Preview Mass Effect 2: Shepard (Possibly) Dies and Dialogue QTEs

[Clockwork Knight]

What he meant is that now regular guards and such would have to be high level so they can face Shepard, which can feel strange. "They have guns capable of destroying a planet, but are just guarding a shitty outpost in the middle of nowhere", and that sort of thing.

 

[doctor_kaz]

Sounds pretty lame, since it means that they'll have to suddenly make everyone in the game god-like.

Several rpg's allow you to import you characters from previous games in the series. Like Bard's Tale, Baldur's Gate, Might and Magic.

Since in ME you don't have strenght, agility, dexterity, etc (you level up to get skills), you'll just start very skilled, which is okay given you're Shepard. Enemies can be unskilled chumps since they still have guns and/ or come in swarms.

In Baldurs Gate, the character that you imported was only about level 6 or 7, so it wasn't a problem. In Mass Effect, your character has the "detroyer of worlds" thing going for him by the end. If you fight nothing but Reavers in Mass Effect 2, maybe this won't be a problem, but that would make for a shitty game. I assume that they'll probably just pick the lazy/lame route of scaling up all of the ordinary enemies so that the low level scrubs that you fight early in the game will technically be more powerful than some of the bosses that you fought in the first game, and your maxed out speech skills suddenly won't even be able to haggle somebody for five credits.

 

[xuerebx]

Sounds pretty lame, since it means that they'll have to suddenly make everyone in the game god-like.

Several rpg's allow you to import you characters from previous games in the series. Like Bard's Tale, Baldur's Gate, Might and Magic.

Since in ME you don't have strenght, agility, dexterity, etc (you level up to get skills), you'll just start very skilled, which is okay given you're Shepard. Enemies can be unskilled chumps since they still have guns and/ or come in swarms.

In Baldurs Gate, the character that you imported was only about level 6 or 7, so it wasn't a problem. In Mass Effect, your character has the "detroyer of worlds" thing going for him by the end. If you fight nothing but Reavers in Mass Effect 2, maybe this won't be a problem, but that would make for a shitty game. I assume that they'll probably just pick the lazy/lame route of scaling up all of the ordinary enemies so that the low level scrubs that you fight early in the game will technically be more powerful than some of the bosses that you fought in the first game, and your maxed out speech skills suddenly won't even be able to haggle somebody for five credits.

I'm not saying that I like this (I don't), but can you come up with a better system to stat off Shepard as skilled but still make the game challenging enough throughout the game?

 

[Volourn]

Too late now; but Shepard shouldn't have gained so many level in part 1. It should have reached level 10, and gaining a level should have been a major event instea dof just getting a point or two.

Anyways, anyone who claims that ME/ME2 are not (action) rpgs are retarded and don't know what rpgs are. Period.

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

Sounds pretty lame, since it means that they'll have to suddenly make everyone in the game god-like.

Several rpg's allow you to import you characters from previous games in the series. Like Bard's Tale, Baldur's Gate, Might and Magic.

Since in ME you don't have strenght, agility, dexterity, etc (you level up to get skills), you'll just start very skilled, which is okay given you're Shepard. Enemies can be unskilled chumps since they still have guns and/ or come in swarms.

In Baldurs Gate, the character that you imported was only about level 6 or 7, so it wasn't a problem. In Mass Effect, your character has the "detroyer of worlds" thing going for him by the end. If you fight nothing but Reavers in Mass Effect 2, maybe this won't be a problem, but that would make for a shitty game. I assume that they'll probably just pick the lazy/lame route of scaling up all of the ordinary enemies so that the low level scrubs that you fight early in the game will technically be more powerful than some of the bosses that you fought in the first game, and your maxed out speech skills suddenly won't even be able to haggle somebody for five credits.

I'm not saying that I like this (I don't), but can you come up with a better system to stat off Shepard as skilled but still make the game challenging enough throughout the game?

Yeah. Rebalance the stat/level system and make a sort of "level exchange rate" for imported characters. Make it so (totally arbitrary figures here) 5 ME1 levels equals 1 ME2 level and do something similar with the skills. Also give new characters some extra points to compensate (to a degree). This will give them a "semi-clean slate" to not need to level scale the fuck out of it completely.

 

[Qwinn]

The biggest reason Oblivion's level scaling was atrocious was because it capped at level 20 for everything else in game while you could progress forever. That, and common bandits coming equipped with godlike armor and weapons, which was just so silly as to totally kill immersion. Neither of these happened in ME1, and in fact I thought it was cooler and more realistic playing through the 2nd time starting at level 50 with decent equipment (as opposed to being a complete naked n00b Hero of the Blitz ) In that way, the 1st playthrough really seemed like practice/setup for the "real" 2nd playthrough.

So I won't mind if they do the level scaling again. What they just really really need to fix is that you could get pretty much all the best loot by the end of your first playthrough, and there was no new good items to find at all throughout your second.

Qwinn

 

[xuerebx]

Sounds pretty lame, since it means that they'll have to suddenly make everyone in the game god-like.

Several rpg's allow you to import you characters from previous games in the series. Like Bard's Tale, Baldur's Gate, Might and Magic.

Since in ME you don't have strenght, agility, dexterity, etc (you level up to get skills), you'll just start very skilled, which is okay given you're Shepard. Enemies can be unskilled chumps since they still have guns and/ or come in swarms.

In Baldurs Gate, the character that you imported was only about level 6 or 7, so it wasn't a problem. In Mass Effect, your character has the "detroyer of worlds" thing going for him by the end. If you fight nothing but Reavers in Mass Effect 2, maybe this won't be a problem, but that would make for a shitty game. I assume that they'll probably just pick the lazy/lame route of scaling up all of the ordinary enemies so that the low level scrubs that you fight early in the game will technically be more powerful than some of the bosses that you fought in the first game, and your maxed out speech skills suddenly won't even be able to haggle somebody for five credits.

I'm not saying that I like this (I don't), but can you come up with a better system to stat off Shepard as skilled but still make the game challenging enough throughout the game?

Yeah. Rebalance the stat/level system and make a sort of "level exchange rate" for imported characters. Make it so (totally arbitrary figures here) 5 ME1 levels equals 1 ME2 level and do something similar with the skills. Also give new characters some extra points to compensate (to a degree). This will give them a "semi-clean slate" to not need to level scale the fuck out of it completely.

Mhm. What about the enemies? Considering you're pretty skilled, hell you kind of saved the universe, common thugs shouldn't be a match for you. But constantly fighting superior enemies isn't realistic for a game set in the ME universe, there must be a balance.

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

Mhm. What about the enemies? Considering you're pretty skilled, hell you kind of saved the universe, common thugs shouldn't be a match for you. But constantly fighting superior enemies isn't realistic for a game set in the ME universe, there must be a balance.

Don't have Shepard fight "common thugs", or make them be the pitifully easy fights they should be for a Spectre (like fully equipped Red Berets versus a common street punk). That's one of the joys of making a multi-linear action-RPG; that level of narrative control that helps you sync up the story with gameplay. I can understand some things not syncing up in more open-ended games, or games that don't take themselves seriously, but Bioware should totally have this under control. If they rebalance the skill/level system, it would give them a good chance to do this and other things*.

I mean, it's not hard to believe a sentient race of robots with a hive-mind can "upgrade" themselves quickly or that a "suicide mission" will have Shepard squaring off against tough foes pushing him to the limit as he goes deeper in. They'll just have to cut the sidequests that would and should be beneath Shepard. No more fighting thugs to protect commoners or killing space-rats.

*Totally freaking random, but I'd also like them to change the way classes work, or have a "build-your-own-class" thing going on. I should be able to have an "elective skill" or two on top of my classes' core skills to differentiate my character even more without having to play a character who has the skill and use it enough to get a silly achievement.

 

[xuerebx]

Yeah, I certainly agree with the 'no more fighting commoners' bit; it has always bothered me that later on in an RPG you still get quests such as Kill that pesky rat!, Thieves stole my necklace, can you find it for me? and Can you deliver this piece of paper, dear Level 976 warrior?.

I wonder how Bioware will proceed with this.

 

[ghostdog]

If they actually manage to give you consequences in ME2 from your actions in ME! , it would be rather cool. I'd really like to see that arachnid queen I freed in ME1, appear in ME2...

 

[Jaesun]

If they actually manage to give you consequences in ME2 from your actions in ME! , it would be rather cool.

They are actually working on that very thing right now.

 

[MetalCraze]

Bioware consequences: no matter who died and who is on your team now prepare for exactly same quests and new recycled characters to replace old ones.

 

[Xor]

I want to look forward to it, but I have a feeling it'll all be implemented very poorly, especially the C&C thing they're talking about. A few lines here and there referencing the first game won't really impress me.

 

[lightbane]

I have some new info that may be true or not (most likely it will be true): Apparently Shepard CAN die, in a certain sequence depending of your choices Shepard will die due to the lack of oxigen while he floats in space or maybe he'll be rescued "in the last second" by some generic friendly ship.
I assume that either that happens on the end of the game so the fagtards are anxious to see how Shepard reappears in Mass Effect 3 as a Robo/Cyborg/Reaper-hybrid humanoid (and another excuse to start to level 1), or at the beginning so they have an excuse to start with a clonic character with level 1 too.

 

[xuerebx]

Where'd you get this info on the endgame?

 

[Barrow_Bug]

If they actually manage to give you consequences in ME2 from your actions in ME! , it would be rather cool. I'd really like to see that arachnid queen I freed in ME1, appear in ME2...

Good point. What the fuck happened with that? There are lots of oppurtunities for Bio to make this thing shine. More interesting characters for starters- and more hubs would be nice too!

 

[lightbane]

Where'd you get this info on the endgame?

nono, I read that in a foreign webmagazine, what I was saying is what they say here (based in one of the E3 gameplay videos they saw), that in a certain sequence apparently Shepard could die depending of your actions, I supposed that the most "logic place" to put that sequence would be the endgame, so they have secured that the fantards will be surely waiting for Mass Effect 3 no matter the time it takes... But it can be perfectly a fake and nothing happen at all.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I'd really like it if they let you take control of one of your team members if Shepard died. Replay factor = up the roof.

But I know they'll revive him or give you a new generic hero that will instantly captivate everyone and become their leader because he is hotblooded.