Fun Stuff > CLIKC
Mass Effect 2
KvP:
It can't be stressed how dull and variety-free so many of the planetary exploration quests turned out to be, especially given how apparent the template was after you scoured your second or third planet and how that template was never strayed from (some planets had extra quest-related things to explore, but all planets had 2 artifacts and 2-3 taggable resources you drove through empty terrain to get to, without fail). If you ignore the sidequest stuff then Mass Effect turns out to be a very short and tightly paced game. It plays smooth and doesn't dwell on any one thing. I've replayed it through maybe 4 or 5 times, which makes it the second least-played Bioware game I have, behind Neverwinter Nights (which blew) and just ahead of Jade Empire. Compare that to the 25+ times I've gotten through Shadows of Amn. I've got two games of that one going right now.
LTK:
I thought it was only me. It really was a chore to go through all those side missions, especially the Turian insignias and mineral deposits and stuff that you had to plow that damn Mako to every time. That was the one complaint of Yahtzee in his review that was justified: It does control like a fat man on a unicycle. Not to mention the thrusters that are completely useless. I was glad to see that they paid more attention to the space exploration in ME2. In the first game every planet was essentially the same except for the color palette, and some enviromental effects (doing nothing but make you die in x seconds) thrown in for good measure. Just like the mines and the bases; You'd think every mining company and merc gang hires the same architect.
That was also why I didn't replay the game. The prospect of combing out those star systems for side quests looked like just that: A chore. Not to mention the gazillion weapons and armor and upgrades for all of them you have to haul around. That was absolute madness. One thing I would have liked is to be able to play the same level 50 character, but as a different class. I was getting pretty tired of using the pistol and sniper rifle all the time, so I figured I could play a Sentinel to get the other medals for using x weapon/skill y times, as well as the multiple playthrough medals. Guess not, and I had to start with grade one weapons all over again. The enjoyment won't weigh up to the effort, I think.
I'll definitely play through the main quest one more time before starting ME2, though. How much do you think the side quests matter in the events in ME2?
KvP:
Some of them probably matter a bit. The majority of sidequests not taking place on mission planets are linear except insofar as the reward you get is concerned (using skills to increase payout) One that a lot of people point to is a quest you complete and when you get on your ship you're contacted by an agent of the Shadow Broker who wants what you have. If you agree to give it to him you gain credit with the Shadow Broker that isn't apparently useful in ME1. If you refuse he says that you shouldn't count on the Shadow Broker's assistance in the future. One that the ME2 developers have specifically alluded to is the "superfan" quest wherein you were beset by a deranged fan who wants to join your party. There are a couple of ways you can get him off your back and presumably they each lead to different situations in ME2.
Beyond that I would assume that most C&C from the first game will draw from plot-critical missions. Whether or not you let the Raachni queen live on Noveria is an obvious one, but there are also things like how you get to the Matriarch (there's a path by which you fight everyone in the Noveria lab, and there's one by which you just kill one person and a bunch of Geth), or whether you tranqed / killed all the mind-controlled survivors on that other planet.
Storm Rider:
Bioware has specifically mentioned a few side quests that factor in, though obviously not as much as the major choices (which are according to them: whether the Council survived, who died on Virmire, and your romance option). For instance, in the E3 video that introduced Thane, the asari woman he kills is actually a quest giver in the first game. Depending on how you handled that quest, presumably your interaction with her before he ices her will be at least somewhat different. Hudson also mentioned Conrad Verner, the stalkerish fan that was a minor sidequest on the Citadel, will play into ME2 somehow, and that how you behaved towards him would also change things.
Alex C:
The fat man on a unicycle issue is hardly the only thing that was valid about Yahtzee's review. There was a ton of a equipment in that game and the menus actually are kind of shitty, although it never gave me as much trouble as it apparently did Yahtzee. But what really sucked was how such a clunky system actually amounted to so little. There's tons of items and they accumulate in your inventory faster than horny tribbles. Unfortunately, they all pretty much behave the same and many of the "brands" are fit only for being pawned off (in exchange for credits that I never really needed) or for breaking down into omnigel (which I never really used). I mean, really what's the point of having 3 different versions of the Banshee Assault Rifle in your inventory when none of them are remotely capable of besting the Avenger III that was basically just handed to you an hour ago? If you actually had to purposely work for your items or make decisions like "Do I keep saving for that uber-rifle or do I break down and buy something might save my ass in the next half hour?", I could understand why the system is in place; hell, that question is the very essence of Dragon Quest 1. Likewise I could understand it if some items had unique capabilities that changed the way you approached combat. Unfortunately, that never really happens in ME; the game mostly tosses a steady stream of junk your way and then leaves you to pick out the crap that has the highest numbers. I love fiddling with equipment as much as the next guy (I'm a god damned WoW player, for fuck's sake), but I can't help but feel that ME's gear & inventory system was almost entirely vestigial; as long as you remembered to swap from anti-personnel to anti-synthetic ammo when the Geth show up, you were good to go.
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