Mass Effect 2

[goh]

Re: Mass Effect 2

The award-winning Mass Effect game universe has now arrived on your iPhone and iPod Touch! Tales of human courage and individual human achievement resound throughout the galaxy. Here is your opportunity to play the story of Jacob Taylor, a biotic-powered super-soldier who stumbles across a plot to terrorize civilization's greatest beacon of hope. Can you prevent a heinous attack that threatens to knock humanity off the galactic stage?

* Gripping story line that enables you, playing super-soldier Jacob Taylor, to prevent galactic chaos
* Stylish art presentation delivers an animated graphic novel experience
* A blend of nuance story telling with gripping top-down shooter combat
* Experience the back story behind some of the main characters in the upcoming Mass Effect 2 (for Xbox 360 and PC)
* 2 hour story-based experience with stunning graphics, animated presentation and top-down arcade-style combat

http://kotaku.com/5231724/mass-effec...l-jacobs-story

[burnwood]

Re: Mass Effect 2

I'm buying it without even blinking.

[goh]

Re: Mass Effect 2

More art: http://kotaku.com/5233410/new-mass-effect-2-artwork

[Flawless]

Re: Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect Blog - It's Been A While

It’s been a while since my last blog post, as we’ve been working like mad on Mass Effect 2 for about 18 months now. There’s so much to say about what’s been happening, but where to start? Well I guess the first thing that comes to mind is how far we’ve come in this journey of bringing the Mass Effect universe to life.

I remember announcing the first Mass Effect in Amsterdam back in 2005. In that first presentation, we laid out a pretty ambitious vision: that Mass Effect would be a trilogy of games and that you’d be able to see the effects of your decisions cascade across an epic 3-game story arc. Were we being naïve? Reckless? Looking back, it certainly seems like an audacious claim. But as I look around at the amazing work happening here on Mass Effect 2, it’s extremely exciting to see that the team is coming through on that promise, far beyond what I could have imagined at the time.

When Mass Effect was released, we were very happy to see how well it was received. But the first thing we did in designing Mass Effect 2 was to listen very carefully to what people were saying about how they played the first one – what they loved, what they wanted to see improved, and the countless anecdotes that describe players’ personal experiences with their unique paths through the story. We read forum posts, reviews, watched people playing the game on YouTube, and literally noted and categorized every piece of feedback we could find, to help us target an overall evolution of the gameplay to the way people actually experienced it. In other words, when you were talking, we were listening.

That important perspective, combined with the existing trilogy story and our own ambitions for new features, formed the blueprint for Mass Effect 2 – the dark second act in the trilogy.

And so we arrive at today, with a game still veiled from the public but bearing so many improvements and exciting content that it feels like it’s straining to break free. Fortunately we’ll be able to do that this summer when we demonstrate it at E3. Until then, I can only say that you can look forward to some incredible new experiences in Mass Effect 2 as the story takes on even larger proportions, along with a ton of gameplay improvements and a return of the things most loved by players of the first game.

Most importantly though I want to thank players and fans of Mass Effect for sharing our excitement in this epic story, and for providing the support that helps us continue our pursuit of creating something truly special.

Oh, and I’ve heard some rumors that Commander Shepard is dead. Better not be. We had a lot of big plans made, so if someone’s gone and killed Shepard then things are going to take an unexpected turn…

[Flawless]

Re: Mass Effect 2

Pre-E3 video coming tomorrow

Just watched tomorrow's new Mass Effect 2 pre-E3 video. ME2 is definitely looking very cool. - Evil Chris

[ChaseB]

Re: Mass Effect 2

Good to hear. I'm hopeful for the sequel and I think we are going to see some very good Western-style RPGs over the next year because this is one of a few that could be potentially good.

[Altimus]

Re: Mass Effect 2

I'm buying it without even blinking.

Same, any news when it will hit?

[Flawless]

Re: Mass Effect 2

<embed src='http://videomedia.ign.com/ev/ev.swf' flashvars='object_ID=14235013&downloadURL=http://xbox360movies.ign.com/xbox360/video/article/983/983039/masseffect2_trl_pree3_7051409_flvlowwide.flv&allow networking="all%"' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' width='433' height='360'></embed><div style='width:433;'><a href='http://xbox360.ign.com/objects/142/14235013.html'>More Mass Effect 2 Info</a></div>

[jmood88]

Re: Mass Effect 2

Man I can't wait for this. Hopefully the shooting off limbs thing will have something to do with what ammo you have, the one thing I hated about Mass Effect 1 was that if you had a plasma mod to your ammo you didn't see anything happen until you killed whoever you were shooting.

[Altimus]

Re: Mass Effect 2

Ah damn you Bioware and your teasing ways. Fortunately E3 is around the corner but after that it will be a very long wait.

[Flawless]

Re: Mass Effect 2

Also, an Interview.

1UP: I'm noticing a lot of ominous skies and dark halls that look very un-Citadel in the new video. Where do you go in Mass Effect 2, is there a fair amount of revisiting established places, or more about exploring the unknown?

CH: That is one of the fun things we want to do, I think there is a balance because, part of the great thing about establishing places like the Citadel, is that it's kind of there so you can return to it and have more and more stories that take place there. And we're doing that -- you get to go back to the Citadel and see some places that you've been to, but also some places that are just different parts of that space station. But then we'll also go to tons of different locations you've never seen before. And as this game is the darker second act, it really is a descent into the most brutal parts of the Mass Effect universe. One of the places we mentioned in the [second] book, we talked about a place called Omega, which is basically the opposite of the Citadel. Where the Citadel is the elite and the best of the galaxy, Omega is a huge space station that is really rough and tough, the ultimate representation of crime, and a dangerous place to be in. But there's that, and many different places you go to.

I guess I will spoiler this - about your saved game:

Spoiler

1UP: So just to confirm, a decision such as whether you saved the Council or not during Saren's attack in the first game, that makes for alternate beginning in Mass Effect 2, right?

CH: It actually does; when you start Mass Effect 2 with a savegame from Mass Effect, that is the first thing you'll notice. It answers the state of the universe that you left in your actual playthrough. If you decided to let the Council die, then they're dead in the beginning of Mass Effect 2, and you'll know that right away.

1UP: Can you talk about other ways that a Mass Effect save could affect Mass Effect 2?

CH: So there're a few different scales of things. On the high level, there is your earlier example of the Galactic Council that runs the galaxy. You could have been ruthless, let them die, and let the Humans take that position. And that's a very high-level thing about what's written into the story of Mass Effect 2. And there's mid-level choice where you're deciding who's going to live or die in dangerous situations -- Wrex, for example. At some point there's a confrontation, and you might want to kill them, or save them but be unable to, in Mass Effect. With him in particular, being alive or dead in Mass Effect 2 is something we built in. But then there's also the smaller stuff; in Mass Effect 2, like any other good story, we'll have to flesh it out with characters and dialogue, and there's all kinds of fun we can have at that level. If you're going to make a character for Mass Effect 2, maybe there's something interesting about that character from the first game, and having played it, you'll recognize why them being in a certain situation is the result of something that you did.

One important thing that we also want to get across is that Mass Effect 2 is an awesome entry point into the universe, even if you've never played Mass Effect. Like a movie or book that's part of a larger series, you'll want to start it with by bringing people in with everything they need to know to like this story. For somebody who's played Mass Effect 2 without playing the first one, they're going to love how it starts and get right into the story, and when they run into a subplot, they'll have fun and make decisions. But the difference is that if you played Mass Effect, then when you run into that same situation, you'll recognize that character and realize that, "oh my god, back in the first game, I made that choice and I thought that was over and contained in just that game, but wow, here it is."

1UP: With all of this talk about Mass Effect 2 being the dark second act, you're not going to follow the footsteps of another famous dark second act in a sci-fi trilogy, and give us a cliffhanger ending, are you?

CH: One of the biggest questions or concerns that we had during interviews of the first game, was people asking "wait a minute, if this is a trilogy, then does that mean that when I get to the end, there's just going to be a cliffhanger?" So what we promised people is that Mass Effect would have a huge climactic ending and you'll feel that you've beaten the game. You'll know that there's more, but you'll feel that you accomplished something. And I think we did that well, that's one of the things we had a lot of feedback on -- how strong the ending felt, even though you know the story is going to continue. We're definitely going to do that again; I think it's incredibly important that if you put time into a game, for a story, even though it's part of a trilogy, it doesn't matter: it's got to have a great ending, a huge climactic ending to make you feel like you've actually done something. And then knowing that you have some idea for what's in the third installation.

Spoiler

1UP: I'm just curious, how can you top the crazy Citadel-falling-apart scenario in the end? Will you be fighting on a planet that's cracking in half for Mass Effect 2's setpiece or something?

CH: I can tell you that you start to realize the scope of what you're doing when you go from ideas to developing concept art, and then starting to play through the initial versions. Regarding the ending, I can tell you that there are times where I'm talking with a concept artist or art director, and we're looking at what you're going to see and do with the ending, and we're thinking, "oh my god, this is huge, this is going really far." And people who thought that the first one had an epic scope, this is really jaw-dropping. Even after playing the first two-thirds of Mass Effect 2, you still won't be prepared for what you get to in the ending. It really expands the scope of the story in fun and surprising ways. That's what Derek Watts is referring to in the video; there're some places that are fun to do, but nasty for the end.

1UP: One theory that I've seen pop up a few times after the teaser premiered is that maybe Shepard's consciousness is transferred into a Geth somehow, and that Shepard is infiltrating the Geth network undercover. How do you react to hearing a theory like that?

CH: My reaction is pure enjoyment. I love all the theories, because one thing it says is that people actually get the story elements that are at play, and what those things could mean. The more concrete answer is that none of the theories that I've read, and as many of them as I've read, none of them are what we're doing.

[jmood88]

Re: Mass Effect 2

One smaller character I'm sure will show up depending on what you did is the Fan.

[Altimus]

Re: Mass Effect 2

One smaller character I'm sure will show up depending on what you did is the Fan.

Yeah, it will be interesting to see what role he plays because he was a... interesting character.

[Altimus]

Re: Mass Effect 2

Also, an Interview.



I guess I will spoiler this - about your saved game:

Spoiler

Great find on the interview BTW. Good read.

[ChaseB]

Re: Mass Effect 2

Great find on the interview BTW. Good read.

Good thing I still have my save file...Oh wait, I don't.