Mass Effect 2

[GhostMachine]

About that last mission.

Yeah, I had all loyalty mission and kept Miranda and Thane on my team at all times, Legion did the hacking and Garrus did the fire team heading throughout. Jacob escorted the captured crew back and I didn't lose anyone; is everyone sure that it has something to do with combinations?

I've heard its just luck, but loyalty makes it more likely people will survive.

I finished the game, and....

3 casualties. Damn.

The only person not loyal was Jack; didn't have high enough Paragon or Renegade to keep both her and Miranda loyal when they argued, so I sided with Miranda. (I did have enough by the time Legion and Tali argued, or it would have been "tough luck, Legion!")

I went with Legion in the ventilation shaft, Miranda leading the second team. No casualties there.

Thane led the rescued crew back to the Normandy. His entire team made it back.

Had Jacob projecting the biotic field, with Samara and Zaeed backing me up. Samara got killed in a cutscene at the end. (Overwhelmed by insects, who carried her off)

Grunt led the diversion team. He died, and it was a really lame death. Killed by a gutshot when everyone met up.

Took Garrus and Tali with me, while everyone held off the enemy. Jack is the only one who died.

Final fight, I wasted time using an assault rifle, then finally say "screw it" and busted out the Cain. Fight over, no more deaths.

Honestly, I don't give a shit about Jack or Samara dying, since I'll be replaying the game over since I didn't get to lvl 30 (finished lvl 28), but Grunt's death was friggin' stupid.

[SRN]

About that last mission.

Yeah, I had all loyalty mission and kept Miranda and Thane on my team at all times, Legion did the hacking and Garrus did the fire team heading throughout. Jacob escorted the captured crew back and I didn't lose anyone; is everyone sure that it has something to do with combinations?

I've heard its just luck, but loyalty makes it more likely people will survive.

I finished the game, and....

3 casualties. Damn.

The only person not loyal was Jack; didn't have high enough Paragon or Renegade to keep both her and Miranda loyal when they argued, so I sided with Miranda. (I did have enough by the time Legion and Tali argued, or it would have been "tough luck, Legion!")

I went with Legion in the ventilation shaft, Miranda leading the second team. No casualties there.

Thane led the rescued crew back to the Normandy. His entire team made it back.

Had Jacob projecting the biotic field, with Samara and Zaeed backing me up. Samara got killed in a cutscene at the end. (Overwhelmed by insects, who carried her off)

Grunt led the diversion team. He died, and it was a really lame death. Killed by a gutshot when everyone met up.

Took Garrus and Tali with me, while everyone held off the enemy. Jack is the only one who died.

Final fight, I wasted time using an assault rifle, then finally say "screw it" and busted out the Cain. Fight over, no more deaths.

Honestly, I don't give a shit about Jack or Samara dying, since I'll be replaying the game over since I didn't get to lvl 30 (finished lvl 28), but Grunt's death was friggin' stupid.

Strange, I finished at level 28 as well, even though I had explored the entire galaxy and completed all the sidequests I found. I think you need sone playthrough before you can become level 30 (like with Mass Effect 1 you needed one character at level 50 before you could get another character to level 60), because I read a loading screen tip that certain achivements would give XP bonuses to future characters.

[GhostMachine]

Well, I decided to do the final mission over again, and this time I only had one casualty:

This time I sent Tali through the ventilation system, with Legion and Thane backing me up. Picked Miranda to lead the other team again. Everything A-ok.

Had Jacob lead the survivors back to the Normandy. They got back to the ship fine.

Picked Samara as the biotic shield projector, with Grunt and Jack helping me escort her. No one died.

Garrus lead the diversion team. He got shot just like Grunt did the previous time, but it bounced off his armor.

Final part of the mission, I took Mordin and Jack. When Shepard checked on them afterward, Jack was dead.

Decided to start over afterward, and picked Energy Drain for the bonus power. (I almost went for Neural Shock instead)

[Kaney]

Hah, I got Mordin to sing. He's now moved up in my regards

[EddieRuckus]

Yeah, Mordin is one of my favorites.

Beat the game, everyone survived, and I'm sure I'll be playing both ME 1 and 2 to try different characters/choices since it's going to be a LONG wait before Mass Effect 3.

"I am the very model of a scientist salarian."

[tenaciousg]

Yeah, Mordin is one of my favorites.

Beat the game, everyone survived, and I'm sure I'll be playing both ME 1 and 2 to try different characters/choices since it's going to be a LONG wait before Mass Effect 3.

"I am the very model of a scientist salarian."

I don't think it'll be the three year wait we had between ME1 and 2, though. IIRC, the guys at BioWare are already working on 3, and actually have been since before ME2 was finished.

Regardless, I've already imported my ME2 Shepard back into the game, this time as a Renegade, and will probably go through with him one more time before I decide to either go back through the first game as a completely different character/class or just bite the bullet and play with the default Shepard...

Am I the only one that hates that the default Sheps killed the Council AND Wrex? Personally, I think that you should've gotten to choose what happened if you didn't import.

Edited February 1, 2010 by TenaciousG

[GhostMachine]

Besides Mordin singing, I believe I read somewhere that its possible to get Legion to either beatbox or dance. I forget which; maybe even both.

And the non-import game defaults suck. Not too thrilled that

apparently whichever team member was the same sex as your Shepard is the one who died, because I'm guessing whichever one is alive is the one your Shepard romanced

.

They need to make Kelly an actual romance option in ME3. You sort of can romance her in ME2 (and no, its not the dinner in your cabin scene), but there's no sex and you don't get the Paramour achievement unlocked.

Edited February 2, 2010 by GhostMachine

[wolves]

I'm really enjoying the game so far. I'm maybe 5 1/2 hours in and it's a blast so far. It's got a nice refreshing style about it and it's easily the best game available that's come out since Uncharted 2.

[SRN]

Yeah, Mordin is one of my favorites.

Beat the game, everyone survived, and I'm sure I'll be playing both ME 1 and 2 to try different characters/choices since it's going to be a LONG wait before Mass Effect 3.

"I am the very model of a scientist salarian."

Mordin is awesome yes, he is definetely one of my favorite team members. Also, I read somewhere that ME3 is supposed to be released sometime next year. Finally, I'll never try the default Shepard, the whole point of the game is to use an imported character so whenever I am going to start a new game, I'll run through ME1 first. It is going to take a long time but it is going to be much more satisfying in the end.

[tenaciousg]

Yeah, Mordin is one of my favorites.

Beat the game, everyone survived, and I'm sure I'll be playing both ME 1 and 2 to try different characters/choices since it's going to be a LONG wait before Mass Effect 3.

"I am the very model of a scientist salarian."

Mordin is awesome yes, he is definetely one of my favorite team members. Also, I read somewhere that ME3 is supposed to be released sometime next year. Finally, I'll never try the default Shepard, the whole point of the game is to use an imported character so whenever I am going to start a new game, I'll run through ME1 first. It is going to take a long time but it is going to be much more satisfying in the end.

Well, assuming you do only the sidequests that will actually be mentioned in ME2 and 3 (like getting interviewed by Khalisah al-Jilani, talking to Conrad Verner, the Cerberus quest (sort-of >_>), etc.), you're decent with any of the classes, and you know EXACTLY where to go, who to talk to, what to pick, and what to do, you could probably blow through ME1 in about four or five hours, tops.

Speaking of Conrad, though, I feel bad in two ways about not going along with his act on Illium. The first way is that because I didn't play along, he got killed. From what I heard of an announcement, he got knocked off a car while attempting to "apprehend a suspect", got hit by several others on his way down, and fell into a turbine. The second way is that I wish I had been there to see it. >_>

[mystikz]

finally finished everything but a few side quests. I missed Conrad on this playthrough must be what happened in ME1. anyway ...

the main story was somewhat epic but underwhelming compared to ME1, and a bit short. Loved the focus on squad members and them actually being useful especially at the end. I had Garrus lead my 2nd squad, with Samara being my biotic, Jacob leading the crew back and Legion doing the tech. no casualties

. Loved telling the Illusive Man to shove it at the end. Some of the loyalty quests I really liked (Samara, Thane, Garrus, Tali), while others were kinda lacking (Jacob, Miranda, Grunt). I absolutely loved Tali this game and she ended up in my bed at the end. Mordin's talk with you about precautions before getting with aliens was so funny, even telling you he found some oils and videos for you.

I really didn't care for Zaeed at all. He is no Canderous Ordo. I liked Shale a lot for DLC in dragon age but didn't see Zaeed fitting in. I didn't really care for Grunt either but everyone else was pretty well done.

[GhostMachine]

Zaeed only fits in really if you're going mostly Renegade, I think.

Oh, and use him during the Archangel mission if you talk to all of the mercs before going into battle. He knows the Blue Suns leader on that mission, so there's some interaction between them.

I'm running a new game (ie, non-imported) with a female Shepard using a face I copied from http://www.masseffect2.com and modified it slightly (made the skintone a shade or two lighter -that's it!). Made her an Infiltrator and took Reave as the bonus power. This game I'm going to try and get

Morinth, so I can get her bonus power, Dominate, unlocked

and am going to be more Renegade. I plan on getting AI Hacking to at least lvl 3 (may max it), because in my previous game (using my imported male Shepard Vanguard) I found myself taking Tali along on missions just because she has AI Hacking when other team members would have worked better for parts of the mission.

Oh, and as for Conrad.....

SHOOT HIM IN THE FOOT!

[LL!]

Having to do with the Quarian loyalty:

Having the Admiral with the stick up his ass say he wanted to name his ship Defrahnz was fucking win.

[GhostMachine]

I've got a new game going (plan on replaying my main game over to max out levels eventually), using a non-imported female Infiltrator. The plan is to get

Morinth unlocked, so I can get the Dominate bonus power (think AI Hacking on living beings)

and to be more Renegade.

Anyway, I did Grunt's loyalty mission earlier, and I'm still cracking up a bit over this:

While facing the final boss (the Krogan Michael Dorn does the voice of), I was preparing to Snipe and put the cloak up. Right as I am about to finish him off (he was damaged enough it was going to be a kill no matter where I hit him), he turns around, so I figure why not....and shot him in the ass. (Y)

The thought of a Krogan, who are supposed to be these bad-ass warriors, getting taken out with a shot to the left butt cheek.... :lmao:

[Kaney]

Just finished it. Little bit pissed off about the last mission.

Mordin died.

I had Tali go through the tubes, with Garrus leading the second team. No problems there. Miranda lead the second team, with Jack providing shields from the swarm, and Grunt escorted the Normandy crew back. So far so good. I beat the last mission, team was Zaeed and Garrus/Thane the whole time. So we win, we are just escaping and there's a tiny little shot of Collectors wandering around and you get a glimpse of Mordin lying on the ground, dead. He was loyal to me, every member of my team was loyal. What the fuck was the point in that?

Overall the game was awesome, but that ending was a bit lame. It doesn't measure up against the first, theres nothing quite as epic as seeing the entire fleet fight Sovereign, saving the council etc, but it was still fun. The Nuke-Launcher is every bit as amazing as the Fat Man from Fallout 3 should have been. It's interesting to try and guess how the decisions you make will turn out in the next one as well.

Lets see, I told the Illusive Man to fuck off, so Cerberus will be after me. I blew up the base, so at least my karma should balance out a little. I tried convincing the Quarians to take back their home world, whilst actually trying to help the Geth by rewriting the heretics for Legion. I agreed to be a Spectre again for the council, dunno though if you can refuse. And I told the batarians at the very beginning of the Omega nightclub to fuck off. I haven't run into anything relating to that yet, so I'm guessing that must be a pretty big plot point >_>

Also, fuck the warp barrier/incinerate armour/overload sheilds achievements. It is completely random deciding whether it counts or not. I've had one guy standing right in front of me, where the only actions taking place are me telling Garrus to use Overload. He isn't getting shot by anyone. Overload is the ONLY thing that is happening. Overload takes away his shields. Nothing. Same thing happens with the others. It's bullshit :@

[Summers]

Final mission & stuff;

Mordin died for me too. Next time I play, he'll lead the survivors. Awesome game, really enjoyed it all. Fully paragon, which is good. Next game I may start as default, dunno yet. Either way, gonna be all renegade. Pure badass storyline next for me. Romanced Tali, made more sense than the others I think. Miranda was alright, but meh, Jack was intriguing. Probably get with her when I'm a renegade.

[EddieRuckus]

In regards to the final/mission:

I've heard a lot of complaints about Mordin dying even if everyone is loyal and you choose the right members, possible bug/glitch/something or other. Best way to counteract that is to make sure Mordin is on your final squad for that half-complete human reaper.

[Summers]

As I said, sending him back works too apparently.

[Kaney]

Yeah.

I reloaded and did the exact same stuff except switched Grunt and Mordin around, and lo and behold Mordin survived. So did everyone so yay for that >_>

[GhostMachine]

Regarding the final mission....

The best choices for going through the ventilator shaft are Tali or Legion, obviously. Miranda and Garrus are good choices to lead any team. I'm not absolutely sure but I believe anyone can lead the surviving crew back (I personally wouldn't have Jack try, though). Grunt is okay for leading the surviving crew back, but a bad choice to lead any actual combat teams.

And having someone on your team for the final part won't guarantee they survive. I tried putting Jack, who was the only crew member not loyal (Paragon/Renegade weren't high enough to keep both her and Miranda loyal, so I sided with Miranda) on my team for the final mission and she was dead when Shepard checked on her after the fight. And I've heard of people having loyal team members die on the final mission before. From what I've read, the best chance of someone surviving = Leading the surviving crew back.

I've run the final mission twice (same game, reloaded and tried again) and Jack, the only one not loyal, died both games. First game, she was one of the characters holding off the enemy while Shepard took a team to do the final fight. Second time she was on the final fight team (other team member was Mordin) and died afterward. First game had 3 deaths (Samara, Grunt and Jack), second game only Jack died.

What I haven't found out is if anyone has ever run the final mission and had someone not loyal survive or has had Shepard die but other team members live. (I've only heard of Shepard dying on a total wipe)