Mass Effect 2 - Why This Is the Future of the RPG

[Daroou]

Sounds like corporate propaganda to sell mainstream gamers on more of this type of stuff. Doesn't matter, people will eat it up anyway. What matters is what is fun, and that's a matter of taste.

 

[bjon045]

I don't often resort to physical violence but I would make an exception for this guy.

 

[Damian Mahadevan]

Sadly this will be the case for rpg's in the future. People will continue to make these claims that these fps games are rpgs like borderlands and ME. I feel like pirating my rpg's now so i can atleast check if they are truly rpg's before buying them. I bought borderlands and ME2 and have regretted that since.

 

[JemyM]

This feature made me consider making a feature on the deevolution of Bioware's inventory system as well as their dialogue systems. I have actually yet to play Dragon Age, but when considering the inventory of Baldur's Gate, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 you have to wonder about the direction. I still think ME2 was an improvement over ME1 since it cut away the greatest flaw with ME1 (the inventory system) but that doesn't forgive that ME1 was horrible in comparision to their earlier games.

And when speaking about dialogue, I still remember the dialogues of Baldur's Gate, the deevolution there begun when your character was boiled down to two (black or white) and was deevolved even more with ME1, which ME2 really doesn't improve upon in any direction I can see. The cutscene interrupts have little to do with dialog and is available to both paths.

 

[SirJames]

Well, listen to this...

My 60something year old father, who clocked Ultima ONE when it first came out, was super keen on the game when I told him about it. He loves sci-fi, his Azimov collection is massive.

We'll I gave the game to him to play and he came back to me after about 10 minutes and said "It's a shooter"

Perhaps then this is the future of shooters? Cos he ain't going back no matter how much I tell him its an RPG.

 

[JemyM]

Blasphemy, do not underestimate the depth of Ultima I!

 

[zakhal]

If mass effect is what most players want from rpgs, then its the future of rpgs. Perhaps in few hundred years the term "crpg" changes to mean "fps".

 

[DArtagnan]

The only issue I have with that article is that it'll be read by more people than those reading anything we say on the subject

 

[Coldcall]

I grow weary

I've had so many rows on forums, especially Bioware's, about articles hyping ME2 as the future of RPGs, it has sapped my strenggth from playing great games.

Thats it, back to Silent Storm - the future of ciivilisation itself hangs in the balance!

 

[Arhu]

This feature made me consider making a feature on the deevolution of Bioware's inventory system as well as their dialogue systems.

I wouldn't mind reading such a feature here on the Watch!

You'd probably have to play through DA first. Dialogue choices in it meant a lot more than in ME1 from what I remember. I can see two different, if similar, paths those two games are traveling on. One is more old-school in nature, the other goes somewhere else entirely, and it's not because of the setting.

 

[Tragos]

This guy remind me of n00b users in Paradox forums moaning that EU3 is crap because battles are not like TW series.
Apples and oranges , when you only know apples you can hardly talk about the taste of an orange only judging by the looks .

 

[DArtagnan]

DA is "old-school" mostly because it was started aaaaages ago.

At least that's what I suspect.

Not that I thought it was old-school - but it had a select few elements of that, which I enjoyed a lot.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Just a step back into the past : Mass Effect 2 is kind of like … a viisual experience. Kind of a movie, right ?

Didn't we have this already ? Games that were made to rather look like movies than anything else ?

Actors blended into a fantasy universe … Stonekeep, Lands Of Lore, anyone ?

 

[DArtagnan]

Wing Comander 3-5

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Yes, games like that. Thanks for the reminder, I was searching for similar games in my memory, but couldn't come up with some anymore (too long ago).

 

[Benedict]

I'm going to go against the general consensus here and say that I can see where he's coming from, particularly with this bit in the closing paragraph:

Mass Effect 2 delivers a true RPG experience that is indicative of where the genre needs to go. They need to deliver great stories, true character progression, interesting companions, and fun battle systems. I'm not saying every RPG needs to be ME2, but they need to reassess the cliches that they have fallen back on.

Don't get me wrong, I still like a bit of statistic fiddling, loot grabbing or turn based strategy. But I can see his point - he's not saying that all games should take the same design decisions as ME2, he's saying that Bioware has done a lot more than most developers to step back from genre traditions, think about what the really important bits of an RPG are (to them) and then try to make the game fun without worrying about deviating from the tried & tested conventions.

Admittedly not played ME2 yet but read quite a bit about it and played the first one so think I have a fair idea of how I'll find it.

 

[JemyM]

Can someone remind me if you could progress both directions (morality) in kotor/jade empire/me1? Because I think the opportunity to go both directions in ME2 was a good improvement that didn't lock my choices. It still disencouraging you to make your own choices by rewarding you if you keep to one path though. Take what comes naturally and you may face serious consequences you will not take if you first progressed to 100% in one direction. You may even loose characters. I wanted adapt to the situation, change tone depending on who I spoke with, which would be a more natural choice for a leader but here you can't.

 

[txa1265]

Just a step back into the past : Mass Effect 2 is kind of like … a viisual experience. Kind of a movie, right ?

Didn't we have this already ? Games that were made to rather look like movies than anything else ?

Actors blended into a fantasy universe … Stonekeep, Lands Of Lore, anyone ?

That is the problem most of us have - once again it has little to do with the game, more to do with an inept and inexperienced assessment of the genre and a lack of historical perspective & knowledge.

 

[DArtagnan]

Can someone remind me if you could progress both directions (morality) in kotor/jade empire/me1? Because I think the opportunity to go both directions in ME2 was a good improvement that didn't lock my choices. It still disencouraging you to make your own choices by rewarding you if you keep to one path though. Take what comes naturally and you may face serious consequences you will not take if you first progressed to 100% in one direction. You may even loose characters. I wanted adapt to the situation, change tone depending on who I spoke with, which would be a more natural choice for a leader but here you can't.

Personally, I find Bioware's approach to morality pathetically ignorant - but with that said - they're better in this way than many others.

I also think ME2 improved upon ME1 in this area, and ME1 improved upon KotOR.

 

[Thaurin]

Heh. I remember reading about people who came out of the first LotR movie and were amazed that someone had already written a book based on it. I kid you not.

Haha, yeah, or the people that complained about the end of the first movie, unaware that two were to follow. I guess that's understandable in some way, but still shows how many had never heard about Tolkien or his work.