990 réponses à ce sujet

[Axeface]

Liked:
1. Level Design. Very nice scenery.
2. Multiple path choices was a nice novelty, if unnecessary.
3. Combat was quite fun compared to the rest of the game.
4. Shepard monologue was nice.

Disliked:
1. No choice... The choice most would make is obvious. However not crashing the roid is a viable option, I can think of many reasons (Could have made the project get initiated by someone else).
2. Very short.
3. Voice acting/char design for certain characters seemed a little off (Doctor, quite a bland character).
4. Obvious lack of other VA's, I would prefer not to see joker at all. It was so obvious, joker isn't one for silence. Kind of went against his character.

Overall 6/10
I found this DLC quite anti-climatic and a bit boring, should have felt epic, especially the end sequence, but it didnt for me. Lotsb hit the nail on the head may I add, that gets a 10/10 from me.

Modifié par Axeface, 03 avril 2011 - 11:23 .

[operageek]

I love how people are always asking Shepard to be discreet, and then Shepard inevitably ends these missions by blowing something up. As soon as Hackett used the word discreet, I was like, "Ah, so this will probably end with a massive explosion then. Excellent!"

Pros
- massive explosion (naturally)
- the solo mission - it presented a great tactical challenge, made it very personal, and added to the urgency. I really liked the survive-for-as-long-as-possible bit.
- I, for one, have no complaints about length. It was exactly the length I expected for the price I paid.
- One on one time with Harbinger!
- Excellent set-up for ME3, since it leaves the very intriguing possibilities of opening with an imprisoned war criminal Shepard, or a fugitive on-the-run Shepard. Exciting!
- A small note, but I liked the use of countdown clocks.

Cons
- The whole thing with Dr. Kenson screamed TRAP! from the beginning. I like to think, though, that Shepard also realized it was a trap, and just decided to go with it.
- LotSB - with such fabulous art design, atmosphere, writing, boss fights, etc etc etc etc - set a ludicrously high standard for DLC. It was favourite mission yet in both games. So I think all DLC that is not Shadow Broker now suffer the (very fortunate) con of being compared to that standard.

Arrival did exactly what it should. I had a great time playing it, and am even more excited for the final installment. I will try to wait patiently. It is already hard.

Modifié par operageek, 03 avril 2011 - 11:31 .

[matteatspuppies]

Liked:
Alternate to fighting: i was a little worried at first that it would favor one class over another or change the gameplay in some way but it was actually pretty fun to work around fighting for a change. alternate ways of doing things is what i love about some rpgs and its even beter when most didnt see this and just went in guns ablazing.

Going solo: shepard is a spectre and they usually go it alone so seeing shepard handle things himself (especially during the waves) was great. though going alone for a long time does get old to some, having it in short bursts for certain things in 3 would be nice. (example. shep sends his team mates to save some civilians while he takes care of whatever)

Fighting off the waves/possible to win improbable fight: in some older rpgs i loved the fights where even though your not supposed/dont have to win you still had a chance. it always felt more rewarding to me when i did.

Hidden items: i always liked looking around and finding hidden items through mini games, a little exploration off the beaten path, doing a little extra before you rush into things, what have you. the little "crane game" to find the item behind the box was cool. (though i missed it the first time ) 

Ticking clock: though there wasnt really one, the count down to the reapers gave me the alusion of one. i would sometimes like parts of a game where i would have to do something before time ran out and/or if i did it before a certain time id get something cool.

Disliked:
No rewards: other then the achievements i was a little sad that there was no reward for sneaking past the guards or surviving the waves of object rho. a little change in the cutscenes or something would have been nice. if theres no reason to do it some people would just fudge it to get it done faster

Short: i wanted more by the end, that could be a good thing though

Story parts: though i do like that you can do it after horizon the story felt wierd if you did. also, even post game, the fact that the reapers could be there in 2 (game) days felt really short.

im sure i misspelled stuff but im too tired to check

[freestylez]

You summed up a lot of what I have a hard time digesting in ME2. This DLC for me does more to hurt the story than repair it. Dissapointing.

Vyse_Fina wrote...

Well, as usual with ME2 I somewhat enjoyed the diverse gameplay but got headache from the stroy after thinking about it for a bit.

Unlike some other people I like the fact that Shepard was sent in alone, because that allowed for a stealth mission. Of course the AI was crappy and you could stand directly in the line of sight of some enemies without being spotted, but hey, stealth. (Maybe nobody else liked the solo aspect because nobody else tryed to stealth through the first part of the mission?...)

After the stealth was over... well there wasn't really too much else left. I was kinda excited playing it the first time but already wondered about 2 things:

Why did Shepard walk blindly into an obvious trap and what the hell are the reapers actually trying to do? After playing it a 2 more times with other characters I also noticed some other stuff as well but let's do this one by one:

Why didn't Shepard start running the moment he/she saw the Reaper Artifact sitting in the middle of the room or even way before that. No matter what a NPCs tells us, the moment we get told someone is researching a reaper artifact every red flag available is raised in an instant. This NEVER went well before. Why did Shepard, the person who probably knows the indoctrination effects of anything made by the Reapers better than anyone else, trust someone who claims it didn't affect her. Why didn't he/she ask how they avoided indoctrination? Why was there no suspicion at all? Whyyyyyyyyyyyy?
Then Shepard gets knocked out by the artifact (after standing there doing nothing except for commenting how all of this doesn't really add up...) and sedated (without being restrained or tied to the table...). For some unexplained reason the sedation stops working though.
Why?
Shepard is a human being. Why would a sedative affect him/her for about 2 days but not afterwards? And what was the Normandy doing during those 2 days?

Next up: Press the switch.
Well, it was hardly avoidable to press that switch considering that the reapers would be there in a few minutes, but that begs the question:

What were the Reapers thinking???
Seriously, they explain everything to Shepard. That they are close to arriving in the galaxy, that the research team found a reaper artifact (which as I said raised a ton of red flags for me but not for Shepard for some stupid reason) and he exact time when they'd arrive.
Why didn't they tell Shepard that they found some mysterious Prothean artifact they needed Shepard to take a look at since Shepard understands Prothean. Could have been that easy to lure Shepard into a trap without raising suspision...
And why did they even tell Shepard when they'd arrive or that they are close to arriving at all! If they just told Shepard everything was fine and let him/her fly away after the doctor was saved then they wouldn't have had any problems taking over the galaxy in one big surprise attack!

Most importantly though: What was the entire plot of ME2 about?
So the reapers started building a three-eyed terminator (human reaper) in the center of the galaxy. Until now I thought this was part of their plan to activate the Citadel relay so that they wouldn't have to FTL travel from Dark-space to the galaxy, because that would probably take forever.
What was the point of that plan if flying there takes less time than building that new reaper?
Why even bother with the Citadel realy at all if flying takes only 2 years? What are 2 years to a race of immortal machines? Nothing! To top it all off it doesn't even make sense to say it took them 2 years. We see them start flying at the end of ME2. That'd imply they arrived within days!!

Of course you could argue that this wasn't the start of their journey and that they already started it at the end of ME1 instead, but what was the entire human reaper thing about then? If they didn't wait at their relay for the new reaper to activate the relay, then why build it at all? Why risk having the collectors being discovered? They could have been an addition to the reaper army, or maybe they could have been of high strategic value since they could have entered council space without being attacked and even if that is not the case, they drew unneccesary attention and ended up revealing what the reapers are up to... or not...

*sigh*

Look, Bioware I am not demanding perfection. I know how much effort goes into making a game and that it can be hard to keep track of everything when several 100 people are involved during the production, but it'd be nice if fundamental errors like these could be avoided in the future.
The sedative thing for example could be overlooked and so could be the question what the Normandy did during those two days. Even Sheaprd running blindly into an obvious trap could be dismissed as "it sounded plausible at the time" or something like that. The fact that the entire plot of ME was rendered useless however just cannot be ignored. Please try to avoid things like that in the future...

[stysiaq]

Look, Bioware I am not demanding perfection. I know how much effort goes into making a game and that it can be hard to keep track of everything when several 100 people are involved during the production, but it'd be nice if fundamental errors like these could be avoided in the future.
The sedative thing for example could be overlooked and so could be the question what the Normandy did during those two days. Even Sheaprd running blindly into an obvious trap could be dismissed as "it sounded plausible at the time" or something like that. The fact that the entire plot of ME was rendered useless however just cannot be ignored. Please try to avoid things like that in the future...

That pretty sums it up.

I don't want to quote all of the excellent points made there.

Let's just hope BioWare will read any of this negative feedback which is Arrival causing.

I didn't think about it before, but seriously - why Shepard in arrival is not even a tiny bit suspicious about inviting him/her alone, because "we've got here a nice looking reaper artifact, come and see!". Shepard had seen a dozen times before, what reaper tech can do to regular humans. He/She suddenly forgets it all. I disapprove.
My Shepard would see it coming.

My Shepard in not dumb.

Modifié par stysiaq, 04 avril 2011 - 06:08 .

[spacehamsterZH]

The Good:

-very nicely designed environments, some of it reminiscent of ME1's design style
-music also evoked kind of a ME1 feel
-excellent level design, best in the ME series so far, actually
-Hackett looks f'n cool

The Bad:

-entirely forgettable cast of characters
-"plot twist" was totally predictable
-Harbinger finally gets his moment in the sun, and it comes across as a lame retread of the Sovereign scene in ME1
-worse yet, Shepard blathering about how "this is what humans do" - I thought this was about the galaxy vs the Reapers, now I'm worried it's really going to turn into humanity vs the Reapers
-attempts at more varied gameplay (guarding Dr. Kenson, controlling a LOKI mech, race against time) are nice in theory, but didn't work too well in practice
-too short

The Ugly:

-where's the RPGing? Dialogue is totally railroaded, one renegade interrupt that seems totally shoehorned in and accomplishes nothing, and I still don't see a single good reason why we couldn't take a squad with us except it saved the devs time
-combat to dialogue ratio made this feel like a Gears of War level. There, I said it.

Bottom line: it's not a complete disaster or anything, but after the avalanche of awesomeness that was LotSB, it's a bit disappointing. I hope the good folks at Bioware understand why most of us seem to like LotSB better than Arrival, and ME3 is more like LotSB.

[hangmans tree]

Too much shooting. Less story than I expected. Little dialogue options, little interaction. Story gets good in the end, in convo with Hackett
You should enable a player to shoot that woman (renegade interrupt) at the beginning of her monologue - quick elimination of threat. Aye, but the bad guys always have to **** how "we" spoiled everything etc. etc. - kind of lame.
Shepard got some lines full of pathos - I didnt like that (with no alternative that is) - seriously, who speaks like this? >_>
Every armour model looked more or less the same. Shame. Details count you know?

The betrayal was a nice twist but somehow similar to the Shadow Broker one (the asari spectre). I liked the close quarters combat. 50% of the combat would suffice, the rest was a unneeded filler.
Overal I think I liked the dlc.

I would rate it somewhere 70% or B- if you prefer subjectively that is. Being objective I would have to score it 5 out of 10.

Modifié par hangmans tree, 04 avril 2011 - 12:45 .

[Fancando]

It was bland and boring, the connection with ME3 isn't really good and the action boring. With no connection to rest of ME2, it can be avoided and that makes it bordeline redundunt to everyone but completists.
The cut scenes were uninspired and the lack of a boss fight or "countdown to impact" clock in the end didn't help either.
Should have been better.

[Metalrocks]

i honestly dont feel like playing it again. it is ok to play it once, but not several times bc it simply doesnt have any option how to play it in different ways.
really not happy with it.
thats where "arrival" stands in my book:

1. shadow broker (surely the best dlc of this game)
2. kasumi
3. overlord
4. zaeed
5. firewalker
6. arrival

so there you see. its the last one. and i dont really even like the firewalker dlc.

[Doinel]

Only Hardcore Fans of this game enjoyed this download and even then in the end the feeling for it was just not there.

Bioware please listen to your fans. The Mass Effect Games are very loved all over the world It would be a shame and a dishonor to the story and lore if you change what works or get lazy. Don't make this into a Dragon Age two, in other words please don't make the Dragon Age two mistake.

[Someone With Mass]

The only good part was pretty much at the end, when you get to talk to Harbinger (who will never reach the same level of badassery as Sovereign) and Hackett.

The amount of choices are lacking. But asking for the choice to not destroy the relay is just stupid, people. Think about it. The Reapers would arrive and smash Shepard to bits/indoctrinate/conduct experiments on him. That's not a good thing, no matter how Renegade you are.

I'll give it creds for having probably the hardest battle in the game at Object Rho, though.

[saracen16]

Will Arrival's soundtrack be available for download?

[crimzontearz]

ok, some constructive criticism is needed on this one (and yes you guys know MEis my alltime favorite franchise ever...not that it needsto be re stated)

-Bioware, stop rewarding us with upgrades. They all do the same thing and they offer no replay value because they are just completely wiped out in the following playthrough (and that is an ongoing issue with NG+ that should have been fixed by now). Yes upgrades have been this way all along in ME2 but they need to change or else they will just remain boring

-You missed an opportunity to bring back the VS.....come on....you guys know that was freaking cruel.

- Even the blind can see where you are headed with the whole 300 000 dead Batarians......PLEASE DON'T. We were shoved with Cerberus in ME2 with no chance to do anything about it (that was soooooooin character for a sole survivor shepard) and forced to restart from level 0. A LOT of people disliked that please do not repeat that mistake.

other than that it was a bit linear and and forced....now all we candois hope for ME3

[Renessa]

Ok, I don't actually quite know how to comment on this DLC without starting to rant.

Let me start by saying, that I am a huge fan of Bioware and love almost all the games since KOTOR. I even like DA2. I am on my third playthrough there.

I have about 6 ME chars and 4 ME2 chars and I love both games.

Ok, enough credentials.... What were you thinking? You made my Shepard kill 300000 people? That is so completely out of character, it is game breaking for me.

Almost all major decisions in ME and ME2 hing on the question whether it is worth sacrificing people or ideals to achieve your end goal and how far your Shep is prepared to go. My Sheps have declined the collector base (and probably the advantage it would bring in ME3) because it would be so unethical to use it. Do you honestly think, they would kill 300000 people? For what? To gain a couple of weeks? Once the Reapers arrive in our Galaxy are they really going to be delayed by a missing Mass Effect Portal? Nonsense. They developed the technology themselves. They will quickly find an alternative.

I think, I would have preferred to sacrifice my Shep rather than wipe out a whole system.

But the problem goes deeper than that. I know there are a lot of people here calling for dark choices, but I must admit, this is not why I play computer games. I play games to enjoy myself. I do not enjoy killing 300000 innocent people, not even virtually. Not even Batarians (oh, very clever - did you choose them to make the whole thing more palatable?).

I am not saying, that I cannot enjoy a gritty game. I really liked Heavy Rain, but that is a completely different sort of genre and not a heroic sci-fi fantasy.

I know, killing scores of innocent bystanders is no longer seen as problematic in a lot of video games, but maybe I am getting too old or I am too German, I just can*t find this sort of story cool, epic or whatever. You turned Shepard from a hero (even Renegade Shep) into a war criminal in one DLC and I have no interest in role-playing war criminals.

Funny really, Mass Effect 1 was the last Bioware game, where I finished my first playthrough and had this really great feeling of my avatar just having saved the world. Since then the ending of Bioware games have been getting more and more depressing. They are still fun to play, but I don't end up on a "high" anymore. That is a pitty.

I really hope you won't force these sort of decisions on us in ME 3 or that everything ends in doom and gloom whatever we do, like in DA 2. That would be a sad ending to a great series.

As for my Sheps, I have decided to mostly just totally ignore Arrival. By coincindence I played this DLC with my most Paragade char first, so I will let it stand with her. But my really Paragon Sheps will just never be sent on this mission. In my personal canon this mission does not happen.

[insomniac13]

There's nothing i can say, that hasn't already been said. ARRIVAL SUCKED! I'm sorry, but it did.

I don't think i'd give a crap about Shepard going on trial or being pestered for activating the project in Mass Effect 3. See, that was choice BIOWARE made, not me! On top of that, when you try to warn the Batarians, they still end up dying. When you gun down the crazed doctor, she still presses the freaken button! Why cheat us into thinking we have a choice when we really don't???

Like the poster above me mentioned, Bioware basically turned Shepard into a war criminal and we had no input whatsoever on this development. That was a really sucky thing to do and is probraly the main reason why i generally hate Arrival!

Modifié par insomniac13, 04 avril 2011 - 07:50 .

[george martin]

Comparison between LOTSB and Arrival.

I recently played the LOTSB DLC after I played Arrival. Since so many folks enjoyed it I left it for last. I do agree LOTSB is fantastic and I did like it better than Arrival. There was a lot more meat to the story and dialogue which made the storyline much better over all.

For anyone who does care though LOTSB does not give anyone choices of any significance except for how to handle the hostage situation and that was it. Also, no matter what I say to Liara she still ends up becoming the shadow broker. So people complaining about Arrival not allowing Shepard to make any game changing choices leaves me a bit confused when the same exact thing occurred in LoTSB, it's Canon so you're choices can't change what will happen in ME3.

The reason people really enjoyed LOTSB is because one it was a great story, had a great environment and had quite a bit of dialogue at turning points in the story. It also had great banter during the cab ride (which was obviously unique and something none of us has ever been involved in) which was an epic ride, some more of that in ME3 would be great. The shadow brokers ship, and fighting on the hull was incredible and the environment was absolutely breathtaking. Sometimes I just stopped and looked at the surrounding environment it was so surreal. This is why people enjoyed it so much, simply because the story and surrounding environment was amazing. People do though seem to forget that LoTSB didn't offer us any real choices. People need to understand that the game itself offers us game changing choices the DLC's aren't really made for that, they're made for extra entertainment and adding to the over all game experience itself which I understood more after playing all the DLCs. I'm not bothered at all about the DLC's not offering any major game changing choices that's not what there for.

Arrival is a decent DLC, it just lacks the umph of LoTSB. The basic storyline was very good and made sense. Once the system is destroyed, pretty much all evidence is gone as well leaving the Alliance asking themselves what the hell did Shepard just do? Who wouldn't be thinking that? As old (hundreds of millions of years possibly?) and intelligent as the Reapers are there is no way they'd allow only one way to get back to the Milky Way. They made back up plans in case there number one chance the Citadel fell through. I think folks who didn't enjoy Arrival were just left scratching their heads at the lack of dialogue (which left many questions to be answered) and Shepard being a little too trusting of the doctor when he asked her about the Reaper artifact. Shepard knows the indoctrination effects of the Reaper, but how was he supposed to know the actual purpose of this artifact until he sees it for himself?  He didn't know anything about it before hand except that it had been discovered. When he did see it out in the open the red flags did go off in his head he knew it was probably quite the dire situation. Does every single piece of Reaper technology indoctrinate species, or do they have different capabilities? Who knows? Some answers on this would probably help people not go crazy about the storyline.

There are some other things in Arrival people didn't understand, including me. Why was there a console that allowed us to control mechs in his cell? Why wasn't he restrained to the max? Why exactly do the Reapers want Shepard alive? He's caused them nothing but major trouble, cancelling their arrival through the citadel and ruining their plans of creating the first human Reaper, he's probably much better off dead, there's got to be a really good reason they want him alive. Shepard should have asked Harbinger why do you want me alive? What could I possibly contribute to your cause? I'd be really curious to after waking up, thinking I wouldn't. My best guess is they would want to indoctrinate him as they did Saren but leave enough will power in him to do what he does best, destroy all oppostion.

When developing future DLC's I would recommend ya'll better explain some aspects of the story line so people don't think there are holes in it, or at the least give hints that it will be explained later. Always make sure there is enough dialogue in the story line so we better understand what's going on and why it's happening, that will leave for less confusion later.

Over all I rate Arrival decent 7/10, I will definitely enjoy it again on my later play throughs. I enjoyed the ending greatly seeing Hackett and finding out that I'm possibly going to jail for destroying a system, looking forward to the trial and obviously ME3!

[LGTX]

I'm pretty sure Arrival has already been triple-dissected here, so I'll try to throw in some minor setbacks I've noticed which might have been overlooked. There's a neat comparison to LotSB in the great post above, so I'll begin by adding up to it: 

LOADING SCREENS people. Shadow Broker was easily longer than Arrival, and had only ONE loading screen throughout the entire skirmish through Illium and then at the Broker base. Arrival was riddled with short run-and-gun environments, and I recall three loading screens at the very least breaking immersion in a
really cheap way.

Art design. Now, I don’t necessarily tend to criticize the Bioware art team – they’ve outdone themselves numerous times in the past – but the least they could do was NOT make Arrival feel… single-colored. Shadow Broker was a lush adventure spanning through Illium’s neon streets to pristine apartments, bombed skyscrapers and ultimately led up to one of the most dazzling environments in the entire series, whereas Arrival was roughly the same gray batarian prisons followed by a bit brighter-gray corridors of Project Base and, well, that was about it. Even the last sequence had that bored gamma plastered all over it – while the level design, and the pure cinematic effect of fighting in vacuum whilst a friggin’ Mass Relay slowly fills in the backdrop seemed like an awesome idea.

The lack of a final boss battle. I had thought it would become a pleasant trend, especially after Overlord’s wacky twist and LotSB’s double approach to brutal, straightforward endgame encounters, but was left with nothing but a heavy mech and some non-meaningful dialogue bits between Shepard and Harbinger at the end. Sure, we had the Rho battle and the race against time as Kenson tried to overload the reactor core, but both of those sequences were disjointed from the main narrative and utterly disconnected from the main goal. 

There’s also this one thing I can’t put my finger on; the word “atmospherical consistency” comes to mind without offering to explain itself, but I’ll try nevertheless: both Overlord and LotSB, along with Kasumi’s Stolen Memory for that matter, had that eerie harmony in art direction, music, acting characters and, well, pretty much everything that made up a single, distinguished feel which stood out from the rest of the game in harsh contrast. To describe those briefly, Kasumi was… a light-hearted, colorful heist filled with social stealth and action, Overlord was a spacious, extremely diverse campaign against a rogue, omniscient VI, and LotSB simply had “mysterious” written all over it, in bold. Those three also had drama, at least trying to push the soap opera element a tad bit
further as if staying true to the roots. Arrival, while undoubtedly possessing a similar aspect, tended to… yank it around too much, underplaying the excellent music and failing to develop some characters, not really succeeding in establishing a unique style which would feel new and… unrecycled as compared to the rest of the game. I’m sorry if this is all vague, but I’m doing my best to relay the stupid rant. 

And I’m sorry to say that I’m disappointed with Hackett. Sure, it’s Mr. Henricksen and hooray and all that, but, being honest with myself, from him contacting Shepard and suddenly requesting a pointless solo mission to the Alliance Admiral boarding a Cerberus vessel without any kind of armed escort just to “return a favor” in the form a personal debrief… it all seemed forced, pure fan service, and I like my fan service at least partially disguised under quality storywork.

I guess this is it; I’ve gotten carried away and have probably written a hell of a mess above. Nevertheless, thanks to anyone who reads this and finds some mutual opinions. And mind, if I'd wanted to write positive feedback, the
post would've been twice as large, so Bioware, you guys still rocked with this DLC. I'll just appreciate if you peek at the things I pointed out and discussed if they're worth something.

[EDIT]: crappy formatting issues screwed up my post, and I can't seem to get it fixed... dammit.

Modifié par LGTX, 04 avril 2011 - 10:19 .

[merrick97]

Metalrocks wrote...

i honestly dont feel like playing it again. it is ok to play it once, but not several times bc it simply doesnt have any option how to play it in different ways.
really not happy with it.
thats where "arrival" stands in my book:

1. shadow broker (surely the best dlc of this game)
2. kasumi
3. overlord
4. zaeed
5. firewalker
6. arrival

so there you see. its the last one. and i dont really even like the firewalker dlc.

You didnt really have any different ways to play the other DLC either.  LotSB didnt offer any choices.  Zaeed and Overlord offered a choice at the end but thats it.

Modifié par merrick97, 05 avril 2011 - 12:36 .

[Splinter Cell 108]

I liked it, it made some connections to ME3. However the story wasn't as important as people made it out to be. Then it was way too short, it should've been about the same size as Overlord. There also wasn't enough dialogue. Then there was one more thing that annoyed me and that has been annoying me for a long time with regards to DLC. How come there aren't any new weapons/armor in these DLCs?

Finally the last thing that annoyed me was the fight in the room with Object Rho. What's the point of surviving five waves of enemies if there is no real reward except for an achievement? If the player doesn't get knocked out then he/she should be rewarded with an alternate way of completing things.

[ashe389]

Most of what I have to say has already been posted, but here are my thoughts anyway:

Pros: Meeting Admiral Hackett, the battle at Object Rho

Cons: Plot problems. Why can't your squad accompany you? Where is the Normandy and her crew for the two days Shepard is out? They don't care enough to mount a rescue? Why would Shepherd agree to go see a Reaper artifact alone? Why doesn't Shepard contact the Normandy the instant the doc tels him that the Reapers are expected within days? Why is this content available before the suicide mission? It makes the overall story in ME2 feel unimportant.

Glitches. Sound glitches, primarily. I had to restart to get the sound right again.

Shepard yelling, "We've been spotted!" became really annoying since he's going solo.

Too difficult on Insanity setting at Object Rho. Glitches here, too. I would take damage even though I was behind cover, and at times when I would emerge from cover I wouldn't be aiming correctly (try to aim around a corner and instead be shooting at the wall in front of me. This sometimes happened in the game, but in Arrival it seemed to be much worse.)

I was expecting more from this dlc, especially since this is the last, and considering the quality of Overlord and Shadow Broker (the latter of which was fantastic!).

I'm still a Bioware and ME fan, but I'm surprised to see such severe plot problems in a series that has been a marvel of storytelling. I still enjoyed Arrival, but I wasn't eager to play it again unlike most of the other dlc. ( I hope that ME3 is a return to the quality for which Bioware is famous. You guys are fantastic at what you do even if Arrival wasn't that good!)

[TiaraBlade]

Only a minute to reply.

I was disappointed to be honest. Not that there was much *wrong* with but compared to Lair of the Shadowbroker, it just doesn't hold up even if it was less expensive.

Too short, I missed my companions, and I would have loved even more story elements. Also, no real choices. You can't stop the event at the end nor the consequences that occur.

That said, it was a good value for the money with new environments and it really made Shepard feel like a one person army as she carved through her foes and even they commented how they couldn't stop her.

[WOLF_00]

COOL DLC, Thanks Bioware, waiting for your coming series mass effect 3 in Nov

[Metalrocks]

merrick97 wrote...

Metalrocks wrote...

i honestly dont feel like playing it again. it is ok to play it once, but not several times bc it simply doesnt have any option how to play it in different ways.
really not happy with it.
thats where "arrival" stands in my book:

1. shadow broker (surely the best dlc of this game)
2. kasumi
3. overlord
4. zaeed
5. firewalker
6. arrival

so there you see. its the last one. and i dont really even like the firewalker dlc.

You didnt really have any different ways to play the other DLC either.  LotSB didnt offer any choices.  Zaeed and Overlord offered a choice at the end but thats it.

true, but i was refering to the choices during the game it self, not the end only. in shadow broker you still could choose if you want to talk nice to liara or not, or invite her on the normandy.  or shoot the hostage. all this choices i missed in arrival.
but with the choices at the ending is overlord and zaeed surely the winner. there you are right.

[bald man in a boat]

Good:

1.Music - Nicely done, subtle and dramatic
2.Stealth Option - Choice in how to play the game was a cool new thing.
3.Time limit - Adds to urgency and tension.
4.Look - Great scenery and stunning views.
5.Mechs - Controlling the mech was pretty sick.

Bad:

1.Look - 2 eyed helmets on batarians? That was f*cking LAZY.
2.Voicing - No audio kicking around for Joker? Again, turbo lazy.
3.Everything else - When given the choice to go out on your feet or on your knees why would you (Bioware) choose the latter? This was to be the last DLC, the last chapter of a ridiculously great game and instead of a bang you squeezed out the gaming equivalent of a wet fart.

The overall story or more appropriately, the events of Arrival, setup ME3 nicely. Sadly, there is almost no substance to this DLC. I paid for a sandwich, I got bread. Playing stealthy should've impacted the story somehow, not just the gameplay. More mystery surrounding the invasion, some character development on the part of Kenson would've been a great touch. And ffs try avoiding planet sized plotholes that are quite frankly, INSULTING.

The lack of choices to make in Arrival are not problematic, it's the lack of impact. I liked that the batarians couldn't be saved but I think the paragon choice of warning them should've only achievable by making the renegade decision to kill Kenson and keep her from detonating the explosives. Thousands die, but some were still saved and least this is on record.

After playing Arrival I want to knock on the door of the studio in Edmonton, hold up a big, shiny ball and ask which one of you guys dropped this.

Modifié par bald man in a boat, 05 avril 2011 - 08:24 .

[galland]

CulturalGeekGirl wrote...

Linear, boring levels. No interesting conversation or background fiction, really.  And a final resolution that I found both annoying and morally questionable.

For what it's worth, I really liked LotSB. I thought it was a great example of what a ME DLC could be - character driven, with interesting, gorgeous fight locations, and fights intercut by interesting gameplay and character bits. This was pretty much the opposite of that.

Story-wise, Arrival was a great premise badly executed. If this had been a storyline mission in the main game, it would have had some very interesting implications, but since it's DLC I have trouble understanding how it will affect the next game. LotSB felt more real and more relevant - at the end I felt I had gained something by doing it, that I had had a legitimate victory, and established something that might matter in the future. After completing this mission I felt like I was railroaded into doing something unpleasant, and I don't really get the narrative impact of any benefits. Without squad-mates along for the mission, the morality of it rings hollow, too. Who is to say what happened with the Reapers, other than me? There was nobody for me to run ideas by, nobody to give my problem emotional weight. 

I'm all right with making a sacrifice to save the galaxy, but the fact that this is an optional mission makes me feel "less good" about it. What would have happened if I hadn't gotten this DLC and destroyed the colony with my own hands? No ME3? An ME3 that assumes I did it? An ME3 that assumes someone else did it? A Shepard who isn't awaiting some bogus trial at some unspecified point in the future?

I don't know. I sort of wish I hadn't ever played this DLC, and this is coming from someone who thinks that ME2 is, in general, one of the best games of all time. This is from someone who bought every other DLC, even alternate armor packs for characters I don't use, just to support the idea of ME2.

Basically, the DLC does little but add a shooting gallery and a line of text to Shepard's history that says "killed 300,000 Batarians while destroying a mass relay to try to slightly delay the Reapers." Don't feel good about it at all.

This absolutely x2