Bioware is shitting all over this franchise. There, I said it.
the sky is blue there i said it
Bioware is shitting all over this franchise. There, I said it.
i think it's time for people to just accept biowares new path. i mean its lame that the stories, characters are pretty shit and it's just another third person shooter, but people enjoy it so hey that's how it is.
if you want a good rpgs and good stories and stuff, we have CDPR now so we havent actually lost anything.
i think it's time for people to just accept biowares new path. i mean its lame that the stories, characters are pretty shit and it's just another third person shooter, but people enjoy it so hey that's how it is.
if you want a good rpgs and good stories and stuff, we have CDPR now so we havent actually lost anything.
Yeah, it was pretty stupid that everyone was lukewarm on his resurrection. It bugged the hell out of me, too.
well i meanShepard didn't seem to care too much about it either. "Whoa, I was dead. That's crazy. Oh well, moving on."
Shepard didn't seem to care too much about it either. "Whoa, I was dead. That's crazy. Oh well, moving on."
Shepard, what the FUCK are you doing bringing that ... that THING HERE?!
Oh hey dude. Welcome back. Cool bot.
The base concepts are good, but execution is lacking. The dead revaer ship for example. That could have been some Event Horizon scary shit. But instead its a slapped together level that feels more like Left4DeadinSpace mod.
But the lack complexity and immersion is beginning to get silly. I give the first one a pass because no new title has the ability to finish everything they want to do. The second had far too many corners cut for me to forgive.
It seems like the negativity towards ME2 started only after it was released on PS3. At least I don't remember hearing any complaints about it during the year it was only available for Xbox. So, if that's the case, was it perhaps due to PS3 players disliking the game for some reason (Xbox leftovers), or Xbox diehards disliking the fact it's not only theirs anymore?
As for myself, I liked them both, although I still haven't finished the 1st one. Started it when a friend loaned me his Xbox, but couldn't finish it, as I had to leave my apartment for six weeks due to water damage. I bought the PC version afterwards, but I just hate to play the game on a laptop, with a keyboard instead of pad.
Perhaps the 2nd one could have had a better story, but at least it improved some things that didn't work so well in the 1st; most notably the unnecessarily complex inventory system, and the removal of Mako harvesting. Glad to hear the planet scanning has also been removed from the 3rd.
There was some negativity before that. It's just weird how much of that critique Mass Effect 1 has dodged because players were mollified by useless loot and empty stat boxes.It seems like the negativity towards ME2 started only after it was released on PS3.
How Shepard's return from death was received throughout the game killed Mass Effect 2 for me. Everyone you met was like "Sup, oh it's you. Now go fetch this shit for me". It annoyed me so much!
There was some negativity before that. It's just weird how much of that critique Mass Effect 1 has dodged because players were mollified by useless loot and empty stat boxes.
Mass Effect 1 did that too, but...
I think people are mistakenly expecting much more out of Shepard than BioWare intends for the character. Shepard is in every way a vessel for the player, there is no singular Shepard with a set personality, beliefs or even feelings. Sheps just a hollow shell for the player to occupy and direct. This has its advantages and drawbacks all over the place within the game.
I still agree that Shepard's death and other events and relationships in ME2 werent handled as well as they could have or should have been, but I get the feeling BioWare sees it as Shepard being the player and only as the player, so their firstly isnt any kind of separate subconscious of Shepard outside the player, and that the player cares more about the present events, whats going on the galaxy now, who are the collectors, how do I stop them, whats going on with X,Y,Z and that players are not having philosophical and introspective thoughts and discussions on what it means to be back again after dying and what it really means to be alive, and so the player isnt going to be interested in every person they meet or reunite with drilling them with questions on how theyre still alive and what brought them back and what have you.
That said they definitely should have had one or two definitive dialogue segments throughout the game that allowed the player to place their personal view on the matter for their Shepard, but what can you do.
Yes, I have heard all the crying about 'customization.' I'm not all that bent out of shape by the removal of completely superficial features (insert inanity about story not being superficial completely missing the point.) Their replacement has been an improvement to gameplay. I appreciate actual design instead of random RPG tropes thrown out to satisfy genre conventions.It wasn't that though. There were plenty of criticisms thrown at ME1 as well, but it was a first try. People expected those (and other) features to be improved for the sequel, not taken out. That is where the negativity comes from.
The Reapers were emasculated when they decided to become a codex dump for no reason. They were emasculated when their 50k year plan was disrupted by an off switch. They were emasculated when between a super-dreadnaught, a matriarch and a spectre they couldn't come up with a better plan to infiltrate the citadel.The reapers were emasculated...I could go on.
The number one reason why ME2 fell flat however is that it is so obviously constructed for casual episodic (dlc based) play.
Every time I play ME2 I can't shake the feeling that they built a much better game. As the game was nearing completion Bioware suddenly remembered the 360's DVD limitation. The structure of the game had to be butchered in order to properly fit discrete discs. They didn't release anywhere near enough DLC for me to believe that was their plan.
Yes, I have heard all the crying about 'customization.' I'm not all that bent out of shape by the removal of completely superficial features (insert inanity about story not being superficial completely missing the point.) Their replacement has been an improvement to gameplay. I appreciate actual design instead of random RPG tropes thrown out to satisfy genre conventions.
I don't really buy this, because the game is so thoroughly authored from the dialogue perspective; Shepard has a personality and a role in the course of events that is pretty well defined; sure you get to decide if he's a dick or a goody-good, but for the most part the game plays out in a fundamentally similar way regardless. In fact I'd say the biggest difference between paragon and renegade Shepard is how overt you want Shepard's sociopath tendencies to be. My favorite example is the Garrus loyalty mission, wherein you mow down dozens of nameless, faceless merc's with no remorse, but then are given a paragon option at the end of the mission to stop Garrus from killing Sidonis, the guy who got his entire team killed. The dissonance in that behavior is pretty shocking, or alternatively, pretty bad writing.
The bottom line though is that Shepard is space Jesus with a gun, and he has a thoroughly authored personality that you can tweak a little with dialogue. His path through the mass effect universe, though, is pretty damned well defined, not an open book constructed by some high-minded folks at Bioware to the end of creating meaningful choice. Bioware's whole agenda is to produce a flimsy illusion of choice with their color coded 'morality' for a guy that is a stone cold killer either way during the long stretches of combat in between dialogues.
The storytelling is great, you might not like the story but the storytelling is still great.ME2, while more "gamey" (if that's even a concept) failed in its storytelling qualities almost every step of the way. The beginning doesn't make a damn bit of sense, Shepherd joining the bad guys doesn't make any sense, the supporting characters are not as shallow as some of the throw away characters in the first game, but they're loyalty missions are ridiculous and completely illogical (FUCK your daddy issues half of all the characters). The ending is an abomination of story-telling. The collectors are a stupid villain that doesn't make any sense. The reapers were emasculated...I could go on.
What about his origin story?It's Saren's origin story.
Loyalty missions aren't illogical or ridiculous, only two of them deals directly with the father of a character (Jacob and Tali).Miranda's LM is about her sister, Thane's and Samara's LM is about their child, saying that all of their stories are about their dads is an overreaction.
I can tell why you would use a Carnifax instead of a Preditor. I can tell when a Geth Pulse Rifle is more useful than a Vindicator. An infiltrator has to use the Widow, but a soldier does more damage with a Viper. The limited number of Mass Effect 2 weapons still offered an enormous useful variety compared to their ME1 counterparts.No, it hasn't. There is no "actual design" in ME2 customization options, not in the weapon design which forgoes mods and variety, not in the replacement skill trees which were just as poorly thought out (like including ammo types as powers) as the ones in ME1, and the planet scanning was as useless as having to mine resources in ME1 or recover matriarch messages. They were only superficial because they weren't properly designed, and they are still superficial in ME2.
Their removal doesn't immediately make them better, just non-existent.
Shepard is following Saren's path.What about his origin story?
You mean yellow bar but I wouldn't agree. Because outside of a few of the best weapons in the game, all the weapons in ME1 have different strengths ect. So it's rare you'd find a weapon/omni tool ect. that's better with every attribute and you have to choose what squad member values more. And then the ammo system is another layer of that, there isn't really the BEST upgrade, just a bunch of different types. Although, most of them make no sense... I still don't get what +25% weapon force means.I can tell why you would use a Carnifax instead of a Preditor. I can tell when a Geth Pulse Rifle is more useful than a Vindicator. An infiltrator has to use the Widow, but a soldier does more damage with a Viper. The limited number of Mass Effect 2 weapons still offered an enormous useful variety compared to their ME1 counterparts.
Most of Mass Effect's itemization can be reduced to one question, 'Does it have a green bar?'
If you don't agree I understand. Opinions and all that.
Wait, you're really not seeing a pattern here? Every single one having to do with their family in some way? Is this an epic space opera or an Aaron Spelling show?
Space Assassin with a hidden heart of gold: "I won't be loyal to you unless we help my (insert worthless family member here) first."
Shepherd: "Yes let's delay trying to avert a galaxy wide apocalypse so that I can be your therapist for a little bit. The worst that could happen is that you make amends with your (insert worthless family member here) and then we fail to save the galaxy and they all fucking die anyway."
You can still walk into a room and bring up the power wheel.You mean yellow bar but I wouldn't agree. Because outside of a few of the best weapons in the game, all the weapons in ME1 have different strengths ect. So it's rare you'd find a weapon/omni tool ect. that's better with every attribute and you have to choose what squad member values more. And then the ammo system is another layer of that, there isn't really the BEST upgrade, just a bunch of different types. Although, most of them make no sense... I still don't get what +25% weapon force means.
For people who have read the more detailed script leak for ME3...
.....
Does it seem at all likely that we'll get any other permanent squad members other than james vega, EDI, the prothean, garrus, liara, the virmire survivor, and tali? I personally thought the cast in ME2 was miles better than the cast in ME1, and am extremely dissapointed that the likes of mordin, samara, legion and miranda won't be squadmates in ME3
I assumed it was something like Stopping Power in Uncharted. But I've never really seen someone get knocked down due to bullets.You can still walk into a room and bring up the power wheel.
Sledgehammer knocks opponents down. Useful against Creepers and Krogans. I stuck to Shredder/Tungsten VII because biotics can knock stuff over just as easily. Playing Mass Effect 1 on insanity is just an immune spammed bore.
What? This is Neogaf. They absolutely hate Uncharted's plot also.I'm always amused by nitpicking story issues in video games. Gaminess intrudes on story? This surprises people still? I mean, we can laud games like Uncharted 2 despite Nathan Drake, Serial Killer being unexplained, but heaven forbid there be things like Saren "not attacking until you get there". Really? That's the kind of shit people are going to pick apart?
Ammo types as powers is probably at the top of my list of annoyances. It's so ridiculous, "FIRE BULLETS! ICE BULLETS! ELECTRIC BULLETS!" in ME3 they'll introduce "NATURE BULLETS!". They went from an advanced technical analysis of every type of ammo upgrade you can use, to Pokemon powers. Embarrassing.No, it hasn't. There is no "actual design" in ME2 customization options, not in the weapon design which forgoes mods and variety, not in the replacement skill trees which were just as poorly thought out (like including ammo types as powers) as the ones in ME1, and the planet scanning was as useless as having to mine resources in ME1 or recover matriarch messages. They were only superficial because they weren't properly designed, and they are still superficial in ME2.
Their removal doesn't immediately make them better, just non-existent.
People caring about their family members before going in a suicide mission isn't illogical to me in the least.
Would you have preferred to have a game over screen if you don't go directly fight the Collectors?It's your choice too if you want to deal with them as soon as possible, but if you don't prepare them to fight in a suicide mission, well they're likely to die or you might even die.
Even if they weren't all about solving family issues, mechanically the loyalty missions were pretty drab. All but two of them basically amounted to "shoot through these waves of enemies and make a moral choice at the end" and of the two that didn't one of them was about two minutes long and just involved following a dude on catwalks and the other one (Samara) was really really good in concept but in practice just involved doing something that other RPGs have done much better many times in a single game.The storytelling is great, you might not like the story but the storytelling is still great.
Loyalty missions aren't illogical or ridiculous, only two of them deals directly with the father of a character (Jacob and Tali).Miranda's LM is about her sister, Thane's and Samara's LM is about their child, saying that all of their stories are about their dads is an overreaction.
I don't know about emasculated, but Terminator-Reaper was pretty stupid.They haven't emasculated the Reapers at all...You might complain that the Reapers weren't featured heavily in ME2 but nothing about them was emasculated, unless you wanted them to remain mysterious machines forever.
The Collectors weren't bad either, also if they don't make sense, the Rachni in the first game might as well not make sense either, in fact very little makes sense in a universe where giant spaceships routinely eliminate evolved lifeforms.
i think it's time for people to just accept biowares new path. i mean its lame that the stories, characters are pretty shit and it's just another third person shooter, but people enjoy it so hey that's how it is.
if you want a good rpgs and good stories and stuff, we have CDPR now so we havent actually lost anything.
I don't get why they had us spend an entire game to gather a squad only to basically throw the squad away for the follow up.
I hate how BioWare is copping out on their original vision for Mass Effect. Instead of delivering a complex RPG with deep space and planet exploration elements (as they described the first Mass Effect and got relatively close to; just needed more planets to explore and more unique side stuff to do), they decided that was too hard to do and instead regressed significantly from that original vision.
Just played both games for the first time over the past two weeks (thanks steam sale). I certainly like the games, lets get that out there. But there are just so many stupid things in these games. The central plot is great (for the most part), but everything surrounding it is just so silly. I do really like the world, but I don't particularly like many of the characters (Shepard himself being the worst offender). And the ending to 2.... what? Very silly. Also, the way DLC is implemented into ME2 infuriates me.
Also I love how in the future, everyone speaks with a Canadian accent.
I dont like new Ash either. The hair is really bad, theyre only doing it because they added new tech that allows for longer hair and it doesnt suit her at all, her eyes are weird looking now too, its not just cause of makeup. The left or middle concepts are way better cause of the pulled back hair, hell the actual final concept isnt bad, but the ingame model just looks off. Plain army Ashley was perfect, she didnt need sexing up, at least with her face.
I need to go on record as the guy who loved piloting the Mako.
The guy.
It was awesome! I spent so much time taking that fucking thing off big-ass jumps and just acting like a space asshole. I loved it. I understood the hate, I guess, but I found it remarkably fun. They replaced it with mineral scanning in the second game. I never finished the second game. RELATED?