Mass Effect 2 Discussion - Fight for the Lost

So last night I did the Tali loyalty mission.
It was just OK. The combat was fun as usual but I thought there was a little too much dialogue before the fight when I was going around talking to all of the judges. I was able to get Tali off the hook without presenting the evidence we found about her father which was cool I guess
.

Tonight I'm either going to do Samara's or Thane's loyalty mission. I might sneak in a side quest as well - I haven't done one in a while but there aren't a ton of options (I did a lot of them before knocking off the loyalty missions which I'm doing now).

I finally got the
probe update for the ship
which is nice. It is definitely my least favorite part of the game. They need to make it more interesting in ME3 or get rid of it altogether. It takes too long to scan a planet and drain the resources and you can lose an hour at a time when you get to a new cluster.

I'm 35 hours in and I think I'm getting close to the end!
 
If any of you want to pick up the the ME2 DLC soundtracks from amazon, they have a free $2 mp3 credit. Kasumi and Overlord are both under $2. I'm not really sure which one to get. I still haven't gotten the main soundtrack, since I've been waiting for a CD version. I'm not sure if that's going to be happening.
 
[quote name='erehwon']If any of you want to pick up the the ME2 DLC soundtracks from amazon, they have a free $2 mp3 credit. Kasumi and Overlord are both under $2. I'm not really sure which one to get. I still haven't gotten the main soundtrack, since I've been waiting for a CD version. I'm not sure if that's going to be happening.[/QUOTE]

Wow I didn't know they did soundtracks like this!
 
[quote name='Tha Xecutioner']Side note: damn it feels good to put this game in again. [/QUOTE]
Word, I'm looking forward to playing some ME2 tonight. From checking out some screenshots and videos that have begun to float around, I'm thinking that Tali might actually be the winner of this pack. Miranda's armor looks nice but at this point my image of the character is so set, it almost doesn't seem like the real Miranda without the catsuit. And Grunt just looks kind of weird with all those little lights everywhere. Tali looks kind of slick with the new color scheme though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX4sTkJmEvo
 
[quote name='javeryh']So last night I did the Tali loyalty mission.
It was just OK. The combat was fun as usual but I thought there was a little too much dialogue before the fight when I was going around talking to all of the judges. I was able to get Tali off the hook without presenting the evidence we found about her father which was cool I guess
.

Tonight I'm either going to do Samara's or Thane's loyalty mission. I might sneak in a side quest as well - I haven't done one in a while but there aren't a ton of options (I did a lot of them before knocking off the loyalty missions which I'm doing now).

I finally got the
probe update for the ship
which is nice. It is definitely my least favorite part of the game. They need to make it more interesting in ME3 or get rid of it altogether. It takes too long to scan a planet and drain the resources and you can lose an hour at a time when you get to a new cluster.

I'm 35 hours in and I think I'm getting close to the end![/QUOTE]Playing this game again for the second time, lost my save file a while back, and I remember ending the game with a shitload of leftover resources, other then element zero. I think you will be fine just hitting the rich and good planets.
 
Once you get all of the weapon upgrades, the prototypes, the armor upgrades and the ship upgrades, you pretty much only need Element Zero, and that's just to respec your points/abilities and re-assign your bonus ability.
 
[quote name='BattleChicken']I wonder.. has the DLC train ended? I've been holding off on my second from-scratch playthrough until all the story DLC is available.[/QUOTE]No, there's at least one more bridging DLC mission(s) yet to come.
 
There will be one more mission DLC which will supposedly help set the stage for ME3.

Possibly there will be more costume and weapon packs but I'm not too optimistic given the distance of almost a full year between Appearance Packs 1 and 2.
 
I'll make the guess we'll see one or two more appearance packs to get the rest of the crew. I'd think that Bioware can sneak those out before ME3 releases. More than the appearance packs, not counting the "bridge" DLC? Probably not.
 
I imagine if it's bridging DLC, it would fit well for after the completion of the suicide mission.

I know it's not stopping me from doing my Renegade playthrough now (Although I'm thinking about stopping it and working on my second Dragon Age playthrough instead, since DA2 is out in a month.)
 
[quote name='javeryh']I finally got the
probe update for the ship
which is nice. It is definitely my least favorite part of the game. They need to make it more interesting in ME3 or get rid of it altogether. It takes too long to scan a planet and drain the resources and you can lose an hour at a time when you get to a new cluster.[/QUOTE]

It's not sexy, and this piece of advice comes too late for you, but really logic dictates that the probe is the first ship upgrade you should invest in. It saves you tons of tedium from that point on so you'll get the resources for the other upgrades that much faster.

And folks are right, you really only need to do the rich planets. And only those until you get what you need for upgrades.
 
i'd also like to add this advice: when you're sitting down to probe.. throw on a podcast.. it'll make the time spent that much less painful :)

(thank you, MS, for custom soundtracks :) )
 
I'm getting closer... I only have 2 assignments left and 2 loyalty missions (Samara and Jack) and then all of the end game stuff. I finally unlocked the Warp Specialist achievement last night along with the Weapon Upgrade one (which I was getting worried would never happen - I had 4/5 on everything and 6/7 on the sniper rifle). I'm only at level 23 or 24 though so I'm not sure how I'm going to get to level 30 in this playthrough. Is it too late to get the Shadow Broker DLC and play through it or have I missed that window?
 
You can play it at anytime, even after you finish the main campaign.

You can also start a new game and finish leveling there too.. you even get an XP bonus (x1.5 or x2 .. something like that.. i forget the details)
 
[quote name='javeryh']I'm getting closer... I only have 2 assignments left and 2 loyalty missions (Samara and Jack) and then all of the end game stuff. I finally unlocked the Warp Specialist achievement last night along with the Weapon Upgrade one (which I was getting worried would never happen - I had 4/5 on everything and 6/7 on the sniper rifle). I'm only at level 23 or 24 though so I'm not sure how I'm going to get to level 30 in this playthrough. Is it too late to get the Shadow Broker DLC and play through it or have I missed that window?[/QUOTE]Congrats on getting the two additional achievements.

I didn't hit Level 30 on my first playthrough until I had done everything in the main game, including the Firewalker missions and hit Level 30 partway through Overlord after doing Kasmui's Stolen Memory.

If you want a list of all of the possible side missions / assignments, check out here:
http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Assignments
 
Thanks for the list. I could spend all day reading that wiki... it looks like they recommend playing Lair of the Shadow Broker AFTER you finish the game. I think what I'm going to do is DL Kasmui's Stolen Memory and play that before going on the suicide mission and then get the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC to do right after that.
 
[quote name='javeryh']Thanks for the list. I could spend all day reading that wiki... it looks like they recommend playing Lair of the Shadow Broker AFTER you finish the game. I think what I'm going to do is DL Kasmui's Stolen Memory and play that before going on the suicide mission and then get the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC to do right after that.[/QUOTE]You should check through the list of side missions / assignments and see if there are ones you haven't done, as they're quick sources of money and XP.

If you haven't done Stolen Memory, I highly recommend it. The SMG you pick up there is the best in the game, and Kasmui is very helpful against the Collectors.

I also recommend doing LoTSB after the endgame as well.

Overlord is worth doing as well, though I'd wait for it to go on sale, as it's the weakest of the three in comparison.
 
I will take a look - I have done a LOT of assignments and missions though - I'd be really surprised if there was more than a couple that I missed - I haven't explored every cluster though - I think there are 2 left so there are probably a few anomalies in there somewhere.

I've really enjoyed the game so far although I'm not 100% clear on exactly what is going on story-wise... I mean, I know the general story but there are so many details... I'll have to read that wiki to get up to speed.
 
[quote name='javeryh']I will take a look - I have done a LOT of assignments and missions though - I'd be really surprised if there was more than a couple that I missed - I haven't explored every cluster though - I think there are 2 left so there are probably a few anomalies in there somewhere.

I've really enjoyed the game so far although I'm not 100% clear on exactly what is going on story-wise... I mean, I know the general story but there are so many details... I'll have to read that wiki to get up to speed.[/QUOTE]The wiki does list them all, and almost all of them are enjoyable, save a couple that aren't as enjoyable. They'll all net you 7500 or more credits (assuming you hack/access all the terminals/PDAs/etc.) on the mission, plus 125 XP, so knocking them all out can pick up some decent money.

Though, as you said, you're not sure what's going on story-wise. What seems to me something you're not sure about?
 
[quote name='shrike4242']Though, as you said, you're not sure what's going on story-wise. What seems to me something you're not sure about?[/QUOTE]

Nothing in particular but when names get thrown around I always get confused and have to google it to jog my memory. Also, references to the first Mass Effect are hazy since I played that so long ago...
 
Javeryh just so you know there's no combat in Samara's loyalty mission and it's pretty short. The game autosaves right before you have to do the major work for the mission but I would have a regular save in there just in case you mess up as the mission can be failed.
 
The most confusing aspect of the plot is definitely
when the Collectors board the Normandy, but that's just because the game punts on even attempting to explain where the squad was going and why they all needed to be there together.

There are a number of times when things aren't clear unless you carefully probe all available conversation options.
The Collector ship trap
comes to mind.

And there are a lot of other more "mechanical" problems (major inconsistencies surrounding the adoption of the heat sink ammo system; Shepard's mission is bankrolled by Cerberus yet he has to scrounge for credits to pay for weapon upgrades and the like from his personal fortune), that can be chalked up to the fact that it's a videogame and you need some contrivances to make the gameplay work.

But all in all I'd say it's a pretty straightforward story.
 
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[quote name='MSUHitman']Javeryh just so you know there's no combat in Samara's loyalty mission and it's pretty short. The game autosaves right before you have to do the major work for the mission but I would have a regular save in there just in case you mess up as the mission can be failed.[/QUOTE]

Really? OK - thanks for the heads up. I did Thane's mission last night and I don't think there was any combat there either. I messed it up on the first try (of course) so I had to go back to a previous save and do it again.

[quote name='Ryuukishi']Shepard's mission is bankrolled by Cerberus yet he has to scrounge for credits to pay for weapon upgrades and the like from his personal fortune.[/QUOTE]

I never even thought of that! Dammit Cerberus - either go all out with the funding or leave me alone!
 
Haha.. just think of it this way guys..

our troops overseas get standard issue equipment.. if they want better body armor they have to buy it themselves :lol: kinda the same thing :)
 
[quote name='smoger']Haha.. just think of it this way guys..

our troops overseas get standard issue equipment.. if they want better body armor they have to buy it themselves :lol: kinda the same thing :)[/QUOTE]
Kinda the same thing, yeah... Except that they just spent untold billions of dollars bringing Shepard back from the dead, built him a hyper-advanced stealth spaceship, and believe that he is the one man who is capable of saving humanity from a galaxy-destroying threat. You think they'd be cool with him just expensing a couple of SMG Damage upgrades here and there. :lol:
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']Except that they just spent untold billions of dollars bringing Shepard back from the dead...[/QUOTE]It's a little over 4 billion credits :cool:
 
[quote name='Tha Xecutioner']It's a little over 4 billion credits :cool:[/QUOTE]
Ah ha! but I said dollars. :cool:

Unless you happen to know the exchange rate between dollars and credits. Which honestly would not surprise me.
 
Shepard can only make 1.2-1.3 million credits through the course of the game, which is a drop in the bucket compared to the 6 billion credits spent on bringing Shepard back from the dead and making the Normandy Mk 2.

I'm sure Cerberus can let that small amount of additional money slide, since I'm sure they spent that much alone making sure Miranda's outfit was the right mix of tightness and protection. :lol:
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']Ah ha! but I said dollars. :cool:

Unless you happen to know the exchange rate between dollars and credits. Which honestly would not surprise me.[/QUOTE]:lol:

Sorry to disappoint, but I don't know the galactic exchange rate for the ME universe (at least not yet). At this point in time, it wouldn't surprise me to see that the standard galactic credit is equal to 100+ U.S. dollars, though I know that the ME1 codex mentions something about people using rupees, yen, or pesos can still purchase things with the credit system.
 
The credits to dollars ratio is 1 to .0625

the paperback novels ascension and revelation in rl are $8 and 5 credits at zakera cafe in the game
 
[quote name='Tony208']The credits to dollars ratio is 1 to .0625

the paperback novels ascension and revelation in rl are $8 and 5 credits at zakera cafe in the game[/QUOTE]
Maybe for 2010, but this is 2183-2185 we're talking about ;)
 
[quote name='Tony208']The credits to dollars ratio is 1 to .0625

the paperback novels ascension and revelation in rl are $8 and 5 credits at zakera cafe in the game[/QUOTE]
Clever!! :applause: I wish I had thought of that first.
 
I'm DLing Kasumi - Stolen Memory right now! I think this is only the second add-on I've ever purchased for any game (Minerva's Den was the first one a week ago) and I've had the 360 since launch!
 
[quote name='shrike4242']Fixed that for you. ;)[/QUOTE]Please, you guys shouldn't underestimate me like that :cool:

That idea's been presented before along with a whole list of other things, too, comparing the prices of hamsters, cuisine, shots, etc - so it's nothing new :booty:

My favorite one is from a guy who used the average rate of inflation to try and figure it out - especially for certain places like Illium and the Zakera Ward (more "upscale" places). But I probably don't need to start posting things from that thread :lol:
 
I just checked - I've done ALL assignments except 1 on Omega. I've got Samara's loyalty and Jack's loyalty missions left and the Kasumi stuff. How do I access that? I didn't see it on the galaxy map... do I need to exit to the dashboard and reload?
 
[quote name='javeryh']I just checked - I've done ALL assignments except 1 on Omega. I've got Samara's loyalty and Jack's loyalty missions left and the Kasumi stuff. How do I access that? I didn't see it on the galaxy map... do I need to exit to the dashboard and reload?[/QUOTE]If you've bought the Kasumi DLC, you'll need to go to the Citadel to meet up with her, and then the mission happens close to the Citadel. It should show up on the galaxy map as "Meet With Kasumi" or something along those lines.
 
Did you read the email from the Illusive Man telling you about Kasumi? Also I HIGHLY recommend getting the Shadow Broker DLC pack. Overlord can be skipped but Shadow Broker is one of the best DLC's for any game.
 
[quote name='javeryh']Hmmm... it isn't showing up... I'll try reloading the game. I DL'ed right from the game (not the XBL marketplace).[/QUOTE]It shouldn't be any different buying it in-game versus XBLM, though log into Xbox.com and check the product page for ME2 and make sure it shows "Already Purchased".

[quote name='MSUHitman']Did you read the email from the Illusive Man telling you about Kasumi? Also I HIGHLY recommend getting the Shadow Broker DLC pack. Overlord can be skipped but Shadow Broker is one of the best DLC's for any game.[/QUOTE]That's the one thing you need to make sure happened, yes, though that happens immediately after the DLC is recognized by the game, assuming you've done Freedom's Progress, which javeryh has obviously done.

I'd pick up Overlord when it goes on-sale, though it's worth the achievements and it's still worth a go-round.
 
[quote name='javeryh']Hmmm... it isn't showing up... I'll try reloading the game. I DL'ed right from the game (not the XBL marketplace).[/QUOTE]
I think you're right. Even if you buy DLC in-game, it's not recognized until the next time you load the game from the dashboard.
 
yeah - that was it. I had to reload the game - just going to the main menu and loading a save file didn't work. I had to go to the dashboard and reboot basically.

I just finished the mission and Kasumi is in my squad now. I loved it. I thought it as one of the more creative missions so far and it had some good and somewhat challenging combat. It took me a little over an hour to finish. I'm definitely getting LotSB since everyone raves about it.

The only things I have left in my Journal are to Jack: Subject Zero, Reaper IFF and Stop The Collectors. I assume that's the order I do them in too? Is there anything I need to be aware of in for the last battle?
 
Ugh. I just did Jack's loyalty mission AGAIN and I do not have enough Paragon to smooth things over between her and Miranda. I'm trying to romance Miranda so I have to side with her and now Jack is not loyal. There are no more missions other than the final ones so I think I'm SOL with respect to her. I don't see how this could have played out differently...

I'm off to do the Reaper IFF mission....
 
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[quote name='javeryh']Ugh. I just did Jack's loyalty mission AGAIN and I do not have enough Paragon to smooth things over between her and Miranda. I'm trying to romance Miranda so I have to side with her and now Jack is not loyal. There are no more missions other than the final ones so I think I'm SOL with respect to her. I don't see how this could have played out differently...

I'm off to do the Reaper IFF mission....[/QUOTE]One possible way to fix the Jack/Miranda issue, assuming you haven't tried this.

Since you're an Infiltrator, did you pick Assassin or Agent as your specialization? If you picked Assassin, revert to a save prior to Jack's loyalty mission, do a Retrain Powers and pick Agent as your specialization, which gives you the 100% Paragon boost. If that works, you can always flip back to Assassin with another Retrain Powers. If it's not enough to get past the initial conflict, then you might still have enough to bring her back after the fact.

If you're already an Agent, then I don't know what else to tell you about getting around that issue, save that if you have a Paragon score high enough, you should be able to bring her back to your side if the initial mess doesn't go as planned.
 
[quote name='javeryh']Ugh. I just did Jack's loyalty mission AGAIN and I do not have enough Paragon to smooth things over between her and Miranda. I'm trying to romance Miranda so I have to side with her and now Jack is not loyal. There are no more missions other than the final ones so I think I'm SOL with respect to her.[/QUOTE]
Go talk to her alone. It takes less Paragon to regain her loyalty after the fight than it does to resolve the fight itself. If you can get her loyalty back in the one-on-one conversation, the only thing you've permanently lost is the chance to romance her. (Which, it's Jack, so... best restart from the beginning. :))
 
I'll try anything at this point. After the fight I just turned it off - it was late anyway. I'll try tonight. My Paragon meter is in the 4th bar about 1/2 way up (85% total?). My Renegade meter is a little more than 1/2 way up the first bar (15% total?). I didn't try to talk to Jack yet - hopefully I have enough Paragon to smooth it over.

I'm also at level 26 after the Kasumi mission (I love the gun I got there). I still don't think I'm getting to 30 on this play through but maybe with LotSB I will get there...
 
[quote name='javeryh']I'll try anything at this point. After the fight I just turned it off - it was late anyway. I'll try tonight. My Paragon meter is in the 4th bar about 1/2 way up (85% total?). My Renegade meter is a little more than 1/2 way up the first bar (15% total?). I didn't try to talk to Jack yet - hopefully I have enough Paragon to smooth it over.

I'm also at level 26 after the Kasumi mission (I love the gun I got there). I still don't think I'm getting to 30 on this play through but maybe with LotSB I will get there...[/QUOTE]Again, if you're an Assassin, do a Retrain Powers and flip to Agent, which will get you a Paragon boost and may be what gets you over the top. Otherwise, talk with her in her crew area and cross your fingers. :pray:

I'd make sure you talk with Jack before you head into the Omega 4 relay, as having non-loyal teammates can get them dead in the endgame if you're not careful.

The SMG you pick up in Kasmui's mission is the best in the game, so if you do a second playthrough, do Kasumi's mission as soon as possible so you have it available through the game.

If you haven't done the
Reaper IFF
mission yet, with the
Legion loyalty
mission afterwards, then you should pick up a level or so during that. Add in the endgame, and I think you'll end up getting to Level 28 or 29 without much issue.

On my first playthrough, having done all of the loyalty missions, side missions and game missions, as well as Kasumi's mission, I ended up finishing up at Level 29, since Overlord and LoTSB weren't out yet. I did Overlord when it came out and I hit Level 30 mid-way through the mission. If you do LoTSB after the endgame, having done everything else, I think you should hit Level 30 during LoTSB. Otherwise, pick up Overlord and I know you should be able to do it.
 
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