Mass Effect 2

[trobinson97]

Re: Mass Effect 2

I keep having to look up who Will Wheaton is. I see him in a bunch of stuff and have no idea who he is.

I'm still waiting on a Star Trek spin off that follows Wesley Crusher.

[Altimus]

Re: Mass Effect 2

I can't believe we're less than a week away now.

[Jukeman]

Re: Mass Effect 2

man, I want this game bad!!! but Im so backed up on games already.....Heh, I still havent finished Half-Life on The Orange Box

[goh]

Re: Mass Effect 2

Anybody know how long ME 2 main quest is supposed to be? If I remember my last play through for ME 1 clocked in at a little over 24 hours.

20-30 hours but if you only do the main quests all your characters will die. If my understanding is correct it may even be less than that,it's possible you actually don't have to do any of the recruit missions and the game would be very short and end very badly.

[mudtiger]

Re: Mass Effect 2

I keep having to look up who Will Wheaton is. I see him in a bunch of stuff and have no idea who he is.

I believe that is pronounced Whhhil Whhheaton

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[jmood88]

Re: Mass Effect 2

X-Play Mass Effect 2 special

[Candyman5]

Re: Mass Effect 2

X-Play Mass Effect 2 special

I guess link is broken or it got taken down.

[Flawless]

Re: Mass Effect 2

A brief look at the new Normandy.

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Fidget Interview

TC: Let's talk a bit about the combat. Mass Effect itself was already pretty action-oriented. It had a very shooter feel to it. However, it seems like part of what you guys are trying to do in Mass Effect 2 is take out some of the RPG staples like med-kits, ammo types, the armor restrictions. It sounds like this streamlining means you really want to appeal to fans of shooters. Do you feel that's a fair characterization?

CH: I think it's not entirely accurate. In terms of how Mass Effect 2 has been promoted, we're showing a lot of the improvements and again a lot the focus has been improving the combat. But it's not so much a shift in focus. You're right that we have changed or removed some of the tropes of role-playing games.

For example, one thing people will find is they'll jump in the game and they'll go, "Okay, where's my inventory screen?" And there actually isn't an inventory screen. But all the things our inventory screen did are actually still there, but in a way that allows you to do those things better and with more customization.

For example, previously, one of the things the inventory screen did is let you pick which armor you want. But now we have an entirely separate interface where you build your armor, piece by piece, out of the armor pieces that you found or purchased in stores. You actually piece together your armor, and you get the look that you want. You get the bonuses in combat that you want from each different piece. It's much deeper. But because it's a system all on its own and it's not part of the inventory screen, you might say, "Oh, well, where did it go?" But when you find it, you actually end up customizing to a much greater degree.

You mentioned ammo types. Again, one of the things you could do on the inventory screen was modify each weapon to shoot a certain kind of ammo. But now, in terms of an improvement, you don't want to stop and go into an inventory screen, go through a few layers of it, and set your ammo to incendiary rounds. You actually want to be able to do that live, in a combat situation. You'll switch your ammo right then for an enemy that's susceptible to incendiary ammo. We've made the ammo types a power that you can fire from the real-time gameplay area using the power screen. But not only that, the power screen allows you to map the powers to the controller. Now you can map incendiary ammo, for example, to one of the shoulder buttons.

TC: With that in mind, Casey, tell me what you're doing about complaints about exploring with the Mako. I know that was another common complaint and it's something you guys have said you want to address. What's your approach there?

CH: We stepped back and thought about what we were trying to achieve with the expanded parts of the world. One aspect of it is that when we look at feedback like that, one potential solution is to wonder if we really need that part of the experience. If people had issues with it, should we cut it? Maybe it actually doesn't need to be there. But when you really look closely and interpret it, I think part of the passion behind the feedback was that people wanted to explore planets. We wanted to make sure to better fulfill that fantasy, so we took the opposite approach on this game. Instead of building those expanded universe pieces out of lighter content, we took the opposite approach. Everything you discover up there really needs to be a unique stretch of gameplay, or a unique storyline. Something different. Something exotic that you couldn't otherwise do in the main game.

We call those N7 missions. And the way you find N7 missions is by doing a new orbital minigame that allows you to scan and find locations where these N7 missions are hidden. And when you find them, you drop down and experience something weird and wonderful and very different from any other missions you've come across.

TC: Now a couple of nuts-and-bolts questions. You mentioned the N7 missions, which are optional. How does Mass Effect 2 deal with the power curve? For instance, when games are nonlinear and you can't be certain how powerful a character is going to be at a given point, there are different ways to handle that. What is your approach this time?

CH: We have challenge scaling, so if you come across something in the beginning of the game or the end of the game, it will continue to offer you a challenge. It's not one-to-one in the sense that if you're tremendously powerful, you'll have exactly the same difficulty in an encounter as you had at the beginning of the game. But it does reflect the fact that you get stronger. So if you find a mission is difficult, you can still come back later with a more powerful character and have an easier time with it. But the challenge scale won't let you completely blow away certain levels with a more powerful character.

But the other aspect is that Mass Effect 2 is much more of a balance-able game for us. The improvements that we made in combat are a little bit more about you being smart and tactical as a player, as well as being skillful as a player. It's not just strictly the rules that determine whether it's possible to win a certain fight. It also comes down to how you play it. How you move your squad during battles, the powers you decide to employ, your precision. You might find that you get your butt kicked by a level. One way to approach it is to come back later. But another way to approach it is to say, "Okay, how do I absolutely maximize what I'm doing here? Have everyone in cover, headshots, incendiary ammo. I'm going to do all these things." And then you might find that you can succeed.

[Flawless]

Re: Mass Effect 2

Giant Bombcast: Mass Effect 2 Edition

We sit down with BioWare's Casey Hudson to discuss Mass Effect 2's sci-fi inspiration, DLC, sexy aliens, the BioWare doctors, and more.

[Flawless]

Re: Mass Effect 2

Giant Bomb podcast is great.

...

Launch trailer (maybe a little spoilery)

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/masseffect2workingtitle/video/6246724/mass-effect-2-launch-trailer

One of the best trailers ever.

[sportsdude]

Re: Mass Effect 2

Anybody else going to try to get this early? I think I might be able to get it Saturday.

[jmood88]

Re: Mass Effect 2

I preordered the collector's edition awhile ago so I'm not going to be getting mine until Gamestop ships it.

[The 24th Letter]

Re: Mass Effect 2

ill have it Monday per gamestop connect..but eh....thats not really early lol..

[Pokes]

Re: Mass Effect 2

Anybody else going to try to get this early? I think I might be able to get it Saturday.

I got ME a week early I'm gonna try to get this one early too.

[sportsdude]

Re: Mass Effect 2

Yeah I didn't really care enough about the armor to reserve a copy at gamestop, though I do admit it does look pretty cool.