Who's looking forward to Mass Effect 2 ?

[Gargantou]

I plan on playing this game till its death, doing every sidequest, trying to find all of the weapons etc...

Finding all weapons etc is gonna be a bitch since it's very easy to miss'em and once you reaches certain levels, the lower-level weapons stop spawning all together IIRC.

 

[FrostedxB]

Finding all weapons etc is gonna be a bitch since it's very easy to miss'em and once you reaches certain levels, the lower-level weapons stop spawning all together IIRC.

I did notice a lack of weapons already, got about 5-6 of them, each one better then the last, along with some upgrades. Guess I'll worry about weapon collection when the good stuff comes out.

 

[Warped]

if you do the main quest depending on difficulty, anywhere from like 8-15 hrs....the side quests add something like 15 more hours to the game which is quite a lot. also i think the add ons are cheap this week on XBL like 240pts

 

[kupocake]

if I always do what I feel is the correct course of action, I'll generally try to be rational and reasonable because that's how I think; which can make for really boring gameplay.

So sometimes it's more fun to be a dick.

I guess I just think with enough extra dickage to make gameplay more interesting! You can pick up a fair amount of renegade points by being the kind of 'no second chances' but otherwise sympathetic character. Kind of, rational but not always reasonable.

Spoiler

I mentioned here or in another thread that I thought that the one alignment choice that was particularly good was in the DLC, where you choose between the lives of the hostages or filling the terrorist leader with holes at the expense of their lives. Perhaps I would 'really' let him go to save the hostages, but when you force yourself to make that decision in reasonable time, you get more interesting results. I'm also a little hypocritical, since I let his subordinate leg it earlier

edit:

Kinda off-topic, but how long is the ME1 story, I just started and feel kind far into it. Already got Spectre status...

It's only an eight location trip (ok, so one of those 'locations' is actually two, but neither part is particularly massive) and strictly speaking, if you ignored every one of the sidequests offered to you, either through the galaxy map, or the 'town' maps, you'd probably get through it in Warped's 8 hours. I'm not sure whether your characters would actually be strong enough though, it is still vaguely trying to be an RPG after all

Took me 40 hours first time through. The most time consuming quests are the soulless mineral, writings, signs of battle and insignia 'quests'. Cut those out (don't explore the planet maps overzealously) and you'll keep your play time reasonable (all it meant for me was maxing out my cash reserves, when I didn't need to buy anything).

 

[MJ12]

Will we be able to make physical changes to our saved Shepards? Like give them different hair style/scars if we want?

 

[Dynasty]

Well you...hmmm...cant say due to spoilers I guess.

You can start from scratch, lets say that. So I see no reason why you cant change the appearance. After all, wont ME2 just take your story outcomes (ie who survived and who didnt in ME)? Or do they transfer all your stats? Cant see how that would work though, you have to level up SOMEHOW in the new game I hope. Id rather go from lvl 1 to lvl (I dunno) 40 instead of lvl 30 to lvl 40 in a game.

Anywho, Ive always loved one subtle change that ME introduced when in combat; you dont need to worry about ammo. No more dead clicks.

This is arguably a bad thing though as I guess it encourages spray and pray. But its nice to know your shotgun wont run out when you run round the corner. Just like Bioshock; its the ammo type you use that counts more than the number of rounds.

 

[Rizzo]

Edit: NVM. A friend told me, linked me to a page and shit.

 

[Rizzo]

Hmm... I do have some sound problem with mass effect 1 though. Started when I bought the steam version. When playing it on the same computer from a friends game, it was no problem. He had downloaded it. I have no idea what the problem is, becouse there isn't really any settings for sound in Mass effect. I also had help updating my drivers and shit. Anyone have an idea?

 

[kupocake]

Anywho, Ive always loved one subtle change that ME introduced when in combat; you dont need to worry about ammo. No more dead clicks.

This is arguably a bad thing though as I guess it encourages spray and pray. But its nice to know your shotgun wont run out when you run round the corner. Just like Bioshock; its the ammo type you use that counts more than the number of rounds.

Then you haven't heard that they're getting rid of infinite ammo?

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

I never understood the infinite ammo in the first game really. All weapons used magazines, clips etc., you could even see them on the guns. Guess it makes more sense having ammo in the second. Going from unlimited with overheat to ME2's ammo system seems weird though.

 

[Rizzo]

Aaw.. I kinda liked the way the guns worked. Maybe some guns will still have unlimited ammo though.

 

[the cow says moo]

If you import your character, your money will transfer and minerals that you discovered(I think) from the first game will mean more materials for your salarian scientist in the second (which give you upgrades). At the beginning, you can choose to change your class or appearance.

Only heavy weapons will have ammo. All other weapons will have the same overheating ammo system, except you have clips that you can switch out so you don't have to wait for your gun to cool down, which is essentially the same thing as reloading your gun.

Or so I've heard.

If you read into the lore at all, you would know that the clips are actually filled with a solid piece of metal. When you pull the trigger, a piece of the metal is scraped off and put through a mass accelerator to speed it up and "shoot." It uses such a small amount of metal for each shot that you can shoot thousands of times and not have to reload.

 

[unozero]

Ok last night I was to tired but let me tell y'all ME2 yes is a great game But it's severely dumbed down They're aren't really anymore stats and there not even a real Inventory....I'm a little disappointed.


It's like Deus Ex2 compared to Deus ex1

It's a 3rd pseron shooter with lots of Dialogue.


Moo all weapons have ammo it just that it uses the same gay ammo system as Deus Ex2

 

[kupocake]

Ok last night I was to tired but let me tell y'all ME2 yes is a great game But it's severely dumbed down They're aren't really anymore stats and there not even a real Inventory....I'm a little disappointed.

That doesn't sound that different. The 'real Inventory' the first one had will be the last thing I'll miss.

 

[the cow says moo]

Moo all weapons have ammo it just that it uses the same gay ammo system as Deus Ex2

Do you know how that plays out in the lore? Some new technology or something other?

 

[unozero]

I think the loading screen sometimes talks about it...I'll get to you about when I see it again gonna go play now for a few hours.
I also held the retail box in my hand today and I'm hoping I get my hands on the Strat Guide before next week as well.

 

[Sparta]

Does the combat play better in comparison? After playing Uncharted 2 religiously, going back to Mass Effect was like playing a platformer where you can't jump. It feels wrong on so many levels.

 

[Dynasty]

PC Review of ME2 from IGN:

9.6.

Wow.

Games like Mass Effect 2 don't come around often enough. Look at any aspect and you can be sure it's great. It's incredibly personal while still retaining a sense of epic sweeping scale. The combat and mission design are outstanding. The visuals, voice acting, soundtrack, and direction are miles ahead of the competition. Perhaps most impressively, Mass Effect 2 manages to fulfill its incredible ambition while only suffering from very few technical hiccups. The only real caveat I should mention is that some of the revelations and plot twists won't be quite as powerful if you haven't played Mass Effect 1, but that isn't any reason to skip this fantastic videogame.

Video Review: http://xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/14235013/mass-effect-2/videos/masseffect2_vdr_012210.html

Written Review: http://pc.ign.com/articles/106/1063044p1.html

 

[Warped]

this is a day 1 purchase and i will more than likely hang around work for an extra hour to pick this game up. its felt so long since i've wanted a game this badly

 

[Dynasty]

Just watched the IGN review, and personally I love this type of game. How the choices actually matter etc. Why cant all RPGs be this good.

However, something has nagged me about the review.

Anyone who has listened to IGN's Three Red Lights podcast(s) over the past couple of months will know that Eric Brudvig, who hosts the podcast and did the ME2 review you just watched, has been thinking almost non-stop about ME2 since before the end of 2009.

They were talking about game releases at the beginning of this year; Bayonetta, Bioshock 2, FF13, God Of War 3 etc (Bloody hell thats a good lineup for such a short space of time), and Eric just cut in and said 'Dont caaaare, Mass Effect 2!'.

So I cant help but feel he's given the game a higher than normal score because of his personal wanting for the game, but I also know their job is to ignore that side of things when writing a review.

Its the first review Ive seen, and I for one will trust IGN over any other critics because I tend to agree with their scores, so I'd like to see how well it does over the next few days when other critics release their own reviews.

That is, of course, if you care about reviews. Personally I'd still buy the game regardless, and have my PC version pre-ordered for the past few weeks, but that score seems a little high for Eric.

[Edit] I guarantee anyone who has been waiting for this game is right now, this weekend, playing through ME1 again to get the save they want to transfer into ME2. Gonna be lots of gamers closing off the real world more than usual this weekend on their ME1-fests.

 

[Krynn72]

[Edit] I guarantee anyone who has been waiting for this game is right now, this weekend, playing through ME1 again to get the save they want to transfer into ME2. Gonna be lots of gamers closing off the real world more than usual this weekend on their ME1-fests.

Not me. Though I did contemplate it. I'd rather do other things and just start ME2 with a clean slate.

 

[stemot]

Ok last night I was to tired but let me tell y'all ME2 yes is a great game But it's severely dumbed down They're aren't really anymore stats and there not even a real Inventory....I'm a little disappointed.


It's like Deus Ex2 compared to Deus ex1

It's a 3rd pseron shooter with lots of Dialogue.


Moo all weapons have ammo it just that it uses the same gay ammo system as Deus Ex2

ME1's inventory system pissed me off anyway. Always ended up with nothing but junk once you got the best weapon and armour. Much prefer the new system.

 

[flamingdts]

Oh please, EA's been doing quite a good job with their games recently, since their switch of CEO.

I'd say there's far worse big gaming corporations out there, like Activision-Blizzard.

Anyway, does anyone know what the bonuses are for carrying over a maxed level and max difficulty completed savegame from 1 to 2?

Since BioWare said in an interview a while back that whilst your level would of course not carry over, there would be "bonuses" ingame for having a (level) maxed out Shepard from ME1.

Also, do we even know if there is a 'canon' Shepard, since when you start a new Mass Effect 2 game without a previous save you're allowed to make some choices like whether or not you saved Wrex etc, i.e. you're let to customize your ME1 story, at least that's what I've read on the forums out there.

I don't really want to go into this, but EA has done things far worse than Activision-Blizzard, and I'm not even going to go in the game quality.

And yes, I believe there is a canon Shepard. Otherwise, it would make little sense to a new player to ME2. Remember, there is a huge back story to every decision you make. If the option says "You killed the Rachni Queen" or "You spared the Rachni Queen", the player will not know how that factors into the game. Even if the game provides a description, it will not nearly be enough. The whole point of decision making in Mass Effect 1 was to assess the situation based on the accounts you've been told and pick what you feel is the right (or wrong) option. If you've been given a summarized account of what happened, it will not give you any real understanding of the situation.

Plus, if they allow you to customize Shepard's past including Mass Effect 1, there would be no point in buying Mass Effect 1. The whole save importing thing is a terrific idea both in terms of RPG development and keeping sales of previous games alive.

 

[Dynasty]

Much like Assassins Creed 2 and Uncharted 2, I'd like to see the sales of their previous installments, see if there is a spike in numbers shifted that month or the month afterward.

Seeing as the two games are linked, and its a little daunting to understand the relationships between characters without playing the first, particularly Uncharted 2 (Nate and Sully, Nate and Elena etc), where there are jokes thrown in that are only funny if youve played the first (Hi, Elena Fisher, last year's model)

 

[Gargantou]

I don't really want to go into this, but EA has done things far worse than Activision-Blizzard, and I'm not even going to go in the game quality.

Yes, under the old CEO who basically had the same viewpoint as Robert 'The Dick' Kotick who's the current CEO of Activision-Blizzard, whom has publicly said things such as "I want to take all fun out of making video games."

The new CEO has a far more modernized and IMO better view on game development.

Oh well, you said you don't wanna get into it and I'll respect that.

Sorry for the off-topic fellas.

 

[VictimOfScience]

Yet another reason to get the PC version:

"Players will start with Disc 1 for the introduction and early level choices, then go through a funnel level of sorts, where they will need to switch to Disc 2," Houston said. "From there they will play the middle portion of the game, which is mostly on Disc 2. Then after another funnel point in the story they'll go back to Disc 1."

Source.

I have certainly had my share of disc swapping in the past (Fear Effect, FF7, FF9, MGS, RE2), but it is nice to NOT have to worry about that sort of thing anymore. The only way this sort of thing has ever made a game better is the Psycho Mantis battle in MGS. Sheer genius.

The disc limitations of the DVD9 format are slowly being exposed and it would seem to me that if the 360 is going to be around as long as they say it will, they will need a different way around this issue as some devs (like R* in particular) have already stated that they find it debilitating. Maybe if you could actually install all of the games on your HDD, but at the price of a 360 and a big enough drive, you could get a PC that could run this and Crysis and so much more.

 

[PimpinPenguin]

The disc limitations of the DVD9 format are slowly being exposed and it would seem to me that if the 360 is going to be around as long as they say it will, they will need a different way around this issue as some devs (like R* in particular) have already stated that they find it debilitating. Maybe if you could actually install all of the games on your HDD, but at the price of a 360 and a big enough drive, you could get a PC that could run this and Crysis and so much more.

This could have all been avoided if Microsoft included a hard drive in every 360. They did so for the original Xbox so why they choose not to for the 360 is a step backwards. Microsoft could have simply made users install the game like on PC's, but as it is now devs are not allowed to make Hard Drives compulsory to play their games, hence the reason being stuck with disc swapping which will become more and more common during the life span of the 360.

 

[Gargantou]

Yet another reason to get the PC version:


Source.

I have certainly had my share of disc swapping in the past (Fear Effect, FF7, FF9, MGS, RE2), but it is nice to NOT have to worry about that sort of thing anymore. The only way this sort of thing has ever made a game better is the Psycho Mantis battle in MGS. Sheer genius.

The disc limitations of the DVD9 format are slowly being exposed and it would seem to me that if the 360 is going to be around as long as they say it will, they will need a different way around this issue as some devs (like R* in particular) have already stated that they find it debilitating. Maybe if you could actually install all of the games on your HDD, but at the price of a 360 and a big enough drive, you could get a PC that could run this and Crysis and so much more.

I really don't get why they couldn't have given 360 users an optional HD install for those that had the space, to fix this? There is no logical reason IMO, I mean I can install Mass Effect 1 + all DLCs just fine on my HD..

Notice I say OPTIONAL, so it doesn't mean people without HDs won't be able to play Mass Effect 2 on the 360.

Anyway, I'm still getting the 360 version because I'm an achievement-whore.

But yes I agree that DVD-9 is handicapping the 360, but it's not as if the Blu-Ray or a builtin HD-DVD were all that viable at the time of the 360s launch IMO.

But as I also said, it could be solved for the majority of 360 gamers(since iirc a survey I saw done by MS showed that the majority of 360 consoles had a HD) with an OPTIONAL install for the secondary disc, which would eliminate the need to swap discs.

 

[flamingdts]

Yes, under the old CEO who basically had the same viewpoint as Robert 'The Dick' Kotick who's the current CEO of Activision-Blizzard, whom has publicly said things such as "I want to take all fun out of making video games."

The new CEO has a far more modernized and IMO better view on game development.

Oh well, you said you don't wanna get into it and I'll respect that.

Sorry for the off-topic fellas.

I'll agree with you on that, which is why I'm glad Blizzard is doing their own thing and is practically still their own company.

Anyways back to topic, only a few days left before ME2!

 

[Gargantou]

Anyways back to topic, only a few days left before ME2!

For you perhaps, not until early Feb for us Scandinavians who are waiting for the CEs, f*cking production f*ck-up >_<

 

[flamingdts]

For you perhaps, not until early Feb for us Scandinavians who are waiting for the CEs, f*cking production f*ck-up >_<

Actually I'm not even sure if it comes out in a few days for my area as well.

I'm living in Hong Kong, but I'm not bothered to check. I'll just stroll around game stores to see if it's out.

I have actually planned to play the game maybe a month or two after it comes out. That way, any bugs and glitches should be cleared up.

 

[PimpinPenguin]

I have actually planned to play the game maybe a month or two after it comes out. That way, any bugs and glitches should be cleared up.

You'll have a long wait. It took Bioware well over a year to release a patch for Mass Effect and even that ****ed up more things that it fixed.

 

[DEATH eVADER]

Its not officially released till Friday for me, but knowing GAME, I'll have it by Tuesday

 

[Reginald]

Well, I for one am quite happy to wait for Friday because I know I won't re-complete ME1 and read Ascension before then. I may even track down an iPod Touch and try and play through Galaxy as well. I'm such an ME nerd. D:

Today I did Feros, Bring Down the Sky and three clusters worth of surveying. With a full day off work tomorrow, looks hopeful that it'll all be done and dusted in just under a week's time. :E

 

[unozero]

The comic is great too btw can't wait to get a physical copy.

 

[the cow says moo]

[Edit] I guarantee anyone who has been waiting for this game is right now, this weekend, playing through ME1 again to get the save they want to transfer into ME2. Gonna be lots of gamers closing off the real world more than usual this weekend on their ME1-fests.

I wish! Been busy as hell and won't have the time.

 

[kupocake]

[Edit] I guarantee anyone who has been waiting for this game is right now, this weekend, playing through ME1 again to get the save they want to transfer into ME2. Gonna be lots of gamers closing off the real world more than usual this weekend on their ME1-fests.

Sort of. I've just been casually going through with an asshole man-shep playthrough, but I'm not rushing towards completion (I've only completed it once before). Considering I'm just using the default guy, I may not even transfer him over to ME2.

 

[Letters]

The best thing I've seen about ME2 is that I get to punch the reporter again.

Seriously when I chose the "angry" option on the dialogue wheel, I was just like 'OH SHIT' did he just do that?! ****in' hilarious.

 

[Gargantou]

The best thing I've seen about ME2 is that I get to punch the reporter again.

Damnit stop all the spoiling!><

There's SPOILER tags for a reason.

And yes, that is a spoiler.

The comic is great too btw can't wait to get a physical copy.

Yeah, it's gonna be 4 issues total apparently, and thank God says last, last thing I need is a Mass Effect comic that drags on for ages.

 

[Rizzo]

Seriously when I chose the "angry" option on the dialogue wheel, I was just like 'OH SHIT' did he just do that?! ****in' hilarious.

Haha oh hell yes. "This interview is over!" I picked, thinking Sheepard whould storm off, only to see him punch her in the face. It was great. I was pretty much Paragon that game, but I keept that incident becouse it was so God damn awesome.