it reall does check out these new vids.

Salarian scientist - http://www.gametrailers.com/video/exclusive-scient...

Illusive man - http://www.gametrailers.com/video/exclusive-illusi...

vanguard class -http://www.gametrailers.com/video/exclusive-vangua...

Tali confirmed. Spoiler in the vid, but nothing major.

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/rpg/masseffect2wor...

Just Amazing!!

Check out this Dev commentated Adept video, i'm going Adept all the way man this game is shaping up to be the best thing ever!!

http://xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/14235013/mass-e...

Just Amazing!!

Check out this Dev commentated Adept video, i'm going Adept all the way man this game is shaping up to be the best thing ever!!

http://xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/14235013/mass-e...

I agree!!

Also i was on the fence about Vanguard or Adept after watching the previous Vanguard video, but after this new Adept video i will be sticking with Adept all the way, i will use Vanguard on my second play-through.

Q) From what this journalist saw at E3, Mass Effect 2, compared to the first, seems to be more skewed toward being a shooter and less of an RPG. Was this a natural evolution of the mechanics, or did your audience wish for more familiar gunplay, or was this directed by something else?

A) There's an assumption or a concern that if we make one part of the game better, or if there's more of a focus on one part of a game, there's less focus on another part of the game. I think people will find that all the different aspects of the game have had the same kind of attention. We consider the different pillars of Mass Effect to be things like, not just combat, but non-linear story progression, developing your character, and exploration. So being able to not only explore the populated places like the Citadel, but also the larger galaxy. All of those things actually have had numerous improvements that lead to a small revolution in each of those...

The thing we've been showing a lot is combat because that's something that, if we're at a trade show, you can line up kiosks and people can jump in and experience the improved combat gameplay. I think it's also the thing that people really wanted to see improved in Mass Effect, and maybe wouldn't have been able to believe that it had improved this much had we not shown it and brought it out and put it in people's hands. That's why we've been talking about it a lot. Even though it is a much better shooter in terms of the overall gameplay, that's just that color...the other ones have had the same level of improvement and treatment.


Q) In terms of a character's statistic development, are characters going to be locked into combat, biotic, and tech? For example, will we be able to take the game's equivalent of Ashley and make him or her good at tech, or take Mass Effect 2's Liara character and make him or her good at combat?

A) The classes are the same, so we still have Combat, Biotic and Tech as the basic disciplines, and then we have the three other classes that combine those in different ways. You'll also have characters that you meet that are from potentially any of those six classes. There is some cross over in the sense that, if you import a Mass Effect 1 character, you'll be able to re-choose certain aspects of your character creation. If you're a Vanguard, for example, you can continue as a Vanguard, or you can import your character and change your class and play through the beginning of Mass Effect 2 and see how you like that, and try out other ones. Also, as you progress, there are opportunities to become proficient at weapons [or powers] that your class wouldn't otherwise be able to use. Similarly, with your squad members, each of your squad members comes with special powers that really are unique to that character, so it's another way to get a little bit of a cross over beyond the three main categories and combinations.


Q) You've already said that you'll be able to play as your old character from Mass Effect in Mass Effect 2. However, the first game allows for multiple play thru's for one character, meaning you could have two different play thru’s of the same character with polar-opposite decisions made. Does Mass Effect 2 allow you to pick which play through you want as a reference point, or does it just default to the most recent playthru data?

A) Every time you finish Mass Effect 1...it makes a special save game that is the end-state for that play-thru. Then, when you have Mass Effect 2 and you run the import utility, it will look at all of your ending save games from Mass Effect 1. Then, it lists them out and it lists some of the relevant data, so you can remember which one was which, [like] when you made the save game and some of the key decisions, and when you import that save game, it gives you a full rundown of what happened in that, so that you can do a final double check (i.e.), paragon play-thru, Ashley survived, and Wrex died, and all these things. Then you can make that final confirmation that is the save game that you remember and that you want to continue from...and into Mass Effect 2.

Also, you can import that game and play Mass Effect 2, but you could also import that same game and then play Mass Effect 2 a different way. So, you could have multiple plays thru's of Mass Effect 2 coming off of one import from an end-game of Mass Effect 1...


Q) We can guess the number of Mass Effect's high points, a cohesive science fiction landscape, dialogue selection, and flat out intense characters will return streamlined and amplified, but what is the sequel going to bring to the Mass Effect universe? What are people going to remember long after they set the game down?

A) I'm really excited for people to experience the story. I think it's interesting, as we kind of reveal where we're going with the story and we start talking about it, how we really haven't revealed much; it's really just the tip of the iceberg. For a while there, people were worried we had spoiled it too much, and we hadn't even announced who the main enemies were. It goes to show you how we've shown a lot, but we've really held back. There's so much there that you won't know until you play the game, and it is really...a continuation of the same story, and you'll definitely feel that. And it is in the same universe...but we take you to so many new places, and they're so many new characters and new ideas. It's just packed with revelations and story twists, and then the story expands in really interesting ways. I think the story and specific experiences with characters are going to be the things that really impact people...even much more so than Mass Effect 1, on an emotional level, and the things you get to do as part of the story.

...what's different about Mass Effect 2 is that, because the gameplay itself is so strong and fun on its own, and the story is much more repayable, I think people are going to want to play this over and over again to see all the different things you can do and just to experience the combat, the exploration, and the gameplay again.


Q) Regarding exploration, what sort of improvements have been made to the planets? Will there be more variation in the terrain and the layout this time?

A) [Regarding the vehicle] we’re doing some cool things with the vehicle, [but] we're not ready to announce them just yet. In another month or so we'll probably be talking about the vehicle...

In terms of the overall exploration, one of the things that we had feedback on, people really loved the idea of a larger galaxy and being able to go out and explore stuff. What they really wanted us to improve was the variety and the different things that you got to do when you were out on these missions. So we did two things. First of all, we improved the galaxy map experience. {it's] very much the same kind of galaxy map, but this time there are a few differences. You're actually...moving the position of the Normandy versus a target crosshair. And, when you arrive at a planet, you have an actual minigame for scanning the planet. It's really cool, you actually see the planet spinning below you, you turn it around, and you can scan for resources and the controller will rumble, and hear different sounds. You can kind of close in on resources. This part basically replaces the less interesting aspects of resource gathering from Mass Effect 1 and places it into a minigame...it's a lot more interactive. This is how you pull up a lot of the resources that then tie into the economy of the game for getting upgrades and stuff like that.

The other thing that happens is, when you're scanning planets, in addition to finding resources than you can pull out of using space probes, you can also find signals and radio anomalies...that you can close in on and, through the minigames, actually find the location on the planet where something is going on.

We call these N7 Missions...you can send a probe down to come back and do basic stuff like getting resources, but sometimes you find something that only Commander Shepard can do in person, and that's an N7 Mission. For those, you find these locations on a planet and then you drop down onto the surface. Those missions are kind of designed to be the opposite approach to the missions from Mass Effect 1, where you're in the uncharted worlds...the only reason why they exist is because each one of them offers something unique and different than you've done before. Every level, either the gameplay or the story, or something about it is really unique and special. Each one that you do is different. [You'll] want to go back out and find the next one and the next one, because you know that each one is going to offer you something wonderful, just like you'd expect out in space...it fits the game a lot better and it's a lot more interesting...all of the rewards that you find out there tie back into the main story; either they're a part of the key storyline, or the resources that you find out there tie back into the goal of equipping your team, building up your ship, and getting ready for a suicide mission.



Q) Are there any changes or improvements lined up for the inventory system as well as the character upgrade system?

A) We've made a bunch of improvements there, all in the spirit of preserving the original depth that we had, but just making it more intuitive in what you're actually doing. The main thing, in the first game, the inventory system was all in one screen, so you were trying to equip your team with weapons and armor and whatever other gear you [had]. You're also trying to then mod each of those types of equipment, and then you're also kind of going through lists of inventory and trying to juggle your inventory. All of that was in one screen, so, even though it had a lot of depth, I think a lot of people weren't able to access that full potential of what it was offering. What we've done is taken all of the functionality that was there, and we've moved it into separate activities. For example, we've got an armor locker, and in your armor locker, you can actually create a modular N7 armor out of pieces, so you go and buy these pieces in the store...there are a variety of ways that you can get them, and then you bring them back and, in your armor locker, you actually build them piece by piece and each piece kind of does a different behavior in terms of gameplay or combat. Whether it's enhancing your shields, armor, health, and accuracy, all of that kind of stuff. You can adjust every aspect of it, like how shiny the material is to all the different colors, you helmets, visors, all that stuff way deeper than we had before. Because it's in its own location, you actually have much greater control over what's going on.

Similarly for upgrades and modding your weapons and armor, that's done through research terminals. The research terminal, because it’s actually about going out and getting research projects, come back and either spending money or different kinds of resources on it, it becomes a whole activity chain, but it also means that potentially anything can be upgraded. There's a whole variety, whether it’s different kinds of ammo mod or modifications to weapons for accuracy or things that you can do to improve your armor, or even the ship itself has research projects that you can enhance the ship so, when you see it performing in certain key moments in the story, different things will happen as an outcome. It's a very open ended system.

Likewise, the character progression system is very similar. We've added some new powers. You spend points in a very similar way to develop your character, you still have levels, you still have the paragon and renegade system. But there's been some more subtle changes in there than in the other systems...the changes we've made there are to draw out more impact on your gameplay. Most of these things that you have as powers or skills that you're developing are active powers that you fire, either during combat or as part of interrupts in conversations, persuasion, things like that.


Q) Are there any densely populated locations besides the Citadel, or is every place you visit a neatly established colony or an outpost?

A) We have a whole bunch of different kind of locations. I think Mass Effect is still very much about this idealistic, futuristic universe where everything is beautiful and sleek and clean, except for this underbelly that exists. It's a part of the universe; symbolic of that is this larger threat of the Reapers, and the fact that a really idealist civilization would not easily accept the idea of such a threat. That's kind of the role of humanity and Commander Shepard, to be tough enough and pragmatic enough to be able to see these things and dig into them, and in Mass Effect 2 you end up digging into that darker underbelly of the Mass Effect universe.

Two examples of different populated locations would be the Citadel, which you all have seen before, but you get to new locations there. It's kind of idealist and beautiful and populated.Then there's the other side, which is Omega. It's also densely populated with huge space stations, but it is the opposite. It is completely lawless, it's run by gangs and there's a lot of crime. What you find there is just all of that other darker side of the galaxy.

And you also have other places like Illium, which is an Asari home world. It's just a beautiful location, very sleek and clean like the Citadel, but it's got its own style. Lots of Asari characters, it's a very worldly place, [it has] a stock market, space ports, and that kind of really cool stuff to be able to visit. There's a bunch of different populated locations. Even places like Tuchanka, which is the Krogan home world you get to visit.



Q) Have enhancements been made to some of the minor, more technical aspects of the game, including long-ish elevator load times?

A) That's part of the feedback that we accumulated together. We just set out to make sure we hit every one of these points. One is the elevator, or the way we transition from once place to the other. In Mass Effect 1 I think we missed an opportunity in telling and showing people what's actually happening when you're in one of these elevators. You're actually in this kind of tube that goes throughout a huge location like the Citadel and, even though it seems like you're going up three or four floors and though it seems like it takes a long time. What's actually happening there is you're going from, essentially the equivalent of, you're going from one end of Manhattan to the other. In Mass Effect 2, we have a different system for transitioning from one location to another, and it actually shows you a schematic of where you are, where you're going, and how you're getting there. Quite often these are spectacular. The Citadel [for example], you actually see now, for the first time, where you are, and what an amazing location it is in 3D, and how you move from one place to the other. The other side effect is, by doing this way, the actual load time ends up being much faster...it makes a seamless continuity to the narrative because you can see yourself moving from one place to the other, but, at the same time, it's faster. On the Normandy it's even better...you get schematics of the Normandy in each deck as you pass through it, but it's so much faster.

A slow transition time seems like a minor thing, but it's actually beyond that because that actually became a barrier for people to develop relationships with the characters who are too many floors away. Now, because it’s very fast and interesting to watch, it’s fun to move all around the Normandy and go between decks and go up and down from your quarters at the top to engineering at the bottom...there are a lot of activities there...

Texture loading and texture resolution, memory, frame rate, all of that stuff is much improved.

Just Amazing!!

Check out this Dev commentated Adept video, i'm going Adept all the way man this game is shaping up to be the best thing ever!!

http://xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/14235013/mass-e...

Holy shit, that bit where you see the 7 2XR on that platform is amazing! I hope there are more levels like that...fucking epic!

I have no idea what you are talking about :D, and that's a good thing, this game will blow me away.

I meant that bit in the vid where there's "7 2XR" written on the side of the platform/building/whatever-it-is. That level looks epic!

Hold on, hold on a second! The guy posts the most awesome ME2 vid ever, and you don't even have the courtesy to go and watch it?! You just stare at that link like, like it's nothing and move on just like that!? You're such a phony, what the hell are we gonna talk about now?!

"Ew, I don't want to spoil the game for myself...ew, I'm on a ME2 media-backout"...

Tsss...

j/k ;)