Mass Effect 2

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I just bought ME2 CE....but it's going to have to stay locked up in its fancy steel case - I'm finishing DAO first!

 

I just started the Purgatory quest, and I'm around level 7, but I'm too tired to finish it today. Gotta go to bed early, have to be up early tomorrow.

ME2 is really nice, even though I still wrestle a bit with the controls. Because you now don't have unlimited ammo any more, combat is more challenging than in ME1. Also assault rifles burst, they don't spray as in ME2, meaning that your damage output is lower. You need to aim better and take cover a lot more than in ME1.

As for Purgatory - it has a nice scenery, and a great atmosphere. Looking forward to playing it tomorrow evening.

For the technical side, I had a few crashes to BSOD, but not since I upgraded my ATI GPU driver suite to CCC 10.1.

 

That bit really cracked me up:

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Awesome Ragusa.

 

Yes, it is a nice sci fi shooter with rpg elements. Sure miss the core rpg stuff. One pc-rpg fan lost is two shooter console fans won. Got to live with it.

 

Mordin is one of my favourite characters. Can't put it better than Yeoman Kelly: He's like a hamster on coffee .

I rather enjoyed the game. It was a bit short though, and the ending is kinda 'meh'. It pretty much just builds up to ME3.

I really like the new paragon/renegade actions you can take doing conversation. It's a nice touch.

 

Is it that bad? You seem really disappointed Merlanni. I'm not much of a shooter player myself so if the RPG is so limited I'm better off not buying this game.

 

I don't think it's that bad carad. There's ample opportunity for RPing in ME2. Hell, the success rate of the whole end mission depends on various RP choices you've made throughout the game.

It's not Baldur's Gate or Fallout (excluding fallout 3 ), but we all knew that it wouldn't be already .

If you liked ME1 you'll like ME2 as well.

 

A little comparison between DA:O and ME2:

ME2

• game graphics are smoother and visually superior; notably, the cut scenes are rendered and very HQ, and unlike DA:O do not use the in game graphics
• the shooting, albeit tactical, is rather straightforward
• there aren't that many side quests and what is there, tends to be rather straightforward
• role playing is involved to the extend that you can do renegade (which tend to be cooler) or paragon actions and pick respective dialogue options; the latter tend have consequences for the rest of the game
• Shortcomings: the game is still somewhat buggy, the star map is clustered and locations tend to overlap; in some fights you kill the boss and you didn't even notice because all of a sudden the fighting stops and you're back in the ship
• I miss the part of using the MAKO where you would fight your way through. I definitely do not miss mountaineering with it while searching for minerals.

DA:O

• character development is far more complex and interesting
• the origins aspect of the story offers far more in depth role playing
• the side quests are more complex
• there are (some) riddles
• the fighting is more complex
• it takes far longer to complete

That said, both games are comparably epic, and the atmosphere of both is rather dark. They're both worth the time, it's not either or for me.

 

Wow. If that's really the case then ME2 must suck because character development in Dragon Age is as straightforward as it gets, once you've figured out which abilities are needed there isn't much left to figure out.

I haven't played ME1 so I'll probably won't buy this game at full price (I still have a few games to play through).

Anyway thanks for the heads up. Much appreciated.

 

Like I already said, mass effect2 misses core rpg elements that part 1 still had.

I like to walk around a city hub and do al kinds of stuff. Like look at the vendors and read all the lore about the weapons, and check every nook and cranny for quests. Bioware has choosen more and more the straight but excellent narrow path. I am biased.

 

I'd say 2 is much better than 1, especially having done away with the awful inventory system of the first. It just makes much more sense now - choose your loadout at the beginning of the mission, and that's it. The amount of ammunition is, I think, perfect - I'd quite often run out of ammo for one gun if I used it exclusively, so I had to think tactically to still have enough for the next fight.

The other characters (mostly) feel like real people, and had some great backstories. Especially Jack, whose quest is particularly evocative. There's also loads of dialogue with all the characters, and plenty of interjections into other conversations.

The love scenes suck. I'm not even sure if they actually were meant to be having sex - the characters grope a bit, fully clothed, then fade to them lying on the bed still clothed.

And the ending... I liked it. Not so much the boss fight, which was easy and repetitive, but the whole last mission, where you choose which of your characters does what - proper commander-like. Getting all of your NPCs out into the field felt good. And they can actually die - permanently. I lost two NPCs in that last mission, and as I understand it potentially none are completely safe from a nice permadeath. So now Miranda and Legion won't be showing up in Mass Effect 3.

Game of the year so far. ME3 had better be released in the next week or so - I'm kinda desperate for more.

 

I agree. I miss the roaming and exploring as well. DA:O allows you to do that. As I said, I also liked fighting my way in the MAKO to a mission objective, and exploring along the way (what I didn't like was the mountaineering).

Still, I have just finished the suicide mission with Shepard surviving and not losing a team member or a member of the Normandy crew. The game is really nice scenery wise. Interesting but manageable final fight(s).

It is a little sad that, probably in reaction to some self proclaimed US moral guardians (and iirc FOX News; sensationalist a**holes making a tempest in the teapot over nothing) making a big stink over sex scenes in ME1, EA apparently decided to 'defuse' the sex scenes. I have played the Kelly Chambers romance, and it was basically fully dressed finale. It's much much tamer than anything you see in ME1 and DA:O. While EA denies they self-censored, I don't buy it.

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I did the Tali romance, I was more disappointed over not getting to actually see how she looked like underneath that helm...

Can't say I miss the roaming and exploring. Of course I wouldn't mind more side quests, but please don't make me go back into the MAKO .

 

I used the MAKO for quick transport over longer distances. I fought on foot. Always. Everything from Thresher Maws, gun turret, Geth Colossus or Geth Armature. In light of that experience the Thresher Maw in ME2 was somewhat wimpy.

What annoyed me about the MAKO was more the utterly tedious exploration for minerals off the roads i.e. the mountaineering. The point annoying for most gamers was that that in the end took up a excessive proportion of precious game play time.

It would have been not so bad an ideato retain it, and to be able to upgrade it and have a quest or two like Therum, the Feros Skyway, the Virmire base approach or Aleutsk Valley on Noveria. That was where the MAKO was fun to use.

 

Tali? Ah, Shepard, you amorous xenophile git .

 

He can count on Mordin's sage advice.

 

I finally got my copy earlier this week and I have had some time to play it a bit. So far it has been quite good.

They really have made the world much more livelier with various improvements and tweaks. ME had an empty, clinical feel to it. I especially liked the first space station you can travel to. It reminded me of Blade Runner. Hopefully the other places are on par with it.

Planet scanning is really not an improvement over Mako mountaineering and I am not that sure about some of the other changes either. The mission based system is a bit stupid, since it always transfers you back to the ship when you end a quest. So you have to travel back if you still have some other things to do.

 

I got i yesterday (finally). Haven`t gotten too far into it yet, but truth be told; i am kind of disapointed so far. It seems very DUMBED down, compared to the first one. Everything about leveling up Sheppard, and the others, seems very very limited. And correct me if i am wrong, but in ME2, is it impossible to change your companions armour or outfits? So far I have not found out how to do that. Am I missing something?

 

You can change the colour when you have completed your chars loyalty quest. But you can upgrade them by purchasing technology - it will then be applied to your entire party.