Mass Effect 2 - It was good, but not that great

[RatRace123]

Well, it was the best game that came out this year, so it does justly deserve it's GOTY title.
But it's miles behind the first one, in my book. I can't explain just one thing about why that is, because the sequel does a lot of things right and better than its predecessor, but something about it just doesn't resonate with me like ME1 does.

So, I'm inclined to agree with you... pretty good, not great, certainly not perfect, but definitely the best game that came out this year
IMO

 

[TheRealGoochman]

I love Mass Effect 2 (and I love Mass Effect (Heck I love Bioware))
I strongly disagree with your opinion but to each their own

 

[Radeonx]

Mass Effect 2 was a failure as an RPG, but a pretty good third person shooter.
And it was nowhere near the best game that came out this year, but to each his own.

 

[CrustyOatmeal]

i hated how there were only 2 or 3 guns for each type and that there were no real side quests to speak of. i cant remember a single side quest in ME2 that actually forced me to go out of my way to some planet just for the sake of a side mission. the three things i would change for ME3 are:

1. more weapons (at least 6) in each category
2. more side quests (you know, the thing that makes an RPG feel like an actually world)
3. no more planet scanning for minerals

dont get me wrong, i liked the game but i think they really need fix these aspects in order to clench GotY when it comes out

 

[Radeonx]

Mass Effect 2 was a failure as an RPG, but a pretty good third person shooter.
And it was nowhere near the best game that came out this year, but to each his own.

That depends on whether you're basing your ideas of a good RPG in the micro-managing of abilties, stats, and gear, or basing them in the storytelling and character interactions. Granted, I liked both of these aspects better in Dragon Age, but Mass Effect 2 did a better job of keeping the heart pumping while delivering great story/character immersion.

The only RPG elements that Mass Effect 2 had was the dialog options. It was a good game, but slapping one or two RPG elements onto an action game doesn't make it an RPG.
(I'm not counting the story because a good story isn't an RPG element.)

 

[OniaPL]

I'm confused, were you playing Mass Effect or Mass Effect 2? Mass Effect's missions weren't nearly as linear, but in Mass Effect 2 you DID have ammo limitations. Normal was a bit simple, but turning up the difficulty one notch seemed to even it out for me.

As far as I remember, only the special hevy weapons had ammo, other weapons just overheated.

Why did the combat seem mediocre to you?

Because it did the same as Gear of Wars except not as well, and added some abilities. In my opinion, It was just that, mediocre. A couple of abilities isn't a redeeming quality. And because weapons only overheat, you could pretty much duck down and wait until the mediocre AI desrves to move out of cover and then spray.
Edit: And i don't remember there being much variation between the enemies.

- Fantastic characters, each of which I came to empathize with and deeply care for.
- An extremely well realized sci-fi setting on par with Star Trek or Star Wars (imo), with a wonderfully detailed Codex.
- Fascinating alien races that kept me wanting to learn more
- Competent, though admittedly flawed 3rd person gameplay (Gears of War still holds the crown here).
- Incredible and appealing visual design.
- Best-in-the-business voice acting from almost every single character. I'd even go so far as to say some of the performances are easily Academy Award caliber.
- Cutting edge dialogue system

I admit that the characters were pretty good, even though not excellent. Yes, they were above decent.
What was so incredible in the visuals? I don't remember going "Ooooh...." at any point.
"Cutting edge dialogue system"? It was a wheel with a good, neutral and an evil option. And often the answers just lead to the same result. At times, you had to guess what Shepard was going to say.

 

[mindlesspuppet]

I agree, I feel like ME2 is massively overrated. I've never seen as much praise for it anywhere as I do on these forums though.

 

[Syntax Man]

I strongly disagree with you on account of absolutely loving both games.

 

[Screamarie]

The reason why I liked Mass Effect 2 so much was that it was the first game where I felt like the choice was mine. Granted I only had three choices (paragon, neutral, or renegade)for moral decisions, but outside of that I had scads of decisions to make to craft Faye Shepard. I didn't just make my character's looks, I made my characters entire personality!

I was capable of making a beautiful, pale-skinned, bi-sexual (NOTE: bisexual! I was capable of not only deciding how this woman fought but how and who she loved as well) woman, who believed in justice, didn't rely on violence to get her point across, did her best to always make the right choice, and had great relationships with all of her crewmates.

I got to let her dance and drink in between fights and she spent extra money and time caring for fish and collecting model ships. She had conversations, both important and mundane, she played skillian five, she listened to music, and recieved email.

In short, I didn't just play a game. I played another person. It's not perfect. It's not a complete ability to play another person, after all, it's not a simulation, but it's the closest thing that I have ever seen in a game to having another life, even compared to simulation games. I love the Sims, but never before have I felt the same sense of personal investment that Mass Effect 2 brought me.

 

[OniaPL]

The reason why I liked Mass Effect 2 so much was that it was the first game where I felt like the choice was mine. Granted I only had three choices (paragon, neutral, or renegade)for moral decisions, but outside of that I had scads of decisions to make to craft Faye Shepard. I didn't just make my character's looks, I made my characters entire personality!

I was capable of making a beautiful, pale-skinned, bi-sexual (NOTE: bisexual! I was capable of not only deciding how this woman fought but how and who she loved as well) woman, who believed in justice, didn't rely on violence to get her point across, did her best to always make the right choice, and had great relationships with all of her crewmates.

I got to let her dance and drink in between fights and she spent extra money and time caring for fish and collecting model ships. She had conversations, both important and mundane, she played skillian five, she listened to music, and recieved email.

Sorry, but I think that it's mostly your imagination talking there. If you got that much out of the fish, occasional model ships and all that, then good for you. But it isn't the game's achievement that you are able to roplay like that.

Also, I think that Bioware get's way too much love just because the players can be gay or straight. Sure, it's great, but I personally think people celebrate it too much.

 

[Thunderhorse31]

I'm confused, were you playing Mass Effect or Mass Effect 2? Mass Effect's missions weren't nearly as linear, but in Mass Effect 2 you DID have ammo limitations. Normal was a bit simple, but turning up the difficulty one notch seemed to even it out for me.

Depends on which class you played as far as abilities went. The Adept had plenty of abilities, and it was fun to see enemies flung 300 feet off a cliff from start to finish. Never got boring.

There were a lot of side-quests in ME2. Did you open the scanner on all the planets? You don't have to actually mine, just open it, and ED-E will announce, "anomaly detected." Generally it's a distress beacon or something along those lines.

Yeah, there is indeed a good amount of sidequests, enemy variety, combat variety, and characterization to the game, and the DLC even expands all of these areas even moreso. The "linearity" of the game is an amusing accusation as well, given the number of missions, conversations, and scenarios which can be tackled or ignored altogether, depending on what you want out of your experience.

Unfortunately I'm getting the impression that OP played the game once, with one class, on normal difficulty, doing only story missions, and little else. Can't blame him though, if the game isn't all that appealing and you don't bother to immerse yourself, I guess you wouldn't care to find all this out.

 

[Stevanchez]

It was a great game.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

I play Bioware games for the story and the characters. It had an okay story, it had SUPERB characters (mostly). I can't ask for any more. (And the only reason the story didn't feel important enough, was because this was the 2nd entry and just paved the way for the finale. That's what it's job was, and it delivered)

But then again, last year was an absolute SHIT year for it's Anti-PC exclusivity. Look up the Top 10 games on ANY website? 6 of them weren't released for the PC. Fable3, AC:B, Enslaved, Red Dead is 4 right there off the top of my head! Sure we got good exclusives (SC2, Civ5, Minecraft) but I really wanna play those games. Till then, ME2 is GOTY for the sucky, sucky 2010.

 

[jpoon]

I pretty much agree with the OP, it's a good game but really it wasn't that memorable to me. I thought Amnesia (shudders), New Vegas and even Minecraft are more memorable.

 

[drummond13]

The writing and voice acting are far superior to most games out there (which isn't saying much, alas). It was a story with characters I genuinely cared about.

In addition to that, it was a solid shooter. You're right, it isn't groundbreaking, but that's not a flaw in a game when it's as well crafted as this one is.

 

[pixiejedi]

I started trying to think of any game that could compete with ME2 as far as the game of the year, all I could think of was RDR. I give you that the final boss was, underwhelming I guess, but otherwise the game was incredible. I actually got my husband to play it, which says a lot to get him away from first person shooters. There were a lot of side quests. all of the characters personal quests and the lair of the shadow broker was the best DLC of the year. I like more equipment but stream lining in this game worked too, mostly because it preventing me from breaking the game like I generally do in Dragon Age. To each their own but the over all polish and commitment in the approach really stood out to me in ME2.

 

[DustyDrB]

Unfortunately I'm getting the impression that OP played the game once, with one class, on normal difficulty, doing only story missions, and little else. Can't blame him though, if the game isn't all that appealing and you don't bother to immerse yourself, I guess you wouldn't care to find all this out.

And he probably played as a soldier, and I have a quote about that.

"I'm commander Shepard and Vanguard is my favorite class in the game" -Kurt Vonne Shepard

Also, if you're looking for something groundbreaking in the game, the save importation was implemented in a way that has no comparison I can think of. It makes the experience even more personalized.

 

[OniaPL]

I'm confused, were you playing Mass Effect or Mass Effect 2? Mass Effect's missions weren't nearly as linear, but in Mass Effect 2 you DID have ammo limitations. Normal was a bit simple, but turning up the difficulty one notch seemed to even it out for me.

Depends on which class you played as far as abilities went. The Adept had plenty of abilities, and it was fun to see enemies flung 300 feet off a cliff from start to finish. Never got boring.

There were a lot of side-quests in ME2. Did you open the scanner on all the planets? You don't have to actually mine, just open it, and ED-E will announce, "anomaly detected." Generally it's a distress beacon or something along those lines.

Yeah, there is indeed a good amount of sidequests, enemy variety, combat variety, and characterization to the game, and the DLC even expands all of these areas even moreso. The "linearity" of the game is an amusing accusation as well, given the number of missions, conversations, and scenarios which can be tackled or ignored altogether, depending on what you want out of your experience.

Unfortunately I'm getting the impression that OP played the game once, with one class, on normal difficulty, doing only story missions, and little else. Can't blame him though, if the game isn't all that appealing and you don't bother to immerse yourself, I guess you wouldn't care to find all this out.

I completed the game twice, once as a soldier, then as an adept. On hard and insanity. I also searched every corner and completed every single mission I could find and scanned all the planets, but I might have missed a couple of side quests.

Linearity wouldn't be that bad if it wasn't as linear as it can be. Corridoors with occasional rooms, just mow everything down and reach the next story point. While you can choose what missions to complete and when, it doesnt change the fact that they are completely linear.

At times I got immersed, but often I was brought down when Shepard didn't act the way I wanted him to with the dialogue options. And I felt that the enemy cariety was husks, enemy mercs, and krogans which use both melee and ranged. Every single enemy was one of these three, maybe just with a different look.