Mass effect 2 Launch and impressions (the REAL One)

[Roguetad]

You can actually take your time for 90-95% of the game...no rush.  That's what I did.  Your staff will let you know when it's time to get down to business
Just in case you are still concerned, here's a minor spoiler that may help put your mind at ease:

Spoiler for Hiden:

The time you take in the end has no impact on the achievement you mentioned.

Ah, nice!

Just to put my mind further at ease though, please answer this additional question about the urgency at the end:

Spoiler for Hiden:

At one point when I had nearly recruited all my people, I was told to go look for a friend/foe identification system. I got a choice between recruiting more crew or going there right away. It seemed like an important choice, and I'm now wondering if this is what you're referring to. It happened quite a while ago in my game as I've been working a lot on loyalty missions since.

I'm at the exact same place, and was wondering the same thing.  I had planned on doing as many side quests as possible now, but maybe that's not the best idea...

Regarding that exact spot in the storyline:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Don't do the mission for the IFF until you've done all of the other things you wanted to do.  I recommend finishing up recruiting, and taking your time doing the loyalty missions first.  I think the crew mentions this is a good time to do that too.  There's a ton of content still there in the loyalty missions, and those do have an impact on the ending.  As soon as you get the IFF though...it's game on!  I hope that helps put you at ease without being too spoilery.  In other words, take your time right now  

I forgot to mention that you will be beat over the head with clues from your staff about moving forward after the IFF mission.  You will have time for one more obvious loyalty mission.  I recommend doing that last loyalty mission and then complying fully with the advice given to you by your crew.

[leo8877]

I've found about 7-8 anomaly missions, some of them even have multiple planet hops.  There's even an achievement for doing 5 missions you find from scanning.

[jztemple2]

I've found about 7-8 anomaly missions, some of them even have multiple planet hops.  There's even an achievement for doing 5 missions you find from scanning.

Well I guess that means I'm going to have to start looking at more planets. Do you have to start the left trigger scanning to find anomalies, or will just pressing "Y" to start the scan be good enough? I'm afraid that once I pressed "Y" and saw a planet was Poor I didn't bother with any more scan activity.

Oh, and I'm sweet talking Kelly. Aliens aren't my thing and Miranda scares me. A lot 

[MaxSteele]

I've found about 7-8 anomaly missions, some of them even have multiple planet hops.  There's even an achievement for doing 5 missions you find from scanning.

Well I guess that means I'm going to have to start looking at more planets. Do you have to start the left trigger scanning to find anomalies, or will just pressing "Y" to start the scan be good enough? I'm afraid that once I pressed "Y" and saw a planet was Poor I didn't bother with any more scan activity.

Oh, and I'm sweet talking Kelly. Aliens aren't my thing and Miranda scares me. A lot 

Press "Y" to go to the planet, and then pull the left trigger.  If there's an anomaly it'll tell you "Anomaly detected".  Then you'll narrow in on it by following the white indicator on your targeting cursor.

[rickfc]

Oh, and I'm sweet talking Kelly. Aliens aren't my thing and Miranda scares me. A lot 

Spoiler for Hiden:

Eventually, you'll be given the option to take Kelly to your quarters for dinner. 

[leo8877]

Ok finished.  Had a great time with this game, after being really letdown by ME1.  I love the changes they did to inventory and gearing up.  Combat was a blast as an Engineer.  Took me 32 hours to finish.  I recruited everyone and did all their special missions.  I also did about 7-8 scan missions.  I upgraded a ton of stuff as well.  I played on Veteran the whole way and it was never too difficult.  Even if I didn't have the right members for a mission I was able to get through.  That little combat drone is a savior.

Now for spoilers:

Spoiler for Hiden:

IMO they sure dropped the ending on you fast.  I mean you get your crew and do your missions and then it's Omega 4 time.  I played for longer than my entire ME1 play through, but still felt quick.

Jacob died during the suicide mission, but I can't see how some of you saved your character.  I thought he was supposed to die.  I pretty much steamrolled that ship and he still got killed, so that sucks you get an achievement for them all living.  

My final group was Samara and Thane.  I had no trouble absolutely destroying everything.  When the Harbinger would spawn, I would use Warp and Reaver and then set him on fire.  1-2-3 done.

I blew up the ship and told the Illusive Man to f-off.

Oh and I romanced Miranda. 

I choose to go back to my character and do more missions etc, but how do I take my character and start over?  Do I have to load a save and do the boss fight again?

[jztemple2]

Press "Y" to go to the planet, and then pull the left trigger.  If there's an anomaly it'll tell you "Anomaly detected".  Then you'll narrow in on it by following the white indicator on your targeting cursor.

Crap, I've haven't been doing the left trigger thing. Ship about, Joker!

[metallicorphan]

Since Bioware seems to be averse to the idea of Shephard having romance options with the more experienced women of the crew, both Dr. Chakwas and Samara lost out on the Cougar achievement.  And compared to most of the female cast from both games, I though Chakwas was the coolest female on the ship. 

[Minor romance spoiler]

Spoiler for Hiden:

Also, Bioware should not be allowed to stuff Samara into a skin tight outfit, with her boobs on the verge of liberation, only to not have her available as a romance option.  I loved the dialogue when my desperate Shephard tried to convince her that casual sex was ok.

     

Spoiler for Hiden:

if you want Asari loving you can get it.  Just choose the daughter when you get to make the choice

Spoiler for Hiden:

ahh,so you can get her....i had Jack,she was easy right near the beginning,then i reloaded an old save,later on near to the end(i have about an hour or two before i finish the game still)i had Tali,and she took of her mask...i wont spoil that for you even in this spoiler....and then i reloaded another old save and got it on with Miranda

[Vidiot]

Spoiler for Hiden:

So.. to clear it up.   Not taking the IFF mission don't have an impact...but once you take it you need to get your butt in gear?

[Barrakketh]

Spoiler for Hiden:

So.. to clear it up.   Not taking the IFF mission don't have an impact...but once you take it you need to get your butt in gear?

Exactly.

[Roguetad]

Spoiler for Hiden:

So.. to clear it up.   Not taking the IFF mission don't have an impact...but once you take it you need to get your butt in gear?

Affirmative. 

Spoiler for Hiden:

It seems the clock starts ticking once you've completed that mission.  EDI will let you know when it's time to go.  There is enough time to finish a loyalty mission linked to the IFF mission.  EDI will let you know.

 

[lex]

Oh, and I'm sweet talking Kelly. Aliens aren't my thing and Miranda scares me. A lot 

Spoiler for Hiden:

Eventually, you'll be given the option to take Kelly to your quarters for dinner. 

Spoiler for Hiden:

You can do more than dinner later on too 

[TiLT]

You can actually take your time for 90-95% of the game...no rush.  That's what I did.  Your staff will let you know when it's time to get down to business
Just in case you are still concerned, here's a minor spoiler that may help put your mind at ease:

Spoiler for Hiden:

The time you take in the end has no impact on the achievement you mentioned.

Ah, nice!

Just to put my mind further at ease though, please answer this additional question about the urgency at the end:

Spoiler for Hiden:

At one point when I had nearly recruited all my people, I was told to go look for a friend/foe identification system. I got a choice between recruiting more crew or going there right away. It seemed like an important choice, and I'm now wondering if this is what you're referring to. It happened quite a while ago in my game as I've been working a lot on loyalty missions since.

I'm at the exact same place, and was wondering the same thing.  I had planned on doing as many side quests as possible now, but maybe that's not the best idea...

Regarding that exact spot in the storyline:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Don't do the mission for the IFF until you've done all of the other things you wanted to do.  I recommend finishing up recruiting, and taking your time doing the loyalty missions first.  I think the crew mentions this is a good time to do that too.  There's a ton of content still there in the loyalty missions, and those do have an impact on the ending.  As soon as you get the IFF though...it's game on!  I hope that helps put you at ease without being too spoilery.  In other words, take your time right now  

I forgot to mention that you will be beat over the head with clues from your staff about moving forward after the IFF mission.  You will have time for one more obvious loyalty mission.  I recommend doing that last loyalty mission and then complying fully with the advice given to you by your crew.

Excellent, thanks!

That's pretty much exactly what I suspected was going to happen until you got me worried there . This means I should be able to deal with the rest of the galaxy before I go do that particular mission.

[jersoc]

everyone needs to send a probe to Uranus

[TiLT]

Can you even visit Sol in the game? I got the impression we won't go there until ME3.

[jersoc]

Sure can, it's the local cluster.

[Turtle]

Can't land on it though, but you can be sure ME3 will involve Earth in some way.

If you want to import your completed ME2 character back into ME2 for a New Game+, just choose Import ME2 Character from the new game menu.  Then, it will prompt you to load any save that you have made post suicide mission.  That includes saves you make if you choose to continue playing after finishing the game.

[ATB]

Early Game spoiler question

Edit: Answered my original question.

Different question:

Spoiler for Hiden:

If the during the memory testing section at the beginning, they say that the counsel died does that mean I let them die?  I have no recollection of that plot point during the game...

[Beer Goggles]

Early Game spoiler question

Edit: Answered my original question.

Different question:

Spoiler for Hiden:

If the during the memory testing section at the beginning, they say that the counsel died does that mean I let them die?  I have no recollection of that plot point during the game...

Spoiler for Hiden:

Yes.  In ME1, you could have signaled the Systems Alliance fleet to wait or enter the final battle early to save the Citadel counsel.

[metallicorphan]

finished the game today,very enjoyable and can't wait for Mass Effect 3

all side missions and story = 35hrs

[rickfc]

finished the game today,very enjoyable and can't wait for Mass Effect 3

all side missions and story = 35hrs

I just recruited Tali last night, and have to wait for her loyalty quest to pop-up.  Other than some random exploration, I guess all I have left is the start of the final mission.  I'm kinda bummed about that, though I'm already plotting my 2nd playthrough.   

[Barrakketh]

finished the game today,very enjoyable and can't wait for Mass Effect 3

all side missions and story = 35hrs

I just recruited Tali last night, and have to wait for her loyalty quest to pop-up.  Other than some random exploration, I guess all I have left is the start of the final mission.  I'm kinda bummed about that, though I'm already plotting my 2nd playthrough.   

You saved one of the best loyalty missions for last. A couple of very emotional moments in that one.

[Gratch]

finished the game today,very enjoyable and can't wait for Mass Effect 3

all side missions and story = 35hrs

I just recruited Tali last night, and have to wait for her loyalty quest to pop-up.  Other than some random exploration, I guess all I have left is the start of the final mission.  I'm kinda bummed about that, though I'm already plotting my 2nd playthrough.   

You saved one of the best loyalty missions for last. A couple of very emotional moments in that one.

Good to hear.  I've only got 2 loyalty missions left (Tali & Zareed) and had been saving her's for last.

[Razgon]

Mordins loyalty mission was awesome, as is Mordin... Thats some nice writing, Bioware!

[DamageInc]

I wanted to suggest a few general strategy tips having just completed the game:
- Having someone in the squad with evolved mass throw, mass pull or mass cryo blast is incredibly helpful.  The kinds of enemies that will swarm your squad usually don't have shields, armor or barriers, and are ripe for crowd control.  A good crowd controller will make the last half of the game a little easier.  I was the CC guy for my squad later in the game.  I regretted ranking up Throw so late after seeing how effective it was at keeping swarms away from my squad.    

- Having someone in the active squad with evolved Warp and Overload will also make life a lot easier.  It's not a must have, especially with the specific ammo types, but both Warp and Overload can really make a difference in breaking down all of the better protected enemy types you will face in the 25-35 hours of the game.  

- Inferno and disruptor ammo are also great for taking down protected enemies.

Yeah, I went Sentinel which gives you Overload and Warp. Great to combo off Miranda or Jack

[Roguetad]

I thought they did a really good job with the loyalty missions.  If I had to rank my favorites (a tough call), they would look like this:

Spoiler for Hiden:

1.  Tali.  Awesome writing and voice acting.  Liz Sroka did a masterful VO performance.  My emotions were all over the place on this mission.  I was fired up to kill some Geth...and it felt good!

2.  Jack.  Good writing again.  Disturbing, dark, dreary.  Stepping into Jack's world, and watching as her perception changed to be closer to the truth was chilling.  Good work by Courtney Taylor as Jack.   

3.  Mordin.  More good writing and voiceover work.  This mission completely changed my perception of Mordin.  His rapid realization processing was amazing, as he tried to rationalize the sufferring. 

4.  Garrus.  The actiony parts were not that great, but the finale was excellent.  Very cinematic.  I didn't want to see my Shephard's ME1 brother fall from grace.  It was tough because I wanted him to get payback too.

5.  Miranda.  Good final confrontation.  I was starting to suspect that she was some kind of BSG human cyborg until this mission.  Heck, she may still be!  Great scene in the end.

6.  Samara.  I usually can't stand the pacing of Bioware's detective quests, going back to kotor, but they didn't let this one get too bogged down.  The final confrontation was awesome...and we even had a choice to betray her. 

7.  Legion.  This had a BSG infiltrate the basestar feel to it, with help from another faction of Cylon (Geth).  For me that = awesome.  Another tough decision that will carry over into ME3 I'm guessing.

8.  Zeed.  We're forced to make some tough decisions, and learn we can't please the entire crew. 

9.  Grunt.  I think they could have done more with this mission.  It was great seeing Wrex.

10.  Jacob.  I didn't feel much other than wanting to get this mission over with.  For some reason it just didn't resonate with me, and I like the Jacob character.  It would have been awesome if Jacob just cracks his head open regardless of what dialogue choice we make, or our paragon/renegade score.  A desperate fight back to the shuttle through waves of crazies would have been intense.  No survivors from the crashed crew in the end.  Now that would have been dark!

           

[leo8877]

I thought they did a really good job with the loyalty missions.  If I had to rank my favorites (a tough call), they would look like this:

Spoiler for Hiden:

1.  Tali.  Awesome writing and voice acting.  Liz Sroka did a masterful VO performance.  My emotions were all over the place on this mission.  I was fired up to kill some Geth...and it felt good!

2.  Jack.  Good writing again.  Disturbing, dark, dreary.  Stepping into Jack's world, and watching as her perception changed to be closer to the truth was chilling.  Good work by Courtney Taylor as Jack.    

3.  Mordin.  More good writing and voiceover work.  This mission completely changed my perception of Mordin.  His rapid realization processing was amazing, as he tried to rationalize the sufferring.  

4.  Garrus.  The actiony parts were not that great, but the finale was excellent.  Very cinematic.  I didn't want to see my Shephard's ME1 brother fall from grace.  It was tough because I wanted him to get payback too.

5.  Miranda.  Good final confrontation.  I was starting to suspect that she was some kind of BSG human cyborg until this mission.  Heck, she may still be!  Great scene in the end.

6.  Samara.  I usually can't stand the pacing of Bioware's detective quests, going back to kotor, but they didn't let this one get too bogged down.  The final confrontation was awesome...and we even had a choice to betray her.  

7.  Legion.  This had a BSG infiltrate the basestar feel to it, with help from another faction of Cylon (Geth).  For me that = awesome.  Another tough decision that will carry over into ME3 I'm guessing.

8.  Zeed.  We're forced to make some tough decisions, and learn we can't please the entire crew.  

9.  Grunt.  I think they could have done more with this mission.  It was great seeing Wrex.

10.  Jacob.  I didn't feel much other than wanting to get this mission over with.  For some reason it just didn't resonate with me, and I like the Jacob character.  It would have been awesome if Jacob just cracks his head open regardless of what dialogue choice we make, or our paragon/renegade score.  A desperate fight back to the shuttle through waves of crazies would have been intense.  No survivors from the crashed crew in the end.  Now that would have been dark!

         

Spoiler for Hiden:

As soon as I did the Legion mission, I also thought that this will show up again in ME3.

After the Zaeed mission, I thought for sure we'd run into the guy again somewhere down the line in the game.  I never heard from him though.

I thought about Stopping Garrus from sniping the guy, but in the end I said go for it.  I did stop Jack from killing her guy, but afterwards I wish I had let her kill him.

[skystride]

Mordins loyalty mission was awesome, as is Mordin... Thats some nice writing, Bioware!

Took me over 10 minutes to come to some of the decisions during this mission.  I'm still not sure I did the right thing.  Gotta love a game that gives you so many "grey" options.

[leo8877]

Mordins loyalty mission was awesome, as is Mordin... Thats some nice writing, Bioware!

Took me over 10 minutes to come to some of the decisions during this mission.  I'm still not sure I did the right thing.  Gotta love a game that gives you so many "grey" options.

Agreed, a lot of choices were not good vs. evil.  I really enjoyed it. 

[Soulchilde]

Mordins loyalty mission was awesome, as is Mordin... Thats some nice writing, Bioware!

+1   Probably the best new character added

[Nonnahob]

Mordins loyalty mission was awesome, as is Mordin... Thats some nice writing, Bioware!

Took me over 10 minutes to come to some of the decisions during this mission.  I'm still not sure I did the right thing.  Gotta love a game that gives you so many "grey" options.

Agreed, a lot of choices were not good vs. evil.  I really enjoyed it. 

For some reason I always felt obligated to pick what I thought would be the paragon choice. I have a lot of paragon points, not so many renegade.

My problem now is finding enough missions to get credits so I can do the few upgrades I have remaining before going on to the next step in the main story (which I've read once I hit there, I need to be ready to move... no more time to dink around).

[jersoc]

There's grey choices in the game? I think that one of this game's biggest fault. There are no grey choices. The game paints it's pretty clear what your action is. Up is paragon, down is renegade. The outcome is usually the same in every scenario, someone lives or dies. Maybe you'll release some piece of technology or won't. Your consequences are felt immediately and it sort of cheapens the entire thing.

spoiler for tali's mission

Spoiler for Hiden:

how about when you hold the info back about her dad instead of them just saying they found out anyways and you can't share in their glory of research they also exiled tali anyways. now if you shared the info tali would be pissed(i assume, i didnt go thsi route), but they wouldn't exile her after all and then share the technology. or maybe you can help them fight in the war with the geth on their home planet.

which is what i mean there's no grey choices. you know the choice you made is either good or bad. it's binary and it's boring. I think this is the biggest complaint of the entire game(outside of randomly floating and getting stuck 2 or 3 times a fucking day). But this complaint goes for all games with "big choices". They just aren't done right. We need more Witcher type games.

[skystride]

There's grey choices in the game? I think that one of this game's biggest fault. There are no grey choices. The game paints it's pretty clear what your action is. Up is paragon, down is renegade. The outcome is usually the same in every scenario, someone lives or dies. Maybe you'll release some piece of technology or won't. Your consequences are felt immediately and it sort of cheapens the entire thing.

It's not that simple for people who are roleplaying and not just thinking about paragon/renegade points.  In the case of Mordin, you can make a convincing argument that either choice could be good or bad i.e. the definition of grey.  If you're just min/maxing, then maybe it's not as thought provoking.

[Gratch]

which is what i mean there's no grey choices. you know the choice you made is either good or bad. it's binary and it's boring. I think this is the biggest complaint of the entire game(outside of randomly floating and getting stuck 2 or 3 times a fucking day). But this complaint goes for all games with "big choices". They just aren't done right. We need more Witcher type games.

Totally disagree.  I think there were a number of choices - especially in the loyalty missions - that were grey.   Especially Mordin's...I had a really tough time deciding what to do there.

As for comparing it to The Witcher, I like my games to have more options than "Be an asshole" and "Be an even bigger asshole".

[jersoc]

mordin someone dies or lives not grey, the korgan wiped out an entire species, well almost. pretty sure they deserve what they got.

[skystride]

mordin someone dies or lives not grey, the korgan wiped out an entire species, well almost. pretty sure they deserve what they got.

Capital punishment vs Incarceration.  I suppose it's not grey if you're very left or right leaning.

[Razgon]

mordin someone dies or lives not grey, the korgan wiped out an entire species, well almost. pretty sure they deserve what they got.

See, thats where we disagree - plenty of grey choices and aeas theres. For instance, re mordins loyality quest

Spoiler for Hiden:

When we first met the Krogans and they said something about "You have never watched piles of dead children" I really understood them...and to me, the Genophage WASNT that clear cut...it was something I really had to consider

[Ridah]

Speaking of choices, it took me 15 hours of gameplay to figure out that I have to be an asshole in the conversation trees to rack up renegade points. I was wondering why my paragon rating was almost equal to my renegade rating when most of my action decisions have been renegade.

[Sarkus]

There's grey choices in the game? I think that one of this game's biggest fault. There are no grey choices. The game paints it's pretty clear what your action is. Up is paragon, down is renegade. The outcome is usually the same in every scenario, someone lives or dies. Maybe you'll release some piece of technology or won't. Your consequences are felt immediately and it sort of cheapens the entire thing.

spoiler for tali's mission

Spoiler for Hiden:

how about when you hold the info back about her dad instead of them just saying they found out anyways and you can't share in their glory of research they also exiled tali anyways. now if you shared the info tali would be pissed(i assume, i didnt go thsi route), but they wouldn't exile her after all and then share the technology. or maybe you can help them fight in the war with the geth on their home planet.

which is what i mean there's no grey choices. you know the choice you made is either good or bad. it's binary and it's boring. I think this is the biggest complaint of the entire game(outside of randomly floating and getting stuck 2 or 3 times a fucking day). But this complaint goes for all games with "big choices". They just aren't done right. We need more Witcher type games.

Some comments about the Tali mission:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Tali wasn't exiled in my conclusion and I didn't reveal the details about her father.  Yeah, I later got a message from one of the admirals with the "you didn't tell us so we won't share" message, but that's clearly something for ME3.

[leo8877]

There's grey choices in the game? I think that one of this game's biggest fault. There are no grey choices. The game paints it's pretty clear what your action is. Up is paragon, down is renegade. The outcome is usually the same in every scenario, someone lives or dies. Maybe you'll release some piece of technology or won't. Your consequences are felt immediately and it sort of cheapens the entire thing.

spoiler for tali's mission

Spoiler for Hiden:

how about when you hold the info back about her dad instead of them just saying they found out anyways and you can't share in their glory of research they also exiled tali anyways. now if you shared the info tali would be pissed(i assume, i didnt go thsi route), but they wouldn't exile her after all and then share the technology. or maybe you can help them fight in the war with the geth on their home planet.

which is what i mean there's no grey choices. you know the choice you made is either good or bad. it's binary and it's boring. I think this is the biggest complaint of the entire game(outside of randomly floating and getting stuck 2 or 3 times a fucking day). But this complaint goes for all games with "big choices". They just aren't done right. We need more Witcher type games.

Some comments about the Tali mission:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Tali wasn't exiled in my conclusion and I didn't reveal the details about her father.  Yeah, I later got a message from one of the admirals with the "you didn't tell us so we won't share" message, but that's clearly something for ME3.

Spoiler for Hiden:

Yep I had a paragon option that spared Tali and didn't out her father.  But I got this email from an Admiral saying they found data on the ship that I didn't tell them about and that they would use it to have Quarian rule the unvierse or something sinister like that.