The Mass Effect 2 Thread, reviews, spoilers, previews, what-have-you Options

[Esser-Z]

And now it is downloaded but I can't play it aaaah.

[Strafe]

Depends on how you did Garrus. He's pretty renegade himself, if you used the right conversation options!

I HAD one, but I lost it in a hard drive crash :/

Yeah, Garrus is the "Cop that doesn't play by the rules." He's always annoyed with how C-Sec can fail to catch a bad guy, becuase of all the red tape. He'll do anything to stop a criminal. You can either encourage that, or discourage that over the course of the game.

I always did like that about him. Serve the greater good through any means necessary. That's how I play my Shepard. I wussed out and put in a little time on the pirated version for PC to hold me over until I can buy the game on my 360. Without spoiling anything, the lead up to and the sequence itself that re-introduce you to Garrus in Mass Effect 2 serve to only reaffirm what a proficient badass he is.

[Database]

Depends on how you did Garrus. He's pretty renegade himself, if you used the right conversation options!

I HAD one, but I lost it in a hard drive crash :/

Yeah, Garrus is the "Cop that doesn't play by the rules." He's always annoyed with how C-Sec can fail to catch a bad guy, becuase of all the red tape. He'll do anything to stop a criminal. You can either encourage that, or discourage that over the course of the game.

I always did like that about him. Serve the greater good through any means necessary. That's how I play my Shepard. I wussed out and put in a little time on the pirated version for PC to hold me over until I can buy the game on my 360. Without spoiling anything, the lead up to and the sequence itself that re-introduce you to Garrus in Mass Effect 2 serve to only reaffirm what a proficient badass he is.

Garrus is one I'm really glad to have back. Like you, I liked that element of his personality. He's a good cop, just one that believes the ends justify the means, yet not willing to cross the line too far into being a pure merc. That was sorta my way of play as a Paragon type. 1. Innocents always come first 2. Criminals must be brought to justice, even if justice is a bullet to the head. I agree that that Doctor's ship should have been crippled, since we don't knw if the hostages were dead or not, but also believe that for all those he did make suffer or kill; that he deserved to die.

[Strafe]

1. Innocents always come first 2. Criminals must be brought to justice, even if justice is a bullet to the head.

Exactly. Exactly.
Well said. He makes a clear distinction about which side of the line he's on, and the directness he employs to protect those behind it has earned him a permanent spot on my team.
Plus, he's got kind of a dry sense of humor. He's my kind of alien people!

[Database]

1. Innocents always come first 2. Criminals must be brought to justice, even if justice is a bullet to the head.

Exactly. Exactly.
Well said. He makes a clear distinction about which side of the line he's on, and the directness he employs to protect those behind it has earned him a permanent spot on my team.
Plus, he's got kind of a dry sense of humor. He's my kind of alien people!

They only times He's not been on my team is when I was trying to get ally achievements. Otherwise, He's usually my first choice.

[BlitzwingHaz]

The game's getting excellent reviews so far, currently at 97.75% on Gamerankings..
I only just got the first game a few days ago, made my character look battle hardened, solve survivor and a vanguard, haven't figured out any jedi type stuff yet though.
I was gonna play through it as a good guy, then as a bad guy, but I decided just to play through it the way I would in real life. Does what you say in conversations affect anything?

This post has been edited by BlitzwingHaz: Jan 24 2010, 09:37 AM

[Treadshot 2.0]

Wow. It's AWESOME.

Feel free to ask me questions. I haven't gotten that far through it but I have done a few hours.

[Esser-Z]

...you're playing it? HOW?

[Treadshot 2.0]

Okay, this isn't a spoiler. But so far, not only have I received stat and cash bonuses for my performance in the first game, but EVERY story element has carried over. That includes the disposition of the side-quests, even the DLC.

This game hugging rocks.

...you're playing it? HOW?

With an XBox controller. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-waspy.gif)


This post has been edited by Treadshot 2.0: Jan 24 2010, 03:33 PM

[Treadshot 2.0]

They got rid of the elevators, but I'm not sure I like the replacements (an animated loading screen) any better. At least the elevators didn't take you out of the gaming experience. The more I play, the more I miss the elevators... especially in the Normandy, because now they've made the load time between decks a lot faster anyway, so they could have KEPT the elevators. Also, I don't like the way they handle the transition from the shore onto the Normandy, using the load screen. The first game did it a lot more naturally, with you actually going through decontamination (the most clever and fun load screen in that game, IMO) and just boarding the ship without having to actually take off. This game feels more 'gamey' in a way because of stuff like this.

There is no texture pop-in like the first game. However, I did get stuck in a stairwell once and had to reload an earlier save game.

Everything looks a LOT better. The skin on human non-player characters is out of this world. It really looks like the entire game is a PS2 cutscene.

The staging is somewhat better for conversations. Instead of just standing there and occasionally gesticulating, characters now move around, sit, etc.

You end up engaging in a lot more commerce this time around. You have to buy fuel, and equipment for your ship, for example. However, these additional necessities (and, at times, luxuries) make sense, given the main character's story development.

When you import a character from the previous game, you are given your prior character's appearance by default, but you can change it anyway if you want (or use the default ME2 appearance.)

Your character's backstory (Earth, Spacer, etc.) also imports.

Yes, you need clips (well, they're heat sinks, but they have the same effect). Yes, it's a pain in the ass. But it does make you have to move through your weapons strategically. I'm playing through as a soldier the first time and it's very fun. Enemy soldiers drop clips when you kill 'em, so it's not like they're super rare, but there's one mission in particular where I actually had to sacrifice a tactical advantage in order to try to re-arm myself.

The way stat upgrades are handled is somewhat more logical. You don't end up spending a whole lot of your points just to upgrade fundamental stuff like accuracy et al. You start off with full skill in those kinds of things. You just put stat points into class-specific stuff. Also, you have to hoard points in order to get the highest-level skills.

Items are handled more realistically. You can't carry 15 different kinds of rifle with you into the field; you have to choose your loadout on the ship. Periodically there will be a place in-level where you can change your equipment loadout and squad members.

Heavy weapons are very fun.

At a skill's highest level, you will have a choice between two options of how the skill will 'evolve'. Usually this involves allocation of bonuses. So, for example, either way you will receive a bonus to both health and weapon damage, but one option gives you more of the health and the other gives you more of the weapon damage. However, with biotic powers, this is not always the case and the powers may actually behave substantially differently depending on how you evolve them.

SPOILERIFIC SPOILY SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST SEVERAL HOURS OF GAMEPLAY FOLLOW!

DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE HORRIBLY SPOILED!

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

HIGHLIGHT to view:
You're working for Cerberus, the evil shadowy black-ops organization from the first game's side-quests.

One of your initial squadmates is a hot chick with low self-esteem. (!!!)

You can purchase whimsical little items, like model ships, fish, and even hamsters, to spruce up your quarters on the Normandy.

You scan planets from space to find minerals. You actually have to run your scanner over the entire planet, which can be rather time-consuming.

Shepard is, unsurprisingly, the most famous human in the galaxy. You can actually use this to your advantage, offering endorsements in exchange for discounts.... if your persuasive skills are high enough. Your persuasion does receive a bonus based on your performance in the first game.

You actually DO die at the beginning of the game. The Normandy is destroyed and you save Joker as the rest of the crew (that survived your first playthrough) escape. It's not a cinematic, this sequence is actually part of the gameplay. The way this plays out depends on the way you played the first game. You are ejected into space as the ship explodes but you suffocate because your suit leaks... Cerberus literally resurrects you after a two-year effort. You wake up in the research facility in the middle of a battle.

Very early in the game, you can recruit Garrus and a Salarian scientist.

You do in fact return to the Citadel, but things are different. However, once again, your story choices from the first game carry over. You even get that hatchet-job reporter back. I cold-cocked her.

The Citadel is a lot smaller. It looks expansive, but it doesn't feel expansive anymore. For instance, when you visit Anderson, you simply take the public transit to his office; there's no opportunity to explore the rest of the embassies.

I ran into Helena Blake on Omega, which is kind of like the opposite of the Citadel. It's EXTREMELY hood. It's run by a bossy Asari named Aria who took over the place from its previous boss, an old Krogan. She kept the Krogan around as an advisor--and an example--and everybody calls him the Patriarch.

There are new alien species. So far, one is called the Vorcha and they're bugged out vampire monster lookin dudes whose bodies are basically made of stem cells that adapt in response to specific kinds of trauma. As a result, their society doesn't view the infliction of pain or violence as an immoral thing, because for a Vorcha, suffering nonfatal injuries actually makes you stronger. Their unique biology means that Vorcha can (and will) eat almost anything and are immune to diseases. The Vorcha are subject to racism, and generally regarded as vermin by the other races.

There are many more quarians you encounter in this game. Very early on, you encounter Tali. You have the choice of helping her fulfill her objectives while fulfilling yours, or basically saying 'hug you'.

There is a section of Omega afflicted by a plague. It's been quarantined and mercenary death squads are roaming the streets, killing everybody and setting their corpses on fire. Humans and Vorcha are the only species unaffected by the plague, so the Vorcha are trying to muscle in on the territories formerly controlled by mercenary groups (basically gangs), and humans are either trying to hide or loot their dead alien neighbors. The aliens are blaming the humans for the plague because it doesn't affect us; the fact that it affects every other alien race proves it's not natural, since normally the physiology of the various alien races is so different that they often can't even eat the same kinds of foods or exist in the same kinds of environments without containment suits. The Vorcha are generally considered too unintelligent to make bioweapons.


This post has been edited by Treadshot 2.0: Jan 24 2010, 07:16 PM

[Lizard King]

Vorcha sound really cool

[Esser-Z]

Does Pinnacle Station import? That's the one hugging thing I never finished. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-fire.gif)

[Strafe]

HIGHLIGHT to view:
Very early in the game, you can recruit Garrus and a Salarian scientist.

HIGHLIGHT to view:
Dude can sing!

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-fire.gif)

And yeah, I think I prefer the elevators. Those at least had some playful banter. This game is so thoughtfully crafted and polished.

[Treadshot 2.0]

Does Pinnacle Station import? That's the one hugging thing I never finished. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-fire.gif)

That's the battle arena DLC, right? I never got it, didn't feel like it was really worth the money. But Fall From The Sky definitely DOES import. I'm guessing Pinnacle Station does too.

You don't understand... EVERYTHING you did in the last game is tracked, and at least gets some sort of mention, somewhere. It's kind of freaky. It really, really, REALLY feels like I am continuing MY SPECIFIC Mass Effect game. It's very seamless, other than the subtle changes in gameplay. But from a story perspective, it's probably the most sequelish sequel I've ever played or even imagined playing.

[Esser-Z]

Well, I did EVERYTHING except most of those blasted collection quests and finishing Pinnacle Station (yeah, that DLC), so... woo. This is excellent.


I am incredibly jealous of you, other than the xbox part. I'm probably going to be up late tomorrow evening. Just need to plug in my CD key and install and then I can play...

[Database]

I got Pennicale station, JUST so I could have every possible thing done for when I get ME2. So I hope my house is still there.

[Esser-Z]

I... COULD load a save tonight/tomorrow and finish Pinnacle, actually... I should have one before I went to Ilos... Hmmm

This post has been edited by Esser-Z: Jan 24 2010, 06:12 PM

[Treadshot 2.0]

minor updates to my prior post in both non-spoilers and spoilers.

This post has been edited by Treadshot 2.0: Jan 24 2010, 07:13 PM

[Esser-Z]

Okay, definitely not going back to get the house from Pinnacle Station. My last save pre-Ilos is, uh, five hours pre Ilos.

[shumworld]

You know what sucks is that I have so much crap to take care of that I won't be able to play ME2 until mid Febuary. But dear god I might put all of it on hold after seeing some the trailers. Epecaily the one where...

HIGHLIGHT to view:
Grunt pawned a Thresher-Moah!!!

This post has been edited by shumworld: Jan 25 2010, 08:17 AM