Stuff That I Played: Mass Effect 2 (Part 2)

Note: DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED THROUGH THE GAME OR CARE ABOUT IT BEING SPOILED FOR YOU. Seriously. Don't read this. If you want a non-spoiler look at the game, go read the first Mass Effect 2 post, and come back here when you inevitably go buy the game on my recommendation and feverishly play through it.

Here's a picture so that you don't see the first couple sentences:







Now we get into the fun stuff. This isn't really a review, just some random thoughts on the game.

-Holy crap, that opening scene is amazing. It really makes you prepared to shoulder the responsibility of the suicide mission. Dying and being put back together? Crazy shit. It's also a really good reasoning for how Shepard is able to change his appearance and class from the first game (if you choose for him to do so). Makes me wonder what they'll do with the next game though; how could they live up to such an epic opening scene? And how will they validate the change in looks? It's not like they can make him die and come back to life again.

-Shame on Bioware's marketing department for ruining one of the best parts of the game in the commercials for it: Mordin singing a Salarian version of Gilbert & Sullivan's Major-General's Song. It is definitely the funniest scene in the game and a great reward for getting to know the character. Too bad the surprise of it was taken away. Sigh.

-Romances work a little bit strangely in this game. In the first one it was easy; you choose between two people. But in this one there's three love interests, which complicates things. I spent the whole game trying to bang Miranda, so I rejected both Jack and Tali. And then I didn't get to screw Miranda. I don't know why it happened; I think it might be because in the Jack and Miranda argument I sided with Jack. But then I smoothed everything over with Miranda using my mad Charm skillz, so I don't know what happened. It wasn't my fault Miranda was being a twat! So what do we learn from Mass Effect 2? If you want to have a relationship with someone, always agree with them, even if you're morally opposed to their actions.

-Relating to that, why go I get evil points for rejecting somebody I have no interest in? Especially when those people are either A) psychotic or B) an alien who has to wear a suit at all times or risk dying. Video games still have a long way to go to portray a realistic romance.

-Speaking of portraying realistic things, while I really like the morality system and the way dialogue works (and the interruption system which is added in just enough so that it's not annoying but keeps you on your toes during scenes), I found it too....easy in a way. By that I mean that as long as you're cool with gaining a lot of points for either Paragon or Renegade, the Charm or Intimidate options are always the "right" option; they almost always end up with the best overall result. This is especially problematic when you're importing a character because you start off with extra points, so from the get-go you can already solve most problems pretty easily when presented with them. I still love the system, but a bit more depth would be nice.

-Just to support what I said about characters in yesterday's post, I found myself liking and being interested in Tali a lot more in this game than in the first one, even though her personality is largely the same. Again, it comes down to making the character useful to the player.

-Seeing Wrex again was awesome. Totally worth the re-load I had to do for the first game to save him.

-My personal favourite character (not counting Garrus who is even more badass in this game than he is in the first) was Mordin. I love how his way of speaking matches his personality; very analytical and direct-to-the-point, never bothering to use pronouns. I also liked the moral dilemma which comes with him having created the second Krogan genophage, and the way that throughout the game he becomes kinder and even seems to regret his actions a bit more. He seems to grow the most as a character throughout the game.

-That being said, shout outs to Grunt, Thane, and especially Legion. Legion is not a great character, and he's the last crewmate you meet so you don't have as much time to get to know him, but what he does is really expand the Mass Effect world and the inner workings of the Geth. Through him, you find out that the Geth that you fought in the first game was only a small fraction of the Geth that actually exist; probably around 5 percent. This means a few things: 1) that there's a serious SHITLOAD of Geth out there, 2) that as a society, they're probably not as evil as originally assumed, 3) that with so many Geth existing, the Reapers must be a pretty serious threat for them to want to ally with you, and most interestingly, 4) that the Geth are actually capable of individual thought and will. Really neat stuff.

-If you played through the game and got the "Shepard dies" ending, then why the hell did you even play through the game at all? You obviously didn't like the game very much because you didn't do any of the loyalty missions or upgraded your ship. For Shepard to die at the end, you need to have all TEN (or 11 with Zaeed) of your squadmates die first. This means that three people died on the Normandy, one character got a rocket to the face, one character got shot in the gut, one character got eaten by the Collector swarm, your two squadmates died after destroying the human Reaper, and the rest of them were killed as the second ground team. If this happened to you, you are a failure.

-Speaking of people dying during the final mission, that mission was wicked. I was curious how they would use all of your crew, and they did not disappoint. Assigning different jobs to your crewmates was fun, and really made the suicide mission seem a lot bigger while actually retaining the same gameplay of the rest of the game. Very well done smoke-and-mirrors act, Bioware.

-I wonder exactly what they'll do with the next game. It is the end of this trilogy, but I don't know how they'll make it anymore epic than this game. How will your team work? Will they make it bigger than the 10 or 11 person team in this game? I can't see that working very well, unless the game is a lot longer and there are way more powers, which in my opinion wouldn't really be a positive. Furthermore, who will return from the past games? By destroying the Normandy and skipping 2 years at the beginning of this game, they give you a reason for having a different crew than the original Mass Effect. Without that luxury (as by the ominous sight of the Reaper fleet at the end of the game, it would make sense for them to pick up Mass Effect 3 where this one left off), where will the crew from this game go? You're telling me that after surviving the suicide mission, they're just going to up and leave? I'll cry blasphemy if Garrus isn't in Mass Effect 3, by the way.

-I'd like to see vehicles back in the next game. Not if they're as terrible as in the first game, but if Bioware can find a way to make it work, it'd be cool. Space dogfights?

-The upgrade system is great but the planet scanning has to go. The problem is making the universe seem really big and encouraging exploration without resorting to searching barren levels (Mass Effect) or having a point-and-click minigame (Mass Effect 2). Another reason why I think vehicles should be back if used properly.

-Totally thought of one other thing! Mass Effect 3 is going to need a shitload of work in terms of writing. Allow me to explain. See, in the last game there were only a few major things that could happen in regards to your crew: Ashley or Kaidan died and Wrex either died or didn't. The solution to this is simple; none of the people who could have died are in your crew in Mass Effect 2. A couple dialog tweaks and you're good. But by having such a large squad, and by having the possibility that some, or all of them could die, Bioware now has a ton of variables to worry about for Mass Effect 3; it's not a cut-and-dry "they all died or they all lived" situation. You've got a squad of 10 or so people; some may have died, others may have lived. Considering this, how will Bioware be able to work the characters in Mass Effect 2 into the inevitable third game? Are they just going to ignore the entire team completely? That would be a real waste of great characters. The script for the first Mass Effect game was reportedly about 4-5 novels long. Mass Effect 2 is longer, so it's pretty fair to say it's bumped up to about 6-7 novels worth. With all these character variables, plus the fact that it's got to tie up small events and decisions made in the first game as well, they're going to need a VERY long game and a VERY long script. Needless to say, I can't wait for the first Mass Effect 3 announcement (and make no mistake, it is happening; the loading screens even tell you so).

Well, that's all for today, folks. The next post will either be a music feature I was cooking up or a look at the Marvel Ultimate Universe which I am currently in the process of reading through.

Feel free to comment!
-Daniel