Mass Effect 2

[Docbrown777]

Ha ha, I liked when the Shadow Broker had the shield so Shepard says, "Then we do this the hard way" and you have to run up and punch him. There were some great cut scenes during the final fight.

I also liked that they included a level where you have to walk on the exterior of the Shadow Broker's ship. It reminded me of the Citadel Tower level from ME1.

Making the "evil" Asari Specter a Vanguard was a great idea too. She was biotic charging all over the place. Cool.

 

[SPCTRE]

^ Maybe you'll want to wrap that in spoiler tags

 

[Niorah]

Has Bioware by any chance announced how many DLC they intend to release for ME2?

 

[LeadHead]

Many thanks to those who have been using the spoiler cover, sadly I don't get to have a go till the weekend. So you're attempts to leave me unspoiled are greatly appreciated!

 

[Skywalker]

Hrm, with the ending of the DLC, doesn't that imply that she's not going to be a party member in ME3?

That was my impression as well, but I hope BioWare finds a story reason to work around it. I'd really like to have Liara on my team again in ME3, especially now that she and my Shepard are together again (sorry, Miss Lawson and low-cut jumpsuit).

Personally, I think she'd be of more use in her current position than she would be running around with Shepard again.

 

[Reverend]

^As much as I'd like to have had Liara around again as a squad member in ME2, it's true that her talents are wasted in a gunfight. Same goes for Tali really...which is and odd thought really. I mean how many other video games can make you actually care about the lives and careers of it's characters? That's just bizarre.

 

[SPCTRE]

Another thing I really, really enjoyed was the "Dossiers" console. I think I spent over an hour just reading through all of them.

Gotta love the World of Fantasy references BioWare keeps making

 

[Reverend]

^Yeah there's some pretty weird stuff in there. Off the top of by head, you learn a little too much about Tali's "special time", that Miranda is trying (unsuccessfully) to get pregnant with the aid of a dating service, that Grunt has developed an interest in Hemingway, that Samara used to be a clothes horse and a dancer, Jack fancies herself a poet and is into online poker and keeps getting banned for flaming, Garrus has a sick mother and a sibling back home, Mordin like amateur dramatics (but we knes that already), Kasumi has a crush on Jacob, and that Legion is an avid FPS gamer ("N7 Code of Honor: Medal of Duty") and is so good he keeps getting accused of hax.

The video logs also have some interesting details. Aside from Liara's father it also has Anderson meeting secretly with someone in a Cerberus uniform on the presidium and that reporter getting punched by someone else. Entertaining stuff!

 

[Jax]

One of the developers confirmed via Twitter "ongoing benefits" of that outcome. I also am looking forward to keeping an eye on it.

I wonder what the Twitter comment was about? I wonder if there some hidden info buried deep somewhere in the network, have to keep looking I guess.

 

[SPCTRE]

Well, there is the console that allows you to come back regularly and collect Credits, tech and resources.

 

[Jax]

I dunno the Twitter comment makes it seem like something bigger.

 

[firehawk12]

Another thing I really, really enjoyed was the "Dossiers" console. I think I spent over an hour just reading through all of them.

Gotta love the World of Fantasy references BioWare keeps making

They're getting perilously close to ruining the lore by trying to be cute though. Ironically, sort of like WoW.

 

[SPCTRE]

^ Nah, I don't agree. They're not overdoing it at the moment - a couple of funny NPC soundbits and text files, but that's it.

I don't even think WoW overdid it, they ruined the lore mostly because of gameplay concerns, not because of a couple of pop culture references.

 

[firehawk12]

The Turian Game Stop clerk on the Citadel broke the fourth wall for me unfortunately. But I suppose since the "references" relatively minor, it doesn't matter too much.

 

[Reverend]

^Don't forget there was also Conrad's line about talking to people who look like they're standing around waiting to tell him his problems, between rooting through crates for extra credits...it's clear the developers aren't above having a little fun at their own expense. I wouldn't say any of it breaks the fourth wall, but it defiantly leans on it.

 

[PsychoPere]

[...] Anderson meeting secretly with someone in a Cerberus uniform on the presidium [...]

Maybe I should watch it again, but I thought that was supposed to have been Shepard, tying in with the dossier notes. From what I could make out in the video, the Cerberus operative looked enough like my Shepard. Can anyone confirm if, as a female Shepard, the person in the video is male on your run as well?

I dunno the Twitter comment makes it seem like something bigger.

Possibly, though I'm not sure what it would be if there is. In response to a question ("you mean being able to respec allies, finance missions, get resources, watch videos, etc.? Or something else?"), her answer was pretty fairly simple.

 

[SPCTRE]

[...] Anderson meeting secretly with someone in a Cerberus uniform on the presidium [...]

Maybe I should watch it again, but I thought that was supposed to have been Shepard, tying in with the dossier notes. From what I could make out in the video, the Cerberus operative looked enough like my Shepard. Can anyone confirm if, as a female Shepard, the person in the video is male on your run as well?

It's always the same male Cerberus operative. So Anderson definitely was in contact with them at some point.

 

[-Brett-]

Is it my imagination, or is Bioware learning to integrate cover into the environment more naturally? There were a couple times when I thought "Wait, they can't attack me here! There's no convenient set of waist high boxes!"

 

[SPCTRE]

^

BTW, Extra Credits over at The Escapist are discussing a choice in Mass Effect 2 in their latest episode:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/1974-Enriching-Lives

 

[Reverend]

That was...surprisingly interesting. The moral choice wasn't lost on me during my first play-through and I recognised that either option was diabolical. In the end I chose to look at it in terms of the end result and sacrificed the right of the heretics to self determination in order to give the total population of the galaxy a marginally better chance of surviving the Reaper invasion. Even choosing not to play the mission and leaving them as they were would have in all likely hood only meant that they ended up like the Collectors and the Keepers; just another victim of the Reapers. So in a way there are three options for their fate: enslavement, annihilation and loss of free will.