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[hateradio]

Has anyone been able to get the

Spoiler

Kelly

romance after beating the game? I never got the dinner prompt before and I have no idea why since I picked all the flirty options. Can it activate after I do some side missions or have I missed out on it in this playthrough?

You just have to sign in to your account with it, apparently it just opens some "hidden" dialog with Miranda and Jacob, though it's not that interesting (so I hear).

 

[kiryogi]

Gotta say, I'm before the point of no return and I don't get everyones complaints about eezo. I've had no trouble finding it nor getting the upgrades that use it. On the other hand, I find platinum to be more scarce.

 

[TheVisualizer]

Gotta say, I'm before the point of no return and I don't get everyones complaints about eezo. I've had no trouble finding it nor getting the upgrades that use it. On the other hand, I find platinum to be more scarce.

i had some trouble finding it on my 1st playthrough, on my 2nd playthrough I got the bonus and started with 50,000 then found it everywhere when I needed the other 3...go figure

 

[MegaKungFuRadio]

Gotta say, I'm before the point of no return and I don't get everyones complaints about eezo. I've had no trouble finding it nor getting the upgrades that use it. On the other hand, I find platinum to be more scarce.

It's rare, but you need so little that anyone complaining probably just avoids scanning. As was said, you don't really have to mine any at all if you import or have the Long Service bonus. I guess if you're starting at zero or whatever a completely fresh game starts with you'll feel the pinch. Platinum is effectively the most scarce even without the option of buying the Med-Bay. I think I ended my second playthrough with 50,000 E. Zero, 80,000-100,000 Iridium/Palladium and 31 Platinum without having bought the Med-Bay.

 

[Papercuts]

The only time I needed to scan at all in my second play was to get more platinum for the maxed out sniper upgrade. I noticed the starting amount of element zero was overkill, everything that uses it doesn't require much.

 

[Socreges]

I was wondering.... is/was there ever any commentary on the fact that:

- virtually all of the aliens have the same essential appearance as humans (two arms, two legs, two eyes, etc.)
- they all speak English and with variations of American accents (though Miranda sounds Kiwi and I think I've heard an Arab accent from an alien)
- the architecture is normally the same throughout the galaxy (the Collectors are pretty unique, though)
- they're all capable of breathing air on a variety of planets

etc.

I understand that they needed to simplify and streamline everything to make their concept of a universe work, of course, but for a game that is so impressively thorough in its explanation of things and its realistic treatment, I just can't help but notice that they've conveniently avoided addressing issues like these.

To be fair, they do occasionally make sense of discrepancies in gravity, like with how the Citadel operates. Was a nice little nugget. And I like how different species have developed much more advanced technology than others.

FYI, I've never played ME1 and haven't gotten more than 12-15 hours into ME2.

 

[SlickVic]

You just have to sign in to your account with it, apparently it just opens some "hidden" dialog with Miranda and Jacob, though it's not that interesting (so I hear).

Hmm haven't heard the

Spoiler

Kelly

romance is related to signing into Cerberus (though I've never been signed in to it outside of downloading DLC). Guessing you were quoting someone else?

Yup.

http://biowarestore.com/apparel/n7-armour-stripe-hoody

Love how it looks but not sure how willing I am to drop $60 on a hoody. Wonder if they ever have sales at the Bioware store.

 

[Alucrid]

I was wondering.... is/was there ever any commentary on the fact that:

- virtually all of the aliens have the same essential appearance as humans (two arms, two legs, two eyes, etc.)
- they all speak English and with variations of American accents (though Miranda sounds Kiwi and I think I've heard an Arab accent from an alien)
- the architecture is normally the same throughout the galaxy (the Collectors are pretty unique, though)
- they're all capable of breathing air on a variety of planets

etc.

I understand that they needed to simplify and streamline everything to make their concept of a universe work, of course, but for a game that is so impressively thorough in its explanation of things and its realistic treatment, I just can't help but notice that they've conveniently avoided addressing issues like these.

To be fair, they do occasionally make sense of discrepancies in gravity, like with how the Citadel operates. Was a nice little nugget. And I like how different species have developed much more advanced technology than others.

FYI, I've never played ME1 and haven't gotten more than 12-15 hours into ME2.

Well there's your problem. Yes, the Codex entries explain a lot in ME 1 and 2.

 

[Jamesfrom818]

The fuck...

The Paragon/Renegade +70% applies to experience as well. What bullshit.

 

[Mr_Zombie]

I upgraded the scanner on my 360 and it was never this fast

I don't remember the cursor moving that fast during scanning in the vanilla version of the game; even after the upgrade scanning was slow and tedious. However, by editing the ini file you can speed up the cursor (which I did ), so maybe the guy just used this trick.

 

[derFeef]

I don't remember the cursor moving that fast during scanning in the vanilla version of the game; even after the upgrade scanning was slow and tedious. However, by editing the ini file you can speed up the cursor (which I did ), so maybe the guy just used this trick.

The power of the PC and mouse on-the-fly sensitivity change! You need that in ME2 because the camera/aiming is way too fast and the menus/scanning are way too slow.

 

[Socreges]

So I could spend plenty of credits on certain items. e.g. 75,000 for a "Heavy Skin Weave" -- is it ever worth avoiding purchasing things in shops because you could just find the item elsewhere (either free on the ground or cheaper), or are items normally unique and should be bought when possible?

I'm just talking about useful items, not model ships or hamsters.

Well there's your problem. Yes, the Codex entries explain a lot in ME 1 and 2.

Can you give me an example of some of the explanations provided? Do they actually talk about why all of the aliens are anthropomorphic?

 

[Ashodin]

Crappy cell phone pics of Jonathan Shepard wearing cerberus gear:

Shepard and Jacob reminiscing about the good old days.

 

[LostVector]

Because they were at war.

Anything that happened afterwards is totally irrelevant. You can’t make a decision for then looking backwards, you need to put yourself in their position at that point in time.

They were essentially fighting the Rachni Wars 2.0. It doesn’t matter how irresponsible, stupid, idiotic, and intrusive the Salarian's involvement with the Krogan were, the fact of the matter is now (as in, then) they're killing with no sign of stopping. Negotiations have failed. The Krogan have annexed from the Council. They’ve even dared the Council to take back their own worlds.

You can keep fighting, and people will continue to die on all sides, all the while you’re losing. You can do nothing, accept defeat, and say goodbye to more lives while the Krogan over populate the galaxy. Or you can do something, anything to turn the battle in your favour.

The Krogan’s best weapon was their rapid breeding. No matter how strong the Turians, the Krogan bred quicker. Military forces were quickly replenished. So they attacked their breeding to stifle their war efforts.

Maybe it was managed poorly, maybe it lacked morals, maybe maybe maybe. But nobody here has come up with all that much of a better solution. I’m not necessarily condoning the genophage, despite my posts, but I do believe it’s extremely naive to label it as evil and unnecessary without offering a different solution to what was an galactic problem.

Yeah all this armchair morality is funny. Start dropping down Maslow's hierarchy of needs due to resource constraints, and a lot of rules are going straight out of the window.

 

[MisterAnderson]

Is there a way to change my character name by messing with a file? Like renaming my save file or something?

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

Is there a way to change my character name by messing with a file? Like renaming my save file or something?

pc?

http://www.masseffectsaves.com/renaming.php
http://www.masseffectsaves.com/mods.php

If anyone else is interested, I have a post http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=19687623&postcount=12338 with 21 clothes options to wear on the Normandy edit: added some info on how to use armor outside the Normandy

:O on the Bioware store

 

[OMG Aero]

I was wondering.... is/was there ever any commentary on the fact that:

- virtually all of the aliens have the same essential appearance as humans (two arms, two legs, two eyes, etc.)
- they all speak English and with variations of American accents (though Miranda sounds Kiwi and I think I've heard an Arab accent from an alien)
- the architecture is normally the same throughout the galaxy (the Collectors are pretty unique, though)
- they're all capable of breathing air on a variety of planets

etc.

I think I recall an explanation for the first one being that the human shape is the optimal shape for evolution, so it's more likely that intelligent life evolved into those forms. It's also worth noting that while the Hanar are the only intelligent species without two arms and legs, they say that the Protheans directly helped them so maybe that's why they are on the same level as other species.
I can take a guess at the second one that there is some sort of universal translator device everyone uses. One of the things the game salesman says is that he hates when a Batarian joins his online game and doesn't use auto-translation.

 

[Gattsu25]

If anyone else is interested, I have a post http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=19687623&postcount=12338 with 21 clothes options to wear on the Normandy

No stripper gear?

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

No stripper gear?

The model information isn't in the correct form to make it easily selectable (same for Miranda's model), it requires some work to be able to use it.

 

[Jinjo]

Spoiler

I kept them alive for my final playthrough. Shepard's going to need as many allies as possible to beat the reapers and keeping these geth alive will probably have a big influence.

On the other hand, Legion DID say that there is no guarantee they wouldn't reach the same conclusion again so maybe this decision can come back to haunt you. And the Quarians probably aren't too happy about more geth either.

Spoiler

I destroyed them, because I think there will be serious consequences if you left them alive. The Quarians seemed set on war regardless of my opinion, so it probably won't end well for them if there are more Geth. Also, I feel that there is no point in playing renegade if there are no paragon decisions which will come back to bite you in your ass. I think and I hope Bioware will see that too.

 

[Gattsu25]

The model information isn't in the correct form to make it easily selectable (same for Miranda's model), it requires some work to be able to use it.

Well...who's working on it?

 

[truly101]

I was wondering.... is/was there ever any commentary on the fact that:

- virtually all of the aliens have the same essential appearance as humans (two arms, two legs, two eyes, etc.)
- they all speak English and with variations of American accents (though Miranda sounds Kiwi and I think I've heard an Arab accent from an alien)
- the architecture is normally the same throughout the galaxy (the Collectors are pretty unique, though)
- they're all capable of breathing air on a variety of planets

If you're wondering how they eat and breathe
and other science facts (la la la)
repeat to yourself "its just a game
I should really just relax"

 

[RdN]

Guys, help me out with something.

I just finished the game on Veteran and now I'm going to play on Insane. I know that making a new character is easier, but I want to play with my Shepard because all powers are already unlocked and all.

The question is, I read somewhere that when you choose to start a new playtrough using your existing Mass Effect 2 character it overwrites your existing playtrough, making it impossible to go back and keep playing.

Is it true?

Anyone?

 

[Peronthious]

I was wondering.... is/was there ever any commentary on the fact that:

- virtually all of the aliens have the same essential appearance as humans (two arms, two legs, two eyes, etc.)
- they all speak English and with variations of American accents (though Miranda sounds Kiwi and I think I've heard an Arab accent from an alien)
- the architecture is normally the same throughout the galaxy (the Collectors are pretty unique, though)
- they're all capable of breathing air on a variety of planets

etc.

I understand that they needed to simplify and streamline everything to make their concept of a universe work, of course, but for a game that is so impressively thorough in its explanation of things and its realistic treatment, I just can't help but notice that they've conveniently avoided addressing issues like these.

To be fair, they do occasionally make sense of discrepancies in gravity, like with how the Citadel operates. Was a nice little nugget. And I like how different species have developed much more advanced technology than others.

FYI, I've never played ME1 and haven't gotten more than 12-15 hours into ME2.

Referring to the aliens speaking english, there is a translator, though of course that doesn't explain the lip syncing. During one scene with Thane, Shepard makes a comment about the translator not working properly.

 

[Nemesis_]

Referring to the aliens speaking english, there is a translator, though of course that doesn't explain the lip syncing. During one scene with Thane, Shepard makes a comment about the translator not working properly.

I think that conveniently explains why the lip syncing can be off at times, too. :lol

 

[kiryogi]

Referring to the aliens speaking english, there is a translator, though of course that doesn't explain the lip syncing. During one scene with Thane, Shepard makes a comment about the translator not working properly.

The game salesman @ Zakera Ward also mentions about Batarians not using the autotranslater in MMOs. But the Thane example is probably the best one to shed light on this.

 

[Sanchito]

Anyone?

I am pretty sure you won't have a problem. After you import and play some of the game. Later on when you go to load a game, you should have the option to choose to switch your character with the Y button. I think it says "switch career" or something. It will bring up both shepards. It tells you the date of your last save with that character and what class you are and such.

I tried making a new shep with my imported character from my first play through.. I still have my first play through save on there.

 

[I <3 Memes]

For anyone that hates scanning I found something that will help. These are the total amount of resources needed to make every upgrade in the game. This could still be difficult on a first playthrough but should make any playthroughs after that much easier. Especially element zero since they give you more than you can use in a game right from the start. Unless you re-spec your character which costs 5,000 eezo per re-spec.

Eezo 47,250
Iridium 235,000
Palladium 190,000
Platinum 317,500 (or 267,500) *

*deduct 50k Platinum for the unnecessary medical bay upgrade if you wish.


In a first playthrough getting this much eezo can be difficult, but like all of the other resources there are more than enough to go around in the game. Save yourself some frustration and only scan for large spikes.

Hope this helps the 360 players a little.

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

The game salesman @ Zakera Ward also mentions about Batarians not using the autotranslater in MMOs. But the Thane example is probably the best one to shed light on this.

Referring to the aliens speaking english, there is a translator, though of course that doesn't explain the lip syncing. During one scene with Thane, Shepard makes a comment about the translator not working properly.

I can take a guess at the second one that there is some sort of universal translator device everyone uses. One of the things the game salesman says is that he hates when a Batarian joins his online game and doesn't use auto-translation.

Yeah, theres an universal translator, it goes into more details in the books (mostly in Ascension). ALTHOUGH there is also a common language used by all the galaxy think its call commerce language or something like that (sorry, read the books in spanish so I dont know how its called in english), but some aliens dont want to use it, also explained in Ascension.

For anyone that hates scanning I found something that will help. These are the total amount of resources needed to make every upgrade in the game. This could still be difficult on a first playthrough but should make any playthroughs after that much easier. Especially element zero since they give you more than you can use in a game right from the start. Unless you re-spec your character which costs 5,000 eezo per re-spec.

Eezo 47,250
Iridium 235,000
Palladium 190,000
Platinum 317,500 (or 267,500) *

*deduct 50k Platinum for the unnecessary medical bay upgrade if you wish.


In a first playthrough getting this much eezo can be difficult, but like all of the other resources there are more than enough to go around in the game. Save yourself some frustration and only scan for large spikes.

Hope this helps the 360 players a little.

I dont know you guys how you are playing, but im in middle of my first playthrough and have scanned less than half the planets and Ive trump all over those numbers, maybe even doubling some of them.
I scan all the planets until they are exhausted, and even then I try to sacn a little bit more because some times there are huge zones of minerals that have scaped the percentage of minerals in the planet. I use something like 20 probes for every planet.
And the most difficult to find sometimes, apart form eezo is Iridium. I have always lots of Platinium.

 

[Jinjo]

Anyone?

No it's not true. As long as you keep a seperate manual save I don't see why you can't go back. In ME1 I had different saves from different playthroughs in the same career, worked just fine.

Edit: Sorry, answered already.

 

[MWS Natural]

I'm taking my sweet time with this game. Just recruited Tali, finished the Citadel (a lot smaller then I hoped for, to be honest) and am now on Ilium to solve about 4 quests at once.

Shit is so ballin though. In love with this game. Paragon Femshep on Veteran btw.

I regret playing my 1st go around on veteran, by the end of the game my characters were so overpowered the final mission was a snore-fest. I ripped through everything way to easy; started my insanity play-through last night and died on the tutorial mission so I won't have that problem this time :lol

 

[I <3 Memes]

I dont know you guys how you are playing, but im in middle of my first playthrough and have scanned less than half the planets and Ive trump all over those numbers, maybe even doubling some of them.
I scan all the planets until they are exhausted, and even then I try to sacn a little bit more because some times there are huge zones of minerals that have scaped the percentage of minerals in the planet. I use something like 20 probes for every planet.
And the most difficult to find sometimes, apart form eezo is Iridium. I have always lots of Platinium.

That list is so people know when they can stop scanning. And to save time I suggest just scanning for large spikes so as to save money and time running back and forth for more probes/more fuel to get more probes. Most of us find the scanning tedious and I was hoping that at least in some small way that knowing how much is needed might help some people. Especially 360 gamers who are stuck with slow controls for the probes.

 

[Jinjo]

I regret playing my 1st go around on veteran, by the end of the game my characters were so overpowered the final mission was a snore-fest. I ripped through everything way to easy; started my insanity play-through last night and died on the tutorial mission so I won't have that problem this time :lol

I found hardcore to be the perfect difficulty. Challenging but not to the point of frustration. At the end I was warping the shit out of the barriers/armors from

Spoiler

the collectors

. They were definitely easier than early game, but it made you really feel like the preparation paid off. Most encounters went: warp, warp, reave and then I disintegrated that healthbar with Thane's squad shredder ammo.:lol The shortcuts really made the game feel faster than the ME1. I liked that.

Doing a femshep renegade insanity run from scratch atm (no import) and I get stuck at the same points as the hardcore playthrough only now until the point of frustration.

 

[eXistor]

Finished it a few days ago. Fucking amazing game, still alot to improve though, the environments are too static and linear, mining for materials is boring as hell and there are a few smaller issues. I hope they keep on improving it for ME3 and if they do they have a classic gameseries on their hands.

 

[Dries]

I ONLY scan the ''rich'' planets. Haven't really had any trouble with not having enough resources yet.

 

[TChirath]

Just found this out today.. wish I knew about this before finishing Insanity..

After you finish your first playthrough and you want to tackle insanity, you pick new game. If you choose to IMPORT ME1 character, you gain the benefits of ME1 import PLUS the benefit of finishing ME2. So say you choose to import your LV60 character from ME1, you still get to start with:

200,000 + 150,000 credits
50,000 + 10,000 for all minerals
A bonus loyalty skill
All heavy weapons collected
+25% bonus EXP

Even though you don't retain your skill points and level, the enemies scale with you anyway and I think the benefit (especially money for upgrades) is better. Plus you get +25% bonus exp so at least EXP won't be obselete for those who'd import an ME2 LVL30 character.

This is definitely old and obvious to some (especially those who changed class for insanity on 2nd playthrough), but I'm a bit disappointed I didn't get to enjoy this during my insanity playthrough.

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

That list is so people know when they can stop scanning. And to save time I suggest just scanning for large spikes so as to save money and time running back and forth for more probes/more fuel to get more probes. Most of us find the scanning tedious and I was hoping that at least in some small way that knowing how much is needed might help some people. Especially 360 gamers who are stuck with slow controls for the probes.

The message was not really intended to you, even I find helpful what youve posted, I was talking about the people that say to find hard looking for the minerals, when Im not even at 50% of the planets scanned yet and Ive complete those numbers.

 

[Arjen]

I'm planning to do my Insanity run next. What's the best class to use? Played an infiltrator in my first run, i would love to mix it up a little, but if Infiltrator is the best class i'll stick with that.

 

[Son of Godzilla]

All in all, they should have stuck to their guns and not included New Game+ if it was going to be so terrible. It's pretty much nothing but a way to make the first half of the game harder.

 

[deim0s]

@Arjen
Rolling with a Sentinel right now, on my 2nd playthrough... Didn't bother playing biotic/tech types in ME1 - getting mauled at hardcore with these jedi. Seems I need a pistol/SMG for a DLC!

 

[Lakitu]

Just a little summary of what DLC we'll probably see in the future, I've spoiler tagged it all just incase, this is going by dev quotes (from forums, interviews) to stuff that was found out from the code of the PC version:

Spoiler

Cerberus Network (Free DLC)
Hammerhead - New hover vehicle ala Mako, with new missions that will integrate this feature.
Kasumi aka The Thief (12th and final squadmate) - recruitable on Illium, along with a loyalty mission I assume
More weapons and armors
Patches
N7 Missions - A dev on the forum stated they would put more N7 Missions on the Cerberus Network.

Possible Premium Content
Liara DLC - Going by the PC code we could get at the most 2 DLCs focusing on Liara's storyline (probably about the Shadow Broker) and it's supposed to tie in with the events of Mass Effect: Redemption.

 

[MomoPufflet]

Probably discussed ad nauseam, but Mass Effect 2 replayability is hurt substantially by the lack of a simulation room. They can keep their Mako, their Kasumi, their Zaeed, and their DLC guns/Dr. Pepper armor-- just shut up and give me a simulation room. I want to shoot waves of robots in the brain and play with biotics for absolutely no reason. That's it. Just charge me the 1800 spacebux or whatever I know you've been "cleverly" planning to rape me for, EA. Just tell me where to mail my DNA sample/dignity.

 

[McBradders]

Probably discussed ad nauseam, but Mass Effect 2 replayability is hurt substantially by the lack of a simulation room. They can keep their Mako, their Kasumi, their Zaeed, and their DLC guns/Dr. Pepper armor-- just shut up and give me a simulation room. I want to shoot waves of robots in the brain and play with biotics for absolutely no reason . That's it. Just charge me the 1800 spacebux or whatever I know you've been "cleverly" planning to rape me for, EA. Just tell me where to mail my DNA sample/dignity.

I "continued" my playthrough for this very reason. I would have hoped that due to the games success that they would have at least dated what's coming down the line. I am chomping at the bit here for more stuff to do post endgame

 

[Lakitu]

Probably discussed ad nauseam, but Mass Effect 2 replayability is hurt substantially by the lack of a simulation room. They can keep their Mako, their Kasumi, their Zaeed, and their DLC guns/Dr. Pepper armor-- just shut up and give me a simulation room. I want to shoot waves of robots in the brain and play with biotics for absolutely no reason. That's it. Just charge me the 1800 spacebux or whatever I know you've been "cleverly" planning to rape me for, EA. Just tell me where to mail my DNA sample/dignity.

So you want another Pinnacle Station?

 

[Zeliard]

I did find myself wishing for more side missions so I could get into more combat.

 

[dejan]

Devs mentioned several times that technical limitations were holding them back on their dlc output for Mass Effect. They said they fixed that for the sequel and I think it's pretty apparent in the main game. I don't think the "hub worlds" with conveniently placed transportation means to your mission location outside the hub area were just a result of streamlining the gameplay.

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

Just a little summary of what DLC we'll probably see in the future, I've spoiler tagged it all just incase, this is going by dev quotes (from forums, interviews) to stuff that was found out from the code of the PC version:

Spoiler

Cerberus Network (Free DLC)
Hammerhead - New hover vehicle ala Mako, with new missions that will integrate this feature.
Kasumi aka The Thief (12th and final squadmate) - recruitable on Illium, along with a loyalty mission I assume
More weapons and armors
Patches
N7 Missions - A dev on the forum stated they would put more N7 Missions on the Cerberus Network.

Possible Premium Content
Liara DLC - Going by the PC code we could get at the most 2 DLCs focusing on Liara's storyline (probably about the Shadow Broker) and it's supposed to tie in with the events of Mass Effect: Redemption.

So that why there is a big space at the right of the selecting member screen. Will love to see the new character, I like Zaeed, anh his stories are fun, but its to bad you cant really talk to him in the Normandy.

 

[deim0s]

So you want another Pinnacle Station?

It's not "off" on this game, since the combat is more fluid/shooter type.

 

[Patryn]

For anyone that hates scanning I found something that will help. These are the total amount of resources needed to make every upgrade in the game. This could still be difficult on a first playthrough but should make any playthroughs after that much easier. Especially element zero since they give you more than you can use in a game right from the start. Unless you re-spec your character which costs 5,000 eezo per re-spec.

Eezo 47,250
Iridium 235,000
Palladium 190,000
Platinum 317,500 (or 267,500) *

*deduct 50k Platinum for the unnecessary medical bay upgrade if you wish.


In a first playthrough getting this much eezo can be difficult, but like all of the other resources there are more than enough to go around in the game. Save yourself some frustration and only scan for large spikes.

Hope this helps the 360 players a little.

Engineers are free to laugh at this list, subtract 25% from all the numbers, and feel smugly superior to the other classes.

 

[mr afghan jones]

I was wondering.... is/was there ever any commentary on the fact that:

- virtually all of the aliens have the same essential appearance as humans (two arms, two legs, two eyes, etc.)
- they all speak English and with variations of American accents (though Miranda sounds Kiwi and I think I've heard an Arab accent from an alien)
- the architecture is normally the same throughout the galaxy (the Collectors are pretty unique, though)
- they're all capable of breathing air on a variety of planets

etc.

I understand that they needed to simplify and streamline everything to make their concept of a universe work, of course, but for a game that is so impressively thorough in its explanation of things and its realistic treatment, I just can't help but notice that they've conveniently avoided addressing issues like these.

To be fair, they do occasionally make sense of discrepancies in gravity, like with how the Citadel operates. Was a nice little nugget. And I like how different species have developed much more advanced technology than others.

FYI, I've never played ME1 and haven't gotten more than 12-15 hours into ME2.

Bipedal upright walking with two limbs free to use tools, weapons etc is the 'optimal' set up for sentient beings and so the most likely set up for sentient alien races. (With the exception of Hanar and Elcor, Elcor being different due to their homeworld conditions described in the codex, and Hanar supposedly influenced by the Protheans. In fact, there is an argument for Prothean involvement in other species development which could also explain basic body similarities.)

Everyone is using auto translators or actually speaking english. auto translators are mentioned by the game sales man and also by lady Shepard if you are romancing Thane.

The majority of the alien races have been on the intergalactic 'scene' for hundreds of years and so a certain homogenising in architecture and styles is likely to have taken place. That said, Illium has a different style to say Tuchanka or Omega.

They can all mostly breathe the same air depending on their make up, most races breathing oxygen, Turians and Quarians breathing Nitrogen? i think. Plus Volus wear selaed rebreather suits on all planets. There are plenty of missions where the 'away team' will wear masks of some kind.

There is a lot of stuff in the various codex entries in both games, plus the planet descriptions and the two books. I think this is one game where they really have considered more of this stuff than you might think, and there is probably more detail in the ME universe than any one person is likely to pick up on.