Is mass effect 2 for me?

[Homer Simpson]

wondering if ME2 is worth my time and money. reviews and user opinion seem to be universally positive. i will state i dont play RPGs. never have. not my cup of tea. on a whim, i downloaded ME2 Demo yesterday and played through it. seemed kinda cool. certainly more complex and involved than im used to. The sci-fi story is probably the only reason i even attempted it; not a fan of the fantasy type stuff with dragons and dungeons, etc. anyway, as a non-rpg playing person, will i enjoy it as it goes on and gets more complicated? and should i play the original first? user comments seem to say me2 was more action and less rpg so im wondering if me1 would be a turn-off for me. will me2 make sense having not played the original? and does male/female really make any difference in the story line or is it just what i prefer to stare at in the game for hours on end?

 

[Veliko]

ME2 is much lighter on the RPG aspects than the original is. If you prefer action stuff than RPG stuff then you might like it.

 

[Rakewell]

wondering if ME2 is worth my time and money. reviews and user opinion seem to be universally positive. i will state i dont play RPGs. never have. not my cup of tea. on a whim, i downloaded ME2 Demo yesterday and played through it. seemed kinda cool. certainly more complex and involved than im used to. The sci-fi story is probably the only reason i even attempted it; not a fan of the fantasy type stuff with dragons and dungeons, etc. anyway, as a non-rpg playing person, will i enjoy it as it goes on and gets more complicated? and should i play the original first? user comments seem to say me2 was more action and less rpg so im wondering if me1 would be a turn-off for me. will me2 make sense having not played the original? and does male/female really make any difference in the story line or is it just what i prefer to stare at in the game for hours on end?

I'm about to finish ME2. My advice for you would be to play the first one (For plot reasons, and also any decisions you make in the first game continues in the second.)

Fantastic plot, and characters. Just be prepared to lose some hours off of your life.

 

[jonks]

As you said, it was essentially universally praised and from what I can tell that included non-rpg players. In fact rpg fans were the loudest complainers b/c it wasn't rpg enough for them. Given how action games these days almost all seem to have some sort of rpg type elements like upgrading weapons and selectable mission types (think darksiders, etc) I can almost guarantee you'll enjoy it. And yes, the story is pretty epic.

I'd recommend reading the wiki on ME1 just so you understand what came before, you'll appreciate me2 more that way.

 

[Gheris]

Based on your description, and liking the demo I would say you will like the game. The 1st was certainly more RPG like than the second. For now I would stay away from the first and maybe return to it at a later date if you want to flesh out the earlier part of the game for yourself. Otherwise just read up on the events and enjoy what is a fun game with a great storyline.

 

[coldmeat]

ME2 and rpg don't even belong in the same sentence. Except that one lol.

 

[Homer Simpson]

sounds like it may be worth my while to play it. whats the difference between the regular $20 version and the $40 deluxe? steam shows its mainly extras like a digital comic and soundtrack. seems like a waste for twice the price unless there is something else thats not listed.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

The more expensive one might come with all the dlc? not sure. Mass Effect 2 was the best game of 2010 by far.

 

[AstroManLuca]

The more expensive one might come with all the dlc? not sure. Mass Effect 2 was the best game of 2010 by far.

Doesn't look like it. You still have to buy the DLC separately so I'd definitely skip the deluxe edition and just get the regular one. Especially since it's a "digital deluxe edition," meaning your extra $20 gets you a few PDFs. I'd never pay extra for deluxe editions but if I did I'd at least want a physical item to go with it.

ME1 is a good game. More RPGish than ME2 but if you play as a soldier it's still pretty action-y. You can basically spam the assault rifle if you do that and not have to worry a whole lot about special abilities.

 

[JTsyo]

When you play, pick soldier and it's basically a FPS with some ammo ability and squad management.

 

[sticks435]

digital deluxe edition comes with extra armor and weapons and stuff like that I believe. It's like the the digital version of the Collectors Edition.

 

[AstroManLuca]

digital deluxe edition comes with extra armor and weapons and stuff like that I believe. It's like the the digital version of the Collectors Edition.

It comes with three in-game items, and they're not even very good. That plus a few PDFs is not worth $20 extra.

For about the same amount, you can get the Kasumi, Shadow Broker, and Aegis DLC packs. Kasumi gets you easily the best SMG in the game, Shadow Broker gives you the ability to respec your squadmates, and Aegis has a bunch of really good armor pieces. Kasumi and Shadow Broker have decent side missions as well.

Not that any of those are necessary, but if you really like the game and want to get some extra stuff, that's what I'd get.

 

[Red Hawk]

ME2 is an RPG for people who don't like RPGs. It has all the elements of an RPG (except inventory management) only streamlined and very action-oriented. (and for all you RPG elitists out there, the RPG elements being streamlined does NOT suddenly make them not RPG elements. So it's not a "hardcore" RPG, but it's still an RPG)

I would recommend ME2 because it's a great game, but I would also recommend playing ME1 first. Mass Effect was envisioned as a trilogy, with a continuous story across three games that is best experienced in order. Also, you as the player make choices that affects the outcome of the story, and the decisions you make carry over across the games. If you don't import a ME1 save game into ME2, you get stuck with a bunch of decisions, and can't see the outcome if you had done it differently in ME1.

However, ME1's RPG elements are not as streamlined as ME2's. If you already don't like RPG inventory systems, ME1's inventory system will annoy you to no end. I still recommend both games, but it's your choice.

 

[s44]

ME1 had a horrible bloated junk inventory system that Bioware made worse by failing to use the PC interface in the port. Some nice gameplay and good main questlines if you can overlook that. You can blow through the whole thing in 20 hours if you skip the side collection-quest crap.

ME2 is Bioware's best RPG since BG2. As a much more polished shooter, it's also accessible to non-RPG folks, which is a plus. Definitely play this. Male/female makes a difference in romance options, though you can pursue Liara either way (but only, I think, if you start with ME1 -- or use a savegame editor).

Try both -- they're cheap. Skip straight to ME2 if you can't take the first one. Save your money on the DD edition and buy the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC instead.

 

[magomago]

ME1's investory was bloated and junkey cause it was so outdated...if they just made it nicer then we wouldn't have a problem - has nothing to do with RPG reasons.

imo ME1 was also still light on RPG.

off the top of my head the big differences were as follows:

-more equipment/weapon choices (ME2 just gave you a single upgrade each time)
-more flexibility with spells if you went the vanguard route or something that used whatever the ME world version of magic is called
-better player textures in ME1
- more ability to explore (largely the same) planets - you didn't just scan a random planet, you go could down much of the time

 

[AstroManLuca]

- more ability to explore (largely the same) planets - you didn't just scan a random planet, you go could down much of the time

Come on, the planetary exploration in ME1 is NOT a bullet point in its favor. Not that scanning planets is much better, but at least it's less time consuming. They're both boring chores - most planets you can land on in ME1 are totally barren, boring, and pointless, with ridiculously steep hills you must climb in that awful Mako vehicle and identical bunkers and caves. ME2 was a great improvement here.

Sort of agree with you on other stuff though, especially the spells (called "biotics" in the ME series). In 1, you can learn several biotics and use more than one of them. In 2, they "simplified" it by giving a shared cooldown time to ALL biotics, so there's no point in using more than a couple of them. Whereas in 1, if one biotic power was still cooling down, you just used a different one.

As for gear, there's more variety but at the same time there's less. Sure, there are a hundred different types of each weapon in 1, but they're all basically the same with just different stats. In 2, there may only be four or five of each weapon type, but there are meaningful variations between them.

2 is just more streamlined. A lot of "hardcore" gamers hate that but it's really just removing unnecessary complexity. The weapon attachments in 1 were a nightmare - having to sort through your huge inventory of upgrades to find the most beneficial ones for each crew member took way too long. Or worse, if you were really into micromanaging, you could pause mid-combat and switch yourself and your squadmates from anti-personnel to anti-robot and back based on who you're fighting.

 

[s44]

off the top of my head the big differences were as follows:

-more equipment/weapon choices (ME2 just gave you a single upgrade each time)
-more flexibility with spells if you went the vanguard route or something that used whatever the ME world version of magic is called
-better player textures in ME1
- more ability to explore (largely the same) planets - you didn't just scan a random planet, you go could down much of the time

Yep, but I think each of these was a significant improvement:
(1) No more junk weapons, just things you can actually use. In ME1 only the mods really presented tradeoffs, and that only at high-level: at every level there was a best weapon in every category, and you'd never use anything else.
(2) Vanguard (like Sentinel) actually has a distinctive play flavor in ME2, and isn't just a lame half-and-half any more. This is a huge plus, esp. when you consider how much fun Charge is as a playstyle.
(3) Didn't notice this -- is this with stock Shep or something? ME2 has much better framerates and lacks the hilarious Garrus texture bug.
(4) As someone else already said, driving the Mako up endless identical vertical hills to get to endless identical compounds is not fun. Every planet you land on in ME2 (and there are numerous sidequest ones as well as the core stuff) has its own handcrafted environment.

 

[s44]

Sort of agree with you on other stuff though, especially the spells (called "biotics" in the ME series). In 1, you can learn several biotics and use more than one of them. In 2, they "simplified" it by giving a shared cooldown time to ALL biotics, so there's no point in using more than a couple of them. Whereas in 1, if one biotic power was still cooling down, you just used a different one.

I think the overall biotics system is more complex in ME2. You can hotbar companion powers now, and the combo system + the rock-paper-scissors damagetype/protection setup really reward this at high difficulty levels.

(If you want to ignore biotics you can also cruise with Zaeed and Grunt and burn everything with fire, of course...)

 

[airdata]

You should get ME1 and ME2. ME2 is a direct sequal, and ME1 was one of the best games I've ever played. I'd recommend getting both and playing in sequence. Both are great games.

 

[zinfamous]

Now, I don't tend to consider myself a serious gamer, but I do think that playing the ME games is a requirement for truly experiencing what is going on in today's games.

I find both of them to be somewhat RPG-lite, especially the 2nd one.

I think it's the type of game that if you don't like RPG's, you'll find yourself strangely and unexpectedly pleased with the mechanics of ME.

 

[Homer Simpson]

both are 20 bux so maybe ill just start with me1 so i dont get lost in the story.

 

[zinfamous]

Come on, the planetary exploration in ME1 is NOT a bullet point in its favor. Not that scanning planets is much better, but at least it's less time consuming. They're both boring chores - most planets you can land on in ME1 are totally barren, boring, and pointless, with ridiculously steep hills you must climb in that awful Mako vehicle and identical bunkers and caves. ME2 was a great improvement here.

this. planet exploration became such a pointless chore after the first 2 or three, and this was my most wanted fix for the 2nd one (While the equipment system was a mess, it didn't bother me too much, in the sense that it didn't take up nearly that much time for me). I got very sick of the same bunker map on every planet.

now, the "fix" in ME2...eh, no. I think I found scanning to be far more tedious, actually. Though, the limited number of planets that you could land on and do secondary, random events was just about perfect for ME2. I could have used more, actually, with maybe providing an actually worthwhile allotment of ores in the boxes.

I mean--you scan a planet, you probably get about 5-10k of one ore at a time on a nice planet. When it comes to the boxes that you find, you only ever get 50 or 100 units of the ore....wtf is that?

 

[AstroManLuca]

Yeah, the scanning was tedious and stupid. Probably should have just been removed entirely. In fact, the entire resource and money system in the game was sort of pointless. You rarely need to buy things and there is a finite amount of money to be made.

But hey, I'd rather spend 2 minutes scanning a planet than 12 minutes fighting with the Mako. In that sense, it was at least a small improvement.

 

[sticks435]

I enjoyed the ME1 story and playstyle more. The issue with ME1 inventroy was it needed stacking. Plus once you unlocked Spector weapons, you never used anything else. Same with the Predator or Colossus armor. I played ME 1 probably 10 times between PC and 360. Haven't been able to stomach a 2nd play-through for ME 2 at all. The nice thing about ME1 was that achievements unlocked bonuses you could use on subsequent play-throughs, and you could only max our your character by doing 2 play-throughs

 

[KeithTalent]

Play ME1, it's far more interesting in my opinion. That game took hold of me and did not let go until I made it through pretty much every single bit of the story and the side stories.

ME2 feels like a watered down version of the first one and removed many of the things I enjoyed in the first one. I'm sure I'll finish it eventually, but it's been a slog and I can't play for more than an hour or so before getting bored and having to turn it off. Quite a disappointment actually.

KT