Is there a difference between the way DA and ME2 run on the computer?

[SpellAndShield]

No damage lag, no insane loading times, etc...

 

Are they totally different engines?

[DarkeWolf]

Yup, they do bro. ME2 uses a modified version of the tried and true Unreal game engine, which has been around for many years, and is a pretty good game engine. Very widely used for FPS games.

DAO however, uses Bioware's fairly new Eclipse game engine. And well..... we know how the story turns out there. :dry:

 

LOL all I can really say is that Bioware is a much better game designer than they are software designer :laugh:

[danscott84]

DarkeWolf is right on the money there. That Unreal engine in one form or another has been around for almost a decade. They have tweaked and tweaked on it, so it's a very reliable engine. Same goes for the Quake engine. A better engine is the Source engine used by Valve for the Half Life games. ME2, however, is very buggy on my system. It still has the same graphic issues that ME1 had. There is a lot of severe clipping issues, and the lighting is very bad on ME2 where everywhere I went has this washed out look. (yes, played with several options to change the graphics, it's just the choice of lighting and coloring in the game) Maybe a better choice of words would be too many sterile environments compared to ME1. (ME1 was much more colorful) DA on the other hand I think has a cleaner look to it. Granted that there is a little less detail than in the ME games, but the amount of things in each setting is larger and grander. (look at the horizon in the KW as compared to the horizon on.... ,*%$#^, just forgot the name of the planet, the one where you rescue Tali from the Geth)

 

There are still also sound issues for ME2 that existed in ME1. ME1 was good on sound until the Bring Down the Sky DLC and Patch came out, then the sound never worked right. ME2 has that same issue where you fire a gun, see it happen, but cannot here it, or it comes along after the fight is over.

 

As for loading times, I finished ME2 twice each under 20 hours of gameplay. (19 and 16) That could be because I am used to FPS games, but on Insanity there were only two places that caused me problems, and both were because I forgot to set up my team better. DA even at the shortest time has taken me 28 hours, and that is using the escape key to skip dialogue (I can't get the skip option in ME2). That to me says that DA is much larger in scale causing those longer loading times.

[Thandal]

Completely different engines for completely different games. DA is definitely NOT a FPS. Not even close. Which is one of the reasons that it uses a different way to implement "the world" inside the game.

 

Many of DanScott's observations pertain to the way the game environment is rendered on screen, rather than how the player interacts with that environment. For me personally, I much prefer the DA and, (for those who have experienced it) the BG approach. I have now spent about 6 hours with ME, and so far... can't stand the interface or the controls. Hope I get past that because everything I've read leads me to believe I'll really enjoy the story, and that it gets better with ME2!

[danscott84]

Thandal,

I think you will. It is a very different type of RPG if you are not used to the first or third person views. I personally played a lot of FPS games way back to Castle Wolfenstein back in the early '90's. I like that DA has the option for using the third person view as I cannot grasp the overhead view when you scroll back. It's that kind of gaming view ability that lead me from FPS into the RPG games starting with KOTOR, and much more immersive stories to go with them.

 

And as for the story of ME, I think you will like it. I suggest approaching the stories like you would if reading/watching the LOTR trilogy. ME is set up to be a trilogy, a fact I had to remind myself of when starting to play ME2. And for the controls, it will get easier to adjust to. Even for me the first time was a challenge to get used to (FPS controls are much more simplistic). However, those controls are really a mixture of the two genre's much like the game itself is.

 

As for the graphic environments, I prefer DA's over ME's. Let us just hope Bioware doesn't get the idea to try using the CryENGINE. :whistling:

[Thandal]

@DanScott; Thanks for the words of encouragement, I'll keep trying then. (I expect you knew that I was adding to what you had already said about the Unreal engine's rendering of the game world by discussing the interface. I realized after I posting that what I wrote could be taken as "disputing", which was not the intention.)

 

As for the graphic environments, I prefer DA's over ME's. Let us just hope Bioware doesn't get the idea to try using the CryENGINE. :whistling:

Don't know the CryENGINE. Is that the one used for Crysis? Never played it! ;D

 

My string of computer games has been more BG/BG2/IWD/NWN/NWN2, (with all expansions and DLC). Other's I've really enjoyed include Syberia/SyberiaII (which is really one long game released as two by the publisher), with The Longest Journey in there as well. :thumbsup:

 

Had the same "I don't like the controls" problem with Dreamfall (The Longest Journey) and haven't really gone very far in it either. :(

[danscott84]

Yep, CRYSIS. Very intense graphics. If you look at the grass and leaves in both DA and ME, you notice that are in clumps/patches/plants. In CRYSIS, the blades and leaves are individual. Very high environment immersion, but also takes a lot of computing power. Just wish they had made the gameplay/story as well as they had on the graphics. For every plus on the graphics, there is a minus on the gameplay itself. Promised so much and delivered so little. :confused:

 

And I knew you were adding, just thought I might help you out with the transition from one type of game to another. Having made the opposite transition myself, and coming from that kind of gameplay if you need any help figuring it out just let me know. :thumbsup:

[SpellAndShield]

Yep, CRYSIS. Very intense graphics. If you look at the grass and leaves in both DA and ME, you notice that are in clumps/patches/plants. In CRYSIS, the blades and leaves are individual. Very high environment immersion, but also takes a lot of computing power. Just wish they had made the gameplay/story as well as they had on the graphics. For every plus on the graphics, there is a minus on the gameplay itself. Promised so much and delivered so little. :confused:

 

And I knew you were adding, just thought I might help you out with the transition from one type of game to another. Having made the opposite transition myself, and coming from that kind of gameplay if you need any help figuring it out just let me know. :thumbsup:

 

All I can say is that I love ME 2. I never played 1 but I don't think I could go retro. ME2 is moving up to #2 favourite game of all time for me. I plan on doing a run through with each class and different genders. Right now I am on my female/renegade/infiltrator...and I have to say, either I have improved (I alway play on insanity) or Tactical Cloak is one of the best powers around...saved my butt a million times...I agree with you about ME2 being short...well, in a way it is good, nice and compact BUT I do hope that ME3 is somewhat longer, especially if it is to be the end of a trilogy.

[danscott84]

Yep, CRYSIS. Very intense graphics. If you look at the grass and leaves in both DA and ME, you notice that are in clumps/patches/plants. In CRYSIS, the blades and leaves are individual. Very high environment immersion, but also takes a lot of computing power. Just wish they had made the gameplay/story as well as they had on the graphics. For every plus on the graphics, there is a minus on the gameplay itself. Promised so much and delivered so little. :confused:

 

And I knew you were adding, just thought I might help you out with the transition from one type of game to another. Having made the opposite transition myself, and coming from that kind of gameplay if you need any help figuring it out just let me know. :thumbsup:

 

All I can say is that I love ME 2. I never played 1 but I don't think I could go retro. ME2 is moving up to #2 favourite game of all time for me. I plan on doing a run through with each class and different genders. Right now I am on my female/renegade/infiltrator...and I have to say, either I have improved (I alway play on insanity) or Tactical Cloak is one of the best powers around...saved my butt a million times...I agree with you about ME2 being short...well, in a way it is good, nice and compact BUT I do hope that ME3 is somewhat longer, especially if it is to be the end of a trilogy.

 

Trust me when I tell you play ME1. My first time on ME2 was without the ported character, and the entire backstory was completely different from the ending I had with ME1 (plus a couple missing companions). For the second runthrough I figured out how to import the character, and every person you help/hurt appears again in ME2. Plus, having done that I now have a character set up for ME3 that will have done the entire story from start to finish. Plus, the story itself was changed by porting my ME1 character, and the missing characters reappeared based on the decisions I made in ME1.