SPOILERS!!!

Fuck this game, seriously. It's such a good game, but they made so many dumb design decisions and I can't even figure out what they were for. I spend the whole game assembling a team, I talk to the team and do all their loyalty missions and then they just pick them all off at the end? What the hell?

It's not the killing off that pisses me off, it's how the game is all about my decisions, but they are funneled so tightly through the designers limited scope. Why should I have to pick between Miranda and Jack? It pretty much came out at random and now I've lost a character that I could have interacted with. Why don't the characters react to you at all outside of the loyalty missions? Despite sucking up to Miranda for the whole game, her basically falling all over me and giving me her lifes secrets, she then just ignores me for the third part of the game and just gives me the 'I'm busy Shephard, so please piss off' line. The ending was the worst, I was basically choosing who wanted to die by sending them on missions I know won't work out well for them.

I don't know how the cogs of the game works, but at the end, in what order do they kill everybody off? Is it the same for everyone or is it based around who you talk to throughout the game? Jack was the first to die and her and I fell out after her loyalty mission (which I allowed her to do), but I was closer to Legion and Thane, but they also died on the ship. 

I ran out of batteries (360 controller), so I couldn't finish the game, but I've just found my crew. Hopefully the game pulls me back in, because honestly, they've taken a cheap step in story telling by allowing you to go through so much effort to get all these squad members and then just wiping half them out within 30 minutes. It's only made worse, because I feel that Bioware did a better job in Dragon Age. The game was meant to be all about choices, but instead of being a game about my choices, it ended up falling into the 'you wanna be a goodie' or you wanna be baddie' territory.

Overall, I did really like the first three quarters, looks great, amazing atmosphere, runs much better than the first and I actually loved all the characters (except for Jacob) and their backstories. Bioware has created a compelling universe, it's just a shame that they'd rather funnel you through such a linear experience instead of making it more open ended.

Just to note, I only played a quarter of the first Mass Effect and I hated it, so this is a pretty big advancement on Biowares part.

If I'm wrong on anything, call me out on it, because I actually want to know what's the going on.

Listen

You messed up

When it comes time for someone with experience to lead a fire squad, you pick the best leaders on your team (leaders)

When you need a hacker, you pick the best tech people

When you need a biotic, you pick the strongest biotic.

That wasn't my main fault with the game thought, I understood that part and thats why I've got Samaran on biotics at the moment. It was everything else before those choices came into play that I had problems with. The whole Jack and Miranda incident, the lack of character interaction between your squad mates, the inconsistency of the interactions that do occur and just the entreme funnelling the game puts you through, just so you can land on on of these three results, which are goodie, neutral and baddie.

In Dragon Age, I could give gifts, the smallest side missions would get reactions from my squad mates and I was able to juggle relationships between multiple chracters, without having to kill one off or piss them off completely. I didn't find that in Mass Effect, it felt contrived and I don't really know why, since most of it doesn't have any major place in the plot.

You also messed up when it comes to upgrading the Normandy. Get upgrades from Jacob, Tali, and Garrus, and nobody will die on the final approach.

The game is very different from other BioWare games - it's a more focused experience - but for what it is I think it's fantastic.

(also unless you're a complete bleeding heart wuss you can shout down Miranda and Jack simultaneously)

SPOILERS!!!

Fuck this game, seriously. It's such a good game, but they made so many dumb design decisions and I can't even figure out what they were for. I spend the whole game assembling a team, I talk to the team and do all their loyalty missions and then they just pick them all off at the end? What the hell?

Hmm, I didn't know about the ship upgrades. I struggled a lot with the upgrade system in the game, I never got a proper grasp on it like I do with other games, thanks for the heads up.

http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Iridium#Resource_Rich_Planets_by_Type

Use this guide to find planets to get resources in a hurry, it will make your life a lot easier.

Also, if you can, try to power through the first game. The carryover bonuses are substantial, and the long view of the series will make you appreciate the characters in the second game more.

Altnernatively, if you're a fellow member of The Master Race™, you can simply tweak the game to start you off with all the resources you'll ever need, and thus skip the tedium of resource gathering entirely. You should still investigate each planet to find the mini-quests, of course, but you'll know immediately if one is present due to the distress beacons.