I saved the galaxy (again).
So I finished Mass Effect 2 last night. Considering I started on Friday afternoon and put in 50 hours of playtime total... I'd say that was pretty fast. These snow days have been quite convenient. 8) I'd been seriously pissed off that the one time I actually care enough about a game to preorder it so I could get it immediately when it came out, thanks to my POS computer, I was forced to start it 10 days late and most of my friends had already finished it by the time I finally got to start. But most of that anger went away when I started playing.
I really, really liked it! I have to admit that, despite pre-ordering the Collector's Edition and everything, I had my doubts and worries about the game after they'd announced the initial plotline (working for Cerberus and going after the Collectors) and the fact that your crew is almost entirely new. I feared that it wouldn't tie into the first game enough (when the first game had been a clear set-up for future games). However, I am happy to say that everything came together nicely and I am very excited for Mass Effect 3. (Current scheduled release is January 2011 although I am very skeptical about that.)
Story
As noted above, even though they said fairly early on "We think the Collectors might be working with the Reapers", I initially wasn't too happy about the storyline and angry about the fact that Shepard should be going straight for the Reapers but was being diverted to take care of the Collectors instead. But once I did the mission aboard the Collector Ship and found out the Collectors are really Protheans - my mind was blown; I had not seen that one coming - my fears were assuaged. I thought that was a very interesting plot twist and made me feel much better about the storyline.
Working for Cerberus still pissed me off, since as a Paragon you say all these things like "I'm not letting you order me around" and "I assemble my own team" but in the end you're still basically going after all the missions the Illusive Man gives you and assembling the team he recommends. I do hope the working-for-Cerberus bit doesn't continue into the next game (hopefully not, assuming I've pissed off the Illusive Man enough by not saving the Reaper).
I thought the ending was surprisingly good - the right mix of tying up some loose ends from this game and making it feel final, while leaving a clear path for the next game. I'm very curious to see how the big choices made (re: the geth and the Reaper) will play out in ME3. When I do my Renegade playthrough of ME2, I'll make it a point to choose the opposite of both decisions.
As a side note, the Collectors creeped me the fuck out, and I'm glad they're gone.
I read the Mass Effect: Ascension novel a few months ago as preparation for my Yuletide fic and I was happy that the game did make references to the events in the book. I'd really been hoping to see at least a cameo of Gillian, though, and was sad that there wasn't one.
Gameplay
I feel like the game was a lot more difficult than ME1. Or maybe 'challenging' is a better word. I don't know. My perspective might be skewed since I had watched friends play ME1 before I played it myself, so I guess I'd developed mental strategies by the time I did my own playthrough. ME2, on the other hand, I was playing cold, not even using a guide. I was playing it on Casual mode (the easiest difficulty level) and still had a hard time sometimes.
I felt like the combat system in this game was much more shooter-like than the first game, but maybe it's just me. It is worth nothing that this is the only shooter game I've ever played personally* (and yes, I realize that this isn't even a 'true' shooter because of its RPG-like elements). But I had a much harder time with the combat system this time. It seemed like you needed to aim much more carefully just to hit a target, whereas the targeting-assist in ME1 helped someone like me with no FPS experience deal with that weakness. Also the fact that you actually needed ammo. And in some areas finding ammo was frustratingly difficult.
* I have watched my guyfriends play many other shooter games, though.
I also felt like there were much more enemies in all the areas, although that might be an illusion created by the fact that they would attack in waves. I don't know. I just know that occasionally I got seriously frustrated and pissed off when I was trying to move through an area and I'd take 5 steps and there would be another wave of enemies to kill. I personally would've preferred a bit less fighting in the game. I do it for the story, not for the combat.
I was also pissed off at first that they changed many of the key mappings. I'd gotten so used to 'E' being interact and 'SPACE' being pause/HUD, and they didn't explain right away that 'SHIFT' was now pause/HUD so I had a very hard time with the first few fights because my strategy for fights is definitely the RPG player's strategy: pause, plan actions, aim weapon, go. In a real-life battle, I would be killed while yelling, "Where is the pause button?!"
I really hated the fact that you didn't get experience for each enemy or set of enemies you killed, but only at the end of a mission. I thought it was genuinely useful in ME1 that you could sometimes level up in the middle of a mission. I also didn't like the way they redid the skill points system. I did like that they basically worked 'Charm' and 'Intimidate' into your Paragon and Renegade scores, but everything else I thought was unnecessary. It was frustrating when you sometimes had to wait for so long to level up, and when you finally did, you couldn't necessarily even use the skill point you gained if you didn't have enough to get the ability you wanted.
One thing I did really appreciate about the gameplay changes was the lack of the Mako. Piloting the Mako and driving around on the uncharted worlds was one of my least favorite things about ME1, and I really didn't miss it at all. I was pretty ambivalent about the planet scanning feature - I liked it because I felt like it made more sense, although it was kind of repetitive and tedious. (Mostly I was just pissed off because it seemed like the upgrades required more Platinum than anything else, but it was hard to find large amounts of.) Still, occasionally it'd be a nice way to calm down after finishing a mission with way too many fights.
I'm not sure how to feel about the changes to the weapons/armor systems. I felt fine about the armor, I guess, although I was sad about the fact that the DLC armor couldn't be enhanced or upgraded at all, so after the first couple of missions I never used my DLC armor again because it was just better to buy the separate armor pieces and customize your own. At first I was worried that not being able to control your allies' armor would be a problem, but it wasn't a huge issue. If they got killed a lot, it was usually because they were too stupid to get behind cover, and I blame that on the AI.
Characters & Romances
This was one of my biggest worries about the game; I'd really grown to like all of the characters from ME1 a lot, and I was upset when I found out most of them wouldn't be returning to your crew. Tali and Garrus were included, of course, but to be perfectly honest neither of them would've been my first choice for returning characters. If I'd had to pick two, it would've been Wrex and Liara.
I ended up liking most of the ME2 crew members, though. I was ambivalent about Jacob and not a huge fan of Miranda (I think in Miranda's case it might have been partly the character design - out of everyone she looked the most 'fake' to me), though I watched the male!Shepard/Miranda romance videos on YouTube and I have to admit it gave me slightly more of an appreciation for her. After reading about her extra dialogue during the final battle, I kind of wished I'd brought her along just to hear her stick it to the Illusive Man. Jacob just made me kind of go 'meh' the way Kaidan in ME1 did, and Kaidan at least had this kind of huggable, I-want-to-comfort-you quality that Jacob doesn't have (to me).
Garrus was the first character I recruited, and also the one I decided to romance. (I guess that makes my Shepard a xenophiliac.) I'm a fan of Shepard/Liara but to be honest my desire to stay loyal to her didn't outweigh my curiosity to find out what a turian/human romance would be like. I'm not unhappy with my decision (given my lack of enthusiasm about any of the other options) but after watching all the other romance options on YouTube, I do feel a little cheated. Everyone else at least got a kiss, and what did I get? Foreheads touching!?
I went after Mordin next. I quite liked him (I like how he's nerdy yet can hold his own in battle), and I liked his conversation options, especially the sex talk and the scientist salarian song.
Then Grunt. I hadn't expected to like him in part because I was just so upset that Wrex wasn't playable, but then I realized it wasn't really fair to keep comparing Grunt to Wrex. He was a cool character in his own right. I used him for a few of the Loyalty missions when Garrus didn't seem like the best option.
I did Jack after that, and was pleasantly surprised. I'd seen the announcements of her character and the revelation that she would be a romance option for male!Shepard, and at the time I'd felt like she was basically just fanservice for male players. There's a girl wearing basically nothing from the waist up and covered in tattoos, with a badass attitude, whoop-dee-doo. Big deal. So I thought. But surprisingly enough I liked her character (she kind of reminded me of Domino from the movie Domino) and she and Garrus were my main battle party for most of the game, including the final mission.
(As a side note, I brought Grunt along when recruiting Jack, not realizing he would have extra dialogue. I was very amused.)
(As another side note, after watching Jack's romance option, it gave me even more appreciation for her. It makes me wonder if I ever did a male playthrough who I'd go for, Jack or Miranda. Miranda's sex scene is hotter, but Jack being vulnerable is sweet.)
As part of the Collector's Edition, I had the Zaeed DLC, and I did his loyalty mission after that. The mission was interesting in that it gave you two different options, rescuing the workers or going after Vido, but other than that I'm not sure how to feel about Zaeed. He's an interesting character, sure. I like his design and his accent. I didn't like how Shepard can't even really have a conversation with him. All in all, he's pretty cool, but it didn't feel like there was really much use for him in the game, and I'm glad I didn't pay money for this DLC.
Then I went after Tali, and I was glad to see her return. I'd been very interested when I'd seen in the promos that we would get to go aboard the Migrant Fleet, although I felt a little cheated because we didn't end up getting to see much of it. The Ascension novel had painted a rich picture of life aboard the fleet, and I was really hoping to get to see it visually, but unfortunately no. I did think Tali's loyalty mission was one of the most interesting.
I did Thane and Samara in short succession after that, and before anything else I must say I REALLY APPRECIATED that their loyalty missions did not involve any fighting, because I was so sick of combat by this point, orz
I wasn't as excited about Thane as it seems a lot of other fans were. I do like that they introduced a new race, and the drell seem cool, especially with the solipsism. Actually, I didn't really have a problem with Thane, but I never would've considered him for my romance option. Maybe it was just that I'd waited so long to recruit him. I don't know. I was glad I'd decided to pursue the Garrus romance instead because I respect his relationship with his wife (even if she's dead) and crying men don't do it for me.
I warmed up to Samara once I officially recruited her - my initial reaction was along the lines of, "fuck off." Her attitude annoyed me and her character design (with the cleavage) didn't do it for me. But I was glad that she didn't turn out to be so bad, and I realized I was biased in that I'd much rather have kept Liara on my crew than recruit another asari. I killed Morinth, of course, but I'll probably kill Samara when I do my Renegade playthrough.
Legion!! ♥ You know, I think way back when when I was looking at the promo stuff for ME2, I'd spoiled myself on the fact that you were getting a geth crew member, but I'd totally forgotten about it! Legion was pretty awesome. I especially loved when Shepard asks him about the N7 armor and he just stares and goes, "No data."
I was happy that Joker had a bigger role in this game (although that whole bit with him saving the ship from the Collectors kind of pissed me off). I loved his snarky commentary about the missions and the crew members, and I enjoyed his relationship with EDI immensely. I have to admit that out of any pairing in ME2, I'd probably be most interested in seeing Joker/EDI fanfiction. Ahahaha.
Voice Acting
I had two complaints:
Martin Sheen as the Illusive Man: Maybe it's just that I've seen Martin Sheen in so many TV shows and movies and am so familiar with what he looks like, but I just felt like his voice didn't match the character design. I don't know. They just always felt out-of-sync.
Adam Baldwin as Kal'Reegar: I love Jayne from Firefly and I was very excited that they gave Adam Baldwin a short role, but a quarian?! It just didn't seem to fit, when the quarians have that very distinctive accent with the rolled 'R', and there was Kal'Reegar with his standard American accent. I feel like they could've picked so many other characters that would've worked better for Baldwin's voice. I don't know. It was weird.
All in All
It might sound like I have a lot of complaints, but all in all the things I liked about the game definitely outweighed the things I disliked. It was just a bit of a rough transition because I loved the original game so much and they'd changed so many things. But while I wouldn't argue that all of the changes were for the better, it was definitely a great game.
I am kind of sad that the game did disprove a lot of my ideas about krogan culture in my yuletide fic, but there wasn't really anything I could've done about that. Oh, well.
And finally, because it was just so great that the entire world needs to see it:
I really, really liked it! I have to admit that, despite pre-ordering the Collector's Edition and everything, I had my doubts and worries about the game after they'd announced the initial plotline (working for Cerberus and going after the Collectors) and the fact that your crew is almost entirely new. I feared that it wouldn't tie into the first game enough (when the first game had been a clear set-up for future games). However, I am happy to say that everything came together nicely and I am very excited for Mass Effect 3. (Current scheduled release is January 2011 although I am very skeptical about that.)
Story
As noted above, even though they said fairly early on "We think the Collectors might be working with the Reapers", I initially wasn't too happy about the storyline and angry about the fact that Shepard should be going straight for the Reapers but was being diverted to take care of the Collectors instead. But once I did the mission aboard the Collector Ship and found out the Collectors are really Protheans - my mind was blown; I had not seen that one coming - my fears were assuaged. I thought that was a very interesting plot twist and made me feel much better about the storyline.
Working for Cerberus still pissed me off, since as a Paragon you say all these things like "I'm not letting you order me around" and "I assemble my own team" but in the end you're still basically going after all the missions the Illusive Man gives you and assembling the team he recommends. I do hope the working-for-Cerberus bit doesn't continue into the next game (hopefully not, assuming I've pissed off the Illusive Man enough by not saving the Reaper).
I thought the ending was surprisingly good - the right mix of tying up some loose ends from this game and making it feel final, while leaving a clear path for the next game. I'm very curious to see how the big choices made (re: the geth and the Reaper) will play out in ME3. When I do my Renegade playthrough of ME2, I'll make it a point to choose the opposite of both decisions.
As a side note, the Collectors creeped me the fuck out, and I'm glad they're gone.
I read the Mass Effect: Ascension novel a few months ago as preparation for my Yuletide fic and I was happy that the game did make references to the events in the book. I'd really been hoping to see at least a cameo of Gillian, though, and was sad that there wasn't one.
Gameplay
I feel like the game was a lot more difficult than ME1. Or maybe 'challenging' is a better word. I don't know. My perspective might be skewed since I had watched friends play ME1 before I played it myself, so I guess I'd developed mental strategies by the time I did my own playthrough. ME2, on the other hand, I was playing cold, not even using a guide. I was playing it on Casual mode (the easiest difficulty level) and still had a hard time sometimes.
I felt like the combat system in this game was much more shooter-like than the first game, but maybe it's just me. It is worth nothing that this is the only shooter game I've ever played personally* (and yes, I realize that this isn't even a 'true' shooter because of its RPG-like elements). But I had a much harder time with the combat system this time. It seemed like you needed to aim much more carefully just to hit a target, whereas the targeting-assist in ME1 helped someone like me with no FPS experience deal with that weakness. Also the fact that you actually needed ammo. And in some areas finding ammo was frustratingly difficult.
* I have watched my guyfriends play many other shooter games, though.
I also felt like there were much more enemies in all the areas, although that might be an illusion created by the fact that they would attack in waves. I don't know. I just know that occasionally I got seriously frustrated and pissed off when I was trying to move through an area and I'd take 5 steps and there would be another wave of enemies to kill. I personally would've preferred a bit less fighting in the game. I do it for the story, not for the combat.
I was also pissed off at first that they changed many of the key mappings. I'd gotten so used to 'E' being interact and 'SPACE' being pause/HUD, and they didn't explain right away that 'SHIFT' was now pause/HUD so I had a very hard time with the first few fights because my strategy for fights is definitely the RPG player's strategy: pause, plan actions, aim weapon, go. In a real-life battle, I would be killed while yelling, "Where is the pause button?!"
I really hated the fact that you didn't get experience for each enemy or set of enemies you killed, but only at the end of a mission. I thought it was genuinely useful in ME1 that you could sometimes level up in the middle of a mission. I also didn't like the way they redid the skill points system. I did like that they basically worked 'Charm' and 'Intimidate' into your Paragon and Renegade scores, but everything else I thought was unnecessary. It was frustrating when you sometimes had to wait for so long to level up, and when you finally did, you couldn't necessarily even use the skill point you gained if you didn't have enough to get the ability you wanted.
One thing I did really appreciate about the gameplay changes was the lack of the Mako. Piloting the Mako and driving around on the uncharted worlds was one of my least favorite things about ME1, and I really didn't miss it at all. I was pretty ambivalent about the planet scanning feature - I liked it because I felt like it made more sense, although it was kind of repetitive and tedious. (Mostly I was just pissed off because it seemed like the upgrades required more Platinum than anything else, but it was hard to find large amounts of.) Still, occasionally it'd be a nice way to calm down after finishing a mission with way too many fights.
I'm not sure how to feel about the changes to the weapons/armor systems. I felt fine about the armor, I guess, although I was sad about the fact that the DLC armor couldn't be enhanced or upgraded at all, so after the first couple of missions I never used my DLC armor again because it was just better to buy the separate armor pieces and customize your own. At first I was worried that not being able to control your allies' armor would be a problem, but it wasn't a huge issue. If they got killed a lot, it was usually because they were too stupid to get behind cover, and I blame that on the AI.
Characters & Romances
This was one of my biggest worries about the game; I'd really grown to like all of the characters from ME1 a lot, and I was upset when I found out most of them wouldn't be returning to your crew. Tali and Garrus were included, of course, but to be perfectly honest neither of them would've been my first choice for returning characters. If I'd had to pick two, it would've been Wrex and Liara.
I ended up liking most of the ME2 crew members, though. I was ambivalent about Jacob and not a huge fan of Miranda (I think in Miranda's case it might have been partly the character design - out of everyone she looked the most 'fake' to me), though I watched the male!Shepard/Miranda romance videos on YouTube and I have to admit it gave me slightly more of an appreciation for her. After reading about her extra dialogue during the final battle, I kind of wished I'd brought her along just to hear her stick it to the Illusive Man. Jacob just made me kind of go 'meh' the way Kaidan in ME1 did, and Kaidan at least had this kind of huggable, I-want-to-comfort-you quality that Jacob doesn't have (to me).
Garrus was the first character I recruited, and also the one I decided to romance. (I guess that makes my Shepard a xenophiliac.) I'm a fan of Shepard/Liara but to be honest my desire to stay loyal to her didn't outweigh my curiosity to find out what a turian/human romance would be like. I'm not unhappy with my decision (given my lack of enthusiasm about any of the other options) but after watching all the other romance options on YouTube, I do feel a little cheated. Everyone else at least got a kiss, and what did I get? Foreheads touching!?
I went after Mordin next. I quite liked him (I like how he's nerdy yet can hold his own in battle), and I liked his conversation options, especially the sex talk and the scientist salarian song.
Then Grunt. I hadn't expected to like him in part because I was just so upset that Wrex wasn't playable, but then I realized it wasn't really fair to keep comparing Grunt to Wrex. He was a cool character in his own right. I used him for a few of the Loyalty missions when Garrus didn't seem like the best option.
I did Jack after that, and was pleasantly surprised. I'd seen the announcements of her character and the revelation that she would be a romance option for male!Shepard, and at the time I'd felt like she was basically just fanservice for male players. There's a girl wearing basically nothing from the waist up and covered in tattoos, with a badass attitude, whoop-dee-doo. Big deal. So I thought. But surprisingly enough I liked her character (she kind of reminded me of Domino from the movie Domino) and she and Garrus were my main battle party for most of the game, including the final mission.
(As a side note, I brought Grunt along when recruiting Jack, not realizing he would have extra dialogue. I was very amused.)
(As another side note, after watching Jack's romance option, it gave me even more appreciation for her. It makes me wonder if I ever did a male playthrough who I'd go for, Jack or Miranda. Miranda's sex scene is hotter, but Jack being vulnerable is sweet.)
As part of the Collector's Edition, I had the Zaeed DLC, and I did his loyalty mission after that. The mission was interesting in that it gave you two different options, rescuing the workers or going after Vido, but other than that I'm not sure how to feel about Zaeed. He's an interesting character, sure. I like his design and his accent. I didn't like how Shepard can't even really have a conversation with him. All in all, he's pretty cool, but it didn't feel like there was really much use for him in the game, and I'm glad I didn't pay money for this DLC.
Then I went after Tali, and I was glad to see her return. I'd been very interested when I'd seen in the promos that we would get to go aboard the Migrant Fleet, although I felt a little cheated because we didn't end up getting to see much of it. The Ascension novel had painted a rich picture of life aboard the fleet, and I was really hoping to get to see it visually, but unfortunately no. I did think Tali's loyalty mission was one of the most interesting.
I did Thane and Samara in short succession after that, and before anything else I must say I REALLY APPRECIATED that their loyalty missions did not involve any fighting, because I was so sick of combat by this point, orz
I wasn't as excited about Thane as it seems a lot of other fans were. I do like that they introduced a new race, and the drell seem cool, especially with the solipsism. Actually, I didn't really have a problem with Thane, but I never would've considered him for my romance option. Maybe it was just that I'd waited so long to recruit him. I don't know. I was glad I'd decided to pursue the Garrus romance instead because I respect his relationship with his wife (even if she's dead) and crying men don't do it for me.
I warmed up to Samara once I officially recruited her - my initial reaction was along the lines of, "fuck off." Her attitude annoyed me and her character design (with the cleavage) didn't do it for me. But I was glad that she didn't turn out to be so bad, and I realized I was biased in that I'd much rather have kept Liara on my crew than recruit another asari. I killed Morinth, of course, but I'll probably kill Samara when I do my Renegade playthrough.
Legion!! ♥ You know, I think way back when when I was looking at the promo stuff for ME2, I'd spoiled myself on the fact that you were getting a geth crew member, but I'd totally forgotten about it! Legion was pretty awesome. I especially loved when Shepard asks him about the N7 armor and he just stares and goes, "No data."
I was happy that Joker had a bigger role in this game (although that whole bit with him saving the ship from the Collectors kind of pissed me off). I loved his snarky commentary about the missions and the crew members, and I enjoyed his relationship with EDI immensely. I have to admit that out of any pairing in ME2, I'd probably be most interested in seeing Joker/EDI fanfiction. Ahahaha.
Voice Acting
I had two complaints:
Martin Sheen as the Illusive Man: Maybe it's just that I've seen Martin Sheen in so many TV shows and movies and am so familiar with what he looks like, but I just felt like his voice didn't match the character design. I don't know. They just always felt out-of-sync.
Adam Baldwin as Kal'Reegar: I love Jayne from Firefly and I was very excited that they gave Adam Baldwin a short role, but a quarian?! It just didn't seem to fit, when the quarians have that very distinctive accent with the rolled 'R', and there was Kal'Reegar with his standard American accent. I feel like they could've picked so many other characters that would've worked better for Baldwin's voice. I don't know. It was weird.
All in All
It might sound like I have a lot of complaints, but all in all the things I liked about the game definitely outweighed the things I disliked. It was just a bit of a rough transition because I loved the original game so much and they'd changed so many things. But while I wouldn't argue that all of the changes were for the better, it was definitely a great game.
I am kind of sad that the game did disprove a lot of my ideas about krogan culture in my yuletide fic, but there wasn't really anything I could've done about that. Oh, well.
And finally, because it was just so great that the entire world needs to see it:
Click to view