Mass Effect 2 gameplay thread

**Mailman653** · 01-27-2010, 17:36

Well, I have the 360 version and I saw some threads on the xbox forum about the network not working properly. I suppose I am lucky when I saw that everything worked fine for me. Although I just started up the game and not only was there an update but a new piece of DLC which should of been there yesterday I think; guess they fixed whatever was wrong.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

**frogbeastegg** · 01-27-2010, 19:01

Can someone with the xbox version tell me if achievements still give gameplay bonuses?

I don't expect to be playing this until the middle or end of next week.

Nowhere beat amazon.co.uk's low price and their free postage tends to be slow. With a house to furnish I couldn't justify paying anything more than the lowest possible. Can't wait; I loved the original.

**Monk** · 01-28-2010, 04:40

I already am regretting this but I completely marathoned ME2. Very close to the ending and expect to finish it when I get some time in the next couple days. Stepping away from this game can be tough at times, especially when there's tons to do! Done all the companion quests, love how they feel as integrated into the narrative as the story-missions. The Exploration quests feel a lot better but they could still use work.

It's interesting to see how your relationship with your crew can evolve over the course of the game, even though the loyalty system is a little shallow. If you talk to your crew each will eventually reveal a companion quest, some sooner than others. If you do this quest they become loyal, however, you also have the opportunity to lose loyalty with them by siding against them in a crisis. Various crew members are polar opposites of each other, and after you gain the loyalty of those opposites they will enter a situation where it's up to you to resolve it. You can side with one of them, or with enough charm/intimidate you can convince them to kill each other after the mission. The later of which is the only way to keep them both happy, as siding against someone means you lose their loyalty.

It reminds me of the way they treated Wrex in the first game, a great way to manage your party but I can't help but feel its simple in comparison to the approval system of Dragon Age.

I like the interrupt system in conversations and I think going forward this could be a lot of fun. It really lets the darker (or empathic, if you're paragon) side of your character shine through.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Originally Posted by Mailman653

Well, save your ME2 save this time, I'm more than certain you'll be able to port it onto ME3.

The loading screen tooltips lead me to believe you're right.

The only thing I have not liked, aside from mini-games and other minor annoyances...

Romance plot spoilers

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Now I should probably get back to working on those various projects due

**Mailman653** · 01-28-2010, 08:04

So who heard about the specter who...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

@Monk

It is hard to put down indeed, its easy to spend two hours on it and not even realize it. I'm already on the 2nd disk, 360 version. I thinking I should of played on the difficulty that comes after normal, oh well, there's next time....and plenty more, I know I'll be playing it over a few times between now and ME3.

**Monk** · 01-28-2010, 08:39

Originally Posted by Mailman653

@Monk

It is hard to put down indeed, its easy to spend two hours on it and not even realize it. I'm already on the 2nd disk, 360 version. I thinking I should of played on the difficulty that comes after normal, oh well, there's next time....and plenty more, I know I'll be playing it over a few times between now and ME3.

The biggest strength of the game is how much there is to do, I think. There's exploration and resource mining for when you want something light. Companion quests for when you want something as engaging as the main line (but dont want to advance it) and the main story when you're ready to tackle another major story element. They all feel like they are part of a greater whole, and doing one doesn't make you sigh - wishing you were doing another instead. Resource mining is a great start, but I still think we need more planets with hidden goodies and less planets devoted purely to raw materials.

As for difficulty, Veteran is not tough enough for me, I am hitting the Hardcore setting as soon as I can. I suspect that for many veterans of third person shooters (and those who ever completed insanity on the first game) will feel nothing short of Veteran+ will challenge them.

More on the combat - i like the hard counters introduced to the system. Certain powers are ineffective against shields, otehrs against armor. It makes you think about what to throw at who, and makes you panic a bit when you're getting charged by a krogan with full armor - but your ace in the hole power is ineffective against him. It makes load-outs like my biotic juggling team a lot harder to run. Kudos to Bioware for balancing out combat and keeping guys like me from air-juggling entire rooms at once!

**al Roumi** · 01-28-2010, 16:15

Thanks for the info Monk and Mailman, my disk is in the post from amazon.co.uk, due to arrive tomorrow -on UK release day. Not going to get much time on it this weekend though, which is going to be hard for everyone around me probably :D

**Krusader** · 01-29-2010, 00:17

Been playing ME2 for a bit and my thoughts.

I am disappointed in Bioware when it comes to the PC edition. There are no mappable keys for weapons, and the spacebar is used for 3 actions when it could have been split up among 3 different keys instead. Plus mousewheel support for menu scrolling and doubleclicking to open things (like messages, codex entries).

Also, the galaxy map thing...maybe it's just me, but I can't understand a damn thing and have absolutely no idea what my fuel consumption is, how much fuel I have and what the percentage indicator in upper left is for. There is no tutorial entries in the Codex either (Codex is also sloppy. No double-click to open and mousewheel can't be used to scroll down or up).
Can't see the value of the "fuel aspect".

The game is fun otherwise, but as I bought it on Steam I actually did not get a manual. I actually like manuals, because I can read them if there is something I don't understand.
I will echo Monk's statements though that combat is more tactical. I have to take cover whenever I get in a gunfight, as otherwise I'll take too much damage and early on you learn to switch between weapons and powers to take out enemies (what to use versus shields, barriers, armor and vorcha/krogan). I also like how squadmates take cover and having autouse of powers enabled, it seems they use them well enough.

**Beskar** · 01-27-2010, 21:57

Originally Posted by Mailman653

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**Samurai Waki** · 01-28-2010, 00:41

So far I'm VERY Impressed. I agree with pretty much everything Monk has said, unfortunately my old ME1 Save was long gone by the time I got this

**Mailman653** · 01-28-2010, 01:29

Well, save your ME2 save this time, I'm more than certain you'll be able to port it onto ME3.

**Wishazu** · 01-28-2010, 02:34

I can't wait, just another 31.5 hours before I can pick it up at my local Game. I think the first tough decision I'm going to have to make is which one of my 9 characters from ME1 I'm going to use first.