Mass Effect 2 Gameage - Page 11

etjester · 02-26-2010, 03:46 AM

Is that how it worked in DA:O?? I was always running around without a helmet...

[X] ipicko · 02-26-2010, 02:53 PM

Yep lol. I prefer how in ME2 you have a "set" of armour, whereas in DA:O you have to cobble it together from mismatched parts - by the time you find all the pieces to make a matching set for the bonus it gives you, you've a piece of something better.

I'm also annoyed to find that I had to replay the game to unlock the Blood Mage specialisation, only to find that it sucks ass unless you've pumped everything into consitution instead of willpower...

etjester · 02-26-2010, 08:52 PM

There's supposed to be some book or something you can use to respec. Maybe that was in DLC or Awakening though, I can't remember.

etjester · 08-17-2010, 08:33 PM

http://kotaku.com/5614838/mass-effec...n-3-in-january

A boon for Sony fanboys, but without ME1, what's the point?

[X] Bad_Boy · 08-17-2010, 08:49 PM

"Hours of bonus content"

You buying it Et? lol

etjester · 08-17-2010, 09:12 PM

No. I already bought 1 and 2 twice, and all the worthwhile DLC. It will be a port (might even be a lousy one) that won't offer anything new. By "bonus content" they probably will include the DLC with the game, like a GOTY edition.

Half of ME2 is the fanservice of "oh, I remember you! I helped you out in the first game!" But the PS3 won't have that, so it's automatically an inferior version.

[X] Bad_Boy · 08-18-2010, 06:52 AM

Weren't those people there regardless of if you 'helped' them or not when you loaded from a save?

I've already voiced my opinions on the pathetic embarrassment which Bio-ware claimed would make a 'huge difference' in the story based on past actions.

I fucking hate marketing departments which lie.

But, yeah, I'd imagine you're like... although I've never played a Console-to-Console port... but I'm painfully aware of what Console-to-PC ports are like, are Console-to-Console just as bad?

etjester · 08-18-2010, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by [X] Bad_Boy

Weren't those people there regardless of if you 'helped' them or not when you loaded from a save?

Some are, but when no save is imported the game makes the assumption that you are a new player who won't have played ME1. So they remove all those little cameos from people like Fist and Helena Blake because they wouldn't make sense to someone who hadn't played the first game.

Quote:

Originally Posted by [X] Bad_Boy

I've already voiced my opinions on the pathetic embarrassment which Bio-ware claimed would make a 'huge difference' in the story based on past actions.

I fucking hate marketing departments which lie.

You have to look at it like this (and BioWare have said as much in interviews): ME1 is the roots of the tree. It's about bringing things together. Nearly all the dialogue is exposition in order the get the player acclimated to the universe and the characters.

ME2 is the trunk of the tree. It's all about getting the player from A to B in the story with as little deviation as possible -- until the very end. They have said that too much variation in the middle of the trilogy would make dealing with all those possible parallel universes nearly impossible in ME3.

And so ME3 is the branches of the tree. They've said that that keeping things roughly the same for everyone up to this point will allow them to make things "crazy" in the final game based on your decisions. Everyone assumes that the final game will be about gathering allies for a final battle, which would make your decisions about the Rachni Queen and the geth heretics extremely important.

Now, if they really do go ahead and have another binary choice ending where nothing before mattered, then I'll be super pissed. But until then, I'm okay with it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by [X] Bad_Boy

But, yeah, I'd imagine you're like... although I've never played a Console-to-Console port... but I'm painfully aware of what Console-to-PC ports are like, are Console-to-Console just as bad?

Depends on who does the port. They partly outsourced the PC port to Demiurge which is part of the reason it wasn't that great and wasn't well supported after launch. As for console to console, Just remember the debacle with the orange box on PS3.

That said, BioWare now has some PS3 experience with DA:O, so maybe they can do everything internally. It's easier to port from 360 to PS3 than the other way around, but you often see differences in resolution or texture quality.

[X] ipicko · 08-18-2010, 09:35 PM

In general, console-to-console ports are not as bad as console-to-PC because the bread and butter features and structures translate well, such as how you nagivate menus and stuff - typically (between Xbox and PS3 anyway) you've got a controller in both cases, and similar TRCs for handling the online stuff. When it comes to PC you've got a mouse and keyboard and so on which is pretty alien to a console game, sometimes the graphics rendering ends up completely different too, but PCs tend to have enough power to just fudge over the performance issues. Console-to-PC ports that work well are ones from Xbox to PC because as you probably know Microsoft like to share their tech across both platforms. Going the other way (PC-to-console) often doesn't work well - take Supreme Commander for example, on Metacritic the PC version scored 86, the Xbox version scored 56. The reason? Bugs and framerate issues.

[X] Bad_Boy · 08-18-2010, 09:39 PM

I wish I had your optimism Etjester but if they always intended your choices to have only minor implications in ME2 and major ones in ME3 then they should not have marketed it on this huge drive of how much difference it would all make in 2. I continue my point that I fucking hate marketers that either misinterpret the game they're marketing or flat out lie.

What you've said I totally accept and agree with... and I don't really have any problem with, it's just the bullshit which comes out of their mouths.

So, from my point of view they've bullshitted about ME2 and why they've chosen not to include the 'choices played out' thing so I'm not inclined to believe them when they say ME3 will include all the changes.

I hope your right, it'll be awesome if they do as they say, but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't and it's binary ending.

[X] ipicko · 08-19-2010, 07:36 PM

The only solution to what Alec wants would be for Bioware to develop every possible outcome as a completely unique sequel: "Mass Effect 2: Wrex is dead and so are the Rachni" and "Mass Effect 2: Sheperd got some hot blue alien lovin' with Liara and Williams is alive", etc.

etjester · 08-19-2010, 08:04 PM

DA:O had much more in the way of consequence because it was a self-contained story, and wasn't originally conceived and marketed as a trilogy.

There's no reason ME3 can't have as varied endings as DA:O had. The technology is there -- the save files contain lots and lots of information. It's only a question of what will get used and in what way.

[X] Bad_Boy · 08-19-2010, 08:48 PM

Well I kinda pointed that out, Matt, before ME2 even came out that it would be impossible for them to include all the branches in the tree and they'd have to sacrafice their marketing promises (hooks) to make it possible.

Also they had to completely leave out all characters which died, or could have died, from ME1.

I bet in ME3 you get a whole new cast of characters because everyone, including Shepard, can die in ME2...

etjester · 08-19-2010, 08:57 PM

Shepard death saves are non-importable.

And I'll wager that a good number of former squadmates will be back in ME3.

[X] ipicko · 08-20-2010, 01:08 PM

Yeah I get the feeling that the consequences of your actions haven't fully played themselves out yet, for example who you dated in ME1 made pretty much no difference in ME2, but whether or not you stayed faithful to them will probably have a much more significant impact on ME3. I expect the same from your decisions with the Rachni and Geth as etjester pointed out.