Mass Effect 2 Hands On January 7, 2010

It’s been a while. Don’t worry, this will make up for it. I played the hands on full copy of Mass Effect 2 at the Microsoft booth today.

Speaking to the guys working the xbox systems, I spoke a bit about the game. They had played the game through to Omega, but the earlier areas were Cerberus, Freedom’s Hope? (on my phone now, will fix later), getting the Normany Mark 2, and Omega.

The first thing I noticed were the controls – they aren’t quite call of duty-like, but they definitely have a smooth feel that changes with the weapon. Shepherd is a soldier in today’s demo, Vanguard in tomorrow’s. Using the assault rifle felt heavier, in terms of controls, than the pistol, and the kickback was different from the shotgun. Grenades, as mentioned elsewhere are gone, but are replaced by a grenade launcher. I still felt a little slow while running out of combat, but the scenery had more activity.

Combat allows you to hop over more objects, enemies like varen regenterate quickly. You can take enemies by surprise, flank them or take high ground by using alternate paths, and the enemies themselves take far more tactics, even on the Easy mode offered, to avoid defeat. Use of cover and environment is key – there are more environment explosives, enemies using tactics and unique weapons (krogans are quite hard to kill now, and I saw flamethrowers and attempts to flank me).

There is a new method of hacking and opening devices. Rather than a pass/fail skill check, I saw two puzzles – one a timed matching game (which on easier modes has more time and is repeatable) and for hacking, a fill-in-the-blank where you try to match what phrase suits the text (pictures will follow!)

I will be back tomorrow, and see if I can get the boys to show me Normandy II. Feel free to ask any questions – I’ll answer from my experience. They didn’t seem to mind that I took over. :D

Starting a Priest July 30, 2008

Just wanted to post this really awesome parody… Starting a Priest: Levels 1-4.

That said, every priest will find a divine messenger carrying their Calling somewhere near them in the starting zone.

The messenger’s spiel goes something like this: the world is out of order, there is a source of transcendent light, could you find your place in society disseminating that light into an emanation of order and virtue? Afterwards, answer, “Yes,” “Three,” “One,” “Three,” and either “Faith” or “Works” depending on your desired faction and build. (Faith is ideal for priests who want to command moral authority and chastise the unbelievers, but Works is better for a community-organization-focused priest. You’ll have a chance to revisit this choice later at a modest cost in moral currency, so it’s not absolutely important to get it right. I recommend, for early leveling, that you pick Faith, but plenty of high-end priests disagree.)

It’s wonderful, I think you guys will like it. I’ll write an actual one later, when I’m playing again, using my Draenei shadow priest.

Hiatus (lamesauce) July 13, 2008

Have to go on a hiatus again, in case it wasn’t obvious. Car repairs > Warcraft again.

That said, once I get back I’m recruiting Horde priests for a Molten Core run. If you’re on Cenarion Circle and interested in a naked-ish Molten Core run to prove priestly superiority, leave me a message.

What it means to be a healer. June 19, 2008

I’ve had a theory for a while that it takes something special to be a healer. Anyone can be a healing class, and they can be quite good. But look at the people who become Priest and Druid class leads. Look at the folks you go “damn, he’s a really good healer?” It requires a certain mentality, where you literally tell yourself, “I’m important because I help others do their jobs better.” Sort of the difference between competent and great.