First time I died I went back about 15 minutes worth.
Second time the game "froze" (buttons wouldnt work but menu did) as I went in an elevator so I tried loading what I "thought" was a save but apparently it didnt register cause I was in combat earlier so now Im back doing that same 15-20 minutes worth again.
eww is it a checkpoint system? This is one of the hundreds of games I have that I still haven't played. This was one of my major gripes with Magicka. Hated the checkpoint system in that game. Not to mention the CTDs that would fuck up 30 minutes of gameplay.
Mass Effect may not be that bad, I dont really remember. But this is thing I probably hate most about console ports, the checkpoint save system. I mean how hard is it to include a save anywhere. I think the worst offender I ever played was Lord of the Rings Conquest. I believe you had to finish an entire level, and if you died or restarted had to go back to the beginning of the level. I finally just quit the game and have never gone back.
Mass Effect may not be that bad, I dont really remember. But this is thing I probably hate most about console ports, the checkpoint save system. I mean how hard is it to include a save anywhere. I think the worst offender I ever played was Lord of the Rings Conquest. I believe you had to finish an entire level, and if you died or restarted had to go back to the beginning of the level. I finally just quit the game and have never gone back.
I learned to quicksave often in ME1 the first time I tried to the steer the mako and it did a 180 sending me off the skybridge.
That made me go back about 45 minutes, go berserk, and uninstall the game. Came back and finished a year later and I was kinda pissed at myself for not persevering the first time because after the first few slow missions it turned into a great game.
lies. The story is the only thing that is better in ME1. Inventory was a horrible mess of stupid (having a ton of guns that are the same with just better stats was lame. Having to dig deeper and deeper into menus for ammo was bad design), combat was clunkier, the mako was HORRIBLE, elevators as loading screens was a terrible idea and companion AI was borderline retarded.
ME1 had a deeper set of skill points, which gives about the same amount of "power" as ME2. ME1 had the RPG elements of a terrible inventory, bad controls in both combat and in the mako, and long long times of driving around doing nothing (an RPG staple) looking for shit on planets. Also the whole you "inventory is full, now convert all these upgrades to omni-gel cause we don't give you another option" bullshit.
ME2 has better graphics (obviously), better characters, retarded story, better combat controls, streamlined "inventory" (I know it isn't really an inventory, but it was never needed in ME1 anyway, all you did was upgrade to the highest rank gun that fit your character, and changed to the right ammo vs X), the ship upgrades were cooler, no mako driving, scanning is boring but still better than the mako. More unique environments, better AI on both sides, better mission presentation, better loading screens. Better side missions, less copy-pasting entire enemy "bases" for side missions.
Overall ME2 is clearly a better game, unless somehow you have nostalgia for a clunkier game on almost all fronts with a slightly more interesting main story, boring side characters, and a needlessly complex inventory system.
Overall ME2 is clearly a better game, unless somehow you have nostalgia for a clunkier game on almost all fronts with a slightly more interesting main story, boring side characters, and a needlessly complex inventory system.
You make solid points but fortunately for us we are all allowed to make up our own minds. I won't deny that ME2 is the superior game in many ways, but each of us is capable of determining which game we preferred and the reasons why.
For myself it was the story along with the "feel". The first time the Normandy came in to dock at the citidel....the moment when you become a spectre....the life/death decision about the Arachni....ME1 was filled with all of these great moments that made me feel like I was really part of it all. It was more subtle. While ME2 had the better design and the the story overall was just as well written, the game traded mystique for glitter.
Not saying I didn't love ME2, but the Cerberus focus and the Collector's storyline felt like weak sidetracks to what I accomplished in ME.
lies. The story is the only thing that is better in ME1. Inventory was a horrible mess of stupid (having a ton of guns that are the same with just better stats was lame. Having to dig deeper and deeper into menus for ammo was bad design), combat was clunkier, the mako was HORRIBLE, elevators as loading screens was a terrible idea and companion AI was borderline retarded.
ME1 had a deeper set of skill points, which gives about the same amount of "power" as ME2. ME1 had the RPG elements of a terrible inventory, bad controls in both combat and in the mako, and long long times of driving around doing nothing (an RPG staple) looking for shit on planets. Also the whole you "inventory is full, now convert all these upgrades to omni-gel cause we don't give you another option" bullshit.
ME2 has better graphics (obviously), better characters, retarded story, better combat controls, streamlined "inventory" (I know it isn't really an inventory, but it was never needed in ME1 anyway, all you did was upgrade to the highest rank gun that fit your character, and changed to the right ammo vs X), the ship upgrades were cooler, no mako driving, scanning is boring but still better than the mako. More unique environments, better AI on both sides, better mission presentation, better loading screens. Better side missions, less copy-pasting entire enemy "bases" for side missions.
Overall ME2 is clearly a better game, unless somehow you have nostalgia for a clunkier game on almost all fronts with a slightly more interesting main story, boring side characters, and a needlessly complex inventory system.
Let me paraphrase. ME2 is more like a shooter, so it's better? I get the improvements on the AI and less copy/paste stuff (thats good) but most of what you said is the bread and butter of a roog RPG. Exploration, custimization, and story. If you care more about 'inventory management' than customizing your party/characters, you really want something other than an RPG.
You make solid points but fortunately for us we are all allowed to make up our own minds. I won't deny that ME2 is the superior game in many ways, but each of us is capable of determining which game we preferred and the reasons why.
For myself it was the story along with the "feel". The first time the Normandy came in to dock at the citidel....the moment when you become a spectre....the life/death decision about the Arachni....ME1 was filled with all of these great moments that made me feel like I was really part of it all. It was more subtle. While ME2 had the better design and the the story overall was just as well written, the game traded mystique for glitter.
Not saying I didn't love ME2, but the Cerberus focus and the Collector's storyline felt like weak sidetracks to what I accomplished in ME.
Oh there is nothing wrong with liking 1 over 2, everyone has their own tastes etc. I wasn't trying to say that people are wrong for liking 1, I may have come across that way but it wasn't my intent. I think I also have a different opinion since I played them both back to back recently and not at release. ME1 had a clearly better story, the Cerberus stuff was weak and the
whole killing shep off at the beginning and bringing him back was unnecessary and dumb.
It was done solely to give them an excuse to put him on Cerberus.
Let me paraphrase. ME2 is more like a shooter, so it's better? I get the improvements on the AI and less copy/paste stuff (thats good) but most of what you said is the bread and butter of a roog RPG. Exploration, custimization, and story. If you care more about 'inventory management' than customizing your party/characters, you really want something other than an RPG.
I understand that ME2 is less RPG than ME1. But ME1 is a shooter as well as an rpg, and they removed the RPG elements that added very little to the gameplay. You could "customize" your character by a very small amount really. Yes the classes felt more unique in ME1, but the core gameplay of both games is Cover Based Shooter. Which ME2 does much better than ME1.
Maybe because of how I played ME1 I never understood the customization thing, nothing really changes that much. They are all subtle and small increases to your stats, and the ammo was pretty much, "are they synthetic or organic targets? choose the ammo that does more vs that" not a very deep or interesting system.
RPG stands for role playing game, in ME1 and ME2 you play a significant role, can change the course of events based on your decisions and organize and control a team. Both are RPG's ME2 just got rid of a lot of the elements that the average gamer didn't care for and improved the ones that the majority of people liked. Which I know makes people mad, but it makes sense as a game designer and as a business. You design the game to be liked and played by the largest amount of people while still meeting your standards.
I don't personally have time to spend 40min on a planet driving from location to location over stupidly sharp peaks with an uncooperative car to only have it navigate itself into touching lava with an inch of tire and having to do it all over again. Sure exploration is an RPG staple, but it sucked in ME1.
The story in ME1 though is clearly better. Even though I really didn't care about the Rachni Queen as much as some people (I only let her go cause Liara wanted me to and I was trying to sleep with her and thought it would help). But the story with Wrex was better and overall the story had more impact. The collectors were kinda meh, after ME2 main story was over I was surprised at how short it was, and how little it seemed I had accomplished in fighting the reapers.
This is all just my opinion and is in no way intended to be the "right" way to think of the games. I just found ME2 to be a more entertaining and enjoyable game experience than ME1. As a whole they are both great games and are part of a great series and story, hopefully 3 can keep the trend going without pissing off too many people.
I also don't understand people who say the story is epic and unique, when it's pretty much a standard sci-fi story in almost every way. The only really unique things are the side characters.
Also I'd like to say that making something "more like a shooter" does mot make it better. But when a game already revolves around shooting as THE core gameplay element, making the shooting better makes for a better game.
I also don't understand people who say the story is epic and unique, when it's pretty much a standard sci-fi story in almost every way. The only really unique things are the side characters.
I guess it depends on the target audience. There are many scifi fans out there who have been looking for a space opera that isn't Star Wars or Star Trek while at the same time not be tainted by the JRPG community. Fantasy RPGs are a dime a dozen, but an truly well written future space based RPG hasn't been around in ages. It is difficult to do without making things cheesy, but Bioware managed to hit it out of the park.
Also, there are many of us who remember Sentinel Worlds, Planet's Edge, Buck Rogers Countdown to Doomsday and Matrix Cubed, Star Control.....there were tons of great sci-fi RPGs back in the day....today, not so much.
I guess it depends on the target audience. There are many scifi fans out there who have been looking for a space opera that isn't Star Wars or Star Trek while at the same time not be tainted by the JRPG community. Fantasy RPGs are a dime a dozen, but an truly well written future space based RPG hasn't been around in ages. It is difficult to do without making things cheesy, but Bioware managed to hit it out of the park.
Also, there are many of us who remember Sentinel Worlds, Planet's Edge, Buck Rogers Countdown to Doomsday and Matrix Cubed, Star Control.....there were tons of great sci-fi RPGs back in the day....today, not so much.
Gotcha, most of those were games I never played. I agree the ME story is very good I just don't see it as "ground breaking" like some other game sites/fans/reviewers.
I would love for there to be more space games, modern shooters and fantasy are so stale right now. I hope that ME can bring them to the forefront, and they've done a good job so far.
I guess it depends on the target audience. There are many scifi fans out there who have been looking for a space opera that isn't Star Wars or Star Trek while at the same time not be tainted by the JRPG community. Fantasy RPGs are a dime a dozen, but an truly well written future space based RPG hasn't been around in ages. It is difficult to do without making things cheesy, but Bioware managed to hit it out of the park.
Also, there are many of us who remember Sentinel Worlds, Planet's Edge, Buck Rogers Countdown to Doomsday and Matrix Cubed, Star Control.....there were tons of great sci-fi RPGs back in the day....today, not so much.
I would love it if someone would take Sentinel Worlds and run with it. that would be epic and a half (in my book).
As far as Epic Sci Fi, I am not 100% sold that is why ME sold so well. More that it was a spiritual successor to KoTOR, but as a unique intellectual property. Shame they have really been going down hill in the inevitable slide towards "main stream" in that ME2 (although enjoyable) stripped out quite a lot of what RPG gamers want and was present in ME1 and in the KoTOR series before it.
lies. The story is the only thing that is better in ME1. Inventory was a horrible mess of stupid (having a ton of guns that are the same with just better stats was lame. Having to dig deeper and deeper into menus for ammo was bad design), combat was clunkier, the mako was HORRIBLE, elevators as loading screens was a terrible idea and companion AI was borderline retarded.
ME1 had a deeper set of skill points, which gives about the same amount of "power" as ME2. ME1 had the RPG elements of a terrible inventory, bad controls in both combat and in the mako, and long long times of driving around doing nothing (an RPG staple) looking for shit on planets. Also the whole you "inventory is full, now convert all these upgrades to omni-gel cause we don't give you another option" bullshit.
ME2 has better graphics (obviously), better characters, retarded story, better combat controls, streamlined "inventory" (I know it isn't really an inventory, but it was never needed in ME1 anyway, all you did was upgrade to the highest rank gun that fit your character, and changed to the right ammo vs X), the ship upgrades were cooler, no mako driving, scanning is boring but still better than the mako. More unique environments, better AI on both sides, better mission presentation, better loading screens. Better side missions, less copy-pasting entire enemy "bases" for side missions.
ME2 had better graphics, i will give you that. But ME2 combat was basically poorly implemented FPS combat mechanics. Not seeing how that is better than what ME had. And ME1 story was worlds better than ME2. ME2 was basically that "filler middle book" in the trilogy. Some plot exposition, but nothing major happened. Point to ME1.
Overall ME2 is clearly a better game, unless somehow you have nostalgia for a clunkier game on almost all fronts with a slightly more interesting main story, boring side characters, and a needlessly complex inventory system.
I guess it depends on the target audience. There are many scifi fans out there who have been looking for a space opera that isn't Star Wars or Star Trek while at the same time not be tainted by the JRPG community. Fantasy RPGs are a dime a dozen, but an truly well written future space based RPG hasn't been around in ages. It is difficult to do without making things cheesy, but Bioware managed to hit it out of the park.
Also, there are many of us who remember Sentinel Worlds, Planet's Edge, Buck Rogers Countdown to Doomsday and Matrix Cubed, Star Control.....there were tons of great sci-fi RPGs back in the day....today, not so much.
Man, Countdown to Doomsday. There was a game ahead of its time. You could get into a random spaceship battle, blow off the enemies weapons, disable it's engines, then board, fight through the crew to engineering and the bridge and take the ship. Still haven't found another game that would let you do that.
It's too bad it's so totally connected to the cheesy TV show. It was an interesting setting, and I'd love to see an ME style game in that universe.
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