I guess - some of the side missions were internally good (Tali's = pure win) but the actual layout of the game wasn't great in that respect. Essentially, most of the side missions were situated so as to basically feel like level-grinding before going to the final showdown. The "delaying the inevitable" effect. When you know what you have to do, those kinds of quests are pretty meaningless.
This is partly just personal preference as to how I like an RPG to be laid out. I'd rather have the side quests interspersed throughout the first half of the game for character development before getting to the real thrust of the main plot. Often that requires a more linear game, though.
And however they choose to make it, I'll play it. Only game I've been actually looking forward to buying since... a long time.
Exactly, if you ever plated KOTOR you will know that that game had some excellent pacing, the story was always going forward (main plot line) while you did side quests here and there.
ME2 seems like, INTRO levels, Do all the side quests, Do final levels. It just wasn't that fun IMO.
Exactly, if you ever plated KOTOR you will know that that game had some excellent pacing, the story was always going forward (main plot line) while you did side quests here and there.
ME2 seems like, INTRO levels, Do all the side quests, Do final levels. It just wasn't that fun IMO.
ME1 was much much better than ME2 IMO.
Agreed. It's definitely not an opinion many people seem to share though.
In addition to that...I also though Uncharted 1 was better than Uncharted 2. Uncharted 2 may have been prettier, but Uncharted 1 was the better "game".
I thought ME1 was great because it was an amazing introduction to the story. ME2 didn't have as much backing as far as the story goes (thought there could have been more to it)... but the gameplay felt a lot better to me.
The new features showcased in the demo alone have me psyched for this game as far as gameplay... as long as the story has as much to it as ME2, I'll be more than satisfied. If it's even better than that - it's going to be epic.
Exactly, if you ever plated KOTOR you will know that that game had some excellent pacing, the story was always going forward (main plot line) while you did side quests here and there.
ME2 seems like, INTRO levels, Do all the side quests, Do final levels. It just wasn't that fun IMO.
ME1 was much much better than ME2 IMO.
Shepard's dance moves were the biggest disappointment. What on earth happened between the games that made her lose the fun? Dying and then getting resurrected by a terrorist organization is no excuse!
ME2 is really just a bridge between 1 and 3. The reasons I love ME1 and 2 are very different ones. ME1 had more RPG elements. More of a story and a villain, just.. more flow in general. ME2 is very character driven, and the combat was better, but I didn't like the streamlining of weapons and armor and powers. Harbinger was annoying, but he was no Saren.
It seems like ME3 is getting back to a lot of what ME1 did, but the combat is even better now. Less slow and clunky. I think story pacing-wise it'll be closer to 1 than 2. I don't mind the multiplayer so much, but that might be because I didn't fare too badly. =P I can handle a few rounds or whatever is required for galactic readiness.
Otherwise, all I really want are more fun Renegade interrupts and I'm good. ;) It'll be interesting to see how my Shepard fares. She was a complete biatch, but she destroyed the Collector base.
Never played the first one, and played the 2nd one a bit. Never really got into it though.
Downloaded the demo though and it had me hooked pretty quick. My question is that it lets you play the game RPG "Traditionally", action or cinema.
I don't remember this in two, but can you really just play this game as an action game and not worry about RPG elements? I have yet to go back and play the demo the other two ways, but thought I would ask quick
ME2 cut down on the RPG elements anyway. In both 1 and 2 you had to make dialogue choices and other plot decisions, but you can always change the difficulty to whatever. You never had the 'action/story/RPG' choice that ME3 gives you.
I'm not sure what the 'action' choice in ME3 does for weapon and armor customization (if anything, but probably not), but I know it picks dialog choices for you and it probably auto-levels your characters (you can turn this on in ME1 and 2 but I never did). The demo isn't long, so I'd try all three modes if you're really curious.
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^ I think the only pre-requisite to playing ME3 would be to play ME1 though... you could probably skip 2.... just read a wiki summary or watch some youtube of some of the storyline or something and you wouldn't miss that much (unless you want to get to know all the characters more, which in a Bioware game is never a bad idea).
That said I loved the first 2, am going to be completely addicted to the 3rd, and after I finish it, will likely restart again with ME1 sometime in the future.
^ I think the only pre-requisite to playing ME3 would be to play ME1 though... you could probably skip 2.... just read a wiki summary or watch some youtube of some of the storyline or something and you wouldn't miss that much (unless you want to get to know all the characters more, which in a Bioware game is never a bad idea).
That said I loved the first 2, am going to be completely addicted to the 3rd, and after I finish it, will likely restart again with ME1 sometime in the future.
I too would strongly recommend playing the first one. You can get through just the main mission in maybe 12-15 hours. But I don't see why someone wouldn't want to fully experience the first two games. ME2 is fun to play if you're just looking for action; ME1 builds the story. I think most people who aren't allergic to space sci-fi would get sucked into the world and the characters. It's quite well done.
I've currently logged 25 hours in ME1 and I still have 10 or so assignments aside from the main mission to do. I'm starting to feel less motivation to finish these side quests though, as they're all very similar (ride the Mako, avoid Thresher Maws, kill some Geth turrets or Colossus/go in base, kills a dozen enemies, collect loot). The "UNC: Geth Incursion" assignment took almost three hours to complete, with no real story behind it, which left a bad taste in my mouth. Yeah, I made Tali happy, but story wise there was almost nothing there. So now I'm off to Virmire.
Don't get me wrong, I think the game is awesome and I love the story and universe, but everyone praising all the side missions makes me wonder if I'm not doing the right ones or something.
Also, I really don't like the driving sections. Waiting 5 minutes for my shields to recharge so I can take out a Colossus sucks.
I've currently logged 25 hours in ME1 and I still have 10 or so assignments aside from the main mission to do. I'm starting to feel less motivation to finish these side quests though, as they're all very similar (ride the Mako, avoid Thresher Maws, kill some Geth turrets or Colossus/go in base, kills a dozen enemies, collect loot). The "UNC: Geth Incursion" assignment took almost three hours to complete, with no real story behind it, which left a bad taste in my mouth. Yeah, I made Tali happy, but story wise there was almost nothing there. So now I'm off to Virmire.
Don't get me wrong, I think the game is awesome and I love the story and universe, but everyone praising all the side missions makes me wonder if I'm not doing the right ones or something.
Also, I really don't like the driving sections. Waiting 5 minutes for my shields to recharge so I can take out a Colossus sucks.
they fixed all those issues in ME2. all the side missions are actually fun, and aside from the DLC there is no vehicle driving
I've currently logged 25 hours in ME1 and I still have 10 or so assignments aside from the main mission to do. I'm starting to feel less motivation to finish these side quests though, as they're all very similar (ride the Mako, avoid Thresher Maws, kill some Geth turrets or Colossus/go in base, kills a dozen enemies, collect loot). The "UNC: Geth Incursion" assignment took almost three hours to complete, with no real story behind it, which left a bad taste in my mouth. Yeah, I made Tali happy, but story wise there was almost nothing there. So now I'm off to Virmire.
Don't get me wrong, I think the game is awesome and I love the story and universe, but everyone praising all the side missions makes me wonder if I'm not doing the right ones or something.
Also, I really don't like the driving sections. Waiting 5 minutes for my shields to recharge so I can take out a Colossus sucks.
The number of side missions, and the general back story involving Cerebrus that tied into Mass Effect 2 were praise worthy, but the awfulness of the Mako sequences and the repetitiveness of the environments were roundly criticized at the time.
Where Mass Effect was mainly praised, and rightly so, was for the main story, especially dialogue, the RPG elements, interesting characters, and the thoroughly fleshed-out world.
The number of side missions, and the general back story involving Cerebrus that tied into Mass Effect 2 were praise worthy, but the awfulness of the Mako sequences and the repetitiveness of the environments were roundly criticized at the time.
Where Mass Effect was mainly praised, and rightly so, was for the main story, especially dialogue, the RPG elements, interesting characters, and the thoroughly fleshed-out world.
I don't recall anyone saying anything positive about the side missions in ME1. Their lack of substance was widely seen as a weakness. You do as many of them as you can take and move on with the main story.
I didn't mind the Mako. My view was that it is vehicle designed for rough unpredictable terrain which means it won't handle like a Toyota. Never had much trouble with the fights once I accepted its strengths and weaknesses. Not that hard not to get hit since you can always jump out of the way. The sense of being on the surface of the planets was also positive for me, which is something that was lost in ME2.
What I disliked was the Hammerhead in the ME2 DLC which was like the anti-Mako, probably by design. Felt like an arcade game and the fighting was no fun because it had ridiculously weak shields.
I've currently logged 25 hours in ME1 and I still have 10 or so assignments aside from the main mission to do. I'm starting to feel less motivation to finish these side quests though, as they're all very similar (ride the Mako, avoid Thresher Maws, kill some Geth turrets or Colossus/go in base, kills a dozen enemies, collect loot). The "UNC: Geth Incursion" assignment took almost three hours to complete, with no real story behind it, which left a bad taste in my mouth. Yeah, I made Tali happy, but story wise there was almost nothing there. So now I'm off to Virmire.
Don't get me wrong, I think the game is awesome and I love the story and universe, but everyone praising all the side missions makes me wonder if I'm not doing the right ones or something.
Also, I really don't like the driving sections. Waiting 5 minutes for my shields to recharge so I can take out a Colossus sucks.
I don't know what class you're playing but fighting a Colossus in the Mako is not effective. Get out and kill it on foot. As an adept I'd just use lift and pummel the thing while it's helplessly floating. As a soldier, I used a sniper riffle with explosive rounds from a distance (it's actually ridiculous how far away you can take something out with the sniper riffle). I got into the habbit of exiting the vehicle as soon as I'd encounter enemies because if the Mako gets destroyed you have to restart. You also get more experience by killing things outside of the Mako.
To weigh in on the ME1 vs ME2, 1 was a superior game in most respects. I disliked the removal of RPG elements from 2 and I felt the story was weaker. With that said, 2 did some things right. Combat was much more fluid (even though they super nerfed the adept) and they added quality side missions. I've purposely stayed away from ME3 news, videos and the demo because I already know that it's a day one purchase for me. I hope its more like a merger of 1 and 2 in terms of gameplay but more like 1 in terms of story.
There was no question that the weapons were way more powerful in ME2 though.
I remember the fully auto sniper rifle was a total death dealing machine.
And that final heavy machine gun that you got on the dead reaper was like throwing a running lawnmover into a pack of curious kids.
ME1 was a little tougher in terms of leveling up your weapons.
But there was no effect like having an over powered full auto slowly walking forward with your rigle sighted in and chewing some poor ####### into pieces.
I will admit though that the duck and vault feature was way better in the second game.
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