Mass Effect 2 NON Spoiler thread

[DDB]

it's kind of true in ME2, once I got Reave there isn't any point using anything else. spamming Reave every time it's up and shoot while waiting for it to refresh.

Reave > Warp in pretty much every way with the same cool down, so there really isn't any reason to use Warp over Reave.

Fair enough, when it comes to Reave I stand corrected.

[Wendelius]

Got a question for you guys. Does the journal or anything else give any indication about where the quest objectives are? A few quests give me a system name and I can work with that. But simple things like "going to the citadel" or "go find someone" often don't. And there are a lot of systems out there. Am I supposed to explore them one by one and make my own map?

I haven't played the first game. So maybe I'm more lost because I've never heard the system names before. Or maybe I missed something obvious. Any help on not having to roll down the windows and ask for directions would be appreciated. :)

Wendelius

[Bahimiron]

If someone gives you a quest to go to the planet Fart in the Poo system of the Bum nebula, when you go out to the top screen it will have an arrow pointing toward the Bum nebula with a quick description that says something like 'Kill All Krogans'.

As far as finding someone specific in a place like Illium or the Citadel, you're on your own. You can usually talk to people and eventually someone will know. Or you'll just run into them.

[Wendelius]

If someone gives you a quest to go to the planet Fart in the Poo system of the Bum nebula, when you go out to the top screen it will have an arrow pointing toward the Bum nebula with a quick description that says something like 'Kill All Krogans'.

Ah yes. Noticed that a couple of times. I think part of the issue is that I'm in a system with no quests left and the others must be a mass relay or 2 away. So indications don't seem to be displayed.

Will fight my OCD and leave the system not mined out to see if I can find the way to more quests. Thanks.

Wendelius

[Mordrak]

For those that were bowled over by the game? What kind of environment were you playing it in? Big screen TV, surround sound, dimmed lighting? Or a large PC monitor? I'm curious how much of an impact that had. I played on a 19inch wide screen, using headphones.

[Mordrak]

No, because you're a fucking 'sperging jerk-off who I don't respect and don't want to talk to.

Go fuck your mother. Don't forget to tip like you usually do.

[RepoMan]

Get a room, you shitmouthed genital-clinchers.

[Mordrak]

Get a room, you shitmouthed genital-clinchers.

Enjoy your wonderful life and shut the fuck up. If someone wants to insult me they can expect the same.

I'm not going to sit here and passively take shit. Use the ignore button.

Edit: What's hilarious about this is if you guys spouting fucking 'Sperger this and 'Sperger that really think I have that disability, that essentially make you making fun of a literal retard. That makes you much more of an asshole than me you fucking douchebags.

[Murbella]

I still think the biggest barrier to entry in liking me2 is how much you like shooters (linked to your ability to aim). me2 is probably about as close to a shooter i've seen an rpg go without actually being one, for better and worse.

The more i think about it (and the more content i see), the more i think the old system of finding weapons, putting multiple addons in them and then putting different types of ammo in the weapons is a significantly better system than the one in mass effect 2. For some reason i thought you could customize weapons like you can armor for shepard (not sure why i thought that), but obviously that isn't the case. instead you just find upgrade tech in stores and then research it to add a bonus to everyone using that item. You can't customize weapons at all (given enough money to buy all upgrades you find) and gone is the fun of finding that nice heat sink addon.

It is a shame because the ability to research various upgrades and ship improves is very fun, but does not live up to its potential. The ability to modify your own armor is nice, but it doesn't allow you to customize your companions' armor.

[DDB]

For those that were bowled over by the game? What kind of environment were you playing it in? Big screen TV, surround sound, dimmed lighting? Or a large PC monitor? I'm curious how much of an impact that had. I played on a 19inch wide screen, using headphones.

I don't want to talk to you, but I do, however, want to make fun of you.

Firstly, you actually edited your insulting reply to me, because you are such a dork that you can't even come up with a decent insult the first time around.

Secondly, you can't even afford a decent system to play the game on, which is probably a large part of why you didn't like it. You probably played it with a couple of IM apps running so you could keep tabs on your guildmate's raids while you sat in the dark with your bargain-basement headphones on, wondering what all the hubub was. I bet you saw Avatar in 2d because you didn't want to pay extra for "crappy 3d effects that don't do anything for the movie, anyway". That's if you saw Avatar at all, you killjoy.

I also want to make fun of you for saying earlier "It's a videogame, a bunch of bits, not worthy of consideration" on the same forum where you were pissing and moaning about the coloring of Grunt being "atrocious". Does the irony of this not even register with you?

"Oh videogames. Heh. I don't bother with those. " *Proceeds to 'sperg out over tiny unquantifiable inconsequentialities in video games*

In short, what I am saying is that you are a bad poster, and to get your act together rather than spew your nonsense all over this forum. When you can come back here and make a rational argument rather than bray about whatever fluff your mind has fixated on, we'll all be interested.

Cheers.

Edit: Oh and no more of this for me, I'll stick to answering questions and being helpful.

[Mordrak]

Secondly, you can't even afford a decent system to play the game on, which is probably a large part of why you didn't like it. You probably played it with a couple of IM apps running so you could keep tabs on your guildmate's raids while you sat in the dark with your bargain-basement headphones on, wondering what all the hubub was. I bet you saw Avatar in 2d because you didn't want to pay extra for "crappy 3d effects that don't do anything for the movie, anyway". That's if you saw Avatar at all, you killjoy.

Oh quality here. Make fun of me because I'm poor. Wooo! Classy you asswipe.

I also want to make fun of you for saying earlier "It's a videogame, a bunch of bits, not worthy of consideration" on the same forum where you were pissing and moaning about the coloring of Grunt being "atrocious". Does the irony of this not even register with you?

Huh? Because you were unspecific about what you meant, saying it made you think rather than the roleplaying made you care about your decision making, I'm being hypocritical? I care about my decisions too, I base them around the type of Shepard I'm playing. Since most of the decisions are binary in nature, it doesn't take a lot of consideration for someone to still care.

In short, what I am saying is that you are a bad poster, and to get your act together rather than spew your nonsense all over this forum. When you can come back here and make a rational argument rather than bray about whatever fluff your mind has fixated on, we'll all be interested.

Cheers.

Oh ya, because you've set the bar sooo high yourself. Cheers you living stain on humanity.

Oh, I'm sending a bunch of homeless guys your mom's way since she's started charging a dollar a ride. At least she doesn't have to worry about STDs because she got them all from you.

But you've caught me. I'm a terrible writer, even though I've put effort to improve. So ya, I suck, a lot. You get an award Captain Obvious!

Edit: Oh and no more of this for me, I'll stick to answering questions and being helpful.

OMG YOU EDITED YOUR POST!. HOW COULD YOU!?!?! I see. After making fun of someone because they don't have as much stuff as you and extolling the virtues of Avatar, you get to ride off into the sunset claiming it's the high road.

So long and good riddance dickwad.

[Wader]

I still think the biggest barrier to entry in liking me2 is how much you like shooters (linked to your ability to aim). me2 is probably about as close to a shooter i've seen an rpg go without actually being one, for better and worse.

See, I would go the opposite direction, but the same reason. I am sure that there are much better cover based shooters on the market, but I have never enjoyed them to the level that I am enjoying Mass Effect 2.

Someone with a lot of experience in these type of games is a lot more likely to find the faults in the shooting sections, and unlike the first game (or in many people's eyes, similar to the first game) the RPG elements arent enough to keep them interested.

I, on the other hand, would definitley not call myself a shooter fan (I made it three levels into Gears of War before I got bored), but I am totally into Mass Effect 2.

I think it really comes down to what Tom said in his review. Its about how attached you are to the Universe. I loved the world that Mass Effect 1 set up, and so another chance to jump into that world is a joy. Academically, I can say that yes, the levels are linear and you cant explore as much, but it doesnt seem to matter when I start playing. I just finished my first playthrough and I plan to go back for a second (just like the first game).

[DDB]

I think it really comes down to what Tom said in his review. Its about how attached you are to the Universe. I loved the world that Mass Effect 1 set up, and so another chance to jump into that world is a joy.

I think most of what Tom Chick said was complete bunk, but I recognize that he doesn't really care about the world that the game exists in. Since he doesn't care, his mind starts making up reasons why he doesn't like the game. It can't be as simple as, "Well I don't really give a crap about this universe, so everything falls flat for me," can it? I think it can.

What it basically boils down to is the characters and the story. I listened to all of the Codex entries for Mass Effect 1, spoke with all the characters and liked them all (except Ashley, who I was ambivalent on), and enjoyed the character of Commander Shepard. I was surprised by the game's main "plot twist" and I even teared up a bit at the end (you know the part I am talking about). In other words, the game hit me on an emotional level...just like all great entertainment (and art) should. It connected with me. And all of those little flaws suddenly don't seem so bad, because you're existing in the world and soaking it all up and connecting at some sort of primitive level with the game. The Mako is fun. The repetative, bric-a-brac buildings are fun, because I might find another piece of this fascinating world! And so it goes.

I am going to talk a bit about the new Star Wars here for a second, because it really has a lot to do with Mass Effect. For a lot of people, the new Star Wars fell flat, and there wasn't a particular "plot point" that they could point at and say "oh that's terrible, ugh." I mean, Jar-Jar is scapegoated a lot but I personally don't think that's it -- his antics are no more purile then C3P0's goofs. And most of the stuff in the original trilogy is pretty stupid, too. I think the new Star Wars movies fail because they IMMEDIATELY failed to connect with the audience. We don't care about trade negotiations. The Jedi are boring, uptight monks. The world seems sterile and dull. Things happen at the beginning that we don't care about, characters that we don't care about move through a world we don't care about. And so it starts to fall apart and your higher brain functions go looking for reasons to why your lower brain functions hate it.

The same thing happened with a lot of people and Halo. Halo was not a compelling world for many people, and so the single-player game got frozen out. Many people who play the multi-player don't care about the single-player game at all.

It's the same way with Mass Effect, but even more pronounced because there's no multiplayer to "save" it. If you don't care about Commander Shepard and his crew then Mass Effect is not going to work for you, period. The fact that it's a very decent cover-shooter won't matter. The detailed world-building won't matter. The conversations won't matter. You can't have a single-player game without buy-in on some emotional level. It just doesn't work for most people. There are, of course, grognards who thrive on dry wargames, but when I look at the classic games that myself, and all my friends, love, they are first and foremost an emotional experience. We all had stories in X-Com about our soldiers doing improbably incredible things. Remember in Half Life when the portal blew up? Remember when you snuck by your first guard in Thief? Blasted your first demon in the shadowy corridors of Phobos in Doom? All of these are emotional moments. You are immediately grabbed by these events.

This is why I sneer inwardly when the developers of Mass Effect 2 talk about how you can play Mass Effect 2 without playing Mass Effect. That's nonsense. Play the first game to establish your emotional ties, and then play the second to keep the link established. Otherwise you're getting a pretty linear cover-based shooter with some light RPG elements - that's a nice find, but not anything special and certainly not worth a 96 on MetaCritic.

[idrisz]

ME2 got 96 on metacritic? I need have some of stuff those "critics" are smoking..

[Shmtur]

For a lot of people, the new Star Wars fell flat, and there wasn't a particular "plot point" that they could point at and say "oh that's terrible, ugh."

Midichlorians.

[DDB]

Midichlorians.

I hope that I didn't inadvertently turn this into a Star Wars discussion thread. That was not my intent.

ME2 got 96 on metacritic? I need have some of stuff those "critics" are smoking..

Every single person I know that enjoyed the original Mass Effect *LOVES* Mass Effect 2. We are talking "favorite game of all time" levels here.

Why the critics scored it so high? Based on my totally anecdotal and not-at-all-scientific knowledge, I think that the reviews were self-selecting. Critics who liked Mass Effect asked to review Mass Effect 2 and then blew a load over it.

Have I mentioned that Mass Effect 2 is my favorite game of all time? ;) Can't say I disagree with them personally, but I can also see how people wouldn't like it (especially if you are a loot lover who likes RPG systems with a lot of "depth" and didn't connect with the Mass Effect universe.)

[Dave Markell]

Every single person I know that enjoyed the original Mass Effect *LOVES* Mass Effect 2. We are talking "favorite game of all time" levels here.

I'd reverse the two. I enjoyed Mass Effect 2. I loved Mass Effect.

[DDB]

I'd reverse the two. I enjoyed Mass Effect 2. I loved Mass Effect.

We've discovered some sort of rare particle here, folks. We knew it could exist in theory, but we now have actual, physical proof. ;)

What about ME2 made you enjoy it less then ME1? Or did you already post it prior, and I'm just not able to find it?

[Dave Markell]

I've discussed it at length in the "spoiler" thread. Out of respect for this thread's title, I'd prefer not to repeat it here.

Edit: here's a slightly edited summary

...the ending of ME1 was far more epic. I also miss the deeper skill trees, more involved combat decisions, and more meaningful items from the first game. ME2's custom environments for every mission were great, but that's the only way in which I think the sequel is superior.

[idrisz]

I think Mass Effect 2 is a decent game, but 96? COME ON...

We are talking about an okay 3rd person shooter paired + Lite RPG with talking heads that have funny dialogue or songs..

I mean if you give every game that makes you laugh a 96, then we need to start using a 95-100 scales.

[Shmtur]

We've discovered some sort of rare particle here, folks. We knew it could exist in theory, but we now have actual, physical proof. ;)

What about ME2 made you enjoy it less then ME1? Or did you already post it prior, and I'm just not able to find it?

You're making assumptions based on anecdotal evidence, just FYI. That's one o' them logical fallacy thingamajiggers.

Personally, I preferred ME1 because the story was more epic and the Mako presented better alternative gameplay as compared to ME2's scanning minigame; both are pretty weak, but at least I can run people over in the Mako. ME2 has much more polish, but is lacking in the story and character department. It's a big setup with little payoff.

[Murbella]

I haven't finished me2 yet, so things may very well change (me1 did have quite an action packed and epic late game, including that cool mako drop in temple scene), but at the moment i'm liking me2 less than me1 (which i loved).

I agree that the mako was significantly less annoying the scanning and also in my opinion it added to the hazardous offworld feeling.

[DDB]

You're making assumptions based on anecdotal evidence, just FYI. That's one o' them logical fallacy thingamajiggers.

Which is why I said, "Based on my totally anecdotal and not-at-all-scientific knowledge..."

I was just giving him a hard time. When the metacritic score is 5 points higher for the sequel, the general consensus is that people are enjoying it more than it's predecessor, not less.

But I feel that, again, it was self-selecting. Which is why you have a 5 point gap (in the 90s even, where each 1 percentage point is fairly significant).

I think Mass Effect 2 is a decent game, but 96? COME ON...

You're entitled to your opinion, but you're in the minority. At least, when it comes to people who write about video games (semi)professionally.

[Tim James]

Is there more to the anti-aliasing problem on ATI cards? I don't have Crossfire so I shouldn't need the hotfix, but I seem to be unable to force it in Catalyst Control Center. ATI Tray Tools crashes with this 5850 so not sure what else to try. Didn't find anything on Google right away.

[EDIT] Looks like I still need to rename it to ut3.exe.

[malkav11]

It's been too long since I played the original Mass Effect to do a proper comparison. I'm definitely enjoying ME2, but I'm not sure it's better than the first because while they improved some things I didn't like, they dumped things I did like at the same time (or, if I didn't like them, made them worse). And I think that moving towards cover-shooter territory over RPG territory was a mistake. I can believe that ME2 presents better shooting than the first game (though I can't remember that combat well enough to say), but I'm not seeing anything about said combat that's as good as Gears of War, which it most closely resembles, and I found Gears of War pretty boring. The overall effect, wrapping in ME2's better characters, setting, plot, and light RPG elements along with the sequel carryover effects, certainly blows Gears away, but...there's a lot of combat.

[Eightball]

The more i think about it (and the more content i see), the more i think the old system of finding weapons, putting multiple addons in them and then putting different types of ammo in the weapons is a significantly better system than the one in mass effect 2. For some reason i thought you could customize weapons like you can armor for shepard (not sure why i thought that), but obviously that isn't the case. instead you just find upgrade tech in stores and then research it to add a bonus to everyone using that item. You can't customize weapons at all (given enough money to buy all upgrades you find) and gone is the fun of finding that nice heat sink addon.

It is a shame because the ability to research various upgrades and ship improves is very fun, but does not live up to its potential. The ability to modify your own armor is nice, but it doesn't allow you to customize your companions' armor.

I really like ME2 (scratch that, really, really like it), and I like not having to sift through 8000 Avenger I rifles to sell...but I really do miss SOME customization of the loot. There just really isn't enough weapon variability within class...and I'd love to see mods for the weapons aside from just group-wide upgrades. And don't get me started on the mostly useless armor modifications.

[Daly]

Free DLC gear as part of a Dr. Pepper Promo. It takes some registration shenanigans but some of the gear looks good.

http://hellforge.gameriot.com/blogs/...romo-DLC-Codes

The Sentry interface doesn't have the Geordi La Forge look that the image would have you believe, but it is pretty cool.

[rezaf]

Cool down about the game's Metacritic score.
Empire: Total War had a Metacritic score of >=95 at some point, and it still has a 90. I'd have given it a 7x, in a generous moment.
(I'd rank ME2 somewhere in the eighties, a couple of percent below ME1, which would probably be low-nineties.)
_____
rezaf

[hong]

Enjoy your wonderful life and shut the fuck up. If someone wants to insult me they can expect the same.

I'm not going to sit here and passively take shit. Use the ignore button.

Don't worry, Mordrak! I'll talk to you!

[hong]

The bar on Ilium.

ITYM the bar on the Citadel!