Mass Effect 2... OMG FUN !!!

[Dallas]

WoW!

I had this game for the Xbox360 but never really got into it. I have been looking at it again over at Fileplanet.com for the PC. Yesterday I broke down and for 19.99 I bought it and loaded it up on the desktop.

I am SO glad I did. What a beautiful and fun game it is. I was blown away by the story and all of the research/gunmods/sci-tech etc it had and how involved it all was in aiding your squad. If you are in the market for a new RPG (solo) game or just waiting around for YOUR game to launch (kinda like me n Rift atm) then I suggest trying out this game. It is a 2010 game and a smidge dated, but it is incredible and I can't begin to tell you how many awards Bioware has won again w/ this title.

It's 10x more fun than the console version and a LOT better grafix.

I have a 540 GTX running it full out and it is AWESOMEEEEEE!!!

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/videogames/detail-page/mass.effect2.01.lg.jpg (http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/videogames/detail-page/mass.effect2.01.lg.jpg)

[Sam I Am]

I will have to check it out. I was looking at Civ V, but someone informed me it had some stability issues.

[Yeagermeister]

I will have to check it out. I was looking at Civ V, but someone informed me it had some stability issues.

Civ V sounds like the perfect game for you :laugh1:

[Romo 2 Austin]

Loved ME2 on the xBox.

[Sam I Am]

Civ V sounds like the perfect game for you :laugh1:

Don't be angry. Only I can be me. ;)

[Joshmvii]

The Mass Effect trilogy is shaping up to be one of the greatest RPG franchises of all time. Great story, fun gameplay, and amazing characters.

[arglebargle]

I've enjoyed both the Mass Effects. Sadly, I didn't care as much for the male Shephard's voicing. The female Shephard is lots better.

[Ren]

I love Mass effect, i've played trough both multiple times.
If it wasn't included in the version you bought i strongly suggest getting the 2 DLC packs Shadow broker and Overlord, they'll blow your mind


ME3 should be out around Christmas, i can't wait

[CowboysFan02]

Love the Mass Effect Series, great story, action and characters.

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/1/13885/1643638-yvonne_strahovski_miranda_lawson_mass_effect_2_sup er.jpg

[ChldsPlay]

Never will understand the hype. I liked the first one. Didn't think it was great, but it was a solid action/rpg/shooter that had a solid story going on.

Part 2 in no way compared IMO. The action elments were the same and still solid, but the story elements fell off dramatically with I think only 7 story missions in the entire game, most of those coming at the end. The probing thing was stupid as well. I don't understand why game developers put stuff in their games that is in no way shape or form fun, but instead a tedious exercise of patience. Overall, it's an okay game, that needs to have at least twice as much story related material than it does. As it is, it's more like extra levels to the first game to get the player ready for the 3rd game.

[MonsterD]

WoW!

I had this game for the Xbox360 but never really got into it. I have been looking at it again over at Fileplanet.com for the PC. Yesterday I broke down and for 19.99 I bought it and loaded it up on the desktop.

I am SO glad I did. What a beautiful and fun game it is. I was blown away by the story and all of the research/gunmods/sci-tech etc it had and how involved it all was in aiding your squad. If you are in the market for a new RPG (solo) game or just waiting around for YOUR game to launch (kinda like me n Rift atm) then I suggest trying out this game. It is a 2010 game and a smidge dated, but it is incredible and I can't begin to tell you how many awards Bioware has won again w/ this title.

It's 10x more fun than the console version and a LOT better grafix.

I have a 540 GTX running it full out and it is AWESOMEEEEEE!!!



[/URL][URL="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/videogames/detail-page/mass.effect2.01.lg.jpg"]http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/videogames/detail-page/mass.effect2.01.lg.jpg (http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/videogames/detail-page/mass.effect2.01.lg.jpg)

LOL I bought it too a long time ago for the PC and never did get to playing it. I bought like 4 or 5 games and only have played 2 so far, I really need to start though.

Also I will defer on the point of PC vs. Console, PC is always better.

[Joshmvii]

Never will understand the hype. I liked the first one. Didn't think it was great, but it was a solid action/rpg/shooter that had a solid story going on.

Part 2 in no way compared IMO. The action elments were the same and still solid, but the story elements fell off dramatically with I think only 7 story missions in the entire game, most of those coming at the end. The probing thing was stupid as well. I don't understand why game developers put stuff in their games that is in no way shape or form fun, but instead a tedious exercise of patience. Overall, it's an okay game, that needs to have at least twice as much story related material than it does. As it is, it's more like extra levels to the first game to get the player ready for the 3rd game.

Mass Effect 2 was basically 30 solid hours of nothing but story. Recruiting and doing the loyalty missions for all of the party members is part of the story. You're recruiting people to ask them to help you on a suicide mission, then developing relationships with them so that they will be loyal enough to put their lives on the line in the battle against the collectors.

If you're trying to look at it as though the party recruiting/loyalty missions weren't part of the story, I could see how you would feel there wasn't much more to the story, but you'd be looking at it the wrong way, and you'd be hard pressed to find anybody to agree with you.

There's a great deal more story in ME2 than ME1 in fact. In ME1, you go Feros-Noveria-Artemis Tau-Virmire-Ilos-end game, in ME2 you go way more places, and learn way more about the galaxy and backstory than in ME1.

As an aside, for anybody who loves Mass Effect, read the 3 books Drew Karpyshyn(Bioware writer) has written. The first is a prequel, but the other two take place between ME1 and 2, and between 2 and 3. They're not great novels or anything, but if you like the source material you'll burn through them and enjoy them a great deal. The first graphic novel is really cool too, and if you played the Shadow Broker DLC you'll get a cool background of how Liara and Feron(sp?) came to meet and get Shepherd's body, etc.

[Dallas]

The game just keeps getting better and better. I broke Jack out of the prison ship last night. That was fun.

Does anyone else find Jack pretty hot w/ her tattoos and bald head and jewelry?

Is that just me?

Here is Jack at Cosplay last year. :D This girl did pretty good w/ the costume. Jack is CRRAZY !!

http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/mass-effect-jack-cosplay5a.jpg (http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/mass-effect-jack-cosplay5a.jpg)

[Sam I Am]

The game just keeps getting better and better. I broke Jack out of the prison ship last night. That was fun.

Does anyone else find Jack pretty hot w/ her tattoos and bald head and jewelry?

Is that just me?

Here is Jack at Cosplay last year. :D This girl did pretty good w/ the costume. Jack is CRRAZY !!

http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/mass-effect-jack-cosplay5a.jpg (http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/mass-effect-jack-cosplay5a.jpg)

Ugh, *that* doesn't turn me on. :laugh2:

[Sam I Am]

There's a great deal more story in ME2 than ME1 in fact. In ME1, you go Feros-Noveria-Artemis Tau-Virmire-Ilos-end game, in ME2 you go way more places, and learn way more about the galaxy and backstory than in ME1.

What are you saying? I have to get ME1 first, before buying ME2? :mad:

[Joshmvii]

You don't have to. ME2 allows you to basically reminisce about what happened in the first game and that's when you make the decision points that you would have made playing the 1st one.

I would highly suggest playing ME1 first anyway though, because it's awesome. I've played ME1 through 4 times now, and ME2 3 times. I rarely replay games.

[Ren]

What are you saying? I have to get ME1 first, before buying ME2? :mad:

You should, the choices you make in ME1 carry over to ME2 so you'll get way more out of ME2 if you have played ME1 first

[ChldsPlay]

Mass Effect 2 was basically 30 solid hours of nothing but story. Recruiting and doing the loyalty missions for all of the party members is part of the story. You're recruiting people to ask them to help you on a suicide mission, then developing relationships with them so that they will be loyal enough to put their lives on the line in the battle against the collectors.

If you're trying to look at it as though the party recruiting/loyalty missions weren't part of the story, I could see how you would feel there wasn't much more to the story, but you'd be looking at it the wrong way, and you'd be hard pressed to find anybody to agree with you.

There's a great deal more story in ME2 than ME1 in fact. In ME1, you go Feros-Noveria-Artemis Tau-Virmire-Ilos-end game, in ME2 you go way more places, and learn way more about the galaxy and backstory than in ME1.



I don't think I look at it at the wrong way at all (and there plenty of others that agree, though they are the minority). I chose not to look at it like the developers probably wanted me to, but that's my choice. I think their decision to make the focus of the game recruiting/loyalty was an extremely poor one and those missions did very little (sometimes nothing) to advance the main story. Repeatedly going on missions where it was: Go find person, help them with their situation, recruit, was not exactly thrilling drama. It was essentially a game of sidequests.

And I had a lot more variety of game play in ME1 than I did in ME2. All of the recruitment missions follow essentially the same formula, and the few loyalty missions I played through were similar to each other as well. The # of actual locations might not be any more impressive in ME1, but the locations were more expansive and involved.

Minor details and a little backstory in no way compare to actual advancement of plot, and there was much more plot related advancement in the first installment. Even in quite a few of the ME 2story missions, the plot wasn't advanced all that much.

[Joshmvii]

The plot of ME2 was literally "Gather a team of people willing to help you go on a suicide mission through the omega 4 relay to stop the collector threat, and make them loyal to you so they'll put their lives on the line for you when the time comes."

So yeah, the recruitment and loyalty missions precisely advance the plot. Just because you want to simplify the plot down to "Collectors are stealing human colonies, go through and stop them," ignoring the fact that Shepherd needed a team of experts and soldiers to do so doesn't change the fact that it was part of the plot.

That would be like saying the plot in ME1 is "Stop a reaper," and all the stuff you did leading up to it did nothing to advance that plot.

[Christiann]

Just got done beating it..for the 5th time, now I'm going through the DLC's. I just finished Kasumi and that was great, I'm kind of going through all of them until I go to the Shadowbroker, which I hear is basically a preview of what ME3 is going to be like. I'm hyped.

[Joshmvii]

The Shadow Broker DLC is very good.

[ChldsPlay]

The plot of ME2 was literally "Gather a team of people willing to help you go on a suicide mission through the omega 4 relay to stop the collector threat, and make them loyal to you so they'll put their lives on the line for you when the time comes."

So yeah, the recruitment and loyalty missions precisely advance the plot. Just because you want to simplify the plot down to "Collectors are stealing human colonies, go through and stop them," ignoring the fact that Shepherd needed a team of experts and soldiers to do so doesn't change the fact that it was part of the plot.

That would be like saying the plot in ME1 is "Stop a reaper," and all the stuff you did leading up to it did nothing to advance that plot.

The bolded is much more of a plot (though it certainly is a lot more simplified than I would have said) than recruitment missions. If you're assertion truly is, that recruitment is the central plot of ME2, then I would assert that IMO it is possibly the worst plot in the history of gaming. I don't believe that to be the case, and there are interesting story elements in the game...just not very much of it is in the recruitment or loyalty missions.

There is a plot that stretches from ME 1 all the way to ME 3. It's a mainly involves the Reapers and the threat they pose, as well as the history of the Reapers and the things they've done in the past. ME2's central plot IMO revolves around the Collectors, and discovering what they're about and where they fit in with the Reapers, and what it means about what is headed their way.

It is my opinion while that recruitment may be necessary to a point, it should not be the focal point of a good RPG (or story driven game), but a rather minor aspect. They easily could have thrown in story elements that tied into the main plot during the recruitment/loyalty missions which would have made them more interesting. A "plot" that consists of "Go get this person" repeated 8 or so times, is no plot at all.

[Joshmvii]

The recruitment is definitely central to the plot of ME2. The point is that after Shepherd died and his team from ME1 went on to do their own thing, he had to get a team to go with him through the Omega 4 relay. Not only recruiting them, but also making them loyal to him was an integral part of the story.

I'm not saying there's something wrong with you not liking the fact that the plot was centered around recruiting the team. In fact, when I first heard that only 2 party members were returning from ME1 and that the game centered around gathering your team I was skeptical, and I thought "I don't want to play a game where the majority of the game is just going and recruiting people." I just felt like they proved me wrong and made the game exceptionally interesting from start to finish.

If you don't feel that way, that's perfectly cool. I definitely don't disagree that the recruitment and loyalty missions didn't actually relate to the overarching story, I just never felt ripped off that they were such a big part of the game because I felt it made sense given the context of the mission at hand. I felt like a big part of ME2 also was just solidifying the knowledge that the Protheans were not this great civilization, but were just another in a long line of organic species that the Reapers let evolve just to harvest. I thought it was awesome when we got to find out how the new Reapers were actually created, and why they let organics go through their cycle of evolution over and over the way they have.

I think ME3 is really going to bring it all together in an incredible way.

[WarC]

I played the first Mass Effect on the PC two summers ago and while I did finish it, I didn't come away that impressed. The first person action sequences just seemed kind of "off" compared to most FPSs in a way I can't really explain. I didn't find it to be a very open-ended game, I was really hoping Mass Effect would be like "Oblivion in Space", or "Morrowind in Space", if any of you guys have played those RPGs. But the Mass Effect games are certainly more theatrically and linearly driven than the Elder Scrolls games.

The way they marketed and to some extent the way the mainstream reviewed the Mass Effect games make it seem like this free-for-all thing where you can fly your ship anywhere, do anything, and kill some time on the star ship...Like a do-it-yourself Star Trek adventure. It may still seem that way to most of the people who play it (theres no denying its one the biggest franchises in gaming today) but the first one just struck me as being a lot more limited in scope than I imagined it would be.

That said, I recently built a new computer and I've been tempted to get ME2 just to see how the graphics look all spiked up. It does certainly look beautiful!

[Joshmvii]

Bioware doesn't make open ended games like Elder Scrolls. They didn't market Mass Effect that way either. The hallmarks of Bioware games are the narrative, and usually a pretty big focus on developing the personalities of your party members and your relationships with them. Both of those things are featured in Mass Effect.

There's a place for games like Oblivion and Fallout, but I don't want that kind of experience in a Bioware game. Those games are about the fun of exploration, but the stories are usually forgettable at best.

[ChldsPlay]

The recruitment is definitely central to the plot of ME2. The point is that after Shepherd died and his team from ME1 went on to do their own thing, he had to get a team to go with him through the Omega 4 relay. Not only recruiting them, but also making them loyal to him was an integral part of the story.

I'm not saying there's something wrong with you not liking the fact that the plot was centered around recruiting the team. In fact, when I first heard that only 2 party members were returning from ME1 and that the game centered around gathering your team I was skeptical, and I thought "I don't want to play a game where the majority of the game is just going and recruiting people." I just felt like they proved me wrong and made the game exceptionally interesting from start to finish.

If you don't feel that way, that's perfectly cool. I definitely don't disagree that the recruitment and loyalty missions didn't actually relate to the overarching story, I just never felt ripped off that they were such a big part of the game because I felt it made sense given the context of the mission at hand. I felt like a big part of ME2 also was just solidifying the knowledge that the Protheans were not this great civilization, but were just another in a long line of organic species that the Reapers let evolve just to harvest. I thought it was awesome when we got to find out how the new Reapers were actually created, and why they let organics go through their cycle of evolution over and over the way they have.

I think ME3 is really going to bring it all together in an incredible way.

I hope so, because despite my criticisms, I still liked it enough to play through the end (even if I didn't do all the loyalty and other side missions) and will definitely be finishing the trilogy.

[Joshmvii]

Just out of curiosity, how many, if any, of the party members and crew did you lose at the end during the final mission? I've played through the game several times but I've always done them all and never lost anybody, so I'm just curious how it plays out if you don't do them. I read that you can get Shepherd and everybody killed and still complete the game if you don't do any of the stuff you're supposed to, but I have no idea how they would translate that to ME3.

[Ren]

Just out of curiosity, how many, if any, of the party members and crew did you lose at the end during the final mission? I've played through the game several times but I've always done them all and never lost anybody, so I'm just curious how it plays out if you don't do them. I read that you can get Shepherd and everybody killed and still complete the game if you don't do any of the stuff you're supposed to, but I have no idea how they would translate that to ME3.


I lost 1 (Zaeed) on my first play trough, never lost anyone on any of my play troughs after that

[ChldsPlay]

Just out of curiosity, how many, if any, of the party members and crew did you lose at the end during the final mission? I've played through the game several times but I've always done them all and never lost anybody, so I'm just curious how it plays out if you don't do them. I read that you can get Shepherd and everybody killed and still complete the game if you don't do any of the stuff you're supposed to, but I have no idea how they would translate that to ME3.

If I remember correctly, I lost 2, Talia (or whatever her name was, from the first game), and the science geek alien. Pretty sure that's it, but I'm not certain. I did get all the upgrades for the ship (stupid mining crap), but did only the minimum on the loyalty missions. I think I read that the one woman played by Yvonne from Chuck is scripted to live either way.