5 ms·
* WARNING: MAJOR SPOILER * I loved Mass Effect I & II as well, but lets name their problem: they are padded with boring gameplay. Most of the fights are utterl
by Argorak 15y ago
* WARNING: MAJOR SPOILER *
I loved Mass Effect I & II as well, but lets name their problem: they are padded with boring gameplay. Most of the fights are utterly forgettable (corridor, enemies, your gun, their gun, repeat, end dialogue), the Mako was the worst vehicle ever driven in a game and firing probes on planets - no word about that. When the gameplay actually worked and was interweaved with the storytelling (for example the possibility to skip parts of the boss fight by Mass Effect I by convincing Saren of his evil), it was truly great. I think its time that Bioware managed to cut back on meaningless fights and only allowed interesting battle situations (for example, the ascend to the final fight in Mass Effect I - it was quick, great layout and it had a story to tell: our heroes climbing the final mountain). I wouldn't want to skip them, but often it felt like "and now kill 20 enemies, because its a shooter we play, here!". Especially in Mass Effect 2, where sidestories all followed the same scheme.
Oh, about the female/male stuff: I think Mass Effect and Dragon Age are the only franchises that take relationships and gender seriously. I never played the romances in Mass Effect II because I didn't want to break my promise from the first game and the game took note of it - now, thats decision making.
- twiceaday 15y agoDragon Age 1 stands alone in quality writing. It's not fair to compare DA2 or the ME games to it.
- Argorak 15y agoActually, I got bored by Dragon Age I really quick. The writing was okay, but the characters were (visually) stiff and off-putting. Also if I have to play another RPG where I have to micromanage my inventory of a group of six characters, I'll start a career in accounting. Also, I think that any story involving dragons has been told to death.
- electromagnetic 15y agoI have to agree with the inventory, better weapons and armour should auto-equip. Select weapon class (axe vs dual-wield vs bow) and let them auto-equip up in one weapon or armour class. > Also, I think that any story involving dragons has been told to death. Agreed, but so has every film plot involving racing cars or stealing cars but people still go to see them. I think the problem is that when you appeal to 90% of people, you're stuck eternally trying to appeal to the same people.
- Argorak 15y agoWell, I also haven't seen any films involving car theft and racing for ages :). Taste, taste, taste. I didn't enjoy DA, because it was wasting my time even more than ME, which at least had the inventory cruft cut. I agree that DA should be mentioned in one breath with others when it comes to careful storytelling.
- electromagnetic 15y agoI think DA did so well because there's a huge hesitation in people to play a "sci-fi" game. I have no clue why though. My wife even said "that [ME} is too sci-fi, but that [DA} looks interesting". I don't get what the difference is between a Krogan and an Orc. Being a writer, I know I could write a story where I could literally switch terminology and it be either a sci-fi or fantasy. What really gets me is I can never get my wife to sit down and watch more than an episode of BSG, Stargate or something else, but over 3/4 of the movies she picks to see are sci-fi. So I spend a lot of time pulling my hair out on TV choices but for a film I don't even have to ask what it is (although I should keep track of when the damn twilight movies come out as I get sidelined every time).
- Argorak 15y agoActually, I managed to change my girlfriend a bit in that respect. I think the biggest problem of SciFi is that its mostly associated with Star Wars and Star Trek, the first is a geekfest for nerds and the second is a very special facet (both not bad, but hey) and also associated as "boy things" already. We actually watched more thoughtful things like Blade Runner and discussed the film afterwards. Half-SciFIs like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind which have a more subtle use of SciFI-topics are also good. Its best if you can say "hey, you just watched a SciFI movie" without her realizing that at first. Firefly is also good, because there is not spaceship-shooting-at-things stuff. As my girlfriend is a suspense fan, Alien will be up next :). And yes, I know half of the story of DA because my girlfriend is far ahead of me :).