**Official Mass Effect 2 Thread** - The Thread of Unique Planets, New Species and Amazing Scores

[R Nilla]

That said, the lack of weapon/armor options in the game was a HUGE disappointment. I used the same damn gun for about 90% of the game with no issues.

It might sound crazy, but looking back I'd actually argue that there's a greater variety of weapons in ME2. Sure, in ME1 you were constantly picking up "different" weapons with varying names and manufacturers, but ultimately they were all exactly the same aside from stats and what mods you installed.

In ME2 there are actually 2-3 types of each main weapon that actually feel and behave differently. The only difference from ME1 is that you don't have to equip a "new" gun to receive the increased stats because it advances automatically as you level up.

In ~100 hours of ME1 I probably rolled with a pistol + inferno ammo + kinetic coil 90% of the time because there was never a need to use anything else.

 

[Qbah]

ME2 on Insanity is SO MUCH FUN! Everybody has either extra shields or armor or both! And you use everything to kill then. Overloads, Warp, Reave (my extra talent) and then the other biotic talents too, so that the enemies either fly around when you shoot them or are paralyzed or anything else, really.

Insanity on ME1 was easy - you just shot more and the enemy couldn't do squat anyway against a Colossus armor + Energized Plating + Medical Exoskeleton mods. Here? You have to be in cover, and just lean for a sec to do something otherwise you're toast. The enemies feel like 75% of you... They use their talents, flank you, charge. You have to fall back etc. It's amazing And finally I use heavy weapons ! The previous two playthroughs I think I popped my heavy gun at the very end only - everything else was pew pew (was an adept or soldier).

Now I'm a sentinel (imported my Paragon soldier again and changed him to a sentinel). And so far I love it! Best fun I had in a game for a very long time - it's so challenging and not frustrating! You need to pick the right team for a mission (so since you played it already you know which enemies to expect) and use all the talents of the team, not just pew pew your way to victory

 

[R Nilla]

Interesting breakdown of how the final mission can go down over at the BioWare forums. Spoilers, obviously.

 

[Rage187]

For those who have finished their 2nd playthrough

Spoiler

do you get to pick a second weapon to specialize in? I picked the assault rifle first time and want to the Widow maker this playthrough if it will let me use both in the 3rd playthrough.

 

[Qbah]

So... I'm playing on Insanity now. And I just found

Spoiler

a geth rifle in the same room as Tali! And not the research +10% one (this one too) but a normal one, said Garrus and Zaeed are using it now and they have it in their hands Now I know what I will take as a bonus weapon in the Collector's ship (playing Sentinel and I find snipers boring)! Anyone else playing on Insane and found some cool bonus stuff? Apparently some items only show up on Hardcore and Insanity!

This game is getting better and better!

 

[gorcorps]

For those who have finished their 2nd playthrough

Spoiler

do you get to pick a second weapon to specialize in? I picked the assault rifle first time and want to the Widow maker this playthrough if it will let me use both in the 3rd playthrough.

When I started my 2nd playthrough

Spoiler

I didn't have my advanced shotgun that I picked in my 1st playthrough. So it seems like you only get 1 advanced weapon per playthough and you only get it after finding it on the collector ship. I could be misunderstanding you though.

 

[Rage187]

When I started my 2nd playthrough

Spoiler

I didn't have my advanced shotgun that I picked in my 1st playthrough. So it seems like you only get 1 advanced weapon per playthough and you only get it after finding it on the collector ship. I could be misunderstanding you though.

Spoiler

You start with it but can't access it until you get your ship back. Go check your armory.

 

[Qbah]

Just a friendly advice for people playing on Insanity:

Spoiler

Go to the Collector ship only after you have enough "oomph"... The fist encounter, the ambush, is a rape-fest. And it's your ass that gets it. An unreachable flanking Scion (that flies from left to right and spams shockwaves) and a Harbinger supported by 2 other drones jump you at point blank range. It takes all of one Scion shockwave and a hit or two from the Harbinger to bring down both your squad mates at once. So a total of 2 seconds. And there's nowhere to hide. Even if you cover, the Harbinger is just on the other side of the cove and does his nuke thing that drops your shields and knocks you out of cover (just in front of the collector firing squad or an incoming shockwave). It took me like literally 50 tries to get even the first wave down (killing the Scion first is key... ). Then there's 2 more waves on extra platforms and a (fortunately) stationary Scion. That was one of the most intense fights I have ever had - it had to be done perfectly (and me being lvl18 really didn't help a lot...). So there, it's actually called Insanity for a reason The Praetorians are crazy hard too... But the two Scions at the end of Horizon were cake compared to the Collector ship. And that Praetorian too (you had plenty of place to cover). The collector ship was insane

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

Well, I have like 150k+ of each element except for Element Zero. I guess if you are low, just spend time going around and scanning Rich/Good planets.

Also, GameFAQs has a sticky listing the planets that have a high yield of EZ and Platinum. That would have been nice about 10-15 hours ago in game time.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Well, I just finished my first playthrough last night. I gotta say, ME1 was incredible, and ME2 (imo) was twice as good.

Some thoughts:

Spoiler

I think the overall story and character development are awesome. You get some decent history and perspective of the struggles for the different races. You get better details about the fate of the Protheans, the tensions between Quarian and Geth, that the themselves Geth are divided (and the hint of individuality in Legion regarding your N7 armor), Krogans, Salarians and the doc's involvement with the genophage, etc...

The loyalty missions and resulting dialogs were very good for character development and making you feel invested in them. The personal storylines for Jack and Thane, etc... It's all very compelling. The only character I didn't really care about was Zaeed...and that's probably because he's DLC and has no real dialog on the Normandy, he's basically just an asshole merc.

I'm glad they changed the inventory system the way they did. Much simpler, but generally more effective. I agree with R Nilla, that the different gun options you have as weapons really do have more impact/variety on combat. Whereas in ME1 they were all the same thing, with altered specs.

I'm already excited for the next game. I suspect ME3 will bring back certain ME1 characters, like Liara and her issue with the Shadow Broker. Cerebus may be a problem for you (depending on your decisions). The overall Reaper threat obviously still looms. Will there be a war between Geth and Quarian?

The only real gripe I have it about the materials: I would have preferred landing on the planets and staking mines, maybe having to fight off mercs and bandits; rather than the scanning deal.

However, I do like that there's a better sense of resource management. Things are more expensive, and credits are generally more scarce, so you might actually have to be selective about purchases. I don't see an easy way to build over 1 million credits like in ME1, where you can afford everything on the menu at that point.

Some nitpicks: The end-boss giant terminator does seems less epic/desperate than fighting Sovereign controlled Saren. I do also wish the 3rd act had been longer than a 30-45min mission. It was easily the most interesting mission (imo), and I hope they expand on that type of mission design (multiple teams, specialist assignment, etc...) in ME3 or with DLC.

Relationship:
I decided to go all Cpt. Kirk and get some xeno-awesome with Tali this first go around. I'll be replaying from the savegame to go for the others when I get the chance.

I was right about heavy charge + maxed out/special shotgun + max incendiary ammo. Pretty goddamn devastating....even if it's only one shot per reload. And maxed/area Shockwave is super effective against hordes of husks (I think they die instantly when they're thrown in the air).

I always forget about my fish and they die from starvation.

 

[R Nilla]

Spoiler

I always forget about my fish and they die from starvation.

I guess you didn't pursue

Spoiler

Yeoman Chambers

enough.

 

[Drako]

I guess you didn't pursue

Spoiler

Yeoman Chambers

enough.

I don't know -

Spoiler

I had Kelly offer to feed my fish, and they died anyway.

At least my hamster survived .

 

[warcrow]

Can you hook up with both

Spoiler

kelly

and

Spoiler

miranda

in the same playthrough or do the find out?

 

[R Nilla]

Can you hook up with both

Spoiler

kelly

and

Spoiler

miranda

in the same playthrough or do the find out?

I did that in my playthrough but I don't think you really

Spoiler

hook up with Kelly.

It's not clear because

Spoiler

the game skips to later after you invite her to your room for "dinner". It doesn't show what happens.

 

[R Nilla]

The upcoming free (through Cerberus Network) DLC has been revealed and is coming out tomorrow. New armor (with fixed helmet ) and shotgun.

From the BioWare post:

On Tuesday February 09 2010 Mass Effect 2 fans will be able to get the new Cerberus Assault Armor and M-22a Eviscerator Shotgun DLC fof free through the Cerberus network. It should be available for all fans, both on PC and Xbox 360 at 12:00pm Mountain Standard Time.

Cerberus Assault Armor
Cerberus assault armor is designed for shock troops, turn the tide of battle against creatures or forces that would decimate normal soldiers.
Increases heavy weapon ammo capacity by +10%
Increases shields by +10%
Increases health by +10%

M-22a Eviscerator Shotgun
The M-22a Eviscerator Shotgun is a longer-range shotgun with armor-piercing loads. This design also violates several intergalactic weapons treaties, so the M-22a is not distributed to militaries.

You can learn more about the Cerberus Assault Armor in a Arsenal update with screenshots of the armor in action here: http://masseffect.bioware.com/universe/arsenal/armor/

 

[Gooberlx2]

Awesome that it's free....but really, I hate the fixed helmets. I would have used the badass looking terminus armor during my game if it weren't for that.

I'd say the armor customizations were generally weak. I'd rather choose for looks when most of the bonuses are merely 5% here, 3% there.

 

[Pheran]

I'm still pretty early in the game, but loving it. I have to get 1 more team member.

By the way, if you are playing this without having played ME1 first, I feel bad for you. There are tons of ME1 references in the game, some of them quite funny.

Oh and "I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favorite store." LOL

 

[Drako]

I'm still pretty early in the game, but loving it. I have to get 1 more team member.

By the way, if you are playing this without having played ME1 first, I feel bad for you. There are tons of ME1 references in the game, some of them quite funny.

Oh and "I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favorite store." LOL

Anybody meet back up with Conrad Verner? (biggest fan)

I did on my fist play-through as renegade. Let's just say things did not go to well for him .

 

[Phobic9]

Awesome that it's free....but really, I hate the fixed helmets. I would have used the badass looking terminus armor during my game if it weren't for that.

I'd say the armor customizations were generally weak. I'd rather choose for looks when most of the bonuses are merely 5% here, 3% there.

I agree and I don't understand why they didn't opt to do what they did in Dragon Age. If you had a helmet on, you'd only see it in combat, not in conversation areas. Of course, people bitched to Bioware still so I guess they can't win... unless they put in a toggle (which would be awesome).

 

[gorcorps]

I agree and I don't understand why they didn't opt to do what they did in Dragon Age. If you had a helmet on, you'd only see it in combat, not in conversation areas. Of course, people bitched to Bioware still so I guess they can't win... unless they put in a toggle (which would be awesome).

They had a toggle in ME1, so the whole not having a toggle in ME2 is what pisses most people off. It doesn't help that stats are now tied to your headgear, when before it was all for looks.

 

[Gooberlx2]

nless they put in a toggle (which would be awesome).

Which is exactly what they did in ME1, but...oy vey.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

Just beat it last night.

Spoiler

Grunt died on the second team split...I figured a big, tough Krogan would be the man to fight through, but obviously, he sucks. Apparently there are only certain chars that can succeed in the situations. Grunt was not one of them.

Overall, a very satisfying game. I enjoyed the first Mass Effect, and this one is much better. Sure, there are minor gripes, but I could foresee myself playing it at least two more times. Right now I'm trying to decide what class to choose...I've already done Soldier, so I'm thinking more of a "caster" class to mix things up.

Also, more free DLC is awesome. This is doing DLC right. Give people an incentive for buying the game new. Finally, a good shotgun! This might make me rethink choosing a Vanguard...

 

[gorcorps]

Just beat it last night.

Spoiler

Grunt died on the second team split...I figured a big, tough Krogan would be the man to fight through, but obviously, he sucks. Apparently there are only certain chars that can succeed in the situations. Grunt was not one of them.

Overall, a very satisfying game. I enjoyed the first Mass Effect, and this one is much better. Sure, there are minor gripes, but I could foresee myself playing it at least two more times. Right now I'm trying to decide what class to choose...I've already done Soldier, so I'm thinking more of a "caster" class to mix things up.

Also, more free DLC is awesome. This is doing DLC right. Give people an incentive for buying the game new. Finally, a good shotgun! This might make me rethink choosing a Vanguard...

Spoiler

I sent grunt as the escort for my team and he lived. Might replay that end mission again if you want the achievement

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

Spoiler

I sent grunt as the escort for my team and he lived. Might replay that end mission again if you want the achievement

Spoiler

Yes, you can send any loyal teammate to escort your crew back to the ship and everyone will live. When your team splits up into "an alternate team" (not the lone specialist), only certain characters will survive leading the team. I know two of them are Jacob and Garrus...I think there is one more that will survive.

I've been considering reloading my save right before I hit the Omega Relay to get the achievement. We shall see...

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

I am debating whether or not I want to go back to Mass Effect 1 and get my level 59 Soldier to level 60. It would provide a nice base for Mass Effect 2 but man, Mass Effect 1 is just so...primitive. He needs about 200k EXP to get from 59 to 60...would a quick run through of just the story missions net me the required EXP?