Mass Effect

[HoveringCheesecake]

Alright guys, one last question. Can I download Lair of the Shadow Broker when I'm nearing the end of the game, or does it need to be on my hard drive when I start my game? I don't plan on playing through until after a certain mission at the end of the game...

[eugimon]

you can add the DLC 's whenever you want and play them after that certain mission.

[Lynx7725]

Having said that, the Shadow Broker mission is worth playing as early in the game as possible. The rewards for completing the mission is quite good, and having its effect earlier paves the way a bit.

Heard a rumour that Bioware intends to release more DLCs to bridge between ME2 and ME3. Anyone heard similar?

[David Hingtgen]

I believe I heard that for ME1, too. None of those DLC's added anything...

[kaiotheforsaken]

Bioware really should release something to bridge the gap. I'd like to see a good 5ish hour chunk length wise that ties things together. Bioware may have flubbed big time on ME1s DLC but 2s has been much better and Shadow Broker is actually quite critical to the story (at least in its own way).

[HoveringCheesecake]

Having said that, the Shadow Broker mission is worth playing as early in the game as possible. The rewards for completing the mission is quite good, and having its effect earlier paves the way a bit.

Heard a rumour that Bioware intends to release more DLCs to bridge between ME2 and ME3. Anyone heard similar?

I thought about that, but it sounds like some of the dialogue is geared towards completing it after the *cough* mission.

[Lynx7725]

I thought about that, but it sounds like some of the dialogue is geared towards completing it after the *cough* mission.

I can't tell which *cough* mission you are referring to, but on my first playthrough I went on the Shadow Broker mission soon after Illum became available. It was useful, especially since I needed some spare cash.

EDIT: Just to be clearer, I didn't hear or see anything that's too out of the ordinary. One of the achievements that is from this DLC actually made sense in the context of the overall ME2 story. Then again, I was playing a non-canon Shepherd, so YMMV.

You do need to know that this DLC has a slight clash with one of the original ME2 assignments, but it's a small assignment anyway..

And yeah, I hope Bioware is releasing something between now and ME3. I'm doing my second Infiltrator run, and intend to do an Adept run (The Biotic Bimbo anyone? ) but there's no way ME2 reruns will last me till ME3 comes out.

Edited December 21, 2010 by Lynx7725

[HoveringCheesecake]

I can't tell which *cough* mission you are referring to, but on my first playthrough I went on the Shadow Broker mission soon after Illum became available. It was useful, especially since I needed some spare cash.

EDIT: Just to be clearer, I didn't hear or see anything that's too out of the ordinary. One of the achievements that is from this DLC actually made sense in the context of the overall ME2 story. Then again, I was playing a non-canon Shepherd, so YMMV.

You do need to know that this DLC has a slight clash with one of the original ME2 assignments, but it's a small assignment anyway..

And yeah, I hope Bioware is releasing something between now and ME3. I'm doing my second Infiltrator run, and intend to do an Adept run (The Biotic Bimbo anyone? ) but there's no way ME2 reruns will last me till ME3 comes out.

I'm talking about the BIG mission. And which assignment does it clash with?

[Lynx7725]

I'm talking about the BIG mission. And which assignment does it clash with?

Oh THAT big mission. The writing's loose enough to encompass both during and after. I always treated it as during, doesn't seem to break. But hindsight, she's great; it could work for after too.

The assignment is one that

Liara tosses at you to go do nasty things to some poor terminals. Seems like if you have the DLC and do that one first, the assignment breaks/ becomes not doable. As I said, it's not an awfully big deal

.

[Lynx7725]

So second run through. Just picked up Jack the Nimble, and completed Horizon at the same time. Did I mention I hate Husks? Hate hate hate. Shadow Broker opens up at this point, I'll make it a point to do this one early, but without a maxed Widow I'm not so sure how fast it would be.

Some spoilers:

Yesterday was frustrating. Was doing Okeer, but the no-clip problem forced me to reload twice in that mission. I was hugging the walls when I clipped into the ceiling and couldn't come down. And it was a good run too.

This run, I'm quite happy with the fact that on the Arcangel mission, not a single merc made it across the bridge. All were sniper-splat by Arcangel and myself, with some assists from Miranda and Zaeed. Previous run had the merc getting in and up the stairs, but this time we were good and fast enough on the shots to kill 'em all in the open.

[CrusherJ]

Been playing the demo for the PS3 version of ME2. Looks fantastic! Quite eager for January 18 to come so I can pick this up!

[Lynx7725]

Heh. Just redid Tali's recruitment mission on ME2. It gets ridiculously easy with AI hacking, might even be more so had I went with Improved AI Hacking rather than Area AI Hacking.

Be aware though, that if you are referring to certain guides there's one area with the pesky drones. There's not one Geth Prime there, but two, so don't get ambushed too badly. The drones appear to be infinite spawn until you kill the Primes, so there's not much point in hiding in the doorway to pick off drones.

Just pop head up, hack-a-geth, wait for the inevitable retaliation, repeat, and then finally take down the last one.

Even did the final boss this way: Hack Destroyer. Wait for Destroyer to die and respawn. Hack Destroyer...

Edited December 28, 2010 by Lynx7725

[HoveringCheesecake]

I'm about a year behind the curve and I have not finished the game, but here's my thoughts so far. I did run into the annoying "bug" that forces you to do the

Collector Ship

after only five missions, even if they are only N7 non-storyline missions. I wanted my entire team, damnit. I also found out that being a Soldier does not fit my play-style at all. Gonna try Infiltrator next time.

Improvements:

I like the new Normandy. EDI is hilarious.

-I like some of the new teammates.

-The graphics look better, and the texture pop-in is almost completely gone.

-Interface is much improved, but I'm not sure if I prefer the blue color of the first game or the orange color they used here. The orange does make sense given the color of most of the displays shown in-game.

-Armor, ship, biotic, tech, and weapon customization/research. The lack of armors may bug some people, but I want my Shepard to wear N7 armor that isn't worthless like it was in the first game. Less is more in this department, but I could stand to see more weapons and armor added to the third game. I just hope they don't go overboard as in the first game.

-No more Mako. The Hammerhead is only OK in small doses, though.

-No more cookie cutter stations!

-^Along the same line, the non-essential missions are much more fun.

-No more mountainous planets that I need to drive the Mako around on!

-The galaxy map is much improved with some exceptions down below.

Beefs:

I still miss the old Normandy.

-DLC is horseshit. Especially having to download DLC to get teammates. Yes, I wasted the money, but DLC is getting out of hand.

-I can't stand some of the new teammates.

-Maybe a little bit too much running and gunning. There needs to be a happy medium between this and the first game for #3.

-I'm undecided on this one: ammo clips. It looks cool, and makes sense, but I also enjoyed the original game's weapon system as well.

-Mining. Who at BioWare thought that I wanted to be some kind of space prospector? The Illusive Man has all of these resources and I have to fly around strip planets myself? For Chrissakes, why does it take me 4-5 complete turns of the planet to completely scan it? This bugs me more than anything else and is what I'm dreading on my next play-through. I'd rate this worse than collecting minerals in the first game. And why is my scanner the same size for a gas giant as it is for a dinky dwarf planet?

-Only 3(4) powers per team-mate, and only a few more for Shepard? A step down from the first game.

-There are "only" 30 levels, but it certainly seems like it is taking me forever to reach 30 despite the fact that I'm doing any and every mission. Since so many people complain about there being only 30, I assume I'll be reversing this and complaining about the cap once I've finished.

-Cover system is useful, but it can also use some tweaking. Nothing like getting shredded by enemies with cat-like reflexes and amazing accuracy and being unable to take cover behind that random box for this reason or that. For that matter, what is this, Counter-Strike?

-Planet close-ups in the galaxy map. The garden worlds look OK, but with the exception of the Sol System, every other planet type looks the same with only minor variation. The first game may have shown only a small portion of each planet, but I almost preferred that over what we have now. Hopefully they find a happy medium for the third game. Give us the ability to scan to a certain extent, but make each planet have a completely unique appearance instead of cookie cutters.

-Why were some of the original codex entries downgraded by having their narration removed?

Dang, that's a long post. I'm a year late but I had to get that out there. Now if you don't mind, I'm in the middle of some calibrations.

[Lynx7725]

I'm about a year behind the curve and I have not finished the game, but here's my thoughts so far.

I'm only slightly ahead of the curve of you. I'm on my second run through, Paragon Infiltrator/ Assassin (odd sod I am... ) Currently at the tail end of loyalty missions, and gathering tech. Think I can hit the big one this weekend.

I did run into the annoying "bug" that forces you to do the

Collector Ship

after only five missions, even if they are only N7 non-storyline missions. I wanted my entire team, damnit.

That mission wasn't too bad at all.

You do get a nifty upgrade early in that mission -- do note that the choice is for a chara's lifetime, if you go back to play a second time with the chara s/he don't get to choose again.

That mission is the one where you start to lose your fear of the Collectors, though you'll still have a respect for them, especially their Husk-type allies.

Whatever you do, don't do the Derelict Reaper mission without your team being ready -- whatever you call ready. That mission is... uphill. After that, more uphill.

I also found out that being a Soldier does not fit my play-style at all. Gonna try Infiltrator next time.

Not too sure about this. TBH, the combat-heavy element here favours IMO the Soldier more, as he's quite more flexible than an Infiltrator. The 'filtrator is a point-target killer; he relies on his team-mates to do crowd control. The Soldier is really jack-of-all-trades and can cover himself quite well. Not sure if you noticed, but you can put different ammo powers on different gun at the same time -- your pistol can be Disruptor, while your assault rifle has Incinerate on it, and the SMG with Warp ammo. You just can't have two powers on the same gun.

-No more Mako. The Hammerhead is only OK in small doses, though.

Personally dislike the Hammerhead. I don't like Hammerhead missions, but I'm a infantry crawler, I suppose.

-DLC is horseshit. Especially having to download DLC to get teammates. Yes, I wasted the money, but DLC is getting out of hand.

I would agree with Zaeed, because IMO he makes the final mission that much easier to pull off with most if not all of the team surviving. He's not very.. interesting. Kasumi though does add quite a solid story to the game, I think it's worth it.

Not too sure about Shadow Broker though. I like the benefits it brings, about balanced right, but I don't like the arduous back-to-back crawl I had to go through.

-Maybe a little bit too much running and gunning. There needs to be a happy medium between this and the first game for #3.

-I'm undecided on this one: ammo clips. It looks cool, and makes sense, but I also enjoyed the original game's weapon system as well.

I sort of agree. A little bit less shooting might be good, especially if chara development takes its place. But I do like the combat, it's a different flavour from a lot of other FPS. The AI's decent, and you're rewarded quite for good tactical play. The emphasis and challenge of the missions are more to quickly end it rather than kill every mook.

For an example, I felt quite good when during Arcangel's recruitment mission, not a single Eclipse merc in the first wave got past the bridge. With good positioning and proper timing/ ammo management, we accounted for every merc in that wave before they got into the building.

The ammo part, my feel is that they got it off by just a bit. 5% more clip per mission, or a better distribution, would slip into the sweet spot. I find myself scrambling for clips, and now I tend to go with the Viper for lower-end missions simply because I get more shots per clip than with the Widow.

-Mining. Who at BioWare thought that I wanted to be some kind of space prospector? The Illusive Man has all of these resources and I have to fly around strip planets myself?

Hate the mining. The thing is that mining's totally uneven -- you need huge amounts of Platinum and a bit of the rest, but it's a bit hit and miss as to which planet's got what. And just strip mining actually makes your life more difficult -- you pay for those probes and you need credits more than you need those other elements. Thankfully the SB DLC does address that.

-Only 3(4) powers per team-mate, and only a few more for Shepard? A step down from the first game.

-There are "only" 30 levels, but it certainly seems like it is taking me forever to reach 30 despite the fact that I'm doing any and every mission. Since so many people complain about there being only 30, I assume I'll be reversing this and complaining about the cap once I've finished.

Actually the number of powers feel good. You can mix and match teammates and coordinate through there. Meeting YMIRs? Double overload (Arcangel and Miranda) strips shields very fast. Geth? Bring AI hacking, hilarious to see Geth Destroyers about face to flame some poor Geth sod. Husks? Biotics and Cryo. It doesn't get too complicated and the AI does a decent job using its powers.

You will hit 30 if you do every mission and I do mean every; I hit.. IIRC 28 on first playthrough and that's missing only a handful of non-core missions. You need to scrap together all those "explore a world and oh look an Anomaly!" missions. 30 is a problem on subsequent playthroughs, as there isn't much incentive to do all those sidequests any more. But on balance, since you max out a power every 5 levels, you'll max out a chara by 35, so it's a game-design/ balance issue.

-Cover system is useful, but it can also use some tweaking. Nothing like getting shredded by enemies with cat-like reflexes and amazing accuracy and being unable to take cover behind that random box for this reason or that. For that matter, what is this, Counter-Strike?

The problem I had with the cover is that it becomes predictable that combat is happening. Oh look, chest high stuff. You know the drill, run into it as fast as you can. Left trigger to pop up/ out to aim, right to shoot. 'Filtrators get an advantage here since they can cloak and do this more safely.

I like it that once you're in, you get a bit of time to check out the combat and see who you need to kill first. At the same time, the AI is smart enough to flank you where the cover doesn't help. Overall, the cover system works quite well, since IMO few of the enemy has any accuracy worth jack -- but they sure are hosing the place down to get you.

[BeyondTheGrave]

Improvements:

I'm about a year behind the curve and I have not finished the game, but here's my thoughts so far. I did run into the annoying "bug" that forces you to do the

Collector Ship

after only five missions, even if they are only N7 non-storyline missions. I wanted my entire team, damnit.

That's a bug?

Beefs:

-DLC is horseshit. Especially having to download DLC to get teammates. Yes, I wasted the money, but DLC is getting out of hand.

-I can't stand some of the new teammates.

I do wish they had given the dlc teammates more dialogue. But Kasumi and Zaheed's missions were fun to play through.And the unique conversations that can be had in game.

Also it could always be Pinnacle Station again.

-Maybe a little bit too much running and gunning. There needs to be a happy medium between this and the first game for #3.

-I'm undecided on this one: ammo clips. It looks cool, and makes sense, but I also enjoyed the original game's weapon system as well.

The problem I had with ME1 weapon system was wehn you "unlocked" Spectre gear VIII-X and put Two heat sink upgrades in the gun would never overheat.

-Mining. Who at BioWare thought that I wanted to be some kind of space prospector? The Illusive Man has all of these resources and I have to fly around strip planets myself? For Chrissakes, why does it take me 4-5 complete turns of the planet to completely scan it? This bugs me more than anything else and is what I'm dreading on my next play-through. I'd rate this worse than collecting minerals in the first game. And why is my scanner the same size for a gas giant as it is for a dinky dwarf planet?

Use the guide and you'll save a lot of time.

Mining guide

Top Five Planets to mine

-Only 3(4) powers per team-mate, and only a few more for Shepard? A step down from the first game.

I don't think I actually used all the powers available in ME1. I take 6 powers that are useful over 20 powers that have no use or just a variant of another power.

-There are "only" 30 levels, but it certainly seems like it is taking me forever to reach 30 despite the fact that I'm doing any and every mission. Since so many people complain about there being only 30, I assume I'll be reversing this and complaining about the cap once I've finished.

-Cover system is useful, but it can also use some tweaking. Nothing like getting shredded by enemies with cat-like reflexes and amazing accuracy and being unable to take cover behind that random box for this reason or that. For that matter, what is this, Counter-Strike?

Are you doing the small stupid trivial ones also? I do like how xp is earn this time around versus last time.

(You looked out a window..1000xp ..level up!)

Had no problems with the cover system.

-Planet close-ups in the galaxy map. The garden worlds look OK, but with the exception of the Sol System, every other planet type looks the same with only minor variation. The first game may have shown only a small portion of each planet, but I almost preferred that over what we have now. Hopefully they find a happy medium for the third game. Give us the ability to scan to a certain extent, but make each planet have a completely unique appearance instead of cookie cutters.

Compare that to ME1 where you had to use the Mako on planets to find the bunker. Enter the bunker and then you realize its the same bunker as last time just on another planet.

-Why were some of the original codex entries downgraded by having their narration removed?

Didn't notice.My guess would be to save room on the disc.

Edited January 6, 2011 by BeyondTheGrave

[Lynx7725]

Did Zaeed's loyalty mission today. Didn't get his loyalty, but.. that's fine.

Also did the Wrecked Freighter assignment. Since it's an assignment, I won't bother too much with spoiler tags.

Had been looking forward to this mission because I wanted to do it once by killing all the LOKIs. Went in with Tali and Miranda -- Tali for the Drone and AI hacking (in addition to my AI hacking), and Miranda for her weapon damage bonus. Turns out not great choices; Tali doesn't hack as often as can be done and I was a bit too busy to micro-manage her, while Miranda.. well, I actually shot her in the face accidentally (and "killed" her). I'm thinking Tali/ Grunt might be better, or Garrus/ Miranda for Overload love.

But basically, AI hacking would allow you to complete the mission by killing all LOKIs. Hack one and it acts like an armed combat drone. I've seen multiple instances where the hacked and non-hacked LOKI simultaneous KO'ed each other. Maxed out AI hacking has a long enough duration that the cooldown isn't a factor, and if you picked the right spot you can suppress a spawn point and just spend the entire back portion of the game squatting against a rock and hacking. Definitely not 180 LOKIs, more like 60 to 80. Still a handful if you don't bring the right gear.

[one_klump]

Zaeed is actually one of my favorite characters to bring on a mission. He is like my Shepard but with a bad attitude.

[Lynx7725]

Zaeed is actually one of my favorite characters to bring on a mission. He is like my Shepard but with a bad attitude.

Well.. I find he clashes way too much with Arcangel in weaponry, and I prefer Arcangel's Overload and AP ammo. Having him in the Arcangel mission does give you access to some unique dialogue though.

I'm also not too sure about his combat AI. He tends to disappear on me, being very aggressive.

[HoveringCheesecake]

Miranda used to be worthless, but once I picked up a new SMG she started doing better. Archangel is one of the best, though, I would agree. SCOPED AND DROPPED! And those silly calibrations of his.

I really hope we have to pick and choose our crew for the last game. Give us both crews and force us to exclude some of them. I know who I'd pick.

Oh, and I forgot to mention another huge leap forward that the second game took: NO MORE SIMON SAYS FOR EVERY LOCKER! I do wish we could just slap omni-gel on everything, like we used to, though. I was angry about that upgrade.

Edited January 7, 2011 by HoveringCheesecake

[eugimon]

Miranda used to be worthless, but once I picked up a new SMG she started doing better. Archangel is one of the best, though, I would agree. SCOPED AND DROPPED! And those silly calibrations of his.

I really hope we have to pick and choose our crew for the last game. Give us both crews and force us to exclude some of them. I know who I'd pick.

Oh, and I forgot to mention another huge leap forward that the second game took: NO MORE SIMON SAYS FOR EVERY LOCKER! I do wish we could just slap omni-gel on everything, like we used to, though. I was angry about that upgrade.

Lair of the shadow broker has dialog about just that very subject.

[HoveringCheesecake]

Lair of the shadow broker has dialog about just that very subject.

Haha yeah that's why I added the . It's true, though!

Some thoughts on the Shadow Broker DLC while I'm at it:

Nice to see Liara again.

Length was almost worth the price, better than most DLC.

Lots of unique dialogue with Liara that all depends on your history during the first game. Almost makes me want to replay first one and romance her... naaah.

Glitches: During the car chase scene, all of the in-game sound was gone. It could be fixed temporarily by pressing the XBOX button to get the dashboard menu to popup, but it'd disappear again soon after. Seems like the thruster boost noise of the car you're chasing the other Spectre in causes all the sound to cut-out. Also looks like others have this problem on the BioWare forums.

All in all, it was fun and I hope that the last DLC we are apparently getting this spring or summer is something similar. Since I'm still not done with the game, I have yet another question. If I decide to keep playing after the end of the game, that means that I will be able to get the DLC mission on that character if I fire up the save after I've downloaded the DLC, right? I'll just get an e-mail or what not at my terminal?

[eugimon]

Haha yeah that's why I added the . It's true, though!

Some thoughts on the Shadow Broker DLC while I'm at it:

Nice to see Liara again.

Length was almost worth the price, better than most DLC.

Lots of unique dialogue with Liara that all depends on your history during the first game. Almost makes me want to replay first one and romance her... naaah.

Glitches: During the car chase scene, all of the in-game sound was gone. It could be fixed temporarily by pressing the XBOX button to get the dashboard menu to popup, but it'd disappear again soon after. Seems like the thruster boost noise of the car you're chasing the other Spectre in causes all the sound to cut-out. Also looks like others have this problem on the BioWare forums.

All in all, it was fun and I hope that the last DLC we are apparently getting this spring or summer is something similar. Since I'm still not done with the game, I have yet another question. If I decide to keep playing after the end of the game, that means that I will be able to get the DLC mission on that character if I fire up the save after I've downloaded the DLC, right? I'll just get an e-mail or what not at my terminal?

yeah, you can keep playing after the final mission. All those N7 missions and DLCs are available.

[Lynx7725]

Miranda used to be worthless, but once I picked up a new SMG she started doing better.

I bring Miranda around for a behind I can look at, and that huge bonus she tosses for all weapons in the squad... Overload is a bonus, but I really don't expect her to go toe-to-toe. There is however apparently a glitch in one of the missions, and there's a vid going around of an unkillable Miranda kicking Blue Suns around.

Generally speaking the first SMG is pretty 'meh'. Not enough stopping power, not enough in a clip. I roundly detested it but had to make do with it since it is a long time before we get an upgrade for the SMG, and I badly needed a short-ranged weapon for my 'Filtrator.

The Tempest is a good in-between, plenty of stopping power and a good-sized clip. The Locust -- the last of the three -- is reputed to be quite good but I never liked it, primarily because it doesn't fit well into my play style.

Having said that, the Phalanx heavy pistol is a good stand in for an SMG especially if you are willing to pace your shooting. It's deadly accurate and a good dismantler. The lead designer has mentioned that she has gone through a whole level using the Phalanx to dismantle the LOKIs in them, and I believe her -- it's stopping power is quite remarkable, especially once maxed out.

EDIT: Well, my progress on my second pass:

Finished off the Rogue VI mech assignment arc. The second mission is a yawn but it's the final mission that I wanted to try stuff with. Basically AI hacking works in the factory but it's not great; it works and it helps, but the endless spawning means trying to be cautious is a bit of a waste of time.

I've done all the missions and got all the tech I can before the Reaper IFF mission. So I'm set to do the last set of missions over the weekend here. Going for "No One Left Behind" #2.

Edited January 7, 2011 by Lynx7725

[Knight26]

Ok I am behind I know but I am on my first play through of ME2, heck I only got to play ME1 last month. I am about to install all the DLCs, the whole concept of which I am not in favor of when it involves major plot points. The DLCs on ME1 were just fun extras IMHO, and didn't add to the story, these ones apparently do, especially since they add crew members, ugh. I just wish that since Liara gets her own DLC why can't we get one for Ash or Kaiden. True I never really liked Kaiden, barely ever used him in ME1, but I did like Ashley, and used her alot, so would have loved to have done an engagement with her again.

[David Hingtgen]

Liara's the only character guaranteed to have survived ME1. Also why the odds are good she'll be around in ME3, too. She's the only romanceable character that can't be plot-killed. (so far)

[eugimon]

Ok I am behind I know but I am on my first play through of ME2, heck I only got to play ME1 last month. I am about to install all the DLCs, the whole concept of which I am not in favor of when it involves major plot points. The DLCs on ME1 were just fun extras IMHO, and didn't add to the story, these ones apparently do, especially since they add crew members, ugh. I just wish that since Liara gets her own DLC why can't we get one for Ash or Kaiden. True I never really liked Kaiden, barely ever used him in ME1, but I did like Ashley, and used her alot, so would have loved to have done an engagement with her again.

The only DLC for ME2 that adds to the main story is Shadow Lair, everything else is just peripheral stuff that doesn't affect the story. Even Shadow just fills in around the edges, fleshing out the universe, it doesn't affect the main plot of the game.

[Lynx7725]

The only DLC for ME2 that adds to the main story is Shadow Lair, everything else is just peripheral stuff that doesn't affect the story. Even Shadow just fills in around the edges, fleshing out the universe, it doesn't affect the main plot of the game.

Yeah, Overlord and Firewalker are very... optional. I like them because they give me a bit more missions to add to the XP pool for an initial character, but they are not my favourite missions.

Shadow Broker gets mentioned a lot because it's like a mini-ME game in its own rights. A linked set of story missions, up-to-standard voice acting, ME1 characters. It doesn't really change the plot story of ME2, it does make it a tiny bit easier in some aspects, which is why I tend to want to get it down as early as possible. It's more like ME2.5, bridging between ME2 and ME3. Frankly, IMO, the end result from SB is likely to be in ME3 whether or not the player did the DLC, so it's not really a plot story choice.

[HoveringCheesecake]

I haven't done Zaeed's loyalty mission yet, but I thought Kasumi's was fun. A little short, but fun.

Romance question:

If my character is currently waiting for Miranda to get some free time to romp around the cabin, can I still invite Kelly up for dinner? The stuff online about how the game treats Kelly is a little sketchy. I gather that it wouldn't "ruin" your relationship from the first game like the other romance options do, but can Shepard romance Kelly and a squadmate at the same time?

[Wanzerfan]

I saw the Mass Effect 3 trailer and it's rather good. The guy making his stand in a ruined Canterbury Clock Tower is a nice touch (little known fact: Big Ben is the name of the largest bell in that particular tower, not the tower itself).

[Lynx7725]

Can't answer the romance question from personal experience, but the 'net says it doesn't matter what you do with Kelly. Apparently she doesn't count for that particular achievement.

Finished my 2nd Playthrough, Paragon Infiltrator. End result: No one left behind. I got to admit, I feel a bit bad about the way I did the final missions.

Basically, I didn't bother to give the Collectors or Harbinger any air time. On the platform level, the minute I got any LOS to the Collectors on them, I shot them. Did it so fast and accurately (tactical cloak snipe slowdown makes this easier) that some platforms docked with no living beings on them. Helps that I picked Legion and Miranda to come with me -- Legion for its Widow sniper rifle and Miranda to help bump the damage to ridiculous level. Harbinger didn't even managed to show up more than twice on that level -- we killed them so fast that he couldn't possess them. And when he did, his light-up effects drew so much fire from the squad that he wasn't really a factor.

I was also sniping the Collectors as they hovered to land. With a Widow. The hovering bugs didn't land, they splattered over the landscape. In the initial storming portion, this reduces the difficulty down such that it became quite a cakewalk.

Now doing a Renegade Adept run. Having some difficulties adapting to it -- the biotics are fun to curve around cover but it takes a bit of jiggling to do right, and they don't have the take down power of the old sniper rifles. Still, it's quite fun to go through an entire level without having to look for refills -- didn't fire a shot. Let's see if I can get some of these big heroes dead at the end.

Edited January 8, 2011 by Lynx7725

[BeyondTheGrave]

Romance question: about Kelly

No. The second you start to romance another character the option is not available.(will explain later)

[HoveringCheesecake]

No. The second you start to romance another character the option is not available.(will explain later)

Good to know. I'll save her for the next space bad-ass playthrough. Still have yet to wrap up my nicest motherfarter in the galaxy one. One thing I didn't realize until now: I'm not going to have access to all of Legion's dialogue options because I did all of the N7 assignments already. Maybe it won't be an issue with the new DLC later this year.

Either way, sorry Kelly, but looks like Legion is getting picked up asap next playthrough. We're going to have so much fun together!

And does anyone else find it odd that they recorded every squadmate's dialogue for every single mission? Why restrict the damn dossiers, then? Bah!

[Lynx7725]

And does anyone else find it odd that they recorded every squadmate's dialogue for every single mission? Why restrict the damn dossiers, then? Bah!

Not really. It's been explained that they did some of the recordings before the game finalized, and one of the key decisions was to keep the size of the game down to 2 CDs. Catering for all the possibilities when you have a cast of more than a dozen will have bloated the game up significantly.

One of these days I want to do a Geth/ Mech mission as an Engineer with Tali and Legion. Maxed out AI Hacking and Drones -- those 'bots won't know what hit them.

[HoveringCheesecake]

The final battle is the biggest joke ever if you play as the nicest guy in the galaxy. Granted, I only had it on Veteran. I'll have to see if Insanity is more enjoyable.

And the human reaper is retarded.

[BeyondTheGrave]

The final battle is the biggest joke ever if you play as the nicest guy in the galaxy. Granted, I only had it on Veteran. I'll have to see if Insanity is more enjoyable.

And the human reaper is retarded.

The terminator was an upset for a lot of fans. Really easy if you have the nuke gun.