I'd like to see improvements in ME2 along the lines of things we saw earlier in the first game's development that didn't make it in (or things we haven't even seen but that would make the game more entertaining, immersive, or easy to control), but I'm glad that Bioware didn't try to overdo everything and end up making the game less polished. Developing Mass Effect on multiple platforms didn't force them to drop features- the need for the game to be feasible, playable, and enjoyable within a deadline did.
Recommence your bickering, if you will.
I'd prefer less polish, actually. I mean, ME crashed a bunch at the galaxy map for me, but other than that it was rock solid. I would totally have tolerated some crashing during combat or something if it had been even better. I mean, crashing can be patched out later but a bad game is bad forever. Not that ME is bad, but the concept still applies.
NO! Bad Tycho!
Not that I don't understand where you're coming from, but my experience is that a simple concept that's well implemented and polished is FAR preferable (like 90% or the time maybe) to a great concept that was poorly implemented.
That, and I really don't want devs to get into the habit of "implement now, fix later". That's far too common a practice as it is, and Mass Effect was already giving me regular enough hard crashes.
Well, I guess if it was crashing on you all the time then I'd change my mind, but for me ME basically only crashed at the galaxy map.
You guys talking the PC or the 360? Cause I heard on the PC, all of the Securom hooks are in the Galaxy Map or something.
Whaaaat? Seriously? Securom crashes my computer in ME but not in any other game? That's ridiculously lame. I've never once had an issue with DRM, even silly stuff that makes you put the disc in, but if this is true I'm actually pissed for the first time in my life at the anti-piracy efforts.
Did they fix the crash in a patch or something? If I crack ME will it stop crashing?
You guys talking the PC or the 360? Cause I heard on the PC, all of the Securom hooks are in the Galaxy Map or something.
That doesn't make any sense. Securom can be a pain, but from a developer stand point, it doesn't make sense to have it on the galaxy map. Also I don't think ME has anything like that; does it have online checking? Besides that, there isn't any in-game things for Securom to do.
Cronus on
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
ME has Securom and an online check when you install it or something. I don't really know what Securom does because you don't need the disc to play but whatever.
ME has Securom and an online check when you install it or something. I don't really know what Securom does because you don't need the disc to play but whatever.
You guys talking the PC or the 360? Cause I heard on the PC, all of the Securom hooks are in the Galaxy Map or something.
That doesn't make any sense. Securom can be a pain, but from a developer stand point, it doesn't make sense to have it on the galaxy map. Also I don't think ME has anything like that; does it have online checking? Besides that, there isn't any in-game things for Securom to do.
Search google/official Mass Effect forums.
Considering the hooks are in the Galaxy Map, whatever active memory it's trying to access is likely different for every user.
It would hardly surprise me if the crashes were related to that.
You guys talking the PC or the 360? Cause I heard on the PC, all of the Securom hooks are in the Galaxy Map or something.
That doesn't make any sense. Securom can be a pain, but from a developer stand point, it doesn't make sense to have it on the galaxy map. Also I don't think ME has anything like that; does it have online checking? Besides that, there isn't any in-game things for Securom to do.
Makes sense to me. You have to go to the galaxy map pretty much everytime you play.
And by putting it in the middle of the game (instead of during startup), that makes it harder for pirates to rip it out.
I finished my 3rd and final playthrough of Mass Effect today, on the Insanity difficulty.
I did not save the Council, but I wasn't a dick about it. Captain Anderson is the Chairman of the Council. He was more Renegade than Paragon, but still had a bunch of Paragon points. He was a Vanguard: Shock Trooper. I tried to make him look like an Amish patriarch. Romance with Ashley.
My other characters were:
Fagballs Shepard: Adept (no specialization, I didn't know about the requirement to go to Sol). Earthborn, Ruthless. A complete xenophobe and dick, though weirdly enough he could not get enough of the blue aliens.
Titty Shepard: Infiltrator - Commando. Spacer - War Hero. Female. Completely Paragon, romance with Kaiden. Though, hilariously enough, put Udina on the Council after saving it from destruction at the cost of human lives. (Hardcore difficulty)
I was hoping to get the extreme power game achievement for hitting the 60 level cap, but even with finishing every assignment available and visiting every planet, I only got to level 55. I probably could have done it if I had gotten a prior character to level 50 (for the extra 10% xp reward). Well, at least I beat the game on the hardest difficulty.
Some comments on the Insanity difficulty:
Firstly, the difficulty arc of most Bioware games is even more pronounced here since everything starts scaled up with resistances. The first few missions were nearly impossible, with the later missions still being ridiculously easy. Minus the Krogan. Those bastards are impossible to kill at the end of the game as well. In addition, one or two melee attacks will knock you out. One at early levels, maybe two if you're lucky at the end.
Geth Colossi and Thresher Maws have a ridiculous amount of hit points. If you don't cheat by parking the nose of the Mako behind a rock, it is really just too frustrating to deal with. Of course, I still knock them down to 1% health, then exit and kill them on foot for 3x the experience reward.
Geth are all-around too wimpy. They should have more defensive or offensive measures, like the organic mercs. The Krogan... well, seeing a Krogan charge you on Insanity difficulty means you have start preparing for a reload.
* The second act of BioWare's epic sci-fi trilogy continues the story of Commander Shepard and humanity's first steps onto the galactic stage
* Success - or failure - depends heavily on the crew you assemble and their loyalty to you and the mission
* Stunning graphics and a refined dialog system will draw you into the story like never before
* Numerous improvements to the intense, third-person shooter combat
* Deep character customization options let you create your own vision of Commander Shepard
So as expected, Shepard isn't dead. And perhaps a greater emphasis on dialog and action choices on you crew members than the first ME.
Maybe I just reading too much between the lines because I'm gay for this game? Either way, go go Bioware.
I'm always skeptical of those writeups, they just seem to be vague allusions to things we've heard about, that can be hastily edited when actual information comes out.
My guess is ME2 will be ME1 fixed, with a continuing story of course. Don't get all drippy over bullet point lists. Espeically ones from retailers.
I started going through with my first character on hardcore difficulty this weekend. Apparently Nvidia broke ME with the drivers I was using, then fixed it with their latest ones so that was fun.
The plus side is apparently they optimized things a bit so I can run it with ultra high textures. It looks so so so much better. The nice textures almost make up for lack of AA.
Or maybe you can force it though the control panel now. I need to try that, I remember it didn't work when the game came out.
Ashley killed Wrex in my game cause I had no idea it was going to happen, so I didn't try to stop it (aside from NOT selecting "Nod to Ashley to kill Wrex").
He was all "RAAAR DO NOT MESS WITH MY PEOPLES"
and then she was all "BLAMMO"
and then I was all "WTF YOU BITCH IM GONNA KILL YOU"
Ashley killed Wrex in my game cause I had no idea it was going to happen, so I didn't try to stop it (aside from NOT selecting "Nod to Ashley to kill Wrex").
He was all "RAAAR DO NOT MESS WITH MY PEOPLES"
and then she was all "BLAMMO"
and then I was all "WTF YOU BITCH IM GONNA KILL YOU"
and then later I did 8-)
I almost always kill Kaiden. Don't know why.
The first playthrough I killed Wrex on purpose.
"Don't question my orders. Blam!"
"Anyone else confused about where the line between friend and foe is? Didn't think so."
In his four years at BioWare, Dusty has been a cinematic designer on JADE EMPIRE, lead technical designer on MASS EFFECT, and lead designer on ME: BRING DOWN THE SKY (downloadable content). He is currently the lead level designer on an unannounced BioWare project.
He's specifically supposed to be there to talk about level design for ME2...
I read a thing on Kotaku (as well as some lovely concept art, of which a high-res version would be great...) about how ME2's shooting is going to be improved. I'm curious how so, but this is good news to me.
In his four years at BioWare, Dusty has been a cinematic designer on JADE EMPIRE, lead technical designer on MASS EFFECT, and lead designer on ME: BRING DOWN THE SKY (downloadable content). He is currently the lead level designer on an unannounced BioWare project.
He's specifically supposed to be there to talk about level design for ME2...
That doesn't mean he isn't currently the lead level designer on an unannounced Bioware project.
Or that was added to the GDC site before ME2 was announced and nobody bothered to update it.
In his four years at BioWare, Dusty has been a cinematic designer on JADE EMPIRE, lead technical designer on MASS EFFECT, and lead designer on ME: BRING DOWN THE SKY (downloadable content). He is currently the lead level designer on an unannounced BioWare project.
He's specifically supposed to be there to talk about level design for ME2...
That doesn't mean he isn't currently the lead level designer on an unannounced Bioware project.
Or that was added to the GDC site before ME2 was announced and nobody bothered to update it.
The above and the following were put on the GDC site around 1/28:
Corey has been a project manager at BioWare for two years. He recently finished work on MASS EFFECT and ME: BRING DOWN THE SKY (downloadable content) for the Xbox 360. His current focus revolves around level creation within the MASS EFFECT universe.
I'm sure they just grabbed a press release from BioWare. It still doesn't change the concept that it's a bit silly for a Lead Technical Designer from a company being sent to discuss level design processes in a specific game,but that it's possible they aren't even involved in the actual game being discussed. How was the decision made? Based on who had a passport at the time?
Hey, I just posted the observation because I thought it was kind of funny. 'This guy who is going to be here to talk about a specific game may or may not be involved with said game.'
Hey, I just posted the observation because I thought it was kind of funny. 'This guy who is going to be here to talk about a specific game may or may not be involved with said game.'
Hey takyris I'm curious did Fallout 3 effect the quest structure of Mass Effect 2 at all? Specifically side quests. In ME everyone complained about how shallow they were, and Oblivion had the same problem.
In Fallout 3 Bethesda solved that by basically making the side quests long and involved but having less of them overall.
Did you guys look at doing something similar in ME2? Not that I have a hatred for short go kill this dude type quests when they're well written, but I felt like I got to know the characters quite a bit better by being on the same side quest for sometimes several hours. Or at least I felt like I cared about what I was doing a bit more.
To be honest, I can't really say. We had our main game plotted out before Fallout 3 was released, and most of the plans for how to improve side quests came from the critiques of Mass Effect, not from looking at other games.
That said, any time a good game in a genre close to ours comes out, we look at it and see what they do that we could learn from.
I don't think any answer I give is going to be relevant until we can all play the game and argue.
I'd actually expect BioWare to not do anything this time around. I'd assume the sentiment will be "we did it once already, we don't need the Fox News and that bullshit, let's focus on the basic story, etc." and take the easy way out.
Though I guess it depends on whether they view the Fox shit as positive or negative, publicity wise.
Posts
Well, I guess if it was crashing on you all the time then I'd change my mind, but for me ME basically only crashed at the galaxy map.
They don't have much time left.
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
Whaaaat? Seriously? Securom crashes my computer in ME but not in any other game? That's ridiculously lame. I've never once had an issue with DRM, even silly stuff that makes you put the disc in, but if this is true I'm actually pissed for the first time in my life at the anti-piracy efforts.
Did they fix the crash in a patch or something? If I crack ME will it stop crashing?
That doesn't make any sense. Securom can be a pain, but from a developer stand point, it doesn't make sense to have it on the galaxy map. Also I don't think ME has anything like that; does it have online checking? Besides that, there isn't any in-game things for Securom to do.
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
Install limits.
Search google/official Mass Effect forums.
Considering the hooks are in the Galaxy Map, whatever active memory it's trying to access is likely different for every user.
It would hardly surprise me if the crashes were related to that.
Makes sense to me. You have to go to the galaxy map pretty much everytime you play.
And by putting it in the middle of the game (instead of during startup), that makes it harder for pirates to rip it out.
My other characters were:
Titty Shepard: Infiltrator - Commando. Spacer - War Hero. Female. Completely Paragon, romance with Kaiden. Though, hilariously enough, put Udina on the Council after saving it from destruction at the cost of human lives. (Hardcore difficulty)
I was hoping to get the extreme power game achievement for hitting the 60 level cap, but even with finishing every assignment available and visiting every planet, I only got to level 55. I probably could have done it if I had gotten a prior character to level 50 (for the extra 10% xp reward). Well, at least I beat the game on the hardest difficulty.
Some comments on the Insanity difficulty:
Firstly, the difficulty arc of most Bioware games is even more pronounced here since everything starts scaled up with resistances. The first few missions were nearly impossible, with the later missions still being ridiculously easy. Minus the Krogan. Those bastards are impossible to kill at the end of the game as well. In addition, one or two melee attacks will knock you out. One at early levels, maybe two if you're lucky at the end.
Geth Colossi and Thresher Maws have a ridiculous amount of hit points. If you don't cheat by parking the nose of the Mako behind a rock, it is really just too frustrating to deal with. Of course, I still knock them down to 1% health, then exit and kill them on foot for 3x the experience reward.
Geth are all-around too wimpy. They should have more defensive or offensive measures, like the organic mercs. The Krogan... well, seeing a Krogan charge you on Insanity difficulty means you have start preparing for a reload.
and there's a separate "put away weapons" button that isn't simply X twice
...How does B for canceling everything not make sense?
http://www.amazon.com/Mass-Effect-2-Xbox-360/dp/B001TORSII/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I34X2JQJJDZVJG&colid=1JY64C6W99LUP
So as expected, Shepard isn't dead. And perhaps a greater emphasis on dialog and action choices on you crew members than the first ME.
Maybe I just reading too much between the lines because I'm gay for this game? Either way, go go Bioware.
Could well be.
Could just be plot points. Wrex has enormous reason to question your decisions just from ME1.
Not on my game, he doesn't.
PSN/Steam/NNID: SyphonBlue | BNet: SyphonBlue#1126
I started going through with my first character on hardcore difficulty this weekend. Apparently Nvidia broke ME with the drivers I was using, then fixed it with their latest ones so that was fun.
The plus side is apparently they optimized things a bit so I can run it with ultra high textures. It looks so so so much better. The nice textures almost make up for lack of AA.
Or maybe you can force it though the control panel now. I need to try that, I remember it didn't work when the game came out.
Same for me.
Genocide is not cool.
quit hatin on hitler
He was all "RAAAR DO NOT MESS WITH MY PEOPLES"
and then she was all "BLAMMO"
and then I was all "WTF YOU BITCH IM GONNA KILL YOU"
and then later I did 8-)
PSN/Steam/NNID: SyphonBlue | BNet: SyphonBlue#1126
The first playthrough I killed Wrex on purpose.
"Don't question my orders. Blam!"
"Anyone else confused about where the line between friend and foe is? Didn't think so."
he gets purged
He's specifically supposed to be there to talk about level design for ME2...
That doesn't mean he isn't currently the lead level designer on an unannounced Bioware project.
Or that was added to the GDC site before ME2 was announced and nobody bothered to update it.
The above and the following were put on the GDC site around 1/28: I'm sure they just grabbed a press release from BioWare. It still doesn't change the concept that it's a bit silly for a Lead Technical Designer from a company being sent to discuss level design processes in a specific game,but that it's possible they aren't even involved in the actual game being discussed. How was the decision made? Based on who had a passport at the time?
No argument on my end.
In Fallout 3 Bethesda solved that by basically making the side quests long and involved but having less of them overall.
Did you guys look at doing something similar in ME2? Not that I have a hatred for short go kill this dude type quests when they're well written, but I felt like I got to know the characters quite a bit better by being on the same side quest for sometimes several hours. Or at least I felt like I cared about what I was doing a bit more.
That said, any time a good game in a genre close to ours comes out, we look at it and see what they do that we could learn from.
I don't think any answer I give is going to be relevant until we can all play the game and argue.
gentlemen, i humbly suggest domestic abuse
liara says you have been spending too much time in flux, you tell her you are sick of her snide insinuations
Besides, they'll just put a Burning Bed sequence in and ME2 will really be from Liara's perspective. Hence, Cerberus thinking Shepard is dead.
The next Mass Effect isn't only going to have sex scenes. But will allow you to engage in gay marriage...with Udina.
he'll send his fleet right in
Though I guess it depends on whether they view the Fox shit as positive or negative, publicity wise.