Things that Mass Effect 2 did WRONG

[GruntOwner]

Yes, this is another ME2 thread, but don't worry: Rather than singing its praises and offering an oily titwank to it, this is the thread for aspect of the game which made it worse. Yes, such aspects do exist.

On account of being the original post, I'll start.

Respawning enemies: When Modern Warfare was an enormous success, some shooters got the idea that enemies should spawn constantly. Some shooters let you get away with this by making you an assault expert so it's easy to move up. The infiltrator in an enclosed space? Not so much, so why on earth should it have been included in Mass Effect. A class built around the sniper rifle and a stealth ability should not have to fight CQB against the numberless horde. There are moment when close combat classes such as the vangard find themselves using their debuff biotics on far away enemies because they've no powers/weapons capable of flat out killing the target in one shot, so why after 5 minutes killing one does another rocket launcher take its place?

The alignment... Still: Paragon means as per regulations. Renegade means an any-means-necesary zealot. The zealot would purge every evidence of the Collectors existence, regardless of cost, so why the hell is doing so the paragon ending?

Those are the 2 most serious ones. As in, the ones which I find make a noticable difference to the quality of the game. I've a few minor jibes since I don't think alot of the swearing is really nesecary, though I only feel that way because the swearing had an effect on the rating, and I felt some of the dialogue had it thrown in without much thought as to how else you could get the message across.

So, assuming that you don't hate every aspect of the game and you're not just going to whine that this is another ME2 thread (Search bar approved, though that hardly matters to some people), what do you think they should boot the hell out for ME3?

 

[Void(null)]

Money/Loot system, Scanning/crafting and lack of Weapon variety.

Its all tied together so you can't complain about one without complaining about it all.

Its just characterless, featureless and has no soul. I can see what they were trying to do and I'm all for Streamlining the loot system... but I have used the exact same Assault Rifle (Collector) since I started the game, which is really no fun at all.

I would be down with the sort of system if they changed the following:

1: NPC Kills = Credits
2: NPC's Drop weapons, weapons can be scanned
3: Significantly more variety in Weapons and armor, 4 weapons to choose from with 2 of them being crap is just not enough variety.

 

[Srkkl]

This thread is wrong, with the heading the only proper thing that should follow that sentence is "nothing."

EDIT: Ok to add somthing, I guess they could make finding minerals easier even though I didn't really mind the scanning. Also what you said about classes can easily be fixed by choosing the right squad mates. Also what you said about the ending is kinda dumb. It's good to blow it up because Shepard knows that Reapers can remotly access shit and unless he destroys it there's a possibility that the Reapers could reactivate it making it that much stronger.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

Search bar, but to answer your point:

The biggest problem I had was the thermal clip system, which seemed like a backward step, and the exclusion of the Mako.

Also, are there respawning enemies? I played through as an infiltrator, and as long as you had some patience, the enemies all eventually ran out, long before your ammo did.

 

[zauxz]

Lack of funny group member conversations. Sure the elavator parts were boring, but every time you used one, you knew you'll hear something funny.

In Mass Effect 2 I've seen like 2 of those in nearly 30 hours.

 

[Amnestic]

Respawning enemies

Not noticed it myself, even on Insanity difficulty. Sounds like a case of L2P.

The alignment... Still: Paragon means as per regulations. Renegade means an any-means-necesary zealot. The zealot would purge every evidence of the Collectors existence, regardless of cost, so why the hell is doing so the paragon ending?

Uh, no. The Renegade would use the Collector tech to fight the Reapers which are the real threat. The Paragon response is embodied by "I won't let fear compromise my ideals."

 

[Slash Dementia]

Reintroduce the old inventory, as this one seems bland and leaves hardly any room for customization.

Have the helmet removed during dialog scenes (more-so, the important scenese) because it's awkward to be talking to someone with your helmet on.

Add the mako... or at least one mako scene.

 

[Kollega]

Scanning minigame sucks, plain and simple. Classic ammo instead of cooldown is also not welcome - couldn't they do a hybrid system?

 

[XMark]

First things first: I loved Mass Effect 2 but this thread is about nitpicking the negative so I'll nitpick away...

I thought the inventory system was a bit TOO streamlined. Pretty much the complete opposite problem from the first game. Something in between the two but closer to Mass Effect 2 would be ideal.

I don't know about anyone else, but I liked the way they did elevators in the first game. It helped make the world feel more connected, whereas Mass Effect 2 does break immersion a bit by using loading screens instead.

Heat clips were a great gameplay innovation, no doubt, but they really don't make sense from a plot perspective. Going from essentially infinite ammo back to limited ammo and the need to carry clips is a step backwards in weapons technology. They should have at least had guns still work with overheat issues like in ME1 when you run out of heat clips.

 

[Jaranja]

There aren't respawning enemies, a renegade would use the big machine to vanquish it's enemies (despite the danger it puts everyone in) and someone was saying about the Mako being taken out. I'll agree, the equivalent of a Mako should've been in there at some parts but not for the same reason as ME1.

 

[MetallicaRulez0]

Money/Loot system, Scanning/crafting and lack of Weapon variety.

Its all tied together so you can't complain about one without complaining about it all.

Its just characterless, featureless and has no soul. I can see what they were trying to do and I'm all for Streamlining the loot system... but I have used the exact same Assault Rifle (Collector) since I started the game, which is really no fun at all.

I would be down with the sort of system if they changed the following:

1: NPC Kills = Credits
2: NPC's Drop weapons, weapons can be scanned
3: Significantly more variety in Weapons and armor, 4 weapons to choose from with 2 of them being crap is just not enough variety.

Pretty much hit the nail on the head. Not so sure about your ideas to fix the problem, but you did nail the major issues.

ME3 needs a compromise between the ridiculous amount of gear and items in ME1 and the barren item section in ME2.

 

[Jaranja]

Heat clips were a great gameplay innovation, no doubt, but they really don't make sense from a plot perspective. Going from essentially infinite ammo back to limited ammo and the need to carry clips is a step backwards in weapons technology. They should have at least had guns still work with overheat issues like in ME1 when you run out of heat clips.

The guns are advanced and are prone to overheating. The thermal clips prevents the gun from heating up.

 

[squid5580]

My only beef is scanning and element zero. The ammo doesn't bother me at all and I love it. It adds strategy to the game instead of being able to pimp out the best weapons in the game so they can fire infinitely. There is just too many planets and not enough element zero in nice large chunks that scanning is such a chore.

 

[Mikkaddo]

Search bar, but to answer your point:

The biggest problem I had was the thermal clip system, which seemed like a backward step, and the exclusion of the Mako.

Also, are there respawning enemies? I played through as an infiltrator, and as long as you had some patience, the enemies all eventually ran out, long before your ammo did.

I have to agree there on the ammo part. In the first game it even had an entire codex entry about the WAY the guns used ammo making them near infinite. It had character, it was classy and intellgent. Then they apparently decided it would be more "challenging" if they instead took away the idea of overheating and just made you worry about running out of ammo. Oh and ther'es not even the grace of "well, all out of rifle ammo, least I still have a few shotgun shells" because it's all one type of ammo. If you run out of thermal clips, you're out of luck . . . sure the different guns use different AMMOUNTS, but it's all subtracted from the same base number.

 

[Jandau]

Anyone who's seen any of my posts in any ME2 thread recently knows I'd name my children Garrus if my GF let me, but since no game is perfect, I'll add some actual criticism that goes beyond "I liked the Mako"...

1. The mod system is gone. This is bad. The old inventory was atrocious and I'm not sad to see it gone. Also, the first game had a grand total of FOUR weapons and ME2 has FAR greater variety in that regard, not to mention a better armor system. But why remove the mod system? It could be done in a non-cluttered way, by unlocking, buying and researching various mods (and better versions of them), and to pick 1-2 per weapon/party member/armor set. This would enhance the game.

2. The scanning sucks. Yes, the Mako was a time-consuming piece of crap. I kinda liked it, but it was BAD. Scanning is also bad. It's less time consuming, but it's still bad.The difference between the Mako and the Scanning is the same as the difference between eating two piles of shit and eating one pile of shit. Yes, there's less of it this time around, but it's still crap!

3. Skills need balancing! There is few enough of them, at least make them all useful. As it stands, certain powers are simply vastly better than others, and if you play the game on Hardcore or Insanity, some are utterly useless (Shockwave, I'm looking at you).

Aside from that,

Thermal Clips are fine, learn to aim! The only exception might be the Sniper category, and only because picked up clips restore too little ammo and make replenishing your stock a nightmare (granted, after seeing what the Widow does, it's somewhat justified).

Mass Effect 1 didn't have more weapons than ME2. Explained in point 1. ME1 had FOUR weapons. Every Pistol was the same, only the numbers got bigger. There's more difference between the Carnifex and the Predator than between all the Pistols in ME1.

Not noticed it myself, even on Insanity difficulty. Sounds like a case of L2P.

Technically, it's in there. However, it's done only a FEW times during the game. A good example are the endlessly spawning Geth Drones in the Haestrom mission. It's not a common or frequent occurence, but technically, it's in the game.

 

[Void(null)]

The guns are advanced and are prone to overheating. The thermal clips prevents the gun from heating up.

Until you got the proper heat management gear and then you could fire endlessly. You could also use the overheating in your favor, one massive shot that would overheat the gun but would kill damn near anything.

Sniper & Shotguns were fun to do that with.

 

[Axeli]

Respawning enemies: When Modern Warfare was an enormous success, some shooters got the idea that enemies should spawn constantly. Some shooters let you get away with this by making you an assault expert so it's easy to move up. The infiltrator in an enclosed space? Not so much, so why on earth should it have been included in Mass Effect. A class built around the sniper rifle and a stealth ability should not have to fight CQB against the numberless horde. There are moment when close combat classes such as the vangard find themselves using their debuff biotics on far away enemies because they've no powers/weapons capable of flat out killing the target in one shot, so why after 5 minutes killing one does another rocket launcher take its place?

Not completely sure what you are saying here, which I admit might partially my brain hiccuping every 10 seconds due to lack of sleep, but...

There are no respawning enemies in ME2, minus few special fights. Inflirators do have a pretty horrible time against hordes of Husks and in tight spaces, especially on the higher difficulties (try the Archangel mission's basement part with a sniper on Insanity... Takes some pretty unconventional tactics to get through that one), which is true. It's a pretty challenging class to play in that sense. They are still pretty darn deadly on mid and long ranges though.

The alignment... Still: Paragon means as per regulations. Renegade means an any-means-necesary zealot. The zealot would purge every evidence of the Collectors existence, regardless of cost, so why the hell is doing so the paragon ending?

Erm, are you saying it's a bad thing Paragon and Renegade roughly go for the good cop or bad cop thing? Because the best thing for me about ME's karma system is that it doesn't try to measure "good" or "bad" directly (which always fails), but rather how Shepard approaches the situations. Merciful, diplomatic and emotionally invested or ruthless, violent and unfeeling.

And destroying the Collector base wasn't ever about detroying evidence, but getting rid of potentially disasterous technology. I mean, you've seen what just being near a Reaper can do, not to mention how ambigious Illusive Mans plans are.
Paragon doesn't want to risk it either way, Renegade just uses whatever he can to accomplish his/her mission regardless of the danger.

Made sense to me.

Those are the 2 most serious ones. As in, the ones which I find make a noticable difference to the quality of the game. I've a few minor jibes since I don't think alot of the swearing is really nesecary, though I only feel that way because the swearing had an effect on the rating, and I felt some of the dialogue had it thrown in without much thought as to how else you could get the message across.

That's just bull. They shouldn't even need to think about other ways to get the message across if swearing suits the character best. Jack especially landed a few pretty well aimed F-bombs along the way... And it's Jack. It's how her character is, and I personally would have been annoyed if they had censored her for the sake of 15+ rating.
It's hardly like they added it when unnecessary just to be edgy.

 

[WINDOWCLEAN2]

Scanning minigame sucks, plain and simple. Classic ammo instead of cooldown is also not welcome - couldn't they do a hybrid system?

That was the idea, you didnt fire the clips they were just there to cool down the gun and stop overheating as it would have made the combat much to difficult to have a harder game where you have to wait for 5 seconds half way through killing an enemy

 

[Amnestic]

Classic ammo instead of cooldown is also not welcome - couldn't they do a hybrid system?

People have already worked out how to mod the Coalesced.ini file to give you this. Obviously not available for 360 players though.

Technically, it's in there. However, it's done only a FEW times during the game. A good example are the endlessly spawning Geth Drones in the Haestrom mission. It's not a common or frequent occurence, but technically, it's in the game.

Ah yes, I do remember that now. It really wasn't a big deal though, especially since on Insanity you get used to moving from cover to cover and advancing steadily rather than camping in one spot and blasting like a madman. I'll concede that I actually did notice it, but unlike in...say, Modern Warfare on hardest difficulty (Veteran?) it wasn't a big deal.

 

[XMark]

In general, it seems that they took criticism of Mass Effect 1 and went too far to fix the problems. Throwing the baby out with the bathwater... I think that's the right expression.