Mass Effect 2

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

I think I preferred the adept in the first game.

 

[Flash Facts]

Pistols are still one of the best weapons in ME2, even so.

I shoot down gunships with my pistol.

Yeah, its kinda ridiculous how easy it is to kill most enemies with it including the last Boss.

The shotgun may be the worst weapon in the game because of its lack of precision. Headshots make combat very easy ( maybe too easy) and makes almost every other location based shots pointless.

I think I preferred the adept in the first game.

Is that because Adepts now have to deal with global cool downs and the "rock paper scissor" power scheme?

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

Pistols are still one of the best weapons in ME2, even so.

I shoot down gunships with my pistol.

I love to take out my heavy pistol when dealing with armor, but the best weapon IMO is the assault rifle.

 

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

Is that because Adepts now have to deal with global cool downs and the power scheme?

To me singularity, pull and throw aren't differentiated enough to be interesting. Barrier which in the original game made temporary enemy charges break away from the wall cover game-play more interesting. Stasis also appear to be gone. Cool-down hasn't provided any obstacles as I can basically just sit behind a wall while the enemy waits or slowly paces forward like a shooting gallery. The "shoot" rather than instantaneous biotic powers appear to bend round corners making there cover pretty useless most of the time. Singularity can be shot in front of wall-cover and still dangle them regardless. The first game felt like more of a progression over-powered towards the end of the game when everything was maxed out, here I generally feel over-powered from the get go, with a PC Adept and Jack it's been a breeze thus far on the normal difficulty.

 

[Erzengel]

Well maybe it's because you're on Normal? I'm on Veteran or whatever the one in the middle is and while I am moving around, I've died numerous times.

 

[Soapy]

I think that may be because you're meant to rely on your team's powers a lot more as well. Example, Pull by itself isn't that great. But combine it with a teammate's Throw and it's devastating.

 

[Benstamania]

My first play through I imported my lvl 57 renegade Shepard (always default look) and ran though as a Soldier and got to 27 Paragon.

I then went back through ME 1 again and leveled up to 60 Paragon and imported that to my second playthrough where I'm currently a lvl 15 Paragon Sentinel...which is actually a REALLY fun class if you build it right.

So far my powers look like this

Throw: 2 (it will stay at 2)
Warp: Maxed out to 4 (Heavy Warp)
Armor: Maxed out to 4 (Power Armor)
Overload: Setting at 1 because I always forget about it, I plan on maxing it out.
Defender: 2 (probably take it to 3)
Reave: 2...probably go to 3.

Complete and total power house so far...

Not sure what I'll do for my third play through as a renegade...

 

[Benstamania]

Also, Cerberus Network is saying that "tomorrow a new race joins the Citadel" I doubt it's any kind of new DLC...but that would be cool if it was.

 

[Nightmare]

I hope it is.

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

My first imported character (and my primary one as well) was a level 60 Infiltrator.

With armor piercing rounds as my bonus talent I can chew threw most armor/health types. And with the bullet-time effect when using the Sniper Rifle I can down most things in one or two hits with the Widow.

 

[El Bastardo]

Yeah, Garrus's Armor-Piercing Ammo is a great bonus power. I use it for my Soldier. I pretty much pew-pew everything when I'm not Concussive Shotting things, which is seriously one of the most fun powers.

I had Reave on my Vanguard. Definitely makes up for that class's lacks.

I'm thinking I'll put Inferno Grenade on my Infiltrator. I always giggle when I chuck one with Zaeed. I was thinking of Ammo-Piercing Ammo as well, but I never changed from it with my Soldier, and I don't feel like having that same points sink with another character.

 

[Soapy]

I don't use any of the ammo powers. The symbol that sticks out of your gun really irritates me.

 

[Wolfwood]

Well this is a real *****, I decided to skip the Zaeed mission cause of the "Unreadable Disc" error, then as I'm going through the mission to get the IFF or whatever, I get the error again. Man. Hopefully I'll be able to exchange my disc.

 

[Flash Facts]

To me singularity, pull and throw aren't differentiated enough to be interesting. Barrier which in the original game made temporary enemy charges break away from the wall cover game-play more interesting. Stasis also appear to be gone. Cool-down hasn't provided any obstacles as I can basically just sit behind a wall while the enemy waits or slowly paces forward like a shooting gallery. The "shoot" rather than instantaneous biotic powers appear to bend round corners making there cover pretty useless most of the time. Singularity can be shot in front of wall-cover and still dangle them regardless. The first game felt like more of a progression over-powered towards the end of the game when everything was maxed out, here I generally feel over-powered from the get go, with a PC Adept and Jack it's been a breeze thus far on the normal difficulty.

I can definitely see the validity of your argument. I haven't played enough as an Adapt though to come to a final conclusion myself.

With the short time I have spent with the class though I dont understand why the designers would make push when pull seems to be so much better and able to accomplish the same effects as push, and why they would implement the "rock paper scissors" power scheme in such a way that biotics are so ineffective at higher difficulty levels. You would think that these issues would become apparent during play testing.

 

[Storm22]

I failed the Thane mission so he's not loyal now. Damnit! Any way to replay the missions??

 

[ChrisBaleBatman]

I think they have a RESTART MISSION option right after it in the load save menu.

 

[El Bastardo]

Biotics are slightly more ineffective at higher difficulty levels due to most enemies having armor and shields, but I doubt they're so ineffective as to be worthless. Even if the powers on the power wheel are redded out, you can still set them to be used on enemies.

I know Slam has a Warp-like power when targeted against Armor, for example. I've had Shockwave damage the Biotic Barrier of enemies, even if it doesn't chuck them into the air.

 

[Nightmare]

I failed the Thane mission so he's not loyal now. Damnit! Any way to replay the missions??

You have to restart the mission otherwise you risk having him die in the suicide final mission.

 

[El Bastardo]

I thought I'd post this. The link will be at the bottom of the page. Since it involves some under-the-hood info about the suicide mission, I'll toss it into spoiler tags.

Spoiler

"Mordin's death is not a glitch or bug. I believe that when people are surprised with Mordin's death, it's during the "Hold the Line" time where you leave crew behind as you and two squad mates move onward. Tech had their moment in the sun with the tunnel infiltration. A biotic is key for the protective bubble. The Hold the Line sequence is time for your soldier types to do their best.

Basically you want your best DEFENDERS to hold the line. Don't think about offensive solo strikers. Think about the guys that can dig down and hold a position with moxie. You want them to hold the line.

Under the hood, each character has a "hole the line" score, which gets a bonus if the character is loyal. Characters like Mordin, Jack and Tali are squishy and not exoeruenced with bunkering down and holding out for an extended period of time. Characters like Grunt and Zaeed are tanks who thrive on this type of work. The score is tallied for all the team members that are holding the line, and the number of survivors are calculated. If people are to die, the non-loyals squishies go first through the list to the loyal tanks. Alas, I think Mordin is at the head of the death list. Some characters can't survive without help even if they are loyal. Others can survive even if not loyal.

Here are some examples for the group holding the line:
Loyal Mordin by himself: He can't hold the line by himself. He dies.
Non-loyal Grunt by himself: Grunt lives. He hunkers down and gets the job done, and doesn't have to worry about helping any one else.
Loyal Mordin and non-Loyal Grunt: Grunt dies, but Mordin lives. Grunt is able to hold the line but goofs up helping Mordin... he was just too aggressive without his right of passage.
Loyal Mordin and Loyal Grunt: They both live.

Note it is possible to get non-loyal henchmen to survive through the end game with the proper group holding the line.

So what is a good strategy? Send back a loyal squishy with the crew, like Mordin or Tali. Leave your defensive bad asses to hold the line (hmmm, Garrus defended a base all by himself to an extended period of time....) and take your loyal offensive favorites with you to the end.

As for saving Kelly and the crew, you just need to make sure you go through the Omega-4 relay right after the crew is taken, and make sure you send a loyal squad mate back as an escort."

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/105/index/1117936&lf=8

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

Interesting.

 

[El Bastardo]

I thought so. It makes sense, to boot.

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

I must admit to never having lost Mordin during the holdout, but I usually send Jacob to escort the crew back and take Garrus/Tali with me to the end so my holdout team is typically at full strength in terms of tanks.

The game should have mentioned you might want to leave your fighters behind to hold the fort. It doesn't give any sort of indication that who was left behind actually mattered.

 

[El Bastardo]

Yeah, I did the same thing. But while the game might not indicate that who stays behind matters, it does kind of make sense. Everything matters in the suicide mission. Why should it end there?

That said, I think that as long as you have a loyal Grunt on the line, nobody's going down. That was what I figured, at least. Grunt was my point-man (or krogan) en route to the IFF, and everytime husks swarmed him, he just tore them all apart. Fun.

I did send Jacob back with the crew. I figured if that mattered (which it doesn't, long as the character is loyal), he'd be a good pick. Grunt and Jack had been my strike team along the way, but in the end I swapped Grunt for Thane.

I'd assume that Garrus and/or Miranda probably factor in well for holding the line, as well - well, the post hinted at Garrus anyway.

 

[Storm22]

Question - can I install the game to hard drive at any stage or do you have to do it at start of game? Will I lose save data if I install to hard drive now??

 

[Tron Bonne]

Nope, you can stop and install to your hard drive at any time