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[Papercuts]

It's just, I like my loot. It's part of a complete RPG breakfast. For me a great RPG has to consist of five things. Exploration, memorable characters, decent story, great music and plentiful loot.

ME1 had explorations, story, music and loot. Wrex, Liara and Tali were memorable for me. The combat was barely functional, at least on the 360. PC was greatly improved.

ME2 had a great cast (though too samey) okay story, decent music (though the first was miles better) and little to no loot. The combat system was miles better, but to me, that's not as important as the rest of the elements, unless it's complete shit.

I don't see why you attached a rating to the ME2 parts but don't to ME1 aside from combat. Sure, the story and music in ME1 were better, but you mention exploration and loot over 2, which while 1 DID have them, neither were executed well. I loved the idea of exploring the planets, but it really did nothing but drag the game down with the shitty mako and going to planets for copy + pasted side missions. I'd like a complete breakfast, but I'll exclude the toast if it's burnt and the eggs if they're rotten.

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

As far Mass Effect 1 vs 2 goes, 2 wins the fight hands down.

Yeah, the overall plot was better in the first game, and the leveling system was better, but two wins in just about every other department, as far as I'm concerned. Better environments, better characters, better combat, a far grander scale and scope, the dialogue is improved, the shitty loot is replaced with the excellent researching system, and so on and so forth.

Mass Effect 2 did an amazing job of really letting you get a feel for how big the galaxy is, in a way that the first game never came close to doing.

 

[Ephemeris]

To be fair. I liked ME2's final mission gameplay wise than ME1's citadel rush. And I'm excluding the final boss fight. That was meh.

Spoiler

I like it when my Reapers talk back when I'm killing them

I definitely prefer the last choice of ME2 to ME1's save/doom the council.

 

[WanderingWind]

I don't see why you attached a rating to the ME2 parts but don't to ME1 aside from combat. Sure, the story and music in ME1 were better, but you mention exploration and loot over 2, which while 1 DID have them, neither were executed well. I loved the idea of exploring the planets, but it really did nothing but drag the game down with the shitty mako and going to planets for copy + pasted side missions. I'd like a complete breakfast, but I'll exclude the toast if it's burnt and the eggs if they're rotten.

Hey, I'm not saying they didn't need to improve ME1 at all. They needed to fix it, for sure. But instead, they got rid of those things completely.

I'm sorry, but the Mako bits were more entertaining than scrolling a slow moving cursor and compiling numbers over and over again. I hate me some scanning.

 

[Papercuts]

Hey, I'm not saying they didn't need to improve ME1 at all. They needed to fix it, for sure. But instead, they got rid of those things completely.

I'm sorry, but the Mako bits were more entertaining than scrolling a slow moving cursor and compiling numbers over and over again. I hate me some scanning.

I'm not saying they made the right decision, but I'd still atleast prefer the elimination of poor features over bringing them back.

I don't really like scanning either, but I'm also thinking back to certain planets in ME1 littered with 90 degree cliffs and just being an overall traversal hell. Atleast scanning is never frustrating.

 

[Mindlog]

I'm an infiltrator too. I started mainly just focused on maxing cloak and the basic class ability, so for now I cloak + headshot most of the time and just rely on the squad for powers. Two warps would be nice, I should go get him soon.

And really?

Spoiler

I never really thought about using that, and never did on my first play. It doesn't seem good to ever be close enough to use it, unless you mean you cloaked and used it up in their face, which I never actually thought about. I always rocked the collector's beam and planned to do the same here, it just seems the most versatile.

Yup, with cloak. You have to be very careful because it's super easy to get surrounded. I found that I couldn't damage one at a time while killing them fast enough. In some areas there really is no choice. They're too fast and will be in your face whether you want them to or not.

I used the beam a lot more in normal than I did in Insanity. Using warp/overload would take down shields and barriers more easily. After that I could either reave or kill enemies with no problem. Armor always got the old inferno/headshot combo.

I never thought cloaking would be useful, but it pulled me out of so many bad situations.

I probably did it mostly because it was incredibly fun.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

In Mass Effect 3, they'll have a hell of a time justifying the inevitable "break up your team and then spend 5-10 hours building an even better team."

Maybe it'll be like Ghostbusters II and they'll just handwave it as an excuse to remake the same story.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

I thought Ilios (or whatever it was called) was really awesome, but other than that I didn't think ME1's ending was all that fantastic. All I remember are lame battles against giant turret things.

edit: I mean, obviously it wasn't terrible, it was a cool ending, it just isn't beeing my knees like some of you guys.

 

[CitizenCope]

I was kind of meh on this game at first but 14 hours in and damn this game is awesome. Oh yeah and I really want to nail Miranda.

 

[Solo]

Achievement whoring question for my second playthrough: "hack a geth collective". What does this mean, and where does one do it?

 

[EmCeeGramr]

Achievement whoring question for my second playthrough: "hack a geth collective". What does this mean, and where does one do it?

Loyalty mission.

Spoiler

Legion's.

 

[Red]

I thought Ilios (or whatever it was called) was really awesome, but other than that I didn't think ME1's ending was all that fantastic. All I remember are lame battles against giant turret things.

Regardless of all other factors, the ending was the best part because you get to watch the Mako explode.

 

[Solo]

Loyalty mission.

For who? It must be Legion, because I had everyone else and did their mission. When I got Legion, I chose "let Cerberus have him", and I never saw him again.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

For who? It must be Legion, because I had everyone else and did their mission. When I got Legion, I chose "let Cerberus have him", and I never saw him again.

Well fuck you're a terrible person who just missed out on a lot of cool shit about the geth and what they actually are.


EDIT: Now that I think about what his loyalty mission is about...

Spoiler

avoiding it means you you probably just caused your Shepard and the quarians a huge problem, since it means that the other 95% of geth in the galaxy... well, just play for yourself.

 

[MegaKungFuRadio]

Yup, with cloak. You have to be very careful because it's super easy to get surrounded. I found that I couldn't damage one at a time while killing them fast enough. In some areas there really is no choice. They're too fast and will be in your face whether you want them to or not.

I used the beam a lot more in normal than I did in Insanity. Using warp/overload would take down shields and barriers more easily. After that I could either reave or kill enemies with no problem. Armor always got the old inferno/headshot combo.

I probably did it mostly because it was incredibly fun :lol

Yeah, not sure it's the most effective way against most enemies not named Husk or Varren. The Beam is the right choice about 99% of the time because its accuracy, range, ammo capacity, and damage efficiency. It works slowly, but you can probably deal out more damage with it than any other heavy weapon for those reasons.. It is also the best weapon to take out two pods at a time during the prelude to the final fight.

 

[Papercuts]

For who? It must be Legion, because I had everyone else and did their mission. When I got Legion, I chose "let Cerberus have him", and I never saw him again.

You are a terrible person.

 

[Aaronology]

I'm not saying they made the right decision, but I'd still atleast prefer the elimination of poor features over bringing them back.

I don't really like scanning either, but I'm also thinking back to certain planets in ME1 littered with 90 degree cliffs and just being an overall traversal hell. Atleast scanning is never frustrating.

No, instead it's mind numbingly boring and tedious, which is not an improvement. Worse, scanning is more or less required. You didn't need to go mineral hunting in ME1...

 

[Solo]

Well fuck you're a terrible person who just missed out on a lot of cool shit about the geth and what they actually are.

Renegade playthough. Basically just made all the bad choices. Oddly enough though, my renegade wasnt qite high enough in the Samara loyalty quest to get

Spoiler

Morinth on my team instead

, which was annoying.

 

[Ghost]

Just finished it, Male Shep, Vanguard soldier.

Totally loved it, and i love Biowares new approach to RPGs on the console, I was playing Dragon Age up until ME2s release and I've think they are both great but Mass Effect gives me everything I really want from an RPG in a tighter package.

I think its pretty amazing really, this is an honest 25-30 hour RPG with no spell/skill trees to agonise over, no grinding, no scaling of enemies, no side quests given to you by a board. Its just 20 hours of amazing story and action + 5 or so hours of mind numbing planet scanning...

I think they did a great job cutting what didn't work from ME, the recognised that side quests weren't going to work when they presented the main story with so much effort, so they almost combined the side quests with the main quests, simultaneously giving you that feeling that you're really incontrol of Shepards destiny and removing the compulsion to really hunt the peripheries of the game world. But the biggest surprise is that when you do go explore there's actually some cool stuff out there.

And i think in terms of dialog this is the best Bioware game I've ever played, so often (in Dragon age especially) it can get very thick and even the most impromptu conversations turn into epic diatribe, but in ME2 everything flows really well, you get a lot when you expect/need a lot, and the rest of the time you just get what you need.

And more than anything else all the characters have something likable in their personalities, I really didn't find that with ME, i found most of them incredibly dull or worse (Ashley) but here there were times when i was talking to Garrus when I genuinely wanted to just spend more time talking to Garrus.

Cant wait for 3. Sooner rather than later i hope.

Guess i can go read the story spoiler thread now

 

[Solo]

I still got the achievement for keeping everyone alive during the mission despite not having Legion. I guess it doesnt matter how many team members you have, just that they survive.

 

[Papercuts]

No, instead it's mind numbingly boring and tedious, which is not an improvement. Worse, scanning is more or less required. You didn't need to go mineral hunting in ME1...

Well, the mako was just as boring and tedious.

And this issue is getting overblown. You need the ship upgrades for the best ending, but you also don't need that many minerals to actually get that...I'm not even sure you need all of them actually. The most expensive one(medbay) isn't needed, and I doubt the mineral scanner and fuel upgrade is needed either. I'm getting pretty far in my second play and haven't scanned a single planet yet, I've been able to already afford everything I want/need. If you want EVERYTHING in the game, yeah, you need to scan a lot.

 

[MegaKungFuRadio]

Renegade playthough. Basically just made all the bad choices. Oddly enough though, my renegade wasnt qite high enough in the Samara loyalty quest to get

Spoiler

Morinth on my team instead

, which was annoying.

I find it so weird that a number of people actually have trouble getting Charm/Intimidate options to show. I barely see the opposite alignment grayed out and have never seen my alignment of choice unavailable. Is everyone just skipping their passive class talents or something?

Well, the mako was just as boring and tedious.

And this issue is getting overblown. You need the ship upgrades for the best ending, but you also don't need that many minerals to actually get that...I'm not even sure you need all of them actually. The most expensive one(medbay) isn't needed, and I doubt the mineral scanner and fuel upgrade is needed either. I'm getting pretty far in my second play and haven't scanned a single planet yet, I've been able to already afford everything I want/need.

I never thought I'd defend the Mako because I hate the shit out of its floaty ass, but compared to scanning, at least you know where you need to go in a Mako instead of randomly hunting for a spike. Also, the second playthrough is a bad comparison since you'll get a 50,000 resource bonus for Long Service, which means 60,000 if you import a 60 on top of that. Without that, you need to scan quite a bit to get all the juicy weapons, armor, and ability upgrades.

 

[Zeouterlimits]

You can not have that character? Thought he was mandatory, coolio.

Not sure if any of you are Gurren Lagann fans, but someone put some end-ofGL footage to the launch trailer and I thought it turned out fantastically.

 

[Dennis]

Final verdict

ME > ME2

I hope they take the improved combat from ME2 over to ME3 but bring back the lost RPG elements and make the game less linear. Also bring back the larger MAKO-requiring levels from ME (I am not referring to the shitty sidequests), and lets get a more epic story, please.

 

[Krauser Kat]

Love this game. I just need a mod to tell me what my exact DMG per shot is, along with the hard stats for each armor. I hate being a stat whore but i love going through all the nitty gritty details to find out which weapon is the best.

So now that we have used ammo in this type of game what are all of your prospective decisions about Alpha Protocol.

 

[Peff]

If you want EVERYTHING in the game, yeah, you need to scan a lot.

Not really, not even then. If you scan a couple of Rich planets in-between missions you'll get more than enough for everything. Scanning itself is not exactly thrilling, but getting materials definitely isn't as bad as it's made out to be.

 

[Solo]

I find it so weird that a number of people actually have trouble getting Charm/Intimidate options to show. I barely see the opposite alignment grayed out and have never seen my alignment of choice unavailable. Is everyone just skipping their passive class talents or something?

I dunno. My renegade meter was about 90% full when I did that quest. By the time we got back to her apartment, I was able to renegade the first dialogue choice, renegade the second dialogue choice, but then when it came to the final one where I wanted to renegade and get her on my team, it was greyed out and I had to choose some neutral bullshit which resulted in having to stick with Samara.

 

[charlequin]

If they had actually tech tree, plus lootable upgrades to armors, ship, weaponry then it'd be much more satisfactory.

That's... what I said. :lol

then rolls the last 2-3 minutes of credits in silence.

This is just a bad decision on BioWare's part that they didn't think of. The standard credits are exactly as long as "Suicide Mission," but then they play separate DLC credits that don't come with music attached. So dumb. :lol

I really did miss Faunts here though, even though I think the song in ME1 is kind of silly. And the soundtrack to ME2 as a whole really does just suck. I watched the first "Commander Shepard is a Jerk" video again yesterday and every time there's a bit of music from the first game it brought me right back.

For who? It must be Legion, because I had everyone else and did their mission. When I got Legion, I chose "let Cerberus have him", and I never saw him again.

ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

I find it so weird that a number of people actually have trouble getting Charm/Intimidate options to show.

Me too. I literally did not see the Paragon option be greyed out in a single conversation the entire game.

 

[Dennis]

Also, for the love of God, Bioware bring your musical A game for ME3 - the soundtrack was very disappointing. End credit music ? WTF

How did Bioware not notice how much people loved the Faunts song at the end of ME1 ?

 

[ColonelColon]

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 would say:
Story | ME1
Scope | ME1
Atmosphere | ME1
Combat | ME2
Characters | Tie
Mass Effect 2 has more characters than it knows what to do with. Some of the new allies like Mordin, Thane, and Legion, are indispensable and have interesting backstories and traits that make playing their side missions feel worthwhile, but others like Jacob, Grunt, Miranda, Zaeed, and Jack, I could have done without. I would have been more pleased with the characters of ME2 if I didn't have to question whether they are worth a far worse main plot. ME2's focus on traversing the galaxy to conscript various mercenaries and assassins really denigrated the value of the characters for me. I guess I would say that Mass Effect 2 has better characters overall, but Mass Effect had characters that were better integrated into its main story arc.

LVL system | ME1
Weapons | Tie
Partially because shotguns were ruined lol... their range is so short that they're almost useless now)
Decisions | ME1
imo, no part of Mass Effect 2 had nearly as much weight as

Spoiler

deciding between Kaiden and Ashley, even if the importance of this is diminished by their identical, totally irrelevant roles in Mass Effect 2.

Dialogue | ME2
Soundtrack | ME1
It felt like the soundtrack of ME2 had less of an identity than the ME1 soundtrack. The 80s esque synth of Mass Effect was beautiful and powerful, while ME2's soundtrack generally seemed uninspired and banal in comparison.

Finale | ME1

Spoiler

I thought ME1's ending was pitch perfect. It started in Virmire with the dramatic choice to leave one character behind, then came the revelation that the Reapers basically control everything, then it culminated with the amazing sequence where you witness the scale of Sovereign as it attacks the Citadel, and the scene when you could convince Saren to commit suicide. And the end credits were plain awesome.

Spoiler

Also, any potential deaths during the "suicide mission" of ME2 felt meaningless. Because there are so many possible outcomes, the writing is spread thin in these sections, to the point that it almost feels like nobody dies, even if half your crew dies. Also, since very little time is comprised with the collector threat during ME2, it didn't feel particularly urgent that I destroy the base. You don't really get to know the Collectors nearly as well as you get to know Saren, his motives, etc. in ME1. I did like, however, that the Collectors are Protheans who were transformed into mindless slaves by the Reapers. That development made sense according to the things that Virgil tells Shepard in ME1, but in hindsight, it should have been much more obvious to me.

Villains | ME1 (Saren, Benezia, Sovereign, come on)

Humor | ME2 demolishes ME1 here. There are too many lol inducing moments to even single out just a few.

 

[Solo]

So......is it known yet how many endings there are for this game? I mean, yes, there could potentially be thousands depending on who is in your squad and who lives or dies, but Im talking about the broad strokes here. ME1 had council live/Anderson, council die/Anderson, council live/Udina, and council die/Udina.

As far as we know for ME2, is it:

Spoiler

destroy Collector ship/quit Cerberus, keep ship/quit Cerberus, destroy Collector ship/stay with Cerberus, and keep ship/stay with Cerberus

?

 

[Arde5643]

All I want in ME3 is ME2 combat/characters/presentation/graphics/animation/pacing with some exploration thrown in the side quests as well as more customizations for armor/weapons/squad weapons/squad armor.

I don't mind the hacking/bypassing mini-games but hopefully they'll come up with a better system for getting minerals.

The hardest one will be for Bioware to actually make a good epic storyline to end the trilogy so I'm not asking for that one. :lol

 

[Pancakes]

For who? It must be Legion, because I had everyone else and did their mission. When I got Legion, I chose "let Cerberus have him", and I never saw him again.

BooThisMan.gif.

 

[AndresON777]

so what's the love down with tali like, since she's got that mask but bangin hips?

 

[Peff]

So......is it known yet how many endings there are for this game? I mean, yes, there could potentially be thousands depending on who is in your squad and who lives or dies, but Im talking about the broad strokes here. ME1 had council live/Anderson, council die/Anderson, council live/Udina, and council die/Udina.

As far as we know for ME2, is it:

Spoiler

destroy Collector ship/quit Cerberus, keep ship/quit Cerberus, destroy Collector ship/stay with Cerberus, and keep ship/stay with Cerberus

?

Or

Spoiler

die with both variations :lol

 

[Arde5643]

so what's the love down with tali like, since she's got that mask but bangin hips?

It mostly started thanks to ME1 for most Sheps.

 

[MegaKungFuRadio]

Or

Spoiler

die with both variations :lol

I'm pretty sure you can't import that one.

 

[Cep]

For who? It must be Legion, because I had everyone else and did their mission. When I got Legion, I chose "let Cerberus have him", and I never saw him again.

No words can describe...

 

[Ephemeris]

For who? It must be Legion, because I had everyone else and did their mission. When I got Legion, I chose "let Cerberus have him", and I never saw him again.

whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy??

 

[Solo]

Good christ, Ive been quoted like 10 times now :lol Is there a Legion love-in going on that I missed?

Also, I didnt know that option meant he was going to disappear :lol

 

[Peff]

I'm pretty sure you can't import that one.

... Oh Would have been interesting.

 

[MegaKungFuRadio]

Good christ, Ive been quoted like 10 times now :lol Is there a Legion love-in going on that I missed?

Also, I didnt know that option meant he was going to disappear :lol

Well, at that point, I would reload a save.

 

[Solo]

Well, at that point, I would reload a save.

Too late now. Ill get him on my paragon replay.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

Why for Paragon? Getting Legion gives you the opportunity to

Spoiler

murder literally millions of sapient beings.

And yes, there is a Legion love-in, because Legion are awesome.

 

[MegaKungFuRadio]

Why for Paragon? Getting Legion gives you the opportunity to

Spoiler

murder literally millions of sapient beings.

And yes, there is a Legion love-in, because Legion are awesome.

That's just another way of saying, "I'll get him next time."

... Oh Would have been interesting.

It would have, but one of the loading screen tips was something like, "Import your Shepard to play on Mass Effect 3... if you survive."

 

[WanderingWind]

That's... what I said. :lol

Yes, I am aware. I was agreeing.

 

[Dennis]

Good christ, Ive been quoted like 10 times now :lol Is there a Legion love-in going on that I missed?

Also, I didnt know that option meant he was going to disappear :lol

The Mass Effect universe is serious business, my friend.

 

[charlequin]

I may have to replay the end game to get my save ready for ME3, because I didn't actually realize you could

Spoiler

choose to stay with or quit Cerberus

and I'm not even sure which I did. :lol

 

[Solo]

One little touch I did love in Shepard's quarters were the ship models. I bought every last one of em.

 

[Alucrid]

I may have to replay the end game to get my save ready for ME3, because I didn't actually realize you could

Spoiler

choose to stay with or quit Cerberus

and I'm not even sure which I did. :lol

When the hell was that? :lol