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Mass Effect 2 |OT|
- Thread starter Skilotonn
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The Lamonster
Member
DLC squad member. That's basically all we know. She'd better be hot.Solo said:
Metroidvania
People called Romanes they go the house?
Solo said:
Another DLC character.
The info came from an early version of the game with the dev-kit still included, someone pulled up the menu, and saw all the squad names.
Bioware recently admitted to her/it/whatever, but haven't given info on a release date.
Grampa Simpson
Banned
Just played through Mass Effect 1 for the first time. I'm planning to pick up Mass Effect 2, and I also plan to play through Mass Effect 1 again on new game+. Does anyone have a complete answer on what gets imported? Is it just an alignment, class type, and base level type thing, or do point allocation decisions that I made carry over?
DevelopmentArrested said:
Didn't Zaeed actually make the character screen smaller? It seems like they could fit more if they wanted. The ship thing is a good point though, I guess pull a tali and put the person in a room already open...crew quarter seems likely.
bmf said:
It gives a bonus to the alignment, keeps your name + gender and some exp/mineral/cash bonuses depending on the level you were at. You can change class if you want, and the stats screen is different and from the start--but if you're a level 50 in ME1 for example, you start at level 3 and have some points to use.
The main reason to import is that it keep the major decisions, and even a ton of smaller stuff you did that show up throughout the game. I really like the small touches they have with returning characters, I completely forgot about a lot of them until they showed up.
Red Blaster
Member
Does the game keep your old save on file after you complete the game or does it overwrite it when you start a new one?
The Lamonster
Member
Disappointed with the Miranda loyalty quest. I was hoping
her sister would look like a blonde Miranda but she was just some generic-looking female. So much for identical twins!
MisterAnderson
Member
Red Blaster said:
If Mass Effect 1 is anything to go by, I am pretty sure when you start over with the same career, the autosave will save over the autosave required to import (I think?) To be safe just back up your autosave?
Revelations
Banned
DevelopmentArrested said:
Port Observation room?
So i'm about 5 hours in and i've done NOTHING! :lol . The only thing i have done is clear omega (doubt that's spoilerish), throw some prones into some poor planets and now cruising around the citadel. I'm playing as a vanguard, which is what i did in ME1. Imported my ugly character but got used to his bad looks so i kept him the same for ME2.
I'm trying to play through this as slow and thorough as possible. I've never gone back and played a game for a second time, unless it's something old and 2d.
The combat is 50/50 for me, which i could say about ME1s combat. After awhile i got used to the slow moving design, now all of a sudden it's like your on speed and everything is go go go. The lack of "heal everyone with some medi-gel" is a disapointment, but now F is melee attack which seems kinda op, so i guess it balances out :lol
I encountered a bug that freaked me out. I got stuck in between some beds on the
mission. Luckily everyone survived with me shooting walls and a cutscene arrived saving my ass.
The graphics are superb, the extra detail in the ship is just amazing. I never explored it in #1 but i decided to take a look at everything and talk to everyone possible.
I'm trying to play through this as slow and thorough as possible. I've never gone back and played a game for a second time, unless it's something old and 2d.
The combat is 50/50 for me, which i could say about ME1s combat. After awhile i got used to the slow moving design, now all of a sudden it's like your on speed and everything is go go go. The lack of "heal everyone with some medi-gel" is a disapointment, but now F is melee attack which seems kinda op, so i guess it balances out :lol
I encountered a bug that freaked me out. I got stuck in between some beds on the
archangel
The graphics are superb, the extra detail in the ship is just amazing. I never explored it in #1 but i decided to take a look at everything and talk to everyone possible.
Red Blaster
Member
MisterAnderson said:
This is a different career though, played as a male Shepard my first go.
bmf said:
Only your decisions, background and sex carry over. On a tiny sidequest did you convince a crook to give up her ways? Expect to meet them in their new occupation.
Did you act like a jerk to another random person? Expect to see how that affected their life.
Did Wrex die? Expect to deal with the consequences. Did he live? See how that affects the entire Krogan race.
Etc, etc, etc.
You can pick a new class and remake your face as you wish, and you'll start over at either level 1 (under level 50 in ME1), level 3 (levels 50-59) or level 5 (level 60). If you start above level 1 you can choose to allocate any skills points as you wish, because the skill system is TOTALLY different.
Oh, and Kasumi can't be on Port Observation. Zaeed is in that room.
The Lamonster
Member
Do you guys choose squad members to accompany you based on their personalities or their combat abilities?
I planned to choose based on combat but I usually end up taking the two characters who I feel are the most interesting.
I planned to choose based on combat but I usually end up taking the two characters who I feel are the most interesting.
because when it comes to combat, my soldier FemShep can take care of herself 
Digital Limit
Member
DennisK4 said:
I don't believe that's correct. I simply got the Cain from research.
Revelations
Banned
Patryn said:
Negative. Zaeed is in maintenace or whatever on the floor area directly under it.
Buttonbasher
Member
Truth.The Lamonster said:Do you guys choose squad members to accompany you based on their personalities or their combat abilities?
I planned to choose based on combat but I usually end up taking the two characters who I feel are the most interesting.
because when it comes to combat, my soldier FemShep can take care of herself
I bring Mordin out on most missions, because I like using his Fire and Ice powers and he's a cool dude. Then I would bring the other member out for personality.
The Lamonster said:Do you guys choose squad members to accompany you based on their personalities or their combat abilities?
I planned to choose based on combat but I usually end up taking the two characters who I feel are the most interesting.
because when it comes to combat, my soldier FemShep can take care of herself
combat skills which is why i usually bring Zaeed and Grunt with me, they usually clean up enemies fast.
Fakto said:
Yes, just do the side quests.
Digital Limit
Member
neojubei said:
Why wouldn't you go that far? What's its competition?
Spaceman Spiff
Member
From what I hear, the Widow sniper rifle is the most potent one in the game, but I'm playing as a Vanguard that picked up SRs as a bonus weapon so it wasn't available to me on the
.
Is it at all possible for Vanguards to gain access to this weapon?
Collector ship
Is it at all possible for Vanguards to gain access to this weapon?
Metroidvania
People called Romanes they go the house?
Patryn said:
Which I am extremely curious as to why that is.
If you miss an upgrade, does anyone know for sure if you can still miraculously "find" upgrades or missed weapons in the mission report at the end?
If not, that's really, really lame.
Not to my knowledge, though I'm not sure, you might be able to on a second playthrough, unless your secondary "acquired" weapon skill goes away.
Misterinenja
Member
Is anyone else dangerously obsessed with this game? Seriously it's on my mind all the time and it's hard to focus on other things. :lol
I just can't get over how good it was. Can't wait until I'm done with moving so I can replay it.
I just can't get over how good it was. Can't wait until I'm done with moving so I can replay it.
Spaceman Spiff
Member
Patryn said:
That sounds plausible, assuming upgrades/bonus skills carry over in NG+. I guess I'll try to pick it up next time around.
The Lamonster
Member
This is something I want to know as well. The upgrade system kind of bugs me because a major upgrade or new weapon could be easily missed...Metroidvania said:
She's part of the 2nd Dossier collection along with Thane and Samara.Kweh said:
gregor7777
Banned
The Lamonster said:
90% personalities.
Jay Shadow
Member
Both might be an option.Calibrated Chaos said:I've never been so torn over a decision.
Miranda or Jack?
So I went with Tali. But even after sleeping with Tali, Jack still had to option to dump Tali and go with her instead. Don't know if that's specific to Tali and Jack or if Jack will stay as an option in all situations.
Basileus777
Member
Fakto said:
Only if you imported your character. You might even have to start on level 5.
Infiltrator, Sentinel, and Soldier are the winners on Insanity (probably in that order, best-to-worst). Engineers, Adepts, and Vanguards make things a bit tougher on you (and again, that's probably best-to-worst right there, although that's an educated guess rather than first-hand experience).Mad_Ban said:
Just finished the game this morning, after 41 hours (that includes quite a few breaks, I'd call it 40 or so hours overall).
I thought I'd put my impressions in a pros and con list:
Pros:
+ Arguably the best part of the game for me are the cities, the hubs, they're vibrant and seem to take the best parts of the Citadel from the first one, pinched in with some better pacing. Omega, Illium, Citadel (even though it's smaller than the first unfortunately) and to a lesser degree Tuchanka, felt like living breathing cities. The immersion and atmosphere was fantastic in each of them. I do wish we got to see more of the Citadel though but that's just a small complaint. I must have spent so much time exploring and I thought the mission design was at it's best at these places, where you'd take transport or an elevator to the missions themselves within.
I hope there will be even more cities in Mass Effect 3 or even in Downloadable Content. Hell I'd even like to get some more DLC missions for places like Illium and Omega. I feel like I have unfinished business.
+ The dialogue system. Being able to go around and speak to various people, with variables depending on the conversation. I felt like I could have approached conversations so many ways. Also, due to the Renegade / Paragon system in this one, I thought the conversation system was even better. One complaint though, is that maybe I'll select one option on the left side of the conversation wheel and then it'll end the conversation when I wanted to say more.
+ VA / Character Acting -- incredible. Gives me very high hopes for the next one, they've definitely set the bar with this. I really can't find any faults with both the VA and character acting. The emotion on the characters faces and in the VA really added to some scenes, especially in the more touching moments. One scene that has stuck with me was a scene earlier on in Korlus.
+ Art direction. Almost every place in the game was brimming in visual quality. It felt like I was in a very high quality sci-fi movie, and you can see the fusion of inspiration that the artists. It really added to the immersion of the game. There were a couple of disappointments
+ Interrupt system. Great, implemented very well and it had the perfect amount. It's particularly funny in certain scenes like
+ Loyalty missions. I hope this aspect stays for the next game, the character interaction, the moral choices you made in them and most of them featured some really surprising (and good) scenes. For the most part they didn't feel like just shooter level romps that a couple of missions in the game felt like. Personally, my favourites were Thane, Miranda, Tali, Samara, Mordin, Jacob and Subject Zero. They were all incredibly well done and one of my favourite parts of the game. Some of them felt like movie scenes.
+ The ME 1 cameos. They were very well done --
. I just hope they have larger parts in the next game along with my current ME 2 crew of course.
+ There was a lot to do, a lot of places to visit with different art styles. I liked the concept of the N7 missions. They aren't perfect, as nice as the art style was on some of them, a lot of them felt a bit samey (rocky, tropical), there wasn't as much variety as there was in the first, and they felt light in content. It must have took me at the most 10 minutes to do each one. On the other hand, I'm not too bothered about the lack of Mako, most of it just felt like filler while the N7 missions really cut out that filler. The best one to me was the Normandy Crash Site, especially in terms of nostalgia and atmosphere. If in the future, they are on par with this, I'll be happy -- but to be honest, I wouldn't mind if they instead in the future beefed up side quests in the cities / hubs and cut the N7 mission stuff. It's just my opinion.
+ Characters. Among the best characters I've interacted with in a videogame. Even tops the first one. The marketing does not do them justice, they're all very interesting characters.
+ Humour / Easter Eggs / Carry over. This game has so many, the amount of references to the first one I've seen, funny advertisements, news system, conversations and the humour in general was great.
+ Shops and upgrade system. I like the upgrade system, people may think otherwise, but I thought it was quite a bit in-depth. I also liked the way the shops were done this time and were a lot more easier to navigate rather than having to shop through a conversation. The only complaint I have of the upgrade system is that it could be a bit beefier and perhaps tie in with a characters level progression. In terms of loot, I wasn't unhappy it was gone. It really didn't bother me since most of the loot in the first game to me was useless.
+ Normandy SR-2. I spent plenty of time, talking to my crew, feeding my fish, listening to music, customizing things and researching. It was very well done. The e-mail system was a nice touch.
+ The combat. It's leaps and bounds a better combat system than the first, and it just feels much better. I know the shooting is now not tied to your level progression but I think it's for the best. One complaint is that some shooting sections really drag on, it's like Bioware are really proud of the system and just wanted to show it off even more. Can't complain though.
+ Story, there will probably be a few complaints about this, but the recruitment is the main part of the game, thus the characters are. The characters are the essence of the game this time around. Overall, I'd say I enjoyed the first game's story more but as I said, the characters make this game.
Cons:
- Straight up shooting missions. I didn't like these (the final mission not included, I really liked it). I'll make two examples,
. Two recruitment missions. They really didn't have much balance, all they required to do was going from point a to b and obliterate anything in your path which then end with a boss fight. I hope there are less of these in the next one. It was nice to be able to make use of the combat but these sections felt like overkill for a Mass Effect game. They didn't really have much depth to them.
- Scanning: Mind-numbing, and boring. There seriously better be an easier way to get resources in the next installment. Earlier in the game it was really frustrating and potentially ruining the experience for me. Some tips do help though.
- The mission complete screen. I didn't like it. It just didn't fit in.
- The role-playing to combat sections didn't seem seamless enough. In the first, you would just take out your gun and the combat would start. But in this, it makes it very clear that it's a combat section and it feels like it. I just wish it was as seamless as it was in the first one.
- While the game was, for the most part, well polished. I noticed a few bugs. Nothing major though.
Neutral:
-/+ I enjoyed the music, but it didn't feel as good or as atmospheric as the first. At times, in favour for a more orchestral soundtrack. I think this was a mistake. I'd come back to the Normandy, feeling nice about the music I heard but then I'd put the sound system on then something from Mass Effect 1 would play to downplay that. However, the music in the clubs were great choices (especially Eternity's music on Illium - does anybody know the track?)
-/+ Armour customisation. It was well done, but it's a shame you couldn't buy more armours in the game or perhaps salvage some. Whilst being able to upgrade and customise our current N7 armour.
Overall: I loved the game, it's on par with the first which holds a special place for me. Which is the biggest compliment I can give it and it further proves why it's my favourite series right now. Both stellar games, with obvious flaws but nothing is perfect. It's these amazing features that make the series so special. The emotion, character interaction, acting, production value, art direction, combat are at their peak in Mass Effect 2. They only need to make a few improvements for the third game. They've built up something special, let's hope they give it an excellent ending in Mass Effect 3. For the meantime, I'll enjoy any DLC that may come and I'll replay it soon to see some other choices.
It's a great game, it's deeper than you might think. While it may not be deep for a hardcore RPG fan, but the stats / loot has for the most part never what made the series or the first one great. It's the immersion, the sense of wonder and mystery (in the locales, story and villains), the characters, your journey. I felt sad at the end, because I knew it was over, and because of what happened in the final mission
. Anyway, congrats to Bioware on a brilliant game, it's not perfect, things need to be improved but there are things they done incredibly well in this one, there's less for them to improve in Mass Effect 3 than there was going from the original to its sequel.
I thought I'd put my impressions in a pros and con list:
Pros:
+ Arguably the best part of the game for me are the cities, the hubs, they're vibrant and seem to take the best parts of the Citadel from the first one, pinched in with some better pacing. Omega, Illium, Citadel (even though it's smaller than the first unfortunately) and to a lesser degree Tuchanka, felt like living breathing cities. The immersion and atmosphere was fantastic in each of them. I do wish we got to see more of the Citadel though but that's just a small complaint. I must have spent so much time exploring and I thought the mission design was at it's best at these places, where you'd take transport or an elevator to the missions themselves within.
I hope there will be even more cities in Mass Effect 3 or even in Downloadable Content. Hell I'd even like to get some more DLC missions for places like Illium and Omega. I feel like I have unfinished business.
+ The dialogue system. Being able to go around and speak to various people, with variables depending on the conversation. I felt like I could have approached conversations so many ways. Also, due to the Renegade / Paragon system in this one, I thought the conversation system was even better. One complaint though, is that maybe I'll select one option on the left side of the conversation wheel and then it'll end the conversation when I wanted to say more.
+ VA / Character Acting -- incredible. Gives me very high hopes for the next one, they've definitely set the bar with this. I really can't find any faults with both the VA and character acting. The emotion on the characters faces and in the VA really added to some scenes, especially in the more touching moments. One scene that has stuck with me was a scene earlier on in Korlus.
+ Art direction. Almost every place in the game was brimming in visual quality. It felt like I was in a very high quality sci-fi movie, and you can see the fusion of inspiration that the artists. It really added to the immersion of the game. There were a couple of disappointments
such as Korlus, very ugly, but I suppose that's what a garbage planet it supposed to be like and I thought the Reaper was lacking in inspiration.
+ Interrupt system. Great, implemented very well and it had the perfect amount. It's particularly funny in certain scenes like
the interrogation during Thane's loyalty quest.
+ Loyalty missions. I hope this aspect stays for the next game, the character interaction, the moral choices you made in them and most of them featured some really surprising (and good) scenes. For the most part they didn't feel like just shooter level romps that a couple of missions in the game felt like. Personally, my favourites were Thane, Miranda, Tali, Samara, Mordin, Jacob and Subject Zero. They were all incredibly well done and one of my favourite parts of the game. Some of them felt like movie scenes.
+ The ME 1 cameos. They were very well done --
Wrex: Shepard!! )
+ There was a lot to do, a lot of places to visit with different art styles. I liked the concept of the N7 missions. They aren't perfect, as nice as the art style was on some of them, a lot of them felt a bit samey (rocky, tropical), there wasn't as much variety as there was in the first, and they felt light in content. It must have took me at the most 10 minutes to do each one. On the other hand, I'm not too bothered about the lack of Mako, most of it just felt like filler while the N7 missions really cut out that filler. The best one to me was the Normandy Crash Site, especially in terms of nostalgia and atmosphere. If in the future, they are on par with this, I'll be happy -- but to be honest, I wouldn't mind if they instead in the future beefed up side quests in the cities / hubs and cut the N7 mission stuff. It's just my opinion.
+ Characters. Among the best characters I've interacted with in a videogame. Even tops the first one. The marketing does not do them justice, they're all very interesting characters.
+ Humour / Easter Eggs / Carry over. This game has so many, the amount of references to the first one I've seen, funny advertisements, news system, conversations and the humour in general was great.
Conrad Verner's meeting was a highlight.
+ Shops and upgrade system. I like the upgrade system, people may think otherwise, but I thought it was quite a bit in-depth. I also liked the way the shops were done this time and were a lot more easier to navigate rather than having to shop through a conversation. The only complaint I have of the upgrade system is that it could be a bit beefier and perhaps tie in with a characters level progression. In terms of loot, I wasn't unhappy it was gone. It really didn't bother me since most of the loot in the first game to me was useless.
+ Normandy SR-2. I spent plenty of time, talking to my crew, feeding my fish, listening to music, customizing things and researching. It was very well done. The e-mail system was a nice touch.
+ The combat. It's leaps and bounds a better combat system than the first, and it just feels much better. I know the shooting is now not tied to your level progression but I think it's for the best. One complaint is that some shooting sections really drag on, it's like Bioware are really proud of the system and just wanted to show it off even more. Can't complain though.
+ Story, there will probably be a few complaints about this, but the recruitment is the main part of the game, thus the characters are. The characters are the essence of the game this time around. Overall, I'd say I enjoyed the first game's story more but as I said, the characters make this game.
Cons:
- Straight up shooting missions. I didn't like these (the final mission not included, I really liked it). I'll make two examples,
Purgatory and Korlus
- Scanning: Mind-numbing, and boring. There seriously better be an easier way to get resources in the next installment. Earlier in the game it was really frustrating and potentially ruining the experience for me. Some tips do help though.
- The mission complete screen. I didn't like it. It just didn't fit in.
- The role-playing to combat sections didn't seem seamless enough. In the first, you would just take out your gun and the combat would start. But in this, it makes it very clear that it's a combat section and it feels like it. I just wish it was as seamless as it was in the first one.
- While the game was, for the most part, well polished. I noticed a few bugs. Nothing major though.
Neutral:
-/+ I enjoyed the music, but it didn't feel as good or as atmospheric as the first. At times, in favour for a more orchestral soundtrack. I think this was a mistake. I'd come back to the Normandy, feeling nice about the music I heard but then I'd put the sound system on then something from Mass Effect 1 would play to downplay that. However, the music in the clubs were great choices (especially Eternity's music on Illium - does anybody know the track?)
-/+ Armour customisation. It was well done, but it's a shame you couldn't buy more armours in the game or perhaps salvage some. Whilst being able to upgrade and customise our current N7 armour.
Overall: I loved the game, it's on par with the first which holds a special place for me. Which is the biggest compliment I can give it and it further proves why it's my favourite series right now. Both stellar games, with obvious flaws but nothing is perfect. It's these amazing features that make the series so special. The emotion, character interaction, acting, production value, art direction, combat are at their peak in Mass Effect 2. They only need to make a few improvements for the third game. They've built up something special, let's hope they give it an excellent ending in Mass Effect 3. For the meantime, I'll enjoy any DLC that may come and I'll replay it soon to see some other choices.
It's a great game, it's deeper than you might think. While it may not be deep for a hardcore RPG fan, but the stats / loot has for the most part never what made the series or the first one great. It's the immersion, the sense of wonder and mystery (in the locales, story and villains), the characters, your journey. I felt sad at the end, because I knew it was over, and because of what happened in the final mission
Tali, Grunt and Mordin all died for me, which is strange since I did all the loyalty quests
Just finished it, loved the game. Hated the ending.
My major complaint hinders on the fact that there is no chance to retry a loyalty mission if you screw up. I went to do all the loyalty missions but failed Thane's and the Asari woman's. Then, despite doing Jack's, because I chose Miranda over her, she was no longer loyal, fucking me up during the final mission. Also, the game doesn't clarify the risk so I ended up losing my favourite character ever Grunt, who I can't now import into ME3. I get that it was a suicide mission, but it's also a game, allow me to have choice over peoples death instead of being forced into watching a cutscene as they die. Pretty stupid and left a sour taste in my mouth after my 25 hour playthrough. Oh well, I just hope Bioware include an even more badass Krogan in ME3.
Basileus777
Member
Coxswain said:
Engineers aren't terrible on insanity like adepts and vanguards. They get incinerate and overload, and even their sentry drone (which isn't the same as the npc version) isn't as bad as it's made out to be.
charlequin
Banned
Ponti said:
Sadly, talking to Thane makes it pretty clear that a hanar squadmate is out of the question. :-(
Spaceman Spiff said:
Only on a NG+, I think.
I've been avoiding this thread and all ME2-related info because I've been avoiding spoilers. Seriously, I saw the first trailer and that was it. Now that I've started ME2 though, there are a whole bunch of things that are confusing me a little... so I have a few general questions. Nothing story related!
- They took out the ability to customise your Shepard's individual skills like Health, Pistol proficiency etc, right? Or is that something you get at a higher difficulty? I'm playing on Normal.
- Is there a way to compare weapon stats or armor stats? Seems like when you get a new gun, you have to try it to figure out whether it's better or worse than your old gun. (More often than not the new gun is better, but there was an assault rifle upgrade I hated because it carried far less ammo than the original.)
- I'm not crazy: There is basically no inventory system, right?
I'm not complaining about the game -- I was just really surprised. Coming out of ME1 and not reading any previews that ME2 seemed to be much more of a shooter and less of an RPG (in the nerdy stat sense; not in the story/make-your-own-choices sense), which I didn't expect. So I just wanted to confirm that those things are actually gone and not just hidden at lower difficulty levels!
- They took out the ability to customise your Shepard's individual skills like Health, Pistol proficiency etc, right? Or is that something you get at a higher difficulty? I'm playing on Normal.
- Is there a way to compare weapon stats or armor stats? Seems like when you get a new gun, you have to try it to figure out whether it's better or worse than your old gun. (More often than not the new gun is better, but there was an assault rifle upgrade I hated because it carried far less ammo than the original.)
- I'm not crazy: There is basically no inventory system, right?
I'm not complaining about the game -- I was just really surprised. Coming out of ME1 and not reading any previews that ME2 seemed to be much more of a shooter and less of an RPG (in the nerdy stat sense; not in the story/make-your-own-choices sense), which I didn't expect. So I just wanted to confirm that those things are actually gone and not just hidden at lower difficulty levels!
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