what is mass effect 2 going to be like

A lot? Try everything in the main quest that isn't...

spoilers RobbieH1234

Every other conversation in the main quest (Anderson, Udina, Council, Nihilus, Saren, Sovereign, Kirrahe, Benezia, the Feros people etc.) goes in the exact same direction regardless. That's disregarding the occasions where people do things anyway, even if you tell them not to. "No Ashley/Tali/Liara/Garrus, I don't want you to join me", "Meh, I'm doing it anyway". "You know Hackett, I don't care about the Geth Incursions, I won't deal with it", "Nonsense, I'm giving you the quest anyway". "No Elizabeth, I don't want the grenade upgrade to deal with the thorians", "Nah, I'm giving you the upgrade anyway" (You can say no three times, but they still give it to you and they treat you the same way even if you don't use it). "No Liara, I don't want you to look at the vision", "I'm going to anyway".

Illusionary choices are so annoying.

RobbieH1234

I'll be starting off with a level 60 Shepard. :DMoldOnHold

i think alot of people will be :lol:

[QUOTE="MoldOnHold"]I'll be starting off with a level 60 Shepard. :Dlawlessx

i think alot of people will be :lol:

It took me two and a half playthroughs to get up there.

[QUOTE="MoldOnHold"]I'll be starting off with a level 60 Shepard. :Dlawlessx

i think alot of people will be :lol:

Not me :cry: level 53.. I feel left out.

Meh.... these are just here for Paragon/Renegade bonuses. Nothing special.
MoldOnHold

It took me two and a half playthroughs to get up there.

MoldOnHold

Dumb AI squadmates, shoddy framerate, repetitive and dull "side quests, a joke of a vehicle returning for some excursions on some pointless planets... Hmm, is that all.

Sounds about right.

Oh wait, elevators. Plenty of them too.

[QUOTE="enduin"][QUOTE="FrozenLiquid"]

[QUOTE="Ninja-Hippo"]Hopefully less shooter and more RPG. FrozenLiquid

Agreed.

And I want my damn revolutionary conversation tree!

No thanks, Id rather they improve the interface system and control over party members so players dont have to play the game like an FPS without sacrificing anything for those who do. I actually hope they improve the FPS elements making things like knockback and placement of shots more evident as well, along with improving the RPG elements.

As for the dialogue tree, despite the gripes you have with it, you have to admit the foundation for a great system is there and occasionally showed through in ME so it hopefully will build off that and only improve.

You're disagreeing to less shooter and more RPG, and keeping on the fence about a better dialogue tree?

You then proceed to say that you rather improve their real-time battle elements as is, so that you don't have to play the game like an FPS. Seriously, what the hell are you trying to say?

Its not that hard to understand, improve the right bumper menu so people can play a more tactical game using the different abilities the characters have and directing where characters go and attack, like in KotoR, which would in turn not sacrifice anything for those people who want to play the game as a more pure FPS. And then obviously improving both the FPS elements like shot placement and knockback and the RPG elements through equipment and talents. Theres no reason to restrain the FPS aspect of the game to make it feel more RPG-ey when a meld of the two is more than possible.

Next comparing the dialogue tree of ME to previous Bioware titles makes no sense, ME's focus is nothing like Baldur's Gate II or KotoR I/II. Those games are about giving the player the choice of being the savior or destroyer, while in ME youre the hero and save the universe no matter what. Whats matters is whether or not you were virtuous or ruthless in doing so.

So of course a lot of the dialogue is going to produce the same outcome, sometimes it was exactly the same other times it was a bit varied, illusionary choices or not. The system wasnt perfect and rather hit or miss, but for the type of story and experience Bioware is aiming for it fits quite well to me.

This is especially true given the context that its part of a trilogy that is going to build off of the choices you made in the previous games through your actual save files. And by taking that into consideration the variations and impact of certain dialogue choices have to be muted, or else the variations of the story in the sequels would be far too many for them to ever handle. As well there are certain decisions like the Rachni Queen and other points in the story and side missions that probably wont fully pan out and show the repercussions of your actions until the sequels.

The limited plot branches is a sacrifice that has to be made for the type of series theyre trying to create, maybe for you its not a worthwhile sacrifice, but to me it is. We cant say its its good or bad until we've seen all 3 peices of the puzzle.

What annoys me about the paragon/renegade system is that it doesn't really affect anything. RobbieH1234

Man, the jump in experience required towards the end was crazy. It was like...140,000XP to go from 59 to 60. It would have taken me way longer if I had killed everything in the Mako. Just wish there was some ridiculously awesome loot once you reached level 60. :( I guess my Colossus X will have to do. RobbieH1234

[QUOTE="MoldOnHold"]Meh.... these are just here for Paragon/Renegade bonuses. Nothing special.
RobbieH1234

if the council took away you're status as Spectre the game would pretty much be over...unless they take you're rank away and you have to deal with geth and the police.

besides, after what happened in the first game i really dont think they have any right to question how you do you're job :lol:

if the council took away you're status as Spectre the game would pretty much be over...unless they take you're rank away and you have to deal with geth and the police.

besides, after what happened in the first game i really dont think they have any right to question how you do you're job :lol:

lawlessx

[spoiler] I almost wanted to leave them to die at the end [/spoiler]

:P

[QUOTE="lawlessx"]if the council took away you're status as Spectre the game would pretty much be over...unless they take you're rank away and you have to deal with geth and the police.

besides, after what happened in the first game i really dont think they have any right to question how you do you're job :lol:

MoldOnHold

:P

I did and I'm glad I did. :P

[QUOTE="Cedmln"]

There you go. I'm done.

FrozenLiquid

You opening up a can of worms on someone who actually thinks about universe building on a daily basis? You're done, but I'm not.

The manner in which they speak: it's meant to let you, the young adult gamer, who knows nothing of alien customs and behaviours, to understand where they're coming from. Got that? Good, now let's move on.

Having basic human behaviours is a given for a creature that is one the same level of intelligence and size as any of us. Why would you expect any different? Coz their planet's temperature has a higher average of 20 degrees? Why would their religious behaviours be any different from ours? If they evolved in in relatively the same way as us, from small microscopic lifeforms to their version of cavemen, to futuristic space people, they would have probably gone through the same beliefs as we did, wouldn't they? I mean, every ancient civilzation has a Creation story as a means to reason with their existence, so why not expand that to every civilization in the galaxy?

Lastly, the developers may not know the theory, but they're smart enough not to make crazy ass assumptions. Your anatomy has a function. We use that function on a daily basis. According to Bioware, in the future we used our function to discover Mass Relays, and from there we found a network of alien civilizations. Who would've thought that those that also discovered it were much like us. And note how the more interesting looking alien species are at the bottom of the alien hierarchy.

You sir, just got served ;)

Still doesn't defeat my arguement about the game having too many aliens who are really humans in different forms and from another planet, so whatever you are babbling about does not derail my arguement.

dude..EVERYBODY hated the council.

[spoiler] i enjoyed watching them die:twisted: and Ambassador Udina deserves a well placed headshot [/spoiler]

[QUOTE="Cedmln"]

There you go. I'm done.

FrozenLiquid

You opening up a can of worms on someone who actually thinks about universe building on a daily basis? You're done, but I'm not.

The manner in which they speak: it's meant to let you, the young adult gamer, who knows nothing of alien customs and behaviours, to understand where they're coming from. Got that? Good, now let's move on.

Having basic human behaviours is a given for a creature that is one the same level of intelligence and size as any of us. Why would you expect any different? Coz their planet's temperature has a higher average of 20 degrees? Why would their religious behaviours be any different from ours? If they evolved in in relatively the same way as us, from small microscopic lifeforms to their version of cavemen, to futuristic space people, they would have probably gone through the same beliefs as we did, wouldn't they? I mean, every ancient civilzation has a Creation story as a means to reason with their existence, so why not expand that to every civilization in the galaxy?

Lastly, the developers may not know the theory, but they're smart enough not to make crazy ass assumptions. Your anatomy has a function. We use that function on a daily basis. According to Bioware, in the future we used our function to discover Mass Relays, and from there we found a network of alien civilizations. Who would've thought that those that also discovered it were much like us. And note how the more interesting looking alien species are at the bottom of the alien hierarchy.

You sir, just got served ;)

if the council took away you're status as Spectre the game would pretty much be over...unless they take you're rank away and you have to deal with geth and the police.

besides, after what happened in the first game i really dont think they have any right to question how you do you're job :lol:

lawlessx

Yeah, sometimes it felt like the whole paragon/renegade system was thrown in as an afterthought. To be honest, all that I really got out of it were achievement points.MoldOnHold

It was borderline ridiculous. I was at 59 during Ilos.... and I finally got to level 60 halfway through Noveria during my third playthrough. I gave up on the side quests by then. I officially didn't care anymore.
MoldOnHold

I also hated the Council, although...

[spoiler] Even if I was their number one fan, the choice at the end doesn't make sense to me. Why wouldn't you let them die? I mean, this was the absolute best shot at Sovereign, so risking the fate of the Universe to save the Council just didn't work for me. [/spoiler]

[QUOTE="FrozenLiquid"][QUOTE="Cedmln"]

There you go. I'm done.

Cedmln

You opening up a can of worms on someone who actually thinks about universe building on a daily basis? You're done, but I'm not.

The manner in which they speak: it's meant to let you, the young adult gamer, who knows nothing of alien customs and behaviours, to understand where they're coming from. Got that? Good, now let's move on.

Having basic human behaviours is a given for a creature that is one the same level of intelligence and size as any of us. Why would you expect any different? Coz their planet's temperature has a higher average of 20 degrees? Why would their religious behaviours be any different from ours? If they evolved in in relatively the same way as us, from small microscopic lifeforms to their version of cavemen, to futuristic space people, they would have probably gone through the same beliefs as we did, wouldn't they? I mean, every ancient civilzation has a Creation story as a means to reason with their existence, so why not expand that to every civilization in the galaxy?

Lastly, the developers may not know the theory, but they're smart enough not to make crazy ass assumptions. Your anatomy has a function. We use that function on a daily basis. According to Bioware, in the future we used our function to discover Mass Relays, and from there we found a network of alien civilizations. Who would've thought that those that also discovered it were much like us. And note how the more interesting looking alien species are at the bottom of the alien hierarchy.

You sir, just got served ;)

Still doesn't defeat my arguement about the game having too many aliens who are really humans in different forms and from another planet, so whatever you are babbling about does not derail my arguement.

Star wars had more diversity because it was less bound by the laws of reality. It's a fantasy universe. In the Star wars universe, there is the force that governs all things. The force couldn't possibly exist in a realistic setting, but it exists in star wars, hence star wars is not realistic.

[QUOTE="lawlessx"]

if the council took away you're status as Spectre the game would pretty much be over...unless they take you're rank away and you have to deal with geth and the police.

besides, after what happened in the first game i really dont think they have any right to question how you do you're job :lol:

RobbieH1234

I always thought the whole "You are a Spectre, you operate outside the law" hurt the game. A character that can go around doing whatever he wants...kind of defeats the point of having a game based around choices and consequences.

"hay, u just destroyed an entire colony on planet !"

"it's ok, I'm a Spectre! lol!"

"Oh ok then carry on!"

CHOICES AND CONSEQUENCES ! 8)

Still doesn't defeat my arguement about the game having too many aliens who are really humans in different forms and from another planet, so whatever you are babbling about does not derail my arguement.

Cedmln

Oh yeah, it definitely does. Why does it defeat your argument? I'll show you in two ways:

1) You painted the idea of humanoids in a negative light. It's not necessarily negative, as I have just stated.

2) My "babbling" brought you to your knees, so much so you can't retort back.

Amazing and frustrating at the same time, isn't it?

[QUOTE="RobbieH1234"][QUOTE="lawlessx"]

if the council took away you're status as Spectre the game would pretty much be over...unless they take you're rank away and you have to deal with geth and the police.

besides, after what happened in the first game i really dont think they have any right to question how you do you're job :lol:

blaaah

I always thought the whole "You are a Spectre, you operate outside the law" hurt the game. A character that can go around doing whatever he wants...kind of defeats the point of having a game based around choices and consequences.

"hay, u just destroyed an entire colony on planet !"

"it's ok, I'm a Spectre! lol!"

"Oh ok then carry on!"

CHOICES AND CONSEQUENCES ! 8)

They can retcon it (and hopefully they will) fairly easily right now.

Perhaps there's some other rogue Spectre causing chaos and making people question the idea of the Spectres, leading to a galactic protest.

Now having that scenario would be an awesome moral decision.

I hope we see some actual creative aliens, unlike all the humaniods in the first games. Seriously...Cedmln

[QUOTE="FrozenLiquid"][QUOTE="M337ING"]

[QUOTE="Cedmln"]I hope we see some actual creative aliens, unlike all the humaniods in the first games. Seriously...Cedmln

There were quite a few non-humanoids....

The Rachni and those jellyfish things, off the top of my head.

Also the Elcor and those midgets that start with "D" I believe.

The only ones that don't have similarities to the the humans are the Elcor and the jelly type. I don't count the rachni since they don't really play a reasonable amount of interactive as a civilized species. The rest of them are humaniods. Take on the basic shapes of a human, talk like humans, and act like humans.

[QUOTE="JPOBS"][QUOTE="M337ING"]

[QUOTE="Cedmln"]I hope we see some actual creative aliens, unlike all the humaniods in the first games. Seriously...Shinobishyguy

There were quite a few non-humanoids....

The Rachni and those jellyfish things, off the top of my head.

compared to: the turians, the batarians, the salrians.
"too much humanoids, boo hoo"

[QUOTE="FrozenLiquid"][QUOTE="M337ING"]

[QUOTE="Cedmln"]I hope we see some actual creative aliens, unlike all the humaniods in the first games. Seriously...Oroin

There were quite a few non-humanoids....

The Rachni and those jellyfish things, off the top of my head.

Also the Elcor and those midgets that start with "D" I believe.

Any chance we might be able to play as a non-human?? The story can change based on the player choice, but if we always play as human it might as well be the same thing.. IMO

But a major part of the story is that humanity is new to the galaxy and many species don't trust us and all of the issues around that. Alot of things revolved around people either idolizing the new creatures to the galaxy or having downright hatred towards humans. If you don't play as a human you pretty much eliminate that whole aspect, which was pretty major in the first one.

I thought the first game was close to perfect with the exception of technical glitches and sidequests. Side quests could easily be fixed though. If the warehouse you went to had certain elements that were randomnly selected, that'd fix the sidequests. In part 1 you literally went to the exact same building over and over again. The structure was identical, it had the same objects, even the same textures in the same spot. Randomly changing small things like that would add MAJOR variety to the game. The DLC had one where they added like 2 or 3 obstacles inside the warehouse and it felt like an entirely new building. It wouldn't take too much to implement that.

Technical glitches... I only saw texture pop-in on the equip character screen. Thats a glitch, but i'd hope they address the other issues before wasting time on stuff like that. My game only slowed down once and it was during a cut scene before a battle. And it didn't even slow down the first time I saw it. It was like the 5th time I played it through I got a slight bit of slowdown. It'd be nice if it was never there, but like the texture pop-in on the equip screen, I think they shouldn't waste time fixing that if it means they won't have time to address something that actually matters (like sidequest architecture).