Mass Effect 2 - Lair of the Shadow Broker = Fantastic

fearian

Honestly, I never expected so much from a DLC. It came out (after alot of fuss) yesterday and having jsut finished it, I gotta say that it was one of the best gaming experiences I've had in a long time. Better than any other mission in Mass Effect 2 itself even.

I already posted my thoughts on another forum, so I'll just paste - DO NOT READ THE SPOILERS. If you havn't finished it, do yourself a favor and don't ruin anything - this is a fantastic pack and it deserves to be played properly.


Some things that bugged me was the lack of any input from your crewmates - I get they can't just pull in everyone to do hours of voice work, but it really irked me that when

the spectre is escaping, you see your companions (Garrus and Kasumi for me) run up to the ledge and just watch. No one draws a weapon. Garrus is a fucking sniper and he does shit all. Bioware could have at least have them take some pot shots for effect.

I have no clue why that bugged me so much. It really isn't important.

I hated the end fight.

The shadow broker was chilling as a smug omniscient puppetmaster, and the drama of facing him was ruined by a shitty 'hit his weakspot three times then destroy him with the environment' generic bossfight. If this where zelda you could put him in the second dungeon. Very disappointing. The fight also took place in the dullest environment in the whole DLC.

Speaking of which, all the environments where jaw droppingly stunning, and as a wannabe environment artist, crazy inspirational.

I found the dialouge in this DLC very cathartic. I never romanced Liara in this save, and their relationship as close friends was handled well. I Really really enjoyed dialogue options after the mission.

After a thinking about it, I chose frustrated when Liara asks how I'm doing. Goddamn did that pin down my thoughts EXACTLY. I hate having to deal with Cerberus' bullshit, I hate having former old friends shit on me after I was dead and I hate how the council and alliance are ignoring whats going on. Shep just voiced all of my quarrels with the plot

and it was fantastic.

At the end of it all the last shot of shepard... he genuinely looked like a man with the weight of the universe on his shoulders.


'I'm commander Shepard and this is my favorite DLC on the market!'

chrisradsby

Yeah I played it through yesterday, really awesome stuff, it really impressed me and I really think it's worth the money. The game is darker that's for sure, but I like that, really makes my hyped about the third game, you just know it'll be amazing.

D-Robe

You can color me disappointed.
It doesn't work on PC yet.

fearian

ha, yeah that was pretty funny. But, I played it on PC. It works fine now.

Lamont

As soon as I up my MS points and finish my project, I'm in for some ME:2 add-ons.

Rurouni Strife

I need all the ME2 DLC at some point. Same for Dragon Age, but I haven't had time lately to play games at all.

teaandcigarettes

ME2 makes we wanna puke... literally.

Whoever decided to use such low FOV should burn in hell. I liked ME2 (as opposed to its predecessor) but never got around to finishing it.

Does anyone know if Bioware will release any patches along with this DLC? I've been hoping for a customizable FOV for a long time.

MegaMoogle

I myself have not played either of the Mass Effect games, so I cannot say I am an expert. Just last week I was at a friend's apartment while he was playing it, and might I just say that the lip sync animation was atrocious. It drove me up the wall, I couldn't even stand watching it.

achillesian

Games like oblivion, fallout, and mass effect where there are probably 50 hours or more voice over, studios end up having to use automated lip-sync systems, with each of these games you see a lot of bad syncing. It really is something people need to just look past, like clipping its almost unavoidable, and that probably never stopped you from playing a game.

MegaMoogle

I understand that to an extent. But when a character is yelling and his/her mouth is moving as if they're mumbling, that really aught to be fixed. If the character was talking normally it didn't bother me as much, but when it's not just a normal conversation, the animations should be tweaked so they don't look so blatantly bad.

vahl

all 3 DLC to me were awesome, but as said before, this specific one is above anything else, maybe even most of the main game missions.

the part on the hull of the broker's ship wtf man that was so awesome, and really reminiscent of the ending of ME1

I'm a bit sad though because I still have 14 exp points left to get to level 30 I have that mission where I have to ask about sushis in the citadel but no idea how to find this, ah well

can't wait for ME3, I really enjoyed this one, even though it is clearly a transition between 2 huge story events

ae.

This is one of the last things i worked on before i left EA, Bioware is a fantastic studio and is doing awesome things if you liked this wait until you see what they have cooking

rolfness

I must be losing my mind.. cant find it on steam...

c0ldhands

Perfect timing as I just finished Mafia 2. Yay me! Cant wait to see what they are cooking cause Im really Bioware hungry over here.

Saman

I just finnished this and it was great! Even better than most of the ME2 missions. It was great to have Liara back on the team.
So is this the game that ties in with ME3 or is it Overlord? Perhaps it's a yet to be released DLC? Does anybody know?

JacqueChoi

MegaMoogle wrote: »

I understand that to an extent. But when a character is yelling and his/her mouth is moving as if they're mumbling, that really aught to be fixed. If the character was talking normally it didn't bother me as much, but when it's not just a normal conversation, the animations should be tweaked so they don't look so blatantly bad.

A lot of the times, the compression on the animations just kill it.

I remember watching an animator try to animate someone puffing on a cigar, just to watch the cigar keep clipping through his already closed mouth. No matter what he did, he just couldn't fix it without having the mouth open so wide you could see his tonsils when he quietly talks or leave the final keyframe someone open... both looking atrocious.


Video games are a bad medium for animating believable lip sync.

Saman

JacqueChoi wrote: »

A lot of the times, the compression on the animations just kill it.

I remember watching an animator try to animate someone puffing on a cigar, just to watch the cigar keep clipping through his already closed mouth. No matter what he did, he just couldn't fix it without having the mouth open so wide you could see his tonsils when he quietly talks or leave the final keyframe someone open... both looking atrocious.


Video games are a bad medium for animating believable lip sync.

That's interesting. Do you know what system they were using? Morph targets?

Irreal

Glad people are enjoying it. I made the car chase level. Haven't actually played through it yet apart from my level. Still waiting for my access code.

Saman

Irreal wrote: »

Glad people are enjoying it. I made the car chase level. Haven't actually played through it yet apart from my level. Still waiting for my access code.

The car chase level was in my opinion one of the best levels. It was nice to do something other than running around shooting bad guys. I guess you used attack of the clones as reference?

Irreal

Yeah Attack of the Clones and Blade Runner mainly. I avoided skydiving apprentice Jedis though

XenoKratios

Will I see more of this?

Irreal

My lips are sealed. Unlike Shepards. That grin haunts my dreams.