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[Daft_Cat]

Sounds very dissapointing. I'm surprised none of the reviews I have read have mentioned this. Reviews tend to completely gloss over things like this, and focus multiple paragraphs detailing specifics about battle systems.


I definitely enjoyed exploring with the Mako in the first game. It was the thing I was most looking foward to being improved in Mass Effect 2. Yes, the planets were cookie cutter layouts, but some of them looked beautiful, and just the thought of landing on planets and roaming them is exciting to me. I remember reading an interview with Casey where he talks about the Hammerhead, and how much they have improved planet exploration in Mass Effect 2. Then they go and make it DLC? Maybe too many people complained about the last game that they didn't want planet exploration to be a glaring flaw of the game if the planet exploration wasn't up to snuff.

Basically agree. I like the new scanning system because it makes you feel like you're exploring the planet on a grander scale. However, I hope they implement the Hammerhead by adding scannable sections to pre existing planets that open up vehicle side missions or something.

I also wonder why reviews gloss over this subject. Seems kind of like Bioware might have something to do with it. Maybe they have an agreement to withold criticism of this aspect of the game until after the DLC? Who knows.

 

[Minamu]

If you didn't enter any code, you should be okay.

Well, I did enter it :lol I was like, fuck it let's do this, and that's when I noticed that the code knew it was for the 360 & PC. I mean, what else would the code be for? Using my psn id was just so the site knew where to send my password. I've checked around the site settings & it doesn't ask for any gamertags or psn ids anywhere.

 

[stupei]

Agreed. And how about some female aliens. The future seems to be one big sausage-fest with the exception of the clearly-female-but-not-really asari and odd female human.

What's up with that? The game's canon goes out of its way to emphasize that the Asari are an all female species, suggesting that this is a unique feature. I get that we wouldn't necessarily know if, say, a Volus was male or female on sight, but it does seem strange.

 

[HK-47]

That's racist.

No more than the jellies, the blue sluts, the salamanders, the lizards, the four eyes, the split lips, etc.

Would be interesting to actually see some fantastic racism, dont remember much in ME outside of some directed at Quarians and Krogans. They totally fucked it up in DA with the City Elf Origins which is mostly laughable. Though knife ears was a decent insult.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Well, I did enter it :lol I was like, fuck it let's do this, and that's when I noticed that the code knew it was for the 360 & PC. I mean, what else would the code be for? Using my psn id was just so the site knew where to send my password. I've checked around the site settings & it doesn't ask for any gamertags or psn ids anywhere.

Is it the account you used for Dragon Age and that's linked to your GamerTag? If it isn't, then you might be screwed. I'd call EA though. I remember having huge account problems when skate. 2 came out and they helped me out.

 

[Thermite]

The Mako was an unmitigated disaster. I know I'm not the only one glad to see it go.

In other news, my release day order from amazon still isn't shipped.

Mine hasn't either. Son of a bitch, I better have my copy in hand tomorrow morning.. :/

 

[Sai]

Also this should shape up nicely for face codes. (Linked from the save site)

http://www.masseffect2faces.com/

Is there another site like this with slides for some of the NPCs? I've been wanting to make a FemShep Adept that resembles Mallene Calis for the longest, but never got around to it.

Which reminds me, I still have to start at least two more careers just so I can get the last few Specialist Achievements tied to the Adept, Engineer, and Sentinal.

 

[HK-47]

What's up with that? The game's canon goes out of its way to emphasize that the Asari are an all female species, suggesting that this is a unique feature. I get that we wouldn't necessarily know if, say, a Volus was male or female on sight, but it does seem strange.

Well they would need to have human female features but something to designate them. Sexual dimorphism, facial markings, voice. There are plenty of other ways to do it. Might seem a little alien to humans, but isnt that the whole idea?

 

[Metroidvania]

What's up with that? The game's canon goes out of its way to emphasize that the Asari are an all female species, suggesting that this is a unique feature. I get that we wouldn't necessarily know if, say, a Volus was male or female on sight, but it does seem strange.

There have been "hints" by the devs that you may have already seen female turians/krogans/whatever.

A copout to some, I suppose, but if nothing else, they have said you'll see more female aliens in ME2.

 

[Doodis]

Not enough Elcor, Volus and Hanhar love. When are they going to get the spotlight?

I knew Din was right all along. The Citadel is trying to keep the Volus down, man!

 

[VindicatorZ]

Basically agree. I like the new scanning system because it makes you feel like you're exploring the planet on a grander scale. However, I hope they implement the Hammerhead by adding scannable sections to pre existing planets that open up vehicle side missions or something.

I also wonder why reviews gloss over this subject. Seems kind of like Bioware might have something to do with it. Maybe they have an agreement to withold criticism of this aspect of the game until after the DLC? Who knows.

That sounds perfect. Hopefully once you have the Hammerhead, certain scannable areas will open up and allow you to roam around. Even though it's free, it doesn't make much sense to make it DLC. It's especially an inconvenience for me because my Xbox currently can't connect to Xbox Live through my ethernet port and I have to send it in. I have to borrow a friends wireless adapter for a bit just to hop on to the Cerberus network. So basically, it's a minor annoyance to me, but if the Hammerhead goes up within a week of launch, it won't be so bad.

 

[zero margin]

The Mako was an unmitigated disaster. I know I'm not the only one glad to see it go.

I'm with ya. I'd be happy if they bring back a completely redesigned version. Odd that they chose a DLC for it but ok.

 

[Zod the Bear]

I'm hoping for a decent amount of Voluses in ME2, personally.

My wish for Expat the merchant to be a party member will have to get pushed back to ME3. Most excellent.

 

[HK-47]

I knew Din was right all along. The Citadel is trying to keep the Volus down, man!

In ME3 you should play as a Volus trying to get through to the council. And if you saved the council in ME1, it should be the turian diplomat that keeps cockblocking you.

 

[careksims]

Really? Mako DLC? Aw well... *gets the CC ready when it happens*

 

[DevelopmentArrested]

People whined and complained that the ME1 planets were all "cookie cutter" and pointless, so they took them out. Now people are complaining about the scanning.

I personally liked them and the Mako (people didn't even learn how to zoom before complaining about it), but I didn't have a lot of the unrealistic expectations most people had for the explorable planets. Many people expected them to be fully featured worlds like the other main planets. Granted, a lot of the pre-release hype was to blame, because it made it sound like the planets would be more than we got.

Complaining? How much time have you put into the scanning exactly? It's a disaster. Really, it's mind-numbing, time-consuming and actually kind of insulting that you have to do this ad nauseum just to research/upgrade stuff. Scanning is far worse than the Mako.


(Yes I know you can find boxes of the minerals on planets, shame you get so little from it)

 

[Minamu]

Is it the account you used for Dragon Age and that's linked to your GamerTag? If it isn't, then you might be screwed. I'd call EA though. I remember having huge account problems when skate. 2 came out and they helped me out.

I don't have Dragon Age. I made an EA account back in the day so I could play Mirror's Edge on my ps3. I've never had a need to link my gamertag to it before. I use the same mail for both my gamertag, msn & psn id. Argh, I might be able to get a new code from gamestop with some luck, if necessary.

http://pici.se/pictures/IRNwuaoFR.jpg
This is the page I'm talking about.

On second thought, maybe I should log in on ea.com & connect my gamertag from there :lol

alright, I think ea.com did the trick. That site says that I must first log in to my ea account from inside an ea game before I can link the account to my gamertag. Hopefully the masseffect site is clever enough to understand I just did things out of order. Otherwise I don't get the gamestop armor, oh noes :lol

 

[Caspel]

They're still around. There's one Elcor that acts as a

Spoiler

bouncer to a club

.

There are many Elcor in the game besides that one. They usually act as vendors/merchants. Hanhar are stuck in the background and, throughout the entire game, never have one forced dialogue option with them.

Edit:
I enjoyed the scanning. I won't enjoy it the third time around though. I wish the side-missions were done through dialogue rather than anomalies.

 

[cresto]

There are many Elcor in the game besides that one. They usually act as vendors/merchants. Hanhar are stuck in the background and, throughout the entire game, never have one forced dialogue option with them.

Is your review up yet or do you have to wait until tonight?

 

[foomfoom415]

Complaining? How much time have you put into the scanning exactly? It's a disaster. Really, it's mind-numbing, time-consuming and actually kind of insulting that you have to do this ad nauseum just to research/upgrade stuff. Scanning is far worse than the Mako.


(Yes I know you can find boxes of the minerals on planets, shame you get so little from it)

I didn't do very much scanning at all but still managed to get enough to perform upgrades such that everything worked out.

Possible slight mission-content spoiler (but not if you looked at the achievement list):

Spoiler

Everyone on my crew survived the suicide mission.

 

[Daft_Cat]

There are many Elcor in the game besides that one. They usually act as vendors/merchants. Hanhar are stuck in the background and, throughout the entire game, never have one forced dialogue option with them.

Edit:
I enjoyed the scanning. I won't enjoy it the third time around though. I wish the side-missions were done through dialogue rather than anomalies.

Any Hanhar side-missions? This one thinks that there were two or three in the first one. This one had a lot of fun watching Shepard deal with those ones.

 

[Caspel]

Is your review up yet or do you have to wait until tonight?

12:01 am. I won't be breaking that embargo, even though I am sure many will.

 

[neojubei]

Damn haven't received my confirmation email from amazon.com yet, still says shipping tomorrow and i cannot cancel it so thats a good thing, right?

 

[GhostRidah]

You'll have to rename the MassEffect.exe to UE3.exe for it to work.

would that work for the steam version?

 

[Caspel]

Any Hanhar side-missions? This one thinks that there were two or three in the first one. This one had a lot of fun watching Shepard deal with those ones.

There's notta. Kind of disappointing in hindsight that I didn't talk to one single Hanhar throughout both playthroughs. I spoke to maybe 4 Volus and 2 Elcor. Heck, even the Turians aren't represented well. Too much human and asari love now that I think about it.

 

[Ephemeris]

I wish the side-missions were done through dialogue rather than anomalies.

Darn. Wasn't aware of that. Pity. :/

 

[EatChildren]

There's notta. Kind of disappointing in hindsight that I didn't talk to one single Hanhar throughout both playthroughs. I spoke to maybe 4 Volus and 2 Elcor. Heck, even the Turians aren't represented well. Too much human and asari love now that I think about it.

I dont want to get narky, especially since I havent played ME2, but being able to speak to only 2 Elcor isn't all that bad considering you only ever speak to 3 in the original, one of which a salesman who doesnt say much. Volus are in a similar boat. There's only...four Volus to converse with, from memory.

Unless by 'talk' you mean simply hear them say something and not an actual conversation.

 

[The Librarian]

12:01 am. I won't be breaking that embargo, even though I am sure many will.

Don't resist peer pressure!

 

[Basileus777]

What? How can you say that? This one would be pleased to see such a development.


Also, soldier or vanguard? Indecisiveness plagues me GAF...you fine folks choose for me?

For sheer effectiveness, the soldier is the better class. The Vanguard is not as good of a class as it was in the first game. Biotic charge is useless on higher difficulties and the shotgun isn't really that great of a weapon.

 

[Pancakes]

Don't resist peer pressure!

A LIBERAL WOULD SAY THAT!

Spoiler

Jk don't hurt me, Anderson/Shepard 2012

 

[hulot]

Finally got to

Spoiler

Omega

and actually starting the game. Spent a some time just walking around and reading the codex. I love the newscasters:

Spoiler

neutral story about Freedom's Hope colony followed by the same story told probably by a Turian in the most anti-human slant :lol

 

[The Librarian]

A LIBERAL WOULD SAY THAT!

Spoiler

Jk don't hurt me, Anderson/Shepard 2012

You still can't play Mass Effect 2! Haha!

 

[Beowulf28]

Remember like all UE3 games you'll be able to cap the framerate, so if you're not likely to hit 60fps, just cap it at 30fps and go crazy on the settings.

Now how would one go about doing that?

 

[Castor Krieg]

Can I get help regarding ME1? I ended at lvl 47. If I play again:

A. Will I be able to go all the way to lvl60 on my second playthrough?

B. Can I get from lvl 47 to lvl 60 by doing everything on one playthrough?

This is really important. If I can't go all the way to 60 I will just reload before Ilos and wonder around on Uncharted Worlds to make sure I hit 50 first time.

 

[Pancakes]

You still can't play Mass Effect 2! Haha!

5 hours and 10 more minutes just you wait!

 

[Spookie]

I love the newscasters:

Spoiler

neutral story about Freedom's Hope colony followed by the same story told probably by a Turian in the most anti-human slant :lol

Talking of comical little sound bites, the advertisement for

Spoiler

Macbeth which is located in the Citadel

shouldn't be missed had me genuinely laughing out loud.

 

[Daft_Cat]

There's notta. Kind of disappointing in hindsight that I didn't talk to one single Hanhar throughout both playthroughs. I spoke to maybe 4 Volus and 2 Elcor. Heck, even the Turians aren't represented well. Too much human and asari love now that I think about it.

Thank you human. This one is now on its way to buy a permit to preach about this further. Please take these credits as a token of this ones gratitude.

+100.

 

[Caspel]

I dont want to get narky, especially since I havent played ME2, but being able to speak to only 2 Elcor isn't all that bad considering you only ever speak to 3 in the original, one of which a salesman who doesnt say much. Volus are in a similar boat. There's only...four Volus to converse with, from memory.

Unless by 'talk' you mean simply hear them say something and not an actual conversation.

Well, blame the vision in my head that other alien species would be more active in the world of Mass Effect. The issue with the Elcor (the ones I spoke to) is that their dialogue is limited to "What do you want to buy?" I'm all for filling my codex and going further into the lore.

As for the side-missions eph, there are a few that are given through dialogue, but... not nearly enough. There's not much going on in the galaxy besides a few fetch quests I guess.

 

[BolognaSoup]

My ME1 Shepherd is a level 49. Is there any real reason why I should level her up any more before my ME2 arrives and wouldn't that require a new game which would in turn, null and void all of the choices I made throughout the game? Is there a benefit to leveling to 60?

 

[HK-47]

I dont want to get narky, especially since I havent played ME2, but being able to speak to only 2 Elcor isn't all that bad considering you only ever speak to 3 in the original, one of which a salesman who doesnt say much. Volus are in a similar boat. There's only...four Volus to converse with, from memory.

Unless by 'talk' you mean simply hear them say something and not an actual conversation.

So because ME1 sucked in that area, its ok that ME2 did? Asari and humans get way too much screen, and for the asari its pretty much only so people have something oogle. Bad enough Bioware seems to be capable of only one body type for each gender, in any game.

 

[EatChildren]

Well, blame the vision in my head that other alien species would be more active in the world of Mass Effect. The issue with the Elcor (the ones I spoke to) is that their dialogue is limited to "What do you want to buy?" I'm all for filling my codex and going further into the lore.

No nothing to blame, it's a problem I had with the original. I would have liked to see far more conversing with the various alien species. Even the Salarians felt a bit under represented, in my opinion, until towards the end. But that was probably due to having no Salarian companion.

More Elcor, Volus, Hannah, and pretty much everyone who's not a Turian or Asari love would have been good. I expect similar regection in this entry.

So because ME1 sucked in that area, its ok that ME2 did?

No, its not. I simply said what I said as I figure that with ME2 people will, as they often do with games, complain and criticise things deserving of criticism, but word with undertones that imply things were better in the original entry.

Not that I'm accusing Caspel of doing this, because I dont think he did, but the whole underused races thing isn't exactly something uncommon. It sucks that it seems to be the same in ME2, but folk need to remember it was pretty assy in the original as well.

Humans were heavily represented in the original, for example, to the point where nearly all side quests involving any conversation involved talking to a humans and nobody else.

A valid criticism, but one that spans the franchise and not the individual entry.

 

[Lunchbox]

12:01 am. I won't be breaking that embargo, even though I am sure many will.

ill give you clicks in return, do it

 

[Caspel]

Oh, and to those who are PMing me about the shirts I am giving away. I see them and have read many of them (over 25 requests). I'll message you back when I have more details as I want to wait until I actually have them in hand to guarantee a giveaway.

 

[Dan Yo]

The combat in ME2 is so much better than in ME1 in terms of the feel and responsiveness of the gunplay, that outside of some of the obvious shared elements with the first game, it almost feels like that aspect of it was designed by a different team.

Great to hear. For so long I have excused sub-par combat in RPGs like Deus Ex, Fallout 3, Vampire the Masquerade, and Mass Effect because the justification for crappy combat was always just "Ah well, it's an RPG. Can't expect combat on par with top shooters and action games considering it's an RPG by RPG developers.

Happy to hear that seems to have changed.

 

[I NEED SCISSORS]

Now how would one go about doing that?

Well if it's anything like ME1...

Find the Mass Effect folder in your C: drive. Then go into Engine, then Config, and finally open up BaseEngine in a text editor. Find the following lines:

[Engine.GameEngine]
bSmoothFrameRate=TRUE
MinSmoothedFrameRate=22
MaxSmoothedFrameRate=62

And just change MaxSmoothFrameRate=62 to whatever you please.

 

[Fimbulvetr]

My ME1 Shepherd is a level 49. Is there any real reason why I should level her up any more before my ME2 arrives and wouldn't that require a new game which would in turn, null and void all of the choices I made throughout the game? Is there a benefit to leveling to 60?

You get bonus stuff in ME2 from starting as a character that is at least lvl 50(every level beyond 50 gets a larger and larger bonus).

Pretty sure someone posted this earlier, just not sure where.

 

[Beowulf28]

Well if it's anything like ME1...

Find the Mass Effect folder in your C: drive. Then go into Engine, then Config, and finally open up BaseEngine in a text editor. Find the following lines:

[Engine.GameEngine]
bSmoothFrameRate=TRUE
MinSmoothedFrameRate=22
MaxSmoothedFrameRate=62

And just change MaxSmoothFrameRate=62 to whatever you please.

Thank you sir

 

[notworksafe]

My ME1 Shepherd is a level 49. Is there any real reason why I should level her up any more before my ME2 arrives and wouldn't that require a new game which would in turn, null and void all of the choices I made throughout the game? Is there a benefit to leveling to 60?

Check the OP:

Importing a Level 60 character will have your character start off at Level 5 in Mass Effect 2, plus:

• Renegade or Paragon starting at 10% (If you have 100% Renegade or Paragon in ME1)
• Credits: 150,000
• Palladium: 10,000
• Iridium: 10,000

• Platinum: 10,000
• Element Zero: 10,000

Importing a Level 50 character will have your character start off at Level 3, plus:

• Credits: 100,000
• Palladium: 9,000
• Iridium: 9,000
• Platinum: 9,000
• Element Zero: 9,000

 

[BolognaSoup]

Ok that's cool because I can very quickly go from 49 to 50 in the first mission. I'm only 3,000 points away.

BUT, if I then imported that 50 character into ME2, would I not have the history of choices since that's a beginning of the game character or does it look back at the first playthrough for your choices/decisions? Make sense?

 

[Snuggles]

Your import into ME2 will find your recent completed game for that character, so I dunno if it'll recognize your progess past that.

5 hours till I pick up ME2. Anticipation + infinity.