Mass Effect 2 Discussion - Fight for the Lost

[quote name='Tha Xecutioner']BioWare did a small presentation during EA's press conference. All it featured was Star Wars: The Old Republic.

No Mass Effect/Dragon Age presentation.[/QUOTE]Well, that's annoying.
 
dscn2118m.jpg


Got my ME custom faceplate today looks great! Sorry about the size.
 
That faceplace is awesome. Congrats on that find!

I thought Overlord was very well done. It had a meaningful story, not just another shootem up on behalf of Cerebrus type of mission.

I'm torn, though. I've declared ME2 THE best game of all time and I want to get all of the achievements. I started my Insanity run, but it's kicking my butt big time. I started with a ME1 import, after beating ME2, so I get all the bonuses. I went with Sentinel, but I think I might restart with Soldier. The insane difficulty might turn me off, though. No wonder they call it Insanity!
 
[quote name='chubbyninja1319']I'm torn, though. I've declared ME2 THE best game of all time and I want to get all of the achievements. I started my Insanity run, but it's kicking my butt big time. I started with a ME1 import, after beating ME2, so I get all the bonuses. I went with Sentinel, but I think I might restart with Soldier. The insane difficulty might turn me off, though. No wonder they call it Insanity![/QUOTE]

Stick with it. Insanity can start off rough, but as you level up and get a few better pieces of gear, it becomes much more tolerable. Once you get the hang of it, I think insanity makes the game more fun overall, since you have to be much more strategic when fighting rather than just running and gunning.
 
I liked the last section of Overlord; very atmospheric and the story went to a pretty disturbing place.

But dang that Geth cannon section was annoying as fuck. There is no reason why the Hammerhead should only be able to take one hit before you die and have to redo the whole thing from the beginning, even with the difficulty on Casual. What is it like on Insanity, a light breeze starts the Hammerhead on fire?
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']Whoa, the new avatar items are really cool. Thane outfit for guys, Miranda outfit for girls... Blood Dragon armor![/QUOTE]

I'm at work, need pics!! I saved some points for this....how many new items?
 
I finally played the free Firewalker missions before starting Overlord, and God did they suck. That ship can take less damage than my normal Shepard in a fight -- I swear it was taken out by a few shots from a Geth trooper. I'll be starting Overlord tonight, but I kinda don't really want to ever use the Hammerhead again.
 
[quote name='Lord_Kefka']I'm at work, need pics!! I saved some points for this....how many new items?[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I'm at work now too, so this is from memory. :) In addition to Miranda, Thane, and Blood Dragon armor (helmet included) for males and females, there are male and female N7 armors, male and female N7 helmets, male and female Cerberus Assault armors, male and female ME2 logo t-shirts, the Death Mask, and maybe one other helmet option.

The Blood Dragon suit is extremely slick looking... I'm tempted even though it's $4. :p That does include the helmet too though, at least.
 
[quote name='Arikado']Stick with it. Insanity can start off rough, but as you level up and get a few better pieces of gear, it becomes much more tolerable...[/QUOTE]

I can second this. I continued my first game and upped the difficulty to Insanity (so I started at level 29) and the difficulty was almost unbearable at first. Then as the game went on and I unlocked better techs/weapons it got easier.
 
Yeah, I looked on Xbox.com. It's different though when you actually see your avatar in them. No props...disappointing.

I think I need N7 armor to replace my AC duds. Or maybe the Blood Dragon Armor. Glad I bought some cheap points from Dell.
 
Mass Effect 2, as far as I can remember, is one of the few games I've played where the hardest difficulty (Insanity) actually made the experience better for me and made me better at the game - especially with my tactics. Same goes for ME1, of course. I usually only get one or the other when I play the toughest difficulty of a game, never both.

One could make the argument that in order to beat any game at its hardest difficulty you have to become better at it - but it doesn't feel like that for me with the games over recent years. On games like Call of Duty, for example, Veteran difficulty involves me replaying sections over and over and over (because it's so brutally cheap) until I can find a cheap way to squirm out of the level alive. It ends up hurting the experience for me and the controllers that get tossed around out of my frustration. Same goes for games that I play on the toughest difficulty for an achievement or for an __%+ XP bonus.

Once you get used to Insanity, I wouldn't exactly say that the game becomes easy. As much as I can tear through a group of enemies on Insanity + difficulty, I know in the back of my mind that if I screw one or two things up that the enemies will take full advantage of it and kill me quickly. It's just all about being efficient - there really is a science to overcoming each different part of the game. Playing through Insanity or Insanity + with an Adept or Engineer will make you a fucking surgeon with your powers in this game.
 
[quote name='Rodimus']About how long is the entire Overlord campaign? I downloaded it this morning and plan to tackle it tonight. Can't wait[/QUOTE]I played it over a span of 5 segments or so - it felt like it was 2 and a half hours long, but I could be mistaken.
 
[quote name='Tha Xecutioner']I played it over a span of 5 segments or so - it felt like it was 2 and a half hours long, but I could be mistaken.[/QUOTE]
That sounds about right. For me it might have been closer to three hours.
 
Thanks for the Insanity pep talk, gang. Appreciate that. What about the class? Should I stick with Sentinel or go back to Soldier? I am kind of a runner 'n gunner at heart.
 
[quote name='chubbyninja1319']Thanks for the Insanity pep talk, gang. Appreciate that. What about the class? Should I stick with Sentinel or go back to Soldier? I am kind of a runner 'n gunner at heart.[/QUOTE]

Run n Gun is kinda hard to do on Insanity, not only because of how quick your shields can be drained but due to your AI teammates running into trouble. Once everyone is focused on you, forget it.

I'll say one huge positive thing for the Sentinel, that tech armor saved my ass many times. The burst of damage from it exploding can stagger some enemies and give you a second to put some distance between you and grab cover. I don't think I would have gotten through the
Reaper IFF
mission without it. The goddamn Husks were brutal! I was also a dumbass and didn't bring Grunt on that mission.
 
I didn't see any discussion of this, but along with the avatar items, Bioware released Squad Picture Pack 2-- Miranda, Jack, Garrus, Jacob, and Zaeed gamerpics.
 
[quote name='Lord_Kefka']Run n Gun is kinda hard to do on Insanity, not only because of how quick your shields can be drained but due to your AI teammates running into trouble. Once everyone is focused on you, forget it.

I'll say one huge positive thing for the Sentinel, that tech armor saved my ass many times. The burst of damage from it exploding can stagger some enemies and give you a second to put some distance between you and grab cover. I don't think I would have gotten through the
Reaper IFF
mission without it. The goddamn Husks were brutal! I was also a dumbass and didn't bring Grunt on that mission.[/QUOTE]

Speaking of which I wouldn't even think of doing an Insanity playthrough because I have a hard enough time with those enemies on Hardcore lol.
 
Which DLC has the best bang for your buck? I'll probably end up getting both of them but for now I only have the points for one. It's been a while since I've played so I'd like to get back into it and possibly do a play through on Insanity, but I was looking at possibly doing a DLC and some more side missions before I began my next playthrough.
 
Have you done the Hammerhead DLC yet? If not I'd say get that free one and Kasumi, as the other one (I've not played it yet) is party hammerhead vehicle missions and part on foot.

That way you can see if you hate the hammerhead like some do, as some have bitched about it in the Overlord DLC. I'll play all the DLC so I'll get Overlord eventually, just need to finish Bioshock 2 first.
 
Overlord is more substantial, but when you're done with it, you're done. Kasumi is a shorter single mission, but if you do it early in the game you can keep using the character (and the bonus costume and SMG) for the rest of the playthrough. So in a way the value comparison depends on how much you would use Kasumi and the Locust throughout the rest of the game.
 
Kasumi's DLC is more important to do earlier in the game than later, since the Locust SMG is a very good SMG compared to the other ones. Regardless, it's good DLC, especially the end.

Same goes for Overlord, though as it doesn't give you much else in the game besides XP and minerals, it's less important to do early in the game than Kasumi would be.

I enjoyed them both, though had more playtime with Overlord than Kasumi.
 
I just can't bring myself to buy the DLC at full price. My 360 red-ringed while I was playing ME2 and I haven't touched it since. I'm hoping that a sale on the DLC will bring me back in, but I may end up waiting a while.
 
I think I'd go for the DLC at full price if it was the right timing. Right now sadly I have finished the game already like 3 or 4 times. I'd get these but I really don't have the incentive to pay 7 bucks for a solid but short play experience. Overlord does look cool though.
 
Ran across this on io9.com, a listing of sci fi's 13 baddest convicts:
http://io9.com/5572794/13-of-science-fictions-baddest-convicts

As it relates to ME2, of course:
[quote name='From io9.com']JACK

IMPRISONED FOR: Murder, larceny, biotic-arson

Voiced by Courtenay Taylor in Mass Effect 2

Locked away for a rage-driven crime spree the likes of which the stars had never seen. Dirty hot and crazy strong, Jack is the girl your penis is afraid of.[/quote]
 
Finished up Overlord. I thought it was awesome. Still hate anything to do with the Firewalker, but everything else was really fun. Loved how creepy the story and atmosphere was, especially that ending.

My only problem was with a certain part of the audio. Everytime the Overlord
"talked" to you in that techno-garble voice
it was so fucking loud compared to the rest of the audio in the game. It caught me off guard a few times, and not only did it scare the shit out of me, but I thought my speakers were going to blow out :lol:
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I decided to go with Kasumi's DLC first, but I'll probably eventually end up getting both. This game has been on the shelf way to long, can't wait to get back into it a little later today.

For those that did the Insanity run through would you recommend going back and beating Mass Effect 1 to get all the bonuses or is a +1 on ME2 good enough?
 
I finally decided to start my sixth Insanity play-through as Sentinel (least fond of this class which is surprising) and check out all the DLC, weapons and the patch fix I missed:

Kasumi DLC - A

Pros

- Kasumi Goto, her endlessly entertaining personality and her Matrix tier moves.
- Everything and anything that has to do with her or Locust SMG. It's ultra beast.
- Awesome loyalty mission was awesome. Second only to Tali's IMO. Yowzah!
-
Her Vs. Jet
- Enough Said. Jaw dropped and I felt like I was watching a Metal Gear cut scene which is always a good thing.

Cons

- Lack of a conversation wheel for my new favorite character. ;(
- Lack of LI-age though not that big of a deal. Tali better step it up come ME3. ;'(
- Shadow Strike targeting is pretty damn wonky but the DMG makes up for it. >;(

Arc Projector - A++

Pros

- Everything. No... seriously. Everything.

Cons

- Everything. No... seriously. Everything.

If you aren't clearing entire rooms in seconds when equipped then either your aim sucks or you've ran out of ammo. Best heavy weapon in the game second only to the Blackstorm and Cain IMO. It's way overpowered even on Insanity. Yowzah!

Hammerhead DLC - D+

Pros

- NO! MORE! MAKO!
- NO! MORE! MOUNTAINS!
- Decent controls.
- Solid boost w/ infinite homing missiles.

Cons

- Painfully linear level design + piss poor objectives = questionable existence.
- Zero points for decent controls when mountain climbing doesn't exist kthx.
- Wait a minute... Constant cliff jumping replaced ME1 mountain BS! fuck!
- Forced platforming for the f*cking fail. It made me nauseous and drove me nuts.
- You definitely get exactly what you've paid for and then some.
- Lack of a health bar + decent shielding = nearsighted pilot in a paper airplane.
- YOU MADE ME MISS THE MAKO SO HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE!?

Patch Fix - B

Pros

- Scanning planets isn't a chore anymore! Yay! About damn time!

Cons

- This does very little for me when I never need a complete set of party upgrades to finish an Insanity play-through, ship upgrades are always cheap and I hate 99.9% of the terrible side quests in this game! Boo!
Overlord DLC - B

Pros

- Superb land missions for the win.
- Just long enough to hold my attention.
- A better storyline than all of the ME2 side quests put together... thank goodness.
- Ending was great and had the type of emotion I was initially searching for the entire mission.

Cons

- Victim of over hype IMO. BDTS still holds the crown for me as best ME DLC.
- Certain super loud garbled interruptions drove me nuts.
- Hammerhead platforming still prevalent, still making me nauseous, still irritating.
- Tech Armor kept glitching me in place during the final boss fight. RAGE INDUCING. I had to spam Arc and play like a Vanguard to get through it.

- At times I felt like I was playing an over extended ME2 side quest which sucked. Very stale, sterile, not enough emotion to garner interest I suppose. It didn't help not being able to hear the doctor's notes over the game music clearly even after some option tweaking. There's just some sort of disconnect I can't quite put my finger in comparison to the previous game's quests that I'm not particularly fond of. I miss that balance of battle, exploration, closing reward of finishing them.

- Paying for ME2's version of exploration that should have been available at launch left a sour taste in my mouth. It didn't do much for me nor did I gather a ME1 vibe from it at all. Safe to say I still miss the illusion of freedom ME1's sandbox esque planets brought to the table. Free XP from examining random debris, item and weapon drops included. It's just not the same but certainly better than nothing.

After it is all said and done I'm not sure how many extra profiles I'll squeeze out of this game, but for Kasumi and the Arc alone I'm very content. Despite my experiences with Hammerhead and Overlord the exp will better prepare me for Horizon so all and all I'd say it is a win-win situation.
 
[quote name='Renegade Moose']This may have been answered before, but are you able to play the DLC after beating the main story?[/QUOTE]
Yes.

I will mention, though, that certain DLC (like Kasumi) is better when played at the beginning of the game. Other DLC, such as the Firewalker pack and the newly released Overlord pack, have no direct impact on the game and can be played at any time.
 
[quote name='Tha Xecutioner']Yes.

I will mention, though, that certain DLC (like Kasumi) is better when played at the beginning of the game. Other DLC, such as the Firewalker pack and the newly released Overlord pack, have no direct impact on the game and can be played at any time.[/QUOTE]

Thanks. I would do it towards the beginning but I have a save right before the final mission. I'm going to replay that to get all of my crew to survive then I will do the DLC missions.
 
I'm having problems with my insanity run.... Horizon is kicking my butt with the two Scions and 2 Dozen Husks running at me.

Its because my weapons are all screwed up because I picked up the collector Heavy gun and forgot to switch when that old man locked me out.

I'm thinking I need to restart to get through this to get my weapon setup correct for this fight.
 
[quote name='Denbo32']I'm having problems with my insanity run.... Horizon is kicking my butt with the two Scions and 2 Dozen Husks running at me.

Its because my weapons are all screwed up because I picked up the collector Heavy gun and forgot to switch when that old man locked me out.

I'm thinking I need to restart to get through this to get my weapon setup correct for this fight.[/QUOTE]

You could do it the "cheap" way... edge into the area where the Scions are and order your squadmates forward towards the other end. They will attack and kill the scions without triggering the husks IIRC
 
The Mass Effect 2 figures are set to be released in August/September. I'm considering getting at least Commander Shepard for my desk at work, but with tax and ship I'm look at bare minimum $25. I found one site selling the set of 4 figures for $58, and with shipping, it would be a hair under $70 for the set. Anyone found any cheaper deals?
 
[quote name='smoger']You could do it the "cheap" way... edge into the area where the Scions are and order your squadmates forward towards the other end. They will attack and kill the scions without triggering the husks IIRC[/QUOTE]

And of course if you have a sniper rifle you can kill both Scions before even entering the area.
 
[quote name='Lord_Kefka']The Mass Effect 2 figures are set to be released in August/September. I'm considering getting at least Commander Shepard for my desk at work, but with tax and ship I'm look at bare minimum $25. I found one site selling the set of 4 figures for $58, and with shipping, it would be a hair under $70 for the set. Anyone found any cheaper deals?[/QUOTE]

I'm looking forward to these, too. If I find a cheap alternative, I'll let ya know. I think I'm most interested in Tali and Grunt, unless Shep looks 1/2 way decent.
 
[quote name='smoger']You could do it the "cheap" way... edge into the area where the Scions are and order your squadmates forward towards the other end. They will attack and kill the scions without triggering the husks IIRC[/QUOTE]

I feel a bit dirty, but this worked....

Thanks.
 
[quote name='Denbo32']I feel a bit dirty, but this worked....

Thanks.[/QUOTE]

No problem. I read about that one somewhere else but after I used that to get through Horizon, the AI started to click a little bit in my head and I realized there are some other tricks you can pull later on to make things easier.

This mostly revolves around areas where you don't get locked into a monster closet. Given enough space you can backtrack past some invisible wall that the enemies won't cross.. this helps especially when you're fighting "advancing" type enemies(remember.. enemies typically advance or take cover.. very rarely both. If you're fighting a bunch of guys taking cover, you can take your time and know they won't advance on you.

..and just in general, things just get much easier after Horizon anyway. Just upgrade everything you can as soon as you can. Every upgrade makes your life that much easier(the enemies are basically as tough in the beginning of the game as they ever get, while you get tougher). This is assuming you start near the level cap, which is the same for the enemies. Only difference is that your "toughness" depends more on your upgrades than your level.
 
I know it not so bad, I was just in a bad spot since my auto save had my weapon setup all screwy.

I took a bad team down there with me and was pretty much stuck with little ammo, ammo for guns that were weak vs armor and a ton of armor people attacking me.
 
anyone else just recently start playing this? I somehow never played the first so wasn't in a hurry to get the 2nd but after hearing all the talk i picked it up. I can say as someone who knew nothing about the game the first few hours were pretty rough, I could tell I missed so much I almost didn't want to play anymore.

I am glad I did though because this game has consumed my last week like nothing ever has in a Long time. I started last Friday and playing as much as I could I have 30 hours logged in the game and I am not even sure how much I have left which is a good thing.(I just got the last team mate and I have done all the loyalty missions although I pissed Jack off and she is not loyal anymore. I think I can get her back if I raise my Paragon a little more though)

Just would like to find some other newbie's around to discuss things with. The nice thing is even listening to all the spoiler filled podcasts a while ago I have forgotten everything they talked about. I am normally not a guy who enjoys games where I have a team to control but they pretty much do it all by themselves and that kept me playing.

Amazing game ! I can;t play for a few days or maybe a week and I am bummed out !
 
[quote name='Kezmer']anyone else just recently start playing this? I somehow never played the first so wasn't in a hurry to get the 2nd but after hearing all the talk i picked it up. I can say as someone who knew nothing about the game the first few hours were pretty rough, I could tell I missed so much I almost didn't want to play anymore.

I am glad I did though because this game has consumed my last week like nothing ever has in a Long time. I started last Friday and playing as much as I could I have 30 hours logged in the game and I am not even sure how much I have left which is a good thing.(I just got the last team mate and I have done all the loyalty missions although I pissed Jack off and she is not loyal anymore. I think I can get her back if I raise my Paragon a little more though)

Just would like to find some other newbie's around to discuss things with. The nice thing is even listening to all the spoiler filled podcasts a while ago I have forgotten everything they talked about. I am normally not a guy who enjoys games where I have a team to control but they pretty much do it all by themselves and that kept me playing.

Amazing game ! I can;t play for a few days or maybe a week and I am bummed out ![/QUOTE]Glad to see how fun you're finding the game to be!

I'm definitely not a newbie to Mass Effect, but feel free to open up discussion in here about...well...anything.
 
[quote name='Tha Xecutioner']Glad to see how fun you're finding the game to be!

I'm definitely not a newbie to Mass Effect, but feel free to open up discussion in here about...well...anything.[/QUOTE]You might know a little bit about it, from the going rumors.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']You might know a little bit about it, from the going rumors.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, and I've put in a good 5 hours or so into the game - so I have a little hands-on experience, too.
 
[quote name='Kezmer']anyone else just recently start playing this? I somehow never played the first so wasn't in a hurry to get the 2nd but after hearing all the talk i picked it up. I can say as someone who knew nothing about the game the first few hours were pretty rough, I could tell I missed so much I almost didn't want to play anymore.

I am glad I did though because this game has consumed my last week like nothing ever has in a Long time. I started last Friday and playing as much as I could I have 30 hours logged in the game and I am not even sure how much I have left which is a good thing.(I just got the last team mate and I have done all the loyalty missions although I pissed Jack off and she is not loyal anymore. I think I can get her back if I raise my Paragon a little more though)

Just would like to find some other newbie's around to discuss things with. The nice thing is even listening to all the spoiler filled podcasts a while ago I have forgotten everything they talked about. I am normally not a guy who enjoys games where I have a team to control but they pretty much do it all by themselves and that kept me playing.

Amazing game ! I can;t play for a few days or maybe a week and I am bummed out ![/QUOTE]

Can you? It kind of pisses me off that she isn't loyal. Like really everyone else is fine but she has to be bitchy. Also, did you guys lose anyone during the
suicide mission?
I didn't lose anyone but I think I've heard about someone losing someone, although I'm not sure.
 
[quote name='RobMinhas']Can you? It kind of pisses me off that she isn't loyal. Like really everyone else is fine but she has to be bitchy. Also, did you guys lose anyone during the
suicide mission?
I didn't lose anyone but I think I've heard about someone losing someone, although I'm not sure.[/QUOTE]I didn't lose anyone in that part of the game, though you can if you don't make optimal choices for the times you have to make choices about who does what.
 
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