Mass Effect 1 & 2.

[Sadaiyappan]

How long is ME1? I'm 25 hours in, but I've been reading about romances and stuff, so it seems like I'm no where near the end.

 

[A5]

How long is ME1? I'm 25 hours in, but I've been reading about romances and stuff, so it seems like I'm no where near the end.

My 100% playthrough took ~40 hours.

 

[s44]

How long is ME1? I'm 25 hours in, but I've been reading about romances and stuff, so it seems like I'm no where near the end.

Shorter than ME2, unless you zoom through one or the other.

 

[coldmeat]

I finished ME1 in ~22/23 hours I think. I finished it with no quests left unfinished, but I don't know if I did them all.

 

[warcrow]

Just found out ME2 is also launching on PSN the same day it hits the streets!

 

[Keeper]

OK. Encryption is getting to me. I nail 10 in a row. (Easy and average... )

Then I am like Stevie Wonder it seems for a LONG TIME. Is that a bug?

I then happened to notice I have 99 Omni gels. (BLUSH)
I dont use them as I am OLD (Please, hand me my cane and shawl) and if the next levels are 6 or 7 codes that means SCREWED LOL for this old codger. (PS I am 52)
*** My Cheat for the encryption. I save prior to EVER container as of last night. Racked up 20 saves.

Is there an upgrade to buy Omnigel "extensions"? I cant keep more than 99.
Is Omnigel important in the end game?
I am 17 hours in and just hit level 17.

And, how large should I make my Medi Gel store?
I bought the first upgrade (4 to 5). And that seems to be working.
fine for now.

And sniping. Added two more points and now am ROCK STEADY. LOVING IT. I need Ammo suggestions.
And, is this a console thing. I had a Rocket Trooper. DEAD TO RIGHTS. Told my squad to stay. Snuck up along a catwalk... Lined him up.... BLAMO.
My shot hits this railing that is not anywhere CLOSE to the center of my scope.
Well, needless to say Rocket Troopers OWNED this lone infiltrator.
Reload. Did it again. TRIED to do it exact as prior and I was able to do it.
And same result. Hitting this rail that IMO, should not have been hit.
The third time, I went a little deeper down the cat walk... = ONE dead Rocket Trooper.

Talk to me? Do I need to get a "bead" behind cover and then move an smidge "out of cover"?

 

[coldmeat]

I keep getting stuck in ME2. Sometimes he will step up onto a table or a ledge when I'm trying to take cover and I have to load a save because he gets stuck in the air and can't get down or move. Just happened again when I was on the crashed ship that's hanging from the ledge. The ship shook and dropped but he stayed in the air.

Edit: just got stuck again, except this time there wasn't even a ledge on the wall, I just walked up to it wrong I guess.

 

[warcrow]

Is there an upgrade to buy Omnigel "extensions"? I cant keep more than 99. Is Omnigel important in the end game? I am 17 hours in and just hit level 17.

I hardly ever use Omnigel. Ever.

Talk to me? Do I need to get a "bead" behind cover and then move an smidge "out of cover"?

Exactly.

I keep getting stuck in ME2. Sometimes he will step up onto a table or a ledge when I'm trying to take cover and I have to load a save because he gets stuck in the air and can't get down or move. Just happened again when I was on the crashed ship that's hanging from the ledge. The ship shook and dropped but he stayed in the air.

Edit: just got stuck again, except this time there wasn't even a ledge on the wall, I just walked up to it wrong I guess.

That's strange one. I had it happen once in the exact same spot.

 

[warcrow]

I cannot believe how excited I am for today's release.

 

[Keeper]

I cannot believe how excited I am for today's release.

I WISH YOU WELL!!!!! I am SO digging sniping. Almost makes me feel like I am cheating.
Not that it is that easy, I do die. But there is just such satisfaction of drawing a bead. The SOUND of the sniper rifle is VERY satisfying. And to see my foe go down in a crumpled heap.

LOL One funny moment sniping. Wrex's race (I forget what they are, details like that escape me) Wellllllll they are not a one shot and dead with a sniper. AND THEY LOVE TO MELEE. Shoot.. Smile OH-OH This is not good..... SHOOT OH SHOOT WHAT THE HELL Squad help!!! LOL...

The story in ME1 is done SO well. I can rememeber similar games "back in the day" the plot COULD fall off track if you did an event or a mission out of sequence. But MOSTLY certain conversationns didnt make sense.
I had NOT gotten the "restore water" mission yet on Feros. Yet I was in the tunnels turning on valves...... Figured it was going to have to be a revisit the quest giver twice. Once to get it. Once to complete it.
Nope...... Perfect conversation dovetail.
WELL DONE BIOWARE. Well done.
This is GAMING goodness.

 

[R Nilla]

Finally got around to playing all of the DLC this past weekend on the 360 and unlocking those last few achievements. Now I have the urge to play through ME2 for a third time and of course I ordered the PS3 version. I must be crazy.

 

[Keeper]

WELL DONE BIOWARE. Well done.
This is GAMING goodness.

and Warcrow, it is for this reason I will rethink the "used market".
Will they get compensated if I buy DLC? I may even buy the crappy one (480 points) just to send them a few sheckles.
I heard the one for 80 points is FANTASTIC and the one for 480 sucks geth sweat.

These are DLC for ME1.

 

[warcrow]

and Warcrow, it is for this reason I will rethink the "used market".
Will they get compensated if I buy DLC? I may even buy the crappy one (480 points) just to send them a few sheckles.
I heard the one for 80 points is FANTASTIC and the one for 480 sucks geth sweat.

These are DLC for ME1.

Yes buying the DLC via the Xbox Marketplace or PSN gets most of the money to Bioware. I think you can also purchase it via Bioware's website.

 

[coldmeat]

I really don't get all the praise that ME2 is getting. I finished it the other day, and am really disappointed with it. Probably because I expected so much more from a ME sequel.

 

[Keeper]

I really don't get all the praise that ME2 is getting. I finished it the other day, and am really disappointed with it. Probably because I expected so much more from a ME sequel.

YIKES! I am still in ME1 so I cant speak to that. Is it re-run let down for you?
Allow me one second......
Baulders gate. Kotor 1. Both FANTASTIC GAMES.
Were the follow ups as good? Maybe, maybe not, but what I am saying is there never be another "First". A lot of people cant get past the "Wash rinse repeat" scenario.
Even though the story changes, the plot changes etc. Its still a been there done that.

I can get past that. My kids. Cant. I think in my family, it is def is generational.
Newer brighter shinier!!!!!
Although I will admit one place where I couldnt get past it.
The "hack and slash" versions of Baulders gate. the Never Winter Nights and such.
That got old IN the first go through. But I still bought the others!!
See, I love a good story. And ME1 is providing that. Plot twists and all. This AM I was yelling at the dialogue boxes to give me an option to kick the colony leaders ass on Ferros as I THOUGHT he was starting a seperate cult ala Jones Town or something and was going to make Elizabeth some sort of sex slave..... Lo and behold, hes not.
Not 100% sure of the path/connection, I have an idea, but I cant wait till wifey goes to sleep and I game till crazy morning hours.
I was shocked while in the PC forum, ME2 comes up as many folks top game of 2010. How did I miss these!!!!
So I am pumped up. (Yeah yeah I know PC is a tad different) but hey.... Loving my toon and I can bring him along from 1 to 2 so I am giving it a shot.

 

[coldmeat]

I think what I don't like is how ME1 showed so much potential, all it needed was a few tweaks with the menu, better graphics/different levels, and a Mako that was easier/more fun to drive. Instead, we got Gears of War in space with a dialogue wheel that makes no difference what you choose. Every time I landed on a planet, it looked like it was the same one that I just left. I never got the sense that I was on a different one. If they removed the galaxy map, and the cutscenes with the ship, I bet you wouldn't even know you were travelling between planets.

I'm playing on PC btw.

I've got a whole list of problems I have with the game.

-the new minigames are completely pointless. Only a retard would ever fail one, which basically means they are a waste of time. Why do I sometimes walk into a room with 2 safes that both only give me money, yet I have to hack both of them? The pc minigame on ME1 was way better, only took a couple of seconds, and sometimes posed a challenge. Minigames should never be in a game in the first place.

- if you take away the recruiting in this game, you are left with about 2-3 missions and about 3 hours of story. The story was presented OK, but was lacking in comparison to ME1.

- I found that the quickest and most efficient way to kill ANY enemy was to just shoot it with my assault rifle. I played the entire game with the same weapon. The assault rifle is so superior to every weapon/power that it's ridiculous. If an enemy runs up close, there's no point in switching to the shotgun because it takes longer to switch guns than to just kill him with the rifle. Speaking of guns, wtf were they thinking with the ammo? Was there an issue with overheating guns that I missed in the first game? I thought it worked great. Now I have to waste my time running in circles in the levels, looking for tiny little ammo packs. In ME1 I found myself using biotic/tech powers all the time because there were situations that really called for it. I played the entire game with the same weapon.

- I have no idea why they completely ditched the stats and inventory. I guess since people complained that the menu in ME1 was kinda clunky, they decided to just get rid of it completely instead of fixing it. There, now people can't complain about the bad inventory menu. I played the whole game and never saw what my stats were, yet I can go to the upgrade menu and see something like "+20 to shields". How much of an improvement is that? I don't know, but I might as well buy it since it just stacks on top of every other upgrade I buy, leaving me with no choice or customization. Why are there even levels in this game? Why not just give me a couple of stat points? I never knew what level I was throughout the entire game, because it didn't matter. I suppose you could say the same thing about ME1, since there was no level restrictions as far as I remember.

- I probably shouldn't even mention scanning planets, since you've probably heard this complaint 1000x already. I just don't get how I'm the commander of the most advanced ship in the galaxy, yet I'm the one who is manually scanning planets for minerals. Oh, and why doesn't my ship fuel up when I dock? I go to Omega or Illium, but leave with the same amount of fuel.

- Why is the spacebar mapped to 3 different functions? It's sprint, use, and take cover. Even when I changed space to shift, it still told me to press space the entire game. Something like that is inexcusable on a keyboard, especially when ME1 had great controls. I guess that's what happens when you get a shitty pc port. And they completely got rid of the shortcuts for journal, codex, squad etc. How much trouble could it be to code them in?

I have a bunch of other complaints, but don't feel like typing them out. Those are my biggest though.

Now I'm worried about Dragon Age 2. DA:O was a really fun game, I hope they don't do the same thing with #2 as they did with ME2.

 

[chorb]

+1 for coldmeat

 

[Terzo]

+1 for coldmeat

Seriously. He articulated issues that I couldn't, as well as mentioned other things that I didn't think of, but agree with after reading.

 

[Keeper]

I think what I don't like is how ME1 showed so much potential, all it needed was a few tweaks with the menu, better graphics/different levels, and a Mako that was easier/more fun to drive. Instead, we got Gears of War in space with a dialogue wheel that makes no difference what you choose. Every time I landed on a planet, it looked like it was the same one that I just left. I never got the sense that I was on a different one. If they removed the galaxy map, and the cutscenes with the ship, I bet you wouldn't even know you were travelling between planets.

I'm playing on PC btw.

I've got a whole list of problems I have with the game.

-the new minigames are completely pointless. Only a retard would ever fail one, which basically means they are a waste of time. Why do I sometimes walk into a room with 2 safes that both only give me money, yet I have to hack both of them? The pc minigame on ME1 was way better, only took a couple of seconds, and sometimes posed a challenge. Minigames should never be in a game in the first place.

- if you take away the recruiting in this game, you are left with about 2-3 missions and about 3 hours of story. The story was presented OK, but was lacking in comparison to ME1.

- I found that the quickest and most efficient way to kill ANY enemy was to just shoot it with my assault rifle. I played the entire game with the same weapon. The assault rifle is so superior to every weapon/power that it's ridiculous. If an enemy runs up close, there's no point in switching to the shotgun because it takes longer to switch guns than to just kill him with the rifle. Speaking of guns, wtf were they thinking with the ammo? Was there an issue with overheating guns that I missed in the first game? I thought it worked great. Now I have to waste my time running in circles in the levels, looking for tiny little ammo packs. In ME1 I found myself using biotic/tech powers all the time because there were situations that really called for it. I played the entire game with the same weapon.

- I have no idea why they completely ditched the stats and inventory. I guess since people complained that the menu in ME1 was kinda clunky, they decided to just get rid of it completely instead of fixing it. There, now people can't complain about the bad inventory menu. I played the whole game and never saw what my stats were, yet I can go to the upgrade menu and see something like "+20 to shields". How much of an improvement is that? I don't know, but I might as well buy it since it just stacks on top of every other upgrade I buy, leaving me with no choice or customization. Why are there even levels in this game? Why not just give me a couple of stat points? I never knew what level I was throughout the entire game, because it didn't matter. I suppose you could say the same thing about ME1, since there was no level restrictions as far as I remember.

- I probably shouldn't even mention scanning planets, since you've probably heard this complaint 1000x already. I just don't get how I'm the commander of the most advanced ship in the galaxy, yet I'm the one who is manually scanning planets for minerals. Oh, and why doesn't my ship fuel up when I dock? I go to Omega or Illium, but leave with the same amount of fuel.

- Why is the spacebar mapped to 3 different functions? It's sprint, use, and take cover. Even when I changed space to shift, it still told me to press space the entire game. Something like that is inexcusable on a keyboard, especially when ME1 had great controls. I guess that's what happens when you get a shitty pc port. And they completely got rid of the shortcuts for journal, codex, squad etc. How much trouble could it be to code them in?

I have a bunch of other complaints, but don't feel like typing them out. Those are my biggest though.

Now I'm worried about Dragon Age 2. DA:O was a really fun game, I hope they don't do the same thing with #2 as they did with ME2.

WOW, thank you for your honest opinion of ME2. It sounds like they did go backwards in the series. Sigh..... Usually happens.
I will now tell you my short thoughts... KOTOR 1. MILES (Light years LOL) ahead of Kotor 2. 2 was a good game. Was it 1? NO WAY, NOT even close. But I feel they dropped the ball.
I am sad that the story is LACKING in ME2. As I wrote earlier, that is MY hook.
2-3 STORY missions and the rest are recruiting? THAT SUCKS!!!!

I too have the SAME fear for DA2...... the SAME fear.

 

[warcrow]

we got Gears of War in space with a dialogue wheel that makes no difference what you choose.

Do you honestly believe that the dialog options presented in ME2 make "no difference"? Honestly? Because if you've played through ME1 and played even a portion of ME2 you've no doubt seen the ripple effect from the first game. Kind of a strange observation on your part.

Every time I landed on a planet, it looked like it was the same one that I just left. I never got the sense that I was on a different one. If they removed the galaxy map, and the cutscenes with the ship, I bet you wouldn't even know you were travelling between planets.

The galaxy isn't just a bunch of textures, colors and animations--there is more to it. Did you even read the planetary descriptions when you orbited them? I think they're pretty awesome (but I also love sci-fi and just the universe in general). Every single planet has a unique description and reading them did nothing but draw me in deeper. Not only do they talk about the minerals, but there are often historical facts about the particular planet, even covering things that aren't even covered in the codex. You can totally tell whomever wrote these very much cared about the Mass Effect universe.

the new minigames are completely pointless.

Agreed.

If you take away the recruiting in this game, you are left with about 2-3 missions and about 3 hours of story.

Why would you not recruit anyone?

The story was presented OK, but was lacking in comparison to ME1.

Like I stated previously, the core narrative is weaker than the first game but it's still (slightly) more interesting than most other games.

I found that the quickest and most efficient way to kill ANY enemy was to just shoot it with my assault rifle. I played the entire game with the same weapon.

Any enemy? Every single on hrm? Sounds like you played on an easy skill level. Why didn't you just raise the skill level if it wasn't challenging?

I have no idea why they completely ditched the stats and inventory.

My single biggest complaint. I want loot back in the game. Also, lets not forget the extremely pointless and annoying "Mission Complete" screens.

I probably shouldn't even mention scanning planets, since you've probably heard this complaint 1000x already.

The thing to remember about planet scanning (now that it's been patched and sped up) is that you only need to scan "Rich" planets. That's it and that's all. This strategy will allow you to have enough minerals for upgrades throughout the game.

Secondly, you should at the very least orbit every single planet just in case there is an anomaly (read: one of 20 of the planetary side mission). This is the only way to trigger them, through orbiting, and they're all unique to themselves. Did you play any of these?

Plus this give you an opportunity to read the descriptions too.

Now I'm worried about Dragon Age 2.

As you should be.

 

[Drako]

I thought ME2 was better in almost every way over ME1. Pretty much all of what coldmeat deemed as negatives were improved upon from ME1 in my opinion.

One thing is certain - you cannot please all the people all the time

 

[coldmeat]

Do you honestly believe that the dialog options presented in ME2 make "no difference"? Honestly? Because if you've played through ME1 and played even a portion of ME2 you've no doubt seen the ripple effect from the first game. Kind of a strange observation on your part.

What I meant was I played through lots of dialogue parts a second time, and it didn't matter what option I chose on the wheel, he said the exact same thing, and it led to the exact same response from the NPC. I'm pretty sure some of the renegade/paragon choices were the same at times too.

Why would you not recruit anyone?

90% of this game was spent recruiting, and not actually working on the Reaper/geth story. Some crew members were only in my group for a couple of missions before the game was over. Why are there so many crew members anyway? It makes me think there's so many simply because they wanted to extend the game length.

Any enemy? Every single on hrm? Sounds like you played on an easy skill level. Why didn't you just raise the skill level if it wasn't challenging

I guess I could have but I wasn't expecting normal to be "extremely easy". I also wasn't really looking for a challenge as much as I would have liked to play the game to it's full potential. On most games, higher difficulties for me just means I'm dying more, and not really having any more fun.

 

[Gooberlx2]

It makes me think there's so many simply because they wanted to extend the game length.

I guess it depends on how "big-picture" you want to view the storyline for each game. While the reapers+geth are the central piece of the overall story arc, this chapter's focus was on building your team.

I'm interested to see how/what choices from ME2 and probably even ME1 will affect ME3, or ME4, or however long they continue the universe. To me, ME is the most compelling sci-fi universe to come out in a long time.

 

[Kromis]

A bit off topic sorta but I hope they don't gimp ME3 because of the PS3 version. I do hope they tie in some ME1 quests. I wanna know what happens to the woman with the baby or Conrad Verner (yes yes, he was in ME2), or the damn Thorian plant or anything else!

 

[Sadaiyappan]

I finished ME1 in 30 hours. I never got to the romances, guess that must be ME2. At one point I had over 900 omni gels, and I beat the game without a healer (not exactly sure if there are healers in ME1 though). Saren fight was too easy. Getting to the citadel was harder, the story was okay. It wasn’t as good as people implied it would be. I got an avatar vibe from the Thorian which is strange because this game came out before Avatar released. The reapers remind me of Firefly. FTL reminds me of stargate. Mako jump jets remind me of Mechwarrior. When I started playing the game I was thinking the Geth would be spying on the citadel through VI (both are AIs). They didn't get into the alien politics as much as I thought they would. I was expecting more. Seems like Saren was the only thing interesting politically, the other races didn't have any effect on the story. Oh, and the reapers are AI too, they may align with the Geth in ME2.