Mass Effect 2 Spoilers Thread

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#141

So I finished up this past weekend. I really loved the game and the new stule of game play. I found myself constantly trying to reload when i was playing the first game.

I was just coming off the first game so i decided to play on Veteran which was a bit difficult learing to get by the first time. But i am about to set it to Hardcore then Insanity.

I managed to get by with all my peeps and the Normandy mostly intact.

I sent Legion thru the vents casue he can hack anything and can handle himself in a fight if he needs to. I didnt trust Miranda, so i sent Garrus to lead any of the other teams. When i had the option to save the doc and send her back to the Normandy i sent Grunt with her. I figured he could handle himself in a fight.

Oh and i accidently choose Morith over Samara so my playthru as a complete Paragon was kinda kaput. That and i pushed that one guy out the window cause that was really really cool to do.

The two biggest complaints is that the Text is really hard to read on a Standard def screen and i never got to nail my assistant. Maybe it would help if i played as a dude…

I loved being able to play as Joker albeit it was just for a second it felt cool to step into some one elses shoes for a little bit of the game.

Also i think the mission where you get to resuce and recruit Tali was by far the coolest level design i hae played in a long time. I loved having to risk running out into the sun to hit a better spot and get ammo vs the risk of staying under cover

#142

Actually the assistant thing doesn’t play out any differently if you play a male Shep. Kelly is not a true romance option, it is just harmless flirting and a dinner.

#143

your absolutely right that was damn impressive level design.

#144

Mordin seems to randomly die for no readily apparent reason. The general consensus is that you should send him back to the Normandy with the rescued crew; that seems to keep him alive.

#145

Kelly, “I like re-runs of Soul Train and shopping in the clearance section at Frederick’s of Hollywood.” :slight_smile:

#1 reason for romancing Jack. As scientist and physician, Mordin feels obligated to give Shepard “how to safely have relations with a dangerous biotic” advice. The instructional vids are not actually delivered to Shepard’s private terminal. :stuck_out_tongue: Missed opportunity: Doctor Chakwas could have delivered this spiel in her deadpan British accent.

I’m trying to finish up an adept play through on hardcore difficulty. Despite many complaints about the class, Adept is a one man battleship at level 25 and up. Shields are feeling real thin towards the end of the game though. Desperately vacillating between Heavy Geth Shield Boost, Heavy Barrier and Heavy Energy Drain as my bonus power. After so much hammering this game feels roughly equivalent to Crysis at hard difficulty. Don’t let anyone tell you ME2 isn’t a respectable shooter, they’re just blowing smoke.

#146

I got Mordin to sing show tunes for me. I guess that’s his romance option.

“I am the very model of a scientist Salarian…”

#147

Yea i laughed so hard at that. That was a completely unexpected gem

#148

Lol. Not romance. You get that after completing his loyalty mission and chatting with him a couple times afterwards.

I was wondering if that was Bioware’s idea originally, or something the voice actor brought to the table after he was cast.

#149

Had a nice 3hr block yesterday evening and finally managed to finish my first playthrough (Female Renegade Vanguard on Insanity). What a fun game! So much improved over ME1 as well, it was astounding how good the game played and looked. I didnt continue after the credits but I might since I never got to finish romancing Thane. I only got around to trying my hand at the romance late in the game and ended up with some funny conversations. I made Tali blush, I almost went there with Garrus, my attempt with Jacob was so clumsy he actually said something along the lines of ‘uh commander…I dont want this to get awkward’ lol. Jacks was funny as well, she didnt even let me get to a flirt option she just opened up with ‘look your nice and everything but im not into the girls club’ :smiley:

I delayed too long after my crew was taken and only a handful of them survived only to be killed when I didnt send anyone to guard them. Garrus was taken by the seeker swarm :frowning: DAMN YOUS! Samara bit it leading the second group in the biotic field part.

There are some ridiculously difficult parts in this game that I didnt see anyone mention:
Waves of Varren during Grunts Rite. Geez those things are hard to kill.
2nd or 3rd stop during the biotic field part at the end.
Smugglers depot. Aria is going to get a kicking in ME3 for sending me to that place. :mad: End boss is pie compared to fighting off 3 of those heavy mechs at once.

Cant wait to play my Paragon, hopefully this weekend I will have some time to play and explore the different dialog options and missions from a different perspective.

#150

First, mad props for playing Insanity the first time through. I like to play Veteran the first time so I can enjoy the story but still have to work a bit. My second play through was on hardcore and was easier then the first because I knew what to expect and how to address it better.

Up to Veteran the Varren don’t have any armor so Shockwave is your best friend. Melee attackers (such as Varren and Geth) are much harder at the higher difficulty because of their speed and armor.

I fought the 3 mechs early on in my first run (probably with Jacob and Miranda) and that was a pain. The second time I waited till later in the game and I think it was Tali and Grunt and cruised thru. That and the Praetorian’s gave me the most trouble the first time.

#151

I forgot about the Praetorian. Dumb reapers, an army of those things would have been impossible to defeat! Fortunately they are slow and the places where you fight them give you plenty of room to run around. I had a bigger problem with Varren than I did Husks. The upgraded carnifex can strip the armor off a Husk in 1 or 2 shots depending on where you shoot, and like you said after that shockwave, it just tears em apart.

The three mechs was so hard I didnt bother to finish it. On my best attempt I killed 2 of them and had 4 crates left, I figured it wasnt worth it.

Just remembered a funny conversation between a Quarian and a Turian in the bar with the Asari bartender. The Quarian is complaining about her human boyfriend and the Turian is all ‘youre so great, you deserve someone who understands and respects you. Someone whose food you can eat even!’ :smiley: Sneaky Turian trying to ingratiate himself!

I need to remember to stand around a bit more and listen to the ambient conversations. :slight_smile:

#152

You should definitely do that because they are awesome. That Quarian/Turian conversation is hilarious but my favorite has to be the poor guy on the Citadel still trying to return the item from ME. The commercials on the Citadel were pretty hilarious too. The world felt a lot more real this time because of little touches like that.

#153

The Flame Thrower heavy weapon is your friend during Grunts Rite i found.

And i went after the Heavy Mechs early on and really didn’t have too much trouble with them. But i was playing as a Solider so i had access to better bullets that make killing off the Mechs pretty easy…well relatively at least. I just went in with Garrus and I forgot the who else. Went in and attacked the first one and killed him almost instantly. Then i was able to get on the second guy pretty quickly. I killed him and finished off the last guy and still had 11 or 12 crates. If i had taken a couple Tech peps i would have done much better.

#154

I typed a detailed response, but some how the Google Chrome window closed on me…

Grats! I feel a little silly complaining about my Casual play through. But, it’s hard to move around to avoid being hit, aim, and shoot with one hand.

I had more trouble with the Thresher Maw and the Praetorian because I prefer to stand still while shooting.

I took Miranda and Garrus for Overload, but I may regret giving Garrus so many points in Overload. I saved 12, then 13 crates, but I tried 5-6 times. I did learn I didn’t like the Cain heavy weapon. The Cain may do the most damage over time, but an alpha strike weapon like the ML-77 is better for me.

I am shooting for (no pun intended) for heavy weapon achievement, but it doesn’t seem to want to register 2/5 weapon kills I made. Not sure what’s wrong other than squad mates stealing my kills.

I agree with ol_whatsername. Load an old save and just go back and forth between a random spot in the room and the couple.

#155

4 days later and I’ve surpassed my Sentinel play through. I noticed it takes 3 or 4 missions before the Loyalty mission opens. I’ve finished all the loyalty missions, got maxed paragon, and finished all of the mailed N7 missions. There are a few scanned only missions I haven’t done yet. I’m just before the IFF mission.

Did I mess myself up with Legion? Will I be able to unlock his loyalty mission by doing some scan only missions before I’m at the point of no return? Also, I’m level 22 now. I don’t see how I can reach level 30…?

If I did, then meh. But, I’m curious.

#156

You can get his loyalty mission right after you get him as far as I have seen. I have always finished everything else up before going for the IFF. It was good because you won’t want to be worrying about the little stuff after you get it.

#157

Good to know, thanks. What about reaching level 30?

#158

The biggest help is getting the Long Service Medal for finishing the game twice or just once if playing a ME1 character. It grants a 25% XP bonus modifier.

Playing an ME1 import adds several civvy missions to the four hub worlds. These are more of the non-combat “talk, run and fetch” tasks at +50 XP each. I doubt this is actually only 50 XP points, more like +50 XP * unknown modifiers, since supposedly there is a fixed 1000 XP point gap between each level. Very much unlike ME1’s logarithmically increasing scores between levels.

Doing all of the civvy hub world quests and the assorted Cereberus request missions, but only about five of the planetary exploration missions, got me level 30 before meeting Legion. By comparison, playing a new ME2 character the very first time I ended up level 24 despite scouring the galaxy for all things heroic.

Getting your level four mastery class early adds a big Paragon/Renegade point modifier but I don’t know if this also factors into the XP equation. Number of kills by Shepard is reflected in mission XP awards, so don’t let your squaddies do all of the fighting. The Prima Strategy Guide features Level/XP chart and… nothing else on this subject. :mad: The Mass Effect Wiki is still busily reverse engineering ME2’s XP formula.

#159

Great explanation. The leveling system is very exact being given on a per mission basis, not per kill basis like ME1. My level 50 (ME1) import only made (ME2) level 28 because of starting at level 3. My new (ME2) character reached level 30 with the 25% bonus. They say a level 60 (ME1) import starts at level 5 so those should be the only two ways to get level 30. Any new ME2 first play character should only reach level 24-25 as you said.

#160

My 60 from ME made 30 the first time through if you do EVERYTHING including Zaaed’s mission and Normany Crash Site