132 replies to this topic

[Pain Elemental]

'Eleima', on 28 January 2010 - 02:12 PM, said:

You've finished already??? Wow! My copy isn't here yet (the site does say 3 to 5 business days, there *do* have to swim across a body of water to get here, I guess), so I'm insanely jealous in a way. In a way only, because I firmly intend to savor every moment and not rush through the whole thing (I do have this tendency to complete every side-quest, listen to every dialog, so my playthroughs are probably longer than the average gamer's).

Awesome, you say? So is it everything we'd hoped for?

Already? Heh, The ingame clock said something about 30 hours of playtime . I did all the sidequests that I've found and I did the personal quests of all the squad members. The only thing I didn't do was scan all the planets, because It's tedious and boring (you'll find out, It's the only downside to the game)

And yes, It's awesome. I'm currently replaying the game as a renegade. And, as a protip from me, crank the difficulty up past "normal".

[Archmage Silver]

I want this game so badly... and yet I can't get my CE until next week, and even then I don't which day. Infuriating!

EA seriously dropped the ball on this one, they can't even make sure their distribution works properly after spending big dollar on advertising the game. EA, Atari, it's all the same and it never seems to end.

[Tempest]

I'm finally up and running with it, and my views are mixed. Like the new art direction and character emphasis, but I don't like a lot of the control changes. Going from ME1 with its control menus, inventory screen, even the keys used to interact with things to the ME2 style is taking a lot of getting used to, and I hate the new ammo-based system for weapons. Some good, some bad.

[Pain Elemental]

True, the ammo system took some getting use to, but it does open new options for heavy weapons. If they were using the old system, those weapons would become hugely overpowered.

[Darziak]

'Pain Elemental', on 29 January 2010 - 10:29 AM, said:

The only thing I didn't do was scan all the planets, because It's tedious and boring (you'll find out, It's the only downside to the game)

Ugh it sure is but I still did it and carry about 100k - 200k though element zero is just over 50k. Did you make sure you checked the planets for hidden anomalies?

I found a small cheat to get more credits:-

Spoiler

After hacking a wallsafe if you press action button (A for Xbox) very quickly you can hack the wallsafe again and maybe more so you earn twice the credits you'd usually get out of it, it works with other things like the banks.

Apparently shepard walks slower now (on the normandy) the way I see it and I find it hard the to get used to the new cover system.

My favourite thing is probably the places arn't a clone like seeing the same area on another planet back on ME1.

Is it me or does the Vorcha sound very similar to the githyanki in nwn2?

[Tempest]

If anyone knows, who do you talk to or when do the various Normandy upgrades become available? I finished Horizon and scrounged up enough platinum (seriously, the planet scanning/mining thing sucks hard - hopefully one of ME2's first mods will be something to make that faster/less annoying) for the medbay upgrade, and don't want to overlook anything.

On the upside, Mordin is quickly establishing himself as my favorite ME2 character so far.

[Archmage Silver]

Sounds like ME2 held up to the expectations of most people... I'm only getting it late next week though, which annoys me to no end.

[Pain Elemental]

'Darziak', on 30 January 2010 - 04:11 PM, said:

Ugh it sure is but I still did it and carry about 100k - 200k though element zero is just over 50k. Did you make sure you checked the planets for hidden anomalies?

To be honest, after the one of the countless scans, I found a list of planets that you need to scan for anomalies somewhere on the internet. I know you're not supposed to, but It really got on my nerves.

'Tempest', on 30 January 2010 - 11:40 PM, said:

If anyone knows, who do you talk to or when do the various Normandy upgrades become available? I finished Horizon and scrounged up enough platinum (seriously, the planet scanning/mining thing sucks hard - hopefully one of ME2's first mods will be something to make that faster/less annoying) for the medbay upgrade, and don't want to overlook anything.

I can't say for certain, but I remember that some of the ship upgrades only become available when you have a sufficient enough relation to members of your crew.

And as a protip from me: RESEARCH THEM!

[Tempest]

Quote

I can't say for certain, but I remember that some of the ship upgrades only become available when you have a sufficient enough relation to members of your crew.

And as a protip from me: RESEARCH THEM!

I have researched both that I've gotten access to - the medbay and armor upgrades, and I've done the loyalty missions for Jacob, Jack, Grunt, and Mordin so far. I'm hoping to get everyone through the game alive, hence me worrying about making sure I get all the ship upgrades.

[Qwinn]

If I recall correctly, talking to Miranda, she lets you build an upgrade that does make mining a whole lot faster. First upgrade I bought. It does make it a LOT easier.

Qwinn

[Archmage Silver]

Spoiler tags people... it's mentioned in the first post.

[Tempest]

Just beat the game, and... wow. Just wow.

No one died on the suicide mission, and I was happy to see that there is an extra scene if you stay faithful to your ME1 love interest despite the abundance of new opportunities to be otherwise.

[Eleima]

My CE copy finally got here!!!
I'm about an hour in the game, and so far, it's everything I expected and more (especially since I've been keeping away from most trailers and spoilers, with a few exceptions). The new gameplay will probably take a little getting used to. I keep pressing "space" instead of "left shift" when I want to access powers and guns, and I keep expecting my Shepard to automatically take cover, when in fact you need to press "space" to actually have her duck down). I'm also not a huge fan of the reloading system, I thought that the old system was more convenient, not to mention more futuristic (shaping a bullet automatically from a block of stone or whatever, pretty scifi'ish if you ask me!).
Oh, and ME2 will tolerate task switching, which is a huge improvement in my opinion (ME1 would always crash when I did that). A minor detail, but still...
I also like being able to customize my casual clothes and my armor. That's one of my rare "girly" traits manifesting itself, I guess. It's silly, but kinda fun (like playing dress up Barbie, um... Shepard ).
The intro was pretty gripping, I was sucked back in the Mass Effect world in no time. (Warning there be minor spoilers regarding the intro ahead)

Spoiler

I was kinda sad to see Pressely die, but thoroughly relieved to see Kaidan (), Dr. Chakwas and Joker make it to the escape pods. Can't wait to see more of the old ME1 crew, even though I'm definitely intrigued by Miranda, and Jacob (who seems like a good potential love interest so far).

Oh, and did I mention the graphics... Wow. Nice! (But then again, I've been playing NWN2 lately, so this just *has* to be a step up)

All in all... Yay! *joins the party*


Tiny edit with more spoilers regarding the Normandy crew:

Spoiler

Am I the only getting a kick out of having a Scottish engineer??....

Edited by Eleima, 01 February 2010 - 08:47 AM.

[Philiposophy]

I got it and played a bit. Quite impressed so far, very interesting.

One thing that irked me though is that even though I had a load of old saves left over from ME1 they were nowhere to be seen when I wanted to import one... so I ended up just starting a flat out new game, the defaults of which weren't quite what I'd had in mind in some cases.

However I'll just beat it this time and then when I come to playing around with it all a bit more, I think I'll put more effort into sorting out what happened. Unless anyone has any idea of course.


Oh and I started taking an interest in Kelly Chambers already. I figured that Ashley wouldn't really care, since it was a new save and all...

Edited by Philiposophy, 01 February 2010 - 01:44 PM.

[Archmage Silver]

I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive... my retailer should have sent me email about it today, but I got nothing.

[Tempest]

I've had a couple people ask me how I managed to get everyone through the suicide mission alive, so if anyone wants to know what I did, the main things I noticed as important are as follows. Major spoiler warning, of course.

Spoiler

Do everyone's loyalty mission.

Have at least the following Normandy upgrades: armor (unlocked via Jacob's personal mission), shields (unlocked via Tali's personal mission), and weapons (unlocked via Garrus' personal mission). Those three were specifically called out as important during the suicide mission, but I'd research every improvement just to be sure.

Hit the Omega-4 Relay immediately after the Collector attack.

And about the suicide mission itself, there are probably other configurations, but this is what I did and everyone survived:

Spoiler

Tech Specialist: Legion
First Strike Team Leader: Garrus
Escort Normandy Survivors: Jacob
Diversion Team Leader: Garrus
Biotic Shield Specialist: Samara

Edited by Tempest, 02 February 2010 - 10:48 AM.

[Philiposophy]

'Philiposophy', on 01 February 2010 - 09:42 PM, said:

One thing that irked me though is that even though I had a load of old saves left over from ME1 they were nowhere to be seen when I wanted to import one... so I ended up just starting a flat out new game, the defaults of which weren't quite what I'd had in mind in some cases.

However I'll just beat it this time and then when I come to playing around with it all a bit more, I think I'll put more effort into sorting out what happened. Unless anyone has any idea of course.

Heh, I've sorted it out now anyway. Oh well, I'll proceed on.

[Dark-Mage]

I got my copy today. Was going to wait, due to other commitments, however, I found out that my local Game still had some collector's editions in stock so I grabbed one whilst I could, even if it was overpriced. Looking forward to seeing more of the game :-)