Originally Posted by lolwut? Personally, I don't care how Ashley feels in ME3. She was -ugly anyways. A quick question about getting to level 30: What's the best way to do it? When I finished my first playthrough I was at level 24, maybe 25? Are there enough "search random planets" sidequests to inch my way up to 30? Or should I just try for it on my Insanity playthrough (if I go for one)?

Yeah just do it on an imported playthrough. You get a 25% experience bonus with an imported character, so you'll get it in no time. Every main story/character mission is a level up. I was level 28 and got to 30 in no time--just the kick off mission where you wake up, and the first one after that to get to 30.

Otherwise it's tough to get with one play through. I did all the N7 planet scanning anomaly missions, every loyalty quest, every assignment I came across (which should be most as I was pretty good about talking to everyone etc. and only got to 28.

I'm hoping the DLC will be enough to get it to 30 though, as I want that level 28 end game save to be the main character I import into ME3 and would like to get it up to level 30 without having to do another full playthrough.

Originally Posted by lolwut? Personally, I don't care how Ashley feels in ME3. She was -ugly anyways. A quick question about getting to level 30: What's the best way to do it? When I finished my first playthrough I was at level 24, maybe 25? Are there enough "search random planets" sidequests to inch my way up to 30? Or should I just try for it on my Insanity playthrough (if I go for one)?

import a lvl 60 character and do all the scanned planet missions and the majority of the side quests, all the story and loyalty missions and you will turn lvl 30 in the middle of the last mission.

Originally Posted by dmaul1114 Yeah just do it on an imported playthrough. You get a 25% experience bonus with an imported character, so you'll get it in no time. Every main story/character mission is a level up. I was level 28 and got to 30 in no time--just the kick off mission where you wake up, and the first one after that to get to 30. Otherwise it's tough to get with one play through. I did all the N7 planet scanning anomaly missions, every loyalty quest, every assignment I came across (which should be most as I was pretty good about talking to everyone etc. and only got to 28. I'm hoping the DLC will be enough to get it to 30 though, as I want that level 28 end game save to be the main character I import into ME3 and would like to get it up to level 30 without having to do another full playthrough.

Why wouldn't you just do a second playthrough with the guy you want in ME3? Would you not be able to import if you did?

And to the guy above, I don't have a level 60 character, or ME1 to even get to that point. My ME1 save was only 39

Originally Posted by lolwut? Why wouldn't you just do a second playthrough with the guy you want in ME3? Would you not be able to import if you did?

I'm 100% happy with all the decisions I made and want to carry them over for my main ME3 character, so if I do a second playthrough I just be doing the exact same thing over again which would be boring as hell. I tried playing on Insanity and hated it (not into hard games) so that reason for replaying with the same character/choices is out as well.

Originally Posted by dmaul1114 Regarding starting again with the same ME2 character. Yes you take the end game character. If you're at level 28, for instance, you start at level 28. You keep your skill upgrades, but weapons and armor aren't upgraded--you start with some minerals, but not the level you had at the end. You can't change class etc. But that's the point, to pay a new game with the the SAME character. If you want a new class, etc. you have to start a new game and make a new character from scratch--or import a different ME1 character (or the same one and change it around). As I said before, importing the end game character into a new game doesn't get rid of your end game save. You can go back and play that post end game save to finish up quests and do DLC etc. regardless of whether you import the character into a new game or start other new characters etc.

Well, that still didn't quite answer my issue. I don't care about reclassing. I just want to start my second playthrough with my post-game leveled up character (where I went back and did all the little quests). I'm guessing that is not possible - it will only want to use my very end of game save, and not the one after that? In any case, I'll find out tonight when I start it up in Insanity. Hopefully that new shotgun helps me out a bit, though I never really used shotguns in my first playthrough. They seemed less than useful to me.

As for the romance thing: Crap, I forget who I even romanced in the first ME1 with the save I used. Is there a way to tell? I know I did Ashely one playthrough and Liara in another and it seemed like maybe Ashley was talking like it happened in this game (though it wasn't obvious). Like others, though, I didn't really care for her that much so no big deal. So far it has been Miranda in this one, but that just sort of happened without me trying . It looks like I have the option to switch to Tali - but once again, if the new game (ME3 that is) uses my post-game save and not the continue save then that won't be reflected in ME3 anyway.

What I'm a bit worried about is that I chose my level 59 character when importing and I had done a bunch of renegade stuff like killing the Rachni queen. I really wanted to play with that this still alive (though it never showed up in ME2 - maybe a key element in ME3 though?). If I have used my initial playthrough level 50 character that would have been better. Oh well...

About importing from ME1 and hitting level 30:
As for reaching level 30 - with my level 59 import and completing every last planet mission and all the sidequests except one (I still have a fake ID that I don't know what to do with) I reached level 29 and need about 600 exp to hit 30. So, I got so close, but not quite enough...

Hey so I preordered this game from amazon. Just picked it up (had it shipped to my parents house). I got my 10$ bonus credit for future amazon purchases(emailed it to me) but I there is no infernal armor bonus code. Is the code on a card like the cerebrus network code? or is amazon supposed to email them out? Did they run out? Should I bitch at them? Did anyone else have this problem? Thanks.

Originally Posted by io Well, that still didn't quite answer my issue. I don't care about reclassing. I just want to start my second playthrough with my post-game leveled up character (where I went back and did all the little quests). I'm guessing that is not possible - it will only want to use my very end of game save, and not the one after that?

Ok I get you now. Yes you are correct. You can only import the end game save. Anything you do on that end game save after the ending will not be imported to a new game. Only what ever level your at, upgrades you've completed etc. you have done at the time you beat the final boss.

So your best option--if possible--to do what you want to do is load a save before doing the IFF mission. Then go and do everything you can--all the planet quests etc. before doing that mission. Then when you're done do that, Legions loyalty quest and beat the game again. Then you'll have that end game save to import.

As for the romance thing: Crap, I forget who I even romanced in the first ME1 with the save I used. Is there a way to tell?

In your cabin there will be a picture of your ME1 love interest. It will be face down now since you've done romance stuff in this game. But you can import your ME1 save again and get to the cabin and see who's picture it is.

Originally Posted by bebop Hey so I preordered this game from amazon. Just picked it up (had it shipped to my parents house). I got my 10$ bonus credit for future amazon purchases(emailed it to me) but I there is no infernal armor bonus code. Is the code on a card like the cerebrus network code? or is amazon supposed to email them out? Did they run out? Should I bitch at them? Did anyone else have this problem? Thanks.

It comes in an e-mail from Amazon. It can take up to 10 days after release, but I've never had a pre-order bonus take more than 4 or so.

Check your spam folders, and if it's not there, e-mail Amazon.

Just got my GameInformer and was taken aback by the first line in the rewiew: "The second chapter in the Mass Effect trilogy is more of an enigma than the first, weaving through enough moral ambiguity, ghost-like images, and misleading plot twists to make the writers of the TV show Lost take note.".

Uh, while I think it is an excellent game and agree with their overall score (9.75) the one thing that struck me at the end of ME2 was the utter and complete lack of any plot twists and surprises. This stood out to me in particular when compared to the first game. In fact, I'd say that was really my only disappointment with the game overall. Did the GI reviewers even play the game? That opening line makes me distrust anything else they have to say about the game!

Plot summary: I mean, the story is Cerberus brings you back to life to fight these "mysterious" Collectors which are harvesting humans. You recruit a crew, and go take on said Collectors, who it turns out are working for the reapers. This is by no means a surprise given the first game. Yeah, OK, the "human reaper" was a bit odd, but I didn't find it to be a plot twist or anything - just a new weapon the reapers were planning to use. That's it - no big betrayal like or shocking universe-ending uber-terror like the original appearance of the Reapers like we saw in ME1. In the end you destroy the Collectors and (depending on your choice) their Reaper base. Did I miss something? During the whole game I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop with Cerberus - I thought for sure the Illusive Man would turn out to be an agent of the Reapers too. While that still may happen in ME3, it was certainly not a plot twist to ME2. .

omg reaper. totally awesome plot twist. one large plottwist =/= ten small ones

Yeah the only things really close to twists or even surprises were:



Shepard dying and being brought back to life and working for Cerberus

The Collectors being the Protheans who were corrupted by the reapers.

Originally Posted by dmaul1114 Yeah the only things really close to twists or even surprises were: Shepard dying and being brought back to life and working for Cerberus The Collectors being the Protheans who were corrupted by the reapers.

Only 5 people on the internet didn't know that first one. For some reason Bioware and the games press had to make sure everyone knew it.

Originally Posted by Chibi_Kaji Only 5 people on the internet didn't know that first one. For some reason Bioware and the games press had to make sure everyone knew it.

Yeah, I was one of those 5.

I had read that the normandy went down in the opening scene, but not that Shepard died and was brought back.

I pretty much avoided everything about it, like I do for most sequels to my favorite games. They're must buys anyway so no need to read previews, watch trailers etc.

I wanted to avoid spoilers... But that one came out of left field. you Garnett Lee....

Originally Posted by dmaul1114 Yeah the only things really close to twists or even surprises were: Shepard dying and being brought back to life and working for Cerberus The Collectors being the Protheans who were corrupted by the reapers.

I remembered hearing early on about Shepard dying but then I thought I had read something about that being de-bunked so I was back to being shocked when it happened.

I kind of sped through the first Mass Effect so I don't remember much about Cerberus coming in at all so when he started working for Cerberus it was just like, "ok, sounds good."

The Collectors being the remnants of the Protheons was definitely a surprise though.

Advertisement

Register for free to remove this ad

Originally Posted by Chibi_Kaji I wanted to avoid spoilers... But that one came out of left field. you Garnett Lee....

Yeah, I also don't listen to any podcasts and very seldomly ever visit a gaming site other than CAG--unless going to IGN or Gamespot specifically to look at a specific review or something.

So I can avoid spoilers pretty easily.

Originally Posted by dmaul1114 Yeah, I also don't listen to any podcasts and very seldomly ever visit a gaming site other than CAG--unless going to IGN or Gamespot specifically to look at a specific review or something. So I can avoid spoilers pretty easily.

Same, I just recently started listening to podcasts again and I'm frequently at least a week behind.

Originally Posted by RedvsBlue The Collectors being the remnants of the Protheons was definitely a surprise though.

Meh, I suppose. While it was a surprise, it wasn't a shock. There were lots of things in ME1 that were BIG surprises - like, truly epic story surprises. Of course the big one was uncovering that there was a huge force of relentless machines that wiped out all sentient life every so often and the time for their return was imminent. I guess nothing in ME2 could really compare to that. But it just seemed like the scale was much smaller this time. Yeah, we had the Collectors abducting people with the Reapers obviously behind it all. But since it was limited to just humans it seemed less of an epic threat than in the first game where they clearly came to wipe out everyone. I'm sure there will be more behind this in ME3 so hopefully the story will have more twists and turns then. But for the most part this middle installment was sort of tame. Don't get me wrong, I loved the game and the character interactions and loyalty missions were a big improvement - but just the overall story arc didn't enthrall me like the first one did. Really, the only question was what, exactly, the Collectors/Reapers were up to with all the people they took and how it would end. While the result of the abductions turned out to be gruesome it wasn't unexpected at that point. I mean, did we really expect to save every colonist that had been abducted? I was pretty shocked when I played the end a second time and was able to save all my crew - I kind of liked the screwed up ending where I lost everyone but the doctor.

Also, the whole "human reaper" thing seemed out of character for the Reapers. I thought of them as wanting to destroy all sentient life and not being too picky about particular species and whatnot. Again, I'm sure this will be explained thoroughly in ME3 but it just seemed out of place given the first game. There were hints of some potential future surprises, though, with Harbinger saying Shephard has it wrong and that the Reapers were actually mankind's salvation. Though that could have just been typical evil guy BS talk too .

I suppose another mild surprise in ME2 was the fact that pretty much no one else believes the Reapers are a threat (or even real). I thought the end of ME1 would have proven that to them so I was somewhat surprised the "official line" is that all that trouble was just caused by Saren and his Geth minions. Of course all that helps to set up Shepard as the lone savior of the Universe in ME3 .

I actually didn't know about Shepard dying before I started playing but since it happens so quickly in the beginning I really didn't think of it is a "plot twist" so to speak and wasn't particularly surprised by it, though it was a cool scene there in the beginning.

Originally Posted by io I suppose another mild surprise in ME2 was the fact that pretty much no one else believes the Reapers are a threat (or even real). I thought the end of ME1 would have proven that to them so I was somewhat surprised the "official line" is that all that trouble was just caused by Saren and his Geth minions. Of course all that helps to set up Shepard as the lone savior of the Universe in ME3 .

Yeah that reminded me of Harry Potter.

Where even after the events of Goblet of Fire everyone denied the return of Voldemort.

loving the new armor