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[Hasphat'sAnts]

Dragon Age didn't let you be a douche to your party in conversation though. And the people in your company would often disapprove if you were too nice/dickish to random npcs.

But I guess the game did let you be a douche then give them a shiny trinket and all is forgiven.

Well, you can persuade/intimidate to lower the approval hit in key situations in the first place. And for the most part, if there's not a real quest involved, you could be an ass to the farmer or the chanter and not suffer any consequences for it.

 

[HadesGigas]

Well, you can persuade/intimidate to lower the approval hit in key situations in the first place. And for the most part, if there's not a real quest involved, you could be an ass to the farmer or the chanter and not suffer any consequences for it.

I meant more like just in conversation, not on pivotal decisions. Like if you keep making fun of Alistair or if you are too sympathetic with Zevran. I never figured out the balance between joking/seriousness Oghren wanted from me, damn drunk midget. But it was easy enough to correct with booze.

And yeah if it was a very insignificant person. you'd actually be more likely to take an approval hit for being overly nice to them in the presence of someone like Morrigan or Zevran.


But this is way off topic now.

So... ME2. I wish the squad mates did have an approval system similar to DA, but not sure the exact same thing would be good. Definitely thought the abundance of gifts cheapened it a bit in that.

 

[hateradio]

The only thing I want in ME3 is just more plot, I'm actually thinking of

Spoiler

killing off most of the characters in the last mission

, since I didn't even care for most of them. I don't want to see them again, ever.

But I guess the game did let you be a douche then give them a shiny trinket and all is forgiven.

Yeah, too bad that there aren't that many gifts around if you pissed off someone a lot ... damn you Alistar!

 

[heringer]

I'm having a hard time deciding which AR I use.

I love the Vindicator Battle Rifle, but the huge ammount of ammo and sheer power of the Revenant AR is tempting. Though the innacuracy and mean recoil makes it less ideal for long range and headshots.

With the Vindicator I just play like a surgeon, popping head after head, but the Revenant would really help against powerfull enemies that rush at you.

What to do, what to do...

 

[Snuggles]

I used the full auto assault rifle (unlocked at reaper ship) for short to mid range encounters and the hand cannon for long range. I was playing as a Vanguard and it worked well for me.

By the way, did anyone buy the leather jacket/shades bad dude pack? Be honest.

Dragon Age didn't let you be a douche to your party in conversation though

I know I'm late in response, but I have to disagree with this. Have you seen some of the things to can say to Alistar? I've been playing as an "evil" character and I can't help but cringe from how cruel some of the options are.

 

[ToyMachine228]

I don't get all the hate toward the Firewalker DLC. I'm playing it right now and it's not that bad. I'm enjoying it for variety's sake. That and the Hammerhead is much tighter than the Wako was.

 

[Clockblockers]

I would also advocate on a trim: Thane, Mordin, Zaeed and Kasumi. Thane and Mordin may be two of the best, but they are also the easiest to remove.

Should Bioware even take Zaeed and Kasumi to the next game? They were a DLC add on, and not everyone who bought ME2 would have played them. Plus, to me Zaeed felt tacked on and I had no investment in him.

With a character driven game like ME I would rather have DLC missions (Bring Down the Sky) instead of mediocre characters thrown in after the game.

 

[Hasphat'sAnts]

Should Bioware even take Zaeed and Kasumi to the next game? They were a DLC add on, and not everyone who bought ME2 would have played them. Plus, to me Zaeed felt tacked on and I had no investment in him.

With a character driven game like ME I would rather have DLC missions (Bring Down the Sky) instead of mediocre characters thrown in after the game.

Those two will be cameo appearances at the most. You can bank on that.

 

[EatChildren]

Those two will be cameo appearances at the most. You can bank on that.

They're all going to be cameo appearances. BioWare have set ME3 up for fail in the squadmate / save import regard.

 

[Clockblockers]

They're all going to be cameo appearances. BioWare have set ME3 up for fail in the squadmate / save import regard.

How so?

 

[Hasphat'sAnts]

They're all going to be cameo appearances. BioWare have set ME3 up for fail in the squadmate / save import regard.

That's probably what's going to happen. But all I really need is just a couple of side missions that are at least loyalty/recruit missions in length centered around some of the ME2 cast members. A kind of bonus content, if you will.

It seems absolutely insane to me that they would dedicate the second arc entirely to recruiting a team, then throw them all aside. That cheapens all of ME2 if they decided to go in that direction. I get the sense that 3 would link closer to 2 than 2 did with 1.

 

[EatChildren]

How so?

Because of the amount of work they've put themselves under if they want to pull it off. I'll spoiler this for those yet to finish.

Spoiler

Their big mistake was making every character able to die at the end. If Shepard dies we cannot import into ME3, but we can under any other circumstance. Other characters will only appear in ME3 if they lived.

ME2 made a big deal about our squadmates. It was what the whole game is about. So how are they going to manage squadmates in ME3?

Look at how ME2 handled squadmates from ME1. The ones who got the most screentime were the ones who couldnt die. Two of them even became squadmates for ME2. How are BioWare going to handle this for ME3? If my squadmates are alive, what is their role? If they are dead, what then?

Its too much work for BioWare to craft a bunch of squadmates for ME3 that include both living characters from ME2 and new ones. Thus we can assume that ME3 will not have any ME2 squadmates as recruitable. They would have to be given secondary roles, and considering they can potentially die in ME2, then their roles are not going to be very significant. No point putting development resources towards something only some players will see. Liara is probably going to be the only returning recruitable character.

Another blunder is having Tali and Garrus die. Whether they're favourites for particular players or not, having them both as recruitable in both games makes them almost important to the story as Shepard. That they can die in ME2 will likely mean they wont be recruitable in ME3, and its going to be pretty weird for Shepard to have been on a grand adventure with these two only to suddenly for some reason drop them for the final run.

The issues can be overcome, but only if significant development time is put into the game, and I dont think that will be done. Especially so considering how ME2 handled ME1's cast of characters.

 

[Hyunkel6]

I'm assuming that going through the Omega-4 Relay is the point of no return in the game, right?

 

[Mooreberg]

Finished this last week. Good game but

Spoiler

the last section pretty much sucked. All "X over Y" selections in terms of what works for the specialist positions, and the human shaped reaper was hilariously bad.

And people are right that too much of the game is about recruiting people and then earning their loyalty. The actual story related missions seemed minor in comparison.

 

[∀ Narayan]

I'm assuming that going through the Omega-4 Relay is the point of no return in the game, right?

It is the absolute point of no return, yes. The considered point of no return is somewhat after the IFF mission though.

 

[Snuggles]

I guess I've been out of the loop and distracted by other games, but has there been any new quests released since the game came out? I played the Zaeed and Normandy missions but nothing since. I haven't checked the Ceberus network thing lately.

 

[Dresden]

I guess I've been out of the loop and distracted by other games, but has there been any new quests released since the game came out? I played the Zaeed and Normandy missions but nothing since. I haven't checked the Ceberus network thing lately.

You get some kinda tank thing with a couple of missions, and there's Kasumi coming soon.

 

[Clockblockers]

Because of the amount of work they've put themselves under if they want to pull it off. I'll spoiler this for those yet to finish.

The issues can be overcome, but only if significant development time is put into the game, and I dont think that will be done. Especially so considering how ME2 handled ME1's cast of characters.

(deleted your spoiler tags simply so my re-post wouldn't be huge)

I can see the point, and maybe I'm just delusional, but I kinda assumed that since Bioware planned this as a Trilogy from the beginning, the basic story and the character ideas were established while developing ME1. And if that's the case then Bioware has a plan in place to make the Trilogy seem like an overarching story.

As for ME1 to ME2 cast of characters. I understand Anderson and such, but I thought Bioware limited some of the ME1 characters so they can bring them fully into ME3 (Ashley, Liara, ect). But that goes back to me assuming there is an overall plan from Bioware.

I can't wait for ME3 to see how much we were right (and wrong) about:lol

 

[pringles]

My wishlist for ME3:

--ME3

My wishlist for ME3:

--DEPTH!

Seriously I'm playing through Kotor now and aside from all the bugs and framerate issues it's a much superiour game to ME1 & ME2, most of all because it feels so much deeper in terms of character creation and all the choices you have such as feats, skills, powers, upgradable weapons and armor, 1 or 2 handed weapons etc..

 

[HadesGigas]

Should Bioware even take Zaeed and Kasumi to the next game? They were a DLC add on, and not everyone who bought ME2 would have played them. Plus, to me Zaeed felt tacked on and I had no investment in him.

With a character driven game like ME I would rather have DLC missions (Bring Down the Sky) instead of mediocre characters thrown in after the game.

Storyline-wise there'd be no reason for Zaeed to stay with Shepard. He was there to get a huge payday. So either he gets paid for completing the mission and leaves to retire, or Illusive Man reneges and then Zaeed is pissed off and leaves to get revenge.

 

[Flavius]

For anyone out there who knows, what was the story with Zaeed, in terms of his addition to ME2? I've been sick for the past week, and may be suffering from hallucinations, but wasn't he and his loyalty mission listed in the end credits? Was he originally slated to be part of the group and then cut, only to be added as DLC later?

 

[jtb]

My wishlist for ME3:

--DEPTH!

Seriously I'm playing through Kotor now and aside from all the bugs and framerate issues it's a much superiour game to ME1 & ME2, most of all because it feels so much deeper in terms of character creation and all the choices you have such as feats, skills, powers, upgradable weapons and armor, 1 or 2 handed weapons etc..

Basically, Dragon Age is a spiritual successor to KoTOR than it ever was to Baldur's Gate (or even ME to KoTOR). I mean, it makes sense. The same project director wouldn't want to make the same game twice - but I've accepted the fact that Mass Effect has turned into a shooter first, RPG second. Which is fine, now that their Dragon Age team seems to be delivering content.

 

[HadesGigas]

For anyone out there who knows, what was the story with Zaeed, in terms of his addition to ME2? I've been sick for the past week, and may be suffering from hallucinations, but wasn't he and his loyalty mission listed in the end credits? Was he originally slated to be part of the group and then cut, only to be added as DLC later?

Was planned for the Cerberus Network DLC. It was out launch day, so it could appear in the credits. Think they had the launch DLC credits in Dragon Age as well. And the DLC that came later, the credits were added to a codex entry.

 

[Rubezh]

About the insanity achievement. Do you still get it if

Spoiler

Shepard dies at the end? I just want to get it as quickly as possible and i'm not sure if i can be bothered to do every single loyalty quest again.

 

[jabipun]

When does the Kasumi DLC hit?

 

[Always-honest]

love the game, but there is one BIG gripe:

there is a lag in the cover and coming out of cover mechanic.
This has caused me to die a couple of times.

Love the mission s and the world(s) though.

 

[Sir Hamish]

I thought of a way to reset the player's/stats and kick start mass effect 3.

Have Shepard being kidnapped by Batarians and locked up in a shitty Batarian jail somewhere. Get a couple of scenes of Shepard being beat up/tortured and imply the passage of time. Have a Batarian interrogate Shepard to re-introduce the conversation system and establish what happened in the previous game, additionally this Batarian should be Balak if you let him go after Bringing Down the Sky. After a while, all hell will break loose as the jail comes under attack and EDI will hack into the intercom and explain you've been captive for a year but rescue operation's are under way. EDI will guide you through the basics of combat etc as you navigate the prison, looking out windows will reveal cool shit like Alliance Marines attacking other points of the prison and drop ships swooping about.

Eventually you catch up with Balak and a cut scene will play where he gets the drop on you, but suddenly drops dead from a gunshot before he can take you out. You will turn around to find Garrus standing over Balak's body and the other members of your squad who survived the last game finishing off the nasty Batarians and possibly have Grunt or Legion spout a funny one-liner before realising that Shepard has been succesfully rescued. If there were no survivors from the previous game, replace the team with Alliance marines.

 

[ChoklitReign]

About the insanity achievement. Do you still get it if

Spoiler

Shepard dies at the end? I just want to get it as quickly as possible and i'm not sure if i can be bothered to do every single loyalty quest again.

I'm sure you can finish the game with Shepard surviving without doing any loyalty quests.

Spoiler

Just give your teammates the appropriate jobs during the suicide mission (e.g. Garrus for the leader, Tali for the technician, etc.) and you'll do OK.

 

[Sir Garbageman]

Because of the amount of work they've put themselves under if they want to pull it off. I'll spoiler this for those yet to finish.

Spoiler

Their big mistake was making every character able to die at the end. If Shepard dies we cannot import into ME3, but we can under any other circumstance. Other characters will only appear in ME3 if they lived.

ME2 made a big deal about our squadmates. It was what the whole game is about. So how are they going to manage squadmates in ME3?

Look at how ME2 handled squadmates from ME1. The ones who got the most screentime were the ones who couldnt die. Two of them even became squadmates for ME2. How are BioWare going to handle this for ME3? If my squadmates are alive, what is their role? If they are dead, what then?

Its too much work for BioWare to craft a bunch of squadmates for ME3 that include both living characters from ME2 and new ones. Thus we can assume that ME3 will not have any ME2 squadmates as recruitable. They would have to be given secondary roles, and considering they can potentially die in ME2, then their roles are not going to be very significant. No point putting development resources towards something only some players will see. Liara is probably going to be the only returning recruitable character.

Another blunder is having Tali and Garrus die. Whether they're favourites for particular players or not, having them both as recruitable in both games makes them almost important to the story as Shepard. That they can die in ME2 will likely mean they wont be recruitable in ME3, and its going to be pretty weird for Shepard to have been on a grand adventure with these two only to suddenly for some reason drop them for the final run.

The issues can be overcome, but only if significant development time is put into the game, and I dont think that will be done. Especially so considering how ME2 handled ME1's cast of characters.

I agree. I think it's a safe bet that the majority, if not all of the cast of ME2 will play a smaller role than I would hope for in ME3. I'd love for Bioware to prove me wrong though.

 

[Dyno]

I've been wondering out Mass Effect 3. In particular one character...

Spoiler

I had a romance with Tali, but then I lost her loyalty because I sided with Legion. Then on the mission I sent her off on the tech stuff but she died. She seems like a pretty important part in the Mass Effect trilogy so I wonder if she's optional in the 3rd or will they retcon her back in.

 

[TalonsOfJustice]

My wishlist for ME3:

--DEPTH!

Seriously I'm playing through Kotor now and aside from all the bugs and framerate issues it's a much superiour game to ME1 & ME2, most of all because it feels so much deeper in terms of character creation and all the choices you have such as feats, skills, powers, upgradable weapons and armor, 1 or 2 handed weapons etc..

Yeah, ME2 felt lacking in it's overall character creation. Hopefully ME3 can go all out with all sorts of goodness

 

[LaneDS]

When does the Kasumi DLC hit?

April 6th I think.

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

Because of the amount of work they've put themselves under if they want to pull it off. I'll spoiler this for those yet to finish.

Spoiler

Their big mistake was making every character able to die at the end. If Shepard dies we cannot import into ME3, but we can under any other circumstance. Other characters will only appear in ME3 if they lived.

ME2 made a big deal about our squadmates. It was what the whole game is about. So how are they going to manage squadmates in ME3?

Look at how ME2 handled squadmates from ME1. The ones who got the most screentime were the ones who couldnt die. Two of them even became squadmates for ME2. How are BioWare going to handle this for ME3? If my squadmates are alive, what is their role? If they are dead, what then?

Its too much work for BioWare to craft a bunch of squadmates for ME3 that include both living characters from ME2 and new ones. Thus we can assume that ME3 will not have any ME2 squadmates as recruitable. They would have to be given secondary roles, and considering they can potentially die in ME2, then their roles are not going to be very significant. No point putting development resources towards something only some players will see. Liara is probably going to be the only returning recruitable character.

Another blunder is having Tali and Garrus die. Whether they're favourites for particular players or not, having them both as recruitable in both games makes them almost important to the story as Shepard. That they can die in ME2 will likely mean they wont be recruitable in ME3, and its going to be pretty weird for Shepard to have been on a grand adventure with these two only to suddenly for some reason drop them for the final run.

The issues can be overcome, but only if significant development time is put into the game, and I dont think that will be done. Especially so considering how ME2 handled ME1's cast of characters.

The thing is, the majority of the people are going to have a save with all the people alive, and its the one probably going to be used for Mass Effect 3.
So at the end of the day the majority of people are going to play with all the characters alive for the next game so it wouldnt be a waste of resources.
But this is, as you say, if they want to put a significant develpment time in to the game. Im trusting in Bioware, and I think they are going to do something to have at least the majority of characters in it, as this game is the final epic of their favourite baby.

My bet, all the alive crew members are going to take part, not maybe in all the adventure, but in the final mission.

 

[sweetvar26]

I played through the Hammerhead DLC yesterday, they were pretty short, finished all 5 in about 30 minutes. Can't complain about free DLC but I miss the part in Mass Effect 1 where you get out of Mako and kill to get more XP

 

[Gillian Seed]

Get this game for 30 bucks. Use this code at the EA Store: PAXEAST842

 

[VaLiancY]

Get this game for 30 bucks. Use this code at the EA Store: PAXEAST842

<3

 

[bigdaddygamebot]

I've played the game three times through.

How do you get Shepard to die? That hasn't happened yet.

 

[Lone_Prodigy]

I've played the game three times through.

How do you get Shepard to die? That hasn't happened yet.

Spoiler

Get ALL your squadmates killed. Don't do loyalty missions or ship upgrades, and pick the wrong people for certain roles in the finale. At least that's how I think it should happen.

 

[sweetvar26]

Spoiler

Get ALL your squadmates killed. Don't do loyalty missions or ship upgrades, and pick the wrong people for certain roles in the finale. At least that's how I think it should happen.

Basically the worst way you can play the game? :lol

 

[EatChildren]

The thing is, the majority of the people are going to have a save with all the people alive, and its the one probably going to be used for Mass Effect 3.
So at the end of the day the majority of people are going to play with all the characters alive for the next game so it wouldnt be a waste of resources.
But this is, as you say, if they want to put a significant develpment time in to the game. Im trusting in Bioware, and I think they are going to do something to have at least the majority of characters in it, as this game is the final epic of their favourite baby.

My bet, all the alive crew members are going to take part, not maybe in all the adventure, but in the final mission.

Probably isnt good enough though. I'd personally like to see them pretend the end mission never happened and bring back everybody, but they've left it open for that option. The reality is BioWare has to cater for people with casualties, at least they will feel the need to, and the character integration has a good chance of suffering because of that.

Just look at how they handled Ashley, Kaiden, Wrex, the Rachni queen, and the entire council. Then look at how they handled Liara, Tali, and Garrus. Those guarentied to survive were given, by far, the most attention because there's no development resources risked.

The cynic in me says BioWare will try to handle this issue in ME3 the best way they can, and it will come across as hamfisted and artificial, which will totally clash with the whole point of ME2.

 

[Lavpa Jasai]

I am missing two achievements from this game and would LOVE to acquire all of them. I need to reach level 30 and I need to beat it on insanity.

Would starting New Game + be my best bet to beat it on insanity and reach level 30?

Or would it be easier to start over?

 

[Papercuts]

I am missing two achievements from this game and would LOVE to acquire all of them. I need to reach level 30 and I need to beat it on insanity.

Would starting New Game + be my best bet to beat it on insanity and reach level 30?

Or would it be easier to start over?

I started over as an Infiltrator, seems easier that way.

 

[Magik]

I am missing two achievements from this game and would LOVE to acquire all of them. I need to reach level 30 and I need to beat it on insanity.

Would starting New Game + be my best bet to beat it on insanity and reach level 30?

Or would it be easier to start over?

Its not a good idea to start a New Game + on Insanity because your enemies are at the same level as you are but your weapons are weak due to not having any upgrades. I found it to be a big problem really early on because all the enemies had full shields/armor which made it very, very difficult to kill them especially when they are in large groups.

Its better to start a new game.

 

[careful]

Don't know about you guys, but the timing of these DLC packs is not great. They should've hit way earlier when there was still a lot of hype about the game. I've moved on since then and even though I loved ME2, I don't really feel like going back to it (for a good little while anyway) with all the new stuff that came out recently.

 

[Clockblockers]

Don't know about you guys, but the timing of these DLC packs is not great. They should've hit way earlier when there was still a lot of hype about the game. I've moved on since then and even though I loved ME2, I don't really feel like going back to it (for a good little while anyway) with all the new stuff that came out recently.

You've hit upon the ongoing argument of when to release DLC, and how often in order to keep interest in a game going.

The timing seems ok to me, but I'm not the target audience, I really don't care about/for DLC.

 

[Always-honest]

pretty far in the game now.
recruit missions are great.
i like how you can get to know the characters a bit better.
Didn't like the story related missions all that much, but i think i still have the big story parts to come.

fucked up the samara mission .. dammit. wanted to help her

Spoiler

and fuck her daughter

, but i guess i was too eager.

The game is really really good looking now and then. Some aliens look great. Some asses look better than great , but human faces.... goddamn.. that REALLY needs some work. Sheppard is okay (my version), but some of the other people.. Does that have to do with the unreal engine, or something else?

Love the sound and music.

still think the cover mechanic could be snappier. sometimes i press twice becaus ei think it doesn't react. resulting in sheppard standing up again and getting killed.

 

[Owzers]

Don't know about you guys, but the timing of these DLC packs is not great. They should've hit way earlier when there was still a lot of hype about the game. I've moved on since then and even though I loved ME2, I don't really feel like going back to it (for a good little while anyway) with all the new stuff that came out recently.

It all depends on the price/quality. I'm not that interested in spending $7 for an hour of content unless it's amazzzzzzzing, and i doubt it will be.

 

[diamondstar]

Yea with the MW2 MP for 1200, it is going to be hard to justify getting them both at the same time. I'm still debating on which one is more important to me. MW2 is overpriced but I know I have longevity. Kasumi will be nice to play one time through so it may not be worth it even though I love the ME world. I never even played the ME DLC.

Edit: Plus I just found a little gem called Trials HD that I couldn't put down last night. So I may drop the 1200 on that game instead.

 

[alr1ght]

Is there a fix for the 360 deadzone issues (http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/107/index/865803)? It's driving me nuts.

 

[Pancakes]

Is there a fix for the 360 deadzone issues (http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/107/index/865803)? It's driving me nuts.

Yea the 360 controller is really bad about this but at the same time, it's not gamebreaking.