it's 20 hours, tops, not 50. Finally, it's not just about story. If it was, I wouldn't be on my 3rd playthrough.

If you're on a 3rd playthrough of a game that came out a week ago, I submit that you have free time of the like that I decidedly do not. What fun is playing a game for an hour a week? You'll forget where you were going, never have time to be immersed in the world and the story, and just not get as involved as you would be if you take it in larger chunks.

I don't want to play a game that I *need* to play for 30+ hours to see to the end.

And yet you do play others longer. The point I'm trying to make is that, at least to myself, a lot of what your saying is mostly excuses [sub]and not particularly good ones at that[/sub]. If you spent as much time just getting to the end of any of Biowares games as you do playing WoW and L4D2 and justifying doing so, you could have all three (ME, ME2, DA:O) you could be done in a couple of months.

Call it man... just say it: BioWare makes mediocre products that suffer badly when you compare it to Blizzard.

Really? So exactly what genre and storytelling shatteringly well done games have they made since Warcraft 3?

well....there is Starcraft

but I kind of agree with the article, I used to be big in RPG's during PS1/PS2 but with so many games coming out like Bioshock, God of War or Bad Company, you can finish all 3 and even spent a good amount of time on BC2's multiplayer before you even get to the end of Dragon Age. That being said, I do kind of miss the lengthy involving quests of yesteryear.

 

[KingPiccolOwned]

Call it man... just say it: BioWare makes mediocre products that suffer badly when you compare it to Blizzard.

wow.. you're actually serious.

No, I wasn't. Not that I was wholly being facetious, but I wasn't being dead serious either.

You could have clarified that you know, when you say it like you did you make it sound like a challenge. Aside from that though I did say since Warcraft 3 i.e. after Starcraft, which I don't really like all that much anyways. For me it's Warhammer 40k or nothing. I do prefer Bioware though (to Blizzard that is), I like their story-centric gaming model. Also I do have one last thing to say about your original comment the "suffer badly compared to Blizzard" part. Now as I take it you mean in sales, in which case I am inclined to respond as thus: what in the hell are you thinking, comparing something like WoW in terms of popularity to say Dragon Age: Origins is like comparing robotics to food. Sure a lot of the first world countries (RPG officianados) are dying for robotics (Dragon Age: Origins) but fucking everybody (everybody) wants food (WoW).