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As somebody who has become rather well known as being rather down on the game pre-release due to marketing and various revelations to the point of being labelled a "whiner" amongst other more colourful lables, let me first start out by saying this game is not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Keeping that in mind though, despite the lauding from pretty much every gaming media source out there I don't think this game is the greatest thing since Deus Ex either. I'm not even really sure it's better than the first game, but at the same time nor do I necessarily think its worse either. I definitely don't think it's BioWare's best game yet. I'd still rank KotOR and the more recent Dragon Age Origins as superior games.
So, here's what will hopefully be a rather in-depth and organised evaluation. I hope you read this BioWare, despite some of the things I've said in the recent past, which is why I convey this as if directed to you guys. There's no baseless bashing here... or at least not intentionally. It's all based on my experiences from playing the game, and I try to present possible solutions to several problems. I've separated the aspects into several categories.
SHOOTER ASPECTS
We'll get this one out the way first. Long story short, I don't hate it as much as I thought. I wanted stats to influence this aspect, and I still kind of do, but the combat is admittedly fun a lot of the time. It varies... sometimes I'm crouched behind cover wishing for the ME1 style Cone of Death, and other times I'm picking targets off and just having a blast and not missing it. Some compromise I feel needs to be made here for ME1, though with the way ME2 is probably importing that's probably too late.
The guns themselves are a varied too. I like the heavy weapons, despite initial skepticism about them. I love sniper rifles. The new pistols are neat too (incidentally my favourite guns from the original). The shotguns feel a bit weak now... not as effective at medium range, and even at close the seem to lack punch. Assault rifles are fine feel-wise, but they just run through thermal clips far too quickly, IMO. I understand why, but they just seem rather pointless due to it.
Suggestion for ME3: Choice of weapon loadout. For example, I had a Vanguard and I just had no real interest in using shotguns, but had to take one and share my thermal clips with it. I think players should be able to get the choice of just not taking a weapon type if they want, thus allowing themselves to simply ignore that weapon and distribute their thermal clips amongst only weapons they choose to take. I'm not saying cut them off from the weapon completely, just that they should be able to select their loadout to NONE for a weapon type. That way if they change their minds they can always reactivate it later.
Speaking of thermal clips... well, I like the system more than I thought I would. I understand it, and it does kind of feel right, I'll admit that. I still have lore and canon issues with it, and it still seems like a bit of a step backwards from an in-universe perspective in many cases, but... it kind of works and it does add an urgency to combat that wasn't there before. When I heard about the clips just spawning sometimes on the battlefield I was worried too, but you actually managed to do it in a fashion that in 90% of cases it seems rather natural and doesn't jar (and in the other 10% of cases when it's obvious, you generally NEED those clips and don't really care at the time and are just happy to have them), so kudos for pulling that off. Overall it's a system I feel works and now accept, but I still feel it could use just a little more to make it more feasible and not seem rather backwards.
Suggestion for ME3: It would be nice if there was a middle-ground, such as the gun being able to still fire without clips, but at the expense of near instant overheating ME1 style with each shot.
Like the cover system... vaulting over cover is a great feature. A new bits of cover here and there have been iffy, but that's hardly a big deal. I still miss crouch to me honest... I hope it comes back. The ability to either storm to the never cover for speed-but-danger or choose a safer slower crawl to cover would be better, IMO.
Don't like the ME2 HUD either. Simple as that. The original one was just superior, IMO. It was simple and yet told you clearly what was what. The new one is just weird and confusing... I still don't entirely get it regarding your squadmates, and this is after about 60 hours or so of play. Also don't really like that the radar is no longer a constant and has to be summoned, and the fact that some places have no map at all... not even a vague one beyond "arrow says go here."
There needs to be more weapons though, as well as more varied and personal ways to upgrade them. I can't stress this enough, but I'll cover that more later under "Customisation" as well as somewhat under the next topic, which is...
RPG ASPECTS
I still feel that this part of the game is somewhat of a letdown. Keep in mind that when I say "RPG Aspects" I'm referring to the statistical and ruleset factors of the game. Basically, this section covers the bare bones of the game, and later I'll cover "Cinematic/Story Aspects" which will cover the skin over it.
Firstly, I do like the new class skills, or at least the ones I've played with. Few things are as fun as the new biotic powers, particularly Shockwave. I also love the fact that the 4th skill in each tree splits in two, which gives more customisation... though I do wish each split was a little more diverse rather than being things like "do more damage to one or do less to a group" and "raise defense or raise attack" etc. But that's being a little nitpicky I guess. The point is the system is there, and it works.
I still miss having to put points into weapon skills, armour skills and decryption though.
I can kind of understand the latter, particuarly since it can be a while before you get a tech-based party member if you're not tech yourself in any way. Even if it wasn't necessary it feels out of place to not need the tech character at all any more... not really. They're handy sure... mostly for getting through those shields and barriers so your weapons and biotics can actually have a decent effect. Even if having a tech present (or being a tech) influenced the time factor or amount of attempts, etc. would be at least something. It doesn't shut if off, but it retains its RPG style that way. I do have to mention here that I like the new hacking and decryption games. Didn't at first, but got used to them after an hour or too and see them as far superior to previous versions. Good style and length... not too short, nor too long and boring.
I still think a Soldier should have heavier armour and be able to take more damage while techs and biotics have lighter stuff... it just makes sense to me. Even if it wasn't a skill, to actually have them just restricted would work better, IMO. Have things like heavy armour effecting your Storm speed, but you can take more damage. Even in a futuristic setting there's a place for differentiation like this... many sci-fi's have heavy soldiers and light infantry, etc.
The lack of an inventory screen: didn't bother me as much as I thought. This is probably due to the overall lack of items one can get, but I could still see this system working even with more items. Which leads me to...
The looting system. I don't really like it. In fact, it kind of sucks. Mainly because it's not even really there. You don't find any armours, you either buy or research them. There's only a small handful of guns in total. The resources you find are okay, no problems there, but the rest just seems so empty. There's practically nothing, and the ability to research doesn't really make up for it, since there's no surprise when you research what you want. Finding the ability to research them is neat, but it's still a very shallow system.
Suggestion for ME3: Mix the best aspects of both ME games. Give us more items... not a whole bunch more, but enough to make things more decent. Make the items more varied. Less researched upgrades, but more weapons and armour that have aspects of said upgrades as part of them. Give us a proper looting system, ME1's was fine in principle but flawed in regards to the items. Find the best balance mid-ground here, please BioWare. Even just half a dozen standard guns of each type instead of just two would make a big difference. Let us find some armour parts now and then instead of just buying or researching it.
Paragon/Renegade: It's a shame both always still seem ultimate win in some way when the text is red or blue, at least from my experience. I do hope that in ME3 we'll see times where Paragon choices won't work and visa versa. I've suggested it before, but I will again: introduce characters who just won't respond to one or the other no matter how high your skill is. Not a lot of them, but some. It would add an extra dynamic that the game needs to stop them being able to get the best outcome every time as long as they've got the persuasion.
Interrupts: Love them! Don't change a thing here. These work fantastically.
The scanning game. I actually really liked this. Sure, it can take a while, though one gets better with practice, and it really is best to do now and then between missions and not in long sittings. Two thumbs up from me for this part. Better than the only Mako way, though I still miss the Mako. More on that later.
While it's not a huge deal, I actually still prefer the ME1 method of gaining XP and completing missions. I'm not a big fan of the "Mission Complete" screen and dolled out XP at the end.
To summarise the RPG stuff: it's not quite as dumbed-down as I thought, but it's still more dumbed-down than I'd like. If you simply add more depth to what you've changed here I think a lot could be fixed and a lot could be salvaged that was lost in the ME1 to ME2 transition. I don't think you need to completely backtrack to ME1's RPG systems... just make your ME2 ones deeper and a little more like the old ones in some areas.
CUSTOMISATION
This one is a mixed bag. For starters, I think it's pretty poor that the character creator isn't that much different from the original game. The main problem is the complete lack of a good three-quarter angle. In an age where character creators quite often give a full camera or character rotation to be so limited is pretty poor. Luckily I import all my Shepards from ME1, where I've already struggled back-and-forth repeatedly to get them right. I'd hate to start a new ME2 game and have to keep going through that opening each time repeatedly just to get a decent angle. On top of that, the bonus DLC armour being one piece where one can never see their Shepards' faces is unforgivable. I've seen enough topics on this factor however, so I'll just leave it at that.
On another note, the PC version controls. You changed them a fair bit, and that's fair enough... but you could at least have programmed is so that if one reconfigures said keys that the tutorials and prompts telling you what to press adjust to this instead of just showing the default ones.
Moving on to in-game customisation, the new Normandy is absolutely fantastic. Love all the additional sections and personnel, particuarly Kelly and the couple in engineering. Would have been nice if the Cook's mission had you traveling to different places to get different, more exotic food, rather than just picking up one single thing though. He's a great addition, but he kind of dries up after a couple of chats. Each section provides a little something different, and having your own custom captain's quarters is neat. Love all this stuff... hope it's still there and more in ME3.
The armour customisation is... good. Not great, but good. It's neat to finally be able to choose how you look, but the game really needs more armour models, a few more pattern textures and a couple more casual attire items... even if they were ones you had to buy. I suppose that can come in DLC form, and I actually hope it does, as long as the costs aren't too high or you get a LOT of stuff. Would have been nice to have at least one other non-Cerberus uniform to wear, even if it was just a re-tex of the Cerberus dress uniform one. Basic verdict, good, but could be better. You're on the right track BioWare, it's just not quite enough.
Weapons on the other hand are a joke, IMO. I thought this game was supposed to be about tailoring your guns to suit yourself and make them more personal... but no. We basically just get two of each type of weapon, one of which you start with anyway, and then just keep researching it to make it better. I was expecting some kind of deal where you had to actually mod your weapon and pick and choose how you'd upgrade it and be limited. Instead you can just keep researching and making your weapon better and better with no restriction beyond your resources and it'll pretty much be the same as everybody else's weapon in the end. Sure, there's a few rare items, but they're kind of pointless when there's not really any common ones either. Simply put: there needs to be more weapons and more to them. Only two with you starting with one and simply making it obsolete when you find the next is pretty weak.
CINEMATIC/STORY ASPECTS
What can I say without spoiling? Umm... well, it's certainly got a lot of great moments. Despite my concerns, it still does feel like ME1... like the same setting and universe. I thought it may have been going all Grimdark and Michael Bay on me, and thankfully I was wrong. The presentation and style is out of this world... it really is. ME1 already felt like the most cinematic game I'd ever played, but some of the scenes and moments in this game blew even it out of the water. Aside from the graphics just looking sweet, the direction, flow and overall style is simply amazing. This is hands-down definitely the best aspect of ME2.
Swearing: Not as bad as I had claimed, but that's probably due to your marketing using half of the games entire content of bad language in a bunch of promotional stuff that comes to less than 5% of the entire game, so forgive me if I thought you guys were going over the top here. Suffice to say, this no longer bothers me.
The loyalty factor comes across as a bit too easy though. It's far too binary, and it's not as hard to gain their loyalty as advertising made it seem. I'll say no more to avoid spoilers for people, but it just seems like there should have been more to it than just... well... what there was. I'm aware that certain situations later on can compromise this, but if one is strong enough in the ways of their persuasions even those aren't that hard to not really be an issue.
The places you go are fantastic though, particuarly Illium and Omega. So vibrant and well-detailed. All beautiful in their own way. Less a game level and more art. Brilliant, I can't praise you guys enough for this.
CHARACTERS
I didn't think I was going to, but I actually like all the characters. Subject Zero (or Jack, as it seems is her more common name now) was somebody who I thought I was going to detest. Turns out I didn't. Without spoiling, her backstory wasn't quite as trite and predictable as I thought, though at the same time while found it kind of interesting on some levels it didn't particuarly move me. Perhaps if one plays a male and romances her one manages to delve deeper into her character... perhaps I made a wrong turn (despite gaining her loyalty) and she wasn't willing to open up... I dunno. She just seemed fairly much the same after it all though, while the others at least seemed to grow a bit more and open up more as time went on.
Grunt was more interesting than I thought, I have to say. More personality than I initially thought he'd have, and he's got a neat sense of humour. Thane's cool, as is Samara. Garrus and Tali I already knew of course. Same with Joker. The least interesting character for me was probably Jacob, which is funny since he's the male lead and I found Kaidan to basically be the same in ME1. That said, he's still got a good personality, but I just didn't find him as interesting as the others. Miranda's hot and fairly interesting too... as is Kelly. The show-stealers for me were definitely Mordin and Legion though. Along with Garrus and Tali, these were my favourite characters. Zaeed is cool, though I wish he would have proper dialogue with you on the Normandy like the others rather than just standing there and rattling off stuff as you listen without participating... minor gripe though.
My only real problem with the characters isn't with them so much as the lack of them. Not of companions themselves, but in moments. ME1 had elevator banter, but that's gone now that elevators are. ME2 doesn't really have much at all. The rare moments on the Normandy were a good start, but there weren't enough of them. More moments like that (and like the ones on KotOR2 after returns to the Ebon Hawk) would work wonders in ME3, as would some location activated Dragon Age Origins style party banter. As it stands they're just too quiet and barely seem to interact.
My other beef is a common one here at the boards: no F/F or M/M style romances with your squadmates. And, no, Kelly doesn't really count... she's not a squadmember. I'd like to see at least one squadmember of each gender unlocked in future DLC or something, because after your past efforts this seems like a big step backwards. It did keep my main Femshep loyal to Liara, but if Tali had been an option (and it almost seemed at one point that she would be willing to be too) I'd have dropped Liara in a sec.
OTHER
I have to admit, I miss The Mako and UNC worlds to a degree too. There's something neat about landing on a planet that's just so barren and moonlike. It's very sci-fi and as beautiful as the new planets are, there's a beauty to the original ones that's just missed here. Perhaps I'm alone on this... I dunno. Looking forward to the Hammerhead DLC, that's all I can say.
I have to say that, without spoiling too much, I loved it when you got to see the consequences of your actions from ME1 reflected in ME2, be it directly, via news reports, or messages. When it worked, it really, REALLY worked. It was great. That said, I wish there had been more direct and interactive moments and less "email of thanks and that's all" moments. Sure, the emails are neat, but the truly rewarding stuff is the stuff you directly see the outcome of yourself. So, I'm hoping when ME3 rolls around, we might get to actually see more outcomes and read less. It's not that the emails are bad, in fact many are really nice and neat to read, it's just they feel a little more shallow than direct involvement. I'm not saying get rid of them and have us literally see every outcome... just that the ratio lean more towards the direct involvement. And also that more of those moments have great consequences and seem less like easter eggs. I know they can't all tie into the main plot, but additional sidequests would be cool (which, I know, some of them are. It's just that most are simply dialogue exchanges and little more)
Which leads to another issue I had with ME2: Sidequests.
Okay, first of all, the sidequest planets are far better now. Well, to a degree. Aesthetically they're gorgeous, and you guys weren't kidding when you said each had something different and neat and unique about it. But in the end most of them were, despite the unique structure, more hollow than the ME1 ones were from a roleplaying perspective. What I mean here is, despite ME1 involving you traveling around on a lifeless world much like the others, usually when you got to wherever you were going there would be a dialogue exchange now and then and/or the world would tie back to a quest you got off The Citadel or Noveria or somewhere. Most of these missions involve very little dialogue, very little choices (though there was one exception to this I thoroughly enjoyed... I think you know the one I mean if I simply say "missle target" and leave it at that) and thus feel very disconnected from the rest of the game. Especially when they're mostly only found via scanning, rather than reading a terminal or getting a message from Admiral Hackett or somebody about it. I suggest you take the best aspects from both games for ME3 and mix it up.
The other problem was that there seemed to be so few sidequests in ME2 at all. I imagine there'd be even less in non-import playthroughs too. Illium was the richest place, and then probably Omega. There were a few on Tuchanka too, but The Citadel seemed pretty sparse... only a handful, and mostly just shops beyond that. And many of the sidequests that were there didn't seem to have the same depth and scope as the ME1 ones did. Sure, there were exceptions, but many seemed pretty damn resolved right there and then, and it's leaving me worried about the possible lack of content in ME3, especially when quite a few sidequests from ME1 were simply addressed in ME2 via emails.
I know this stuff is a lot of work for you guys, and perhaps some of us are asking a bit much, but the sidequests overall lacked a bit here, even if the main quest stuff was stronger. Heck, I actually found my favourite stuff to generally be the loyalty questions, since they seemed to have a great deal of depth, content and emotion to them. Every one of those was a success in my books, so full points awarded for this aspect.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Some things worked, some didn't. Overall I feel ME2 is a success... one that I admittedly didn't think it would be over the past half a year or so. I feel like I owe you, BioWare, an apology for many of those things... but also that I don't. I was wrong about some things, and right about others... IMO of course. I still feel the RPG aspects have taken too much of a back-seat here and that some changes simply didn't work, but I fully admit some changes worked far better than I thought, and that most of my issues with the style and tone I thought you guys were going for were completely inaccurate. So I guess in some ways we were both right. I can't really say that ME2, for me, is a better game than ME1. But I can say that it's a great game that I really enjoyed, albeit a flawed one, so I guess much like the original game I feel its material raises it above its flaws and that I find it a "flawed masterpiece" as you've previously referred to ME1 as in interviews. I know you wanted to make ME2 a flawless masterpiece instead, but you're not quite there... sorry. Here's hoping you take the best of both and get rid of the worst of both and find that perfect balance in ME3, because one thing is for sure, you've got two excellent templates to work off.
So, I guess I'll say "sorry" for that which I jumped to conclusions on and was entirely wrong about, and that I'll at least try to not be as judgmental in the first place from now on. But I'll also add this: please don't Mass Effect 3 more of a shooter and less of an RPG even moreso. Please find that balance and listen to the aspects that some fans felt lacking in ME2.
Thank you.
Modifié par Terror_K, 01 février 2010 - 12:41 .
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