Mass Effect 2

[TheGodBen]

MaleShep: Soldier. FemShep: Infiltrator. Infiltrator is harder to play as during the combat, especially since I don't have the weapons I became accustomed to as a soldier. One day I'm going to go back and play all the way through ME1 and ME2 as an adept and see how different the combat feels with no military training.

 

[Jax]

Anyone get this bug...

even if Grunt is loyal, Fortification will not be unlocked. This issue is also present on the PC version; however, you are still able to learn this ability.

Allegedly this issue has to deal with the Pyjack sidequest. If one does this quest before Grunt's loyalty mission, there is no skill lock.

This better not get him or me killed in the suicide mission.

 

[Skywalker]

So what are everyone's favorite two squad characters? I always use Miranda for her Overload ability and Samara once I got her, unless I'm fighting the Geth then I use Tali.

Garrus is my Shepard's buddy and right-hand man, so he's always on my squad, especially if I'm playing a Vanguard or a Sentinel. The other role was usually filled by Miranda.

 

[Mr Light]

I'm playing Paragon FemShep as a Soldier. I've become an expert at slowing down time and shooting a bunch of people in the face with a sniper rifle. It's pretty bad ass And once I finish a couple more N7 missions I will have done EVERYTHING and be ready to start the endgame with the Reaper IFF mission!

 

[Scherazade]

I played as a Male Adept and it was awesome. I barely fired my gun in the last half of the game. And I usually had Tali and Grunt/Garrus on my squad.

 

[firehawk12]

Anyone get this bug...

even if Grunt is loyal, Fortification will not be unlocked. This issue is also present on the PC version; however, you are still able to learn this ability.

Allegedly this issue has to deal with the Pyjack sidequest. If one does this quest before Grunt's loyalty mission, there is no skill lock.

This better not get him or me killed in the suicide mission.

Strange bug for sure. But having it locked shouldn't effect the end game. It's arguably his most useful skill though.

 

[Jax]

^ I have no prefered team really not found a balanced yet but not having his final ability makes me want to use him less for the suicide mission.

 

[ATimson]

So, I finished the game on Sunday. Is it just me, or is the plot maybe half the length of the original Mass Effect, with more side quest padding?

Spoiler: ME2

Original: Eden Prime, Citadel, Noveria, Feros, Artemis Tau, Vermire, Ilos/Citadel
ME2: Starting planet, Collector ship (from the turian distress call), Reaper IFF collection, Collector base

I think that the Collector ship/Reaper IFF are gated on finishing recruitments, but you only have to do those because you need them to get the plot piece; they don't contribute to the main plot.

 

[Arrqh]

I'm not sure I'd call the loyalty and recruitment missions "padding". It's more like the game had an A story (Collectors) and a B story (building your team) and the two are interrelated... whereas ME1 only had a main story.

 

[Mr Light]

I haven't started the end game yet but I definitely feel that ME1 had a vastly superior story. The geth were mysterious and cool and interesting and Saren was neat whereas the Collectors completely boring. Even the revelation of their true identity was only somewhat cool/shocking. The endless recruiting character missions just feels completely separated from the main story. Hopefully the ending is cool. I definitely prefer the gameplay and mechanics of ME2, just not its story.

 

[Skywalker]

ME1 wins in terms of overall storyline, but ME2 has it beat in terms of character depth and development. I hope that ME3 will manage to bring both strengths together.

 

[firehawk12]

I don't know, I've been having this discussion on GAF so I'm kind of tired of it, but ME2 is fairly shallow - almost necessarily, because of its open ended nature.

Since they don't know what order you'll do things, the characters almost never interact with each other nor does having certain characters with you really change anything.

It's rather unfortunate, because on a second playthrough, you can see the problems with this type of RPG writing.

 

[ATimson]

I'm not sure I'd call the loyalty and recruitment missions "padding". It's more like the game had an A story (Collectors) and a B story (building your team) and the two are interrelated... whereas ME1 only had a main story.

Hmm. I guess I could see that, though the B story is hardly what I'd call "grabbing".

Spoiler: the crew

Probably because most of the B story characters are murderers or lawful evil (the Cerberus crew, the salarian, the justicar). Thane might be Lawful Neutral, if I'm feeling generous.

That leaves, what, Tali, Garrus, Grunt, and Legion? And you don't even get to spend much time with the last.

 

[Ryan]

So, I finished the game on Sunday. Is it just me, or is the plot maybe half the length of the original Mass Effect, with more side quest padding?

It definitely feels shorter but that might be because plot wise very little is happening. In ME1 you had to unravel the entire mystery of what was going on. In ME2 you're getting dispatched on missions. Shepard is never the driver of the action. The Illusive Man is. There's only one revelation and it's not very surprising when you learn it.

I'm interested in how they're going to handle ME3 given the final mission can happen so many ways.

Spoiler: Ending

They dealt with possible deaths in ME1 by cutting Kaidan, Ash, and Wrex entirely as squad mates. Now the only person guaranteed to be alive on an importable ME2 game save is Shep and Joker. The only way I can see them realistically dealing with that is cutting out all the characters from ME2, squad mates and Normandy crew.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

Anyone get this bug...

even if Grunt is loyal, Fortification will not be unlocked. This issue is also present on the PC version; however, you are still able to learn this ability.

Allegedly this issue has to deal with the Pyjack sidequest. If one does this quest before Grunt's loyalty mission, there is no skill lock.

This better not get him or me killed in the suicide mission.

Well i just completed the Grunt mission, then went and did the pyjack shooting side quest, and fortification is still locked....so maybe you need to go back to the ship first and verify that its open before doing the pyjack thing.

 

[Reverend]

ME1 had WAY more padding missions and most of them were dull, banal, had little or no connection to the main story and usually took place in copy/paste locations or were so trivial (like the domestic dispute on the Presidium) it was almost insulting.

ME2 has very little padding, if at all. I'd even go as far as to say that all the optional loyalty and N7 missions are unique, engaging and mostly rewarding.

 

[Mr Light]

Oh yeah the side missions are absolutely MUCH better in this one, all in unique locations with differing baddies and objectives. Hell the ME1 side missions all took place in the same two winged building on every alien planet! The action and the stage designs are way improved. The interface is way improved. The Mako bits are gone (though planet scanning is really tedious it can also be a little relaxing after a shoot em up). The inventory system is fixed.

 

[TheBrew]

I would say that the overall story in ME1 was better, but everything else is better in ME2. I think that the real test is to see how all of these relationships you developed pay off in ME3.

In a ways, it is a lot like Empire where the story was more personal to set up the epic finale in Jedi. Hopefully, ME3 won't have any ewoks.

 

[TheGodBen]

ME1 had a better story for sure, but even then it wasn't all that cohesive. The missions on Noveria and Feros could take up to 3 or 4 hours each depending on how you play them and they weren't really connected to the main plot: Sovereign was trying to make an alliance with the Thorian and Rachni for some reason despite their limited power. When you really get down to it there was only four missions in ME1 directly related to the plot: Eden Prime, Citadel, Virmire and Ilos/Citadel. The other three missions only tied in because each one gave you visions from the beacon, and those visions had very little to do with the actual mission.

What made ME1 so good was Virmire, because it was a very tense mission with a big revelation and an emotional climax, and the final mission, because climbing the exterior of the Citadel tower was awesome. ME2 didn't have missions on that level, not even the suicide mission could match them.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

Wow....loved the ending.

Now do i continue or start again.