Mass Effect 2 gameplay thread

[al Roumi]

I've played a few hours, completed Omega and a couple of nearby systems, visited the Citadel, got Grunt and just completed Zaeed's loyalty quest.

I agree that planetary scanning is a low point of the game. For me, it simply takes too long. It also seems so menial, manually scanning for mineral deposits - if you move the mouse too quickly, you miss things. Strange choice by Bioware to put it in!

Don't really miss the Mako, bouncing around in that was always a bit dull. I also prefered to fight on foot as you got less xp for kills using the Mako. Not sure when the DLC hovertank will be used or usefull - whenever it is released.

I'd never played GoW or a "cover shooter" before, so i'm not aware of the plagiarism others report. I am more used to fps' though and frankly i prefer them to what seems to me to be cheesy "Time crisis" style gameplay - why do you have to 'lock' into cover? Surely crouching and positioning yourself behind something is fine? It just reminds me of naff Western's where people trade fire from behind wagons in the most haphazard of ways... and while I'm at it, who in their right mind litters their barricades and HQ with flamable and explosive materials (also present in ME1 I know but...)?

The coolant clips: why is it that you can pick up universal clips to replenish any depleted weapon's munitions, but can only cary a particular quantity of ammo for each weapon? I'm playing as a soldier, so have access to a fair range of weapons, but why must I use all of them in a long fire-fight? Why do I have to use my pistol if i run out of clips for the assault rifle -especialy if the pistiol clips would also have fitted my assault rifle when i picked them up??? Frustrating and implausible.

I am enjoying the game though, and more than DAO -I think. DAO was engrossing but started to drag out with interminable quests. Those in ME2 seem shorter so far. I probably prefer more short tasks/missions than few long ones.

I'm actually ok with the Renegade/paragon choices, amused that i can march up to a shop keeper and immediately get a discount though - if it's so easy/simple, why make it neccessary for the player? There are enough other Renegade/Paragon choices to make elsewhere... Some of the dialogue is fun though.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Like accusing the gift shop on the citadel of being classist, then shouting about it!

I'm not far into the main plot so I'm not feeling the same angst as other on the Cerberus = eugh thing; I'm not quite clear that Shephard has much choice!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

there is that mission early on, to recover a captured Cerberus agent. What you do with the intel presumably comes back later to you on? I chose to keep it for myself, for potential leverage, we will see...

Miranda and Jacob can go service the garbage ejector as far as I care, insipid fools. She looks like bugs bunny with those teeth, and he makes me feel like I'd need a crow-bar to leverage him out of shep's butt.

[Krusader]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I love Legion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa-Ont6rOGQ

[White_eyes:D]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Legion is awesome...

And you don't have much choice but to work for "Cerberus"....I have a feeling it will come back to bite me in Mass effect 3 though..

Edit:I gave them too much help...

[a completely inoffensive name]

Ok so basically, I'm not really the kind of person to make a big long dissertation over a video game so here is here what i think in short sentences.

I like all the new characters and I like that they kept the two best (Tali and Garrus) from the first one.
I like the combat system now, however they did go a bit extreme in removing all choice from inventory regarding companion armor and weapons. I just thought they were going to allow similar items to stack in stead of having everything take up a spot requiring you to go through each one.
Story is amazing, better then the first in my opinion and sets it up nicely for the final game.
I'm glad they got rid of the Mako, it sucked. Seriously, no offense but anyone who enjoyed that friggen thing is crazy.
Element scanning on planets is tedious, but (http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/to...index/825862/1) a BioWare developer posted in a forum that you really shouldnt be trying to get every last element on every last planet. Totals for all the upgrades with the exception of the med bay upgrades are this:
Iridium- 200,000
Palladium- 195,000
Platinum- 205,000
Element Zero- 42,250

Basically they did what I think was needed, a drastic shift in priorities in terms of gameplay to see what worked and what didnt, because when people usually look back on a trilogy they remember the beginning and finale more then they do the middle child. I trust that they will have a satisfying story for the third game so all you guys should be pushing for in ME3 is to reincorporate the inventory with stacking allowed, and greater customization of all characters armor. I think that will give the perfect GoW cover/RPG blend that will satisfy the actioner's and the RPGer's, because I think we can see that FPS people enjoy having a nice inventory of various options for their character and gun as well (MW2).

I am up in the air when it comes to points. Personally I preferred having each skill advancement be just 1 point in ME1, but I also enjoyed the evolution part in ME2 and the removal of weapon skills in exchange for various bullet types. I guess I would say take the ME1 system, swap out the gun classes with bullet types, add in an evolution to the tenth/final point upgrade to a skill and I will be happy.

[Krusader]

Just finished the game.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

And everyone survived. Huzzah! And I told Illusive Man to fudge off.

The combat is better than in ME1. I'd prefer the overheating system in ME1 to the ammo one, as you still need to change weapons to take out barriers, shields, armor etc. But never had problems with ammo supply. I do hope however that the Infilitrator gets larger sniper rifle capacity (haven't tested Infiltrator yet). Played Vanguard and love the Force Charge...but only used it against 1-2 mobs along with Cryo ammo...that said, force charging a freezed enemy is just very very fun. Charge against 3+ mobs and you get toasted quick.

Planetary scanning is tedious. Luckily there are way more resources out there than what you need. I do quick scans and only watch for spikes and it works like a charm.

The hacking & bypassing minigames are okayish on the PC, at least compared to the "frogger minigame" we had in ME1. Still, part of me misses taking Garrus or Tali along in ME1 because of their Electronics/Decryption skills.

Too few weapons and NO stats it seems. I'd love to see some more variety.

Like the mix&match armor for standard armor, shame there is no for the other armor types. Miss equipping squadmates with armor.

Feels like there are too few sidequests. Have a feeling Bioware might have done it intentionally to add more with DLCs.

I really really would want there to be more squadmate banter/talk as in Dragon Age (walking by certain areas).

Hope all characters return for ME3. Characters are fun, but I feel that in ME1 and other Bioware games there was much more background info and such you could talk to them about. Think I only had 4 "chat sessions" with Garrus, before he didn't want to talk to me..

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I actually think that in ME3 you might have to choose which species will survive or not. Quarians and Geth missions have some pointers indicating they will be needed for the fight to come.

[Mailman653]

Just finished the game.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I actually think that in ME3 you might have to choose which species will survive or not. Quarians and Geth missions have some pointers indicating they will be needed for the fight to come.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Don't forget the Krogan....keep the research, destroy it, what to do....? And the Rachni if you let them live in the first game, it would be cool to get their support too assuming the rest of the galaxy is willing to accept them as allies.

I think I might give up on Insanity, it's too much for me. Getting owned by Vorcha and Krogan over and over isn't fun anymore, especially when all I really wanna do is enjoy the game and make different choices from my first playthrough.

[Ironside]

It's also a group which spent a lot of the last game trying to kill my Shepard and crew, and which killed people she knew and liked. And she joins up because the man in charge of the organisation claims they are doing good against an unsubstantiated threat. She doesn't question much, she doesn't demand proof, she doesn't try to join any alternate group, and she doesn't even question their improbable story about the Lazerus project. No, she just nods her little head and goes "Ok." Brain damaged.

I think that you end up with plenty (I suspect more than two) of your old crew members, makes the transition a bit more easy. If plenty of your old crew joins a faction that tried to kill them earlier, they probably had a good reason. And they can comfirm that the Lazerous project is what they say it is.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

If you remeber passing out due to suffication and add that no mysterious vessel picked you up moments after (which you can confirm by the people in the life pods), you can conclude that you were dead, really dead.

And you get the idea that the council wouldn't help you with any more resources than what you already got (spectre status+ ship with crew+ better intel).
You can be quite clear that it's an alliance of convenience (well rather desperation) during several conversations if you want to as well.
So stretching, but not brain damaged.

[rajpoot]

When I tried the planetary scanning mini game, the first thought I had was that the chaps over at Bioware had done it out of spite, to make all the critics of ME1's Mako relent their comments. Then I remembered that it was Bioware and they're a decent lot who make nice games, so they must have had other reasons....
Anyway,
Likes -
The story.
The larger number of companions.
The way ME1's small decisions actually matter (I wish I had my own save games....)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

It was a great fuzzy feeling to get a message from the Rachni queen and see Shiala on Illium....

Dislikes -
New combat system.
Ammo system.
The new mini games.....give me the old one any day.
Lack of inventory.

Mass Effect wasn't about the combat, it was about the nice story and the characters......they shouldn't have changed that....I mean the characters are still pretty engaging, but the combat has become rather complicated for my tastes....

[Kekvit Irae]

I do hope however that the Infilitrator gets larger sniper rifle capacity (haven't tested Infiltrator yet).

You are going to be very disappointed. Infiltrators only get a few seconds of invisibility.

[Greyblades]

Yeah but afew seconds of invisibility can make the difference between death and full shields as the enemy stops shooting at you the second you activate it. Also it gives you a boost to damage while your invisible, all in all its pretty good for snipers.

[frogbeastegg]

The best tip for the planetry scan mini game is to tap the scan button instead of holding it while moving the cursor about. Makes it all go much faster. Also check the research console after recruiting the assassin ...



To be clear, I dislike the Cerberus thing at the start because Shepard does not have good motivation at the time when she signs up, not because I don't want to play along. It's an idea that has a lot of potential, and I hate the fact it starts out with a great big "DUR!" and then has to spend hours recovering from that.

I think that you end up with plenty (I suspect more than two) of your old crew members, makes the transition a bit more easy. If plenty of your old crew joins a faction that tried to kill them earlier, they probably had a good reason.

If anything I find that makes it worse. None of my crew have given me a truly sound reason for joining. I hear a lot of "I'm here because you're here." and "Didn't get to run off and hunt reapers, and this untrustworthy organisation said that they would so I swapped sides because everyone knows liars can be believed." or "Cerberus has cool toys, wee!" She doesn't get to meet them until after she's signed the dotted line, either.

From Shepard's POV at the start of the game, she's got nothing to work on other than the word of a guy she should not trust, and the fact she's being kept - or held - in a medical facility by an organisation that does nasty experiments on living people. If anything it would be natural for her to assume she was a prisoner and had been tortured or experimented on. Especially with that first wake up scene, which she remembers when she wakes up the second time. And the logical, immediate source of a pick up ship is the only other ship she knew to be in the area at the time. That would be her attacker. Shepard is eager and happy to take Cerberus' word for everything. She isn't given proof of anything at this point; the Illusive Man could be doing the old "[lie]Yes, we fight to save the galaxy!" dialogue option for all she knows.

She has absolutely no reason to trust the Illusive Man, and no reason to roll over and play ball so quickly. But the dialogue choices are "Ok!" and "Ok, cool!" No option for even a token refusal.

And you get the idea that the council wouldn't help you with any more resources than what you already got (spectre status+ ship with crew+ better intel).

For a paragon Shepard that's all the more reason to baulk at joining. Besides, it's the Illusive Man who tells her that. Would he say otherwise at that time?

ou can be quite clear that it's an alliance of convenience (well rather desperation) during several conversations if you want to as well.

Only after I'd joined up and done some missions. At the start, when it would have made the most sense, I couldn't question at all. I got to be more sceptical about joining the Spectres in the first game than I did about signing up with Cerberus.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Is there any way to remove those vastly moronic red veins that infest your screen whenever you get critically injured?!

I just quit w/o saving because I absolutely could not stand them.

EDIT: Oh, SON OF A *#@)($&@(%)*&(. Apparently there's no way to remove it and fanboys and devs just say "Don't get shot".

Were I a violent man and they in the same room, I'd shoot them in the kneecaps.

SECOND EDIT: And then I'd say, "Oh, don't like it? Don't get shot."

CR

[Mailman653]

If you have the PC version, maybe you can find a mod for it?

[Crazed Rabbit]

If you have the PC version, maybe you can find a mod for it?

I'm looking, haven't found anything yet. I'm still hoping there's just some file I can delete and make the horribleness go away.

Seriously, I'm not playing again until I fix this. I didn't get a 1960x1080 2ms monitor just to see it covered with chicken entrails.

CR

[Beskar]

I'm looking, haven't found anything yet. I'm still hoping there's just some file I can delete and make the horribleness go away.

Seriously, I'm not playing again until I fix this. I didn't get a 1960x1080 2ms monitor just to see it covered with chicken entrails.

CR

Could be worse, you could get shot once then have to wait around in the medical ward for a few hours for some stitches, etc, then get charged $500 or so for the service. Could be an expensive line of work.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Could be worse, you could get shot once then have to wait around in the medical ward for a few hours for some stitches, etc, then get charged $500 or so for the service. Could be an expensive line of work.

Well thanks for that tremendously insightful remark. Yes, of course, getting shot in real life would be painful.

That's why I do those things in video games, where it is not painful. If the devs make it painful, then I. Don't. Want. To. Play.

I haven't found anything about removing that bile spewed on my screen, so I'm putting the game away and coming back in a week to see if a mod that will make it bearable for me to play has been released.

CR

[Beskar]

I saw this person and I instantly recognised them as some one else, quite worrying.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yvonne_Strahovski

[a completely inoffensive name]

Is there any way to remove those vastly moronic red veins that infest your screen whenever you get critically injured?!

I just quit w/o saving because I absolutely could not stand them.

EDIT: Oh, SON OF A *#@)($&@(%)*&(. Apparently there's no way to remove it and fanboys and devs just say "Don't get shot".

Were I a violent man and they in the same room, I'd shoot them in the kneecaps.

SECOND EDIT: And then I'd say, "Oh, don't like it? Don't get shot."

CR

How did you survive playing Gears of War and Call of Duty?

[Krusader]

I saw this person and I instantly recognised them as some one else, quite worrying.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yvonne_Strahovski

Bioware based Miranda Lawson's likeness on Yvonne Strahovski in addition to her providing the voice.

[al Roumi]

I saw this person and I instantly recognised them as some one else, quite worrying.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yvonne_Strahovski

Bioware based Miranda Lawson's likeness on Yvonne Strahovski in addition to her providing the voice.

Who is doing the cameo as Miranda's teeth then? They seem pretty stiff (ahah).

[al Roumi]

Well thanks for that tremendously insightful remark. Yes, of course, getting shot in real life would be painful.

That's why I do those things in video games, where it is not painful. If the devs make it painful, then I. Don't. Want. To. Play.

I haven't found anything about removing that bile spewed on my screen, so I'm putting the game away and coming back in a week to see if a mod that will make it bearable for me to play has been released.

CR

Is this really going to make you put the game away? Amazing.

[frogbeastegg]

Found a plot segment which really caught me last night.

If you haven't been on a fleshy ship, or don't know what I mean by fleshy ship, don't read the following

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

That's what happened to the Protheans!? Argh! The Enkindlers, the forebears, the mighty and advanced race of legend became the Collectors?!

So while Ilos watched the lights of their civilisation blink out one by one, and dwindled away into dust trapped in cold sleep, others were collected up and turned into mutated freaks with the sole purpose of enslaving whatever intelligent life might come next.

Vigil's story was one of my favourite parts of ME1. Cliche, yes, but touching, and I did love the execution of it. A single half broken VI was all that remained of a race considered to be gods by many in the current world.This carried that tale on in a way that was hinted at during the first game (the Keepers being remnants of a former race tamed by the Reapers). I should have seen it coming. I did not.

You know, I think this barely told, fragmentory story is one of the saddest tales I have seen told in an RPG.

More than anything else that one little segment demonstrated what's at stake.

[Crazed Rabbit]

How did you survive playing Gears of War and Call of Duty?

I didn't play either. Which may be why I loathe this so much; I haven't seen one of the less stupid predecessors. I'm peeved at the whole idea; how does getting shot in the torso spray blood onto your eyes, which you can't blink off?

I so very, very, very much preferred how Crysis did it; where ambient sound was dampened and you heard yourself breath hard, and the screen got a little blurry to simulate tunnel vision.

Is this really going to make you put the game away? Amazing.

I like to play games on harder difficulties, I find being on the edge on death makes it more challenging and fun. So I do not want to play a game where I'm often seeing a bunch of grotesque veins spread out on my computer. It'll **** me off whenever combat is getting exciting. So I'm going to wait until playing the game isn't going to throw the opposite of eye candy on my screen.

CR

[Mailman653]

Found a plot segment which really caught me last night.

More than anything else that one little segment demonstrated what's at stake.

Yeah that was quite a shock wasn't it? Good luck convincing the Council of it though, ha ha ha. Has anyone here have a game where they didn't save the council? Who's in charge and are they still stubborn?

[Kekvit Irae]

I'm playing again through the game now with my level 49 Renegade from ME1. It feels SO satisfying giving Miss Al-Jilani a fist across the face.

[Krusader]

I'm playing again through the game now with my level 49 Renegade from ME1. It feels SO satisfying giving Miss Al-Jilani a fist across the face.

I wish I could do Renegade interrupt on Udina...would be worth it!

Also, started a second playthrough as Engineer (using ME1 import of my Vanguard) and boy you won't need to do much planetary scanning. I got 55000 of each resource and 330.000 credits to start with (plus apparently 25% extra XP since I played through ME2). My character btw looks like Locke from Lost.
Using this face with just added hair.

Although only doing initial missions. Gonna wait for the Hammerhead DLC.

[Mailman653]

I read that the new dlc might include a hoover tank of some sort and a new female character, a "thief".

[Scienter]

Bioware based Miranda Lawson's likeness on Yvonne Strahovski in addition to her providing the voice.

I watch Yvonne's show Chuck, so having Miranda in my party is a little weird. I keep expecting her to sound like Yvonne's character, Sarah Walker.

I've only played for about an hour. Apparently my heat sink on my new processor is not good enough to keep my CPU from frying itself, so I can't play till my new one arrives. That said, I don't find the ammo system annoying. I thought I would hate having to use ammo, but for the short time I've played, it hasn't bothered me.

I definitely miss looting! I hated ME1's inventory system, but I wish Bioware hadn't fixed it by eliminating inventory and looting entirely. I also don't like that they reduced the number of skills I can add to when I level up.

Overall, I think it will be a fun game. I enjoyed the first mission enough to be annoyed that I can't play until my new heatsink arrives.

[Kekvit Irae]

Has anyone here have a game where they didn't save the council? Who's in charge and are they still stubborn?

So far, the major change is that there's a new council, but they refuse to see you. Spectre reinstatement is done through Anderson (haven't tried Udina as Councilor, I hate him). The only other major change in the Citadel is the extreme change in attitude of the big game shopkeeper. He, like the new Council, thinks you're lower than pond scum and calls humans (specifically Admiral Hackett) kinslayers for abandoning the Destiny Ascension.
Minor changes here and there, including the advertisement for the film "Citadel" on one of the blue advertisement kiosks, where a badly-cast Shepard utters his famous words to the 5th Fleet to hold position until the Citadel doors open.

[johnhughthom]

Hmm, I'm sure I'm missing something obvious here, but how do I import my ME1 Shep? Nothing comes up when I select Import and I can't find a save folder to put the save into. Apologies if it has been covered here, didn't want to read through in case I came across a spoiler. I have Steam ME1 & 2.

edit: Figured it out, just created save folder in my ME2 folder and copied the save over.