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“This is Commander Shepard and this is my favorite trolling thread on the Citadel”

See ya, haters! Go back to play D&D in your basements!

I think I have to agree with Murv on this one. I enjoyed ME2, but not quite as much as the first iteration. They are both decent games. I don’t play many games in general, because very few feel worth it to me, so when I say that I felt like the levels in ME2 felt confined, I mean that I, a casual gamer, felt like I was watching someone else’s story rather than creating my own. Approaching combat scenarios, it felt like someone else’s tactics were being forced upon me and I was not at all free to think naturally and creatively about how to approach said tatical situation. (I think that is what people are referring to as the “shooting gallery” feeling)
The depth of the universe created by ME1, and the frank plausibility of it, is what got me hooked in the first place. Sometimes when playing ME1, I would read/listen to the codex for hours learning about the history and cultures. I would do this not only because it was interesting, but because I would get into my character and think “Okay, so if I’m going to save the galaxy, I better know more about what I’m saving.” Whatever way things are, the thing that bothered me about ME2 vs 1 was that the immersion was lost, and I’m not just referring to the loading screens. Galaxy travel, to me, felt more thrilling in the first one. It was like: “Oh I think I’ll go there now” and off you went (with beautiful animations along the way). It felt like an true adventure, not a game. Although in ME2 galaxy travel is more realistic, with having to make sure you’ve got fuel. I think that it detracts from the grand operatic feel of exploring the galaxy and following a wonderful plot as it winds throughout the stars. Mainly because, if you are the commander of the mission, you really shouldn’t have to focus on the actual operation of ship and fueling up, that’s why you have a crew of people you can trust who are there to do those tasks. Similar case with mining. Plus it always bugged me that in both games you are working for people with vast resources, who are entrusting you to save the galaxy, and yet they aren’t inclined to give you proper resources and equipment so you can focus on your job.
Also, again this is opinion folks, it felt like ME1 was built for PC first, allowing full use of the platform and then streamlined for consoles, whereas ME2 felt like it was built for consoles and then merely ported to PC. It could not have taken that much effort for them to allow full customization of the keyboard map, or graphics options more specific than low, med, and high. The utilities are already there, they just needed a front end UI, which isn’t that hard (/opinion). Yes the vehicular travel was god awful in ME1, but eliminating it also eliminated random surface exploration of worlds. I can’t tell you how cool it was to travel to a planet via the star map, select a world, read it’s description (however generic), and deploy a team to the surface. You could get out and walk around and I’ll be damned if it isn’t something like the feeling the Apollo astronauts must have got when they walked on the moon, with only your small team and rover on the surface of a barren rock knowing that all that separates you from the the rest of the galaxy is a thin layer of atmosphere inside your suit or clinging to the surface of the world. But I digress.
I remember way back before ME1 came out, and they were doing a sneak peak chat with the developers where they made a point to say that they were trying to give the gamer a way to create their own story. To feel that the Normandy was their ship, that its crew was their crew, and that they were just part of a whole galaxy of possibilities that could be explored. That is what *I* think is missing from ME2. ME2, an awesome augmented cinematic experience, but it was missing my imagination, and you know what? That matters.

Pathetic.

You are forcing YOUR opinion on a blatant FACT about the game.

Listen. 90% of the games plots revolve around long cover shooter missions where the objective is “find the character”, or “run my errand”.

You can dress them up, but thats the basics.

A contrary example would be ME1. Try as you mean, getting down to the basics all the main plot worlds until the games finale are “find piece of the mystery to stop Saren”.

The important thing to notice is that ME1s mission objective works together as one whole, playing a part in the story.

ME2s mission objectives net you one more expendable goon for the mission, or a more effective expendable goon for the mission.

ME2s plot is a busywork sidestep, so that there is less for them to “tie up”, as you put it in ME3.

That is not opinion. That is stating an observation based on facts.

If you think you can deny that ME2 is made up of the same basic objective played out over a series of completely disconnected side missions, youre delusional.

Same applies to trying to deny the game is broken into linear shooter missions.

Obviously yourself and Diamo are too obsessed with Bioware to realise the mediocre crap they just spewed out.

Like I said, youre clearly exactly the kind of dumbass ME2 was designed for.

@Murv

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

One other point I want to add…

The whole “streamlining” experience and load screens really took away from the immersion of the game. In ME1, you always docked your ship and walked off it. Yea the loading in between and the elevators was annoying, but at least BIOWARE put on interesting music or Radio Tidbits. Now, we have loading screens instead. I’m STILL WAITING, but the immersion is gone. Big Miss in my book.

Also, thanks for raping the citadel Bioware. What was possibly the coolest city in all of RPGs became a streamlined level that lost all its soul. I realized that people wanted more cities and towns to explore, but by raping the citadel and putting in 3-4 towns the size of Noveria from the first game is kind of missing the point. We wanted MORE cities to explore LIKE the CItadel… not a couple of rooms here and there with some NPCs here and there.

The vastness of ME1 was gone in ME2. I’ll admit the combat functioned better, but I still missed the RPG elements in ME1. I also think the stripping of the inventory was a major miss. The ME1 inventory interface was terrible, thats for sure, but I didn’t want the whole system stripped, just an easier to navigate and equip screen.

Anyways. ME2 was still a good game, but I hope BIoware recognizes some of the things that made ME1 such a great experience was missing in ME2.

Everything aside, just because millions of people bought the game doesn’t mean that millions of people loved it. You’re not gonna know if a game is good until you actually play it and see it for yourself. Think about it.

@ ballin

Also two can play at this game. You’re just another twat that likes to instigate arguments with people who are passionate enough about gaming to criticize developers when they resort to lazy game design in an effort to print more money. If you’d actually read the whole comment you’d be surprised to find that it wasn’t a hateful “It’s not the same” post.

Oh and Adam Sandler movie quotes aren’t funny if you just shoehorn them in without being clever about it. So go back to being satisfied with stagnating gameplay and paying out the ass for DLC that should have been in th game in the first place, Chad Warden.

@ Murv

Couldn’t agree more. You know what’s up.

“Everything I stated about the game is fact, not opinion”

Let’s examine that…

” The fact that every single character is an objective, both in how you acquire and later placate them makes the game feel ridiculously artificial.” –Opinion. It may be formulaic but it’s a different formula to ME1 and enhances the story in it’s own way. You don’t mention what RPG game you like, so I’m going to assume it’s so not in any way formulaic or contrived- as if that exists. Does every single interaction need to be like a choose-your-own-adventure and swing the entire plot? I don’t think so.

“I dont think being forced into the games intrusive TPS system satisfied me as a player wanted a good portion of RPG out of his “TPS/RPG” *HYBRID*.” — Clearly opinion. One that 90% of people who play the game have disagreed with.

ME3 will tie up more loose ends in the plot I’m sure – ends which were likely intentionally left loose.

You just tried to restate the same garbage you did before… geez you’re a moron. Go play more FF14 or whatever japan just crapped out. I guess the millions who loved it were wrong huh?