Mass Effect 2

[Havok]

Finished my first playthrough with my Paragon character the other day and it was awesome. I love how your whole team was involved in the final mission this time around, so it felt like everyone played a part. I managed to get through it with everyone surviving.

Now I'm doing one more quick playthrough back on the first one with my Renegade character, then it's back over to 2. I'm looking forward to doing all the Renegade prompts.

 

[Matt S]

I am at 30 hours, level 21 Vanguard and loving this game....still have half my loyalty missions to do. Just finished the Grunt and Mordin missions....spent an hour or more scanning planets and gotta say, you get a decent amout of unexplored planet missions to do.....finally got to see a Geth mission...! Missing them a lot...and great seeing Husks back. They look better than ever.

Blown away by the overal graphical quality of this game. Fantastic. At my rate of play, this may be a 45 hour game for me.

Did the Jacob loyalty mission last night and I swear it felt like an episode of classic Trek...cheesy, just interesting...!

 

[Havok]

Yeah I think my final playtime was about 57 or 58 hours. I wish there was even more content so I could spend over 100 hours with it in one playthrough.

 

[plasmid303]

Yeah. After finishing the game I wished there were more. More little side missions on the main cities that allow me to interact with the secondary cast, such as Wrex or Aria or Anderson. I just want to know more about them.

 

[Havok]

Yeah I agree, even more sidequests would have been great. I still loved every minute of it though and I honestly think this is one of the greatest video game franchises ever created. I really hope they go all out with the last one and it has the most content yet.

 

[dansdinosaurs]

I'm still not clear on how to get everyone to survive the suicide mission. Aside from loyalty, do I need to acquire all the upgrades they offer?

 

[Tiny Eli]

I'm still not clear on how to get everyone to survive the suicide mission. Aside from loyalty, do I need to acquire all the upgrades they offer?

Anyone correct me if I'm wrong on this but I think you need the following:

Spoiler

1) All the defensive and offensive upgrades for the ship. (I don't think you need the med bay, etc.)
2) All of the loyalty missions complete.
3) You need to head for the relay right after your crew is captured. You might be able to sneak one more mission but I went straight there.
4) During the suicide run, you need to choose the correct person for each job. I used Tali for the vents, Garrus to head up both squads, Samara as my biotic, and Grunt to lead back the crew.
5) This one I'm not 100% sure on but I think weapon and armor upgrades help. I imagine if your crew is running around fully upgraded they have a better chance of survival. I was personally missing only 1 or 2 weapon upgrades.

 

[dr_teng]

Yeah. After finishing the game I wished there were more. More little side missions on the main cities that allow me to interact with the secondary cast, such as Wrex or Aria or Anderson. I just want to know more about them.

Considering the amount of DLC they're doing for Dragon Age, and considering how much more popular Mass Effect is, I wouldn't worry about a lack of side missions for much longer.

 

[jediknight120]

I THINK loyalty factors into the suicide mission. Even if it doesn't, the quests are so well done you shouldn't skip them... they really give you insight into the characters. Standouts for me included Garrus, Miranda (really changed my opinion of her, I didn't like her much previously), and Tali (hit me like a ton of bricks emotionally and the payoff at the end was awesome).

Spoiler

Telling the Admirals how much they sucked compared to Tali was awesome.

 

[IrishJedi]

Yeah I agree, even more sidequests would have been great. I still loved every minute of it though and I honestly think this is one of the greatest video game franchises ever created. I really hope they go all out with the last one and it has the most content yet.

Don't forget... there will be more DLC coming that will allow for more missions beyond the endgame.

I'm still not clear on how to get everyone to survive the suicide mission. Aside from loyalty, do I need to acquire all the upgrades they offer?

Do all of the upgrades and successfully finish all the loyalty missions. However, you will still need to choose your squad arrangements correctly during all of the segments of the suicide mission in order to have everyone survive.

And I've been studying this. It's really not that arbitrary at all and BioWare put some real logic behind the different algorithms that would equal everyone surviving. You have to THINK about your choices (and who each character is, not just what they are militarily) carefully. And I actually kind like this extra layer of complexity. Anyone can do all of the quests and get all of the upgrades... but aside from several trial-and-error attempts, to pull this off is a true feat.

 

[Darth Caedus]

Found this picture about INSANITY and thought it was hilarious

 

[hairlesswookiee]

^^^That is awesome, and I can honestly say that I've broken several controllers from getting pissed.

 

[SpawnFan]

Yeah my first controller stopped powering up at some point.... I have issues...

 

[Darth Caedus]

^^^That is awesome, and I can honestly say that I've broken several controllers from getting pissed.

Yea, I just go to horizon on Insanity and the boss is UNIMAGINABLY hard. I had to take a break to stop myself from throwing my xbox in the rain.

 

[dansdinosaurs]

Thanks, I'll see if I can save all squad members this time. I have no idea how I'm going finish this game on Insanity, but I managed to do it on the first game, so I suppose there's hope.

 

[Matt S]

Hardest mission for me thus far: unexplored Cerebus mission where three Mechs are destroy competitor 'secrets' and you gotta stop em in 'X timeframe.

Hard cause I was still a newish Vanguard....would be a lot easier now...

 

[Darth Caedus]

Thanks, I'll see if I can save all squad members this time. I have no idea how I'm going finish this game on Insanity, but I managed to do it on the first game, so I suppose there's hope.

It's VERY tough on Insanity. Just have to grind it out, find key cover and having the right team with you. I'm on Horizon right now with my lvl 30 Vanguard.....suppose a different class would be easier....

 

[dansdinosaurs]

Oh yeah, Vanguard is best for dominating easier enemies, not someone I'd bring to Insanity. Probably go infiltrator, to keep enemies as far away from me as possible.

 

[plasmid303]

Starting my second playthrough this weekend! I'm gonna give Insanity a shot, hope it's not too bad. I'm going with either Infiltrator or Adept this time around. Biotics seem to be the key to success for Insanity mode. I played Vanguard on my first time through on Veteran, but I don't think the class has the necessary tools to make insanity palatable. Charging into crowds seems like surefire death.

Unfortunately, though I do want to dedicate some time to ME2 again, Bioshock 2 comes out next week and Heavy Rain the week after. Not enough time!!!

 

[Tiny Eli]

Starting my second playthrough this weekend! I'm gonna give Insanity a shot, hope it's not too bad. I'm going with either Infiltrator or Adept this time around. Biotics seem to be the key to success for Insanity mode. I played Vanguard on my first time through on Veteran, but I don't think the class has the necessary tools to make insanity palatable. Charging into crowds seems like surefire death.

Unfortunately, though I do want to dedicate some time to ME2 again, Bioshock 2 comes out next week and Heavy Rain the week after. Not enough time!!!

I think an adept might be a pain to play on insanity. Every enemy has either armor or shields so you have to take those down before your biotics will work on enemies. It's probably doable with the correct team. (Maybe Miranda to overload shields and Mordin to incinerate armor.) Infiltrator has been working out fine for me. The cloak let's you either increase your damage or you can use it to flee enemies. The sniper rifle is nice since you can stand back and nail enemies from afar.

I think I might stop my insanity play through for Bioshock 2 on Tuesday.