Il Divo wrote..
But we're debating semantics. Regardless of whether was Shepard was sleeping, you were not watching him for 8 hours, which would be another example of ‘realism’. You were watching something else entirely, in the context of Shepard sleeping. My point is that realism and interesting are not synonymous, even if they can occur together. I doubt players want to watch Shepard sleep because it's realistic.
And regardless of what the terrain looks like, Shepard is out doing...stuff...How interesting that "stuff" is is certainly open to debate. if realistic and interesting can occur together, fantastic and boring certainly can as well.
Nihlus (and many other characters) at the start of Mass Effect already explained this to Shepard and the player. Generic planets were not needed to do the same. The landscape said to me “Hey, we didn’t have time to fill these environments with interesting activities, so we placed crashed probes everywhere”.
Actually I'd say baren planets are needed to reinforce it. Sure Nihlus and others talk about it, but there's a world (har har) of difference between hearing the words and seeing it happen. With humans as far flung as they are already, something needs to drive home that they're the "new kids" Particularly in ME2, when that fact largely seems forgotten.
Yes, loyalty missions were “side quests”, but they were given a substantial level of detail which was missing from Mass Effect. All the cinematic presentation of the main quest goes out the window with Mass Effect’s side quests, excluding Bringing Down the Sky which presented a more focused narrative. I only wish when killing Dr. Saleon that the game had given us a cinematic perspective, instead of treating it as another opportunity for Shepard to murder something.
Like I said, well-done sidequests. Which take up almost the entirety of the second half of the game. The fact that they were well done, well presented stories in their own right does not negate the fact that they bring very little to the main story of ME2. In effect, they're just checkmarks for the checkmarks for ME3.
And they also did not involve generic environments. When I went to rescue Dustil on Korriban, I did not have to play an extended game of hide and seek to locate him. He was not hiding in a one-room bunker, where I also happened to stop a group of biotic terrorists. Likewise with most quests on Korriban. Each Sith Tomb featured unique puzzles/scenarios.
Mass Effect presents the same small-scale side quests, while avoiding the more in-depth quest lines such as the Jedi Murder Trial, Scholar’s Garden Debate, Imperial Arena, etc.
And while ME2 has these more in-depth missions, they simply can't sustain the main narrative on their own. The Jedi Murder Trial, while a good mission in itself, has nothing more to do with KOTOR's main story than Tali's trial (granted, one of the best missions in ME2, but still...) has to do with the main storyline. Fix that, then we can talk about the quality of the enviroment.
And I'm so relieved to see the tweet that side missions will have a stronger connection to the main narrative in ME3.
Mass Effect’s side quests also required substantially more effort to reach than KotOR’s side quests. As a player, I expect substantially more from the game than the opportunity to simply kill or spare Helena Blake. Essentially, I get the same “interaction”, with more hurdles thrown in the way, in both travel time and generic presentation.
I had the option of whether to steal Sharina’s wraid plate, lie to her and sell it, or give her above asking price. However, the game did not expect me to track her across the galaxy in order to do so. I consider Mass Effect's approach a downgrade.
You must have hated Blackstone Irregulars quests in DAO, huh?
But at least the ME missions actually sent you out to these remote systems. ME2 you'd never know they existed until you decided to try mining that world. To this day, I'm not sure I've located all the
kill all merc N7 missions.
That is why I often point out that “Mass Effect 2’s side quests sucked”. Because I enjoy unique environments does not mean I dislike plot, choices, and dialogue. I simply think both are needed.
And that's largely what I think of ME2 missions:
The main missions are like side quests
The side quests are like ME1 insignia hunting.
It's just as well there's no insignia hunting. Well, there is the Hammerhead
No amount of fancy enviroments can help the game when there's no story to tell.
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