AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited September 2010
I've only really liked LotSB, which is the first DLC that Bioware has released I felt I got really good value out of what I paid for it. Kasumi was okay, but I wasn't really that enthused with it and while Overlord was better it wasn't that great. Firewalker felt like a tech demo and didn't interest me at all - it only convinced me bioware should never do anything with vehicles in ME again.
Edit: Really I guess what I want out of DLC in ME2 is stuff that moves the story forward. That's what LotSB did and why I found it so satisfying. Not to mention it provided a useful place to visit and advanced one of the "abandoned" ME romances to tie up loose ends. It was just great on multiple levels.
Firewalker felt like a tech demo and didn't interest me at all - it only convinced me bioware should never do anything with vehicles in ME again.
It literally was a tech demo. It was a demo of a new vehicle they are going to use ME 2 DLC. Even when it was announced, that's all I expected it to be.
I like some of the ME2 DLC, but of course LotSB is the crown jewel of it all
they all have their purposes, their points; for example:
zaeed: he exists purely to make a paragon interrupt that isn't lame as hell
kasumi: she exists purely to introduce me to whatever accent hock has
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited September 2010
I guess my complaints with the DLC go back to Eclipses point on the previous page. 90% of ME2 is running around gaining loyalty to people and there really isn't a major advancement in story from ME. So I just like things that really advance the plot or genuinely address hanging issues from the first game (The romances in the first game are a good example).
A DLC dealing with Kaiden/Ashley would be perfect.
I feel like a sucker for saying this, but Bioware could literally put out anything they wanted (excluding costume packs or some other meaningless bullshit) for ME2 DLC, and I would very likely buy it. Are you listening Bioware? I know you're reading this.
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OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
edited September 2010
If they keep delivering like they have with their mission DLC, I'll cheerfully keep parting with my dough.
The other day I caught myself contemplating what the purpose of that handlebar thing is on Salarian clothing, considering that many NPC salarians have a similar 'bar,' but not as solid as Mordin's looks. So that would rule out it being a structural support of some kind. That means it must be aesthetic, I said to myself...
And then I realized I was going down dark and dangerous path
One that leads to things like writing fanfiction, or arguing on message boards about the cultural norms of fictional species
describing ME2 as 'running around getting people to join you' is like describing the Shawshank redemption as 'a movie where a guy escapes from jail'. Yes its true, but its more than that.
The other day I caught myself contemplating what the purpose of that handlebar thing is on Salarian clothing, considering that many NPC salarians have a similar 'bar,' but not as solid as Mordin's looks. So that would rule out it being a structural support of some kind. That means it must be aesthetic, I said to myself...
And then I realized I was going down dark and dangerous path
One that leads to things like writing fanfiction, or arguing on message boards about the cultural norms of fictional species
An interesting bit of lore that was left out of the codex was that all salarian suits were actually secretly designed by a krogan. The handlebar is there so that when the krogans storm the Salarian Union, they can easily fastball special them. Very few people know about this because when the clever krogan behind the scheme boasted of it to his fellows, they tore him apart and fed him to varren for being "into fashion."
Eh, I can deal with bad writing. Do I need to play Gears of War 1 in order to appreciate 2, or is it one of those franchises where you can hop in whenever?
I don't really think it matters where you start Gears. I played them (single player and split coop only) because my brother owns them, and while they're pretty fun, they're forgettable. On an aesthetic level I hate Epic's motif of everyone looking like big burly linebackers in Unreal Tournament and Gears, and the color palette of the Gears games is pretty much grey, brown, sepia, and blood.
That said, chainsawing dudes is great and the reload mechanic is a neat twist and should be copied by everyone (Alien Swarm used it).
It won't help multiplayer, and I wasn't particularly impressed with it overall, but Alpha Protocol is an interesting RPG that you could easily beat in a rental. Bioshock was great but you've probably played it; can't comment on the sequel. An ancient but excellent game: Perfect Dark. Other than that, I don't play 360 and am not very interested in the major multiplayer titles (Halo and CoD), so...good luck.
While I admit that most people will find technical faults in it, I found AP's core gameplay to just be flat out funner than ME2's. And not nearly as much of a slog. Of course, the fact that my opinions are pretty horrible should be common knowledge to this thread by this point.
Also, hate Gears. Mostly because it pioneered everything that is wrong with this generation. But also because I couldn't stomach playing through as far as I got (just got the bow) after GfW ate the saves a second time.
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited September 2010
I thought Alpha Protocol was everything you shouldn't do when making a combat system in an RPG. Don't make an RPG system that relies on player skill that inherently sabotages/removes the player skill out of it. It's such a spastic way of doing things. Fallout (the original) is great because your characters skill is literally their skill, it doesn't make you shoot your gun or whatever - there is no player skill in that. When you take that into an action based shooter system, then sabotage the player skill it is just a terrible idea.
Alpha Protocol is also massively broken in so many ways from a combat point of view. If it wasn't for the awesome writing I couldn't have taken that game. It didn't help I didn't take one of the paths of least resistance and just max out pistols - instead going for stealth as my main combat skill (that just plain fails to work in many situations).
TF2 is a great game...on PC. The 360 version comes with a massive caveat - no updates. That means it's missing updates including a new set of gameplay-changing equipment for every class and many maps. I doubt it has a very active playerbase on 360.
Worth checking out the Orange Box that its included in if you somehow haven't played HL2 and Portal, but again, no MP.
Edit: Actually, I guess there are some updates on the 360 version?
I liked that it actually rewarded taking your time to line up shots, because it almost seems like a subversion of everything having to be action packed with you needing to line up headshots every single second, and diving behind cover to get no damage whatsover because your screen is covered in red jelly and oh shoot, you're all of a sudden 100% better and GAAAAAH.
But man, whatever. Like I said, I realize that it's exactly the opposite of what most people are looking for, and I know that I have horrible opinions and whatever
you may not come back if you start playing it, though
__________________________
update on insanity engineer: thane's recruitment. early on it's all about squad placement, power spam, and desperately trying to keep your teammates alive. battles are pitched and INTENSE.
things changed around the halfway point. elevator opens, 2 engineers + krogan. miranda's overload takes out their shields > area neural shock puts em down so i can focus on the big guy
from then on in it was Assault Melee Engineer, and it felt fucking awesome. neural shock is such an underrated bonus power.
also, what enabled me to do so well was committing blasphemy - i swapped the locust for the shuriken, and gave the tempest to miranda. now i'm not going to go back, at least for this playthrough. locust is great, true, but shuriken offers more control and more damage versus shields.
curly haired boy on
Registered just for the Mass Effect threads | Steam: click ^^^ | Origin: curlyhairedboy
The only multiplayer I need is Bad Company 2. I like my multi pure, based on accuracy, skill AND strategy, not just a fragfest. Never did shine to Borderlands, I can see its appeal tho.
Nah C2B Spoit's opinions are pretty uniquely terrible.
The only multiplayer I need is Bad Company 2. I like my multi pure, based on accuracy, skill AND strategy, not just a fragfest. Never did shine to Borderlands, I can see its appeal tho.
Nah C2B Spoit's opinions are pretty uniquely terrible.
I have the same opinions.:!:
Well, for the most part.
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
I liked that it actually rewarded taking your time to line up shots, because it almost seems like a subversion of everything having to be action packed with you needing to line up headshots every single second, and diving behind cover to get no damage whatsover because your screen is covered in red jelly and oh shoot, you're all of a sudden 100% better and GAAAAAH.
I actually completely understand your point. I would have liked it more if the game was third person turn based or something. I really hate games that make combat "Player skill" based and then do everything possible to sabotage it. If you have FPS combat, make the FPS combat fun. If you have third person combat, make the third person combat fun. Don't have shit combat and expect me to want to suffer through it for thirty hours. This is why I love ME2 and can't stand the original. If you're going to make a cover based combat system, don't do it entirely half assed and literally no fun.
I don't mind when my character sucks because they have poor skills in say, Fallout Tactics, Fallout, Jagged Alliance 2 or whatever. When you're giving me direct control and then effectively sabotaging my ability to fight better than a braindead piece of moss it actually really annoys me. I understand the principle behind it, I just firmly don't agree with making a combat system that doesn't fit the intent of what you're trying to do. If you don't want player skill as a factor, make a god damned combat system that doesn't use player skill inherently like a turn based system.
Especially when like every game that does this sort of thing, Alpha Protocol is just filled with traps (like the original ME). Options that are fine most of the time and then utterly impossible to use at other points, like Stealth. Stealth is a great and fun path then WHOOPS here is a boss that rapes your ass constantly and oh boy, have fun with the immensely shit combat that you're now forced to use. Bet you wish you'd just had the common sense to invest in max pistols didn't you? Actually on ME2 again, this is one of the reasons its so wonderfully designed. There are very few "traps" in ME2. You can't find yourself putting points into something then running into an impossible situation. Most classes core skill (Drone, Charge, Cloak, Adrenaline Burst etc) work pretty well in most situations. No class gimps your combat ability so much you can't effectively fight with whatever weapons you have. I can think of a few situations that are really hard for some classes, but nothing like in Alpha protocol where my character was literally so crippled in that situation I had to get the games AI to bug out to win.
Then I gave up, restarted and played with maxed pistol skills. Which really does completely subvert whatever point you were making. Alpha Protocol with pistol skills is a brainless action game that is so easy it isn't funny. A high skill literally lets you clear a room trivially and there is basically no opposition anywhere. Where one build was an absolute trap, another made every challenge in the game boring, irrelevant and easily overcome. That's just terrible core design, resulting in there being no way ME2s combat system isn't designed better and more fun because of that to me. ME2 tries to be a cover based shooter and succeeds. Alpha Protocol tries to do a lot of stuff from a combat point of view and doesn't do any of it well.
also, what enabled me to do so well was committing blasphemy - i swapped the locust for the shuriken, and gave the tempest to miranda. now i'm not going to go back, at least for this playthrough. locust is great, true, but shuriken offers more control and more damage versus shields.
On my non-insanity runs, I've taken to just using the Shuriken every time for the sake of not having Shepard's gun randomly change during cutscenes.
(The Shadow Broker was easily the worst offender for that - during the confrontation with him, my gun changed from a Carnifex to a Shuriken to a Locust and then back to a Carnifex in the space of four camera angle switches, and I wasn't using any of those)
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited September 2010
I really hate it when Shephard has an assault rifle: Especially on the classes that can't use it. Where did I get it from? My butt?
Eh, I can deal with bad writing. Do I need to play Gears of War 1 in order to appreciate 2, or is it one of those franchises where you can hop in whenever?
I'm a big fan of the Gears series, and I'll be totally honest with you: You won't be anymore lost playing the second game without the first game than you would be just by playing the first game. The Gears1's backstory was extremely poorly introduced, left out a massive amount of info, and the ongoing story rotates between non-existent and just plain leaving out key plot developments. It's really one of the most bizarrely half-assed stories I've ever seen in a big budget game: especially since I know for a FACT they had a pretty cool backstory fleshed out beforehand. It's like the developers just forgot to add some stuff part-way through development
That said, they are both great games, and the first game doesn't shirk on the fun factor, even if the plot is vacuous.
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Edit: Really I guess what I want out of DLC in ME2 is stuff that moves the story forward. That's what LotSB did and why I found it so satisfying. Not to mention it provided a useful place to visit and advanced one of the "abandoned" ME romances to tie up loose ends. It was just great on multiple levels.
It literally was a tech demo. It was a demo of a new vehicle they are going to use ME 2 DLC. Even when it was announced, that's all I expected it to be.
they all have their purposes, their points; for example:
zaeed: he exists purely to make a paragon interrupt that isn't lame as hell
kasumi: she exists purely to introduce me to whatever accent hock has
A DLC dealing with Kaiden/Ashley would be perfect.
I would absolutely buy the one with Mordin's alternate. You know it would be hilarious
And then I realized I was going down dark and dangerous path
One that leads to things like writing fanfiction, or arguing on message boards about the cultural norms of fictional species
It's actually just the way their body curves.
I don't really think it matters where you start Gears. I played them (single player and split coop only) because my brother owns them, and while they're pretty fun, they're forgettable. On an aesthetic level I hate Epic's motif of everyone looking like big burly linebackers in Unreal Tournament and Gears, and the color palette of the Gears games is pretty much grey, brown, sepia, and blood.
That said, chainsawing dudes is great and the reload mechanic is a neat twist and should be copied by everyone (Alien Swarm used it).
It won't help multiplayer, and I wasn't particularly impressed with it overall, but Alpha Protocol is an interesting RPG that you could easily beat in a rental. Bioshock was great but you've probably played it; can't comment on the sequel. An ancient but excellent game: Perfect Dark. Other than that, I don't play 360 and am not very interested in the major multiplayer titles (Halo and CoD), so...good luck.
Maybe I'll try Team Fortress 2? I wonder if anyone's still playing it, though
Also, hate Gears. Mostly because it pioneered everything that is wrong with this generation. But also because I couldn't stomach playing through as far as I got (just got the bow) after GfW ate the saves a second time.
Alpha Protocol is also massively broken in so many ways from a combat point of view. If it wasn't for the awesome writing I couldn't have taken that game. It didn't help I didn't take one of the paths of least resistance and just max out pistols - instead going for stealth as my main combat skill (that just plain fails to work in many situations).
on the xbox? probably not, sadly. it's big on pc, though. I think the lack of semi-regular updates sort of killed it on the 360
Worth checking out the Orange Box that its included in if you somehow haven't played HL2 and Portal, but again, no MP.
Edit: Actually, I guess there are some updates on the 360 version?
But man, whatever. Like I said, I realize that it's exactly the opposite of what most people are looking for, and I know that I have horrible opinions and whatever
you may not come back if you start playing it, though
__________________________
update on insanity engineer: thane's recruitment. early on it's all about squad placement, power spam, and desperately trying to keep your teammates alive. battles are pitched and INTENSE.
things changed around the halfway point. elevator opens, 2 engineers + krogan. miranda's overload takes out their shields > area neural shock puts em down so i can focus on the big guy
from then on in it was Assault Melee Engineer, and it felt fucking awesome. neural shock is such an underrated bonus power.
also, what enabled me to do so well was committing blasphemy - i swapped the locust for the shuriken, and gave the tempest to miranda. now i'm not going to go back, at least for this playthrough. locust is great, true, but shuriken offers more control and more damage versus shields.
Registered just for the Mass Effect threads | Steam: click ^^^ | Origin: curlyhairedboy
Can't we agree that we obviously all have terrible opinions?
Nah C2B Spoit's opinions are pretty uniquely terrible.
I have the same opinions.:!:
Well, for the most part.
I actually completely understand your point. I would have liked it more if the game was third person turn based or something. I really hate games that make combat "Player skill" based and then do everything possible to sabotage it. If you have FPS combat, make the FPS combat fun. If you have third person combat, make the third person combat fun. Don't have shit combat and expect me to want to suffer through it for thirty hours. This is why I love ME2 and can't stand the original. If you're going to make a cover based combat system, don't do it entirely half assed and literally no fun.
I don't mind when my character sucks because they have poor skills in say, Fallout Tactics, Fallout, Jagged Alliance 2 or whatever. When you're giving me direct control and then effectively sabotaging my ability to fight better than a braindead piece of moss it actually really annoys me. I understand the principle behind it, I just firmly don't agree with making a combat system that doesn't fit the intent of what you're trying to do. If you don't want player skill as a factor, make a god damned combat system that doesn't use player skill inherently like a turn based system.
Especially when like every game that does this sort of thing, Alpha Protocol is just filled with traps (like the original ME). Options that are fine most of the time and then utterly impossible to use at other points, like Stealth. Stealth is a great and fun path then WHOOPS here is a boss that rapes your ass constantly and oh boy, have fun with the immensely shit combat that you're now forced to use. Bet you wish you'd just had the common sense to invest in max pistols didn't you? Actually on ME2 again, this is one of the reasons its so wonderfully designed. There are very few "traps" in ME2. You can't find yourself putting points into something then running into an impossible situation. Most classes core skill (Drone, Charge, Cloak, Adrenaline Burst etc) work pretty well in most situations. No class gimps your combat ability so much you can't effectively fight with whatever weapons you have. I can think of a few situations that are really hard for some classes, but nothing like in Alpha protocol where my character was literally so crippled in that situation I had to get the games AI to bug out to win.
Then I gave up, restarted and played with maxed pistol skills. Which really does completely subvert whatever point you were making. Alpha Protocol with pistol skills is a brainless action game that is so easy it isn't funny. A high skill literally lets you clear a room trivially and there is basically no opposition anywhere. Where one build was an absolute trap, another made every challenge in the game boring, irrelevant and easily overcome. That's just terrible core design, resulting in there being no way ME2s combat system isn't designed better and more fun because of that to me. ME2 tries to be a cover based shooter and succeeds. Alpha Protocol tries to do a lot of stuff from a combat point of view and doesn't do any of it well.
On my non-insanity runs, I've taken to just using the Shuriken every time for the sake of not having Shepard's gun randomly change during cutscenes.
(The Shadow Broker was easily the worst offender for that - during the confrontation with him, my gun changed from a Carnifex to a Shuriken to a Locust and then back to a Carnifex in the space of four camera angle switches, and I wasn't using any of those)
Mass Effect.
get team fortress 2 on PC. it'll run on on specs lower than the original gameboy
you might be interested in bioshock on the 360
I don't understand why they made Shepard default to Assault Rifles in certain cutscenes when only one class can actually have them.
I miss my unlimited ammo.
Mass Effect's Mass Effect is equivlent to Metal Gears Nanomachines.
I'm a big fan of the Gears series, and I'll be totally honest with you: You won't be anymore lost playing the second game without the first game than you would be just by playing the first game. The Gears1's backstory was extremely poorly introduced, left out a massive amount of info, and the ongoing story rotates between non-existent and just plain leaving out key plot developments. It's really one of the most bizarrely half-assed stories I've ever seen in a big budget game: especially since I know for a FACT they had a pretty cool backstory fleshed out beforehand. It's like the developers just forgot to add some stuff part-way through development
That said, they are both great games, and the first game doesn't shirk on the fun factor, even if the plot is vacuous.
I feel like I'm cheating, and I don't even have the headshot upgrade yet.
no, that's what the power damage boost is for
Duration damage is applied instantly to defenses, so if it is true then you should see a small (maybe unnoticeable) boost in damage against armor