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[Cetra]

Is it just me or did the sequence after uploading the

Spoiler

Reaper IFF come off as extremely lame? Hey lets boot everyone with guns off the ship for no good reason so we can kill the rest of the crew and fail at making Joker look like a hero!

I dunno, maybe it came off that way on my file because I'd done everything else up that point. If you have a mission or assignment to do at that point is it less weird?

 

[RubxQub]

Whatever happened to staying true to your digi-love in ME1? Is there no honor in gamers anymore? D:

Spoiler

I never finished ME1 cause I thought it was awfully made and boring.

!!!

 

[The Librarian]

Spoiler

I never finished ME1 cause I thought it was awfully made and boring.

!!!

You're a sick fucker.

 

[selig]

okay, dumbest question incoming:

WHERE can I see my health bar or the one of my squad mates? I´ve played for probably 10 hours now, but I never saw a health bar....occasionally, these ugly vines cover the screen, implying close death, but otherwise...

or is there no health bar?

 

[quaere]

A comment for the Bioware audio guy if he's still around -

Great job on the sound overall. But the point of having dialog/effects level sliders is to make dialog audible when the volume is low.

The battle dialog is way louder than the regular dialog, and both seem to be controlled by the dialog slider, making it impossible to normalize. That should be moved to effects, so I can lower the overall volume and still hear what people are saying.

 

[Pancakes]

Ending Spoilers

Spoiler

So I did all the loyalty missions and fully upgraded the ship and some people still died.

Mordin
Grunt
and Legion

I sent Legion in the tubes and had Zaeed lead the squads. What did I do wrong? Is it because I didn't fully upgrade shields and whatnot?

okay, dumbest question incoming:

WHERE can I see my health bar or the one of my squad mates? I´ve played for probably 10 hours now, but I never saw a health bar....occasionally, these ugly vines cover the screen, implying close death, but otherwise...

or is there no health bar?

It's at the bottom of the screen and only shows up when your shields are down.

Still have no idea what those bars and circles for my squadmates are :lol.

 

[bryehn]

Where are the optional missions on unexplored planets????

I feel like every system I explore is full of scannable surfaces, but I rarely if ever see a 'landing' mission. I've probably tapped 30 planets for resources and have only had two 'Away' missions I've discovered. (Which were extremely short)

What the hell?

Few and far between. I found one that was awesome, the rest have been short and easy.

 

[The Librarian]

How do you best find side quests in ME2? Where you go to a planet and land? Do you just have to visit planets and scan for them?

 

[Zeliard]

Im glad the Citadel was kept largely minimal. I dont want to play "RETURN TO ALL THOSE OLD AREAS WITH NEW FANCY GRAPHICS WOO". I dont get the complaints about areas feeling small. Omega is just as big and varied as Noveria, easily. The explorable level of the Citadal is also quite large.

Mass Effect may have had a lot of ground area to 'explore' but it was like butter spread thin; there was sweet fuck all to actually interact with. That's not saying ME2's environments are small, but so far they also feel like they're more alive and interactive. Omega particuarly feels more populated than than every Citadel scene in the original.

I think some are looking back at the first game with rose-tinted glasses. Someone earlier said that the levels in ME1 were superior. Craziness. The environments are considerably more diverse this time around, especially the planets that you land on. The environmental design in the first game felt extremely cut-and-paste, ala Oblivion. It's one of the things I most hated about the original.

Anyway, I've got a question about the uncharted world side quests; I'm under the belief that when an anomoly is detected it will initiate a side quest, yes? My question is; are the anomolies automatically detected when I visit the planet, and then probe for their location, or do I have to probe the shit out of a planet in order to find the anomoly in the first place?

In other words, if I visit a planet and click "scan", and there's no mention of an anomoly, this means there's nowhere to land, correct?

That's how I've come to understand it. You're notified of the anomaly by EDI as soon as you orbit. That whole mechanic is pretty goofy. Driving over to a new planet in a model ship in a model galaxy just to see if you can land there doesn't really constitute exploration. It's one of the few things that bugs me about the game.

 

[Brandon F]

okay, dumbest question incoming:

WHERE can I see my health bar or the one of my squad mates? I´ve played for probably 10 hours now, but I never saw a health bar....occasionally, these ugly vines cover the screen, implying close death, but otherwise...

or is there no health bar?

Pretty sure it replaces your shield bar with a red bar at the bottom of the screen when your shields are down. It's the big half circle that covers your squads faces. It's normally blue for shields, and again turns red when health is exposed.

 

[Castor Krieg]

Can someone re-post once again INI settings for skipping the movies? Thank you.

 

[Pancakes]

How do you best find side quests in ME2? Where you go to a planet and land? Do you just have to visit planets and scan for them?

When you scan a planet EDI should say "Anomaly detected" and you just follow the white line.

I barely found any on my playthrough.

When is the point of no return?

They will make it very clear.

Spoiler

Right before you use the Omega-4 relay

 

[somesang]

They will make it very clear.

Spoiler

Right before you use the Omega-4 relay

And even then,

Spoiler

you can continue playing after the final boss.

 

[Livanh]

Is it just me or did the sequence after uploading the

Spoiler

Reaper IFF come off as extremely lame? Hey lets boot everyone with guns off the ship for no good reason so we can kill the rest of the crew and fail at making Joker look like a hero!

I dunno, maybe it came off that way on my file because I'd done everything else up that point. If you have a mission or assignment to do at that point is it less weird?

Spoiler

and just after that everyone pops back on the ship although joker warped away?
what happened to the collector ship??
how did my crew get back?

 

[Zinga]

Crossfire users will like this, 10.1 hotfix which improves performance and allows for forced AA in crossfire mode:

http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/force-Anti-Aliasing-support-in-Crossfire.aspx

 

[corrosivefrost]

I don't know the answer to your question, but if me effing Miranda means I can't eff Kelly than I'm breaking shit off with Miranda ASAP!

Miranda telling you it's on just means she'll be your romance when the scene triggers.
I think you could eff Kelly if it's possible, as my Shepard nailed Jack to the wall prior to getting romantic with Miranda.

 

[RS4-]

Planets that I managed to land on (missing a few, didn't take note of any until post game).

Cluster - Star System - Planet:
Caleston - Talava - Taitus
Caleston - Solveig - Sinmara (Shep only)
Pylos - Dirada - Canalus
Hourglass - Ploitari - Zanethu (Shep only)
Minos - Fortis - Aquitas
Crescent - Lusarn - Tarith (I think this leads to another mission as well)
Eagle - Amun - Neith (which leads you to another mission or two)

These don't include DLC missions as well.

edit - thanks Zzoram for the cluster/galaxy thing

 

[corrosivefrost]

Is it just me or did the sequence after uploading the

Spoiler

Reaper IFF come off as extremely lame? Hey lets boot everyone with guns off the ship for no good reason so we can kill the rest of the crew and fail at making Joker look like a hero!

I dunno, maybe it came off that way on my file because I'd done everything else up that point. If you have a mission or assignment to do at that point is it less weird?

I don't care how forced or lame it was, it allowed Joker to have the best lines in the game.

 

[RubxQub]

Miranda telling you it's on just means she'll be your romance when the scene triggers.
I think you could eff Kelly if it's possible, as my Shepard nailed Jack to the wall prior to getting romantic with Miranda.

Oh shit you can eff Jack, too?!

I'm not beating this game until I eff everyone on my crew that's got female parts.

 

[The Librarian]

Planets that I managed to land on (missing a few, didn't take note of any until post game).

Galaxy - Star system - planet:
Caleston - Talava - Taitus
Caleston - Solveig - Sinmara (Shep only)
Pylos - Dirada - Canalus
Hourglass - Ploitari - Zanethu (Shep only)
Minos - Fortis - Aquitas
Crescent - Lusarn - Tarith (I think this leads to another mission as well)
Eagle - Amun - Neith (which leads you to another mission or two)

These don't include DLC missions as well.

Thanks for this.

Why are some planets Shepard only?

 

[RS4-]

Thanks for this.

Why are some planets Shepard only?

Don't involve shooting I guess :lol

 

[darkpaladinmfc]

Spoiler

and just after that everyone pops back on the ship although joker warped away?
what happened to the collector ship??
how did my crew get back?

Spoiler

Joker allowed EDI to take control and made the Normandy fly away with the airlocks open so all the Collectors were flushed into space. Joker then tells EDI to send Shepherd a report about what happened.

 

[Zzoram]

Planets that I managed to land on (missing a few, didn't take note of any until post game).

Galaxy - Star system - planet:
Caleston - Talava - Taitus
Caleston - Solveig - Sinmara (Shep only)
Pylos - Dirada - Canalus
Hourglass - Ploitari - Zanethu (Shep only)
Minos - Fortis - Aquitas
Crescent - Lusarn - Tarith (I think this leads to another mission as well)
Eagle - Amun - Neith (which leads you to another mission or two)

These don't include DLC missions as well.

It's actually:

Cluster - Star System - Planet

You are in the same galaxy for the whole game.

 

[Pancakes]

Planets that I managed to land on (missing a few, didn't take note of any until post game).

Galaxy - Star system - planet:
Caleston - Talava - Taitus
Caleston - Solveig - Sinmara (Shep only)
Pylos - Dirada - Canalus
Hourglass - Ploitari - Zanethu (Shep only)
Minos - Fortis - Aquitas
Crescent - Lusarn - Tarith (I think this leads to another mission as well)
Eagle - Amun - Neith (which leads you to another mission or two)

These don't include DLC missions as well.

<3

 

[Doytch]

Can someone re-post once again INI settings for skipping the movies? Thank you.

Just go into Mass Effect\BioGame\Movies and delete/rename the biks. No ini tomfoolery required.

 

[Affeinvasion]

Two gripes: One major one not so.

I play on a regular old fashioned tv. The text is so small I have to sit on the floor to see it. I actually like to read everything so shit.

Where is my LEWT?!? This is an RPG (it isn't really anymore--its a third person shooter with RPG elements). Give me back my inventory and party customization!

 

[Zzoram]

This game is more of a shooter than the last one, but that's a GOOD thing. It's still an RPG. No shooter with RPG elements has you talking to NPCs as much as this game.

Just because loot was minimized doesn't mean it's not an RPG anymore. ME1 had tons of AWFUL, AWFUL loot. Putting in excessive, awful, useless, hard-to-manage loot doesn't make a game a better RPG.

 

[RS4-]

It's actually:

Cluster - Star System - Planet

You are in the same galaxy for the whole game.

Thanks!

What are everyone's opinions on class tiers? I know ally makeup is a difference maker as well, but I think Vanguard is probably tops.

 

[corrosivefrost]

Oh shit you can eff Jack, too?!

I'm not beating this game until I eff everyone on my crew that's got female parts.

I kept talking to her and being nice and saying all the right shit... I don't know why... probably because I was unsure how to trigger the romance, so I was covering my bases and trying to nail both her and Miranda.

One time she goes "is this about sex?" and I gave her the "I'm not going to lie, I want to screw you" line Shepard had. Cutscene ensued.

 

[prodystopian]

Only played 2.5 hours so far (felt like more, but I've been busy). I keep expecting to see exp come up when I talk to people and when I kill things. I kind of like that it doesn't pop up when I kill things because it allows me to forget about the leveling while in battle, but allows me to customize later.

I'm confused, though. Do I get the same amount of EXP no matter who kills the bad guys? For example, if my squad kills all of the enemies, do I still get the same EXP as when I kill them all?

Also, I have only seen EXP from a conversation once in this game and I've been talking as much as I can. Is EXP from conversation really that rare? I guess it doesn't matter because I enjoy the story, but I'm interested.

In any case, the game is phenomenal.

Bolded the questions for ease of reading.

 

[Digital Limit]

So much scaaaaaaaaaning....rumble rumble! R2 R2!

This game isn't on PS3.

 

[ThirdEngine]

Does anyone else think that Shepard looks like a complete idiot while running around the ship? His head always turns at the wierdest angles and I get a good laugh out of it.

 

[Meus Renaissance]

Wow. I got disconnected from Xbox Live, and because I wasn't signed into my profile, it took me back to the Main Menu. Thankfully I had Auto-Save was enabled. That's pretty stupid though.

 

[Zzoram]

Sometimes conversations give you 40 exp, but missions give 1000 (so far). It seems like those conversation bonuses are too small to make much of a difference.

 

[MMaRsu]

This game is more of a shooter than the last one, but that's a GOOD thing. It's still an RPG. No shooter with RPG elements has you talking to NPCs as much as this game.

Just because loot was minimized doesn't mean it's not an RPG anymore. ME1 had tons of AWFUL, AWFUL loot. Putting in excessive, awful, useless, hard-to-manage loot doesn't make a game a better RPG.

You are right, but stripping the game of loot isn't fixing the problem.

They should have had less loot, but more meaningfull stuff. Being able to buy new gear/weapons would have been better.

 

[RubxQub]

I kept talking to her and being nice and saying all the right shit... I don't know why... probably because I was unsure how to trigger the romance, so I was covering my bases and trying to nail both her and Miranda.

One time she goes "is this about sex?" and I gave her the "I'm not going to lie, I want to screw you" line Shepard had. Cutscene ensued.

I'm guessing you need to be at a point in the story to make it happen (it's not tied to your Paragon/Renegade I hope).

After every mission I complete Kelly's got a new dialogue tree where there's always a "Hey I want to fuck you" type response. Miranda's had the same progression.

I'm in the middle of doing everyone's personal missions so perhaps I need to wrap up more of those before I can do my business.

 

[EatChildren]

I think some are looking back at the first game with rose-tinted glasses. Someone earlier said that the levels in ME1 were superior. Craziness. The environments are considerably more diverse this time around, especially the planets that you land on. The environmental design in the first game felt extremely cut-and-paste, ala Oblivion. It's one of the things I most hated about the original.

Yeah. I came from doing two runs one after the other, one to 50 and then one to 60, finishing the latter ess than a week before getting into ME2. It was all fresh in my mind. I love Mass Effect but people really dont remember the story planets that well if they think they're somehow bigger, detailed, and more populated than something like Omega.

I love the Citadel in the original but one of my biggest problems with it was how it was supposed to be so big and populated and I never, ever felt it. Even on a graphical presentation scale, I thought it was really hit and miss. Some areas looked great, others looked really bland.

And I dont want to explore the whole thing again. I did that in the original. I want new places to go. The Citadel is clearly not the centre of the ME2 story like it was for the first. Why should it be replicated in all its glory again when there's the opportunity for new places to visit?

Noveria wasn't much better. The 'hub' was extremely short (one, two quests to get out, two optional quests), and the rest of the mission was pretty linear and cruisy. Therum? Goes without explaining how linear and combat focused it is. Feros is the only 'stand-out' in terms of offering a really nice hub and a number of quests, as well as seeing growth in characters. Virmire was a nice climax, but again outside of the meeting with the Salarians was heavily linear and combat focused.

Love love love the original Mass Effect, can see the complaints in this one, but environments are far from one of them in my opinion.

 

[Zzoram]

You are right, but stripping the game of loot isn't fixing the problem.

They should have had less loot, but more meaningfull stuff. Being able to buy new gear/weapons would have been better.

I think the issue is that Bioware doesn't know how to do loot. Dragon Age Origins had tons of loot, but it was basically all awful as well. They also have no idea how to make proper loot tables. You could crack open a hard locked chest in an end game dungeon and find a clay bowl worth 5 coppers.

 

[SlasherJPC]

I've put about 5 hours in so far. Almost 6. I'm sure this has been covered but I can't find the answer. Are weapons only found and then upgraded via your ship or are there spots you can actually buy weapons? If so can anyone tell me some locations where?

 

[RS4-]

Sometimes conversations give you 40 exp, but missions give 1000 (so far). It seems like those conversation bonuses are too small to make much of a difference.

Eventually mission xp goes down to 750 or so. The ones that involved planets, I'd get 156. Not too sure if that relates to when you decide to complete them (early or end game).

 

[Zzoram]

I know after every main mission, like a party member recruitment, you get new dialogue on the Normandy.

Question:

If you get 2 party members before talking to people on the ship, do you miss out on dialogue? Or will all the unlocked dialogue be available?

 

[Zabka]

I hadn't read anything on the game because I knew I would buy it, but did they actually remove the Mako sections? This planet scanning bullshit is terrible.

 

[RubxQub]

I know after every main mission, like a party member recruitment, you get new dialogue on the Normandy.

Question:

If you get 2 party members before talking to people on the ship, do you miss out on dialogue? Or will all the unlocked dialogue be available?

Interesting question.

I completed Samara's personal mission and picked up Zaeed at the same time. Kelly's dialogue trees were entirely Zaeed focused. Perhaps I missed something!

!!!

 

[zero margin]

Spoiler

I never finished ME1 cause I thought it was awfully made and boring.

!!!

Honestly compared to 2 I would agree* so far

*not sure I like who the antagonist in this one as much so far being the only caveat

 

[McNerdBurger]

A comment for the Bioware audio guy if he's still around -

Great job on the sound overall. But the point of having dialog/effects level sliders is to make dialog audible when the volume is low.

The battle dialog is way louder than the regular dialog, and both seem to be controlled by the dialog slider, making it impossible to normalize. That should be moved to effects, so I can lower the overall volume and still hear what people are saying.

Thanks for the feedback. We'll look into splitting them into different sliders in the future. Finding the right placement of the virtual microphone can be tricky in 3rd person games, and as a result you'll sometimes have your henchmen right on top of it when they say something in battle. It's something we never got working quite how we wanted it to. I think we'll have a better solution next go round.

 

[kkg1701]

Only played 2.5 hours so far (felt like more, but I've been busy). I keep expecting to see exp come up when I talk to people and when I kill things. I kind of like that it doesn't pop up when I kill things because it allows me to forget about the leveling while in battle, but allows me to customize later.

I'm confused, though. Do I get the same amount of EXP no matter who kills the bad guys? For example, if my squad kills all of the enemies, do I still get the same EXP as when I kill them all?

Also, I have only seen EXP from a conversation once in this game and I've been talking as much as I can. Is EXP from conversation really that rare? I guess it doesn't matter because I enjoy the story, but I'm interested.

In any case, the game is phenomenal.

Bolded the questions for ease of reading.

You don't get exp for killing stuff, only for completing missions and assignments.


KK

 

[Livanh]

Spoiler

Joker allowed EDI to take control and made the Normandy fly away with the airlocks open so all the Collectors were flushed into space. Joker then tells EDI to send Shepherd a report about what happened.

Spoiler

i know how he did get away. yet theres no explanation why everyone had to leave the ship and how everyone did get back while the collectors where hanging around.

 

[RubxQub]

Honestly compared to 2 I would agree* so far

*not sure I like who the antagonist in this one as much so far being the only caveat

My only gripe is that worrying about ammo is bothersome. Not OVERLY bothersome...but bothersome.

...and Shepard has no dance moves worth talking about, yet the dialogue option I picked clearly stated "I am a good dancer".

 

[EatChildren]

10 hours in, just picked up Jack, who I already hate and will blow out of the airlock at any given chance. Also I accidentally sleezed on to Jacob and I dont think I meant to.

I find it funny that there are vehicle controls listed in the key mapping menu for the PC version . Its one big Hammerhead cock tease.

 

[K.Jack]

I'll ask again:

When do I gain access to the Normandy Crash Site DLC?