Mass Effect 2 - 2 Million Copies and Other Tidbits

Dhruin

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According to Gamasutra, Mass Effect 2 has passed 2 million shipped units (note: shipped, not sold):
BioWare's Mass Effect 2 has shipped 2 million units, says publisher Electronic Arts, which claims the "first blockbuster of 2010" in its announcement today.

"Mass Effect 2 is poised to be one of the biggest games of 2010," says BioWare co-founder and general manager Ray Muzyka. "We could not be more proud of the game’s universal acclaim and early commercial success."
Over at Metacritic, their latest Inside the Reviews feature looks at the critical success of ME2, with a Metacritic position of 3rd overall on their X360 charts. I'm not sure anything useful is discovered but there you go:
Critics have identified shooting mechanics, load times, and visuals as among the features that have been improved in the sequel. Inventory, armor upgrades and experience are simplified this time around (experience is awarded only at the end of each mission), while the first game’s hated vehicular missions have been eliminated altogether. Also, the unique, emotion-driven, real-time "conversation wheel" that allowed extensive user control of dialogue in the first game is back for ME2, with some enhancements.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun writes about the disappointment in getting the default canon instead of his reality because he couldn't import a save, having switched from X360 to PC. Along comes a repository of saves for people like Alec Meer:
I played through an hour or so more, but my heart wasn’t in it. Particularly, I wanted big’n'mopey alien bruiser Wrex in my party, but in this enforced new reality that wasn’t possible. Fortunately, during a casual browse of our forums I spotted Alexander Norris’ link to the ME Savegame Repository. Which is what it sounds like – a growing collection of saves from the first game, ready for importing into ME2. Pretty much any Shepherd derivation you can think of is in there – paragon, renegade, mixed, male, female, romanced Kaiden, romanced Ashley, romanced Liara, romanced no-one (that’s me – I find videogame sex/snogging scenes so ludicrous and unconvincing that it can be hard to take the game seriously after seeing one, so generally avoid them), killed Wrex, saved Wrex, killed the council, saved the council, and dozens of similar decisions.
I've seen a few complaints about the lack of mouses sensitivity settings, so check out this forum post on the official forums for a potential fix.
...and GameBanshee points to a hotfix for ATI Crossfire users.
More information.
 
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40 10/10's and 2 million copies. Congratulations to Bioware.
 
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40 10/10's and 2 million copies. Congratulations to Bioware.

Definitely! I am loving this game, and love shooter-RPG hybrids as well as hardcore RPG's ... so between the success of a variety of games this past year I think our genre will continue to be well served!
 
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Everything I am reading outside of so called objective reviews from game sites, is there is less RPG than before and more shooter.

When Bioware says they listened to everyone and fixed all complaints, who the hell complained there was TOO MUCH RPG and why would Bioware believe them?

I defiantly not buying for at least a year, as I waited with the original ME. It's amazing when a game comes out it's game sites post tons of reviews with ratings 10/10, 99% and 90+.

A year later it's like well yeah we over reacted, some. wtf? :)
 
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When Bioware says they listened to everyone and fixed all complaints, who the hell complained there was TOO MUCH RPG and why would Bioware believe them?

I think the issue was a lack of focus ... trying to be a 100% RPG and a 100% shooter just won't work, so ME2 is better focused in that regard.
 
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I defiantly not buying for at least a year, as I waited with the original ME. It's amazing when a game comes out it's game sites post tons of reviews with ratings 10/10, 99% and 90+.

How much did you like ME though? Most people seem to have the opinion that if you enjoyed ME, you'll enjoy ME2 as well. I plan on getting it, but not for $50. I'll grab it as soon as I can get it for $30-$35.
 
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How much did you like ME though? Most people seem to have the opinion that if you enjoyed ME, you'll enjoy ME2 as well. I plan on getting it, but not for $50. I'll grab it as soon as I can get it for $30-$35.

I'm in this camp as well, excepting the fact that I'll be waiting for a $20.00 USD price tag.

Excepting the fact that I don't care about ME (the original), how did you like this game? Was it well done and do you consider it a good/rewarding use of your time?

I'm so backlogged on games at this point that it will probably be a year or more before I can even consider this title. Is it worth it?
 
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Well, I am loving the game despite what some say about its RPG qualities. I refuse to judge RPG-iness only by combat mechanics. Someone called Bioshock more of an RPG than Mass Effect 2. Ridiculous! I'm more "there" in the universe than I am in The Witcher, for example. I am Sheppard. :) I think I should have picked a male character in the first game, though. ;) Fortunately, you can change your appearance, but not gender.

I've just flown to the Citadel and I love that I can explore some more of it. I hate that I have to work today, argh. :)
 
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I'm liking it as well.

However, I like most games at this AAA level in the beginning.

I loved Oblivion for the first few days until I realised how shallow it was.

Mass Effect 2 seems like a streamlined Mass Effect with a ton of improvements. But so far it remains extremely formulaic, based on it being Bioware doing what they've been doing for way too long.

Their games are starting to feel like factory productions, rather than games being made by passionate developers.

I'm not sure that will keep me immersed throughout.
 
I have already completed it once, on my 2nd run now. I really like it. However, it has been streamlined too much for my taste; I still find ME1 a better game, due to greater skill variety and less focus on the shooter element.
 
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I have already completed it once, on my 2nd run now. I really like it. However, it has been streamlined too much for my taste; I still find ME1 a better game, due to greater skill variety and less focus on the shooter element.


You got it Thursday, and you're on your 2nd run?
 
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I have already completed it once, on my 2nd run now. I really like it. However, it has been streamlined too much for my taste; I still find ME1 a better game, due to greater skill variety and less focus on the shooter element.

I heard that certain choices can lead to scenes playing out entirely different. So, how much difference do your choices make? Is there a lot of extra content to be found on a second play-through?
 
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I am not loving ME2 like ME1.

They streamlined the bits I liked. ME2 seems to follow the trend of lots of computer games, kind of sequalitus if you like. For example take:
System Shock --> System Shock 2 -->Bioshock
or
Deus Ex --> Deus Ex 2

In each example there is always a narrowing of choices (character path and items) and gameplay mechanics.

I don't know who developers listen to when "improving" a game for the sequel. I doubt it is people like RPGWatchers and it sure isn't me. Maybe I should write more letters...

My current problem with ME2 is the controls - the mouse is kind of weird and doesn't work in a shooter kind of way. This is stopping me from getting in to the flow of a fire fight. I noted though that there are a few mouse tweaks out there so I'll go try them.

I know I will finish ME2 and like it as I love a good space opera.
 
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I am not loving ME2 like ME1.

They streamlined the bits I liked. ME2 seems to follow the trend of lots of computer games, kind of sequalitus if you like. For example take:
System Shock —> System Shock 2 —>Bioshock
or
Deus Ex —> Deus Ex 2

Baldur's Gate 1 - 2 -> Dragon Age

Icewind Dale 1 - 2

All of the Goldbox games were in some ways better than the one before.

KOTOR 1 - 2

Realms of Arkania 1 - 2 - 3 -> Drakensang

Wasteland -> Fallout 1 - 2 -> Fallout 3

Wizardry 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8

Heroes of Might and Magic 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5

Age of Wonders 1 - 2 - 3 -> Shadow Magic

Majesty 1 - 2

Quest for Glory 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5

Jagged Alliance 1 - 2

Diablo 1 - 2

Assasins Creed 1 - 2

Overlord 1 - 2

Freedom Force 1 - 2

Spellforce 1 - 2

UFO: Aftermath - UFO: Aftershock - UFO: Afterlight

These are just a few examples of games that I felt were just as good or better than the original.

Sometimes developers reincarnate the original in a whole new way like with Wasteland -> Fallout 1/2 -> Fallout 3 or Realms of Arkania 1 - 2 - 3 -> Drakensang. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it is so different from the original that it's a deformed mess. I liked every reincarnation of the 'wasteland/ROK' series for entirely different reasons than I liked their predecessors, but I did like them.

Do you know how hard it is to recapture what made a certain movie/game great? There is no magic formula. People don't want to just watch/play the original again. They want it to be better than the original. That means changing it. That means taking chances. That means probably pissing off a lot of people.

Truth be told, you can look for sequalitus in any entertainment medium. Like in the movies the sequel is almost never as good as the original, but sometimes it is just as good or better. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. This is not something new to the entertainment industry. The original is always better because it's new and fresh.
 
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The game is too mainstream I don't like it
Any more mainstream than the original, though? I really don't think so. ANyone surprised that it is a streamlines shooter-centric game ... well, I don't know what to tell you.
 
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Any more mainstream than the original, though? I really don't think so. ANyone surprised that it is a streamlines shooter-centric game … well, I don't know what to tell you.

More mainstream? Hmm, actually yes.

The original at least tried to be somewhat of an RPG with meaningful choices (though it failed, imo) with its mechanics. The new one deliberately gets rid of everything in an effort to streamline instead of refine or rethink bad features.

They didn't improve as much as just remove.
 
Skavenhorde, I was trying to be a little more focused in my examples down the shooter/story/rpg sub genre. I don't want change for changes sake. I am quite happy with a bug fix of a good game for the sequel. In fact if the first was a great game try not to mess with it to much at all for the sequel.

Personally I would have taken ME1 and applied the following:
1. Clean up the inventory UI, this was a real mess and could have been a lot better done on the PC.
2. more focus on the planet driving sub game, maybe fewer planets to drive on but with more to do and find
3. Add the research as that sounds interesting but don't cut elements like armour for squad mates.
4. I was happy with the ammo system, the new one seems just as silly (we now have thermal sinks but still magic bullets?)

That would have done it for me, add in the new story and let me get at it. Somehow though I doubt I am the typical gamer and not who the big companies listen to.
 
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I have played nonstop since I came home Friday.

I find it better than ME thanks to them cutting away some of the nuisances I had with the first game.
 
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