Mass Effect 2 *spoilers around pg 29/30*

[tmp]

Modding my character the hard way! 

Ooh, semi-decent casual clothes.

... is there mod to put female Shepard in Miranda's pants already?

[Phildo]

This is the only thing I have left to play for:

Video may contain spoilers

[tmp]

I just hit the derelict ship on insanity. As an adept. I think it's time to start over.

If it's the one i'm thinking of then backpedal backpedal backpedal and shoot all the way you can. Cover is useless for that part, both you and the squadmates can fire more frequent when they're in the open and you get swarmed less. And their powers can be damn useful depending who you bring.

[lesion]

My character uses Reave and can only survive out of cover for about 1.5 seconds unless sprinting like a jackass maniac on speed. I got through the ship doing a fair bit of that.
Also: the flamethrower is second only to the nuke. I remember using the latter at about 117% in the Normandy cargo bay.

[rk47]

Hm, disappointed with lackluster itemizations and dumbed down upgrading in terms of skills & equipment. Not really impressed with the 'combat improvements' at all. At least it runs like a dream.

[Velorath]

Hm, disappointed with lackluster itemizations and dumbed down upgrading in terms of skills & equipment. Not really impressed with the 'combat improvements' at all. At least it runs like a dream.

Funny thing is, after playing through the game I wouldn't even consider the skill system dumbed down.  Streamlined sure, but there's more build variations there when you take into consideration your options whenever you max out an ability.

[Engels]

I'm personally enjoying not having to fuss with an inventory. Also, the combat engine is so much beter than the last that they could give me a stick to beat things with and I'd prefer it to ME1.

[tmp]

My character uses Reave and can only survive out of cover for about 1.5 seconds unless sprinting like a jackass maniac on speed.

Ah i was thinking of the ship with the melee swarms. For that staying out of cover can work pretty well since as long as the husks aren't close to you, they can't really harm you. And as long as you keep moving/sprinting they stay out of range.

[rk47]

Hm, disappointed with lackluster itemizations and dumbed down upgrading in terms of skills & equipment. Not really impressed with the 'combat improvements' at all. At least it runs like a dream.

Funny thing is, after playing through the game I wouldn't even consider the skill system dumbed down.  Streamlined sure, but there's more build variations there when you take into consideration your options whenever you max out an ability.

Well, I tried Insanity difficulty and all fights seem to boil down to spamming powers while behind cover. Since these 'magic missiles' can't miss, there's very little incentive to pop out of cover and take hits that would kill me very quickly as a Sentinel. Most of the time I end up just tanking with tech armor while my teammates grind them down with powers.

[stray]

No powers here.. Just a soldier. Cover is useful, but the combat in general is not really all that fun (as an action game). If they're going to streamline to be more action heavy, I would have appreciated it just playing out like Red Faction or something. As it is,, it's halfassed action and halfassed RPG.

That said, it's generally a good game, for the story and such.

[Polysorbate80]

No powers here.. Just a soldier.

Soldiers get the concussive shot ability, although I seldom use it other than to trigger the explosive stuff scattered around.  You can also add an extra power of your choice with research.

I mostly use Reave, or bullet-time + sniping.

[Shrike]

I use the hardened geth shield on my replay soldier. It's handy, but looking at other options. I might have to look into reave, though I heard this was relatively short ranged?

I used warp ammo on my first playthrough and was pretty happy with it. AP ammo is tempting to experiment with, though my main concern was burning down Collectors with shields. Just did Harvest again last night with incindiary only. Worked well enough, I suppose. Scions are still a royal pain. Going into Harvest and Haestrom with the Rev, though...that was satisfying.

[AcidCat]

I've been having good luck with Barrier as my Soldier's extra skill. He tears up stuff so well with guns, any other damaging power seems pointless, the extra survivability is more useful.

[Ingmar]

No powers here.. Just a soldier. Cover is useful, but the combat in general is not really all that fun (as an action game). If they're going to streamline to be more action heavy, I would have appreciated it just playing out like Red Faction or something. As it is,, it's halfassed action and halfassed RPG.

That said, it's generally a good game, for the story and such.

I don't get this at all - I find the combat more interesting than Red Faction's by far.

[stray]

I'm just using that as one example of a "3rd person shooter/action game"... Although it's easy to compare because the art styles are somewhat similar.

My point though is that I don't find it nearly as fun as any strict action games in that style (3rd person/shooting). I disagree with you on Red Faction specifically.. I think it's more fun, but replace it with any number of 3rd person shooters if you wish. They're all better action games than ME2. Your character isn't very "physical" (no jumping or rolling), there's not much in the way of maneuvering within the environment besides cover, not much in the way of destroying said environment, and vehicular combat hardly leaves much in the way of daredeviling..

In ME1, that was all fine and good to me too, it's strength was in being a hybrid RPG/shooter. And perhaps, in some ways, more RPG than shooter. I didn't expect for it be an action game. In ME2's case though, I can't help but expect a little more. They chipped away at some of the RPG elements - A little less customization, items, stats, etc.. Except they didn't exactly make up for these exclusions on the action side of things. The storytelling is still in tact, and that's great - it's enough to keep me playing.. But I don't really understand why they streamlined it. Because to me, gameplay wise, it's very unremarkable.

[Venkman]

I think I agree. ME2 is no Gears of War. It's not trying to be either, but the comparison is inevitable. I think the characters are physical enough, you just don't make the decisions in realtime. You can run up to cover, and depending how you doing it, the transition from running to cover will include sliding. You can run up to a platform, and depending how you do it, the transition to get onto the platform will include a crouch/jump sequence. Both cases (and others) are you hitting a button and watching an event unfold.

At first I expected to run and jump and crouch of my own accord. But because of the immersion of everything else, I soon didn't notice it. Even though when I'm not in the game I'm wishing it played more like Arkham Asylum

Planetary scanning got less annoying with the speed-that-shit-up upgrade. And really, it's more annoying because of my mentality than the game. I don't like to just explore a system. I want to strip mine the whole thing to depleted 

Awesome story moments all along though. Not sure who my favorite characters are so far. I really like Justicar's and Thane's stories though.

And I'm still encountering things that'd mean a lot more to me had I bothered finishing ME1.

Question, not sure if this has been answered, based on how one chose to end ME1:


I could have waited for a second playthrough, but it's rare I survive through the end of a first playthrough

[Polysorbate80]

[Venkman]

Ah great thanks. So some strife remains, it's the flavor that changes. As expected.

TOTALLY agree on your edit. I remember talking to Sgt Bailey and for a while I'm wracking my brain over the familiarity of the voice. Then he said something I swear he said on the show and it clicked. I hope there's more interaction with him in the future.

[MournelitheCalix]

Hm, disappointed with lackluster itemization's and dumbed down upgrading in terms of skills & equipment. Not really impressed with the 'combat improvements' at all. At least it runs like a dream.

Just the opposite experience for me.  I am really glad that there wasn't 500 suit options.  I am glad for two reasons.  First I don't have to constantly junk stuff I don't want and "omni-gel" it.  Second, I think that this allowed bioware to focus more on the story and less on the loot whoring.

Moreover I really like the idea that you improve the model suits you had.  In most games i have played, I never look at the "options."  Instead I look at the values.  This means all the time spent on making the armors look different were wasted on me as I just junked it and never looked at it.   When gamers do this, how much development time does that equate to wasting?  I bet its quite a bit.  That is time I would rather have the developers focus upon improving the game and enriching the experience that I find compelling and will experience.   

[MournelitheCalix]

Post Game spoiler:


You know, I liked Dragon Age. I loved the 1st Mass Effect. Mass Effect 2 was so good that Dragon Age seems tarnished and I have little desire to ever play Mass Effect 1 again. The game was so cinematic and they even made me emotional at certain points. It's rare for a game to actually make me have an emotional reaction beyond anger.

I think you crystalized my reaction to it as well.  Honestly I think Mass Effect 2 is revolutionary on so many levels.  I would even say groundbreaking.  There were times when it  really stirred up actual emotion beyond I am so frustrated at X.   

[caladein]

I think you crystalized my reaction to it as well.  Honestly I think Mass Effect 2 is revolutionary on so many levels.  I would even say groundbreaking.  There were times when it  really stirred up actual emotion beyond I am so frustrated at X.

I don't think I see ME2 as revolutionary so much as it does what good science fiction has always done: let us ask philosophical questions "out there", hopefully unburdened thanks to it being all aliens and space travel.  (Which I guess might be revolutionary in a game.)

ME1 mostly asked the player questions about who or how or if someone/thing was going to die.  ME2 still, as a game revolving around shooting people in the face, asks questions about death (or not death), but when it does it, it does so more subtly.

[tmp]

Just the opposite experience for me.  I am really glad that there wasn't 500 suit options.

It's rather disappointing there isn't any suit options for your team, though. (just choice between two textures didn't really cut it) Similar with the weapons, outside of the heavy weapon choices you just find one upgrade per weapon class and that's basically it, they could completely do away with gear selection screen* and no one would notice.

*) minus the heavy weapon for Shepard.

[Riggswolfe]

Well, keep in mind, alot of the weapon selection stuff is now really encapsulated in the upgrade screen. And I refuse to admit how much time I spent playing with colors for my armor and a few times I found myself wearing different pieces for looks more than for stats.

That said, I want an eyepiece identical to Garrus's in ME3.

There is one thing that has been bugging me from a meta-game standpoint though. Everything in the game makes sense in a sci-fi type of way except the ammo. In ME1 you found ammo types you could swap out. I was cool with that. But in ME2 it's a power and I never found an in-universe explanation for how my soldier could just "will" his ammo to be cryo rounds for instance.

[Riggswolfe]

I think you crystalized my reaction to it as well.  Honestly I think Mass Effect 2 is revolutionary on so many levels.  I would even say groundbreaking.  There were times when it  really stirred up actual emotion beyond I am so frustrated at X.   

Well, to comment on one of your moments

[tmp]

Well, keep in mind, alot of the weapon selection stuff is now really encapsulated in the upgrade screen. And I refuse to admit how much time I spent playing with colors for my armor and a few times I found myself wearing different pieces for looks more than for stats.

Yup, but the weapon things are just straight upgrades to everything you have; you never get to choose between this gun or another based on what mission you expect or your playstyle. You have 2(3) models per type, one is explicitly said to be upgrade for the other so the actual point of there even being gun selection screen... questionable. Not that ME1 was much better but there at least you got to pick between damage output, accuracy and heat generation. Both for the base weapon and for the upgrades you'd put on it.

Armour-wise i did spend a while on the selection screen but with 2-3 choices max for every piece --after you manage to find and buy them all-- it wasn't really much of choice again. And being unable to fix Garrus' armour was driving me bonkers because it makes so little sense to permanently keep him in that junk.

In ME1 i had lot of fun picking armour for my guys from vendors and drops based on both the looks and stats, to the point where i'd colour-coordinate them and then their weapons on top of that. I missed that in ME2 and being able to paint Shepard's armour did nothing to alleviate it since as far as i'm concerned Shepard wouldn't be wearing anything but his/her military gear, stock colours and all.

[caladein]

That said, I want an eyepiece identical to Garrus's in ME3.

There is one thing that has been bugging me from a meta-game standpoint though. Everything in the game makes sense in a sci-fi type of way except the ammo. In ME1 you found ammo types you could swap out. I was cool with that. But in ME2 it's a power and I never found an in-universe explanation for how my soldier could just "will" his ammo to be cryo rounds for instance.

There's the Sentry Interface you can get from Dr. Pepper codes (guide here) which at least has that vibe:



On the ammo powers, I mostly took them as using your expertise to tweak the weapon for one end or another.

[Riggswolfe]

I have the Dr. Pepper stuff. Honestly, if that visor was cut in half I'd use it more. This is where I make another admission. I almost exclusively use the head shot visor. Not for its stats but for the fact it gives me a little something and lets most of my face show during interactions. I like seeing my Shepard's expressions and such and even that Dr. Pepper visor hides some of the subtle eye and brow movements.

[Ingmar]

Well, keep in mind, alot of the weapon selection stuff is now really encapsulated in the upgrade screen. And I refuse to admit how much time I spent playing with colors for my armor and a few times I found myself wearing different pieces for looks more than for stats.

Yup, but the weapon things are just straight upgrades to everything you have

This is not actually true. They do say "upgrades the <blah>" but for example the second sniper rifle functions much differently than the first. The base sniper rifle does far more damage and is much better for take-a-guy-out-with-a-single-headshot; the other one does a lot less damage but has a big magazine and you can fire a bunch of times before having to reload. The other weapons have similar tradeoffs, they're not just straight up upgrades for the most part.

[Venkman]

I have the Dr. Pepper stuff. Honestly, if that visor was cut in half I'd use it more. This is where I make another admission. I almost exclusively use the head shot visor. Not for its stats but for the fact it gives me a little something and lets most of my face show during interactions. I like seeing my Shepard's expressions and such and even that Dr. Pepper visor hides some of the subtle eye and brow movements.

This is what really bothers me about the Dragon Armor. I actually like it, all except for it being all one piece. Shepard's head tilts are actually pretty expressive, but during any encounter off ship, I haven't seen his face almost ever.

[Merusk]

But in ME2 it's a power and I never found an in-universe explanation for how my soldier could just "will" his ammo to be cryo rounds for instance.

It's not willing, it's a setting on your weapons.  Watch Shepard when you swap between two different ammos.  There's an animation involved with punching in keys on the side.

[Velorath]

No powers here.. Just a soldier. Cover is useful, but the combat in general is not really all that fun (as an action game). If they're going to streamline to be more action heavy, I would have appreciated it just playing out like Red Faction or something. As it is,, it's halfassed action and halfassed RPG.

That said, it's generally a good game, for the story and such.

I'd recommend playing any class other than soldier then.

[rk47]

Uh....just finished a 15 minutes boss fight with my two partners dead. I think Bioware need to make the AI realize it's not gonna win a ranged exchange with a player. Cover = God Mode. This is on Insanity by the way, the boss did nothing but stood at cover, empty magazine, reload under cover, then get up again while I feed him shield shock until his shields are down then feed him magic missiles till he dropped. Once I learned his underlings kept respawning I just focused on him the whole time and watch my shield recharges. I was even considering using the grenade launcher to speed things up, but....why? I CANNOT die!

[tmp]

This is not actually true. They do say "upgrades the <blah>" but for example the second sniper rifle functions much differently than the first. The base sniper rifle does far more damage and is much better for take-a-guy-out-with-a-single-headshot; the other one does a lot less damage but has a big magazine and you can fire a bunch of times before having to reload. The other weapons have similar tradeoffs, they're not just straight up upgrades for the most part.

I meant mainly the research screen upgrades which just add static bonuses to all your gear. But the weapon selection... well, i found zero reason to keep using the original sniper rifle after i found the "upgrade" one -- the higher damage of original just didn't mean anything when i could instead fire 2-3 shots (up to 12 in constant stream) from the other one in the same time it'd take the original take one shot and reload, doing more damage overall and still having more ammo in the process. I believe it was Bioware's actual intention for these weapons to replace the ones you start with or at least be clearly more optimal choice... otherwise their description wouldn't go as far as to spell out they were upgrades. You don't normally read that kind of stuff in description of gear that's supposed to be just an option.

[Polysorbate80]

I haven't played insanity yet (playthrough #2 is hardcore) but I've run into at least one place where the single-shot sniper rifle would have been superior to the multi-shot.  I've also run into some situations where I'd prefer the limited ammo capacity but higher accuracy of the second assault rifle to the wildly-inaccurate bullet-hose revenant(?) rifle from the collector ship.  The problem is there aren't many missions that give you a convenient place to change your loadout.

I do consistently use the particle beam, but only because it's my favorite.  I've only used my shotgun once when I was out of ammo-couldn't begin to tell you what's different about them :P

[Tebonas]

I used the Particle beam on most bossfights, I cleared out everything else with Shockwave and Reave (Vanguard) plus the Single Shot Sniper once I could use snipers.

Shockwave seemed to be extremey convenient when you have platforms and enemies in front of ledges.