ForgedReality wrote on Nov 18, 2010, 01:01:

Pete wrote on Nov 17, 2010, 22:35:
But why oh why did I get the first two mass effects on the 360?

Because you're not a real gamer.

Pete wrote on Nov 17, 2010, 22:35:
But why oh why did I get the first two mass effects on the 360?

Mass Effect was never an RPG rich of the hardcore RPG elements. Why people, I wonder so, expected some freaking Anachronox 2 instead of Mass Effect 2 out of Mass Effect's sequal is beyond me.

entr0py wrote on Nov 17, 2010, 18:05:
Since they've set it up as a trilogy with a single overarching story, it's good they're not waiting too long to get on with it.

entr0py wrote on Nov 17, 2010, 18:05:
Since they've set it up as a trilogy with a single overarching story, it's good they're not waiting too long to get on with it.

I've quite enjoyed the series. And while I agree they could have perhaps taken the gameplay in a better direction. There were many things that needed to be fixed about the first game, and the second was still a huge improvement in my opinion.

Creston wrote on Nov 17, 2010, 16:56:

Dr. D. Schreber wrote on Nov 17, 2010, 16:09:
That rifle in the screenshot is definitely the Incisor without the weird little thingie below the very end of the barrel (which I assume is Bioware's idea of s futuristic bipod of some kind.)

I don't know why everyone complains about losing ME1's inventory. There was very little actual depth, there were only three or four actual different items in any category (pistols, shotguns, armor, ammo mods, etc) and 90% of every individual item was just a numbered tier version of one of those. That's not depth, that's complexity for the sake of being complex to the point of obfuscation. Anyone who played the console version before the PC version can attest to how much the original awful interface was streamlined into something far more user-friendly, and yet, despite this, it didn't change the fact that the massive amount of copy-paste items was suffocating and required you to spend much more time with inventory management than is sane. It would've been better if they'd fixed it, but between keeping the broken system and losing it, losing it is no great loss.

The inventory thing is no great loss, since it was horribly implemented and it offered basically no items anyways. All you ever used it for was to put a few different mods on your weapon, which they now have with ammo powers. So that's about a wash.

However, ditching the Mako and planet exploration for the sake of "SCANNING!" was just fucking retarded. All everyone wanted was for:

A) Planet exploration to be useful and interesting.
B) The Mako to not control like a fucking yoyo.

Bioware's answer?

C) Disregard entire game mode, and replace with Dumbest Minigame Ever Invented!

Creston

briktal wrote on Nov 17, 2010, 16:28:
But in ME1, once you went inside a building or mine on the minor planets, or even just to a storyline planet, it turned into tight corridors. The only thing ME2 really lacked there were the storyline planet vehicle sections.

Creston wrote on Nov 17, 2010, 16:56:
Bioware's answer?

C) Disregard entire game mode, and replace with Dumbest Minigame Ever Invented!

Creston

Dr. D. Schreber wrote on Nov 17, 2010, 16:09:
That rifle in the screenshot is definitely the Incisor without the weird little thingie below the very end of the barrel (which I assume is Bioware's idea of s futuristic bipod of some kind.)

I don't know why everyone complains about losing ME1's inventory. There was very little actual depth, there were only three or four actual different items in any category (pistols, shotguns, armor, ammo mods, etc) and 90% of every individual item was just a numbered tier version of one of those. That's not depth, that's complexity for the sake of being complex to the point of obfuscation. Anyone who played the console version before the PC version can attest to how much the original awful interface was streamlined into something far more user-friendly, and yet, despite this, it didn't change the fact that the massive amount of copy-paste items was suffocating and required you to spend much more time with inventory management than is sane. It would've been better if they'd fixed it, but between keeping the broken system and losing it, losing it is no great loss.

Verno wrote on Nov 17, 2010, 16:16:

I don't know why everyone complains about losing ME1's inventory

There's a middle ground between cumbersome inventory with lots of nonsensical items and no inventory at all, that's what most peoples gripe was.

Some games use item management as a tension factor and no I don't mean mucking around with the interface, I mean making actual decisions that have an impact on the gameplay. Do I carry this weapon which is more situational or drop it to carry extra ammo/medigels/whatever? RPGs have usually done as well to some extent, you typically don't just have a bottomless bag that will carry everything in the universe. In ME and DA:O they ruined it by making the inventory too big and overloading the games with too many filler items that didn't really assist gameplay mechanics.

Inventories are only cumbersome and ineffective if design fails in that regard. I don't begrudge Bioware for trying something different there but that combined with the other streamlining really takes a lot of the depth out of the game. When stripped down, you have an awkward shooter of sorts along with a lot of (admittedly high quality) dialogue. Sometimes the quality of the filler makes the game in the same way that the journey can be more fulfilling than the destination.

It's not that ME2 wasn't a good game, it's that they went from one extreme to the other between titles instead of trying to find a happy medium. Empty, barren planets with endless terrain or tight corridors that play out more like traditional videogame levels instead of planets in a universe is another example of that same back and forth.

I don't know why everyone complains about losing ME1's inventory

Verno wrote on Nov 17, 2010, 13:13:
I don't know, even as a shooter ME2 was kinda clunky. Nowhere near as clunky as the first game to be certain but well *humps conveniently placed waist cover then hits context sensitive button to awkward vault over it several times in a row*