Mass Effect 2 *spoilers around pg 29/30*

[caladein]

Mass Effect 2 on PC to release same day as 360 revision.

Some were some pretty significant differences in the controls between the PC and 360 versions last time round. Is it the same with the sequel?

We learned a lot from building the PC version before, and having built it six months later there was a big difference. So we actually took what we learned from PC and put it back into 360. Fundamentally, we want you to have the same gameplay experience, but just with the difference in controls. This time round, doing it at the same time for a sim-ship, we can control the differences much more smoothly because it’s the same team building it now.

Finally.  Know which version I'm buying.

Yes, and now I need to buy/replay ME on PC.  I think I may die from the irony of it all.

[Velorath]

Some new Mass Effect 1 DLC just got released today.  Not sure if it's out for the PC version yet.

[Trippy]

It is.

[LK]

Is this the main ME2 thread? The game is in Alpha, will be playable at PAX, and allows individual import of characters.

[Samprimary]

Well, looks like the normandy eats some hot death there.

[LK]

Supposedly the fixed the shit that was broken from the first game.

[schild]

Supposedly the fixed the shit that was broken from the first game.

That's what everyone says about every game.

Of course, then we end up with the folks behind Assassin's Creed fixing "too much walking" by adding swimming and flying. Etc.

[Big Gulp]

Bioware has lost it's fucking mind.

Not content to destroy any desire I had to play Dragon Age, now they've got to spread the contagion over to ME2 with a tattooed "badass" chick.  It's like she was tailor made to fulfill every 14 year old dork's fantasies.

[Tebonas]

I hope you can ignore her and stick her on toilet scrubbing duty on the Normandy. You gotta give some bones to the teens, as long as it doesn't bleed all over the game, whats the harm?

[Big Gulp]

I hope you can ignore her and stick her on toilet scrubbing duty on the Normandy. You gotta give some bones to the teens, as long as it doesn't bleed all over the game, whats the harm?

I just get this feeling that they've decided to go for the tween market and abandoned us old fuckers.  When every game video you release is some idiotic mix of sex and violence with a really cheesy nu-metal soundtrack what else am I supposed to think?

This character is only "interesting" if you've never seen a real boob.

[Tebonas]

I agree with you, I'm just a bit more cautiously optimistic. The video itself doesn't bode well, but its a marketing tool. Maybe they still know what made ME1 great, and it certainly wasn't obnoxous jerk-off material for lonely gamers that need to get laid.

[AutomaticZen]

Bioware has lost it's fucking mind.

Not content to destroy any desire I had to play Dragon Age, now they've got to spread the contagion over to ME2 with a tattooed "badass" chick.  It's like she was tailor made to fulfill every 14 year old dork's fantasies.

They said this one is darker.

Either way, Subject Zero cause my member to shrink.

I'm sure someone out that thinks it's hot though.

Unless shit changes, my Shepard's Angels squad will remain Ashley and Liara.  Soldier and Biotic can take care of anything.

[Big Gulp]

They said this one is darker being made for the lowest common denominator.

Fixed that for ya.

[Riggswolfe]

Big Gulp:

You think that character was marketed at horny boys or tweens? Were you ever a horny boy? She's bald, scarred, and dresses ugly. She's agressive and bitchy and if I'm guessing probably grew up on a world that was a gangland warzone. She is not marketed to them at all. She is marketed to the crowd that likes Tasha Yar though. (Minus the hair.)

That music wasn't nearly as bad as the Dragon Age music. You need to just get over the videos. Bioware has some new marketers and they aren't as good as the old ones. That has nothing to do with the game. Oh, and I like the sex and violence. I'm tired of games being white washed because people are afraid the kids play them.

[Big Gulp]

Big Gulp:

You think that character was marketed at horny boys or tweens? Were you ever a horny boy? She's bald, scarred, and dresses ugly. She's agressive and bitchy and if I'm guessing probably grew up on a world that was a gangland warzone. She is not marketed to them at all. She is marketed to the crowd that likes Tasha Yar though. (Minus the hair.)

That music wasn't nearly as bad as the Dragon Age music. You need to just get over the videos. Bioware has some new marketers and they aren't as good as the old ones. That has nothing to do with the game. Oh, and I like the sex and violence. I'm tired of games being white washed because people are afraid the kids play them.

Those videos are made for mouth breathing retards who think Mountain Dew=Extreme.  You know, the Ultimate Fighting douchebags of the world.  Goddamn, I hate humanity.

[Sky]

Complaining about advertising? Srsly. As long as Marilyn Manson isn't doing the actual in-game music, who gives a shit what crap they lay over a commercial?

As far as the nerd fantasy shit, you're kidding right? Blue alien lesbian scene in the original wasn't?

(AZ, I also played Shepard's Angels style :))

[LK]

I really don't want to see anything about Mass Effect 2. I know I'm going to play it. Any new character or the such is introduced will lose a great deal of its appeal and impact if I don't meet them for the first time in the game. The genuine surprise of discovering something in the medium is significantly impacted by how much advertising they do about it.

Do yourself a favor. Just don't fucking read or see any media about Mass Effect 2. Play the game when it comes out. You already know you're going to get your money's worth; the question is how significant the experience is going to be to you if you already know the back story of most of the characters and aren't surprised to see them when they appear.

[NiX]

Those videos are made for mouth breathing retards who think Mountain Dew=Extreme.  You know, the Ultimate Fighting douchebags of the world.  Goddamn, I hate humanity.

You've become way too bitter/jaded. It's a Character Reveal that focuses solely on the character and much like ME1, if you don't want to see much of a character, you don't have to. Quit being so bitchy.

[AutomaticZen]

(AZ, I also played Shepard's Angels style :))

Only way to play.  I toyed with Wrex replacing Ashley for a hot second, and had to use Kaiden in the beginning, but that whiny bitch was the sacrificial lamb the first chance I got.

I really don't want to see anything about Mass Effect 2. I know I'm going to play it. Any new character or the such is introduced will lose a great deal of its appeal and impact if I don't meet them for the first time in the game. The genuine surprise of discovering something in the medium is significantly impacted by how much advertising they do about it.

Do yourself a favor. Just don't fucking read or see any media about Mass Effect 2. Play the game when it comes out. You already know you're going to get your money's worth; the question is how significant the experience is going to be to you if you already know the back story of most of the characters and aren't surprised to see them when they appear.

I actually skipped their first character reveal.  This one just happened to pop up in my RSS feed.

[Bunk]

An amusing dev post pulled from the Bioware forums:

Patrick Weekes
Writer


Joined: 13 Apr 2005 Posted: Sunday, 04 October 2009 05:17PM
Hey, guys,

It looks like it's been cut for time, but we were hoping to show our commitment to public service by running some safety messages with our own Mass Effect 2 squad members in classic G.I. Joe fashion.

(Two teenagers walk into an airlock.)

Sally: Hey, Billy, let's make out in here!

Billy: Well, okay, Sally, I guess...

(They start making out and accidentally jostle the overrides, triggering a countdown to being sucked out into space.)

Sally: Oh no!

Billy: I don't want to die before reaching second ba-- wait, look, it's Subject Zero!

(Subject Zero overrides the airlock door and walks in.)

SZ: What the f$!#? Who the f$!#ing f$!# thought that this was a smart f$!#ing idea, you f$!#ing s$!#heads?

(Biotically crushes both of them, then turns to the camera.)

SZ: Remember kids, you make out in a truckstop bathroom, on the floor of a merc base, or pressed up against an overheating munitions processing plant console... not in an airlock.

Sally: (weakly) Now we know!

Billy: (reaching up from below Subject Zero) S-s-econd.... ba...

SZ: And knowing is--

(Airlock timer goes off and outer door opens.)

SZ: F$!#.

(Cut to Mass Effect logo.)

Chorus: Mass Effffeeeeeeeeect!
_________________
Evil? I prefer "differently ethical".

[schild]

Should've saved it for possible post-launch marketing. Or downloader bloopers attached to inevitable DLC. Though, they're probably busy making Day 1 DLC atm since it's too late to include it in the box

[LK]

 

[Megrim]

I don't get it.

[schild]

You should read the Dragon Age thread then.

[Megrim]

Too much effort to read a thread about a bad game.

[schild]

Oh, you've played Dragon Age? How was it?

Or are you being contrarian for no reason?

[Megrim]

Oh settle down precious. I was merely being psychic.

[schild]

I wasn't aware I was riled up.

[NiX]

I wasn't aware I was riled up.

Your sideburns curl when you get angry.

[Riggswolfe]

The release date and preorder bonuses have now been announced. January 26th is the official U.S. release date with the 29th (?) I think as the EU date.

In North America, pre-order bonuses* include special-ops armor and weaponry that are designed to boost Commander Shepard’s skills and abilities. At GameStop, Terminus Gear is available with pre-orders, which includes the powerful Terminus Assault Armor and the Blackstorm Heavy Weapon:
• The Terminus Armor is designed for use in extreme planetary conditions, increasing run speed and personal shields, and augmenting weapons with an additional magazine of reserve ammo.
• The M-90 Blackstorm Heavy Weapon generates a high-powered localized gravity well, accelerating particles to near-infinite mass, and ultimately expanding the selection of heavy weapons available to players when they gear up for combat missions in Mass Effect 2.

Inferno Armor
Players that pre-order Mass Effect 2 at other retail outlets in North America will receive the potent Inferno Armor, which is used by officers to monitor battlefield conditions by recognizing elevated heart rates, and regulates sub-systems with extreme efficiency to allow for greater response times – together these abilities translate in-game into a negotiation bonus for Commander Shepard and an increase in run speed and augmented damage from combat powers.

Edit: I put the images in spoilers because they were huge!

[Montague]

Inferno Armor
Players that pre-order Mass Effect 2 at other retail outlets in North America will receive the potent Inferno Armor, which is used by officers to monitor battlefield conditions by recognizing elevated heart rates, and regulates sub-systems with extreme efficiency to allow for greater response times – together these abilities translate in-game into a negotiation bonus for Commander Shepard and an increase in run speed and augmented damage from combat powers.

They made Shepard a Sith Trooper?

[AutomaticZen]

Like the Terminus Armor, prefer the bonuses the Inferno gives, and will probably buy it on Steam anyways.

[Velorath]

The release date and preorder bonuses have now been announced. January 26th is the official U.S. release date

Bit earlier than I was expecting.  I think MAG also comes out on that day.

[tmp]

• The Terminus Armor is designed for use in extreme planetary conditions, increasing run speed and personal shields, and augmenting weapons with an additional magazine of reserve ammo.

Wait, what?

[schild]

I don't know what that mechanic means and if we take it literally it means you only get X reserve ammo for every weapon.

Which is patently stupid.