Mass Effect Megathread: He said "I should go." Do I sound like that? - Games

I've spent the past 3 hours trying to get Mass Effect 2 to run. First, it ran fine but my saves weren't in the list. So I ran the configurator and that broke the game entirely. Wouldn't launch at all. The .exe would pop up in Task Manager for about 8 seconds then vanish. After reading a half-dozen threads about it, I tried deleting the game's binaries and running the repair from Origin. Now I'm getting an Origin error, pictured here: [t]http://jesusfuck.me/di/1WC9/capture.png[/t] Guess I gotta redownload it.

[QUOTE=27X;49238473]I talk to Dombo and Sylv on a semiregualr basis but you go ahead and learned me up real goods about what's kosher and what isn't.:quotes:[/QUOTE] Who are they?

His equivalent of, "My dad works at Bioware so I know what's going on."

I love all three Mass Effect games. A lot. 1 hasn't aged that well. 3 was lacking in certain areas. I still love them and the memories of playing them. But I still maintain that Mass Effect 2 is one of the best games ever made.

[QUOTE=Dan2593;49250718]I love all three Mass Effect games. A lot. 1 hasn't aged that well. 3 was lacking in certain areas. I still love them and the memories of playing them. But I still maintain that Mass Effect 2 is one of the best games ever made.[/QUOTE] ME2's problem is that it's one giant side quest.

Can one of you guys link the most up to date ME2 save editor? I want to make a mass effect 1 save without actually having to deal with all of Mass Effect 1's annoying-ness.

[QUOTE=VOSK;49251734]Can one of you guys link the most up to date ME2 save editor? I want to make a mass effect 1 save without actually having to deal with all of Mass Effect 1's annoying-ness.[/QUOTE] Gibbed's still works well. What I did when I replayed was [url=http://www.masseffectsaves.com/]downloaded a paragon save from here[/url] and then [url=http://www.masseffectsaves.com/tools.php]edited the flags to fit what I wanted[/url]

[QUOTE=SpartanXC9;49251685]ME2's problem is that it's one giant side quest.[/QUOTE] [B]Yo this a wall nigga[/B] Honestly if I was to be so frank, I don't really think that is a problem with Mass Effect 2. People like to state how it did not meaningful push the plot forward but really, it never was going to. It was never designed to do that, as the middle entry of a trilogy, and to be fair it in some regards it did push the plot forward by pushing Shepard a few years into the future and everything that happens in it + DLC from ME1's ending. But really, its clear its main goal was not to meaningfully ending the entire plot line. Instead it was to give a sense of gravity and a reason to care. It showed us the kind of inhumane things the Reapers were doing even before arriving into our system. Kidnapping thousands of people for genetic resources and research, implied to also have done so to non-human races. It shows visually not only their machine like precision on the colonies they hit, but the brutal merciless way they consume people. I'm only scratching the surface here because there is a lot of other cool little tidbits snuck in the game. But that is simply a sense of gravity, a deeper insight into the enemy we are fighting. I feel the overall main objective of the game and what I think it did perfectly is making you care. This is why the game is set up the way it is, why its like a sort of lite-noir, why you're a mercenary going around snooping for clues and solving people's problems. Because it wasn't about the big picture. It was about the little pictures that make up the bigger picture. Of course in Mass Effect 1, you meet a decent chunk of humans and other alien individuals and you do go to some parts of the universe, you engage in some political play and see some culture. But its far less a focus and far more specific in only showing certain kinds of areas or In Mass Effect 2, you went to all kinds of colonies and planets, with their own unique designs, soundscapes, and atmospheres. You got a deeper look into what its like to actually live in this universe as you meet a wider cast of characters with a bigger emphasis on regular people and their lives, some of these things more mundane, some of them quite tragic. Here we're able to explore criminal underworlds full of criminals and decent people choked under, able to visit high class Asari areas which have a distinct undertone of corruption and shows some of their more disturbing cultural law in place (indentured servitude). We visit the Quarians and see a glimpse of how they live, the fragile little light of hope they have for their future, a sad realization that the people are under the control of self-interested in leaders. We see how the Krogans struggle to survive, how bombed out their world is and the overall sense of decay and hopeless they understandably have. We can listen to a few conversations as well, one or two of them surprisingly sweet. Remember the Krogan discussing the possibility of one of the litter being his son? I could go on and on, but Mass Effect 2 gave life to the universe. Mass Effect 1 had a few great set pieces, but most areas were generic prefabs and the relied a lot more on literal flavor text. Whereas ME2 gave us several new areas in the universe to explore and little sub-areas for quests as well. We got to explore unique bases, unique planets, unique locations with a wide cast ranging almost all the races in the universe and all kinds of different social classes. It gave a face to the universe, in both world detail and actual human identity. Keep in mind, I didn't even once here talk about the Squad, that in of itself, is very self explanatory! Without Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3 would be honestly fairly hollow. What places am I fighting for? Who am I fighting for? Why would I care? I have no investment. It would not matter, I would not care for Omega, nor the cute innocent Quarian boy Kenn, for without ME2, they would not exist. I would not see the devastation brought onto the Krogans, it would mean nothing. I won't ever call the game perfect, nor will I call ME1 or ME3 perfect. But I think it played its role in the trilogy properly. I feel that a lot of its weakness isn't really itself, but rather, I actually feel its Mass Effect 3. As it does not really do a lot of meaningful things with the characters or locales shown in the second game. (Though it does a decent job)

witcher 2 was a giant sidequest and that's what makes it such an amazing game imo me2 is the strongest of all of the games from both a storytelling standpoint and from a gameplay standpoint

The Mass Effect trilogy is almost perfectly analogous to the original Star Wars movies. ME1 builds the scale of the universe, and is an epic story of the main character getting sucked up into a pivotal moment in the galaxy. It's a straightforward "stop the bad guy," story. ME2 doesn't push the story forward much, but shows the darker side of things, the ruthlessness and cruelty of the enemy. It focuses more on the development of the people involved than the advancement of the story, the internal struggles they face while also trying to overcome overwhelming odds. You see what makes the characters tick, why they are the way they are. While it's possible to play through ME2 without losing anyone, it's also somewhat designed to show the mortality of the heroes in the story. My first time playing ME2 the day it came out, I didn't look up anything beforehand so I lost a few people during the suicide mission, I think Legion and Grunt, because my dumb ass picked Grunt to lead the fire teams (didn't think it was leadership based, more "who is a badass," based). It fucking sucked, I loved those characters, it was the equivalent of the painful "I am your father," moment for Luke. ME3 wraps everything up in the grand epic finale, although the game drops the ball there in my opinion. The buildup is great, I'd say ME3 is an absolutely awesome game all the way up to the Quarian/Geth conflict. Even though the finale is kind of lame, it's a lot like the Return of the Jedi in the sense that the ground team has to disable the bad guys while the fleets in space try to hold out. There's still a lot of good emotional moments in the end, the talk with Garrus gets me all teary-eyed every goddamn time. I'll just never forgive BioWare for the fucking Starchild disaster. ME1 has a great story, but kinda stumbles technically. ME2 has a great story and great gameplay. ME3 has a good story that falls flat at the end, but great gameplay. ME2 is the only one that really does everything right, which is why it's my favorite of the series.

i don't think i'd say ME2 has [I]great[/I] gameplay. it's kind of like Silent Hill 2's approach in that it simply feels as it should in context, a mostly empty but workable shell for the story and set-pieces to fill in. ME3 was the only point where you could say it felt pretty good on its own, which i guess is why they felt confident enough to add multiplayer.

I found ME2s gameplay more enjoyable the more I play it. A lot of new players don't really experience everything it can do, it isn't until you learn all of the different ways you can play that it gets good. One of the biggest mistakes someone can do as a new player is pick the soldier class, it's basically just a generic cover shooter at that point (though you can make the soldier play fairly unique if you know how to invest skill points). Pick Vanguard and you can be an on the verge of death 24/7 charging everywhere oh god this is hectic player. Adept and you can be throwing biotic curve balls of death at everyone, nobody is safe even behind cover. Infiltrator and you're a hit-and-run type, shooting from a position then GTFO to another before your cloak runs out. ME3 sorta makes all of that more accessible to new players. It's very easy to play through ME2 once or twice and barely scrape the surface of the combat, coming to the conclusion it's a generic cover shooter.

[QUOTE=Cone;49252599]i don't think i'd say ME2 has [I]great[/I] gameplay. it's kind of like Silent Hill 2's approach in that it simply feels as it should in context, a mostly empty but workable shell for the story and set-pieces to fill in. ME3 was the only point where you could say it felt pretty good on its own, which i guess is why they felt confident enough to add multiplayer.[/QUOTE] I'm still sour I couldn't make Shepard one of those N7 classes from multiplayer.

I think I'll skip both the Arrivalo and the Project Overlord DLCs for my ME 2 replay run I'm really not dying about playing them

Overlord had a damn good soundtrack. Lair of the Shadow Broker is easily the best DLC for ME2, so good to the point where I often forget if it was an ME2 or ME3 DLC.

[QUOTE=MaverickIB;49253973]Overlord had a damn good soundtrack. Lair of the Shadow Broker is easily the best DLC for ME2, so good to the point where I often forget if it was an ME2 or ME3 DLC.[/QUOTE] Oh yeah, Overlord OST had amazing combat theme: [video=youtube;jiPH8TwIe9U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiPH8TwIe9U[/video] And a quick opinion on the trilogy. ME1 had great story but gameplay needed more work. I personally felt the hybrid classes weren't worth playing as compared to the pure ones. ME2 improved that by really making each class unique but story-wise making the paragon and renegade options much more black and white hurt the most. On the subject of ME3 I will just say that the ending wasn't the only bad writting in it and people forget about the rest because it's the most obvious problem.

[QUOTE=Marden;49254876] And a quick opinion on the trilogy. ME1 had great story but gameplay needed more work. I personally felt the hybrid classes weren't worth playing as compared to the pure ones. ME2 improved that by really making each class unique but story-wise making the paragon and renegade options much more black and white hurt the most. On the subject of ME3 I will just say that the ending wasn't the only bad writting in it and people forget about the rest because it's the most obvious problem.[/QUOTE] Still salty about Legion over here.

I miss him too. He was one of my favourite droids in gaming.

[QUOTE=69105;49251851]witcher 2 was a giant sidequest and that's what makes it such an amazing game imo me2 is the strongest of all of the games from both a storytelling standpoint [/QUOTE] ahahahaha. No. Fixing 9 literal iterations of daddy issues is not storytelling. Also people actually tell Shepard to fuck off in 3 and can back it up as opposed to the endless verbal jiujutsu train that is 2. Basically everywhere Mac had direct access to storytelling thematics it went bad, save for the suicide mission. Where 2 excels is fleshing out the universe in new direction without breaking anything they previously established. People also always forget the most of the strongest story element vehicles came out well after the suicide mission was done save for Garrus, Legion and Jack, well after they actually acknowledged the criticisms aimed at them. Some characters were also completely two dimensional and stayed that way. Nostalgia only goes so far. ME2's combat is also hilariously imbalanced with a LOT of useless powers and several extremely imbalanced class setups that either completely wrecked face or just plain sucked even on normal and easy.

[QUOTE=optimussentinel;49255846]Still salty about Legion over here.[/QUOTE] They literally didn't put him in the Citadel DLC because the writers forgot he existed. People say it was just the ending but ME3 was really bungled writing-wise throughout and it left me saltier than the Dead Sea because I pre ordered that shit.

[QUOTE=27X;49256270]ahahahaha. No. Fixing 9 literal iterations of daddy issues is not storytelling. Also people actually tell Shepard to fuck off in 3 and can back it up as opposed to the endless verbal jiujutsu train that is 2. Basically everywhere Mac had direct access to storytelling thematics it went bad, save for the suicide mission. Where 2 excels is fleshing out the universe in new direction without breaking anything they previously established. People also always forget the most of the strongest story element vehicles came out well after the suicide mission was done save for Garrus, Legion and Jack, well after they actually acknowledged the criticisms aimed at them. Some characters were also completely two dimensional and stayed that way. Nostalgia only goes so far. ME2's combat is also hilariously imbalanced with a LOT of useless powers and several extremely imbalanced class setups that either completely wrecked face or just plain sucked even on normal and easy.[/QUOTE] Zaeed = Betrayal. Garrus = Betrayal. Mordin = Betrayal. Kasumi = Loss. Legion = Fate of his people. Tali = Daddy issues. Miranda = Daddy issues. Jacob = Daddy issues. Grunt = NEED TO KILL. Thane = Parenthood issues. Samara = Parenthood issues. Jack = NEED TO KILL. I've put in well over a thousand hours into ME2, I've played every class as paragon/renegade + male/female. That's 4 complete playthroughs (I always do every side quest) per class at the minimum, doesn't count all of the others I do for fun. I recently played through it again last week. I hardly consider that nostalgia goggles. I don't remember any useless powers. I remember powers you have to use wisely in combination with squadmates AKA: the way the game is supposed to be played. Most people who seem to have your viewpoint about the combat are the type who just sit behind one piece of cover and get mad that their adept abilities are useless because waaaaah enemies have shields and armor. Don't harp on a game because you're bad at it, there isn't a single class build that can't get through the whole game on Insanity. [editline]6th December 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=Rebi;49256862]They literally didn't put him in the Citadel DLC because the writers forgot he existed. People say it was just the ending but ME3 was really bungled writing-wise throughout and it left me saltier than the Dead Sea because I pre ordered that shit.[/QUOTE] Oh yeah the whole Legion ordeal in ME3 rustles the fuck out of my jimmies. That shit pisses me off more than the ending.

I've really wished they kept the ability to recruit anyone ad any time in Mass Effect 2, something that was jossed before release As it stand, there are some companions (like Thane and Legion) you don't have enough time to enjoy the story and conversations of, moreso if you want to get the most positive ending available and want to get through the Omega Relay as soon as possible

Honestly I don't really mind the loyalty missions because the in depth story to them are decently different and unique for each person. Beyond that, I genuinely think it was a good idea to have most of them come back to family. Though I would not be opposed to one or two of them being about something else. But as I said, I feel they work as they do have their differences. I don't think it works for every player, but these characters are attractive tall super heroes with crazy lives and backgrounds. To learn that Thane is a very neglectful father hits on a personal level for me. This goes for other characters as well, it makes them seem down to earth. Family is a universal thing we all have, along with things like dealing with anger or forgiveness or a sense of loss. So while not perfect in execution and variety, I think it was a smart move by Bioware to try and choose things that felt universal in a way, because it shows how all these races despite being from far off lands and far off cultures are in a sense all "human" because we share similar experiences. I genuinely wouldn't have ME2's loyalty missions be any other way, beyond perhaps more variety or slightly different execution. They made me care and they gave me a common ground with most of the characters, if not all of them, as I can either empathize or sympathize with a lot of the events that happen, even if they're obviously exaggerated in video-game form. [editline]6th December 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=EliaMoroes;49258296]I've really wished they kept the ability to recruit anyone ad any time in Mass Effect 2, something that was jossed before release As it stand, there are some companions (like Thane and Legion) you don't have enough time to enjoy the story and conversations of, moreso if you want to get the most positive ending available and want to get through the Omega Relay as soon as possible[/QUOTE] If its any comfort, if you are playing the PC version you can legit just mod em in and have fun, they have pretty much all their dialogue lines for earlier events and shit that you never have them for. I have no idea why they changed it, from what I read years ago it was due to how the game was formatted on the 360's two discs but I doubt that is true.

Once again, Legion got the short end of the stick even in ME2 because of the way they seperated recruitment of squadmates. If you want to do a proper playthrough and save every member of the Normandy crew, you have to make the Reaper IFF the very last mission you do. You get a buffer zone of one mission before the Collector attack, which has to be Legion's loyalty mission. Then you follow the Collectors straight into the relay and everyone lives. Which means a proper playthrough has Legion on your team for one mission. Want any more, and you have to let Normandy crew like Kelly die. After modding him in with a save editor, there's so much good dialogue with Legion that was cut from the game. Having him along during Tali's loyalty mission (which is possible in an umodded game if I recall correctly, just involves crew dying as I said before) is extremely enjoyable. They're trying her for bringing live Geth to the flotilla while you sit there with a live Geth brought into the flotilla, thankfully they bring this to attention during the trial or it'd be the most immersion breaking thing ever. Then of course he gets dicked in ME3. Funny how, despite the shit treatment he got from BioWare, he's still one of the universal favorite characters amongst players.

[QUOTE=MaverickIB;49257811]Zaeed = Betrayal. Garrus = Betrayal. Mordin = Betrayal. Kasumi = Loss. Legion = Fate of his people. Tali = Daddy issues. Miranda = Daddy issues. Jacob = Daddy issues. Grunt = NEED TO KILL. Thane = Parenthood issues. Samara = Parenthood issues. Jack = NEED TO KILL. I've put in well over a thousand hours into ME2, I've played every class as paragon/renegade + male/female. That's 4 complete playthroughs (I always do every side quest) per class at the minimum, doesn't count all of the others I do for fun. I recently played through it again last week. I hardly consider that nostalgia goggles. I don't remember any useless powers. I remember powers you have to use wisely in combination with squadmates AKA: the way the game is supposed to be played. Most people who seem to have your viewpoint about the combat are the type who just sit behind one piece of cover and get mad that their adept abilities are useless because waaaaah enemies have shields and armor. Don't harp on a game because you're bad at it, there isn't a single class build that can't get through the whole game on Insanity. [editline]6th December 2015[/editline] Oh yeah the whole Legion ordeal in ME3 rustles the fuck out of my jimmies. That shit pisses me off more than the ending.[/QUOTE] Except that's exactly what they are. Pull and Shockwave in no way shape or form compete with Singularity and Warp at all, ever; and neither of them are utility powers. Drone powers are nigh worthless unless you're running a spike damage infiltrator, and there's literally no reason to use impact, or ablation powers as anything other than an adept. Guns are also all over the place, and not in a "it's a niche" way either. Those aren't opinions, they are cut and dried in stone fact, seeing as the game's balance is a done deal, and we haven't even covered Soldier's and Infil's hilarious co-opting of other class motifs with no drawbacks to compensate. Grunt Samara and Thane are squarely under the mantra of daddy issues. What side of the fence the actual dialog is on is completely immaterial and semantic sniping at best.

[QUOTE=MaverickIB;49252493]The Mass Effect trilogy is almost perfectly analogous to the original Star Wars movies. ME1 builds the scale of the universe, and is an epic story of the main character getting sucked up into a pivotal moment in the galaxy. It's a straightforward "stop the bad guy," story. ME2 doesn't push the story forward much, but shows the darker side of things, the ruthlessness and cruelty of the enemy. It focuses more on the development of the people involved than the advancement of the story, the internal struggles they face while also trying to overcome overwhelming odds. You see what makes the characters tick, why they are the way they are. While it's possible to play through ME2 without losing anyone, it's also somewhat designed to show the mortality of the heroes in the story. My first time playing ME2 the day it came out, I didn't look up anything beforehand so I lost a few people during the suicide mission, I think Legion and Grunt, because my dumb ass picked Grunt to lead the fire teams (didn't think it was leadership based, more "who is a badass," based). It fucking sucked, I loved those characters, it was the equivalent of the painful "I am your father," moment for Luke. ME3 wraps everything up in the grand epic finale, although the game drops the ball there in my opinion. The buildup is great, I'd say ME3 is an absolutely awesome game all the way up to the Quarian/Geth conflict. Even though the finale is kind of lame, it's a lot like the Return of the Jedi in the sense that the ground team has to disable the bad guys while the fleets in space try to hold out. There's still a lot of good emotional moments in the end, the talk with Garrus gets me all teary-eyed every goddamn time. I'll just never forgive BioWare for the fucking Starchild disaster. ME1 has a great story, but kinda stumbles technically. ME2 has a great story and great gameplay. ME3 has a good story that falls flat at the end, but great gameplay. ME2 is the only one that really does everything right, which is why it's my favorite of the series.[/QUOTE] I think ME2 was one step forward, and one step backwards in terms of gameplay. They got rid of ME1's clumsy inventory, but replaced it with basically nothing. ME3 did much better in that regard.

[QUOTE=27X;49260303]Except that's exactly what they are. Pull and Shockwave in no way shape or form compete with Singularity and Warp at all, ever; and neither of them are utility powers. Drone powers are nigh worthless unless you're running a spike damage infiltrator, and there's literally no reason to use impact, or ablation powers as anything other than an adept. Guns are also all over the place, and not in a "it's a niche" way either. Those aren't opinions, they are cut and dried in stone fact, seeing as the game's balance is a done deal, and we haven't even covered Soldier's and Infil's hilarious co-opting of other class motifs with no drawbacks to compensate. Grunt Samara and Thane are squarely under the mantra of daddy issues. What side of the fence the actual dialog is on is completely immaterial and semantic sniping at best.[/QUOTE] Pull lifts people into the air, allowing you to knock them off the level even if they are at full health. It is especially useful on high difficulty levels when you're up against something like a Krogan, and want to dispatch him very quickly without having to whittle away at his health. Higher level pulls get people really fucking high into the air, allowing for curved concussive blasts/throws that send them flying. Singularity doesn't get people that high, and it can't hit shit behind cover as easily. Shockwave is crowd management, massively useful on levels with narrow corridors and when you're facing a lot of melee enemies (Reaper FFL comes to mind). In Tali's loyalty mission, it's easy to get swarmed by geth. 2 people with overload and 1 with shockwave keeps all of those geth down for the count. Drone powers are fucking ESSENTIAL on Insanity. With that statement, you just hammered in my point. You've never bothered to actually learn different ways of playing, you probably tried it once or twice, went, "omg this is shit," and went back to playing soldier or some shit. Drone powers save the day on Insanity, drones agro the fuck out of enemies. Arguably, the hardest mission/segment in the game (for me) is when the Collectors spring their trap on you with the moving platforms. On Insanity, combating assassins, harbinger, and the scions is near impossible because your AI teammates don't know how to crouch when the scions fire. Too bad that part becomes piss easy when you can keep sticking drones to the scion, he will continuously waste salvos on it as it agros him. You can also choose to have it distract Harbinger. There's a ton of versatility to be had when it comes down to the drone powers, they really made the game easy mode on higher difficulties. So yes, they are opinions. Your opinions suck. You got wrecked on Insanity trying a certain class and decided it's the fault of the class, not your fault for not knowing how to use it. I've gone through Insanity playthroughs with LITERALLY just about every type of character, every different skill point layout, every weapon, specific squadmates, etc. I've beaten it on Insanity with an adept using nothing but throw, pull, and Garrus/Grunt as squadmates. It didn't take crazy Korean skill, it just took adjusting the way I play, actually using the squad commands to focus-fire enemies down to their base health. You can't hook Samara and Thane under daddy issues because the stories are about Samara and Thane. They aren't about their children's daddy issues, they are about the trials and tribulations of being a shitty parent. Never once does Samara or Thane talk about how they were raised a certain way blah blah blah, they are larger than life heros who dropped the fucking ball on raising their kids and are trying to atone before embarking on a suicide mission. That can't be lumped under the same category as Miranda's "waaaah my dad is a dick," scenario. You don't get to just say things are cut and dry facts just by claiming they are cut and dry facts. You might be able to pull off the my daddy/friend/cousin/whoever the fuck works at bioware shit when discussing the core story, but that doesn't give you any leverage when talking about the actual gameplay or side-stories. I highly fucking doubt your friends sat you down and talked about how they purposefully made pull and shockwave irrelevant and every ME2 loyalty mission was designed to be centered around daddy issues. You overstep the lengths people will believe your horseshit.

As far as I know with 27X, his opinion is fact and others' opinions are "just" opinions. I don't want to be mean 27X, but you really have a very hostile way to argue with people, for as long as I can remember.

Not gonna lie, it rustles my jimmies when someone tells me things I've discovered through 1000+ hours of playing a game I love (on top of 600 or so with ME1 and 400 or so with ME3, all on various systems) are objectively wrong for no reason other than, "because I say so." The audacity, man.

Shockwave was shit in ME2 though, let's be honest. It had barely any force so it wouldn't knock down almost any enemy, combined with ME2's terrible system where if the enemy has shields/barriers or armour force doesn't apply to them at all it made it useless in any mission where you weren't fighting husks or low level humanoids. The fact that it travelled along the ground also made it useless if you had to attack an enemy across a gap. Shockwave in ME3 is fucking awesome, especially since they gave it the ability to trigger biotic detonations if your target is warped. [editline]7th December 2015[/editline] Also making it travel in a straight line from your hand was nice.