I agree with your criticisms Patryn. There were missions that were much bigger and more grand in ME1 and I do wish that had carried over to ME2. I would have also like to have more guns, maybe 4 of each type would have been good. There are quite a few things Bioware could have done better. But there are many many more things that they did do better in ME2 and I am impressed. I feel right now that this is the best game I've played since HL2.
Good post, and I agree to a certain extent. Although I think Mass Effect 2 is a better game, there's a certain element missing that the original had. I can't put my finger on it exactly - it's partly the way that the main story takes a backseat, and how the missions are much shorter/less focused on exploration etc - but that's still not exactly it.
Mass Effect 2 is my favourite out of them, but I'll always look back on the original in a fond way due to this certain x-factor that I can't describe.
I'll also freely admit that I had a vision of the game I wanted ME2 to be. It didn't help that I went on a total media blackout, so all the streamlining took me by complete surprise. So part of my experience was soured by those realizations.
Does this mean that I didn't enjoy ME2? Hell no. I loved ME2. The fact that I'm willing to discuss it as much as I am should say something about how I feel.
Legion's isn't bad either. Both of 'em are real, honest-to-goodness SF and they also both feature honestly challenging ethical questions (which very little else in the game does.) Even if I hadn't liked anything else in the game (and I very much did) these two made me very, very happy.
Agreed, their missions (at least in story content) were the best.
And while I cannot say that Legion is one of the best characters, I cannot see them handling him another way. It was done perfectly (except for the way he joined and where theyplaced him).
However, I was hoping for a Silver Surfer-esque learning process with either him or Grunt.
Jeff Stephen said:
To those of you who picked up the CE of ME2 on Steam, what's the audio format and bitrate of the OST?
Let me clarify some of my criticisms. Taken in isolation, as games by themselves, I agree that a person would have to be crazy to say that ME1 is superior to ME2. ME1 had so many technical issues it's a marvel that they actually released it to the public.
However, that doesn't mean that people can't PREFER ME1 to ME2. That's the category I fall into. Despite all its flaws, ME1 is just more of the type of game that I love.
I love the longer missions that slowly evolve, with multiple elements (Noveria is a great example: Talk your way into the vehicle bay, then drive up the mountain, then clear out the base) as opposed to the shorter, more compact combat missions ME2 has.
I'm in the camp that liked the Mako, so of course I prefer that to mining.
I liked the longer and more twisting main story that advanced the universe instead of single characters (although ME2's characters are much better). I liked the inter-squad banter on the elevators more than
the lousy two scripted fights in ME2.
I'll also freely admit that I had a vision of the game I wanted ME2 to be. It didn't help that I went on a total media blackout, so all the streamlining took me by complete surprise. So part of my experience was soured by those realizations.
Does this mean that I didn't enjoy ME2? Hell no. I loved ME2. The fact that I'm willing to discuss it as much as I am should say something about how I feel.
But I won't pretend it's perfect. I want to express my frustrations with the game in the hope that Bioware will listen and try to correct my issues the same way they did with others' complaints about ME1.
Finally, anyone who is defending ME1's cover system is insane. I'm replaying ME1 right now in order to understand the whole Tali love thing going on, and the cover system is driving me NUTS. I keep hitting the button to go into cover, but it's not working. And half the time I want to go in cover, my Shepard is just standing there facing the wall. It's HORRIBLE.
On top of all this, there's stuff in ME1 that was just randomly changed for no reason in ME2, mainly the inability to put on/take off your helmet at any time and how you ALWAYS disembark if you board the Normandy when it's docked.
One of my main criticisms with ME2's storyline is there aren't any scenes like your discussion with the AI on Ilos. The music, atmosphere, and story (you hear about the Prothean scientists working on a way to stop the cycle while their entire civilization falls around them) all came together in such a magnificent way.
For me, literally like 99% of the awesomeness in ME1's storyline is contained in two conversations: talking to Sovereign on Virmire and talking to Vigil on Ilos. Both are exceeding well-written and convey a huge amount of very cool storyline info in a very short amount of time. Before you get to Virmire in ME1 the game is mostly just a (quite competent) Babylon 5 ripoff. :lol
ME2 definitely doesn't have anything as cool as that because
you never actually talk to the villains
so the closest you get is the
revelation on the Collector ship
which was cool but definitely not on the same level.
On top of all this, there's stuff in ME1 that was just randomly changed for no reason in ME2, mainly the inability to put on/take off your helmet at any time and how you ALWAYS disembark if you board the Normandy when it's docked.
-No Hot Keys
-Weapon/Armor Load outs cannot be switched
-Cannot speak to squad mates
charlequin said:
For me, literally like 99% of the awesomeness in ME1's storyline is contained in two conversations: talking to Sovereign on Virmire and talking to Vigil on Ilos. Both are exceeding well-written and convey a huge amount of very cool storyline info in a very short amount of time. Before you get to Virmire in ME1 the game is mostly just a (quite competent) Babylon 5 ripoff. :lol
Unless the final mission does something amazing to sway me, Im going to fall into the "I prefer ME1 to ME2" camp also. Individually, ME2 does almost everything better than ME1, but the larger scope of the mission structure in the first game, the exploration, and most importantly, the story and the music, put the overall experience of ME1 over ME2 for me.
In brief:
ME1 has a better story, much more satisfying exploration and more epic missions
ME2 has better gameplay, graphics (and it performs like 1000x better), characters and writing
Unless the final mission does something amazing to sway me, Im going to fall into the "I prefer ME1 to ME2" camp also. Individually, ME2 does almost everything better than ME1, but the larger scope of the mission structure in the first game, the exploration, and most importantly, the story and the music, put the overall experience of ME1 over ME2 for me.
In brief:
ME1 has a better story, much more satisfying exploration and more epic missions
ME2 has better gameplay, graphics (and it performs like 1000x better), characters and writing
You know, thinking about it now, I'm unsure as to which game I say I prefer. If you had asked me as soon as I finished Mass Effect 2, I would've said Mass Effect 2. Now? I'm not so sure. I mean, ME2 unquestionably does a lot better in some areas than Mass Effect, but I keep on thinking back to the way ME1 had more variety in its mission structures, the better story, and the last three or so hours.
ME1 might seem better now than it did back around release because ME2 makes it retroactively better. Mordin in particular, with the awesome hard sci-fi background details dropped in his conversations (especially the genophage stuff), makes the whole Mass Effect universe more interesting.
ME1 might seem better now than it did back around release because ME2 makes it retroactively better. Mordin in particular, with the awesome hard sci-fi background details dropped in his conversations (especially the genophage stuff), makes the whole Mass Effect universe more interesting.
I dunno about that. I was wholly engaged in ME's universe in 2007. It was great then, and its great now. But yes, filling things out like that is nice too.
Really, an ME3 that retains the improvements that ME2 made with respect to gameplay and characters, while also sliding back a bit closer to ME1's epic storyline and exploration, would be perfect.
Has anyone had any problems with the Power Gamer achievement? I hit 30 last night, at the conclusion of Mordin's recruitment mission (NG+), and it didn't pop. So here I am, level 30, no new levels to look forward to, and no achievement.
Let me clarify some of my criticisms. Taken in isolation, as games by themselves, I agree that a person would have to be crazy to say that ME1 is superior to ME2. ME1 had so many technical issues it's a marvel that they actually released it to the public.
However, that doesn't mean that people can't PREFER ME1 to ME2. That's the category I fall into. Despite all its flaws, ME1 is just more of the type of game that I love.
I love the longer missions that slowly evolve, with multiple elements (Noveria is a great example: Talk your way into the vehicle bay, then drive up the mountain, then clear out the base) as opposed to the shorter, more compact combat missions ME2 has.
I'm in the camp that liked the Mako, so of course I prefer that to mining.
I liked the longer and more twisting main story that advanced the universe instead of single characters (although ME2's characters are much better). I liked the inter-squad banter on the elevators more than
the lousy two scripted fights in ME2.
I'll also freely admit that I had a vision of the game I wanted ME2 to be. It didn't help that I went on a total media blackout, so all the streamlining took me by complete surprise. So part of my experience was soured by those realizations.
Does this mean that I didn't enjoy ME2? Hell no. I loved ME2. The fact that I'm willing to discuss it as much as I am should say something about how I feel.
But I won't pretend it's perfect. I want to express my frustrations with the game in the hope that Bioware will listen and try to correct my issues the same way they did with others' complaints about ME1.
Finally, anyone who is defending ME1's cover system is insane. I'm replaying ME1 right now in order to understand the whole Tali love thing going on, and the cover system is driving me NUTS. I keep hitting the button to go into cover, but it's not working. And half the time I want to go in cover, my Shepard is just standing there facing the wall. It's HORRIBLE.
What I find sad is seeing stuff as: combat was better in the first game or it was more tactical or crap like that. :lol
I do appreciate the original vision of what Bioware wanted to do with Mass effect.The idea of having these nearly virgin planets to explore was a great one and captivated my imagination.The same goes with trying to perfectly mix shooter and rpg convention
The execution just wasn't there and that's something that I value.Having great ideas is more or less meaningless if you don't execute properly.
What we never know is who's working on a given project and what are their strength and weaknesses as developers/creators.I am sure that there was plenty of debate as to what to do with Mass effect 2.If they felt that they had a better chance of improving the game by pushing the shooter aspect over the rpg one,it's probably because they knew it had a better chance of getting better ratings/draw more shooter fans.
Honestly,look at the rpg genre.While there's plenty of us who enjoy the genre,the stigma attached to it piss me off.Isn't it weird that most of the classics are rated around 90% while shooters or platformers or action game take most of the top spot(even soul calibur is among the highest rated).It seem to me that most critics don't care all that much about this genre or have bias against it (even worse for jrpg in the last few years).
I think ME2's story is only disappointing if you're looking at it as/expecting a continuation of ME1's main plot. It's really not much of a story about Shepard versus Reapers, or even Shepard versus Collectors. That's where it begins and ends, but it's really just a very small and simple (albeit important) chapter of that story.
In hindsight, I think it was intended to be more or less the story of the Mass Effect universe, and through that lens I think it's a far better story than the first game. You get a good look at the street-level underbelly of the Citadel, first-hand experience with Tuchanka and Krogan culture, the Quarian flotilla, the more rough-and-tumble non-Citadel space, a good bit about Asari culture, etc. Personally, I thought the reveals about the Geth and the Genophage were as important and interesting as talking to Vigil and Sovereign in the first game - but all of that stuff only really fits in to the bigger picture of the state of the entire universe, and which way the winds are blowing across a lot of its major cultures.
I can see how it's disappointing if your main interest is the main threat of the Reapers, but I can't think of a game that's done a better job with a story that builds a world so well. I think when they get back to the Reapers in a big way for the third game, it's going to have a lot more power now that there's been a game that was about wading hip-deep through the everyday state of the universe, compared to if they'd gone balls-out and made the entire game about one singular threat like the first one.
ME2's story would have been boring, Dragon Age-level crap if they hadn't done a good job of getting me interested in their setting with the first game, but I think that kind of goes in reverse, too - giving a face to the entire galaxy in ME2 qualitatively differentiates ME1 from every other Space Marine Epic Video Game out there.
I think ME2's story is only disappointing if you're looking at it as/expecting a continuation of ME1's main plot. It's really not much of a story about Shepard versus Reapers, or even Shepard versus Collectors. That's where it begins and ends, but it's really just a very small and simple (albeit important) chapter of that story.
In hindsight, I think it was intended to be more or less the story of the Mass Effect universe, and through that lens I think it's a far better story than the first game. You get a good look at the street-level underbelly of the Citadel, first-hand experience with Tuchanka and Krogan culture, the Quarian flotilla, the more rough-and-tumble non-Citadel space, a good bit about Asari culture, etc. Personally, I thought the reveals about the Geth and the Genophage were as important and interesting as talking to Vigil and Sovereign in the first game - but all of that stuff only really fits in to the bigger picture of the state of the entire universe, and which way the winds are blowing across a lot of its major cultures.
I can see how it's disappointing if your main interest is the main threat of the Reapers, but I can't think of a game that's done a better job with a story that builds a world so well. I think when they get back to the Reapers in a big way for the third game, it's going to have a lot more power now that there's been a game that was about wading hip-deep through the everyday state of the universe, compared to if they'd gone balls-out and made the entire game about one singular threat like the first one.
ME2's story would have been boring, Dragon Age-level crap if they hadn't done a good job of getting me interested in their setting with the first game, but I think that kind of goes in reverse, too - giving a face to the entire galaxy in ME2 qualitatively differentiates ME1 from every other Space Marine Epic Video Game out there.
Yeah, you get that wide view. My problem is that there's no connection to the stories. They all exist in a vacuum.
A couple things could have solved that problem for me: If there had been a villain who weaved through most, if not all, those sidequests. That would have lent the game a much greater cohesion.
Or they could have had your second team member actually comment on what was going on.
As it is, the sidequests are, for the most part, just Shepard and the relevant party member going on a mission with a blank slate with combat abilities for the third person.
wow at some people taking 30, 51(?) hours to finish the game. I thought i was going through it at a nice slow pace, i'm only 24 hours in and i've completed every loyalty quest i have. Just missing the last person.
I took 30 hours to finish it but had everything at 100%, you will probably finish it at 26/27 since the side missions are never really that long. Also what difficulty are you playing at?
Just started my Insanity play through with my ME2 imported soldier (that I have completed a play through with already but I want to hit level 30 on). The soldier seems to be pretty solid so far and I'm not having too many issues with the difficulty, however it seems that ammo will be an issue throughout the game. I'm glad I got slam from the bonus power selection.
Story | ME1
Scope | ME1
Atmosphere | ME1
Combat | ME2
Characters | ME2
LVL system | ME1
Weapons | ME2
Decisions | ME2
Dialogue | ME2
Soundtrack | ME2 (though I'm clearly in the minority)
Finale | ME2
Villains | ME1 (Saren, Benezia, Sovereign, come on)
I think they sort of even each other out so in the end I'd say I like them about equally. If ME2 had the story and atmosphere of the first game it would have been my GOTY. So they need to combine the best of both worlds and make the ultimate RPG
I think ME2's story is only disappointing if you're looking at it as/expecting a continuation of ME1's main plot. It's really not much of a story about Shepard versus Reapers, or even Shepard versus Collectors. That's where it begins and ends, but it's really just a very small and simple (albeit important) chapter of that story.
In hindsight, I think it was intended to be more or less the story of the Mass Effect universe, and through that lens I think it's a far better story than the first game. You get a good look at the street-level underbelly of the Citadel, first-hand experience with Tuchanka and Krogan culture, the Quarian flotilla, the more rough-and-tumble non-Citadel space, a good bit about Asari culture, etc. Personally, I thought the reveals about the Geth and the Genophage were as important and interesting as talking to Vigil and Sovereign in the first game - but all of that stuff only really fits in to the bigger picture of the state of the entire universe, and which way the winds are blowing across a lot of its major cultures.
I can see how it's disappointing if your main interest is the main threat of the Reapers, but I can't think of a game that's done a better job with a story that builds a world so well. I think when they get back to the Reapers in a big way for the third game, it's going to have a lot more power now that there's been a game that was about wading hip-deep through the everyday state of the universe, compared to if they'd gone balls-out and made the entire game about one singular threat like the first one.
ME2's story would have been boring, Dragon Age-level crap if they hadn't done a good job of getting me interested in their setting with the first game, but I think that kind of goes in reverse, too - giving a face to the entire galaxy in ME2 qualitatively differentiates ME1 from every other Space Marine Epic Video Game out there.
It certainly better articulates the world and its denizens, has better character and rids itself of the sterile feeling from ME1.
In this way, the overall story is much better.
The main plot on the other hand is much worse. It is near DA in how uninteresting and uninteresting it is. Like DA, the best ME2 moments are not tied to the main plot, but to companion conversation and side-stories.
brandonh83 said:
Basically for me it comes down to this.
Story | ME1
Scope | ME1
Atmosphere | ME1
Combat | ME2
Characters | ME2
LVL system | ME1
Weapons | ME2
Decisions | ME2
Dialogue | ME2
Soundtrack | ME2 (though I'm clearly in the minority)
Finale | ME2
Villains | ME1 (Saren, Benezia, Sovereign, come on)
I think they sort of even each other out so in the end I'd say I like them about equally. If ME2 had the story and atmosphere of the first game it would have been my GOTY. So they need to combine the best of both worlds and make the ultimate RPG
I very much agree with you (I love the music as well). Only thing is that ME1 villains may have been leagues better, they were still pretty 'meh.'
Also, ME2 allowed us to sample many more different environments, even if they were smaller and you did less, so I would say scope/Atmosphere is not so much worse as it is re-purposed; different.
If I settle the dispute between Tali and Legion with a special Paragon reply after I do Legion's loyalty quest (I've already done Tali's), am I still able to romance Tali? I've read that unless I side with Tali, any romance with her is cut off, but it didn't specifically mention if the Paragon ''trick'' is also included.
Essentially, It kinda sucks that I'm reading ahead on some of this stuff, but I don't want to fuck up my save for ME3 :lol And, I probably won't be re-visiting the game because It's taking me an absurdly long amount of time to finish it. Any help on that?
Wow, I didn't think there would be people that liked ME1 better. That was definitely a game that had great ideas and very sloppy execution. Nearly every aspect of the game was like that. ME2 improves it in almost every conceivable way. The sidequests are tons better, leveldesign, while still very linear and samey, is miles better. Even though the Mako sucked, it's a shame they dropped it entirely instead of improving it. The weapons and uopgrades are better, or at least different. I hated it in ME1 that all throughout the galaxy you'd just happen to find only upgrades of your previous weapons, even sharing the same make and type. Here at least it's done in a more logical, more diverse way.
I thought I wouldn't like that fact that the rpg elements have been all but ditched, but honestly, I don't miss them. It makes for a much more focused game. Combat is very smooth and precise and, most importantly, fun to play.
If there are any complaints, it;s that the environments are too static. There's little to no interaction, outside of combat, with the environment. Would it kill them to include some animations for opening a wall-safe etc.? Also the missions are way too linear, killing all chances for proper exploration. That's where the Mako would make a welcome return (heavily modified of course). But then again, asking for exploration in a Bioware game is like waiting for the second coming of Jesus. It's never gonna happen.
Still, very happy with the game: great characters, cool story, great art-direction, fantastic music, nice combatsystem. Massive improvement over ME1, very interested to see if ME3 will be just as big a jump up.
On top of all this, there's stuff in ME1 that was just randomly changed for no reason in ME2, mainly the inability to put on/take off your helmet at any time and how you ALWAYS disembark if you board the Normandy when it's docked.
You don't disembark, you take the shuttle back to the Normandy which never leaves space. The new Normandy is too big to land on planets. Why does this matter anyway? You can skip through the leaving cutscenes.
Wow, I didn't think there would be people that liked ME1 better. That was definitely a game that had great ideas and very sloppy execution. Nearly every aspect of the game was like that. ME2 improves it in almost every conceivable way. The sidequests are tons better, leveldesign, while still very linear and samey, is miles better. Even though the Mako sucked, it's a shame they dropped it entirely instead of improving it. The weapons and uopgrades are better, or at least different. I hated it in ME1 that all throughout the galaxy you'd just happen to find only upgrades of your previous weapons, even sharing the same make and type. Here at least it's done in a more logical, more diverse way.
I thought I wouldn't like that fact that the rpg elements have been all but ditched, but honestly, I don't miss them. It makes for a much more focused game. Combat is very smooth and precise and, most importantly, fun to play.
If there are any complaints, it;s that the environments are too static. There's little to no interaction, outside of combat, with the environment. Would it kill them to include some animations for opening a wall-safe etc.? Also the missions are way too linear, killing all chances for proper exploration. That's where the Mako would make a welcome return (heavily modified of course). But then again, asking for exploration in a Bioware game is like waiting for the second coming of Jesus. It's never gonna happen.
Still, very happy with the game: great characters, cool story, great art-direction, fantastic music, nice combatsystem. Massive improvement over ME1, very interested to see if ME3 will be just as big a jump up.
Here is the thing, with the system they have right now, they could have heaped several RPG systems without actually harming the game (it is what I expect them to do in ME3). The main reason they did not do this is that they really want to snare the newer demo, and do not want to scare them away. As I said, I expect a better balance in ME3.
As for the static environments, I think that they wanted the missions to be combat only and thus did not bother with that stuff. Looking at the N7 missions, almost EVERY single one of the them SCREAMS: "Look, we know how to design levels, we just went for a different approach in the main campaign."
The crashed ship is the best example. Unfortunately, they all feel like samples, but the talent is there.
Basileus777 said:
You don't disembark, you take the shuttle back to the Normandy which never leaves space. The new Normandy is too big to land on planets. Why does this matter anyway? You can skip through the leaving cutscenes.
You don't disembark, you take the shuttle back to the Normandy which never leaves space. The new Normandy is too big to land on planets. Why does this matter anyway? You can skip through the leaving cutscenes.
That would have been such a difficult and heart-breaking choice if BioWare had suddenly disallowed you from using the Magical Blue/Red Text of Reality Hax and forced you to make a real choice.
That would have been such a difficult and heart-breaking choice if BioWare had suddenly disallowed you from using the Magical Blue/Red Text of Reality Hax and forced you to make a real choice.
If I settle the dispute between Tali and Legion with a special Paragon reply after I do Legion's loyalty quest (I've already done Tali's), am I still able to romance Tali? I've read that unless I side with Tali, any romance with her is cut off, but it didn't specifically mention if the Paragon ''trick'' is also included.
Essentially, It kinda sucks that I'm reading ahead on some of this stuff, but I don't want to fuck up my save for ME3 :lol And, I probably won't be re-visiting the game because It's taking me an absurdly long amount of time to finish it. Any help on that?
If you can convince them to stop fighting with either Charm or Intimidate, then they both remain loyal, and in the case of Miranda, Jack, and Tali, remain romance-able should you so choose.
I wish they had more detail on the weapon customization in ME2. I like seeing actual stats for how the guns perform as you upgrade them and maybe some more visible change.
I was also worried about getting rid of the map on missions, thinking it was because they dumbed down level design. I stopped caring as the game went on though, and levels were actually much more varied and detailed than ME1.
I wasn't the biggest fan of the Mako, but I admit I did feel a bit sad after seeing its wreck :lol Poor girl deserved better.
That would have been such a difficult and heart-breaking choice if BioWare had suddenly disallowed you from using the Magical Blue/Red Text of Reality Hax and forced you to make a real choice.
If you can convince them to stop fighting with either Charm or Intimidate, then they both remain loyal, and in the case of Miranda, Jack, and Tali, remain romance-able should you so choose.
Wow, I didn't think there would be people that liked ME1 better. That was definitely a game that had great ideas and very sloppy execution. Nearly every aspect of the game was like that. ME2 improves it in almost every conceivable way. The sidequests are tons better, leveldesign, while still very linear and samey, is miles better. Even though the Mako sucked, it's a shame they dropped it entirely instead of improving it. The weapons and uopgrades are better, or at least different. I hated it in ME1 that all throughout the galaxy you'd just happen to find only upgrades of your previous weapons, even sharing the same make and type. Here at least it's done in a more logical, more diverse way.
I thought I wouldn't like that fact that the rpg elements have been all but ditched, but honestly, I don't miss them. It makes for a much more focused game. Combat is very smooth and precise and, most importantly, fun to play.
If there are any complaints, it;s that the environments are too static. There's little to no interaction, outside of combat, with the environment. Would it kill them to include some animations for opening a wall-safe etc.? Also the missions are way too linear, killing all chances for proper exploration. That's where the Mako would make a welcome return (heavily modified of course). But then again, asking for exploration in a Bioware game is like waiting for the second coming of Jesus. It's never gonna happen.
Still, very happy with the game: great characters, cool story, great art-direction, fantastic music, nice combatsystem. Massive improvement over ME1, very interested to see if ME3 will be just as big a jump up.
Here's the thing: you are more or less like me.You have the hardest time accepting sloppy execution. Some people aren't like that and I respect that.After all,sloppy execution didn't stop old the old wrpg from being respected even today.I completely accept the fact that some people prefer great ideas over execution. Being the perfectionist that I am,I would never accept to release something like Mass effect 1 in the state it was shipped. :lol
Also shotguns seemed to suck outside of point blank range. Then again, I think I was still used to my super accurate Spectre shotgun from ME1. Inconsequential after I picked up assault rifles for my vanguard though.
I liked the combo powers they added in ME2. Pull+Unstable Warp never got old. Pull+Slam was fun too, seeing a guy get driven into the ground at high speed from 50 feet up.
Damnit! When I started my second play-though I imported someone else's character but used the ME2 save editor to change only her name and now the game crashes whenever I try to change weapons in the weapons lockers. -8 hours progress, ugh.
You don't disembark, you take the shuttle back to the Normandy which never leaves space. The new Normandy is too big to land on planets. Why does this matter anyway? You can skip through the leaving cutscenes.
I think it's more to do with the Normandy not having anywhere to park. On Omega, Illium and the Citadel you see it dock at a spaceport because these places would obviously have them, otherwise you just get flung out of the cargo hold from space. Not really related to the discussion I know but yeah.
When I received ME2 from Gamefly I haven' t played the first yet.
I was in doubt and all my friends who finished one and were playing two voted unanimously that I should at least play the main mission on one before starting the two.
I only did so for the trust I have on them and it was well worthy. If you play only the main mission ignoring all side missions you can finish the game in 15~20 hours. I did it in 18 hours as a soldier paragon and I did half a dozen of side missions.
Set the difficulty to normal, chose the standard Sheppard soldier and you can finish the game in 4 to 6 sessions. It IS well worthy.
