Mass Effect 2: More waxing goddamn nostalgic.

[chickendolittle]

All the bummng of ME1 in this thread I went and bought it. I haven't played it until '07 when I product loaned it for an evenng. Why did I overlook this? Best game I've ever played. However after all this talk of massive improvements, I'm struggling to see the glaring flaws which everyone has talked about. Apart from the menu being a bit irritating and Shepard not moving very quickly...

[Mogster]

All the bummng of ME1 in this thread I went and bought it. I haven't played it until '07 when I product loaned it for an evenng. Why did I overlook this? Best game I've ever played. However after all this talk of massive improvements, I'm struggling to see the glaring flaws which everyone has talked about. Apart from the menu being a bit irritating and Shepard not moving very quickly...

Unless you've managed to avoid every third person shooter this generation, you can probably see how the combat could be improved. The inventory will become more of an annoyance for you later on too, as it gets flooded with useless stuff you'll have to keep selling or converting. The side missions get rather repetitive too, often following the same patterns, and even the same environments multiple times. It's still a brilliant game, and its flaws are hardly major issues, but rest assured the sequel is a huge improvement regardless. That's more praise for Mass Effect 2 than it is a criticism of the first.

[Beta]

Also:

(linked for mid-game spoilers - it's the single hardest fight in the game on higher difficulties using arguably the class that has the toughest time of things on higher difficulties)

If you look on the Bioware forum videos like this seem to have caused a U-turn: a week ago you had threads decrying the vanguard as the weakest class but now you have huge threads devoted to strategies for it and people accusing it of being overpowered.

I think the key is being as aggressive as possible, unfortunately I spent most of my vanguard veteran run cowering away with my sub-machine gun and using barrier. I think I'll try an infiltrator on hardcore for some variety soon and then see if I can unleash some shotgun fury on insanity.

[Rudi von Starnberg]

I just did Horizon as Infiltrator. Tactical cloak made even the fight against

the Praetorian

easy as hell.

Very fun class, though.

[Mallet]

I did exactly the same on my Vanguard, I learned the machine gun as an extra talent, used the collectors machine gun and hid behind cover all game. I should have been running with a shotgun and getting in peoples faces.

[GazEFC]

Just a little spoiler about the reporter in the Citadel.

In the first game she wanted to run a story about me. It ended up being a bit of a hatchet job. I ran into her in the Citadel and she was going on about running another story about me. I knocked her out. Amazing.

Is it too early to call this GOTY?

[Vin]

Nope. Well, until Reach hits at any rate.

Besides, several quarters have already used the term in earnest.

[Timmo]

Also:

(linked for mid-game spoilers - it's the single hardest fight in the game on higher difficulties using arguably the class that has the toughest time of things on higher difficulties)

Ha, I did this fight last night.

I've been playing on Veteran, and finding things a bit easy, so I looked in the menus at the other difficulties. When I saw and read the description of Insanity I quickly pressed B and decided against it.

The mission I was on seemed a little tougher than normal but not too bad. Then I got called onto the mission above...

After the cursing the difficulty spike and about 30 tries later I angrily opened the menu to turn it down to normal or something and noticed it was on Insanity. Do'h. I nearly managed to do it a couple of times with a lot of heavy weapon use but it's ments hard.

[hereticboy]

On my second playthrough and I just did the Jack recruitment mission. Used the Cain. Holy shit! On the bit with the large mech, it just wiped absolutely everything out. Why the hell didn't I use it the first time round?!

[Down by Law]

That scene near the beginning when you see the Normandy with Joker...the piece of music is so incredibly fitting and epic. Best game OST for a long, long time.

[mikeb]

Thought I'd go for Adept this time around after taking the middle(ish) ground of Sentinel for the last one, and its proven a nice choice so far. (Figured it'd be cool to ressurect myself in a sort of Gandalf the White blaze of new-found psychic powers. )

Singularity and Warp combined look like having the potential for some amazing funs.

[Space Renegade Ulala]

@Heretic - if you like seeing the Cain's ever-so-slightly OTT explosion, be sure to finish off any YMIRs with a headshot. Be sure to stand the hell back, mind.

That scene near the beginning when you see the Normandy with Joker...the piece of music is so incredibly fitting and epic. Best game OST for a long, long time.

Yeah, it's a great re-jig of the original Shepard theme. The soundtrack's taken a bit of kicking in some quarters for supposedly lacking all the synthy goodness of the original but they're definitely still there, with Thane's theme/the Danteus Tower chase being far and away the best piece of the lot.

[Smitty]

I agree with Idle Thumbs on the silly evil look you get in this with mostly renegade choices - it's pretty stupid and a retrograde step.

[Rudi von Starnberg]

@Heretic - if you like seeing the Cain's ever-so-slightly OTT explosion, be sure to finish off any YMIRs with a headshot. Be sure to stand the hell back, mind.

Yeah, it's a great re-jig of the original Shepard theme. The soundtrack's taken a bit of kicking in some quarters for supposedly lacking all the synthy goodness of the original but they're definitely still there, with Thane's theme/the Danteus Tower chase being far and away the best piece of the lot.

Nah, the best piece is

, whose title is a bit of a spoiler though it's in the open in this thread already.

Although I love large swathes of it. Even though the soundtrack that came with the Digital Deluxe edition isn't complete, it joined the Grim Fandango soundtrack as one of the only collections of game music on my iPod.

[SM47]

I agree with Idle Thumbs on the silly evil look you get in this with mostly renegade choices - it's pretty stupid and a retrograde step.

The shiny face cracks? I quite liked them, although they disappeared after a while because Barry Shepard is actually a bloody nice bloke once you get to know him.

Looking forward to seeing Solomon Shepard lit up like a ruthless christmas tree on my next playthrough.

[Space Renegade Ulala]

I agree with Idle Thumbs on the silly evil look you get in this with mostly renegade choices - it's pretty stupid and a retrograde step.

It is kinda dumb, though I like it in moderate amounts, like where the scars are just scars and you can see a hint of the ocular implants. It adds a wearied air to her and reinforces the Saren/Shepard thing but yeah, if you're 0/100 (or even 0/50), it looks demented. Still, some really seem to dig it and it's only 50k platinum to never have to worry about it!

@Rudi - I associate that theme with nasty, scary places with nasty, scary things. Plus it goes full blown into Saren's theme at one point and I hear enough of that on the Mission Failure screen!

[palaver]

The whole glowing scars thing was kind of dumb, but I would have loooved it if you could keep the eyes.

[RubberJohnny]

Nah, the best piece is

, whose title is a bit of a spoiler though it's in the open in this thread already.

Yes! I love how it samples

Saren's Theme

.

I've got to say, playing a Soldier this time, I miss my Tactical Cloak. The weapons are nice, but they're not much use at dropping "aggro". I felt I barely used the clock when playing Infiltrator, but I've come up against a bunch of situations that have been harder without it.

[Space Renegade Ulala]

Spoilers, etc

Click here for supposedly a pic of the second DLC character, Kasumi.

She exists in the files already but is otherwise inaccessible. This is from a cut-scene near the end of the game that use characters randomly.

Has to be said, she's not exactly the snazziest dresser on the Normandy, is she? Hopefully just a placeholder.

[revlob]

She looks a bit dull.

[Mr Ben]

Spoilers, etc

Click here for supposedly a pic of the second DLC character, Kasumi.

She exists in the files already but is otherwise inaccessible. This is from a cut-scene near the end of the game that use characters randomly.

Has to be said, she's not exactly the snazziest dresser on the Normandy, is she? Hopefully just a placeholder.

She's mentioned in the news as well if you listen on Ilium. Something about stealing something from a corporation. As its randomly heard and you cant hear it by using the news consoles I cant remember the exact details.

Is there any news on when she'll be available?

[Space Renegade Ulala]

Her voice is kinda jarring too, from the few voice files in game at present, she sounds absolutely ancient. So Gorf's Geriatric Shepard will probably be happy to have a romance in his age group at last.

[Rudi von Starnberg]

Spoilers, etc

Click here for supposedly a pic of the second DLC character, Kasumi.

She exists in the files already but is otherwise inaccessible. This is from a cut-scene near the end of the game that use characters randomly.

Has to be said, she's not exactly the snazziest dresser on the Normandy, is she? Hopefully just a placeholder.

Everything about that model is a placeholder. It's a default face and a default armour.

[chickendolittle]

So which is the funnest class then? Feeling a bit limited by Soldier

[mikeb]

There are 3835 posts in this thread. None are more true for me than this one here:

My female shep from ME1 became probably my fave char ever in an RPG, somehow she turned out perfectly and compliments Jen Hale's voice brilliantly. Bloody brilliant seeing her kicking ass again in this

Bioware really hit paydirt with that facial personalisation system in ME1 - even if it was a bit limited it clearly made it 'your' unique character, something which really pays dividends in the sequel - I had such a huge grin on my face during that opening sequence.

Here's Sam Shepard, straight-talkin' Paragon with occasional bipolar tendancies and Gilly Anderson's cheek bones - she's the bomb I tell ya. And Jen Hale just is her.

[chickendolittle]

Bioware really hit paydirt with that facial personalisation system in ME1 - even if it was a bit limited it clearly made it 'your' unique character, something which really pays dividends in the sequel - I had such a huge grin on my face during that opening sequence.

Here's Sam Shepard, straight-talkin' Paragon with occasional bipolar tendancies and Gilly Anderson's cheek bones - she's the bomb I tell ya. And Jen Hale just is her.

When I try to custom make characters they just look dumb Is that ME2 customIsation

[Laine]

I'm an infilrator and I just don't use my cloak at all, seems a bit useless really. Any tips for it?

[Podge]

I find the most fun classes to be the ones that are a mixture of 2, I like Infiltrator a lot for that reason as I can debuff enemies and kill them in a few seconds and I can be complemented with any of the biotic characters rather well (plus the sniper ) It's up to you which you choose but going from a Soldier you'd probably be best as an Infiltrator or Vanguard.

After a few false starts I've started my Insanity run proper this time. Decided to follow the advice here and start it from scratch rather than import and ME2 character and already it feels a lot more manageable.

[Ktisis]

I just don't get why that would be the case, sure the weapons are samey without upgrades, but surely a full set of powers tips in your favour. Do the basic enemies have less/no armour if you start back from level one?

[Rudi von Starnberg]

Yes. Fighting a security mech at level 30 is much tougher than at level 1. Enemies scale in health and armour and shields and all that.

I'm an infilrator and I just don't use my cloak at all, seems a bit useless really. Any tips for it?

I've only played infiltrator a little bit so far, but I enjoy cloaking and then running up to enemies and beating them to death. The other two main uses are to quickly displace and get to safety, or to allow you to line up that perfect headshot with the sniper rifle without worrying about being shot to pieces.