Sulphur on 14/2/2012 at 22:28
Well, so I played the first part of the demo - the introduction. It's not quite as moreish as ME2's opening, because apart from the sweet intro sequence and the faintly (very faintly; it's just the music that carries the weight, really, not the writing) poignant outro, the stuff in between is deadly dull: the combat sections involved some of the most boring enemies ever featured in the series, awkward use of cover and running, and everything lacked a certain amount of kick.
Even though there were enough explosions to give Michael Bay pause, or perhaps because of them, and the fact that no matter how much Shepard's thrown about while running through or around a random exploding section of architecture, nothing ever happens to him -- he just flails about then gets back up and dusts himself off -- there's no actual sense of danger or threat to the proceedings except during the forced combat waves... which, as I mentioned, are so incredibly meh. It's a lot of bluff and bluster but that's all it is. Accessibility and easing off player frustration is well and good, but doing it at obvious expense to the narrative is questionable at best.
Also, for the love of god, Bioware, forcing PC players to use one goddamn key for cover, interaction, and running is not and never has been a good idea, you bunch of flaming assmunches.
And yet... I'm going to fucking pre-order it anyway, aren't I. God damn it all.
Volitions Advocate on 15/2/2012 at 00:23
Since the glory days of GOOD demos have been gone for around 10 years, I'd say hold off judgement on the boring action. 5 minutes of gameplay is crappy for forming much of an opinion of the overall flow.
I did find the shooting to be more responsive and much more satisfying than in the previous games, although I'm trying to figure out if theres a way to lower your weapon. I didn't like the always-ready stance that you're forced to play with. Maybe thats a demo glitch I dunno, but it is very immersion breaking.
Runs smoothly, native surround monitor support (FUCKING THANK YOU, FINALLY PPL ARE CATCHING ON!)
cutscene continuity with gameplay (you have pistol/AR equipped in game play, its equipped in cutscene). Not super important I guess, but just a pet peeve when it doesn't happen.
I'm looking forward to it, although I wont be pre-ordering. I'd like to replay the first 2 games and get the story setup the way I think i'd like it before continuing. And that wont happen till summer hits anyway. Too much damn school.
EvaUnit02 on 15/2/2012 at 02:40
There's an option that forces helmets to be toggled off during conversations. Fucking thank you! This was one of my biggest pet peeves about ME2, which made me shelve all of the fixed whole armour suits like the Inferno Armour and Blood Dragon Armour.
Also native AA support is there this time around. About bloody time.
The demo doesn't prompt me for my EA account details, so I'm gonna assume that the Origin client in Online mode provides them. I hope so, because I'd like to get the free horse armour that the ME3 demo unlocks for KoA: Reckoning (good ARPG that).
Phatose on 15/2/2012 at 03:30
Well, pretty much gonna just deal with Origin and order. Went through ME2 again to get it set up and all.
But goddamnit EA. You've got your intro segment in the demo (only time I'll see level 1 in this game since ME2 characters come in at their level), and you've got your actual game section. 5 weapon slots - a shotgun for the vanguard, a rifle for the soldier, two damn pistols for the engineers and biotics - and a goddamned empty slot where my fucking sniper rifle should be.
gunsmoke on 15/2/2012 at 16:54
I find it funny when people actually give a hoot what their characters look like.
Ulukai on 15/2/2012 at 17:20
Why?
Make your character look like you or someone you know (of), empathise more with your character, have more fun.
Volitions Advocate on 15/2/2012 at 22:12
Quote Posted by gunsmoke
I find it funny when people actually give a hoot what their characters look like.
I do and I don't. In Elder Scrolls games or DX:IW or some of the older Star Wars games it hardly makes a difference. Even with the massive amounts of tweaking you can do in oblivion / skyrim. The thing is your character there is a mute whom you never see if you play in FP mode the whole time.
On the other hand. My first playthrough of Mass Effect I had no idea what the game was about and hadn't even watched a game play video. I bought it in a bargain bin.
The very first thing I did was create a very distinct femshep, and its a whole character I created. Sure she sounds and talks like every other femshep out there, but I've identified with her because of how I created her. You see the characters so much in this game its actually jarring for me to watch a youtube vid with somebody playing a male sheppard or a female version that looks completely different from my own. The same thing makes so little difference in Oblivion, Skyrim, or Fallout 3/NV. The whole ME story was fleshed out with my version of the protagonist. I'll be making sure she looks just like I invision her when I finally get around to replaying everything.
EvaUnit02 on 18/2/2012 at 17:36
I played the demo, great stuff. NO MORE STRAIGHT REGEN HEALTH, YAY! It uses the Riddick/Resistance/Far Cry 2 health system which is a hybrid of the two popular models. Health packs actually matter once again, but segments of the health bar will regenerate under the right conditions.
The game's cover system is really, really good. BW had definitely been playing DX:HR and taking notes intently.
Ulukai on 20/2/2012 at 18:04
Been playing the demo on 360, and the multiplayer reminds me, a lot, of Hoard mode in Gears. Which, is not a bad thing.
Started playing the second part of the SP demo and then stopped, because I am a massive fan boy and I want to wait and play the real thing.
Also, somehow, I made the wrong choice at the beginning of the demo and the racist bitch is still alive. I'm guessing ME3 will import my ME2 Shep so I don't have to make that mistake again.
Phatose on 20/2/2012 at 22:02
Well, I'd much rather have the racist bitch alive then Kaiden, simply because Ashley isn't going to fucking out rank me on my own ship. First time he goes "I think you meant 'Take Cover Now, SIR', didn't you commander?" you'll be wishing you blew his ass up.
Been enjoying the multiplayer a great deal. The SP demo didn't include a whole lot of the new game mechanics, like inventory or the weight vs cooldown time mechanic, and the multiplayer lets you get a good idea how those work. Looks very promising. Plus it's actually a lot of fun.
Well, until the fucking Ninjas show up, anyway.
