Mass Effect Series

[Flare]

Not a very comprehensive post, it's pretty late, but I just want to say that my first impressions on ME2 is that it's awesome. It's pretty much better than the first one in every way, I think. More dialogue with characters, the story sucks you in better than ME1 does at the beginning, you get to explore the galaxy within the first 1-2 hours tops (unlike ME1's 5-7 hours ), I'm liking the new hacking systems, combat is more realistic and smoother (still getting used to it after playing the first one though), and just the amount of extra stuff in it is lots of fun.

Think I'll recommend the game to my dad, I recently learned he has a copy of the first one and played through it a while back.

I'll write up more tomorrow, get into the story a bit.

 

[Joe]

 

[Ite]

Haha

And Yahhhh Flare!

Yeahhhhh!

I was really butt hurt about

Spoiler: ME2 Opening Spoiler

working for Cerberus

but you can make choices about how much you commit to that plot rail. I agree completely about the gameplay improving in pretty much every way.

 

[Carlie]

Spoiler

That Elcor needs his eyes checked.

 

[Flare]

I crack up when elcor talk. One in Omega's market says something like 'With barely concealed terror, I will back down' in that straight monotone drawl. I laughed so hard

 

[Ite]

In one of the elevator news bits from ME1, they talk about an all-Elcor production of Hamlet, which was probably my biggest lol moment from the series.

(You can overhear the director of Elcor Hamlet in a crowd during the Citadel DLC)

And then, there's

Spoiler

Blasto

 

[Flare]

Mmkay ME2 spoiler post, er, has to do with the beginning of the game up til you recruit the first round of recruits

Spoiler: Story spoilers

So, the opening cinematic, with the Normandy getting blown up and the crew running around, having to save Joker, ect, was pretty awesome. I loved it.

Finding out I was dead and then being rebuilt over the course of two years by Cerberus? WTF. Those bastards? Yeaaaah, nuh uh, not trusting them.
I mean hey thanks for bringing me back to life, but... you guys have done some shady shit, so this is an arm's-length partnership. Illusive Man is also shady.
Er, actually, being brought back to life from a fatal incident and seeing a super powerful and secretive man meeting with others working with him reminds me of another certain sci-fi game... and series... Y'know, the third game in the series that has "I wanted orange! It gave me lemon-lime!"


Moving on, I got really happy to see Joker again, and a new Normandy. Awww yeeeaaahhh <3

SPAAAAAAACE

Headed to Omega fairly straight away. I went after the doctor first, Mordin, rather accidentally because I happened to come across the entrance to the area he was in and just went along with the quest then and there.
Lots of fighting.
Ended up saving a batarian, a human couple, stopped some looters with my charm skills, saved Mordin's assistant, and heroically distributed vaccine through vents. Great job Shepard.

Met with Aria (no fucking, got it ), paid a dancer, danced (rather lamely) in the club, saved a dude from joining the mercenaries, and goaded a turian to shoot the fucktard batarian that poisoned the drink he served me. Ahh, justice Oh, also helped out a quarian.

I bought some model ships and a magazine that is supposed to activate all five senses. I know what I'm reading in bed tonight

Then I went after Archangel. I enjoyed the ruse of working with the mercs and liked meeting a lot of them. I kept wondering who Archangel would be; when the krogan leader mentioned he was turian, I got my hopes up. And when I realized he was a sniper, I knew it had to be Garrus. ;___; Garrus, yaaaaay!
Had a lot of fun with this mission, finding Garrus and getting him back on my team (and saving his life) was awesome.
I enjoyed Omega and the missions there so far.

Next up, I went after the krogan warlord. This quest seemed shorter to me than the first two; maybe it's because it was on it's own planet with nothing else to do. Anyhow, I liked the tank-born krogan that you meet. Wonder if you ever see him again.
I originally expected the warlord to be your teammate, but after seeing his tank soldier, had a feeling it was him instead.
Of course I woke Grunt up, no way I wasn't going to do it

Last person I picked up was Jack; interesting person. The prison facility had an odd vibe the moment we got there. I wasn't surprised it turned out to be a prisoner slaver facility.


Game forced me to go to the human colony next. Look, there's Ashley!
I'm very interested in the Collectors. They babbled about taking the humans and making them better, something about ascension. Then they're of course personally interested in me, so yay They look kind of cool. The new Husk enemies were freaky as fuck. Get away from me.
Very interested to see what's the deal with this race. I hope they're just not another controlled race of the Reapers.

Tonight I paid a visit to the Citadel and was disappointed that the Presidium is unable to be explored except for one room. Wtf. >__>
I just went on Jacob's personal mission and saved for the night.

Spoiler: Character impressions

Jacob: Basically Kaiden 2.0, but with more dialogue He's quite generic, I don't make it a point to hang out with him.

Miranda: Cheerleader bitch is fairly accurate for her. However, she's got some interesting character. I dislike her as a person but I like her character. Already she seems to be having some changes in her, so I'm genuinely interested in seeing where she goes.

Mordin: I quite like him. Fast-talker and with some hilarious dialogue. I like to chat with him often just to hear his varied responses.

Garrus: When he's on my team I always feel a twinge of surprise at how animated he is during fights. It's cute I've always liked Garrus and I like him even more now. He's most likely going to be my romance, but I am curious to see the last available dude.

Grunt: I'm probably most interested in how Grunt will progress and grow. He's basically a baby krogan, just now trying to figure himself out and whatnot.

Jack: Like Miranda, I dislike Jack as a person (extreme criminal here) but I like her as a character. I could see her and Shepard teaming up and charging enemies side-by-side in a badassery moment of slow-mo Anyhow I think her character will change similarly to Miranda's possible change as well. They've got some similarities in their past.

I have to make a side-mention of Kelly. She's incredibly weird. Like whoa, I got a dialogue option that said "I'd embrace you" within one minute of talking with her. She's extremely friendly and loving and apparently wants to give everyone love and comfort and cuddles and stuff.
She's a weirdo and I was so weirded out by her AND YET I still actually kind of like her character. Probably because she's all caring and stuff and I'm a mushy bastard.

 

[Ami]

Spoiler: Flare, this is something you should definitely do. Juuust sayin'...

 

[Flare]

Spoiler: Flare, this is something you should definitely do. Juuust sayin'...

Oh believe me, I made note of that veeerry thing

Spoiler

Though nothing I can do about it, as she's not interested in Female Shepard

 

[Clement Rage]

There's a fanfic I read once that prominently features an elcor kareoke bar that sings human eighties hits. So you get lines like:

With youthful passion: Dancing Queen, Feel the beat of the tambourine!

It's not the focus of it or anything, it's just going on in the background while the important characters are meeting, but it was a nice touch.

 

[Carlie]

And then, there's

Spoiler

Blasto

You know for added hilarity Blasto is voiced by Mark Meer (mshep) and that female Elcor who he has that hilarious sex scene with is voice by Jennifer Hale (femshep).

Mmkay ME2 spoiler post, er, has to do with the beginning of the game up til you recruit the first round of recruits

Spoiler: Story spoilers

So, the opening cinematic, with the Normandy getting blown up and the crew running around, having to save Joker, ect, was pretty awesome. I loved it.

Finding out I was dead and then being rebuilt over the course of two years by Cerberus? WTF. Those bastards? Yeaaaah, nuh uh, not trusting them.
I mean hey thanks for bringing me back to life, but... you guys have done some shady shit, so this is an arm's-length partnership. Illusive Man is also shady.
Er, actually, being brought back to life from a fatal incident and seeing a super powerful and secretive man meeting with others working with him reminds me of another certain sci-fi game... and series... Y'know, the third game in the series that has "I wanted orange! It gave me lemon-lime!"


Moving on, I got really happy to see Joker again, and a new Normandy. Awww yeeeaaahhh <3

SPAAAAAAACE

Headed to Omega fairly straight away. I went after the doctor first, Mordin, rather accidentally because I happened to come across the entrance to the area he was in and just went along with the quest then and there.
Lots of fighting.
Ended up saving a batarian, a human couple, stopped some looters with my charm skills, saved Mordin's assistant, and heroically distributed vaccine through vents. Great job Shepard.

Met with Aria (no fucking, got it ), paid a dancer, danced (rather lamely) in the club, saved a dude from joining the mercenaries, and goaded a turian to shoot the fucktard batarian that poisoned the drink he served me. Ahh, justice Oh, also helped out a quarian.

I bought some model ships and a magazine that is supposed to activate all five senses. I know what I'm reading in bed tonight

Then I went after Archangel. I enjoyed the ruse of working with the mercs and liked meeting a lot of them. I kept wondering who Archangel would be; when the krogan leader mentioned he was turian, I got my hopes up. And when I realized he was a sniper, I knew it had to be Garrus. ;___; Garrus, yaaaaay!
Had a lot of fun with this mission, finding Garrus and getting him back on my team (and saving his life) was awesome.
I enjoyed Omega and the missions there so far.

Next up, I went after the krogan warlord. This quest seemed shorter to me than the first two; maybe it's because it was on it's own planet with nothing else to do. Anyhow, I liked the tank-born krogan that you meet. Wonder if you ever see him again.
I originally expected the warlord to be your teammate, but after seeing his tank soldier, had a feeling it was him instead.
Of course I woke Grunt up, no way I wasn't going to do it

Last person I picked up was Jack; interesting person. The prison facility had an odd vibe the moment we got there. I wasn't surprised it turned out to be a prisoner slaver facility.


Game forced me to go to the human colony next. Look, there's Ashley!
I'm very interested in the Collectors. They babbled about taking the humans and making them better, something about ascension. Then they're of course personally interested in me, so yay They look kind of cool. The new Husk enemies were freaky as fuck. Get away from me.
Very interested to see what's the deal with this race. I hope they're just not another controlled race of the Reapers.

Tonight I paid a visit to the Citadel and was disappointed that the Presidium is unable to be explored except for one room. Wtf. >__>
I just went on Jacob's personal mission and saved for the night.

Spoiler: Character impressions

Jacob: Basically Kaiden 2.0, but with more dialogue He's quite generic, I don't make it a point to hang out with him.

Miranda: Cheerleader bitch is fairly accurate for her. However, she's got some interesting character. I dislike her as a person but I like her character. Already she seems to be having some changes in her, so I'm genuinely interested in seeing where she goes.

Mordin: I quite like him. Fast-talker and with some hilarious dialogue. I like to chat with him often just to hear his varied responses.

Garrus: When he's on my team I always feel a twinge of surprise at how animated he is during fights. It's cute I've always liked Garrus and I like him even more now. He's most likely going to be my romance, but I am curious to see the last available dude.

Grunt: I'm probably most interested in how Grunt will progress and grow. He's basically a baby krogan, just now trying to figure himself out and whatnot.

Jack: Like Miranda, I dislike Jack as a person (extreme criminal here) but I like her as a character. I could see her and Shepard teaming up and charging enemies side-by-side in a badassery moment of slow-mo Anyhow I think her character will change similarly to Miranda's possible change as well. They've got some similarities in their past.

I have to make a side-mention of Kelly. She's incredibly weird. Like whoa, I got a dialogue option that said "I'd embrace you" within one minute of talking with her. She's extremely friendly and loving and apparently wants to give everyone love and comfort and cuddles and stuff.
She's a weirdo and I was so weirded out by her AND YET I still actually kind of like her character. Probably because she's all caring and stuff and I'm a mushy bastard.

Flare where is Kasumi? Do not tell me you have gone almost halfway through the game without her, that is blasphemy.

 

[Joker]

BURN THE WITCH

are you playing on pc or console? because if the answer is pc, miranda can be interested in femshep juuuuuust fine

 

[Flare]

@Carlie, Kasumi is DLC and DLC costs money and I need some more money in my PayPal account before I get it. >.>

Also I'm playing on PC. Wait so Miranda is bi on PC?
I'll probably go after Garrus anyhow

 

[Ite]

Kasumi and the "Lair of the Shadow Broker" DLC *made* ME2 for me. Absolute musts.

 

[Carlie]

Flare: You mean Joe didn't get you the games with all of the DLCs? Dump him immediately.

Miranda was supposed to be a LI for both sheps but that was removed late in development. The code was still there so a mod was made.

 

[Joe]

Show me the version on Steam that allows you to send somebody the game with all the DLC

I'm making sure she has all the DLC, don't worry. She wanted to start and play before getting them though

 

[Flare]

I'm making sure she has all the DLC, don't worry. She wanted to start and play before getting them though

I also have download times to consider. Can only do this stuff on bonus bytes which means I have to get up earlier. I didn't want to wait to play
If the game needs dlc to survive why play it? It's already awesome so at least I got that going

Also Joe is sweet

 

[AvecAloes]

Wait do you have all the titles on Steam? I tried searching for the trilogy on Steam last week and only found ME1 and ME2 :/

 

[Obsidian Fire]

ME3 isn't on Steam. Some of the DLC for ME2 isn't on Steam either.

 

[Flare]

^I don't think any of the major DLC for ME2 is on Steam. I had to buy it through the actual EA/Bioware site.

 

[Flare]

Okay I'm installing Kasumi this morning.

I've done some more loyalty missions, then I nabbed another teammate and am currently at Illium for some more missions.

Spoiler

I did Mordin's and Grunt's loyalty missions on Tuchanka. Grunt's was okay, I like him but it was super straightforward for a mission. XD
Mordin's was awesome, I learned a lot more about who he is and how he thinks. At the first conversation I had with him on the ship, he seemed to just catalogue things into 'necessary' and 'unnecessary', no feelings involved. Was glad to see him have actually a decent amount of feelings involved in his life and his work. So refreshing to find a brilliant scientist in a game that's not evil or unfeeling and immoral. As a side note, his belief in reincarnation, or something similar, is another thing I liked.
Mordin's definitely a favorite character of mine. Also his singing is awesome and anyone who says it isn't is lying.

Anyhow I love that you get to visit the Krogan home world. The Krogan are so awesome. I love their conversations. From the ones chatting about giant Presidium statues to the one mentioning he thinks he has a son.

And Wrex. I was so glad to see him. Oh my god his reaction to seeing you again is awesome. He's still my bro. <3 Wish he could come with me. Boy am I glad to have convinced him on Virmire.

Will write more soon.

 

[Cthulhu]

then I nabbed another teammate

Is that what kids call it these days?

 

[Joker]

a mod was made.

naw you can just edit your save file so that shep's gender is marked as male, start the romance, and then swap back, easy peasy

I mean femshep IS the One True Shep, but...BUT...Mark Meer's acting as mshep DID get better in LotSB, and mshep/tali is fucking amazing and I'll burn any dissenters at the stake (not sure how I feel about femshep/tali just yet because lol that playthrough fell by the wayside, even though I have all the footage and stuff recorded from playing through most of it)

but yes femshep 5ever

re: Mordin - my first time through the series, I was just sort of indifferent to him. It wasn't until replaying it that I came to really enjoy Mordin (and Grunt, and a certain other party member who shall go unnamed but is the last one you get in ME2)

 

[Carlie]

^

Spoiler

Talibrations

 

[Flare]

I think I'll wait before I click on that spoiler, just in case....