Mass Effect 2: More waxing goddamn nostalgic.

[Alex W.]

I've done the Collector ship mission and started going through all the side-quests and loyalty missions I've not done yet. No in-character ramblings here, just want to say that the Collector mission and Overlord were absolutely incredible. The latter was like a return to System Shock 2.

[Sprite Machine]

I'm doing Overlord again now. I noticed a continuity error, though: you can play it before the first Firewalker mission, which means you magically gain a ship before you actually find it. Whoops!

[Alex W.]

Maybe it's just lying around the base and you nick it?

[Rudi von Starnberg]

Yeah, I think the justification in Overlord is that you're using an on-site Hammerhead rather than the Normandy's own.

[Sprite Machine]

Yeah, I think the justification in Overlord is that you're using an on-site Hammerhead rather than the Normandy's own.

It comes from the Normandy, though. You land in it.

[Sprite Machine]

People still play the Firewalker DLC? lol. I love the Mass Effect games, but that was the worst DLC I've ever played. I deleted long ago.

I liked the vehicle sections in ME1 because it made the locations seem bigger than just some corridors and a skybox, and the Hammerhead is the closest thing to repeating that ME2. I went through the whole game without downloading it originally, but now I find it a nice change of pace from regular missions, even through it's nothing special in itself.

To that end, I rather miss having a planetside vehicle of some kind in ME3.

[squirtle]

The biggest loss the series made from 1 onwards was the loss of the Mako. I adored rambling around in it on far away moons and planets. It just felt like proper space exploration, heading down to some forbidding planet, not know what you were going to find, taking in some of the awe inspiring vistas.

Was there ever any reason given for the removal of these section as the series went on?

[Mentazm]

Probably cause a lot of people shelved the first after hitting the Mako section. I did, and it took 5 months of persuasion to give it another go. Glad I did obv, and while the Mako handles like shit, you do get used to it after a wee while.

[KartoffelKopf]

The biggest loss the series made from 1 onwards was the loss of the Mako. I adored rambling around in it on far away moons and planets. It just felt like proper space exploration, heading down to some forbidding planet, not know what you were going to find, taking in some of the awe inspiring vistas.

Was there ever any reason given for the removal of these section as the series went on?

I've been doing this exclusively for the last couple of nights. Just levelling up and enjoying the sights before I pop back to the Citadel. I love the moments of silence, just the sound of the wind and the Mako as it struggles over the mountains not knowing what's around the corner. Then you come across a Geth outpost or mercenary hideout and all hell breaks loose.....and then silence again. Just get the loot and bugger off.

The thing is, they are all exactly the same but it never gets old. Yeah, going to miss it big time when I finally get to ME2. Although 2 still had a lot more exploration than 3.

This should probably have been in the ME1 thread but they are all melding in to one for me now...

[squirtle]

Well I'm doing an evil run through of ME1 at the moment and I'm keeping a record in the ME1 thread. I'm sure it won't match Alex W's record, but I'm sure I'll have some moments of solitude with just me, the Mako, my two comrades and a stunning vista or two to wax lyrical about.

[Hexx]

Quick Q - a friend might play this soon (he's in ME1 atm). His 360 isn't online though. If he brings it to my house and downloads stuff, will he still be able to play at his house, or is it another "needs to be connected" to play with DLC games?

[Hexx]

But...he needs Kasumi, Zaeed, Overlord and LotSB...

Maybe he'll have to come spend the weekend with me

Ta for help though

[Ferine]

I'm almost positive you shouldn't need to be connected to play the DLC if you're using the 360 to which the content was originally downloaded. Were you trying to use said content after moving your profile to another machine, that would be a different matter; you'd need to go through the licence transfer process to be able to take things offline.

[ryodi]

I'm almost positive you shouldn't need to be connected to play the DLC if you're using the 360 to which the content was originally downloaded. Were you trying to use said content after moving your profile to another machine, that would be a different matter; you'd need to go through the licence transfer process to be able to take things offline.

Due to my net connection not being brilliant I've had times where it has timed out connecting to the EA Servers when I'm on XBL and it wouldn't let me load my save file until I restarted the game and I managed to connect. Very annoying but I assume this doesn't happen if you're not connected to XBL at all

[Sprite Machine]

Justicar loyalty mission:

Originally, I did this mission quite ordinarily, meeting up with Morinth and then being rescued by Samara later, so I didn't even get the choice to choose between them. I knew it was possible to recruit Morinth instead but I didn't realise how.

So now I've completely betrayed Samara, got Morinth pretending to be her own mother, and not even Cerberus knows! And she's now keenly eyeing up Shepard as her next victim. Hell, it's all so... sinister. She's the perfect renegade companion, she's got to come with me on my missions now. Even though it's not going to make much of a difference because she'll just be like Samara but with perkier boobies.

Erm, anyway...

I've also done Miranda's loyalty mission and I'm going to try to keep her alive this time (she died on my first playthrough). I'm going to leave everyone else's loyalty mission alone and see if they all die as a result.

The krogan's still in the tank and he's gonna stay there.

[Don Wiskerando]

@Sprite Machine

minor ME3 spoiler

Now try and find Morinth in ME3. Blink and you will miss it.

[Sprite Machine]

@Sprite Machine

minor ME3 spoiler

Now try and find Morinth in ME3. Blink and you will miss it.

I'm intrigued! I found

Samara in ME3 the first time, but she doesn't stick around. I assume the Morinth encounter plays out similarly?

----

I'm playing as an Adept this time, and I greatly appreciate how quickly my biotics recharge. I never used them particularly frequently as a Vanguard, but now I've got Throw assigned to a hot key, and it's hilarious! I pretty much use it as a gun. I love how you can arc it around corners and they go flying. Or use it in conjunction with Lift! Near the end of my fight with the (Shadow Broker DLC spoiler)

asari Spectre, she was lifted into the air and my Push threw her like a cannonball off the top of the building, to the point that the game got stuck and didn't realise she was dead! Actually, she may not have been dead, but she was well and truly lost out of the battlefield at any rate. She flew for miles.

It was like a comedy move straight out of God Hand, only unintentional. Whoops!

[Space Renegade Ulala]

Oh man, this is gold. As most of you know, there's loads of content that never made it into the final game but which is accessible to anyone willing to dig around the actual files. Well, in addition to the Shadow Broker files that we did get, some were also scrapped at a very late stage, the best of the bunch being an idea that's terrible yet so hilarious that it circles right back round to awesome anyway.

Basically, it's suggested Samara came to Earth hundreds of years ago looking for Prothean artifacts...but her ship's drive core discharges created terrible weather conditions that fucked up the Spanish Armada and left them easy pickings for ARE BOYS. So yeah, Samara saved England, gawd love 'er. The way is paved for an amazing Blackadder II/Mass Effect crossover. Let's have it.

[Ferine]

I know this is a pain, but does anyone have a finished female Shepard save I could borrow?

I'm trying to reconstruct the saves I had on my old 360 and have almost perfectly recreated my male character thanks to MassEffectSaves.com and running through some DLC, but I'm having trouble finding a fitting female save to work with. Ideally I'm after the following:

ME1

• Background: Colonist, Sole Survivor
  
• Saved Rachni
  
• Wrex is alive
  
• Saved Kaiden
  
• Saved Council
  
• Anderson in charge
  
• No romance
  

ME2

• Left Jacob's father to die
  
• Encouraged Miranda to talk to her sister
  
• Destroyed Geth during Legion's loyalty mission
  
• Encouraged Kasumi to destroy the Greybox
  
• Charges against Tali were dropped
  
• Kept Maelon's data, but let Mordin kill him
  
• Helped Samara kill Morinth
  
• Helped Garrus kill Sidonis
  
• Convinced Bailey to employ Thane's son
  
• Let Jack kill whatshisface
  
• All squad loyal
  
• Everyone survived the Suicide Mission, including crew
  
• Destroyed Collector base
  
• Completed all DLC
  
• No romance/saw Kelly's awkward dance
  

I think those are the main points. More generally my female Shepard had a definite Renegade slant during conversations, although she always looked after her crew. My original version completed all the side content in both games, although I won't sweat the little stuff too much.

Anyone have something close they could send my way?

[Sprite Machine]

Can't help you, there. I have a femshep PC save file that you can have, but a lot of the criteria don't match what you want.

-------

My second ME3 storyline is going to be... interesting, given what I've made happen in ME2 so far.

Minor ME3 character spoilers:

The krogan is still in the tank. I won't revive him, which means he won't be killed in the suicide mission, but technically it also means he'll never live in the first place, never meet Shepard and almost certainly not turn up in ME3... unless Cerberus thaws him out between games. Unlikely! Given that I also killed the rachni queen in ME1, I expect that whole rachni mission to have a few changes for ME3.

Then there's Legion. During the post-IFF mission debreifing, I opted to give the unnamed geth to Cerberus rather than talk to it first. Now, given Legion's importance in the ME3 main storyline, either him or his 'copy' will have to turn up. The latter doesn't make much sense unless he died, but even the real deal will still have to introduce himself for the first time (and probably won't be called 'Legion'). As above, this will be interesting to see unfold in ME3. I'll report my findings in due course!

As for the Suicide Mission, I haven't finished just yet, but so far...

my un-upgraded Normandy and mostly unloyal crew haven't had an easy ride. After the relay jump, the Collector drones started carving the ship up. A laser cut through the engineering hull and Jack was instantly killed in the blast!

More damage was sustained, and Thane was crushed and killed (a shame; I was planning on sending him through the vents!). Then another explosion in engineering killed Kasumi. I don't know why she was in engineering, or why she died, since I did finish her mission. (Granted, I told her to destroy the greybox, so maybe she wasn't loyal. I didn't check, I just wanted the sharp suit. )

With three down before we've even landed, we're not looking too good. Jacob volunteers for the vent mission, so I let him, even though he's not a tech expert. I ask Zaeed to take the second team through, since he's an invincible bastard... right? I haven't done either of their loyalty missions, incidentally. If they can't cut it on my ship and leave their own damned baggage behind, then it's their own goddamned fault!

We make our way through the Collector base. Jacob gets through the vents and opens the door for us, but as we try to close it behind us, he's hit in the face by enemy fire and dies instantly.

As for the Normandy crew... I let them die on my original playthrough but even as a renegade this time I refused to let that happen again. I don't want a damned AI running my ship. We reach them in time, and release them from their caskets. The colonists with them are liquidated, but we were just in time to save my crew. I send them back to the Normany with Garrus. Annoyingly, this nets me 20 paragon points! DO NOT WANT! Oh well, I'll take them over another empty ship.

For the next leg of the trip, I get Mori-... uh, Samara (honest, guv!) to produce the protective biotic field, and take Miranda and Tali to fight with me. Zaeed takes the second team again.

When we next meet up with the second team, Zaeed has been wounded and collapses. He's dead. Holy shit! I then hear from Joker who says the Normandy crew has made it back safely, but Garrus died protecting them. Holy shitting shit!

So now I've a handful of survivors left with me. Only Miranda and Morinth are loyal and focused, so I suspect Tali and Mordin will get distracted during the final escape and not make it alive, but perhaps luck will be with them.

I'll press on, finish this fight, and see what happens...

[squirtle]

That's ace, Sprite. Can't wait to see all this shit myself.

[KartoffelKopf]

All that stuff sounds like a heap of fun and I can't wait to really fuck shit up in ME2

but Garrus died protecting them..

...but this, I don't think I could cope with this.

[Sprite Machine]

I know, it's been hard

being an arsehole to Garrus for two whole games.

I almost feel the need to do a third "make-it-up-to-everyone" playthrough afterwards!

Incidentally, (and despite everyone's advice), I bought the Arrival DLC. I'll save that for the end.

[squirtle]

Yeah, I enjoyed it, and it does lend some weight to why you're where you are at the start of number 3.

[Alex W.]

We cruise out to a dormant Collector vessel that the Illusive Man had located with Turian intel. That the Turians could take it down bodes well for the effectiveness of our new Thanix cannon. None the less, we're sidling up to a sleeping lion. Everything about this feels wrong. I take the Professor for scientific cover and Garrus for firepower, and we attempt to find the control centre and patch in Evi.

The ship's scattered with occupied and empty Collector pods and the mangled remains of the colonists. We make a disturbing revelation when we find a medi-Bay: the Collectors are Protheans! I've had a sinking feeling about our destiny since we first got a handle on how the Reapers work, and started seeing more elaborate assemblages of Husks and this shit isn't helping. One of the Galaxy's greatest civilisations had been reduced to mindless drones, and we're in line for the next round. I think back to Vigil and the survivors huddled on Ilos, trying to fight a battle across deep time. Their civilisation wasn't just buried around them, the grave of their whole species was plundered.

We move on. I find a weapons cache and take a sniper rifle. This place is huge and I'd like to see what's coming. Evi passes on more bad news: this is the Collector ship that we fought on Horizon, and the same ship that blew the Normandy out of the sky and nearly ended my existence two years ago. It explains the ship's disabled state, but it's starting to reek of a trap, and this specific Collector ship's interest in me and my crew is becoming increasingly unwelcome.

We patch in Evi, and all hell breaks loose. It's a trap alright, and the Collectors make a play for the Normandy's computer systems just as Evi makes a play for theirs. We hold our ground while Evi plays simultaneous offence and defense, then once she gives the all-clear we make a break for it. The Collectors put up a spirited resistance, stalling for time while they reactivate their weapons systems, but we're able to get back to the shuttle and we get the hell out of dodge before we have a chance to test out our new hardware.

Evi directs me to debrief with the Illusive Man, and discloses some valuable information. The Turian transmissions that tipped us off were fakes, poorly authenticated, so poorly that there's no way the Illusive Man could've been convinced they were genuine. I head for the comms room and tear him a new one. He seems to think, as always, that the ends justified the means, but in this instance, the ends nearly wiped out my crew. If he doesn't trust us to keep us informed, he's not supporting us. He's exploiting us.

He's got a scheme to grab the Omega Relay IFF transponder from a dead Reaper that was smashed by an interstellar mass accelerator, the accelerator that cracked open a planet I passed on one of my earliest missions, but I'm only half listening. I've got the intel I need to find the Reaper and take control of the situation, but I'll be damned if I take one of his leads at face value again. I'll bolster my crew, and upgrade my ship, and liberate Evi's systems, and we'll see where this thing goes.

[Spacehost]

It's EDI.

I hope you remember Gallus, Lati, Snort, John, Konami and Mordana's names, or else Jester will be taking the piss out of you forever.

[Alex W.]

I've just been calling her Siri to be honest.

"Siri, geez us a pie."

I'm sorry, I can't do that Shepard.

"Siri, geez us a space pie."

[Sprite Machine]

Ah, I was close to the end.

I shoot down the huge Reaper Terminator, and then set the bomb. Apparently, being destructive in this game is considered "good" if it's in defiance of the Illusive Man, thus I garner some more paragon points. This is beginning to become a habit, annoyingly. Shades of grey, this game. But I wanted to make a different choice this time, and Viktor Shepard is the type to send a Collector base to hell in pieces rather than keep it around for "study". It's the right choice.

The Terminator attacks again, and is soon taken down with a combination of bullets and a Collector beam rifle, but the aftermath is too much for poor old Mordin, who doesn't survive the fall. Miranda is safe, thankfully.

Joker confirms the survivors are all aboard the Normandy, but I see Tali's body lying on the floor as Collectors come after us. Another one bites the dust.

We escape the explosion of the base and get the hell out of there. Back on the Normandy, I see just how ruthless I have been...

Bye, crew.

Still, Miranda and Morinth are both alive, and the rest of my crew are safe and sound. I talk to them and they thank me. I talk to Morinth and decide to let her seduce me, despite being involved with Miranda now. Hilariously, bonding with Morinth

causes Shepard to die! Critical Mission Failure. I reload, as if it was all just a dream, and then give Morinth the cold shoulder. Not again, Siren!

Well, that's it for now. I've got some odds and ends to tie up. My journal still shows Zaeed's mission as available even though he's dead (buh?!), and I've got the Arrival situation to look into. I can also visit Tuchunka, although there's nothing for me to do there.

I'll move onto ME3 soon, but maybe after a bit of a break. At the very least, I want to hold off of finishing the saga for the second time until they've

patched in the new ending scenes for ME3. Not much point rushing into it before then.

As for ME2, it's actually better than I remember it being. I appreciate the character moments a lot more, and even though the overall plot has lost its way somewhat since ME1's rather grand sci-fi yarn, these more personal moments make up for it, and make for more interesting diversity (if you play it differently). I've thoroughly enjoyed myself, anyway.

[Alex W.]

Well, that's kind of a downer. Lost some of my most important crew members. Remember the fallen:

My fish keep dying. What am I doing wrong? I feed them at least once per save.

[Space Renegade Ulala]

Here is the secret to saving the Normandy's most important and beloved crew members, Alex.

You need to feed them after *every* mission. Do an N7 mission? "Fuck you, feed us." Do a crew pickup? "Fuck you, feed us." Do a loyalty mission that returns you to the Normandy afterwards? "Fuck you, feed us." The only exception are missions where you double up, so say you had a couple of loyalty missions on the Citadel, you do one and after it's done, it returns you to the Zekaera docking bay - you should be able to do the other Citadel based mission too. However, if you return to the Normandy then come back to the Citadel without feeding them, YOU HAVE FAILED.

So let's FIND ANOTHER WAY.

If you speak to Kelly after every crew pickup mission and shamelessly flirt with her each time the option is there, by the time Samara joins the team, you should get the chance to invite her to dinner in your cabin. Talk to her again after that and she'll mention that she saw your fish tank and will offer to feed them for you. From there on, you don't need to worry about your fish ever again*.

* Okay, so the 'ever' part isn't entirely accurate. Ahem.