Comments on: Mass Effect 2 “Prelude To E3″ Trailer

By: HsvsRsvsesv

HsvsRsvsesv — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:24:43 +0000

By: Samona

Samona — Thu, 28 May 2009 10:07:12 +0000

I am so looking forward to this game. I loved the first part and what I have seen of the sequel makes me so anxious for it.

By: Solario

Solario — Mon, 18 May 2009 21:59:56 +0000

I really liked ME, even through all its faults. I’m excited.

And was it just me or were a lot of the alien races politcal allegories?

By: Shad

Shad — Mon, 18 May 2009 21:27:35 +0000

Ohh Hound Eyes from Half-Life. Severed bodies crawling towards you, like from Half-Life 2.

The weakest point in ME1 was the same old bases used when you chose to explore a bit. Nice terrain, but they always led to samey prefabs that were no joy to traverse.

I thought the mix of story and cut scenes where ok.

Yet, as with all RPG type games, your riches for being good or bad are not well balanced. Or rather they are known to the player. It forces a player to make a choice that may not be as grey as the writers want. If I get a message that flashes up and says “Paragon +2” and I look at my stats and it tells me how good or evil I am, I tend to want to choose choices that make my character lean toward one or the other. I would like this mechanic to be hidden. Because it leads to wanting to be fed this type of input, rather than making the choice that I want to use given the situation.

I’d rather I made my choices and had no feedback. The consequences I see are small, culminating in endings that you would not receive if you tried playing really good or really evil.

That would make a game far more replayable since it would not be obvious where in the game you went good or evil.

By: Rath

Rath — Sun, 17 May 2009 18:39:02 +0000

If the second novel, Ascension, was anything to go by then the bitotic powers of human characters should be raised quite a bit in terms of effect and spectacle. Possibly hinted towards at least one major new threatening race and highlighted a pretty interesting location that sounds like it fits right in with the “wild west” storyline suggested in the opening statement up there.

By: tmp

tmp — Sun, 17 May 2009 16:49:40 +0000

Basic storytelling doesn’t dictate the need to darken the tone of a franchise.

Certainly, but it is a very common –pretty much classic– way to set up the structure of overall story. And the devs make it clear in the interviews so far they’re also “focusing on the areas many have mentioned” so there’s really no need imo to throw hissy fits that they also keep in mind the flow of overall plot and address that.

By: Mr Fossy

Mr Fossy — Sun, 17 May 2009 08:40:57 +0000

I’d guess the intention is basic storytelling.

Basic storytelling doesn’t dictate the need to darken the tone of a franchise – not in games, at least. BioWare would be wise to focus on the specific areas many here have mentioned, and less on the things that will shape the ME universe into an epic trilogy of a space-opera type thing.

Mind you, it’ll still be a great game, I’m sure. And I’ll play it and everyone here will play it and adore it in some way. I loved the decidedly non-epic parts of the ME narrative; the little chats with your companions, particular tense moments in the story. I couldn’t care less about ME as a franchise – show me some more trailers with freaky alien encounters!

By: TCM

TCM — Sun, 17 May 2009 05:57:13 +0000

Mass Effect was my favorite Bioware game since KoTOR. Which isn’t saying much, and KoTOR was still better.

The universe was very nice though, reminds me of what you first like about Star Wars before you realize “oh my god there’s a whole expanded universe now i have to care about this crap”. Or something. I dunno, I’m trying to communicate a certain feeling I have at 2 AM, it’s impossible.

By: Vinraith

Vinraith — Sun, 17 May 2009 05:38:36 +0000

Three things I’d like to see in ME2: Less clunky, less repetitive, and less linear. Hit those three notes and keep the good from the original game (and drop the nonsense DRM) and I’m there on day 1.

By: tmp

tmp — Sun, 17 May 2009 04:27:35 +0000

And, if the intention isn’t to broaden the apeal

I’d guess the intention is basic storytelling. Much like in certain other space opera franchise which started as 3-parter, in the middle part things get relatively bleak before they can get better in triumphant finale.

It’s the ESB of Mass Effect. Except apparently minus the cliffhanger, according to dev interviews.

By: Mr Fossy

Mr Fossy — Sun, 17 May 2009 03:33:54 +0000

@ cjlr

Well said; a ‘darker, edgier’ approach might simply lead BioWare to bland art design, as well as predictable plot twists and characters. Mass Effect was a commercially successful game – I don’t think BioWare need to enforce a Prince of Persia 2 style tonal shift in order to broaden the appeal.

And, if the intention isn’t to broaden the apeal, then a darker (if I hear the word “gritty”…) mood won’t do much to distinguish ME2 from the throng of other Sci-fi action games either.

By: cjlr

cjlr — Sun, 17 May 2009 03:04:46 +0000

I don’t really get people complaining as much as they do about the repetitiveness of the sidequests and unexplored worlds. It shows that they were pushed out before a final polish, sure, but none are mandatory and there is some variety. If you mix them up with the main quest missions you get a nice flow of gameplay – but you have to trade off plot pacing in a huge way to do so.

I could do without the whole ‘darker and edgier’, but rampaging through the Terminus systems (which I can only assume, plotwise, is what is going on) could be interesting if it’s not just a new trio of bases to fight through over and over again.

God help them, though, if ‘darker and edgier’ leads to a Shepard who smolders with generic rage…