I played the first mass effect about 2 years ago, got to level 39 and never finished it. My friend has been bugging me about it since. So I re-borrowed it, as well as the sequel and dedicated my week to completing both games. Holy **** am I amazed by Bioware's storytelling ability. Part of it has to do with the length of the story and my fondness for turning my brain off when I'm watching something, but I couldn't see the major twists coming (keepers being reaper-servants, sovereign being a reaper, collector's being reapers). ****ing incredible writing all around. In ME2 every character was badass (even if the overall go here, recruit, get them loyal was a bit tried after a while like someone else mentioned) As for gameplay, the sniping in ME was a *****, but I got used to it. I could snipe with that wide loop no problem after a while. I disliked the streamlining of everything in ME2 (especially the irony that was having to mine materials hour by hour in some meaningless hide and seek minigame) because I'm a fan of customization. Furthermore, having to reload, bah. However, it did make fights more tactical and fast-paced as you couldn't simply wait out your opponent. Using squad abilities was ****ing fun too. Having a biotic use pull-field on three or so opponents on the left, I do it for those on the right, and the third person uses overload/warp/reave on the shielded/armored leader was ****ing awesome. Just swept up the opposition. And unlike ME1, despite being able to do all this and be a powerhouse, I never felt unchallenged. I never felt like I could send Shepard into a room of 10 guys, pull out my pistol and wipe the floor with everyone before going redbar and without needing cover. Good stuff. I can't wait for the third game. With this, Skyrim, Drake's Deception and Arkham City, 2011 is a good year for games.
My friend and I joked about the ammo in ME2 a few weeks ago. He brought up that in ME the player's gun would overheat after extensive use. Fast forward to ME2 with more advanced technology and now we're reloading our weapons and scouring dead bodies for ammo. Well it isn't ammo, but cores you place in the gun when it overheats. It was like the dev's thought, "man how can we improve the overheating in our weapons?" "I know! let's give the weapons cores so that when the weapon overheats, the player can replace them instead of having to wait for their gun to cool down." May make sense game play wise, but none for advanced weaponry.
Actually it's Protheans. And glad to see you enjoyed it Sarge, since I noticed you playing it compulsively this past week.
And sarge said keepers. And the keepers arent really anyones servants they're just drones, you still see them in me2 (dlc)
Man, I seriously hope that they fix scanning in ME3. It takes hours of scanning if you want to get all the upgrades. The tedious scanning, lack of N7 missions, and the ammo/thermal clip system are the only things I don't like about ME2. Also, the lack of the Mako. Let's face it. Although it was very glitched in ME1, it was still ****ing fun to drive/fly.
Crap, yeah. Haha. I typed that when I was like half tired and just woke up. I'm wondering what the love interest would be in the third. I'm wondering if maybe you'll get the squad members back from the first as well as the second (Provided they didn't die)
This thread makes me want to get all my ME games back off my friends. As much as I adored the games, I can barely remember them. I really want ME3 to be a blend of the First and second games. I despised the first level of ME2 simply because of how different it was from ME, but I learned to love it. And I want that chick from the first one back, who you meet in the second one but shes all ignorant and such. I ****ing hate when I forget things.
I think it's pretty obvious who the main love interest is. The only squad member in both games that cannot possibly die, no matter what decisions you make, is Liara. Plus she is a possible love interest for both Male and Female Shepards. I bet she will be the most fleshed out love interest in the third game, because statistically she was the love interest for the largest amount of people. Also, she is the centerpiece of some of the greatest DLC to grace a game. Seriously, if you have not downloaded the Shadow Broker DLC, you need to because it is better than any mission in ME2 except for possibly the suicide mission. I usually hate boss fights in games (especially Mass Effect) but this DLC really nailed it. And for the record, Scanning is really only needed on your first playthrough or a playthrough on Insanity. On subsequent playthroughs you start out with enough minerals to get every required upgrade to ensure your crew's survival, and combat is natural enough to you that power and weapon upgrades aren't really necessary.
Yeah I meant the collectors = protheans. I read all the planet info too QKT, did it in the first game. In ME2 however, it REALLY expands the mythos whereas in the first one there were maybe two planets that alluded to pre-prothean civilizations. If I recall correctly, one of the planets you can scan (and see if you drop onto a nearby planet) in ME1 is mentioned in ME2, the one with a giant line/crater/valley on its southern hemisphere that is too straight and large to have been natural. Going through the first game, I felt like that's what Halo 2 and 3 (particularly the latter) did wrong. They both allude to, and eventually expand upon (in their third acts) a huge extinct civilization wiped out by a massive threat. Mass Effect built up the world so much that when you get to the final reveal about Sovereign and exactly how the Protheans were wiped out, it all makes sense. Halo 3 I left the game feeling confused and rushed. Like everything was just thrown at me because it was the final installment. Also amazing was the human-reaper. Not necessarily the reaper itself but the implications that each reaper is built off the race it conquered and builds itself in that image. Meaning Sovereign was built on a race of sentient space-cuttlefish species and whatnot.
yeah, the cuttlefish thing is an odd thought. i get the feeling ME3 might see you into other galaxies to finish off the reapers, because they come from outside the milky way in the ME2 cutscene, and just fending off the reapers from earth doesnt really feel like a complete end to the saga.
There's no way they would have us finish off the reapers once and for all in ME3. Save Earth? Maybe. Repel this invasion? Yeah. Finish the Reapers permanently? No freakin' way. The ME universe has more stories to tell, and the Reapers make a perfect Big Bad to drive future stories.
Bioware has said that the third game will be the end to Shepard's story, but definitely not the end to the Mass Effect universe. So yeah, Reaper annihilation seems a little farfetched.
To add to Sarge's point, Mass Effect really is a legitimate Sci Fi book if you read all the codex entries. It might have been a little tough to read if you had none HD screens and I would have preferred no voice overs, but there is enough back story about every character, weapon, planet, race, etc to really bring you into the mythos. Other games just don't do it as well as Mass Effect. The kind of details you find in Mass Effect's codex you would find in novels which release after the game and for money. I was actually a little saddened by Mass Effect 2's focus on your characters as far as the codex entries went. They did not expand much further into the races, planets, and weaponry specs that Mass Effect 1 did. I wanted to hear more about the protheaneans, the races that preceeded them, the keepers, the reapers, the geth tech, and ME2 did provide some more clues into all of them but not near enough as I would have liked.
I decided to make my return to Mass Effect recently, mostly finally getting a level 60 (In ME I always enjoyed making new characters with different stories and different classes, so getting to 60 was difficult, it took me a little more than two playthroughs to get to 60). So along with that, I downloaded a lot of the ME2 DLC to see what it was about. The Stolen Memory one was good, kasumi is an interesting character, but nothing too big. I thought Overlord was very good, especially the ending, I felt more sympathy for the autistic character than I have ever felt in the whole Mass Effect universe, I was angry at the concept of it, and even if I was trying to be evil I'd feel like such an asshole keeping him there. But then I got to Lair of the Shadow broker, and holy ****, it was great. I've been a fan of Liara for a while, while here character was not as fleshed out in ME, I loved the direction they took with it in two (even prior to LotSB), especially when she makes the line alluding to Benezia (Have you ever faced an Asari commando? Few humans have). Seeing her change from the innocent, naive biotic, to the darker, wise, and almost cruel Information Broker was fantastic. So onto the DLC, the first part was good, and since she was my romantic choice (which I'm glad I made now, Ashley and everyone in ME2 doesn't stand close to her character) I was able to see some subtleties that I would have missed otherwise. The new spectre was great, it was disappointing not seeing any in most of ME2, but understandable, spectres wouldn't wander into the terminus systems. The twist on that was very good, and hunting down another spectre was satisfying, and it's a great example of corruption (2 out of the 3 spectres we have seen are corrupt individuals, Shepard is the 4th and could go either way). The second part was what really set this DLC apart, the fighting wasn't very difficult, but as Liara sticks around Shepard we see her old self shining through, no longer is hunting the shadow broker revenge, but a rescue mission. I've been a fan of Drell, so it was nice to rescue one, but seeing her go for it was fantastic, and really showed her character. I was excited to finally see the Shadow Broker, because I've been wanting to know who he was since the first game when meeting with Barla Von. The fight with him was bad ass, it was nice to see Shepard kicking ass with his fists rather than with a weapon or power. Finally we complete it and we get a chance to have Liara again (which even before I really knew what the DLC was about, I planned on staying faithful to Liara). Once again we see her innocence, even what seems like stumbling over words, very reminiscent of ME. And when she becomes the Shadow Broker, I felt compelled to root for her, it was a fantastic position to put her in, something powerful, but isolated, similar to how she was in ME. Overall I agree with Shatakai, this DLC is a must buy, a fantastic addition to the Mass Effect Story and a great example of how Bioware can kick all sorts of ass in writing story regardless of whether it's a full game or a short DLC.
When The Shadow Broker has those shields on and Shepard says "Looks like we do this the hard way" and cracks his knuckles, that was one of the biggest "Oh **** yes!" moments I've ever had in a game.
The title does say ME2 spoilers Exactly! Mass Effect 3 has a lot to live up to, and I'm sure Bioware will do a good job, as soon as I begin to lose faith in them, they shoot back up with something awesome. They are truly quality game designers, and I will always be a fan of them. Oh and I'm super excited to go to Earth, I've been pissed that I couldn't go there since the first game.