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Mass Effect 2 pre-E3 video hits tomorrow
- Thread starter FrankT
- Start date
Acid08 said:Anyone always play as a woman in BioWare games? I'm not sure why but I play as a women in all BioWare games, but as guys in other RPG's.
Edit: And they better let me carry over my Shepard like they promised. I put too much time into Jane to just let her and her amazing gear go to waste
I played as male for Kotor II and Jade Empire, but in most wRPGs, the male models look absolutely hideous to me and I'll usually just play as a female. Besides, female Shepard is badass incarnate due to her voice actress.
Hell, if I can hunt down that infamous Hilary Duff Shepard, I might replay the game for a third time on a higher difficulty.
MrTroubleMaker
Member
Dizzy-4U said:
:O its looking great, I can't wait
a Master Ninja
Member
I'm calling it now: The game opens with the Normandy getting attacked. Wrex and Ashley/Kaiden are there, but are killed almost immediately that way Bioware doesn't have to make much content that hinges on who you let live or die in Mass Effect 1.
â Narayan
Member
Downloading the teaser now.
Nitpicking channels are open.
Nitpicking channels are open.
AndersTheSwede
Member
Good stuff.
ME1 was a fantastic game that was this close to being a sheer masterpiece. I'm hoping with more time with the engine and 360 hardware under their belts they will be able to go the extra distance.
ME1 was a fantastic game that was this close to being a sheer masterpiece. I'm hoping with more time with the engine and 360 hardware under their belts they will be able to go the extra distance.
â Narayan
Member
Looks nice. Need to see more.
I thought Mass Effect was a good game. Good - but not great.
I thought Mass Effect was a good game. Good - but not great.
smik said:
J-RPGs have their charm but W-RPG are what the big boys play.
HK-47 said:
I wouldn't call the combat in the first Mass Effect "great" but it was a step in the right direction for a company that usually creates games based on the D&D rule set. They're claiming that they've improved it for the sequel, we'll find out next month I guess.
Acid08 said:
Well prove me wrong! What so great about ME combat? Its got a poor man's cover system, moronic AI, a complete lack of tactical squad commands outside of use this power or take cover, and a bunch of telekinesis.
Man it is a fucking revelation. But of course it gets a free pass cause its an RPG right?
Why do you think its one of the first things they admitted they were improving in the sequel?
I'm not sure D&D mechanics transfer all that well to CRPGs in the first place, but Bioware did use a simplified version in KotOR that I didnt exactly care for. Would have preferred a JK action style combat system over the all flash and not substance approach the KotORs and JE gave us.
I don't have to prove shit to you. Nothing I say will change your mind. I love the fuck out of ME. Everything about it. Could the combat have been better? Of course. Did I still enjoy every second of it? Fuck yes.HK-47 said:
Honestly the enemy targeting system is KOTOR is worse than any part of ME's combat.
dionysus said:
I would argue that their new games allow for greater role playing freedom than their older stuff and that's more so with Bethesda.
HK-47 said:
I don't know how you played ME but I didn't have any trouble with my squad once I switched off their combat AI and started micro managing them. I like how the biotechs are physics based which can result in some interesting combos/effects.
HK-47 said:
Ok, now I know you're joking. Bioware's earlier PC stuff was all based on the D&D system. NWN was pretty much a campaign editor for DMs to play around with. They all played great.
brain_stew
Member
Is PC releasing on day 1 this time?
I think a lot of the those games are great inspite of parts of their systems they in inherit from DnD. Mainly the Gold Box games and the NWNs (not NWN 1 and SoU though) are fun despite the system. However BG II I really like. Same with Icewind. And ToEE had the best translate of D&D combat into a game yet. Too bad a lot of the game unfinish or just plain bad, like the writing.
Rad Agast said:
Freedom? Really? In Bioware a choice between anti-christ or saint or a 3rd option of delaying the decision one second by inserting an intermediate sarcastic comment before you again are offered the same choice between anti-christ or saint. What freedom is there in the story? Then, your choice effects nothing outside of the dialogue tree you are currently in. It is completely linear, you just get to choose which order you play the chapters. Everything plays out the same except some dialogue.
Anyway, "freedom" isn't really what rpgs are about, even though a subcategory of them do strive for that. An rpg is about character building, stat and probability based gameplay, and wrpgs (but not jrpgs) try to have the player effect the story in some way. So lets break that down.
Character building: 3 character choices and a few hybrids of those three is a huge step back from even the earliest stages of wrpgs. Moreover, the skill list in ME is an order of magnitude smaller than what has come before, and it is basically impossible to distinguish how one character build plays from another. In comparison, there are rpgs out there that truly had different gameplay depending on what build you went with: charisma boy, melee boy, magic boy, etc. Think Fallout or PS:T. Instead in ME your main gameplay mode is superfluous dialogue options that all yield the same thing and bastardized rpg/shooter mechanics. No matter what your build is in ME, it plays the same.
Stat & probability based gameplay: The underpinnings of the system are a simplified stat & probability based combat system, but it does its best to cover that up by appearing to be a shooter. Game would have been better with shooter/twitch based gameplay or rpg gameplay, instead we got something that combines both and suffers for it. (I am aiming at X but every third shot still misses.)
Player effect on story: Yea, some dialogue options change and character reactions change. I get to choose who dies at some point, but the side characters have no bearing on the story anyway so it doesn't matter. Good or evil every character still walks the exact same path in the game, so where is the effect? Side quests are divorced from the game and worthless.
So, from my perspective ME is an enjoyable but not great game that does its best to play like a shooter and only lightly brush what makes a traditional crpg. Thus, my statement that ME's problem is that it is an rpg made for people who don't like rpgs. They took all the gameplay systems of a crpg and included them in the game, but toned them back so much it plays like an action game or shooter with a whole lot of dialogue.
dionysus said:
You're missing the forest for the trees. I'm not talking about the dialogue trees or the main story theme. Never the less, your discription doesn't really fit ME. There is plenty of stuff that happens in between and during the different acts.
dionysus said:
I respect your opinion but I'll have to disagree. This very subject have been discussed to death on this and many other boards/mailing lists through the years. The very term Role Playing Game would be a hint to what direction they should take. I'm a table-top D&D guy so I get my fix during those sessions and don't ever expect video games to be capable of catering to my every need or imagination when it comes to interaction with the fictional world the DM created.
dionysus said:
Did we play a different version of the game or some thing? Charisma is there in the form of Paragon/Renegade points. Yes they actually do make a difference in the outcome of some interactions/quests. There's even a small side quest on the Citadel which can't be resolved without using Charisma.
Melee, that's the Soldier class. No Biotics or Techs, just good old Plasma Rifles/Shotguns/etc...
Rogue, that's the Engineer class. Mage, that's the Adept.
dionysus said:
Let me guess, you played it once? Never finished it? or maybe several times on normal/easy difficulty? The game plays quite differently depending on your class and build. You can't run in with guns blazing killing every thing standing in your path.
Hell, just having the sniper rifle makes a huge difference how the battles are.
dionysus said:
Consider it a die roll. I'm guessing you never played D&D.
dionysus said:
No, seriously. Have you played the game? You sound like you haven't or if you did, you skipped every thing? is that even possible? was it that boring for you? I'm sorry to hear that.
dionysus said:
Oh well, you didn't like it. Move on to some thing else I guess? There's plenty of fish in the sea. I would have liked to discuss the game in more detail but I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't played it yet.
D
Deleted member 30609
Unconfirmed Member
Agreed. Mass Effect was the most over rated game of 07.HK-47 said:
LiquidMetal14
hide your water-based mammals
I've had 3 friends tell me this. Not ba dbut over rated. Have it sitting around right now but haven't popped it in.Rez said:
Mass Effect is polarizing you either think it's one of the greatest games released this generation, or you think it's simply good. Either way, you're getting at least a good game. You should really play it, the game starts off a little slow but it gets really good after that.LiquidMetal14 said:
Rad Agast said:
I played through it and even went to every planet in the galaxy, which was a huge mistake as there was never anything there except for maybe 2 planets that was interesting.
Maybe we just come from different gaming backgrounds. All the choices seem superficial to me, not really effecting anything. Also, every characters to me plays the same: you shoot people till they die, and throw in special abilities if they are particularly powerful. I played the sniper/pistol/tech class for your information. What I meant by diversity of gameplay is, for example, you can play most of fallout 2 never fighting period, using your charisma to navigate the game. Or in almost every D&D crpg ever made you could play a thief class, priest class, melee class, archer class, summoner class, etc. which all have very fundamental differences in how you play the game. In ME, you shoot shoot shoot, special ability, shoot shoot, special ability, shoot shoot.... It is not a fundamental change in how you approach the battle between the different classes.
Despite my disappointment in many aspects of the game, did you miss the part where I said I found it enjoyable? I just thought it had a lot of flaws and could have been so much better.
Scottlarock
Banned
WTF? i grew up on RPGs on PC. I'm old school (wizardry(3d, 2 color monsters), ultimas( when cloth maps were cool), gold box games( mostly temple of games)) and I like the way wrpgs are going. I also enjoy jrpgs too. love FF and LO. I found KotoR to be the best rpg on xbox last gen, and mass effect/fallout 3 the best this gen. Fable I can give you, but the others your crazy. I even posted a hack on Wizardry 3 that makes you a super powerful on local BBS and Compuserve. RPGs are evolving and not sticking with the same-old play type. LO maybe not, but I still love it. Wrpgs are.dionysus said: