Mass Effect 2 to be free for a limited time.

cageymaru

cageymaru

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FREE ON THE HOUSE IS NOW LIVE!!!

Seems that Mass Effect 2 went free on Origin for a short period yesterday. Bioware is promising 5 days of freebies. The general consensus is that it went free earlier than expected. So check Origin to grab a free copy when the promotion kicks back in. This is not the "On the House" promotion. So it may last for only one day.

https://www.origin.com/usa/en-us/store/mass-effect/mass-effect-2/standard-edition

It will be interesting to see what else they release for free. ;)

 
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You can only buy the Mass Effect 2 DLCs on Bioware, here. No, they are not available for purchase in any other way. These are the prices of the DLCs, if you buy them for the PC:

Genesis 320 Bioware Points
Overlord Pack 560 Bioware Points
Kasumi - Stolen Memory 560 Bioware Points
Arrival 560 Bioware Points
Shadow Broker 800 Bioware Points
Firepower Pack 160 Bioware Points
Aegis Pack 160 Bioware Points
Equalizer Pack 160 Bioware Points
Alternate Appearance Pack 1 (Garrus, Thane, Jack) 160 Bioware Points
Alternate Appearance Pack 2 (Tali, Grunt, Miranda) 160 Bioware Points

The first DLC in the list, Genesis, is the official choice for those who didn't play ME1 and want better choices to carry over from there (the better unofficial choice is http://www.masseffectsaves.com). The next four are the storyline DLCs, particularly Arrival which sets the stage for ME3. The next three are item packs which may or may not be interesting. The last two are just skins.

Bioware points cost $1 for every 80 points. They have never gone on sale. You get to buy 1600, 1200, 800, 560, or 400 Bioware Points at a time. The cost of all the DLC in total is 3600 Bioware Points, or $45.
 
evilsofa said:
You can only buy the Mass Effect 2 DLCs on Bioware, here. No, they are not available for purchase in any other way. These are the prices of the DLCs, if you buy them for the PC:

Genesis 320 Bioware Points
Overlord Pack 560 Bioware Points
Kasumi - Stolen Memory 560 Bioware Points
Arrival 560 Bioware Points
Shadow Broker 800 Bioware Points
Firepower Pack 160 Bioware Points
Aegis Pack 160 Bioware Points
Equalizer Pack 160 Bioware Points
Alternate Appearance Pack 1 (Garrus, Thane, Jack) 160 Bioware Points
Alternate Appearance Pack 2 (Tali, Grunt, Miranda) 160 Bioware Points

The first DLC in the list, Genesis, is the official choice for those who didn't play ME1 and want better choices to carry over from there (the better unofficial choice is http://www.masseffectsaves.com). The next four are the storyline DLCs, particularly Arrival which sets the stage for ME3. The next three are item packs which may or may not be interesting. The last two are just skins.

Bioware points cost $1 for every 80 points. They have never gone on sale. You get to buy 1600, 1200, 800, 560, or 400 Bioware Points at a time. The cost of all the DLC in total is 3600 Bioware Points, or $45.
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Most dlc for mass effect 2 was amazing. lot of story-heavy one that brings entire new characters that have individual speech lines during the main storyline.
 
Shadow Broker was good but that was in 2011. I'm glad I played it before 3 or I would probably be confused.

I didn't have Arrival or Overlord and probably should have read what the hell happened before 3.
 
Two crashing bugs you'll want to know about:

When you get to Illium and attempt to walk down a certain hallway (underneath Liara's office), ME2 may crash every time you try to walk through there. The simple fix is to go to the Graphics options and turn off Light Environment Shadows.

If you get the Shadow Broker DLC (and you should, it's good), you may crash when attempting to leave the Shadow Broker base. The basic fix for this is to use the '-nomoviestartup' command when you launch the game, which is easy if you play the Steam version - but the Origin version of the game requires a much trickier workaround in which you rename two of the binaries in the Mass Effect 2 folder first.
 
evilsofa said:
You can only buy the Mass Effect 2 DLCs on Bioware, here. No, they are not available for purchase in any other way. These are the prices of the DLCs, if you buy them for the PC:

Genesis 320 Bioware Points
Overlord Pack 560 Bioware Points
Kasumi - Stolen Memory 560 Bioware Points
Arrival 560 Bioware Points
Shadow Broker 800 Bioware Points
Firepower Pack 160 Bioware Points
Aegis Pack 160 Bioware Points
Equalizer Pack 160 Bioware Points
Alternate Appearance Pack 1 (Garrus, Thane, Jack) 160 Bioware Points
Alternate Appearance Pack 2 (Tali, Grunt, Miranda) 160 Bioware Points

The first DLC in the list, Genesis, is the official choice for those who didn't play ME1 and want better choices to carry over from there (the better unofficial choice is http://www.masseffectsaves.com). The next four are the storyline DLCs, particularly Arrival which sets the stage for ME3. The next three are item packs which may or may not be interesting. The last two are just skins.

Bioware points cost $1 for every 80 points. They have never gone on sale. You get to buy 1600, 1200, 800, 560, or 400 Bioware Points at a time. The cost of all the DLC in total is 3600 Bioware Points, or $45.
Click to expand...

Amazon also has all Bioware DLC
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=bioware+points
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
CrimsonKnight13 said:
Amazon also has all Bioware DLC
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=bioware+points
Click to expand...

Those Bioware points are the same price, 80 points per $1, and have never gone on sale for less. The "Mass Effect 2 DLC Collection" has only ME2 and just enough Bioware points to buy the four storyline DLCs (not the actual DLCs themselves) for $51, which is a bad deal.

The "Mass Effect Trilogy" is missing most of the DLC for all 3 games: "On PC, Mass Effect will include Bring Down the Sky and Pinnacle Station on disk. For Mass Effect 2, Cerberus Network will be included which features Zaeed – The Price of Revenge, The Firewalker Pack, Cerberus Assault Gear, Arc Projector heavy weapon, and Normandy Crash site mission. For Mass Effect 3, Online Pass will be included granting players access to co-op multiplayer." (source)
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
evilsofa said:
Those Bioware points are the same price, 80 points per $1, and have never gone on sale for less. The "Mass Effect 2 DLC Collection" has only ME2 and just enough Bioware points to buy the four storyline DLCs (not the actual DLCs themselves) for $51, which is a bad deal.

The "Mass Effect Trilogy" is missing most of the DLC for all 3 games: "On PC, Mass Effect will include Bring Down the Sky and Pinnacle Station on disk. For Mass Effect 2, Cerberus Network will be included which features Zaeed – The Price of Revenge, The Firewalker Pack, Cerberus Assault Gear, Arc Projector heavy weapon, and Normandy Crash site mission. For Mass Effect 3, Online Pass will be included granting players access to co-op multiplayer." (source)
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Yep, I just figured I'd chime in about an alternate source, especially if you've got Amazon gift cards. I've never been impressed with Bioware's prices since they've been with EA.
 
I snagged a DLC for ME2 I didn't know about: Arrival

Now, I have an excuse for another replay of ME2 and ME3 over the week between Christmas and New Year's. :)
 
There's a sale going on at Origin now through the 14th of March, so you can complement your free ME2 (yes it's still free) with the original game for $3.74 if you haven't played it yet. That's what I'm doing since I'm new to the series.

I see that traditional means of commerce were deemed too simple, hence the birth of Bioware points. Does anyone know when this convoluted scheme came about? Have the ME2 DLC always been locked behind Bioware points? That seems strange for such a well-received game.

Dragon Age II ($10 for base game on sale?) with DLC (Bioware points) is more expensive than DAO Ultimate and DAI GOTY combined.

What happened to Bioware?

I found a link from which you can download the ME2 DLC (they're executable files), but I don't know whether they'll work if you haven't purchased them. It's worth a try...
http://support.ea.com/en-us/help/dragon-age/dragon-age-origins/bioware-classics-dlc
 
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Seems like some people got all of the ME2 DLC free, but I did not. But it is nice to have it on Origin now for redundancy. I do say that you should start with the first game. This is not a series you want to start halfway through.
 
ElementDave said:
There's a sale going on at Origin now through the 14th of March, so you can complement your free ME2 (yes it's still free) with the original game for $3.74 if you haven't played it yet. That's what I'm doing since I'm new to the series.

I see that traditional means of commerce were deemed too simple, hence the birth of Bioware points. Does anyone know when this convoluted scheme came about? Have the ME2 DLC always been locked behind Bioware points? That seems strange for such a well-received game.

Dragon Age II ($10 for base game on sale?) with DLC (Bioware points) is more expensive than DAO Ultimate and DAI GOTY combined.

What happened to Bioware?

I found a link from which you can download the ME2 DLC (they're executable files), but I don't know whether they'll work if you haven't purchased them. It's worth a try...
http://support.ea.com/en-us/help/dragon-age/dragon-age-origins/bioware-classics-dlc
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Yes they were always behind bioware points, and I think all Bioware DLCs were behind bioware points since Dragon Age. They only broken off that tradition with Inquisition

Unfortunately no, the DLCs don't work if you haven't purchased them. You can install them but the game will say they're unauthorized and disabled.

As for Dragon Age 2 I think they just forgot about that game. It never got a Game of the year edition to have all DLCs in one package. I wanted to replay that game with all DLCs included but hell I'm not going to pay that price for it.
 
Ok....

Well, I decided to reinstall ME2 via Origin and could not for the life of me figure out how to have Origin shutdown upon exiting the game.

(I'm only using Origin for this one game and this issue was driving me crazy. Apparently, they removed the option in the latest client etc.)

Anyways, here is the fix:

1. Launch Origin in Windows XP compatibility mode (right click the exe, properties.)

2. Set Origin to not update the client automatically and close it.

3. Take it out of compatibility mode and relaunch it.

4. Enjoy. It works 100% as it used to, including the exit after gameplay option.
 
M76 said:
Yes they were always behind bioware points, and I think all Bioware DLCs were behind bioware points since Dragon Age. They only broken off that tradition with Inquisition
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Thank god they made an "Ultimate" edition for Origins. Hopefully the practice will/has come to an end.

M76 said:
Unfortunately no, the DLCs don't work if you haven't purchased them. You can install them but the game will say they're unauthorized and disabled.

As for Dragon Age 2 I think they just forgot about that game. It never got a Game of the year edition to have all DLCs in one package. I wanted to replay that game with all DLCs included but hell I'm not going to pay that price for it.
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It certainly seems that way; doesn't it? I'm awfully tempted to at least buy the base game (DA II) and the Legacy DLC. I own Inquisition but have held off from playing it because I don't want to ruin the experience by skipping II. That and I got side-tracked replaying the Witcher series...

Concerning Bioware points, I did a bit of digging and it turns out there may be a legitimate way of obtaining the DLC at a discount (this should apply to all games/content purchased with Bioware points). Take a look at this link here (scroll down to the "Wiki Community Board"):
https://slickdeals.net/e/9108355-50-off-games-at-origin-excludes-bf1

Individuals were able to apply a sitewide promotional code to obtain the DLC for 50% off. Assuming that wasn't a fluke, the catch is that you of course need sitewide promo code for it to work. I don't know how often Origin offers sitewide discounts. If they're known to do so at certain times of the year, that would be useful to know.

Here's another link in which the same method worked during a different offer:
https://slickdeals.net/e/8780795-ea-s-origin-30-off-storewide
 
horrorshow said:
Ok....

Well, I decided to reinstall ME2 via Origin and could not for the life of me figure out how to have Origin shutdown upon exiting the game.

(I'm only using Origin for this one game and this issue was driving me crazy. Apparently, they removed the option in the latest client etc.)
Click to expand...

Was this an option to exit automatically after game exit? Can't you just close the application from icon in the taskbar notification area? Worst case scenario you kill the process.
 
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