I think the game systems change between 1 and 2 didn't allow for a similar system, and thus the level 1 reset. ME2 and ME3 are closer, so it starts you out where you left off from ME2, pretty much.

Also, this might help you - http://social.bioware.com/project/8005/
>> ^VoodooV:

The only thing you get to keep across the games is your decisions. Many of which I had forgotten from when I played ME1. Sure I remembered the big stuff, but then you'd get an NPC from one of the more forgettable missions and it's just....uhh...ok.
And yes I know they gave an in game explanation for it, but still, for me it just cheapens it going from a level 60 character in ME1 back to level 1 in ME2
>> ^CrushBug:
>> ^VoodooV:
The Reapers are supposed to be this super hyper-advanced threat that has wiped out entire civilizations on multiple occasions, but simply because Shep gathers a big enough fleet that will magically take them down? Bull.
[snip]
What I really wanted was a game similar to the whole Pool of Radiance trilogy back in the day where your characters really did truly continue from game to game and not start over like they do in ME.

For the first part, I think once you play the game, it will make more sense.
For the second, I would like to hear more about what you mean. Characters import from game to game. You have the option to make certain changes like class and appearance, but everything else comes across. I am probably just missing something in what you are saying.

>> ^HugeJerk:

Just to be clear... I loved Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 (until the final boss). I also loved Dragon Age Origins, Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate 2, SW:TOR, and NWN. I didn't care much for the gameplay of Jade Empire, but I still bought the following games from your company.
So if what you take away from my comments is that I'm just some schmuck who blankly doesn't like anything your company does, you are wrong. >> ^CrushBug:
Hey, fair enough. You don't like the games and you don't like the company. Got it. Moving on...



LOL, I was implying EA, not BioWare And for the record, I don't think anyone is a schmuck. In fact, half the time I want to invite people down to the pub on the main floor and talk video games with them as most forums don't allow for enough clarity or flow of conversation. Then I forget I am on the internet and you could be on the other side of the world.

We have certainly made our mistakes over the years, as a company, and we try and learn from them and make things better. Sometimes we succeed, sometimes not. But we keep trying and moving forward. Game development hasn't gotten any easier over the years, but it certainly has gotten a lot more interesting!

Maybe you will like some of our future games, and we can suck you back in at that time.

If a living Prothean isn't "HIGHLY significant" to the story, then someone dropped the ball. The direction Bioware has been going in quality recently is a factor. Dragon Age 2 was a half-hearted sequel that had a "B-Team" quality to it. The Old Republic is just as disappointing as the movie prequels. So yes, this blatant money grab has absolutely compounded my lack of faith in ME3 being a good game.

As for Origin, EA lost my trust in providing a good service back with EA Downloader and its limited time to download. Let's not forget their several online game servers that it has shut-off.>> ^CrushBug:

>> ^HugeJerk:
However, ME3 is looking like it will be a total let down. Requiring their online service for the PC version, tacking DLC onto everything remotely associated with the series (Figurines and Art Books), as well as having day-one DLC that costs $10 and unlocks a character that should be HIGHLY significant to the storyline. If the demo for ME3 is any indication, they've dropped the ball on bothering to animate facial expressions as well.

There is a lot of misinformation around these items. Much like Steam, the Origin service can be run in offline mode, so you don't need to be online to play, except for the initial game activation, just like ME2, so not much has changed there.
The DLC thing has been confusing. Those physical goods do not include main game, singleplayer DLC. What is included is a multiplayer-only unlock. A little bit of free microcontent as a "reward" for buying and registering your ME3 physical statue and such. None of these items are for main game. The $870 comment is an overstatement and misleading.
We have had DLC available on the first day for our past 3 games. You are assuming that it is "HIGHLY significant", but you can play and complete the game with or without it, much like Kasumi from ME2. The only decision you have to make, is it worth your $10. If you don't think so, then don't purchase it. Wait for some reviews or talk to trusted friends that have it and get their opinion. Don't let the Omnidirectional Internet Rage Machine guide you .
And regardless of the above, what it comes down to is the story. If you enjoyed the story in Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2, then Mass Effect 3 is going to blow your mind. It is simply the finest story-based game we have released. If you are invested in your Mass Effect characters and companions like I am (~255 hour played in ME2 over 8 playthroughs) then everything is there for you. All those stories and conflicts across the galaxy from the past 2 games all come to a head while your are dealing with the Reaper invasion. Half-way through the game, I was an emotional wreck. So much had happened. I was so thrilled to go off and do a side quest of pure combat, just to blow off some steam.
If you are unsure about the game, try the demo or wait for the reviews. If you like the Mass Effect world and games, then this is the game you have been waiting for.
Keelah Se'lai

Seriously, ME2 was way better IMO. One has to have some seriously whacked out expectations not to agree. They are very formulaic but the only Bioware game I haven't enjoyed their film/linear formula is their excursion into MMO stardom. Its just so fucking boring.

>> ^braindonut:

I LOVED ME2, more than ME1, which I also loved. I can't wait to play this...

Look what happens if BioWare doesn't hand you EGA in time: Portland police arrest man after alleged 'Star Wars' light saber assault at Toys R Us.

Most of what I would say has already been said by @spoco2 so I'll keep this short:

Companies like EA and Ubisoft have earned a place in my "never, ever pay for their products" list because of their invasive and destructive DRM. To treat a paying customer like a thief is insulting and aggravating.

On the other hand, I have a very strict personal policy of never pirating games from Blizzard, Bethesda and BioWare as these companies have proven that their products are worth my money.

As for other games, if I like them, I buy them. Steam is, IMO, one of the greatest ideas/systems out there when it comes to encouraging the buying of games.

I have no compunctions about torrenting TV shows that I would get for free at home. With a torrent I can watch the content when I want to and don't have to worry about missing it at its regular time-slot.

Movies I treat like a rental: if I like, I will buy. But I agree that a digital download should be a minute fraction of the cost of physical media. I would happily pay a few dollars to download a movie.

With regards to the whole "experiment", I think most non-pirates would be surprised at how many of us would pay if we felt the price was reasonable and worth our dollar. Corporations these days seem to have no clue regarding value for money.

>> ^Xax:

>> ^Shepppard:
... a fully voiced MMo with a potentially (and being as it's Bioware, I'd say I'm more prone to say likey) epic storyline that varies from class to class...
Pretty sure that's innovative.

I'm pretty sure that hiring more people to speak the lines isn't innovative in the least. It's cool for sure. We'll see how the epic personal storyline part turns out. As far as the actual gameplay, I haven't seen anything impressive or new or interesting.
I'm much more interested in Guild Wars 2... if you want to see innovation in MMOs, that's where it's at.


They've brought the radial chat wheel to an MMo, and added in the option to have multiple people in a storyline conversation.

I'm interested as to how that'll work, because I like being the good guy and the friend I generally play games with tends to be a dick. So I'm curious as to how the good-cop bad-cop thing is going to play out. However, I think you're dismissing a fully voiced MMo a little too hastily. Adding voices into a game adds in a completely new level of depth, instead of just skipping through quest text you actually progress and converse with the world around you.

I'm curious as to what you see in GW2 as innovative, as far as I can tell the only semi new thing is dynamic combat, and dynamic quests to a point. The ability to dodge attacks or hide behind a shield is interesting, but I'm not commenting more until I've seen balancing addressed. Age of Conan already partially touched on that with its shielding and dodging mechanics (you get 3 shields and 3 places to put them, front, and sides. The more shields per side, the less damage you take when hit from there, but it opens up a weakness on an unshielded side. And sidestepping gave buffs towards attacking or defending depending on which way you went.)

Dynamic quests as it was described to me sounds like Besieged from FFXI, Open Quests from WAR, and Rifts.. from Rift. You're sitting in town, or out in a forest. Suddenly, the enemy is upon us and there's a call to arms. You spend the next however many minutes slaughtering mobs and trying to save NPCs. If there's more types of quests then that, that's a horse of a different colour, but if that's it then that's also not innovative.

Not having traditional "Tank" or "Healer" roles is also going to be in SW:TOR, and is in FFXIV to a point.

And although FFXI has covered this, too, the party system in SW:TOR (with NPC's, not players) means that you never have to actively look for a party, you'll be able to have one of your own to continue to tackle content.

The way it goes now is basically, there IS next to no room for innovation, most of the stuff has been tried, and unless it's in WoW then it's likely flopped. The game that realized this and embraced that is Rift, which seemingly took the "best of" a lot of MMo's out there and refined it into their own.

So don't take this post the wrong way, I'm actively looking for your input on the subject, but why do you feel Guild Wars 2 is innovative?

>> ^Shepppard:
... a fully voiced MMo with a potentially (and being as it's Bioware, I'd say I'm more prone to say likey) epic storyline that varies from class to class...
Pretty sure that's innovative.


I'm pretty sure that hiring more people to speak the lines isn't innovative in the least. It's cool for sure. We'll see how the epic personal storyline part turns out. As far as the actual gameplay, I haven't seen anything impressive or new or interesting.

I'm much more interested in Guild Wars 2... if you want to see innovation in MMOs, that's where it's at.

>> ^Xax:

Knights of the Old Republic was epic... just a fantastic experience. It remains in my all-time top 10 list.
It's hard to believe this game is being made by the same company. It looks like a very thinly-veiled WoW ripoff, and not even a very pretty one at that (sorry, but the cartoony graphics have looked like shit from the beginning). Where's the innovation, BioWare?


... a fully voiced MMo with a potentially (and being as it's Bioware, I'm more prone to say likey) epic storyline that varies from class to class...

Pretty sure that's innovative.

Knights of the Old Republic was epic... just a fantastic experience. It remains in my all-time top 10 list.

It's hard to believe this game is being made by the same company. It looks like a very thinly-veiled WoW ripoff, and not even a very pretty one at that (sorry, but the cartoony graphics have looked like shit from the beginning). Where's the innovation, BioWare?

>> ^Shepppard:

>> ^smooman:
>> ^raverman:
Both Knights of the Old Republic games were such awesome awesome games...
But the last Star Wars Galaxies MMO was horrendously craptastic and buggy.
I'm conflicted.... can this be as good as it looks?

the last star wars mmo (SWG) was awesome for its first two years or so. then sony online entertainment (the developers) decided to remake the game entirely in the middle of it and made it the shitty game it is now. SWTOR is being produced and developed by bioware, their reputation speaks for itself

Actually, If I remember right, SOE bought the rights from the original developers, and after that made the changes. That's why it went in such a decline. They decided things like everybody can be a Jedi, and dumbed them down a bit. On paper it wass a good idea, but in reality one of the coolest things that game had to offer was getting to a certain point and becoming "Force Sensative" allowing your character to become a Jedi. Sure they were a tad OP but that's because they only had one life, and once the jedi was dead, it was dead, so you got really attached to your character.
As for the original question, as long as a game company like SOE doesn't take over, and Bioware stays in charge, I trust them.


nah, soe were the only developers. the differences between the game pre new game enhancement (NGE patch) and post nge were night and day. When swg launched and until the CU patch in 2005 it was the fastest growing mmo on the market. the cu saw a bit a decline but the final nail in the coffin was the nge and the shitstorm surrounding it. you had a unique and versatile profession based system where you could mix and match skills from 32 professions to make your "class". This was changed literally overnight with the nge, wiping the old profession system for a traditional class based system. many professions of the old game were not even represented in the new class system until about a year after the nge, namely the creature handler profession, one of the most fun and rewarding.

further adding to the controversy you had the trials of obi wan expansion that was released just two days prior to the nge, which, after the nge hit, a large portion of the player base demanded a refund on the expansion (which sony gave them eventually).

to sum it up, smedley, the president of soe, basically told the players what they want, despite massive protests that we didnt want any of that shit. today you have the ghost town of a game that swg sadly is.

i started playing shortly after launch and played through about 6 months or so after the nge. it was an amazing and unique game starting out but is garbage now. soe's lesson learned: dont fix what isnt broken


ps: permadeath was three deaths not one and that didnt last very long. after that it was xp loss. and jedi were op (pre nge anyway) primarily because of lore continuity and for the more practical reason: it took almost a year to grind one out in both the hologrind and the village grind (took me about 10 months playing everyday to unlock mine via the village grind)

in retrospect, any mmo that installs an alpha class (jedi for swg) its bound to break the game eventually but really, if you think about it, it only really breaks pvp

>> ^smooman:

>> ^raverman:
Both Knights of the Old Republic games were such awesome awesome games...
But the last Star Wars Galaxies MMO was horrendously craptastic and buggy.
I'm conflicted.... can this be as good as it looks?

the last star wars mmo (SWG) was awesome for its first two years or so. then sony online entertainment (the developers) decided to remake the game entirely in the middle of it and made it the shitty game it is now. SWTOR is being produced and developed by bioware, their reputation speaks for itself


Actually, If I remember right, SOE bought the rights from the original developers, and after that made the changes. That's why it went in such a decline. They decided things like everybody can be a Jedi, and dumbed them down a bit. On paper it wass a good idea, but in reality one of the coolest things that game had to offer was getting to a certain point and becoming "Force Sensative" allowing your character to become a Jedi. Sure they were a tad OP but that's because they only had one life, and once the jedi was dead, it was dead, so you got really attached to your character.

As for the original question, as long as a game company like SOE doesn't take over, and Bioware stays in charge, I trust them.

>> ^raverman:

Both Knights of the Old Republic games were such awesome awesome games...
But the last Star Wars Galaxies MMO was horrendously craptastic and buggy.
I'm conflicted.... can this be as good as it looks?


the last star wars mmo (SWG) was awesome for its first two years or so. then sony online entertainment (the developers) decided to remake the game entirely in the middle of it and made it the shitty game it is now. SWTOR is being produced and developed by bioware, their reputation speaks for itself

Great intro... to what seems like a pretty meh game based on all the information so far. The fact you gotta buy it via EAs own store isnt going to help them much. Poor Bioware, from Boba to Jaja in 1 year.

>> ^Xaielao:

He is right on every point. The combat is far worse if you ask me compared to the original. Yes it has a lot of flash and style and gibs raining everywhere but unless your a huge Soul Caliber fan you'll find battles are over so quickly and things are so chaotic that there is absolutely no tactics to them what so ever. Even the big battles with the dragons require no more thought than the random gangs that look like each other that assault you at every other point in the game. And I played it on Hard even as I had heard that it adds a bit more challenge and lets you strategize much more, but I found it just wasn't the case in all but perhaps three or four fights through the entire game.
In the end the game is a down and out failure and EA knows it. The game had zero actual plot, crack addict (or 2 year old attention span) combat, no exploration, completely linear zones, the same two dungeons for 15 different events and largely boring characters with a tenth the draw and character of the originals companions.
My biggest complaint about DA2 is the lack of content. Sure it's a fairly long game but I spent 45 hours in the game and I did every single thing there was to do. I did every quest, found every resource node, every single bit of lore to be found, all of it. Likewise I did the same with my first run through of DA:O only it took me around 200 hours for that one because it was so deep of content and rich of story that I enjoyed every second of the game. Some I'm sure (if not most of the console players) ran through the game and ignored all the little interesting bits of story you could find, lore you could discover and all the side events and cool tidbits you could gain by exploring the world and it's deep history. But I personally love that stuff so when I discovered that it was sorely lacking in the sequel I was most disappointed.
I'm not saying Origins was without fault, but as a PC game that harkened back to the golden days of cRPGs it was amazing. I understand on the console the combat wasn't very good because it lacked the camera angles and the strategy of the PC version (It was developed as a PC game, EA just forced the game to be pushed back half a year so a console version could be made). But it was easily the best cRPG from Bioware since Baulder's Gate 2. Now I just hope EA learned a lesson. You cant push a game out in 1.3 years and expect it to even remotely compete with the original and perhaps the greedy fucks will give Bioware 2-3 years to make the third game.


It's fucking EA man. I haven't trusted them since battlefield 2 recieved shocking support. Releasing new expansion packs before they'd fixed a single bug in order to cash in. Releasing packs too soon so the game didn't even find a foothold.

I said i'd never buy an EA game ever again until it had been out an entire year and everyone uniformly said it was awesome. Someone told me 5 months or so ago that EA were changing their development cycle in order to shake off the ... atrocities to gaming that they'd contributed.

Guess they didn't get round to that after all? Colour me surprised. They are the major player in the gradual degradation of games over the years. These guys are spoonfeeding people warm shit, and people are going back for more. When did expectations get so low!?