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Mass Effect 2 was so good.

entremet

entremet

Member
I know many found the direction ME2 took a bit disappointing compared to the original Mass Effect vision. But, for me, it was one of the most enthralling gaming experiences last generation.

It had a certain polish that ME1 lacked, which was a bit janky and rough around the edges. I played the 360 version. No idea if the PC version improved this.

But for me it was very much a Alien/Aliens parallel in video game form. Both great movies, but they do excel for different reasons.

ME1 gave me a peak into a very interesting world. The sci-fi grain filter and soundtrack gave me those 70s space opera vibes.

Then ME2 came.

The opening was like that out of an action movie, not a space opera. The music was more forceful and action oriented--still fantastic by the way.

The combat was vastly improved and really shines in harder playthoughs, something that I though was lacking in ME1.

The game won tons of GOTY awards, including GAF's. And it still has one the best single player DLC campaigns--The Lair of the Shadowbroker.

What a great game. The world and campaign are etched in my mind forever. What are you memories of ME2?
 
D

danthefan

Member
It blew me away. Knowing they can put out something that good has Andromeda as probably my most anticipated game, I cannot wait.
 
I

inbarrenpraise

Banned
I'll never understand how these games get the reverence they do. I enjoyed ME1 to some extent, but I always get the feeling that these were the first "RPGs" for a lot of those who praise the series as some kind of masterpiece.
 
D

Diablohead

Member
I enjoyed my time with 2 but I do favor the original over it.

The change to using heat clips felt tacky at first but you get used to it, I thought the overheating system in ME 1 was good and just needed a little refinement, instead they dropped it to make guns feel like real life guns.
 
J

JayEH

Junior Member
Love ME2. Beat it 10 times got all the achievements but insanity difficulty was such a bitch lol.
 
L

Lime

Member
- Space Jesus
- Mission Complete screens
- Emphasis on shootbang
- Collectors coming out of nowhere
- Cerberus suddenly being an acceptable ally despite the Akuze story
- Planet scanning
- Level design

Those were the major drawbacks for me.
 
B

BroBot

Member
Mass Effect 2 is my favorite video game of all time. I must have completed the main story around 20 times now. The dialogue, the recruit missions, the suicide mission and music, it just never gets old for me.

Renekton said:
Human reaper is.... retarded <__<
Click to expand...

tumblr_nqup8xpoL91tfzfzyo9_500.gif
 
S

Star Falcon

Member
Loved it. The crew building was like Final Fantasy 6 in space (to even separating them into Fireteams for the final mission), and it has the most breathtaking vistas i had seen at the time. Top 5 game of last-gen for me, and my favourite in the series!
 
ajim

ajim

Member
Game was good, but damn I was addicted to planet scanning / mining. I seriously enjoyed it and would spend hours doing it.
 
KainXVIII

KainXVIII

Member
I thought ME2 was bad (simplified and dumbed in every way apart from combat, maybe), but then ME3 was released lol
 
H

Heartfyre

Member
It's an example of gameplay simplification done right -- reducing it's complexities without sacrificing depth. Besides the ending, I don't get why Mass Effect 3 receives the scorn that it does, since it's largely identical to its prequel.
 
S

Souless Squirrel

Member
It definitely was great at what it was trying to do but it showed me that Mass Effect wasn't going in a direction i would enjoy as much as I enjoyed the First. Replacing tons of rpg elements and planet exploration instead of refining them showed that to me. Still had tons of fun with it and it had a lot of great moments plus probably most of the better characters in the series(legion and thane plus the return of garrus). I don't get what happened to the team during the development of 3 though terrible dialogue and characters and the story was the so hard to sit threw i had to come back 3 years after getting halfway threw and force myself to beat it.
 
G

Garrett Hawke

Member
Heartfyre said:
It's an example of gameplay simplification done right -- reducing it's complexities without sacrificing depth. Besides the ending, I don't get why Mass Effect 3 receives the scorn that it does, since it's largely identical to its prequel.
Click to expand...
I don't either. I feel like people tend to let endings have too much of an impact on their opinion - right up until the (admittedly bad) ending, ME3 is an awesome ride, as good as much of ME2. Having a crappy ending doesn't change the fact that most of what came before it was excellent.
 
packy34

packy34

Member
I didn't like that entire game was just collecting people to go on a single suicide mission. Or that they would die if you didn't help them with their personal problems first.
 
T

theWB27

Member
inbarrenpraise said:
I'll never understand how these games get the reverence they do. I enjoyed ME1 to some extent, but I always get the feeling that these were the first "RPGs" for a lot of those who praise the series as some kind of masterpiece.
Click to expand...


I love the "my taste should be everyone else's taste" posts. I've played rpgs and still think this is one of the best ip's last gen.
 
entremet

entremet

Member
levyjl1988 said:
Mass Effect 2 is amazing.
I hope Mass Effect Andromeda doesn't turn out to be a Dragon Age Inquisition.
Click to expand...

Are the DA games worth playing if you loved ME1/2?

I've just stuck to that series in regards to Bioware. I haven't explored their PC legacy games either.
 
M

Meh3D

Member
I got goose bumps when the OP mentioned "The Lair of the Shadowbroker." I loved ME2. Oddly for me it's also comparable to The fellowship/The Two Towers (LotR.)


I love them both and now that I have a 4K TV I want to play them again. Would love a 4K upgraded version. Doesn't have to be a whole lot but mainly upgrade the 2D assets in the background that would kill the illusion.
 
M

Morat

Banned
For me, it is the overall best in the series. Although the end boss nearly ruined it on its own.

Seriously, I'm fighting a giant fucking skeleton now. Seriously?
 
T

ThoseDeafMutes

Member
Overall best in the series.

Best cast of characters, large selection of squadmates and they all have multiple quests designed around them. Game is actually fun to play in the minute to minute fighting. No terrible mako missions.

ME1 had most of the world building to do, but there's still a lot of good stuff with Edi and especially the Geth in 2. Really great writing on Legion.

And that final mission + soundtrack

tumblr_o4gghxfnnl1rclbmzak.png
 
T

terrible

Banned
It was a huge disappointment after Mass Effect for me. The story took a shit and it just became another cover shooter.
 
S

Sulik2

Member
Its probably my favorite game of all time at this point. Best game of the last gen.

The suicide mission is a master class is quest design that even Bioware couldn't figure out how top in ME3. The way it builds on what you did through the game and how you interacted with your crew is brilliant.
 
Q

Q8D3vil

Member
I liked ME1 better, gameplay was definitely much better in 2, but i didnt like how they dumped down the exploration and rpg element.
 
K

kmfdmpig

Member
inbarrenpraise said:
I'll never understand how these games get the reverence they do. I enjoyed ME1 to some extent, but I always get the feeling that these were the first "RPGs" for a lot of those who praise the series as some kind of masterpiece.
Click to expand...

I thought ME1 and ME2 were masterpieces and I had played most major RPGs from the NES era on, including many on PC, so your feeling may not be correct.

For me what ME did, 1 moreso than 2, was combine RPG elements with a real sense of exploration. I know that the Mako sections were widely disliked, but I loved just exploring planets, mining for materials and figuring out how to take on strongholds.
 
B

BrassDragon

Member
One of my favorite gaming experiences of all time. Replayed it many times.

It's not perfect with its reliance on metagaming for some of its player choices, and sacrifices a lot of depth for cinematic bombast... But damn those moments deliver.

Call it immature and simplistic, but ME2 is a game that makes you consistently feel like a genuine hero/badass.

For some reason, BioWare didn't want to recapture that feeling in ME3 presumably to tell a more 'mature' story with themes of apocalypse and futility. We know how that went down.
 
R

rpg_fan

Member
terrible said:
It was a huge disappointment after Mass Effect for me. The story took a shit and it just became another cover shooter.
Click to expand...

This is me pretty much. I replayed the trilogy again when the ps3 package came out. And it was still jarring how much of a shift it was.
 
M

Mr_Zombie

Member
Lime said:
- Space Jesus
- Mission Complete screens
- Emphasis on shootbang
- Collectors coming out of nowhere
- Cerberus suddenly being an acceptable ally despite the Akuze story
- Planet scanning
- Level design

Those were the major drawbacks for me.
Click to expand...

+ the main story was really weak

But the sidestories & squad quests? Bueno!

Some shitty game designs and main story aside, it's amazing how much the game improved over Mass Effect in almost everything: graphics, cut-scenes, characters, mission designs, items.
 
T

ThoseDeafMutes

Member
terrible said:
It was a huge disappointment after Mass Effect for me. The story took a shit and it just became another cover shooter.
Click to expand...

Just your average, run of the mill 20 hour shooter with classes, leveling, skill trees, character abilities, character and ship upgrades, a cast of 10+ squadmates who have their own storylines, obligatory bioware romances, extensive dialogue trees with hundreds of characters in the game now featuring the interrupt system, a large number of optional, semi-optional and mandatory quests, etc.

Just like every other cover shooter if you think about it.
 
R

rpg_fan

Member
inbarrenpraise said:
I'll never understand how these games get the reverence they do. I enjoyed ME1 to some extent, but I always get the feeling that these were the first "RPGs" for a lot of those who praise the series as some kind of masterpiece.
Click to expand...

I've been playing games and rpg's since the late 70's, the games are still good. It's not a 'my first rpg' scenario as you put it.
 
D

diaspora

Member
ThoseDeafMutes said:
Just your average, run of the mill 20 hour shooter with classes, leveling, skill trees, character abilities, character and ship upgrades, a cast of 10+ squadmates who have their own storylines, obligatory bioware romances, extensive dialogue trees with hundreds of characters in the game now featuring the interrupt system, a large number of optional, semi-optional and mandatory quests, etc.

Just like every other cover shooter if you think about it.
Click to expand...
I know right? Basically just Gears of War
/s
 
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