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Will difficulty levels we arbitrarily locked again out in ME2?

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Author	Will difficulty levels we arbitrarily locked again out in ME2?
dan107 Game Owner NWN NWN: SoU NWN: HotU SW: KotOR PC Jade Empire Jade Empire:SE NWN 2 NWN 2: MotB NWN 2: SoZ Mass Effect Mass Effect PC Joined: 12 Dec 2005	Posted: Saturday, 27 June 2009 07:45AM
	The single worst feature in ME was in my opinion the fact that you had to play the game through twice before you could play it on the hardest difficulty level. Will we see a similar limitation in ME2? If you finished ME1 on Insanity, will you be able to START on Insanity (or the equivalent) in ME2?

Caescen Game Owner Jade Empire Mass Effect Joined: 13 Jun 2009 From: The Netherlands	Posted: Saturday, 27 June 2009 12:24PM
	Quote: Posted 06/27/09 07:45 (GMT) by dan107 The single worst feature in ME was in my opinion the fact that you had to play the game through twice before you could play it on the hardest difficulty level. Will we see a similar limitation in ME2? If you finished ME1 on Insanity, will you be able to START on Insanity (or the equivalent) in ME2? I quite liked it myself. As you couldn't reach the maximum level in one walk through anyway. _________________ If today was perfect, there would be no need for tomorrow. XBL: Caescen

Christina Norman Lead System Designer Joined: 30 Jun 2005	Posted: Saturday, 27 June 2009 04:36PM
	This post is about Mass Effect 1 not Mass Effect 2, but I want to add some context to how locking insanity was beneficial. As you play through ME1 you unlock bonuses via achievements that actually make your character more powerful. Consequently, the hardest difficulty becomes "easier". If we give access to insanity on the first playthrough, we need to show that it is possible to beat the game with all classes without any bonuses from achievements. We can't release a difficulty level where it's impossible to complete. Effectively this means insanity would need to be easier. If we can assume you've already done a playthrough, we can assume you've acquired some bonuses, in addition to getting the experience of beating it on a lower difficulty level which will help you beat it on insanity. So for ME1 at least, we were able to make Insanity harder because we limited it to people who'd already completed a playthrough. On to ME2, we're aware that some players really want to use insanity at the get go. I'm developing our difficulty system, and I understand what players who play insanity get out of that experience. I'm very much a "hardest difficulty" person. So with that said there are a few things we're trying to do with difficulty in ME2. First we're trying to add additional dimensions to our difficulty system. I can't go into the details right now, but there is more integration with our AI system for example. We want enemies on harder difficulties to feel smarter, deadlier, not just "tougher". 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. Once we have the difficulty levels nailed down, we'll evaluate and see whether or not it's reasonable to let insanity difficulty be unlocked at the start. I'm totally open to doing that unless it means we have to make it "easier". 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. _________________ twitter: truffle

ShadesInInk Game Owner Mass Effect PC Joined: 25 Jun 2009	Posted: Saturday, 27 June 2009 04:49PM
	Wow, thank you, Christina, for a very well thought-out, and detailed response to a legitimate question. Not to be cynical, but seeing these forums I was expecting an arbitrary lockdown.

Caescen Game Owner Jade Empire Mass Effect Joined: 13 Jun 2009 From: The Netherlands	Posted: Saturday, 27 June 2009 04:53PM
	Nice response, indeed. _________________ If today was perfect, there would be no need for tomorrow. XBL: Caescen

jkstexas2001 Game Owner NWN 2 NWN 2: MotB NWN 2: SoZ Mass Effect PC Joined: 20 Mar 2009	Posted: Saturday, 27 June 2009 05:34PM
	I hope: - You get more XP for kills in insanity mode - Insanity not only means harder to kill enemies, it means more enemies In ME, I got to know where each and every enemy would be hiding. I really would like to turn a corner on my third playthrough and have a what? momemnt....

dan107 Game Owner NWN NWN: SoU NWN: HotU SW: KotOR PC Jade Empire Jade Empire:SE NWN 2 NWN 2: MotB NWN 2: SoZ Mass Effect Mass Effect PC Joined: 12 Dec 2005	Posted: Saturday, 27 June 2009 05:40PM
	Wow that's a far better and more thought out response than I was expecting! Thanks a lot Christina! I understand why you locked out Insanity in ME1 (still don't like it, bit understand your reasons now ) but it's a slightly different situation for ME2 though. Here you have a sizeable player base that has already completed ME1 on Insanity, and forcing us to play on Normal would be quite a step down, and would most likely make the combat quite boring. IMO the best compromise would be locking out the highest difficulty for brand new players (if you must ) but allowing those of us that imported our saves to continue on the same difficulty we had before. At the very least, whatever you do, please don't get rid of that toggle in the .INI file which removes the difficulty block! I found it as soon as I installed ME on PC, and my very first playthrough on Insanity was quite enjoable. Edit: And definitely don't water down the highest difficulty. I really don't like the trend of idiot-proofing games. IMO an optional difficulty level called "Insanity" should cater to those of us that like to fight the same battle a dozen times over until we find that one optimal strategy. Obviously not for everyone, but makes the win much more satisfying and memorable for those of us that enjoy it. Edited By dan107 on 06/27/09 17:47

NICKjnp Game Owner SW: KotOR Xbox Mass Effect Joined: 04 Dec 2007	Posted: Saturday, 27 June 2009 05:43PM
	Will we be able to start a second playthrough with a character we used to finish the main story of ME2 like we were able to in ME1?

caspertjuhh Game Owner Mass Effect Joined: 28 Dec 2008	Posted: Saturday, 27 June 2009 06:00PM
	nice! I hope I can still beat insanity in ME2... _________________ If you can read this, I posted something.

SphereofSilence Game Owner Mass Effect PC Joined: 11 Jan 2007	Posted: Saturday, 27 June 2009 07:16PM
	That's nice to hear. Looking forward to playing ME2 on Insanity.

jkstexas2001 Game Owner NWN 2 NWN 2: MotB NWN 2: SoZ Mass Effect PC Joined: 20 Mar 2009	Posted: Saturday, 27 June 2009 07:22PM
	Quote: Posted 06/27/09 18:00 (GMT) by caspertjuhh nice! I hope I can still beat insanity in ME2... No games have unbeatable AI, so far. The "big blue" IBM chess grand master AI platform requires something like eight processors and a very sophisticated multithreaded program to consistently play chess on a grand master level. Once you detect an AI's pattern of reactions, you can beat it. (If I do A, B, and C, the AI will always do X and Y, so I'll lob a nuke where it does Y shortly before I do A, B, and C)

Christina Norman Lead System Designer Joined: 30 Jun 2005	Posted: Saturday, 27 June 2009 07:35PM
	We're definitely going to look at all the options when it comes to difficulty locking. Right now I don't know if we'll lock any difficulties so I can't say under what conditions we'd unlock Insanity if it is locked in ME2. Even if you were an expert at ME1 combat you may find ME2 combat challenging, a lot has changed. Certain things are much easier in ME2 (not dumbed down easy, better designed easy), but there are new challenges as well. In general there just won't be any dumbing down in ME2, that's not the way we go. We're going for easy to play because it's better designed, not dumbed down. _________________ twitter: truffle Edited By Christina Norman on 06/27/09 21:32

Estelindis Game Owner NWN NWN: SoU NWN: HotU Jade Empire:SE NWN 2 NWN 2: MotB NWN 2: SoZ Mass Effect PC Joined: 17 Mar 2002 From: Dublin, Ireland (but currently in Paris)	Posted: Saturday, 27 June 2009 07:36PM
	Thanks, Christina! It's great to read such a detailed response from someone who obviously cares so much about making the game a real challenge. Very encouraging! _________________ KotOR Heads FR Cloaks CTP Releases - incl. CTP Babylon ProjectQ AME

jkstexas2001 Game Owner NWN 2 NWN 2: MotB NWN 2: SoZ Mass Effect PC Joined: 20 Mar 2009	Posted: Saturday, 27 June 2009 07:43PM
	Quote: Posted 06/27/09 19:35 (GMT) by Christina Norman We're definitely going to look at all the options when it comes to difficulty locking. Right now I don't know if we'll lock any difficulties so I can't say under what conditions we'd unlock Insanity if it was locked in ME2. Even if you were an expert at ME1 combat you may find ME2 combat challenging, a lot has changed. Certain things are much easier in ME2 (not dumbed down easy, better designed easy), but there are new challenges as well. . I think you are saying you have made interface improvements so that things like changing ammo in the middle of a firefight are less obtrusive. That is not dumbing down - that is better UI design. It lets you devote more of your attention to such things as staying alive. I had real problems playing games like NWN because of all the things you had to do via the interface to keep your party members alive, though I suppose once you memorize the keys it gets better. Adding additional spawn points at insanity levels would add a tangible increase in difficulty. That might be easier than making the AI a lot tougher on higher levels, yet it would achieve a similar end result - forcing you to think a lot more tactically than you had to at lower levels of difficulty.

Barker673 Game Owner SW: KotOR Xbox Mass Effect Joined: 12 Feb 2008 From: Melbourne, Australia	Posted: Saturday, 27 June 2009 11:06PM
	Quote: Posted 06/27/09 17:43 (GMT) by NICKjnp Will we be able to start a second playthrough with a character we used to finish the main story of ME2 like we were able to in ME1? No. Preston W. replied to a thread on this board saying that because it is easier to bring all of your save files and career over to ME3 to ME2, that there will only be one playthrough per character, similar to something like Fallout 3 and Oblivion, where you play after the credits have rolled (Have a look around, it shouldn't be too hard to find) and won't be able to repeat your career in a playthrough. If that's the case then I'm guessing Insanity will be locked, but maybe only unlocked through one playthrough of "A" Shepard in a playthrough, then accessible to any other playthrough you have, similar to the class bonuses you could select when beginning a new career, maybe? (i.e Assault Rifle, Singularity, Overload etc.) But that's just speculation on my part, but seems likely how it will unfold