Mass Effect 2 Gameplay

[General Zod]

Fuck's sake, even with near full Renegade, I can't use the Renegade dialog option in the Tali/Legion faceoff. Fucked - only option is to lie to Tali by telling Legion to transmit anyway after she leaves.

A lot of people complain about this. Bug?

You don't need Legion to remain loyal to keep everybody alive during the suicide mission, at least. Just as long as you pick out the squad correctly and haul-ass during the first half you'll be fine.

[Artemas]

I lost Legion that way. How fast do you have to haul ass to avoid getting him decapitated?

I think it would have been better if the Normandy couldn't have been upgraded. It added a lot of weight and meaning to the "suicide mission" if you lost some people. Maybe randomly selected from the people you used least?

[General Zod]

I lost Legion that way. How fast do you have to haul ass to avoid getting him decapitated?

I'm not really sure, but I completed the first bit in around 15-ish minutes on my second playthrough. You just have to focus on getting the locks open and either use your heavy weapons on the incoming Collectors or try and ignore them. The Collector particle beam works wonders here.

[Vympel]

You don't need Legion to remain loyal to keep everybody alive during the suicide mission, at least. Just as long as you pick out the squad correctly and haul-ass during the first half you'll be fine.

Even so, it fucking irks me.

[The Grim Squeaker]

I still have my saved games from ME1 (Which I uninstalled), but for some reason ME2 doesn't recognize them . Tips?

[General Zod]

I still have my saved games from ME1 (Which I uninstalled), but for some reason ME2 doesn't recognize them . Tips?

Did you finish ME1? Because that's the only thing that comes to mind; it won't let you import if it's not completed.

[The Grim Squeaker]

I still have my saved games from ME1 (Which I uninstalled), but for some reason ME2 doesn't recognize them . Tips?

Did you finish ME1? Because that's the only thing that comes to mind; it won't let you import if it's not completed.

Never mind, figured it out.

Whose brilliant idea was it to put the import option in a totally seperate part from the "import saved games". Silly configurator .

[Zac Naloen]

Does the character you get the Paramoure achievement with die no matter what?

I had everyone upgraded, completed Tali's loyalty and sent Tali into the vents, but did the Paragon relationship with Tali and fucked her the night before the mission.

She was the only character that died (shot trying to close the door), which was a shame, because I actually liked Tali

I'm doing another play through now as an infiltrator in Hardcore and I intend to make sure everyone survives. I'd just love to know what I did wrong with Tali though

[Vendetta]

Does the character you get the Paramoure achievement with die no matter what?

No. It's possible to keep everyone alive.

Tali died for you because of your second team leader. Who was that and were they loyal?

[Zac Naloen]

I think I chose Samara, thought I was onto a Winner there Miranda congratulated me on my choice.

Who is best to put in charge?

[Andrew_Fireborn]

Here's what they've worked out on GFAQs.

Vents: Tali or Legion
Second-team command: Miranda or Garrus (this happens twice. Both characters work both times)
Biotic barrier: Samara/Morinth or Jack
Escort: Jacob or Grunt (this person will leave your party for the rest of the mission, so don't choose someone you want to take into the final battle)

Also, it seems Mordin's got a pretty good chance of dieing regardless of Loyalty/Upgrades unless he's taken to the final battle. And people also comment on Zaeed being good for taking the crew back to the ship as well.

There also seems to be a small random "Fuck you" chance that they'll die, even if loyal and fully upgraded.

[Vendetta]

Some elements also appear to be on hidden timers, so don't hang around.

[Vympel]

Just finished the game on my first, almost entirely Renegade playthrough, hitting Level 30 just as I killed the Human Reaper.

Everyone lived. Not a single person died - I used Legion as my tech specialist, Garrus as squad leader, then Jack as my biotic and Jacob as my squad leader, then did the final stretch with Garrus (bromance) and Miranda (romance).

My only problem really was that the Human Reaper looked kind of goofy, but then, I imagine that's the inside of the Reaper and the outside of it will look different if it was ever completed, given how massive Sovereign was.

I liked the game telling you that Harbinger was never a Collector, but actually another Reaper just like Sovereign, controlling the Collectors selectively just like the way Sovereign possessed Saren in the climax of the first game.

I especially liked the SR2's Thanix cannons, they looked awesome, and they managed to emulate the effects of Sovereign's gun in the original pretty well.

I picked up the Revenant machine gun on the derelict Collector ship, and didn't regret it - whilst inaccurate its kickass powerful and its got a big clip. (I played Soldier).

I'm really glad its not strictly true that achievements don't get you anything - finishing the game gives any subsequent playthrough:-

25% more experience
50,000 of each resource
200,000 extra credits (fantastic given how little money there is in the game even if you do all the N7 missions like I did)
Your heavy weapons from your previous playthrough

The best part is that this bonus stacks with the Level 60 import bonus, as I learned when I just now started my Lvl 60 Paragon import.

I'm not sure however if the Level 60 import bonus comes back if you decide to replay the game with your ME2 character (who was originally an import). Can anyone confirm?

I'm planning to do a proper, full Renegade game after I finish this playthrough. Starting from Level 30, I think I'll play on Hardcore difficulty for the first time ever, as I want to get the Geth pulse rifle.

*Re: the conflict bug, luckily Renegade worked when I told Legion I was simply lying to Tali and he could transmit the data anyway, so he stayed loyal.

** Your decisions in ME1 clearly affect your paragon/renegade bars in ME2. My lvl 60 renegade import had a big renegade bar, my lvl 60 paragon had a much more full paragon bar.

[White Haven]

A second playthrough character does NOT get morality bonuses, but it does keep all weapons. And speaking as someone who spend Friday and part of Saturday struggling with the pulse rifle acquisition, do it LATER, after you've run around getting upgrades. It made a huge difference, when I finally came back later in the game, I one-shot it.

[Manus Celer Dei]

A quick note for biotics users: At least on Normal, A maximum level Pull (I chose AoE pull, so this might not be true for both specializations) instantly kills Husks, both the charging and explosion types. This made zerg-rushes much, much easier for me.

Singularity does it as well. I guess Husks just have an extreme fear of heights or something.

[White Haven]

Yes, and Pull's cooldown is approximately 'yes,' once you're fully kitted out, which makes husk-swarms hilarious with Pull Field.

[adam_grif]

Just finished the game on my first, almost entirely Renegade playthrough, hitting Level 30 just as I killed the Human Reaper.

Everyone lived. Not a single person died - I used Legion as my tech specialist, Garrus as squad leader, then Jack as my biotic and Jacob as my squad leader, then did the final stretch with Garrus (bromance) and Miranda (romance).

My only problem really was that the Human Reaper looked kind of goofy, but then, I imagine that's the inside of the Reaper and the outside of it will look different if it was ever completed, given how massive Sovereign was.

I liked the game telling you that Harbinger was never a Collector, but actually another Reaper just like Sovereign, controlling the Collectors selectively just like the way Sovereign possessed Saren in the climax of the first game.

I especially liked the SR2's Thanix cannons, they looked awesome, and they managed to emulate the effects of Sovereign's gun in the original pretty well.

I picked up the Revenant machine gun on the derelict Collector ship, and didn't regret it - whilst inaccurate its kickass powerful and its got a big clip. (I played Soldier).

I'm really glad its not strictly true that achievements don't get you anything - finishing the game gives any subsequent playthrough:-

25% more experience
50,000 of each resource
200,000 extra credits (fantastic given how little money there is in the game even if you do all the N7 missions like I did)
Your heavy weapons from your previous playthrough

The best part is that this bonus stacks with the Level 60 import bonus, as I learned when I just now started my Lvl 60 Paragon import.

I'm not sure however if the Level 60 import bonus comes back if you decide to replay the game with your ME2 character (who was originally an import). Can anyone confirm?

I'm planning to do a proper, full Renegade game after I finish this playthrough. Starting from Level 30, I think I'll play on Hardcore difficulty for the first time ever, as I want to get the Geth pulse rifle.

*Re: the conflict bug, luckily Renegade worked when I told Legion I was simply lying to Tali and he could transmit the data anyway, so he stayed loyal.

** Your decisions in ME1 clearly affect your paragon/renegade bars in ME2. My lvl 60 renegade import had a big renegade bar, my lvl 60 paragon had a much more full paragon bar.

The new game+ bonuses are actually "long service medal" bonuses. The +25% XP is for Mission Accomplished iirc, the resources and credits are all for either compleing 2 playthroughs, or for importing a ME1 save and then completing 1 playthrough.

When you import your ME2 characcter into NG+, the same one you brought over from ME1, ParaGade points don't transfer, even though they did from ME1.

This is REALLY annoying.

Yes, Revenant is awesome, but when you start a new game with it, you'll be begging to go back to collector assault rifle until you manage to acquire the accuracy upgrade again. Without it you can't hit the broadside of a barn from inside the barn.

[General Zod]

A quick note for biotics users: At least on Normal, A maximum level Pull (I chose AoE pull, so this might not be true for both specializations) instantly kills Husks, both the charging and explosion types. This made zerg-rushes much, much easier for me.

Singularity does it as well. I guess Husks just have an extreme fear of heights or something.

Husks aren't terribly durable. I've also found that shooting them in the waist as opposed to the head kills them almost instantly. Useful for when there's only a few of them.

[General Zod]

When you import your ME2 characcter into NG+, the same one you brought over from ME1, ParaGade points don't transfer, even though they did from ME1.

This is REALLY annoying.

I actually appreciated that. I wanted to do a second playthrough going for Renegade points, but without having to start from scratch. (Also, it's much easier to diffuse the argument between Jack and Miranda with Renegade than Paragon scores).

[Oscar Wilde]

Beat it last night, no problems keeping everyone alive.

And apparently I lucked out when I decided to continue as an infiltrator, pew pew sniping everything is awesome.

Can't comment on a one hit kill on the thresher maw though. It was exceptionally easy to put down with regular sniper though.

[Gerald Tarrant]

Mordin (sp?) singing Gilbert and Sullivan was awesome. There's so many little personal asides in this game that I love.

[adam_grif]

Mordin (sp?) singing Gilbert and Sullivan was awesome. There's so many little personal asides in this game that I love.

This was my general reaction to the Mordin singing scene:

[General Zod]

Mordin (sp?) singing Gilbert and Sullivan was awesome. There's so many little personal asides in this game that I love.

For those who haven't seen it - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxrO5-HPIAw

[Steven Snyder]

Yes, and Pull's cooldown is approximately 'yes,' once you're fully kitted out, which makes husk-swarms hilarious with Pull Field.

I did it with Shockwave, and was astounded by the power of it. I hated fighting the swarms as a soldier, but as an adept they were largely ignored as they were dispatched as soon as quickly as they arrived.

[Andrew_Fireborn]

Well, I finished my Insanity run... (Did EVERYTHING too... every system read 100% by the end, so if I missed an N7... it's probably something for running around a town.)

The difficulty adjustments for this level seem to be -very- front heavy. The hardest parts for me being Mordin and Garrus' missions. While it does seem to account for research in the enemy scaling (the rage inducing issue with originally trying this with a NG+ Shep.) they don't seem to keep up fully.

As the Suicide Mission run was not really any harder than it was on normal. (Aside from dieing at the Husk/Scion rush in the Swarm tunnel...) While early on my Overload/Warp/Incinerate did very little against their respective optimal targets, by the end they were tearing it up readily. (Went Heavy on everything, may have helped.)

I even managed to earn the "No one left behind" achievement... Which I missed the first go round via dead Krogan and Quarian...



Though, if for nothing else, import a save for the Paragon/Renegade points... I did everything because I was down to the last few loyalty quests trying to scrounge up that 4th bar of Paragon so I could defuse all of the loyalty fights...

As an interesting related note: Zaeed's mission gives you either a Heavy Weapon Ammo Upgrade or an Assault Rifle Damage Upgrade.