Mass Effect 2 wasn't perfect?
Mass Effect 2 wasn't perfect?
Editorial - posted by VentilatorOfDoom on Fri 19 March 2010, 19:04:27
Tags: BioWare; Mass Effect 2Months after ME2's release gaming sites start to dare to leak some words of critique.
Kombo apparently didn't like the evolution of the inventory in Mass Effect 2.
<p style="margin-left:50px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-top-color:#ffffff;padding:5px;border-right-color:#bbbbbb;border-left-color:#ffffff;border-bottom-color:#bbbbbb;">The shocking news is that Mass Effect 2 employs the worst system of item procurement and management I have ever seen. Even Dead Space, a survival horror title, got the basics right. It lets you choose which stuff to loot, where to keep it, whether to sell it, which parts to upgrade and so on, and that is not a game I would call an RPG or even necessarily requires an inventory. Mass Effect lets you pick up odds and ends – some Element Zero here, a weapon upgrade there, but it is all rendered meaningless by a complete hands-off, don't touch approach from Bioware. There is no real on-planet exploring to do, and there are no unique or awesome items to find that aren't relegated to some type of upgrade status. There isn't even an inventory menu.
ME1's inventory might have been a clusterfuck, but I think there has to be some other solution to this problem than to remove the inventory altogether. Everyone knows that RPGs are about killing evil foozles and collecting their phat lootz, at least when you're not doing C&C (Courting & Copulation) so BioWare really did something wrong here and it's understandable that the RPG enthusiasts over at Kombo are very upset about the issue.
On the other hand everydaygamers figured that Mass Effect 2 is barely an RPG. Shocking. Before you start to rage, let them make their point:
<p style="margin-left:50px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-top-color:#ffffff;padding:5px;border-right-color:#bbbbbb;border-left-color:#ffffff;border-bottom-color:#bbbbbb;">One of the games most potent repercussions occurs (SPOILER ALERT) if you choose to wait and continue to build up your team instead of charging in after your captured crew. I chose to wait and paid a heavy price. Unbeknown to me, the crew was being slowly executed as I fluttered around the galaxy map launching my probes. Honestly, I was a little confused and a tad frustrated. I loved that my ignorant time wasting had resulted in real unfortunate consequences, but since when did time start moving along without my say so? I could sit at a dialog screen for 300 hours before deciding, but all of a sudden all that free time was snatched out from under me. I’m not complaining; in fact it was one of my favorite parts of the game. Yes, the world kept turning in this one instance, why couldn’t it continue to do so earlier in the game? Not to continually compare this game to Heavy Rain, but at least that game was consistent in the passing of time. Like in real life, you only have a certain amount of time to make up your mind. It builds pressure and really make my reaction one of gut instinct, a beautiful feature in a game that wants you to make up your own mind.
Mass Effect 2 really suffers from shortcomings especially in comparison to RPGs as Heavy Rain for instance.
Spotted at: GB
Kombo apparently didn't like the evolution of the inventory in Mass Effect 2.
<p style="margin-left:50px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-top-color:#ffffff;padding:5px;border-right-color:#bbbbbb;border-left-color:#ffffff;border-bottom-color:#bbbbbb;">The shocking news is that Mass Effect 2 employs the worst system of item procurement and management I have ever seen. Even Dead Space, a survival horror title, got the basics right. It lets you choose which stuff to loot, where to keep it, whether to sell it, which parts to upgrade and so on, and that is not a game I would call an RPG or even necessarily requires an inventory. Mass Effect lets you pick up odds and ends – some Element Zero here, a weapon upgrade there, but it is all rendered meaningless by a complete hands-off, don't touch approach from Bioware. There is no real on-planet exploring to do, and there are no unique or awesome items to find that aren't relegated to some type of upgrade status. There isn't even an inventory menu.
ME1's inventory might have been a clusterfuck, but I think there has to be some other solution to this problem than to remove the inventory altogether. Everyone knows that RPGs are about killing evil foozles and collecting their phat lootz, at least when you're not doing C&C (Courting & Copulation) so BioWare really did something wrong here and it's understandable that the RPG enthusiasts over at Kombo are very upset about the issue.
On the other hand everydaygamers figured that Mass Effect 2 is barely an RPG. Shocking. Before you start to rage, let them make their point:
<p style="margin-left:50px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-top-color:#ffffff;padding:5px;border-right-color:#bbbbbb;border-left-color:#ffffff;border-bottom-color:#bbbbbb;">One of the games most potent repercussions occurs (SPOILER ALERT) if you choose to wait and continue to build up your team instead of charging in after your captured crew. I chose to wait and paid a heavy price. Unbeknown to me, the crew was being slowly executed as I fluttered around the galaxy map launching my probes. Honestly, I was a little confused and a tad frustrated. I loved that my ignorant time wasting had resulted in real unfortunate consequences, but since when did time start moving along without my say so? I could sit at a dialog screen for 300 hours before deciding, but all of a sudden all that free time was snatched out from under me. I’m not complaining; in fact it was one of my favorite parts of the game. Yes, the world kept turning in this one instance, why couldn’t it continue to do so earlier in the game? Not to continually compare this game to Heavy Rain, but at least that game was consistent in the passing of time. Like in real life, you only have a certain amount of time to make up your mind. It builds pressure and really make my reaction one of gut instinct, a beautiful feature in a game that wants you to make up your own mind.
Mass Effect 2 really suffers from shortcomings especially in comparison to RPGs as Heavy Rain for instance.
Spotted at: GB
