First Impressions of Mass Effect 2:

Holy gak.


Graphics: fething amazing. I expected to see a similar but improved set of graphics, kind of like KOTOR to KOTOR II. Watching the launch trailer, the graphics looked similar to the first game. This couldn't have been more misleading.

Maybe it's the high def, not sure...but it doesn't even look like the same series. I mean, it's a quantum leap forward in every way. Details, shading, smoothness of movement. It's absolutely incredible. I have never seen such a level of improvement from a first game to a sequel. Ever. Mass Effect 1 looked like its KOTOR "cousins" but with a higher level of detail. Mass Effect 2 looks like a completely different engine.

You see things you'll recognize from ME1, like computer banks, med stations, wall safes, crates, your weapons...but they all look so much better now. Holographic displays at data terminals are simply amazing. You will view some recordings right on the displays and it's mind-boggling how well they did it.

I've never really associated Bioware with top of the line graphics, but they really rolled up thier sleeves and put some work in. It looks amazing at 1080i on my 37 1/2" flatscreen. If you are playing this on a top-notch PC with a big monitor, it's going to be incredible.


Gameplay: It's all better. Everything's better.

Combat, there's a real cover system now and you can map up to three powers to the LB, Y, and RB buttons. It's nice to skip the radial sometimes. Unity now revives "dead" squad members using medi-gel. You take cover to regen health and shields. It's much faster, and it's much more challenging. I can tell that you're going to have to learn to change cover positions very quickly and react to changing combat conditions on the fly efficiently. It feels very different from ME1, but in a good way.

You can assign a separate position to each of your two squad members, which is great. Flanking is finally a real option.

Hacking and decrypting: the minigames are quite fun. Gone is the "X, Y, B, A" Simon game. Now, to hack safes you have to match up pairs of symbols. There are 8 blue circles on a circuit board. Scroll over a circle to reveal a picture. Find the matching one, click A on each half of the pair, it draws a circuit. You start off with the safe being worth a high amount of credits, and the longer you take the less you get.

Hacking datapads is very fun. Small pictures of "code" are arranged three to a row, and there are maybe five rows on the screen to begin, and they slowly scroll up. You are given a picture of the code section you need to select and press A on, and there are three or four sections of code you have to find while a timer runs down. It's actually sort of challenging.

My current toon is a Renegade, and you can sometimes get "Renegade actions" that pop up during conversations. You pull RT to commit to the action. It just adds a nice physical flair to conversations.


Leveling: Different system for assigning points. I only have five categories of skill progression for each character in my squad. You get "squad points" which you then spend to unlock skills and power levels of those skills, 1 squad point for Rank 1, 2 for Rank 2, etc. It looks like they just simplified the whole leveling system. We'll see if more skills unlock as you go.


Classes: Each of the six classes from ME1 are back, and they each have their own unique power. Anyone can unlock crates, or safes. Basically, think everything you needed Electronics and Decryption for in ME1, and now anyone can do it.


Exp: Only given through mission completion. Different, but so far I like it.


Voice acting: Goddamn is Martin Sheen good in this so far. All the voice acting is good, but hearing him in the role of the Illusive Man is a real treat. I don't know, it lends an air of legitimacy to the dramatic work, maybe?


The ME1 character import: was very smooth, very easy. It was a real thrill to see our ME1 toon perfectly reproduced but with the upgraded graphics. They let you change your class along with a few other characteristics if you want. We elected to remain the same class as before. Then the game reviews your important choices from ME1 as a reminder.

You are given an option to customize your armor and select the clothes you'll be wearing when you are on the Normandy in-between missions.


That's all I can say for now without giving away spoilers, and I haven't even touched life on the Normandy SR2. I can't wait to see what space travel and exploration are like, now, but my God...I am rarely this impressed by a game this quickly. I simply was not expecting, even after reading the IGN review that heaped praise on this game, such an improvement over the first game. It's almost unrecognizable, it's that good.

well my roomies sure to cream his pants, he adores all bioware games haha (they're great, but he literally humps the disk cases)

I have to wait until 9:00 AM thursday to get it. Damn you Australian release dates!

I don't have an HDTV or an awesome computer, but the first game looked incredible on my standard-definition TV, which really says a lot about the graphics.

I'm going to be up all thursday night playing this, I just know it. Gotta get more sleep the next two nights, and if I go to sleep early, then thursday will get here faster! Genius!

Oh yeah, there's some... interesting romance options this time around.

*Has his copy on pre-order*

Now just have to decide whether I am going to fight the wife to see who plays it first, or just let her play before me

I'm not paying a cent for it. I'll be trading in Dead Space, Halo Wars and Gears of War 2 for it (trade three, get it free offer). Better than paying $99 AU.

I've been playing straight for the last 10 hours. Here's what I got so far.

Story:
At this point I've assembled a decent size crew (6 outta 10). The storyline isn't as epic feeling so far, but it seems like I'm just scratching the surface and not even close to the end. The background stories for your teammates are actually interesting and I like this new batch far better than the old ones. Seriously though, stop with the cameos, they literally cameo every minor quest giving NPC from ME1.

Gameplay:
Less walking around towns. I nearly killed myself after spending 2 hours wandering around the Citadel doing quests in the first game. First town I walked into, I only had to talk to one person and they pointed me straight at the action.

The customization is awesome now, they dropped the massive inventory train wreck from the first game. Instead of swapping upgrades out of weapons, you swap weapons (which actually have noticeable differences) and research improvements for your team's equipment.

Combat: Wow, massive overhaul. The shooter elements, class limited weapons, improved level design and the new powers make a big difference; squad tactics and composition are actually important now. Seriously impressed.

Exploration: They got ride of the planet side exploration, which I'm glad. They replaced it with a manual scan for planets which is equally as tedious, but less time consuming. They also tied it into the upgrade system so at least it's worth exploring. They did add in some bs fuel system for god knows why.

Graphics:
It's really just the same engine with cosmetic improvements, but I didn't really expect more. There's way more attention to detail, which makes up for it.

Only one major disappointment, they didn't fix the load times. Instead of the stroke inducing elevator rides of awkwardness you get a load screen, which is faster by virtue of not forcing you to stare at a wall the whole time. Also the Normandy has four decks now, so you get four of those bad boys whenever you tour the ship. It almost makes seducing your crew not even worth the effort. The real icing though is the fact you can only change your armor in your personal quarters, which involves sitting through two load screens, the airlock and the elevator. Awesome.

Well, I got into space finally.

First, the Normandy SR2 is fething huge. It's fantastic. Having your own quarters is nice.

You actually pilot the ship within a system, and between systems now. As in, you are looking down at a display of the system and you push the stick and the ship moves, and then you press A to drop into orbit around a planet or station. Scanning planets is pretty cool...you hold down LT to scan the surface while you look at a scanner that peaks when one of four kinds of mineral deposits are present under the scanner on the planet. Then you launch a probe, and it collects the minerals for you. The scanner tells you how many mineral deposits are left by rating the planet's mining potential from "Excellent" to "Poor" on like a four-point scale, and then when the planet reads "Depleted" you're done.

You also pilot from system to system within a cluster, and that requires fuel. You get fuel and probes from stations at hub systems, where the Mass Relays are located I believe.

I've only done one bonus mission that was a free download, and we saved on the Citadel just now. The graphcis continue to be amazing. I've only been to one Ward on the Citadel, and already it feels like a real city, very busy, very noisy, chaotic background noise. Holographic advertisement kiosks that cater their ads to you, Galactic News terminals all over the place with really cool updates...it's still amazing.


@ avantgarde

The planet scanning gets easier once you learn how to skip the scanner around the planet's surface. Running out of probes will be your only problem, but I suspect we're going to need a lot of those minerals later for upgrades. I think it's worth it, and kind of fun.

I LOVE the cameos from the ME1 NPCs. If story is where you're at, that's a huge bonus and tie to the first game.

In terms of the graphics...I don't think you could be more wrong. This doesn't even feel like the same engine as the first game. The improvements are not "cosmetic," they're a total overhaul. Dynamic lighting sources, character expressions, the whole scale of the presentation is different.

And I think the loading screens are just fine. We're not going to get the smoothness of gameplay we want on a console with this much going on in terms of content and graphics in "zones" without loading times. At least we're not staring at the same Mass Relay every time now. I honestly think that if you're having problems with the loading screens you're just very impatient.

In this day and age any high polish game like ME2 should have good load screen instead of a looping animation. For example: MGS4's Snake smoking or the combo practice in Bayonetta (I actually wanted longer load times so I could get more combos in). I mean 1. it's not really a deal breaker 2. it's just my opinion, and I'm either used or resigned to it by now.

I did get the faster scan upgrade for the ship, which makes it less annoying, but it still feels like work to me. I don't even deplete all the way, since going for the little deposits strikes me as a waste of a probe.

btw What class are you playing with? I imported my Vanguard, the charge power is awesome but you got to wait for the right moment in a firefight or you die horribly. So far I've cleared the first batch of missions you get, and currently am being destroyed on the next mission.

20 1/2 hours to go, baby! Argh, I've never been this hyped for anything!

Which goes to show how empty my life is.

I guess the load screens is just aesthetic preference. I like them, personally. Gives me a moment to take a drink, or say something to the wife, pet the cat lying on the ottoman next to me...or just rest my eyes.

I didn't mean a scan upgrade for the ship, though I am glad to hear there is one. I meant more how you scan....I skip the scanner up and down a planet and briefly press the scan button for like a half second. That's enough for the scanner to show me if anything is around there. If so, I find it. If not, I move on. Doesn't take me long to max out a planet anymore. The real problem is running out of probes. I only have 30 right now and so I can go through two planets and be out...

I imported a level 60 Sentinel. Very fun class so far. Only used the Blackstorm weapon once, and man is it deadly. Not using my Terminus armor, though, because you can't display the helmet as "off" and so all the dialogue scenes would lose a lot for the wife and I.

Where do you get the Blood Dragon armour? I got it for Dragon Age: Origins, and you start with one piece of it in that game, but since all armour in ME comes as one item and there are no restrictions on it, wouldn't starting the game with it be kind of unbalanced? In DA: O you need a high strength to equip it so you don't get to use it until around midgame.

got it. fun man. dont know why im talking when i could be playing but i guess i needed a quik break.
Cheese. you have to download it at the main menu then you have to check your personal terminal.

Thanks garret. I've seen the picture in the code-paper that came with Dragon Age and it looks fething sweet!

Stupid Europe and its stupidly late release date.

Why is the release date different everywhere? And why do we always get things last? :(

Anyone who, like me, no longer has completed Mass Effect saves on their drive should check out this site.

Chees the thing is all the blood dragon armore does is increase pwoer damage by 15 and sheilds by ten. other then its like your starting armor

that it will most likely be replaced fairly arly by things that can do more.

Still nice to have at the start of the game though.

Bought it at Wal Mart. That place is awesome - they only stock Collector's Edition copies for PC. If you're buying MA 2 on PC get it there. Same cost as the standard game anywhere else too

I can't possibly praise this game enough. I'm not even done in the starting cluster and I've logged about 6 hours total yesterday. It's -HUGE-. I love how the Space Travel system is done like the worldmap in FFVII and FFVIII. It makes the whole game just -feel- more like an RPG than the previous game, which just seemed more like an action game with RPG elements.

Some of the reworking done is amazing too. The Citadel will be much different from what players experienced in the first game - the old areas have disappeared (At least from what I can tell in my short visit there), and have been replaced with previously unrevealed locales.

As well, scanning planets from orbit is a fun manual process now. Gone are the days of merely pressing a button and getting a popup window saying that you found resources. Now the player has to run a scanner over the surface of the planet and watch the reading on the top left for activity, which belies deposits. The stronger the activity on the scanner, the higher then mineral content. The player then launches a probe and recieves the bonus from the deposit. This is done multiple times until the planet's supply is depleted.

The conversation videos feel -much- more alive now, thanks to an environmental awareness AI that detects nearby objects. What this means is that Shepherd or another character in the conversation may choose to lean against a table or wall behind them at random if the mood in the conversation is suitable. I've played through a few conversations multiple times to see if this is scripted, but suprisingly I did not witness this behavior every time, which lead me to this conclusion. This is amazing, as ME1 felt very stale thanks to nearly stationary characters during discussion doing little more than taking a few steps or waving their arms.

I've barely scratched the surface, but this game looks like absolute gold. And the cherry on top? Bioware took a page out of Bethesda's book by making Mass Effect continuous. That's right - apparently after beating the game, you can still run around in free-play and do anything you might have overlooked.

The only thing bad I have to say about this game, in fact, is that it's only making me want ME3 that much sooner so I can finish this epic story of awesomeness.

By the by.

Screw you all, I have a Space Hamster.

AND, what's more, I also have the M98c 'Widow' Sniper Rifle on my Infiltrator.

Y'know. A rifle made for putting down APCs, Geth Armatures AND charging Krogan!

Kanluwen wrote:By the by.

Screw you all, I have a Space Hamster.

AND, what's more, I also have the M98c 'Widow' Sniper Rifle on my Infiltrator.

Y'know. A rifle made for putting down APCs, Geth Armatures AND charging Krogan!

I have that Hamster too!

And some spikey fish. So 1up here

All the fish die, even like five minutes after buying them.

no they just go off screen.

Actually no. When you go back to Shepherd's Cabin, you get a new interaction on the console between the two fish tanks.

It's "Clean Out Dead Fish".

Does anyone know how to recruit Legion? I know you have to unlock the area of the galaxy map where he's located somehow, but I don't have the foggiest idea.

Got the game today, currently slaving away on Illium. Liara is a total bitch now. Finished the loyalty missions for Jacob, Tali and Grunt.

Ask me on MSN and I'll let you know, don't want to give out spoilers on here.

Did any onf you experience any problems with accessing the DLC, importing your ME1 character or saving your game manually? The official Forum is FULL with stuff like that.
I'm still hoping they release the English Voice-over as DLC in Germany. otherwise I'll have to order my copy from England.

Nope, nope, and nope.

Accessing DLC: Renew your code on your bioware account page, not via the link in-game like they tell you to. DA:O was like this too. Bioware seems incabable of providing a simple in-game link function, and the links are always broken if you click them from the main menu. Open your internet program and manually enter the URL. Then renew your codes in your bioware profile.

ME1 Import was easy enough, just gotta click "Configure" in the launcher, and then "Saved Game", and the rest pretty much handles itself.

What sort of Save problems did you have? I haven't come across anything yet.

I didn't have any because I don't have the game yet. I want to play the English version and if BioWare won't release the original voice-over in Germany over the marketplace I'm going to order mine from England. I have exams next week, so I'm not going to play it before the 10th anyway. But looking through the BioWare forums was very ... interesting.

pretty cool thus far although I'm not buying that graphics are that much of a leap from ME1

Manchu wrote:pretty cool thus far although I'm not buying that graphics are that much of a leap from ME1

If your ME1 graphics took a random dive for the sh**s without any apparent reason despite having settings maxed like my copy did, then the ME2 graphics are an insane jump

Hmm, just a quick question for those in the know, as I missed the boat on the first game. Although I might pick up a copy as its dead cheap now, but aye, back to question.

Do you create the character, or does 'Shepard' have to look like the fella in all the clips. I just seem to recall a mag talking about creating a character in the first game, but there seems no mention of it in the reviews of the second game?

In the first game you can create your own avatar, or go with the ready made facial features.

I can only assume it is the case in the second game too.

Of course it's the case in the second game, you're not dealing with fething Blizzard garbage here.

This is BioWare. BioWare has, and always will be, king of the customizable game.

Still have to deal with the staggered launch dates though, for some god unknown reason.

*shakes fist*

Probably EA's European branch being nobbers.

How about installing the discs on the 360? Any problems there?

I just finished the game after roughly 26 hours.

Holy gak guys.

I mean, wow. I've *never* played a game this good. The dialogue, the characters, the graphics, the soundtrack, everything SCREAMS awesome. This is my #1 game of all time, and I eagerly await ME3, which, according to in-game hints, is already off to a good start behind the scenes.

I went full Paragon the whole way. I thought I was in the clear to get the 'No-one Left Behind' achievement, but then Mordin went and died early in the suicide mission. Everyone else made it, but there were some tense moments in the cutscenes when I was fervently praying that the squad member in danger was going to make it.

And the ending!


And this game is emotional. I mean, during the suicide mission, I was actually emotionally roused. Seeing Sheperd and the team fighting their way to safety and ultimately succeeding had me glued to the screen, hoping that it would all turn out for the best, and it did! Well, apart from Mordin dying. Now who's going to provide oils for my human-quarian dalliance?

My fish died.

But at least I still have you Boo!

BioWare had better put a hell of a lot of effort into ME3. After playing this, it'll be hard for any RPG I play to meet the same standard.

BrookM wrote:My fish died.

But at least I still have you Boo!

Fish don't die if you get Kelly to feed them while you're out.

So there! I have spikey fish and a Hamster!

metallifan wrote:

BrookM wrote:My fish died.

But at least I still have you Boo!

Fish don't die if you get Kelly to feed them while you're out.

So there! I have spikey fish and a Hamster!

Wait, yeoman hotpants can feed my fish?

I particallary like the model ships part. gave me the idea of doing that someday with my own office/hobby studio. that would be awesome. but i wish you could buy more types of fish. also zaeed as a awesome. jack is also. but by far the coolest member is grunt with mordin a close second.

garret wrote:but by far the coolest member is grunt with mordin a close second.

Yeah, but Grunt doesn't sing Gilbert and Sullivan.

BrookM wrote:

metallifan wrote:

BrookM wrote:My fish died.

But at least I still have you Boo!

Fish don't die if you get Kelly to feed them while you're out.

So there! I have spikey fish and a Hamster!

Wait, yeoman hotpants can feed my fish?

Yea. I'm willing to bet you can pork her too, just haven't tried yet

avantgarde wrote:

garret wrote:but by far the coolest member is grunt with mordin a close second.

Yeah, but Grunt doesn't sing Gilbert and Sullivan.

After he was done singing, I lol'd hard at Shepard's expression. Priceless.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

metallifan wrote:

BrookM wrote:

metallifan wrote:

BrookM wrote:My fish died.

But at least I still have you Boo!

Fish don't die if you get Kelly to feed them while you're out.

So there! I have spikey fish and a Hamster!

Wait, yeoman hotpants can feed my fish?

Yea. I'm willing to bet you can pork her too, just haven't tried yet

I don't think you can, probably because

I still can't decide which class I should play? I keep thinking about playing a Biotic, but then again, would I have a reason to take Subject Zero into my squad?
Is the Technicican/Biotic Combo any good?

Cheese Elemental wrote:

avantgarde wrote:

garret wrote:but by far the coolest member is grunt with mordin a close second.

Yeah, but Grunt doesn't sing Gilbert and Sullivan.

After he was done singing, I lol'd hard at Shepard's expression. Priceless.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

metallifan wrote:

BrookM wrote:

metallifan wrote:

BrookM wrote:My fish died.

But at least I still have you Boo!

Fish don't die if you get Kelly to feed them while you're out.

So there! I have spikey fish and a Hamster!

Wait, yeoman hotpants can feed my fish?

Yea. I'm willing to bet you can pork her too, just haven't tried yet

I don't think you can, probably because

Spoiler:

she gets turned into mush by the Collectors when they abduct your crew.

That doesn't mean you can't! And damn me for being weak willed enough to read that spoiler!

Besides, dashing Shepherd's hopes and dreams against the sharp rocks of reality is always good fun

Anung Un Rama wrote:I still can't decide which class I should play? I keep thinking about playing a Biotic, but then again, would I have a reason to take Subject Zero into my squad?
Is the Technicican/Biotic Combo any good?

Infiltrator is beastin' with Grunt and Jacob Taylor in the later stages of the game, or with Zaheed in lieu of Grunt.

Just sayin'

I don't think I like the Infiltrator. Mass Effect is not the kind of game where I want to snipe.

Anung Un Rama wrote:I don't think I like the Infiltrator. Mass Effect is not the kind of game where I want to snipe.

It's all about close-range nutshots with the semi-auto Sniper Rifle. Seriously, I blaze through and waste things with AP rounds and groin-destruction.

Anung Un Rama wrote:I don't think I like the Infiltrator. Mass Effect is not the kind of game where I want to snipe.

There's two very different playstyles, and on a certain level you CAN gain Shotgun/Assault Rifle specialization in lieu of the Anti-Material Rifle(on my second playthrough, I'm grabbing Assault Rifles as my NEXT thing to train ).

Assassin specialization once you max out Agent would be very very effective for sniping, I'll agree. But if you do the other specialization, which can grab you a longer lasting cloak, things of that nature...You become a very effective close in fighter who can flank behind while your team suppresses.

And then you get to riddle your enemies with SMG loaded with Shredder Rounds!

@Metallifan: Ah, I'm using the 360 to avoid just these kind of problems. (And that's the most praise I'll ever give th 360.)

Pft. The 360 deserves all praise.

ALL!

Plus, I liked the ease of mapping what I need to the bumpers

Manchu wrote:@Metallifan: Ah, I'm using the 360 to avoid just these kind of problems. (And that's the most praise I'll ever give th 360.)

What problems? The fact that I like to blow the fruitbowls off of a few dozen mercs with a sniper rifle at point blank is a problem?

He probably meant the issues with DLC/skipping, etc that you mentioned earlier.

Ahh yes, the famous "Bioware Broken Link"

They always fix it quickly, but is it really that hard to provide a working link to your website?

Just finished. with a game for 2 discs it was too short. most of the data was the scanning the planets. ending was to anti-climatic i mean


but it may be because i read ahead on mass effect wiki.
I might play it again with another chracter. i havent played with a biotic chracter except for once. i always chose soldiers. gotta love assult rifles.

It's anti climactic because the grand finale has already been partially announced for release. ME3 is "Definately set for 2011"

Actual date TBA, but Bioware was apparently already well underway with a good head start on ME3 by the time ME2 was released. Seems like they really want to cash in on the hype of ME2. Good on them for it, I say.

Again around 2 years roughly. I would bet sometime around lets say november that year. man i will already be at my second year at college when that comes.
original mass effect. Release date was 11/20/07
this release date was 01/26/10 roughly 2 years and three months. would have been earliers but there were issues i beat.
actually ive seen this trend alot that why im hoping for gears of war 3 and saints row 3 around christmas. Sadly after bioshock there might be a sortof dryspell in games till august. ill have to get by on used games.

Man, isn't the Carnifex Hand Cannon awesome? It's like a Space Deagle!

My squad for the first playthrough was usually Tali and Garrus. Sticking with old friends and they both combo well with a soldier. Just started my second playthrough with that same character (who I completed ME1 with as well), but this time I'm doing Veteran difficulty.

It's actually really hard. My squad's level 29 now and even the first few enemies of the game are a lot more powerful this time around. Do you think they get scaled up according to level as well as the base difficulty setting?

And the attention to detail is awesome. Some of the conversations you overhear are hilarious. There's this one guy on the Citadel who was in ME1 trying to get a refund in the markets but was faced with a stubborn shopkeeper, and if you go to the warehouse in ME2, he's still there, arguing with someone else, claiming that he's been after his refund for two years.

The turian and quarian conversation you can overhear on Illium made me laugh out loud when it got to the last few lines, and there's all those advertisements like 'Elcor Hamlet' and the movie about a Hanar Spectre.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, and everyone, FULLY UPGRADE YOUR SHIP. It's expensive, but VERY important. If you don't, up to three of your squadmates will die before your suicide mission even begins.

And during the suicide mission (no real spoilers here), you will have to pick squadmates for certain tasks. Think long and hard about what the task would involve and pick someone suited to it (such as Miranda for leading a squad).

My team is grunt and subject zero. I never in my memery used samara or or drell in combat. even during there loyalty missions. but i wish zaeed have a dialogue option. Oh and cheese the bacherler party in the smae room is funnier. but have you cheacked out the video game store in the citadel? he says funny stuff too.
I dont know if im going to start again so soon. maybe maybe not. maybe this time with another group.

Has anyone else noticed the large differences between the romances? I've watched all of the them except Jacob's, but with Miranda it's basically straight-out sex (in the engine room, FFS...), Subject Zero's is fairly nice (assuming it's the Paragon one where she totally breaks down), and the three alien ones are all a lot more romantic but don't have the same visible physical contact.

Tali's, once the mask is off, looks like it gets really wild (considering she basically pins Shepard to the bed, I also chose this one), Garrus' is lol-worthy because it's so awkward, and Thane's is really solemn and a bit sad.

I really hope the geth make a bigger impact in me3 then in this one. There role was kinda downplayed in this one.
I also hope reapers play a bigger part in the sequal. oh and hopefully we can see what the protheans really look like.
But the geth were a disappoint. But what i hated more were the fething husks. well atleast you only fight them during certain parts of the game.
although one thin bothers me

garret wrote:I really hope the geth make a bigger impact in me3 then in this one. There role was kinda downplayed in this one.

Because ME2 was never -about- the Geth. That was obvious from the day they announced "The Collectors" as the new enemy. I find it hard to believe you weren't expecting this also.

No it wasnt from the day it was annpunced the trailer showed a geth. Besides during the enemies of mass effect 2 video if i remeber correctly the guy one there said "of course the geth are back. there a big part of the mass effect universe."
I just think the geth are awesome.

garret: The geth in the first trailer was Legion.

yes still we ddint know that. we all thought he was just a regulr geth. Besides the geth still needed a bigger role. There just awesome.

They'll have a major role in the next game assuming you allow Legion to reverse the effects of their virus on his loyalty mission.

I was watching my brother play the game for a while. I appreciated it, he was so excited and I was getting a kick just out of watching him. But I had school the next day, so I headed off.


3-4 hours later, in the middle of the night, he bursts into my room, shaking me awake and screams, eyes wide in amazement.

"Dude! You can DO Tali!"

I groggily respond "GTFO."

"Yeah, I know! Isn't it awesome?!"

"...No. What I meant was, 'GTFO of my room.' Go to bed. Fething xeno-lover..."

That basically sums up the whole damn thing.

Emperors Faithful wrote:
3-4 hours later, in the middle of the night, he bursts into my room, shaking me awake and screams, eyes wide in amazement.

"Dude! You can DO Tali!"

I would have done the same thing. That's how awesome it is.

Tali? Ewww....


Anyway, so I keep reading the Bioware support Forum and they keep screaming about bugs without end. Won't load the mission here, causes RROD there. It's scary.

just started my second playthrough. on veteren. going to play it again. then when it comes out with episodic content ill play on higher difficulty.
BTW. does anyone know how to get the geth pulse rifle?

Veteran?

You sissy.

Insane is for the second playthrough.

i have to save the higher difficulty for the dlc.

Hey cheese! remember that spoiler you put out against Kelly/ "Yeoman Hotpants"?

She didn't get mulched in mah game. Probably cause' I told that bish to feed mah fish good!

Well, time to see if you can bonk her too

metallifan wrote:Hey cheese! remember that spoiler you put out against Kelly/ "Yeoman Hotpants"?

She didn't get mulched in mah game. Probably cause' I told that bish to feed mah fish good!

Well, time to see if you can bonk her too

How can you tell her to feed yer fish?

BrookM wrote:

metallifan wrote:Hey cheese! remember that spoiler you put out against Kelly/ "Yeoman Hotpants"?

She didn't get mulched in mah game. Probably cause' I told that bish to feed mah fish good!

Well, time to see if you can bonk her too

How can you tell her to feed yer fish?

Gotta flirt her up, then ask her to have dinner with you. talk to her after and she'll offer to feed your fish.

metallifan wrote:

BrookM wrote:

metallifan wrote:Hey cheese! remember that spoiler you put out against Kelly/ "Yeoman Hotpants"?

She didn't get mulched in mah game. Probably cause' I told that bish to feed mah fish good!

Well, time to see if you can bonk her too

How can you tell her to feed yer fish?

Gotta flirt her up, then ask her to have dinner with you. talk to her after and she'll offer to feed your fish.

Hrm, I guess she isn't for same-gender relations then.

actually she is.

Anung Un Rama wrote:Tali? Ewww....


Anyway, so I keep reading the Bioware support Forum and they keep screaming about bugs without end. Won't load the mission here, causes RROD there. It's scary.

Bioware has had a lot of issues with bugs as of late. I still can't play Dragon Age because the game will not recognize my DLC authorizations.

Anung Un Rama wrote:Tali? Ewww....

What?

Anung Un Rama wrote:Anyway, so I keep reading the Bioware support Forum and they keep screaming about bugs without end. Won't load the mission here, causes RROD there. It's scary.

I've had no issues with the game and I've been playing for around 50 hours now.

Cheese Elemental wrote:

Anung Un Rama wrote:Tali? Ewww....

What?

Do I even want to know what's behind that helmet that every member of her race is wearing?

Cheese Elemental wrote:

Anung Un Rama wrote:Anyway, so I keep reading the Bioware support Forum and they keep screaming about bugs without end. Won't load the mission here, causes RROD there. It's scary.

I've had no issues with the game and I've been playing for around 50 hours now.

It's pretty weird. Then again, I suppose if it really would be that bad I would've heard complains from more sources than the official support Forum.

I still don't know which class to play. The Adept looks really cool, but if I play one, there is not much use in putting Subject Zero in my squad, is there? Because from the characters I've seen so far, I think I like her and keep her around.
I am of course going for multiple runs, but it is hard to choose what to beginn with.

Anung Un Rama wrote:

Cheese Elemental wrote:

Anung Un Rama wrote:Tali? Ewww....

What?

Do I even want to know what's behind that helmet that every member of her race is wearing?

If you look at her mask up close or when there's no bright light nearby, you can clearly see a human-looking upper face, same with all the quarians you see.

Anung Un Rama wrote:
I still don't know which class to play. The Adept looks really cool, but if I play one, there is not much use in putting Subject Zero in my squad, is there? Because from the characters I've seen so far, I think I like her and keep her around.
I am of course going for multiple runs, but it is hard to choose what to beginn with.

I'm playing a Paragon Adept in my second playthrough, and it's a blast. Shockwave is ridiculously powerful and push/pull recharge really fast. If you're going to play as an Adept, I recommend specialising as a Bastion once you max your passive class skill.

Besides, Subject Zero is closer to a Vanguard than an Adept because she uses shotguns. The only thing missing is Charge.

Good old fasioned soldier. gotta love assult rifles. if i ever play another character it will be one that can use sub machine guns.

avantgarde wrote:I've been playing straight for the last 10 hours. Here's what I got so far.

Story:
At this point I've assembled a decent size crew (6 outta 10). The storyline isn't as epic feeling so far, but it seems like I'm just scratching the surface and not even close to the end. The background stories for your teammates are actually interesting and I like this new batch far better than the old ones. Seriously though, stop with the cameos, they literally cameo every minor quest giving NPC from ME1.

Gameplay:
Less walking around towns. I nearly killed myself after spending 2 hours wandering around the Citadel doing quests in the first game. First town I walked into, I only had to talk to one person and they pointed me straight at the action.

The customization is awesome now, they dropped the massive inventory train wreck from the first game. Instead of swapping upgrades out of weapons, you swap weapons (which actually have noticeable differences) and research improvements for your team's equipment.

Combat: Wow, massive overhaul. The shooter elements, class limited weapons, improved level design and the new powers make a big difference; squad tactics and composition are actually important now. Seriously impressed.

Exploration: They got ride of the planet side exploration, which I'm glad. They replaced it with a manual scan for planets which is equally as tedious, but less time consuming. They also tied it into the upgrade system so at least it's worth exploring. They did add in some bs fuel system for god knows why.

Graphics:
It's really just the same engine with cosmetic improvements, but I didn't really expect more. There's way more attention to detail, which makes up for it.

Only one major disappointment, they didn't fix the load times. Instead of the stroke inducing elevator rides of awkwardness you get a load screen, which is faster by virtue of not forcing you to stare at a wall the whole time. Also the Normandy has four decks now, so you get four of those bad boys whenever you tour the ship. It almost makes seducing your crew not even worth the effort. The real icing though is the fact you can only change your armor in your personal quarters, which involves sitting through two load screens, the airlock and the elevator. Awesome.

They removed customization, there is no reason to use any weapon other than the most recent one you've found, which is generally the best one you've found. Did anyone find themselves switching their weapons out? Other than the heavies why would I use an auto sniper over the anti-material one-shot-kill AWP that I found on the collector ship, or the starter heavy pistol over the carnifex deagle? It is true that the inventory system on the 360 was a train wreck but at least there were different weapons to use, I found 1 heavy pistol, 1 submachine gun and 2 sniper rifles (I ported over my infiltrator from ME1 so no shotguns or assault rifles) in the course of my game.

The upgrades that you can buy basically lock you into set paths and honestly how much difference is there between a +30% heavy pistol and a +40%?
In ME1 you could at least find weapons that fired faster or overheated slower or whatever, they shot differently, in ME2 this isn't the case.

They removed armor customization, all of the extra pieces I found were trivial in the bonuses they provided.


But everything else was better, combat was so much more engaging, the enemy AI was actually a threat and the cover system works much better this time around.

There was less texture popping and although ME1 was a long time ago so my memory could be wrong here but I think I found less overall bugs. Loading time problems still there, they just replaced elevators with loading screens.

Also, I guess this is just a personal thing but it kind of bugged me that they send you to these great, interesting looking places and then the actual map of the place is really small. I mean, I would have really liked to be able to explore Illium and the Citadel more especially. This could again just be my memory but I feel like KOTOR did a much better job of this with places like Taris for example, much more random crap to do.

Did anyone else here have a problem resolving the Jack vs Miranda thing?

Great experience all in all.

there unless its a chracter specific gun there are only 2 guns of each type.
excludin heavys but sadly all heavys suck excluding the collecter rifle. all others required charge up or could take out a dang mech.

It seems like the Soldier is the only one with any level of choice (4 distinct assault rifles) and access to every weapon in the game. I was expecting more equipment as the game progressed, but no.

Did anyone else here have a problem resolving the Jack vs Miranda thing?

Spoiler:

I had a 95% paragon rating and I still couldn't convince Miranda to stop being a bitch and regain her loyalty so she ended up dying at the end.

Maybe you just suck? I got No One Left Behind with Miranda at normal. What were your team assignments?


Oh, another major complaint. The intro is long as hell and you can't skip it. So anytime I want to start a new character or test another class I got to sit through 30 minutes of cinematic. For a game that encourages multiple playthroughs, it does a good job of discouraging it.

God I know about the intro, why isn't it skippable? I had the exact same problem, I wanted to test extra classes and what not but it took forever. Also, you can't change your class when you import your ME2 character but you can with your ME1 character.

Edited because I am afraid of pissing someone off even though it's pretty obvious...

I may buy me1 and play through it with all the choices the exact opposite from what really happned. maybe this way i could see another version off mass effect 2.

PistolWraithCaine wrote:

Spoiler:

Tali as tech, Garrus to lead the fire teams, and the blue woman to do the biotic field, I did it right but she died for some reason wtf. Were you able to change her mind with the conversation choices? They were always greyed out now matter how high my stupid paragon level was. I checked other sites and they said that it didn't matter for miranda vs garrus leading the other teams so I have no idea. Some people said that they restarted the mission and did everything the same and some of the deaths changed.

I think you need 100% to fix it. Guess I just lucked out.

I never really liked her anyway.

Anybody here wouldn't happen to know the point of being able to copy Grunt's loyalty ability, you don't have armor......




I feel like this game sort of had Metal Gear Solid syndrome with the biotics in cutscenes, don't they look so much cooler than they actually are??

PistolWraithCaine wrote:I never really liked her anyway.

Anybody here wouldn't happen to know the point of being able to copy Grunt's loyalty ability, you don't have armor......

Spoiler:

As far as I know, the Tech dying only depends on who you send in, it has to be a character with strong tech skills, I think Tali, Mordin or Legion are the only ones who won't die. Likewise I think that someone from the team sent through the swarms will die unless you pick Samara or Jack to maintain the field.

I feel like this game sort of had Metal Gear Solid syndrome with the biotics in cutscenes, don't they look so much cooler than they actually are??

My impresion after completing this game is.... FRAKKING AWESOM! I have NEVER enjoyed a game as much as I did with this. I must admit I was a bit sceptical at first but Im overwhemed by its awesomness

The romance with Garrus is honestly quite sweet. It's not about sex or anything, it's about them.

Garrus is fething awesome, he's been my fav character since ME1. Anyone who says otherwise will suffer a flame attack.

Wrex and Tali are my favorite characters since I first saw them in Mass Effect 1.
There are several good thing with alien(xeno) LOVE.

Emperors Faithful wrote:The romance with Garrus is honestly quite sweet. It's not about sex or anything, it's about them.

Garrus is fething awesome, he's been my fav character since ME1. Anyone who says otherwise will suffer a flame attack.

Spoiler:

Although I haven't had the chance yet, I'm looking forward to the opportunity to bring Legion on board the Flotilla with Tali. Just to see their reactions.

You get Legion after you've done pretty much every Loyalty mission, and

Cheese Elemental wrote:

Spoiler:

The tech specialist you send has to be either Tali or Legion, and you have to have Miranda as the leader for the second team for them to survive.

Cheese you are incorrect on your second statement.



On the flip side, what a fantastic game, and frankly judging by the final cutscene I cannot wait for the sequel!

Cheese Elemental wrote:I'm playing a Paragon Adept in my second playthrough, and it's a blast. Shockwave is ridiculously powerful and push/pull recharge really fast. If you're going to play as an Adept, I recommend specialising as a Bastion once you max your passive class skill.

Besides, Subject Zero is closer to a Vanguard than an Adept because she uses shotguns. The only thing missing is Charge.

Really? That's good to know. Maybe I will play an Adept now on my first playthrough. I still have an unplayed Gears of War lying around here and I want to play something different than only shooters.

Kanluwen wrote:

Emperors Faithful wrote:The romance with Garrus is honestly quite sweet. It's not about sex or anything, it's about them.

Garrus is fething awesome, he's been my fav character since ME1. Anyone who says otherwise will suffer a flame attack.

Spoiler:

Although I haven't had the chance yet, I'm looking forward to the opportunity to bring Legion on board the Flotilla with Tali. Just to see their reactions.

You get Legion after you've done pretty much every Loyalty mission, and

Spoiler:

Tali gets exiled from the fleet if you do her mission the only way to actually get her loyalty

Tali's mission doesn't have to end like that - you just need to be a super paragon to convince the admiralty board.

Well, I'll find out on my INSANE! playthrough now

How funny were those conversations that you overhear in Eternity on Illum?

Turian: We could go watch Fleet and Flotilla. It won over five awards for it's Qu'arian/Turian romance.

Qu'arian: Oh, it's okay. A little dry spell won't kill me. Besides I've got this wonderful pleasure stimulator in my enviro-suit.

Turian: I hear that the love scenes are-...wait, what?

Qu'arian: Oh yes, no mature adult should go anywhere without them. Here, I'll turn it on now. ...Um, excuse me, human, private conversation here? Sheesh.

I loled my socks off.

It's pretty short.

Queit, you. (Did you go through ALL the loyalty missions? ) I think that it can be really short if you just stick to the main story. What I like about it is all the side stories and cameos.

Though I have yet to meet 'The Fan' again...

I got everybody loyal but that fether Zaeed. I'm a paragon of goodness, so civvies come first.

BrookM wrote:I got everybody loyal but that fether Zaeed. I'm a paragon of goodness, so civvies come first.

Oh, that's very bad. Non-loyal squad members can cause the deaths of loyal squad members during the suicide mission. My advice:

zaeed is awesome. i just wish there was a damn dialogue option for him.

The characters in this game were more interesting than the ones in ME1, but I felt they were still a little on the shallow side. Legion was interesting, as were Mordin and Miranda, but the rest were too stereotypical; particularly Jacob.

Really, Bioware hasn't come up with many truly great characters of late. Wrex was well done, as was Morrigan, but they haven't been able to pull off a Viconia, or Valygar recently.

Grunt was pretty awesome, I thought.

He was better than I expected him to be. They managed to sidestep the pure, mindless psychopath that anticipated.

Well let put together a list.

Pros.
Great graphics from what i hear(old tv dont know)
Well put together chracters.
interesting plot.
zaeed.
mordin
cons.
to here and there. not really a straight game.
for a game that lets you customize your armor there is little need other then cometics changes.
to rushed. not enough pacing.
guns sucks. you either have A)alot of ammo with little punch or b) little ammo with alot of punch.
anti-climatic ending.

anyone else have anything to add.
all in all in satisfied and disappointed. satisfied that it improved on the games disapointed that it was so short.

"Short"?

It lasted me three days for my first playthrough alone.

a game should last atleast 50 to 60 hours. this lasted 33 for my first play through.

I agree with Garret with respect to the pacing of the story.

I also wasn't the biggest fan of the move towards a greater emphasis on the shooter elements.

Still a good game, but I feel like there were some elements from the first game that should have carried over. For example, I would have liked to see the Mako come back in a reduced and refined role.

I also would have appreciated a reworked inventory system. In fact, the inclusions of a real inventory would have gone a long way to strengthening the RPG vibe.

The fuel and probe mechanics were unnecessary, as has already been pointed out. The Final Fantasy style map navigation also seemed out of place.

I sort of alluded to this earlier, but I really feel like Jacob was a wasted character. You'd think that a guy with so many reservations about his employer would be more proactive when presented with a commander who is likely to have similar feelings. His writing really felt phoned in; very much like the Alliance soldiers from the previous game.

well, I nailed Tali

which is the reason I bothered buying ME2 after that abortion Dragon Age

and now I feel like I'm pretty much finished with the game



Automatically Appended Next Post:
@dogma: agreed about Jacob, was really a waste, somehow even the frigid Asari was more interesting even

do like Legion, however (strange side effect of Tali crush?) Miranda seems kind of cool--but sooooo ugly (from neck up). Mordin makes my cut, too. Grunt is serviceable (probably will get more mileage on a renegade playthrough) but Thane and Jack . . . meh.

ME2 Garrus seemed unrelated to ME1 Garrus--is he supposed to be Batman now?

As far as characterization, I think Bioware's most impressive feat in this field was making the player's character in KotOR so compelling; maybe it's just me, but Revan stands heads and shoulders over Shepherd.

I think Legion was my favorite character, though its always a good idea to re-purpose the enemies present in the first component of a narrative (Darth Vader anyone?).

I would have liked Jack more had her character arc not been ripped directly from the Riddick universe. They could have at least given her a different name.

Thane was boring. Its telling that I often forget he's even in the game. Though is character class (biotic infiltrator) would be my ideal choice given the freedom to make it.

Agreed about Garrus, though I feel as though that was the point. I suppose the ruthlessness was hinted at in ME1, but his new found disregard for law and order came out of left field.

Zaeed was a solid character. Not terribly unique, but well conceived and believable.

I kind of wanted Wrex to come back, but I think what they did with him was quite fitting. In fact, Tuchanka was well done on the whole. Though I wish they had emphasized Krogan politics more.

The Migrant Fleet was underwhelming. Though I've never really liked the Space Jews.

I found Illium to be an odd place given the supposed nature of the Asari. It seemed too common for a planet run by omnisexual warrior women who live for a thousand years.

I found it really amusing that you can bang your secretary.

With Garrus, it's not so much a "newfound disregard for law and order".

He's had at *least* two years to stew in a timeline where the Council was doing nothing. He's basically had to sit by and watch the Citadel go to the crapper, without any real chance for redemption. It's why he took the team to Omega in the first place(to TRY to stop Eclipse's drug running).

When he got betrayed and his team slaughtered--that's what pushed him over the edge into his pseudo-vigilante status.

Jack was a stupid character and very one dimensional with little of true interest.

The Migrant Fleet was underwhelming yes, I was expecting an overcrowded ship or something, with the inhabitants not wearing their suits at all.

And maybe it's just me but the sudden inclusion of swearing doesn't make the game any more serious or adult. Same goes for the sudden smoking. Sure, the X-Files man smokes, that's okay. But seeing an Elcor with a cigar is just silly-willy.

Granted, the Joker's gak mantra while limping through the Normandy was good. The scream of the yeoman less so, it made me want to rescue the crew as soon as possible.

Legion was an interesting character, though I would've loved to learn more about it, especially regarding the N7 armour. Though the "there was a hole" reply suffices.

There so much more entertaining dialouge in this one when compared to ME1. When doing Tali's loyalty mission, bring Legion on board. It's worth it.

I felt that Thane was a bit soppy. Especially for such a cold killer. Melodramatic perhaps? I think a mix or Thane/Jack characteristcs would have suited the assasin role better.

Oh, and you have a Engineer. Who's scottish.

I'll stay out of this thread until I finally get my hands on it.
...
See you next tuesday

Emperors Faithful wrote:There so much more entertaining dialouge in this one when compared to ME1. When doing Tali's loyalty mission, bring Legion on board. It's worth it.

I did that today. Sadly I had to delete the character because I fethed up my alignment at some point, but that dialogue was hilarious.

"Security! There's a geth in the courtroom!"

And intimidating the Admirals into pardoning Tali is the most hardcore, badass moment in the entire fething game. Sheperd fething sticks it to the Admirals and leaves them all speechless. Pure, distilled win. If you bring Legion with you, you can also get some interesting dialogue about peace with the geth if you talk to the Admiral in red armour (forgot his name, the one who's from a ship called Qwib-Qwib, which is another hilarious topic to talk to him about).

Emperors Faithful wrote:I felt that Thane was a bit soppy. Especially for such a cold killer. Melodramatic perhaps? I think a mix or Thane/Jack characteristcs would have suited the assasin role better.

Remember that Thane didn't really have a choice. He was raised to be an assassin, then found comfort in his wife and family, only to have some arseholes kill her. To top that off, he's terminally ill and hates the life he's lived. I found him a very sympathetic character.

I liked Thane's character, frankly. It was less of the generic "hurr, I'm a merciless killah assassin manz!" and more like the McMannus brothers from Boondock Saints.

He's not killing for the thrill, or the money. He's doing it to make the galaxy a better place, and to atone for all the killings he's already done.

Zaeed is by far my favorite character. Badass Aussie Merc FTW I laughed on the prison ship when the warden said merc are unreliable, and Zaeed responded with "You're not hiring the right ones!"

Kanluwen wrote:
When he got betrayed and his team slaughtered--that's what pushed him over the edge into his pseudo-vigilante status.

It still felt odd, if only because his vigilante nature sort of appeared halfway through the game. When you first meet him he seems like the same old Garrus.

Has anyone else heard Mordin's sex advice? If you pursue a relationship with a non-human squadmate, he has this to say:

dogma wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:
When he got betrayed and his team slaughtered--that's what pushed him over the edge into his pseudo-vigilante status.

It still felt odd, if only because his vigilante nature sort of appeared halfway through the game. When you first meet him he seems like the same old Garrus.

It depends on how you talk to him when you meet him on Omega, I guess. When I first talked with him, you could tell he was slightly...damaged. He was the same old Garrus in that he wanted to do good and keep people safe--but definitely not the same in that he had no qualms putting down merc hirelings who may/may not have known what the bosses were doing.

Didn't he do that in ME1 though? Maybe it was only a result of PC encouragement, but I thought he had a rather cavalier attitude towards collateral damage. Though it has been a while since I've played that game.

Edit: I changed my mind, Mordin was my favorite character.

In ME1 he was always rather...vocal whenever you took Renegade actions. Him and Ashley never shut up when you start massacring helpless mercs.

Kanluwen wrote:In ME1 he was always rather...vocal whenever you took Renegade actions. Him and Ashley never shut up when you start massacring helpless mercs.

Ashley complained about everything. Killing mercs, threatening people, having sex with Liara, etc.

Honestly, when the time came to choose between her and Kaidan on Virmire, the answer was obvious.

You killed Kaidan, right?

What I was referring to was that Garrus was more of a Robin-type last go and a Batman-type this time; he used to want a mentor in Shepherd and seemed morally confused--his classic last line from the new game sums it up: "I don't know what to do with the gray." He didn't feel familiar until right then IMO.

Jack and Jacob both seemed throw-away to me. I couldn't have cared less about them. Made the gak ending even less exciting.

I can't express the extent to which Jack angered me. So much lazy characterization. They even called the prison Purgatory. Why not just play Chronicles of Riddick when the PC converses with her?

Her concept was sound, but the execution was incredibly sloppy; just a generic emo girl. They should have made her the autistic daughter of the Cerberus agent mentioned in the novels. That would have been unique, interesting, and narrative appropriate (the Illusive Man going back on promises).

Does anyone knoe that when you enter the collecter ship in a second plathrough that you can chose a differet weapon from the pile and keep the one you have right ther. like can i chose the sniper rifle but still keep my machine gun?

lol. Well i can tell you this. Xenos the pain in the ass at all times.

The Geth the necrons in the Mass Effect universe.

I was looking around this and i loled at this in a high school room.
"DUDE YOU CAN DO TALI!"
"GTFO!"
XD.
Then my friends walked over and also Loled at it. Too bad the teacher didn't get it. It was so funny at the time. But then one of my friends did the same thing
"DUDE YOU CAN DO MARINDA!"
"GTFO YOU DUMB---! I'm WORKING!"
(i was doing homework *COUGH* with some friends, talking about the hobby *cough*"

Just started playing today, importing my ME1 Soldier. Love the improved graphics. Don't really like the simplified weapons/armor. Is it THAT hard to do a decent inventory system? Take some more pages from Bethesda's book.

ME2, even more than ME1, makes me think someone on Bioware's dev team was a huge fan of the ancient Starflight games. Flying around in/between solar systems using up fuel, scanning planets for minerals, and driving around in a wheeled APC? Definitely curious elements to include in an RPG, but I like them.

I also like the new hack/bypass mini-games, and that any character can do them. I kept Tali in my team in ME1 largely because I needed her to open stuff (gotta get the loot!), effectively wasting a character slot when it came to any serious fighting. Now that's not necessary.

Noble713 wrote:Just started playing today, importing my ME1 Soldier. Love the improved graphics. Don't really like the simplified weapons/armor. Is it THAT hard to do a decent inventory system? Take some more pages from Bethesda's book.

ME2, even more than ME1, makes me think someone on Bioware's dev team was a huge fan of the ancient Starflight games. Flying around in/between solar systems using up fuel, scanning planets for minerals, and driving around in a wheeled APC? Definitely curious elements to include in an RPG, but I like them.

I also like the new hack/bypass mini-games, and that any character can do them. I kept Tali in my team in ME1 largely because I needed her to open stuff (gotta get the loot!), effectively wasting a character slot when it came to any serious fighting. Now that's not necessary.

Surely you jest! Tali was pretty deadly with a shotgun and her insanely powered up shields.

With the ending to the game im wondering what path me3 will take. I wonder if it will be recruiting armies like how you did in dragon age. Cause i doupt shepard will be able to take on all of them with just the normandy. Bioware better make it good. I wonder if it will be one the 360 still or will we have a new console in the next two years. i guess we will find out in e3. I doupt it though. i bet all well se are upgrades or new versions of the consoles know. but i digress.

ME3 will be Dragon Age redux. I'm only interested because the character interposition should be compelling.

Lets hope they still do it well. More guns next time around.

They will struggle to develop a compelling ending. The primary arc isn't original.

When is anything truly original today?
The settings and circumstances are what things are about today.
Btw im going mostly renegade for my chracter. she gats scary looking when ya do that. there eyes change.

Originality happens. Its simply a matter of genre consciousness.

I really didn't like ME1 (the combat and character advancement is crap, and after the first playthrough, you realize just how limited the game's story and scale is), so I won't be getting ME2, but I did get a chance to attend a lecture by the head game and cinematic animators. Really learned a lot about game design, as well as the changes they made from ME1 to ME2 on simply a design level.

Oh, and I won a T-shirt.

Anyone else in the Lethbridge area at the time attend?

MystudiesrangefromurbantoagrarianIamtheexampleofascientistsalarian.

*cough*


I lol'd.

I found the grinding teeth between Tali and Legion to be interesting, it actually made me WANT to resolve the conflict between thier races. Not many games make me want to something for the sake of it.

BTW, "There was a hole."

Emperors Faithful wrote:MystudiesrangefromurbantoagrarianIamtheexampleofascientistsalarian.

*cough*


I lol'd.

I found the grinding teeth between Tali and Legion to be interesting, it actually made me WANT to resolve the conflict between thier races. Not many games make me want to something for the sake of it.

BTW, "There was a hole."

You missed out the awkward pause and shepard's stare. that killed me.

As for the Tali-Legion conflict, i found it surprising that the geth was the first to offer the olive branch after i'd given them a Paragon slap around the head.

Judging by that and my Shepard actions thus far, everyone from the geth to the racni are going to be lining up to take on the Reapers.

Emperors Faithful wrote:
BTW, "There was a hole."

That's what she said.

When did you get this game carnius?

Any word on the release date of the DLC containing the Hammerhead? I'm thinking probably mid-late March, maybe early April.

I'm just happy ME3 is due out next year. 2 Years for ME2 was unbearable

Wait, seriously? It's already ready to go?

Those sneaky bastards.

Yep. Apparently they were already a quarter of the way through making ME3 when ME2 was released

And that, ladies and gents, is why Bioware is the RPG Jesus

Also explains why the Hammerhead and vehicle-accessible worlds got left out of the main release.

Don't confuse making good RPGs with having a quick release schedule. Bethesda makes BioWare look like an awkward teenager when it comes to crafting a story.

That demands a heady rebuttal.


Orly?

Bethesda's stuff, while sometimes interesting, is all very...generic.

Manchu wrote:Don't confuse making good RPGs with having a quick release schedule. Bethesda makes BioWare look like an awkward teenager when it comes to crafting a story.

Maybe with E.S.

Fallout 3 was a pretty hurting story as far as I saw it. It's like they made the rest of the game, then said "Okay, so... Why is the nameless dunderf**k wandering out of his perfectly safe vault this time? Oh! I know! He'll look for his dad! Even though he doesn't really -need- him in the vault, being 18 and all... Oh! And just to make sure he has to leave, a psychotic evil dictator will run the place. Let's print it."

Even then, FO3 just feels like Oblivion with guns. Sure, it's great to waste time on, but if you're looking for originality or a deep plot, your money is better spent elsewhere.

I don't think a quick release coincides with quality all the time. Only when it actually does. Like, for example, with ME3. Bioware would have to replace their entire staff with drunk, slowed, quadriplegic spider monkies to actually mess it up at this point.

So Bioware might be the akward youth, but Bethesda is the dying old man. Their reluctance to test play -anything- before release doesn't help either.

Not at all. Cyrodil is what Ferelden dreams of being. And Mass Effect has a good background and beautiful visual design but a stupid, cookie-cutter main plot. The rise of the Neveraine, by contrast, was thought-provoking and personal. The Vault Dweller's quest, too, was far more meaningful than yet another "save the universe" hackjob.

Manchu wrote:Not at all. Cyrodil is what Ferelden dreams of being. And Mass Effect has a good background and beautiful visual design but a stupid, cookie-cutter main plot. The rise of the Neveraine, by contrast, was thought-provoking and personal. The Vault Dweller's quest, too, was far more meaningful than yet another "save the universe" hackjob.

Cyrodil has had how many games to build up its background?

Ferelden has had how many?

I'm just sayin' here. If BioWare had the same amount of previous material to draw on, I'm sure things would have been *very* different.
As it is, Bethesda seems to have jumped the ship from Oblivion to Fallout 3...which is a stupid move.

Ferelden may be worked out into something more meaningful ten years from now but that's not the point. People have been claiming that it's compelling as-is, which is utterly untrue. Also, Bethesda has not given up on Elder Scrolls games. That's like saying there will never be another Dragon Age because ME2 was released. Fallout 3 was an excellent game with an nuanced and interesting plot that involved the participation of the player's imagination, rather than having everything served up to you like a movie or television series as in the latest BioWare games.

I actually enjoyed Ferelden much more than I did Cyrodil (Cyyrodil? Cyrodiil?) as far as story. Oblivion was more fun from a gameplay standard, with open exploration and all, while DA:O felt more like Diablo 2.5

Sure, "Save the galaxy" isn't exactly original, but it was certainly done better than previous examples. I actually -wanted- to replay ME1 and -am- replaying ME2. FO3... 1 playthrough felt like enough. It just felt like everything would work out the exact same no matter what you did. Plus, again, "Find your dad in the scary wasteland" just felt too much like they forgot to make a story and threw one in at the last moment.

What part of the plot of Fallout 3 involved the participation of my imagination?

The linear nature of the game(despite what you may claim: there ARE alot of places you cannot reach just starting out. And it's not because you lack ship upgrades or the like. It's because of the fact that Bethesda made creatures have "levels", and so many of those particular areas have things like Deathclaws that just ravage you instantly) led to me being able to guess pretty much every plot twist and turn ages in advance.

@Metallifan: I don't hate BioWare games. I've really loved at least one of them (KotOR 1). I can get emotionally involved in some of the points like the story of Revan or, more recently, the possibility of peace between the Quarians and Geth. But their successes have led to some tremendous overrating. I don't think they've achieved anything like how Morrorwind raised the bar. Not even Oblivion was as good. Fallout 3 was pretty close, I think.

@Kanluwen: Behesda plots are linear if you insist on looking at the main plot severed from the rest of the experience, which is what you are doing. The characterization happens in the intermixing of the events. Although it is supposed to be possible it doesn't quite work in Mass Effect. I wish that your relationship with the other characters (always BioWare's strong point) was not so contingent upon the progression of the main plot. Like I posted earlier in the thread, I felt like the game was over after completing the romance with Tali. Defeating the Collectors was kind of for the sake of getting to know her and the others better but insignificant in itself. By contrast, I wanted to purify the waters of the Wasteland. I needed to do it, in the sense of destiny. "A Meeting of the Minds" was also absolutely superb, probably the best storyline I've yet seen in any game.

At metallifan. just cause it is 2011 doesnt mean its going to be a year. my guess is it is revealed e3 2011 and the relaeshed several months after that.

They said that they're definately setting release for some time in 2011. It could be October or November of 2011, but as far as I care, that's still one year.

ok just cause i like it better. it will be just one year.
on another note. if my second playthrough doesnt survive then im going to get mass effect 1 then playthrough that to see how things are different in me2 with different choices.

Who here goes Paragon first? (Me )

And who goes Jacka-*cough* I mean rouge?

Paragon first this time. Renegade first last time.

Emperors Faithful wrote:Who here goes Paragon first? (Me )

And who goes Jacka-*cough* I mean rouge?

Renegade is very different from other 'morally ambiguous' alignments in other RPGs. It's more of a 'whatever it takes' and 'it's them or us' type alignment as opposed to the Dark Side in KotOR, which is just 'hurr I am the evil!!!1!!eleven!'

Renegade is definitely not 'evil' in my books. Morally ambiguous, yes, but not evil.

And you actually get more Renegade points for intimidating people than performing Renegade actions, like on the Migrant Fleet mission. If you do the Renegade action there instead of intimidating the Admirals, you're just an arsehole.

I always go paragon first most of the time. I alway chose a girl shepard for that thinking i wont play her again but i usually do again as renegade.
here name is kate shepard. she looks like kathrin janeway with red hair.

I find it really hard to play as a female in RPGs. I'm not sexist or anything, but it just feels weird.

I figure if im going to be staring at the backend of my chracter might as well make it the girl right?

Tali's rear end is much more stare-worthy.

Here's an idea (kind of from garret): what are your Sheperd's names?

My paragon male was Leonard.

My renegade female was Miranda (no joke, long before any news of ME2).

@Cheese: I often (just as often as male) play a female in a rpg (vidya or tabletop). Never really thought about why.

One thing i dont get. They said there ship is completly sterile. yet they still need there envirosuits. btw im talking about the quarians.
also. who here has taking legion to the migrant fleet. or the citadel and that to the lady outside about security when you land.

I called my Paragon Shepard Arjac.

I was also planning to import my Renegade Marcus Shepard, but my ME1 disc has a big circular scratch on it and Noveria won't load, so I can't progress any further through the story until I get a replacement disc.

bummer cheese. have you used baking soda toothpaste to buff it out? i used it b4 and it fixed my disks.


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also cheese lol on your location.

I mean it's actually carved into the disc through the shiny layer. It's completely fethed.

Have you guys played a non-uploaded Shepard yet?

you could download it with games on demand. its like20 bucks. then i believe it comes with the new pinnacle station dlc.

Manchu wrote:Have you guys played a non-uploaded Shepard yet?

No, that wouldn't be any fun at all.

@garret: I was thinking about that, I'll check the size of the game today but I have a 12GB/month download cap.

Do you have to complete all the loyalty missions before the iff is completly istalled. cause i hear it is just one. but that doesnt seem right. i did 2. i hope not i still got 3 or 4 to do for my second playthrough.

Cheese Elemental wrote:

Manchu wrote:Have you guys played a non-uploaded Shepard yet?

No, that wouldn't be any fun at all.

I have to agree with Cheese here. For me, ME2 is all about continuing the saga, the story. Not shooting bad guys. (That comes later )

If my characters suddenly wiped and I had nothing left, I would still prefer to play ME1 again and then upload them to ME2.

thats what im doing.

Emperors Faithful wrote:

Cheese Elemental wrote:

Manchu wrote:Have you guys played a non-uploaded Shepard yet?

No, that wouldn't be any fun at all.

I have to agree with Cheese here. For me, ME2 is all about continuing the saga, the story. Not shooting bad guys. (That comes later )

If my characters suddenly wiped and I had nothing left, I would still prefer to play ME1 again and then upload them to ME2.

If you think about it, this is a pretty bad review of ME2.

Manchu wrote:

Emperors Faithful wrote:

Cheese Elemental wrote:

Manchu wrote:Have you guys played a non-uploaded Shepard yet?

No, that wouldn't be any fun at all.

I have to agree with Cheese here. For me, ME2 is all about continuing the saga, the story. Not shooting bad guys. (That comes later )

If my characters suddenly wiped and I had nothing left, I would still prefer to play ME1 again and then upload them to ME2.

If you think about it, this is a pretty bad review of ME2.

Why? IMO ME2 adds and contributes to the Shepard story. I think the games were meant to work in unsion. I would never think of ME2 as a standalone game.

A game that doesn't stand on its own merits is called an expansion.

Yeah. Hence the '2'.

That doesn't mean it's not a good game. It's just that much better when combined with ME1.

Wait, that's not what was just said. Cheese said it would be no fun at all without loading the ME1 data (which with I am inclined to agree but will probably try it) and you said you would rather play another game of ME1 to have data for ME2 rather than starting without. Plus, you said that it wasn't a standalone game. See, a sequel is a standalone game. I didn't need to have played Half Life in order to enjoy Half Life 2, even though the story of Gordon Freeman was continued in Half Life 2. ME2 is (pretty) good but I don't know if it's a good "game." I kind of agree with Cheese's and your unintentional review that ME2 is a "good expansion" for ME1.

What are we even arguing about?

Cheese is saying ME2 is a good expansion.
I'm saying ME2 goes well with ME1.
You're saying that ME2 isn't that great on its own?

What's the difference between all these statments?

Emperors Faithful wrote:What are we even arguing about?

Cheese is saying ME2 is a good expansion.
I'm saying ME2 goes well with ME1.
You're saying that ME2 isn't that great on its own?

What's the difference between all these statments?

Your method of delivery for the same point differs between the three of you. Thus, it's grounds for debate

I played it without loading me1 data. it was still fun. it is a game on its own merits.

It is certainly a funtional game, but not AS great when the two are combined! Power Rangers Unite!

im going to see about going in without all the normandy upgrades or all my squad members loyal.


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maybe

garret wrote:im going to see about going in without all the normandy upgrades or all my squad members loyal.


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maybe

I've seen a video of that ending, and it totally sucks. It isn't even exciting, it just makes you feel depressed.

The Paragon ending was awesome though.

did. 3 people didnt make it out alive.


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although how do you get to that ending?

garret wrote:did. 3 people didnt make it out alive.


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although how do you get to that ending?

Which ending? The best Paragon one?

So I played the game 3 times. Normal, veteran and insane. And I have to say the harder the game gets the better. And the game is pretty good if a lot more linear.

First off the bad.

Comments relate to insanity difficulty.

Insane IMO has some problems, like if your not a soldier how do you kill anything when even the husks have armor? Biotics lol

I don't like the ammo system. In one instance I ran out of ammo completely on Horizon and had to tediously concussive shot the enemies to death. Also Garrus glitched and wouldn't move or fire. bloody dumbass turians cant trust em. Ironically I found horizon with my non imported brand new char harder then the end of the game..

Insane has always been about exploiting the stupid AI (it was in Mass effect 1). Like confusing the pathing (aka ring around a rosy) of the husks on the final bit of the Reaper IFF mission.

Lack of inventory sucks as does the armors. The inferno armor also sucks as its just a skin dunno why they bothered.

I think its funny that because of head shots damage the vindicator rifle is better then all the other ones. You need to headshot or you wont have enough ammo.

Yeoman chambers said she'd feed my fish then let them die.. what a dumb ass. Glad she died on my last play through.

The whole point of courting the pathetic and disgusting tali is to see her purple face.. game fails..

If you make save instead of only autosaving and you hit continue rather then load (you know when you die) the game takes you to the wrong save..

Its kind of funny that for my last character I tried to get shepard to die at the end (I didnt upgrade the ship at all) but he still lived, because I didnt know loyalty was the basis for his death or not. So none of my shepards died. Yet the load screens kept saying if you survive.. Like its hard.. The only person who would not survive at the end is someone who buys mass effect thinking its an FPS and hates dialogue..

Normandy crash site seem a bit pointless.

Scanning planets.. bah wtf were they thinking. It scans slow even if you get the upgrade and spin the planet to speed up the scanner. Too slow too dull.

There is a lack of manipulation. I remember on ME1 on noveria there were three ways to end the mission of of getting the garage pass. talk to the turian insider, the undercover girl or the corrupt boss. Now it seems there just paragon or renegade method.

Also

The Good.

Combat is way better. Allies are still slowed but its way better.

I didn't get the DLC til my last play through to save the joy of it..

First of Zaeedo is my favorite character. His loyality mission was gold and represented a real decision. His justice is cool.

The flame thrower is awesome and I used it heavily as its fun when Some nasty bugger closes on you like harbringer.

Most of the characters are great. Loyalty missions have alot of variety. Even anomoly mission are varied if short. Favs characters zaeedo, Legion, garrus, Thane (even though he's a bit stiff) Samara.

Jokes like the Turian in the friend zone with a Quarian. OR the game shop salarian.

Headshot a heavy mech and he explodes like a smallish nuke.. that was cool if hard to do.

Mission variety was really great I have to say it again.


Ugly

Really though the game needs some sort of inventory system..

Overall considering no game is perfect I give it 4 out of 5.

has anyone sided with morinth yet instead of samara in her loyalty mission? what is she like in battle?
Im going to get the me1 play through it on easy or normal lol. then playthrough on with the choices i made before.\
has anyone noticed the references joke says when he

If you side with morinth she just pretends to be samara.. so not much difference. That part of the game is glitcy it seems. First for me the audio stops working (i done it more then once) when they are hurling bolt of energy at each other.. and the last time I played I didnt get a choice.. and morinth was stopped without me pressing any buttons.

same here. no audio.

You have to have a high Paragon/Renegade level to choose which one you kill.

Shaman wrote:
Yeoman chambers said she'd feed my fish then let them die.. what a dumb ass. Glad she died on my last play through.

*facepalm*

She let my fish die.. so then she died..

Justice?

@ cheese thanx for that I didnt know what the reason was.

And why would you want Morinth anyway? She's a vampire who kills you by having mindsex.

At the end of the game (after the final cutscene and credits) if you kept Morinth alive and have her loyal she says 'I think your mind is strong enough to have relations with you'. Then if you accept it comes up with 'Critical Mission Failure' exactly the same way you die any other way. I laughed, hard.

Shaman wrote:She let my fish die.. so then she died..

Justice?

Mate, if you honestly think that she meant to 'feed your fish' literally then you need to get out more.

Emperors Faithful wrote:

Shaman wrote:She let my fish die.. so then she died..

Justice?

Mate, if you honestly think that she meant to 'feed your fish' literally then you need to get out more.

Nonsense. Woman offers to make me pancakes, I expect my damn pancakes. Not some bloody toast!

She offers to feed my fish, and hidden meaning or not, she better feed my fish. Otherwise, I'm pushing her down a flight of space-stairs. That's right, not just any stairs. Space ones.

metallifan wrote:

Emperors Faithful wrote:

Shaman wrote:She let my fish die.. so then she died..

Justice?

Mate, if you honestly think that she meant to 'feed your fish' literally then you need to get out more.

Nonsense. Woman offers to make me pancakes, I expect my damn pancakes. Not some bloody toast!

She offers to feed my fish, and hidden meaning or not, she better feed my fish. Otherwise, I'm pushing her down a flight of space-stairs. That's right, not just any stairs. Space ones.

LOL

Especially concerning 'Space-stairs'.

anyone call kelly into the cabin after the game is complete and you keep exploring? she turns into a stripper.

garret wrote:anyone call kelly into the cabin after the game is complete and you keep exploring? she feed your fish...finally!

Fixed that for you.

found this
http://roosterteeth.com/comics/strip.php?id=1533

Nice find, garret. I lol'd heartily.

anyone else notice the system in which jacks loyalty quest is. it is called dakka.

There's also the Aquila system and the Carnifex Hand Cannon.




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And I got my ME1 disc fixed at the video store. Imported my Renegade Infiltrator (who still did the Paragon ending because I'm a badass, not Chaotic Stupid).

i thought it was carniflex?

Read it carefully. It's called the Carnifex. It's Latin for 'executioner' or 'butcher'.

im wondering wheter or not to create another shepard in me1 and complete it then import or to continue playing me2 with my other shepard that i have know. i really want that geth pulse rifle from the recruit tali. decisions decisions. oh well. ill decide later.

Remember that you have to play on Hardcore or Insane to find the pulse rifle.

You can actually find one in ME1 as well. It's awesome.

I know. maybe ill play the me1 imported chracter some other time. maybe the summer when i have more time.

I smiled when I saw the Carnifex Hand Cannon.

Also, does anyone know how to far the damn Cain-mini-nuke-thingy? It seems to charge then phase out.

Notice how instead of the ammo counter, it's got the % under the reticule? You need at least 100% to fire it and you have to hold down the trigger/mouse button until it fires.

So I have to hold the trigger finger till it gets to 100%?

Or I have to find enough ammo so that it get's up to 100%?

i had a hard time with that waepon too. thats why i just used the collector beam.
i cant see how much ammo i have left so(low def tv i just fire till its gone. Who here has evah used the falmethrower?
The blackstorm works well too in the earlier missions. the avalance and missle launcher sucks. never used the nade launcer except may twice.

The collector beam was a surprisingly dependable weapon.

Emperors Faithful wrote:So I have to hold the trigger finger till it gets to 100%?

Or I have to find enough ammo so that it get's up to 100%?

You have to have at least 100% under the reticule to charge and fire it.

The Flamethrower is awesome. People don't actually have animations and sound effects for burning to death like in Gears of War 2, but it's really powerful.


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The Avalanche is awesome if you're an Adept because you can freeze people and use Warp to shatter them.

I'm just annoyed I couldn't do the Justicar loyatly mission, 7 attempts and still I failed. Awesome game though.

Lord Bingo wrote:I'm just annoyed I couldn't do the Justicar loyatly mission, 7 attempts and still I failed. Awesome game though.

How the feth did you fail Samara's loyalty mission?

Her daughter always left during the conversation, gave up in the end. I'm guessing now its really simple.

Great game,unfortunately I?ll have to wait some time before I will get my hands on it.

I loled so much just from reading this.

I've imported my ME1 character and well, I see the odd cameo and get a crapton of emails, but other than that I'm not really seeing a lot of my social impacts.

BrookM wrote:I've imported my ME1 character and well, I see the odd cameo and get a crapton of emails, but other than that I'm not really seeing a lot of my social impacts.

You probably won't find any to your satisfaction (or living up to what Bioware hyped up). The Ashley/Liara parts were the two most glaring "let's patch it up and get over it" moments. At least Wrex acted like Wrex.

I suggest you go to the Citadel and look for a reporter you talked to in the first game, the one that kept on pulling the "human betrayal" chain on you. There's a great Renegade QTE with her.

I met Kaidan, which was a happy embrace followed by the same gak. The captain's quarters does have a picture of him on the desk. Other than that, it's just cameo's, Anderson is a council member, I regained my useless SPECTRE title and that's it for now. There are some minor conversation options that I discover here and there, but other than that, nope. I am looking forward to meeting Konrad again, wherever that prick may be.

Just completed it today. Can't help but feel there should have been a bit more in between the loyalty missions and the final omega 4 relay bit. Didn't feel like a proper build up to the climax.

Whatwhat: regarding the person you mentioned dying

whatwhat wrote:Just completed it today. Can't help but feel there should have been a bit more in between the loyalty missions and the final omega 4 relay bit. Didn't feel like a proper build up to the climax.

Spoiler:

Also, does anyone know if Kelly Chambers can survive the ending or does she always die?

It seems that I let the Rachni live in the first game. I met a character who met the Queen and it would appear that if you let the Rachni live, they will help you in ME3 in your most direst moment, whatever that might be.

hmm. really? well them me1 palythrough then. where did you meet the chracter?


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Also i was disapointed that the achievmant didnt give you good stuff like they did in the first game.

whatwhat wrote:Just completed it today. Can't help but feel there should have been a bit more in between the loyalty missions and the final omega 4 relay bit. Didn't feel like a proper build up to the climax.

This is exactly correct. Scanning planets just isn't enough. Being able to interact with characters in a non-main-quest-dependent manner would go a long way to helping with this in ME3. Somehow I doubt anyone at BioWare reads dakka.

who knows maybe one of there developers is a 40k player.
But what i would like to see in me3
1: bigger custimization for the cabin if the have it.
2: armor pieces increased.
3: planet scanning was good but it was kinda meh. make it more fun.
4. more inventory with gun.
5: also just for the heck of it bring back zaeed.

I met Konrad, it would appear that I shoved a gun in his face in ME1, turning him into a jerk clone of myself. I also met that undercover agent from the first game, both she and Konrad netted me a small side quest for some extra XP. I am beginning to think that most of the choices from the first game won't have an impact until the third game.

Good ol konrad..

Disappointed with your spoiler brookM

Also EF yes Im am that dense.. feed my fish woman.. metalifan was on the money with the lols.

Also Cheese did you like the pulse rifle.. thought it was cool but pretty gak compared to vindi.

EDIT Also I gotta say all this money wringing for armors and codes is lame. I wanna look like guyver for the regular retail price thankyou (collector armor). and The sniper rifle looks pretty cool the incisor or whatever.. Plus these dr pepper codes are lame.. Australians dont drink dr pepper.

Boo Bio shock .. EA and mircosoft.

The pulse rifle is awesome.

Not as powerful as the machinegun that you find on the derelict Collector ship though.

yeah but that thing cant aim for crap. i have to just shot like 5 shot then just meh. it is good against scions though thankfully.

It's actually more accurate than the crosshairs claim. The sheer rate of fire means you're hitting what you're aiming at.

So, I finally got around to playing it and so far I really like it. Again I had the same problem with character creation: I tried to make his face look more like mine but it doesn't come out really well.
I'm quite happy that I didn't encounter any of the problems people on the official support forum have been whining about. Everything worked perfectly so far.

Currently I'm playing with my ME1 Paragorn Soldier and after 5 minutes on the Citadel I wished I wouldn't have saved the Council. By Gork, these people are stupid.

So... can I assume that once again it will not be possible to have more than one relationship? ^^

Nope. Not possible. I tried but everyone just got mad at me.

Anung: I know what you mean with the character creation. Every time I try to make my own appearance, I either look like a caricature or an asian, and I'm as white as you can look. :S

Dragon Age had a much better character customisation system. In ME, I just roll with the default appearance.


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Oh, and I found out that you can actually romance Samara... but it has a sad end for both of you.

I dont know whether or not to buy me1 and play through it again. i wonder if the decisions of the racni will really affect the third one. maybe. maybe not.


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anyone else disappointed that the acheivments didnt give you anything good like the first game. that was a big disappoint .

I'm loving the game so far. Holy crap, did this game improve over the first one. No more awkward elevator loading screens of doom, no more inventory management, and no more pointless running around cities. And as much as I dislike the scanning system, I absolutely adore that there are no more loading screens to go from system to system. The only loading screen you see is when you do a mass relay jump, and that consists of watching the ship go through the relay (As opposed to the first, where you had to watch that, then see a little loading cutscene of the ship flying through space).

From what I can tell, Bioware basically looked at the first game, thought to themselves "What was bad about this one?" and ripped all of it out. Mass Effect 2 has very, very few flaws, chief among them being a tedious scanning system (Which at least does have immediate rewards) and long loading screens. But hey - no more sitting through an airlock animation for two minutes while the game loads the Normandy.

Anung Un Rama wrote:
So... can I assume that once again it will not be possible to have more than one relationship? ^^

You can get two girls.. Jack just one time before the mission (instead of being nice just say the renegade one 'I want you') and then one of the others tali whatever at the regular moment.

No one gets mad.. maybe because she lives in the basement. She just tell you to bugger off after the deed though.


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garret wrote:
anyone else disappointed that the acheivments didnt give you anything good like the first game. that was a big disappoint .

I have all the achievements.. they are pretty easy to get compared to ME1.. so I think thats fair enough. If they made them hard.. Then it would be cool if they gave me something.


@ locclo they need some sort of inventory.. you basically have default stuff all through the game. Need more guns, Armor pieces to make up for the lack I reckon.

My most recent character left Zaeed to burn and die during his loyalty mission. He's one ugly mofo, and I didn't need him anyway.

Cheese Elemental wrote:Anung: I know what you mean with the character creation. Every time I try to make my own appearance, I either look like a caricature or an asian, and I'm as white as you can look. :S

Dragon Age had a much better character customisation system. In ME, I just roll with the default appearance.

That's what happened to me. He somehow looks asian. Maybe it's the eyes. None of them look that good.

I actually started a new game after 15 minutes with my own char and used the default face, but then decided against it.

I hope the ship upgrade which fixes your face is not needed to complet the game 100%.

No, the Med-bay upgrade is not necessary. It just lets you repair your facial scars without needing to go full Paragon (which makes your scars fade, but going Renegade makes them more prominent and your eyes turn a glowing orange).

Cheese Elemental wrote:My most recent character left Zaeed to burn and die during his loyalty mission. He's one ugly mofo, and I didn't need him anyway.

You turned your back on a fellow Aussie?!? (He is an Aussie, right? )

Emperors Faithful wrote:

Cheese Elemental wrote:My most recent character left Zaeed to burn and die during his loyalty mission. He's one ugly mofo, and I didn't need him anyway.

You turned your back on a fellow Aussie?!? (He is an Aussie, right? )

Yes he's a fellow Aussie but he wanted to leave those poor civilians to burn.

...hmmm. So you saved the australian civilians then?

(They were Australian civilians, right? )

I don't know, there was a really good view of Tali's ass at the time and I wasn't paying much attention.

u can kill zaeed in his loyalty mission.. I gotta be paragon yes?

I'm trying to do as much as I can with my Paragorn character but once I play it a 2nd time with my ME1 Renegade someone nees to tell me how little I can do and still survive. I want to bring both characters over to ME3.

zaeed is awesome. why would you let him die.

garret wrote:zaeed is awesome. why would you let him die.

QFT. Zaeed was one of my favorite characters.

I can't stand him.

Really? His taking offense to the warden in Purgatory saying Mercs suck was great. And how he's just constantly pissed and/or doesn't give a fk as long as there's money. It's funny stuff

it was bounty hunter he said.
and you forget. zaeed is free. no mission tied to getting him other then talking to him.

Bounty Hunter... Merc... Same pile. They both do stuff for money. They're like hookers with guns, only they'll kill or capture you instead of jump your bones.

And no I don't forget. He's not free. The Illusive Man paid his fee. Unless you skipped/ignored the conversation when meeting him. You get him for free, but he's not working for charity.

After 8 ours or so I feel I have to add a few things about the game.

I like the dumbed down inventory. Usually I like micromanaging, but the amount of stuff you kept carring around with you in the first game was ridicoulus. So that works pretty well.
What I don't like is the dumbed down Leveling mechanic. Only 4 skils for each character? Boo!
I also don't really like the ammo system. I'm playing a soldier and I hate the thought of running out of shooty things.

The quick actions for Paragorn and Renegade are awesome. I'm trying to play a good character, but somehow the renegade action is too tempting.

I haven't got all crew members yet, but I really like Mordin. He's always fun to listen to.

One more thing: why can Joker walk?

Anung Un Rama wrote:After 8 ours or so I feel I have to add a few things about the game.

I like the dumbed down inventory. Usually I like micromanaging, but the amount of stuff you kept carring around with you in the first game was ridicoulus. So that works pretty well.
What I don't like is the dumbed down Leveling mechanic. Only 4 skils for each character? Boo!
I also don't really like the ammo system. I'm playing a soldier and I hate the thought of running out of shooty things.

The quick actions for Paragorn and Renegade are awesome. I'm trying to play a good character, but somehow the renegade action is too tempting.

I haven't got all crew members yet, but I really like Mordin. He's always fun to listen to.

One more thing: why can Joker walk?

QFT on the inventory. Although I never carried more than I absolutely needed in ME1, so it wasn't much of an issue.

I like the smaller skill tree and ammo system. Makes the game more difficult, as you actually have to spend more time considering what lies ahead and how you'll prepare. Ammo means you have to be a little more tactically apt as well, and know how and where to apply your squadmates. ME1, I was practically a living, unstoppable God by my second playthrough. Saron was a joke, and I would kill him in under 2 minutes with everyone using the best Assault Rifle in-game with Acid Rounds. Got real dull, real fast. ME2 is actually semi challenging all the way through, and there actually are a few close-call moments.

My advice: Do some of the renegade actions anyway. Unlike ME1, upping your Renegade meter won't make your Paragon meter drop. And your scars can be perma-healed later on by a Med-Lab addon if you don't want to keep them. So try a few, you'll kick yourself if you don't. At least do the one on Tuchanka when the Krogan is giving his big evil speech. That one is gold.

Legion has some really interesting dialogue once you get ahold of him. Mordin makes me lol

Joker has always been able to walk. He was never paralyzed, he just has a bone-deficiency that makes his skeletal structure really fragile. Basically, if he trips he could shatter his legs. But he's able to walk with some difficulty.

In the first game he said he needed help, ehmn..whats the word, "krücken". I can't think of it right now.

Yes he still needs help getting up from a sitting or lying position, but he's capable of moving around on his own if he so wishes. Plus, I would think that Cerberus gave him better drugs than what's offered by the Alliance.

I want to add: the fact that there is an A.I. control room which I have no access to makes be believe that at some point or the other I will have to go in there and shut it down.

no you dont shut it down. .just you wait and see.
well i got bioshock2 today wil only like 23 buck to pay the difference from trade in so i decided to get me1. turns out there sold out. makes me a sad panda.

Yea you don't shut down the AI. I won't spoil anything, but it involves joker and the AI becoming BFF's

The ammo system was rather irritating, did anyone play as anything other than a soldier yet? any real good damage options other than the Soldier, like Vangaurd or what not? any thoughts on this

no with your team actually being capaple and shoot well there really isnt.

Katavus wrote:The ammo system was rather irritating, did anyone play as anything other than a soldier yet? any real good damage options other than the Soldier, like Vangaurd or what not? any thoughts on this

I played through the game as an Infiltrator (My class from the first game) and they can put out a fair amount of damage with Snipers. I'm not sure if every class gets it, but their Sniper Rifles get a brief time slowdown effect when you zoom in, to give you that extra few seconds to aim and fire off a shot. Plus, the Infiltrator class power (Stealth field) lets you deal extra damage if you fire while cloaked.

I'm still undecided on the ammo system. While it definitely does make you use more than one gun (I know in ME1 I only ever used two - and about 90% of that was just the one) it's kind of annoying to need a Sniper Rifle shot to take out a distant enemy - and only have handgun and SMG rounds available. At least there is the redeeming factor that every clip you pick up fills ammo for all of your weapons, so it's not too bad.

There is so much funny fething dialouge on this game.

I wanted to fly to Illium next and it said I had to switch discs. Is there anything I should do before visiting that Planet? At this point I have 3 missions there are a bunch of other missions I haven't played yet.

Anung Un Rama wrote:I wanted to fly to Illium next and it said I had to switch discs. Is there anything I should do before visiting that Planet? At this point I have 3 missions there are a bunch of other missions I haven't played yet.

Bioware ripped a page out of Bethesda's books on ME2, which was about the best idea they had since Mass Effect was concieved.

Unlike ME1, ME2 is continuous. So you have plenty of free-play after you finish the game.

As long as he survives I suppose.

Katavus wrote:The ammo system was rather irritating, did anyone play as anything other than a soldier yet? any real good damage options other than the Soldier, like Vangaurd or what not? any thoughts on this

I played infiltrator, worked well enough in terms of damage. Especially after picking up the Widow sniper rifle. Suck it, thresher maw!

Emperors Faithful wrote:

Spoiler:

EDI: The control (ect) is loctated in the engine room.
Joker: Aw, you just want me to go crawling through the ducts again.
EDI: I enjoy the sight of humans on thier knees.
Joker: ...
EDI: That was a joke.
Joker: Right.

There is so much funny fething dialouge on this game.

Ha! I remember that. One of the best lines ever in that game. Another one of my favorites was:


Gotta love that Joker...shame he didn't show up much, other than his moment of glory near the conclusion of the game.

Game was definatly worth getting. Better Gamplay,Graphics,(90% more Tali) and I didn't fail at making a decent looking shepard!
Now im gonna play through it 11 times and cause my friends and family to worry before I buy dragon age and DOW2 Chaos rising.

Help me on this one: If I want the "no one left behind" achivement I have to earn the trust of every squad member through their help-missions, did I geht that right?

But they have to be succesfull. I heard that in Zaeeds Loyalty Mission I have to decide if I want to help him or some some people.

Some Spoilers would be accepted about this topic.

Zaeed is easy enough. I rescued the hostages, gave him a little Paragon talk and he's still loyal.

Good to know. I was afraid I couldn't beat it as full Paragorn.

Not that I went full Paragorn so far. Some moments were just too good to pass up the renegade option.

I know what you mean. Some situations are very tempting, like that one on Ilium.

Which one? The one where you shove the merc out the window, or the one where you gun down that asari?

I could never do full paragon. It's just too tempting to do things like the one on Tuchanka (Where you shoot the tank that the Krogan rebel is standing on...daaaaamn)

Anyone else curious about mordins recruitment mission. why is there a disease that does not affect humans? and the vorcha mention the collectors. do you think that they may have cut something from the game.
maybe the collectors were planning on hitting omega. so maybe the seeker swarms only affect humans so thay needed to kill the rest of the pop.

garret wrote:Anyone else curious about mordins recruitment mission. why is there a disease that does not affect humans? and the vorcha mention the collectors. do you think that they may have cut something from the game.
maybe the collectors were planning on hitting omega. so maybe the seeker swarms only affect humans so thay needed to kill the rest of the pop.

Didn't you listen to Mordin? He says that the Collectors probably engineered the plague to kill all non-humans on Omega.

Locclo: The occasional renegade action doesn't lower your Paragon meter, and vice versa. It's why you have two seperate meters, unlike Knights of the Old Republic where you had a sliding Light/Dark meter.

There's no "probably" about it.
Mordin definitively says that the plague was being "field tested" on Omega, where it would be exposed to a huge number of species and different situations before using it to suppress human colonies.

how would a disease that doesnt kill humans be effective in human colonies. the seeker swarms imho are faster.

Because if the disease was released into mixed-species colonies, there'd be no witnesses when the Seeker Swarms are released.

It would have been used for picking off larger targets where there are both humans and aliens.

garret wrote:how would a disease that doesnt kill humans be effective in human colonies. the seeker swarms imho are faster.

Sure G, the seeker swarms would be faster...but then you have to deal with all that weeding out the humans from the aliens.

And I don't recall if the Seeker Swarms are reusable or not. Could be a factor as to why they want a xenos-specific plague.

Although, there's not just the convenience factor. You've also got the fact that look at what the plague did on Omega. Turned pretty much everyone against humanity.

Imagine if they could have done it on a galactic rather than a station-wide scale? Nobody would ever even remotely consider investigating the disappearance of human colonies. Hell, they'd probably hand humans over to the Collectors themselves.

first post release dlc releashed. anyone try the new weapon. im not starting again until i play me1 again.
i should assume that the armors is pretty much only good in the beggining?

Oh no. Cerberus armor is awesome in Insanity campaign. At least as Infiltrator with a good enough Heavy Weapon.

The shotgun is great for Jack or Grunt, hell even Jacob.

But who actually uses Jacob? Grunt is a better tank/short range fighter and Jack/Samara are both better biotics.

Cheese Elemental wrote:But who actually uses Jacob? Grunt is a better tank/short range fighter and Jack/Samara are both better biotics.

On Insane...there are plenty of levels where taking Jacob and Zaeed or Jacob and Miranda are the most effective combinations.

Due to Jacob having Incendiary Rounds(upgraded to Squad) and Miranda having Warp/Overload?
Oh man, you better believe that works wonders on Purgatory or other missions facing Blue Suns.

Actually, I always tend to favour a select group on missions. At least when not on insane. (For example, I have never used Mordin. He's funny, but I always picture him closer to Dr. Chakwas' role)