Topic: Mass Effect 2

[W7RE]

Well, they don't always freeze with single shots when the skill level is low, though it does enhance the damage. Even at max. level it won't freeze with a single shot every time, which is why I highly recommend you use that skill with an SMG. It is just very amusing watching some geth run at you as you spray them with bullets and freeze them.

I was using an assault rifle for most of the game (only really switching for the occasional sniping or when I ran out of ammo), so it probably would have worked much better for me if I had upgraded it.

They just released a new free set or armor and a shotgun for anyone who setup the Cerberus Network thing. I downloaded them but don't know if I really want to start a new game to play with the shotgun. I sort of wish it had come out before I was done. The shotgun is supposed to have a longer range. In ME1 I played the whole game with the shotgun because it was badass, but I skipped it almost entirely in ME2 because it had no range.

[gpw11]

The shotgun in ME2 is really only for the vanguard.  Charging in, taking some point blank shots and retreating into a corner/whatever.  Hit and run class of the century.

[gpw11]

Party member spoilers, don't look unless you've beaten the game or gotten all allies:


AWESOME

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amaMUzxldXM

[iPPi]

So I've put about 6 hours into the game and I'm having a blast.  A complaint about the game is that load times are long.  As I'm playing on Veteran difficulty, combat deaths do occur more frequently as the enemy resistance is a lot tougher.  Reloading a save takes the same time as the initial load.  I hear installing the game helps the load times, but it's a 12.4 GB install and I do not have that amount of space available on my Xbox360 HDD.

Another problem I've noticed is that the dialogue volume is a little low (compared to other games).  Everything is set to default at 100% (music, fx, dialogue), and it's really easy to miss dialogue at that setting.  I've had to lower the music and fx a bit, and I still find dialogue volume to be lower than usual.  As a result, I have to turn on subtitles, which are positioned a little awkwardly as it is above the dialogue wheel so it's like 1/3 from the bottom of the screen.

So, minor presentation issues.  Everything else is pretty much top notch.  I just need more time to play it... I haven't had enough time to actually sit down and play it for several hours yet.

[W7RE]

So I've put about 6 hours into the game and I'm having a blast.  A complaint about the game is that load times are long.  As I'm playing on Veteran difficulty, combat deaths do occur more frequently as the enemy resistance is a lot tougher.  Reloading a save takes the same time as the initial load.  I hear installing the game helps the load times, but it's a 12.4 GB install and I do not have that amount of space available on my Xbox360 HDD.

That's only if you install both discs to the HDD. Once you get to disc 2, you'll be on it until you hit the Omega 4 Relay, which you choose to go to. So once you get to that point, you can save and exit, and switch installations, then go to the relay. It would take you about 10 minutes to do the installation switch of deleting one and installing the other. I'd recommend it too, because I got some slight pauses upon screen transitions when I played through disc 2 without it installed.

[iPPi]

Oh, so you can opt to install just one disc at a time then?  That's a good idea.  I thought you had to install the whole thing at once, which is ridiculous since I'm on a Xbox360 Pro 20GB.  Do you know how large the install is of a single disc?

[W7RE]

Oh, so you can opt to install just one disc at a time then?  That's a good idea.  I thought you had to install the whole thing at once, which is ridiculous since I'm on a Xbox360 Pro 20GB.  Do you know how large the install is of a single disc?

Disc 2 is 6GB.

[Cobra951]

Here's a nifty chart of install sizes.  There are others, but this one seems the most up to date.

ME2 d1 - 6.4 GB
ME2 d2 - 6.0 GB

The behavior of the system is exactly what you would want.  If the disc is installed to the hard drive, it will use that.  Otherwise, it will spin the disc.  That's on a disc-by-disc basis, not just game by game.  You can have one disc installed and the other one not, but I haven't tried playing a 2-disc game that way (or any other way) yet.  So I don't know if you can use one disc as the dongle to play an install of the other.

[iPPi]

I was going to post that link too; I ran into it looking for install sizes.  You'd think that there would be a way to check prior to installing something on the Xbox so you have an idea how much space it's going to take.  NXE is one big piece of garbage.

Anyway, the install works great.  I had 9.2GB free so I was able to install it and the load times decrease by a noticeable amount.  I'd say the improvement is somewhere in the 5-10 second range, but I could be wrong and it could depend on the level and area it is loading.  Either way it is an improvement, and not having the disc spinning quiets the operation of the Xbox a bit too.

[gpw11]

I don't know about you guys, but I like the parts where you shoot shit.

[MysterD]

Mass Effect 2 Launch Trailer: Female Shepard Remix (Fan-Mode) - voiced by Jennifer Hale.
Gotta' love Jennifer Hale. She's been great since Fall-From-Grace in PST.

EDIT:
SPOILERS IN LINK BELOW.
Shaemus Young's Mass Effect 2 Plot Analysis.
3 page epic here.

[beo]

Mass Effect 2 Launch Trailer: Female Shepard Remix (Fan-Mode) - voiced by Jennifer Hale.
Gotta' love Jennifer Hale. She's been great since Fall-From-Grace in PST.

EDIT:
SPOILERS IN LINK BELOW.
Shaemus Young's Mass Effect 2 Plot Analysis.
3 page epic here.

an excellent counter to most of the above links points http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=7006&cpage=1#comment-143875

[iPPi]

Mass Effect 2 Launch Trailer: Female Shepard Remix (Fan-Mode) - voiced by Jennifer Hale.
Gotta' love Jennifer Hale. She's been great since Fall-From-Grace in PST.

I played a female Shepard in the first game and imported her into the second.  That said, the hairstyle used in that trailer was pretty bad. 

[gpw11]

Finished the game tonight.  Kind of torn if I want to do a renegade play through with a new character or do a new game + on Inanity difficulty to import into ME3 eventually. 

[MysterD]

Rumor: more Mass Effect 2 DLC might be announced at The GDC.

[Xessive]

I just picked up the last CE in the store here. My PC should be here in about 10 days. Feeling anxious about it but keeping myself busy with my PSP.

[MysterD]

Mass Effect 2 PC - Patch 1.01 released for Retail and Steam versions.

[iPPi]

I just finished it up tonight.  Phenomenal game.  I ended up going through the last mission twice as I made a mistake in a choice and ended up getting someone killed.  My second time through I managed to get everybody through alive.

Overall, the Mass Effect series is great.  There are some minor complaints here and there, but the package as a whole is amazing.  Also, while the game does end in a cliffhanger, which is to be expected since it's the second part in a trilogy, the story is surprisingly well written and does have a few surprises here and there.  It appears that some of the decisions you make in this game will have major consequences in the third (whereas the decisions in the first don't really seem to carry too much weight in the second, though they might end up carrying more into the third).

[MysterD]

Yahtzee takes on Mass Effect 2.

[iPPi]

I started an Insanity playthrough with my character and I haven't made it past the opening sequence yet, but the competition is pretty tough.  I haven't died yet, but the enemies are significantly more difficult.  I look forward to playing it when I have some more time.

[iPPi]

There's going to be DLC (free for those who have Cerberus Network access) that reintroduce vehicle sections into this game.  The 'Hammerhead' vehicle will be released in late March according to this.

[Pugnate]

Just about finished. I wish I had known the following info before I started though:

http://www.giantbomb.com/mass-effect-2/61-21590/mass-effect-2-pc-fix-for-long-load-times/35-386292/

The load times were fucking ridiculous on the PC.

[Pugnate]

Just finished. Completely awesome and I can't wait for ME3. The last sequence was a little disappointing in terms of length and difficulty, but fun regardless.

I like how the game ends leaving the DLC options open.

[MysterD]

Mass Effect 2 (Regular Edition) = $20 off on Amazon of regular price.
9 more hours left on this deal.

That'll now make it...
$29.99 for PC.
$39.99 for X360.

Free saver shipping here, since you'll be spending over $25 on Amazon.

[gpw11]

Holy shit, that's a great deal.

[MysterD]

Mass Effect 2: Kasumi's Stolen Memory DLC announced.
This is paid DLC and will not be on the Cerberus Network.
Price for this is not yet known.
Coming April 6th on PC and X360.

While Mass Effect 2's in-game DLC pipeline, The Cerberus Network, continues to transport new weapons (and soon, a new vehicle) to players for free, BioWare has announced the game's first pack of paid downloadable content. "Kasumi's Stolen Memory" finally completes Commander Shepard's dirty dozen, adding a confident female thief to your anti-Reaper repertoire. It's currently scheduled to launch for Xbox 360 and PC on April 6th.

After downloading the DLC, players can get in touch with Kasumi on the Citadel, either in the middle of an ongoing Mass Effect 2 game or after the completion of the main story (lesson learned from Mass Effect 1 DLC!). Once recruited, Shepard aids Kasumi on a secretive mission of recovery, which requires a suave disguise and a run-in with an influential and predictably corrupt art collector. The content, which also provides the "Locust" SMG, a flash-bang grenade loyalty power and a new Achievement, should take about an hour and a half to complete.

BioWare is currently in the midst of "internal discussion" to determine the price of the DLC, but we'll keep you updated as soon as it's finalized. Look for some impressions of "Kasumi's Stolen Memory" on Joystiq later today. Spoiler: It looks great.

[MysterD]

1Up talks about Bioware's Philosophy on RPG's from GDC 2010.

In some ways, I think BioWare is going down the same path as the one traced by Quantic Dreams and Heavy Rain, albeit with a more mechanical, action-oriented approach. For them, complete immersion seems to mean designing a sprawling world in which player actions have real consequences, and the best way they know how to do that is to write an insane amount of dialogue to account for every possibility. Really, if you want a glimpse of where BioWare sees RPGs going, I think all you need to do is take another look at Dragon Age's million word count. That might be all you need to know.

From what I've read, the average 300 page novel clocks in at approximately 75,000 words. By comparison, the original Mass Effect contains approximately 300,000 words, Mass Effect 2 adds to that total with 450,000 words, and Dragon Age dwarfs them both with some 1,000,000 words. On top of that, Mass Effect 2 contains 140,000 lines of voice-over dialogue, which were recorded over the course of some 300 days at the studio with the help of more than 350 actors. The takeaway, of course, is that making an RPG is hard.

[MysterD]

My copy of this for the PC has arrived. Installing now. Expect impressions sometime soon...

[Xessive]

My PC should be arriving tomorrow (God Willing). It's a month overdue! Finally I'll be able to hop in on the ME2 fun!

Quick question: I haven't brought my saves from ME1, when I start ME2 will there be a questionaire or something about the events in ME1 regarding its consequences in ME2?

[MysterD]

My PC should be arriving tomorrow (God Willing). It's a month overdue! Finally I'll be able to hop in on the ME2 fun!

Quick question: I haven't brought my saves from ME1, when I start ME2 will there be a questionaire or something about the events in ME1 regarding its consequences in ME2?

No clue about if there's a questionnaire.
But, this is according to the manual...

I. Creating A New Character
Select New Game from Main Menu and you can start as Male or Female.
You have two options then:
1.Play as Commander Shepard and choose a first name, automatically given the Soldier class.
2.OR Create a custom character, choosing class and adding other details.

II. Importing a Character From Mass Effect 1
Select Import character and choose a save game from the list of Character Saves.
You receive Bonus Experience and Resources and start at a Higher Level for Importing (over a new player).
You will keep all detail of your character, including appearance, class, and history.
You can change your current appearance by customizing Facial Reconstruction or choosing Iconic Appearance.
You can change your current Class.
Can change your class.

[beo]

no questionnaire, it just sets you up with a pre-defined sheppard. as you're playing on pc, it may well be possible to get hold of a savegame file similar to your own though.

[Xessive]

no questionnaire, it just sets you up with a pre-defined sheppard. as you're playing on pc, it may well be possible to get hold of a savegame file similar to your own though.

I might consider that. Thanks, Beo.

Thanks for the info, MyD.

God, I'm so anxious!

P.S. I got an Asus G73JH, which should be arriving tomorrow.

[Pugnate]

Xessive, you could always rush through the main story of ME1 again.

[MysterD]

I'm about 4 hours into this thing, so far. So far, it's been really good.

The action and combat is MUCH, MUCH improved - that's to say the very least. If you thought it was immediate before (in ME1) - heh, try the combat now (in ME2)! Even more so faster and quicker - and it feels more fluid. I thought mouse-speed was too slow on Medium; it's on High now.

Despite how much improved the combat is - I still can't help but wonder, where the hell is my Inventory? Keep hitting I key and I'm like - "oh yeah, there isn't really one here." I remapped the Bioware Pause Tactics (Left-Shift) to Space Bar - I'm used that from the original ME. So, maybe I should re-map the seconary key for that over to I.

And with shorter Leveling-Up bars for skill trees (there's 5 here per skill) - I feel like Mass Effect 2 w/ this kind of gameplay and leveling-up scheme is really the game maybe I expected out of Deus Ex: Invisible War - since DE:IW foolished removed the skill leveling-up system, if you recall.

I do wish the Codex and Journal had their own keybindings, dammit. Get tired of hitting ESC - I'm so used to hitting J (four Journal)!

Oh, and Martin Sheen (as The Illusive Man) is stealing the show, so far. He kind of reminds me of The Cancer Man in X-Files w/ the smoking and secretive nature.

How Far I'm Along...

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I'm about to do the mission to find Archangel. I hopped on the transport to go to his base.

Will talk more about this tomorrow. I'm tired and it's late.

[Xessive]

Xessive, you could always rush through the main story of ME1 again.

Hmm, also a valid option. I'll have to download ME1 from somewhere though. Since I already own a copy of it I think it's legitimate to acquire it by any means. I might do that but I'm too anxious I might just jump straight into ME2!

MyD, you're not helping my anxiety!

[gpw11]

no questionnaire, it just sets you up with a pre-defined sheppard.

Fairly certain there is a questionnaire.

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When you're on the drop ship with Miranda and Jacob the first time.  Miranda asks you a ton of questions which I believe eventually set your paragon status and which events carry over from the first game.

It's a great game and I'm glad Xessive and D are getting in on it.

[iPPi]

Some things you may have a say, but some things you don't.

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For example, at the climax of the first game you're given the choice to either save the council or not.  If you choose a preselected character, the council does not survive.  At least that's what happened for me when I started a second character from scratch.

[gpw11]

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Really?  I thought for sure that would be one of the questions. Are you sure they don't just phrase the question leading to one possibility, but there's an option like "I don't take mind games well" that actually sets the other possibility?

[iPPi]

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I don't know, the opening text crawl stated that the council wasn't saved.  I didn't play far enough with that character to determine if Miranda will ask questions regarding that.

[W7RE]

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I've never started a premade character, but the scene in the shuttle near the beginning has Miranda asking you questions to test your memory (refreshing you on stuff from the last game). I assumed that also worked as a way to tell you what happened when you create a new character, since it covers the important things like the council and the Kaiden/Ashley situation carrying over from the first game. Also I want to say that there was something either there, or maybe during the talk with The Elusive man that mentioned Liara, which I assumed was because she was my romance from the first game (plus her picture was on a frame on my desk).