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Re: Mass Effect 2 review first draft by Lizard_King 03/23/2010, 7:52pm PDT
Horrible Gelatinous Blob wrote:


One of the downsides to the drive towards simplification is that your Shepard no longer feels like s/he's uniquely "yours" anymore. With only four areas to put points into, the largest differentiation is in the class you choose for your Shepard at the beginning. One of things that I really enjoy about western RPGs is getting my hands dirty with character stats and attributes, and Mass Effect 2 takes that away from the player. I can't muck about with min/maxing or weapon specialization anymore, and that lessens my investment in the character.

Likewise, loot is all but eliminated from the game. You'll receive a few in-story weapon upgrades, with a few more available via optional side missions and to purchase from vendors. The hacking minigames are just as easy and pointless as they were in the first, although more organically integrated within the atmosphere than the "hit the flashing button" style of the first. Hacking is almost exclusively limited to acquiring money now, and you'll need every cent that you can lay your hands on.

Did you feel that ME1 had meaningful choices in either of those departments? The guns were the most extreme example, but I got the impression that short of insane difficulty there was not a lot of finetuning required. You max out your chosen leadership path whenever possible, and max out your power of choice and whatever gun you had access to first since there was no efficient way of changing midstream, and then fill up the remainder powers. Specialize team members in a complementary manner. I guess I didn't notice the "missing" abilities or skills once I was done with the initial surprise of the cooldown system and fucking stupid universal-yet-not ammo.

The economy of ME1 has been ripped out entirely, with a very limited substitute replacing it. You're paid a salary at the end of every mission, and along with the money you find in-mission, this represents the entirety of your income. There's no selling salvage or obsolete equipment for cash, there's no selling excess minerals for cash, there's no selling period. Choose your purchases according to what your play style and character class need and time them carefully, because there's no takebacks and there's no grinding for cash in the traditional sense.

I think here is where I begin to understand the difference. I couldn't stop myself from every available sidequest and I'm pretty sure I scanned every planet. This was before I realized you could hack saved games for resources, naturally. I guess I fail to consider the non-completists view of scarcity sometimes.


There's a big thick line drawn to obtain the optimal ending in ME2, and the player deviates from it at his peril. Fail to max out your Paragon/Renegade meter on schedule and you'll lose a crewmember's loyalty at a crucial point, making them almost certain to die in the final assault. Dawdle on the journey to rescue your crew and they'll all die. Don’t perform the mining and excavation you need, and you won't be able to access the ship upgrades needed to keep you alive. When it comes to keeping everyone alive through the end, there's a single sequence of correct decisions: miss one, and chances are a teammate will pay with his or her life. I can see the appeal in that for some people, but personally I'd appreciate more flexibility in the final determination.

I liked that I could still kill _____ by explicitly assigning him to a mission for which he was described as unsuited. And then murder my entire crew all over again by giving them a good luck pat on the ass and not much more for their escape plan. See ya, Doc!

Other than those questions and useless comments, great.
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Mass Effect 2 review first draft by Horrible Gelatinous Blob 03/23/2010, 4:31pm PDT NEW
    this is the best review for ME2 on this site so I have nothing to add to it NT by irony 03/23/2010, 4:48pm PDT NEW
        Yrp if I was going to say anything about ME2 it would just be what Toom said. by Jhoh Creexul (custom software) 03/23/2010, 5:08pm PDT NEW
    Holy shit. His mind is still broken. by FABIO 03/23/2010, 5:37pm PDT NEW
        U ARE LIEK A BAYBEE; MAYKEENG NOIZE, DUN NO WUT TEW DEW by Horrible Gelatinous Blob 03/23/2010, 6:52pm PDT NEW
            Here's your recovery program by FABIO 03/23/2010, 7:06pm PDT NEW
                Some people say that FABIO is bad at posting by Horrible Gelatinous Blob 03/23/2010, 7:16pm PDT NEW
    Small Note: Bioware Austin didn't make Mass Effect 2 NT by Fortinbras 03/23/2010, 7:03pm PDT NEW
    awesomabulous by up with pod people 03/23/2010, 7:20pm PDT NEW
    Re: Mass Effect 2 review first draft by Lizard_King 03/23/2010, 7:52pm PDT NEW
        Re: Mass Effect 2 review first draft by Horrible Gelatinous Blob 03/24/2010, 12:28pm PDT NEW
            Re: Mass Effect 2 review first draft by Fortinbras 03/24/2010, 2:21pm PDT NEW
    Screenshot by E. L. Koba 03/23/2010, 10:54pm PDT NEW
    Might I go with this? Or is there a second draft? NT by Ice Cream Jonsey 03/31/2010, 10:46pm PDT NEW
        On the mainland for two weeks. I'll post another revision when I get back. NT by Horrible Gelatinous Blob 04/02/2010, 8:32am PDT NEW
            But before he could post his Mass Effect 2 review HGB was eaten in a tragic NT by Jurassic Park accident 04/16/2010, 5:57pm PDT NEW
    Mass Effect 2 review second draft, probably needs a third by Horrible Gelatinous Blob 04/16/2010, 2:09pm PDT NEW
    Mass Effect 2 review third draft, ready for proofing by Horrible Gelatinous Blob 04/26/2010, 4:54pm PDT NEW
        Suggestions by Jerry Whorebach 04/26/2010, 7:26pm PDT NEW
            Jerry Whorebach's stupid posting spree continues NT by the summary 04/26/2010, 7:32pm PDT NEW
                he axt fo proofreadin NT by got a troofreadin 04/27/2010, 12:54am PDT NEW
        Hey. HEY!! I need something from people. by Ice Cream Jonsey 06/26/2010, 7:12pm PDT NEW
            I played the pc version demo and it runs pretty good so I'm gonna buy it someday NT by Sword of Justice 06/27/2010, 12:13am PDT NEW
 
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