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Opinion so far about mass effect 2

Posted: 13th January 2016 12:21

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So I got around 7 hours of gameplay in so far, and it's enjoyable.A few things annoy me though: I miss the old vehicle system allowing me to get out and explore.So far I cannot leave the vehicle I'd I get in and explore the outside terrain, only if I go into another zone which is always inside area.

I also prefer that money and ammo drop from enemies since there is hardly any cash and these probes and gas cost a fortune.I end up running out of ammo and dying and the difficulty isn't even on hard, it's on normal and I die a lot.

The planet scanning is an interesting idea but also I agree kind of tedious.Go use probes run back buy more probes till its depleted and gas, and there is not much to spend early on because you have to find the upgrades to make you do more damage.There seems to be few or no weapons at all anymore, just different types of guns.There is n more ammo of different types, like fire ammo or cryogenic ammo or radioactive ammo, just shoot and kill.Enemy has shield? Use shield breaking machine gun.Ran out of ammo? Spamm biotics.

There are a few different places which resemble cities at least and it's no longer just fighting geth, which is nice.Used to be that most enemies in mass effect 1 were geth or some evil krogans.

I forgot to mention something:You no longer get options for conversation from charisma type option or intimidation.In order to get charm options, you have to raise your paragon and you get more and more options unlocked.The same is true for renegade.

This post has been edited by Magitek_slayer on 13th January 2016 13:01

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Posted: 13th January 2016 17:51

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I didn't know you were playing ME2. I also agree with a lot of the issues you've brought up, but all the things it did great made up for its negatives. So, I've heard your opinion from a gameplay perspective, but what about a story perspective? How do you feel about the characters in ME2, and how do you feel about the whole Cerberus plot?

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Posted: 13th January 2016 17:54

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I remember missing the vehicle travel quite a bit when I first started ME2, but that didn't really bother me once I got into the game. For the rest of your points, I don't really recall any of those things bothering me in the least, but it's been many years since I last played it.

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Posted: 13th January 2016 22:49

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I remember being initially very impressed with Mass Effect 2. The intro is one of the best intros I have seen in a videogame. The first 10-15 hours blew me away. But it got very tedious and less engaging around the midpoint of the game.

I think the Mass Effect universe is beautiful, very well designed. The conversations with your party members in Mass Effect 2 were engaging and I genuinely wanted to know their past in most cases.

But at some point it gets kind of bombastic and out of hand. You end up just playing all your female (or obviously in the case of a female Shepherd, male crew) crew until you choose which one to bang before the final mission.

The overall story in Mass Effect is more interesting than most games. It has a better premise and world/design than Gears of War and blended the Shooter/RPG almost flawlessly.

But even the story gets predictable and out of hand late in the game, with the Cerberus stuff and the machismo let's save the galaxy crap. The Paragon and Renegade options are actually ridiculously corny and the game is pretty camp overall which isn't such a bad thing in the end.

I honestly spent most of my time just mining planets late in the game and lost interest. I am up to the last battle and never finished and even got a copy of ME3 for like 3 bucks and haven't bothered to start it.

I think I'm mostly just upset that I didn't get to see Tali's face after hitting and quitting Jack and dumping Miranda. Ahaha. I stopped playing right around then.

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Posted: 14th January 2016 01:35

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Quote (Dynamic Threads)
But at some point it gets kind of bombastic and out of hand. You end up just playing all your female (or obviously in the case of a female Shepherd, male crew) crew until you choose which one to bang before the final mission.


One thing that helped me is that I carried on my relationship with Liara from ME1, and she
Possible spoilers: highlight to view
only briefly shows up in the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC where she becomes the shadow broker, and you have one date.


So, when you're not actually trying to get in their pants, ME2's characters can be very interesting. Overall, I liked ME1's cast better, but the additions were still great, especially Thane and Mordin. I also remember thinking that it had the best side quests from a storytelling perspective since FFVI, which is one of the highest compliments I can give a game. That includes the shadow broker DLC which is a must-have.

I would say, go monogamous, and try it out again, because it's all worth it.

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Posted: 14th January 2016 10:14

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So far I'm not sure what I think about Miranda.She is interesting but I like kasumi more.

There is more detail on personalities and races in mass effect 2 than 1, or at least it seems like it.information like how long salarians live and how all asari are females and live real long time.There was also history on relationship between the Turin alliance with the salarians and how truisms are muscle while salarians are scientists usually.

It's also about time we finally get a salarian to recruit.To tell you the truth I'm liking the backstory between salarians and the krogans, speaking up about the genophage.Seems like this game is giving more detail on it from a salarians perspective which is interesting.We also see more krogans and more personality.Then again:I really like the krogans.

One thing I want to go at is:I really don't like the fact that all my decisions in mass effect 1 the council seems to go against me when I had a paragon ending in me1.I actually sacrificed human alliance fleets to save the citadel in mass effect 1, and got medals and was respected, now everyone on the council hates me.

This post has been edited by Magitek_slayer on 14th January 2016 11:11

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Posted: 14th January 2016 20:16

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Quote (Magitek_slayer @ 14th January 2016 06:14)
It's also about time we finally get a salarian to recruit.To tell you the truth I'm liking the backstory between salarians and the krogans, speaking up about the genophage.Seems like this game is giving more detail on it from a salarians perspective which is interesting.We also see more krogans and more personality.Then again:I really like the krogans.

If you like that, I think you're really gonna like how it plays out in ME3. That's probably the best part of that game.

I also like the Krogans, but I did like Wrex much more than Grunt. And Mordin is just excellent.

Quote (Magitek_slayer)
One thing I want to go at is:I really don't like the fact that all my decisions in mass effect 1 the council seems to go against me when I had a paragon ending in me1.I actually sacrificed human alliance fleets to save the citadel in mass effect 1, and got medals and was respected, now everyone on the council hates me.


I didn't really like that either, but the Citadel is really in a sort of police state when you return, so it's not just you; everyone's in their crosshairs.

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Posted: 14th January 2016 22:18

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I think the development of races and tensions between them, issues, conversations and everything about ME2 was incredibly strong. Very well done and not preachy while at the same time, not racist. Characters were mostly well done and even the non-human races weren't full of racist caricatures like in Star Wars or LoTR.

The Salarian and Krogan conflict and storyline was a highlight of the game, but I also liked the Geth and Quarian conflict just as much.

I think if I start Mass Effect 3 I might do it from scratch as a female character because I'm going to be honest, Commander Shepherd is a serious jagoff. I liked Jack, Jacob, even Miranda but god I really cannot stand Shepherd as a character.

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Posted: 15th January 2016 16:42

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Quote (Dynamic Threads @ 14th January 2016 18:18)
I think if I start Mass Effect 3 I might do it from scratch as a female character because I'm going to be honest, Commander Shepherd is a serious jagoff. I liked Jack, Jacob, even Miranda but god I really cannot stand Shepherd as a character.

I've always heard from people that the female Shepard's voice actor was much better than the male Shepard. I can only say what I've heard, because I've never tried it. If I were you, though, I wouldn't change midstream, because there are decisions you make in ME1 that will effect the outcome of ME3, and I'm not just talking about the major decisions. It would be worth it, IMO, to take the time and go back through 1 and 2.

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Posted: 15th January 2016 21:36

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There is a quest that was kind of interesting:There is a guy who was hooked up to a machine interface to communicate with geth and control it.The quest was super creepy at the last area because I didn't know what to expect and the face appeared.What Cerberus did to archers brother was pretty cruel.


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Posted: 16th January 2016 07:11

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Quote (Magitek_slayer @ 15th January 2016 16:36)
There is a quest that was kind of interesting:There is a guy who was hooked up to a machine interface to communicate with geth and control it.The quest was super creepy at the last area because I didn't know what to expect and the face appeared.What Cerberus did to archers brother was pretty cruel.

Loved that add-on. I especially liked how the brother was autistic/had Asperger's syndrome. Pretty horrific story.

Quote
I've always heard from people that the female Shepard's voice actor was much better than the male Shepard. I can only say what I've heard, because I've never tried it. If I were you, though, I wouldn't change midstream, because there are decisions you make in ME1 that will effect the outcome of ME3, and I'm not just talking about the major decisions. It would be worth it, IMO, to take the time and go back through 1 and 2.


I have PS3 and bought ME2 and ME3 for 4 bucks a piece not realizing that ME1 was never released outside of the Trilogy collection. Safe to say I probably will never play ME1.

I know about the choices in ME1 and ME2 effecting ME3 but do they really change the story/events that much? To where the game(s) are incomplete or less satisfactory than if you played them all in a one-off?

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Posted: 16th January 2016 08:14

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Quote (Dynamic Threads @ 16th January 2016 07:11)
Quote (Magitek_slayer @ 15th January 2016 16:36)
There is a quest that was kind of interesting:There is a guy who was hooked up to a machine interface to communicate with geth and control it.The quest was super creepy at the last area because I didn't know what to expect and the face appeared.What Cerberus did to archers brother was pretty cruel.

Loved that add-on. I especially liked how the brother was autistic/had Asperger's syndrome. Pretty horrific story.

Quote
I've always heard from people that the female Shepard's voice actor was much better than the male Shepard. I can only say what I've heard, because I've never tried it. If I were you, though, I wouldn't change midstream, because there are decisions you make in ME1 that will effect the outcome of ME3, and I'm not just talking about the major decisions. It would be worth it, IMO, to take the time and go back through 1 and 2.


I have PS3 and bought ME2 and ME3 for 4 bucks a piece not realizing that ME1 was never released outside of the Trilogy collection. Safe to say I probably will never play ME1.

I know about the choices in ME1 and ME2 effecting ME3 but do they really change the story/events that much? To where the game(s) are incomplete or less satisfactory than if you played them all in a one-off?

My PS3 version includes all 3 games.


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Posted: 16th January 2016 17:26

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Quote (Dynamic Threads @ 16th January 2016 07:11)
I know about the choices in ME1 and ME2 effecting ME3 but do they really change the story/events that much? To where the game(s) are incomplete or less satisfactory than if you played them all in a one-off?

I think the game will generally pick the bad choices from the first game by default if you start with 2. This will obviously have a knock on effect with how your game will go in 2 and 3 but it doesn't make the game any less satisfactory, you just won't have as many choices in the later games.

Quote
I have PS3 and bought ME2 and ME3 for 4 bucks a piece not realizing that ME1 was never released outside of the Trilogy collection. Safe to say I probably will never play ME1.


Is it not even by itself in the PS store?

This post has been edited by Cefca on 16th January 2016 17:30
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Posted: 17th January 2016 03:44

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Quote (Cefca @ 16th January 2016 12:26)
Quote (Dynamic Threads @ 16th January 2016 07:11)
I know about the choices in ME1 and ME2 effecting ME3 but do they really change the story/events that much? To where the game(s) are incomplete or less satisfactory than if you played them all in a one-off?

I think the game will generally pick the bad choices from the first game by default if you start with 2. This will obviously have a knock on effect with how your game will go in 2 and 3 but it doesn't make the game any less satisfactory, you just won't have as many choices in the later games.

Quote
I have PS3 and bought ME2 and ME3 for 4 bucks a piece not realizing that ME1 was never released outside of the Trilogy collection. Safe to say I probably will never play ME1.


Is it not even by itself in the PS store?

Actually just checked and its 15 bucks on the playstation store. Not paying 15 for it. Trying to get a PS4 so yeah I won't be playing ME1 at all probably.

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Posted: 17th January 2016 05:16

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It's been a while, but I believe that you can select some of the main decisions. You're not missing those, but it's gonna be the small things you did in ME1 that you're gonna miss. You'd actually be surprised how intricate it can be. I really don't think that $15 is a bad price at all for it.

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Posted: 25th January 2016 16:35

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One thing I have to say is I'm getting pissed at how op geth are in me1 and in me2 not much less annoying.friggin rocket launcher turrets one shot players on normal and quickly destroy your rover.Couldnt they give us upgrade for our rover so it can launch tactical missiles or huge emps to hurt them? It's ridiculous.I die so much compared to other parts because of how stupidly op they are.

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Posted: 5th February 2016 17:52

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as a playstation player I didn't get to start with Mass effect 1 seeing as we didn't get that until AFTER Mass Effect 3 came out. So Mass effect 2 was my first in the series. I was addicted for a month. I got the plat and am very proud of it. The boss fight with the shadow broker is in my top 10 boss fights of all time list. Loved this game.

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Posted: 8th February 2016 19:48

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I like the loyalty options and how it opens up abilities you can learn.Flash grenades are very useful for stunning humanoid enemies in group.I really really like this for mass adds.I think flame grenades can be useful too for synthetics and humanoids.There is a wider variety of types of weapons too, not just machine gun shotgun pistol rifle.I just got a flamethrower from zaaeed mission and I got a grenade launcher and missle launcher.
I still prefer the quest system of mass effect 1 where you hack pcs and get quests or talk to people and get a quest.The quests that I did do so far are very good.

Zaaeed quest is very interesting and I like it.I think also the flamethrower is fun to use.
Jacob loyalty missiom
Project overlord is really good story and really sad, almost made me cry.Watching him be tortured like that was painful to watch

Kasumi quest for the grey box was also extremely good.Despite its length, I really e joyed spying and cutting cables and getting hand prints, and there is more than one way to do some stuff there.I found out I don't have to have kasumi hack the door to get the handprint, because I can actually jump down the rail and break the glass by trial and error.

Mordins quest was a bit tedious in length but it had some interesting bits so far like hearing the recordings and you learn a bit about the alien races.I think it does add a bit to the reason why some aliens distrust or even despise humans

Jacks quest was quite fun too.I also like using her too.

Come to think of it:I like the idea of completing a quest to get a character.It felt so good to get Garrus back.

I'm also starting to prefer me2 upgrade system now that I see all these upgrades and new weapons, just wish there were more quests and ways to get those upgrades, since it feels like I'm getting tons and tons of minerals and not much to research.I don't even bother doing mining now since I have nothing to research.
k
I also just got me talizora.I like a lot of things about mass effect 2 more than 1.There are tons of recruits to use, which is great.I miss having utnot wrex, and I really want wrex back.Im not that bothered about not having Presley back, but I do want Kaidan back.

This post has been edited by Magitek_slayer on 9th February 2016 23:09

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Posted: 14th February 2016 22:38

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Sorry for double posting or triple posting but I just beat the game now and I'm going to give my final thoughts while I remember:

Positives:

I like the quest and the dlc quests.
I liked how you can have a choice in the end for different choices for each ability.Example area reave and powerful single reave.
I like upgrading weapons
I like the planets, because they are better than the original
I like that they added new weapons and got rid of the clunky system of before.The pickup and getting used to going through which weapon you wanted and which you didn't, and throwing the old ones away was clunky
I like the new renegade paragon system
New classes:Engineer and there is another one there too.This adds variety
New characters:This is a nice addition.
Cons:

No ability to skip through cutscenes.The cutscene before the action in the last scene is really long and reloading over and over is a pain.

Abilities:You still end up maxing all your abilities regardless, ending the same.
Boring planet scanning for materials:Only reason to scan for resources is if you want a completion medal after having all upgrades
Lack of ammo:The tacking on ammo effects to abilities means you no longer can defend yourself early on, making the game harder and likely to die easily.I do miss my polonium ammo and the other stuff.
Stupidity in writing:
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Cerberus is evil in me1 but in me2, you are expected to go with them and help them regardless.People mistrust Shepard even if he saved the citadel and treat him badly.

Lack of dialogue from your crew:There is a severe lack of dialogue from your characters.To me this really hurts the game as all they say is can't talk working.There is no banter anymore either.

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