Interview We've brought back a lot of what was missing in ME2

[Multiple Sarcasm]

I wouldn't say one genre is winning out over another.

Smooth... Wouldn't want to lose one audience over the other, amirite? Fucking cowardly pussy-ass faggot whores.

 

[Metro]

The only reason why I would entertain or even agree with the notion that ME 1 and 2 weren't RPGs is the level scaling. If it wasn't for the scaling the statistical character development would have mattered. With scaling its little more than extra shit to play with. This is especially true with ME 1 where you had to learn to shoot.

What about total lack of choice and consequence? And no I don't mean character building and level design... although even under that awful definition of C&C Mass Effect fails as well.

 

[shihonage]

It's almost like ME1 is becoming a good old game. I am tempted to reinstall, but also know that disappointment will quickly dawn.

 

[Kz3r0]

Eh, in that case I'd go with Penetrator.

Intruder is the word.

 

[sser]

The first Mass Effect was an alright game. Got to customize all kinds of shit. Shoot your teammates in the face if they got out of line. Cross your arms and let your team implode and kill one another. Go rogue on your employers. Good stuff.

Mass Effect 2... hm. Well, you get railroaded down every path. You can't customize anything besides the pretty colors of your pre-selected gear. Your team is made-up of a bunch of fucking crybabies outside of the alien scientist who had some real problems to deal with. The one interesting storyline in the game -- the Krogans and their extinction/non-extinction -- is just a side plot. You fight a giant terminator at the end. Seriously. I was actually surprised he didn't slowly descend into a pit of lava while throwing out a middle-finger, BioWare's credits rolling as he melted.

So in Mass Effect 3 we're going to prevent the destruction of a galaxy badly in need of an enema. Hooray.

 

[Kaanyrvhok]

What about total lack of choice and consequence? And no I don't mean character building and level design... although even under that awful definition of C&C Mass Effect fails as well.

Compared to most RPGs ME has a decent amount of C&C in it's plot. Where its lacking is in it's mechanics. The culprit is the level scaling

 

[Corvinus]

The first Mass Effect was an alright game. Got to customize all kinds of shit. Shoot your teammates in the face if they got out of line. Cross your arms and let your team implode and kill one another. Go rogue on your employers. Good stuff.

Mass Effect 2... hm. Well, you get railroaded down every path. You can't customize anything besides the pretty colors of your pre-selected gear. Your team is made-up of a bunch of fucking crybabies outside of the alien scientist who had some real problems to deal with. The one interesting storyline in the game -- the Krogans and their extinction/non-extinction -- is just a side plot. You fight a giant terminator at the end. Seriously. I was actually surprised he didn't slowly descend into a pit of lava while throwing out a middle-finger, BioWare's credits rolling as he melted.

So in Mass Effect 3 we're going to prevent the destruction of a galaxy badly in need of an enema. Hooray.

Since you did a fine job describing the second game (sounded to me like the text one finds on the box, or rather, in this case, what one should find on the box of ME2), what about a summary of the third?

 

[Baron]

Mass Effect had one of my favourite PC introductions to a game, fem-Shep staring out at deep space as Lance Henrikson perused my CV. Cue inspirational music. And then, like icing on my gaming cake, my assigned partner shoots his compatriot in the back of the head and flies off deep in the bowels of an advanced being. Good beginning.

Sure, the inventory system was bunk. And the hopes and ambitions of hyperspacial squid overlords don't translate well into human, leaving some gamers annoyed by the plot. Others felt it didn't fit the definition of their beloved RPG genre as it was circa 1987 (a year with special meaning being the last year they had sex.*) But few games allow me to chill out to an electronic score and stomp on an alien's favourite face, not far at all from my ideal PC game. Mass Effect 1 introduced me to some memorable NPCs (Wrex, the Elcore race), presented me with options to genocide**, and gave me an extremely detailed universe to explore. I loved the hell out it.

But ME2 was just so so... Firstly, they committed the DM sin of killing your PC between PnP sessions. Dirty pool. If I heroically survived the first Reaper assault, and then something exciting enough happened to kill me in a cutscene... then why not tell that story? Secondly, all the new team members were crap. Still, I really like what they tried to do with the success of the missions tied to the lives of your team, it was a great concept. Unfortunately when my fish-man took a high velocity round to the forehead I only laughed out loud and shouted Brilliant. It lacked the emotional gutpunch I think they were aiming for. Regardless, I'm looking forward to ME3 and will pray their much publicised return to RPGness is more than just encountering the woman I advised to/not to get an abortion.


* for those born in the 80s ask your uncle
** TAKEN!!

 

[Captain Shrek]

Mass effect was such a big pile of shit that those who like it deserve to wallow in it for all eternity.

 

[Infinitron]

Who the fuck is this Baron asshole

 

[Azalin]

Mass Effect had one of my favourite PC introductions to a game, fem-Shep staring out at deep space as Lance Henrikson perused my CV. Cue inspirational music. And then, like icing on my gaming cake, my assigned partner shoots his compatriot in the back of the head and flies off deep in the bowels of an advanced being. Good beginning.

Sure, the inventory system was bunk. And the hopes and ambitions of hyperspacial squid overlords don't translate well into human, leaving some gamers annoyed by the plot. Others felt it didn't fit the definition of their beloved RPG genre as it was circa 1987 (a year with special meaning being the last year they had sex.*) But few games allow me to chill out to an electronic score and stomp on an alien's favourite face, not far at all from my ideal PC game. Mass Effect 1 introduced me to some memorable NPCs (Wrex, the Elcore race), presented me with options to genocide**, and gave me an extremely detailed universe to explore. I loved the hell out it.

But ME2 was just so so... Firstly, they committed the DM sin of killing your PC between PnP sessions. Dirty pool. If I heroically survived the first Reaper assault, and then something exciting enough happened to kill me in a cutscene... then why not tell that story? Secondly, all the new team members were crap. Still, I really like what they tried to do with the success of the missions tied to the lives of your team, it was a great concept. Unfortunately when my fish-man took a high velocity round to the forehead I only laughed out loud and shouted Brilliant. It lacked the emotional gutpunch I think they were aiming for. Regardless, I'm looking forward to ME3 and will pray their much publicised return to RPGness is more than just encountering the woman I advised to/not to get an abortion.


* for those born in the 80s ask your uncle
** TAKEN!!

My exeprience with the ME games was pretty much the opposite of yours

ME1 felt like a shooter with rpg elements that Bioware thied to intregreta but ultimately failed and well was not that much fun to play.The world was not bad and had some interesting races and characters but I was never able to enjoy it that much.

On the other hand I think I had a lot more fun playing the second one.Sure the main plot was nonextistent(get your team,solve their family problems and go kill the bad guys) but I think Bioware figured that they couldn't mix the shooter and and rpg elements and dcided to fix that.Of course fixing ment that they removed almost everything but I think it played a lot better than the first one.The suicide mission and how the chances of your team depended on the various sidequests and upgrades was a nice idea.Also Elcore Hamlet( or was that in ME1?)

 

[Jaesun]

Mass effect was such a big pile of shit that those who like it deserve to wallow in it for all eternity.

SHEPARDS!!!!!

 

[Mozgoëbstvo]

The only ultimately acceptable part wag Gilbert and Sullivan.
And that, too, straddled the fine line between ruining Gilbert and Sullivan and being saved by it for a nanosecond.

 

[DraQ]

We just want to tell the best story within the context of an amazing shooter.

Reaction at 1:03 - 1:08

 

[Brayko]

For a pretty shit game that was ME1 the dialogue options sure could allow me to roleplay a racist asshole who shoots alien species on sight pretty goddamned well. Right up until the end!