MorbusG on 14/12/2010 at 10:56
Quote Posted by Aja
Mass Effect 2 had compelling, well-written characters
I hate you.
:joke:
No, seriously, you must be lobotomized if you think they're well-written.
:joke:
Sulphur on 14/12/2010 at 11:14
Mass Effect's characters are based on stereotypes again, but the dialogue and many of the quests are fun.
Compelling, though? Rarely. A couple of those character-based choices had the potential to be (for example, ME2's choose Samara-or-her-daughter confrontation would have worked if I actually knew Samara's character better than 'slightly psychotic blue alien zen monk'.) Maybe because it's because of the sheer number of characters, but not one of them is an actual, complex, rounded out person.
mothra on 14/12/2010 at 12:12
I wholeheartly agree with that Bioware knows HOW to tell stories but unfortunately their stories and characters suck. I loved ME2 for all its pomp and fistpumping and stolen forcepowers. It was a good TPS with a few RPG traits thrown in, but pales even in comparison to ... MW2 on the "RPG" side. Shepard is a complete moron and his "renegade" actions are not renegade, they are despicable idiocy. the main plot's integration into the loyalty missions - or the other way around - was not that good, still - played it many times and enjoy many bits and pieces of it. DragonAge - that game aint even fixed yet so I can't say anything about their combat system cause it still is broken as hell and needs mods to fix it. It's just like many say: there are not many RPGs out per year - at least single-player RPGs with or without parties and big, long sprawling stories set in distant galaxies or different universes. Nobody seems to try and just let BIOWARE take all the money so they set the standard. that it is not a very high one despite their resources is another story. And Bioware does not build worlds. They write boring codex entries. TheWitcher created a world. DragonAge/MassEffect are just corridors with windows.
Angel Dust on 14/12/2010 at 23:38
There's nothing inherently wrong genre work or characters based on established archetypes*. When it's done well, and Bioware do do it well, it can be immensely entertaining. I mean, I play games like The Void, read books like Infinite Jest, watch films like 8 1/2 because I love originality and being challenged but I still have time, and hope I always will, for good old fashioned genre work. I couldn't give two shits that they're not 'complex, rounded out people' because they are interesting/likeable and have their compelling moments, and basically it's just a blast to get swept up in the operatic pomp of it all and save the world with them.
So yeah, I'm excited for the next slice of epic story telling from Bioware and since it's gonna sell shitloads, I'll have plenty more to look forward to as well. :cool:
*Deus Ex and Thief are chock full of them and that includes Garret.
Sulphur on 15/12/2010 at 00:14
Whatever works for you, bub. Deus Ex and Thief are fine because they actually did something interesting with your archetypes.
Me, I'm tired of seeing the writers do the same characters in every Bioware game so far with a bit of reshuffling here and there, so compelling to you they may be, but I'm all Biowared out because all they seem capable of doing is genre work, which isn't exactly rare these days to begin with.
Dresden on 15/12/2010 at 05:39
You're all angry nerd archetypes.
Renzatic on 15/12/2010 at 06:13
That's a helluva thing to put on the top of page two. But it's true.
Sulphur on 15/12/2010 at 08:21
I am not an angry internet mens, damn you :mad:
june gloom on 15/12/2010 at 09:02
you're using the :mad: smiley and you're a mens (i think) and you're on the internet
YOUR AN ANGRY INTERNET MENS
polytourist97 on 15/12/2010 at 10:58
Playing through ME2 a second time, one thing sticks out and annoys the hell out of me more than any of the game's other quirks: the conversation wheel.
Sure, in theory it seems like a great idea. It's a condensed, user-friendly way of having many conversation options presented in a more efficient display that doesn't take up as much screen space as say, a dialogue box, and it works more within the cinematic framework of the game...
However, I'm getting pretty tired of selecting options like "I disagree", and then watching Shepard proceed to BERATE and FROWNY FACE the person he is talking to like a jack-wad for some total RENEGADE POINTS.
I prefer the silent-protagonist style ala Half Life, Dragon Age, KoTOR, etc. Shepard's voice-acting (and most protagonist voice acting in my option) is really distracting about 9 times out of 10. I also like actually being able to see what my response really is before selecting it.
That said, I still like the ME games ok. They're certainly not great, but there aren't a lot of role-playing sci-fi games being released. I'll probably play the third one when it's released.
