Mass Effect 2 Discussion - Fight for the Lost

Man, I am so hyped... But I'm trying to keep my expectations in check, because Lair of the Shadow Broker was already so epic that I don't know how they could possibly top it.
 
Arikado, it looks like a Reaper appendage to me.

[quote name='Ryuukishi']Man, I am so hyped... But I'm trying to keep my expectations in check, because Lair of the Shadow Broker was already so epic that I don't know how they could possibly top it.[/QUOTE]This is the last one we get for story DLC, so I can't see why they wouldn't be trying to top LoTSB, plus they advertised it in DA2, so I expect it to be the be-all, end-all DLC for ME2. Especially since it's bridging the story into ME3.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']Arikado, it looks like a Reaper appendage to me. [/QUOTE]

Could be
the device (or similar to said device) in Evolution that turns living beings into husks. That's a popular theory right now.
 
[quote name='Arikado']Could be
the device (or similar to said device) in Evolution that turns living beings into husks. That's a popular theory right now.
[/QUOTE]

True, maybe it's just a
cerberus base not unlike the one where grayson was transformed?
 
Oh good grief, I'm so hyped for this. Nice find on that fifth shot. My take is this.....

Eclipse (merc group) is aiding the Reapers by trafficing people for indoctrination. If you read the novels, they usually foreshadow a theme in the next game and this is what happened in Retribution. That lady in the first teaser shot is probably an indoctrinated person. Plus, have you noticed a timer of sorts in a few of the shots?


Any way you slice it, my one response is "bonerific!"
 
Joystiq just reported that the "Arrival" DLC will drop on March 29.

BioWare has dated the long-promised and recently teased final Mass Effect 2 DLC mission, "Mass Effect: Arrival," for release across Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and Bioware.com (for PC) on Tuesday, March 29. The add-on will be available for $7 (£5.49) or the equivalent platform currency.

Leading players into this holiday's Mass Effect 3, "Arrival" will see Commander Shepard "sent to the edge of the galaxy to rescue an undercover operative who may have evidence of an imminent Reaper invasion." Admiral Hackett (voiced by Lance Henriksen) will make a return appearance.
 
This is going to sound crazy but is anyone else disappointed that this DLC isn't $10? I hope we get at least as much content as LotSB...
 
Awesome that we only have to wait a week and a half! Not that it won't be the longest week and a half ever.

Cool that we get to hear more from Lance Henriksen. I wonder if they've brought any of the other actors back so we can get a little more squad interaction this time.
 
Looking forward to this. Won't buy it until I finish off Dragon Age Awakenings and the two remaining stand alone DLCs though as I don't want to get distracted.

Still need to do Shadow Broker with my 2nd character as well.
 
Guess I know what I'm doing in a couple of weeks. And amusing enough that last night I removed the ME2 Disc 1 + Disc 2 copied to my HDD to clear up space. :wall: Guess I'll need to put one of them back on again.

I'm surprised it's coming this early between now and ME3, though I'm not going to complain. I hope it's at least as long as LotSB and at least as good.

Since it's been six months since LoTSB, I would think they had extra time to work on that one and super-size it. Between game release and Stolen Memory's release date, it was a couple of months. From Stolen Memory to Overlord, again it was a couple of months, and about three months to LoTSB from Overlord.
 
March 29th seems a tad bit early, but I don't care -- it's Mass Effect 2 and it's setting the stage for ME3 so I'm going to love it.
 
Interesting how I somehow got out of bed, sleepwalked down to my computer, read/comprehended the news that Arrival hits March 29th, logged into CAG and changed the OP to include the news, and carefully logged back out and went back to bed and still be just as surprised when I wake up to hear that it's just a couple weeks away. Either I've got a serious(ly awesome) ME problem, or someone's excitement about said announcement could not be contained and they changed the OP for me :lol:

I'm very interested to see the length of the DLC after now seeing the release date and the price. I would normally spend a good paragraph saying "don't come in to this with Lair of the Shadow Broker expectations" so that you can come away pleasantly surprised by what they give us - but I know that LotSB really raised the bar for quality DLC, and it's hard not to measure anything ME2-related agaisnt it.

Also, seeing Hackett mentioned instantly makes my brain start thinking "secret operative!? Kaidan/Ashley? Am I going to have to cough up Arcturus Station to the Reapers? Is Earth's location the "ultimate sacrifice"? The Alliance is going to kill me for doing that! Will humanity even want me around; will they blame me for the attack? What about the other races? What about the Council, specifically that dick Velarn (Turian Councilor)? What's the Illusive Man going to say?"...and about a thousand other things.

I'm pumped :cool:
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']Looking forward to this. Won't buy it until I finish off Dragon Age Awakenings and the two remaining stand alone DLCs though as I don't want to get distracted.

Still need to do Shadow Broker with my 2nd character as well.[/QUOTE]

I'm going to be having fits if ME3 launches near the time of Skyrim. I think I'll prefer ME3 because of my investment in the series, but it will be a great time to be a WRPG player.
 
Two more awesome images from Arrival:

arrival-05-p.jpg

...aaaand here's an old friend we'll finally get to hear (and now see!) again:

arrival-06-p.jpg

March 29th! AHHHHHH! :whee:
 
Closer than I expected and now further away than I wanted. :( Guess that's just from being spoiled by Bioware.

Let's see, secret undercover operative. I suppose they could shoe-horn in an old human squadmate you haven't seen since Horizon. But that might be forcing it a little. Maybe that other woman from the screenshots. Oh, who care....just gimme.

They also state it's the last DLC for ME2. Honestly....I'll be a little disappointed if they don't at least throw out the last two Alt. Appearance packs. Does that make me lame?
 
If it does release on the 29th, then we should see something via the Cerberus Network on the 22th, which is a week in advance of the DLC coming out.

Time to fire up ME2 on the evening of the 21st and the morning of the 22nd and see what we get besides the "offline" message.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']Titled:
Why Mass Effect 2 is a great game but not a great RPG[/QUOTE]
Burn the heretic! Defend the Game of Forever!

:lol:
 
[quote name='shrike4242']Not that I want to double-post, though this deserves a post of its own.

I think all the main ME2 lovers in this thread should put their $0.02 into this blog:
Titled: [B]Why Mass Effect 2 is ... linear they felt. I dunno. I be crazies too.
 
[quote name='Anexanhume']I'm going to be having fits if ME3 launches near the time of Skyrim. I think I'll prefer ME3 because of my investment in the series, but it will be a great time to be a WRPG player.[/QUOTE]

It's ME3 easily for me. I loved Oblivion, but I like the Mass Effect series much more. I'll play ME3 this winter when it comes out and Skyrim I'll probably hold off for summer--I can only stomach 2 or 3 WRPGs a year since they're such huge time sinks.


As for the ME2 RPG or not debate. It's an RPG. It's just light on many typical RPG elements like exploring a big world on foot, having non-linear dungeons, having an inventory system, fully turn based combat etc.

I loved the game for the lack of most of those things. Especially not having the the inventory system to hassle with and the leveling process being pretty simple. And I LOVE the combat, best in any RPG I've played. I HATE turn based combat.

I just don't enjoy that kind of typical RPG stuff. I wouldn't mind some planet exploration and less linear missions though. Mass Effect feels more like a shooter with a great RPG style story and some RPG elements, and that's why I love it as shooters are my favorite genre.
 
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[quote name='dmaul1114']It's ME3 easily for me. I loved Oblivion, but I like the Mass Effect series much more. I'll play ME3 this winter when it comes out and Skyrim I'll probably hold off for summer--I can only stomach 2 or 3 WRPGs a year since they're such huge time sinks.


As for the ME2 RPG or not debate. It's an RPG. It's just light on many typical RPG elements like exploring a big world on foot, having non-linear dungeons, having an inventory system, fully turn based combat etc.

I loved the game for the lack of most of those things. Especially not having the the inventory system to hassle with and the leveling process being pretty simple. And I LOVE the combat, best in any RPG I've played. I HATE turn based combat.

I just don't enjoy that kind of typical RPG stuff. I wouldn't mind some planet exploration and less linear missions though. Mass Effect feels more like a shooter with a great RPG style story and some RPG elements, and that's why I love it as shooters are my favorite genre.[/QUOTE]Having done two ME1 to ME2 gameplay blocks back to back, I can agree that ME1 was more RPG-ish in the traditional sense than ME2, and scaling back the inventory management with items and omni-gel from the first game into the second game was less RPG-ish in that way.

Did I like it any less because they did away with it? No. Did it make the game easier because you weren't jockeying weapons, weapon upgrades, armor and armor upgrades as much? Yes.

I can't imagine people would sink 90-100 hours into a game if they didn't like it. And I'm just the lightweight who has gone through it twice, unlike some others around here.

I used to joke that ME1 was "hey, you got some of your shooter in my RPG" and ME2 was "hey, you got some of your RPG in my shooter".
 
Stopped at the Dark Horse booth while at C2E2 in Chicago today. The woman I spoke to said they have another Mass Effect comic coming after Evolution (which we knew), but also that they are working on an art book! All they had there was a little tri-fold marketing item for ME:Evolution with a little bit of sketch art on the inside and this cool wall display.

IMAG0384 by PJL80, on Flickr

The badge for today also had this same art on it, which made it a cool little take-home itself.
 
Someone should fire up ME2 and see if anything comes up on the Cerberus Network window, as it's supposed to go live a week before the DLC drops. If it isn't today, then it should be tomorrow.
 
[quote name='xblaze23']love the series, anyone play it on insanity? thoughts?[/QUOTE]

I found Insanity rather easy with my Adept; the only thing that even slowed me down was a Scion. Can't speak for a the other classes, but I don't think it'd be very different.
 
I played through Insanity as an Engineer, and it is manageable, even for someone who doesn't typically play games on the hardest setting. It is quite hard though, and you do need to have a love for the game that will see you through the sections where you reload 14 times before finally eking your way through a tough fight. :) Mostly it's about figuring out a strategy that works for you, and then not making any mistakes. Even a single mistake in the middle of a fight can kill you very quickly on Insanity.

Load up a new game on Insanity and play through the tutorial mission until you get to Freedom's Progress. That is pretty much as tough as it gets. There are some spikes and tricky sections, but basically, if you can beat Freedom's Progress then you can beat everything else too. It's consistent that way.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']Someone should fire up ME2 and see if anything comes up on the Cerberus Network window, as it's supposed to go live a week before the DLC drops. If it isn't today, then it should be tomorrow.[/QUOTE]

Just checked, nothing new today.

We might be getting a trailer for Arrival tomorrow. Here's a tweet from BioWare's Jesse Houston:

Bags mostly packed, Kits Prepped, Flight mess dealt with, Sleepy Ninja in bed. Ready for my flight to #SFO tomorrow to present Arrival!
Click to expand...
 
I've been talking about an Insanity playthrough for over a year and I'm sure that when I get to it (post DA2), I'll be pestering you guys for pointers. I started it a while back and got through Freedom's Progress and stopped at Omega on my way to get Mordin. I'm just hell bent on having 100% cheevo's on this one because it's my favorite game of all time.
 
[quote name='chubbyninja1319']I'm just hell bent on having 100% cheevo's on this one because it's my favorite game of all time.[/QUOTE]
That's the exact reason I was so determined to finish Insanity. :lol:
 
[quote name='Arikado']Just checked, nothing new today.[/QUOTE]

Scratch that, new update went live not too long ago:

Posted 22nd March 2011

Evidence Mounts in Support of Mass Relay Age Findings

“Evidence continues to mount that the system of mass relays attributed to the Protheans predate their civilization. Dr. Aurana T'Meles of the University of Serrice, a one-time skeptic of the claim, now says she's a convert. "This team has been meticulous in dating relays from many locations," she says in her findings. "It is not their responsibility to hypothesize who created the relays, only to isolate the eras of their construction." Such hypotheses abound and usually feature disappeared species like the arthenn or zeioph. Nearly all have been ruled out since they did not coexist with the oldest of the relays. Dr. Amanda Kenson, team lead for the initial discovery, could not be reached for comment at broadcast time.”
Click to expand...
 
[quote name='chubbyninja1319']Amanda Kenson....obviously human. Maybe that chickie from those two teaser screenshots???[/QUOTE]Should be, yes.

Link from before when someone found out the accidental info about it:

http://www.destructoid.com/mass-effect-2-pc-files-hint-at-arrival-dlc-content-194762.phtml

Specifically:
The data-entries directly follow the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC data and mention a Viper Nebula, which I couldn't locate in the galaxy map of the Xbox 360 version. The Viper Nebula would appear to have five planets in the Bahak system -- Clogon, Aratoht, Yunaca, Urnola and Bastzuda -- and a quest location for "Rescue Dr. Kenson."

-----------------------------------------

Still, all the Batarian information and the mention of the Dr. Kenson quest-line does seem to point towards the still unannounced 'Arrival' DLC. If this is indeed data that will end up in 'Arrival' then it means it will contain a couple of sidequests, aside from the main quest-line, and will be set in Batarian space.
Click to expand...
 
No trailer today. Posted by Chris Priestly at the BioWare forums:

Ok a couple of things:

1 - The trailer will be available next Tuesday.

2 - Mr Houston's Twitter account is not an official BioWare channel. It is his personal Twitter account. No more.
Click to expand...
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']Trailer on the same day the actual DLC releases? Uh... okay.[/QUOTE]

Little strange, yeah, but at least now we won't see any potential spoilers in a trailer before getting our hands on the content.
 
[quote name='Arikado']Little strange, yeah, but at least now we won't see any potential spoilers in a trailer before getting our hands on the content.[/QUOTE]That's the only benefit in not getting the trailer before it releases.

Shall we start taking bets on how long the DLC will be in gametime? 2 hours? 3 hours?
 
I bet it will be about on par with Lair of the Shadow Broker, so around 1.5 to 2 hours. And if it is as intense a ride as Shadow Broker was, I will be thrilled with that length.
 
I hope it'll be at least as long as LoTSB, though as they had six months between that and Arrival, I hope we get even more gameplay time, since this is the be-all, end-all of the DLC for ME2, and the lead-in to ME3.

File size next week should give us some idea of how long it is, at least as a guess.
 
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