Mass Effect 2 Catch All

My female Shepard failed to talk a certain person out of suicide. As she walked casually back to the onlookers they asked, "What happened? Is she dead?" to which Shepard replied, "Well you heard the gunshot and I'm standing here in front of you. What do you think?"

Higgledy wrote:

My female Shepard failed to talk a certain person out of suicide. As she walked casually back to the onlookers they asked, "What happened? Is she dead?" to which Shepard replied, "Well you heard the gunshot and I'm standing here in front of you. What do you think?"

That's one of those events that only pops up if you have a specific back story as I recall. I never got that in my female-renegade play through, I got the gang from your youth since she was from Earth.

I have two requirements for me to give this game a shot:

1) The Mako, if it exists, needs booster jets, not jump jets. Not once did I want to jump up but many times I needed a boost. Driving the Mako was one of the worst parts of the game. I dreaded it and was half the reason I stopped doing side quests.

2) Galactic civilization as a whole needs to design more than two or three building layouts. The side quests need some serious lovin'... more variety in terrain, layout and objectives. This was the other half of the reason I stopped doing side quests.

Mass Effect overall was pretty decent. I certainly didn't find it nearly as good as many others and I felt the gaming press let it off the hook easy just because it was from Bioware. I'm hoping now that the world is fleshed out and the tech mostly in place they can actually focus on what matters: content.

Higgledy wrote:

My female Shepard failed to talk a certain person out of suicide. As she walked casually back to the onlookers they asked, "What happened? Is she dead?" to which Shepard replied, "Well you heard the gunshot and I'm standing here in front of you. What do you think?"

Female Shephards are awesome

Dreaded Gazebo wrote:

I have two requirements for me to give this game a shot:

1) The Mako, if it exists, needs booster jets, not jump jets. Not once did I want to jump up but many times I needed a boost. Driving the Mako was one of the worst parts of the game. I dreaded it and was half the reason I stopped doing side quests.

2) Galactic civilization as a whole needs to design more than two or three building layouts. The side quests need some serious lovin'... more variety in terrain, layout and objectives. This was the other half of the reason I stopped doing side quests.

Mass Effect overall was pretty decent. I certainly didn't find it nearly as good as many others and I felt the gaming press let it off the hook easy just because it was from Bioware. I'm hoping now that the world is fleshed out and the tech mostly in place they can actually focus on what matters: content.

I had to jump a few times on some of the craggier planets, but why not both?

I used jumping to mess up the enemies trying to target me. Stupid but effective.

While the mako bits got a bit tedious, I never really got the hate for them. Those things could take some crazy-ass slopes.

I was mostly fine with the Mako once I realised that the controls are relative to your viewpoint, not relative to the Mako's orientation. Plus, jumping incoming fire was awesome.

The Mako controls didn't bother me too much.

I'd like them to have less side quests, but have them more fully fleshed out, similar to the story missions. It'd be nice if they included an option to auto-scan every planet in a solar system, too. It got tedious having to move the cursor to every planet just to see if I could go there and see what bunker it contained.

Rare weapons would be cool, too, but that goes along with more fleshed out side-quests.

Yeah, the 3 building designs for the side-quest were a baffling error. Reminded me of stuff you'd see in the Buck Rodgers SSI gold box game... and even that had a bit more scope.

But, I still really, really liked Mass Effect. It reminded me of the great old space games of the late 80s and early 90s. But it needed more stuff. More worlds, more cities. Or less planets.

Less but better side quests would be fine. Or an easily exandable universe with monthly-add-on packs and a subscription fee... I would totally subscribe to that!

I somehow think that the sheer amount of content needed, though, means that would never happen. But it's a good sign that I liked the universe so much.

And Bastille Shephard.

I think Bioware just bit off more than they could chew with 1. The game they were shooting for was enormously ambitious in scope and in visual quality. I'm betting that they got half way through the construction process and realised that they weren't going to have time to create all the elaborate alien planets they wanted and instead would have to settle for remote bases and mines. I bet it killed them to have to do it. Hopefully Mass Effect 2 is going to be the game they visualised but couldn't quite achieve in 1.

I think they also had a lot of technical problems. I remember reading a blog entry by the guy who wrote the quest on the citadel where you tell a widow and her brother whether her unborn child should get some kind of medical treatment or not. He was responding to criticism that the citadel quests are fairly pedestrian. It turns out that they had constant crashes in the citadel, especially in the presidium area, and they couldn't deal with any combat on that map at all (the presidium area you fight in at the end of the game is a much smaller map), or any of the people moving around, so all the quests had to involve people staying where they are.

I am also a massive fan of Mass Effect. I can count the number of RPGs I've actually completed on one hand, and I've gone through Mass Effect several times. I never enjoyed the mako combat though. I'm going through it again as a soldier type this time (and I'll be nobbing Ashley since I've had Liana as a bloke and a bird and done the deed with Kaiden), but the most fun I've had is as an adept. The whole game just came together really successfully for me somehow, even though it technically seems very inferior to something as open-world as Fallout 3, for example, I just had a great time with it. The lore was so well done (it's easily as good as Star Trek or Star Wars for me), and you could easily imagine an MMO set in that universe.

DudleySmith wrote:

...you could easily imagine an MMO set in that universe.

I'd like that for the constantly updating game world, but I'd elect to remove any contact with others whatsoever. That always kills it for me as far as MMOs go.

This (and possibly Heavy Rain, if it makes it) are the two games I'm looking forward to most this year!

DudleySmith wrote:

I am also a massive fan of Mass Effect. I can count the number of RPGs I've actually completed on one hand, and I've gone through Mass Effect several times. I never enjoyed the mako combat though. I'm going through it again as a soldier type this time (and I'll be nobbing Ashley since I've had Liana as a bloke and a bird and done the deed with Kaiden), but the most fun I've had is as an adept.

Hmmmmm I haven't played as an adept because I was worried it wasn't viable. It may be time to play through the game again. I didn't mind the Mako combat or exploration it was a bit like having your own virtual remote control car to play with.

JohnnyBarnstorm wrote:

This (and possibly Heavy Rain, if it makes it) are the two games I'm looking forward to most this year!

Mass Effect 2 and Assassin's Creed 2 are the only games on my must buy list for the foreseeable future. Can't wait (there is something nice about knowing some potentially (gotta throw that in. Don't want to tempt fate) great games are on their way even if they are a long way off.)

JohnnyBarnstorm wrote:

Yeah, the 3 building designs for the side-quest were a baffling error.

I always kind of rationalized it that the galaxy wasn't that civilized and most buildings were basically prefab nissen huts; cheap, easy to drop off and just leave behind.

LobsterMobster wrote:

I mean, we're going to be ripping through the place... how hard is it to say, "Wrex, I will not compromise our main objective for anything... but if we happen to be passing through their research labs, and you happen to go 'investigate' some 'hostile activity,' and you happen to stumble across a whole bunch of data in an easily transportable medium, I think we could chalk that up as unavoidable coincidence."

I guess that's pretty hard to say. How about, "We'll root around while we're in there but no promises?"

I'm pretty sure that's almost exactly what my paragon did say (Hooray charm!).

Stengah wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

I mean, we're going to be ripping through the place... how hard is it to say, "Wrex, I will not compromise our main objective for anything... but if we happen to be passing through their research labs, and you happen to go 'investigate' some 'hostile activity,' and you happen to stumble across a whole bunch of data in an easily transportable medium, I think we could chalk that up as unavoidable coincidence."

I guess that's pretty hard to say. How about, "We'll root around while we're in there but no promises?"

I'm pretty sure that's almost exactly what my paragon did say (Hooray charm!).

Yeah, I always thought that the "paragon" path of screwing the Krogans was questionable. I never noticed that Wrex found anything to cure their sterility... I believe it's implied that the cure to their disease was destroyed along with the lab.

(And that Ashley... she so stayed behind.)

JohnnyBarnstorm wrote:

(And that Ashley... she so stayed behind.)

I played my female Shepard as a hard-nosed Renegade, except with the other female crew with whom she could let down her guard.

So she left Kaidan behind. And boned Liara.

Quintin_Stone wrote:
JohnnyBarnstorm wrote:

(And that Ashley... she so stayed behind.)

I played my female Shepard as a hard-nosed Renegade, except with the other female crew with whom she could let down her guard.

So she left Kaidan behind. And boned Liara. :)

I think we all did that. Did anyone actually have sex with Kaiden? Nope. Why? Man-Ass.

larrymadill wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:
JohnnyBarnstorm wrote:

(And that Ashley... she so stayed behind.)

I played my female Shepard as a hard-nosed Renegade, except with the other female crew with whom she could let down her guard.

So she left Kaidan behind. And boned Liara. :)

I think we all did that. Did anyone actually have sex with Kaiden? Nope. Why? Man-Ass.

Nothing wrong with man-ass, but when I found out I couldn't make Shephard a raging queen (though you could make him an asexual misogynist) I figured a lesbian one would be second best.

I guess I saw this coming; my KOTOR female hero was named Dike Spacelover.

larrymadill wrote:

I think we all did that. Did anyone actually have sex with Kaiden? Nope. Why? Man-Ass.

I tried it on one of my playthroughs. (Note: I am the batsh*t crazy guy who played through five times; I seriously saw different content even on the fifth playthrough.) Of the three possible romantic partners, getting to know Kaiden seems the most tender and realistic experience.

I don't know if this is "target marketing" what they thought hetero females would want, or just a coincidence. Ashley seems more like a lighthearted fling, and Liara is obviously kind of fanservice with her exaggerated shyness and seriousness.

Kaiden is just the same horrible one-note character that Carth Onassi was, with his "Oh please fix broken little me" schtick, which is only exacerbated by being voiced by the same goddamned actor.

(Seriously, if women actually found terrible bullsh*t men that appealing, I could go muff-diving now and never surface before sun burns out, and half the internet with me. Stop it Bioware.)

I liked Carth Onassi. Didn't like Kaiden very much. He so got left behind and boned Ashley because I waited a LONG time to get Liara on my crew.

beeporama wrote:
larrymadill wrote:

I think we all did that. Did anyone actually have sex with Kaiden? Nope. Why? Man-Ass.

I tried it on one of my playthroughs. (Note: I am the batsh*t crazy guy who played through five times; I seriously saw different content even on the fifth playthrough.) Of the three possible romantic partners, getting to know Kaiden seems the most tender and realistic experience.

I don't know if this is "target marketing" what they thought hetero females would want, or just a coincidence. Ashley seems more like a lighthearted fling, and Liara is obviously kind of fanservice with her exaggerated shyness and seriousness.

beeporama wrote:
larrymadill wrote:

I think we all did that. Did anyone actually have sex with Kaiden? Nope. Why? Man-Ass.

I tried it on one of my playthroughs. (Note: I am the batsh*t crazy guy who played through five times; I seriously saw different content even on the fifth playthrough.) Of the three possible romantic partners, getting to know Kaiden seems the most tender and realistic experience.

Did you look mournfully into Kaiden eyes and exclaim, WHY CAN'T I QUIT YOU!?

And I played through about five times as well. And I saw different content. I'm sure if the content was actually there by the fifth play through or if I was just seeing things at that point.

Alien Love Gardener wrote:

(Seriously, if women actually found terrible bullsh*t men that appealing, I could go muff-diving now and never surface before sun burns out, and half the internet with me. Stop it Bioware.)

You, sir, just won this thread IMO. I LOL'd quite hard. Thanks for that.

JohnnyBarnstorm wrote:

Yeah, the 3 building designs for the side-quest were a baffling error. Reminded me of stuff you'd see in the Buck Rodgers SSI gold box game... and even that had a bit more scope.

I loved Mass Effect, but it's for this reason alone that I prefer KotOR by a country mile.

Just finished Mass Effect myself, and must say I loved it. I agree the pre-fab buildings got a little tiresome, but the gameplay and story more than made up for it. The in-game universe was deep and I absolutely loved that.

Worst thing about it was the Mako combat. Driving on the uncharted worlds with a vehicle that steers like Chris Farley on a unicycle was horrible. Only good thing was dodging missiles with the jump-jets.

I went for the default John Shepard on this run through and went with full Paragon, as I usually do the "good" thing on the first run through. Gonna go play Bring Down the Sky now and will do a run-through sometime again with a female Renegade Adept.

Overall, can't wait for MA2

Agemmon wrote:

go play Bring Down the Sky now and will do a run-through sometime again with a female Renegade Adept.

I guess if I do do another play-through, I can always use the same Bastille Shephard and then just make her evil this time. Does it start with your previous paragon / renegade status?

I played through last time as a... uh... the one with some gun skills and some "force push" style skills. I don't remember what that was called. And I was super "good". Is the game that much different if I choose another class? Any recommendations on a class that would make the combat experience different?

Should I start over with the same character or roll up a new one from scratch?

I think I might ignore some of those side quests this time around, since I did *all* of them last time. Also, is Bring Down The Sky worth a download?

JohnnyBarnstorm wrote:

Does it start with your previous paragon / renegade status?

No, but you will have all your charm or intimidate skill points (if you invested in them) which will be useless to you if you are going for a completely opposite playthrough.

I played through last time as a... uh... the one with some gun skills and some "force push" style skills. I don't remember what that was called. And I was super "good". Is the game that much different if I choose another class? Any recommendations on a class that would make the combat experience different?

Sounds like you played Vanguard. A plain soldier is a pretty fun class and makes the game play a lot more like a shooter, the sniper is great fun and you can basically turn on you 80% damage immunity and run in guns blazing. My favourite class is probably Adept though, having a multitude of different 'force pushes' and other gravity defying 'spells' is awesome fun.

Should I start over with the same character or roll up a new one from scratch?

I would, unless your looking to get to lvl 60 new game+ doesn't really do a whole lot and you have to play the same class you already finished the game with. Of course if you want to go through the game as a super powerful badass from the start then by all means.

I think I might ignore some of those side quests this time around

Good call.

Also, is Bring Down The Sky worth a download?

It is basically like an extra 'main' mission, maybe a bit longer, I'm pretty sure it's only 400 space bucks so I'd say yes, it is.

Coming Early 2010

I'm quite surprised. I was sure this would have been out before Chrismas 09. Perhaps EA is learning to stagger release dates, and drop this during a dull time of the year.