Mass Effect 2 gameplay thread

[Hooahguy]

About halfway through Arrival. I just escaped the prison, which I felt was way too short.
Im disturbed at the lack of dialogue options.

Ill finish the mission, then Ill post the rest of my thoughts.


Also Kekvit Irae, the reason why you wouldnt have seen the Reapers is because they didnt arrive yet. If you could see them then you failed since they would have passed through the relay.

[Monk]

About halfway through Arrival. I just escaped the prison, which I felt was way too short.
Im disturbed at the lack of dialogue options.

That's another thing that surprised me. Especially ( I know i keep harping on it, but I can't help it ) after shadow broker. It was just so interactive, including paragon and renegade persuade options, as well as multiple chances for interrupts to influence the conversation. I'm afraid Arrival falls prey to the typical Bioware DLC missteps that effort managed to get away from.

I heard the guy in charge of the Shadow Broker team wasn't working on this one, and many felt Arrival would suffer for it. Seems like it did.

[SwordsMaster]

Decided to start the whole thing all over again in anticipation. Finished ME with a level 52 Shep, importing into ME2 now...

[Hooahguy]

Finished the DLC. I felt like it was way too short. I felt like much of it was rushed.
But at least the ending is epic.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

How is Harbinger back? He up and exploded in 1...

[Monk]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

How is Harbinger back? He up and exploded in 1...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

That was Sovereign.

Harbinger was the reaper controlling the collector general through remote possesion. The ending of 2 implies Harbinger was with the rest of the reapers outside the galaxy, and removed his conciousness before the sattelite exploded.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Oh right, got confused there.

[Kekvit Irae]

*snip*

Spoiler tags, plz.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The point wasn't that the Reapers would use the Alpha Relay in 28 minutes, the point was that the Reapers would be in the galaxy (specifically the system you were in) in 28 minutes by entering using FTL travel. To coin a movie phrase, "Theeeeeeey're heeeeeeere!" Yeah, it'll take weeks or months for them to get to another relay, but the point is that they are already in the galaxy.

Like all other DLC, nothing that occurred ever has any effect on the game as a whole. You cant just go to the Citadel and say to the council, "Oh hey, remember Sovereign? Yeah, his buddies just entered Batarian space. Go take a look if you don't believe me." The entire DLC is, like Monk says, a tease. If you complete the DLC just after Horizon, the game as a whole no longer makes any sense because there is no further mention of this HUGE event ever happening. Ever.

[Hooahguy]

Ok, Ill agree with you when you put it that way. It was unclear though if the mass relay was the Reapers entry point to other relays or the entry point to the galaxy itself. For all we know, the Reapers have a special mass relay that goes only to that relay, and with its destruction the other mass relay would be rendered useless.

[Mailman653]

BioWare, Funimation Announce Mass Effect Anime Movie

[rajpoot]

Video game to anime crossovers just don't cut it. I've never watched one that I really liked.

[Greyblades]

I've been told the halo ones did well, though then again I consider anything that send 12 yr old halo brats into a rage doing well.

[rajpoot]

Never saw the Halo movies. Watched one that was about Batman when it was aired on TV, didn't like it. Maybe I've been looking at the wrong sort of stuff but there are only two kinds of anime I've ever seen. The ones for 12 year olds, and the ones that are marked 18+.
Games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age, and Witcher and the sort, they ought to be made into live action movies. Epic stuff like the Lord of the Rings series.....maybe not that epic...but still.......

[Krusader]

Mass Effect 3 "not-so-big spoilers, but spoilers nonetheless"
Rock Paper Shotgun article

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Now the Illusive Man and Cerberus wants to kill you, no matter what you did in ME2? Wonder if Miranda & Jacob might be enemies if you did not treat them nicely in ME2

[Hooahguy]

I wonder what this means for Miranda more than I do Jacob.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

After all, if you bring her on to the final boss and choose to destroy the base, she quits Cerberus. Plus I deeply care about this because I romanced her whenever I could. Jacob doesnt do anything really. He stays with Cerberus either way.

[gaelic cowboy]

I guessing they had to limit the amount of reused characters otherwise you could end up with potentially no characters if they all died in the suicide mission. I always felt that the people who campaigned for certain characters in ME2 were maybe going to be dissapointed in ME3. Hence I was glad Liara was not in ME2 at the start as it meant she probably be back for ME3 but when Garrus was in the whole story for ME2 I was a bit apprehensive.

There was a huge campaign for Tali if I remember rightly and they have probably made it so the character will not be in ME3 now, I'm guessing that most of the ME2 characters will be done like Wrex was if he did or did not survive Virmire.

[rajpoot]

Apparently there are....(no real spoilers)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

many good and bad endings...And they'll depend on what squadmates are with you at the end..
Well I just hope that they have this one absolutely butterflies and daisies sort of ending where everyone lives happily ever after...I got enough of cliffhangers and sad endings from Dragon Age

[Hooahguy]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Im also glad Legion is back. I love that guy. Though I wish he was a squaddie.

[Monk]

Mass Effect 3 "not-so-big spoilers, but spoilers nonetheless"
Rock Paper Shotgun article

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Now the Illusive Man and Cerberus wants to kill you, no matter what you did in ME2? Wonder if Miranda & Jacob might be enemies if you did not treat them nicely in ME2

Yeah they kinda wrote themselves into a corner with ME2 and Cerberus involvement.. not at all surprised.

[Krusader]

Yeah they kinda wrote themselves into a corner with ME2 and Cerberus involvement.. not at all surprised.

I always felt the Cerberus involvement in ME2 was not entirely..."natural". It wasn't unbelieveable, but they were really portrayed as evil in ME1, nothing about humanity's interests at heart. Felt like someone at Bioware had a soft spot for Cerberus and really wanted them in.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Another 180* with Cerberus now after, in my opinion they tried to paint Cerberus in a more positive light or rather being more "gray than black", has to be believeable, because there are definitely some Shephard savegames out there with a pro-Cerberus bent.
As for characters, I can't see Wrex or Liara becoming squaddies really, as Wrex seems to become the new Krogan Overlord, while Liara is the Shadow Broker. I'd say its more likely you go to Wrex and ask if the Krogan can help you attack the Reapers (Reapers being the most dangerous enemy around, should suit Krogan real fine) and Liara being Shadow Broker, one you can get lots of information from.

[gaelic cowboy]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Im also glad Legion is back. I love that guy. Though I wish he was a squaddie.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I'm a bit annoyed he is not a squaddie sure they could have easy just put a lantern on it and said oh by the way I downloaded myself before the sucide mission in case I got killed ta da so I'm back now so I am

I can't see Wrex or Liara becoming squaddies really, as Wrex seems to become the new Krogan Overlord, while Liara is the Shadow Broker. I'd say its more likely you go to Wrex and ask if the Krogan can help you attack the Reapers (Reapers being the most dangerous enemy around, should suit Krogan real fine) and Liara being Shadow Broker, one you can get lots of information from.[/SPOIL]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Yea I'm guessing your going to end up doing a load missions for all your old mates to get the differ races to help defend earth.

The Rachni are so gonna be in it I can see a scenario where races are paired off just like characters were in ME2, oh look I havent got enough Paragon to keep the Quarians and the Geth both loyal

[Monk]

I always felt the Cerberus involvement in ME2 was not entirely..."natural". It wasn't unbelieveable, but they were really portrayed as evil in ME1, nothing about humanity's interests at heart. Felt like someone at Bioware had a soft spot for Cerberus and really wanted them in.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Another 180* with Cerberus now after, in my opinion they tried to paint Cerberus in a more positive light or rather being more "gray than black", has to be believeable, because there are definitely some Shephard savegames out there with a pro-Cerberus bent.
As for characters, I can't see Wrex or Liara becoming squaddies really, as Wrex seems to become the new Krogan Overlord, while Liara is the Shadow Broker. I'd say its more likely you go to Wrex and ask if the Krogan can help you attack the Reapers (Reapers being the most dangerous enemy around, should suit Krogan real fine) and Liara being Shadow Broker, one you can get lots of information from.

You have to remember in ME1 the only background you got on Cerberus was from The Alliance, who labeled them as nothing more than a terrorist group. And this:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

From an admiral scared, on the run and looking over his shoulder every five minutes.

I could buy that we didn't "get the whole story" the first time pretty easily.

More on Cerberus in ME2 and implications for 3, and ME2 and ME1 ending spoilers: Read at your own risk!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I felt that the endings were much too black and white in regards to cerberus. Either the Illusive man declared you an enemy of Ceberus and went out of his way to insult you "I should have known you'd choke under the pressure." Or, you become the Ceberus Hero set to uhser in a new age for the galaxy with ceberus at its head. With the power given to them by the Collector base their influence would soon outweigh even the Council's. I doubt, if you chose a Renegade ending, anyone would be able to defy Cerberus with the technology they had at their disposal.

Now contrast that to the first game's ending.. No matter what you did, good, evil, neutral, in the final battle of the game no matter WHAT ending you take - the game ends on a "The reapers are coming..." note, setting the clear stage for the next game. It's very neat, very tidy, and VERY easy to continue the story. Whether the council was dead or not seemed very minor in comparison to the impending threat, and the only question seemed to be whether humanity would lead, or simply be one of many, in the coming alliance to defend the galaxy.

ME2 was the complete opposite.