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[TheFreshPrince]

Have to disagree here, I love the way armor looks, especially the default N7 armor. The teammates' stuff looks fine as well, especially, say, Thane's suit with the badass recon hood on when in harsh environments.

I do agree about crates and doors looking plain, but otherwise, the game looks incredible.

Not so much the style/plain/variety of the objects, but just their level of pixelation. Would you agree that the clean/smooth characters clash with the objects/armors?

 

[The Librarian]

Eh, it didn't really have a ending. In fact, it was probably the biggest case of blue balls I could remember from a game. One moment you're going FUCK YA CHIEF, and then the credits roll.

The fact that it had a cliffhanger doesn't matter, the overall story had progressed forward. The Covenant had (essentially) conquered Earth, the Covenant Civil War had begun, all the remaining rings were on standby ready to fire, and the Flood had been released on delta Halo.

Mass Effect 2? Um, nothing has progressive by comparison.

 

[Dennis]

I don't like Jacob much as a character - dull compared to the others - but goddamn his loyalty mission is by far the greatest.

I wish there were more missions tih this kind of enviroment that reminds me of ME 1.

 

[Tokubetsu]

I think your game is bugged if you think grunt's armor look outdated.

However I will agree that there are sometimes that stuff like clothes look out of place compared to the rest of the game, and I believe the reason for that is that it's simply recycled clothing and textures from the first ME.

Overall I would disagree that it's one of the bigger issue for the game though, at most it's a tiny quirk, if that's the right word.

I don't know what platform he's playing on but for the most part, the PC armor textures range from garbage to decent. This with playing at 1920x1080 and everything max. We talk about it a bit in the PC screenshot thread. I think octagon mentioned that its a problem with the armor texture resolution size

 

[Revengeance]

I'll ask again:

Does/did anyone else have issues with the sound in ME2? I'm running windows 7 x64, maybe that's one of the reasons?

Only problem I had was the sound cutting out all together during the fight at the end of Samara's loyalty quest. Apparently the same thing happened to my brother. Fortunately, I had subtitles on.

Playing on 360, btw.

 

[Dennis]

Does anyone else feel that this game's biggest weakness is it's graphical inconsistency?

The character models can look so good...the aliens so lifelike...and yet the very armor they are wearing looks awful. And it's not even every character..Miranda's bodysuit is fine, but then Grunt's armor looks over a decade outdated.

Vehicles/large objects in particular are also so pixelated and jaggedy. I'm no graphics expert, but why was Bioware able to design gorgeous character models...but the their clothing/armor is terrible?

Some hallways/environments look amazing with great lighting and particle effects...but a lot of that is ruined for me by junky doors/crates.

I agree completely.

But something had to give on the consoles in regards to the texture resolution. If it is any consolation, the PC version also suffers - Bioware apparently couldn't be assed to make high res assets specifically for PC. For shame, and too bad as it would have made ME2 one of the best looking games ever.

 

[Future PhaZe]

The fact that it had a cliffhanger doesn't matter, the overall story had progressed forward. The Covenant had (essentially) conquered Earth, the Covenant Civil War had begun, all the remaining rings were on standby ready to fire, and the Flood had been released on delta Halo.

Mass Effect 2? Um, nothing has progressive by comparison.

Why does everything have to be huge and obvious? I like the subtle but massive answers we got in ME2.

Spoiler

The Quarians going to war or possibly no? An answer to the Krogan genophage or no? What the fuck...the Geths might not be our enemies after all? Possible reaper technology in the hands of Cerberus? Rachni on the move? Shepard not involved with the GA anymore?

People saying that nothing happens in ME2 must not have played the same game I did.

 

[ultron87]

So is the sound supposed to cut out during the Justicar's loyalty mission when she and

Spoiler

her daughter are having their biotic fight?

Because I replayed that part twice and the sound cut out at the same time both times. I'm also extremely disappointed that

Spoiler

I wasn't renegade enough to get the daughter on the team.

Also, as to

Spoiler

Legion's

loyalty mission, I don't really see how

Spoiler

forcibly rewriting the minds of all the heretic geth is a Paragon action that is worth 20 points. And I'm not saying that the other choice should be paragon, but both of them seem fairly renegade like.

 

[Snuggles]

So is the sound supposed to cut out during the Justicar's loyalty mission when she and

Spoiler

her daughter are having their biotic fight?

Because I replayed that part twice and the sound cut out at the same time both times.

Good question, it happened to me at the same part and I thought it might have been a glitch. I couldn't hear what I thought was the most important part of the scene.

 

[MichaelEM3]

For the new page:

I'm back with another question derived from paranoia.

It's about Jack.

Spoiler

So I've assembled the entire crew but Legion and they're all loyal. Story-wise, I'm right before the IFF mission where I assume I'll get Legion. Now, aside from Jack, I seem to have exhausted all the dialogue options from everyone on the Normandy. Jack's bothering me thought because, aside from the usual Investigate to ask her about Miranda/Jacob and the Mission, all I can say to her is "Let's talk about us." Which seems to always end in her telling me to "Fuck off!" if I tell her I'm not interested (I'm not). This gonna be a problem going into the end? I've been avoiding talking to her for awhile now because of this. Want to keep her loyal.

Thanks for the help.

 

[firehawk12]

So is the sound supposed to cut out during the Justicar's loyalty mission when she and

Spoiler

her daughter are having their biotic fight?

Because I replayed that part twice and the sound cut out at the same time both times. I'm also extremely disappointed that

Spoiler

I wasn't renegade enough to get the daughter on the team.

Also, as to

Spoiler

Legion's

loyalty mission, I don't really see how

Spoiler

forcibly rewriting the minds of all the heretic geth is a Paragon action that is worth 20 points. And I'm not saying that the other choice should be paragon, but both of them seem fairly renegade like.

The sound thing happened to me too. I also got a line of repeated dialog during the spoilered out loyalty quest.

And hey,

Spoiler

the game's morality is still simple. Brain washing is still better than murder

.

 

[Patryn]

So is the sound supposed to cut out during the Justicar's loyalty mission when she and

Spoiler

her daughter are having their biotic fight?

Because I replayed that part twice and the sound cut out at the same time both times. I'm also extremely disappointed that

Spoiler

I wasn't renegade enough to get the daughter on the team.

Ditto to me too. I did that part three times, and all three times the sound cut out. The third time I turned on subtitles just so I could figure out what the hell was going on (I was paragon enough to get th choice and I had no idea why I suddenly had that choice).

 

[Mad_Ban]

What an experience!

Time to venture off into the spoiler thread for me.

 

[Dennis]

The main problem with ME2's storyline is nothing really happens. The galaxy is basically in the same position it was at the end of ME1.

Yes. The story in ME2 is very meh compared to the epicness of ME. Lets assume Bioware knows to bring that back for the final game in the trilogy. I am sure they do.

 

[AniHawk]

Yes. The story in ME2 is very meh compared to the epicness of ME. Lets assume Bioware knows to bring that back for the final game in the trilogy. I am sure they do.

Gotta echo this as well. Still doing exploration stuff, but hoo boy is it pretty dry compared to the first one. It honestly feels more like a huge collection of DLC events than a proper sequel.

 

[Shrennin]

I'll ask again:

Does/did anyone else have issues with the sound in ME2? I'm running windows 7 x64, maybe that's one of the reasons?

I have the 360 version but sometimes the sound does cut off (I'm not talking about the cool effect during combat but rather the speech is cut during certain cutscenes). It may be that they just didn't record it though - I noticed the Codex has mistakes in it, like unrecorded dialogue, repeated text, etc.

 

[Dennis]

ME 2 will be remembered for its characters.

 

[Shrennin]

ME 2 will be rememberd for its characters.

Yup, and ME1 will be remembered for the universe it brought us. Hopefully ME3 will be remembered for both.

BioWare has the makings to create one of the best RPGs ever created, let's hope they utilize that potential. To do that would mean that there should be no more recruiting, the characters are there and now is the time for the threat to go in full force.

I have the same fear that was mentioned here before - I don't think it's possible for new characters to be recruited in ME3 just because of how many are already under Shepard by the time ME2 ends (ME1's characters plus ME2's characters = a huge cast of characters, a small army even) but I think BioWare could take the Dragon Age route by uniting the Citadel races with the Terminus systems, etc.

While the "enemy of my enemy is my friend" concept works in a lot of games, I don't think ME3 needs it here because recruiting has already been done twice. I want missions that have side quests in them rather than side quests that are on other planets. The planet exploration should take place after the endgame of ME3, not before. There is a universe to save and it shouldn't wait on Commander Shepard's need to go exploring.

 

[Patryn]

I think the smaller feel is that instead of having seven big missions (Eden Prime, Feros, Noveria, Dig Site, Virmire, Ilos, Citidel) you have 22 small missions (

Spoiler

Project Lazarus, Freedom's Progress, six recruit missions, ten loyalty missions (with Zaeed), Horizon, Collector Ship, Dead Reaper, Suicide Mission

).

Personally, I preferred the bigger missions that evolved. Something like Noveria's "solve the problems in the complex, drive up the mountain, then clear out the complex."

 

[Dennis]

I think the smaller feel is that instead of having seven big missions (Eden Prime, Feros, Noveria, Dig Site, Virmire, Ilos, Citidel) you have 22 small missions (

Spoiler

Project Lazarus, Freedom's Progress, six recruit missions, ten loyalty missions (with Zaeed), Horizon, Collector Ship, Dead Reaper, Suicide Mission

).

Personally, I preferred the bigger missions that evolved. Something like Noveria's "solve the problems in the complex, drive up the mountain, then clear out the complex."

I agree. ME felt more epic than ME2 in no small part because of what you mention - the larger, more open missions.

 

[Zeliard]

I haven't done it personally but I did watch a video on YouTube earlier that showed this. All that changes

Spoiler

is that a different Krogan of the Urdnot clan is the Krogan leader. There's no real dialogue of any merit between him and Shepard other than that he acknowledges what happened between Shepard and Wrex in ME1.

Besides that it's pretty much business as usual.

Wrex gets a bunch of shout-outs. If you kill the

Spoiler

]Thresher Maw

in Grunt's loyalty quest, everyone mentions how Wrex is the only other guy to have done that. He's revered in that camp - they certainly don't ignore him. In fact, you get an even greater sense of just how much of a badass Wrex was. He was unique even among the surviving Krogan.

 

[The Librarian]

Why does everything have to be huge and obvious? I like the subtle but massive answers we got in ME2.

Spoiler

The Quarians going to war or possibly no? An answer to the Krogan genophage or no? What the fuck...the Geths might not be our enemies after all? Possible reaper technology in the hands of Cerberus? Rachni on the move? Shepard not involved with the GA anymore?

Spoiler

Most, if not all the things you mentioned were just laying the groundwork - so nothing really happens. There isn't a Quarian-Geth War, the Rachni don't show their faces again. If those things happened, then yeah, the story would've been much better. But it didn't.

Overall, the story in ME1 > the story in ME2.

 

[MrCompletely]

I don't like Jacob much as a character - dull compared to the others - but goddamn his loyalty mission is by far the greatest.

I wish there were more missions tih this kind of enviroment that reminds me of ME 1.

I've only done grunts, jacobs, and mordins loyalty quests, but damn mordins was one the best quests in the game so far. Jacob's seemed short.

There are some great renegade/paragon interrupts in mordins

 

[Shrennin]

What are the bonuses for completing Mass Effect Galaxy?

I thought you got them when you took

Spoiler

Jacob to Omega

but I haven't seen any thing that is out of the ordinary or that I would perceive as a bonus for completing Galaxy.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

Spoiler

After you get the IFF, the game lets you do one sidequest while it's being installed (I assume that's to let you do Legion's loyalty quest). Once the abduction occurs, if you do anything before going on the suicide mission, the crew starts being liquidated. I think that the more missions you do, the more of your crew dies.

So to directly answer your question, it's the IFF mission that starts the timer, and the timer stands at one mission.

That's odd.

Spoiler

I did both Tali and Legion's loyalty missions before it forced it on me.

 

[adamsapple]

That's odd.

Spoiler

I did both Tali and Legion's loyalty missions before it forced it on me.

Maybe it only allows Loyalty missions ?

 

[Patryn]

That's odd.

Spoiler

I did both Tali and Legion's loyalty missions before it forced it on me.

Maybe I'm wrong. But everything I've read said that you only get a one mission grace period.

 

[Zeliard]

I've only done grunts, jacobs, and mordins loyalty quests, but damn mordins was one the best quests in the game so far. Jacob's seemed short.

There are some great renegade/paragon interrupts in mordins

Try out Thane's loyalty quest. It's interesting and very different.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

Maybe it only allows Loyalty missions ?

But...

Spoiler

It forced it on me when I went to go DO another loyalty mission!

:lol

 

[BrLvgThrChmstry]

At what point in the game am I able to recruit

Spoiler

Legion

? ...I read somewhere he/she/it was available towards the end of the game, true?

Spoiler'd just in case.

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

I haven't finished Mass Effect 2 yet, so I can't comment on the ending, but it definitely feels way more epic than the first game. The first game had epic moments (escaping from the Volcano, the nuke on Virmire, the ending), but most of it wasn't really that epic. Most of the story planets were research facilities on remote planets, which just felt same-y. Compared to the amazing locations you go to in Mass Effect 2, I definitely think the sequel has the edge.

 

[adamsapple]

But...

Spoiler

It forced it on me when I went to go DO another loyalty mission!

:lol

Spoiler

I've never been able to do Legion's personal quest before the IFF is installed and the collector abduction event happens .. can't seem to interact with Legion at all .. He's always still there laying on the table when Joker's running around that room.

Other than that the IFF installation thing forced itself in my game too, but I had previously done all available character's personal quests so that didn't make a big dent

 

[Zeliard]

I didn't think the first Mass Effect's story was that great up until the Sovereign reveal, and the stuff that went on between him and Saren. Prior to that, I wasn't all that engaged. Everything with Sovereign was very well-done, however. The Reapers make for an acceptably menacing enemy.

 

[DarkKyo]

So I'm noticing that I barely ever get new weapons or armor.. Is there something I'm missing here? Is it mostly all bought? What are some of the best shops in the galaxy??

 

[comrade]

What would you guys recommend for Advanced Weapon Training? I have options for Assault Rifle, Shotgun, and Sniper Rifle training. I chose the class that only uses biotics. Shotgun seems good because up close I feel pretty underpowered. But sometimes people far behind cover are annoying because I can't use my biotics on them so a Sniper might be really helpful. Gah I wish I could of saved before this point.

 

[Confidence Man]

Finished it up finally. Great last mission, eye-rollingly stupid boss.

Overall the game was fun but left me with a bad taste of bitter disappointment at what it could've been.

 

[Patryn]

So I'm noticing that I barely ever get new weapons or armor.. Is there something I'm missing here? Is it mostly all bought? What are some of the best shops in the galaxy??

There are barely any weapons or armor in the game. I think I had 2 of each type of weapon at the end (though Soldiers get more, and there are apparently more on harder difficulties).

In terms of armor, I think I had the most chestplates, and I found....4?

 

[Zeliard]

What would you guys recommend for Advanced Weapon Training? I have options for Assault Rifle, Shotgun, and Sniper Rifle training. I chose the class that only uses biotics. Shotgun seems good because up close I feel pretty underpowered. But sometimes people far behind cover are annoying because I can't use my biotics on them so a Sniper might be really helpful. Gah I wish I could of saved before this point.

You probably don't want to pick shotgun. As a Vanguard, just trust me on that. I know it's a shotgun, but the range on that thing is such that you practically have to be on top of an enemy to do any real damage. If you're an Adept, then getting up close is probably an even worse idea.

If you're playing on a lower difficulty, then shotgun might be okay for Adept since he can possibly disable enemies before going up to them. I'd go with rifle, though, either assault or sniper.

 

[Fakto]

At what point in the game am I able to recruit

Spoiler

Legion

?

I'm interested in this too, any tips ? =)

 

[adamsapple]

I'm interested in this too, any tips ? =)

Story event, you won't be able to miss it even if you try

 

[Patryn]

I'm interested in this too, any tips ? =)

Keep playing. You can't miss him. It's towards the end.

 

[Deleted member 47027]

I'm interested in this too, any tips ? =)

"Very late" basically. It'll come.

 

[Shake Appeal]

It's amazing how progressive WRPGs are this gen

Really?

Really?!

 

[Y2Kev]

Here we go...

Edit: I agree with everything being said regarding the story and the characters. I think this is one of the better Bioware casts. You guys should go to the spoiler thread...I forget to check this one.

 

[DarkKyo]

There are barely any weapons or armor in the game. I think I had 2 of each type of weapon at the end (though Soldiers get more, and there are apparently more on harder difficulties).

In terms of armor, I think I had the most chestplates, and I found....4?

Damn, really?! Hmm.. well thanks!

 

[Dresden]

What would you guys recommend for Advanced Weapon Training? I have options for Assault Rifle, Shotgun, and Sniper Rifle training. I chose the class that only uses biotics. Shotgun seems good because up close I feel pretty underpowered. But sometimes people far behind cover are annoying because I can't use my biotics on them so a Sniper might be really helpful. Gah I wish I could of saved before this point.

For an adept, it's assault rifles all the way. Sniper rifles are handy against armor, but you have Warp to destroy armor anyways. It's shields and barriers that really hurt you as an adept.

Just get a AR, upgrade it, and slap Warp Ammon on.

 

[comrade]

You probably don't want to pick shotgun. As a Vanguard, just trust me on that. I know it's a shotgun, but the range on that thing is such that you practically have to be on top of an enemy to do any real damage. If you're an Adept, then getting up close is probably an even worse idea.

If you're playing on a lower difficulty, then shotgun might be okay for Adept since he can possibly disable enemies before going up to them. I'd go with rifle, though, either assault or sniper.

For an adept, it's assault rifles all the way. Sniper rifles are handy against armor, but you have Warp to destroy armor anyways. It's shields and barriers that really hurt you as an adept.

Just get a AR, upgrade it, and slap Warp Ammon on.

Thanks guys. I went with Assault Rifle and I'm tearing these Collectors up.

 

[LabouredSubterfuge]

There are barely any weapons or armor in the game. I think I had 2 of each type of weapon at the end (though Soldiers get more, and there are apparently more on harder difficulties).

In terms of armor, I think I had the most chestplates, and I found....4?

Really?!

Also, are people NG+ ing or starting a frsh new game playthrough??

 

[McNerdBurger]

Only problem I had was the sound cutting out all together during the fight at the end of Samara's loyalty quest. Apparently the same thing happened to my brother. Fortunately, I had subtitles on.

That's brutal... Can anyone who experienced this please let me know if they were playing off the disc, or the hard drive? I just played that mission at home off the xbox hard drive and didn't experience and cutouts. Apologies to anyone who did... we're looking into it.

 

[adamsapple]

That's brutal... Can anyone who experienced this please let me know if they were playing off the disc, or the hard drive? I just played that mission at home off the xbox hard drive and didn't experience and cutouts. Apologies to anyone who did... we're looking into it.

HDD install here, no sound cut off for me at all either.