Anyone else really hyped for Mass Effect 2?

[Shamikka]

Its getting tedious trawling through the social.

 

Ugh isn't that the truth! I went there a few times, to look around. I find there's some things there that aren't here on nexus. My gawd that site is just horrid.. everything is everywhere, it has no rhyme nor reason. Thank goodness for nexus.. is all I can say. They help me keep my mod searching sanity in check :whistling:

 

~Shamikka~

[rebalious]

Just found the mod-manager. It includes some example mods

 

Mod Manager

 

Should make ini editing a lot easier now.

 

And some other mods

 

Me2 Mods

 

Its a shame they haven't solved the sound issue on normandy for extra outfits, the load times I can live with.

[hermy12]

There's some good threads on the Bioware forums about this stuff. Just got my own textures in Texmod to work last night.

[antonkr]

I started playing both games and the only thing I like more about ME2 is that you can romance Tali because shes awesome. Oh and new Normandy is a little cooler.

[rebalious]

I'm still undecided if I actually like blonde miranda.

Does anyone else think Bioware punished all the elevator/mako complainers with the scanning?

[WrathOfDeadguy]

No, but they sure didn't focus-test that bit enough. I can't see a bunch of gamers sitting around talking about how great scanning is, anyway. Plus, after your first playthrough you get 50,000 of each resource to start your next game with- so you will never have to do as much scanning as you did the first time through. I don't know why they saw a need to grant that bonus at all unless they thought the minigame was so tedious that players would be glad to do it less on successive playthroughs- since, y'know, research doesn't carry over, just armor and weapons.

 

Scanning would seem to be the game's only real flaw... the rest is personal taste. There are other things I'm unhappy with, but only scanning points back to a poor design choice. Truly, the Mako was less tedious- even if it was a pain to get it over mountains, the collection quests in ME1 were strictly optional and 9 times out of 10 you could just make a beeline for Planet X's objective then be done with it. I'd be happier if ME2 placed larger amounts of resources in pickup containers during missions, which would encourage players to do the sidequests. As is, the planet-scanning feels more necessary to the game than many of the sidequests do because research has such a large impact on combat (not to mention the endgame).

 

It isn't game-breakingly bad, but coming from Bioware it should have been implemented in a much more intelligent fashion. Who knows, maybe the third time's the charm and ME3 will have the perfect fusion of vehicular action and resource gathering.

[rebalious]

As is, the planet-scanning feels more necessary to the game than many of the sidequests do because research has such a large impact on combat (not to mention the endgame).

 

I'm currently doing a no-cheatz insanity run (straight from normal), and I have to agree with you on combat. Also you start out with 50k extra resources for importing a me1 character anyway so I didn't actually notice until the first mission complete.

 

I agree that it is a true flaw, bizzarely some peeps over at the social actually like it. The reason I dislike it you pretty much nailed, its virtually essential unlike Mako Mountaineering.

 

My main gripe however since resources can be bypassed on PC is the lack of customization, both in armour pieces and colour schemes, since certain weapons are only available on certain difficulties such as the Geth Rifle it just seems like a wasted opportunity for rewarding the "insane". But thats just opinion.

[Sinophile]

Scanning would seem to be the game's only real flaw... the rest is personal taste. There are other things I'm unhappy with, but only scanning points back to a poor design choice. Truly, the Mako was less tedious- even if it was a pain to get it over mountains, the collection quests in ME1 were strictly optional and 9 times out of 10 you could just make a beeline for Planet X's objective then be done with it. I'd be happier if ME2 placed larger amounts of resources in pickup containers during missions, which would encourage players to do the sidequests. As is, the planet-scanning feels more necessary to the game than many of the sidequests do because research has such a large impact on combat (not to mention the endgame).

 

I hate the scanning system as well. However, I currently have 100K of each mineral and 25K of element zero, even though I explored less than half the universe thus far. So it's not like I am constantly looking for minerals to upgrade. There was a time when I was short on platinum, but once I got my medbay upgrade, I never ran short of a resource again.

 

 

edit: When is a patch going to come out? My infiltrator is stuck on Jerrahe station because I have an Nvidia card, and the proposed workaround I see on the net of "not looking at the purple light" is not working for me. I have downloaded the latest Nvidia drivers, and googled for a fix for people with Nvidia cards. Heck, if I didn't use a laptop, I would've traded graphic cards. Another problem is the latest save(Prior to Jerrahe) will set me back 8 hours of gameplay.

[WrathOfDeadguy]

BTW, the Geth rifle can be used on any difficulty. The only requirement for getting it is to play the specific mission where it is found on Hardcore or Insanity- turn up the difficulty before leaving the Normandy, and turn it back as soon as you've got the rifle. It helps greatly to have the Geth Shield Boost power (increases shield strength and provides an instant shield recharge when activated) before going for the rifle, if you don't normally play on the higher difficulties. It's a very specialized weapon, though- it does less damage to health and armor than other assault rifles, but gets a massive boost in effectiveness against shields and barriers. That's probably why the devs make you play on at least Hardcore to get it; only when you turn the difficulty up that far do you start encountering lots of enemies with shields and barriers. I'm pretty sure that almost all enemies have one or the other on Insanity.

 

My game must have glitched somehow on the resource bonus- on my first playthrough, even though I imported a ME1 save, I did not get a bonus. Second time out, once I did get the bonus, I never ran short of Element Zero because there are so few upgrades that require it; Platinum is my problem child. Yes, it is true that there's more than enough of everything several times over- I only ever touched Rich planets, overlooking all others except to 'visit' them to chart all systems completely. Iridium seems to be the most plentiful; even though there are more upgrades that require it than for any of the other resources, I never once ran out.

 

For a quick giggle,

go survey Uranus.

Launch a few probes.

[LHammonds]

I agree with Wrath_Of_Deadguy01 concerning the "required" scanning of planets. I can't tell you how many times I didn't get to play at night because I fell asleep at my chair while doing planet scans to get enough element zero and platinum!!! Grrrr....

 

I have the XBOX 360 version and I only experienced one bug throughout the game...although that bug occurred twice.

 

Bug #1: When on a mission to keep a spacecraft from crashing into a planet (requiring the startup of 3 computers), I walked down onto a crosswalk to reach the other side where the last computer was located and somehow got "popped" into mid-air. I was walking around on invisible platforms unable to do anything other than walk around the room in superman style and get shot at by Geth appearing on two platforms (endlessly). There was no way to correct it other than re-starting the mission.

 

Bug #2: While on the Normandy, I stepped down from the galaxy map and walked to the left of the map area heading towards the pilot (Joker) area. I somehow got "popped" up above a crewman's head in such a way that I was standing on their head. This person was talking to another crewman and would not go anywhere, leave or fall asleep...nothing. I could do nothing but spin around up there waiting for this person to move away but it never happened. Only a re-load of the last save worked...and it was a PAINFUL reload because it was just after doing a crapload of planet scanning....arrrrrggggg!!!!!

 

Advice: Save early, save often.

 

LHammonds