Mass Effect 2 - Officially Announced

[Dhruin]

We've had the doctors dropping hints, we've had the teaser trailer (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=11432) and now we have the official announcement for Mass Effect 2. It's not that far away and a PC version is included out of the gate:
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada – March 17th, 2009 – Leading video game developer BioWare™, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today officially announced Mass Effect™ 2, the highly anticipated sequel to the multi award-winning 2007 hit, Mass Effect. The Mass Effect trilogy is a masterful science fiction adventure set in a vast universe filled with dangerous alien life forms and mysterious uncharted planets. In this dark second chapter, Saren’s evil army of Geth soldiers has just been defeated, and humans, who are still struggling to make their mark on the galactic stage, are now faced with an even greater peril…

“We’re going to surpass the extraordinary gaming experience we brought our fans in Mass Effect by delivering intensified combat and expanded weapon options as well as increased depth of planet exploration, all while delivering a powerful, emotionally engaging story,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, General Manager and CEO, BioWare and General Manager and Vice President, EA. “Mass Effect 2 is shaping up to be an unforgettable RPG-shooter experience, taking players on a non-stop roller-coaster ride filled with stunning plot twists and no-holds-barred action.”

Mass Effect 2 is coming to PC and the Xbox 360 video game system in Early 2010. To see the exclusive new Mass Effect 2 teaser trailer check out the website here: www.masseffect.com.
More information. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=11604)

[lef]

Yay! :love:

[Badesumofu]

"increased depth of planet exploration" sounds promising. If they manage to make the whole thing feel less generic, and provide more open and interesting places to explore, it could be a really good game. More than 3 instalation designs for the side-missions would also be nice, haha. The quest-design was also pretty forgettable, even if one or two of them were kinda interesting side-stories.

[guenthar]

Please scrap the dialog system and go with something better. Along with that and the crappy planet exploration those are the reasons why I haven't played it for months.

[skavenhorde]

I guess I was the only one that thought that planet exploration had a Starflight feel to it. I wish there were more to it than finding some minerals or downed spacecraft, but I didn't mind it too much. I didn't like that stupid vehicle jumping all over the place.

[elikal]

Cool, ME was a great game, only that generic planet exploration wasnt my thing.

[txa1265]

Please scrap the dialog system and go with something better. Along with that and the crappy planet exploration those are the reasons why I haven't played it for months.

I don't real see anything being scrapped in terms of the core game ...

[Dhruin]

I totally ignored the planetary exploration, which I think helped me enjoy the game. Why would anyone bother with them?

[Prime Junta]

"Dark?" Oh my.

I liked the dialog *system* well enough; I just thought the dialog itself was on the bland and predictable side. Good news about the planetary exploration; IMO they would've done better not to include it at all, or include at most one or two planets.

Can't say this goes right to the top of my anticipation list, though, even if I will probably end up playing it anyway.

[Benedict]

"Dark?" Oh my.

I just thought the dialog itself was on the bland and predictable side.


Dark seems to be a fairly popular marketing buzzword these days (http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2009/03/14/subgenre-appropriation-first-they-takes-yer-urban-fantasy-then-they-takes-yer-dark-fantasy-then/#more-4054)

I thought the dialog wasn't going to win any writing awards but I thoroughly enjoyed it because the renegade responses actually felt believable in the context of the character which was a nice change after years of simpering niceness or mindless rudeness with nothing in between.

[Foss]

Looking forward to this.
Enjoyed the first one quite alot for what it was.

[Guhndahb]

I did the whole planetary exploration thing, finding every last dang thing. It was very weak, largely boring, but I'm a "completionist" and couldn't resist.

I really hope they find a way to make that far more fun. They really could do a lot with, say, purchasable/findable modules and such for the rover (like sensors to find stuff at a distance!), better rover controls (like being able to control the thrusters independently), and far, far, far more interesting encounters. Oh and please have interiors on the planets be far less generic. I kept telling myself "well these are pre-fab structures sold by a construction monopoly so they are all the same" but that didn't make exploring them any more fun.

And "yey" for announcing the PC release up front.

[Essaliad]

"Dark?" Oh my.

Gritty, mature, and epic!!!! is the new cool, didn't you get the memo?

[buckaroobonzai]

I don't know, my feelings have changed for Mass Effect since I played it when it came out. At first I was really into a new Science Fiction hybrid CRPG made by the company that made Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire and KOTOR1.

After playing it and letting the gameplay settle, I think it was missing many features that made both Baldur's Gate and Mass Effect's closest cousin KOTOR good games.

I feel Mass Effect is basically a FPS with some RPG elements all revolving around a Biowarian plot. But, when comparing it to KOTOR 1 & KOTOR 2 (even though Bio didn't make KT2), it lacks

KOTOR 1 had some mysteries to solve like the trial on the oceanic planet.
KOTOR 2 had the excellent grey character of Kreia, C. Avellone's masery at work there. It had its own little mysteries like finding a solution to the Peragus fuel explosion.

But, as far as gameplay, I think Mass Effect's biggest mistake is in the lack of real hacking and stealth gameplay.
Hacking was put to great use in the two KOTORs as you were able to find alternate routes, spy on various areas, disable sentry drones & cameras, eliminate certain enemies
You were also able to split and go solo from the party and go complete stealth for some of the missions opening up another style of gameply to add variety.

It was much better being able to play as T3 to do hacking or repair mission, or the other chgaracters for their specific misisons. In Mass Effect you only play as Shepard...
In KOTOR 2 you even had a mission as T3-M4 sneaking into the droid warehouse

Mass Effect was just exploring and shooting with story. It missed about half of the gameplay the KOTORs had. One gets tired of the gameplay in MAss Effect much earlier then the KOTORs.

And thats not even mentioning how Mass Effect can definitely use some inspiration from the oldies like: Starflight, Space Rogue, Sentinel Worlds: Future MAgic, Hard Nova, Protostar etc.

[Dez]

Gritty, mature, and epic!!!! is the new cool, didn't you get the memo?

And heroic too! Not low fantasy nor high fantasy, but dark mature heroic fantasy with lots of gore!!!

[Essaliad]

And heroic too! Not low fantasy nor high fantasy, but dark mature heroic fantasy with lots of gore!!!

Also: inspired by George R. R. Martin despite all evidence pointing to Tolkien.

So we get: Gritty, dark, mature heroic fantasy inspired by acclaimed fantasy writer George R. R. Martin, full of collar-grabbing extreme action and the ability to sodomize whoever, whenever, however you want.

[skavenhorde]

I totally ignored the planetary exploration, which I think helped me enjoy the game. Why would anyone bother with them?

To explore of course :) Never know whatcha gonna find...well you sorta do. Minerals, downed space craft and a lair of somesort. But when linked in with a quest, it wasn't so bad. Still think it had a starflight flare to it....maybe just a tiny bit like it.

[Dhruin]

Hey, it's your time. ;) They weren't worth mine and I'm glad I skipped them.

[wolfing]

Bleh, I'd be 100 times more excited about Drakensang 2 than ME 2, I guess shooters are not really my style of games.

[JDR13]

I feel Mass Effect is basically a FPS with some RPG elements all revolving around a Biowarian plot. But, when comparing it to KOTOR 1 & KOTOR 2 (even though Bio didn't make KT2), it lacks

To each their own, I'd rather play ME than KotOR any day of the week, and that's despite the fact that I'm a Star Wars fan. I like the original setting and atmosphere of ME.