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[Mastperf]

There are some fucking idiots in this forum and it shows in this thread,

If you can't enjoy a game because it has stiff animation or some dumb bullshit ass excuse then stop gaming all together.

I think you forgot to mention Uncharted. Seriously, they attack if you don't say the password.

 

[careksims]

I played the PC version a couple times all the way through so... Other than some frame rate issues during cutscenes, it's a good port! Kudos to Bioware.

 

[mokeyjoe]

I had a great experience with HALO Reach on legendary, I just think that if you're trying to cut out a lot of the RPG stuff and be a shooter, then be ready to compete with other shooters.

I still don't see ME2 as a shooter, or an RPG. It's more of an adventure game with some other genres bundled in.

 

[Rodney McKay]

I can't and I own both ME1 and 2, fucking shooting mechanics are far worse than Uncharted 1, at least in Uncharted 1 you don't have to deal with repetitively having to deal with barrier then shield then armor and THEN getting to the health, if you want to talk bullet sponge, Uncharted 1 is 5 pistol shots max on crushing for mercs and 1 headshot kill, Mass Effect 2 takes FAR more shots to put an enemy down.

Change the difficulty then! On normal difficulty the low level enemies have only health, medium level enemies have one extra bar, and the high level enemies (of which there aren't many) have the 3 bars.

Also try using ammo abilities, the different types make short work of different shield types. If you are using a class that doesn't have any, you can level a companions ammo ability up all the way and allow everyone on the team to use it, including you.

 

[methos75]

Change the difficulty then! On normal difficulty the low level enemies have only health, medium level enemies have one extra bar, and the high level enemies (of which there aren't many) have the 3 bars.

Also try using ammo abilities, the different types make short work of different shield types. If you are using a class that doesn't have any, you can level a companions ammo ability up all the way and allow everyone on the team to use it, including you.

Basically this, if your having issues its cause you suck and your not playing the game right.

 

[Felix Lighter]

I gots a plan. Buy ME2 PS3 when ME3 comes out for dirt cheap. Then when ME3 get's cheap buy it. Haven't tried demo yet, reading gaf impressions as I grind in another game. Seems bleh, but I might like it.

How was the DLC stuff? Was it any good? What are the DLCs anyway?

Gaf's impressions are bleh? From what I've seen in the Gaf Game of the Year thread it will likely end up in the top 3. Those who have issues will certainly let you know but it's been overwhelmingly well received as far as I've seen.

 

[WrenchNinja]

There are some fucking idiots in this forum and it shows in this thread,

If you can't enjoy a game because it has stiff animation or some dumb bullshit ass excuse then stop gaming all together.

Stiff animation that goes with the "amazing presentation" and bad shooting. Yeah, those are definitely "bullshit ass excuses"./sarcasm

Not that I agree or disagree with them.

 

[EatChildren]

How was the DLC stuff? Was it any good? What are the DLCs anyway?

Outside of the Cerberus Network DLC that everybody on all platforms gets if they buy the game new, the other DLC in this release include Kasumi's Stolen Memory, Overlord, and Lair of the Shadow Broker.

Kasumi nets you a new character to recruit and use and her loyalty mission. Overlord is a side quest composed of four or five missions. Shadow Broker is a series of missions that extend the story of a character from the first game.

All three DLC packs are a lot of fun. Kasumi's loyalty mission is one of the best out of them all, and she's a great character to use. Overlord is fun. The Shadow Broker mission arc is arguably one of the best missions across both games.

 

[TheSeks]

some dumb bullshit ass excuse then stop gaming all together.

So, "not enjoying the gameplay" is a "bullshit excuse?" I'm just gauging where you class me here.

I like the conversations and exploring of Mass Effect, in fact the 1/4 ME1 totally redeemed the snooze-a-thon of the first 3/4 of the game. That and the party member stories and conversations were engaging.

But the gunplay, the dungeon/sidequests were both poor. ME2 streamlines theses, sure, but at the same time they don't really improve the gameplay that much. The gameplay is still meh, IMO.

I do find the series is overrated way more than it should be. But I don't knock the series for being good. If Bioware focused on the gameplay as much as they do the universe and world building and picked a direction (adventure? RPG? third person shooter?) and went with that direction for all aspects, I think it'd be a better outing than "trying to be a sum of the parts."

Of course, I only base my opinion on 2 on the 360 demo. Waiting for ME2 PS3 to give it another fair shake (while being disappointed I can't recruit Wrex and have to party with a sub-par Wrex replacement) at wowing me.

 

[mokeyjoe]

There's not much "messy branching sprawl" in Mass Effect 2, you're basically going to different planets (if you're lucky enough to find a mission planet and not a mineral planet 99% of the time) and fighting in a bunch of linear corridors that don't allow you to get all that creative with combat. I used Infiltrator and there wasn't much "stealth" to speak of other than sniping which I don't really need cloak for that, no silent takedowns, nothing.

What's a non-linear corridor then? I was talking about the structure of the game, not the level design.

 

[Kittonwy]

I enjoy the gunplay against various enemy protections. I enjoy picking the right ability or power to rip through their defences quickly, and using powers to keep them at bay. With the right combination of skills/powers and the right weapon you can rip through practically every enemy with ease.

I find juggling those abilities between enemies and various defences more enjoyable than Uncharted's 'shoot them with the same weapon until they die' mechanic. Even if they are both fundamentally bullet sponges, at least Mass Effect 2 adds in some powers and skill variety to spice it up.

But then again, I played both Mass Effects on PC, and so by default I find the gunplay a metric shit-ton more enjoyable than anything involving sticks, and I really dont know how the sticks handle aiming in ME2 on consoles, especially in this demo.

It's not like you have a choice of not going through the same fucking order of abilities 99% of the time. Shield? Use overload. Barrier? Use Warp. Want to use incinerate or cryoblast and the enemy has armor? Then you have to wait until you take out the armor. Fucking repetitive as shit, it's got as much "spice" as a tasteless piece of vegetarian meatloaf.

 

[Rodney McKay]

Basically this, if your having issues its cause you suck and your not playing the game right.

Well, I wouldn't go THAT far. It's Bioware's fault that the higher difficulties in the ME games just makes enemies take more time to kill and you take less time to kill.

Also, if you choose to be an adept(or whatever the "magic" class is called) you're kinda screwed on higher difficulties because you can't use biotics on anyone with shields/barrier/etc.

But still, there are options available if the bullet spongy enemies are peoples biggest complaints.
The conversations are my favorite part anyways, the faster I can get to them the better.

 

[Kittonwy]

What's a non-linear corridor then? I was talking about the structure of the game, not the level design.

I didn't find the structure all that exciting either, go to main mission planet, fight in corridor, or scan planet, mine for minerals, occasionally you find a mission planet, and you get to fight in corridor. I guess I would appreciate it more had it been an actual open-world game with lots of shit to do instead of the game being made up of a bunch of simple corridors to fight in.

 

[Ploid 3.0]

Gaf's impressions are bleh? From what I've seen in the Gaf Game of the Year thread it will likely end up in the top 3. Those who have issues will certainly let you know but it's been overwhelmingly well received as far as I've seen.

Impressions in this thread. Haven't really followed this game before, but I know a lot of people love it.

 

[jonnybryce]

This thread delivers! :lol

I admit that I didn't fall in love with ME1 but I'm hoping the streamlining that some complain about will actually make me enjoy it more. I can see how the series is overrated.

 

[EatChildren]

It's not like you have a choice of not going through the same fucking order of abilities 99% of the time. Shield? Use overload. Barrier? Use Warp. Want to use incinerate or cryoblast and the enemy has armor? Then you have to wait until you take out the armor. Fucking repetitive as shit, it's got as much "spice" as a tasteless piece of vegetarian meatloaf.

Sure, and my point is that I enjoyed at least having to do that over the first Uncharted's combat, along with numerous other third person shooters on the market. I never said it was perfect, just that I enjoyed it.

 

[Rodney McKay]

It's not like you have a choice of not going through the same fucking order of abilities 99% of the time. Shield? Use overload. Barrier? Use Warp. Want to use incinerate or cryoblast and the enemy has armor? Then you have to wait until you take out the armor. Fucking repetitive as shit, it's got as much "spice" as a tasteless piece of vegetarian meatloaf.

I KNOW, right? It's like in every Mario game whenever I get to a gap I have to jump across it!
Or in Uncharted, every time I want to get anywhere I have to push the analog stick forward to make my character move.

So fucking repetitive.

 

[Kittonwy]

Change the difficulty then! On normal difficulty the low level enemies have only health, medium level enemies have one extra bar, and the high level enemies (of which there aren't many) have the 3 bars.

Also try using ammo abilities, the different types make short work of different shield types. If you are using a class that doesn't have any, you can level a companions ammo ability up all the way and allow everyone on the team to use it, including you.

I usually try to play on the highest difficulty, it's just that the gameplay is repetitive as shit, I have most of my characters pretty maxed out and some team members have team abilities, it doesn't really make things more exciting.

 

[mokeyjoe]

I didn't find the structure all that exciting either, go to main mission planet, fight in corridor, or scan planet, mine for minerals, occasionally you find a mission planet, and you get to fight in corridor. I guess I would appreciate it more had it been an actual open-world game with lots of shit to do instead of the game being made up of a bunch of simple corridors to fight in.

The point wasn't whether you found it exciting or not, the point was that Uncharted 2 was a more linear game than ME2.

 

[Rodney McKay]

I usually try to play on the highest difficulty, it's just that the gameplay is repetitive as shit, I have most of my characters pretty maxed out and some team members have team abilities, it doesn't really make things more exciting.

As do I, however the ME games aren't any better the higher the difficulty, they just get... longer. Enemies take longer to kill, you have to be careful because you die very quickly, it all just bogs the overall experience down.

 

[WinFonda]

Mass Effect's shooting feels absolutely broken on harder difficulties. There's no combat roll which is desperately needed and the enemies in general absorb way too much damage. It reminds me of Lost Planet 2. Holding down the shoot button for extended periods of time just isn't fun. In any game. I would definitely recommend lower difficulty settings. The core game just isn't good enough for hard difficulties.

And so no, it doesn't stack up well with other shooters, so it's a good thing Bioware saved themselves the embarrassment of calling it one.

Of course, these are probably the types of criticisms that made them focus on improving the shooting in the first place... when they really should have been doing the opposite and improving everything else.

 

[Aaron]

The point wasn't whether you found it exciting or not, the point was that Uncharted 2 was a more linear game than ME2.

ME2 is playing Uncharted 2 with chapter select. Sure, you can choose the order in which you do things, but the actual levels are linear as hell. You're lucky when there are two paths.

 

[mokeyjoe]

As do I, however the ME games aren't any better the higher the difficulty, they just get... longer. Enemies take longer to kill, you have to be careful because you die very quickly, it all just bogs the overall experience down.

Yeah, I set it to hardcore by mistake on ME1 when I went back to my old save for my femShep playthrough. It just turns everything into a ridiculous bullet sponge. May be all right for an NG+ run, but I wouldn't want to play like that my first time through. Normal is fine, just mow everything down, it's much more fun sending a shockwave ripping through a mob of husks then whittling them down bit by bit from behind a crate.

ME2 is playing Uncharted 2 with chapter select. Sure, you can choose the order in which you do things, but the actual levels are linear as hell. You're lucky when there are two paths.

Yeah, and some pretty meaty 'hub' worlds and various other mission specific locations that aren't really 'levels'. Wandering through Omega doing sub-missions is nothing like Uncharted.

 

[Ninja-Matic]

Haven't played ME2 anywhere but PS3 and I'm quite disappointed.

Honestly I've seen far better gen1 titles on PS360.

Piss poor framerate - chugs depending on FOV - with no enemies on screen. ???

Screen tearing. Puts the original Uncharted to shame in this department. Vsync anyone?

Bad textures. What's the point of a detailed face when you're always staring at the back of your head - uber low-rez everything else?

Combat mechanics were designed by... less than fortunate members of humanity with little to no brain functionality. Makes no sense to have something so convoluted. Stopping gameplay to access abilities is never a good idea.

Movement mechanics. Rugged, unfinished. I had to get out of cover - just to hop right back in cover to a box that was touching the box I was currently covering behind. The aforementioned box was approximately 2-3 inches further out than the one I was currently behind. Why? Why? Seriously... they're right next to one another... I can't just... MOVE? I have to back up from cover to leave it - put myself in harm's way - move over and then get back behind cover? Just so I can lean out a little further from this vantage point?

How in the hell do those mechanics make sense?

Damn near everything about that game sucks.

After every 3-4 kills you have to stop for a cutscene and make decisions? You can't just keep moving along? Really? I REALLY need to stop every 10 feet to talk to someone when the ship is being attacked? Who does this?

Horrid. I can't even call it "average" at this point.

From a design perspective - it's completely overrated.

From a fun perspective - it's just not thanks to design flaws.

Call me spoiled - but when you've played games with far smoother execution - you wonder how games like this are even passable to the end user.

Do people just not have standards?

 

[Shapingo]

My game locked up twice after meeting the Doctor at his clinic, did it happen to anyone else or should I delete and re-download. I deleted some files to make way for the install.

 

[ColonelColon]

That's pretty much the entire recruitment mission bar a few more combat arena's

Holy shit this is a huge demo.


edit : a screenshot comparison

http://www.gameblurb.net/featured/versus-mass-effect-2-screenshot-comparison/


lighting engine looks better but the character faces look worse, less detailed.

I don't get it. The PS3 screens just seem brighter to me.

 

[Aaron]

Yeah, and some pretty meaty 'hub' worlds and various other mission specific locations that aren't really 'levels'. Wandering through Omega doing sub-missions is nothing like Uncharted.

I don't think the Uncharted series is slighted by not having fetch quests. Sure, there are still some more RPGish missions, but how many missions in ME2 didn't involve a long corridor of enemies you had to shoot? Probably could count them on one hand.

 

[kuYuri]

Weird that they changed it so that it's Liara rather than Ashley on Normandy (if Male Shepard). Might be a demo only thing.

 

[DR2K]

Sound glitch happened, screen tearing in cut scenes is annoying, but frame rate during gameplay is smooth. Nice. I'll wait for reviews before buying.

 

[mokeyjoe]

I don't think the Uncharted series is slighted by not having fetch quests. Sure, there are still some more RPGish missions, but how many missions in ME2 didn't involve a long corridor of enemies you had to shoot? Probably could count them on one hand.

I'm not slighting UC2, I prefer it to ME2 overall, I'm just saying they're different.

As for examples, I don't know off the top of my head, but Thane and Samara's missions spring to mind and most of the others mix shooting with dialogue and exploring.

 

[Arjen]

Haven't played ME2 anywhere but PS3 and I'm quite disappointed.

Honestly I've seen far better gen1 titles on PS360.

Piss poor framerate - chugs depending on FOV - with no enemies on screen. ???

Screen tearing. Puts the original Uncharted to shame in this department. Vsync anyone?

Bad textures. What's the point of a detailed face when you're always staring at the back of your head - uber low-rez everything else?

Combat mechanics were designed by... less than fortunate members of humanity with little to no brain functionality. Makes no sense to have something so convoluted. Stopping gameplay to access abilities is never a good idea.

Movement mechanics. Rugged, unfinished. I had to get out of cover - just to hop right back in cover to a box that was touching the box I was currently covering behind. The aforementioned box was approximately 2-3 inches further out than the one I was currently behind. Why? Why? Seriously... they're right next to one another... I can't just... MOVE? I have to back up from cover to leave it - put myself in harm's way - move over and then get back behind cover? Just so I can lean out a little further from this vantage point?

How in the hell do those mechanics make sense?

Damn near everything about that game sucks.

After every 3-4 kills you have to stop for a cutscene and make decisions? You can't just keep moving along? Really? I REALLY need to stop every 10 feet to talk to someone when the ship is being attacked? Who does this?

Horrid. I can't even call it "average" at this point.

From a design perspective - it's completely overrated.

From a fun perspective - it's just not thanks to design flaws.

Call me spoiled - but when you've played games with far smoother execution - you wonder how games like this are even passable to the end user.

Do people just not have standards?

Thanks for the laugh :lol

 

[Ninja-Matic]

Thanks for the laugh :lol

Just giving my opinion which everyone is entitled to - no matter the outcome.

Ah - you're one of those "my opinion is the right opinion" people.

*pats you on head*

That's nice.

 

[threenote]

I would love to play this for the first time (PS3 Only User). However, I'll never pay $60 for a port, that is just outrageous.

 

[Durante]

Mass Effect's shooting feels absolutely broken on harder difficulties. There's no combat roll which is desperately needed and the enemies in general absorb way too much damage. It reminds me of Lost Planet 2.

This is an interesting observation, since ME2 and LP2 are the 2 games with my favourite 3rd person shooter gameplay in recent memory.

 

[mokeyjoe]

Just giving my opinion which everyone is entitled to - no matter the outcome.

Ah - you're one of those "my opinion is the right opinion" people.

*pats you on head*

That's nice.

Maybe he just enjoyed your humorous turn of phrase.

 

[Papercuts]

Just giving my opinion which everyone is entitled to - no matter the outcome.

Ah - you're one of those "my opinion is the right opinion" people.

*pats you on head*

That's nice.

Everyone has an opinion, sure, but posing it with phrases such as "do people not have standards?" is just going to get you laughed at.

 

[sublime085]

Everyone has an opinion, sure, but posing it with phrases such as "do people not have standards?" is just going to get you laughed at.

and the "call me spoiled" thing is weird too. Is he playing games the rest of us haven't or something?

 

[Ninja-Matic]

Everyone has an opinion, sure, but posing it with phrases such as "do people not have standards?" is just going to get you laughed at.

Am I then supposed to laugh at those who swoon over games which are technically and mechanically flawed? If this is how GAF works - I'm not falling in line with that flawed logic.

 

[Ninja-Matic]

and the "call me spoiled" thing is weird too. Is he playing games the rest of us haven't or something?

There are games which are better on a technical, mechanical and gameplay level.

Thus the bar is raised and new standards set.

If X company can pull it off - why does Y company have issues? Over-reaching? More than likely. Of course, I'm talking about the game's mechanical design, not the story, characters, universe, etc.

The whole "bite off more than you can chew" thing developers do nowadays to pump titles out the door. The idea is progression - moving forward in design, not backwards.

 

[mokeyjoe]

Am I then supposed to laugh at those who swoon over games which are technically and mechanically flawed?

Well most people don't look at games with such cold objectivity. A game like Mass Effect has many other charms which appeal to people other than yourself and they can enjoy it for these reasons. Star Wars has some terrible dialogue and ropey acting, but people enjoy those films - games are the same.

This should be fairly obvious.

 

[kuYuri]

Damn, this demo is glitchy as hell.

 

[Guardian Bob]

It got me pumped for the game. Never played a mass effect game before.

 

[Mr_Zombie]

Ah - you're one of those "my opinion is the right opinion" people.

says the guy who ended his opinion with a phrase "do people just not have standards?".

*pats you on head*

That's nice.

 

[Arjen]

Just giving my opinion which everyone is entitled to - no matter the outcome.

Ah - you're one of those "my opinion is the right opinion" people.

*pats you on head*

That's nice.

Sure you can have your opinion, and i can think it's funny.

 

[Aaron]

I'm not slighting UC2, I prefer it to ME2 overall, I'm just saying they're different.

As for examples, I don't know off the top of my head, but Thane and Samara's missions spring to mind and most of the others mix shooting with dialogue and exploring.

I was thinking of Samara's loyalty mission that breaks the norm... but exploring? There's zero exploration in ME2. The hubs are too small to really consider that exploring, and everywhere else is completely linear.

 

[soco]

http://www.gameblurb.net/featured/versus-mass-effect-2-screenshot-comparison/


lighting engine looks better but the character faces look worse, less detailed.

i think the lighting looks worse in many of those screens. it seems like there are fewer lightsources and a lot more flat shading. the one of shephard's back also looks like they've lost some of the post processing.

the PS3 shadows look better in one or two of the screenshots where they're visible, though.

 

[sublime085]

There are games which are better on a technical, mechanical and gameplay level.

Thus the bar is raised and new standards set.

If X company can pull it off - why does Y company have issues? Over-reaching? More than likely.

The whole "bite off more than you can chew" thing developers do nowadays to pump titles out the door.

i didn't mean to say i don't think me2 has its issues, i don't think it's flawless. but when you mention stuff like the constant dialogue and decision making you have to realize that many people love that stuff, especially when it's coming from bioware.

it's more a matter of taste than standards in that particular example.

 

[Zen]

Hrm. The game looks slightly worse than the 360 version, at least to me. I think a large part of it might be that Bioware was just using more than 256megs for their GPU ram, on average.

[ss]If you look at the comparison shots, it's not just that ME2 PS3 is brighter, although that's a part of it, but if you look at things like the eyebrows you can see how they look slightly blurrier and larger on the PS3, and that's a sure sign that the res and such is lower.[/ss]

Actually it might just be the brightness+ lowering the color depth on the textures?

A huge ton of frame hiccups and screen tearing on the demo as well, but that might just be a demo thing.

I had fun playing the demo, but considering I have the PC version, a new lighting engine isn't enough to get me to buy the game again at 60 dollars.

ME3 probably won't have as many problems running on the PS3 as a port over of ME2 does, still, the hiccups and lower res textures are disappointing.

 

[mokeyjoe]

I was thinking of Samara's loyalty mission that breaks the norm... but exploring? There's zero exploration in ME2. The hubs are too small to really consider that exploring, and everywhere else is completely linear.

Well not in the grand sense, but walking round talking to people, checking out the stores, that sort of thing. Again, I'm not saying it's like RDR or something, just that it's different in this respect to UC2.

 

[Ninja-Matic]

Well most people don't look at games with such cold objectivity. A game like Mass Effect has many other charms which appeal to people other than yourself and they can enjoy it for these reasons. Star Wars has some terrible dialogue and ropey acting, but people enjoy those films, even today when every aspect of film-making has moved forward - games are the same.

This should be fairly obvious.

It's not cold objectivity. I'm critical of the games I play. I have little time and I'd rather it spent on more polished titles. Again, if other devs can do it, every dev is then capable. If it is too much for their ambitions, they need to reach lower and work within their means. Even quaint XBLA and PSN titles can show extreme gobs of polish from titles that are far from full-on disc-based adventures.

My post was painfully obvious from a design standpoint - nowhere did I mention characters, story, universe or "other charms" that the game may have. So "fairly obvious" needn't be mentioned if you've read my post.

I just flat-out think it plays "bad". Fair enough?

Can I stick with my opinion or do I have to "ZOMG THIS IS TEH BEST TITAL EVAR!" to fit in with the ME "clique"?