Mass Effect 2 gameplay thread

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Originally Posted by Crazed Rabbit

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

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

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.

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

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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.

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Originally Posted by alh_p

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

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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

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Originally Posted by frogbeastegg

Found a plot segment which really caught me last night.

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

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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?

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.

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Originally Posted by 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.

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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.

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

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Originally Posted by Krusader

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

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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.

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Originally Posted by Mailman653

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

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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.

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.

Right. Finished one play-through. Going to lay off for a week or two now.
I wonder how they'll continue the story.....I mean ME1's plot was quite good, and yup, the Vigil bit was done very well....then along comes ME2, nice characters and all that but the ending turned out to be, well....gah :juggle2:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Human reaper? And the Protheans became the Collecters? What happened to the 'indoctrined die due to radiation' theory....
And not once did they actually show the Rachni.....just a message on Illium...after getting that I was hoping to actually be aided by the Rachni in the course of the story missions somewhere....And in ME1 this was supposed to be one of the biggest decisions you could take...

All in all, just slightly disappointed that ME1's actions don't actually have any really groundbreaking outcomes.....I mean I understand that it might be hard development-wise, but still it would've been more fun if the decisions would have made a greater impact....

All that said, ME3 just can't come soon enough for me......

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Originally Posted by 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.

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Actually you have to use the Import utility through Launcher. Although you have found another workaround

BOOYAH!!

I have rid my game of the scourge of the red veins!

FYI for those interested:
I downloaded texmod and used this tutorial as guidance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8p2...eature=related

Some notes;

• Use the MassEffect.exe in the binaries folder, not the launcher.exe.
  
• I saved the texture as a bmp, transparency was black, so I just paintbucket'd the whole image black.
• I was playing very near the beginning, right after
  Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

  the security chief tells you that Cerberus brought you back from the dead.
  
  
• I note this only because when I paused the amount of textures that in texmod were 1974. The red vein texture was about number 1600 or so (+/- 100). It's pretty obvious.
  
• Also, you need to run texmod every time you run Mass Effect. It's a small program though.

I can email the file I made for use with texmod to anyone interested.

CR

Hopefully you can enjoy the game now.

Heaven forbid you just stay in cover and wait for natural breaks in the shooting.

Also, I am planning on playing with a imported ME1 perfect paragon character that I downloaded from an awesome website that hosts different versions of ME1 shepard, gonna see what the difference is between import and starting brand new. I hear it's night and day.

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Originally Posted by a completely inoffensive name

Also, I am planning on playing with a imported ME1 perfect paragon character that I downloaded from an awesome website that hosts different versions of ME1 shepard, gonna see what the difference is between import and starting brand new. I hear it's night and day.

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Well being still-mid way through my first game, with an imported Renegade Shep (who had enough "moral" points left to save the council), I can't make a compariosn, but I can give you an inkling:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

A fair bit of work seems to have gone in to linking the two episodes -this you've probably already seen even with a new Shep. I have to say, I think almost every quest you completed in ME1 is at least footnoted in ME2. This comes out in the game on the lightest side with an email of thanks, through minor encounters to mini quests (e.g. Conrad V and the investigator from Noveria). Some characters from ME1 are built right in to the main plot (e.g. Nassana, Harkin).

I'm sure you'll get the same kinds of spam email and quests irrespective of importing or not, but the difference between an import or new Shep are in the dialogue and relationships you have with these people. I do find it more satisfying to note what I've done, and have at times felt a pang of guilt at being a hard-ass :daisy: in ME1.

Then again, there are more opportunities to be blunt and rude in ME2. The interrupts are a good idea and fun, the only one I haven't used so far is...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

When Miranda shoots Nikahl (sp?) on Illium, he had it coming.

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Originally Posted by india

Right. Finished one play-through. Going to lay off for a week or two now.
I wonder how they'll continue the story.....I mean ME1's plot was quite good, and yup, the Vigil bit was done very well....then along comes ME2, nice characters and all that but the ending turned out to be, well....gah :juggle2:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Human reaper? And the Protheans became the Collecters? What happened to the 'indoctrined die due to radiation' theory....
And not once did they actually show the Rachni.....just a message on Illium...after getting that I was hoping to actually be aided by the Rachni in the course of the story missions somewhere....And in ME1 this was supposed to be one of the biggest decisions you could take...

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Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Indoctrinated humans ends up as husks somehow, so going cybernetic seem to keep the indoctrinated alive. And the reapers had to have a reason for that cyclic destruction (and humans got a huge "we're special!" treatment in this game).

The rachni is probably more important in the third game, that is heavily hinting on being gather an army to defeat the reapers coming in full force story. Pure speculation would be that they're destabilising the galaxy before moving in. Since every lost reaper is the loss of a reaper condensed civilization (it's likely more than just genetic material in those ships), they're wimpy about losses. The predictable ending would be preventing a full scale attack on earth with the gathered fleet, while bording a reaper ship to place some virus to stop the whole fleet. Or how to stop a fleet with a ground specialist team. It's a bit too predictable so I doubt I'll get it fully correct, but they have painted themself a bit in a corner.

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Originally Posted by a completely inoffensive name

Heaven forbid you just stay in cover and wait for natural breaks in the shooting.

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Yes, because removing the red veins now means I'm invincible and don't have to do that. :rolleyes:

Well I played a fair bit last night and here's my impressions (not much in the way of spoilers, just didn't want to take up too much space);

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I really like the new squad ordering system. Easy to order your 'henchmen' around in real time. I'm liking the new characters as well.

Overall, they have simplified the interesting stuff and added complexity to the boring stuff. The last game had too many different brands of armor; one was usually the best and the rest just got in the way of collecting that good armor. Same with the weapons. So now they've done away with inventory completely, instead of just reducing the different brands of armor.

I also like being able to significantly change how weapons worked with the mods you could add. Now you can't, though you are provided with weapons that are actually different, instead of just reskinned versions, in terms of rate of fire and damage.

As was mentioned, this is now a cover shooter. I don't think I like it as much. In ME1 I'd run around dodging enemy attacks and crouching behind cover while using the various powers. Here, because of the mechanics you get killed quickly if you're caught by a couple mooks in the open. So the order of the day is to go to a new planet, get behind cover, shoot at the enemy when they pop up from the cover they're behind, get shot a couple times, duck back behind cover, repeat until all enemies dead then go to another planet. Because you're really only using the mouse to attack, and not any keys to move, it's less exciting.

Why can't games just provide crouch and lean options and let you use cover more freely, instead of this 'sticky' sort of cover? Not being able to crouch if you're not right behind cover in this game is perplexing. And now we have ammo, which is odd. The first game had the neat overheating concept, and fun ways to manipulate it with mods. But reloading isn't as bad as the limits to how much ammo you can carry. It's a shame.

And then we have the added complexity in areas like moving around the galaxy and planet scanning. I have to ask why. The old system functioned fine, and I don't see any improvements offered by having to pilot the Normandy around, only added time. And then we've got planet scanning, which is like a mini-game, except boring and tedious. Why would they force Shepard, on a ship with a full crew, to personally scan a planet and direct probes? I guess they felt they couldn't simply reward clicking on one survey button with a heap of resoruces, so they added the price of tedium.

The whole fuel system is annoying; for one when you run out, you simply jump FTL to the nearest fuel store. Why can't you just FTL to other star systems? Fuel and lame scanning simply act as a disincentive to explore.

Oh well, I should've known not to expect great combat. I did get the game mainly for the story.

Question about planet-scanning; is it necessary to get enough resources, or are the resources you gather not completely necessary to getting enough upgrades? I don't want to spend a bunch of time having to do an ensign's job.

CR

India, regarding your spoiler comment, did you speak to Mordan on your ship after that revelation? He had lots of info on that matter when I spoke to him ... say one or two squad missions later. Basically

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Collectors were heavily modified. As organs and biological systems failed they were replaced with Reaper friendly versions. As generations passed intelligence dropped severely, as did related aspects like autonomy, and the Collectors became little better than drones. The Collectors are truly a pale shadow of the original Protheans.

Speaking of Mordan, everyone needs to ask him about art when chatting on the ship, then pick the new option which chases on off-hand comment he made during that dialogue. You will need to do his personal quest first. Loved it.

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Originally Posted by Ironside

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Indoctrinated humans ends up as husks somehow, so going cybernetic seem to keep the indoctrinated alive. And the reapers had to have a reason for that cyclic destruction (and humans got a huge "we're special!" treatment in this game).

The rachni is probably more important in the third game, that is heavily hinting on being gather an army to defeat the reapers coming in full force story. Pure speculation would be that they're destabilising the galaxy before moving in. Since every lost reaper is the loss of a reaper condensed civilization (it's likely more than just genetic material in those ships), they're wimpy about losses. The predictable ending would be preventing a full scale attack on earth with the gathered fleet, while bording a reaper ship to place some virus to stop the whole fleet. Or how to stop a fleet with a ground specialist team. It's a bit too predictable so I doubt I'll get it fully correct, but they have painted themself a bit in a corner.

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Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Mass Independence Day Effect!!

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Originally Posted by frogbeastegg

India, regarding your spoiler comment, did you speak to Mordan on your ship after that revelation? He had lots of info on that matter when I spoke to him ... say one or two squad missions later. Basically

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Collectors were heavily modified. As organs and biological systems failed they were replaced with Reaper friendly versions. As generations passed intelligence dropped severely, as did related aspects like autonomy, and the Collectors became little better than drones. The Collectors are truly a pale shadow of the original Protheans.

Speaking of Mordan, everyone needs to ask him about art when chatting on the ship, then pick the new option which chases on off-hand comment he made during that dialogue. You will need to do his personal quest first. Loved it.

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Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXRHDNW_yj8

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Originally Posted by frogbeastegg

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Collectors were heavily modified. As organs and biological systems failed they were replaced with Reaper friendly versions. As generations passed intelligence dropped severely, as did related aspects like autonomy, and the Collectors became little better than drones. The Collectors are truly a pale shadow of the original Protheans.

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Kind of like the Keeper's.

Playing some more, and loving it. They've added different types of armor with different weapons effective against them. Makes the different types useful, which is nice.

Also, went to the citadel, and I'm very amused by all the ambiance and newscasts.

CR

I'm playing through Mass Effect one right now and plan on picking this up sometime next week.

I plan on doing more than one play through but only one of my play throughs will be with an imported save. Does any one know what the "default" settings are if you don't play from an imported save?

For example which decisions stand i.e Wrex for example.

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Originally Posted by Krusader

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXRHDNW_yj8

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Pfft. Here's the full version:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NalJzNcorJQ

And done. 29 hours, got the best ending. I was somewhat disappointed at how easy it was to do that; I suspect the ending would have had more punch if I'd been less successful.

The short summary of my feelings on it would be this: the game shines when it is tying in to the first, and it does that in a lot of ways and frequently. Plot, writing and presentation wise, I really enjoyed it. If not for the poor presentation of joining Cerberus at the start it'd fare much better and sit on a par with the first game. Instead it's slightly below it. Gameplay wise, not so hot, and I much preferred the first game. This is clearly the middle act of a trilogy and so spent a lot of time bring things forward and setting things up.

I was surprised at how short the plot chain of missions is. Most of the play time comes from doing optional stuff like the loyalty missions.

The incidental material is some of the best. The adverts and conversations you hear as you wander can be hilarius. Humour was on an overall up compared to other Bioware efforts, I felt. Lots of excellent lines throughout the game, and some outstanding conversations.

Elcor Hamlet is awesome. Also, the game needed more Elcor.

My comment earlier on someone being a romance option because they started complaining about dead people was accurate. Amazingly, said romance was quite well done. One of Bioware's better efforts.

Despite its problems and lows, ME2 shows why I called Dragon Age: Origins static, bland and boring in its storytelling and conversations. ME1 was doing all of this, and years ago. ME2 only continues the effort and adds a new trick, the interrupt. In conversations people walk around, sit down, stand up, gesture, have decently animated faces, and do all of the other motions which happen in real life. You can select your next option while the other side are talking, you don't pick word for word what you will say, and it's voice acted so it feels like a proper conversation instead of half of one. Can't the two Bioware teams talk to each other? It's going to be even harder to finish my replay of Dragon Age now.

On the ending specifically:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

So the Collectors were liquidising humans and using the mush to build a giant metallic human skeleton that was somehow going to be a Reaper. O ... k. Maybe it's the fact I saw that near midnight, but I'm really having trouble seeing how this was supposed to work. How would it get around? Flying like Superman?! And aren't the Reapers meant to be machine intelligence? And how does pulped human result in metal? If the Reapers were built out of pulped species, what about the original Reapers which went wild and killed the civilisation which made them? And just ... why?! The whole thing was a complete what the heck moment.

I had pictured the Reapers to be ships with powerful AIs, much like the ships in Ian M Bank's Culture books or in Neal Asher's Polity.

Getting the team through alive was very easy. I got everyone's loyalty, used paragon dialogue to resolve the two personality clashes, and chased after my crew immediately. Then it was a simple case of picking people who were the best at the job. Legion for the door, Samara for the bubble, Jacob to escort, Garrus to lead the distraction, and Miranda to lead the second team.

Some achievements do give in-game bonuses. There's a 25% XP bonus for future characters after completing the game, and you're supposed to be able to pick a squad mate's power when building your next character provided you have their loyalty achievement.

Hmm, yes. Mostly good but the bad annoys me enough to hold it back.

I shall play again with one of my other Shepards. I want to do insanity and reach level 30; not sure that latter is possible without the XP bonus and/or replaying a ME2 character, as I only managed level 26 after porting over my cannon Shepard and doing as much content as I could find.

Reaching level 29 at-least is entirely possible without the xp bonus, with a ported Shepard. I'd used a save file with a level 60 Shepard from ME1 and that gave a XP bonus in the start. After the end game, I was level 29. I did use the wiki to find the side quests though, so that I don't miss out on any of them.
The interrupt system is quite nice :yes: and I do hope they keep it for future games.

I wonder if you get more starting levels if your ME1 Shepard is a higher level? I used the level 51 Shepard I had from my original ME1 playthrough as that's the one with what I regard as my 'true' storyline. I was level 4 when I could first access the squad screen in ME2. I scoured the galaxy for things to do, and did everything I found. I think I was level 26 at the end, I'll have to check.

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Originally Posted by frogbeastegg

I was surprised at how short the plot chain of missions is. Most of the play time comes from doing optional stuff like the loyalty missions.

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Well, you gotta admit, the loyalty missions (at least some of them) give plenty of emotional moments, such as Mordin and the dead female krogan. Mordin and Legion's are both my favorite, since they have far reaching consequences in Mass Effect 3 (presumably).

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I cant wait to see how the Geth will turn out now that I've freed them from the Reapers' control!

I also like Samara's loyalty mission as well. Not only because there's no combat whatsoever, but also because

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

you can choose to kill Samara and recruit Morinth instead.

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The incidental material is some of the best. The adverts and conversations you hear as you wander can be hilarius. Humour was on an overall up compared to other Bioware efforts, I felt. Lots of excellent lines throughout the game, and some outstanding conversations.

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From my current playthrough:
(spoiler tag to avoid clutter, not plot point)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQjz3Mz56mo
I must be the only one who's curious about the Shin Akiba Asari/Hanar porn games. Can't be as bad as Japanese school girl/naughty tentacles.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDxDzpbtBQo
I love how Shepard just casually says "Charge." That garnered more than a few giggles from me.

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Some achievements do give in-game bonuses. There's a 25% XP bonus for future characters after completing the game, and you're supposed to be able to pick a squad mate's power when building your next character provided you have their loyalty achievement.

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I only noticed this on my second playthrough. Long Service gives you 200k credits and 50k of each resource (you never need to mine for Eezo ever again). I do miss the little bonuses, like getting a 25% bonus to the duration of Marksman for 150 pistol kills, or improving Barrier and Statis recharge time by 10% by completing 15 missions and 35 assignments with Liara.

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Originally Posted by Kekvit Irae

Well, you gotta admit, the loyalty missions (at least some of them) give plenty of emotional moments, such as Mordin and the dead female krogan. Mordin and Legion's are both my favorite, since they have far reaching consequences in Mass Effect 3 (presumably).

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Yes, some of the best parts of the game came from the loyalty missions. I appreciated how they changed my views on some of the characters by fleshing them out and revealing them to be more than the shallow surface encountered through recruitment and pre-loyalty conversations. Mordin's was probably the best; it posed good questions and was exceptionally well written. He gets loads of good Normandy dialogue after that mission. I did find Jacob's and the DLC merc's to be disappointing. They didn't add much to the characters, and were basic run and gun affairs.

For the plot, I'd expected there to be more involved in getting where I did and doing what I did. The plot itself, minus all character related stuff, is something like 6 missions including the beginning.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Escape at the start, visit the colony, go to the Collector ship, visit the other colony, get the IFF, go through the relay and blow stuff up.

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I also like Samara's loyalty mission as well.

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The sound cut out during the most important cutscene in that mission and I didn't have subtitles on. I had to choose without hearing the argument.

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Originally Posted by Kekvit Irae

Well, you gotta admit, the loyalty missions (at least some of them) give plenty of emotional moments, such as Mordin and the dead female krogan. Mordin and Legion's are both my favorite, since they have far reaching consequences in Mass Effect 3 (presumably).

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I cant wait to see how the Geth will turn out now that I've freed them from the Reapers' control!

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The Geth, and another bit.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I'll wager that we see a Geth fleet taking on the Reapers in ME3. But I believe for that one will have to be nice to the Quarians too during the Tali loyalty mission and press for peace.
Anyway you do good, you get good....that is one thing that the game will always stick to I'm sure......
Lol, when during 'Recruit Samara' mission you release the asari in the locked room and later realise that she was the killer, that is the only time you feel as though you were kicked in the *** for doing good.

For anyone else who played the N7: Abandoned Research Station mission (obtained by completing N7: Wrecked Merchant Freighter mission, Neith/Amun/Eagle Nebula), did that mission remind you of System Shock as well, or is it just me?

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Originally Posted by Kekvit Irae

For anyone else who played the N7: Abandoned Research Station mission (obtained by completing N7: Wrecked Merchant Freighter mission, Neith/Amun/Eagle Nebula), did that mission remind you of System Shock as well, or is it just me?

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There were several spots in the game with a faint System Shock vibe. That one was the strongest echo thanks to its special resident.

Heh, and now I realise how many 'something has gone horribly wrong, featuring clinical corridors, audio logs, and dead bodies' sections there were in ME2.

froggy, what is your opinion on the Jack character?

Can someone explain how the ME2 import actually works?

My last save game was just before beating Seren in ME so I'm presuming that there is a save hidden somewhere?

In the ME2 configuration utility there is a option 'save games' under which you'll find a button 'copy mass effect 1 save games'...this'll open aother window and let you browse for and select the folder containing your ME1 save games.

The save which is actually imported is a post end game save which I don't think is visible in the ME1 'load/save' menu. You can see it when you check the save folder in 'My Documents' though.

http://www.examiner.com/x-892-PC-Game-Examiner~y2010m1d27-Mass-Effect-2-How-to-import-your-ME1-save-games

In regard to that Miranda woman, I dislike Australian's used as voice actors. As an Aussie myself, in a game it just feels, awkward. Somewhat cringe-worthy.

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Originally Posted by Krusader

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Mass Independence Day Effect!!

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Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Aye, why I thought it was predictable. It did occur to me that the "dark energy getting stars to age fast (going nova)" plot should have a reason, so I'll say that the bulk of the reapers will die due to that. That means somewhere else than earth for obvious reasons. Likely to be a reaper weapon turned against them.

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Originally Posted by frogbeastegg

I was surprised at how short the plot chain of missions is. Most of the play time comes from doing optional stuff like the loyalty missions.

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Some of those are semi-optinional. You'll need to to do at least a bit of recruiting to continue the main plot chain.

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Originally Posted by frogbeastegg

On the ending specifically:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

So the Collectors were liquidising humans and using the mush to build a giant metallic human skeleton that was somehow going to be a Reaper. O ... k. Maybe it's the fact I saw that near midnight, but I'm really having trouble seeing how this was supposed to work. How would it get around? Flying like Superman?! And aren't the Reapers meant to be machine intelligence? And how does pulped human result in metal? If the Reapers were built out of pulped species, what about the original Reapers which went wild and killed the civilisation which made them? And just ... why?! The whole thing was a complete what the heck moment.

I had pictured the Reapers to be ships with powerful AIs, much like the ships in Ian M Bank's Culture books or in Neal Asher's Polity.

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Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

They are cybernetic AI:s, so they mix that genetic goo with metal. For that human thingy, it'll probably end up as a part of the reaper ship, as they all look the same on the outside. It's too small to be a full ship anyway, even when done. The big question is why it got weapons installed.

I got no idea if they'll ever explain the original reapers, but if they do, I suspect it is connected to that "your salvation can only be reached by you destruction" rethoric the harbringer spouts. They are a sort of preservation of the species they wiped out (and made a reaper of).

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Originally Posted by Psychonaut

In regard to that Miranda woman, I dislike Australian's used as voice actors. As an Aussie myself, in a game it just feels, awkward. Somewhat cringe-worthy.

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The only problem with the voice of Miranda is that she sounds monotone and is generally uninterested in everything.
Shepard: "The Collectors are kidnapping colonists. We must stop them at any cost!"
Miranda: *shrugs* "Yeah, ok. Whatever."

Now if you want cringe-worthy, listen to Engineer Gabby and her Brooklyn accent.

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Originally Posted by Beskar

froggy, what is your opinion on the Jack character?

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As a party member, a total disappointment. She's one of the few who gets a power cooldown bonus and she didn't have any powers that I wanted. Gah!

As a character

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Her introduction and first conversations on the Normandy are dire. There she's a generic angry tattoo girl. I have no liking for that cardboard cutout archetype because it's almost always a shortcut instead of a personality. For one thing it's typically impossible to work out whether angry female = tattoos, attitude and shaved head, or shaved head, tattoos and attitude = angry female. That might sound like a silly thing to say; it's not. Which came first? Who was this person before? Often there is no before, or the before is a hazy bundle of cliche "This must make a woman go crazy for revenge!" tropes. She got raped and her family was killed. Her fiance was murdered by a drug cartel and she was possibly raped. She was abducted as a child and abused, and experimented on. Note the rape obsession with this trope. That's it, no actual depth, only cheap comic book ideas that don't affect the character in any way other than the makeover and sweary-kill attitude.

Jack's loyalty mission changes the character's presentation. When she suggested turning around and giving up on the bomb, that's when I started paying attention to her. If you drag her around in your party and talk to her at specific spots (e.g. the men's toilets on citadel) you find out a little more about her past. There's more to her than the generic rage, extreme makeovers, swearing and an obsession with killing. Most importantly, for once there's been some thought about how the traumas she's survived would affect her as a person. It's not the total shortcut of "She's been abused so she must swear at everybody!" Hidden deep inside Jack is the little girl who wanted to play with the other children. She's a mix between vulnerable and tough. Conflicted. Wanting to do 'normal things and at a loss of how to do it and terrified of something bad coming at her as a result. She knows she can kill with a thought and enjoys it, and knows she has been conditioned to enjoy it and so hates it at the same time. When she returns to the lab she is on the verge of having a breakdown, skirting on the edge of control, torn between running away and blowing it up. That is realistic, and the major difference between the generic angry tatto girl and Jack. Ms Generic wouldn't be affected.

Deep down Jack wants to move on, to be something else, and she will admit it. That's somewhat rare in this character cutout; normally they revel in what they've become and don't want to be anything else, often with generic proclamations about being anything else meaning being weak or vulnerable. Daft; no one ever wants to be so damaged, no matter how deeply they hide it. Hence blowing up the lab, and her comments later if you persuade her to let the other test subject live. At the same time and about as rare, there's no suggestion that a wave of the hand and a bit of love from a good man and she'll return to being a normal human being; such heavy psychological trauma cannot be washed away as though it never happened. If you handle Jack correctly you can see a bit of change, she's more in control, more willing to talk, and thinking about herself and what she wants to do next ... but she's still the damaged person she was at the beginning.

The other thing which helped Jack is that Bioware appear to have conceived Subject Zero first and the angry tattoo girl second. Jack's treatment by Cerberus is an important part of the story, it's the reminder that this group is not as nice as the Illusive Man would have you believe. She has every reason to be the way she is and the reasons came first, not second.

And, at the end, having her loyalty and thinking all of this, there was no way I'd choose her for the biotic shield part of the suicide mission. She's loyal to herself, has a grudging appreciation for Shepard, and couldn't give two figs about any of the others. Why would - or should - she put herself at such risk to protect them? It's not who she is. It's be great if she could but I wouldn't bet others' lives on her. I expect that if you have ticked the right boxes she will keep everyone alive ... I think the character works best if you never find out.

My Shepard was female. A male Shepard would have access to other insights; I hear she's romancable. Really not sure how that would work. Could be ok, could be a characterisation disaster.

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Originally Posted by Ironside

Some of those are semi-optinional. You'll need to to do at least a bit of recruiting to continue the main plot chain

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The plot missions appeared once a set number of the character missions had been done. But you choose which and don't need to do all, meaning that they're all optional. Miranda and Jack are the only characters you are forced to have. Maybe Mordin, from what he does in the plot? None of the loyalty missions are required.

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Originally Posted by frogbeastegg

The plot missions appeared once a set number of the character missions had been done. But you choose which and don't need to do all, meaning that they're all optional. Miranda and Jack are the only characters you are forced to have. Maybe Mordin, from what he does in the plot? None of the loyalty missions are required.

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Miranda and Jacob are the only required members (you can choose not to re-activate Legion), since you need to recruit only three members to trigger Horizon (Zaeed counts as one), and six total crewmembers to trigger the Collector Ship mission (and, again, Zaeed counts toward this total). This means that three out of eleven crewmembers are totally optional. Other than Miranda and Jacob, you are free to choose who you want if you don't want to spend the time for a full crew.


On a side note, I have discovered that it is entirely possible to get level 30 on a single playthrough; you just need the Long Service Medal for the 25% experience bonus. Having a level 50 or 60 character does not matter, since I used my imported level 49 character. I obtained level 30 after the Reaper IFF mission. All you need to do is just complete every side-quest available (barring a few, since I missed Conrad during my ME1 Renedage playthrough), and you'll get it after the Reaper IFF's 1250 exp gain.

EDIT: I don't know why, but it brings me much amusement to hear Tricia Helfer/Caprica Six/EDI say "Really, Commander?" and "Probing Uranus."

Dark Energy;

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

What's the deal with it? It's been mentioned atleast thrice in the game. Gianna Parsini (the lady on Illium, from Noveria in ME1) says that her bosses want her to check why suddenly people are getting interested in dark energy. Tali is studying the star which is degrading due to dark energy. Can't rightly remember the third reference but it was either one of the news telecasts in the Citadel or something Legion says....

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Originally Posted by india

Dark Energy;

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

What's the deal with it? It's been mentioned atleast thrice in the game. Gianna Parsini (the lady on Illium, from Noveria in ME1) says that her bosses want her to check why suddenly people are getting interested in dark energy. Tali is studying the star which is degrading due to dark energy. Can't rightly remember the third reference but it was either one of the news telecasts in the Citadel or something Legion says....

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http://nasascience.nasa.gov/astrophy...is-dark-energy
Mass Effect 2 is pulling a "Star Trek," taking scientific jargon and making it seem more fantastic or plausible than it really is.

Right. Got that. But I wondering more along the lines of in-game implications...it can't be co-incidence, that they're mentioning it again and again.....

Anyone listen to the game salesman on the Citadel?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

"I miss the old role playing games. These days it's all big choices and visceral combat. Back then you had to remember to drink water and traveling to a new location took five hours real time."

Gee, I wonder what that is referring to. :book:

Also, I wonder if I'm one of the few who liked driving the Mako on the PC. It reminded me of tribes 2, which was a big plus, plus it was a heck of a lot easier to drive than the Tribes 2 wheeled command center.

CR

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Originally Posted by Crazed Rabbit

Anyone listen to the game salesman on the Citadel?

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Yep.
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...=1#post2428169

Cerberus Armor and Eviscerator Shotgun DLC Available Feb 9

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Cerberus Assault Armor
Cerberus assault armor is designed for shock troops, turn the tide of battle against creatures or forces that would decimate normal soldiers.
Increases heavy weapon ammo capacity by +10%
Increases shields by +10%
Increases health by +10%

M-22a Eviscerator Shotgun
The M-22a Eviscerator Shotgun is a longer-range shotgun with armor-piercing loads. This design also violates several intergalactic weapons treaties, so the M-22a is not distributed to militaries.

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Originally Posted by Mailman653

Cerberus Armor and Eviscerator Shotgun DLC Available Feb 9

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Yay. More crap DLC armor you can't remove the helmet from. Joy.

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Originally Posted by Kekvit Irae

Yay. More crap DLC armor you can't remove the helmet from. Joy.

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At least it is free...I'd prefer swappable armor bits where you could decide the stat bonus, instead of one big suit with stats attached. Hence why I prefer the N7 armor with the "negotiation bonus helmet".

hmm, i will need to check whether or not it will be better then what armor i can piece together on my own.

Just finished the game a few minutes ago. For the record, I found Mass Effect 1 to be interesting, but entirely average, bordering on the negative more than the positive. Having finished Mass Effect 2, I feel comfortable saying it's in my top 5 RPGs of all time. That's a very strange thing for me to say, but I honestly feel its true. ME2 started as a TPS first and a RPG second, which is the reverse of ME1, and I think that's where it succeeded. Instead of trying to be an RPG and then dumbing itself down, it tried to be a TPS and added RPS elements to itself. The simplified gameplay was far less distracting and far more entertaining. The NPCs were, bar none, much more interesting and I actually got invested in them in a way I never did with ME1. The main storyline may have been less 'grand' than ME1, but there was a level of sheer balls-to-the-wall entertainment in the last 1/4 of the main plotline that had me absolutely riveted to the game. It was, simply put, great entertainment. I am extremely eager for the sequel; Bioware have outdone themselves with this game

Finished the game about an hour ago.

Thougts about combat;
I liked that it kept the danger up through the end, constantly. In my ME1 game plus play through on hardcore, I'd run up to a guy in the middle of a battlefield and shoot at him for 10 seconds while he shot at me and so did his buddies. And I'd be fine. ME2 worked well at keeping combat dangerous all the time.

But...the sticky cover system was terrible. Half of my deaths were due to hitting the shift key (remapped from spacebar) and vaulting over a box into the firing arc of three machine guns instead of backing off the cover, or not being able to crouch if not directly behind cover, or getting shot from behind and having to stand up to shoot the person.

Why, why, why oh why didn't they just add a crouch toggle key?! Or at least make the "go into cover key" different from the "leap out out of cover" key.

I still don't like taking all the armor and weapons and mods out.

About the ending...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I didn't get the best ending.
I chose Legion for the vent shaft, but he died in a cutscene.
Then I chose Zaeed (DLC merc) and he died leading the parallel fire team the second time (having survived the first).

Then I told cerberus to screw off regarding the base. In those scenes, telling off the Illusive Man, gave Shepard the chance to stand up to cerberus that all paragons needed.

About romances...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

It seems that if you're compatible with NPC, conversations will go to romance even if you don't want them to. It's either 'continue talking' and go down the romance path, or stop asking 'how do you feel'. I had a male shepard.

I loved all the side conversations. One conversation between nameless crew members on the Normandy struck me...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The father who gets his family off of New Canton right before the collector attack, and then says he'll give his daughter the longest hug when he sees her again. And then the collectors catch him. And then I saved him and he was so glad to be able to see his family again. What's that? Oh, I must have got some dust in my eye...

Overall, a great game.

CR

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Originally Posted by Crazed Rabbit

About the ending...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I didn't get the best ending.
I chose Legion for the vent shaft, but he died in a cutscene.
Then I chose Zaeed (DLC merc) and he died leading the parallel fire team the second time (having survived the first).

Then I told cerberus to screw off regarding the base. In those scenes, telling off the Illusive Man, gave Shepard the chance to stand up to cerberus that all paragons needed.

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Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I had Garrus and Jack die. I was so annoyed. The two I didn't want to die.

Without going into detail. I don't know if it just me, but I found the end a bit too easy.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Plus. Playing on the XBOX,the ending felt like a lazy Gears of War rip-off. The biotic shield thing to avoid swarms, lol, Gears of War rip-off right there. The ending enemies are like locusts, lol. The 3rd person angle is the same as Gears of War, as is the combat system. I haven't looked, but they used the same engine didn't they? They must have.

That's my only gripe. Otherwise, it's a decent game. And I am glad that it came out when it did, as I dodged the Dragon Age bullet. :thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by Psychonaut

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I had Garrus and Jack die. I was so annoyed. The two I didn't want to die.

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Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

That's one reason I chose Legion for the shaft - he's just a walking platform for Geth programs, right? So it's not the same as a person dying.
And Garrus was just so awesome - he set himself up as a Batman like figure in the heart of the terminus systems!
And since my character had a romance with Tali

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I've never seen anything like Quarian faces!

I kept her in my group, figuring it's easier to keep NPCs alive through the end that way.

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Without going into detail. I don't know if it just me, but I found the end a bit too easy.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Plus. Playing on the XBOX,the ending felt like a lazy Gears of War rip-off. The biotic shield thing to avoid swarms, lol, Gears of War rip-off right there. The ending enemies are like locusts, lol. The 3rd person angle is the same as Gears of War, as is the combat system. I haven't looked, but they used the same engine didn't they? They must have.

That's my only gripe. Otherwise, it's a decent game. And I am glad that it came out when it did, as I dodged the Dragon Age bullet. :thumbsup:

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I've only played about 10 minutes of the first GoW, so none of that for me.

One minor gripe; why can't you change your helmet during the mission? Going helmet-less in non-earth environments just seems wrong. It perturbs the engineer in me.

CR

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Originally Posted by Crazed Rabbit

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

That's one reason I chose Legion for the shaft - he's just a walking platform for Geth programs, right?

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Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Keeping Tali/Legion alive is easy. All you need to do is make sure they are loyal, and that your first fireteam leader is either Miranda, Jacob, or Garrus (again, they need to be loyal).

Completed with my level 50 imported character, reached level 28, 43 hours played.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Tali and Samara killed last level, I'm going to have to play again before ME3. Got to have Tali back for that.

Decent article with a rundown of the highs and lows of ME2. All spoilers are concealed until you request the page displays them, and are labelled so you know what to expect. NB: language warning.

I'm putting ME2 to one side for a bit. I've done everything I want to with it except my insanity/renegade run. That can wait until the experience is less fresh in my mind.

The achievements are far easier to come by this time, kind of disappointing. I replayed ME1 many times before I reached 100%. I've got 50/51 with a single playthrough and 45 minutes of play on a new game+. Insanity is the only one I am missing.

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Originally Posted by frogbeastegg

Decent article with a rundown of the highs and lows of ME2. All spoilers are concealed until you request the page displays them, and are labelled so you know what to expect. NB: language warning.

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That's a very good article.

CR

The Shepard dance

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Originally Posted by frogbeastegg

Decent article with a rundown of the highs and lows of ME2. All spoilers are concealed until you request the page displays them, and are labelled so you know what to expect. NB: language warning.

I'm putting ME2 to one side for a bit. I've done everything I want to with it except my insanity/renegade run. That can wait until the experience is less fresh in my mind.

The achievements are far easier to come by this time, kind of disappointing. I replayed ME1 many times before I reached 100%. I've got 50/51 with a single playthrough and 45 minutes of play on a new game+. Insanity is the only one I am missing.

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To be on safe side:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The writer sums up my thoughts on Cerberus perfectly. I expected there to be more conflict for Shephard to play out regarding Cerberus, as they were portrayed as a pretty twisted organization in ME1.
I just have the feeling that someone on Bioware's writing team had a hardon for Cerberus and/or secret organizations and wanted Cerberus in, maybe as a rather unsuccesful attempt at doing a story twist.

And a little image I found which I find amusing:

[snip]The comic contains swearing and shouldn't be posted directly here. Post a link with a language warning instead. Froggy.

I reloaded some old saves today to try finish building 'relations' with Legion; He says some interesting things in the final two chats.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

First thing worth noticing was that he says the Geth maintain the Quarian home-world as a sort of monument for all the Quarians who died there. Next time he says the Geth are planning to build something akin to a Dyson Sphere into which they'll all finally upload.
Both seem quite harmless, and I'll wager that if the proper Paragon choices are made, in ME3, we might most likely see the Quarians and Geth make peace and co-exist peacefully. Now if the player's choices can affect something of this magnitude, in ME3, then that will be awesome.

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Originally Posted by india

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

First thing worth noticing was that he says the Geth maintain the Quarian home-world as a sort of monument for all the Quarians who died there. Next time he says the Geth are planning to build something akin to a Dyson Sphere into which they'll all finally upload.
Both seem quite harmless, and I'll wager that if the proper Paragon choices are made, in ME3, we might most likely see the Quarians and Geth make peace and co-exist peacefully. Now if the player's choices can affect something of this magnitude, in ME3, then that will be awesome.

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I'm also interested in seeing how a certain dialogue choice during Tali's trial will effect ME3.

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Originally Posted by Kekvit Irae

I'm also interested in seeing how a certain dialogue choice during Tali's trial will effect ME3.

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:yes: I believe that the last bit of dialogue will decide how that bit of story reopens in ME3.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Tali says something about being nominated for Admiralty after the quest is over. So my guess is that in ME3 there'll be a quest where you can support Tali in a bid to become an Admiral....what I can't guess is whether she'll be favouring peace or war.....during the quest she seems to speak in favour of both options at two different occasions.

I ended up finishing it there last tuesday night at about 5 in the morning god I have not done that for years.

I am already salivating for the last one its sad I know.

The planetary scanning is pants get rid it Bioware or reform it at the least and another minor quibble the lack of a baddie to boo at like Saren kind of felt a bit lacking for me but overall its my game of the year already

I feel this might have significance later

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I am guessing everyone has kind of copped it but I think that saving the Rachni and rewriting the Geth will be rewarded with them saving the council later in ME3 my guess is they plus the Krogan will fulfill the ewok role so to speak against the Reapers

I have just realised that I both love and hate this game as in I hate the silly stuff we can do without like minigames but I am in love with the story and interaction .

To be honest if there were only four weapons and one suit of armor for the character I would not mind in the slightest.

Still my favorite game of the year even with all the things I hate in it and reading the thread I realised there were a lot of them I hated I still cant wait for the next instalment of the story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQz7u0BWD9c

I'm sure its in the Minos Wasteland

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

There is a side quest on one of the planets which has a Reaper indoctrination device, rather spooky.

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Originally Posted by CrossLOPER

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQz7u0BWD9c

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The only thing better than the video are the comments.

"My grand parents didn't die in WW2 for this, NOT FOR THIS "

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Originally Posted by Mailman653

I'm sure its in the Minos Wasteland

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

There is a side quest on one of the planets which has a Reaper indoctrination device, rather spooky.

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I've been going through the systems, it seems there is an average of 1 anomaly for every 2 systems. Some are puzzles, others combat missions. The best have been those with follow-up missions, e.g. tracking a freighter's route, stop by stop.

This has meant alot of scanning, although i stopped picking anything up a while ago (nothing left to research). I'm a little frustrated that I can pick up endless resources but have nothing to do with them, and instead have want turns out to be limited cash for buying upgrades. I know this is not Elite or Freelancer but why can't I sell some of these damn resources?

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Originally Posted by alh_p

This has meant alot of scanning, although i stopped picking anything up a while ago (nothing left to research). I'm a little frustrated that I can pick up endless resources but have nothing to do with them, and instead have want turns out to be limited cash for buying upgrades. I know this is not Elite or Freelancer but why can't I sell some of these damn resources?

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I think that if you do all the side missions and the story missions, then by the end of the game you have almost all the upgrades, without having to buy any......AFAIK the ones at the shops are freely available during some missions too, and some at the end of the missions.
But then again, there are so many upgrades that I might well be wrong.

Edit:

On a different note, I just realised that the way ME2 focuses on Shepard's face many times throughout the game dialogue, has a lot to do with how one actually feels attached to the character.....And I realised that in Dragon Age, save in a few precious cut-scenes, there isn't a single place where the player character's face comes into focus....I don't know what my Cousland nobleman looks with his mouth open :P

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Originally Posted by india

I think that if you do all the side missions and the story missions, then by the end of the game you have almost all the upgrades, without having to buy any......AFAIK the ones at the shops are freely available during some missions too, and some at the end of the missions.
But then again, there are so many upgrades that I might well be wrong.

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Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

AFAIK, you can find three damage upgrades for each weapon throughout the game and buy two from shops (total of five damage upgrades, each upgrade adding +10% damage). Then you have two other upgrades that "unlock" when you have upgraded certain amount).
This page lists where you can find weapons, equipment and upgrades in the game and what they cost in credits & resources

Just finished my first play through now, I wont use any spoiler tags as well, I'll include no spoilers.

I personally loved everything about it, it took what ME1 had and made it go further as well as tweaking some of the other faults with the first one. Only major gripe is the whole paragon and renegade system I still feel isn't 100% good. I mean, essentially, for 100% success in the suicide mission 100% paragon or renegade is needed to secure the loyalty of all your crew. Those who have completed the game will know what I mean when I say certain "confrontations". Anyway, 100% paragon or renegade is needed to have a desirable outcome from such "confrontations". Most are aware it isn't as clear cut as that. Maybe I want my Shepherd to be a bit of both, a nice guy who isn't afraid to bust some balls if he needs to. Under the current system this isn't really possible if you want to "win the game".

I think I'll finish of my other save game from this play through tomorrow just to secure my other love interest. I'm curious to see if Bioware will be good on their word that a ME1 love interest will have a more dominant role in ME3. I hope so seeming their apearences in this one were pretty terrible..

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Originally Posted by tibilicus

I think I'll finish of my other save game from this play through tomorrow just to secure my other love interest. I'm curious to see if Bioware will be good on their word that a ME1 love interest will have a more dominant role in ME3. I hope so seeming their apearences in this one were pretty terrible..

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I played as a female Shepard and I think the romance options for her were better in ME2 than in ME1. Personally I hope there's an option to continue with the ME2 romance the player doesn't feel like going back to the ME1 love interest.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Kaidan pretty much dumped me on my :daisy: when I got to Horizon. :shrug: I thought the three (or more? I couldn't tell if Tali played for both teams) options for female Shep were more interesting than either Liara or Kaidan. I read somewhere that if you engage in one of the ME2 romances, it will have an impact with your ME1 love interest in ME3.

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Originally Posted by Scienter

I played as a female Shepard and I think the romance options for her were better in ME2 than in ME1. Personally I hope there's an option to continue with the ME2 romance the player doesn't feel like going back to the ME1 love interest.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Kaidan pretty much dumped me on my :daisy: when I got to Horizon. :shrug: I thought the three (or more? I couldn't tell if Tali played for both teams) options for female Shep were more interesting than either Liara or Kaidan. I read somewhere that if you engage in one of the ME2 romances, it will have an impact with your ME1 love interest in ME3.

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I completely understand, from a Male Shepard point of view.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Williams was no better, I personally blame the shoddy script writing for it. I mean it's really hard to feel any kind of loyalty when your supposed lover insults you and pretty much wants nothing to do with you. Only to receive some shoddy email saying sorry later on.

From what I can see of the story in the game and the literature outside the game Liara is the cannon romance interest Ashley is really only included for renegades and should really always be left on Virmire for a paragon.

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Originally Posted by tibilicus

I completely understand, from a Male Shepard point of view.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Williams was no better, I personally blame the shoddy script writing for it. I mean it's really hard to feel any kind of loyalty when your supposed lover insults you and pretty much wants nothing to do with you. Only to receive some shoddy email saying sorry later on.

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I suspected that would happen. My first Shepard romanced Liara, but I used my second Shepard for ME2, so I don't know what she does if you romanced her.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I figure she doesn't have time to rekindle things with Shepard because she's trying to take down the Shadow Broker.

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Originally Posted by gaelic cowboy

From what I can see of the story in the game and the literature outside the game Liara is the cannon romance interest Ashley is really only included for renegades and should really always be left on Virmire for a paragon.

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I kind of disagree with that. For one you'll have to point out the literature you're referring to.....Secondly, Ashley/Kaiden are the canon romances. Liara is the second choice regardless of gender. Like Morrigan/Alistair in Dragon Age and Leliana regardless of gender.
Furthermore on starting a new ME2 game (not importing an ME1 save that is), by default for a male Shepard, Ashley is dead and for a female Shepard, Kaiden is dead. Which I think is done so that the player can check out the new romance options in the game.

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Originally Posted by india

I kind of disagree with that. For one you'll have to point out the literature you're referring to.....Secondly, Ashley/Kaiden are the canon romances. Liara is the second choice regardless of gender. Like Morrigan/Alistair in Dragon Age and Leliana regardless of gender.
Furthermore on starting a new ME2 game (not importing an ME1 save that is), by default for a male Shepard, Ashley is dead and for a female Shepard, Kaiden is dead. Which I think is done so that the player can check out the new romance options in the game.

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Well the literature I mentioned came with my edition of the game it is a comic called Mass Effect Redemption. Liara is searching for Shepards body and the collectors and illusive man are also the feel of the story is Liara is the love interest so far anyway to my mind.
I accept your reasoning if you had no romance and you generate a character without a save but Kaidan and Ashley really cannot be cannon because they do not both survive one has to die in ME1. The story needs a person who survives regardless hence Liara this game was always meant to have consequences on the next one so my money is on that I am right but it is only a game and doest really affect the playing experience too much
The game will start with liara on the normandy if you saved that romance and she has way more dialouge in the game with you.

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Originally Posted by india

I kind of disagree with that. For one you'll have to point out the literature you're referring to.....Secondly, Ashley/Kaiden are the canon romances. Liara is the second choice regardless of gender. Like Morrigan/Alistair in Dragon Age and Leliana regardless of gender.
Furthermore on starting a new ME2 game (not importing an ME1 save that is), by default for a male Shepard, Ashley is dead and for a female Shepard, Kaiden is dead. Which I think is done so that the player can check out the new romance options in the game.

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I'm just wondering, if you don't import a save then is there still a picture on the desk in Shepards room or is it simply absent?

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Originally Posted by gaelic cowboy

Well the literature I mentioned came with my edition of the game it is a comic called Mass Effect Redemption. Liara is searching for Shepards body and the collectors and illusive man are also the feel of the story is Liara is the love interest so far anyway to my mind.
I accept your reasoning if you had no romance and you generate a character without a save but Kaidan and Ashley really cannot be cannon because they do not both survive one has to die in ME1. The story needs a person who survives regardless hence Liara this game was always meant to have consequences on the next one so my money is on that I am right but it is only a game and doest really affect the playing experience too much
The game will start with liara on the normandy if you saved that romance and she has way more dialouge in the game with you.

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I don't think you can call it Canon either way. The point about Mass effect is there is no real canon, the games are designed so you choose what is canon and what isn't canon. If Liara is meant to be the main love interest in the game then it doesn't really show over the other choices. Sure, Ashely/kaiden are fairly cold when you see them on Horizon but the way Liara is written is just as bad. She basically doesn't acknowledge you as a love interest and talks to you like your one of her employees.

She's an Asari too, meaning that because her lifespan is so huge, 2 years should be nothing to her. The way in which Asari comprehend time, apparently, is vastly different from the way humans comprehend it. 2 years should only feel like months to her, if not less.

Oh well, hopefully we will find out in ME3.

Right, I'm err....sorry I remembered it wrongly :embarassed: Actually Ashley survives for the male Shepard and Kaiden for the female, by default when not importing a save that is......

No idea about the picture, I'd read the info in the wiki. Never did start a new game myself.