My ME Rankings (Destiny)

by Robot Chickens, Monday, January 30, 2017, 20:25 (2650 days ago) @ CruelLEGACEY

I pretty much agree with all of that. At the time, I didn't mind the resource gathering in ME2... there was something kind of "zen" about it (plus I loved the music). Not sure I'd have the patience for it now, but I found it strangely soothing at the time :)

The only payoff for that mechanic in my mind was scanning Uranus. :-)

The only other thing I would say about ME2 in particular is that it is one of the best examples of a game where the story & character development mesh together with the mechanical gameplay experience to create something larger than the sum of its parts. The way you spend the entire game tracking down crew members, building relationships with them, fighting along side them, and then you push into the final suicide mission with the weight of responsibility on your shoulders. The last ~2 hours were especially powerful for me. The combat was so intense, and the stakes felt so high on a personal level. I worried about each decision I made along the way (which crew members to assign to each task), which made me fight that much harder, which made me more nervous for my crew because the combat was so stressful... It's a perfect feedback loop between gameplay and narrative that very few games come close to achieving.

Yeah, I think this is why it is my most played ME. The tension of losing these people you've developed relationships with and fought alongside really upped the ante.

While that was such a strength, I really think the plot suffered in this game. The Collector's mechanic seemed forced and the dossier of people to pick up for the suicide mission felt arbitrary. Surely there were other people who could've worked for the job? I wish that the characters had been added more organically like Legion. You find him while chasing down something integral to the main mission and it makes sense for him to join your quest. Every crew member in ME1 was added in an organic way and it just felt forced in ME2. Also, ME2 suffers from being the middle entry in a game where choices supposedly matter (I'm looking at you ME3 ending). Things like who is on the council, why allies don't trust you, etc all feel out of sync. They had to segment ME2 off from the first game's decisions a bit because it would be impossible to write ME3 if they didn't. The overarching plot was weaker as a result. On the other hand, the characters in ME2 were so well written that I didn't care that much. Mordin is one of my favorite NPCs of all time.