It’s my favorite time of the year, the hours before a new, highly anticipated title is launched. Ever since finishing the first Mass Effect (two years after it was released), I have been anxiously awaiting the sequel to drop. I came home to the most awesome email ever:
(My Gamefly Ninja move has worked again. I could keep Mass Effect 2 for 45 bucks right now. I am a Gamefly Ninja!)
For whatever reason, I avoided most of the pre-launch info with a righteous zeal. I’m not sure why. I’d peep the occasional screen shot or watch a video, but I ignored most coverage the various sites have had. Was that a mistake? I wanted to avoid all spoiler talk and go into the game “pure.” This is actually something I’ve thinking about (spoilers) lately and hope to talk about that more in a future post.
Due to not keeping up with the previews and coverage leading up to launch, I don’t know exactly what changes have been made to the sequel or what to expect. So here is my short Mass Effect 2 wish list:
- Let’s get this one out of the way first: no more elevators. Duh. The shorter the loading waits, the better. Early in the original game, there were dialog between the characters during the elevator rides, which made them bearable. If I have to sit in an elevator, I need more of these.
- Make the side-quests mean something. I was never really interested in doing in any of the side-quests in the original because there wasn’t any real compelling reason to do so. I started finishing them near the end, which unfortunately turned out to be too late in some cases. I hope the new side-quests will enrich the main story and flesh out the new characters.
- I loved the first person conversations from the first one. I’m not a big fan of how the main character in Dragon Age never talks. I hope Mass Effect 2 continues the great BioWare tradition of meaningful conversations.
- Finally, I hope I can bring over my saved character from my finished game but use Shepard’s original model. I tried to make a “new Shepard” but he ended up looking like an extra from Planet of the Apes. I’d really like to revert back to the original Shepard.
I did notice on today’s Penny Arcade post that Tycho mentions that there will be a way to maintain your character, even if you don’t have access to your save file, so it’s good to know I’m covered. Scratch that, reverse it.
As a service to you, fellow Mass Effect 2 fans, I posted a bunch of screen shots on Flickr to prime the pump. This game looks great. I’m hoping it is great
I have my copy preloaded on Steam and ready to go when it unlocks tomorrow. My only real issue is resisting the temptation to grab the 360 version too so that I can play through with my old Shepard.
I agree about the voices though. Listening to Jennifer Hale’s sultry tones as she roughs up people (I’m playing a renegade on the PC version now) is like buttah.
Crap. I read the first post by Tycho, but hadn’t seen the follow up. I guess Maxwell Shepard will have to stay dead until I can replay ME1 a third time.
And I’ve been steeping myself in the media for the past few days. So:
1) No more elevators (and shorter load times to0).
2) Meaningful side quests! Especially the ones related to your party members (who are more numerous).
3) ME1-style conversations, now with interrupt-able sections.
4) … I don’t know. And I’m kind of sad that I can’t custom select my character’s exploits (ie recover my lost character).
I’m counting down the minutes until I can leave work and pick up my pre-ordered copy.
Mine didn’t show up yesterday, hopefully it’s waiting for me in the mailbox as I’m typing this.
I can happily report, though, via the Giant Bomb ME2 podcast that will be able change the appearance of my Shepard. Thank the maker for that.
There is a little workaround if you have the PC version of ME2 and don’t feel like playing through the PC version of ME1 again.
Check out this site http://www.annakie.com/me/home.htm for a pile of save files.
I was tempted to use it but decided to just jump into the game with a new character. So far, there was only one change to the story that I had in my 360 playthrough (I saved the council on the 360 and in the default story, I let them die).
After playing a bit with the KB/M on the PC, I doubt I’ll bother to ever play the 360 version, at least not any time soon. It’s just too accurate! And it looks great on my rig.