I started playing Mass Effect 2 because everyone said it was amazing. And don't get me wrong, it's not a bad game, but its certainly not an amazing game either. I'll compare this game to KOTOR for the original Xbox, another game made by Bioware, this is nearly identical to Mass Effect yet in my opinion, superior in every way (except graphics and hardware related things, ov course). I'll break my analysis into sections.
Your Allies:
In KOTOR I felt completely attached to every single one ov my allies, the quests related to each one were many, their personalities were always developing as the web of events that is their past became clear to me. Each person had a completely individual personality that you knew like they were your best friend, they were always having new conversations with you and telling you new things and commenting on what was going on before them and sometimes even discussing moral choices that you are presented with. In Mass Effect 2 this is almost absent, I feel almost no connection to the characters, I know almost nothing about anyone even though I'm halfway through the game. On missions and when free roaming around cities they just follow you and almost never say anything except occasionally you can get one ov them to comment on something nearby. When you talk to them they never have anything new to say except for when they present you with their loyalty mission. And sure, their loyalty mission tells you a little bit about their past, but learning the past of a person you feel no connection to is pointless. The only people I feel any connections to are Joker, Ashley, and Talia, because the first Mass Effect at least had some character development.
Character Customization:
In any RPG, your characters appearance should be a reflection of your own personality as well as your achievements in the game and your choice of weapons and skills should reflect your prefences in gameplay styles. In KOTOR, this really stood out, my character really felt like it was mine. However, In Mass Effect 2 my character felt slightly customized, but I didn't feel attached to my character like one playing an RPG should. As far as skills and attributes go, there should be many more skills than its possible for your character to have, that way you choose the ones you like the most and you would approach combat differently depending on what skills your character has. The same thing applies to attributes, you choose to develop attributes that will enhance the effectiveness ov your various skills, further customizing your character. KOTOR did this flawlessly. It had attributes that heavily affected your strengths and weaknesses, customizing your character, and effecting the skills you chose. The skills (called feats) were numerous, each with very individual and powerful effects. Every skill you chose greatly influenced the way you had to play your character in order to win fights. Then you got force powers, which were awesome, in addition to your feats, so your character was even further customized to yourself and by the time you got to the games final battle, you were playing with a character that really felt like it was yours, this character was everything youve worked for and built from the ground up to defeat the greatest enemy in the game. However, in Mass Effect 2, this was also almost completely non-existent. You chose from one of 6 classes and that class only had a few skills to choose from making your and the skills you choose don't even influence the way you approach a combat situation much if even at all. Mass Effect 2 has no attributes and a very limited selection of skills.
Now let's talk about clothes and other non-weapon equipment. Your equipment should be something that both reflects your personality and something that you are proud of usually because it was difficult to obtain or because it greatly enhances your characters abilities. In Mass Effect 2 almost none of that is present. Your armor may slightly reflect your personality simply in the colors you chose for it, but you don't feel pride in your armor since you did nothing to obtain it. I'm almost certain that everyone playing ME2 gets access to all the same armor at all the same times during the game as everyone else and they didn't even really have to do anything to get it. Plus, no matter what armor you put on, it makes almost no difference in combat. Not to mention that none of the armor is very individualistic; if you take off one shoulder piece and put on a different one, no one would know the difference. However, in KOTOR every single piece of equipment you had on was not only a reflection of your personality, but it also effected your characters performance in combat situations, and was something you were proud of owning. Simply in KOTOR, your clothes mattered, in ME2, they don't, that may not sound like much, but don't forget that these are RPGs, an RPG without a character customized to yourself is like an FPS without any weapons.
Next is your choice of weapon. Weapons are like clothes in that they should be customized to fit your personality while also being something you take pride in, but also, your weapon should be something that is customized to support your style of play. For example, in KOTOR, your weapon, beit you lightsaber or the force is heavily customized. your lightsaber is equipped with crystals that not only control the color of the lightsaber but also control its stats and effects on opponents, and for the force you have a choice to develop only but a few force powers. If you choose to use the force as your primary method of attack, the force powers you choose will define the way you approach every battle. This makes your weapon really feel like it's yours because youre the one who chose it and developed it to be your primary weapon. However in Masf Effect 2, you get almost no choice of weapon at all. It's the same story as it was with the armor, except with the weapons you can't even pick what color they are. In ME2, the weapon in no way feels customized to yourself at all.
Combat:
Combat is the base of an RPG and ties in with all the other aspects of the game. Combat in an RPG should be very strategic in the way you approach it based on the way you have developed your character and involve many different forms of attack, and when you defeat an opponent you should feel a sense of gratitude and be rewarded for your victory. In Mass Effect 2, I just didn't find the combat fun at all. The fighting took no strategy at all, just get behing something and shoot for the head until everyone's dead and that didn't change no matter how I built my soldier or no matter what weapon I was using. (except the heavy weapons, but you save those for big guys) The only thing that would change is if I chose a different class, then maybe the skills would matter more, but they still wouldn't feel customized at all because of the limited selection. Also, the only available methods ov attack are your weapon and your skills; that's it. And after I defeat an opponent that's it, I don't feel satisfaction from having bested him, even on harder difficulties I can't glean anything from beating a difficult opponent because I gain absolutely nothing from it, he doesn't drop anything except maybe a thermal clip and I get no experience, so what was the point? KOTOR is a completely different story, I don't even feel it's necessary to compare ME2 to KOTORs combat system
There's so unbelievably many more small things that KOTOR did better than ME2, I only talked about the main points ov the game. But as amazing ov a game as KOTOR was, ME2 got way more recognition and I just don't understand it. I want the Escapists feedback.
Your Allies:
In KOTOR I felt completely attached to every single one ov my allies, the quests related to each one were many, their personalities were always developing as the web of events that is their past became clear to me. Each person had a completely individual personality that you knew like they were your best friend, they were always having new conversations with you and telling you new things and commenting on what was going on before them and sometimes even discussing moral choices that you are presented with. In Mass Effect 2 this is almost absent, I feel almost no connection to the characters, I know almost nothing about anyone even though I'm halfway through the game. On missions and when free roaming around cities they just follow you and almost never say anything except occasionally you can get one ov them to comment on something nearby. When you talk to them they never have anything new to say except for when they present you with their loyalty mission. And sure, their loyalty mission tells you a little bit about their past, but learning the past of a person you feel no connection to is pointless. The only people I feel any connections to are Joker, Ashley, and Talia, because the first Mass Effect at least had some character development.
Character Customization:
In any RPG, your characters appearance should be a reflection of your own personality as well as your achievements in the game and your choice of weapons and skills should reflect your prefences in gameplay styles. In KOTOR, this really stood out, my character really felt like it was mine. However, In Mass Effect 2 my character felt slightly customized, but I didn't feel attached to my character like one playing an RPG should. As far as skills and attributes go, there should be many more skills than its possible for your character to have, that way you choose the ones you like the most and you would approach combat differently depending on what skills your character has. The same thing applies to attributes, you choose to develop attributes that will enhance the effectiveness ov your various skills, further customizing your character. KOTOR did this flawlessly. It had attributes that heavily affected your strengths and weaknesses, customizing your character, and effecting the skills you chose. The skills (called feats) were numerous, each with very individual and powerful effects. Every skill you chose greatly influenced the way you had to play your character in order to win fights. Then you got force powers, which were awesome, in addition to your feats, so your character was even further customized to yourself and by the time you got to the games final battle, you were playing with a character that really felt like it was yours, this character was everything youve worked for and built from the ground up to defeat the greatest enemy in the game. However, in Mass Effect 2, this was also almost completely non-existent. You chose from one of 6 classes and that class only had a few skills to choose from making your and the skills you choose don't even influence the way you approach a combat situation much if even at all. Mass Effect 2 has no attributes and a very limited selection of skills.
Now let's talk about clothes and other non-weapon equipment. Your equipment should be something that both reflects your personality and something that you are proud of usually because it was difficult to obtain or because it greatly enhances your characters abilities. In Mass Effect 2 almost none of that is present. Your armor may slightly reflect your personality simply in the colors you chose for it, but you don't feel pride in your armor since you did nothing to obtain it. I'm almost certain that everyone playing ME2 gets access to all the same armor at all the same times during the game as everyone else and they didn't even really have to do anything to get it. Plus, no matter what armor you put on, it makes almost no difference in combat. Not to mention that none of the armor is very individualistic; if you take off one shoulder piece and put on a different one, no one would know the difference. However, in KOTOR every single piece of equipment you had on was not only a reflection of your personality, but it also effected your characters performance in combat situations, and was something you were proud of owning. Simply in KOTOR, your clothes mattered, in ME2, they don't, that may not sound like much, but don't forget that these are RPGs, an RPG without a character customized to yourself is like an FPS without any weapons.
Next is your choice of weapon. Weapons are like clothes in that they should be customized to fit your personality while also being something you take pride in, but also, your weapon should be something that is customized to support your style of play. For example, in KOTOR, your weapon, beit you lightsaber or the force is heavily customized. your lightsaber is equipped with crystals that not only control the color of the lightsaber but also control its stats and effects on opponents, and for the force you have a choice to develop only but a few force powers. If you choose to use the force as your primary method of attack, the force powers you choose will define the way you approach every battle. This makes your weapon really feel like it's yours because youre the one who chose it and developed it to be your primary weapon. However in Masf Effect 2, you get almost no choice of weapon at all. It's the same story as it was with the armor, except with the weapons you can't even pick what color they are. In ME2, the weapon in no way feels customized to yourself at all.
Combat:
Combat is the base of an RPG and ties in with all the other aspects of the game. Combat in an RPG should be very strategic in the way you approach it based on the way you have developed your character and involve many different forms of attack, and when you defeat an opponent you should feel a sense of gratitude and be rewarded for your victory. In Mass Effect 2, I just didn't find the combat fun at all. The fighting took no strategy at all, just get behing something and shoot for the head until everyone's dead and that didn't change no matter how I built my soldier or no matter what weapon I was using. (except the heavy weapons, but you save those for big guys) The only thing that would change is if I chose a different class, then maybe the skills would matter more, but they still wouldn't feel customized at all because of the limited selection. Also, the only available methods ov attack are your weapon and your skills; that's it. And after I defeat an opponent that's it, I don't feel satisfaction from having bested him, even on harder difficulties I can't glean anything from beating a difficult opponent because I gain absolutely nothing from it, he doesn't drop anything except maybe a thermal clip and I get no experience, so what was the point? KOTOR is a completely different story, I don't even feel it's necessary to compare ME2 to KOTORs combat system
There's so unbelievably many more small things that KOTOR did better than ME2, I only talked about the main points ov the game. But as amazing ov a game as KOTOR was, ME2 got way more recognition and I just don't understand it. I want the Escapists feedback.
R, I love mass effect 2, I like the first one better I can see why others wouldn't like it, Also you need more paragraphs.
