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Mass Effect 2 In The Works

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Mass Effect 2 In The Works

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It's not exactly an Earth-shattering surprise, but the itinerary for the 2009 Game Developers Conference has confirmed that Mass Effect 2, the follow-up to BioWare's hit RPG for the Xbox 360 and PC, is in the works.

According to the GDC site, one of the sessions featured at the upcoming event will be "The Iterative Level Design Process of BioWare's Mass Effect 2." Iterative level design processes may not be the most scintillating topic of conversation for the average gamer, but Mass Effect 2, which hasn't even been announced by BioWare or Electronic Arts, sure is.

"This session examines the BioWare Mass Effect team's new level-creation process, which is focused on maximizing iteration for quality while minimizing rework and cost," the site says. "This approach to building levels strives to integrate the Design, Art, and Production teams such that the highest-risk level-creation issues are addressed early in the development cycle. Lessons learned from Mass Effect lead to a detailed description of the new level-creation process, and graphical examples of a level illustrate its progression through the necessary phases. The discussion also examines how BioWare is currently implementing this process using elements of Scrum and Lean Development."

What does all that mean? Mass Effect 2 is coming! Stay tuned for details.

via: videogamer.com

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Pulitzer Laureate
Posts: 800
Joined: 25 Nov 2008

I'm really looking forward to this game. I really loved the first one.

On the Record
Posts: 5978
Joined: 7 Feb 2008

Already knew it was on the way, a friend of a friend is an Animator for Bioware and he let it slip a few months ago to my buddy. It's not like there was any doubt it was coming out though.

Gone Gonzo
Posts: 3086
Joined: 13 Jul 2008

My feelings can be summed up in a single word:

Yay!

Gone Gonzo
Posts: 2768
Joined: 18 Sep 2007

I never doubted there'd be another (sales for the first one were just too good) but it's definitely nice to see confirmation that it's under way. Yay!

-- Steve

Wordsmith Extraordinaire
Posts: 10319
Joined: 28 Nov 2007

Sweet. I want it to come out soon, but I hope they don't rush it.

Infamous Scribbler
Posts: 607
Joined: 17 Oct 2007

Hurray, hope they shortened the elevator rides though.

Pulitzer Laureate
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Joined: 27 Aug 2008

Me wantie right now.

Pulitzer Laureate
Posts: 800
Joined: 25 Nov 2008

DamienHell:
Hurray, hope they shortened the elevator rides though.

Man I hated those damn elevator rides. Especially when I first started the game and didn't quite know my way around yet. I kept getting in those elevators trying to find my way around.

Gone Gonzo
Posts: 2371
Joined: 1 Aug 2008

What happened to all the DLC we where supposed to get, if i remember correctly this was supposed to be a big part of ME

Gone Gonzo
Posts: 2275
Joined: 13 Sep 2007

I was just playing Mass effect like half an hour ago. This is good news.

Gone Gonzo
Posts: 3437
Joined: 28 Jun 2008

thebobmaster:
Sweet. I want it to come out soon, but I hope they don't rush it.

Agreed, I hope it's released with as a few bugs as possible. The last name was great.

Hey, bioware!

The inventory system in the last game needed to be reworked. I know it needed to be console-ified, but can the PC version pleeease be more mouse friendly and have the interface optimised?

Muckraker
Posts: 295
Joined: 26 Aug 2008

That sounds like a lot of words for saying "Every bunker you find on every planet won't look exactly the same except with two dozen boxes arranged somewhat differently"...

ME was a fun game, but all the side quest levels sucked...

EDIT: Sorry, I ment "THE side quest level sucked..."

Beat Writer
Posts: 213
Joined: 14 Aug 2008

As long as they don't give us those HORRIFIC side quests and the TERRIBLE Mako again, I'm happy.

Gone Gonzo
Posts: 1768
Joined: 22 Oct 2008

Kick ass. Mass effect was the first game in a while that had a really good ending. Hopefully Bioware will continue the tradition.

Copy Clerk
Posts: 52
Joined: 18 Jan 2008

Well we all know its planned as a trilogy. And it was announced ages ago they had already started work on it. Due out later this year apparently. Loads of other sites have already spoken to the devs though and got some info about it.

Can't wait myself. So many good games coming out this year though.

Gone Gonzo
Posts: 1434
Joined: 7 Jan 2008

*Begins happy dance, after having cursed the gods for no announcement last year and not bothering to check the BioWare website.

I liked the MAKO, just because it had a steep difficulty curve doesn't mean it was a bad control scheme. Of course, the similarities to the Scorpion tank in Halo helped.

Not being someone playing RPGs for twitch factor stimulation, I didn't mind elevator rides for the most part. They meant a good way of introducing sidequests (the news radio) and developing your party members. (See for example the "Who would win in a fight" conversation.) Really, the majority of elevator riding was optional.

What I'd like to see in the inventory management is wider detail area and multiple columns, with better grouping for items and more sorting options. I expect them to reuse the pre-fab planetside structures to a degree, because they make sense, but I'd like to see more variety; I hate to say it but the traditional way of doing that by section and texture like Oblivion's Ayleid ruins does offer some improvement.

Infamous Scribbler
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anti_strunt:
ME was a fun game, but all the side quest levels sucked...

EDIT: Sorry, I ment "THE side quest level sucked..."

So true.

BANNED
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Can't wait for this.

User was banned for: Why do Many Girls take Pictures of Themselves?. (Permanent)
Gone Gonzo
Posts: 1932
Joined: 9 Sep 2008

So it'll look and feel the same, but the actual story and content will be improved out of sight?

I wish more developers would do this. We've hit a point where we don't need to create a new engine every time a game comes out. They're all pretty enough. Now make them worth playing.

Infamous Scribbler
Posts: 606
Joined: 2 Nov 2008

I hope they improve the vehicular combat.

Beat Writer
Posts: 190
Joined: 6 Sep 2008

I really liked the first one but my main question, as I am sure every man on this forum is dying to know...

Will there be more stemy blue alien lesbian sex?

I do, of course, jest. And I liked the MAKO, and inanely exploring the many many many planets. Thats just me, the sort of guy who walks places in Fallot 3 to gaze over the broken wasteland. Also, have you ever heard 'I don't want to set the world on fire' by The Ink Spots after playing Fallout. It sounds so, so haunting, especially with the old recording sytem causing reverb.

Anyway, discounting that last tangent, I really liked Mass Effect, and the MAKO is easier to drive than the Centaur in Gears 2. And all the buildings looking the same made sense- they were pre-fab. However, I think I would have liked more world on the Citadel and some of the larger planets. In fact, some more civilised planets would be nice, like the Asari or Krogan homeworlds, or even Earth. Nice to see it in Mass Effects high sci-fi style. Hmm, I wonder how they'll play it off from the ending. Will you be Shepard again? It should be interesting, though I hope they don't cock it up.

BANNED
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I hope they will think of some fun weapons and armor instead of the same damn pistols rifles and suits with only better stats.
Also I want to see the bare ass for at least 3 seconds longer :D

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Gone Gonzo
Posts: 1932
Joined: 9 Sep 2008

Kukul:
Also I want to see the bare ass for at least 3 seconds longer :D

Oh yeah, there's plans for that. But it'll be Shepherd's.

Copy Clerk
Posts: 110
Joined: 3 Dec 2008

They announced a while ago that Mass Effect is intended to be a Trilogy. EA, being the money hungry douchebags they are, want to milk the series beyond that, but Bioware's creative freedom is in the contract; EA can't rush them or anything, so hopefully it'll work out.

Also, I heard they're trying to get a film together.

Can't wait to port my guy into Mass Effect 2!

Gone Gonzo
Posts: 4177
Joined: 23 Apr 2008

Hmm...I thought this had already been confirmed? Wikipedia has had a page up for awhile now...?

Either way, I'm looking forward to Mass Effect 2!

Gone Gonzo
Posts: 1850
Joined: 31 Oct 2007

PedroSteckecilo:
Already knew it was on the way, a friend of a friend is an Animator for Bioware and he let it slip a few months ago to my buddy. It's not like there was any doubt it was coming out though.

It was also officially announced on March 17th of last year that a sequel was in the works.

http://www.videogamer.com/news/14-03-2008-7778.html

In fact, the third one has also been announced.

Gone Gonzo
Posts: 1850
Joined: 31 Oct 2007

Aardvark:

Kukul:
Also I want to see the bare ass for at least 3 seconds longer :D

Oh yeah, there's plans for that. But it'll be Shepherd's.

Forget that you could make a female Shepherd?

Pulitzer Laureate
Posts: 792
Joined: 20 Sep 2007

...does that mean the "levels" won't suck as much in ME2? :/

Gone Gonzo
Posts: 1166
Joined: 23 Jul 2008

I hated those load screens. Now don't get me wrong they probably were needed from a technical standpoint but at least make them more interesting than a relay spinning or the Normandy speeding off.

Just switch it up a bit, maybe make them more user-friendly(interactive).

And how about allowing more races into your party?

Gone Gonzo
Posts: 3664
Joined: 21 Jan 2008

Please, please Bioware, work on the side-quests and MAKO! ... and that's about it, really. I just hope they bring the same level of story and narrative from the last one.

Beat Writer
Posts: 135
Joined: 30 Oct 2008

As has already been noted, I hope this means areas outside the critical path will feature more variety than the previous mine/bunker/ship menu. If we have to keep seeing Kowloon-class freighters of modular design, can we at least get some modularity?

Beat Writer
Posts: 192
Joined: 24 Jul 2008

Actually, I could do with some help on this one. Should I buy Mass Effect 1? I like shooters, particularly Half Life and Gears of War, and I like Oblivion. Does anyone think I should get Mass Effect?

Infamous Scribbler
Posts: 588
Joined: 16 Jan 2008

I'm just hoping for an OPTION to have a gay relationship, but that ain't gonna happen. Wanna know why? If we're sticking with Shepherd, then his sexuality was confirmed in the first game. If it wasn't he could have found but one bum-loving alien or HUMAN on one of the many pointless sidequests he embarked on.

And can I just say that a quote springs to mind, "A hero is only immortalized by the grandure of his death", at the end of ME the death was almost TOO perfect, Shepherd deserved to die like a hero. I mean, crushed by a giant evil space-ship from the Underworld of the Universe after fighting a semi-synthetic sociopath Alien? When I saw Wrex look mounrfully down and start to grieve, I though, "What a SPECTACULAR ENDING!" then when I went to turn the Xbox off I saw that wait, why's that bit of spaceship moving? Who's that sillhouette? IS IT SAREN!? *Hopeful* Oh no, wait, it's Shepherd, is he fatally wounded, at least? Nope, he made some shitty decision about politics, then stood in front of a planet looking ominous.

I don't like to use this word much, because I'm not a pre-pubescent American girl, but that ending is what's known as "LAME-OH"!

/endrant

BANNED
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I guess I'll have to replay the first ME to get a character I actually like that I can port into the new one.

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