Mass Effect Storyline

[kingcomrade]

So, I'm considering getting ME2 because a friend whose judgment I trust said it was decent. I tried playing Ass Effect 1, however it was bugging out and would not make save games half the time. So I guess I can't play it without reformatting my HD and reinstalling everything from scratch or whatever the fuck is causing the problem. How important is knowing the ME1 storyline to playing ME2 without really having to resort to a Wiki?

I mean it's Bioware, right, it can't be that important, or interesting.

 

[I.C. Wiener]

It's almost completely unrelated to ME1's storyline. There are a few sidequests closed off if you start a new game without importing a save, but you'll likely not give a shit if you manage to finish the game and if you do there's probably a save editor out by now.

 

[sea]

Go read the plot synopsis of the first game on the Mass Effect Wikia page, and you'll do fine. I wouldn't jump into Mass Effect 2 cold just because there are certain terms/concpets/characters/etc. whose significance will be lost on you if you don't know them already. However, most of the lore is explained via in-game codex entries, so it's not too hard to pick up that side of it. Just remember that the key to enjoying Mass Effect is to not take anything seriously and just have fun, like an 80s action movie, otherwise your brain will literally explode.

 

[kingcomrade]

No problem with that, I haven't taken any RPG plot seriously since PST and that game is a decade old. I mean, I beat Borderlands, a kind of not really RPG, without having a clue what was going on because I was just "ok go here to kill these guys to beat the quest" and then I was fighting a tentacle monster and I won

Borderlands is a fun game if you have regular people to play coop with, otherwise it's a clusterfuck of "ok what quest are you on?" It suffers from Diablo 2 syndrome, where there are probably really good items to get but they never really drop. I got an orange shotgun, and after reviewing the wiki it is apparently the worst possible combination of stats you can get on a shotgun and still be orange, lol.

 

[waywardOne]

me1 is virtually irrelevant to me2 outside of a few emails you can and should ignore anyway.

 

[attackfighter]

There are about half a dozen references to things that happened in ME1, that's it, the plot is completely unrelated to ME1's and even certain things in the setting (non-heat clip weapons) were retconned.

 

[Baron]

The Illusive Man: What's the question?
Wrex: Is this going to be a stand-up fight, sir, or another bug-hunt?
The Illusive Man: All we know is that there's still no contact with the colony and that..a xenomorph may be involved.
Shepherd: Excuse me, sir. A what?
The Illusive Man: A xenomorph.
Wrex: It's a bug-hunt.



Aside from that, I liked what they did with the repercussions of your side missions tying it with the ending outcome, concept looked good on paper. But I hated listening to the fish's problems and lesbian angst and would have preferred to jettison them into deep space and just go it solo. But my Shepherd is hard fucking core James Bond n' shit.

I also didn't like how they started the second one. That was some sneaky DM foul-play auto killing a PC's character in between sessions. Not even a saving throw vs Plasma.

 

[attackfighter]

My Shepard was also hard core James Bond.

 

[mysterious-stranger]

I also didn't like how they started the second one. That was some sneaky DM foul-play auto killing a PC's character in between sessions. Not even a saving throw vs Plasma.

Not to mention it did jack shit to advance the plot or any of the characters bar Liara (Even then I hated her new personality)

 

[Baron]

I understand that game devs like to reset the PC's abilities in between games (which leads to horrible cliches like "amnesia.") But death is just wrong. If that mission was MORE death-defying than the events of MA1 then they should have let me play that storyline, instead of cutscene burning me up in atmosphere and penalising me five levels of experience.

And if my psychic powers at the end of MA1 are through the roof then simple, just introduce a fat enemy. Shepherd therefore needs to keep levelling and obtain extraordinary psychic powers to toss obese bee people around.

Fatties are a criminally under-utilized opponent across all mediums.

 

[curry]

I also didn't like how they started the second one. That was some sneaky DM foul-play auto killing a PC's character in between sessions. Not even a saving throw vs Plasma.

Not to mention it did jack shit to advance the plot or any of the characters bar Liara (Even then I hated her new personality)

I thought ME2 did the whole "you get to play your old character but have to start at lvl 1" thing really well.

 

[mysterious-stranger]

Why couldn't they just put him/her into a coma, would have been far less contrived.

 

[Von Paulus]

How important is knowing the ME1 storyline to playing ME2 without really having to resort to a Wiki?

Here's a resume of the ME's story in 5 minutes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5ns3lSWPs8

 

[DriacKin]

So, I'm considering getting ME2 because a friend whose judgment I trust said it was decent.

Your friend lied to you.

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

Actually... the reason your abilities are reset in ME2 is because of the fact that the implants used by all character types in ME1 were out-dated in ME2, and Derperus wanted Commander Retard to be as kickass as he could, so they shoved new tech up his arse instead of replicating the old crap he used to tug around inside of him.

Yes, even Soldiers carry certain implants and genetic enchantmen- ... enhancements, as does Engineers.

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

Actually... the reason your abilities are reset in ME2 is because of the fact that the implants used by all character types in ME1 were out-dated in ME2, and Derperus wanted Commander Retard to be as kickass as he could, so they shoved new tech up his arse instead of replicating the old crap he used to tug around inside of him.

Yes, even Soldiers carry certain implants and genetic enchantmen- ... enhancements, as does Engineers.

So, magic in ME2 sucked so bad because it's the new shit, not some outdated ME1 crap his grandpa had installed? My god, now it all makes sense!

 

[Freelance Henchman]

Don't bother playing Mass Effect 1, just go through this interactive comic:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digit ... ffectcomic

 

[Metro]

I'm slogging through ME1 for the first time now and agree -- just watch a let's play or interactive comic of whatever. The combat is horrible and just feels like annoying filler but I absolutely despite cover shooters and, yes, ME1's combat is basically cover shooter mechanics with wacky abilities thrown in the mix. Itemization is done horribly, too. You get a truckload of crap on almost every mission/assignment so it totally breaks any sense of gear progression or scarcity. The dialogues/quests are pretty much the only redeeming feature. I can't imagine how ME2 would be any better.

 

[Sceptic]

ME1's combat is basically cover shooter mechanics with wacky abilities thrown in the mix.

Bullshit. Played it on Hard and went into cover less than a half dozen times throughout the entire game. It's one of the main reasons I consider ME1 combat to be so much better than ME2: you can use cover but you don't have to (the other being that you don't have to spend a half hour getting rid of shield and armor before you can use biotics). It makes combat much more fluid and much less boring than in ME2.

You get a truckload of crap on almost every mission/assignment so it totally breaks any sense of gear progression or scarcity.

There's definitely far too much crap, but with a bit of tweaking the system could've been pretty solid. Gear progression isn't strictly linear, so you can find a rifle with awesome damage but that throws accuracy out the window, or a sniper rifle with fantastic damage and accuracy but which overheats after a single shot. Same for armor, the hazard protection armors are absolutely required for some planets but they always have much lower stats than your regular armor. The biggest problem with the system (aside from the overabundance and the shitty inventory UI) is that once you get Spectre weapons you throw everything you had before in the bin, and getting them is only a matter of having lots of money.

The dialogues/quests are pretty much the only redeeming feature.

Wait what? Dialog and quests suck. In fact they're mainly what takes the game down from "good" to "mediocre".

I can't imagine how ME2 would be any better.

And this is the only point I agree on: ME2 is indeed shit.

 

[Metro]

Bullshit. Played it on Hard and went into cover less than a half dozen times throughout the entire game. It's one of the main reasons I consider ME1 combat to be so much better than ME2: you can use cover but you don't have to (the other being that you don't have to spend a half hour getting rid of shield and armor before you can use biotics). It makes combat much more fluid and much less boring than in ME2.

Just because you don't have to use cover doesn't mean the game isn't basically designed as a cover shooter. I would have backed off a bit and called it an 'over the shoulder console shooter' but when cover is an actual mechanic I think it's more than fair to call it a cover shooter. That combined with the plastic/repetitive level designs don't do the combat any favors. It's just the mechanics of shooters like this -- I despise them. They're clunky. FPS style is a thousand times better.

There's definitely far too much crap, but with a bit of tweaking the system could've been pretty solid. Gear progression isn't strictly linear, so you can find a rifle with awesome damage but that throws accuracy out the window, or a sniper rifle with fantastic damage and accuracy but which overheats after a single shot.

I'm only about a fourth of the way into the game but I've never really had to do any weighing of pros and cons on 90% of the upgrades I find. That is, nothing I have found has had far and away superior accuracy versus damage or vice versa. Overheat has never been an issue. I'm playing on Veteran or whatever which, while isn't the hardest difficulty, seemed to be the hardest one I could use on a first playthrough. Aside from that just the sheer volume of the items you receive makes it tedious to turn them into gel or vendor them. One mission I cleared out two or three rooms filled with drones and got an ammo upgrade unit for each one I killed -- like 40+ items...

Wait what? Dialog and quests suck. In fact they're mainly what takes the game down from "good" to "mediocre".

The game is 'good' without the the quests? Other than the dialog/quests/storyline you have a tepid console shooter. Borderlands is arguably better. How in the world can you consider the combat alone to be 'good?'

 

[Sceptic]

Just because you don't have to use cover doesn't mean the game isn't basically designed as a cover shooter.

I think it does make a huge difference. I wouldn't call a game a cover shooter just because it has a cover system, I'd call it a cover shooter if the entire design of the gameplay revolves around using cover. My definition allows to distinguish between ME1 and ME2 gameplays, which are two completely different beasts; yours doesn't, which would give the incorrect impression that they play the same way.

It's just the mechanics of shooters like this -- I despise them. They're clunky. FPS style is a thousand times better.

TBH I thought ME1 was really an "over the shoulder FPS". Mechanics are pretty much identical to an FPS if you don't use cover (and why would you?), the only difference is that you see your character but that's purely cosmetic. Though I do agree that just giving up on the pretense and making the game first-person would've been better, not to mention it would've made it a much better CRPG by allowing to more literally play the role of Commander Shepard.
:trollface:

I'm only about a fourth of the way into the game but I've never really had to do any weighing of pros and cons on 90% of the upgrades I find.

These kinds of things aren't all over the place, but they are there, mostly in the mid-game (the beginning game is pretty linear, and the endgame is all Spectre weapons; a big flaw, as I said earlier). It's really obvious with the weapon mods like +X damage to organics vs +Y damage to synthetics. Though once again this is flawed by the game being generally pretty easy, so there's no real point in switching between them other than making an encounter fractionally shorter (and by a very tiny fraction at that)

I'm playing on Veteran or whatever which, while isn't the hardest difficulty, seemed to be the hardest one I could use on a first playthrough.

Yeah that's the one I played on; you can't play on Hardcore until you finish a game on Veteran (and Insanity until you finish Hardcore). Still felt too easy most of the time, TBH.

Aside from that just the sheer volume of the items you receive makes it tedious to turn them into gel or vendor them.

True, that was very annoying. What they really should've done is decrease the sheer amount of loot, make the differences between the manufacturers really drastic, and rebalanced the game so that it would actually make a difference. Instead they threw the inventory out completely, eliminated almost all variation by making the best weapons all DLC-only, then "balanced" the game by making it 100% popamole cover shooter.

The game is 'good' without the the quests? Other than the dialog/quests/storyline you have a tepid console shooter. Borderlands is arguably better. How in the world can you consider the combat alone to be 'good?'

Oh fuck no. I meant that had the quest/dialog been better then the game would've been good. Sorry, my initial wording wasn't very clear.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

So, I'm considering getting ME2 because a friend whose judgment I trust said it was decent.

Your friend lied to you.

That was unexpected

/

 

[Twinkle]

making the game first-person would've been better, not to mention it would've made it a much better CRPG by allowing to more literally play the role of Commander Shepard.

Hmm, is there any game that does sex scenes from first-person perspective?

 

[villain of the story]

http://www.masseffectsaves.com/

For any given reference for choices in save game descriptions, read about it in ME wiki to make up your mind (or just try a random one):
http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Mass_Effect_Wiki

This shouldn't take more than 20 minutes. I suggest picking the most XXXTREME Collar Grabbing(tm) save you can find from Female > Renegade > No One.

 

[RK47]

making the game first-person would've been better, not to mention it would've made it a much better CRPG by allowing to more literally play the role of Commander Shepard.

Hmm, is there any game that does sex scenes from first-person perspective?

Yes, there is.. Sexy Beach 3