Mass Effect 2

[Reverend]

That occurred to me too, though I suppose one could argue that Jack can create singularities, but she just doesn't, preferring instead to favour her characteristic brute force approach.

Could Samara create a singularity? I forget.

As for Thane, perhaps a "takedown" ability, similar to that one they later gave Kasumi? Something that bumps up his damage resistance, speed and makes him harder to hit to allow him to get in close and either insta-kill (for cannon fodder goons) or damage and stun-lock (for the more formidable types.) Would have been damn useful to deal with those rocket launcher wilding enemies that just sit there and spam you to death.

 

[Ryan]

This is kind of topical

The Bioware blog post has more detailed pictures and info

FemShep?! These cosplayers are Not!Canon!

True, but only because Shepard is really a redhead.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

This is kind of topical

The Bioware blog post has more detailed pictures and info

FemShep?! These cosplayers are Not!Canon!

Not!Canon?

I've had enough of your spurious allegations.

 

[Reverend]

I don't think there's such a thing as canon where Commander Shepard's appearance or gender is concerned...which if you think about it is a bit of an odd omission in the history books for the saviour of humanity.

For the record, my femshep looks like this: -


One of the things that (mildly) annoyed be about ME2 was that she lost her scar. Not sure why it bothered me, but it did...

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

Besides, we all know FemShep is the OneTrueShep.

 

[Skywalker]

lolno.

Of course, I know I'm in the minority when it comes to that opinion.

 

[Ryan]

There is some guy running around claiming to be Commander Shepard but I think it's just Conrad Verner. He's totally unbelievable compared to the real thing.

 

[SPCTRE]

There is some guy running around claiming to be Commander Shepard but I think it's just Conrad Verner. He's totally unbelievable compared to the real thing.

 

[Reverend]

Looks like there's another DLC out, this time an all weapons pack. They do look like fun but there's no way I'd pay money for extra weapons. Does anyone else find this kind of paid DLC a little galling? I mean you don't see Valve charging anything for all the extra content they've tacked onto TF2 over the years, do you? Now there's a company that knows how to treat it's customers!

 

[CommodoreKong]

Looks like there's another DLC out, this time an all weapons pack. They do look like fun but there's no way I'd to pay money for extra weapons. Does anyone else find this kind of paid DLC a little galling? I mean you don't see Valve charging anything for all the extra content they've tacked onto TF2 over the years, do you? Now there's a company that knows how to treat it's customers!

So very true. I would like to see a real, full expansion pack for Mass Effect 2, not these stupid little DLC packs that should be free.

 

[James Tiberius Kirk]

Picked this up recently and finished it the other day. Very fun, gameplay very much improved over Mass Effect 1. The plot was a bit weak, but I loved Martin Sheen as the Illusive Man, and the other characters and their associated quests were fairly interesting. Now I'll be waiting for Mass Effect 3 for sure, though with all of the different possible ending combinations, it'll be interesting to see how Bioware manages to create plot coherence between 2 and 3 for all players.

 

[Reverend]

^Probably the same way they did between 1 & 2. Really, none of your decisions in the first game had much of an impact on events of the second. It just decided what characters would or would not show up depending on who you let die or killed. If they're dead then they either didn't show up at all or were replaced in their role by another character. Even saving or killing the council had little effect on the plot.

Don't get me wrong, it makes a huge difference to one's individual gaming experience and immersive as hell to see the consequences of your actions if you imported an old save, but nevertheless, it's really little more than window dressing.

I'd say the fact that you can in theory have all but one of your team killed off by the end suggests that few, if any of them will have any pivotal role in the third instalment, or if they do there's the option for the writers to replace them. Another Legion platform if your one didn't make it or Thane's son if Thane himself was killed, etc.

Personally I'm hoping Wrex, Ash and Liara all come back together at some point so you can have a proper reunion.

 

[firehawk12]

Honestly, I'm surprised they went with a canon ending and didn't give you the chance to basically preset variables like the first game. It's an interesting way to get people to replay the first game, but given that they've pretty much turned their back on Mass Effect 1, I'm not sure what the end goal was.

 

[TheGodBen]

Personally I'm hoping Wrex, Ash and Liara all come back together at some point so you can have a proper reunion.

I'm really hoping for Garrus to be on your team if he survived, Mass Effect without Garrus just wouldn't feel right to me. I liked him in ME1 when a lot of other people didn't, but in ME2 he was such a badass that I'd hate for Bioware to drop him now just because he might have died in the suicide mission. The team members I really hope return are:

1) Garrus
2) Liara (my FemShep's lover )
3) Ashley (my MaleShep's lover, whom he cheated on with Miranda)
4) Mordin

The rest I don't care about so much, but it would be nice to have them if possible. It would be great if Ashley and Miranda were on your team at the same time and secretly dating both of them, but I have a feeling that sort of relationship complexity wont make it into ME3.


That being said, I intend to do another play-through of both games with a new character at some point where everyone dies on the suicide mission except for the one or two team members I need for Shepard to survive. I also intend to do one where everyone survives in order to get that achievement.

 

[Reverend]

2) Liara (my FemShep's lover )
3) Ashley (my MaleShep's lover, whom he cheated on with Miranda)

Ditto on both counts, though I can one up you on the latter. My MaleShep not only cheated on Ashley with Miranda (after a quickie with Jack) but promptly cheated on her too in favour of a certain Quarian girl...so yes, my MaleShep is a complete bastard and a dog.

My FemShep on the other hand was steadfastly loyal to Liara...though only because the game designers wouldn't let her get some Quarian action too.

That being said, I intend to do another play-through of both games with a new character at some point where everyone dies on the suicide mission except for the one or two team members I need for Shepard to survive. I also intend to do one where everyone survives in order to get that achievement.

My FemShep already managed to keep everyone alive, though I'm about halfway through a replay of my MaleShep in which I intend to arrange for him to end up with the one or two needed to survive, but more specifically, as a paragon that got Tali exiled, blew up all the Geth heretics and anything else I can think of to sabotage his chances of surviving the Reapers in ME3. He already killed the Rachni queen in ME1 so he's already off to a good start. At some point I'll have to go back and finish that game and get my LoserShep save ready!

As for Garrus, I honestly never used him much in ME1, my FemShep was a soldier so I pretty much stuck exclusively with Liara and Tali to keep a good balance of abilities. I did have a ME1 character save about a third done where the character was sticking exclusively with Garrus and Wrex to get some achievement or another. Again, I never got around to finishing it (though I backed up all my saves so I may yet someday) but I was surprised at how much more input those two had on conversations. Wrex in particular added an irreverence that I found really entertaining. I do have a little soft spot for Garrus though. His stock went up after turning out the be Archangel (did anyone NOT see that coming a parsec away?) but he has a kind of emo/angsty air that I find mildly tiresome.

Oh and Mordin is clearly the breakout character of ME2.

 

[eastman23]

Oh and Mordin is clearly the breakout character of ME2.

Yup, he was my favourite new character in ME2. I couldn't stop myself from laughing whenever he started speaking at a really fast pace. And when I got him to do his "Gilbert and Sullivan" routine, I thought that was the funniest part of the whole game.

And if we're comparing romances here... the first time was a MaleShep who did Liara in ME1 and then Miranda in 2. Second run though that I just completed the other day was a FemShep with Kaiden in 1 and Garrus in 2.

Plus I managed to get the whole team through the suicide mission intact this time, unlike the first time.

 

[James Tiberius Kirk]

Yeah, Garrus was an amazing badass in ME2, no doubt. He was my immediate first thought for leading the second team on the suicide mission (obviously the choice Bioware wanted you to make). I did get Mordin killed on my first suicide mission runthrough, but I did it over again and sent him back with the Normandy survivors and everyone lived. I question the decision to let everyone survive the suicide mission though. Forcing at least some party members to die could have heightened the drama, and getting most/all of them to survive is pretty easy.

 

[Skywalker]

For me, ME3's indispensable companions would be:

1. Garrus. ME's signature character, IMO. I've been a fan of his from the beginning.
2. Ashley. My ManShep's LI (and he did not cheat on her in ME2 ), plus I just think she's awesome.
3. Mordin. By far the best of the new characters introduced in ME2.
4. Tali. Don't hate the character, hate the fans.

I'd include Wrex on that list, but I prefer him on Tuchanka, uniting the krogans and reforming their society.

As for the suicide mission, in my only completed playthrough (as my ManShep), I got everyone through, but I'm tempted to go back and agree to let Jacob run the solo op, just so he'd get killed. Not that I dislike Jacob or anything, but it did feel wrong to not have someone die on the mission.

 

[TheGodBen]

Ditto on both counts, though I can one up you on the latter. My MaleShep not only cheated on Ashley with Miranda (after a quickie with Jack) but promptly cheated on her too in favour of a certain Quarian girl...so yes, my MaleShep is a complete bastard and a dog.

My FemShep on the other hand was steadfastly loyal to Liara...though only because the game designers wouldn't let her get some Quarian action too.

My first play-through was with my MaleShep, and somehow I didn't realise I could go down the elevator and talk to Ashley and the others until after the Virmire mission, at which point it was too late to romance her (even though I sent Kaidan to his death in the hope that I would). Last year, I replayed the game with the same MaleShep and tried to replicate everything from my first play-through, but this time I romanced both Ashley and Liara until they forced me to choose between them. I tried to choose both, but they wouldn't let me. So I went with Ashley as my FemShep already paired up with Liara. In ME2, I wasn't sure what to do at first, but Ashley acted pissy towards me when I saw her, and then I saw this scene, so my mind was made up.

My FemShep was a mean renegade, but after sleeping with Liara she mellowed out, and the lack of Liara in ME2 turned her cruel again. So I kept her chaste in ME2, I like the idea that she's a horrible person, but she wants to do the right thing for Liara. Unlike your FemShep, mine absolutely loathed Tali for some reason, she pissed off Tali so much in ME1 that Tali refused to talk to her any more. I tried to do the same in ME2 to keep things consistent, but all I managed to do was break Tali's self esteem, then she died during the suicide mission.

I do have a little soft spot for Garrus though. His stock went up after turning out the be Archangel (did anyone NOT see that coming a parsec away?) but he has a kind of emo/angsty air that I find mildly tiresome.

I'm not quite sure what it was, but Garrus in ME2 really stood out for me, he even began to remind me of Garak (which is the biggest compliment I can give).

I question the decision to let everyone survive the suicide mission though. Forcing at least some party members to die could have heightened the drama, and getting most/all of them to survive is pretty easy.

I agree, letting at least 1 person die during the suicide mission ramps up the drama, letting a half dozen die makes that mission epic. The only reason I want to save everyone is because in my first game I (accidentally) lost Thane, in my second game I (intentionally) lost Jack, Tali, Grunt, Mordin and Zaeed, in another game I intend to lose everyone except the minimum needed to survive, so that means I need one more where the whole team survives.

 

[Evil Twin]

but I'm tempted to go back and agree to let Jacob run the solo op

Heavy risk, but the priiiiiize....