Mass Effect 2

[Stark]

Of course; NANO WHEELS!

Didn't they say they'd made the planets better? Maybe terrain is more of a factor now, and that drives your Mako configuration.

[Aaron]

Of course; NANO WHEELS!

Didn't they say they'd made the planets better? Maybe terrain is more of a factor now, and that drives your Mako configuration.

They said that but I'm not putting much stock in that stuff. We seem to get a lot of games that promise certain things and then wind up with a watered down version.

Honestly though, I would just be happy with a main gun that can actually depress.

[adam_grif]

The mako has been totally removed, from interviews the impression I'm getting is that there is no new APC to replace it. You take a "Codiak" shuttle to the surface of planets and go from there.

[Ford Prefect]

And frankly under SOD I don't give a flying fuck what some Bioware idiot says. They fucked up; missiles are the primary weapon in Mass Effect, as shown throughout the game. If Lucas said turbolasers were little pictures of bunnies would anyone give a shit?

On the other hand the Codex is well researched, consistent and reasonably interesting, while all the stuff in the game is ... bad. I'll take the Codex any day.

Didn't they say they'd made the planets better? Maybe terrain is more of a factor now, and that drives your Mako configuration.

They've said something to that effect, same with exploration. Of course, they haven't shown any of this, or even given any detail, while they've practically come out and said 'yeah, the Collectors are pawns of the Reapers. Surprise!' and they've demonstrated enough of the class and combat mechanics that we can pretty safely say that their claims of improved combat are not total lies.

[neoolong]

That's because it's fucking hilariously incompetent. Nobody checked the cutscenes, ever, or even communicated with the guys they farmed it out to! Why would they? Poor old Bioware, can't even keep their game-irrelevant fluff consistent with their own guys. If only they had a single competent project manager in their entire company?

Heh. From the Bioware forums, it seems that Elanos Haliat was supposed to be a Turian, but the creators fucked up and gave him a human character model.

[Oscar Wilde]

They've said something to that effect, same with exploration. Of course, they haven't shown any of this, or even given any detail, while they've practically come out and said 'yeah, the Collectors are pawns of the Reapers. Surprise!' and they've demonstrated enough of the class and combat mechanics that we can pretty safely say that their claims of improved combat are not total lies.

It almost sounds like it might be a better game.
I am not hopeful though.

[TC Pilot]

So I just finished playing ME1 under the assumption that I'd be getting ME2 and because I didn't really do many of the sidequests the first time through (having no fucking clue what I was doing half the time being part of that). I'd forgotten just how annoying this game was.

All I can say is, thank god they've removed the driving sections, and they'd better actually make dialouge skipable. Whoops, forgot I'd already asked that question, now I get to listen to Joker rant about his disease for a minute. Oh look! The dialouge in the final showdown with Saren loops. Now I get to watch him say the exact same thing in the exact same pose... again! That isn't stupid at all.

Or maybe actually make your party selectable at times besides leaving the ship like.... any other RPG out there I can think of? Guess I can't complete some sidequests and get any loot at all from Feros because the elevator magically breaks after you progress far enough in the plot. Yep, having to backtrack through the entire level isn't annoying at all!

Boy, I sure do hope they keep that interface! Letting you enter the menu while in the galaxy map would just be too easy! And I sure am glad the inventory system lists items in the order which they were picked up by the player and not their actual usefulness. And what could be more fun than the challenge of not being able to access your inventory because you're overloaded with worthless crap? Nope, don't give the player the ability to access his inventory and remove that crap. Instead, make the player salvage the loot you just picked up!

Anyone know if any of it is going to be changed? Or if anything besides guns is actually useful this time around?

[PeZook]

Dialogue isn't skippable in ME1?

What?

[Ford Prefect]

and they'd better actually make dialouge skipable.

I had a friend complain about this, but I was quite capable of skipping dialouge (though sometimes you can skip too far and select a response without seeing what they are. Bioware, eh?).

Anyone know if any of it is going to be changed? Or if anything besides guns is actually useful this time around?

Oneo f the things they have claimed to have improved is the inventory. It is clear that they have heard complaints about ME's inventory and are responding to it, but whether this makes it actually better is a mystery. Also from the class videos we can actually see more usage of powers, powers with actual multiple usages (though not that many, admittedly). Also the cooldown has been apparently been tweaked so that you don't just spam off all your powers at the beginning of a gunfight and subsequently forget about them. Again, this still has to translate to reality.

[Vendetta]

Honestly though, I would just be happy with a main gun that can actually depress.

It can. But only when you zoom in, for some reason.

[Gramzamber]

The mako has been totally removed, from interviews the impression I'm getting is that there is no new APC to replace it. You take a "Codiak" shuttle to the surface of planets and go from there.

That's a shame, I kind of liked the Mako. I never thought it was as bad as people say. Then again I play the PC version and I hear it's handling was slightly revised.
Being a PC elitist I don't care what those console plebs say anyway, let them eat cake!

[adam_grif]

Dialogue is skippable but not all of it. There doesn't apepar to be any rhyme or reason as to why some is skippable and some has to be listened to. I had to train myself to skip through dialogue without selecting choices, you tap A once, which brings up any choices you have in the dialogue before it would normally show up. If nothing shows up, you tap X to skip that line. Then you tap A to check, then if it's clear tap X...

You get used to it.

Not being able to access journal inside the galaxy map did annoy me several times. Like I'd forget the name of a system I was going to for a side quest, because Douchebag McFifthFleet would be patting me on the back for doing some side quest and I would have to close the map again to check the location in my journals.

[Stark]

It's almost like Bioware ignored the whole 'onscreen quest prompt' thing used in other games; it's especially bad for the map screen but is really poor design elsewhere too.

The whole idea of people reading the codex and giving a shit about meaningless fluff really bothers me.

[Gramzamber]

A lot of the fluff in the Codex made my eyes glaze over, and that TV infomercial voice they got to narrate the main entries drove me up the wall.
And people in the Dragon Age forums are actually complaining that it's codex has no narration.

I never paid much attention to the technical mass accelerator lolwank stuff before the final battle scene and even I thought the fireballs were... silly. Though I still like the scene overall.

[Stark]

I heard Dragon Age having NINE NOVELS of meaningless game irrelevant fluff in it makes it deep. I'm not sure how that works.

The entire last battle was incoherent and contrived; sure, the cutscene guys apparently had no idea what was going on (which is why the Citadel fleet was out of sight of the relay, taken by surprise, fired missiles and fought at close range and got raped, etc) but it's just lameo pew pew nonsense. TURIAN CAPTAIN POINTS AT SCREEN, GETS RUN OVER LIKE IT'S GTA! Brilliant. And the final part where they just shoot Sov a lot was the most unimaginative shit ever. Oh well.

[charlemagne]

I heard Dragon Age having NINE NOVELS of meaningless game irrelevant fluff in it makes it deep. I'm not sure how that works.

The bothersome part of that is that sometimes quest-relevant stuff is hidden in some stupid codex entry. I never bothered to click through them all and read stupid stuff about "you encountered a wolf, this is what a wolf is", so when you need to find something in there, every entry is marked "new, click me and read exciting stuff!" and it takes ages to find what you're looking for

[Ford Prefect]

The whole idea of people reading the codex and giving a shit about meaningless fluff really bothers me.

The alternative is the game itself, which is largely poorly told nonsense. IIf i have to toss up between Super Serious Man talking about something completely irrelevant and some gittish space monster talk about how foolish organics are I'm going to pick Super Serious Man every time.

[Stark]

Well what are the odds Super Serious Man starts ME2 by saying 'after demolishing the citadel and ending the reaver threat forever'?

[Ford Prefect]

Making him the general narrator would make ME2 10/10 game of the year. The sort of gravitas Super Serious Man gives to stuff in the Codex is incredible. They should have made him voice in the opening crawl of ME.

[adam_grif]

I kind of want there to be a codex entry that reads "In a time when..." just so I can imagine that he's the movie voice-over guy.

[Stark]

Making him the general narrator would make ME2 10/10 game of the year. The sort of gravitas Super Serious Man gives to stuff in the Codex is incredible. They should have made him voice in the opening crawl of ME.

'PEW PEW SPACE LASERS

This summer 2010 pew pews are taken to the next level by extreme Turian action and non-stop hysterical avalances of hard science!'

After demolishing the Citadel and ending the Reaver threat forever the galaxy was at peace... but for how long? Watch out as chaos returns and nobody can save the day but eXXXtreme Shepard.


You're right the game is instantly better.

[Gramzamber]

Well as long as it isn't about the taxation of shipping routes leading to blockades...

[adam_grif]

Well as long as it isn't about the taxation of shipping routes leading to blockades...

Pff, yeah right. When as a popular scifi franchise ever done something like that.

[Stark]

Come on, compared to some of the shit in ME1's codex, tax law would be a thrilling adventurous diversion.

[DPDarkPrimus]

I heard Dragon Age having NINE NOVELS of meaningless game irrelevant fluff in it makes it deep. I'm not sure how that works.

Morrowind called, it wants to inform Dragon Age that the books it checked out of its vast library are overdue.