Kanedas Bike Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 ...been playing on ME3 for the PS3 and even with the Dark Horse interactive comic that allows you to make a few of the major choices from ME1 I'm thoroughly irritated by the number of people that you either killed, didn't save or just don't show up from the first game. Kind of sucks that the work you may have put into saving or not outright smoking everyone you come across apparently is for nothing since it appears their survival or death had no meaningful impact, or that they were just supposed to die anyway. Has anyone playing the PlayStation version experienced anything different? -b.
kaiotheforsaken Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 Many major choices probably wont play out till ME3, especially who (or what) you might have killed in the first. There is actually only minor references to some of the biggest ME1 choices in 2 regardless of what system you played it on.
Kanedas Bike Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 Many major choices probably wont play out till ME3, especially who (or what) you might have killed in the first. There is actually only minor references to some of the biggest ME1 choices in 2 regardless of what system you played it on. Perhaps,but if the major selling point of the game and style of play is your choices and the consequences I would have liked greater consideration to those that may have played ME1 on the 360 and are now playing, or re-playing ME2 on the PS3. Especially since I already know how those choices impact the game from importing character(s) from the first to second game on the 360. *no expectation that it be exactly the same, just more consideration to how different people may have played the game -b.
Duke Togo Posted March 10, 2011 Author Posted March 10, 2011 There are around 70 variables carried over from ME1 to ME2, though almost half of them have a matching opposite choice (for example one variable for killed NPC XYZ, one variable for having let them live). A large amount of these choices do little more than add flavor to the story and the universe. Some, which seemed to have little impact on ME2 (letting the Rachni live) may have a major payoff in ME3. ME3 is going to pick up some 1,000 variables from the first two games (ME2 only imports those 70 from ME1, so 900+ are coming from ME2). I think the major choices are going to see some payoff, while many will again do little more than add flavor or variance (though, really, they go a long way toward adding depth and characterization).
Lynx7725 Posted March 18, 2011 Posted March 18, 2011 Mass Effect's FB page has a set of gallery that states that the DLC (Arrival) will be out 29 March. Some screenshots are put up.
eugimon Posted March 18, 2011 Posted March 18, 2011 sweet. Sad that it's being billed as the "final chapter" but more ME2 is always a good thing.
Duke Togo Posted March 18, 2011 Author Posted March 18, 2011 Mass Effect's FB page has a set of gallery that states that the DLC (Arrival) will be out 29 March. Some screenshots are put up. The Alliance officer pictured is Admiral Hackett
kaiotheforsaken Posted March 20, 2011 Posted March 20, 2011 Really looking forward to this new DLC. I'm hoping (probably pointlessly) that there will be some good, new, dialogue with the team over the impending Reaper threat. I'm especially wanting some new Legion tidbits, but I'd take any crew members having some additional lines this go around. In any case, I'm looking forward to see how much further this DLC progresses things. Given that Hackett is back in this DLC, I'll be very curious to see if Shepard's relationship with the council and the Alliance is improved. Though their almost blind doubt of Shepard never sat well with me to begin with.
Duke Togo Posted March 25, 2011 Author Posted March 25, 2011 Mass Effect 2 "Arrival" DLC preview: Shepard without a flock Top secret mission for your one-man army.
Lynx7725 Posted March 25, 2011 Posted March 25, 2011 Yeah. This morning, I listened to the web chat Bioware did. They did mention some stuff for the DLC. Anderson and Hackett called in a few markers they had with Shepard to pull a "doctor" out from undercover. I'm guessing it's the doctor from the novels, but her name escape me at the moment. Since it's non-Alliance and non-Cerberus, can't expect Shepard to use Cerberus assets on that little trip...
BeyondTheGrave Posted March 25, 2011 Posted March 25, 2011 Will Lance Henriksen be the voice of Admiral Hackett?
Duke Togo Posted March 25, 2011 Author Posted March 25, 2011 Will Lance Henriksen be the voice of Admiral Hackett? Yes
Lynx7725 Posted March 25, 2011 Posted March 25, 2011 Just read the Joystiq article. Frankly, I'm not worried -- I had more problems running as a team than solo'ing. Sounds like this DLC is good for support and sneakers, less for stormtroopers... but we'll see.
renegadeleader1 Posted March 26, 2011 Posted March 26, 2011 (edited) Yeah. This morning, I listened to the web chat Bioware did. They did mention some stuff for the DLC. Anderson and Hackett called in a few markers they had with Shepard to pull a "doctor" out from undercover. I'm guessing it's the doctor from the novels, but her name escape me at the moment. Since it's non-Alliance and non-Cerberus, can't expect Shepard to use Cerberus assets on that little trip... Could it be doctor Chloe Mitchell from the citadel? She apparently knew something about the guy Kohaku was interested in. Edited March 26, 2011 by renegadeleader1
Duke Togo Posted March 26, 2011 Author Posted March 26, 2011 Could it be doctor Chloe Mitchell from the citadel? She apparently knew something about the guy Kohaku was interested in. No, the character is named Dr Amanda Kenson. I wouldn't call this a spoiler, as Bioware hasn't hidden this and she isn't a previously existing character.
kaiotheforsaken Posted March 27, 2011 Posted March 27, 2011 I'm a bit disappointed with the solo mission thing just because it likely wont include any new dialogue for crew members. Granted (With the exception of combat) all the other DLC stuff was basically solo, your teammates didn't exactly chime in to events going on. And I mean, Shepard could easily utilize all assets at his disposal. If you take the Paragon route with the game, you basically give the Illusive Man the finger (as does your crew who are allied with Cerb). There are no more Cerberus assets (in terms of the Normandy and her crew) in that outcome, there are only Shepard assets.
HoveringCheesecake Posted March 27, 2011 Posted March 27, 2011 (edited) Yeah, the no teammate thing appears to be an easy way to save $$$ and time. My only lingering question is whether or not Ashley or Kaidan will show up. Looking forward to Tuesday! And if some of you aren't following the latest Cerberus Daily News updates, you should be! Apparently the Council realizes the threat. http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Cerberus_Daily_News_-_March_2011 03/26/2011 - Council Fleets Repositioned to Monitor Mass Relays “A series of security incidents at mass relays throughout Citadel space has led to the redistribution of the Council's peacekeeping fleets. "Public attention has shifted to the relays, and relay-related crime is elevated," says Captain Miyamoto Whelan of the Alliance fleet. He went on to list starship loitering, debris dumping, and suicide by relay as chief incidents to be policed. The resulting military presence has been disruptive enough to cause hours and sometimes days of delays for regular flights. "I don't see why they need to park cruisers on the route to freaking Voya," said commuter Lakshmi Dasgupta. "No one's attacking Voya, and don't tell me they're there to guard something that's indestructible."” Edited March 27, 2011 by HoveringCheesecake
Duke Togo Posted March 28, 2011 Author Posted March 28, 2011 Yeah, the no teammate thing appears to be an easy way to save $$$ and time. If I recall correctly, neither Overlord or Shadow Broker had any new squad dialog. Your cohorts were essentially mute for both DLCs.
Lynx7725 Posted March 28, 2011 Posted March 28, 2011 Overlord IIRC had some non-specific dialog. A few lines, not many. Shadow Broker, can't recall any offhand. Not really bothered by the solo aspect. Then again, my fav class is sniper, so having no teammates doesn't hurt that much, or Dominate Engineer, who doesn't lack for companionship....
Duke Togo Posted March 29, 2011 Author Posted March 29, 2011 (edited) Arrival has arrived. Too bad I won't get to play it until tonight. Edited March 29, 2011 by Duke Togo
eugimon Posted March 29, 2011 Posted March 29, 2011 woohoo! Can't wait... I guess it's finally time to finish my insanity run.
Lynx7725 Posted March 29, 2011 Posted March 29, 2011 (edited) I've finished Arrival. No spoilers, just a couple of things to note about the DLC.... but spoiler tags anyway. You can finish it in one sitting. It's not very long, but it's fun to pick up the Widow again. You should look at the achievements before you do anything. One will impact the way you play through. I ran through it the first time with my maxed out Paragon Sniper. As it turned out, it's the ideal class for this, but I suspect any class can do it. As it is, the Infiltrator makes the DLC quite ridiculous amusing in areas. There are a couple of tough spots, mostly because of terrain, but generally quite ok. One of the achievement is related to this though, so I'm a little miffed as I got caught on terrain and costed me. There is replay value because I went through my first playthrough in typical Shepard style -- "things blow up around you, Shepard". I'm quite pleased with that one achievement this time round, because it does make it worth the while to replay it with another play style. Story-wise there's a bit of plot hole, but it ain't bad, and there are some foreshadowing, but again, not spoiling for folks here. I'll do a second run with my Infiltrator to get the missed achievements, and I think I missed one of the research. Here's a tip -- you need not bring the whole arsenal on this one.... Edited March 29, 2011 by Lynx7725
David Hingtgen Posted March 29, 2011 Posted March 29, 2011 In the long run--is it worth it? Shadow Broker is the only DLC that sounded worth buying, and is the only one I have.
HoveringCheesecake Posted March 29, 2011 Posted March 29, 2011 It's short, but what do you mean by "worth it"? It essentially wraps everything up and sets the scene for ME3.
Lynx7725 Posted March 29, 2011 Posted March 29, 2011 (edited) In the long run--is it worth it? Shadow Broker is the only DLC that sounded worth buying, and is the only one I have. SB brings a lot of resources to bear. Arrival... not so. It does bring at least 2 more tech, but in areas which aren't exactly hot properties. Certain classes, notably Vanguard, would probably want those, but the rest.. not so much. In terms of minerals, it's a mix bag but you generally do better mining stuff anyway. Money does seem a bit plentiful, but not overwhelmingly so. As an infiltrator player though, I think it's quite fun. Might not be that replayable, but good while it lasts. And I always have fun popping humanoids, so.... EDIT: Oh and one other thing? In terms of renegade/ paragon effect, this one's fairly minor. Overlord had a complication in that it made a full renegade/ paragon run slightly easier, but Arrival doesn't do that. Edited March 29, 2011 by Lynx7725
David Hingtgen Posted March 29, 2011 Posted March 29, 2011 Ok, I'll rephrase it: Is it worth it purely for plot/characters/story?
Lynx7725 Posted March 29, 2011 Posted March 29, 2011 Some spoilerish stuff/ speculation. For real this time. Don't click if you are particular about these things. You gotta admit, the way the good doctor went out... well, chunky salsa. Not exactly what I expect in our current climate. Plot-wise, I did the mission post Suicide Run, so Harbinger's appearance at the end made sense. But I understand you can do it immediately post-Horizon, and unless they did a special cut to cater for that, well the whole story didn't quite hang together very well. Did anyone do immediately after Horizon? One thing that continue to annoy me is why the Reapers want Shepard alive. Fair enough in the basic ME2 storyline, but if canonically Arrival is supposed to happen post-Omega-4, then seriously, if I am a Reaper, I'll try to pulverise Shepard with every overwhelming advantage I have.. So why are they so keen to keep Shepard alive? Ok, I'll rephrase it: Is it worth it purely for plot/characters/story? Too short. It does have a good plot twist, but it's mainly just setting up for ME3. It's ok value for money, but not great. Nowhere near SB good.
kaiotheforsaken Posted March 29, 2011 Posted March 29, 2011 (edited) Wasn't too thrilled with the choices Shepard had in this one. I felt like, at least in terms of a Paragon solution, Bioware kinda just said, "well you can try but it aint gonna work". I'm going to play through it again just to make sure that my doing X or failing to do Y the first time through didn't mess with some of the outcomes. Edit: So I just replayed the DLC and there really is only one overall outcome. You can pickip some paragon or renegade points along the way, but the overall outcome is the same. I'm a bit concerned about how events in the DLC will play out over ME3, but Bioware has stated that that they wont penalize people for not buying DLC. So I'm hopeful the impact of certain things in this DLC is minor. In any case, it was still fun and I good way to tie up ME2. They could have made the DLC a post Collector Base mission and enriched the story a bit with more dialogue regarding your actions throughout the game, but it is what it is. Edited March 30, 2011 by kaiotheforsaken
Duke Togo Posted March 30, 2011 Author Posted March 30, 2011 Wasn't too thrilled with the choices Shepard had in this one. I felt like, at least in terms of a Paragon solution, Bioware kinda just said, "well you can try but it aint gonna work". Some times there is no option. It's an impossible choice, but it had to be done. I found it more realistic than some neat, clear, little paragon option.
kaiotheforsaken Posted March 30, 2011 Posted March 30, 2011 (edited) It wasn't the choice so much that bothered me, just the fact that the doctor cut off your warning. Realism doesn't really factor into my enjoyment of this series. It's a trilogy about giant, sentient, life extinguishing machines and your quest to stop them and save basically all sentient life. These are games about choices, and I find that in ME2 especially, there are far less options for the moral high ground. That being said, I would have liked it that if you survived the multiple waves in the Artifact Rho room, you aren't sedated for 2 days and have time to warn the Batarians before the relay is destroyed. If you fail this objective, you run out of time and you can't stop their deaths. They could have kept the achievements the same so as not to tip anyone off. They are just two different outcomes based on Shepard's/the players ability. In a game that has so much emphasis on choice, it's unfortunate that the final piece of the 2nd act has essentially none. Edited March 30, 2011 by kaiotheforsaken
Lynx7725 Posted March 30, 2011 Posted March 30, 2011 It wasn't the choice so much that bothered me, just the fact that the doctor cut off your warning. Realism doesn't really factor into my enjoyment of this series. It's a trilogy about giant, sentient, life extinguishing machines and your quest to stop them and save basically all sentient life. These are games about choices, and I find that in ME2 especially, there are far less options for the moral high ground. That being said, I would have liked it that if you survived the multiple waves in the Artifact Rho room, you aren't sedated for 2 days and have time to warn the Batarians before the relay is destroyed. If you fail this objective, you run out of time and you can't stop their deaths. They could have kept the achievements the same so as not to tip anyone off. They are just two different outcomes based on Shepard's/the players ability. In a game that has so much emphasis on choice, it's unfortunate that the final piece of the 2nd act has essentially none. To be really honest.. it's a fringe system (so much so that when I initially looked at the galactic map I couldn't find the system....). Even with 2 days' warning, it's doubtful they can evacuate the system in time. Not to mention, it's a batarian system, they're more likely to drop in fleets to simply destroy the asteroid (and happily get the fleet annihilated by the appearing Reapers). Trying to convince the batarians, who have a racial prejudice against humans, that a human-initiated system-annihilating event is for the greater good might be waaay beyond Shepard's pay grade. If you allow for more time to stage an evacuation and then destroy the Alpha relay, the story becomes not ME; it won't be the type of choice that Shepard has to make. If you make it less time so that there won't be a sedation, it becomes unbelievable. Frankly, the basic premise is a bit weak either way. Anyhow, the way the story is written, it's impossible to save the colonists. If they don't die from the relay destruction, they die from the Reapers. As it is, trying to warn the batarians is really just a sop to Shepard's conscience -- they're dead either way. Maybe a better way is that instead of destroying the relay, Shepard gets a choice to disable it somehow. The whole point is to delay the Reapers; a Paragon choice may be to not kill the colonists (but leave them to die by Reapers... eh, Paragon?) but to delay the Reapers less. A Renegade choice drops the asteroid on the relay, killing everything in the system but delays the Reapers much more.
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