Mass Effect 2 - Page 2

Exactly. I think Mass Effect was supposed to be played down the renegade path, just because when he's not acting like a psychotic prick Renegade Shepherd seems a lot more human than Paragon Shepherd. Plus Paragon Shepherd just seemed to not care a whole bunch about stuff. I always envisioned Mass Effect as being more like 24 than Star Trek

That's a good analogy, but it's funny because I didn't start playing Mass Effect until after I saw the new Star Trek and renegade Shepherd felt a lot like Chris Pine's Kirk.

"Ok, giant alien bug menace that almost destroyed the universe, I believe you've changed and will let you go off and live on your own."

NO!!! Killl the bastards! That's the only heroic choice to make.

I sort of got bored with the good/bad decisions as soon as the achievements popped up and on my last playthough I answered how I would answer and ended up getting two thirds renegade/one third paragon. I somehow also managed to get Captain Anderson shot in the back, but I made it up to him by making him supreme overlord of the universe. And really, at the end of the day, as long as we can make Keith David Master of the Universe what does right or wrong really mean?

My favourite 'duh duh' moment with Shepherd is when he's on Eden Prime and he comes across the guys whose been holding back weapons and he's like 'NOW DON'T ENDANGER THE LIFE OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE AGAIN, YOU LITTLE SCAMP'

Agreed. Playing through as a Paragon was pretty bizarre, because it made me feel like Shepherd had pretty much just walked out of a time machine and had never interacted with any other living thing before in his entire life. Kinda creepy, actually.

My favourite line of dialogue ever comes from Renegade Shepherd and the council.

After Noveria the Turian's getting all up in your shit and he's like

"DO YOU ENJOY GENOCIDE SHEPHERD????"

and Shepherd's response is

"Depends on the species.......Turian"

Now I think Jennifer Hale is easily the better of the two Shepherd voice actors, but the male voice actors nails that line in a way Hale just can't. It's fucking wonderful.

Yeah, that can get here tomorrow, thank you. Please?

Fffffff i can't watch streaming video at work

It's been quite some time since game footage made me emotionally erect.

Must... have... NOW!

Um, yeah, I think I'll be buying ME2. When is this supposed to come out?

Thanks for the link Trevor, and nice article. You could, however, use a larger font. Your "ogle," "marvel" section had a nice, old-timey advertisement feel to it.

Whoa guys. Are we forgetting that Bioware makes shitty game engines? Because they do. 90% of what sucked about Mass Effect was engine-related. The other 10% was inventory and features they promised and didn't deliver. But I'd still say it was a way above average game. I bought my 360 for it after all and have played through 3 times and counting.

But up to par? This game better exceed ME1 or I'll tell everyone I know that it's a CI and a rat. And I know a lot of people.

You are part of a rebel alliance and a traitor.

Take him away.

Yes, my master.

< bows, drags Xion away by his collar >

Man that quick shot of the rainforesty planet was amazing. It'd be cool if each planet was unique like that. The off-missions planets had some cool atmosphere effects, but they were all essentially deserts or plains with a few mountains. It's amazing how they managed to make those extra missions not utterly horrendous by generally creating decent mini-storylines for them.

I think there are so many games coming out October/November because even the people making them know we're all just going to be playing ME2 after January.

Hey everybody...new guy here.

I just wanted to say that I loved the first Mass Effect (probably spent about 75 hours total on a few playthroughs), and I think that ME2 looks even better than the first. Bioware certainly seems to be saying all the right things so far about improvements, so hopefully that translates into the game itself.

Yeah, they do look like they're fixing a lot of the faults I had with the 1st one.

Plus the expanded planet exploration is giving me a Star Control 2 vibe (exploring and mineral collecting)

They might have to call this Mass Erect 2

I'm going to go on record as saying that would be a bad idea.

Okay, I'm gonna be that guy. I know it's boring, I know it's probably more fun the way you guys did it, but I just had to play my Shepherd as a Paragon. I just couldn't get my head around the first ever human Spectre acting like a total douche. It just didn't make sense to me that the council would put up with it when they were looking for a reason to not let him (or her, mine was a him) in anyway.

I also have a real thing where when given the freedom, I have to play my heroes as kinda vanilla and boy scouty - my morally ambiguous characters or outright villains as in GTA I can let loose with - but a hero has to be played like a hero. They have to be Supes instead of Bats. I still don't really understand why I have this compulsion or what it says about me, but there it is.

Either way, that new footage looks pretty damn incredible. How long do we have to wait for this again?

I'm the same way, RD. I have to remind myself constantly to do the evil thing if I'm curious about the other half of the game.

I think most people played a Paragon their first time through, but the Renegade character is better written and far more believable at times. You just stand around and let things happen to you when you're a Paragon, whereas when you're a douchey renegade you take a more active position.

I did the same thing in every Bioware game and sequel prior to this one. KoTOR 1 and 2, Jade Empire... all three had their first playthroughs performed with morally upright and respectable heroes. I even played the bulk of my Baldur's Gate and NWN games as a paladin or good-aligned character. I left the evil playthroughs as dessert.

Well with ME, I decided to have my cake first and I'm glad I did. Malcolm Sheppard was a plug-ugly biotic with a hair-trigger and a tendency to resolve situations by shooting first and asking questions... well never really. I think this game out of all of Bioware's Ouevre stands out more in my mind because of it. It's also the first one of their games that I finished and immediately wanted more. I've been waiting for ME2 since the day I killed the Council, installed Anderson as my puppet dictator, and sailed off into the galaxy to spread humanity's xenophobic new empire. Can't wait.

I'm the same way. There's that point in Mass Effect where you're given the choice of killing the Queen or letting her go, and I thought, "Man, she seems sincere, and I can't be responsible for the extinction of an entire species."

I have to admit I've gone through ALL my characters in every game as squeaky clean.

But as I've gotten older I've felt myself more inclined to go with the more sinister route.

I imagine at this rate, at 60 I'll be one hell of a curmudgeon...ill hose down trick r' treaters when they knock at my door.

I play as good most of the time because the "good" ending always seems like it would be the intended ending, if that makes any sense.

No it makes perfect sense.

Its would just seem appropriate for most gamers to choice the heroic choice in most situations.

We cant be heroes in real life...might as well be in the game.

I always prefer to play the good guy. Assholes get ahead in real life. In my sheltered little game world, I'd like the hero to win.

Damn I need to pick up Mass Effect 1 for the 360.....

This probably hits closest to why I'm always such a boy scout in pixel form.

The real reason I tend to go the heroic route is that the alternative is usually a sophomoric, juvenile version of evil.

Choice "A": save the puppy and hope it grows up to assist you in battle.
Choice "B": mindlessly dash the puppy against the wall until its head explodes, then run around screaming obscenities.

Mass Effect is the first game in a while that made it really, really hard to stick to one route (was going to play through it as a paragon, then as a renegade, but haven't gotten around to the second playthrough.

I think this is particularly true of ME. The epic climax to the story just seems more fitting with a heroic character. Sure, there's the little coda endings that are different, but the main showdown at the end felt more "correct" with my heroic Commander Shepperd than it did with the bitchy, "Get out of my way or I'll blast you" Commander Shepperd I played my second time through.

Went out, bought Mass Effect, then the X-Box can't read the disc...JOY

Did you pick it up new or used? I got a used copy of Crackdown the other day and it wouldn't read so I thought my 360 might be on the way out, but I took it back and swapped it for a different disk and now it works great. If you got it new, well, that sucks man. But when you do eventually get it to work you made a good purchase, Mass Effect is a great game. Plus or minus some elevators.

Do you guys know if you Preorder Dragon Age: Collectors Edition you get Mass Effect items? I already prordered mine.

The Dragon Age Origins Collector's Edition comes with:
Tin Case
Bonus DVD including:
A making of documentary
Soundtrack
Trailers
Wallpaper
Concept art video
Strategy tips.
Cloth Map
3 pieces of exclusive in-game content:
Bergens Honor
Grimoire of the Frozen Wastes
Final Reason
Additional In Game Content
"The Stone Prisoner" unlockable bonus quest and unlockable character, Shale
An unlockable item for Mass Effect 2
Get an exclusive in-game item for use in the upcoming title Mass Effect 2



and


The GameStop Exclusive Feral Wolf Charm - With this charm, hunters claim that they are enchanted on moonlit nights by scantily clad witches deep in the heart of the Korcari Wilds. As if that's not enough, the charm also adds to your armor and increases your health regeneration.
The Memory Ring - Allows your character to accumulate experience points at an accelerated rate and level up more efficiently.
Available for online and in-store customers while supplies last.

Online Customers: A unique code to unlock the Memory Ring and Feral Wolf Charm will be emailed to you when your game ships.

In-Store Pickup / Store Customers: A rave card containing a code for the Memory Ring and Feral Wolf Charm will be available at time of purchase.

Perfect sense and it's true, in the case of Star Wars stuff at least that the light side ending is usually canon.

Yeah I agree. I usually play as a good guy too and especially when most videogames are set against a universe filled with darkness and strife, it always makes more sense to want to play as a harbinger of light. Fallout's a good example there, and I like the homage to the idea of Mad Max 2 with your character being a mysterious wanderer who passes through peoples lives bringing hope.

EDIT: Yeah sorry for derailing the thread slightly there. Don't have a 360 (played Mass Effect 1 on my bro's last year while unemployed and living with my folks) Game looks great though and the temptation for another console has been there for a few months..

I bought it new, I just went and exchanged it for a new one, works well! setting up my profile now..

I have to thank this thread for inspiring me to take another crack at the original ME. God damn it's an incredibly fun game.

Given that Mass Effect 2 is going to respond to your game saves I don’t think issues of canon come into it. But even if that wasn’t the case I think Mass Effect did a great job of internalising the moral quandaries more than anything else, it’s not about taking the evil path as such as it’s about getting the job done and the grand arc of the story doesn’t change all that much depending on your actions. Depending on your actions the council’s either alive or dead, Keith David is supreme overlord of the universe and Feros is inhabited/uninhabited.

Yeah, this thread has given me the kick in the ass that I needed to finally finish the game. I'm almost there, and as great as the game is (very!), it's still my least favorite BioWare game, for reasons I just can't quite put my finger on.

1. KOTOR
2. Jade Empire
3. Mass Effect

I'm still really looking forward to ME2. But with the other two BioWare games, I played through each of them multiple times and always had fun. Finishing ME just once is proving to be almost a chore.

Where's Baldur's Gate I and II on that list?

How out of place does Sonic: Dark Chronicles look on Bioware's game resume?

Re: Baldur's Gate
I was never into D&D-style stuff, either tabletop or videogames. I gave Baldur's Gate 1 a chance, but couldn't really get into it. It got probably an hour of play, tops. So those games aren't on the list because I don't really have an informed opinion.

To go even further off topic, I thought the Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance games on the original Xbox were FANTASTIC. I like that more action-y, dumbed-down style of game for D&D antics much better.

Despite all of that, I'll still give Dragon Age a whirl. It certainly *looks* good.

Any game that has 7 CD's for install has a requirement to kick ass.. and it did. Love Baldur's Gate.

Don't forget about Neverwinter Nights. I spent countless hours with that game and its several expansions.

Yeah, the Sonic game looks REALLY out of place in the list of Bioware games. Baldur's Gate I & II, Neverwinter Nights, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect, and then Sonic Dark Brotherhood? It's like we're playing "which one of these doesn't belong?".

Neverwinter Nights was kind of mediocre, though the sequel greatly expanded on what makes these types of games fun, even if it was filled with annoying glitches.

I didn't finish any of the Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights games. RPG's in which NPC's are more important than your character are a peeve of mine. I just get a massive "How is this my problem?" vibe from them.