Mass Effect 2 - thoughts, opinions?

I have played for a couple hours now and I honestly liked the way the original handled things much better. It really feels like instead of fixing complaints from the original they just removed the feature altogether. For example some people didn't like the elevator scenes to hide the loading of levels, so they just removed the elevators completely and just game loading screens. IMHO that breaks the continuous feel of the levels, especially the Normandy. I also liked getting items and gear instead of having to research it. I feel like there aren't as many powers to unlock as your character levels up. Ultimately it feelsl like a third person shooter with a hint of RPG to it, while the original was an RPG with a hint of third person shooter.

However, despite all this I am really really enjoying the game. In fact I am enjoying it much more than Dragon Age Origins. ME2 looks fantastic, I love the music and the voice acting is top notch. Great game.
 
Sikkyu said:
As for indroducing a new species... actually they introduced 3... lulz

SPOILERS

As for reapers... um reapers are collectors... well at least one is. I have a feeling the reapers didnt use the collectors in the first game because they had the geth (heritics), and didnt want to seem out of place and random geth attacks in the terminus systems is not uncommon, where as collectors are more rare.
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More SPOILERS!!

Collectors aren't Reapers, they are Protheans.

And Zaeed was awesome. He is the Canderous Ordo of Mass Effect.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
More SPOILERS!!

Collectors aren't Reapers, they are Protheans.

And Zaeed was awesome. He is the Canderous Ordo of Mass Effect.
Click to expand...

SPOILERS

well if you consider that the collecters = protheans and that reapers are controling drone protheans, then what i was getting at was reapers are the collectors (or collector controlers for the anal)
 
Just finished it... If anything better comes out this year I'll be impressed.

Is there a list of the various ending anywhere? Or what influences them?
 
ok but guys im thinking about starting my own thread about the real question in this game:

what do we think of the C++ minigame

:p
 
I hard just finished playing Mass Effect for the first time then picked this up, and felt really disappointed. I feel like it is a FPS with a little RTS sprinkled in. Story is good, but ME was way better, felt like there was more involvement in the game.

This review by nytimes that was just released on ME 2 I feel summarizes the game very well

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/03/arts/television/03effect.html?hpw

Otherwise it was definately a fun game and now the waiting begins for the third.
 
gist901 said:
I hard just finished playing Mass Effect for the first time then picked this up, and felt really disappointed. I feel like it is a FPS with a little RTS sprinkled in. Story is good, but ME was way better, felt like there was more involvement in the game.

This review by nytimes that was just released on ME 2 I feel summarizes the game very well

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/03/arts/television/03effect.html?hpw

Otherwise it was definately a fun game and now the waiting begins for the third.
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I went back to try and play Mass Effect 1 again on my pc. Holy hell does it look like ass! I dunno if I'll make it through. ME2 is such an improve graphics wise. The combat is so much better as well.
 
I've just arrived at Omega.

I went into Afterlife and met with Aria. Then I walked around inside the club and went down to the shopping area. I'm not actually pursuing a mission here, but am just sort of wandering around. A completely mind blowing experience.

The stage area at Afterlife, with the exotic dancers dancing on it, feels uncannily like a real high-end gentleman's night-club, albeit in a science fiction setting. When you leave the night club area, and walk into the seedy corridor areas, there are drunken patrons lying on the floor, in what look like pools of piss. The music from the nightclub is faded, and the lighting takes on a sinister reddish glow. Just super atmospheric.

This really is the Unreal engine at its finest - but the detail that Bioware has packed on here is just stunning. There are so many little things happening that you almost take it for granted. This section makes me feel like I'm actually participating in the movie Blade Runner.

Honestly, I can't see any game topping this - not this year, anyhow. To each his own, of course - but, wow, how could anybody complain about this phenomenal game?
 
I've just spent an hour on Omega - there were so many hell-yeah moments there that this might've been one of the most amazing hours I've ever spent gaming. The art direction, the engine itself, the character design, the gunplay, the dialogue... just wow. It all just fits together like a beautiful jigsaw. Some really mind blowing stuff here.

At one point I was so damned excited that I had to stop playing. Well, that's me done for the night. I'm going to take this one slow - I don't want this to end.
 
WabeWalker said:
but, wow, how could anybody complain about this phenomenal game?
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My gripes are minor. ME1 was an RPG with shooter elements. ME2 is a Shooter with RPG elements, no friggin idea why Bioware did this as they're known for RPG's NOT shooters. I'm guessing all the FPS fanboys complained that the first one had too much dialogue, not enough shooting/ fighting or whatever.

Don't misunderstand me, ME2 is a great game, the combat is much improved although I miss infinte ammo. I mean heatsink clips ? come on. Story is good but just does not feel as deep to me. What I mean by that is maybe not Story but I think the characters don't feel quite as fleshed out? deep ? I loved all the dialogue options in ME1 and being able build my character as I see fit, not having to run a cookie cutter build on rails like ME2 is.

It's a fantastic game, on my top 5 list of all time for sure. But for me, and this is my opinion, they dumbed it down, turned it into a shooter and gutted some of the best parts from the first game.Glad they left hot blue Asari babes in it ;) and Miranda and Samara are drool worthy...lol

It looks fantastic, runs good, is a ton of fun, but could have been so much more...
 
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My complaints are much the same as most. They over "stream-lined" the game, removing WAY too much RPG. I like the idea of customizing my armor, but I liked it more when I thought it was going to be all the armor systems from ME1. I love how the biotics can now manipulate their powers more (around corners and such), but I hate how they nerfed the mods, stats and control over each. The shuttle was a good idea for some missions, but not at the expense of removing all the planet exploration and replacing it with the most hideous mini-game ever conceived by mankind: planet scanning. All the new locales are great, but seem shrunk and less fluid.

I won't carry on, it's all been said. The experience just got dumbed down and I think that was a mistake. Hoping they figure that out before getting too far into development for ME3.
 
lol "mind-blowing".
BioWare could have put a dog turd in a box and wrote "Mass Effect 2" on it and some people would just love it to death.
 
UtopiA said:
lol "mind-blowing".
BioWare could have put a dog turd in a box and wrote "Mass Effect 2" on it and some people would just love it to death.
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Good thing they didn't just put a dog turd in the box though.
 
z3r0- said:
Good thing they didn't just put a dog turd in the box though.
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I am just sad that ME3 will be the end of Shepards story. I have a feeling he will die (again) but this time stay dead. Maybe the reapers just want shepard instead of the galaxy and he will have to make a choice or some bullshit.
 
It will probably involve recruiting different planets/civilations for the final showdown against the reapers.

Hopefully Wrex will be able to join the group finally!
 
UtopiA said:
lol "mind-blowing".
BioWare could have put a dog turd in a box and wrote "Mass Effect 2" on it and some people would just love it to death.
Click to expand...

The only thing I found "mind blowing" about the graphics is how bad they can be and still have everyone saying "OMG LOOK AT THE GRAPHICS!". WTF did they do to the unreal engine? Horrible low-res textures all over(Flash-back from ME1?), bump map slider to 11(because 11 is one higher than 10, obviously), and the jittering/random lag? ME2 is filled with really bad slowdowns that seem to have little/nothing to do with on-screen detail. The Depth of Field effect is spotty and all over the place. The facial animation is hilarious, watch Shepard's mouth when you choose a "friendly" convo response.

I'm enjoying the game, but the graphics stand out in a bad way more often than not.
 
Spewn said:
The only thing I found "mind blowing" about the graphics is how bad they can be and still have everyone saying "OMG LOOK AT THE GRAPHICS!". WTF did they do to the unreal engine? Horrible low-res textures all over(Flash-back from ME1?), bump map slider to 11(because 11 is one higher than 10, obviously), and the jittering/random lag? ME2 is filled with really bad slowdowns that seem to have little/nothing to do with on-screen detail. The Depth of Field effect is spotty and all over the place. The facial animation is hilarious, watch Shepard's mouth when you choose a "friendly" convo response.

I'm enjoying the game, but the graphics stand out in a bad way more often than not.
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Even though the graphics have some issues its still far better than the shit in ME1. I'm glad for at least that much.
 
I guess I can't say for sure if I like it better than ME1, but I *do* know that I didn't find myself going "Wow, that looks terrible" as often in ME1.
 
Wabe, you crack me up. :)

Atmosphere is really good. I can't remember enjoying the atmosphere so much since Vampire: Masquerade Bloodlines. (infact I see so many similarities between the two games).

As for the C++ code, funny to see that. It's kind of any easy-fun mini game since I'm always looking at code anyways. I wonder if some of that code is in the actual game.

I'm also happy that this game went the FPS direction. Infact, I wish more medieval/fantasy games went the FPS direction. I just wish ME2 didn't skimp on the number of powers you can posses at a time.
 
I prefer more RPG and more powers like the old ME1, but the ME2 story/dialogue and environments are what I like the most. Looking up into space from the open hull of the ship, the bar scenes/clubs, etc. Very awesome. Much more immersive than the cookie cutter bases on random planets in ME1.
 
Aside from the "fewer powers at a time" thing, ME2 isn't less of an rpg than ME1. I agree that more power selection is better though. I like that ME2 feels more like real life mechanics.

I just hate dice rolling. I hate that RPG's are considered less RPG if they don't have the dice rolling. The one thing I like about FPS games (in an RPG context) is that everything is more mechanical. I don't like sitting back with the +3 to attack sword as I wait for my turn to swing again. For medieval games, mount & blade or Dark Messiah have the right direction.
 
If they had managed to keep some of the more robust-ness of the powers and skills from the first one while keeping the new fps combat enhancements they'd have a solid game.

What it looks like is that they tried to create a more refined and tight game. A very solid game, which it is, no doubt about that. They trimmed some of the fat and enhanced parts of it immensely. Maybe ME3 will have more RPG elements while not hurting the combat again.

That being said. I find this game more enjoyable. I guess because of the improved combat and graphics.
 
Spewn said:
The only thing I found "mind blowing" about the graphics is how bad they can be and still have everyone saying "OMG LOOK AT THE GRAPHICS!". WTF did they do to the unreal engine? Horrible low-res textures all over(Flash-back from ME1?), bump map slider to 11(because 11 is one higher than 10, obviously), and the jittering/random lag? ME2 is filled with really bad slowdowns that seem to have little/nothing to do with on-screen detail. The Depth of Field effect is spotty and all over the place. The facial animation is hilarious, watch Shepard's mouth when you choose a "friendly" convo response.
Click to expand...

What are you talking about? Random slows and lag? Whats your system specs? Also, depth of field is fine, or do you want it like your looking through frosted glass?

I haven't had any slowdowns and there hasn't been any lag for me at all. Graphics are better then ME1 but yes they could've been better. Oh, and i'm pretty sure the facial animations aren't as good on the character you made, because of the possibilities that his face good look like.
 
King Icewind said:
What are you talking about? Random slows and lag? Whats your system specs? Also, depth of field is fine, or do you want it like your looking through frosted glass?

I haven't had any slowdowns and there hasn't been any lag for me at all. Graphics are better then ME1 but yes they could've been better. Oh, and i'm pretty sure the facial animations aren't as good on the character you made, because of the possibilities that his face good look like.
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I would agree. Maybe it's your system or something. The surprising thing to me is that it runs better than ME1 on the same system. That's wild.
 
King Icewind said:
What are you talking about? Random slows and lag? Whats your system specs? Also, depth of field is fine, or do you want it like your looking through frosted glass?
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Core2@3ghz, 48701GB, 4GB ram. Never had any issues like this in ME1. To be fair, even Crysis runs more predictably than ME2. If I had to guess, it's due to the way the game streams information in. I'm admittedly running a slower hard-drive than most, but like I said, these problems don't exist in ME1, or in other games that look better/incorporate more detail on the screen at once.

As for the Depth of Field, uh, the problem is that it *is* like looking through frosted glass. I'm not sure what lens they were trying to emulate, but it just doesn't look good. It also shifts around too much, and it's too harsh. It's not that I have a problem with DoF, just ME2's implementation.


I haven't had any slowdowns and there hasn't been any lag for me at all. Graphics are better then ME1 but yes they could've been better. Oh, and i'm pretty sure the facial animations aren't as good on the character you made, because of the possibilities that his face good look like.
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I didn't change the default face, so I'm not sure what you're talking about. The facial animations should look best on the face Bioware made, no?

The game itself is fine, but the graphics are sub-par, I expected a lot more.
 
Spewn said:
Core2@3ghz, 48701GB, 4GB ram. Never had any issues like this in ME1. To be fair, even Crysis runs more predictably than ME2. If I had to guess, it's due to the way the game streams information in. I'm admittedly running a slower hard-drive than most, but like I said, these problems don't exist in ME1, or in other games that look better/incorporate more detail on the screen at once.

As for the Depth of Field, uh, the problem is that it *is* like looking through frosted glass. I'm not sure what lens they were trying to emulate, but it just doesn't look good. It also shifts around too much, and it's too harsh. It's not that I have a problem with DoF, just ME2's implementation.

I didn't change the default face, so I'm not sure what you're talking about. The facial animations should look best on the face Bioware made, no?

The game itself is fine, but the graphics are sub-par, I expected a lot more.
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Any chance I can get you to post some screenshots? I don't see why this game would run any different. I don't get any slowdowns really and machine is a lot shittier than yours. You should have any problems.

Have you messed with the vid settings at all? Maybe turn off Film Grain. I know I did right off the bat. Not even sure what it looks like with it on.
 
Like I said, I think it's my hard-drive, it's a fairly old 120Gig IDE. I'm willing to accept that's more "my fault" than theirs, even though other games don't have similar issues.

I could post screenshots, but they look exactly like what you can find online. There's nothing anomalous about what I see on-screen as far as I can tell.
 
Spewn said:
Core2@3ghz, 48701GB, 4GB ram. Never had any issues like this in ME1. To be fair, even Crysis runs more predictably than ME2. If I had to guess, it's due to the way the game streams information in. I'm admittedly running a slower hard-drive than most, but like I said, these problems don't exist in ME1, or in other games that look better/incorporate more detail on the screen at once.

As for the Depth of Field, uh, the problem is that it *is* like looking through frosted glass. I'm not sure what lens they were trying to emulate, but it just doesn't look good. It also shifts around too much, and it's too harsh. It's not that I have a problem with DoF, just ME2's implementation.




I didn't change the default face, so I'm not sure what you're talking about. The facial animations should look best on the face Bioware made, no?

The game itself is fine, but the graphics are sub-par, I expected a lot more.
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Sounds like you have 2 things going on. First do you have film grain on ? First thing I turn off as it makes the game look like I'm watching an old black and white movie. Second sounds like your graphical issues may be related to an issue with maybe your video card driver because on my machine the game is bordering on stunning graphics wise.And Bioware says to make sure you are running the most up to date drivers for your PC.

If it's not either of those try uninstalling and reinstalling.
 
Spewn said:
Like I said, I think it's my hard-drive, it's a fairly old 120Gig IDE. I'm willing to accept that's more "my fault" than theirs, even though other games don't have similar issues.

I could post screenshots, but they look exactly like what you can find online. There's nothing anomalous about what I see on-screen as far as I can tell.
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If it was hardware related you'd see the same issues across the board.
 
How to enable AA in this game when I have HD5850?

I've downloaded 10.1 fix, changed exe to UT3 and it does not work...
 
Ok guys I got a question on how this Cerberus thing works. Does it only lets you activate it only once or do you create some account that you log on to? What if I uninstall the game and a year later I feel like playing again?
Does the Steam version do the same thing, or does Steam not have all this bullshit and just includes everything with no activation?
I like retail boxes (Yea... I'm a item horder), but I rather buy Steam version if it works better.
 
Spewn - obviously your hard drive can play into the stuttering issue, but as for the graphics not being good - wtf? Maybe you've got some sort underlying issue that has nothing to actually do with the game? As far as I can tell, Mass Effect 2's graphics are stunning. I mean, sure, when you close in on some of the plasticy/shiny walls, they can seem to have low-res textures, but how much fine detail and/or grain should a smooth, shiny wall have? Everything else, aside from smooth surfaces, has a TON of detail.
 
Spewn said:
Like I said, I think it's my hard-drive, it's a fairly old 120Gig IDE. I'm willing to accept that's more "my fault" than theirs, even though other games don't have similar issues.

I could post screenshots, but they look exactly like what you can find online. There's nothing anomalous about what I see on-screen as far as I can tell.
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I still think you should post some shots. IMO.
 
axl2000 said:
How to enable AA in this game when I have HD5850?

I've downloaded 10.1 fix, changed exe to UT3 and it does not work...
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i renamed mine to bioshock and forced the aa in the ccc controller 2x AA worked well for me. anything more gave me slowdown.
 
I got enough headroom left over on a [email protected] / gtx260 for 2x2 ssaa with average 40fps. this way it looks gorgeous for the most part, but we still have random horrible textures to remind us what this game was made for. no matter how good the iq is, you can't get around this glaring result of platform limitations. certain important things like weapons, they really should have taken the effort to clean up. I really don't understand how they always consider this a trivial thing, you carry them all game long, it looks like everyone is holding toy nerf guns. no matter how cool the descriptions are and what kind of advanced techno-babble they use to describe them, they all look like ass and totally break the immersion. I don't see how they would be satisfied with the result even for x360, it can't look much better there.

good news is that the structure for texture assets have apparently been figured out, so we might see some hi-res mods to fix this soon. it's really confusing to see this in big budget games, when we have $20 indies that can produce completely realistic looking weapons for 7 year old engines.
 
dajet24 said:
i renamed mine to bioshock and forced the aa in the ccc controller 2x AA worked well for me. anything more gave me slowdown.
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After restart it works fine. 1680x1050 AAx8 (adaptive on medium) AFx16 and it goes from 38 to 60fps :)
 
hl3395 said:
Ok guys I got a question on how this Cerberus thing works. Does it only lets you activate it only once or do you create some account that you log on to? What if I uninstall the game and a year later I feel like playing again?
Does the Steam version do the same thing, or does Steam not have all this bullshit and just includes everything with no activation?
I like retail boxes (Yea... I'm a item horder), but I rather buy Steam version if it works better.
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When you purchase the game new (or pay for the Cerberus code from EA) you are creating an EA online account. This serial number is tied to that account. When you launch ME2, it asks for your login information, which checks your Cerberus connection.

Even if you uninstall and reinstall a year later, when you launch ME2 and login to Cerberus from in game, you will still have access.

So, in short, it is account based, not install based. Hope that helps.
 
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