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[Column] General: Mass Effect 2: Best RPG of Its Generation?

2

Comments

  • ollijoollijo Member Posts: 2

    No, just no. ME2 was just horrible even compared to ME1, if you look at RPG elements. I mean even the story in ME2 was flat out bad compared to  1. To even speculate that it would be best RPG of its generation is just wrong.

    Sure i somewhat enjoyed the game(up until the ending), it was a funny story driven shooter, with some rpg elements.

  • NitthNitth Member UncommonPosts: 3,904

    More RPG in ME1 than 2..

    Having said that, it doesnt even come close to titles in its generation.

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  • Beatnik59Beatnik59 Member UncommonPosts: 2,413

    There have been some great RPGs in the past few years, and I think it would be presumptuous for us to say that Mass Effect 2 was the best...

    ...But all of that aside, the thing that Mass Effect 2 does best is to show that RPGs can be a learning exercise in understanding one another.  The dynamics of the team and the cosmopolitan motivations on the Normandy 2 were a welcome change; this is not just the "hero of 1000 faces" story, like so many that have come before.  The hero has to be more than a "one against the world" kind of person; he or she has to be a leader and a team builder.

    And you have every kind of personality that you meet, in life, on board the Normandy 2:

    1)  The high-powered career woman (Miranda)

    2)  The self-made man (Jacob)

    3)  The savant with no social skills (Mordin)

    4)  The  manchild (Grunt)

    5)  The shy foreign girl (Tali)

    6)  "Get off my lawn" old man (Zaeed)

    7)  The blue collar guy (Garrus)

    8)  The geek girl (Kasumi)

    9)  The nihilist (Thane)

    10)  The new-age yoga addict (Samara)

    11)  Siri (EDI)

    12)  Siri's husband (Legion)

    13) The cheerleader (Kelly Chambers)

    14)  The club chick (Morinth)

    15)  The menace to society (Jack)

     

    Somewhere, somehow, you have to turn these jokers into an effective fighting force.  If you think about it, it's "The Dirty Dozen" in space.

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  • ThillianThillian Member UncommonPosts: 3,156

    Since when is this cheesy rip off of SW considered as RPG? It has less RPG elements than Tropico.

     

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  • Stuka1000Stuka1000 Member UncommonPosts: 955
    ME1 was better than 2.  3 could have been great apart from the many cut corners, removed missions and terrible ending, so it would have been better titled the EA Effect.
  • dotdotdashdotdotdash Member UncommonPosts: 488

    Mass Effect 2 and 3, as well as Dragon Age 2, are arguably Bioware's worst games to date.

    As someone else pointed out, Mass Effect 2 was very much the "jumping the shark" moment for Bioware. The abandonment of the Geth as the "main enemy" in favour of a more Prothean-centric track was a massive mistake, and totally undermined the first game going so far as to make it near-pointless (ergo, you can start at ME2 and not really need to go back to ME1 to learn anything about the story). The revelation that "The Collectors" were in fact genetically modified Protheans was a nonsense plot twist, and it was at that point that my mind totally switched off. It switched back on again for the Giant Robot Baby fight, but only to note how desperate a final act it really was.

    The combat in ME2 was pretty good. Not great. Not quite the middle ground between KotoR and Halo that they were going for, and certainly not, as many reviewers said, "visceral" (amongst other such rubbish words critics use when they don't have anything informative to say). THe loot system was utter tripe, the skill system was utter tripe, the constant and endless dialogue without choice or interaction was utter tripe. It was as if Bioware just stripped all of the mechanics and game features that they'd spent the best part of a decade perfecting, that they had attained critical acclaim for. How anyone could consider Mass Effect 2 "the best RPG of the decade" is beyond me....

    Skyrim, Fallout: New Vegas, The Witcher 2, Divinity: Second Sin, these are good candidates. Sadly it's been a very weak generation for the RPG genre, as we've been swamped with generic shooter after generic shooter. And developers have picked up on this: Bioware has moved to reinvigorate the Dragon Age franchise with huge additions to their normal feature set, and CD Projeckt RED is doing the same with The Witcher 3.

    The RPGs in this generation have been broadly quite poor. The next generation of RPGs may well turn out to be the best generation of RPGs we've ever seen.

  • JeroKaneJeroKane Member EpicPosts: 7,098
    Mass Effect 1 was the best imho. By far!
  • klash2defklash2def Member EpicPosts: 1,949

    Hard to say but my picks for best rpg of the last gen (360/ps3) are def between FONV, FO3, ME 2, DA and Skyrim

    EDIT: ME 1 also 

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  • JeroKaneJeroKane Member EpicPosts: 7,098
    Originally posted by klash2def
    Hard to say but my picks for best rpg of the last gen (360/ps3) are def between FONV, FO3, ME 2, DA and Skyrim

     Dragon Age Origins was also fantastic. Really good and compelling storyline. And so was Skyrim.

  • jesteralwaysjesteralways Member RarePosts: 2,560
    ME1 was the best in the series. If we look at ME1 story, none of it were cut off from main game and sold as dlc; it was solid story start to end. if we look at class building; it was killer; ME1 had lots of option as to how i build my class. if we look at weapon, lots of weapon mods, lots of options to modify the weapons to my liking and how the weapon mechanics worked was a great concept. Me2 was severely dumbed down version of ME1 and a bad one at that. ME2 was severely restrictive as to what we can do in a planet, where we can land and a lot of other stuff. ME2 was simply garbage.

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  • klash2defklash2def Member EpicPosts: 1,949
    ME2 was not garbage. different from ME1? yes.. but it wasnt horrible. Ive played worse RPGs than ME2 trust me. ME2 is a good game. TBH if they started the whole series with ME2, i doubt there would be as many haters for it. ME1 should have been 2 as far as the options to customize skills, weapons etc are concerned  but still.. long way away from "garbage." 
    "Beliefs don't change facts. Facts, if you're reasonable, should change your beliefs."


    "The Society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools."



     
    Currently: Games Audio Engineer, you didn't hear what I heard, you heard what I wanted you to hear. 


  • klash2defklash2def Member EpicPosts: 1,949
    when you look at the history of bioware its possible they may be the best to do storywriting in RPG games ever. top 3 for sure.
    "Beliefs don't change facts. Facts, if you're reasonable, should change your beliefs."


    "The Society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools."



     
    Currently: Games Audio Engineer, you didn't hear what I heard, you heard what I wanted you to hear. 


  • AnirethAnireth Member UncommonPosts: 940

    CDProjekt RED certainly did not perfect hteier formula with The Witcher 2, but thats why i'm all the more excited for TW3, as The Witcher 2 certainly certainly takes the cake. ME2 was nice, especially given that it's one of rather few sci-fi RPGs, but i'm not even sure it if's better than the other Bioware RPGs of recent. And Fallout 3 was nice. too - not in the same league as Fallout 1 & 2, and New Vegas is not even close, but Fallout 3 is in there.

    Skyrim..well, maybe an honorable mention as it's a bit different kind of game. And overall it wasn't all that good. Most quests are just "random person A tells you to go to random cave B and kill random (mostly (semi-)human) enemy C, so it didn't have that much content besides the world itself, and an empty world is boring.

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  • englaengla Member Posts: 15

    For me Gothic 2 will always be the Game of the Games, but ME2 comes right after it. And so I agree with the column, as G2 isn't a console-game, but ME2 is. I have played ME2 through 20-30 times, I never counted but it must be near 30. I love the story, I love the gameplay, and when the suicide-mission launches you really have the "OMG lets go and kick some ass"-feeling. Feeling that was lacking from ME3.

    Deus Ex: Human Revolution is third game on my top3, and me thinks that game never got as much praise as it deserved.

  • yaminsuxyaminsux Member UncommonPosts: 973
    PC gaming is so sad, that ME2 considered as THE best rpg.



  • Agent_JosephAgent_Joseph Member UncommonPosts: 1,361
    i think it is not an RPG,it is just shooter with minor rpg
  • delta9delta9 Member UncommonPosts: 358
    no it isnt the best RPG of its generation
  • deniterdeniter Member RarePosts: 1,439

    ME2 the best RPG?

    How about "ME2, the best interactive cartoon: You only have to click.."

  • BrilliantCojonesBrilliantCojones Member Posts: 8

    ME2? Naah. Even Witcher 1 was better. I'd vote in DragonAge installments more than Mass Effect.

  • AcvivmAcvivm Member UncommonPosts: 323

    ME2 is easily my favorite game of all time, best RPG of its generation? definitely not. I think Witcher 2 and Dragon Age were better RPGs but ME2 definitely delivers the best set of characters and story combination I have played to date.

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  • DavisFlightDavisFlight Member CommonPosts: 2,556

    Haha no.

     

    Witcher 2 and Dark Souls easily top out ME2

  • HokieHokie Member UncommonPosts: 1,063

    Was it me or was this whole article based on being the best RPG on a console?

     

    So MMORPG are we (you) now going to have to share articles, and review space for consoles?

     

    On a side note its sad to see someone so close related to a PC gaming that has no frame of reference to some of the best RPG's out  there (Bladers Gate, KotoR among others) because all he plays are consoles.

     

     

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  • KothosesKothoses Member UncommonPosts: 931

    Me 2 for me is Some of the best story telling in video games, but it defines a transition from old school to new style rpg's that I am not so sure I am happy with.

    The removal of inventories and gear, the removal of stat building and such it falls away as a character builder, but blows me away as a story telling game.

    Its not the Witcher, that is a different game, a great story backedup by poor gameplay mechanics.

    Its not the Witcher 2 (which is its only competitor in Storytelling).

     

    But yes, of its generation its the best damm story told and its one of a very few games which carefully layers the illusion of choice until I feel like it is my story.  Aslong as you forget the last 5 minutes of a 200 hour saga its an amazing game in its own right and a fantastic trilogy, dont let the last 5 minutes ruin your memories of ME, because it will be a long time before story telling is done this well again in a game.

  • adam_noxadam_nox Member UncommonPosts: 2,148

    Really odd pick.  Oblivion and Skyrim were better, ME1 was better, and my pick for the very best RPG of the last 10+ years would be Fallout 3 or Dragon Age 1.  It's hard to choose between them.

     

    In fact, given ME2's giant terminator end boss, annoying  female characters, and a controversial fps aiming, I would be surprised if anyone in the entire world would agree.

  • RazeeksterRazeekster Member UncommonPosts: 2,591
    Originally posted by Vesavius
    Originally posted by Razeekster
    I'm sorry but when you put Fable 2 as one of the best RPGs in your list... Opinions are opinions, but come on! The Mass Effect series is one of the best RPG game series when it comes to story, that's for sure. Whoever said Skyrim wins best RPG, just no... One of the key things a good RPG needs is a great story, and Skyrim's story flat out sucked.

     

    Why is this true? What is in the definition of role playing game that demands imposed story?

     

    I like ME2, but I enjoyed Skyrim as a RPG far more because it DIDN'T have a strong overarching story line pushing me through it. The lack of one didn't effect my immersion or playing the role of my character in the world at all.

     

    Your "key thing" is actually a pretty disposable to a lot of others. Your "just no..." is really, "well, not in my opinion".

    You aren't giving facts here, you are just pushing preference.

    I'm sorry you disagree but I disagree with your disagreement (yup). I believe that story is an important factor in RPGs, it's not as if RPGs were built upon great combat (although the combat seems to be improving with the newer RPGs.). Yes, exploration is great but I honestly couldn't get into Skyrim because when I did explore and run into new NPCs, they all seemed to have the same flat monotone voices (maybe they were trying to lull me to sleep to steal my gear?), and they mostly gave quests that were usually pretty boring. There was a few exceptions like the Thieves Guild questline, but otherwise most quests felt pretty darn drab.

     

    I can't see how someone can play a game for the exploration when what you find by exploring is boring NPCs and uninspired quests, but to each their own I suppose.

    Smile

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