88 réponses à ce sujet

[Chellick]

Hello Everyone,

This letter was originally intended to sent to Bioware, but because of new ways of doing things I was directed towards the forums. I wanted my view to be heard about how ME2 was a step backward. And why Mass Effect 1 will never get old, the things that made it great.
If you don't want to read the entire thing, just read this:

"In Mass Effect 1 I got to frolic in the Ball Pit, it was blissful nirvana! In ME2 I was forced to look through a window at the Ball Pit, desperately wanting to flail around happily. "

This Letter contains feeback that I hope will reach Bioware, and taken to heart. I will now use to power of the pen to move mountains! Enjoy.

Dear Bioware,

  I am a long time supporter of your company and I would like to talk with you about some issues with Mass Effect 2.

To address the issues of Mass Effect 2, I will talk about what made Mass Effect 1 so awesome:

-        The ability to find new types of armor, weapons, modifications and items while exploring planets. (Putting Radioactive rounds in the weapons was so fun.)

-        The character progression and level up system allowed for fully customize a character’s abilities to fit the squad’s strength and the players play style. (Example: Urdnot Wrex could be a combat master, full scale biotic or a mix of both.)

-        Character had a stat for whether or not they could open locked crates. (Decryption)

-        The ability to go down on a planets’ surface and find the locations of mineral deposits, alien artifacts, and items. This aspect added to a massive world, where the planets could be explored, adding further to the bond between squad members. It also game the game world credibility.

-        The ability to purchase licenses for the Normandy added to the requisition of newer and hard to find items.
-        A great Antagonist, a driving story.
-        A massive universe, exploration abilities.
-        Various levels of Armor, added to combat as well as therole-playing element.

-        The options of having characters say tiny bits of dialogue when out and about. (Example: ‘Turian’s don’t like the cold’ or ‘If C-sec would do it’s job there would be no need for bounty Hunters like me.’) It always felt good after a hard fight to be able to turn to your squad mates and be told something encouraging.

 I could continue, but I may just end up repeating myself; Mass Effect is the Greatest Game I have ever played and I have played through it numerous times! The Depth of the world made every play though different, with the opportunity to find an awesome item just around the corner, and a universe that felt like it could never be completely explored. It was Amazing!

And then the second game came out. I was ecstatic! After the first thing I did after the opening cinematic was save my game. I opened up the menu, and here is were the issues start:

-        There was no Inventory Tab. I had hoped that it was missing just for the tutorial level, but alas. The fact that I could no longer upgrade and update my squad was very, very, very missed.

-        The level up screen. I started the game with 5 abilities. 5. Two of them were for different types of ammo!? Making different ammo types character abilities was a bad idea. If felt like taking a giant step backwards.
Not only could I not get different ammunition, I had to spend level up points on something I could find or buy in Mass Effect 1.

-        Because of the stripped down bare bones character progression,every character now possess the skill to unlock objects. This takes away from the usefulness of characters and the role-playing aspect, not to mention the
need for engineers.

-        There is no inventory screen because you don’t find weapons and armor anymore, so now all of the classes (whether Solider or Engineer) wear the same grade of armor. This makes the game boring because all you do is
change the color and buy silly add ons. In the first game characters had to train to wear heavy armor and doing so meant increased damage resistance, other perks, and the ability to find and walk around in Heavy armor. In the first game I loved finding new suits of armor because it felt like a part of the world. Finding armor from a company called ‘Elanus Risk Control’ gives massive amounts of depth to the universe, not to mention brand loyalty!

-        You can no longer rove around on planets and find cool things.Finding the Turian Insignias and Prothean Data Disks was so much fun because it added to the massive worlds that felt like it had a breathing structure. You
could be an archeologist, and a Collector. (Pun very much intended.)

-        The guns and armor that the game does give you I can count on my hand. (Heavy weapons don’t count that was a bad idea. You do not need to be Halo or Unreal Tournament.) Mass Effect 1 had enough weapon depth because it had more than 9 weapons! Stats are awesome! They should matter! The weapons I found in ME2 had no stats, just clip size. Why bother?

-        No more experience for killing enemies in a hard fight. Experience points only awarded for completing quest. This makes enemies feel like cardboard, and the quests (which take place in limited places) feel very
restricting and dull.

-        You cannot change the squad mates armor, and the alternates are just Cerberus colored Variations. This leads to feeling like nothing has progressed when you and your squad go to the last level in the same armor you
started in.

I could go on, but I am sure that you get my drift. ME2 had all of the role plying Elements sucked out of it. The environments were stale and boring because going through them I knew I was going to see them once. The
game felt like shooting cats in a barrel or enclosed space, to flying around in a barrel or closed space. ( The Firewalker pack felt like a slap in the face. It was vehicle combat in an enclosed space. Vehicles don’t make the game good, open ended massive exploration does! I liked leaving the MAKO and running around on open worlds, climbing mountains was fun! Discovering new places is always fun! In Mass Effect 1 I got to frolic in the Ball Pit, it was blissful nirvana! In ME2 I was forced to look through a window at the Ball Pit, desperately wanting to flail
around happily.
The Fuel Idea was Awesome! But without worlds to drive around in it felt Pointless!

I have not played through ME2 more than once because I already know where everything will be. I did it all in one play though. There is nothing more for me to discover with a new character, no new Armor designs to see, no rare weapons to find. I have a lot of money but nothing new will ever appear in the shops, I have bought all the game has. It makes me sad.

 I loved buying the licenses for the ship trader in Mass Effect 1! Bring that back!

 Mass Effect 2 is not a step forward. I really wanted it to be. The exploration and role-playing has been taken out, the universe feels paper thin. I am writing this because I love Bioware as a company, and know that you are capable of some much more! I will still continue to play MassEffect 1, it will never get old. I will still continue to find new armor and weapons, and forge my own trail with my squad in the universe. But I cannot bring myself to play though the second one again. It holds no surprises for me.

Please bring back the awesome character development and customization, the MASSive explorable universe, and the weapons, armor, and item finding system of the first. Also bring back Decryption, so that if takes skill to find the different types of armor and weapons.

 Bring back the different level of armor so that every character doesn’t play the same.

 Bring back squad customization!

 I love the World that you have created; the Mass Effect Universe is Brilliant! Mass Effect gave me my favorite Universe, and my favorite Alien Race! (Turian’s are super cool; I would just have a ship full of them if I could!)

 I will continue to support you Bioware, because I know you love Role Playing and Exploration too! I hope that you will realize the Masterpiece that was the Living, Breathing world of Mass Effect 1 and continue that into the third installment.

 Thanks for listening.

 Your devoted fan,

                   NB

Thanks to those reading this as well. I don't mean to start fights, just offer suggestions and make myself heard. Constructive Comments are welcome!

Modifié par Chellick, 13 avril 2010 - 04:54 .

[yoda23]

Very Well Said!

[Silvanend]

Why the hell... are there so many spaces....  Go back and get rid of all this empty space it drives me crazy when im' trying to read your post.

Modifié par Silvanend, 13 avril 2010 - 01:44 .

[DarthCaine]

Answer: "Thank you for your letter, but we don't really care"

[bloodshed17]

I agree with everything said. Even though ME2 had two disks it felt like it had less content than ME1. Both games have good and bad elements in them. Lets hope Bioware can take the good from both and combine them for ME3

[a2yostie]

bloodshed17 wrote...

I agree with everything said. Even though ME2 had two disks it felt like it had less content than ME1.

EXACTLY!!! I keep thinking back to ME2 and wondering what the !@#$ was on those two disks? It just seemed so...empty. I played ME2 once with my original Shep and can't seem to find any interest in playing again.

[Iakus]

a2yostie wrote...

bloodshed17 wrote...

I agree with everything said. Even though ME2 had two disks it felt like it had less content than ME1.

EXACTLY!!! I keep thinking back to ME2 and wondering what the !@#$ was on those two disks? It just seemed so...empty. I played ME2 once with my original Shep and can't seem to find any interest in playing again.

Me too, though I played through twice.  I started a third one, went, "Why bother?" and dug out my old KOTOR disks.

[WrexEffex]

I completely disagree with you. Yes, ME1 had the exploration and customization, but everything about them was generic. The worlds had no trees, no rivers or lakes, it was just the same terrain only painted a different color for each world. Same goes with the armor.



How you feel towards ME2 is how I feel towards ME1. I still love ME1, but going back to do all those side missions and exploration and sifting through useless items turns me off of playing it.

[cynicalmicahel]

Well said.
If I may add my own two cents:

They got quite a lot right in Mass Effect 2. One of the things that I really enjoyed was just how much personality the various characters had through out the game. And not just the squad members, the random NPC through out the ship really made me smile with the depth of their conversations. I also like the over all develpoment of the character in game. Some grew to love you and some grew to hate you.

Now for my issues

1. While I am an adult gamer, in fact I am pushing thirty like a broke down chevy, I do not feel that the swearing or emphasis on sex was necessiary. I understand that this is a "Mature" game. And, yes, at times language and sexuality can add depth and emphasis to story telling. But for the most part it seemed gratuitous and forced. In Mass effect 1, I felt like my character was falling in love with the object of the romance quest. In Mass Effect 2 it seemed more like a hook up.

2. For me, oneof the most fun thing about a role playing game was finding new and rare bits of equipment. Maybe it is just the old school dungeon crawler in me, but I like that a lot. In Mass Effect 1 we scrounged and snooped for new Armor and Weapons. In Mass Effect 2 we bought bits and pieces and maybe found an up grade or two. I understand that the idea was to put the emphasis on playing and not looking for equipment, but it took away from what I feel is a fun part of many RPG's.

3. One of the major dissappointments for me above all else was that the over-all usefullness of certain characters was down graded by allowing Sheppard no matter what the character class to be able to Hack and By-Pass. In the previous game I had to pick and choose my characters carefully to balance out the over all ability of my squad. For me, at least, that was a highly enjoyable aspect of the game.

4. My own personal opinion: The Heavy Weapons could have been handeled much better. Usually in a military squad there is actually a heavy weapons team. And usually they are carrying a light or medium machine gun, a SAW or Squad Automatic Weapon. And many times you will see a gernade launcher. and they are handeled by a designated squad member. That would have been more enjoyable: to have to recruit heavy weapons specalists.

5. The heat sinks were more annoying that anything. They did not add tactical depth to the game. They were just something I had to keep my eyes open for. If it was my decesion I would have set it up so that if you did not over heat your weapon you would not need to eject the heat sink. And if you did it was optional if you did not want to let the weapon cool down.

6. We need to talk about environments. I hate to say it, but certain areas felt almost claustrophobic. Especially the Citadel. That was a huge let down. The biggest hunk of spinning metal in the galaxy and I cannot ever walk out side of the embassy or three levels in the ward. I know it is apples and oranges but what about games like Fallout where if you can see it you can go there? Again I know apples and oranges. But, there has to be a little more than three levels and a room to explore when not on a mission.

[R0cket Surge0n]

ME 2 > ME 1

[AlanC9]

I don't know what these threads prove,except that fun is subjective. Some of the things Chellick mentions as what made ME1 great are things I only grudgingly tolerated:

Chellick wrote...
The ability to find new types of armor, weapons, modifications
and items while exploring planets. (Putting Radioactive rounds in the weapons
was so fun.)

(snip)

The ability to go down on a planets’ surface and find the locations
of mineral deposits, alien artifacts, and items. This aspect added to a massive
world, where the planets could be explored, adding further to the bond between
squad members. It also game the game world credibility.

(snip)

The ability to purchase licenses for the Normandy added to the
requisition of newer and hard to find items.

(snip)

Various levels of Armor, added to combat as well as the
role-playing element.
 

All either pointless or actively annoying, IMHO.

[TheSeventhJedi]

I started to read, but then, well I stopped so that I can go play ME2 instead. Sorry - good luck though!

[bergerrz]

cynicalmicahel wrote...

Well said.
If I may add my own two cents:

They got quite a lot right in Mass Effect 2. One of the things that I really enjoyed was just how much personality the various characters had through out the game. And not just the squad members, the random NPC through out the ship really made me smile with the depth of their conversations. I also like the over all develpoment of the character in game. Some grew to love you and some grew to hate you.

Now for my issues

1. While I am an adult gamer, in fact I am pushing thirty like a broke down chevy, I do not feel that the swearing or emphasis on sex was necessiary. I understand that this is a "Mature" game. And, yes, at times language and sexuality can add depth and emphasis to story telling. But for the most part it seemed gratuitous and forced. In Mass effect 1, I felt like my character was falling in love with the object of the romance quest. In Mass Effect 2 it seemed more like a hook up.

2. For me, oneof the most fun thing about a role playing game was finding new and rare bits of equipment. Maybe it is just the old school dungeon crawler in me, but I like that a lot. In Mass Effect 1 we scrounged and snooped for new Armor and Weapons. In Mass Effect 2 we bought bits and pieces and maybe found an up grade or two. I understand that the idea was to put the emphasis on playing and not looking for equipment, but it took away from what I feel is a fun part of many RPG's.

3. One of the major dissappointments for me above all else was that the over-all usefullness of certain characters was down graded by allowing Sheppard no matter what the character class to be able to Hack and By-Pass. In the previous game I had to pick and choose my characters carefully to balance out the over all ability of my squad. For me, at least, that was a highly enjoyable aspect of the game.

4. My own personal opinion: The Heavy Weapons could have been handeled much better. Usually in a military squad there is actually a heavy weapons team. And usually they are carrying a light or medium machine gun, a SAW or Squad Automatic Weapon. And many times you will see a gernade launcher. and they are handeled by a designated squad member. That would have been more enjoyable: to have to recruit heavy weapons specalists.

5. The heat sinks were more annoying that anything. They did not add tactical depth to the game. They were just something I had to keep my eyes open for. If it was my decesion I would have set it up so that if you did not over heat your weapon you would not need to eject the heat sink. And if you did it was optional if you did not want to let the weapon cool down.

6. We need to talk about environments. I hate to say it, but certain areas felt almost claustrophobic. Especially the Citadel. That was a huge let down. The biggest hunk of spinning metal in the galaxy and I cannot ever walk out side of the embassy or three levels in the ward. I know it is apples and oranges but what about games like Fallout where if you can see it you can go there? Again I know apples and oranges. But, there has to be a little more than three levels and a room to explore when not on a mission.

Agreed

[Pinkflamingo22]

Let me rebuttle;



Heavy weapons were a fantastic idea! How dare you say otherwise. The missing aspect of weapons was customization.



The role playing is still there. Infact the blend of RPG and shooter is near perfect. I do agree that the lack of customization does hinder one of the core elements that was in ME1. Customization in ME1 sucked though. It needed however, to be improved not removed.



Also the original Mass Effect music is EPIC and needs to be in the third. Other than that ME2 is a far BETTER game.



The worlds are more rich, not just dumb randomly generated maps, and the combat is greatly improved.

[LebatomiBeni]

Holy sh!t, it's Chellick!! *pounces* OM NOM NOM

Y U NO IN MY ME2 ಠ_ಠ

[Fluffeh Kitteh]

Pinkflamingo22 wrote...
Heavy weapons were a fantastic idea! How dare you say otherwise. The missing aspect of weapons was customization.

The real reason you can't customise your weapons is because you have multiple weapons, so rather than customising one gun, you have many guns. Not to mention the ammo powers as well.

I mean, you could have something like the present system, with 3-4 variants of a single weapon type, or it could be like Crysis, where you'd have 1 rifle that could be customised.

And I can bet my Normandy's Palladium supply that if Bioware went that route, people would still complain, the only difference is that they're now complaining that there is only 1 gun rather than many guns, totally ignoring the positive side that the 1 gun is customisable in various ways.

Ultimately it all goes down to how you want to distribute the features. Bioware just chose the multiple weapons route.

[Larask]

Chellick, that was a very good letter. I agree with pretty much everything with the exception of the armor part. I mean, I loved the fact that you could train to use medium or heavy armor in ME1, but only the soldier could hear the heavy one, and that made me frustrated. If they bring all the different types of armor back AND make it available for all classes (or at least, Soldier, Vanguard and Infiltrator) then it would be perfect.



@cynicalmicahel: another great letter too, and I completely agree with how romances felt in ME1 and 2. In ME1 it was love, in ME2? not so much, since there is an emphasis on sex.



Also, it seemed that in ME1 the squad members were more involved with the main plot. When you went and talked to them, you could talk about how the last mission went, Seren etc.. In ME2, there is VERY LITTLE of that. A lot of the focus is on their personal problems, and to be honest, it can get very annoying (who is Shepard? A therapist?)



The only thing that I disagree is with the heavy weapons. I think that the way ME2 handled it was very good. I would not like the idea of having to have specialists to use heavy weapons.



Anyway, good job both of you and I hope that BioWare listen to us.

[Mordar88]

I completely with everything u wrote, but I didnt like that I wasnt able to hack/override containers in ME1 simply because I decided to go soldier rather than an engineer. Im thinking that should have a system where u can tell one of your squadmates to unlock something, not like DA, but more like issuing a command. It would add more to the game, and make it seem u were actually the leader of the group rather than just some unseen observer controlling everything.



That said, I think the customization in ME1 was a little over the top, and the lack of it in ME2 made the game less of an RPG, especially concerning that the whole team keeps the same relative armor/clothing throughout the whole game (i doubt some clothes and a breathing mask can protect you from vacuum exposure). so Bioware should find a nice middle ground, like what they had for kotor.

[Fluffeh Kitteh]

ME2 had too many squadmates. So yeah, character interaction butter spread thin over the story-toast. The rest is obvious.

[mosor]

Dunno, I never used heavy weapons other than Daratar with an adept on insanity. I don't mind them but I prefer the challenge

I'm torn by the inventory thing though. I hated how much junk piled up. Even RP wise, how the hell do you carry so much around in battle? Though I did like the choice of so many different grades of guns and upgrades for different situations. I do think types of ammo should be a commodity rather than some power like in the first game.

The armor thing I think they got backwards. The N7 armor and customization should have been in the first game when Sheppard was alliance military, while the ones from ME should have been in ME2 since he wasn't alliance anymore.

I have to say I like the combat better in ME2 better than 1. Sometimes with skills, less is more for me. Nothing annoys me more than investing points in a generally useless skill to play a mini game that gets boring quickly, and eats up your real life time just to open up a locker. A locker that you probably could have just bashed open if you couldn't pick a lock and didn't want to use omni gel. Now the mini game is still in, but at least I don't have to waste skill points.

I hated the resource gathering in ME2. Most boring thing ever. Adds no adventure, slows the game right down with little enjoyment. Even using the hammerhead just to get a resource would get boring fast unless they threw critters down there for you to shoot. Though I do enjoy reading the description and history of the planets I'm mining. Adds to the background in the ME universe in some cases.

Modifié par mosor, 13 avril 2010 - 04:34 .

[Fluffeh Kitteh]

Regarding the armour thing, it's obvious Cerby just conveniently had a piece of N7 armour lying around



Although yeah it would've been interesting if the default armour was instead a customisable cerberus assault armour. Would be quite an eye opener in the promotional media. Ah well we'd never know...

[cptncanuck]

You failed to understand the first point of sending letters to game companies: MAKE IT SHORT.



No one is going to read your letter if it is long - a few concise sentences are all you need. Ask your question, and then sign off. They are not going to answer you if you write an essay about it - no one is that patient when they have a whole inbox bursting with letters to write you back a fully formed e-mail.

[Arik7]

I agree with SOME of OPs points, but.... the investory and the mako missions were quite annoying in ME1.



The Inventory in ME1 was very tedious with a hundred of mostly useless items. It HAD to be streamlined, but not necesserily scrapted alltogether.



The mako missions were extremely repetitive and boring, with almost the same planets and bases....



Characters in ME2 had very little dialog, and so did Shepard. Most importantly, the ME2 ending sucked.

[Fluffeh Kitteh]

He made several other mistakes:



- Declaring himself a long time supporter, as though that gave some sort of leverage to his views



- Too many spaces between paragraphs



- Vague statements, eg. demanding customisation without explaning how it could be worked in, instead expecting the devs to figure it out somehow by themselves since they're making the game. It is ironic he slams the shallow gameplay, yet gives equally shallow suggestions how to improve it.



- Having a really narrow perception of the mechanics, eg accusing the guns of having only clip size and "no stats" when everyone knows that weapons actually have lots of underlying variables like accuracy, refire, DPS, etc.