YET!

I'm in the same boat as you. So, with luck I'll be getting it the same time as the Steam fellas.

This was from the first game as well.

From all the early previews, it was very obvious that the game would be more action oriented than the first... Which is good because it was a bit here and there. I welcome this change as Mass Effect's combat-esque RPG elements weren't anything to shout home about

Actually that just sounds like you can't hide the helmet while using the Collector armour, not the others.

At release the game had stutters here and there. Only after patching was that fixed.

Well the ME games are running on Unreal while DA runs on an evolved version of the one that ran Neverwinter Nights 2 (Aurora?).

Suffice to say, FPS engines usually trump RPG engines in the prettiness department, but more often than not lack in the scaled back view department.

They STILL have that pixelated shadow problem? The one which was finally fixed (Somewhat) in the 1.02 patch for ME1? That came out more than a year after release?

WTH

Also, due to a really REALLY horribly chain of events, I can only get ME2 on Monday. :sadface:

I FINALLY got to play this yesterday (I should just be called the "late gamer") and so far it hasn't disappointed.

In a nutshell here is the sequence of events that took place upon unwrapping the box as I got home yesterday:
1) "ooohs" and "aaahs" at the packaging. Very nicely done and well worth the extra cash
2) Pop in disc and begin installation
3) Register game at BSN. So far so good.
4) Redeem Cerberus Code. Says I have the Collector's Armour... Uh-oh
5) Prompt for disc 2... That was quick.
6) Redeem actual Collector's Armour code. Says I have Collector's Armour. Uh...
7) Desperately attempt to find list of redemptions.
8) Game finishes installing
9) Found list of redemptions. Yay!
10) Attempt to download all DLCs before starting.
11) See Zaeed's download side. WTF
12) Launch game
13) Cue sporadic "oohs" and "aaahs" here and there.

8 hours later, I must say its a lot... different than Mass Effect. Not in a "Hey, let's streamline everything for masses" (AKA dumbing down) but in a more focused way that actually makes more sense than before.

I'm enjoying it so far and the only niggling thing I have is that Miranda looks freaky since her eyes can't seem to focus properly and she perpetually has that "doll eyed" stare. Brrrr

Jack is more engaging than her.

But yes, every NPC every now and then get that "glazed" look, but Miranda seems to have it on ALL the time.

kirashin:

spoilers U HAZ THEM

Well for one thing, this is a "cover mechanic" based action game (Like Gears of War and R6 Vegas). You're not supposed to remain in the open for too long anyway, so holding aim seems perfectly valid in this case... Kinda like Time Crisis, where you had to push down on the pedal with your foot to step out to fire.

That being said, since it is a cover mechanic game, I'm a little peeved that you can't do blindfiring.

This post has been edited by H@H@: Feb 10 2010, 03:02 PM

Eh? ME2 doesn't have the mucho awesome QTE reloads of GoW. Not that it needed it since you reload pretty damned fast. Its just a regular reload system.

Instead of looking at it like it should be like Borderlands BUT IN SPACE, look at it like a typical FPS whereby you usually get pretty generic weapons early on like a pistol, token shotgun, token double shotgun, token assault rifle, token sniper rifle, etc. and then later on you start getting all the funky stuff (Which are like the heavy weapons in ME2)

This game isn't supposed to be a gun wank like MW2 or Borderlands, but it at least gives you some decent options with each weapon type which in general translates to High Fire Rate = Low Damage and conversely.

They did away with the inventory system altogether... This is pretty much inline with that.

'Tis what I do.

In other news, I only just recently finished my lvl 50+ playthrough of ME1 and thus have a total and utter hate of the ENTIRE inventory system of ME1.

This post has been edited by H@H@: Feb 10 2010, 04:36 PM

That's probably because the ppl who bitched about ME's inventory system probably wanted Bioware to fix it instead of getting rid of it outright. The ppl who hate ME2's system on the hand are probably having trouble wrapping their heads around the idea of an RPG without an inventory.

The only actual flaws in ME's inventory system was the carry limit (Which you can't actually check unless you're almost at it), the auto-pick up that doesn't actually remind you that you have stuff to claim (So, when you open your inventory, BOOM 200+ items from 1 hour back) and the medigel conversion system which was just plain tedious.

My main beef with the whole inventory system was that it was incredibly superfluous. More than 90% of the rubbish you picked up was really rubbish as they were either shit you were never ever going to use or a clone of an item that you seem to keep getting.

In most RPGs, inventories allow you to:
- carry other items that can be used in specific situations (Like the balms and salves in Dragon Age)
- let you keep items that you can only use later as you level up or save for another character
- keep extra sets of items that you can swap out in certain situations.

So, with ME1:
- No consumables in your inventory
- You can use anything you pick up (Except for the alien armours obv)
- There are almost no items which provide proper unique abilities which means, you settle with an item with the best stats that you want, and discard the rest. No reason to keep the rest. The only exception to this would be some of the armours that provide environmental protection, but that can be largely ignored since you don't really need em anyway.

Thus, the inventory in ME1 was competent but ultimately useless... Plus, if you play a 2nd playthrough with lvl 50+ character, you'll wish that whoever made it would die in a fire.

Nice find and you're right.

I am happy

I think you missed my point:
You're supposed to spend most of your time in cover instead of in the open. And thus, every you are "aiming" you expose yourself to fire. Thus, you're not supposed to spend so much time aiming and thus its quite sensible to use this style of aiming.

But its a space hamster... That automatically means it is awesome

Next you'll be telling me that space unicorns are girly. Pfft...

Thanks for the history lesson there dude. Just go take a look at the issues surrounding the pirated copy of Batman Arkham Asylum then see if your statement still holds true.

Also, just because someone posts some issues in the Bioware forum, doesn't necessarily mean ori users.