Mass Effect 2

[Erzengel]

Probably 800 points.

 

[Tron Bonne]

http://kotaku.com/5492103/mass-effect-2-dlc-adds-90-minutes-more-earth-teases

The first paid downloadable content for Mass Effect 2 is a heist mission. And it's a tease. [Content spoilers in this post.] In San Francisco, where thousands of game creators are swarming the 2010 Game Developers' Conference, BioWare's Casey Hudson was showing his Mass Effect 2's first paid expansion, Kasumi's Stolen Memory. It features a new potential ally, the 12th for the sequel, the elite thief Kasumi.
This DLC is Mass Effect's ode to James Bond. It is an undercover slip into a formal-attire-required party at the estate of the shady Donovan Hock, mixed with a bit of schmoozing, a safe that needs cracking and then gunfire. There is a vault in this 90-minute level. It contains statues of familiar characters and two of the most popular statues from Earth: Michelangelo's David and the Statue of Liberty.
That's a tease, Hudson told Kotaku, of what has happened to Earth in the Mass Effect fiction, though we're not going there in this DLC. "At some point we will go to the Earth," he said. When? He's not saying.


The Kasumi DLC offers this one Bond-style mission and a number of frills. Players will wind up with a new weapon (submachine gun), a new power (the ability to throw flashbang grenades), one Achievement and a new unlocked area of the player's spaceship. Kasumi will hang out in that new area of the ship and will also be able to stick with you through the game. Her special ability, a Shade Strike that sends her, cloaked in invisibility, on a dash toward the enemy to perform a powerful attack, could prove handy. She will interact with the other Mass Effect 2 characters, according to Hudson.

Hudson described Kasumi's Stolen Memory as the first of a series of paid downloadable content offerings for Mass Effect 2. While this new one doesn't tweak the game's engine he said that it is already enabling BioWare's developers to try new art tricks and styles. He said that other DLC Mass Effect 2 projects are underway. They may very in length of quest and type of content, but they're coming. Kasumi's Stolen Memory will be out next month for Xbox 360 and PC. No price announced. Players will be able to access it once they have played enough of Mass Effect 2 to attain their own in-game space-ship and/or after the end of the game's main quest.

 

[Nightmare]

Bond style mission? Sweet!

 

[Soapy]

Sounds cool, but I won't be getting it. At least not when it comes out. I've decided I'm not going to be buying anymore DLC or expansion packs anymore. It's not that I'm not against DLC or anything, but rather because I know in about six months they'll bring out a version of the game with all of that stuff included.

 

[El Bastardo]

It remains to be seen whether BioWare will do any Bethesda-styled "Game of the Year" editions.

I doubt it, but if either of the two games are likely to get one, I suppose it's Mass Effect 2 over Dragon Age.

 

[StrainedEyes]

Sounds cool, but I won't be getting it. At least not when it comes out. I've decided I'm not going to be buying anymore DLC or expansion packs anymore. It's not that I'm not against DLC or anything, but rather because I know in about six months they'll bring out a version of the game with all of that stuff included.

So you'd rather buy the game again over paying for dlc?

 

[Soapy]

So you'd rather buy the game again over paying for dlc?

Well, it depends on the game and how much additional content is released for it. The best example would be Fallout 3. All of the DLC costs as much as a new game, so you might as well just wait a while and get everything on a disk.

 

[BlackLantern]

that's cool...at one point I was hoping to go to Earth at least once, whether as a side mission or something

well I got to see the places I wanted in ME2 (Tuchanka and the Migrant Fleet), so for part 3, id like to maybe see a Volus colony and maybe a mission in the Local Cluster

 

[Soapy]

Yeah, I kind of want to see what Earth is like. But I would also really like to visit a Turian world.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

Me too. I was disappointed I didn't see Earth. It would be awesome however if the final battle of ME3 was on Earth.

 

[El Bastardo]

Casey Hudson has said we'll go to Earth at some point. They just want it to be right.

 

[BlackLantern]

I was thinking....you work for the Alliance in the first game, and Cerberus in part 2....so what will you be in the third one...still with Cerberus or freelance or what I wonder?

 

[Tron Bonne]

I got the impression that Shepard kind of cut the cord with Cerberus at the end. Though, I don't know, I guess they may still work together out of necessity (though I assume both will be planning double crosses at some point).

 

[StrainedEyes]

GDC 10: Mass Effect 2 Has '700 Plot Hooks' to Mass Effect 1
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/107/1077467p1.html

BioWare has repeatedly said that Mass Effect is the player's story, and that the series is a different kind of role-playing experience than some of its previous RPGs. That's partly because the games track your actions and assign varying levels of importance to the decisions you make on behalf of your Commander Shepard.

Troisi described Mass Effect's built-in ability to read your game save files as the series' "uber-feature," and said there are roughly 700 "plot hooks" in Mass Effect 1 that carry over one way or another into Mass Effect 2. To illustrate just how granular BioWare gets with these player choices, he showed a brief segment of Mass Effect 2.

In the scene, a male Commander Shepard walks up to one of the advertising pillars on the Citadel, and a trailer for a fictional film begins to play. Because this particular Shepard had chosen to let the Citadel Council die in the final moments of the game's ending, the trailer reflected that and announced that the film would have a fall release date. Then Troisi showed the same interaction with a female Shepard who had chosen to spare the Council. The trailer played out differently, and a summer release date was given.

It's a small detail, and one that most players would likely never notice. But it's illustrative of just how much decision detail BioWare has woven into Mass Effect 1 and 2. Troisi specifically mentioned that Mass Effect 3 will place the same importance on save files and player actions.

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

In a panel titled "Where Did My Inventory Go? Refining Gameplay in Mass Effect 2," BioWare's Christina Norman talked about the radical changes made to the second chapter in the Mass Effect trilogy. A key goal for Mass Effect 2 was to introduce "more satisfying combat," with an "intense feel" missing from the first game. One of the admitted failures of the first Mass Effect game was the incongruity between its look and feel: it looked like a shooter, but it didn't exactly play like one. With that in mind, Norman decided that the team needed to focus on rebuilding the combat in its entirety for Mass Effect 2. "BioWare is strong on RPG and story," but "not so strong on shooter combat." BioWare needed to rebuild its gameplay core, because the game's "other features depend on shooter combat."

The streamlined gameplay and GUI of Mass Effect 2 made it a huge critical success, but Norman pointed out some major criticisms from vocal members of the official BioWare forums. Threads titled "Mass Effect 2 is not an RPG" and "Gears of War with interactive dialogue" were highlighted as examples of fans disappointed by the strong shooting focus of the second game.

As with the transition from the first Mass Effect to the second, BioWare is taking these criticisms to heart for the third game, with Norman hoping the third will offer "richer RPG features" and "more combat options." What we can probably expect less of, however, is the mining minigame, which Norman described as the part that "nobody liked."

 

[BlackLantern]

I liked the scaled down inventory system for 2, forces you to think ahead....I don't need 25 different suits of armor

 

[Soapy]

http://prezi.com/6xe1ucvy8egf/where-did-my-inventory-go/

That's the actual full presentation that was used.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

I didn't mind the toned down RPG elements. It made the game more fun, quick, and less complicated. I'm tired of spending 10 minutes wondering where I should improve at.

I love the stronger shooting focus and it has made it a much stronger game. I don't want RPG fanboys ruining it.

 

[Soapy]

We don't want shooter fanboys ruining it either.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

I believe we find ourselves in a classic Mexican Standoff. First one who blinks loses.....

 

[Soapy]

*Roll 83 for initiative*

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

*Takes out assault rifle*

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

They could put the inventory system back in, just make the loot you get actually worth something.

I'd also like a bit more customization with party members. I think other than that I'm fine with how the rpg/shooter elements blended.

I've got Dragon Age for my classic rpg needs.

 

[Soapy]

I'm actually fine with the balance they struck in ME2. I just feel like they could have taken some of the RPG stuff a bit further.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

I love the balance too. I just fear that going more RPG would bring it a step back. If they do I hope it won't.

Haha Upset Spideyfan just prevented a bloodbath t: