Fans of Mass Effect might have been saddened to discover there were no announcements made last week about the next DLC for the first game in the series as promised. While there is still no word on when BioWare will give up the goods on that, we are starting to learn more about Mass Effect 2.
In Mass Effect players were able to start a new campaign with the same character, transferring all the stats from their previous play through into a new save. Mass Effect 2, however, will be taking this ability away in favor of being able to "offer a smooth progression into ME3 from ME2," according to Lead Designer Preston Watamaniuk.
This comes as disheartening news to a gamer like me who is currently playing through ME1 again in order to get to a higher level. There will still be the option of starting a new level with Shepard at level 1. Make sure to beat as much of the game as you can before going on the final mission, because once you beat it, you are done. I didn't know that once I beat the game I couldn't go back and keep playing in ME1 and was devastated when I found out there was nothing more I could do.
Other Mass Effect 2 news has made its way to Kotaku as well. One of the major complaints with Mass Effect was that you had to beat the game twice on the two hardest difficulties in order to unlock the Insanity difficulty. Christina Norman, the lead system designer explained in the forums that Insanity needed to be unlockable because it was so difficult that they felt players would need a certain amount of experience in order to beat it. As for having Insanity in Mass Effect 2 she said:
"We want insanity to feel like a smart experience, where you don't die because a rocket hits you and you're one-shot killed. You die because you face an overwhelming, deadly, force. You play extremely well, but not well enough, and on a subsequent try you're able to be victorious because you play better."
"Ultimately if I have to choose between those options, I will choose a harder insanity difficulty, because I believe that's what's important to our players. Overall insanity in ME2 will be harder than ME1. That's a heads up for everyone! Beating insanity on ME2 is going to be a real "achievement", a badge of honor, get ready."
As I mentioned earlier, I'm playing the gaming through again now and only playing it on Veteran. It's proving to be significantly more challenging than Normal was. I see no problem with the hardest difficulty being unlockable, a level of that difficulty should be earned. There is still no confirmation if my biggest complaint with the game will be addressed, elevators. What do you think? Should gamers being given the option from the get-go or should it be earned?
