Mass Effect 2 [split topic]

[wasp_f15ting]

I started playing it for a little bit and I am already in 10hrs. This game is amazing..

[falafel]

Still working my way through ME1. Great, but... why can't I

Spoiler alert

shag Kaidan

[close]

? I really want to

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shag Kaidan

[close]

. But it's only stupid

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Ashley

[close]

I can

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shag

[close]

. Well, not really, I already

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got her killed

[close]

, or at least I think so. But

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Kaidan

[close]

has got a great

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arse

[close]

and I want to

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shag him

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. Why can't I?

[DocDaneeka]

No

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Shagging

[close]

men for you.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/shepard-is-heterosexual-by-choice

[HappyTree]

My female Shepard shagged the blue alien who's kinda female and in the second playthrough is close to concluding with Kaiden. I guess female homosexuality is acceptable.

[falafel]

Hmm. Does seem kind of odd though in the sense that as a game character in this sort of open universe it shouldn't take too much wrangling to make man on man action work. I mean, the dialogue is already recorded either way. In a post-human world why would Shepherd be rigidly heterosexual unless you are suggesting that hetero prejudices are as pervasive in this future as in the present? - and if sexuality isn't your concern, you shouldn't let (some of) your characters fuck each other. Also I don't  like that my only options are an evangilistic racist or a blue lady, and not the sexy and compassionate man. With a nice bottom.

[falafel]

I guess here's the crux, and it might sound crass.

It's kind of fun in Uncharted because you have to go through the romance. It's part of the plot. In ME, as in life, it's an option.so it would be nice to try, but as a detached embodiment of your own self, this particular restriction feels oddly suffocating. I am starting to feel oddly discriminated against. I flirt with Ashley but it is hollow. I am not interested in her. My Shepherd is not interested in her. He wants Kaidan. But he doesn't have the dialogue options. All he can do is ask how the ship is going or whether we should have killed so-and-so. It's like the 50s. The point being that it's not just about sex; it's vicarious love. The developers talk about Shepherd being a particular character with a set path but what is curious is how little exposition is applied to him/her: it all comes down to relationships. bioware has sacrificed a significant part of my emotional investment in this game and I can think of no reason for this other than demographic; and that is a bit depressing.

Seriously. That's how it feels to me. Wandering the universe as a repressed gay man. It's kind of a depressing story.

[HappyTree]

You could always imagine that they're having a torrid affair out of sight of the cameras and that every reference to the engine or party performance is actually a heavily coded euphemism for rampant gay sex. That's what I always do.

[Frankie]

falafel, can I just say absolutely yes to that. I've been discussing this with a friend recently; my Shepard is the same and when Bioware didn't remedy it in the sequel and then came out with that "heterosexual by choice" flimsy hypocritical BS I was majorly disappointed with them. They give you a blank slate character to inhabit and freedom of moral choice and then tell you what you can and can't do with it. Shepard is a "defined character"? Where the heck is the definition? S/he is a void.
As for ME2 female romance,

Spoiler alert

Kelly is an option for female Shepard and although nothing is seen (like most of the romances I assume) she flirts, cuddles up with and dances for you.

[close]

Also, you can call asari monogendered all you want, two female shaped bodies rutting screams "space lesbians are OK but any hint of male attraction to a male Shepard is not canon".

[MojoJojo]

My general opinions, after getting about 20 hours in (and after getting thoroughly pissed off with Dragon Age)
- It's really, really good that they've streamlined everything down a lot. They've got rid of the grinding tedium of DA.
- The RPG elements are a bit too trimmed down. I don't really feel like I'm creating some unique character - the powers you choose from don't really interact in anyway, and any you don't select yourself you can get a team mate to do for you.
- the side quests (not the character quests, the "detected a mercenary base" type ones) are pretty underwhelming. Fight a load of mercenaries, get a small amount of creds/resources and 125xp, that's it. This is something Dragon Age did well - the side quests were rewarding, not just because they gave you XP and items etc... but because you got to fight different enemies, and the story associated with the side quest would be vaguely satisfying. ME2 tries to do a little bit of story telling in the side quests, but they tend to end before they get anywhere. This is the thing I think most needs fixing in the sequel.
-The combat is more interesting than DA, but it's still not very brilliant.  The armour/shield/barrier thing seems to be the beginning of a decent system, but it's not really been developed anywhere.
-It's a bit too easy on normal, which means weapon upgrades etc... all feel a bit worthless. (Although the Davy Crockett is amusing)

So yeah, the combat needs beefing up and made more challenging, so upgrades feel worthwhile, and the side quests need to be made more interesting.

But it is good if you stick to the main plot.

[Big Jack McBastard]

Ok I do like these games but I wish they had more worldly interactivity. I do like the little touches they've added to some spots, my first look at the Citadel made me go 'Wowzers' at first but it took all of 10 minutes to realise it was much smaller and more contained than I'd first suspected. 

I'm half way through my second playthrough and get the feeling that I picked up 90% of everything there was to get in my first run through and will hit 99-100% in this one no problem.

Shit is too easy to find and there is not much sense of accomplishment in doing so. Christ anyone who played Morrowind for example will recall just how ball breaking it was to get the world to work to your tune and succeed (that said I've never seen a game before or since that matches it for content and things to do/find) and while I appreciate this is not strictly an 100% RPG it feels like it needs more elements of it and to flesh the locations out into something more substantial.

I feel like I'm playing a 'choose your own adventure' book with fairly limited choices. It's not that the story is bad it's the setting that leaves a bit to be desired, which is a bit of a bugger when you've a galaxy to choose from.

It's the containment of everything that gets me, missions/assignments all in one location easily solved little problems that seem more geared to shaping your character's morality than to exploring the world(s). Apart from one side quest/mission (I think ti's the Eclipse bases with dodgy distress becons one) there is virtually no link from one location to the next. Granted the crew side missions do shift you around a little but the galaxy writ large seems to have been written by a sequence of unconnected groups working on their own little parcels of story which while well crafted feel pretty empty.

Dragonage suffered from some of the same problems, lack of depth in the world, too much focus on characters but is much deeper and more emotionally charged.

I'd like to see Bioware do the story for a game and Bethesda do the world, I reckon it'd even out the balance, make the locations more meaty but keep the NPCs rich and varied.

[Big Jack McBastard]

Also in the next one I'm seeing a

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Shepard Reaper

[close]

as the final boss, possibly made from

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cloned material nicked from Cerberus

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.

It's the only conclusion I can come to what with the way the reapers are going.

[MojoJojo]

Shit is too easy to find and there is not much sense of accomplishment in doing so. Christ anyone who played Morrowind for example will recall just how ball breaking it was to get the world to work to your tune and succeed (that said I've never seen a game before or since that matches it for content and things to do/find) and while I appreciate this is not strictly an 100% RPG it feels like it needs more elements of it and to flesh the locations out into something more substantial.

I feel like I'm playing a 'choose your own adventure' book with fairly limited choices. It's not that the story is bad it's the setting that leaves a bit to be desired, which is a bit of a bugger when you've a galaxy to choose from.

It's the containment of everything that gets me, missions/assignments all in one location easily solved little problems that seem more geared to shaping your character's morality than to exploring the world(s). Apart from one side quest/mission (I think ti's the Eclipse bases with dodgy distress becons one) there is virtually no link from one location to the next. Granted the crew side missions do shift you around a little but the galaxy writ large seems to have been written by a sequence of unconnected groups working on their own little parcels of story which while well crafted feel pretty empty.

After playing the game a good bit more over the weekend , I've realised why I struggled so much to make a coherent post the other day (about 3 posts up if you want to look). I was trying to describe it in terms of an RPG, and really it isn't an RPG. It's a shooter with a few RPG elements tacked on.
They've compeltely failed to make a believable universe. Yahtze described it as a sequence of shooting gallaries, which seems pretty accurate to me. Missions never have any effect on the hubs, beyond possibly having some chracter saying "thank you" when you wonder up to them. The whole exploring the galaxy thing has been made incredibly tedious - why bother when the main thing you'll get is some minerals you don't needs, or if you're lucky a side quest which will be piss easy, last no more than 10 minutes and give you a paltry 125 xp and 2000 credits. And that will be it.

If the RPG elements had been tacked onto a good shooter, it would still make a great game overall. But it's not a great shooter. It's a step up from playing Fallout 3 as shooter, but it's just not good enough. It doesn't have fast packed action,or tactical complexity. I don't think I've ever had to direct my teammates anywhere. Or use any powers beyond the ammo types. The whole tactics are - get behind cover, shoot until I'm nearly dead, take cover again until health regenerates, repeat. Turning up the difficulty might help here, but I don't think shield/armour/barrier system has enough complexity to add any interest.

It's still a good game, just not the great game a lot of people have been claiming it is. It's a mediocre RPG mixed with a mediocre shooter.

I'd like to play ME1 at some point, but think I need to give the RPGs a rest for a while.

[turnstyle]

Cor blimey, this is a bit good isn't it?

About 10 hours in, and I've recruited almost all the crew, done a few side quests, played a few story quests, and been chastised for going into the womens loos.

I've also spent ages chatting up the dirty slag on the flight deck, only to find out that dipping your wick with her doesn't count towards an achievement. What a cock tease.

[Slaaaaabs]

Also in the next one I'm seeing a

Spoiler alert

Shepard Reaper

[close]

as the final boss, possibly made from

Spoiler alert

cloned material nicked from Cerberus

[close]

.

It's the only conclusion I can come to what with the way the reapers are going.

I dunno, I think the fact that

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countless numbers of regular hard bastard reapers decloak somewhere just outside the galaxy

[close]

at the end sets up yer part three finale.

[Big Jack McBastard]

True enough, I read somewhere that there's at least

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250+ Reapers

[close]

in that scene so minus ship to ship combat I wonder how it's going to be handled.

Shadow broker as

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Miranda's dad

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anyone?

Also the

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Geth knocking up weapons and tech capable of killing off the Reapers once their Dyson sphere hivemind base

[close]

is created?

[turnstyle]

Anyone dowloaded the FireWalker missions?

Only played one level so far, but it's quite fun tooling around in the flying Mako thing. I really missed the original Mako in the game, although I might have been the only one).

I guess this is the end of the free content now then?

[Ignatius_S]

...I was trying to describe it in terms of an RPG, and really it isn't an RPG. It's a shooter with a few RPG elements tacked on....

To be honest, I didn't find this to be a massive surprise – when teasing bits of information about ME2 were being issued, it seemed to be quite clear that they was focussing 'improving' the combat elements and gameplay would primarily be action. I think the first gameplay video they showed off was to do with the improved cover system – my heart sank a little as from the narration and other comments Bioware made it sound first and foremost a shooter, so much so that I would half-expecting the RPG element to be little more than making the odd decision and deciding what skills to point pumps in.

Although I do think Yahtzee made a decent point about 'a sequence of shooting galleries', going on pre-publicity information, one that falls under the 'bleeding obvious' category albeit one that most reviewers didn't make. I rather agree with Big Jack McBastard CYOA comment, and the whole universe feels rather smaller.

I've actually been enjoying ME2 a lot – but I feel that this enjoyment is greatly enhanced by playing the first one and think this is where the love for the second one has come from. However, I would say it would be worth having a bash at ME at some point if only just to see what they've changed.

Anyone dowloaded the FireWalker missions?

Only played one level so far, but it's quite fun tooling around in the flying Mako thing. I really missed the original Mako in the game, although I might have been the only one).

I guess this is the end of the free content now then?

I actually rather enjoyed the Mako bits in ME – especially as it gave a bit of freedom, like parking a long distance from a Geth Colossus or three, getting out and taking them down with a sniper rifle.

Haven't downloaded this latest DLC,  but will – from what Bioware has said, I wouldn't be surprised if more free DLC was to come, especially you can pay to get an activation code for the free DLC if you've bought ME 2 secondhand (whether many people are actually going to do this remains to be seen).

[HappyTree]

That sounds like a good idea. I buy almost all of my games second hand so if the "free" DLC wasn't too much that'd be cheaper than buying a new game.

[turnstyle]

By some utter fluke, I managed to purchase the game second hand for £20, and it came with an unused DLC code.

Lovely.

[Ignatius_S]

That sounds like a good idea. I buy almost all of my games second hand so if the "free" DLC wasn't too much that'd be cheaper than buying a new game.

The figure being quoted is $15 – or 1200 Microsoft points, whatever that equates to. Basically, this gives you an activation key that lets you get access to the Cerberus Network, which lets you download the free DLC. If you want to buy the paid-for DLC, then you also need to do this.

There have been some interesting article/debates, like on Edge, which had basically ask do 'Bioware hate second-hand games?' – and the company responded to.  A couple of months ago or so, there was uproar over speculation that because of the Cerberus Network, you wouldn't be able to play the game second-hand – e.g. http://www.psxgames.co.uk/news/no-second-hand-mass-effect-2-for-you/ - a load of nonsense as it turns out.

I actually think what they're doing is a decent idea – I would far rather have the option decided whether to get the 'free' DLC than not be able to play the game period.

[Father O`Blivion]

Just finished it and overall I'd say I got my £25 worth out of it.

On the upside, there was a lot more variety to the missions this time around and it seemed a good bit longer. I thought the final mission was very well realised and nicely cinematic (it would certainly make for a better Hollywood movie than the likes of Halo), although I might be a bit biased as just by luck more than planning the last shot I fired in the game was with the sniper rifle and it made for an excellent 'Jaws' style ending.

On the downside, the element mining quickly became very tedious, the weapons and upgrades were a bit meh compared to the first one (although on the plus side no trawling though endlessly long menus to find stuff to sell), the speech wheel thing could do with the choices being greyed out or at least changing colour once you've asked them and there was a few other slight annoyances like my guy 'Sheepy' Shepard not being able to use the assault rifle (even though he could in the first one) and yet every cut scene towards the end had him holding one (if Niko was holding a weapon in a GTA cut scene it was always the one you had selected so it can't be that hard to do and it just seemed a bit lazy).

So overall, I'm looking forward to the next one but hoping for significant improvements.

[HappyTree]

Getting back into this after a few weeks' hiatus. I love all the wandering around doing little errands. I forgot about the QTE-like paragon and renegade trigger scenes, so when I was being interviewed by the media I wanted to be nice to her and maybe strike a deal, but accidentally hit the renegade button and clocked her one. I'd done so much shopping and stuff in the Citadel that I didn't want to go back to a previous save, so I guess that's that story thread closed now. I'll catch it on the more edgy replay after this initial paragon-fest.

I'm a bit concerned about making money. In ME you could pick up lots of crap and sell it, I became a millionaire. In this one there seems to be nothing much to pick up yet, just as well I imported my character and got a money bonus.

I'm not really that bothered about the combat. I find it a bit boring, I'm here for the story. So I generally just sit back in a safe place and send my team forward to shoot things for me, maybe throwing in the odd levitation biotic spell for fun.

It's such a compelling world and I'm still on the recruit mission. But I do miss the humour of good old HK-47.

[Big Jack McBastard]

I wanted to be nice to her and maybe strike a deal, but accidentally hit the renegade button and clocked her one. I'd done so much shopping and stuff in the Citadel that I didn't want to go back to a previous save, so I guess that's that story thread closed now. I'll catch it on the more edgy replay after this initial paragon-fest.

Not to worry, I clocked her in ME1 and 2 on one of my run throughs, she's begging for it anyway so being 'nice' is impossible in her case. Doubtless she'll turn up in the third one with some heavies for the next abortive interview.

I'm a bit concerned about making money. In ME you could pick up lots of crap and sell it, I became a millionaire. In this one there seems to be nothing much to pick up yet, just as well I imported my character and got a money bonus.

I've always found I could afford everything, money was never a problem it was resources (after my 2nd run through I got sick of doing mining) that held me up a few times.

[HappyTree]

I've been doing the mining but I forget what the point is. The first element is for biotic boosts, but what are the other ones for?

[Big Jack McBastard]

Shotguns, sniper and assault rifle upgrades. Half the time I just drop one probe on each planet I pass, though there are the odd 'resource goldmine' planets out there if you're willing to scour the lot.

[MojoJojo]

There are also a couple of ship upgrades. Nothing too exciting, but they have an effect at particular story bits.

[HappyTree]

I've just got far enough now to make use of the minerals, ta!

I must say that the combat in this sequel is slightly harder than the first one. I usually play on Easy level and I mostly strolled through Mass Effect, whereas this morning I had a long shootout with some armoured Krogans and jumpy Vorchas. I got killed 3 times before I realised they'd just keep on coming until I moved forward. God knows what it must be like on the highest difficulty.

I love the new ways of hacking and connecting circuits and there's so much attention to detail in the whole 3D world. I'd've liked to be able at least to sit down in my own cabin. The fish are a nice touch and the customisation for Shepard's attire is extensive. Hmm, do I wear red with white flecks or maybe black with neon blue highlights?

Smoke me a kipper, I'm going back in!

[Ignatius_S]

There are also a couple of ship upgrades. Nothing too exciting, but they have an effect at particular story bits.

Quite a big one if you care about that kind of thing – I do, but feel it's a shame that those upgrades serve no other purpose so transparently.

There's a couple of ship upgrades that double the number of probes and the distance the ship can go without refuelling.

...I must say that the combat in this sequel is slightly harder than the first one. I usually play on Easy level and I mostly strolled through Mass Effect, whereas this morning I had a long shootout with some armoured Krogans and jumpy Vorchas. I got killed 3 times before I realised they'd just keep on coming until I moved forward. God knows what it must be like on the highest difficulty....

I wouldn't there's a huge amount of variation with the difficulty – if you don't use cover, then you'll get killed easily. Insane does notch things up a bit and the combined effect of abilities that give a bonus (e.g. dragging someone out with biotics and then a slam) are much more noticeable – otherwise, ducking behind cover and popping out to shoot is basically all you need to do. That said, there are certain points like you mentioned that you have to do something to act a trigger in order to advance.

I don't know if you've seen the latest DLC, which is paid-for, but I've read more than one person say if you currently playing the game or intend to complete it again, it's worth getting but there's not enough to warrant playing it on its own.

[The Region Legion]

This was in the Steam sales recently for £17.99 so I finally took the plunge (as someone else said earlier in the thread, fuck paying full price for games). So, my thoughts. This post contains un-blocked spoilers for this game, and ME1.


That was fantastic.  BUT.

The finale was frankly disappointing, although nail biting - there was no real epic decision making moment like leaving the council ship to blow up whilst trying to save the Citadel in ME1. There were a few moments when you could have got your team killed but the choices of who did what seemed pretty obvious, and as long as you made them correctly it would be hard to end the game without your full team back together.

However, I was genuinely terrified that Tali would die, so much so that I kept her in my team just so I could keep an eye on her - she was my romance choice once I'd realised it was an option this time, since ME1 denied it. I had a thought shortly after choosing her that if they're going to go down a dark route like killing off your love interest, it's going to be in this one (the old Empire Strikes Back "2nd installment is always the one with the worst outcome" thing). That extra adrenaline really put me in the game though - I was scared for my crew, for the woman I loved. No game has ever made me care about a character that much, not even Half-Life 2: Episode 2 when

Spoiler alert

Alex gets stabbed - I was just thinking about how it would affect the story if she died, not that I would be sad if she did

[close]

.

A shame then that the game is so obviously a middle release. It's the same as Hitman: Contracts in that regard. Unlike the first game, where they weren't positive they would be able to turn it into a franchise and so built up to a satisfying dramatic conculsion, this feels and indeed actively admits that it's a stepping stone to the next game.

Also, the mining was so much worse than just driving around a planet in the Mako. Yeah great, I'll just look at this same screen for 5 minutes for each planet trying to find where the resources are highest. Didn't help that EVERY PLANET was "Rich" in resources - is no one else mining these planets? I even got minerals out of Venus for fucks sake. Me being a bit of an OCD completist when it comes to games though, I mined EVERY SINGLE fucking planet in the galaxy to Depletion - so why isn't there an achievement for doing this?! I ended the game with over a million units of Perillium or whatever it's called. That should have counted for something. Perhaps they'll carry over to ME3. They'd better.

Lastly, the game felt shorter - you get your crew together, you do their loyalty missions and then you're off to end the game! There's a couple of very brief additional missions (the one where you travel to 3 different locations to shut down a corrupted mech factory was the best one by far) but they're clearly half-baked.  I liked how you developed your relationship with the crew in the first game - just doing unconnected missions around the galaxy. This one seems in a hurry to wrap up.


So, not as good as the first in many ways, but I preferred the characters and their stories in this one, plus I'm very glad to not have to juggle my list of guns and armor like the last one. No doubt though that this series is now officially my favourite of all time. It's how computer games should be.

[Fred Shittah]

There were a few moments when you could have got your team killed but the choices of who did what seemed pretty obvious, and as long as you made them correctly it would be hard to end the game without your full team back together.

I managed to lose two of them without knowing what I did wrong. I sent the Geth chappie to unlock the thingies and when we met up with him again he died in a cut scene I could do nothing about. Then right at the very end of the mission it went to another cut scene where after an explosion a big lump of concrete landed on the biotic bint you meet right at the start of the game and squished her flat.
I wasn't too bothered as they were the two I didn't really mind losing and as it was built up to be some big, futile suicide mission it would have felt a bit wrong if they had all survived.