Mass Effect Series Options

[Voran]

After my abrupt game halt in Fable 3, due to a presently unfixed bug, I found myself wanting to rinse the taste from my mouth, so I popped in a game that had bought when it first came out, but never quite finished.

Mass Effect 2. I bought it when it was first released, but this was also during my pre-HD tv days, so I quit playing about halfway through because my eyes were killing me. It was sort of a game I had forgotten I had even after I got my 46" HD, but while rummaging through my 360 games realized I hadn't finished it yet.

On a side note, I have this habit of starting games but not finishing them, usually because work picks up and my other life responsibilities merge to stop me from playing. Some games I've gotten but still haven't finished, Arkham Asylum, Prototype, Assassin Creed 2. Should give them a try again, as those were also pre-HD tv days for me, so I bet they look pretty now (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Anyhoo.

Mass Effect 2. I finished the game (perfect ending, everyone lives, paragon). And realized what a great game it was because it immediately made me inclined to play Mass Effect 1 again.

Having played both (still playing a new game with ME1, new character route) so closely together made me realize some of the changes between 1 and 2, and made me think of changes I hope occur for #3. I'll try to break them down by categories...in no particular order.

1. Levelling. ME 1 is traditional fare, though with a surprisingly large level range, theoretically capping at 60, but your first run through gets you to around 50 I think. ME 2 takes kind of an abbreviated approach, capping at 30, though your first play through will probably take you to around 26 or so. At least if you're trying for perfect ending. If you don't mind sadder outcome, you could grind to 30. In either case, reaching max level in a normal playthrough doesn't really change your experience much, you don't NEED to be maxxed level.

2. Related to #1, skill development. Each level you gain skill points that go to certain skills. ME 1 has a fairly large skill tree, which kind of explains the 60 level cap, you need all the skill points to fill out stuff. ME 2 on the other hand has a much smaller skill tree. Though in some ways they eliminated some of the 'mandatory skill sinks'. For example in ME 1, if you wanted to play a guy who persuaded or intimidated, you needed to invest points into it (up to 10), likewise it was mandatory to have a tech user in your party if you didn't have tech skills yourself, otherwise you wouldn't be able to open chests/lockers or in some cases, doors. So ME 1 is more restricted in a way, forcing you to burn points or adopt a certain party structure. ME2 eliminated that by dumping skill points into conversation entirely, making it still possible to do paragon/renegade conversation options but linking it more directly to your paragon or renegade scores themselves. Likewise bypassing locks and such became a minigame that isn't dependant on your skills.

3. On the other hand, in ME 2, most things like weapon and armor skills have also been discarded. For both you and the npcs you recruit, you no longer really have a say in what they wear or what they can use.

4. Related somewhat to 3, Inventory. ME 1 has a dense inventory system, both in its size and its...well...dumbness. Its a cumbersome system to go through, not very friendly when your inventory slots start filling up. On the other hand in ME1 you can play with armor types, mods, weapons, mods, ammo mods, etc etc. In ME2, its all secondary. You can't really buy weapons or armor anymore, and you can't fiddle with the paper-dolls of your npcs. You can select weapons they use, but in limited fashion. Heck, in ME2, you can't even sell things anymore. To be fair, within a normal playthrough you do pretty much end up with enough credits to buy the things you need (upgrades from stores), but in a sense it becomes less like a C-RPG and more like a C-FPS.

more to follow