Mass Effect 2 Is More Than What Meets Our Eyes
The build-up for BioWare’s Mass Effect 2, still not planned for release until next year, has been one of gaming’s more mysterious. Hints of Commander Shepard’s possible death in trailers and demos confuse ever more. What’s going on? Kotaku asked.
“We have been saying it’s the dark middle act, so the tone is definitely darker,” the game’s lead writer, Mac Walters, told Kotaku at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle. “To draw comparisons: Much the same way you would say Empire Strikes Back is the dark middle act of Star Wars, it still felt like Star Wars. … So you’re still going to find a lot of very familiar themes, elements, and characters. It’s all going to feel very Mass Effect.”
We’ve written about Mass Effect 2’s combat—and about the possible deaths of protagonist Commander Shepard. And it all seems ominous, foreboding and a little bit confusing.
“It’s fair to say there’s more than meets the eye to what you’ve seen,” BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk told Kotaku during the show. “I’m not going to get too much into specifics.” He remarked that this is the first sequel his company has been able to work on since Baldur’s Gate 2 in 2000. “It’s nice to be able to change and modify. We think it’s going to be a much better game than the first one.”
The publicity machine isn’t kicking into gear for this one yet, Zeschuk explained. That’s why so little is known. They developers will answer process questions, but are skipping content answers.
So, Walters will talk about how BioWare is writing the new game differently: On the first game, Walters was a senior writer focusing on the characters Wrex and Garrus as well as several quests. He said the writing team for the second game has been working to make dialogue more conversational and, with the benefit of a larger cinematics team involved in this project, they are attempting to craft more of the conversations as scenes rather than just moments of characters saying what they need the player to know.
But Walters won’t talk about who is in the game, besides Shepard: “A lot of the main characters you’re going to see them — if they’re alive,” he said. “You can expect to see cameos, return appearances by some people. Your decisions from the first game will matter. If, for some reason, they’re dead, they’re not going to come back. We listened to our fans and realised some of the characters in the sidequests are really popular. Well, we’re bringing them back so you’ll sometimes see the return of some of the fan favourites.” That says something. But it doesn’t exactly name names.
Even the spin-off Mass Effect 2 comic is shrouded in secrecy. Walters is overseeing the writing of the Dark Horse Comics mini-series, which is set to launch alongside the game. The series will be scripted by Dark Horse’s writer of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic comic, John Jackson Miller. Walters said the Mass Effect comic’s story occurs during the timeframe of the second game, involving new locations and characters in the sequel’s universe. While Mass Effect gamers have been able to play the series’ lead character, Shepard, in divergent ways — renegade female soldier, paragon male biotics specialist, etc—Walters said the comic will be able to deal with that and not violate people’s impressions of who Shepard is to them. How? “You’re going to have to wait and see.” More mysteries.
In a void of firm answers about what is likely to be a popular 2010 sequel, we’ll just have to keep guessing as to what Mass Effect 2 has in store.
“A lot of people ask about, ‘What are the big changes?’” Walters said. “It’s actually a lot of small changes. Even just as a person who’s played it a million times, I’m just like, ‘Wow.’ It’s Mass Effect but it’s such a better experience now.”
I told him that solving the elevator problem — the complaint about slow, dull glorified loading screens from the first Mass Effect — is no “small change.”
“Everybody I talk to is like… ‘Elevators?’” Walters recalled. “I say: ‘Don’t worry about it.’”
Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
@Michael Dukakis for Senate!: Oh god. If Gorilla Snow see's this he'll have a field day.
TaylorEatWorld
@BubbleF**kingBuddy: Normandy I dislike RPG's but this one...
@Vecha: Tired of America's Solution to Health Care.: Yeah. It's a bit random, but both worlds feel incredibly sterile.
Everything is a little too clean, and everyone stands a little too upright and stiff.
StevenRafael
@FawkesLament: x_x
TaylorEatWorld
I'm just hoping the side missions are worthwhile.
@BubbleF**kingBuddy:
It will be retconned in the sequel which explains that the government told her to launch the nuke.
@StevenRafael:
"I hope this game doesn't feel as sterile as the original Mass Effect, or Home."
Home? Like...sony's home?
I'm lost.
@Michael Dukakis for Senate!: This can be a real elevator for the RPG genre.
Confirmed by Zeschuk: Transforming space ship robots in Mass Effect 2. Looking for the all spark.
I guess I'm the only one who didn't really have that much of a problem with the elevators. They were a little inconvenient, but nowhere near as bad as people make them out to be. There have been much worse cases of loading in the middle of games. Anyone ever play Morrowind on the Xbox?
All this might take a massive effect on the community. It may Shepard in a whole new interest. This may be the Pinnacle of RPG advancement. Such depth can turn regular people into Wrex.
SECRET ENDING:
Mass Effect is actually A WOMAN.
Nope, no elevators... Now it's long hallways...
I hope this game doesn't feel as sterile as the original Mass Effect, or Home.
But it'll still be a first day purchase for me. I loved the original so much......
StevenRafael
@cwbys21:
Yea I know so little about Dragon Age when compared to ME.
@Doctor Jest:
Thanks to you, I have figured out what the pink highlight meant. Seems to show the new users.
Also, Mass Effect is one of the few games that I enjoy playing over and over.
Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.
Hold the train.
That guy looks like Toad Air Marshall.
All of this teasing is a giant elevator.
@Thief: I would love that; I'd keep trying to run against the current.
I am anxiously awaiting this game as well, and quite frankly, other than the MAKO stuff in Mass Effect 1, the game rocked from beginning to end. I have high hopes for Bioware, since most of their sequels are head-and-shoulders above the originals (something only Blizzard seems to be able to do with regularity). I'm going to enjoy exploring this game, and thankfully it's not coming out until 2010, so I can finish Fallout 3. :)
Doctor Jest
@Dope Boy Hero:
Email you used.
Why so much ME2 teasing? where is all the Dragon Age stuff, you know, the game that is releasing this fall? did they not take it to pax or is just no one talking about it?
cwbys21
NEED MORE BIODIVERSITY IN MASS EFFECT 2
NOT ENOUGH WEIRD CRITTERS, TOO MANY HUMANS
LORDCOSMOS
@Michael Dukakis for Senate!: I hope they add real time damage for when you Wrex the Mako.
Kobun
If they improve this like they did Baldur's Gate 2 over Baldur's Gate, you've got yourselves one hell of a game.
@Nelson:
Gets ownd by little cube. Cue in Mass Effect 3: Revenge of the Fallen.
I need to get a new 360 in time for Mass Effect 2. But I might've lost my gamertag, is there any way I can get that back :( ?
tali romance tali romance tali romance
WE KNOW SHE'S A PARTY MEMBER BIOWARE
MAKE IT HAPPEN
curly haired boy
@StevenRafael: I'm playing through the first game now after getting the GOTY edition for $10 thanks to Best Buy, and it's really growing on me. There's more dead time via loading elevators and expansive, dead worlds and buildings than I care for, but I don't mind too much as it adds to the sense of realism. I also seem to be in the minority who boosted up Shepard's charm and threat levels as much as possible since I enjoyed having additional conversation choices since the dialogue was so well done, so it's good to see the sequel will expand on it without necessarily having to "unlock" the more interesting conversations as it were.
My only wish list right now is to abandon the item limit. I don't see why it needs to be restricted to 150. If the developer was going for a sense of realism, then how the hell are players able to carry around 150 items in the first place?
Kobun
@FawkesLament: Yeah, but with those airport moving-walkways. Just aslong as it's automatic.
@StevenRafael:
Ah! Gotcha. True True. Especially the UCW...they supposedly are making the UCW more varied...so that should help.
@FreakyFavabean: I loved the elevator concept. I just wish they'd let you walk around the elevator, or converse with your squad mates... That and maybe throw in a few strangers to share the awkward elevator silence experience with from time to time.
StevenRafael
@Michael Dukakis for Senate!:
You are such a Joker! You should rename yourself Punman.
Stop teasing me already! Your damn game isn't out till next year!
@FreakyFavabean: Yeah, I didn't have much of a problem with them either. There was some dialogue exchange in the elevators wasn't there? And they didn't seem super long, or longer than any other game's load screen to me. And besides, some of those buildings are super tall, what were people expecting?
@curly haired boy: Not for me! Tali was more like a little sister for my Shepard.
Ironfistchinmi
@Dope Boy Hero: Recover it?
@Fallible.: While I do not see the resemblance. I do agree that this show was AWESOME!!
@heretrix: It's no Samurai Pizza Cats, but it's up there.
I'm glad the loading screen change is no small one, but they could have made it workable. Developers could have the crappiest loading screens around as long as they let you open and work in your char/inv/objective screens while the loading was taking place. That would give players an opportunity to re-read objectives and do some inv/char management while they are waiting.
You-can-pick-a-screen-name-later
Mass Effect 2 will be RPG of year 2010 no doubt about it.
peterpanpiper2
@Fallible.: God, I used to LOVE this show!
Pyro Jack Frost
@Fallible.: Man, I miss that show. I had a good amount of the toys growing up.
Zephrit
@Michael Dukakis for Senate!: This is like the part on CMI when your crew is singing "A Pirate I Was Meant To Be".
"Stop, stop, stop!"
@Fallible.: Some cartoon theme songs are great...That wasn't one of them.
I don't really like the idea of a completly new party. I liked Garrus and Wrex they were some pretty sweet characters.
Oh well there better be one turian party member
The elevators were nothing compared to the horrendous inventory management in the game. I like having a party to pick and choose from depending on needs. In order to that I swear I walked back and forth from the quartermaster to the equipment lockers like 250 times.
endaround
@rabidkeebler: That's been promised as well.
I'd prefer an inventory management overhaul rather than a elevator fix.
rabidkeebler
@Ironfistchinmi: yeah, we don't want it mandatory, we just want it as an option.
curly haired boy
@BubbleF**kingBuddy: WHO HAS BEEN DEAD ALL ALONG.
@heretrix:
Man you're crazy, it's the best theme song ever created. Or at least, the one most representative of its age.
drag
@Commy: *put points
@Kobun: I almost always put puts into charm/persuasion in games like these. I love playing the type of character that can, well, lie his way into or out of any situation.
Unfortunately few games handle it well. The rewards tend to be moot, and you end up lacking in combat skills. I'm still waiting for a game to really serve up the perfect balance in that regard.
@djthekidd: that really only applies to places where quarian germs are. on the flotilla, yeah, lots of quarian-specific bugs there. on the normandy? not likely. ;)
curly haired boy
@djthekidd:
Fly to the flotilla?
@endaround:
And I haven't use the lockers a single time in my 4 (and counting) playthroughs, so maybe fix the issues that bother everyone first?
There's niggles there though for sure, the item limit most of all, but otherwise just general streamlining would solve everything for me as far as the inventory goes.
drag
@Kobun: I get the item restriction but what they really need to fix is the item management menu. It sucks when you are trying to sell stuff and you have to scroll down through 47 screens to find the one gun you want to get rid of.
@curly haired boy: How could Sheppard ever do Tali? She is in a bio-suit and can only be outside of it in a sterile environment due to her weak immune system.
@Yossarian: thats not wrex its a new krogan party memebr
That screenshot makes Wrex look like he is being assimilated by a Geth... but they just couldn't quite contain those Krogan guns.
Here's to more than two weapon models...
@djthekidd: I agree. The inventory/item management screens were beyond useless in the first. They changed them in the PC version. I hope they completely overhaul and redesign them in the sequel. That would be a no purchase for me if they remained the same.
The item restriction thing may be based on an aticle from several years ago that showed the average battle ready US soldier carried about 150 items with him at all times. Of course, the Mass Effect developers took this literally because you can carry 150 guns or 150 armor sets.
@Commy: Normally it does seem like a waste, and I'm not sure I got much bang for all points I put into charm, but it did at least have one HUGE impact that ended up saving my favorite character in the game.
I would have been really pissed if I hadn't been able to talk my way out of that one.
@LORDCOSMOS: They tended to avoid humans because lots of them type in all caps over the galaxy extranet.
To the Asaris that is considered to be yelling and rude.
@Yossarian: i think thats still racism as they are a separate race
BUT YOU RACIST!!!!!!!!!
I just wanna know if I can get gay with Kaidan this time. Lesbians got to have all the fun last time, why can't my demographic be pandered to?
XerxesQados
@[dragonage.bioware.com]) is the only PA related thing of recent days.
@Lucas from Electric Gorillas: So is it xenocist of me to say that all Krogans look the same?
@XerxesQados: Because if they do that then the Krogan lovers will be demanding service as well...
It is just a slippery slope that they don't want to go down...
;)
@zlarm: Bioware supposedly fixed most inventory problems in the PC port of ME1 (haven't played it though). I assume most concerns will definitely be solved in both versions of ME2.
Gortexfogg
@zlarm: they improved it on the pc version so they know it was an issue.
@Yossarian: its not wrex. its a krogan they call grunt.
@peterpanpiper2: don't count your chicks before they hatch
@'360 Cabinboy (Corsair): THE BRASS IS WHAT WE'LL POLISH AND THE DECK IS WHAT WE'LL MOP!
spiderweb1986
"Walters was a senior writer focusing on the characters Wrex and Garrus"
And he's in charge now? Fuck yes! Best characters from the original by far.
@NeVeRMoRe666: A faster elevator. 'Super tall' only goes so far when you have an elevator that goes at 100 miles an hour.
@Nelson: Next Reaper named 'Megatron'.
@curly haired boy: Wouldn't Shepard's **** have germs?
: /
@endaround: Wait, there are storage lockers on the Normandy?
v_v
Since when?
@khronos27: Hey, now.
There were four. One for each kind of gun.
@LORDCOSMOS: you want more hanar scratching your brain?
ithyphallus, lazy beareaucrat
@Kobun: You get charm and intimidate points as you go through the game (it is directly proportional to your Paragon and Renegade meters), which is why people don't invest hard points into them. They simply fill themselves up without you spending any points.
However, since you get like four points of charm/intimidate per full paragon/renegade bars, you have to play concurrent files to fill them up to max that way.
@ComplicitOwl:
Yes. His cock has germs. Just like his mouth, fingers, and pretty anything else he has that has little to do with a penis.
@XerxesQados: Why would you want Kaiden, how about Wrex, Krogans have four balls
That picture! It's beautiful...
Wait, that sounds bad.
Bring it to the PS3 and I'm there, I'm very envious of this game but buying a 360 is beyond my capabilities!
I have high hopes for this game both as a stand-alone title and for its much-talked-about trilogy. I'm sure the game will do well monetarily but if it also succeeds as a work of art? Then BioWare wins. They win so hard.
If Player A is able to kill the entire cast of Mass Effect 2, while Player B prevents the death of Shepherd and most of his/her crew... and BioWare is able to make a third installment compatible with BOTH of those play-throughs, then this series will have been able to become a sustainable interactive plotline.
Games (particularly of the RPG variety, but some from random other genres can fall in here too) have all sorts of mechanisms to prevent plot-important PC or NPC deaths or the destruction of plot-important items. If a trilogy like this goes off, maybe we can start to see other companies make games with less restrictive gameplay elements.
(...of course some video games would rather be a traditional movie where "YOU are the protagonist" than an interactive world where "YOU can do anything, really!". That's cool, they can keep doing that.)
@Yossarian: NO ITS AWESOME I SWEAR
@Lucas from Electric Gorillas: And no need for contraception
@laikapants: yeah, Dragoncon and Dragon Age seem like such a good fit to pass up.
cwbys21
@peterpanpiper2: it has some big time competition with FF13 and maybe Diablo 3
cwbys21
@rabidkeebler: good news, they said they took all the code for the inventory system and hit the delete button, started over completely
@Gortexfogg: pc version might have had changes made to the inventory system, but it still sucked big time
cwbys21
@heretrix:
Hey, it's no Bots master but it's up there..
Rachel Fogg
@Lucas from Electric Gorillas: Also, they'll kick you apart.
Halo_Override
will you still carry an armory on your back? that is the real question.
@Twik63: And will it be easier to remove items from that armory. I spent about 30 minutes throwing old crap away after my inventory clogged up due to one horrible interface design fail: resetting to the top of the list (which is ordered in a way that the crap is at the bottom) every time something is removed.
I hope to God they rebuild the Mako sections.. They had such potential but got old fast..
And for that matter, I want my female Shephard to be able to get it on with a Turian.
@LordChris915: It's developed by MS studios, no?? Sorry spanky.
enderx
@NeVeRMoRe666:
And I think the elevator that people are more specifically worried about is the one inside the normandy, which only encompasses about a 15 foot drop. Long ass elevator.
@enderx: I'm pretty sure EA is handling publishing duties on Mass Effect 2, so we'll likely see a multi-platform release.
Chris Morrison
@markusdragon: Wrex was the best damned sidekick I've ever had in an RPG. He was like a hyper-violent Eeyore. I loved that damn lizard.
oh man! is that a Frog holding a gun!? this game just went from "not my type" list to the "OH YEA THAT FROGS GOT A GUN AND ARMOR!" list! trust me, its a great list!
pandafresh
@Rachel Fogg: I'm sorry, but this is the best theme song.
I'm still a little miffed that comrades from the first game will only turn up as cameos. I spent all this time romancing the more boring Liara (rather than the sassy Ashley, forgot their names) in the hope of an interesting alien side-story in the sequel.
Maybe extra-terrestrial romancers will log in to the sequel, input their save file and find find out that they just knocked up their beloved blue alien.
mcderek3000
@ComplicitOwl: If you're not joking, the lockers for all your companions can be found in the bottom of the ship. From elevator: swing hard left and head for the wall. there will be a row of 6-7 lockers that can be targeted by the cursor, named by team member. I don't bother with the lockers anymore as I just use my preferred team. Any gear that isn't usable or useful gets gelled right away.