Mass Effect 2 [Xbox 360/PC/PS3]

[Orgun]

....i'm proper bummed out about losing Zaeed

Gonna have to do a New game + and try and get everyone through alive.

[Red Hogg]

Got all my squad assembled now (except Legion) and done all loyalty missions. I'm expecting repercussions in ME3 about my decision at the end of Tali's story but what the hell.

I'm more than aware from reading this thread that someone on my team is likely to die but to be honest I couldn't care less about them except Mordin and Garrus (especially Mordin though, he's awesome. Probably the only squad mate with a sense of humour). Just running through a few anomaly missions until I run out of them and have to go to the IFF.

On a side note I had my first ME2-influence dream last night. It wasn't really anything to do with ME2 but the conversation wheel kept popping up before anyone spoke. Think I've been playing it a bit too much.

[EvilBoris]

Can people please be careful with their spoilers.

I just walked onto omega, is it John 'Bender' Dimaggio that I can hear preaching as a batarian Mad Prophet?

[capcom_suicide]

I've had a bit of a break from gaming, and put this in the DVD drive last night. 4 hours later & I am again back in the "Zone" I had from ME1.

I just love this world they have built, the "Blade runner" style and the wonderful characters and story.

I am savouring every part, and have my side missions stacked up now, having spoken to all the crew & their needs (Side missions), got the DLC and picked up every clue I feel not overwhelmed, but more engrossed. I guess I have 5 things to do before me move on, and I've mined all planets large & small in the first sector.

I play as a solider and make no appologies for playing on Normal with auto settings for my team. That's what's so great about this universe, I as a RPG n00b can be part of the fun/story too, I love sniping & I love guns that go BANG. It's all good. Others would enjoy building the skills of their team better. I've happy just to focus on my own. It suits all players!

I haven't read the thread for fear of spoilers, but it just feels so damned good to take a break from gaming, and then not rush or panic getting ME2 on release, but just play it now & savour every last minute for my own single player enjoyment.

It feels great!

ME1 is probably my all time favourite game, it finally made real the promise of years of 2D point & click scifi adventurs, and I'm so pleased to see ME2 meeting my expectations.

[jimtendo]

It depends on the class, but also the style of play you use that determines the fraustration of Insanity. Sentinel/Infiltrator are highly reccomended, as they can breeze through most enemies with minimal effort.

I will admit, that final section on Insanity was way easier than I expected as I was depleating most armour/barriers in one swift hit. Also, Cryo+Heavy Throw... wow.

Yes, the Infiltrator seems to be a good bet on a (fresh) Insanity run.
However, since i've continued my Soldier career, it is just plain tough from the get-go.
Though there are things you can do to make it bearable. One thing to keep in mind (like the 1st Mass Effect) change the 'squad powers' from 'auto' to 'off' as you can use your squad powers, even when your squad do not have a line of sight of the enemy. It relies on your line of sight only.

My Soldier setup is currently:
- Heightened adrenaline rush lvl. 4 (though I might change this back to hardened adrenaline rush as i miss the - 0.50 damage you receive when activated)
- Inferno rounds lvl. 4
- Heavy disruptor rounds lvl. 4
- Concussive shot lvl. 1
- Shock Trooper lvl. 4
-

->Open Spoiler<-

Heavy Reave

lvl. 4, again, I might change this over to the 'Area' version.

The

->Open Spoiler<-

Reave

ability, which you obtain from

->Open Spoiler<-

Samara

is pretty much the win button. It's pretty good against armour/ health, and somewhat effective against shields. It's a good 1-2-3 combo used with my current team of

->Open Spoiler<-

Miranda

and

->Open Spoiler<-

Thane

, where i've beefed up their Warp abilities to the max.
Plus the fact that it has a quick cooldown (which will get slightly quicker as you can upgrade later) means it's a great offensive skill without using ammo for a Soldier.

Question though. As with the first game I assume an End Game save gets made. If I go into new game plus, does this eventually become a completely separate End Game save, or does it overwrite?

I want to play through again. Not straight away, but maybe a few months before ME3. Just want to find out before I do that so I don't screw up my ideal game to take into ME3.

When you start a brand new Mass Effect 2 game (once completed) it will be on a different career, which you can switch with the 'Y' button. Your previous Mass Effect 2 saves will remain intact, and you'll have another 30 save slots to play with.

Also the added bonus is that you start with a good amount of minerals and the ability to choose which loyalty skill you want to begin the game with.

[mekanor]

Just finished this, really really great.

->Open Spoiler<-

Didn't loose a party member! Blew up the collector ship though. Might go back and change that one.

I quite enjoyed mass effect 1, but it just didn't grab me like this did. Despite not liking how dumbed down it is, the whole game just seems infinitely better. I'm even thinking about going through again with the default shepherd to see what events bioware consider canon.

I love the universe they have created, it so awesome and better than the Star Wars universe.

can't agree on that one. It's great, but doesn't have a patch on star wars. considering mass effect has been around for a couple of years though and star wars over 30, that doesn't surprise me.

I agree. I even had a hard time deciding what to do on one of the side missions (the ballistic missile mission).

This was probably the toughest decision in the game. Didn't seem to be anything on the level of me1.

The (seemingly) minor choices were better handled in this game though. I played through mostly paragon but there was the occasional renegade choice I agreed with.

->Open Spoiler<-

I was happy to let garrus kill the traitor, I wanted the quarians to retake their homeworld (though after meeting legion I'm seriously regretting this one. I hope it doesn't turn out badly...) and I wanted to let cerberus keep the collector ship. I picked the paragon option for that one though and am now regretting it. may have to go back and change. Unless something bad happens from keeping it??

Only bad thing about the ending was the boring credits, i hate it when its just a list with nothing going, the music even cuts out when they do the DLC credits for 5mins

indeed, would it have killed them to have even had some mario style credits where the camera zooms around the area environments? They were certainly pretty enough.

My Soldier setup is currently:
- Heightened adrenaline rush lvl. 4 (though I might change this back to hardened adrenaline rush as i miss the - 0.50 damage you receive when activated)
- Inferno rounds lvl. 4
- Heavy disruptor rounds lvl. 4
- Concussive shot lvl. 1
- Shock Trooper lvl. 4
-

->Open Spoiler<-

Heavy Reave

lvl. 4, again, I might change this over to the 'Area' version.

I didn't know it was possible to get enough points to get that many skills to level 4.

EDIT: I finished the game on about level 28. I'm hoping there's enough dlc to get to level 30

[Wools]

I've been avoiding this thread completely whilst I play through the game as I've been avoiding spoilers like the plague with Mass Effect 2.

Last night I crossed an important part of the story and am beginning to come to an end with my play through of this brilliant game.

I'll get the hyperbole out of the way first, it's one of the best story based adventure games I've ever played with some of the most beautiful worlds, characters and musical score I've ever had the pleasure of playing... Good, I'm finished!

I've always enjoyed the stories Bioware have weaved into their games but I've detested the way in which the player has to carry out action, in other words it's turn based and I can't stand that. Mass Effect is their first series I've been able to play and despite the flaws of the first game, it was a tight, coherent world that had an emotional centre the likes of which is all too rare in Videogames. Also, it was the first game to do Science Fiction well but rather than basing it off well worn stories such as Star Trek & Star Wars, Bioware created their own brilliant universe and littered it with rich details that I loved immersing myself in.

Mass Effect 2 has taken all the qualities that was incorporated into the original but have expanded and removed in equal measure. The new characters and species are more evolved and have richer narrative this time, with your crewmates being some of the best. They all have interesting back stories that have formed who they now are with only a few exceptions being slightly less absorbing. The combat although simple, is now refined to a tea, with enemy AI out smarting me on several occasions and the reload action is more engrossing than the overheat variant in the original. Bioware have also taken a more cinematic route with the explosive and haunting opening and a fantastic narrative jump half way through the game, proving they are improving their craft as time goes on.

Although the game has calved a nice of its own and one I can't imagine being bettered this year, there are a few flaws and disappointments. The most significant is that all RPG leanings the game had has almost been entirely removed. Whereas before you could equip armour to different squad mates, had a large selection of powers to bestow on them and had a huge amount of variation between characters, you now only have a colour selection palette and a choice of gun variant. This was a real disappointment for me as I enjoyed that side to Mass Effect and felt that the lack of customisation really hurts the sequel. Also I was really taken aback by how different some of the characters are compared to the original.

->Open Spoiler<-

Liara was my romantic interest in Mass Effect 1 and when you meet up with her for the first time in Illium, she's a cold hearted woman who's planning the deaths of multiple people. Although this could be carried off, I don't think it was written well enough for me to believe the character would change from someone so timid and well intentioned to a ruthless assassin.

Despite the removal of some well used features and a few particular characters being unbelievable or poorly set up, the game has been brilliant. It's up there with Elder Scrolls IV and is certainly better written with fleshed out characters, a contender already for the game of the year.

[rmoxon]

The thing with

->Open Spoiler<-

Liara

is basicaly just that power corrupts and I think its beliveable enough in that respect.

I've just got

->Open Spoiler<-

Legion

and will probabaly go and complete the game now and finish the side quests up afterwards, Ive enjoyed it all a heck of alot alot and it will surley be one of the best come the end of the year but I want to get the meat of the game out of the way before I start with Bioshock 2.

[Wools]

->Open Spoiler<-

Although her powers can corrupt and it's been over 2 years since her and Sheppard have seen one another, I do feel that the lack of any connection at all felt really hollow and disconnected.

Maybe that's what Bioware was going for, also I could not import my Mass Effect character so the story was unaware that we had been a couple, but that disappointed me about Mass Effect 2. With the exception of Tali and your crew on the Normandy, all the old characters seemed like they've left Sheppard and were now acting like you did not exist.

Still, it's giving me an incentive that once I've finished 2, I'll buy 1 back and do a full run through of both games again with the same character.

I hope I've got the spare time to do it!

[rmoxon]

->Open Spoiler<-

Although her powers can corrupt and it's been over 2 years since her and Sheppard have seen one another, I do feel that the lack of any connection at all felt really hollow and disconnected.

Maybe that's what Bioware was going for, also I could not import my Mass Effect character so the story was unaware that we had been a couple, but that disappointed me about Mass Effect 2. With the exception of Tali and your crew on the Normandy, all the old characters seemed like they've left Sheppard and were now acting like you did not exist.

Still, it's giving me an incentive that once I've finished 2, I'll buy 1 back and do a full run through of both games again with the same character.

I hope I've got the spare time to do it!

Perhapse, but

->Open Spoiler<-

It has been two years and Shepard was asumed dead. Liara and certain other characther clearly have moved on and it makes sense that they would have put Shepard out of the picture. I certainly feel that this aproach is alot more relaistic than if liara had ran upto you with open arms and blubed about how she never gave up on you, its just not that kind of universe, its one where people die all the time and folks have learnt to accept it.

[Friction]

Finished this last night after giving it a whopping 69 hours - I did everything, all side quests, mining, the lot - and some of that time was when I left it paused to eat etc. What a game! Infact no, it wasnt a game, it was an experience! Love it, from start finish it was amazing. A real step up from the first one and then some!

End section was increible, really a superb closing piece!

Went pure Paragon through the game which is always good, the odd renegade decision here and there but nothing major. Reason enough to play again!

[Wools]

->Open Spoiler<-

You're probably right, the only solid returning face was Tali and you help save her, so I can imagine why she would join the Normandy.

[Spatial]

Cerberus Armour and Shotgun out tomorrow

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&#37;
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.

[Eight Rooks]

The ME1 cameos - at least on a vanilla run - were some of the worst parts of the game. Ashley?

->Open Spoiler<-

Uh, no, you're a childish, whining xenophobe. You don't get to question what Cerberus do or say, and 'Perhaps they're doing all this!' has to be one of the stupidest red herrings I've ever come across.

Liara?

->Open Spoiler<-

Power corrupts what, exactly? There was virtually nothing to her in the first game at all, so what the hell do I care what she's up to? She could have been juggling in a Krogan circus for all I know. There was about as much justification for that as for 'captain of industrial espionage'.

But hey, they brought Tali back, so all is forgiven.

Also I really wish Bioware's PR would shut up on occasion. God knows their nerd fanbase give them some undeserved flak, but every time their figureheads open their mouths all they come out with are either bland platitudes or empty runarounds. I like the company a lot more than I used to of late, but I still don't dream of working there.

[Riskbreaker]

I take it you can't remove the helmet on that armor either?

This game never ceases to make me chuckle, after the quest on Illium involving

->Open Spoiler<-

Shepard fan no.1 Verner

I was surprised to hear that

->Open Spoiler<-

he'd started Shepard's, a help group for slaves that had escaped there and were having difficulty setting in. Made me glad I'd told him to be himself and get his life on track Felt a little guilty for shooting him in the foot though, but it was just a scratch