Official Mass Effect 2 Thread

[mrstickball]

SpookyXJ said:
Just finished my first play through and ME2 is a huge technical improvement over its predecessor. I really enjoyed the story's execution, content, and pacing even if it was a bit short. Renagade/Paragon interrupts made for nice additions to the conversation branches. The increase in production values over the first was phenomenal. I skipped most of the exploration but I did recruit all the companions and did all the loyalty missions. Shooting, cover mechanics, and sprinting especially were greatly improved and combat was immensely more satisfying than ME1. The hacking and security bypass minigames were a big improvement over the QTE's of the first game. I have mixed emotions over the equipment upgrade system but found it a enjoyable mechanic for advancement.

I have to say I'm a bit disappointed in how dumbed down the RPG elements were. Resource gathering was an excessively boring PITA that was included to artificially inflate the time needed to "complete" the game. I need to go back or continue on(very nice addition) and do a bit of exploration to see if any of the random anomaly detected missions are worthwhile. The character class development was a big step back from the original. Biotics felt a bit underpowered or underwhelming except for singularity and group cooldown made made me not bother using other powers as much. They broke a good mechanic here.

There is a special hell reserved for all of you who bitched about the inventory system in ME1. No weapon and armor drops sucks! No real variety in armor or weapons SUCKS!!! 2 weapon basic types per category WTF WHY! Not being able to buy much of anything or sell drops for that bit of kit you really wanted sucks! Being able to buy different bits of armor kit and customise its appearance was ok but I want some non M7 armor THAT I DON'T HAVE TO PAY EXTRA, BUY ANOTHER GAME, OR PREORDER FOR.(damn EA for buying Bioware)

Overall its a much better game than the original but I hate that its gone from story driven Action/RPG lite to story driven Action/Shooter with more limited rpg elements to be more accessible to the masses.

I can't believe you complain about length of the game yet say you didn't do any of the anomaly sidequests.

Thats like saying 'the game is too short. I played 60% of the game and expected 40% more'.

ALL of the random anomaly missions are worth it. I've completed about 10 of them and they are FANTASTIC.