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Mass Effect 2: Warrior Within

Friends, I am worried about Mass Effect 2. To understand why, we need to take a trip back in time, to the tender year of 2004. 
 

 TOO MUCH UBISOFT
 TOO MUCH UBISOFT
Actually wait we need to stop at 2003 first. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time releases to critical praise and mainstream success off of it's charming storybook atmosphere and tight platforming. A year later, we find ourselves with a sequel, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. It is... different. Tragically different. The rougish charm of the Prince had been discarded for nausea-inducing baditude, the combat became brutal and almost too gory, and the background music became heavy metal- all as if to say: this game is fucking HARDCORE. Only problem: this was a complete tonal 180 from the previous game. No one liked it, and even though it did well enough to generate a sequel, Warrior Within is credited by many as the game that killed the goodwill built up by Sands of Time.
 
I am worried much the same may be happening with Mass Effect 2.
 
The first game was pretty universally loved. Despite being criminally short and possessing the blandest sidequests in the history of sidequests, the roleplaying was pretty solid and it was clear that Bioware had laid the foundations for a great trilogy. It was a good blend of action shooting and interacting with NPCs. The shooting perhaps left a bit to be desired, but aside from that the game was pretty enjoyable. From the get-go we know this is the first in a trilogy, so obviously there's room for improvement.
 
Enter Mass Effect 2. What we've seen pre-release is quite worrying and seems to indicate the same sort of tonal shift that sunk Warrior Within. The first time live gameplay was shown it was an entirely combat-oriented demo. Bioware showcased the ability to blow off enemy limbs and new, more brutal guns. First warning sign. Blowing off enemy limbs isn't even necessary in a game like Mass Effect- it's gratuitous.
 
Next, plot info starts surfacing- talk of suicide missions, recruiting scum and villains from across the galaxy. At E3, the developers show off
Talk from Bioware of this being a darker game, darker times. Warning sign two. Not that darker tones are necessarily bad- Empire Strikes Back would like a word if you think they do- but the talk, compared with what's been shown so far, again points to a WW-like shift in direction.
 
Most recently, I direct your attention to this trailer.
 
 
 Warning bells should be going off all over the place. I don't think this really needs any explanation.
 
Now, Bioware's marketing department isn't exactly renowned for their accuracy. As I'm sure we all know, Dragon Age is not exactly the new shit. However, it is worrying to see both the developers (in dev diaries and press interviews) and the marketing department (in trailers) sync up to deliver this message of a darker, more bad-ass game. It's terrifying corporate cohesion that I don't think would be happening if there wasn't some underlying truth.
 
I really want to like Mass Effect 2. I want it to deliver so hard. I'm quite worried about what we've seen so far though, as it seems to be heading down the tragic road of Warrior Within. I don't want to play an RPG with a tone like WW, nor do I want that sort of bad-ass attitude to pervade the product, but my hopes are significantly lower now than they were when we knew nothing about the game.
 
Also: Grunt <<<<<<<<< Wrex
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Bozo

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Edited By Bozo
@Shiftshaper said:
" @Bozo said:

" Baditude ? Come on. Yeah, maybe it seems a little grittier, but I don't feel that in the context of the game it will be all that bad. Subject zero.... I actually was surprised. I haven't seen many games portray a woman in this way. It seems kind of original to me. Am I missing why its so bad that she's bad? "

Are you kidding me!? There are countless examples of "bad chick" characters and movies and games, they tend to have no deep story, emotion, dreams, or anything. The extent of their chracter is "I'm a bitch and i'm hot." 

 
Oh, you see. Where I stand, I don't actually find Subject Zero 'hot'. The way she looks is kind of  off-putting for me. Thats why I am kind of intruiged.
Games and movies always glorify the traditional beauties, and forget to think up heavily tatooed skinhead bitches with an attitude problem.
Maybe I just am not exposed to the same games and movies you are, but I don't see a lot of that.
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RaikohBlade

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Edited By RaikohBlade

Wrex is a boss.

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maxszy

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Edited By maxszy

Great post, very indepth, but I totally don't agree. While I can see where your concerns are coming from, you are missing one big thing:
 
This is BioWare, NOT Ubisoft. What has BioWare NOT delivered on any time recently? Nothing. Dragon Age: Origins just came out, beforehand people worried, the marketing was done horribly, the images didn't show what the game was about. End outcome? Dragon Age is a total throwback RPG for a current generation. What they did was amazing and surprised everyone.
 
While the game IS going to be different, and there WILL be changes that they have talked about but I don't think there is anything to be THIS worried about. It is my full belief that BioWare knows what they are doing with their new beloved franchise.

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mm665

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Edited By mm665

This is BioWare for god's sake ,doctors can't make bad game !!!

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LiquidPrince

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Edited By LiquidPrince
@Lies said:

" Friends, I am worried about Mass Effect 2. To understand why, we need to take a trip back in time, to the tender year of 2004. 
 

  TOO MUCH UBISOFT
 TOO MUCH UBISOFT
Actually wait we need to stop at 2003 first. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time releases to critical praise and mainstream success off of it's charming storybook atmosphere and tight platforming. A year later, we find ourselves with a sequel, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. It is... different. Tragically different. The rougish charm of the Prince had been discarded for nausea-inducing baditude, the combat became brutal and almost too gory, and the background music became heavy metal- all as if to say: this game is fucking HARDCORE. Only problem: this was a complete tonal 180 from the previous game. No one liked it, and even though it did well enough to generate a sequel, Warrior Within is credited by many as the game that killed the goodwill built up by Sands of Time.
 
 
"
Warrior Within was my favorite iteration and made perfect sense in the context of the Sands of Time trilogy. If you have been chased non stop relentlessly for 7 years by a creature with godly strength, unable to properly eat or sleep, and had to have watched all the people you care about die, then I doubt you would be in such a cheery mood. Warrior Within was what allowed the series to really grow into an epic trilogy. By the time Two Thrones rolled around, the Prince had realized he had changed, and that physically manifested in the form of the Dark Prince. The duality and ultimately his redemption made for a wholly satisfying experience, and by the end, I felt that I had grown along with the character.
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Venom09

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Edited By Venom09

The reason most people are already saying they don't like these characters is simply because...Change. Most of us are 100% comfortable with ME1 and are afraid to enter new territory. If ME2 was exactly like ME1, I'm pretty sure everyone would flame it. Give BioWare a chance, they haven't let us down yet.

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maxszy

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Edited By maxszy
@Venom09 said:
" The reason most people are already saying they don't like these characters is simply because...Change. Most of us are 100% comfortable with ME1 and are afraid to enter new territory. If ME2 was exactly like ME1, I'm pretty sure everyone would flame it. Give BioWare a chance, they haven't let us down yet. "
Great point and I completely agree. Change is something many are very frightened of and don't want to face it. :-)
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demonbear

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Edited By demonbear

I think it fits in the context of the game. This, like Shephard said in the trailer, is a suicide mission and he needs people to get the job done. I expected the roster to get less " lets all be friends " compared to the first. 
 
It's an interesting choice for a character and i'm curious to see what they do with it. the cursing is sad though but hey, its a darker game, i'll deal with it.

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Jayzilla

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Edited By Jayzilla

While I enjoyed the dialogue in ME, I absolutely hated a lot about that game too. The weapons were completely unoriginal(thus making looting useless because every gun was inferior to the Spectre gear) like "Weapon VI, XII, X ,IX etc." The landscapes on EVERY planet were exactly the same but just skinned differently which got way boring. The buildings on every planet were EXACTLY the same as well. Driving the Mako was a pretty poor experience. Why in the future would you have a vehicle without a good turret on it or one that handled like that piece of crap. I also didn't not enjoy the fact that if you played certain classes it was pointless to use a party member that shared those traits. 
I know that it seems like I have a lot of complaints for a game I love(you can look at my gamerscore for this game). I played it 3 times all the way through. The story material was strong enough for me to grit my teeth and get through the rest of the mess in that game. I just love the formula that BioWare employs for their RPG's. They also are going to use it in SW:ToR which has me really excited that they are going to shake up the mundane MMO formula for something that is different from other stuff, but tried and true.

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Hailinel

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Edited By Hailinel
@LiquidPrince said:
" @Lies said:

" Friends, I am worried about Mass Effect 2. To understand why, we need to take a trip back in time, to the tender year of 2004. 
 

  TOO MUCH UBISOFT
 TOO MUCH UBISOFT
Actually wait we need to stop at 2003 first. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time releases to critical praise and mainstream success off of it's charming storybook atmosphere and tight platforming. A year later, we find ourselves with a sequel, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. It is... different. Tragically different. The rougish charm of the Prince had been discarded for nausea-inducing baditude, the combat became brutal and almost too gory, and the background music became heavy metal- all as if to say: this game is fucking HARDCORE. Only problem: this was a complete tonal 180 from the previous game. No one liked it, and even though it did well enough to generate a sequel, Warrior Within is credited by many as the game that killed the goodwill built up by Sands of Time.
 
 
"
Warrior Within was my favorite iteration and made perfect sense in the context of the Sands of Time trilogy. If you have been chased non stop relentlessly for 7 years by a creature with godly strength, unable to properly eat or sleep, and had to have watched all the people you care about die, then I doubt you would be in such a cheery mood. Warrior Within was what allowed the series to really grow into an epic trilogy. By the time Two Thrones rolled around, the Prince had realized he had changed, and that physically manifested in the form of the Dark Prince. The duality and ultimately his redemption made for a wholly satisfying experience, and by the end, I felt that I had grown along with the character. "
The only reason Ubisoft went the direction they did in The Two Thrones was to make up for the complete and utter shitfest that was Warrior Within's story.  They did a good job in making up for it, but that doesn't excuse the complete and utter tonal shift between Sands of Time and Warrior Within.
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LiquidPrince

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Edited By LiquidPrince
@Hailinel:  Sure it made sense... It was one of the best explained shifts I have ever seen in a game. Because of what he did in the first one, he created a time paradox, and in order for that to become corrected, he needed to die and so the Dahaka came after him. That plot point is a very reasonable point as to why the tone shifted. It would make no sense for him to be chased for seven years relentlessly only to be the same cheery guy.
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ryanwho

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Edited By ryanwho
@Asurastrike said:
" Bioware has yet to make a bad game. I will give them the benefit of the doubt. "
Jade Empire, Sonic Chronicles.
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Hailinel

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Edited By Hailinel
@LiquidPrince said:
" @Hailinel:  Sure it made sense... It was one of the best explained shifts I have ever seen in a game. Because of what he did in the first one, he created a time paradox, and in order for that to become corrected, he needed to die and so the Dahaka came after him. That plot point is a very reasonable point as to why the tone shifted. It would make no sense for him to be chased for seven years relentlessly only to be the same cheery guy. "
But Badass McMotherfucker is not who any of us wanted, and it was a terrible decision to go that route.
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ryanwho

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Edited By ryanwho

I still don't know why they needed to bring back the same dude at all. I would be all about ME2 with a new hero, and a setting affected by your previous choices. You don't exactly have a clean slate now inhabiting a dude with all this premade history.

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TheKidNixon

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Edited By TheKidNixon

Three things:
 
1) It isn't like Mass Effect 1 was a light, whimsical romp through the universe. (Mass Effect 1 spoilers follow)

There has always been a darker, more mature undertone to the Mass Effect universe, one of the reasons why I prefer it to Star Wars or Star Trek.
 
2) Subject Zero is pretty embarrassing, or at least that video is. However, she also is just one crew member from several you can select. I wasn't a fan of Kaiden in the first game. I never used Kaiden. The existence of Kaiden didn't top-to-bottom destroy my enjoyment of the game, nor did it reflect on the vast layers of complexity to the various characters.
 
3) Between Wrex and Grunt, which is voiced by Michael Dorn?
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LiquidPrince

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Edited By LiquidPrince
@Hailinel:  If that is your opinion, then I respect it, but I loved it, and thought it made the return to Two Thrones all the sweeter.
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Edited By Valkyr

I found the Reaper story behind Mass Effect 1 shocking when I realized what was going on, it was pretty dark to me despite the game didn't show anything dark at all, but to me it was an introduction to the Universe and the main plot of the trilogy so now they can go really bananas. At some point during some cutscene I was like "oh crap it can't be true", I expect Bioware to deliver more surprises

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asurastrike

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Edited By asurastrike
@ryanwho said:
" @Asurastrike said:
" Bioware has yet to make a bad game. I will give them the benefit of the doubt. "
Jade Empire, Sonic Chronicles. "
Jade Empire has an 89 on Metacritic, Sonic Chronicles has a 74. Neither are bad games.
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Ferginator4k

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Edited By Ferginator4k
@Asurastrike said:

" Bioware has yet to make a bad game. I will give them the benefit of the doubt. "

 Sonic Chronicles:The dark brotherhood.
 
 
Also i agree with your concerns but the trailers for Dragon Age were very misleading ot the nature of that game and i trust Bioware to not screw up Mass Effect 2.