Fight for the Lost - The Mass Effect 2 Thread

[stonegod]

Biotics has been rejiggered since ME1 (no more "Lift" and we win button), but the new combos are pretty sweet and make it fun.

 

[horacethegrey]

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.

Be careful with it though. While the Vanguard does excel in close quarters, it can backfire spectacularly if you don't plan your strikes well. Say you pull a biotic charge on one opponent, only to find yourself open to his buddies' fire once you're out of cover.

Back to the subject of voice acting. As I said before, Mark Meer does a good enough job as the Male Shepard, and he does shine in a those few moments where we see how much of a badass Shepard is. But still, it pales in comparison to Jennifer Hale's spectacular turn. I don't think I've been impressed by a performance like this in a video game since... well, ever.

As for the length, well I didn't realy time myself. But I'm guessing 40 to 50 hours. Give or take.

 

[wolff96]

I think there's only one problem with the game: They took out the MAKO because some people didn't like the controls and added Scanning.

The planetary scanning has to be *the* most boring sub-system I have ever come across. Yeah, you can skip most of it if you think you have enough resources... but WOW. For a completionist like me, it's just brutal. SO BORING.

Um, guys? We have a computer aboard for a reason. They don't get bored on routine tasks! Why is the *player* handling the scanning??

Other than that one -- to me, MADDENING -- flaw, I really love ME2 and think they knocked it out of the park. The voice acting is wonderful, some of the quests are spectacular, and the conversations are great. I also like that the characters feel darkier and edgier without (for me, anyway) going over the line to ridiculous.

Bottom line? I can't wait for part 3!

 

[Felon]

I think there's only one problem with the game: They took out the MAKO because some people didn't like the controls and added Scanning.

The planetary scanning has to be *the* most boring sub-system I have ever come across. Yeah, you can skip most of it if you think you have enough resources... but WOW. For a completionist like me, it's just brutal. SO BORING.

Um, guys? We have a computer aboard for a reason. They don't get bored on routine tasks! Why is the *player* handling the scanning??

We have plenty of evidence that in the future you will need humans to prime computers to perform tasks.

Reminds me of a couple of times Stargate SG-1 took a shot at Star Trek.

Danielle Jackson (at the helm of the Prometheus): "OK, I guess you should prepare to fire on my command."

Weapons Officer: "For the record, I'm always prepared to fire. I just have to push this button here."

Seriously though, they're trying to make it a mingame, and with the millions of people out there playing Farmville and Mafia Wars, I gotta say that the threshhold for monotonous utterly repetitive games seems to be pretty high. I think the big problem with the scanning is that there needs to be more of a slot machine feel to it. You need to discover a little more variety of stuff, like you do when you're playing Civilization. If you could occasionally discover some collectable, it would be a lot more addictive (kinda like doing jobs in Mafia Wars, I suppose).

 

[stonegod]

Finished my first playthrough. Grand, a bit surprising, and a bit sad.[sblock=Spoilers Ahoy! I Mean It!]Upgraded the Normandy and did everyone's loyalty missions. My Paragon FemShep had a relationship with Liara in ME1 and (1) wasn't interested in Thrane, (2) thought of Jacob as a bud, and (3) saw Garrus as a protegé so not going there! Thus, no romance, just a scene of looking at L's picture wistfully.

Survived the O-4 Relay, watched Chambers get juiced by the Collectors, and for some reason I cannot fathom lost Mollus when he defended the back door with everyone I didn't take to fight the BBBBEG. Got to figure that out so I get me an achievement![/sblock]Now for round two! Renegade, here I come!

 

[renau1g]

One thing I've noticed is the PbP boards got a lot quieter since this came out... and with Bioshock 2 soon (next week right?) don't expect it to get better soon...hoping to pick it up in a couple months when Christmas stuff's all paid off.

 

[fba827]

okay so i'm borrowing this game from my cousin for a little bit just try give it a try.

I'm trying it a little and so far it's obvious that I suck at this game (i'm not coordinated enough for shooter combats). Having said that, I picked Sentinel. Is there another class I should restart as that might be easier to manage? Or (in terms of control scheme!) it's more or less the same, the difference comes in abilities?

I pretty much find myself just sticking to one gun, though I am trying to get in the habit of switching to a different gun when I see someone big and scarey. And then just trying to aim and fire ...

i do like seeing the biotic powers in action though, but don't know if being that class would be much easier ...

yeah, i know, this game isn't for me, but i'm still giving it a try -- so any thoughts that might make it easier for me?

 

[Felon]

okay so i'm borrowing this game from my cousin for a little bit just try give it a try.

I'm trying it a little and so far it's obvious that I suck at this game (i'm not coordinated enough for shooter combats). Having said that, I picked Sentinel. Is there another class I should restart as that might be easier to manage? Or (in terms of control scheme!) it's more or less the same, the difference comes in abilities?

I pretty much find myself just sticking to one gun, though I am trying to get in the habit of switching to a different gun when I see someone big and scarey. And then just trying to aim and fire ...

i do like seeing the biotic powers in action though, but don't know if being that class would be much easier ...

yeah, i know, this game isn't for me, but i'm still giving it a try -- so any thoughts that might make it easier for me?

Well, there are two basic types of attacks in ME: weapon attacks and power attacks. Weapon attacks require real-time aiming while with powers you just need to make sure you have line of sight (and many powers don't even have that problem, as they can wrap around or ignore cover). So, focusing on powers minimizes the importance of twitch skills.

The next thing you have to figure out is if you're going to lead from the front or the rear. Consider that in ME only Shepard can heal and revive teammates. If a teammate goes down, you bring them back up. If you go down, you reload from your last save. Logic would seem to indicate that you should try to delegate the role of meat shield to someone else, unless you enjoy the added challenge of having to suffer a lot of point-blank attacks and looking over your shoulder to find your team. Of course, there is also a third option many players avail themselves of: don't lead at all, just let the AI do whatever it wants to do with your squad. Not recommended.

The Sentinel is considered by players and intended by design to be the trickiest class to pull off. The tech armor makes it the toughest class to take down, and it has options that apply against all types of enemies, but what it doesn't have is a strong offense. So, make sure you learn what your teammates can do because you really rely on them to contribute damage.

Some general advice that I've gleaned from bitter failure:

1) Learn how to give orders with the D-pad. In minor skirmishes with a few minions, practice this by staying back and watching them execute your orders. Pressing D-forward makes them both attack the enemy you have targeted, pressing D-left and D-right directs them to move or attack individually, and pressing D-backward releases them from your previous commands and calls them back to your general position.

2) Use the power wheel button early and often. It's not like calling a time out in football; you're not using anything up by pausing the game. When you start taking fire from an unknown direction, don't break cover and start running around like a headless chicken. Pause and find all the enemies. Note that you can (and should) use the D-pad commands while pausing with the wheel.

3) Those little colored bars that show up when you target an enemy mean something. A red bar indicates health (just regular ol' hit points). Any other color indicates additional defenses: armor (yellow), shield (blue), purple (barrier. You have to deplete these defenses before you can start attacking their health. An enemy with armor, shields, or a barrier is also going to be resistant to some weapons and immune to some types of powers. A sentinel excels at stripping away shields (with Overload) and barriers (with Warp).

4) Squadmates with ammo powers can provide the entire team with that ammo's benefits once they get 4 ranks in the power. Cryo and incendiary ammo are good things to have access to.

As far as switching classes to one that requires less coordination, that's probably going to be adept or engineer. They use the power wheel more than weapons.

 

[Felon]

Finished my first playthrough. Grand, a bit surprising, and a bit sad. Upgraded the Normandy and did everyone's loyalty missions. My Paragon FemShep had a relationship with Liara in ME1 and (1) wasn't interested in Thrane, (2) thought of Jacob as a bud, and (3) saw Garrus as a protegé so not going there! Thus, no romance, just a scene of looking at L's picture wistfully.

I finished my first playthrough as well. What a blast!
[sblock=Spoilers]
I lost Zaeed when I put him in charge of the distraction team. Zaeed is a bit of a dirtbag, and it's not like you ever get attached to him, but I do want that 75 point Achievement. I think the lesson here is that having a distraction team will cost you the leader but give you more breathing room in the mission. I'll see after reloading from my save. I'll try banging Tali too while I'm at it, more out of grotesque curiosity than anything else).
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[horacethegrey]

I finished my first playthrough as well. What a blast!
[sblock=Spoilers]
I lost Zaeed when I put him in charge of the distraction team. Zaeed is a bit of a dirtbag, and it's not like you ever get attached to him, but I do want that 75 point Achievement. I think the lesson here is that having a distraction team will cost you the leader but give you more breathing room in the mission. I'll see after reloading from my save. I'll try banging Tali too while I'm at it, more out of grotesque curiosity than anything else).
[/sblock]

Er...
[sblock=Spoilers]
You don't necessarily have to lose anyone by picking them to lead the distraction team. Miranda or Garrus can lead the team just fine without losing their heads.
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