ME 2: Thoughts on the first few hours.
Okay, so my original intent was to record my gameplay observations as I went along, thus breaking them up into smaller, more manageable chunks so that I would be less likely to forget stuff, but that didn't happen thanks to my work schedule. I'm actually about 16 hours in now, but I'm still going to split things up a bit, because if I try to talk about everything I've done so far it would probably break LJ's character limit.
ME fans can often be seen talking about their "canon" or "main" Shepards, the ones that they're most attached to for one reason or another. I have three "canon" Shepards myself, but for my first playthrough I decided not to import any of them just yet. I've found that my first playthrough of any game tends to be a little shaky, since I'm still feeling my way through everything, so I decided I would rather save my main girls for later on. So in a way, this is kind of like a trial run.
The Shepard I ended up importing was a level 53 Vanguard, Spacer/Sole Survivor, super squeaky clean Paragon, romanced Kaidan and saved him on Virmire (but isn't, y'know, married to him or anything). I chose her in part because she finished ME 1 on a fairly high level, but mostly because I did a lot of sidequests with her, and like everyone else I'm curious to see just how many decisions from the first game will carry over into the second.
The game certainly started out with a bang. Not fifteen minutes in, and they blow my beloved ship to smithereens and, for all intents and purposes, kill off my character. I'm glad that I was spoiled for that whole opening sequence months ago, otherwise there probably would have been a lot of raging and possibly screaming. The entire sequence was very well done, though. Trying to navigate through the Normandy's lower deck was like a punch in the gut--it was the same old familiar layout that I've only just traveled half a million times in ME 1, but everything was so damaged it was practically unrecognizable and I got completely disoriented trying to find my way up to the bridge.
Even if I hadn't been spoiled, I would have found it completely unsurprising that it was essentially Joker's fault that Shepard got killed. I should have known that little douche was going to be the death of me.
The game makes a big deal out of the fact that Shepard is supposedly really and truly and completely dead, which is...eh. I know it's sci-fi and all, and I guess I shouldn't complain given that the first game featured aliens and spaceships and giant robots trying to take over the galaxy. Still, the first game managed to have sci-fi elements while still coming across as realistic enough that you didn't have to suspend disbelief that far. While playing the first game, I felt like I was walking around in a real place and dealing with real people and problems. I'm not saying that the second game has lost that completely or anything, but stuff like bringing people back from the dead and some of the new powers (like becoming invisible or being able to phase through solid objects) feel like they're more suited to a comic book than to Mass Effect.
More problematic is the situation Shepard finds herself in when she wakes up from her not-so-alive-actually state--being forced to work with Cerberus. And I'm not talking about in-game forcing, either. I'm talking about BioWare forcing it on the player.
I think I see what BioWare was trying to do there, and it's actually a really good idea. I just find the execution to be...lacking. Being required to work with one's enemy for the greater good certainly isn't a new technique or anything, especially given the obvious potential for tension and drama. But the problem here is that Shepard is entirely too blasé about the whole thing. For a renegade Shepard it's no big deal, but for a paragon it is. If my paragon Shepard is going to be forced to work with Cerberus, I want her to be pissed about it. Especially a Sole Survivor Shepard, which this one is. It just drives me batty when I run into my squadmates from the first game and they have to remind me about Cerberus' evil history and say, "Are you sure it's such a good idea to be working with them, Shepard?" I just want to say, "I know all that stuff! The game is just forcing me to try to forget it!"
Basically, it's BioWare handwaving stuff for the sake of the plot. I mean, when you first talk to the Illusive Man, he tells you that if you want to leave Cerberus after Freedom's Progress, you can. To which I just have to ask, where is that option now? Why can't I take it? Because this Shepard with the ho-hum attitude of, "Well, I don't like Cerberus much, but I guess I just have to work with them, so whatever" doesn't feel like my Shepard. So, I guess I would say that's probably my biggest problem with the game so far--especially at Horizon, but more about that in a later post.
Next, might as well get the combat stuff out of the way. I have both good and bad things to say about the combat. I was apparently the only person on the planet who actually thought that nothing whatsoever was wrong with the combat in ME 1. So for me, the entire combat system in this game feels like they tried to fix something that wasn't broken, and in the process, broke it. As I expected, the new ammo system they added is complete balls. One of the things I enjoyed most about the first game was being able to just plug away nonstop with my assault rifle or shotgun without ever having to worry that I was going to run out of bullets. Now, there are all these breaks in combat when you run out of ammo, not to mention that you have to waste all sorts of time running around trying to find replacement clips. It's just completely lame, and was thrown in for no other reason than to appeal to the 18-25 year old male shooter crowd.
The good thing I have to say about combat is that, despite my disgust at the reload mechanic, I actually don't hate combat in general as much as I thought I would. It took me a little while to get used to it, but I at least don't find it to be a complete chore. As a Vanguard, I miss Lift like crazy (Pull tries to be the same thing, but doesn't really cut it), but I'm definitely enjoying Charge. One of the first times I tried it, when I slammed headlong into an enemy and took him down with one shot, I was thinking "Man, I love this power!" Then I turned around and saw about five guys behind me trying to kill me, and thought "...Okay, maybe I don't love it quite so much." It's definitely both high risk and high reward, as advertised!
But enough about combat. After my chat with the Illusive Man, he reintroduced me to the pilot for my new and improved ship--the same dude who got me killed on the last one. I asked Joker why he joined up with Cerberus, and it was pretty much because a) the Alliance wouldn't kiss his ass, and b) Cerberus uses leather for the seats in their ships. Never mind that they're a bunch of terrorists who conduct sick experiments on innocent people. I still can't fathom why that guy is so popular.
Everyone from TIM to Miranda to EDI tried to convince me that Mordin the salarian scientist was the first squadmate I should go after, an idea that I entertained for exactly zero seconds. Mordin is cool, but he ain't Archangel. I absolutely blitzkrieged my way through Freedom's Progress and Omega so I could pick up Archangel. I initially actually felt like the game was a lot more rushed than ME 1 had been, until I realized that that that was more likely my fault because in my rush to get my turian homeboy I was skipping potential sidequests and not spending much time looking around.
All the buildup to the revelation of Garrus as Archangel was so good that it almost made me wish I hadn't been spoiled on it. But on the other hand, had it not been for the information we got about Garrus before the game was released, I very likely wouldn't even have bought it, so I can't complain. Suffice to say that in the two-year interim between ME 1 and 2, he went and became the most epic badass ever. I was swelling with pride listening to the three nasty mercenary groups he'd pissed off ranting about how much trouble he had caused them. He basically turned himself into the alien version of Batman, complete with awesome superhero name.
Toward the end of the fight with the mercenary groups, when the merc leader in the gunship started firing at Garrus, my heart seriously jumped into my throat even though I knew he was going to be fine. He did end up with some pretty extensive scars on one side of his face, though. When he walked into the room after Chakwas finished stitching him up, Shepard and I both had the biggest idiotic grins on our faces. I wanted to matter-of-factly tell him he was going to be my boyfriend this time around, but there was no option for that.
...Not yet, anyway. *shine*
ME fans can often be seen talking about their "canon" or "main" Shepards, the ones that they're most attached to for one reason or another. I have three "canon" Shepards myself, but for my first playthrough I decided not to import any of them just yet. I've found that my first playthrough of any game tends to be a little shaky, since I'm still feeling my way through everything, so I decided I would rather save my main girls for later on. So in a way, this is kind of like a trial run.
The Shepard I ended up importing was a level 53 Vanguard, Spacer/Sole Survivor, super squeaky clean Paragon, romanced Kaidan and saved him on Virmire (but isn't, y'know, married to him or anything). I chose her in part because she finished ME 1 on a fairly high level, but mostly because I did a lot of sidequests with her, and like everyone else I'm curious to see just how many decisions from the first game will carry over into the second.
The game certainly started out with a bang. Not fifteen minutes in, and they blow my beloved ship to smithereens and, for all intents and purposes, kill off my character. I'm glad that I was spoiled for that whole opening sequence months ago, otherwise there probably would have been a lot of raging and possibly screaming. The entire sequence was very well done, though. Trying to navigate through the Normandy's lower deck was like a punch in the gut--it was the same old familiar layout that I've only just traveled half a million times in ME 1, but everything was so damaged it was practically unrecognizable and I got completely disoriented trying to find my way up to the bridge.
Even if I hadn't been spoiled, I would have found it completely unsurprising that it was essentially Joker's fault that Shepard got killed. I should have known that little douche was going to be the death of me.
The game makes a big deal out of the fact that Shepard is supposedly really and truly and completely dead, which is...eh. I know it's sci-fi and all, and I guess I shouldn't complain given that the first game featured aliens and spaceships and giant robots trying to take over the galaxy. Still, the first game managed to have sci-fi elements while still coming across as realistic enough that you didn't have to suspend disbelief that far. While playing the first game, I felt like I was walking around in a real place and dealing with real people and problems. I'm not saying that the second game has lost that completely or anything, but stuff like bringing people back from the dead and some of the new powers (like becoming invisible or being able to phase through solid objects) feel like they're more suited to a comic book than to Mass Effect.
More problematic is the situation Shepard finds herself in when she wakes up from her not-so-alive-actually state--being forced to work with Cerberus. And I'm not talking about in-game forcing, either. I'm talking about BioWare forcing it on the player.
I think I see what BioWare was trying to do there, and it's actually a really good idea. I just find the execution to be...lacking. Being required to work with one's enemy for the greater good certainly isn't a new technique or anything, especially given the obvious potential for tension and drama. But the problem here is that Shepard is entirely too blasé about the whole thing. For a renegade Shepard it's no big deal, but for a paragon it is. If my paragon Shepard is going to be forced to work with Cerberus, I want her to be pissed about it. Especially a Sole Survivor Shepard, which this one is. It just drives me batty when I run into my squadmates from the first game and they have to remind me about Cerberus' evil history and say, "Are you sure it's such a good idea to be working with them, Shepard?" I just want to say, "I know all that stuff! The game is just forcing me to try to forget it!"
Basically, it's BioWare handwaving stuff for the sake of the plot. I mean, when you first talk to the Illusive Man, he tells you that if you want to leave Cerberus after Freedom's Progress, you can. To which I just have to ask, where is that option now? Why can't I take it? Because this Shepard with the ho-hum attitude of, "Well, I don't like Cerberus much, but I guess I just have to work with them, so whatever" doesn't feel like my Shepard. So, I guess I would say that's probably my biggest problem with the game so far--especially at Horizon, but more about that in a later post.
Next, might as well get the combat stuff out of the way. I have both good and bad things to say about the combat. I was apparently the only person on the planet who actually thought that nothing whatsoever was wrong with the combat in ME 1. So for me, the entire combat system in this game feels like they tried to fix something that wasn't broken, and in the process, broke it. As I expected, the new ammo system they added is complete balls. One of the things I enjoyed most about the first game was being able to just plug away nonstop with my assault rifle or shotgun without ever having to worry that I was going to run out of bullets. Now, there are all these breaks in combat when you run out of ammo, not to mention that you have to waste all sorts of time running around trying to find replacement clips. It's just completely lame, and was thrown in for no other reason than to appeal to the 18-25 year old male shooter crowd.
The good thing I have to say about combat is that, despite my disgust at the reload mechanic, I actually don't hate combat in general as much as I thought I would. It took me a little while to get used to it, but I at least don't find it to be a complete chore. As a Vanguard, I miss Lift like crazy (Pull tries to be the same thing, but doesn't really cut it), but I'm definitely enjoying Charge. One of the first times I tried it, when I slammed headlong into an enemy and took him down with one shot, I was thinking "Man, I love this power!" Then I turned around and saw about five guys behind me trying to kill me, and thought "...Okay, maybe I don't love it quite so much." It's definitely both high risk and high reward, as advertised!
But enough about combat. After my chat with the Illusive Man, he reintroduced me to the pilot for my new and improved ship--the same dude who got me killed on the last one. I asked Joker why he joined up with Cerberus, and it was pretty much because a) the Alliance wouldn't kiss his ass, and b) Cerberus uses leather for the seats in their ships. Never mind that they're a bunch of terrorists who conduct sick experiments on innocent people. I still can't fathom why that guy is so popular.
Everyone from TIM to Miranda to EDI tried to convince me that Mordin the salarian scientist was the first squadmate I should go after, an idea that I entertained for exactly zero seconds. Mordin is cool, but he ain't Archangel. I absolutely blitzkrieged my way through Freedom's Progress and Omega so I could pick up Archangel. I initially actually felt like the game was a lot more rushed than ME 1 had been, until I realized that that that was more likely my fault because in my rush to get my turian homeboy I was skipping potential sidequests and not spending much time looking around.
All the buildup to the revelation of Garrus as Archangel was so good that it almost made me wish I hadn't been spoiled on it. But on the other hand, had it not been for the information we got about Garrus before the game was released, I very likely wouldn't even have bought it, so I can't complain. Suffice to say that in the two-year interim between ME 1 and 2, he went and became the most epic badass ever. I was swelling with pride listening to the three nasty mercenary groups he'd pissed off ranting about how much trouble he had caused them. He basically turned himself into the alien version of Batman, complete with awesome superhero name.
Toward the end of the fight with the mercenary groups, when the merc leader in the gunship started firing at Garrus, my heart seriously jumped into my throat even though I knew he was going to be fine. He did end up with some pretty extensive scars on one side of his face, though. When he walked into the room after Chakwas finished stitching him up, Shepard and I both had the biggest idiotic grins on our faces. I wanted to matter-of-factly tell him he was going to be my boyfriend this time around, but there was no option for that.
...Not yet, anyway. *shine*