Mass Effect: A Primer on Making Hot Alien Love

[Jarred]

So Mass Effect has been out a week now, so how is everyone doing with this one?

I'm playing as an sole-surviving Earthborn Vanguard, taking the Parragon route most of the time with a little Renegade thrown in for good measure. Gotta charm the ladies and smack down the brats when necessary. :D

As far as the world goes, I love it. Great, classic sci-fi space opera with interesting planet and race histories and rich character backgrounds to explore. You can spend hours upon hours going over all the codex articles you find while in The Citadel at the beginning of the game. The game also gives you good enough motivation to get out there and explore some of the planets out there, albeit some are less enjoyable than others. You'll have to spend the first few hours learning the game and world, but after you leave the Citadel it opens right up and everything is there to explore.

Love the art direction and cinematic feel, just wish the framerate could keep up and screen tearing wasn't so common. It doesn't detract me from the experience on a whole, but during those slow times or lonely trots down a barren hallway it kind of bugs me. Hope to see some patches to improve this over its life-cycle.

I really dig the combat, but it took awhile for it to click with me. There are no tutorials, so you do have to sink or swim at the beginning. I died plenty of times in the first mission, but each time I realized, "Oh, that's what I should have done!!", and I nailed it on the retry. I kept trying to play the game really fast like a shooter, but realized it's all about the slow battle--take cover and fire/use biotics when you see your opening.

I also found that I don't like to micromanage my squad members, at all. I give them free reign, with only a couple direction hints here and there, and the AI is smart enough to know what to do (cover, shoot, throw, etc). In fact, at the level I'm at now, my Asari squad member is good at lifting guys in the air for me to shoot down. If I start micromanaging every move and level-up, I feel like I'm being taken out of the excitement of the battles; having to pause every couple seconds to choose a biotic or weapon for everyone.

Also, save often, as the auto-saves are spread out a bit. And always save after a long dialog sequence, as it's a pain to repeat it. I also would recommend picking up Liara right after leaving the Citadel, as her biotic powers will help out quite a bit.

So what are everyone else's thoughts? I dig the game quite a bit and am already thinking about how I'll play through it the 2nd time (about 15 hours in so far, at Noveria).

[Magic_Knight]

I got this game in on Saturday and have played it for about 5 hours so far and am still in the Citadel (just became a spectre). I'm really liking it though I haven't gotten too far. The graphics are incredible. The detail on the character's faces, the alien and ship designs, as well as the environments look awesome. Plus all the voiced dialogue is incredibly well done. The talking scenes and cut scenes look great. Wow, very impressed. It's also got a great story and I'm loving the sci-fi theme. The only thing I don't like is the frame rate and screen tearing (bleh!), but other than that the game is great so far.

[Jarred]

What character class and background are you playing with? I'm curious on others experiences with the different classes in battle and how they work.

[Skywise]

I want this game, but no way am I buying an xbox360 for it *sigh*. I guess I'll just have to wait and hope for either a PC or PS3 port.

How would you compare it to KotOR 1 & 2?

[Jarred]

How would you compare it to KotOR 1 & 2?
Unfortunately I didn't play those, although if they pop up as Xbox Originals for download I'm all over them.

The sentiment I seem to gather from everyone who did play the KOTOR games is that if you liked KOTOR, you'll definitely enjoy this.

[Magic_Knight]

I am a Vangaurd and I chose "Earthborn" and "War Hero" as my past. I am hoping to play much more over the next few days, I've just been so busy these past few that I haven't been able to play the game as much as I liked. So I'll have much more to say later I think.

When you were going after Fist, and you got to one of his bodygaurds in his room, did you have Rex in your group? Rex shot him in my game, I'm guessing he wouldn't have died if you didn't have Rex in your active party?

[Jarred]

When you were going after Fist, and you got to one of his bodygaurds in his room, did you have Rex in your group? Rex shot him in my game, I'm guessing he wouldn't have died if you didn't have Rex in your active party?
Oooh, good point! I also had Rex, figured it was his job to help me with. :D I'd be interested in knowing that as well, and would we then have gotten the intel for the news reporter?

[indigo0086]

How would you compare it to KotOR 1 & 2?

Different. While KotOR wasn't that great in my opinion because of the boring story and long boring levels, if I were to Compare it with KotOR 1 I would say Mass Effect is a more refined version of their role playing engine. I'm not sure if people will be copying it in the future because it's just really good dialogue and storyline, but I think it's a great version of what they plan for their hybrid RPGs.

The battle is tons better as I like to be able to manage my squad and fight one to one but the fact that the AI isn't that great (shoots at walls, shotguns enemies too far away to have effect, etc) puts some negative points there. I don't think it's anything that a patch can't fix. The storyline is pretty long and the sidequests are essentially canon fodder as they just add to smaller stories but you don't really get much for the smaller ones.

It's a different universe, and while the story unravels you get the feeling that there's a lot of stuff that could be improved and refined further as the series moves.

[pathos]

When you were going after Fist, and you got to one of his bodygaurds in his room, did you have Rex in your group? Rex shot him in my game, I'm guessing he wouldn't have died if you didn't have Rex in your active party?
Oooh, good point! I also had Rex, figured it was his job to help me with. :D I'd be interested in knowing that as well, and would we then have gotten the intel for the news reporter?

He only dies if you have Wrex in the party. But, there are no Paragon points to be made, and no long term benifits that I know of, so the only change is a cutscene.

I played my first time through as a Spaceborn Warhero Infiltrator, and went the pure Paragon route. Just finished the game up Sunday. Great game. Think it took something like 30 hours to finish, and that was doing alot of the side quests (but not all).

I considered the story and voice acting very good. There was a few places in the game I where I winced at the voice acting and directorial decisions though.

I started the game a second time, this time with Earthborn Renegade Soldier, and going pure renegade. Some of the renegade scenes have already made me laugh several times. I'm not sure if I'll ever finish this playthrough though, since there isn't a pressing need to play now that I've finished it once already.

As far as comparing this to jade empire or kotr, they are quite similar, and different all at the same time. Biggest difference is probably combat. But, even then, its still similar. Hard to describe I suppose.

Where je and kotr were both mostly melee focused, ME is more ranged centric. I think most of the differences are probably based on that.

[Finlaysonl]

Infiltrator/Spacer/Sole Survivor

Only major complaint, I think, is the sidequests...really feels like quantity took precedence over quality.

[Jarred]

I considered the story and voice acting very good. There was a few places in the game I where I winced at the voice acting and directorial decisions though.

Like the end of Noveria, with the death of Benezia? Yeah, that scene made me wince, although the bit afterwards with the Queen Racchni was much better and washed that previous effort away.

Regarding the sidequests, I just did the Privateers one last night and it ended up being almost the exact same as a previous "infiltrate the hostage compound" mission. When I entered the building, I thought I was accidentally doing something I already finished. It was 98% the exact same layout!!

I am having trouble with one of the side-quests, the one that takes place on a rogue ship full of biotic terrorists. Has anyone tried this and could offer any tips? Whenever I try to go in, the biotics overwhelm my squad and we get annihilated.

[pathos]

Like the end of Noveria, with the death of Benezia? Yeah, that scene made me wince, although the bit afterwards with the Queen Racchni was much better and washed that previous effort away.

Hehe, that was exactly the first one I winced at.


I am having trouble with one of the side-quests, the one that takes place on a rogue ship full of biotic terrorists. Has anyone tried this and could offer any tips? Whenever I try to go in, the biotics overwhelm my squad and we get annihilated.

Well, I can't say there were to many spots in the game that gave me much trouble. There were some exceptions (like those star wars worms that you randomly hit while driving around your mako, among others).

I don't remember that one right offhand though. There were at least 2 sets of bionics nuts I had to take out. Even though they would knock me around some, they didnt do to much damage to me.

Probably helped that after charm, i went nuts with pistol, armor, and infiltrator/spectre skills, which means in combat I was pretty tough.

My tech skills left much to be desired though.

[Jarred]

I think my problem was that I tried to go to that ship right after leaving the Citadel for the first time, so I wasn't leveled-up enough. I'm now close to level 20 (I think), so I'll try again and see what happens. Hell, I survived the ambush of Asari Commando chicks throwin' me around like a ragdoll. :D

[indigo0086]

He only dies if you have Wrex in the party.


Not true, if you don't have wrex you can still kill Fist after getting hte info on Tali and you get paragon points.

[Magic_Knight]

He only dies if you have Wrex in the party.


Not true, if you don't have wrex you can still kill Fist after getting hte info on Tali and you get paragon points.

I believe we are talking about Rex killing one of Fist's men in Fist's room in the cut scene, not killing Fist himself.

[Skywise]

How would you compare it to KotOR 1 & 2?

Different. While KotOR wasn't that great in my opinion because of the boring story and long boring levels, if I were to Compare it with KotOR 1 I would say Mass Effect is a more refined version of their role playing engine. I'm not sure if people will be copying it in the future because it's just really good dialogue and storyline, but I think it's a great version of what they plan for their hybrid RPGs.

I *liked* the long story and levels. You felt like you got a decent amount of play time for the money, and the replay value was great too. If Mass Effect is that much shorter, that's a big minus in my book.

[Jarred]

I'm at 15 hours and judging by the walkthroughs, I think I am around 40% done (maybe a little less if I include ALL the sidequests left). So that gives you an idea on length. It's no Oblivion, but it feels long to me and the length is up to what you want out of it.

[pathos]

I think my problem was that I tried to go to that ship right after leaving the Citadel for the first time, so I wasn't leveled-up enough. I'm now close to level 20 (I think), so I'll try again and see what happens. Hell, I survived the ambush of Asari Commando chicks throwin' me around like a ragdoll. :D

Hrm, that could be it. I think I was either 19 or 20 before I ever left the citedel the first time, and then I went and got the Asari (name escaping me right now) before I did anything else.

[indigo0086]

How would you compare it to KotOR 1 & 2?

Different. While KotOR wasn't that great in my opinion because of the boring story and long boring levels, if I were to Compare it with KotOR 1 I would say Mass Effect is a more refined version of their role playing engine. I'm not sure if people will be copying it in the future because it's just really good dialogue and storyline, but I think it's a great version of what they plan for their hybrid RPGs.

I *liked* the long story and levels. You felt like you got a decent amount of play time for the money, and the replay value was great too. If Mass Effect is that much shorter, that's a big minus in my book.

I meant KotOR 2. KotOR 1 was awesome.

I'm on my second runthrough as a Vanguard on Hardcore. Going to try to reach level 50 or so and get as much as possible.

[Johnny]

Finally started into this last night and have played for a bit this morning. My first thoughts are that it's fucking massive as promised, and that it's completely overwhelming in terms of the options you have of where to travel, what to do, how to level up your character, how the controls work and so on.
Not a complaint really, just that the sense of scale here is very impressive.

Can't really say too much else as I'm only 3 or so hours into it but I can see this one lasting me for quite a while.

[Jarred]

I'm at 40 hours and right at the endgame. I managed to get the Completionist achievement, as well as completed my romantic subplot--with huge success! :D I've unlocked a few of the tech/biotic use achievements as well, but it looks like I won't hit level 50 until my second playthrough (you can use your same character). I'm currently at 47/48, so it will be close.

Out of the 4 main Saren missions, I liked Feros and Virmire the most. Feros had that awesome gritty, post-apocalyptic look to it and the final battle was a blast. Virmire just pulled together a lot of great emotional moments that elevated the story. The ruins at Ilos though were definitely the most stunning setting in the game.

[Fencedude]

NECRO BUMP!

Anyway, I started this today, decided on a female Vanguard, answers to the name "Leika".

Haven't really gotten anywhere, I just started up and then saved and quit since I have some other things to do, did do a few conversations, the conversation structure is interesting.

Anyway, is the game supposed to be grainy as all get out? Because its really grainy.

[DiGiKerot]

Anyway, is the game supposed to be grainy as all get out? Because its really grainy.

Yeah, the grains deliberate. I'm pretty sure the option exists to turn it off somewhere, but I ultimately decided that the game looked better with it on.

[Fencedude]

Anyway, is the game supposed to be grainy as all get out? Because its really grainy.

Yeah, the grains deliberate. I'm pretty sure the option exists to turn it off somewhere, but I ultimately decided that the game looked better with it on.

Ok, just wanted to make sure.

And thanks for the advice about installing, makes a huge difference. I couldn't believe how loud the 360 really is.

But I'm definitely going to have to get a Larger HD. 20 Gigs just isn't going to cut it.

[DiGiKerot]

But I'm definitely going to have to get a Larger HD. 20 Gigs just isn't going to cut it.

I'm sure you can appreciate why the new model 360's having a new, redesigned, "Whisper quiet" disk drive is a big deal now :sweat:

But, yeah, the 20gb drives stopped cutting it as soon at they introduced the installation feature (particularly given mine also had gig's of iM@S catalogue packs on it). Without the disk spinning up, I don't really find the 360 any noticeably louder than my (US 60GB) PS3. Just a shame 360 HDs are rather overpriced.

[Fencedude]

Maybe this is bad, but playing this, all I can think is that it should be called "Star Ocean: SERIOUS BUSINESS"

[Fencedude]

Well, granting XP for holding conversations is certainly one way to make sure people talk to everyone.

And turning off the grain made things much, much better.

[zerok]

And turning off the grain made things much, much better.

It was the same for me when I played through it, something about the grain just bugged me.

[frijoles]

Mass Effect on sale today for $5 on Steam. (http://store.steampowered.com/sale/ea_week)

[Fencedude]

Finally getting back to this, now that DQ8 and Transformers are finished up.

Still on the Citadel, just running around talking to people and being a general busy-body. But I've managed to level up twice just by talking (and having one totally random shoot-out).

Also been scanning the keepers, curious to see what that leads to.

[Fencedude]

Ok Bioware, introducing three separate new party members, in three separate events that are like, 15 minutes apart from each other, at most, is just really lazy. Especially when one of them is basically "You are a vicious bounty hunter I have just met and who's goals coincide with mine on this one event simply because you were hired by someone else. Wanna join up?" Yeah.

Anyway, at least I finally got myself a Turian (who is, of course, awesome, as all Turians are) and a not bitchy female squad member (seriously I can't stand Ashley). Also Tali is awesome and adorable. Well, I don't know if adorable is really the right term, but hearing her veritably squeeing over the Normandy's engines was awesome.

I really like Tali.

And now I'm about to head to...somewhere and presumably pick up my blue-skinned space lesbian.

[broodwars]

I picked up both Mass Effect 1 and 2 last week, though they're on the backburner till I get through Tales of Vesperia. I did play through a little Mass Effect just to get the feel for it, and I kind of have to agree with Yahtzee: the game's exceptional when it comes time to talk to people. When it comes time to actually fight...yeah, not so much. I am really looking forward to getting into it, and have already downloaded that $1 DLC mission for ME 1 and all the free Cerberus Network stuff for ME2.

Just a general question about that DLC, actually: if you have that stuff installed before the point in the game where you can use it, how does the game alert you to it being available? Do any of the DLC missions become unavailable after a certain period of time has passed in either game? I know Mass Effect 2 punishes you for taking your time when you reach the End Game, but I don't know about Mass Effect 1.

[Skywise]

Mass Effect 1 comes to a certain point where you can start the final quest to finish the game, and well, doesn't really tell you that. There's no time limit though, so it's recommended to do all the side missions first if you want to do them, before you continue the main quest line.

[frijoles]

Just a general question about that DLC, actually: if you have that stuff installed before the point in the game where you can use it, how does the game alert you to it being available?

You will be given assignments right away via the message terminal along with
the rest of your missions.


Do any of the DLC missions become unavailable after a certain period of time has passed in either game? I know Mass Effect 2 punishes you for taking your time when you reach the End Game, but I don't know about Mass Effect 1.

The missions become unavailable only after you complete them, and you
can do them after the final boss mission. I'm not sure what you mean by punishing you for taking your time. I took my time and did just about everything you could do before going on that final mission. I managed to
keep all my team members as well.

[Fencedude]

Well, the Thorian sure was an interesting boss fight.

Anyway, did Feros, making two story missions down, one to go. Before I went to Feros I got up to level 23 doing random side missions and the like, a number of which ended up being harder than Feros was.

The Mako controls like...I'm not sure what it controls like, other than its something bad.

Also the romance options in this game are terrible. Kaiden is boring as all get out, Ashley is, to be frank, a racist bitch, and Liara, while the best of the lot is very...uhh...flighty. I didn't really expect her to be flighty. But she's also really eager. Very strange combination.

Why can't I romance Tali? ;_; I know she's an option for male Shepards in ME2, not that that helps me, but its something to keep in mind if I play again

Since I'm done with Feros, I plan on spending some more time doing sidequests, then moving on with the main plot.

(and Shiala popping out of that Thorian pod right in front of you once you defeated it sure was convenient, wasn't it?)

[broodwars]

After a few days of playing the first Open World Naruto game (which is surprisingly good), I haven't really been in the mood to play the anime-esque Vesperia so I jumped back into Mass Effect 1 and made some good progress. I've just acquired the Normandy and am about to set off to start the game for real and explore the galaxy. I'm kind of reticent to move out quite yet, because I'm still missing 3 Keeper scans back in the Citadel and I can't find them anywhere.

So far, I really like the game, particularly the conversation sequences (which thankfully make up 95% of the game so far). The voice acting is just spot on and the writing's quite good. My party members are a bit of a mixed bag, though. I find my 2 human party members to be pretty bland, easily outclassed by all 3 of the alien party members so far (especially Garra and Tali). I'm quickly finding my favorite pairing to be Shepard; Garra; and Tali just for the way they play off each other. The problem is that that lineup is not the least balanced and I fear I'd screw myself over using it: it's tech-heavy pretty much to the exclusion of combat and biotics. Hmmm...

Speaking of the combat, it really is horrible and I really don't appreciate that this game uses the MegaTen rules for MC death. Often times my Shepard will be badly hurt, but the game won't let me heal the damage because I had to use a healing pack earlier and I'm still in Cooldown. I'll run around looking for something to take cover on to no avail, because this game's cover system only works when it wants to, and some thug will kill me and send me back to my last save point. And even though I can put points into an AI character's healing stat, I've never seen them ever heal me or anyone else. I'm really looking forward to the combat in Mass Effect 2, which supposedly fixes the gunplay.

Partially because of it and partially because my Shepard is a Jedi in disguise, I've put as many points in Charm as possible at every opportunity. I figure that puts the focus on the game's strong point (the talking) and away from its weak point (the gameplay).

[Fencedude]

What class did you chose?

I chose Vanguard, so Shepard/Garrus/Tali is balanced pretty well, one Biotics user is enough I've found. I occasionally swap out Garrus for Wrex, just for variety. I'd never bring Liara unless I don't expect much combat, and both Ashley and Kaiden are staying on the damn ship for the rest of the game if I can manage it. Especially Kaiden. Ashley's a bitch, but at least she can fight.

[Fencedude]

Speaking of the combat, it really is horrible and I really don't appreciate that this game uses the MegaTen rules for MC death. Often times my Shepard will be badly hurt, but the game won't let me heal the damage because I had to use a healing pack earlier and I'm still in Cooldown. I'll run around looking for something to take cover on to no avail, because this game's cover system only works when it wants to, and some thug will kill me and send me back to my last save point. And even though I can put points into an AI character's healing stat, I've never seen them ever heal me or anyone else. I'm really looking forward to the combat in Mass Effect 2, which supposedly fixes the gunplay.

Oh yeah, this.

Save. Constantly. Use all save slots (there's like a dozen or so) and rotate through them. Save before you do anything. If you finish a battle, save again. etc etc.

I am amused that this game follows "leader dies game over" because I distinctly remember a bunch of people whining about it in FFXIII while simultaneously going on about how Mass Effect does a number of other things better. I think its pretty justified in both (even more so in ME), but its also far more of an issue in ME than in say, FFXIII.

[broodwars]

What class did you chose?

My Shepard's a Sentinel, though the Vanguard class was tempting. The Sentinel class, though, seem geared towards my style of play from the Knights of the Old Republic games: a lot of "Force" powers, but a focus on charming an enemy into a peaceful resolution (aka he's a Jedi). So far I've been pretty underwhelmed by my Shepard's Tech and Biotics powers.

[Fencedude]

What class did you chose?

My Shepard's a Sentinel, though the Vanguard class was tempting. The Sentinel class, though, seem geared towards my style of play from the Knights of the Old Republic games: a lot of "Force" powers, but a focus on charming an enemy into a peaceful resolution (aka he's a Jedi). So far I've been pretty underwhelmed by my Shepard's Tech and Biotics powers.

Oooh...yeah, thats a problem. The "mage" classes aren't very good in this game.

Honestly I kinda wish I'd just gone with the straight soldier class.

[christianlf]

Oooh...yeah, thats a problem. The "mage" classes aren't very good in this game.

Honestly I kinda wish I'd just gone with the straight soldier class.

Huh, really? I used a Vanguard, and my team of Liara and Garrus (basically two biotic heavy characters and one soldier) pretty much wrecked everything they encountered. The game got to a point where I barely had to do anything they were so effective. ME2 suffered from the same issue actually. I thought the mage characters were rather unbalanced personally.

[broodwars]

I've made quite a lot of progress now, once I finally got that last Keeper in the Citadel (nice, Bioware...the reason I kept missing it is because there's a bug where it randomly vanishes) and cleared out a few remaining quests back in the Citadel. I've recruited my last party member, and in a spectacular series of fight scenes managed to save an entire human colony from being forced to watch Bruce Willis' "Armageddon." Unfortunately, the terrorist responsible for this dastardly deed got away, probably to annoy me some more in Mass Effects 2/3. I did get an awesome Omni-Tool out of it, though. I'm currently back home on "our moon" dealing with a minor VI problem, though from the looks of my first sad attempt to barge in I might be under-leveled.

It took quite a long time, but I think I finally have the hang of the combat system. Oh, it still sucks alright, but as you level-up and get better weapons and abilities it becomes a lot more manageable. Besides Bethesda not wanting to test around it, I don't understand why you can't save in the midst of combat. The last combat sequence on that asteroid really tested my patience, as I must have had to do that fight around a dozen times because the fight drags on for something like 15 minutes and if Shepard just happens to die you have to start at least that fight all over again. Bleh.

Similarly, it also took me quite a long time but I think I've actually developed an appreciation for the MACO. The thing controls really weirdly; has tin foil for armor; and has incredibly wonky aiming, but after using it for a few hours it's really not that bad. The whole trick to using the thing in combat is just to stick with the missiles because the machine gun's practically worthless. Even if it hits anything, it does barely any damage. The MACO's surprisingly nimble, too, and its jumping ability has often been my salvation (especially for jumping over missiles flying right at you). It's easy to see why they cut it out of Mass Effect 2, though.

[Fencedude]

I'm a little annoyed at how the MAKO can climb almost everything. You'll be climbing near-vertical cliffs with little difficulty, then all of a sudden you'll come across one you just can't get up. Very obnoxious.

[broodwars]

Did a lot more just running around doing side quests and exploring planetary systems till the sheer tedium just got to me (there's so much copy & paste design in this game that it's starting to feel like Fallout 3 had more unique areas, and that's saying something). I decided to resume the story, so I'm now on Novaria about halfway through the mission with Garra and the Asari. I would rather have not brought her along, but well...the game strongly hinted I should. Thankfully, the game's getting a lot easier as I go along and the deaths are getting much more rare.

btw, does no one sell armor for Tali? I've only ever gotten one other piece of armor for her, and the discrepancy between her and the other party members is really starting to show on it.

[Fencedude]

btw, does no one sell armor for Tali? I've only ever gotten one other piece of armor for her, and the discrepancy between her and the other party members is really starting to show on it.

I've found two, currently she's wearing a white/orange armor.

[Fencedude]

I just did the Asteroid X57 DLC mission, and at the end you can choose between several armors (or an Omni-tool), I chose the Quarian armor, and now Tali has an awesome 60 DEF 225 Shield jet black armor.

[broodwars]

I just did the Asteroid X57 DLC mission, and at the end you can choose between several armors (or an Omni-tool), I chose the Quarian armor, and now Tali has an awesome 60 DEF 225 Shield jet black armor.

Yeah, I chose the Omni-Tool from that mission, which has pretty awesome stats. I didn't know that Quarian armor was going to be so rare and that it was even available in the DLC, but I think I made the right choice anyway. In the grand scheme of things, I can bring Tali back from the dead anytime I want with Unity. If I go down, it's Game Over.

[Fencedude]

Whew. Played basically all day and night.

Currently level 46, just finished Noveria. Have done a large number of the sidequests (mostly done with Pinnacle Station, but I got kinda tired of it).

Decided to save the Rachni Queen, because I'm awesome and nice like that. In fact, I'm so nice I've maxed out the Paragon meter.

[broodwars]

Whew. Played basically all day and night.

Currently level 46, just finished Noveria. Have done a large number of the sidequests (mostly done with Pinnacle Station, but I got kinda tired of it).

Decided to save the Rachni Queen, because I'm awesome and nice like that. In fact, I'm so nice I've maxed out the Paragon meter.

I'm pretty much where you are, although I'm only Level 35 and I'm not bothering with Pinnacle Station since it's only a time trial combat thing. I also decided to save the Queen, everyone else's opinions (except Liara, oddly enough) be damned. I've also done a couple of (what you could describe as) my crew's loyalty missions, and got a good Light Armor for Tali in the process. Yeah, I'm annoyed that basically my best romance in this game is the human soldier, because I don't care for her very much (even though her views on other races make sense given her family history) and I think I already turned her down. I guess my Shepard's saving himself for Mass Effect 2, where he'll finally be able to romance Tali.

I seem to be approaching the End Game now. I've done 2 planets now (Novaria and the one where you acquire Liara), my Side Quests are drying up, and it seems like I've been nearly everywhere you can go in this galaxy. Despite that, though, according to my Journal I have quite a lot of minerals and trinkets to find. I swear as I go along the game's creating solar systems in sectors I've already been in, which is annoying.

Speaking of sidequests, the one involving Cerberus was pretty lame considering the role they play in the second Mass Effect. I get the feeling my decision to tell the information broker to shove up is going to come back to haunt me in the next game, though. Incidentally, do we ever see any closure to the story from the 80 Microsoft Space Bucks DLC mission (the one with the asteroid)? I didn't realize at the time I did it that that was a DLC mission, so I have to wonder if that quest will be followed up on in Mass Effect 2.

[Fencedude]

Despite that, though, according to my Journal I have quite a lot of minerals and trinkets to find. I swear as I go along the game's creating solar systems in sectors I've already been in, which is annoying.

Have you been getting all the minerals on the planets? I fininished that up long ago. There are generally 2 or 3 minerals on each planet. There are far more minerals than you need to complete the quest.

[broodwars]

Despite that, though, according to my Journal I have quite a lot of minerals and trinkets to find. I swear as I go along the game's creating solar systems in sectors I've already been in, which is annoying.

Have you been getting all the minerals on the planets? I fininished that up long ago. There are generally 2 or 3 minerals on each planet. There are far more minerals than you need to complete the quest.

I go to every spot marked on my map every time I land on a planet (and any that don't show up on my map but show up on the mini-map), and I'm still missing 5-10 of each of the mineral types (I do have all the gasses). I still have several sectors I haven't covered yet so there's still time, but it's kind of odd how many minerals I still have yet to get considering how few sectors I have left.

Money is also surprisingly a complete and total joke in this game. I didn't even have to try to get the 1,000,000 credit achievement (which will pay off in Mass Effect 2) given all the crap they dump on you every time you land on a planet.

[Fencedude]

Money is also surprisingly a complete and total joke in this game. I didn't even have to try to get the 1,000,000 credit achievement (which will pay off in Mass Effect 2) given all the crap they dump on you every time you land on a planet.

No kidding. Especially considering how tight it is early on.

[Fencedude]

No kidding. Especially considering how tight it is early on.

Money maxes out at 9,999,999, btw. Which is silly.

Also, it turns out that Sovereign is played by the same guy who plays Soundwave in War for Cybertron.

...and its really obvious.

[broodwars]

No kidding. Especially considering how tight it is early on.

Money maxes out at 9,999,999, btw. Which is silly.

Also, it turns out that Sovereign is played by the same guy who plays Soundwave in War for Cybertron.

...and its really obvious.

That's rather appropriate since the Admiral of the 5th Fleet is so obviously Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime).

And incidentally, I forgot to mention this earlier but I really enjoyed killing Diana Trois, especially after she did one of her patented "oh, my head is screaming!" whining fits.

[Fencedude]

And incidentally, I forgot to mention this earlier but I really enjoyed killing Diana Trois, especially after she did one of her patented "oh, my head is screaming!" whining fits.

Hah! Yeah, that was pretty amusing.

When fighting her I used lift and shot her while she was floating in the air, and her body landed on top of the Rachni Queen's tank. I found that very amusing.

[Fencedude]

And as per the title of this thread, I have, infact, made hot alien love.

Yay?

[Fencedude]

Ok, THAT was fucking awesome.

Major spoilers!

The conduit is the freaking Mass Relay statue in the Citadel! And you warp the Mako through hyperspace! Thats awesome!

The reveals on Ilos were pretty awesome as well. Except for two consecutive glitches that cost me an hour of progress...

[Fencedude]

And done!

I decided to save the council, and appointed Captain Anderson as Humanity's representative

Took me a bit over 40 hours, and hit level 50 well before the end. I also had very nearly 300 saves.

I don't plan on moving on to ME2 quite yet (for one, I don't have it yet), but will be doing that at some point.

[broodwars]

I'm about halfway through the 3rd planet story mission, where the Geth are openly assaulting this colony and I'm storming into this corporate building to stop them. One thing's for sure: the Sentinel class may be extremely weak at the beginning of the game, but my Shepard's a real powerhouse at this point in the game. I've done all my party members' loyalty missions (or what passes for them in this game), and it looks like my Shepard's reluctantly going to hook up with Ashely (who I would say is more distrustful than racist, and it has more to do with her family history than hatred). Thankfully, one way or another the statute of limitations ("Till Death do we part" and all, heh) with her and Shepard should expire before Tali is available in Mass Effect 2. ^_-

At this point, I'm just ready for this game to end. The MAKO segments are so mind-numbing and the story missions so long that the game kind of feels like it's dragging now. I want to move on to Mass Effect 2 now.

Incidentally, today I went and pre-ordered the CD audiobooks for the 3 Mass Effect books (2 for ME1 and 1 for ME2 that hasn't been released yet). I'll let you know if they're any good.

[broodwars]

And...done! Wow, those last few sequences were pretty epic, as was the ending (Male Paragon Sentinel, who made the Paragon decision at the end of the game). Hell, even the romance scene with Ashley was actually handled pretty well and timed appropriately for the story (unlike the KOTR games, you don't just press a button and suddenly it all goes down). Seriously, though, that "sex scene" was so camera-shy and choppy I'm astounded there ever was a "controversy" about it.

Overall, I can't say this is a game that I'd want to play again, but for all its many flaws it is an excellent game. It's pure Epic Space Opera with a great universe and excellent writing, and that's really all I was looking for. Now bring on Mass Effect 2! ^_^

[broodwars]

*Starts playing the first 10 minutes or so of Mass Effect 2, just to get a taste of it.*

Hey, someone at Bioware actually learned how to make a good 3rd person shooter engine this time! Seriously, the combat is so much better in this game compared to the original it's astounding. Even more astounding, though, was seeing what looks like my entire Codex from the first game ported over. Wow. O_O

I was tempted to switch my Shepard to a Vanguard when offered, but I decided to stick with the Sentinel class and see how that feels.

[broodwars]

Due to working 25 hours of Overtime this weekend, I haven't had the free time I would like but I have been playing some Mass Effect 2. I'm about 5-6 hours in, and so far I'm enjoying this game a lot more than its predecessor despite a few minor flaws. I really like how the Mass Effect universe in this game really feels (as George Lucas once put it) "lived in" and alive. One of the things that surprises me playing through the game is something that surprised me about the original Mass Effect as well: Bioware sure got a lot of big actors together to play really minor roles, at least as far as their number of lines go (Seth Green as Joker, Martin Sheen as the Illusive Man, Tricia Helfer as the AI "EDI", Keith David as Admiral Anderson, etc.).

So far, I've recruited two new squad members ("Archangel" and Mordin), and both quests to get them were quite fun, especially Archangel's. I've also purchased a lot of stuff, helped greatly by me endorsing every store on the Citadel. ^_- I really enjoy the whole "Ocean's Eleven" element of this story, where the focus is on putting together an elite team of badasses to take out the Collectors. The resources I got (especially Element Zero) when I imported my Shepard have come in handy when researching upgrades, though I keep hitting a wall where the game wants me to purchase an upgrade in a store before I can research more upgrades. Unfortunately, obtaining credits in Mass Effect 2 in large quantities isn't as easy as obtaining everything else, and seeing my resource bars all full makes me wary about doing much surveying in fear that I'll hit a cap and start wasting resources (maybe there's an upgrade later to increase your resource carrying capacity?).

Speaking of the surveying, I really don't understand all the whining about it. I haven't been able to upgrade my scanners yet, and while that mini-game isn't the most interesting thing in the world it's not terrible. You just scan a planet, launch a probe at any area that spikes your gauges and makes your controller rumble, collect your resources, and move on. The only way I see this mini-game being tedious is if you meticulously focus on scanning every planet in every galaxy consecutively until they're all depleted, and you really don't need to do that.

So far my big complaint about the game is the DLC characters: while they look cool and sound cool, they are obviously tacked-on to the game and have little (if anything) to do with anything in the game. You can't even engage them in dialog trees back on the Normandy. Kasumi definitely comes across as an interesting character with a cool design, but I know I'm not going to bring her on missions because she'll never say anything. I'm actually doing her loyalty mission right now, and at least that'll be fun.

And incidentally, some of the "improvements" the galaxy has made to their tech since the Geth attack are really amazing, like now having to refuel your ship at gas stations and guns using disposable heat sinks that work like ammo clips. -_-'

[martod]

The resources I got (especially Element Zero) when I imported my Shepard have come in handy when researching upgrades, though I keep hitting a wall where the game wants me to purchase an upgrade in a store before I can research more upgrades. Unfortunately, obtaining credits in Mass Effect 2 in large quantities isn't as easy as obtaining everything else, and seeing my resource bars all full makes me wary about doing much surveying in fear that I'll hit a cap and start wasting resources (maybe there's an upgrade later to increase your resource carrying capacity?).
The resource bars don't seem to mean anything. I was able to keep accumulating resources well after the bar was full. In fact, some high end research options seem to require more than the maximum allowed in the bar. Eventually you'll find a lot more resources that you'll ever need, but money remains a problem throughout the game, especially since you need 500-800 units of fuel to get to any solar system outside of the mass relay ones and back.

Speaking of the surveying, I really don't understand all the whining about it. I haven't been able to upgrade my scanners yet, and while that mini-game isn't the most interesting thing in the world it's not terrible. You just scan a planet, launch a probe at any area that spikes your gauges and makes your controller rumble, collect your resources, and move on. The only way I see this mini-game being tedious is if you meticulously focus on scanning every planet in every galaxy consecutively until they're all depleted, and you really don't need to do that.
The problem is that the planets are boring. Virtually every planet is a rocky planet, an Earth-like planet, or a gas giant, and all members of these three groups look almost exactly the same, except for different colors and slightly different textures. I know they couldn't have made all of the planets look completely different but they could have added some unusual details to some of the them. They could have at least made some gas giants pockmarked and chaotic like Jupiter and others flatly colored like Uranus and Neptune.

[Skywise]

Plus the resources themselves are useless outside of research. IMO they should have added a resource exchange, where you could sell and buy resources for money. That would make the scanning less tedious, and also let it have more of a purpose.

The whole thing is made worse by a lot of the optional missions being available through scans only, meaning you have to scan every single planet in the game if you want to play through all of them. Either that, or go to gamefaqs and cheat or something.

[broodwars]

I've made a little more progress, recruiting the Krogan (prompting a pretty hilarious line from Joker); completing Kasumi and Zaaid's Loyalty Missions (Kasumi's being awesome, and Zaaid's being almost as dull as he is); and completing my first story mission. I ran into Ashley there, who decided to be a total **** towards me. Well, she only has herself to blame when my Shepard hooks up with Miranda or Tali (haven't made up my mind which yet). I also did a sidequest where Cerberus sent me to retrieve some of their secret info, which I then turned around and forwarded to the Alliance (mainly because that option was where the Paragon choice usually is). I'm surprised no one's yelled at me about that yet, but I don't trust an organization I spent a large portion of the last game killing. Maybe it'll have repurcussions in Mass Effect 3.

I've also done a fair amount of scanning and upgrading, and the scarcity of Element Zero is really starting to become a problem. I must have probed half a dozen systems now, and I've never run into a planet with natural stores of Element Zero. I've made do up till now with what I could find on missions and what I got when I imported my Shepard, but that's gone now.

I am a little concerned about something, though: when I completed Kasumi's Loyalty Mission, I purchased the upgrade to give Shepard Kasumi's Flashbang Grenade (which has proven useful, as has she with her nasty shadow strike skill). Looking at the skill wheel and squad menu, though, it looks like Shepard can only carry maybe 1 or 2 more of those squad skills and I'm starting to think I picked Kasumi's prematurely. Is there any way to remove skills learned from teammates?

[Skywise]

Is there any way to remove skills learned from teammates?

Yes, you can only have one at a time, and learning a different one overwrites it.

[broodwars]

Is there any way to remove skills learned from teammates?

Yes, you can only have one at a time, and learning a different one overwrites it.

Good to know, though the cost to switch skills is high at 5,000 Element Zero (which, as I've already said, is pretty rare). I may end up just sticking with Flash Bang unless one of my later party members just has that one great skill that compensates for my Sentinel's weaknesses.

[Skywise]

Some planets are rich in ezo - just find some of those and strip mine them.

[broodwars]

Well, I'm nearly at the end of the game, having completed every sidequest in the game (including checking every planet and doing every loyalty mission), including the Firewalker and Overlord DLCs (the former being incredibly lame and the latter being pretty awesome). All that's left is the End Game now that I've acquired Legion and gotten the plot MacGuffin that lets me use the Omega 4 Relay. Hopefully, I've prepared for the coming storm as best as possible. Legion's Loyalty Mission presented one of the few true moral dilemmas I've had in this game, and it was one that had me thinking throughout the mission. In the end, I decided to gamble that the Geth, like the Rachni, would see my choice as a gesture of peace despite it being an unpopular decision at the time. At this point, anything less than an epic goddamn space battle at the end of Mass Effect 3 (ala the finale to Vandread) with everyone I've ever helped joining in the fray would be a supreme disappointment.

BTW, Tali is utterly adorable when you commit to romancing her, stuttering and stammering like a teenager with puppy love. I'm a little annoyed that apparently this game sees sex as the end-all be-all with relationships. I was fine with my Shepard and Tali just being together for the time being. I don't need Tali apparently going nuts trying to find a way to avoid dying in the process just because the only encouraging words male Shepard can convey involve practically begging for sex. Oh well, at least I'll apparently finally get to see what Quarians look like without their suits. From the sounds of it, just like in the last game, it'll occur on the eve of the final battle.

Oh, and I highly suggest pairing together Tali and Archangel as you walk around the Citadel, as well as when you recruit the Justicar. Their exchanges are priceless, especially the casual aside about elevators in the Mass Effect world... ^_-

[Citizen Klaus]

I also did a sidequest where Cerberus sent me to retrieve some of their secret info, which I then turned around and forwarded to the Alliance (mainly because that option was where the Paragon choice usually is). I'm surprised no one's yelled at me about that yet, but I don't trust an organization I spent a large portion of the last game killing. Maybe it'll have repurcussions in Mass Effect 3.

IIRC, Bioware has said that pretty much everything you do in ME2 will have repercussions in ME3. They're carrying over something like 1000 event triggers, vastly more than from ME1 to ME2.

[broodwars]

And done! I've now finished both Mass Effects and eagerly await the 3rd sometime in the next couple of years. Well, the romance scene with Tali was incredibly disappointing. All she did was take her faceplate off with her back to the camera and then pretty much pounce on Shepard. All I asked for in the whole business was to finally get to see what a Quarian looks like without the helmet, and apparently even that was too much to ask for. I'd heard they'd toned down the sex scenes in the second Mass Effect to possibly sidestep the controversy the ones in the first had, but you don't even get to see Tali's face in the whole sequence!

As for the ending, it was high on Epic Space Opera awesome action sequences, but surprisingly low on Epic Goddamn Space Battles. I did really enjoy the more personal feel to this game's End Game, though. I actually felt really uncertain about my decision in the Big Moral Choice at the end of the game, but much less so when The Illusive Man decided to be an ungrateful bitch in the ending after I'd saved the galaxy again. I really enjoyed having my Shepard completely tell him off, especially after The Illusive Man decided to go all Azula on him and bring on the blue fire. Judging by the reactions from my crew, I definitely made the right call.

So overall, I thought Mass Effect 2 was what the first Mass Effect really wasn't: fun. Yeah, they got rid of many of the tedious RPG elements and focused on the shooting and the action. So ****ing what? The character interactions were still strong, the story was still greatly entertaining with good pacing, and the gameplay was actually fun this time with a solid engine that rarely malfunctioned. I'm not thrilled with all the things Bioware did with Mass Effect 2, but overall I think they did an excellent job focusing on what makes the Mass Effect concept fun rather than clinging to things just for the sake of genre tropes. I'll probably never play Mass Effect 1 ever again, but I could definitely see myself replaying Mass Effect 2 in preparation for the 3rd game. I look forward to the coming Liara DLC.

One odd thing, though: to access the final mission, you have to take out Disc 2 and put back in Disc 1. That doesn't even begin to make sense (it reminds me of the complaints I've seen levied against the 360 version of Star Ocean 4, only in that game you only swapped discs if you were backtracking), and really pulls you out of the moment when it occurs.

[Fencedude]

So, ignoring that I'm not actually even close to done with Vesperia, I got ME2 today and started it up.

Imported my ME1 character, and decided to stay as a Vanguard.

Done through the first two missions, have the new Normandy, and its time to go get more crew.

I liked that Tali was the first of the old characters you meet again. <3 Tali. Hopefully she'll join up soon.

Anyway, overall things seem to be improved, though the inclusion of ammo Thermal Clips annoys me. Its so blatantly transparent. They should have just stuck with the weapon cooldown. Having Ammo for the Heavy weapons would have been fine.

[broodwars]

So, ignoring that I'm not actually even close to done with Vesperia, I got ME2 today and started it up.

Imported my ME1 character, and decided to stay as a Vanguard.

Done through the first two missions, have the new Normandy, and its time to go get more crew.

I liked that Tali was the first of the old characters you meet again. <3 Tali. Hopefully she'll join up soon.

Anyway, overall things seem to be improved, though the inclusion of ammo Thermal Clips annoys me. Its so blatantly transparent. They should have just stuck with the weapon cooldown. Having Ammo for the Heavy weapons would have been fine.

Tali becomes available to recruit about 1/3 of the way through the game. Just don't get your hopes up about some amazing Quarian sex scene, because you'll just be disappointed.

As for ammo, there's actually some discrepancy in the Mass Effect universe about it. The books (even Revelations, which is set before the first game) clearly mention ammo and never mention overheating weapons, and they are official Mass Effect canon. The "disposable heat sinks"/ammo never bothered me all that much in Mass Effect 2. They're rather silly, but aside from the Heavy Weapons I was never really in danger of running out since fallen enemies drop ammo. Supposedly, the idea behind adding ammo is to force the player to keep moving forward through the battlefield rather than planting themselves in one spot and just firing at the enemy until they're dead (which is what happens in Mass Effect 1).

[Johnny]

Just been confirmed at EA's Gamescom conference that ME2 is coming to PS3 in January 2011.

[broodwars]

Just been confirmed at EA's Gamescom conference that ME2 is coming to PS3 in January 2011.

Without Mass Effect 1? I really don't know if I'd want to play that version. I wasn't all that fond of the first Mass Effect, but so much of Mass Effect 2 is affected by your choices in the first game that it would just feel empty to play it without them.

[Johnny]

Just been confirmed at EA's Gamescom conference that ME2 is coming to PS3 in January 2011.

Without Mass Effect 1? I really don't know if I'd want to play that version. I wasn't all that fond of the first Mass Effect, but so much of Mass Effect 2 is affected by your choices in the first game that it would just feel empty to play it without them.

It's not like it was impossible to play #2 on 360 without having played #1. Plus, they have a Blu-ray to fill so there may be some sort of backstory/catchup thing.

[broodwars]

Just been confirmed at EA's Gamescom conference that ME2 is coming to PS3 in January 2011.

Without Mass Effect 1? I really don't know if I'd want to play that version. I wasn't all that fond of the first Mass Effect, but so much of Mass Effect 2 is affected by your choices in the first game that it would just feel empty to play it without them.

It's not like it was impossible to play #2 on 360 without having played #1. Plus, they have a Blu-ray to fill so there may be some sort of backstory/catchup thing.

I didn't say that it was impossible to play #2 without importing a Mass Effect 1 character, just that it is incredibly undesireable (especially since there are choices I made in the first Mass Effect that impact the other two).

[Fencedude]

Why are Quarian Females so incredibly adorable?

<3 <3 <3

Anyway, just visited the Citadel, picked up Kasumi, did some random sidequests (including the one with the aforementioned Quarian female), and now I guess...I dunno. I'll go do something else.

Oh yeah and the Salarian doctor is freaking hilarious.

[broodwars]

Oh yeah and the Salarian doctor is freaking hilarious.

If you end up hooking up with Tali, be sure to talk to Mordin before going to the Omega relay. His dialogue about your Quarian romance is especially hilarious. ^_-

[porkchopexpress]

Plus, they have a Blu-ray to fill so there may be some sort of backstory/catchup thing.

I'd be kinda surprised if it were anything more than a game of the year edition with all the dlc.

[broodwars]

Plus, they have a Blu-ray to fill so there may be some sort of backstory/catchup thing.

I'd be kinda surprised if it were anything more than a game of the year edition with all the dlc.

I'd be surprised if it even came with the DLC you had to purchase (Kasumi, Overlord, Shadow Broker), to be honest. This is EA we're talking about. If lacking Mass Effect 1's transfer feature didn't kill the sales of this game already, I don't see how not including the DLC would make it that much worse.

[Fencedude]

Oh yeah and the Salarian doctor is freaking hilarious.

If you end up hooking up with Tali, be sure to talk to Mordin before going to the Omega relay. His dialogue about your Quarian romance is especially hilarious. ^_-

Can't romance Tali as a female ;_;

When I do a male Shepard playthrough though that is definitely the priority

[Fencedude]

You know what? Scanning planets is actually worse than the Mako stuff in the first one.

Seriously. WTF Bioware?

Anyway, recruited Grunt and Jack. And seriously lol at Jack. That "outfit" only works because Bioware didn't include jiggle-physics.

Did the Colony Rescue mission, Ashley is still a bitch.

Next thing I'm going to do is recruit Tali, then probably do Jacob and Miranda's Loyalty missions.

[porkchopexpress]

Plus, they have a Blu-ray to fill so there may be some sort of backstory/catchup thing.

I'd be kinda surprised if it were anything more than a game of the year edition with all the dlc.

I'd be surprised if it even came with the DLC you had to purchase (Kasumi, Overlord, Shadow Broker), to be honest. This is EA we're talking about. If lacking Mass Effect 1's transfer feature didn't kill the sales of this game already, I don't see how not including the DLC would make it that much worse.

Games Radar - "According to an interview with BioWare honcho Ray Muzyka via VG247, the PS3 version of the game will come packed in with DLC that’s already available for the 360 original, a retooled version of the Cerberus Network to inform you of new goodies to download, and a new introduction sequence to get the Sony faithful caught up on what’s crackin’ across the Mass Effect universe."

[broodwars]

You know what? Scanning planets is actually worse than the Mako stuff in the first one.

Seriously. WTF Bioware?

I didn't have much issue with the scanning, but I only bothered launching probes when my radar spiked over a mineral I actually needed. Yeah, if you go strip-mining every planet in the galaxy, the scanning will get pretty old extremely quickly. But if you do that, you kind of deserve it. You get way more resources than you actually need to purchase upgrades, especially if you imported a Mass Effect 1 Shepard with the 1,000,000 Credit Achievement.

[Fencedude]

*finishes*

Well. Damn. That was epic. Though fighting a giant terminator at the end was kinda...odd.

But still, fantastic.

[broodwars]

*finishes*

Well. Damn. That was epic. Though fighting a giant terminator at the end was kinda...odd.

But still, fantastic.

Out of curiosity, who did your female Shepard hook up with (if anyone, assuming you picked the Asari in the first game and decided to be loyal)?

And yeah, that last boss was pretty weird.

[Fencedude]

*finishes*

Well. Damn. That was epic. Though fighting a giant terminator at the end was kinda...odd.

But still, fantastic.

Out of curiosity, who did your female Shepard hook up with (if anyone, assuming you picked the Asari in the first game and decided to be loyal)?

And yeah, that last boss was pretty weird.

I stayed faithful to Liara. (and only because there weren't any other female options) Also Liara is, hands down, the most boring squad member in either game (that isn't named Kaiden or Jacob). Blargh. Oh well.

Just started a male Shepard in ME1, Infiltrator, going to go total Renegade this time and be a complete prick to everyone but Tali.

Tali~~~

[Fencedude]

So started my male Renegade Infiltrator. And I'm thoroughly enjoying being a massive dick to everyone. Chewing out Ashley at the beginning was especially enjoyable. I have noticed though that you have to be kinda nice to get missions, but then you can generally just be a dick to the people for the rest of it.

And seriously fuck the Citadel stuff, it really does go on way too goddamn long.

[Fencedude]

Alright, done pissing people off on the citadel, time to spread Shepard's massive dickishness across the galaxy!

And man, does ME2 ever play better than ME1.

[TalonG4]

After a windows re-install (just to clean up my system) and buying a new graphics card after my old one started breaking down, I decided to try some new(er) games off Steam.
Mass Effect was one of them (Bioshock being the other) and I think this game is incredible!
I have played Dragon Age too and there are similarities but I like the Sci-Fi setting of Mass Effect much better.
I am playing the default John Shepard character as a (mostly) paragon-type and I just got Wrex, Tali and Garrus in my party now (buh-bye Kaiden and Ashley, humans are boring). I'll probably stick with Wrex and Tali although I really like Garrus as a character and the Turians look really cool as well.
I did start a 2nd career as a female named Layla whs has an exotic look with her dark complexion and blonde hair but I plan to play her as a ruthless spacer with a more renegade bent but for now I'll stick with my male character.
I know some complain about the combat in this game but I think the combat in just fine, in fact better than fine as I find it a lot of fun.

[Fencedude]

So yeah.

10 hours into my second playthrough of ME1 I learn that clicking the right stick while zoomed in on the Mako does two more levels of sniper zoom.

*sigh*

That would have really come in handy

[Fencedude]

You know, the difference in Achievement philosophy between ME1 and ME2 is instructive.

I think I like ME1's approach more. And the passive bonus idea is genius.

Anyway, my Ruthless Male Infiltrator has finished through Noveria, defeating Benezia gave me my Turian Ally Achievement, so out goes Garrus, and in comes Tali, who's presence I've sorely missed. Still haven't gotten the Krogan Ally achievement, but should soon, I'll probably keep him in the party afterwards though, since I need some biotics.

Constantly cutting off the council after missions is hilarious.

[Senku]

So, I'm basically doing the opposite of what Fencedude is doing. Going with a Paragon Male for the first playthrough, then going to play as an uber bitch female the second time. (Yandere without the dere)

Just got the final member of my party; still have the other two planets to explore. Think I'm going to do some assignments before doing another main mission.

[Fencedude]

I just made Pinnacle Station my bitch. I never did finish it the first time (in retrospect a bad idea), but this time it was a breeze. Only mission that gave me any trouble was the third time trial, because of a particularly annoying Turian who liked to hole up in one of the buildings.

But in general I just Marksmen+Invulnerabilitied to victory. With gratuitous use of Overload, Sabotage and Damping as well.

Going to finish up my last few sidequests, then head on to Virmire.

[Fencedude]

Very awesome. Definitely worth getting.

Two major boss fights. The first is against a Vanguard type character with the Charge ability, which is cool. Especially if, like me, you are also a Vanguard.

The second is also very cool, requiring a bit of Melee as well (or, if you're a Vanguard, CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!)

Liara was very awesome, and afterwards you get a great information center, where you can look in on your squad's correspondence (Miranda ;_;), view videos of interesting happenings elsewhere, make investments, and all sorts of neat things. You can also pay 1000 eezo to redistribute a squad member's skill points. Which is very nice.

[Senku]

Finished my good playthrough, but didn't do all of the side assignments. I guess I took the "Race against Time" mission label too seriously. Didn't do Sky or Pinnacle either.

Are any/all of the assignments worth doing for their effect in ME2? Maybe a better question is, which assignments have the biggest impact in the next game?


About halfway through my bitchy playthrough, completing way more assignments this time.

[broodwars]

Very awesome. Definitely worth getting.

Two major boss fights. The first is against a Vanguard type character with the Charge ability, which is cool. Especially if, like me, you are also a Vanguard.

The second is also very cool, requiring a bit of Melee as well (or, if you're a Vanguard, CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!)

Liara was very awesome, and afterwards you get a great information center, where you can look in on your squad's correspondence (Miranda ;_;), view videos of interesting happenings elsewhere, make investments, and all sorts of neat things. You can also pay 1000 eezo to redistribute a squad member's skill points. Which is very nice.

I just finished Lair of the Shadow Broker as well, and eh...it was ok, but I wasn't really wowed by it. For one thing, I figured that bringing Garrus or Tali along with me would trigger some kind of interesting conversation between old friends. But like all the rest of the Mass Effect 2 DLC, your teammates are mentioned once and have no lines so the experience feels kind of empty. The new areas were nice, though I'm not sure they were 1.5 GB nice. -_-'

As for the story, it was ok but nothing substantial, though it did have a nice coda to it with the final chat with Liara. I was actually kind of nervous that she would start hitting on my Shepard. I really didn't want the game to force me to cheat on Tali just because I agreed to a drink between old friends, so I was glad to see that it was just an honest talk (one that I think we should have seen a lot more of with the returning Mass Effect characters in the main game).

As for the extra stuff you get when completing the DLC, it would have been nice to have when I was playing the main game. I especially wonder if those "investment opportunities" I paid for will have any payoff considering I had no messages when I went back to my private terminal after completing the DLC.

I did get one good laugh out of the DLC, though:

Shephard (on hacking a door): "Remember when all we had to do was smear Omnigel over these things and they would just open?!"

[Fencedude]

As for the extra stuff you get when completing the DLC, it would have been nice to have when I was playing the main game. I especially wonder if those "investment opportunities" I payed for will have any payoff considering I had no messages when I went back to my private terminal after completing the DLC.

Either go complete a mission (if you have any left) or come back 24 real life hours later and you'll get results, either success or failure, success will return double your investment.

You will also have new videos to watch.

Its more useful for those who haven't finished the game completely, or are doing another playthrough.

[broodwars]

[QUOTE=broodwars;1829505]Its more useful for those who haven't finished the game completely, or are doing another playthrough.

Which is why I wish this DLC were available at launch or part of the main game (it certainly belongs there considering it ties in with the whole subplot of the main game with Shepard coming to grips with who he is now). I am going to replay Mass Effect 2 again with my Mass Effect 1 Paragon (going with Vanguard instead of Sentinel this time), but that won't be until we are near Mass Effect 3's release.

Supposedly, Lair of the Shadow Broker is supposed to be the first in a line of Mass Effect 2 DLC bridging the gap to Mass Effect 3. I'd like to see more of that and less stuff that probably should have been in the main game in the first place.

[Fencedude]

I guess I'll bump this thread, since it was more active than the actual ME2 thread, which I seem to have completely missed the existence of.

Anyway. ME2 for the PS3. Technical comparisons here (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-masseffect2-demo-analysis). In short: The same, but different.

So the Demo. Starts with a recappish sort of thing by TIM, though not the actual one the real game will have. This was just so people would have a clue before entering the demo. Only uses male Shepard, even though you choose a gender beforehand. Again, just to bring new people up to speed, so whatever.

Starts with the attack on the Normandy, and then Shepard at the Lazarus base. You do the standard character creation, all options are available. You go through that mission, then you jump ahead to the recruit Mordin mission. I stopped partway through that, since I can recruit Mordin in my sleep by now...and I was getting tired and didn't feel like doing more.

So yeah. ME2 on PS3. Felt kinda weird. But nice. I'll probably end up buying it, since obviously I have nothing better to do with my money than buy a game I've already beat 3 times. Though at least with this if I want to do a new character with non jerk-ass starting stuff, I don't have to play ME1 again.

[Orihimes_Boyfriend]

I guess I'll bump this thread, since it was more active than the actual ME2 thread, which I seem to have completely missed the existence of.

Anyway. ME2 for the PS3. Technical comparisons here (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-masseffect2-demo-analysis). In short: The same, but different.

So the Demo. Starts with a recappish sort of thing by TIM, though not the actual one the real game will have. This was just so people would have a clue before entering the demo. Only uses male Shepard, even though you choose a gender beforehand. Again, just to bring new people up to speed, so whatever.

Starts with the attack on the Normandy, and then Shepard at the Lazarus base. You do the standard character creation, all options are available. You go through that mission, then you jump ahead to the recruit Mordin mission. I stopped partway through that, since I can recruit Mordin in my sleep by now...and I was getting tired and didn't feel like doing more.

So yeah. ME2 on PS3. Felt kinda weird. But nice. I'll probably end up buying it, since obviously I have nothing better to do with my money than buy a game I've already beat 3 times. Though at least with this if I want to do a new character with non jerk-ass starting stuff, I don't have to play ME1 again.
I downloaded the demo and was hooked instantly. I will pick it for PS3 but I just wish you could skip the cut scenes.

[Memphis]

So I just started playing Mass Effect recently for the first time and it's pretty good so far. I'm about 8 hours in but most of that was spent on trying to get used to the game since I don't really play WRPGs (However, I'd like to see some JRPGs go in a similar direction because I'm pretty much tired of playing JRPGs). I went with the regular Shepherd (male) because I was expecting a little more when it came to actually being able to create your own character design.

Combat took a little while to get used to as well (although I'm fairly decent when it comes to shooters) and I'm still not really used to it just yet, mainly because of stuff like throw, lift, etc. I hate the Mako (driving in it), but then again I'm so used to Halo's warhog controls because that felt like the perfect way to drive in these types of games. Here in ME I don't like steering and driving with the same stick. Other than that I'm digging this game so far despite some technical issues.

[broodwars]

I've been playing the PS3 version of Mass Effect 2 and I just got my ship. So far, honestly I prefer the 360 version. Sure, the PS3 version is definitely a tad bit prettier and it's nice to not have to deal with the B.S. that is switching discs like you have to on the 360, but the experience just feels...off. For the PS3 version, Bioware seems to have systematically removed every reference to the original Mass Effect that they thought they could get away with. If it isn't explicitly mentioned in the Interactive Comic, apparently it just didn't happen. All the little references and nods are just...gone. That really bothered me when I ran into Tali at the beginning of the game, and the game doesn't let you "prove your identity" to Tali with a reference to the first game. The end result is that Tali comes off very cold and guarded in your conversations with her, which just feels wrong.

Then there's the interactive comic itself. It does a decent enough job of summing up almost everything (the vital information about the Keepers you learn on Ios is strangely ommitted) that was important in the original Mass Effect in less than 10 minutes. The artwork is pretty decent (though not extraordinary), and the comic flows well. It reminds me just how much of the first Mass Effect was pure, tedious filler. The problem is that the comic appears at a really awkward time: after the opening sequence on the Normandy. This leads to a really weird transition where you go from in-game visuals to a dramatic cutscene, and then...comics. O_o There's no reason the game couldn't have just started off with the comic, and the game would have flowed better that way.

[Legion]

I've been playing the PS3 version of Mass Effect 2 and I just got my ship. So far, honestly I prefer the 360 version. (snip)

Fair enough. Even going by past descriptions I could tell Mass Effect 2 PS3 would be a poor substitute for Mass Effect 1+2 on PC/360 in terms of story continuity. For a PS3 gamer this is far and away better than nothing, of course. How does it play?

There's no reason the game couldn't have just started off with the comic, and the game would have flowed better that way.

That's how I would have done it. The way you've described is just... kinda goofy.

[broodwars]

Fair enough. Even going by past descriptions I could tell Mass Effect 2 PS3 would be a poor substitute for Mass Effect 1+2 on PC/360 in terms of story continuity. For a PS3 gamer this is far and away better than nothing, of course. How does it play?

The game plays just fine, though I did manage to trigger a bug pretty early on where the camera became unlocked from my character movement, so I could make Shephard run one way and the camera look in a different direction. Some of the cinematics (like the one before the robot mini-boss on Freedom's Point) have audio noticeably out of synch, though, and the cinematic where the Normandy is launched uses oddly higher-pitched music than usual. One really odd ommission, as well, is that it looks like the hacking minigame where you have to match different strings of text has been completely removed.

[HitokiriShadow]

My plan was to get Mass Effect 1 when I buy a 360 later this year and then get the PS3 versions for 2 and 3, but now it looks like I'll just go 360 all the way. I'm glad I canceled my ME2 PS3 pre-order so I could wait and hear about it first.

[Shibi]

Fair enough. Even going by past descriptions I could tell Mass Effect 2 PS3 would be a poor substitute for Mass Effect 1+2 on PC/360 in terms of story continuity. For a PS3 gamer this is far and away better than nothing, of course. How does it play?

The game plays just fine, though I did manage to trigger a bug pretty early on where the camera became unlocked from my character movement, so I could make Shephard run one way and the camera look in a different direction. Some of the cinematics (like the one before the robot mini-boss on Freedom's Point) have audio noticeably out of synch, though, and the cinematic where the Normandy is launched uses oddly higher-pitched music than usual. One really odd ommission, as well, is that it looks like the hacking minigame where you have to match different strings of text has been completely removed.

You mean the same minigame that was present in the ME2 PS3 Demo has been removed from the final game? Odd choice.

[broodwars]

You mean the same minigame that was present in the ME2 PS3 Demo has been removed from the final game? Odd choice.

Well, I haven't played that far into the game (I'm on Mordin's quest now), but so far I haven't seen any sign of that minigame. I know for a fact that it pops up as one of the first safes you can run into in the first area of the game on the 360 version. If it hasn't been removed outright, it's really been minimized from what it was before. On the 360 version, it often felt like you couldn't take 10 steps before running into that mini-game but I haven't run into it on the PS3 yet. I've seen plenty of instances of the concentration-esque mini-game with the matching symbols, though.

It's also worth noting that there's some dialogue in the demo that doesn't seem to be in the final game, at least if you have the Cerberus Network DLC. Miranda doesn't note what Shephard did at the end of Mass Effect 1 in the opening cutscene (leaving the Illusive Man to fill in the gap with a note about Shephard "discovering the truth"), and Miranda didn't ask me who I had recommended to join the council on the shuttle trip to meet the Illusive Man.

[broodwars]

I've recruited Archangel; Mordin; and Kasumi, and I've done Kasumi's loyalty mission as well. The hacking mini-game I thought was stripped out has reappeared in later missions, but it was definitely removed from the first area of the game (though I have no idea why). I've been trying to go for the trophies this time, and man some of them are pretty annoying. The one for combining Biotic powers only occasionally seemed to register when I did it, though I have that trophy now. "Brawler" is a troublesome trophy at the moment (kill 20 enemies right after punching them), as is the one for Incinerating 20 armored enemies since my class does not have Incendiary Ammo as an ability.

The big thing I have to call out, though, are the absolutely ridiculous load times. They're at least double if not triple the length of their 360 counterparts. It's especially infuriating when moving from deck to deck on the Normandy, and the constantly pauses in the game as it loads the room ahead of you are irritating (and one time the game crashed during one of these because the game was trying to auto-save as well).

[Skywise]

Which mini-game you get is random, so it probably wasn't moved.

[Njr Scrawl]

How does the PS3 port of Mass Effect 2 compare with the 360 & PC versions?

[broodwars]

How does the PS3 port of Mass Effect 2 compare with the 360 & PC versions?

I think I've already answered that: it's technically competent, though there are crashing issues when the game pauses to load incoming textures. The game is pretty much intact, but a lot of the Mass Effect 1 connections are gone. If you can only play it on PS3, it's a fine port. Otherwise, play the 360 version.

[Memphis]

So I beat that epic adventure. Now it's time for my attempt at a review.

Boy I don't even know where to begin. Guess I can start with the create a character part. My beef with it is that you only have 1 type of face you can use and just change the complexion. Sure you can alter the nose and eyes and whatnot but still, I would've liked to have been able to use different varieties. Heck, I would've liked to use the custom Shepard model and alter that a bit. Other than that, more RPGs (particularly JRPGs) needs to follow suit and let you create a character and choose how you react to things. When I say react to things I mean give different personalities to be.

Gameplay took a while to get used to since I don't really play 3rd-person shooters. But I eventually got used to it and dominated when I could lol. I chose to be a vanguard and I still haven't tried out everything since it was my first playthrough and I practically kept using throw, lift, and Marksman. Got attached to warp a little near the end of the game so I'll experiment with that on my next playthrough. There was one side quest/mission that I thought I would be on forever because I'm terrible at "not" shooting civilians. My motto is to shoot whatever that moves, but I saved them all eventually, after 5-6 restarts. Speaking of restarts, my goodness it seems like it's been forever since I've seen a "game over" screen. I guess that's because I cheat and use a walkthrough with most of my games (I usually play just to feel like I'm dominating. I also play on the easiest level too. I don't need no challenge to have fun). Driving the Mako is not fun and I'll leave it at that since I've expressed my hate for that thing quite enough already.

Graphically speaking, Mass Effect might be the best looking game I've seen on the 360 so far. Traversing from planet to planet never looked so good and the only time I actually enjoyed driving in the Mako was to admire the landscape. Imagine my face when I decided to land on Luna. But those graphics did have noticeable issues. Late appearances in textures don't bother me but it's easy to notice. And while this is more of a technical issue but there were 2 instances when I had to reset the game because Shepard got stuck and I couldn't move worth a lick. It only happened twice and the camera was way too close up on something.

Characters personalities were great. I've never had a hard time choosing someone to sacrifice before, mainly because I've yet to play another game that actually does it. In JRPGs I'd love to sacrifice so many characters in them because they were so annoying. Hell, I'd sacrifice the main character if given the chance (Sora, Tidus, Fayt are all standouts that would be sacrificed in a heartbeat and I'd have no regrets). Anyway, I ended up sacrificing Kaiden. Here's where the problem with characterization (or rather conversation) kicks in at, and I'm assuming it would probably be the same if I were to sacrifice Ashley. After Kaiden's death it was like only 3 people actually spoke about his death. Everyone else kept on repeating the same stuff we spoke about at the beginning. I know there was a lot of work put into this game but that seemed like laziness on the developers end.

Then there's the audio. Voice acting was great. Then again I've played quite a few games where the voice talent really made the game great (Halo, Gears of War, God of War) and then we have the music. At first I didn't think much of it. Nothing really stood out, that was until I hit Virmire. It's like the music ramped up right then and there. Also, the music that was playing while on the Normandy after Kaiden/Ashley's death really fit the mood. It's just too bad that majority of the folks you can speak to had nothing to say about it.

Oh yeah, I have the completionist achievement (do these achievements even matter? I don't play games for achievements) and my Shep's a paragon. I forgot what level everyone is at but I think it's in the late 40's.

4.5/5 from. The game is epic but it's not perfect. I'm starting over as a Soldier.

I'm currently playing Mass Effect 2 now. Just finished the Horizon mission, and to be honest I have to say I enjoyed the 1st one over what I've played of this one so far. Don't get me wrong this game has been pretty good and it's probably just me still trying to get used to everything, especially seeing how I just started to use my abilities during the Horizon mission. I had to have died at least 6-7 times before remembering the ability to slow time down.

There were quite a few things that I liked in the first game that're gone in this one. Specifically speaking, the upgrading of weapons as well as leveling up in general. For some reason I'm having a hard time grasping when the upgrades are applied. I've went to some of my squad mates and I'm assuming I bought some upgrades from them but I can't tell if they've been applied or not (words are too friggin small on my tv). And then leveling up, I don't like having to save up points.

Combat is nice. Don't like the idea of collecting ammo. I've gotten used to the overheating of my guns, but "shrugs" No biggy. I'm playing on casual and like I said I've died quite a few times on the Horizon mission. The first game I died because of silly trial and error stuff (against the giant worm-thingy. I panicked when I first saw it because I didn't know how to drive that good). Here I'm dying because, well, trial and error of course, but at the same time the enemy can be overwhelming.

With all that being said I still like the game but not as much as I thought I would. Kind of having a hard time trying to figure out what skills to level up on my squad. I tend to take Miranda along with me a lot. Just found out that it's a bad idea to take Jack on the Horizon mission since none of her abilities work on that big fly-thingy. So now I'm thinking about bringing Grunt or Garrus with me from now on. Oh yeah I'm a soldier btw (hence the reason for me playing the 1st game again as a soldier).

Sorry for the long wall of text.

[PosterAnonymous]

So no one else has posted about this or am I just lazy and not searching hard enough?

March 29th will bring the last DLC mission for Mass Effect 2 which will supposedly lead into ME3. I'm somewhat annoyed because I will be in western North Carolina that week and won't be able to play it immediately. Anyone have any thoughts on the subject?

[Fencedude]

Anyone have any thoughts on the subject?

I need to unbork my ME2 savegames.

[Fencedude]

Well, that certainly was what it was billed as.

It was weird not having a squad with me, but still, pretty fun.

And I guess I'm done with ME2, except for finishing a few DLC stuff with my Infiltrator, and if I ever bother to finish my hopefully now no longer borked, slightly hacked, Adept playthrough.

But those can all wait till a bit closer to ME3.

[HitokiriShadow]

I just finished Mass Effect 2.

For the big decision at the end, I blew the base to hell and told Illusive Man to go fuck himself.

All of my party members survived, though I admit I used a guide to make sure I did. It was probably unnecessary, as the way you chose people didn't work the way I expected and even if it did, I didn't have as many choices to make as I thought. Half my crew died though and I watched Chambers meet nasty end.

For the other big decision in the game (as far as I can tell or remember), the one I had been spoiled on before I ever started, I chose to destroy the Geth faction.

Like the Rachni Queen choice in the first game though, I was annoyed at the dialogue used for my choice though for a different reason. The dialogue gave a reason for the choice, but it had little to nothing with why I made it. It's particularly annoying since a conversation earlier in the mission explicitly mentioned the issue that was the main reason I made the choice I did.

The Mass Effect games are, in general, a big step in the right direction for how to handle moral choices in games, but this kind of thing is a huge problem when a such a huge part of the game is about you "being" the main character. It's incredibly annoying, jarring and immersion breaking (for lack of a better term) when the character says and does something so incredibly against what I want my character to say or do. It's now happened in one of the major decisions in both games and a number of times in conversations in general (though less in this game than the first).


On a more positive note, I really, really like Joker. Easily the best human character in either game. The conversations between him and EDI were highly amusing and the direction things went with the two of them near the end of the game was cute.

I also like Dr. Chakwas. She was okay in the first game, but drinking with her and talking about old times really endeared me to her. And Anderson's pretty cool though he doesn't get to do much in this game. The game has some good NPC human characters (well, mostly NPC in Joker's case), but the only human party member I give the tiniest shit about is Miranda. Why do the ME games fail so hard at making likable and interesting human party members?


Overall, I'd say this game was better than the first, though its a bit of a mixed bag.

I had the same general problems in terms of how it handled characters, except now there's a lot more of them. The loyalty missions were a distinct advantage over ME1 though, and they offered a nice variety of locations and sub-plots, all of which were at least mildly interesting even when I didn't care that much for the characters themselves (i.e. everyone but Tali, Garrus, and Mordin).

This game had much shorter missions than the first game, but a lot more of them. Which I guess is good simply because it means a better story/mission ratio and the missions rarely feel like they're dragging out too long. It worked well enough, though its far from ideal. The Noveria mission in the first game teased some potential, in which you could take a variety of approaches to doing something at the beginning and two paths, and I wanted to see this game build on that, but instead it had nothing like that which was a bit disappointing. But the variety of missions and them generally being well done mostly made up for it.


I liked what the game did with the final mission in concept (with choosing different characters to do different things) and I liked the final boss fight better (if only because both parts of the Saren fight were more annoying), but the level itself was basically a retread of an earlier story mission, which isn't nearly as fun or cool as fighting on the Citadel as its being assaulted by the Reapers.

I don't know if I'll really be able to say how I feel about the story in this one until I see how it fits into ME3. It lacks a somewhat interesting villain like Saren in the first game (even if he could have been a lot better, but that just goes back to the whole Reaper issue), most of the game is spent recruiting people (the opposite problem of the first game), and the Collector's plot is far less interesting than the first game's and feels a bit like detour in grand scheme of things. Somewhat interesting things get mentioned during the recruitment or loyalty missions, like the Citadel politics or Krogan homeworld situation but the game doesn't do anything with it.

I think the game's story would have benefited from having another major plot thread to work with and have at least half of the recruitment missions deal with it in some way, to make up for the total lack of story advancement during that chunk of the game and the Collector stuff not being that interesting in and of itself.

I don't think I'd replay ME1 because the only choice I'd change is apparently one you get to redo in this game. But I think I might replay ME2 at some point after I finish ME3, because there are more things for which I'd like to see alternate outcomes for.

[fatwa_home]

:beat:Mass Effect is classic game , it is really interesting game.I also like other games ,such as Ghost Recon Online (http://www.dotmmo.com/ghost-recon-online-1842.html),
Marvel: Avengers Alliance (http://www.dotmmo.com/marvel-avengers-alliance-6429.html),
Dragon Born (http://www.dotmmo.com/dragon-born-6979.html) and
Pirate Storm (http://www.dotmmo.com/pirate-storm-3855.html)