Mass Effect 2 gameplay thread

[Kekvit Irae]

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.

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."

[rajpoot]

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....

[Kekvit Irae]

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....

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.

[rajpoot]

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.....

[Crazed Rabbit]

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.

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

[Kekvit Irae]

Anyone listen to the game salesman on the Citadel?

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

[Mailman653]

Cerberus Armor and Eviscerator Shotgun DLC Available Feb 9

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.

[Kekvit Irae]

Cerberus Armor and Eviscerator Shotgun DLC Available Feb 9

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

[Krusader]

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

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".

[a completely inoffensive name]

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

[TinCow]

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

[Crazed Rabbit]

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

[naut]

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.

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.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

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

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.

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.

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

[Kekvit Irae]

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?

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).

[johnhughthom]

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.

[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.

[Crazed Rabbit]

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.

That's a very good article.

CR

[Mailman653]

The Shepard dance

[Krusader]

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.

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.

[rajpoot]

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.

[Kekvit Irae]

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.

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

[rajpoot]

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

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.

[gaelic cowboy]

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

[gaelic cowboy]

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.

[CrossLOPER]

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

[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.

[Kekvit Irae]

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

The only thing better than the video are the comments.

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

[al Roumi]

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.

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?

[rajpoot]

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?

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