Mass Effect 2
 

I loved the first game and can't wait for this one

I heard the menus and combat system were terrible in the first one. Hopefully they will fix it for this one!

Looks cool, but I find cinematic trailers to be misleading... often gameplay is disappointing in comparison.

Maybe not in this case though...

They where not that bad once you got used to the way it all worked, I played the game through 4 times on every difficulty and so i could also hit lvl 60.

Now watching all these gameplay videos it looks like they cleaned it up nicely.

They got quite a few good people to do the voice acting.

Out tomorrow WOO

Wow, that voice talent is stacked.

9.6 from IGN. That's the same score as Uncharted 2 and it got game of the year 2009. I'm not sure when I'll get it because I have a nice backlog going right now.

Heh, I'm still working on the first one.... :shy:

Already pre-paid and downlaoded from direct2drive and waiting for the 26th to get my code!

I haven't beated ME1 yet.. I tried twice and just cannot stay interested. The funnest thing in the game was going down to planets and driving the vehicle thing collecting ore..

Preloading now, I got the DA:O preorder as well so I get to walk around in plate armor, in space, buhahahaha.

http://masseffect.bioware.com/resour...ragon-01-p.jpg

you can see all the stats and other armors you can collect here.
http://masseffect.bioware.com/universe/arsenal/armor/

kinda curious about that dr pepper stuff, I saw nothing on that.


standard
http://na.llnet.bioware.cdn.ea.com/u...ts/n7-01-p.jpg


Collectors Ed/Digital Deluxe
http://masseffect.bioware.com/resour...ctors-01-p.jpg


Pre-order only
http://masseffect.bioware.com/resour...ferno-01-p.jpg

Gamestop armor
http://masseffect.bioware.com/resour...minus-01-p.jpg

Want badly. Meant to play ME1 but never got around to it..and I heard there were some irritating quirks.

I'll buy it on a steam sale.

I went over and watched my friend play ME2 last night. HE had some issues signing in and getting on (probably everyone and their brother was trying to get in).... once in I was thoroughly impressed the graphics, storyline and action... very interesting and fun...

I love this game.

It improved everything from the first game and the fact that most of my choices from the first game are actually mentioned or referenced and actually impact the story is just awesome.

It's going to be hard to top ME2 as my favorite game this year.

I'm really disappointed from a gameplay perspective.


They continue to deliver on cause/effect dialogue driven story telling with excellent voice acting but I wonder if they had to GUT the RPG element of this game. Calling this game an RPG is like calling LARP an accurate representation of Pen & Paper Tabletop gaming. It's just so shallow compared to the 1st one.

Gone are my statistical decision making when picking out what kind of gear suits my playstyle. Do I want to be heavy on shields and light on damage reduction or do I want to be a heavily armored behemoth?

Nah, that's all out the window, welcome to the Halo style FPS health system, where shields and health regen after about 3 seconds of being behind cover.

Of course, the emphasis on the shooter elements of this game finally fixed my gripe about the last M.E. The sniping seems to feel like a viable role with this engine.

I dunno, still a good game but kinda regretting the fact that I was looking forward to more extensive stat screens and item management (I actually enjoy that kind of stuff)




anyways, if someone wants to argue as to how ME2 is an RPG beyond the formulaic bioware paragon/renegae dialogue system, feel free. I'm just not seeing it.


oh and I fucking hate having to manage 4 different kinds of ammo.

I enjoy it too, but it makes sense in the context of the game. Now you have a company who can manufacture your shit. You just find blueprints and the whole squad benefits from your findings. No more searching through an unmanaged 150 item inventory to sell what you don't need. No more excessive loot.

Yes, it's less of an RPG in a sense of item management, but it's very much an RPG in the way your actions impact the story and future games.

After playing this game for 13+ hours I'm in love still I like the little reworks they did, at first I thought having ammo and to reload would be stupid but I kinda like it. The way you played the first ME effecting to out come on this is great, I was a renegade so I stuck with it.

I think its hilarious how EA and Bioware decided to simply strip out that parts that were poorly done before (item management, planet exploration) instead of trying to make improvements. Now all that is left is a sub par shooter with great interactive story elements, pretty much a dumbed down version of ME1. But hey, we get to play dress up and play with model ships in our room! EA strikes (out) again.

Well it isn't THAT bad. But I don't really think it's EA's fault, they just publish/distribute whatever.. Bioware is the one responsible for the product.

That said, I think it's growing on me a little bit, I cleared it and am currently tryng a 2nd playthrough as a renegade named Haterade Shepard on Insanity difficulty.

It's more my style of gameplay now, the firefights take forever since damn near everything has armor now, and it really forces you to learn your biotic combos and carefully pick your party based on their skills vs the majority unit type you'll be encountering.

Krogans are a pain in the balls if you don't have a lot of cover to kite them around.

Personally I think every "power" that requires both barrier + armor to be gone to use is damn near useless, though I suppose it has it's (lesser) place against hordes of unarmed melee opponents.

I'm really a fan of incinerate with the splash spec. Warp is also another really powerful ability. Every time the Harbinger took over a collector I just slam him in the face with 2 warps and an incinerate if he's still standing and he usually blows up in to tiny bits.

Bind that to "1" on my bar and work on my biotic power/cooldown research.

After you've beaten the game all your characters that you make or import get an extra power you can choose from, and 25% bonus xp

I did 100% exploration and anomaly quests before I finished it, 100% survival rate on my suicide missions, but only hit level 27 :( I don't know if it's possible to hit level 30 on the 1st playthrough unless you either import a level 60 shepard from ME1 or do the 2nd playthrough with the 25% xp bonus.

I finished at Level 29, so I must have missed a side mission or two.

This is story driven sub-par shooter with a few customization options included. Fantastic presentation and dialogue. Poor combat system and exploration options. 7/10

Yeah my friend never played any of the ME franchise, he just started on ME1 like 2 days ago, I watched him play a bit today and he was saying how he has been playing non stop, how he likes his gear, and the little rover portions of the game etc..


I just went "yeah, the inventory? they got rid of it in ME2, oh right and that rover? replaced it with the most god damned awful minigame ever, planet scanning."

"wait, you told me to play this one before I play the 2nd one and now you're telling me all the good parts are gone?"

"yep, well, the story is still there I guess but it's just a wordy as fuck shooter now and you can clear it with the gear you start with in all honesty"

"wtf"

"yeah you'll still like it though, just because reviewers will TELL YOU TO LIKE IT, oh and, you'll be out 60 bucks so you'll feel stupid if you say it's mediocre because you paid for it right?"


"damnit...."

"yeah.... fml"

After just coming off DA, I like the fact that there's no inventory control. I also like the "hunting for upgrades" replacement. I would have liked the ability to customise your teammates outfits more tho, but that's prolly just because Miranda is such a hottie.

The planet scanning is tedious, I agree. The fact that you have to do soooo much of it to afford the upgrades grates on me. Limiting scanning to searching for anomalies (and having more anomalies and more difficult to detect, i.e without the white pointer) would have worked better.

I also feel like ME should have evolved past the brainlessness with which you decide if you're a paragon or renegade. It should have been more masked, with the dialogue option sending you down a distinct path (with options within options deciding how much you lean either way).

I'm playing through it yet again (3rd time) this a male character over the first 2 as female, its a little different but I'm also trying to stay neutral its cool to have the option to be a nice or a badass at all convos where it comes up.

Most definitely, but I'm saying it should be more natural and require you to..."feel". - not pick [blue option = nice guy; red = badass].

I got the collector edition for the xbox and I don't seem to have that huge gun that you see in the commerical, I got the suit and the rifle just not the big ass nuke.

Ya I hear you on that like an orange option.

You acquire the nuke gun later. It's part of the game and not a bonus item for any of the special editions.

Thought so I never learned the Caen is that's it, I like the flamethrower.:thumbsup:

Yeah, the Cain is the nuke gun.

In retrospect, the only thing that dissapointed me in ME2 is that assembling/kitting out your team takes up 95% of your time, and the actual mission is over in 1 hour. I wonder at least if this team will be your core in ME3 and the story be alot more mission-driven, or if some random tragedy will again force you to build another team for 90% of the time.

I don't think they would risk rehashing the characters. They might leave a few fan favorites. I would expect Tali, Garrus, Mordin and Grunt to make a return. Maybe Legion.

Jack, Samara, Zaeed, Jacob, Miranda and Thane, for example, only signed up for this suicide mission. It was pretty clear that they would leave after. Assuming they lived in your game, obviously.

Miranda can die? I didnt get Thane, Jack or Zaeed's loyalty in the first playthrough, and Jack and Zaeed died. To me she's pretty core to the story now. In fact, I view her, Garrus, Samara and Tali as the core to the team. Samara sworn an oath to Shepard's mission, and it clearly isn't over. Tali is now vas Normandy (although she's utterly useless IMO) and Miranda is just 10 times better than ashley as a love interest.

everyone can die, including your main character even after beating the last boss. I don't think they plan on using anyone from ME2 in ME3 at this rate, aside from cameos from carried over save games.

what are the parameters for death? I assumed zaeed and jack died in my game cuz I didn't get their loyalty (and i assumed they were "distracted" or "underpowered".) How does it end if shepard dies?

If you don't upgrade your ship, you lose Jack for sure and I think somebody else. Then, depending on your choices when you assign squads, you can lose all your members and die yourself if their loyalty is low.

You can end the game with everybody surviving, everybody dying or anything in between.

yeah everybody except Joker. What never sat right with me in ME2 is apparently they had enough medical tech to construct shepard from the ground up but nobody can do anything about Joker's bones?

If it weren't for the bones thing and complete lack of combat ability on Jokers part, I'd wonder if they had plans to make him in to a main character for a sequel. I just can't see it happening because his forte is being a badass pilot.

I guess you don't technically see Shepard *die*
You just see him miss the jump when running to the ship and then it all goes kablooey

The only thing I can't get done is the Loyalty mission for Samara, not sure what I'm doing wrong from what I have read.

That one was easy - I dont see how it can go wrong.

With Jack, I figured it was because I sided with Miranda - I didnt have enough paragon/renegade stats to open the reconciliation option with Jack.

With Zaeed, I chose to save the people instead of chasing his former partner.

With Thane, I somehow lost the trail of his son's mark. I actually couldn't see a way to follow, so i figured it was part of the story.

I got the samara one today with the help of youtube. Zaeed you have to be a badass and let the people die, and Jack well I always had the option to get loyal with her. I always wait to do there extra missions that way I don't have a problem finishing them.

Oh ya Adept class is fuking badass, omg I thought vanguard was good but this tossing people all over the place is hella fun.

no you don't.

you might just not have had high enough paragon status or whatever but you can save them. The guy will get away but you'll still get the loyalty thing. *shrug*

You don't have to let people die to earn Zaeed's loyalty. You can still save the people and then convince him at the end to let his grudge go. High persuasion (either paragon or renegade) is a must.

Oh I never did it as a good guy yet

Hmm, I normally play RPGs decisions based on what feels morally right to me. I would classify myself as a lawful neutral with good leanings, so I never maxed out my Paragon score enough to be able to convince either Jack or Zaeed to let their grudges go.

The above is also why I would have liked a more obscure Paragon/Renegade system, since Good/Evil choices just are too easy.

I'm in my second playthrough now, on Hardcore, and I must say that combat is a much more engaging and enjoyable experience. Before I thought that this was an excellent RPG with subpar shooter sections, but now I appreciate it so much more. I might lose interest though - couldn't get through a second Dragon Age playthrough either.

well I had the paragon to do it I just didn't lol.

im dropping down to hardcore. insane definitely lives up to it's name.

I'm on vet atm, Insanity is the next for me tried hardcore but gave up to start a different class for achievements.

Insanity is freaking retarded, Garrus keeps dieing on me.

The stupidity of AI becomes very apparent on Insanity. Your team keeps dying 10 times per battle usually because of stupid shit like not following placement markers, standing behind cover full height and not doing anything.

Their behavior seemed quite intelligent on Normal.

Ya Garrus keeps dieing on the mission to get him, after the gun ship he just stands in the window and gets blasted.

Attention attention!
There's an amazing new DLC for ME2 on September 7th!
It involves Liara and the Shadow Broker. ;)
She was my fave character from ME1. I picked her as my love interest. So I'm excited to know that the love interest continues in this DLC. WHOO!

Check out the video for the DLC here: BioWare | Mass Effect | Information : Downloadable Content

I'm excited for this!

Also, take a look at the other DLC they made. "Overlord" was a LOT of fun. :D

Well damn my Xbox get the red ring months ago and never got around to fixing it or just buying a new one. Guess I have to now.

Eh why fix or buy? Why not get a refurbished from Micro$oft? It's still under warranty for RROD.

It was a refurbished machine already and the store it was bought from only has a 1 year warranty, plus once I fix the broken one it will be modded to play my stack of burnt games. I will not beable to play it online just so I don't get banned (again) but worth it. LOL

I dont see much point in getting a Xbox and modding it, since XBL is the primary reason to own one, but to each his own. As for the store: M$ specifically extended the warranty for the RROD to three years.

I had a pal with a modded system. He undid the mod, phoned the call centre and his system was swapped out, no problem.

The modded one will be just to play older games that I don;t want to pay for and also try out new ones before I drop the 60+ for it, and it will not be online the unmodded new one will be online but I have a Silver account, I play online games on the computer.

Also does anyone know the cost of this package in Microsoft points? I can't seem to find it on the xbox or mass effect websites.

ME2 is coming out for the PS3 as well, interesting. I already got it for the PC but I've bought a couple games I already had for PC just cuz I prefer to couch game sometimes.

The Shadow Broker DLC = 800 M$ points. 1.52 Gb.

LoTSB was well worth it, was a bit short though.

Just got done playing it, if she was your love interest in ME 1, there is a little tidbit there. Jennifer did better with the voice acting at the end than Mark having seen both endings with Liara being the love interest.

Can't wait for ME 3.