Mass Effect 2

[Queequeg]

Ah to be in college and no social life

All my friends are gone and I'm at home, broke, a week before I go to Turkey.  Nothing else to do. 

[katmai]

Ah to be in college and no social life

All my friends are gone and I'm at home, broke, a week before I go to Turkey.  Nothing else to do.

Suuuuure Queellus.

[Neil]

Princesca actually bought this yesterday but I don't think she's checked it out yet.  I am in no rush to play it yet because I still have so many games queued up to play, and I assume it'll have the usual post-launch bugs.

Some texture ripping/tearing, and one amusing biotic effect bug that ended up with me being launched into the ceiling and getting stuck there.  Otherwise, no bugs experienced yet.

Hey, the first time I played it, every one of your henchmen would float in midair, and the only way to get them down was to kneecap them.  It's come a long way.

[Grallon]

About fifteen hours in, and it's amazing.  Far better than the first game; if you haven't bought the first game, it may not be worth playing at this point.

Is it just a shooter or no?  and how does it compare ot DAO in terms of story structure?



G.

[Queequeg]

It is probably most like Jade Empire;  more on the Action side of Action-RPG, but still a great plot, even if I found the ending disappointing.  Very, very well developed NPCs.    Especially Miranda.  Very, very well developed. 

[Tamas]

Especially Miranda

Just careful with your drooling over her, I havent finished the game yet.

[Scipio]

About fifteen hours in, and it's amazing.  Far better than the first game; if you haven't bought the first game, it may not be worth playing at this point.

Is it just a shooter or no?  and how does it compare ot DAO in terms of story structure?



G.

It's not as spread out as DAO.  It's a much smaller universe.  Of course, you are starting out as the person who saved the universe, so that gives you a certain notoriety.  I like how it integrated the first game's NPCs into the story.

[katmai]

By the end, on my Veteran play, I had to keep checking if I was still at hardcore level,

So which one was it? Veteran or hardcore?

I just finished on Veteran, gonna try it on hardcore

[grumbler]

I found this looking up on the subject.  http://www.tweakguides.com/Piracy_1.html  It seems to be aimed at those points.  I'm curious what you think of it.

I don't disagree with any of it.  In fact, I think it is correct to note that the reason why companies have shifted to consoles is because they are so much easier to design for.  It would be hard to argue that 250,000 downloads of fallout 3 equaled the loss of 250,000 sales of fallout 3, but it certainly can be assumed to result in SOME lost sales.

The smart thing for Neil's company to do isn't to say "someone is stealing copies of our games, so we will get all pouty and forgo any profits from PC sales, just to teach them a lesson," but rather to delay the PC version of the games by three months or so, so the console tards will buy the console versions rather than downloading the PC version illegally.  You will still have piracy (I don't see any way to get rid of it, much as I'd like to) but you won't be foolishly forgoing profits by not releasing a PC version, either.

[Syt]

Trying to redeem my preorder stuff:

Our Apologies

The BioWare websites; online store; master server; and online authentication are temporarily unavailable. Sorry folks; we're having a few technical difficulties. Those pesky Gnomes are banging away at the giant, steam-producing clockwork computers we keep in the basement guarded by Swikky the dire squirrel. We will be back up as soon as we can.

[Neil]

I found this looking up on the subject.  http://www.tweakguides.com/Piracy_1.html  It seems to be aimed at those points.  I'm curious what you think of it.

I don't disagree with any of it.  In fact, I think it is correct to note that the reason why companies have shifted to consoles is because they are so much easier to design for.  It would be hard to argue that 250,000 downloads of fallout 3 equaled the loss of 250,000 sales of fallout 3, but it certainly can be assumed to result in SOME lost sales.

The smart thing for Neil's company to do isn't to say "someone is stealing copies of our games, so we will get all pouty and forgo any profits from PC sales, just to teach them a lesson," but rather to delay the PC version of the games by three months or so, so the console tards will buy the console versions rather than downloading the PC version illegally.  You will still have piracy (I don't see any way to get rid of it, much as I'd like to) but you won't be foolishly forgoing profits by not releasing a PC version, either.

Depending on how lucrative the profits, of course.  Many IP-related companies are willing to pay a premium in order to defend their IP.  Personally, I like the 'release a PC version 6 months later' idea myself, but the problem with that is that the further you push it PC release back from launch day, the more your PC sales shrink.  And when your sales go down, that brings you back to the costs of porting it to the PC in the first place.

[katmai]

  Personally, I like the 'release a PC version 6 months later' idea myself, but the problem with that is that the further you push it PC release back from launch day, the more your PC sales shrink.  And when your sales go down, that brings you back to the costs of porting it to the PC in the first place.

I'm sure you if anybody will correct me if i'm wrong but that strategy is what they did with Mass Effect 1?

As it's the only reason i can see why I would have chosen 360 version.

[DisturbedPervert]

delay the PC version of the games by three months or so, so the console tards will buy the console versions rather than downloading the PC version illegally. 

They could pirate the console version or go to Blockbuster and rent the console version.  I'm not sure why they'd buy.

[viper37]

Is it just a shooter or no?  and how does it compare ot DAO in terms of story structure?

G.

I personally prefer DAO.  I feel the universe is bigger, the character interaction funnier, the world feel alive around you.

In ME2, it looks like a console game designed for console, dumbed down for consoles, and then ported to PC.

The game has superb graphics, there seems to be a rich universe, I like the option to make a "bold move" (renegade option) or be super nice while in a scene and not waiting for the dialogue interaction.

I like that I'm walking around with a big gun and shooting everything in front of me.

But it's a console game really.

The locals around you are static.  There's plenty of ammo everywhere, you don't have to really strategize your angle of attack.  Every ammunitions types is the same.  The controls are overly simplistic, designed to be used with a game controller rather than a kb & mouse.
The dialogues are short and to the point.  No wasting time in small talks.
The levels are very small, and very short.  It takes no more than 10 minutes to complete a secondary quests.  There's a ton of it however, but... I don't know.


It's an action shooter hybrid, more shooter than action, imho.  The dialogues are there to extend the gameplay, not drive it, really.

The roller thing across mountains aside, I prefered ME1, so far.

It's a fun game, but it feels like your basic console game, got there, shoot some some bad guys, press a couple of buttons to get stuff, etc, etc.

There's no inventory in the game.  You go to your locker, and you switch armor, guns, and civilian clothes there.  You don't buy a gun, you buy an upgrade to your weapons or ship.
Then you go to the lab where you can research the upgrade if you have sufficient minerals...

Wich brings me to the dull part.  To get minerals, you have to scan planets.  You scan the planet with your mouse and a little radar like thingie and a scanner.  If you find minerals, you then lauch a probe (wich you buy at a fuel depot) to gather the minerals.  You can send any number of probes to a planet to gather minerals, but usually, 10-15 probes are sufficient.  Still, it's tedious&boring when you've done it 10 times.

I'm not sure you would like that.
First&foremost, there's no gay bordello, not even a gay character
Second... I think you like a game that is challenging in other ways than simply shooting tough guys who have shields&armor while you don't.

Anyway, it's my opinion, if there's a demo out ther, try it, if not, try the illegal download and play a couple of missions before you buy it.

It seems to be a long game, but... not because it's long... if that makes sense. 

[Syt]

Have played the tutorial and into of ME2. I like the story so far, but it appears the combat is "a bit" simplified? For that matter, where's my inventory? And why do I have to carry/collect ammo all of a sudden? I guess I'll get used to it. I sucked at ME1 combat at first, too.

I like the two hacking minigames so far. Better than the one in ME1 (PC or XBox).