toblix

Mass Effect 2

Recommended Posts

Which is probably because they built it better this time, not because of the guys porting it. Now I'm really not looking to buy Dragon Age based on my experience with this. Maybe if there is a demo. Those 'minor' things like the console interface, lack of shortcuts, lack of map in some areas, the inability to place markers on the map, lack of shortcuts for the weapons - all those put together really get in the way of me enjoying the game.

This leads me to believe that the first one would have been like that but the guys porting it added proper mouse/keyboard support to the game.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Which is probably because they built it better this time, not because of the guys porting it. Now I'm really not looking to buy Dragon Age based on my experience with this. Maybe if there is a demo. Those 'minor' things like the console interface, lack of shortcuts, lack of map in some areas, the inability to place markers on the map, lack of shortcuts for the weapons - all those put together really get in the way of me enjoying the game.

This leads me to believe that the first one would have been like that but the guys porting it added proper mouse/keyboard support to the game.

Well, now you know how we 360 owners feel playing Dragon Age, which works great on PC, but is muddy and impossible to control on consoles.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Not a fair analogy, because most PC ports nowadays suck and most PC versions are pure ports :D

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I would certainly not base your decision whether or not to play Dragon Age on your experience with Mass Effect 2 as the games are completely different. Dragon Age was very clearly built with the PC in mind.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Which is probably because they built it better this time, not because of the guys porting it. Now I'm really not looking to buy Dragon Age based on my experience with this. Maybe if there is a demo. Those 'minor' things like the console interface, lack of shortcuts, lack of map in some areas, the inability to place markers on the map, lack of shortcuts for the weapons - all those put together really get in the way of me enjoying the game.

This leads me to believe that the first one would have been like that but the guys porting it added proper mouse/keyboard support to the game.

i think the maps are missin in the 360 version as well, an that appears to be a design choice and not and over sight, it even explains on one of the loading screens that u only get maps for the Hubs, major plot centers like omega and the citadel, so that doesn,t have much to do with the pc, and y would u need to place markers? the maps are so "places of interest" heavy u could never get lost, and the mission areas are so linear they might as well be straight lines!

And u think it sucks not having shortcuts for weapons? try using Radial menus!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Weeeee. finished the game.

And I'm pissed off that Mordin died. Why?! Reading the back the comments, apparently I should have send Grunt to escort the crew. I used Thane, because he "can adept to any situation". Why would I send Grunt, he's just a muscle/firepower. For an escort through hostile territory an intelligent and crack shot killer is much better.

Anyway, great game. I really hope they include more world exploring/investigation stuff in ME3.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Weeeee. finished the game.

And I'm pissed off that Mordin died. Why?! Reading the back the comments, apparently I should have send Grunt to escort the crew. I used Thane, because he "can adept to any situation". Why would I send Grunt, he's just a muscle/firepower. For an escort through hostile territory an intelligent and crack shot killer is much better.

Anyway, great game. I really hope they include more world exploring/investigation stuff in ME3.

If you look it up, Mordin has an innate compassion to die, his "Point count" is a bit messed up

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I used Thane to escort the crew as well and it all worked out fine.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

If you look it up, Mordin has an innate compassion to die, his "Point count" is a bit messed up

I have no idea what that means.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I have no idea what that means.

From what I gather, the "Last Stand" kind of moment, each character has a rating under the hood, for how well they'll do. Say for example, Grunt, and Zaeed, theyre used to fighting, so they will have 10 points in it. Characters like Mordin, might only have a 5, so they're more used for specialist kind of affairs. I think you need some form of "Soldier" esque character on escort, I used Jacob

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
From what I gather, the "Last Stand" kind of moment, each character has a rating under the hood, for how well they'll do. Say for example, Grunt, and Zaeed, theyre used to fighting, so they will have 10 points in it. Characters like Mordin, might only have a 5, so they're more used for specialist kind of affairs. I think you need some form of "Soldier" esque character on escort, I used Jacob

Like a tabletop RPG?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

it might as well be a fair dice roll and kick me in the nuts for not guessing pi as the correct number

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Quick question, as I wasn't able to find info on this anywhere. If one of my resource bar fills up while I'm mining, should I stop mining and wait until I've used it up?

edit: Never mind, I found out. Apparently the resource bars do not mean anything, which, when you think about it, is about as stupid as the rest of the game's UI. Am I remembering things wrong, or did the ME1 PC port have a better UI than ME2?

Holy crap, it turns out that the mining thing says a planet's depleted when there's plenty more to extract? How am I supposed to extract every resource fully when I don't know if there's more?! This game sucks.

Edited by toblix

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Don't bother mining every planet. There are way more resources than you'll ever need. Just mine planets when you need the resources. After I while I just checked planets for anomalies, and didn't bother to mine. I had plenty of resources left.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

> Does not compute.

I really have no choice when something like this presents itself. If there's stuff around, there's a need for me to get all of it. At least at first. I'll probably tire of it quickly, and then only get the huge, beeping things.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The ME1 UI was definitely more functional, with more direct access to actions and hotkeys to other things. I still wonder why they didn't offer any hotkeys to the journal... Unless they did, but completely changed the key to one I never tried. Like Scroll Lock.

What Elmuerte said. In terms of resources, there is so much that it's really only worth to go after the huge beeping things. Unless it's that zero stuff, which seems to be a bit rarer.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It's a little bit pedantic to say that "depleted" doesn't really mean "depleted" considering it's a complete waste of time mining the planet at that point. Since resources cost money (probes), resources are practically unlimited (or at least exponentially more ubiquitous than money), and money is limited, you're just going to end up screwing yourself in the end.

The Mass Effect 2 quest structure is just that, very structured. It's limited in such a way that there really is no "endgame"; you won't hit the level cap until you've done practically every quest. The currency, in concert, is limited due to the fact that quests are the primary vehicle for monetary rewards.

If you want to collect everything, collect all of the upgrades and stuff. Otherwise, you'll be like me, unable to buy all of the upgrades from various shops around the galaxy and possessing so much palladium that I could build a second Normandy.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, I'm starting to realize I was going about this the wrong way. I'll just have to supress my gotta catch-'em-all urge.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, the mining is shit. What can you do.

I miss companies fixing things like this in patches, though, but EA doesn't care.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Just mine enough to buy all the upgrades to the Normandy. You don't need to do much. And yeah, I'm still mixed on whether I like ME2 or 1 more. I think ME1 definitely gives the better atmosphere and "feels" much more like an amazing space adventure. ME2 is crazy refined, but everything feels much more contrived and less engaging. I really want ME3 to go back to the RPG and open aspects of 1. The lack of any real Citadel-ish space was a big negative. Though I can say that ME2 was probably the better game, I still think I actually liked ME1 more.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hindsight is 20/20, so I find more and more things to complain about ME2 as time goes on since I last played. However, I still feel like this game has better execution than almost any game I've ever played.

I do think that maybe they went a little too actiony, too fast. A case in point is the friendly AI at harder difficulties; while the AI in Gears of War 2 isn't mindblowing, it's comforting to know that Dom can take cover and draw some fire without dying in five seconds.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Just mine enough to buy all the upgrades to the Normandy. You don't need to do much. And yeah, I'm still mixed on whether I like ME2 or 1 more. I think ME1 definitely gives the better atmosphere and "feels" much more like an amazing space adventure. ME2 is crazy refined, but everything feels much more contrived and less engaging. I really want ME3 to go back to the RPG and open aspects of 1. The lack of any real Citadel-ish space was a big negative. Though I can say that ME2 was probably the better game, I still think I actually liked ME1 more.

The more I play the two (and I've played them each at least three times all the way through,) the more strongly I feel that ME1 is a better title.

Narratively, there's no question - ME1 is engaging in a way that ME2 is just fan service. This is partially just the nature of sequels; re-visiting a familiar universe is nostalgic, but never as cool as exploring a brand new one and getting that first grasp on how everything works.

Various gameplay aspects were improved for ME2, but nothing that I couldn't live without. The new combat is faster and more intense, certainly, but it still never gets beyond the realm of "half-decent squad shooter." And for all that the Mako missions annoyed me, at least it felt like they mattered. You'd get to the end of the mission, and there'd be some colonist glad for the rescue, or some shady laboratory run by an operative that must be stopped. The side missions in ME2, on the other hand, all seem to boil down to "shoot some stuff, then watch nothing happen."

The real heart of it, though, is that ME2 made the story squarely about your side companions, but ran into a whole bunch of problems in doing so. Frankly, there's too god-dam many of them. Having 11 (and now 12!) companions means that it becomes prohibitively expensive to record many character-to-character interactions, so instead, they all interact with Shepard, and basically only Shepard. They also start to overlap, both in gameplay style and personality. We've got two "Spocks" (Legion, Mordin), two "Nice Guys" (Jacob, Tali), three "Rambos" (Zaeed, Grunt, SuZe), etc. We don't end up seeing enough of any of them; they all start to blur together.

Even the main draw of the game - their own, individual side-quests - all boil down to similar elements. "Shepard, there's unresolved thing from my past that's come back to haunt me!" "Uh, <companion>, the evidence here indicates things are different than how you explained." "No, it can't be true! Wait...OMG, Shepard, you're right! This thing is mysteriously different than I expected!"

Nothing that happens in ME2 relates to anything else. It all just feels like a bunch of "stuff" in the ME universe. Some of which is quite cool - decent combat, engaging scenes, some nostalgic moments that link with ME1 - but there's never any one single thread to tie any of it together. For all the talk of how much was improved in ME2, comparing the experiences of the two games just makes me think that ME1 will age much better.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I also have the feeling there was more mystery in ME1, you didn't really know what you were up against, and more and more became clear while you went ahead. While in ME1 it was quite clear, go to mass effect relay #4 and stop the collectors. Sure, you got to know more about the collectors, but that was actually quite irrelevant.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now