Mass Effect 2 [thread contains spoilers]

[leXX]

Finished it this morning, level 30 with first playthrough, everyone loyal, everyone survived, every planet scanned, every side quest completed. Prefer the story of ME1, but it's still an absolutely amazing game. 10/10

 

Will give full review in next LucasCast.

[igyman]

I can't wait to play as an Adept or Sentinel.

 

I played as an Adept, so I definitely recommend that one. I plan to play as a Sentinel next, but I'm waiting for some more DLCs first.

 

*walks in*

 

<3 Tali

 

*walks out*

 

QFT

 

And literally EVERY side quest I did in ME1 was referenced. I got messages, quests and more from the people I've met in ME1. The way it uses your saves really goes beyond what I had expected.

 

Yeah, the references to ME1 were a nice touch and added to the game. The sad part is that ME2 relied almost solely on those references, bringing very few new things to the story.

 

9/10 so far. It looses the 1/10 because Shepard can have MANY skills and party members a maximum of 4. More RPG wouldn't hurt.

 

Shepard has many skills? Which class was that, because playing as an Adept sure felt like I had less skills than in ME1 (Not saying that playing as an Adept wasn't fun nonetheless). The fact that you get to choose which way to evolve each skill at its highest level was a nice touch though.

I'd say 7.5, or 8/10 at most.

 

Other hilarious things are the commercials on the Citadel and the talk around the game kiosk. Asari porn games? what the hell?

Hanar action movies...

 

I think I know what they referenced with that "Asari-hanar porn games" line (which was hilarious, btw), but since this is a PG-13 forum I won't go into details. Let's just say it can be found on the net, for those with naughty minds.

 

The randome talk by NPCs is fun to, Turions trying to seduice a Quaren, Krogan talking about fishes in the presidium lakes. A bachelor party with a striptease act... list goes on!

Almost feels like I'm in GTA. Which is a good thing

 

Yeah, those were some really fun moments.

[Ztalker]

Shepard has many skills? Which class was that, because playing as an Adept sure felt like I had less skills than in ME1 (Not saying that playing as an Adept wasn't fun nonetheless). The fact that you get to choose which way to evolve each skill at its highest level was a nice touch though.

I'd say 7.5, or 8/10 at most.

 

Using the research lab, you can 'use' all Loyal skills from your comrades, I believe. Or was it only 1? I thought you could unlock all for Shepard..

[swphreak]

Using the research lab, you can 'use' all Loyal skills from your comrades, I believe. Or was it only 1? I thought you could unlock all for Shepard..

 

Only one at a time.

[Ztalker]

Only one at a time.

 

Ah...forget I said many skills then

Thanks for the info....now I'll have to look which one is mist usefull...

[Tysyacha]

I don't have any backup saves from ME1, so please tell me:

 

Is the effort worth all the hours of torture driving around in the Mako? AGAIN?

[Rogue Nine]

I don't have any backup saves from ME1, so please tell me:

 

Is the effort worth all the hours of torture driving around in the Mako? AGAIN?

If you start a fresh character in ME2, a few things are decided for you.

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• Wrex is dead
  
• The Council is dead
  
• For male Shepards, Kaidan dies on Virmire
  
• For female Shepards, Ashley dies on Virmire

If you have a ME1 save, you can obviously decide these things for yourself. You also get some benefits depending on the level of your ME1 character and how much bonus XP and money you get to start out in ME2.

[DarthParametric]

If you have the PC version there is an ME1 save repository for those not wanting to replay - http://www.annakie.com/me/home.htm If you have the 360 version, you're out of luck. To be honest though, there's no reason a replay need include much Mako-based action, besides the story missions. Even then you are better off on foot anyway as you get more XP. The only bit where you actually require the Mako is the last 30 seconds of Ilos, in order to make the relay in time.

[Lord Spitfire]

One thing I reall want to see in Mass Effect 3:

 

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A huge space battle between the Alliance and the Reapers over Earth. Like, you have to command the Alliance Dreadnoughts into position, and your tactics change the outcome of the battle, and the consequences. And I don't mean like a converstation wheel, like an actual battle map wehre you can move human dreadnoughts, cruisers, carriers, and fleets around in reference to Reaper ships.

 

I would prefer if the Citadel is destroyed. It would show that Bioware isn't scared to make the tough decisions. Visiting the Turian homeworld would be pretty cool, too. Also, a Geth/Quarian war over the Quarian homeworld where you can decide who to side with would be aweseome.

[Tysyacha]

Thanks, DarthParametric! You totally rock!

[mimartin]

Finished the game last night, but I’m still trying to digest my feelings about Mass Effect 2. Yes, I thought for the most part it was amazing. However, I still believe like its predecessor it is still marred with some mundane problems. While most of the improvements from Mass Effect were welcomed liked, no more endless driving in the Mako and more diversity in scenery, others like further dumbing down of the RPG element of the game were not.

 

Overall, I was very satisfied with Mass Effect 2. While the main story was not overly intriguing IMO, it did give me a few pleasant surprises. What really made Mass Effect 2 shine for me were the party members and their loyalty quest, which does make up a very large portion of the game. Before the game came out I had really no interest in the Jack character. I thought it was a stupid over the top typical game NPC, but that was far from the truth in game.

 

Loved how the information was imported from ME 1 to ME 2, it really added to the games familiarity even though so much has changed between the two games both in game mechanics and in the Mass Effect universe. It was the little things BioWare put into the game that really added to the universe for me, like the advertisements and seeing and hearing Rebekah and Michael still arguing about what medical procedure would be best for Rebekah now two year old son (From the Family Matter Quest in ME 1).

 

Overall all Mass Effect 2 was very satisfying fun game to play, next up for me is an imported female adept Shepard. Interested to see how she fares compared to my male solider Shepard.

 

Post dedicated to Jeff.

[Tysyacha]

Query: Do you HAVE to import a ME1 character in order to have the romance option with Kaidan/Ashley/Liara carry into ME2, or can you RP in ME2 like you already had a relationship?

 

Thanks!

[mimartin]

Minor Spoilers to Relationship Question:

 

 

There really isn’t a large focus on the romance from Mass Effect in Mass Effect 2. A few lines of dialogue, photo in the Commander‘s Quarters and a email, beyond that I did not really notice anything. So I don’t really believe you would be missing anything by not having a Mass Effect 1 save that included a romance carry over. That said, according to rumors on the BioWare Social Network the Mass Effect 1 romance and the romance options in Mass Effect 2 will have repercussions in Mass Effect 3. If that is true or not I could not say.

 

My guess would be that if you do not have a Mass Effect 1 romance then, you would not have any repercussions in Mass Effect 3 for your actions in ME 2 (cheating on your ME love interest). The romance is just a sidebar at most in the story, so you are not missing out as far as the story goes. Personally, I choice to forgo my relationship from ME in order to get the achievement in ME 2.

 

 

[DarthParametric]

Casey Hudson did say at one point that the reason the ME1 romance interests didn't play an active role in ME2 was because they had to find a way to keep them alive for ME3. Read into that what you will, but presumably there will be some sort of payoff (or beatdown) for those that take the same character across all three games.

[Tysyacha]

How are the sidequests compared to ME1? It seemed like a lot of them in the first game ran along these lines:

 

a) someone wants you to solve some crisis/kill some pirates/etc.

b) you go to the (place) and shoot up the (geth/organics)

c) you get a reward, but not much roleplay

 

Yay.

 

Hopefully the sidequests in ME2 have more depth. I don't want to get to level 120 if half of those levels involve the type of "grinding" that most MMO's do. :\

 

On a side note, would anyone be interested in reading a ME2 fanfic series I'm thinking of writing? I don't want to put all that work in if I won't have an audience. *wink*

[igyman]

Most of the N7 missions have pretty much the same level of depth (if not less) as the UNC missions from ME1. However, there's no Mako driving in ME2 and every location is visually unique. There are a few gems among the N7, though, which are really interesting in both story and location.

[Ztalker]

How are the sidequests compared to ME1? It seemed like a lot of them in the first game ran along these lines:

 

a) someone wants you to solve some crisis/kill some pirates/etc.

b) you go to the (place) and shoot up the (geth/organics)

c) you get a reward, but not much roleplay

 

Hmmm..let me see.

Stop a launch of two missiles that are aimed for a spaceport and city under 5 minutes? And when you arrive..you find out that...

Or defend a crashed pilot from carnivores attacking him.

It's epic. Brilliant

 

Only, ONLY bad thing I found out is..ehm...I need to get back on my words that the planet scanning is fun. I got 400.000 (tons?) of about everything, with STILL all the research done. That's...a shame. I would have loved seeing it put to use in exclusive bonusses or something.

 

Starting second playthrough now. I tweaked my Shepards face (ME1 face was rushed, pale, ugly and the new face resembles myself more) and took a new class and difficulty. Took the infiltrator now...

[mimartin]

Well the Loyalty side quest for your party members are a lot more in-depth than 90% of the quest in Mass Effect. There is less planet side quest in Mass Effect 2, but they offer more variety both in scenery and actions. More quests don’t even involve firing your weapon in Mass Effect 2, but it is an “Action RPG” so there is a lot of action.

[Star Admiral]

Agree completely with Ztalker. The side missions in ME2 are vastly more interesting. The two missile launch one was my personal favorite by far. And the unique landscapes for each make it less of a grinding chore.

 

@Tysyacha, I would certainly be interested in reading some of your fanfic for ME2.

 

- Star Admiral

[Tysyacha]

Thanks, and one reader is enough for me to go all out!

[DarthParametric]

The N7 side-quests are a bit of mixed bag in terms of content. None are terribly thrilling, but even so pretty much all of them are more interesting (and, more importantly, more diverse) than the ME1 side-quests. The fact that all of them use unique locations definitely helps keep things fresh, as opposed to that one bunker used in ME1 that just had a different box layout. They did try a couple of non-combat missions as well, which was a nice touch.

 

Stop a launch of two missiles that are aimed for a spaceport and city under 5 minutes? And when you arrive..you find out that...

Presumably that mission is a homage to (or ripoff of, if you're an Avellone fanboy) Black Isle's plan for the original Fallout 3 (Van Buren).

[Lord Spitfire]

Hey, is anyone else bothered by the fact that nearly every human in the game is American? I know I'm being a pain, but come on, a small percentage of the human population is suddenly every single human outside Earth? It's really something I hope they fix for the third game, I mean what's the point of fighting for humanity when everyone in the Alliance sounds like they're all from one country?

[jrrtoken]

My personal theory is that there are no real "alien" life forms, but that every species are really humans descended from plastic surgery disasters like Barbara Streisand.

Case and point.

[DarthParametric]

Hey, is anyone else bothered by the fact that nearly every human in the game is American? I know I'm being a pain, but come on, a small percentage of the human population is suddenly every single human outside Earth? It's really something I hope they fix for the third game, I mean what's the point of fighting for humanity when everyone in the Alliance sounds like they're all from one country?

Well I guess it's because they are in north America so they have plenty of those resources to hand, not to mention that's their major market (and we all know yanks need subtitles for English in even the barest of foreign accents). As an Australian, I actually find it very jarring to hear an Australian accent in the cast (Miranda - Yvonne Strahovski). They do have a couple of other token accents in there, like the Scottish engineer (or is it faux-Scottish?).

[Lord Spitfire]

Well I guess it's because they are in north America so they have plenty of those resources to hand, not to mention that's their major market (and we all know yanks need subtitles for English in even the barest of foreign accents). As an Australian, I actually find it very jarring to hear an Australian accent in the cast (Miranda - Yvonne Strahovski). They do have a couple of other token accents in there, like the Scottish engineer (or is it faux-Scottish?).

 

 

Yeah, I can understand why they did it, but it would be nice to have some HUMAN perspective rather than American and a little bit Europen (that one guy on Noveria in the first one), one Indian guy in one glimpse (heavily steryotyped), and no Chinese people whatsoever.