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Mass Effect Franchise bitching thread

Chinner

Banned
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.
 

Patryn

Member
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 my only problem is that it's clear that just as many, and possibly more, people enjoyed the other path.
 

Chinner

Banned
yeah i know. i did too. but hey, we have CDPR and the witcher series is totally amazing, and they've shown commitment to their fans and to making their games better.
 

Mutombo

Member
fuckallayabitches, Mass Effect 1 made me play games again after a big break of not playing at all, or only some multiplayer shit like counterstrike. It made me see how singleplayer games could still immerse me and not until mass effect 2 came out was that experience beaten by any other game. Not only that, mass effect 2 played so much better than the first.

I expect nothing but greatness from mass effect 3. The story was always good but never brilliant, and the gameplay consisted of trying to see which characters you could trust and not, who you could take on your journey, who you could kick ass with. If you want a brilliant story go read a book. Mass Effect gives you an immersive world to be a part in with a good story to boot. Stop whining. Start playing.

To compare; it's always the die hard blizzard fanboys that are the first to hate on the choices they make. Or compare it with a relationship. You complain the most about the things you care most about, because of certain expectations and whatnot.
 

Kurtofan

Member
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 like third person shooters but I love ME2.

I didn't know you could combine biotic powers in TPSs, that you could choose different powers and different companions with different powers in TPSs.
All the TPSs I played weren't dialogue heavy like Mass Effect 2 too.There's no leveling in TPSs either.

ME and ME2 are action RPGs.Sure I guess the action in ME2 is actually good unlike in ME1, I guess that doesn't make it a true RPG like its predecessor?I don't believe loot and armor customization were such preeminent features in ME1.

Characters and the story aren't shit, that's a gross overreaction, as if ME1's characters were that great, I'd say companions were much more interesting in ME2 than in ME1(infodump Tali, Kaidan, etc...).The story is video game stuff, ME1 wasn't extraordinary either, it was cool, like ME2's story is cool, fun stuff.The great thing about ME is the universe, not the story in my opinion.

ME2 certainly has defaults (just like ME1), you might not like ME2 because of its direction(which is not making it a pure TPS, just making the action component better), but in no way it is a shit game or an insult to fans or whatever.

Not all RPGs need to be like The Witcher or Planescape Torment or Deus Ex or Chrono Trigger, what's wrong with an action RPG having good action mechanics and good combat? Fucking hell ME1 has terrible combat in comparison to ME2, but I still like it.Just because ME2 isn't exactly like you wanted it to be doesn't make it a shit game!

I admit I played ME1 in December 2009, thought it was nice game, didn't even know ME2 was supposed to come out, I played it in September 2010 loved the fuck out of it, and I have a feeling I'm going to love the fuck out of ME3, I don't care about what anyone thinks is a true RPG or whatever.

Sorry for the rant but I had to let it all out!
 

Melchiah

Member
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.
 

Jenga

Banned
Shepard didn't seem to care too much about it either. "Whoa, I was dead. That's crazy. Oh well, moving on."
well i mean

it was a throwaway opener


"hey look it's shepard! oh whoop he's dead no biggie here he is alive a minute later"

the game didn't care, the player didn't care, shepard didn't care, bioware didn't care

but wrex cared

and that's all that matters
 

Jackl

Member
Shepard didn't seem to care too much about it either. "Whoa, I was dead. That's crazy. Oh well, moving on."

Walking into the Citadel with Legion was also anti-climatic. You'd think a station that lost tens of thousands of people to the geth would do something. Example?

Shepard, what the FUCK are you doing bringing that ... that THING HERE?!

Nope. What happens?

Oh hey dude. Welcome back. Cool bot.


One of many things I dislike about 2. I just feels like they dropped alot of stuff for sake of pushing it out. I like the base game. Continuing saga. Gather teammates, various moral choices, multiple endings. Cool. 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.
 
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.

Typo aside, yeah I'm definitely on board with that point. Conceptually that level was pretty amazing, and the first few minutes when they do start hinting at some of the really messed up stuff happening in there as the researchers minds degraded was awesome; but then it just turned into a shooting gallery featuring the most annoying/boring enemies in the game. It's a real shame, they could have slotted in some dead space basically, seriously dropped the ball on that one.

I think in general that the importance placed on having such a wide variety of missions in so many locations is kind of to the detriment of the series. In principle I want that, because exploring the galaxy is one of the promises of the series. But it comes at a high price, the lack of care placed into designing any given environment. They handled this with random badness in mass effect one, and mediocre blandness in mass effect 2. There are only so many man hours available even on a project as big as a mass effect game, but I still feel they could have used those resources more intelligently. I'd gladly trade a bunch of the random anomalies (shoot robots to save crates! Run across platform/canyon/shipwreck/etc. push button to leave!) for fewer and better developed scenarios.
 

Patryn

Member
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.

You are mistaken. The backlash on ME2 started within a week of its original release. Dredge up the Mass Effect 2 Story Thread to watch its genesis.
 

Mindlog

Member
It seems like the negativity towards ME2 started only after it was released on PS3.
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...
 
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!

Because they never made the player experience the impact of Shepard`s death, you don`t kill him off at the beginning and resurrect him right away, there was no impact to Shepard himself being what is essentially a cyborg or a walking corpse, there was no real after effect, he was basically go from Shepard who got patted on the back every five seconds to million dollar man shepard who still gets patted on the back every five seconds. Even for Shepard it was like wut I was dead meh.

There was no insight, the death basically meant nothing because it did nothing, the only thing it did was convey the sense that Shepard can`t be killed because he can be resurrected since he is the most precious prize of humanity, however there was nothing to really justify that kind of reception.
 

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
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.
 

inky

Member
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...

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.
 
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.

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.
 
ME2 was a better game if you like shooting things from waist high cover.

This goes against what most gamers care about, but I really have played a lot of games this generation for the story and not for the gameplay. ME1 had one of the best closing acts of any game I've ever played from a story perspective. I loved the world-building and lore from ME1 because it created a ton of potential.

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 their 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.

The number one reason why ME2 fell flat however is that it is so obviously constructed for casual episodic (dlc based) play. The story line was broken and disjointed with no real arc...rather just a bunch of standalone missions that funneled you down to the scripted ending. I believe 100% that this style of story-telling is a result of Bioware's decision to monetize their stories through DLC, so instead of getting a cohesive well-thought out plot arc, we are given a number of modular story bits that can be plugged in anywhere. This is also true of both Dragon Age games and I believe also explains (in small part) why DA2 felt much more disjointed than the first game in that series as well.
 

Mindlog

Member
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.
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.

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.
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.

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.
 

lucius

Member
Bioware is one of my favorite companies, but the multiplayer and Kinect support is just a waste of resources imo. Yeah other teams could be working on that stuff, but they shouldn't even be worrying about that junk get the main single player game as good as possible.
 
They could have had all the same "enhancements" without taking out certain things that would have made it more connected to the first game.

"While you were in a coma, we retrofitted every weapon in the galaxy with primitive, disposable, non-biodegradable ammo clips instead of using the more efficient self-sustainable and futuristic ammo-free weapon system of the last 500 years."

Furthermore, the first game felt more like it was about exploration and seeking knowledge, solving a mystery. The second game was militarized to the extent that every encounter would inevitably lead to a fire-fight which just felt forced and more linear.

Walk around, music change, fire fight, repeat.

I liked the idea of showing up on a world in the first one and not running into any hostile things.

My biggest personal disappointment from ME1 to ME2 was that it was not another space exploration game, but a sci-fi combat game.
 
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.

I think it's a little bit of both to be honest...and there was a TON of story DLC...most of it was better than the stuff in the actual game too, and would have made sense in the actual game. The segmentation of the character missions, however is almost certainly DLC oriented because it means they can add DLC characters and have their side-missions play the exact same way as everyone else's.
 

inky

Member
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.

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.
 

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
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.

You make some valid points, but it doesnt change my position. Shepard is still a hollow vessel for the player. That doesnt mean Shepard can be whatever the player wants them to be, we are still limited by the scope and overall plot of the game0. Shepard will always be a hero, the only one capable of saving the galaxy, but that doesnt mean Shepard has any kind of personality or feelings independent of the player.

I think a better way to portray the relationship between the player and Shepard is like that of a director and an actor. Especially with how the dialogue system works, we choose the direction and tone we want the conversion to go in and Shepard makes it happen, but things never deviate from the path we choose it to go in and Shepard never adds in his/her personal feelings or thoughts on a subject unless we direct them to do so. Shepard isnt that much deeper than your stereotypical action hero, there is no internal conflict, no personal musings or anything like that, we as the director get to decide what kind of hero theyll be.

Even Shepards love interests are just one sided. Shepard never opens up, theres nothing wrong with them that they need to give themselves to someone else for emotional support and closure, its all about the other, because to do so would break from that of the player and make Shepard an individual apart from the player.
 

Kurtofan

Member
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.
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.

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.
 
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.

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."
 

Mindlog

Member
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.
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.

What about his origin story?
Shepard is following Saren's path.
 
I'm getting more and more worried though with ME3 as I replay through ME1. Just the ability to give elaborate squad commands alone, without the need of pausing is interesting. Because, the great part of combat in this series (mainly ME1) is running into a room, pausing the action, evaluating the combat field and choosing your moves accordingly. Nothing to do with twitch combat and just shouting, "JAMES THROW A GRENADE!".

Plus ME1 has a lot of quiet moments and simple missions you can take up, which I think are the best. But the urgency in ME3 seems like it wont be possible to have those... I wont be going to some distant planet because some Asari at the citadel wants me to check on her stolen supplies, when there are giant reapers destroying the universe. I'm hoping not every mission is tied into, "OH SHIT REAPERS ARE DESTROYING THIS PLANET! GO KICK ASS!". Makes me sad...


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.
You mean yellow bar :p 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.
 

Kurtofan

Member
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."

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.

Saren would have had the time to find the Conduit and attack the Citadel thousands of time before I exhausted the number of assignments in ME1, or even doing Feros or Noveria "cool you're killing Benezia and the Thorian, just going to wait till you find where the Conduit is."
 

Mindlog

Member
You mean yellow bar :p 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.
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.
 

Petrichor

Member
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'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?
 
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

There are signs of several ME2 squadmates having temp. squadmates roles like Liara in TLotSB

Though it's not confirmed.
 
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.
I assumed it was something like Stopping Power in Uncharted. But I've never really seen someone get knocked down due to bullets.

And I know you can still bring up the power wheel, but I'm saying that they want to encourage you not to in ME3. Which could make the strategy portion less relevant.

And like I've said in previous posts, ME1's combat is not as great as I remembered and same with the Mako. Haha.

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?
What? This is Neogaf. They absolutely hate Uncharted's plot also.

I'm fine with all game plots, because I don't have such miss placed expectations for them. I do hope they improve, but I can't fault the game entirely for it.


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.
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.
 

Samara

Member
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.

My biggest gripe is that the team was more worried about their last wish than finding a sure way to make it back from the suicide mission. Most those missions don't even need Shepar to be there. Go deal with your BS alone. Jack you want us to nuke the Pragia facility? EDI fly over that shit and bomb it. DONE

Apart from Mordin studying the little bug, nothing more has been done to learn more about them. Oh, they have the IFF, let's cross our fingers and hope for the best!

Having Jack and Samara, I can get behind, yes you might need a very stong biotic. Mordin is logical choice since we need a countermesure (which at the end wasn't up to snuff in the collector territory). But the others?

Why do you need Thane, Kasumi, Grunt or Zaeed?

Why did we kill the sick people on Jacob's loyalty mission, when we had the choice to either kill or knock them out in Me1?

Why does Samara finds she the closest she's ever been to catching Morinth when she is seen clealry WALKING to catch the eclipse asari in the SB video? And why does she not say anything when Zaeed wants to kill the innocent on Zorya? Same thing for Grunt and Mordin. It's completely out of character.

Don't even get me started about Legion. Why would an AI care about loyalty? You're a machine!
 
That's exactly what I'm saying. While a lot of the side-missions are really fun and story-wise pretty decent, there isn't any real cohesion between them so much so that it actually hurts the believability of the characters.

Also I think it was a mistake to continually refer to it as a suicide mission all the time. As a gamer, and knowing its a second game in a trilogy completely takes the sense of danger out of most of the game. I know that if I complete objective A-Z it certainly won't be a suicide mission.

Not to mention when you open the entire thing by killing off the player character and then resurrecting him you are establishing the fact that that action is not hard to do, thus reversing the impact of death.
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
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.
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.

This wasn't helped at all by the general structure of the game making these feel like "levels".

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 don't know about emasculated, but Terminator-Reaper was pretty stupid.
 

Stage On

Member
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.

Oh The worst thing about the second game is how little ammo you have. It always feels like I'm scrambling for more making the fights harder then they should be. I was able to beat Impossible difficulty in the first game but I'll never be able to do it for the second which really bugs me.
 
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.

The problem is I love sci-fi so much I'd play anything.

A sci-fi GDR from CDPR? Now that would be something.

I still replay ME1 from time to time just for the memories.
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
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.

They didn't know what they were doing. Same reason for Shepard's death and resurrection. I am really truly convinced that at the beginning of development for ME2 they were like "we have a third act planned already, shit guys, what do we do with the middle!?"
 

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
I think its a bit premature to say the ME2 squadmates were thrown away. Ive liked every squadmate in the series so far, but I really only feel like I would like see a couple from ME2 return permanently. Most of them ended with a satisfactory conclusion with not a lot of room for further interaction. Plus BioWare already confirmed every character will be in ME3 in some form so its not like we wont get any kind update or have zero interaction with them, and many will likely be temporary members like Liara was in LotSB.

New squadmates means new interactions and new things to learn about the ME universe which is a plus. We have 7 known squadmates, 2 just recently leaked via concept art book. If the game matches up to ME2 in squad size we could be in for 3 more squadmates, which would be great to have two returning members and a third new one, or vice versa. Chances are though we're only going to have the 7 we know of since, again, a bunch of the previous squadmates and possibly other NPCs, like weve seen with Anderson, will likely act as temps throughout the story making a full 10 man squad overcrowded and underutilized.
 

Gen X

Trust no one. Eat steaks.
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.

I would almost guarantee that it wasn't all Biowares fault it changed. Pretty sure the publisher might've had a say in it too, wanting it to appeal to a broader audience since it was going multiplatform as opposed to Xbox Exclusive.
 

linko9

Member
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.
 

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
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.

Should of played as FemShep. Also what exactly is so silly and whats so bad about the DLC implementation?
 

CortanaV

Neo Member
This is less about plot and more general bitching about something being too sexy.

I love Ashley's character. *puts flame suit on* But I hope that there's a canonical reason for the sudden sexy.

Well, if she wants to dress like that, fine. Ash is a Spectre now and doesn't need to give a damn, but it just doesn't seem like her. We've taken a hard-headed tomboy and put in her into something from Miranda's closet.

*sigh* I'm not saying that Miranda's clothing is a horrid choice, but it's just weird seeing Ashley in such a garment. Hell, I would kill for that outfit.

I prefer the concept outfit on the left, by the way. Even if it is kind of playing peek-a-boob.

tumblr_ly0qjbm6y71r1fznjo1_500.jpg
 

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
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.
 

CortanaV

Neo Member
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.

Exactly! When I played the original, I couldn't help but think, finally! A female character that doesn't have DD tits, she's opinionated, doesn't swoon over the male protagonist all of the time, can take care of herself, and has self-respect, but also carries baggage and flaws that make her feel like a real person.

I'm not complaining about the outfit/model change because it's too sexy. I'm complaining because it feels so out of character for her. Yet again, it's been a decent amount of time between seeing her in ME1 and when she gets promoted. And you only see her once in ME2. A lot can change, clothes included. But I hope that she's still the Ashley I know, love, and relate to.
 
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?

Add me to the Mako lovers. Umm, I hope no one reads that outside of the context of Mass Effect.
 
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