Aucune réponse à ce sujet

[Rayne Myria Solo]

This is a general note to Bioware (and to whomever else it may concern) regarding my experiences with the gameplay mechanics ONLY of ME2, no spoilers are in this topic, I will write a separate spoiler post for my thoughts on story and characterization.
 
First of all, I love the new more “mobile” action-oriented style of combat. I did not think I would initially, as I loved Mass 1s combat style immensely, but it’s going to be difficult to go back now to create characters for import into ME2.
 
I’m still torn on my feelings of the “Thermal Clip System”. At first I hated it with the blinding passion of a thousand suns, but as the game went on after 10 or 15 hours, I started becoming acclimated to it. By the time I got halfway (around 40 hours). I decided I did not know if I liked it or not, I didn’t hate it, but I also didn’t like it, so I became ambivalent. I’m glad it has a sensical in-universe technical explanation, and that helped a lot. It also seems to me to be the logical advancement to Mass1’s overheat system, though it is still, in my opinion a gameplay mechanics step “backward” in many ways. Even after the game is over, I cannot decide if I like it or not. On the one hand, it does force one to be much more mobile while still being tactical, and I like that. On the other hand, the heavy pistol still carries far too few rounds, even when you make 80-90% of your shots count as headshots, and you have it fully upgraded, another 6-12 rounds would’ve made a massive difference. All in all though, I am alright with it.
 
I do not miss the Mako, I felt that I would, but the planet scanning mini-game (to me at least) is much more engaging and fun than tromping around barren, lifeless generic worlds for resource nodes. That said, I would not mind having a new DLC vehicle with some specific missions designed for use with it (though not too many, unless they are, like the N7 missions, unique and varied). It took time getting used to maneuvering the new Normandy around, and dealing with fuel and probes, but I ended up enjoying that aspect of the mechanics as well, though I wish I’d acquired the upgrades earlier on, though that is for future playthroughs.
 
I did not experience any crashes while playing except one that is repeatable (and now that I’ve finished the game I’ll search the technical forums to see if it has been posted, and if not, make a detailed report on it). I had one random game crash, and one bluescreen (my first on 7) early on trying to do an import, but it was an NTFS filesystem error, and likely something that wasn’t the game’s “fault” so I’ll let that one go, as it never occurred again. I experienced no slowdown at any time playing on my system, and the game was gorgeous.
 
I DID experience a lot of getting stuck on ledges, in crates and boxes, and, an alarming number of times getting stuck on the platform leading to the Galaxy Map on the Normandy, I would hope patches can correct the worst of these, but I’m not sure how feasible that really is, given a the specific locations of most offense would have to be changed probably “by hand” and without documenting them all, would be difficult; still, I put it here to be thorough. It did cause me to have to repeat a few hours worth of content about 3 times during my 80 hour playthrough, and while annoying enough to make me curse and mutter, it wasn’t significantly bad, though if I’d been unlucky and had not saved close to a few of them, it would’ve been worse, so it’s the most significant technical issue I encountered.
 
I enjoyed the challenge level, which for me was just about right making my first play though on “Veteran” I would estimate that early on I died about 20-30 times in various choke points in the game (some of the fighting on Omega, some of the fighting on a couple loyalty missions against Geth (they really rip through shields now). I’m looking forward to expanding my skills with Hardcore and Insanity, and I imagine they’ll be quite tough, even with a re-play character. I played ME1 first on the 360 about 4 times (Normal, Veteran, Hardcore, and Insanity) with various playthoughs. Only had “time” to run 1.5 characters through ME1 on PC (Veteran, and half a play on Hardcore). So I felt it was good for me. It was challenging, frustrating for the right amount of time at points when it should be (excepting that dang Eclipse Cargo Smuggling Mission) and just about perfectly balanced.
 
I personally enjoy the new “enhanced shooter aspect” of the game that was so much touted by the development team, and especially Dr’s Ray and Greg, however I am a bit concerned (as I was when I understood the changes from the gameplay footage and trailers). That my “more RPG savvy but less shooter-savvy friends (namely my Significant Other and a few reflex-challenged friends) will have difficulty with the game as compared to Mass1. I’m hoping Casual difficulty will ameliorate this for them, but I’m not sure it will. In appealing to the “broader audience” I believe Mass2 is getting, and thus, making it more profitable for Bioware/EA it may possibly have alienated a few people that loved Mass1, but I will have to wait and see how they react to it, as I said, I’ve had a lot of shooter experience (dating back to Wolfenstein 3D) so I wasn’t as worried about me. It did take quite a long time (about 40-60 hours) for me to really get the hang of targeting/aiming and ‘arcing’ my biotic abilities to produce results like smashing people on walls ceilings, etc, though once I got the hang of it I enjoyed it a lot, and it added another level of depth to the combat system using powers, and I’m looking forward to trying my adept, and seeing how singularity works. I was VERY impressed with my Sentinel though, even moreso than I was in Mass1. The different weapons all “felt” and functioned suitably differently and it was difficult to adapt to them all, and learn to use the “rock paper scissors” aspect of battle now (dealing with Shields/Barriers then armor and health. That particular facet made fighting YMIR mechs very difficult, unless you used a lot of heavy weapons (which I did not). It would’ve been nice to have a few more weapons I think, though, especially Heavy Weapons, with a bit more variety.
 
 I feel that the Heavy Weapon System probably could’ve been handled better, with more variety, though I really don’t know what specifically to suggest. I never looked back at the grenade launcher once I had something else, and only used the Cryo weapon once or twice, as it felt very “gimmicky” the same with the requisite flame thrower. It’s worth noting that I also never put a single point into Cryo Blast with my Sentinel, as I did not feel it fit her style, it’s more than likely something I will play with on an Engineer. The Cain, while useful in one or two specific instances really feels like an “overkill/BFG-style weapon, which, while requisite I personally never really enjoy. I believe I fired it twice in the entire game, and could see perhaps 2-3 more situations where it would’ve been handy, but that’s about it. My time was spilt between the Missile Launcher (again, requisite but reasonably handy) and the Particle Beam (which was my favorite heavy) but once I acquired the Sniper Rifle, I almost never used it again. In that regard, I feel the Heavy System is either overpowered, or underpowered depending on the weapon, and situation, and was, at least so far, underutilized.
 
The N7 missions were well done and every one was different and varied, much better and different than the generic exploration missions in Mass1. I particularly enjoyed the 2-3 “Solo” N7 missions I got to do, I’d love to see more of those, maybe even some with some light fighting (my Sentinel can probably handle it).
 
I think the most negative thing I could say is in the way the “DLC/Preorder” Armors were handled. Much like Dragon Age, I despise not being able to see my Shepard’s face in the game; that is why I used the helmet toggle on everyone in Mass1, why I did not (with rare exception) equip helmets in Dragon Age (except some party members) and why I do not like any of the armors we were given in Mass2 beyond the “default” N7 armor. While I enjoyed the customizability and tinting aspect of that, a large portion of that customization was covered up when you switched to any armor pieces beyond the absolute default N7 choices, and the Visor or Sentry Band for the head. This was even more horrible with the Inferno Armor (which I specifically went out of my way to get, because I liked its look) and while I enjoyed the clear face place, I still hated the helmet aspect, especially in any cut scenes such as, for example, drinking at the bar on Omega, or getting a kiss from someone. After seeing the drinking cut scene on Omega, I switched away from the armor, never to use it again. I would’ve LOVED to use the Collector’s Armor but the helmet entirely turned me off of it, if I could’ve just had it from the neck down, I’d have worn it all the time. I passed on trying the Blood Dragon armor for the same reason. While I understand why this happened as it was likely a technical limitation because the “armors” were merely “skins” that totally covered the character, and were entirely unable to be customized because of that, I cannot agree with it; it feels entirely like an “afterthought” than it does a true “game system”. At this point I wish I had gotten the Gamestop version, just so I could have the Blackstorm gun, which would’ve actually been useful. Please do not release anymore armors in this fashion. If you DO release anymore, they should be customizable or have a “version” of the armor without a helmet (even if this hurts my stats in some way). Were it not for the other Collector’s Items (the Rifle, the Soundtrack, the Artbook and Comic, and especially the Incisor Sniper Rifle) I would’ve felt very disappointed in the Collector’s Edition, if I’d relied on the Collector’s Armor and Inferno Armor. It’s a shame I never got to use that Negotiation Boost (which I ended up not needing anyway). This is without a doubt the weakest aspect of the game, for me, at least, it seems ridiculous to put so much effort into creating a face crafting system (and put the effort in by myself to make USE of it) only to hide it, obviously there was a reason the helmet toggle was in Mass1, put it back. Do NOT do this again.
 
All in all, I feel like Mass2 is Bioware’s best game to date, without question, and is certainly much more polished than any previous, and was actually ‘ready” to be released for once. I’m looking forward anxiously to new DLC and reasons to run replays and new Shepards, beyond the storyline differences. I will likely be playing Mass1 and Mass2 for years now, waiting anxiously for the epic conclusion to the trilogy. No action movie could do this, no previous video game has done this, it is almost the birth of a new genre, and I feel I have Bioware and EA to thank for it. Again, this post is nothing beyond my own experiences and opinions check the spoilers section later today for my Storyline post, where I will be a bit harder on the game.
 
Yours Always Respectfully,

Rayne Myria Solo