My copy is due to arrive any day. I'm anxious, to say the least.

I bought the collectors edition of Mass Effect 2 for about 82 dollars on launch day and I don't regret it. At all.

I've beaten it 3 times. Currently on my 4th play-through. I've been playing it for about a month now and I still can't stop playing it. Everything from the first game has been improved greatly and many features is now more streamlined and user-friendly then they were in its predecessor. Especially on how the combat system is handled, and I'm personally glad that they ditched the Mako.

I think I prefer Male Shepard over Female. Jennifer Hales voice is emotionless and empty. Even cringe worthy at times. Mark Meer = FTW. :p

By the way, has anybody downloaded the DLC character Zaeed? I personally find his voice to be... interesting.

Tali worship aside... anyone else have problems putting down the controller/mouse on this game? hehehe... Fallout 3 got me hooked on 'gun shooters'.. Deadspace enriched the experience (super game), ME1 was a nice mix.. but ME2 seems to have snagged some of the better elements from all of 'em. LIke I said.. it's like crack. :indif: must play ME2...

No problem whatsoever. I finished the game once and got really disappointed when I compared the main story to the story of ME1 (I've talked about this in my previous posts, so I won't repeat myself), then I decided to give it another chance and see if I missed anything that might change my opinion, but nope. The game is good, fun, it has many flaws compared to the original and also some advantages, but overall it just wasn't fun enough to do more than twice in a row. :indif:

On another note, Tali FTW. On the official forums there's a Tali support thread, third in a row with over a thousand pages, which really amazes me. I just hope all the posting those people do will actually matter. In the meantime, I'm replaying Assassin's Creed in preparation for the PC release of the sequel. :D

Tali worship aside...

hey chainz :D ME2 has been totally messing with my folding!

Despite my best intentions, I really let Tali down on the loyalty mission. I didn't see the big deal in keeping things secret and now she hates my guts!

Ah well, it's not like she was going to go for any girl on girl with my fem shep anyway.

I'm 38 hours in now and at the suicide mission. I've scanned and pillaged every planet's resources and done all but one side quest - that crashed freighter level is extremely buggy on PC...so I've skipped it. :(

I've now got over 600k of most resources and almost 100k cash and resources and nothing to do with it.... maybe some future DLC will make some use of it :p

mtfbwya

My femshep is far sexier..in an ice-cold lesbian paragon type way



Nothing wrong with a striptease from Kelly :p Unforunately, I think that's as far as you can go with her. :(

@Commander Obi Wan?? Does Kelly really do that ? Or is that for a male shep only ?

I cant even get her to feed my fish like Stoffe said she did for her femshep :( My fish are dead again !

Also, why is Dr Chakwas on the ship...she's done nothing the whole time except drink some brandy, and now she just got kidnapped of course The only think I can guess is that she becomes a bit redundant if you have Mordin ??

mtfbwya

Also, why is Dr Chakwas on the ship...she's done nothing the whole time except drink some brandy, and now she just got kidnapped of course

I think it's partly to provide some familiarity from ME1, but primarily for the spoiler-marked part of the above quote:

If you take your sweet time to head to the Omega-4 Relay after the crew gets abducted she will be the only survivor who's left to tell the tale of what happened, as far as I know. She'll be quite upset with you if that happens, and they probably figured it would have a bigger emotional impact if it was some long-running character rather than an anonymous cerberus crewmember in that role. (If on the other hand you go there immediately after the abduction you'll get there in time to save the whole crew.)

I think I prefer Male Shepard over Female. Jennifer Hales voice is emotionless and empty. Even cringe worthy at times. Mark Meer = FTW. :p Hurrah! Finally a kindred spirit. I think if FemShep's voice was listed under a pseudonym then it wouldn't get half as much praise as it does. Damn Bastila fanboys. They should have gotten Grey DeLisle to do it instead.

Does Kelly really do that ?Indeed she does - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoeX_PKByVc) - although how she does some of the moves without anything to hold onto is an interesting question. Mass effect fields perhaps. A noble use.

After finishing it the first time, i started an insanity playthrough, and its, uhm... insane. I thought of being an infiltrator and trying out Mav's playstyle strategy, but i rebooted my soldier Shepard from the first playthrough since you start off with all your stuff. (i may be playing insanity, but im not that good enough to start from scratch)

In order to play, i use my beloved Anti-Material rifle with a constant use of Heightened Adrenalin Rush along with an appropriate ammo for the current battle situation. I chose Warp Ammo as my extra ability... across Incendiary, Disruptor, and Warp ammo any enemy can be adapted to, and overpowered.

On insanity, anything but headshots are useless. And the 3 seconds it takes you to pop up and line up a headshot is guaranteed to kill you. The only way i personally am able to play is to use heightened adrenalin rush and quickly use the time dilation to nail em right between the eyes with the Widow. Soldiers' Heightened AR dilates time by 70%... how much time dilation do infiltrator's get with snipers?


Im feeling a lot of replayability with ME2... compared to 1 there's far less grinding, all the missions are fresh and diverse, and, of course, they're all optional.

But alas, calamity has struck. My sister moved out with the only computer capable of playing ME2 (hers). Ive lent the game to her, and now im sitting here twiddling my thumbs with eyes darting left to right, and no ME2. :hurk:

So, to appease myself, i actually had a look at the collector's edition goodies (i hadn't before for fear of spoilers... which i was very right to do - don't read the artbook till youve played through at least once!).

The Collector's (lol) edition comes with an ME2 artbook, the first ME comic (by good ol' Dark Horse), Collector Chitin Armor (which i ignore like the rest of the helmet unremovable armors), and a bonus DVD.
(Collector's edition also has infinitely cooler box/cover art)

Out of all those, my favorite is the art book, which is simply fantastic. I love it!

The comic was good, and the DVD is also good, but slightly disappointing; it has the game trailers, game wallpapers, and a documentary. When i saw the menu item "Trailers" i though it would have all the videos from the ME2 site. But it doesn't; it only has a few. The wallpapers were of no use since i had already downloaded every wallpaper, screenshot, and avatar from the game site. So it looks like ill just have to continue with my media-conquest of the ME2 website by dl'ing all the videos i don't have. (currently about 60% done).

Apart from that, the documentary on the DVD was great.

2. If your computer is awesome/if youve played it before on an awesome comp, and have seen 1 at high fps's, how different does 2's fps cap of 30 feel? good or bad? (1's fps cap was 62, i think. i lowered it to 30 or 40 because the anims were too fast and ruined the game's feel)

2) There's an FPS cap of 30? :confused: Mine runs at 60FPS, just like ME1.

Somewhere in the bonus vids they did indeed mention a fps cap of 30, but i think they were meaning the animations rather than the game itself. In ME1, when you had a high game fps, the animations sped by ridiculously fast and looked quite lame. In ME2, the animations are smooth and proper regardless of the game fps.

Also in the documentaries were gameplay footage from what appears to be an earlier version of the game, with a slightly different HUD, and a seriously cool holographic ammo count on the weapons. (which has been replaced with ammo indicators in the final version). I wonder if this beta HUD is still in the game files...

Speaking of the HUD, has anyone noticed that the four corners of the screen are slightly darkened right through the entire game? (with and without HUD, in and out of cutscenes). Whats up with that? (its not bad... its just... "eh?")

Some of you may recognise her from that series 'Chuck' but I never saw it myself.

I recently saw the pilot episode of Chuck, and she really looks quite good IRL.

Don't know what happened for the game when they did such a fantastic job on Mark Vanderloo.

As long as it doesn't contain any Thresher Maws I'll be happy. Those were the absolutely worst part of planet exploration in ME1, and the reason I tended to avoid flat plains and take long detours over rocky terrain to get where I needed to go.

Hihi, same here.

What?? I loved the Thresher Maws in the first game! In fact, i'd actually go looking for flat plains of land hoping to find some to blow up! :lol:
They were pretty easy to spot for the most part though, considering that planets were generally like a continuous mountain chain in every direction except for the one smooth, wide open area where a maw was inevitably lurking. Even then it wasn't a super big deal - just get out of the Mako and fight it on foot. Wrex made out like it was such a big deal in ME2. Pfffff....

You can fight them on foot in ME1??! :eyepop

I never tried doing that cause i always thought that it would just mean an automatic insta-death...

Actually, that Asari who's boss of the club on Omega, does a nice smile.

Aria T'loak... aka, Carrie Anne Moss aka Trinity from the Matrix. I quite like that character. And yes, that smile when she says the "one rule of Omega" was nice.

(note: when you first meet Aria, that "hold out" scene where everyone pulls out their guns on each other... I wonder if thats an homage to the hold out scene in The Matrix Revolutions in that Merovingian fellow's club...?)

I <3 Tali.. Not only was I sweating bullets (and losing shields in the sun) when trying to rescue/find/recruit her, and not only did I choke up at a particular scene (loyalty quest)... but the Paragon option for it was PERFECT! Hats off to the developer.. hats off my friend

But right now i'm torn between Kelly and Tali.

I loaded up a pre-romance save and went with Kelly... and she can, uh... really dance, huh? :xp:

Kelly is really nice and all, but her "romance" isn't very deep at all - its just some flirting here and there. IMO it could have been good if they fleshed it out more; added more to it. (it wouldve been/would be interesting to romance a character not part of the active team)

But I ended up choosing Tali. Tali's romance is deeper, more fleshed out, and is more emotionally engaging than all the other romances. That, and also because its Tali. :3

The fact that its a better romance than the others is evidenced by the huge amount of Tali support there is. I mean, she's practically blown poster-girl Miranda and alterna-punk Jack out of the water in terms of popularity.

It appears that BioWare pays attention to things like this as implied with Garrus' comment to male Shepard about how "everyone was always ignoring Shepard and hitting on him". I also have a feeling that him becoming 10x more awesome in ME2 can be attributed somewhat to sizable amount of Garrus love. ( i mean, he was awesome in the first game, now they've made him the freaking man!) Hopefully something like this should happen with Tali in ME3...

Garrus was my favorite character in ME1 and is one my favorites in ME2.
But i'm personally annoyed about the blast marks on his damaged suit. I mean, i can understand the face, but why does he have to wear damaged armor right through the entire game? (Also, i am very annoyed that electrocuting that batarian mechanic guy on Omega did nothing at all to affect the state of the gunship and subsequently, Garrus' face. :mad:)

I hope they release a DLC or something to address this, or that there is some kind of hack to have him have the post-injury face with the pre-injury suit.

By the way, has anybody downloaded the DLC character Zaeed?
Zaeed is ok. I like his loyalty mission. As a party member, he is average in usefulness imo.
There is a new Party member coming called Katsume, but i don't know how she'll be.
I personally find his voice to be... interesting.

What do you mean by that?


Ive personally downloaded all the DLCs that are available to me: Zaeed, the Collector armor + rifle, The Terminus Assault armor + weapon, the Cerberus armor + shotgun, and the Normandy Crash Site, and I seriously want those Dr.Pepper visors. When i saw the screenshots on the game site i thought "*gasp!* Its the Verpine Headband from Kotor! :emodanc: " (my favorite headband in kotor - basically the Sentinel Visor but red). Imagine my shock and annoyance when i heard that its only available through Dr.Pepper promotional codes, and furthermore, its only available in the US! :mad:

gaah, i want those visors...
Anyone in the US with spare Dr.Pepper codes willing to help out an international fella? :(

that crashed freighter level is extremely buggy on PC...so I've skipped it.
Ah yes, that level...it was indeed extremely buggy, but i managed to complete it with many quick-loads. :D

I just finished too, very impressed with the whole game, with the couple of buggy bits paling into insignificance compared to the overall quality of the game.

It was a bit shocking to

lose a few team members, but I'm pretty pleased because the ones that died were the ones that I wasnt hugely fond of...Tali, Zeeed, Grunt Those I like are still there :)

Having just spent almost 40 hours on it, Im not jumping back in until a DLC comes out.

Assassins Creed 2 is out here tomorrow on pc... whilst ubisofts DRM shenanigans has dampened some of the excitement I had for its release.... playing AC in my favorite era in History is pretty hard to pass up....

mtfbwya

how much time dilation do infiltrator's get with snipers?

With max ranks in your passive class power you get 60% slowdown for about 2.5 seconds whenever you zoom in with the sniper rifle scope (so you can just zoom out and zoom back in again when the effect expires if you need more). Makes it pretty simple to line up headshots at any range. :)


Speaking of the HUD, has anyone noticed that the four corners of the screen are slightly darkened right through the entire game? (with and without HUD, in and out of cutscenes). Whats up with that? (its not bad... its just... "eh?")

Haven't noticed anything like that, so if it's there it is barely noticeable.


What?? I loved the Thresher Maws in the first game! In fact, i'd actually go looking for flat plains of land hoping to find some to blow up! :lol:

I don't like monsters that pop up right in your face and toss you about like a ragdoll with there being little you can do about it other than luck. The Maw in ME2 during Grunts Rite of Passage was OK though since it stayed at a distance and didn't get up close and personal.


Also, i am very annoyed that electrocuting that batarian mechanic guy on Omega did nothing at all to affect the state of the gunship and subsequently, Garrus' face. :mad:

As far as I can tell the backstab results in the Gunship having half its armor gone when it shows up later during the fight, making it a bit quicker to take down.


Ive personally downloaded all the DLCs that are available to me


All the Armor DLC are pretty useless since you're stuck with an ugly helmet on all the time, which looks stupid and makes the whole character customization process pointless. Not going to spend an hour wrestling with the facegen just to stick the head in a bucket for the rest of the game. I imagine the Liara kiss scene will look pretty stupid with a helmet on too. :)

The Normandy Memorial DLC was nice though.


Ah yes, that level...it was indeed extremely buggy, but i managed to complete it with many quick-loads. :D

Which quest is that? The one with the freighter balancing on the cliff edge or the one with all the mechs in the sandstorm? Haven't experienced any problems with either of those so far.

[spoiler]
Tali worship aside... anyone else have problems putting down the controller/mouse on this game? hehehe... Fallout 3 got me hooked on 'gun shooters'.. Deadspace enriched the experience (super game), ME1 was a nice mix.. but ME2 seems to have snagged some of the better elements from all of 'em. LIke I said.. it's like crack. :indif: must play ME2...

I did... I played it for ridiculous times every time (ridiculous for me, that is :xp: )
I took up the controller, and found it difficult to stop, and even after shutting the console down i found myself wanting to turn it back on for some more. And several times i did turn it back on :p Im thinking of replaying the game with the same character again, cause i didnt exactly explore every corner of the galaxy on the first time, and then playing me1 again with a new character and exporting it to 2 :D

hey chainz :D ME2 has been totally messing with my folding!
Hehe.. mine too. I still haven't setup my pc client back up :o
I'll let the PS3 do the grunt work for awhile...

Despite my best intentions, I really let Tali down on the loyalty mission. I didn't see the big deal in keeping things secret and now she hates my guts!
Bummer. Of course, me being a Tail fanatic.. I was making sure I saved EVERYWHERE during her quests to make sure I didn't screw up :xp: Normally I'll let things go as they stand decision wise (RP rule, no save/reload unless death), but Tali was a tease since ME1.. hehe. Wasn't about to mess things up with her. Luckily I didn't have to break my rule... I just rallied the crowd and everything was peachy :emodanc:

On another note though.. seems I inadvertently was "courting" Jack. :confused: Thought I was just being supportive to the nut-ball.. but I guess "How are you doing?" means "wanna F#%$@" in space-talk :lol:

Had to cut that loose end real quick lest I lost Tali.. so now Jack will only tell me to "Fornicate Off" anytime I try to talk to her :¬:
ahh well.... at least she's still loyal to the mission.

Had to cut that loose end real quick lest I lost Tali.. so now Jack will only tell me to "Fornicate Off" anytime I try to talk to her :¬:
ahh well.... at least she's still loyal to the mission. Jack does that even if you don't cut her off. At a certain point if you do not romance her she isn't very talkative, male/female it does not matter. I’m going to try to romance her my next playthrough to see if it is possible to get her to say more. More likely instead of telling Shepard to “Fornicate Off,” she will show Shepard how to fornicate.

Jack does that even if you don't cut her off. At a certain point if you do not romance her she isn't very talkative, male/female it does not matter.
Ah. Good to know. At least she's an equal opportunity hater. :lol:

I’m going to try to romance her my next playthrough to see if it is possible to get her to say more. More likely instead of telling Shepard to “Fornicate Off,” she will show Shepard how to fornicate.
Same here. I would've gone for Jack had they not allowed a Tali romance option in ME2. But, since I thought I was screwing up in ME1 for the longest time since there was never an option to flirt with Tali (till I discovered she wasn't even an option :headbump ) I'm turning on the wooing powers for my favorite-est alien... hehe

But yeah, chicks with tatoos & piercings, what's not to like :naughty: While Miranda's pixel-perfect-posterior always seems to be front and center.. I just don't find her very appealing.. even her sob story loyalty quest wasn't as quite the heart-tugger as Tali's was. meh.

Not sure who my female Shepard will stalk.. probably Thane. Jacob's story is just as menial as Miranda's. Too bad Joker and Doc Chakwas is off limits.

You can fight them on foot in ME1??! :eyepop

I never tried doing that cause i always thought that it would just mean an automatic insta-death...Yeah it's pretty straightforward. A lot easier than doing it in the Mako actually. They telegraph their spitting attack fairly obviously and when you're on foot they tend not disappear beneath the ground and pop up in a different spot again. If you have trouble, just circle strafe. The main reason to fight them (and everything else, like a Colossus) on foot is you get more XP than you do in the Mako.

Anyone in the US with spare Dr.Pepper codes willing to help out an international fella? :( You don't need to be in the US and you don't need "spare" codes. They aren't unique - there's a single set of codes for everyone. Just Google it and you'll turn them up.

Hurrah! Finally a kindred spirit. I think if FemShep's voice was listed under a pseudonym then it wouldn't get half as much praise as it does. Damn Bastila fanboys. They should have gotten Grey DeLisle to do it instead.
Yay, finally someone who agrees with me.

What do you mean by that?
What I meant that was that his voice is awesome. The dude who voiced Zaeed also voiced Saul in KotOR I and Lord Harrowmont in Dragon Age: Origins. I think Zaeed isn't all that useless as some people make him out to be. His war stories on what he has done in the Terminus System and his adventures with little ''Jessy'' cracks me up. Plus, its relaxing to listen to Robin Sachs voice. :p

And yes, I downloaded all the DLC that I possibly can. I think the Terminus armor is quite an amazing design. My favorite armor pretty much. But enough of this redundant statement, I have a question: Is the E.A and Doctor Pepper codes still in effect or has it been ended? I'm thinking of getting Recon Hood.

While Miranda's pixel-perfect-posterior always seems to be front and center.I went Miranda first as a male Shepard. 2nd playthrough my female Shepard stayed loyal to Liara. 3rd playthrough went with Tali, was going for Tali on first playthrough, but went too far in the Miranda romance to feel good about breaking it off. 4th playthrough my female Shepard went with Thane. Tali and Miranda's romance were fun, Thane's was just as well done, but his condidtion made it a little sad.

Too bad Joker and Doc Chakwas is off limits.
My female Shepards would break every bone in Joker's body. I think Joker is more of a hands off his brittle bones type of guy that likes to flirt. That is why EDI and Joker get along so well.

Not sure who my female Shepard will stalk.. probably Thane.

I like the character design and history, but talking to him creeps me out when he goes into one of those reveries... its very emo-anime style and IMHO doesnt fit in nicely with the way the rest of the characters are presented ie. you don't really hear their thoughts.

Jack was equally rude to my femshep but I humoured her because she is a damn powerful biotic and really delivered on the final level for me. She even calls you commander the whole time :p

As far as temperament goes, Samara is my type of gal. Mature, experienced, can pull your nuts off if you mess with her. Tali is a bit too whiny and obsessed with the approval of others. Samara is an entity unto herself.

After I'm done with AC2, I'm thinking of a re-do with all my kit and purely focusing on being as mean and nasty as I can be. I want to get some nasty scars going on my femshep :p

Now, anyone else excited about ME3?? :thmbup1: :D

mtfbwya

As far as temperament goes, Samara is my type of gal. Mature, experienced, can pull your nuts off if you mess with her. Tali is a bit too whiny and obsessed with the approval of others. Samara is an entity unto herself.

Samara/Morinth is my favourite character. I love her story, and the fact that you can run around with Morinth without anyone else knowing it is her. I wonder if we'll get to meet her other two daughters in ME3? ;)

... I love her story, and the fact that you can run around with Morinth without anyone else knowing it is her. I wonder if we'll get to meet her other two daughters in ME3? ;)

I guess that's what happens when you spare Morinth? My Samara killed her. Pesky murderous kids.

mtfbwya

Yeah sorry, guess I should of put a spoiler tag on that, I just presumed everyone knew that by now. You really need to play Renegade.

I knew I should have stayed away from this thread. :p

As far as temperament goes, Samara is my type of gal. Mature, experienced, can pull your nuts off if you mess with her.
Yeah, never got in to the whole warrior/monk Justicar thing. Although my Shep helped her kill her daughter... I was tempted to sway the battle towards Morinth. Something my fem Shep won't have a problem with ;)
Samurai already had their era :xp:

Tali is a bit too whiny and obsessed with the approval of others.Heresy! :fist: hehehe.. The romance however actually touched that area and she explains why she is the way she is. BioWare seems to have put alot of work in her story this round.. as probably evident of her staggering fanbase (yours truly included.. heh). They were probably afraid of the village's mob :lol:

Now, anyone else excited about ME3?? :thmbup1: :D
Hellz yah! Kinda wished I had put ME2 off longer. Now the wait is going to be torture (Diablo III come save me! well, or Fallout: New Vegas)

----- my 1st run ending, potential spoilers, WARNING ------

Just finished my game last nite (1st run) and man was it end-of-your-seat affair :D I don't know how I did it (well, actually with over a 40 hour playtime, I do) but I managed to get an "No one left behind" achievement? :confused: Wasn't really expecting that as I thought 'someone' was bound to die, though I have steered clear from the wikis & YouTube. Wanted it to be as spoiler free as possible. Nice to see there is a path where everyone can be saved... just kinda threw me for a loop. Now I'm going to have to dig in to the wikis and see what's up with that.

Had 100% loyal crewmates, and by the time the Suicide Mission / IFF assignment was ready.. I had already drained the galaxy of it's resources and sidequests so I went to Omega 4 immediately. Might have had something to do with it? Team leader picks was pretty much a -duh- run. The mission de-brief might as well highlighted who to choose to lead them. Their descriptions were WAY tipping the scales on the who-knows-what. :xp:

All-in-all I couldn't have asked for a better run. I took Tali & Jack with me on the final battle and it was just pure slaughter. Nothing beats biotics and the 2 ladies wielding close range shotgunny yumminess. Almost felt sorry for the collectors.. hehe

End scene was also perfect since I was pretty much fawning over Tali the entire run.. it was her that saved our arse getting the tech door unlocked (not too mention Shep running his arse off to make sure she didn't fry in those tunnels).. really made for the desperation. It was her that wound up being caught by my Shep on the faceplant/dive/platform slide.. and it was her that helped lift my fat-arse up to the Normandy after my less than manly chasm jump :xp:

Been a long time since I was that pumped after the game was over. Afterwards the summon to quarters feature was a nice touch. :)

How many hours did you put in, Chainz? I've been playing ME a lot, but you seem to have been packing in the hours when I see you online. Your level has jumped every time I look. :)

How many hours did you put in, Chainz? I've been playing ME a lot, but you seem to have been packing in the hours when I see you online. Your level has jumped every time I look. :)

Far too much to be honest.. ;) Now, that my 1st run is done... catching up on some zzz's will be nice. From an earlier post of mine, this game was just a very refreshing experience so it was very hard to put down the controller.. hehehe

It mixed a lot of elements from other games that I like and pretty much made a crack-cocaine version of a game for my play-style :lol:

Of course I say this and start my 'stay-cation' (vacation to nowhere) Friday afternoon.. so yeah, I don't see me slowing down any

Just finished my game last nite (1st run) and man was it end-of-your-seat affair :D I don't know how I did it (well, actually with over a 40 hour playtime, I do) but I managed to get an "Now one left behind" achievement? :confused: Wasn't really expecting that as I thought 'someone' was bound to die, though I have steered clear from the wikis & YouTube. Wanted it to be as spoiler free as possible. Nice to see there is a path where everyone can be saved... just kinda threw me for a loop. Now I'm going to have to dig in to the wikis and see what's up with that.


http://random-squeegee.com/knight.jpg)
"You have chosen...wisely."

My first playthrough I messed up and lost Jack. You can have everyone survive even if they are not all loyal, but you must be careful on who you use for different task during the end game. Although I’ve read that Mordin can die even if you do everything right. Never had it happen, just read it on the Bioware forum.

Personally, I think the ending has more of an impact should everyone on the team not survive, but not going to take a chance on it hurting my position in ME3 for my favorite playable Shepards.

Anyone have a quick and easy tip for how to not leave anyone behind - I will try it when I get back to ME2 in future.

I lost 3! 3 I don't care for I must admit, but 3 nonetheless... The only time I got told I made an excellent choice(by Miranda) was when I picked Samara to lead the fire team.

@chainz... I have a friend called Tali. It's a Hebrew name - it means 'dew' ;) She does not wear a mask I'm afraid :p

http://www.my-hebrew-name.com/images/tali.gif)

mtfbwya

Anyone have a quick and easy tip for how to not leave anyone behind - I will try it when I get back to ME2 in future. I lost 3!

3 I don't care for I must admit, but 3 nonetheless... The only time I got told I made an excellent choice(by Miranda) was when I picked Samara to lead the fire team.

mtfbwya

My Teams were

1st
Tech = Tali
Team Lead = Garrus
ME = Grunt & Thane

2nd
Biotic = Samara
Team Lead = Jacob (because I wanted Garrus with me)
Escort = Mordin
ME = Garrus & Grunt

3rd
Final Team = Me, Tali & Jack (I was a soldier)
Left all my heavy-hitters behind to defend our arse.. hehehe


EDIT:

@chainz... I have a friend called Tali. It's a Hebrew name - it means 'dew' ;) She does not wear a mask I'm afraid :pShe gets +5,000 kewl points :D

The only time I got told I made an excellent choice(by Miranda) was when I picked Samara to lead the fire team. Miranda and Jacob are just full of good advise. At least good advise on how to get you, your team and the crew dead. I think all her brains are in her butt.


My Teams were

1st
Tech = Tali or Legion (make sure whoever you send is loyal.)
Team Lead = Garrus Miranda or Jacob (again make sure they are loyal)
ME = Grunt & Thane (does not matter).

2nd
Biotic = Samara Don't know since she is all I ever used.
[Team Lead = Jacob (because I wanted Garrus with me) Again, Garrus, Miranda or Jacob (leader should be loyal)
Escort = Mordin Anyone will do, but I would either send Tali or Mordin in order to keep them safe.
ME = Garrus & Grunt Does not matter.

[3rd
Final Team = Me, Tali & Jack (I was a soldier)
Left all my heavy-hitters behind to defend our arse.. hehehe If you leave Tali or Mordin with this group, I would suggest leaving Miranda with them too for her special abilities. I usually take Miranda and Mordin with me, while sending Tali back with the crew. Made Jack and Thane team leaders on playthroughs and neither time did it end well for either of them.

If you want to keep Samara with you, Jack survives as the biotic choice.

I'm on my fourth playthrough after beating it on insanity a few days ago. I would suggest you keep Garrus and Legion with you for the final run and boss, equipped with Sniper rifles. Makes life alot easier.

For normal playtrough:

Tech - Tali
Team leader - Miranda
Biotic - Samara
Escort - Grunt
Team leader - Garrus

So did Tali reveal her face yet?

So did Tali reveal her face yet?

Only after you romance Morinth. :dev14:

Only after you romance Morinth. :dev14:
:eyepop ......... :hurk:

I see what you did there....

So did Tali reveal her face yet?

No, but I will be very surprised if they don't reveal what the Quarians look like in ME3. The way the story went, it kind of hints that they may repopulate their homeworld.

If they don't, there will be alot of very pissed off fans.

So did Tali reveal her face yet?She does, and the best way to describe it is hold your arm out straight and then pinch together the skin at your elbow, now plant 2-4 eyes, maybe a few noses and a mouth on there and you got Tali.

She does, and the best way to describe it is hold your arm out straight and then pinch together the skin at your elbow, now plant 2-4 eyes, maybe a few noses and a mouth on there and you got Tali.

/bans Mav :¬:

She does, and the best way to describe it is hold your arm out straight and then pinch together the skin at your elbow, now plant 2-4 eyes, maybe a few noses and a mouth on there and you got Tali.I did that and Tali doesn't look that bad.
http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/1/15687/1229699-mv5bmti4njmzote3mv5bml5banbnxkfyzxn1bwu_._v1._sx46) 9_sy400__1__large.jpg

Cheers for the team selections folks. A bit different from mine.

Miranda and Jacob are just full of good advise. At least good advise on how to get you, your team and the crew dead. I think all her brains are in her butt.

lolz....and Jacob's in his pants,according to Lexx in the podcast anyway ;)

mtfbwya

lolz....and Jacob's in his pants,according to Lexx in the podcast anyway ;)


XD

Shame he has no hips though. ;)

Okay.

Finally, after zipping about the galaxy, scanning planets non-stop, and slaughtering something that reminded me of a Schwarzenegger movie, I'm done.

For all the times that Harbinger popped up, he really wasn't that big of a deal. More than once, cloaking and headshotting him with the Widow took him out of the picture with only one round lost. I realize that he wasn't the supreme boss, but his appearance could have inspired much more dread if it had been a little less frequent, and if one shot wouldn't have killed him.

Does anyone know what happens to the Normandy if you didn't upgrade her (I did everything I could to help, besides the Med Bay installation)? That is to say, is it possible to actually not return from the Omega-4 Relay?

I was extremely disappointed at myself for allowing Morodin to die in the final part of the last mission. I had selected Tali to crawl through the maintenance ducts with Miranda to lead the first strike team. I believe I then sent Garrus to lead the second group, with Miranda and Thane accompanying myself. For the very last part, Legion accompanied the survivors of the pods back, with Garrus and Miranda joining me to slaughter the Terminator. Is there a better combination to prevent anyone from dying?

The final scene with the hundreds (if not thousands) of incoming Reapers was a great touch to end the game. I don't think I could possibly be wanting the next installment any more than I do right now (with the possible exception of the day before it comes out :p ).

All in all, I thought that the game had a lot more value than the first one. No more endless driving around in the Mako was my greatest relief, though, I wouldn't have minded being able to see the Council once or twice (Anderson telling Udina off was great, however).

Now, I may have to return to real life for a bit, or else be mistaken for lost by family and friends. :p

Does anyone know what happens to the Normandy if you didn't upgrade her (I did everything I could to help, besides the Med Bay installation)? That is to say, is it possible to actually not return from the Omega-4 Relay?

Far as I'm aware if you don't upgrade the major things, you lose one npc each time something happens that they say 'good thing such-and-such was upgraded' for. And if you subsequently manage to get everyone else killed, I've been told Shep doesn't make it out. Haven't had the nerve to try it out yet, though...

Is there a better combination to prevent anyone from dying?
I usually send Mordin as the escort back to Normandy - (possibly) providing he is loyal, he made it through.

The other choices seem sound though - better than I did first time! I managed to get Garrus, Grunt and Jack killed. Needless to say, I reloaded the mission immediately and tried again!

Far as I'm aware if you don't upgrade the major things, you lose one npc each time something happens that they say 'good thing such-and-such was upgraded' for. And if you subsequently manage to get everyone else killed, I've been told Shep doesn't make it out. Haven't had the nerve to try it out yet, though...

Ouch. I'm glad I took everyone's advice and upgraded the Normandy as much as possible. I, for one, was excited when I saw that the upgraded cannons and shields were used against the Collectors immediately after the jump.

I usually send Mordin as the escort back to Normandy - (possibly) providing he is loyal, he made it through.

Good advice, considering that when I retried, Morodin decided to live. I wonder what the ramifications next game will be of having Mass Effect II teammates die?

There's several vids on YouTube of what happens if you don't upgrade.

Some people have reported a lot of trouble with Mordin dying for no apparent reason. Keeping him in your squad is one way of preventing it.

There's several vids on YouTube of what happens if you don't upgrade.

A quick search revealed plenty. Makes me glad that I spent all that time scouring random planets to upgrade the shields, etc. ;)

Yeh, Mordin has a random propensity for death so if you want him to survive it's best to either have him escort the crew back or keep him with you for the finale.

Some people have reported a lot of trouble with Mordin dying for no apparent reason. Keeping him in your squad is one way of preventing it.

I assume that is because he's one of the weaker combat characters, and the standoff holding the final door is the place for the heavy combat characters to shine (just as the tech experts, leaders and biotics had their place in the sun earlier in the mission). So if you assign several weak combat characters (Mordin, Tali etc) to a combat heavy situation there may be casualties, just as there would if you assign the wrong people to the previously mentioned tasks. :)

I don't think that's the case, as some people have reported leaving him there with no ill effect. The general consensus seems to be that it is some sort of bug, seeing as it happens regardless of upgrades and loyalty. I always have him in my squad because I like his Incinerate power, so I've never had the issue crop up personally.

EDIT: Some video of the Hammerhead in action - http://www.gametrailers.com/video/exclusive-hammerhead-mass-effect/62772) Apparently we've swapped climbing mountain chains for platforming.

Guess I'm finally going to be able to actually read this thread next week as I broke down and got ME2 earlier today. Now I've just got to finish my female Shephard for transfer, as I've already got a male one in the wings.

I wonder if...well, I hear there's romance in ME2, and all of Shepard's casual outfits seem so booooooring for a night of passion, if you know what I mean. Anybody know how to get him/her into "something more comfortable"? :) (meaning, anybody made a mod?)