Mass Effect 2 [thread contains spoilers]

[igyman]

On Illium, listen out for the ad for the upcoming movie about Blasto, the first Hanar Spectre. Some of the other ads are a laugh as well. The conversations between store customers both there and on the Citadel have some gems, plus the convos in the club on Illium as well.

 

I'd forgotten about the Elcor Hamlet ad. That was great (and a nice touch, following on from the news report about it in ME1).

 

Blasto was awesome. Just last night I saw an interesting thread on Bioware's official forums with an epic fan poster dedicated to Blasto:

 

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/105/index/1045002

 

I haven't seen the Elcor Hamlet add, but I do remember it being advertised in ME1 during elevator rides (which were awesome and short, so it confounds me to see so many complaints about that ME1 "feature").

 

Let me see what I can remember

 

1) Legion does an amazing robot!

2) Bringing Garrus and Tali to the citadel, Garrus brings up the elevator conversations

3) Bringing Legion to the Flotilla to help Tali out

4) Talking to the C-Sec Customs Officer with Legion in your party

 

1) Seen a youtube clip (LOLed), but I haven't been able to see him do it in my game (even after waiting for 15-20 minutes and just standing there).

 

2) The stair conversation about elevator conversations was funny as hell.

 

3) Didn't do that yet, considering it on my current playthrough. Seen some interesting clips about it.

 

4)

"The Geth do not intentionally infiltrate."

 

 

Let's not forget the game salesman and his comment regarding "adult games" available in Shin Akiba (which I suspect is based on some ME themed "adult material" that can be found on the internetz).

[DarthParametric]

Lol I'd never seen the Legion thing before. Here it is for anyone else that hasn't seen it:

 

Didn't know about this one either lol -

[Quanon]

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since the Human-Reaper was made using organic metal made from the humans, the genetic code in the metals gave it the human shape. Which doesn't excuse a terrible idea. maybe a reaper body and a human head?

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Well, fusing in human skull into a Reaper body and then only hinting at it that it has Human DNA and what not infused.

Doesn't make much sense...

 

I think this human formed reaper is weird, cause at the end the show this whole swarm of them. And they all look very much the same. You would expect to see some odd ball Reapers, because they've harvested billions of species in their long lives.

 

Anyway, this is only a minor thing for me. I had 35 hours of fun, before that last 15 minutes.

 

Legion is hilarious

[DarthParametric]

Legion is hilarious

I love the reply when you ask him why he used the N7 armour.

[Quanon]

In a way he's shy. As so far that is possible for machines

 

What is odd in ME 2, is the romance... I had a go for Tali, seems she had rush of hormones and a crush all of a sudden... almost stalker like

 

Doesn't really fit how she was in ME 1. It goes way to easy...

 

Your assistant Kelly... boy, just played a bit with my Madame Sheppard. Horny red head?

Had a good laugh though

 

I think Samara is still one of the best voiced and good dialogue. Though it doesn't seem possible to romance her. There a few hints you can drop

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But she's doesn't go for it. Infact she said she would have to kill me, after the mission was done. Wonder how that will turn out in ME 3.

 

I hope for ME 3, they make your team really alive. It's still kind of silly to have each one fixed at one spot in the ship. Why don't they move about the ship. Talk to each other and other crew members. I think the conversations between you and them is good, but the interaction between party members themselfs is very limited and none excistant.

 

They should do something about that

[DarthParametric]

If they let them move around then people would complain they couldn't find them. I don't mind them having fixed locations. It makes sense that at least some of them would have certain on-board duties that would necessitate them staying in one area. An obvious example is Mordin. You'd expect to find him in the lab, not wandering aimlessly around the engineering deck. Maybe a compromise would be if they had some sort of time system where you could find "off duty" personnel in the mess hall or in their quarters. That would be a more logical way to dole out conversations, as they wouldn't have time to chat when on duty. Once you have finished one convo they go back on duty until they are ready to speak again, at which point they are off-duty.

 

Speaking of which, there is a lot of wasted space on the crew deck. It would make far more sense to divide it up into more discrete sleeping areas. There's just that one room opposite the elevator with a few bunks.

[stoffe]

Speaking of which, there is a lot of wasted space on the crew deck. It would make far more sense to divide it up into more discrete sleeping areas. There's just that one room opposite the elevator with a few bunks.

 

There are the sleeping pods in the hallway towards the main battery room too, where I guess the lower ranked crewmen get to sleep. But overall I agree the Normandy (either SR1 or SR2) obviously weren't designed to make efficient use of the interior space.

 

 

I do like the idea of making it more apparent when your partymembers have something new to talk about though. The first part of the game I thought I had run into a bug when nobody wanted to talk to me any more as soon as we left Omega, though they got talkative again after Horizon.

 

Your assistant Kelly... boy, just played a bit with my Madame Sheppard. Horny red head?

 

Worth it alone just to get her to feed your fish. One less mundane task you have to worry about all the time.

[DarthParametric]

Just finished my 3rd playthrough. I've verified the effect of the IFF mission's timing on the endgame.

 

Contrary to what was posted earlier in this thread (at least I think it was), how long you take between the IFF mission and going through the Omega 4 relay has no effect on which squad members live or die. That is only determined by loyalty and your choices of specialists and fire team leaders (if you want everyone to live, choose Tali/Legion and Samara/Jack for the former and Miranda/Garrus for the latter). What the IFF mission determines is how many of your crew are still alive when you arrive at the Collector base.

 

In my first playthrough I did every available mission before doing the IFF mission. After that I did Legion's loyalty mission and then straight to the Omega 4 relay. When I got there, all my crew survived. I did pretty much the same on the 2nd playthrough. This time though I wanted Legion earlier, so I could take him on Tali's loyalty mission. I did a number of loyalty missions and side-quests after the IFF mission then I made a save I could come back to. To start with I kept doing side-quests until they were all done before going through the relay. When I got there, all the crew except Chakwas died. I was pissed at seeing Kelly get liquefied, so I went back to the earlier save and jumped straight to the relay. This time only half the crew died - including Kelly again (nooooo!). So if you want to save your flirty little PA, make sure you leave the IFF mission until the very end.

 

[Quanon]

Maybe a compromise would be if they had some sort of time system where you could find "off duty" personnel in the mess hall or in their quarters. That would be a more logical way to dole out conversations, as they wouldn't have time to chat when on duty. Once you have finished one convo they go back on duty until they are ready to speak again, at which point they are off-duty.

 

Oblivion had this time system for all the NPCs, since they have a full day/night cycle in the game. It was more "naturale" to have them sleep and close shops and such.

 

Why couldn't they go for something like this in a game like ME. Take Garrus, he works on the Normandies guns, let'em have lunch aswell and stuff.

 

Perhaps, they would need a bar or a more relax suite on the Normandy, just like Jacob suggests

IMO, it would be another nice touch to a good game.

 

To bad you can't buy a golden chain, to lock Tali to the bed in your quarter.

 

Just finished my 3rd playthrough. I've verified the effect of the IFF mission's timing on the endgame.

 

LONG SPOILER

 

 

Thanks for that bit of info

[mimartin]

Lades and Gentlemen may I present new “free” downloadable content.

 

This is about the equivalent to horse armor from Oblivion, but at least it gives you another weapon. The helmet is still not removable.

[Rake]

I thoroughly enjoyed the game, and I'd say it was 10x better than the previous installment; however, I was a bit disappointed by Bioware's seemingly new trend. This was a big complaint I had in Dragon Age as well, but to me, it felt like Mass Effect 2, as well as Dragon Age; had terrible main quest lines. Side quests dominated both games, and their respective storylines didn't really advance at all. The majority of both games was constituted by travelling to new areas, each with their own little "side quest," to the point that it felt like the main narrative was really the subordinate or "secondary" questline.

 

Anyway, aside from that one complaint, Mass Effect 2 exceeded my expectations, and I hope the third will have an epic MAIN questline.

[DarthParametric]

Everyone seems to be saying that the loyalty missions are the best part of the game. That's fine, but IMO they really aren't side-quests as such. Sure they are optional, but the whole game is really about building your team.

[JesusIsGonnaOwnSatan]

I just finished my first playthrough after about 7 days of focused, exclusive masseffectivity.

 

Simply awesome. Fantastic! I loved it!

 

I carried over my ME1 saved game and played as a default appearance soldier, Paragon.

Did every loyalty mission, every side quest i came across, scanned every planet, and subsequently, every N7 mission i could find. Game time was 42 hours, finished at level 28 with 100% paragon and just under one bar of renegade.

 

What they did with the armor was awesome! I really loved that. Personally, i think the default N7 armor looks the best (the other pieces aren't *ugly*, but the default ones just looked better). I mixed up my armor about 5 or 6 times throughout the game. At the end, i chose "extra ammo" pieces since they kept the look of default armor, and changed the colors to black with a little dark blood red. Incidentally, the bonuses they granted were what i wanted.

 

One of the best, (if not *the* best) things about the game are the characters. Their stories were all great. I can't choose a favourite; Tali, Garrus, Mordin (hah! i love mordin!), Thane, Miranda, Jacob... theyre all great. I really loved the Cerberus crew, especially Kelly, Engineers Donnelly ("...We're off to kick the collectors right in the daddybags." ) and Daniels, and Dr. Chakwas.

 

Jack was very interesting; sure enough you could treat her psychoness with a nice dose of 'healthy relationship', but it seemed that you had to pursue a romantic interest to continue, which i wasnt prepared to do. Now, all attempts at conversation greeted with a wonderfully courteous "**** OFF"

Is it possible to fully break her craziness if you go romantic white knight on her?

 

I didn't actually have a romance in 2, mostly because i was holding out for a 'Kelly' option. I liked Ms. Chambers from the moment i first talked to her: her cheery disposition and compassionate attitude were great, and she looks good too.

Hmm, quite as amount of flirting, and a date. But when are the deep conversations and three-word-bombshells coming already?!

But right now i'm torn between Kelly and Tali.

 

your avatar... she's gay? ;_;

 

 

I think it would add a whole new depth for the suicide mission of you actually did romance anyone... choosing people to send would be a whole lot harder..

 

But the emotional attachment facet was still well achieved by Bioware.

I got there just in time to see Kelly scream for her life as she was liquified alive in her cell.

Flip, i wanted to rip the chitin off the Collector General's face for that.

 

 

Personally, i found the revelations shocking as they were supposed to be, since i actually didn't expect there to be any big revelations.

You have a point that it's not a senseless notion, but I was hoping for a more interesting backstory.

Learning that the Collectors are mutated indoctrinated Protheans

...didn't make me think "Wow! Friggin' awesome!", but rather "What? That's it? That's the big reveal? WTF?". To me it comes off as a cheap solution, which is why I found that part of the story disappointing.

It was the opposite for me. Not jaw dropping kotor revelation, but good nonetheless.

 

The Reapers are liquified people?!! Gawww... it all makes sense now O_O. They said 'harvesting' in ME1, but that was about it. Harvest for what? Energy? Labor? Clothes?

But flip... hundreds of thousands of people to make one reaper... how many billions were killed to create that Reaper army??!

 

 

 

The music was, of course, fabulously epic as it should be. Its going to be stuck in my head for the next week now.

 

Some things that could be improved:

 

It wouldve been good to have a bit more customization for weapons.

 

I had no real qualms with the combat; it was nice and fast paced, though i wouldn't mind it being a bit more complex.

 

The only thing i 'hate' in this game is the fact that you can;t toggle you're helmet at will. Its trivial, and thats all. Everything else is fantabulishously awesome.

 

 

=====

 

The anti-materiel rifle that either the Soldier or Infiltrator can get about the halfway mark is an interesting option. Makes taking down boss-type opponents a breeze and pretty much one-shots base enemies on the lower difficulty settings, but is offset by being bolt action/single shot and having a low clip size.

Of all the weapons in the game, the Widow Anti-Material Rifle was my favourite! Damn, i love that thing!

 

My favourite Heavy Weapon was the Grenade Launcher. It was extremely effective and versatile, (and the best, i found, for taking down those crazy YMIR mechs). In terms of usefulness, the next would be the missile launcher and then the flamethrower. The Terminus Blackstorm weapon was trippy, but impractical, imo.

I used the M920 Cain a grand total of once in the whole game. (As in, one shot.) I just carried it around for ages, charging it up and only used it once. But that one use was freaking epic. I used it on Haelstrom, in the battle with all the Geth and the self-repairing Colossus. I set up my squad to give me cover fire as i slunk through fire all the way up to were the colossus was, pulled out my Cain, and popped up to fire. Then i watched in what appeared to be slow motion as the full-health colossus and all the myriad swarming geth nearby just... disappeared. Awesome.

 

 

I loved all the references, to ME1, to the real world, and the easter eggs. And, oh, look, another reference to the demon(s) Legion in pop culture. (There is an epic quality to that quote...) He's (the ME Legion) great though, and very useful. Especially after getting his own anti-material rifle.

3) Bringing Legion to the Flotilla to help Tali out

i wondered this as soon as i got Legion. i postponed getting the IFF. i'll soon find out what happens though!

[stoffe]

Did every loyalty mission, every side quest i came across, scanned every planet, and subsequently, every N7 mission i could find. Game time was 42 hours, finished at level 28 with 100% paragon and just under one bar of renegade.

 

I must be really slow when playing games. Just finished my first playthrough, took roughly 79 hours. Not that I was in any real hurry for the game to end.

 

Imported my level 60 Vanguard from Mass Effect (1) and went mostly paragon path, with a few Renegade interrupts where those actions seemed like the most logical thing to do. Ended up at level 29, 300 XP away from level 30, and I tried to do everything (but probably managed to miss something ).

 

One of the best, (if not *the* best) things about the game are the characters. Their stories were all great. I can't choose a favourite; Tali, Garrus, Mordin (hah! i love mordin!), Thane, Miranda, Jacob... theyre all great. I really loved the Cerberus crew, especially Kelly, Engineers Donnelly ("...We're off to kick the collectors right in the daddybags." ) and Daniels, and Dr. Chakwas.

 

My impressions about that was a bit mixed. The Mass Effect (1) squad felt like a more closely tied group than the ME2 gang, where at least some of them had very dubious reasons for joining you at all and didn't really care that much about the actual mission (like Jack, why is she there?).

 

The non-squad crew felt a lot more interesting and alive in ME2 though, with their chatter about the progress of your mission both with you and with each other. In the first part of the game they actually felt more alive than your squad members did, since the crew had something new to say a lot more often than your team did. You get the impression that the Cigarette Smoking Man had picked the crew carefully to give Shepard a more humane impression of Cerberus (most of them being ex-Alliance disgruntled with bureaucracy and politicking, eager to get something done).

 

Jack was very interesting; sure enough you could treat her psychoness with a nice dose of 'healthy relationship', but it seemed that you had to pursue a romantic interest to continue, which i wasnt prepared to do.

 

A bit too crazy for my taste. Didn't really use her aside from doing her loyalty mission.

 

 

I didn't actually have a romance in 2, mostly because i was holding out for a 'Kelly' option.

(...snip...)

your avatar... she's gay? ;_;

 

Kelly isn't really a romance as far as I can tell, at least it doesn't unlock the achievement and the game doesn't treat it as abandoning your Mass Effect (1) love interest (you get the portrait scene when heading to the Omega-4 Relay). There isn't any roll in the hay at the end of it, mostly a choice for some cuddling/intimacy if you keep playing after finishing the main quest. And she'll feed your fish for you. Well worth it for that alone.

 

She doesn't care what gender (or species I'd assume, judging by her dialog) Shepard is, so anyone should be able to chat her up.

 

 

 

The Reapers are liquified people?!! Gawww... it all makes sense now O_O. They said 'harvesting' in ME1, but that was about it. Harvest for what? Energy? Labor? Clothes?

But flip... hundreds of thousands of people to make one reaper... how many billions were killed to create that Reaper army??!

 

 

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Presumably all of spacefaring galactic civilization every 50000 years for the past few million years. Seems like the Reaper reproduction cycle has been unbroken for quite some time. Makes you wonder what trick Shepard is going to be able to pull to stop them that doesn't feel like a complete Deus Ex Machina in Mass Effect 3.

 

It wouldve been good to have a bit more customization for weapons.

 

I'm a bit split about that. On the one side it's nice to be able to customize your gear to suit your style. But on the other hand I actually liked not being forced to acquire top gear for all your squad members to make them useful. Made it a bit more easy to mix up who you brought along on quests/missions rather than being forced to stick with a well-equipped core squad while everyone else lags behind equipment-wise.

 

The only thing i 'hate' in this game is the fact that you can;t toggle you're helmet at will.

 

Agreed. I didn't use any helmet because of that. Sure, lost some stats/bonuses, but it was worth it for the style alone. What's the point of spending an hour to customize Shepard's appearance if you're going to hide it under a helmet anyway?

 

My favourite Heavy Weapon was the Grenade Launcher.

 

My favorite was the Collector Particle Beam rifle, which I pretty much stuck with once I got it. Very versatile weapon. That thing chews through armor and shields very quick and its dead-accurate even at long ranges. Since I played as a Vanguard it provided welcome long-range fire the class otherwise lacks (until I picked up the sniper rifle when you got a bonus weapon later on).

 

i wondered this as soon as i got Legion. i postponed getting the IFF. i'll soon find out what happens though!

 

I think you should have been able to pick up Legion earlier. It was an interesting enough character but the game was nearly over by the time you ran into it, so not much opportunity to use it.

 

Ðragon Age comparison spoiler:

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He's kind of the Loghain of ME2 in that regard... a new party member you obtain as part of the end-game railroad track.

[mimartin]

your avatar... she's gay? ;_;

Ms. Chambers is just an extremely outgoing caring individual that understand firsthand the mental and physical scares endured by Shepard. As such she provides Shepard a warm embrace to relive the stress brought on by duty in the Terminus System.

 

What stoffe wrote, the best thing about Kelly is if you flirt with her long enough she will agree to feed the fish. I’m happy to report I lost no fish my last playthrough.

 

Now if BioWare would just release more DLC in the form of upgrades for the Normandy. Really want a stripper's pole for the commander’s quarters. I mean more armor with un-removable helmets.

 

 

Ended up at level 29, 300 XP away from level 30, and I tried to do everything (but probably managed to miss something ).[/Quote]I highly doubt that you missed much, for some reason. I didn’t reach level 30 my first time through. With the increase in rewarded XP my second playthrough for the Long Service Medal achievement, I made Level 30 before being railroaded. Also found one planet exploration quest I had missed and found a few planet side quest missed or refused my first playthrough.

 

My impressions about that was a bit mixed. The Mass Effect (1) squad felt like a more closely tied group than the ME2 gang, where at least some of them had very dubious reasons for joining you at all and didn't really care that much about the actual mission (like Jack, why is she there?).

I’d tend to agree. The ME1 crew was way more open without all the concerns for gender and bedding Shepard.

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Beyond Thane, Samara, Legion and Mordin the others have very little to say or will only talk if Shepard is willing to romance them.

 

I actually found Jack interesting (something I never thought possible from the trailer), but you can only get so far with the dialogue before she cuts it off. May have to try the romantic options to see if, like Miranda, she has more to say to a love interest. Somehow I doubt it. Found both Miranda and Tail are interesting as a male Shepard, but as a female they both were an utter bores. At least Tali and Garrus are a little more loyal than some of the other ME1 team members.

[swphreak]

I hope for ME 3, they make your team really alive. It's still kind of silly to have each one fixed at one spot in the ship. Why don't they move about the ship. Talk to each other and other crew members. I think the conversations between you and them is good, but the interaction between party members themselfs is very limited and none excistant.

 

They should do something about that

 

That would be cool. Doesn't the ship have an intercom or something? Shepard could summon party members to his office or something. Or the elevator would tell us where everyone is like it does now.

[Rogue Nine]

Shepard could cummon party members

this is the best typo ever

[swphreak]

How the hell did that happen.

[Quanon]

That would be cool. Doesn't the ship have an intercom or something? Shepard could cummon party members to his office or something. Or the elevator would tell us where everyone is like it does now.

 

lolz, whut?

 

I hope they do something about it. In DA your party members started to chat a bit while you where running about areas.

 

Mostly fun banter, it's odd ME 2 didn't do that much. You do have a few spots in each area, where you can ask an opinion of your team mates.

 

On Illum, viewing the city, Miranda and Garrus say something. Tali seems to have a comment around the shops on Illum. Mordin has something to say on the citadel about the keepers IIRC.

 

Still, I think more inter action between party members would be cool. Who knows, Garrus might steal Tali from under your nose.

 

You might catch Grunt and Samara doing something in the shuttle >_>

[Rake]

Everyone seems to be saying that the loyalty missions are the best part of the game. That's fine, but IMO they really aren't side-quests as such. Sure they are optional, but the whole game is really about building your team.

 

Exactly. This is what I don't like. I loved going around in Dragon Age, visiting the little village and helping out with their own problem. I loved visiting a wide variety of areas in Mass Effect, earning the loyalty of my compatriots; yet, none of these "main" missions, felt like a main narrative. It just feels like what Bioware is passing off as the main questline, feels more like a bunch of little disjointed side questlines.

I guess I'm just hoping for an epic narrative that keeps you guessing as you beat each mission, unearthing a little piece of the puzzle (hoping this is what ME3 will be like).

[Tysyacha]

Is it possible to have a Sentinel with the Incinerate bonus talent?

[Mav]

Is it possible to have a Sentinel with the Incinerate bonus talent?

No, the only bonus talent options are the 4th/Loyalty Unlocked skills of your squad members. That being said, an alternative to Incinerate would be Inferno Grenade, Zaeed Massani's unlocked talent.

[JesusIsGonnaOwnSatan]

The non-squad crew felt a lot more interesting and alive in ME2 though, with their chatter about the progress of your mission both with you and with each other. In the first part of the game they actually felt more alive than your squad members did, since the crew had something new to say a lot more often than your team did.

I didn't notice this, because unbeknownst to me, i wasn't actually talking to my team much. I mean, i thought i was, but i found that there's a boatload of conversation for each party member. I only figured this near the end of the game, after which i put the pedal down, and was running around blabbing to everyone. I think more banter from the party members would indeed be better. I ended up really liking the Cerberus crew because of that.

 

Kelly isn't really a romance as far as I can tell, at least it doesn't unlock the achievement and the game doesn't treat it as abandoning your Mass Effect (1) love interest (you get the portrait scene when heading to the Omega-4 Relay). There isn't any roll in the hay at the end of it, mostly a choice for some cuddling/intimacy if you keep playing after finishing the main quest. And she'll feed your fish for you. Well worth it for that alone.

Noooo! This is a gross and horrible injustice of gigantic proportions! This is actually really ridiculous. How is constant flirting, a date, and cuddling with on a bed not cheating on your ME1 romance?? I hope Bioware realizes that "Hey, this is actually ridiculous and makes no sense!" and gives us a rectification in the form of a 'Kelly Chambers Romance DLC'. (*fingers crossed* )

Enough with these chunky helmet-unremovable armors! I want mah flirty PA romance!

 

Which brings me to the subject of romances.

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I loaded a previous savegame and went with Tali. (Her personality is so cute ^^) But i can't believe this. THEY DON"T SHOW YOU HER FACE.

I found that so disappointing! I mean, its such a nice scene; she's babbling away nervously and Shepard just looks into her eyes and pulls of her mask without saying a word...

 

2 seconds and an annoying camera shot later: a fadeout.

 

This is just so annoying. Im not wanting some Quarian nudity or anything, but showing her face should have definitely been a mandate.

 

And about the skin-screen time: Tali gets none. A quick youtubing tells me that its the same with Thane and Garrus, while Miranda and Jacob get to dramatically pull their shirts off, and Jack... well, Jack was topless for pretty much the whole game (not that it meant much... ). I call that Specie-ist! Whats Bioware afraid of? That they'll get banned in Singapore??

 

I also noticed that all of ME2's sex scenes were really toned down from ME1. And its actually a stretch to call any of the aliens' ones "sex scenes" at all.

 

I actually don't mind the tamed 'dodginess', (maybe even welcome it), but whatever level it would be, i expected a same level across all the party members.

 

To those of us who've played the game, its hard to actually regard the characters as 'aliens' because we've grown to know them as people (and they are based off human psychologies) but to the overreactant family advocate blogger its "they direct pornographic sex scenes with a harem of lizardpeople!"

I suppose Bioware had had enough of the cries of "porn!" and "sex-game!" and didn't want to risk the potential ****storm with the aliens. (perhaps new overlord EA had its hand in this matter - Would that be likely?)

A bit too crazy for my taste. Didn't really use her aside from doing her loyalty mission.

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I loaded up, and tried the Jack romance. And yes, you do finally get into that uncrackable shell she holds up around her - Shepard tells her that try as he might, he can't fix her 'just like that', but then says that he'll take her just the way she is, at which she is completely thrown and confused. Later she's basically in tears and decides to take Shepard up, at which he accepts her with open arms. (and had that whole exchange with not one swear word -- I call that progress! ) The best way to describe that scene is just "Awwwww." (though i can't figure out if the 'did the deed' or not... )

 

The ME2 love theme is a very versatile piece that manages to fit well with the all the distinct flavors of romances that are different with each party member. But in my opinion, it fits the best with Jack's romance.

What stoffe wrote, the best thing about Kelly is if you flirt with her long enough she will agree to feed the fish. I’m happy to report I lost no fish my last playthrough.

blegh. i did that, and when i went to my cabin, my couple thousand credits worth of fish were dead. ;_;

(though its probably because i mustve not gone to my cabin for a while, rather than being Kelly's fault )

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Presumably all of spacefaring galactic civilization every 50000 years for the past few million years. Seems like the Reaper reproduction cycle has been unbroken for quite some time. Makes you wonder what trick Shepard is going to be able to pull to stop them that doesn't feel like a complete Deus Ex Machina in Mass Effect 3.

 

One thing i wonder about is the reapers and their form: they take the form of the species of organics harvested to create them... But there is a wide variety of evolved organic species at the time of ME. In this case, what are the Reapers going to do with all the other evolved sentient organics other than humans? Will just the human population of the galaxy be enough to make many reapers?

Also, in the end shot, the uncountable amount of reapers were all of that squid-like form that Sovreign was (presumably some ideal organic species that they harvested). Was the galaxy dominated by that one race?

The games certainly portray this as the case with the Protheans. They have never mentioned any other species that existed in the same era. (But surely there were others...?)

 

To this end i propose a theory: That in order for the Reapers to exist for millions of years like they do, they have to periodically create new bodies and "download" themselves into them to survive.

Their organic-synthetic material may be inherently superior, but entropy claims all matter, no matter how advanced a substance may be.

 

And since they are not organic, they use the natural forces of evolution to create better corporeal shells for themselves, and it just so happens that humans are the next evolutionary choice to their current forms.

 

I'm a bit split about that. On the one side it's nice to be able to customize your gear to suit your style. But on the other hand I actually liked not being forced to acquire top gear for all your squad members to make them useful. Made it a bit more easy to mix up who you brought along on quests/missions rather than being forced to stick with a well-equipped core squad while everyone else lags behind equipment-wise.

I think this 'all weapons available for everyone' system works well for the streamlined feel of ME2, and allows for more party selection freedom as you said, but what i mean is that i'd like more options. (More than 3 assault rifles to choose from, 2 shotguns, 1 heavy pistol, etc).

They seem be addressing it with more DLCs, which is great to see . We now have 3 shotguns to choose from (the newly added Eviscerator). Hopefully, they'll keep it up!

 

 

Like ME1, ME2 had no shortage of impossible [moral] choices. I still can't figure if the ones i made were right...

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Such as deciding what to do with the Geth 'heretics'. I spent a long time trying to figure out what to do there.. There are so many different POVs to look at the situation from.

One is that the heretics are dangerous machines that should be destroyed right there. But if they're really sentient and are valid life forms, then it would be better to not kill them. But also if they're valid sentients, then brainwashing them and forcing a viewpoint down their throats (uh, input systems) would be a violation of their free will and grossly unethical.

(but if its to save their lives...?). Also, how would my actions here affect relations with the Quarians?

 

In the end, i decided to let them live, because i also decided there to try and prevent a war between the Geth and Quarians. (i was completely undecided on this before, and didn't put in any recommendation to the admirals when the option came; i just copped out and forwarded the conversation)

 

Another crazy decision was what to do with Collector Station. I actually decided to give it to the Illusive Man because i fugured that equiping the Reapers own technology and using it against them would be one of, if not *the* best shots we'd have against them. Afterwards i seriously doubted that decision. Flip, its the Illusive Man. I just gave an abomination of a Reaper factory to people who mutate subjects (thorian creeper), who were behind Akuz, people who kidnap children to conduct nightmare experiments...

 

I grew complacaent in my hate for Cerberus, grew used to the charming man with the glowing eyes... huh. Glowing eyes. In theory you'd immediately think glowing eyes = evil. But he never looked evil.. never acted evil... until that final shot. After i cut him off the comm. When he pulled up the holo of the Station...

 

The more i think of it, the more i applaud Bioware for ME2's fantastic cinematography, which in itself was the reason for the above ruminations.

[swphreak]

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One thing i wonder about is the reapers and their form: they take the form of the species of organics harvested to create them... But there is a wide variety of evolved organic species at the time of ME. In this case, what are the Reapers going to do with all the other evolved sentient organics other than humans? Will just the human population of the galaxy be enough to make many reapers?

Also, in the end shot, the uncountable amount of reapers were all of that squid-like form that Sovreign was (presumably some ideal organic species that they harvested). Was the galaxy dominated by that one race?

The games certainly portray this as the case with the Protheans. They have never mentioned any other species that existed in the same era. (But surely there were others...?)

 

To this end i propose a theory: That in order for the Reapers to exist for millions of years like they do, they have to periodically create new bodies and "download" themselves into them to survive.

Their organic-synthetic material may be inherently superior, but entropy claims all matter, no matter how advanced a substance may be.

 

And since they are not organic, they use the natural forces of evolution to create better corporeal shells for themselves, and it just so happens that humans are the next evolutionary choice to their current forms.

 

 

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That's a pretty good theory. Perhaps the squid-like form of the current Reapers is from Prothean organic material.

 

Like ME1, ME2 had no shortage of impossible [moral] choices. I still can't figure if the ones i made were right...

Show spoiler

(hidden content - requires Javascript to show)

Such as deciding what to do with the Geth 'heretics'. I spent a long time trying to figure out what to do there.. There are so many different POVs to look at the situation from.

One is that the heretics are dangerous machines that should be destroyed right there. But if they're really sentient and are valid life forms, then it would be better to not kill them. But also if they're valid sentients, then brainwashing them and forcing a viewpoint down their throats (uh, input systems) would be a violation of their free will and grossly unethical.

(but if its to save their lives...?). Also, how would my actions here affect relations with the Quarians?

 

In the end, i decided to let them live, because i also decided there to try and prevent a war between the Geth and Quarians. (i was completely undecided on this before, and didn't put in any recommendation to the admirals when the option came; i just copped out and forwarded the conversation)

 

Another crazy decision was what to do with Collector Station. I actually decided to give it to the Illusive Man because i fugured that equiping the Reapers own technology and using it against them would be one of, if not *the* best shots we'd have against them. Afterwards i seriously doubted that decision. Flip, its the Illusive Man. I just gave an abomination of a Reaper factory to people who mutate subjects (thorian creeper), who were behind Akuz, people who kidnap children to conduct nightmare experiments...

 

I grew complacaent in my hate for Cerberus, grew used to the charming man with the glowing eyes... huh. Glowing eyes. In theory you'd immediately think glowing eyes = evil. But he never looked evil.. never acted evil... until that final shot. After i cut him off the comm. When he pulled up the holo of the Station...

 

The more i think of it, the more i applaud Bioware for ME2's fantastic cinematography, which in itself was the reason for the above ruminations.

 

Show spoiler

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I decided that brainwashing the Geth heretics was too risky and seemed a bit on the evil side. How would you like it if someone brainwashed you to make you conform to popular beliefs?

 

As for the Collector Station, I chose not to destroy it. I still don't think Shepard just hands it over to Cerberus. The Normandy is the only ship that can pass through the Omega relay, which makes Shepard the owner of the Station, not the Illusive Man.

 

I'm hoping for some Cerberus splinter factions fighting each other in ME3.

[DarthParametric]

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That's a pretty good theory. Perhaps the squid-like form of the current Reapers is from Prothean organic material.

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I think it was on the official site that someone suggested that the squid-like shape might be the standard outer shell that all reapers have, but that the inner core is derived from whatever species they harvested the biological material from. The human reaper embryo thing was tiny compared to Sovereign and the dead reaper in the IFF mission, so it can't have been the whole thing. Plus it makes zero sense that a space faring vehicle, albeit one that is "alive", should take the form of a bipedal endoskeleton.