In Exile wrote...
Terror_K wrote...
HR was streamlined, most definitely. And it worked for the most part. And that's the main difference between how Eidos Montreal handled streamlining and accessibility with HR and how BioWare handled it with ME2: the former was actually streamlined, while the latter was just dumbed-down and oversimplified.
Actually streamlined compared to... what, exactly?
To their predecessors (ignoring Invisible War) and the basic definition. Streamlining is making complexity simple while still retaining its functionality and form, which HR does. It isn't just simplifying, culling and overautomating things so that they're so simple they are devoid of any real complexity or choice at all, which is what ME2 did. HR didn't also baby the players and insult them by treating them like people who had never played a game with anything more to it than "point and shoot" like ME2 did. Many of ME2's issues stem from its "Fisher Price: My First RPG" feel, tone and design as much as they do from the dumbing down as a whole.
HR/ME2 treat shooting in the same way: expert marksman at the start.
HR then has an added feature: stealth gameplay.
The stealth gameplay is handled in several ways: 1) through hacking, and an associated hacking upgrade tree; 2) through cloaking; 3) through rare environmental obstacles.
ME2 doesn't have stealth gameplay, so we can't compare these features.
While ME2 doesn't have stealth, one can compare the factor of being able to approach situations differently through different means, which HR does, by providing several options in almost every situation to proceed, while ME2 always comes down to combat when its combat and dialogue when its dialogue. ME2 doesn't really have alternate paths and methods to complete a mission.
What we can compare, though, is the upgrade system, which in ME2 is tied to XP (for skills which improve combat performance above base, just like in HR) and $$, which act as passive upgrades (like the energy or armour upgrades in DX).
So mechanically, at least with respect to statistics & upgrades, HR & ME are the same.
Except that XP has weight, context and meaning in HR, but is completely arbritrary and meaningless in ME2. With HR you can see where the XP comes from and why, but in ME2 it's just a random number tossed at you at the end of each mission that has no real context and
conveniently levels you up almost every time. HR also actually has some more passive, non-combat skills (as you note), while ME2 is just pretty much only about killing enemies and that's about it. ME2 platters every upgrade too, while you can't really God-mod yourself in HR.
What other differences are there?
HR has XP/kill and XP/quest and ME2 has XP/quest only, but this fantasy that XP/quest a non-RPG feature is silly.
It's not a "non-RPG" feature, but the shallowness of ME2's XP system (as I outlined above) really does call the way it's done into question. From what I can tell the whole system is completely faked and that questions whether it's a real RPG system at all or just a facsimile of one solely there so that it's still present and so players can have a system in place to progress with. The entire progression of ME2 is suspect and shallow at best.
HR has little storyline choice, and ME2 has some more storyline choice.
Both are about the same from what I can tell, though HR doesn't have romances and factors porting over from its predecessor. I've also only completely HR once so far. Both seemed to come down to tackling a mission and the choices being made via one major dialogue choice usually towards the end. HR had far weightier dialogue choices and variations in this regard though, and didn't just come down to two types of black and white approach that always equalled a win if you had enough points for it.
ME2 offers more varied builds (the # of skills in total are rather large, but each class is restricted in the skills), but it has much shallower gameplay because it doesn't hybridize shooter/stealth.
That's why it's kind of debatable. I don't have as many builds technically in HR, but I have more varied ways of playing the game. My ghost-like stealth, non-kill and non-encounter playthrough will be completely different from my run-and-gun one, and how much I specalise in hacking can factor in additional changes to a degree. Every ME2 playthrough is essentially the same gameplay wise, with me taking the same routes, the same approaches and fighting the same people in the same places, with only the powers I use really changing anything.
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