Fight for the Lost - The Mass Effect 2 Thread

Well, it's been 2 years since Sovereign made us pee in our pants. So after all that time, has Bioware come through with flying colors on the invetable sequel to their outer space saga?

The answer is a resounding YES.

There's just too much praise here that I can hardly fill in one post. Whether it's the vastly improved (and HARD! ) combat system, the genuinely thrilling and varied mission based structure, the new NPC companions who are far more interesting than their predecessors (despite some returning ones), the vastly superior graphics... hell I could go on and on. I'll just stop here and say that the game improves upon everything the original was.

Mass Effect 2 is available on Xbox 360 and PC my friends. Get it , play it, love it.

Yep. One of the definite must-haves this year.

Bye
Thanee

I never played ME1 because I don't like shooters AND I'm bad at them (and while it's an RPG, the combat system is a shooter).

Due to my opinion of Dragon Age: Origins (made by the same people), I am borrowing ME2 from someone in a couple weeks (after he's played it to death ).

I'm hoping the "easy" mode will be easy enough for my skill-less self and that the story will be enjoyable enough as a stand alone (i.e. without ME1 foreknowledge, though I did see "IGN's 5-minute recap of ME1's story to get ready for ME2" (or whatever it was called).

After just playing ME1, I appreciate all the subtle nods to it in ME2 (overheard conversations, news items, a few random non-quest NPCs).

I think Metacritic put it well: "Game of Year in January?"

Assembling a dirty-dozen-style team for an impossible mission is, IMO, the most engaging hook to hang an RPG on (tabletop or video game). You don't have to know each other well, and some you won't even like each other, but there's an impossible job to do and you each bring something important to the team.

Since I have some fellow players here, lemme ask some (spoiler-free) questions:

1) In your experiences, how does the aggro seem to be distributed between Shepard and the rest of the team? I have been running into a nasty situation where every enemy seems to concentrate fire on me, ignoring my teammates even when they're closer and moer exposed. Since I'm an infiltrator, that's a problem. I need to use my teammates as meat shields so I can snipe. The tactical cloak breaks the aggro (which actually makes the issue noticable), but the cloack's cooldown and duration are not optimized for consistent usage.

2) Anyone figured out how to make the amount of money you seem to need to be able to make to afford gear and upgrades? I'm still pretty early in the game, but I haven't found any way to make money. There are no loot drops to sell, and the resources I'm gathering from planets don't seem to be sellable either. Maybe something will change later in the game, but right now I'm full of palladium and have no way to sell it.

3) Has anyone gotten to the second disc yet? My biggest concern right now is that the game will turn out to be much shorter than I expect. With ME1, it didn't sink in for me that getting Shepard promoted to spectre is actually the middle of the story, not the beginning (with only three more major missions left over IIRC). Since we (supposedly) have a good amount of DLC coming out, I don't want to crush it over the weekend. With stuff like Risen, FFXIII, and Red Dead on the way, a second playthrough seems unlikely.

May want to spoiler-tag any answers.

I've had to use the 2nd disc, but I don't feel that I'm very far in (level 15). I think that some locations are just on the 2nd disc.

Money hasn't been much of an issue for me, but I imported my level 50 guy from ME 1, which gave me a substantial credits and resources bonus. A level 60 port is supposed to provide even more, as does having the "Rich" achievement from the first game. Completing missions for the organization (you know which one I'm talking about, but I don't want to spoil for those who haven't played it yet) seems to pay the best, credit wise, as they fund the missions. Also, make sure you're hacking wall safes and PDAs, they often have a couple grand in credits on 'em.

Felon said:

I think Metacritic put it well: "Game of Year in January?"

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Heh.

Well, we'll see... there are some big names coming out this year, like StarCraft II.1 or Crysis II. So there is, at least, some competition.

With stuff like Risen, ... on the way, ...

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Risen is only "on the way"? It came out in early october around here (with english language, too). Guess it takes some time to distribute...

Bye
Thanee

Yeah, Risen is delayed. From what I hear, the Xbox version was a huge mess, so maybe they'll have cleaned it up.

I actually did load up from a level 50 character who had the Rich achievement, so I got a nice cash bonus. But I'm still stretched very thin. As of this point, it looks like money is gained in little dribs and drabs by the occasional looting of some box or wall safe.

I've gotten to the second disk. Supposedly, you're not supposed to have to constantly switch back and forth. There's a point where you put in the second disk, and then eventually you swap back. My main concern is that once you have the team assembled, that's it for the primary missions. Wrap up whatever side quests are left over and get your butt to that point-of-no-return that leads you straight into the finale.

Btw, what classes are you guys playing? I've taken up my infiltrator class from ME1. It's FAR more viable now. Indeed, I can scarcely imagine life without a sniper rifle.

Felon said:

Btw, what classes are you guys playing? I've taken up my infiltrator class from ME1. It's FAR more viable now. Indeed, I can scarcely imagine life without a sniper rifle.

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I imported John Shepard, my Soldier, from the first game. And it's pretty sweet to use all those different guns (though I mostly used the assault and sniper rifles ). Finished the game with him (the finale is AWESOME btw). I'm now currently playing with Laura Shepard, my imported female Vanguard. And it's just awesome what Bioware did with that class. The Biotic Charge is my new favorite power.

Oh, may I just add that Jennifer Hale is the best voice actress I've heard in a game? Seriously, while she was good in the ME1 as the female Shepard, she just kicks so much ass in ME2. No offense to Mark Meer (who I think does okay as the Male Shepard), but Hale's delivery just knocks it out of the park every time. The female Shepard just sounds more threatening, more dignified, and definitely more flirty. Excellent work. Really hope she returns in the third installment.

Yes, I was eyeballing the vanguard class with some appetite. Though they all look good, I do want to get into a class that excels at close combat once I'm done with my infiltrator.

The male Shepard's voice lacks inflection. In a sense, it's a relief to have a character whose badassitude is somewhat understated (in contrast to all of the over-the-top butt-kickers out there in gameland), especially since it allows his teammate's personalities to shine. OTOH, he can seem lukewarm at times. Still, "you're working too hard" only works with a deadpan delivery (those who've gotten that far in the game oughta know what I'm talkin' about).

horacethegrey said:

Finished the game with him (the finale is AWESOME btw).

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Finished already, huh? How would you rate the length of the main story? Did you clock at least 50 hours?