Mass Effect 2 - Critic Proof

[woges]

Gamasutra interview Mass Effect 2s Lead Producer Adrien Cho about improving on the original Mass Effect.

"Every area needed improvement... We knew what we wanted to change right away," says lead producer Adrien Cho in a new Gamasutra feature interview. "But the other part of the equation was actually taking all the feedback -- I'm not saying some -- absolutely every feedback from press and the fans, and collating all that into a huge list."

From there, they categorized the feedback and mapped it against the team's desired changes, and from there "it became really clear. It became a blueprint," he says. "It made making the sequel really easy."

More information.

 

[Thaurin]

I'm not going to read any reviews before I get the game on Friday, but I wonder what they did with the uncharted planets and side-quests. Did they really succeed in making those remotely interesting? I didn't mind ignoring them and having fun with just the main quest as a result, but it would be cool if there was something else to do this time around.

 

[Zloth]

They say they did, Thaurin. Though actually some of the side quests WERE pretty fun. It's just that they kept happening in the exact same maps - and tiny maps at that.

I hope it's a little more fun to go six-wheeling in this episode. Driving over those mountains was fun for about half an hour and I was stuck doing it for about 10 hours. And I hope the difficulty is more even instead of starting out hard then getting easier as you go along.

 

[txa1265]

I must have missed that hard part ...

I have high hopes that it will be fun, but I tend to think that the 'hardcore PC RPG fan' is one category whose requests for changes were not high on the priority list ...

 

[JDR13]

If someone is too "hardcore" for ME2 then they simply need not play it.

 

[Foss]

I don't think there is any exploration of empty planets anymore like in the first game.
I read a preview in a danish magazine and they said you scan the planets instead now for minerals from outer space without ever going to the planet.

 

[skavenhorde]

I don't think there is any exploration of empty planets anymore like in the first game.
I read a preview in a danish magazine and they said you scan the planets instead now for minerals from outer space without ever going to the planet.

All the planets you could visit had some kind of sidequest assoiciated with them. You didn't explore planets like in Starflight. For the rest of the planets in the solar system you analyzed them from space.

Why would they need to get rid of the little bit of exploration that was possible in this game? All they need to do is fix the way you explored the planets. All that jumping around made me dizzy after awhile.

 

[txa1265]

If someone is too "hardcore" for ME2 then they simply need not play it.

WTF does THAT mean? The interview talks about taking in *everything* to make *everyone* happy. And my point is that the folks who put Bioware on the map would have made suggestions that would have gone against the console gamers who will make Bioware tens of millions of $$ on the game, and will therefore be summarily dismissed, therefore it is disingenuous to suggest that they did otherwise.

Personally I liked ME, though I see it as Bioware's low point ... but still a really good game, and have the 'digital deluxe' ME2 ordered.

 

[JDR13]

My comment was in relation to the many negative posts I've seen recently.

There are tons of people who are constantly complaining that ME is too "actiony", and that it's "not really an RPG", and that the combat "sucks".

My point is that it gets old to see the same people here contantly harping about it. They do nothing but bash the game, yet they evidently still play it for some odd reason.

 

[Thaurin]

Personally I liked ME, though I see it as Bioware's low point … but still a really good game, and have the 'digital deluxe' ME2 ordered.

Wow, if you think Mass Effect 2 was their low point but still a really good game, then you must be a really huge BioWare fan.

Mass Effect was a lot better than their previous games in a lot of ways, and worse in others. It just depends on what you think is a fun game, I guess. Personally, I think making Mass Effect too 'hardcore' would get in the way of its other qualities.

 

[JDR13]

Bioware's low point to me was NWN 1 OC.

 

[DArtagnan]

I'm not sure "hardcore" is the right term for what some people want.

Personally, I was looking for a CRPG - not an interactive movie with weak RPG mechanics. If that's a "hardcore" position, then maybe you're right.

 

[txa1265]

Personally, I think making Mass Effect too 'hardcore' would get in the way of its other qualities.

I don't disagree - but they dropped an all-encompassing 'critic-proof' statement, and I am saying that is fairly disingenuous when what has come out from many sites populated by folks who have been with Bioware since day 1 (sort of like what DArtagnan said) has definitely not been addressed. ... it is like if Activision saying that Modern Warfare 2 was designed to deal with PC gamers in mind

Personally I really like shooter-RPG hybrids and enjoyed ME1 and feel that ME2 should be a blast when I start it tonight!

 

[joxer]

Tonight?
OMG I'm gonna commit a suicide, I won't be able to get it before friday.

 

[JDR13]

Tonight?
OMG I'm gonna commit a suicide, I won't be able to get it before friday.

No hurry for me, I'm enjoying Armored Princess way too much right now.

 

[Grandor Dragon]

I hope I can have sex with a four-breasted orange alien. That's all the exploration I need.