Mass Effect 2

[SRN]

I never used Mordin in any capacity in the last mission and he didn't die for me. Used Garrus for the fire team all the time, had Miranda/Thane with me all the time, Samara doing the barrier and Jacob leading the rest of the guys back. So I don't think it is bug, well, perhaps but it didn't appear for me.

[Lint]

I went with

Garrus and Miranda with me at all times. Legion in the vent, Jacob leading the fireteam, Zaeed leading the crew back and Samara as the biotic shield. I still lost Mordin when they were holding that location at the door

[GhostMachine]

Deaths during the final mission can happen due to bad luck, I guess.

The first time I did the final mission, Jack was the only team member not loyal, due to me not having high enough Paragon/Renegade to fix things during the argument between her and Miranda or before doing the mission.

Yet, I still had Samara die at the end of the mission leading the biotic shield projector (Jacob was doing the projecting). The other two deaths in the mission were my fault. Grunt = bad choice to lead a combat team due to lack of experience (Garrus is a damn good choice) and Jack wasn't loyal.

But I later reloaded after finishing the mission and did it again, and that time I made different choices and only Jack died. I can live with that, though, because Jack is my least favorite character. (One of the best, voice-wise, though)

Basically, who lives and dies is a mix of common sense (Tali or Legion are the only two you should even consider for going through the vents, for instance - others CAN do it, but they're the best at it), loyalty, and luck.

Edited February 6, 2010 by GhostMachine

[RoyWill Rumble]

Absolutely brilliant. In the Cerberus Daily News, they have a bit about the Super Bowl; Super Bowl CCXIX that is. The New York Giants beat the Beijing Dragons 24-19 with the help of Krogan QB Bragus Thul. Bioware isn't recognized enough for the humour it can bring to its games. I'm sorry, but that's just amusing.

[mystikz]

I laughed at that too actually. apparently there's going to be another downloadable character named Kasumi, I hope she gets more interaction and dialogue than Zaeed as I just found him boring.

[wolves]

I finished the game tonight and was quite pleased with it, though I did feel the post boss cutscene was a little lacking. I'm certainly excited for whatever DLC they put out as well as Mass Effect 3.

I was able to get everyone to survive even though Jack wasn't loyal so I was happy with that. I might go through the game again as a total Renegade just for fun but I'll be using my first play through to export to ME3.

[SRN]

Absolutely brilliant. In the Cerberus Daily News, they have a bit about the Super Bowl; Super Bowl CCXIX that is. The New York Giants beat the Beijing Dragons 24-19 with the help of Krogan QB Bragus Thul. Bioware isn't recognized enough for the humour it can bring to its games. I'm sorry, but that's just amusing.

Did it say anything about it being spoiled by J.P. Sousa the XX?

[Summers]

New armour & shotgun coming out.

[LL!]

So, finished the game.

I used Miranda as leader of the first team along with Tali going in the vents. Then I used Samara as a shield and had Jacob lead the second team. Mordin took the surviving crew members back. And I had Thane and Garrus with me at all times. Worked out perfectly.

[apsham]

They had a fucking hilarious message for Valentines Day too, something about how the Volus and the Asari have assimilated it for it's mix of consumerism and copulation respectively.

[Black Majik]

Just finished the game about an hour ago. Probably my favorite XBOX 360 game of all time, maybe just all time anyway. Cannot praise it enough, avoided all spoilers, and just loved it. It'll probably be my favorite game this year.

Yeah, probably overrating it, but meh, loved it.

For the Suicide Mission, I picked Tali for the vents and then Jacob to lead the second squad. Took Miranda and Grunt for whatever reason. Then Samara for the biotech field, Mordin to take the survivors back and took Tali and Legion. Didn't switch my party after that, which was kinda a mistake, since that made all of us Tech users, but meh, whatever. Managed to defeat the final boss no problem and nobody died. Meaning I got around 810 Gamerscore from just one playthrough as an Imported Character. That would be my only complaint about the game, it was kinda easy to get Gamerscore. Gonna start a new game now on Insane as a Biotic. Should be fun. ^^

EDIT: God dammit, didn't realize that I had to stick as the same class if I imported a character from ME2. Meh, whatever, I'm fine as Infiltrator. Still means I have to test Biotic in this, but whatever, I can still get the rest of the achievements and stuff and have fun.

Also romanced Tali, getting the Paramour achiemevement on a ME game for the first time. I accidently picked to save Kaiden instead of Ashley on ME1, and didn't get Liara till... very near the end, if I can remember right. z:

EDIT: Oh, one more quick thing.

When the eventual Mass Effect 3 comes out, I hope they don't take out everybody for new characters again. I don't mind them being in, but yeah, six partners on the last game and only two are around (in your team) for this one I didn't like. Actually, so long as I can keep Tali and Garrus, I'll be completely fine, just because it would be nice to have people from the first game still in your crew through all three games.

EDITED AGAIN:

Didn't want to make a new post for this, but yeah, Legion just beat boxed and busted out a robot.

Incredible.

And take Tali and Garrus with you to the Citadel.

Edited February 19, 2010 by Black Majik

[The Kraig]

I beat the game a few nights ago. Excellent game, probably game of the year (already).

With regards to the final mission and other big decision:

Everyone was loyal for me. Legion was my infiltrator through the tubes, Garrus led the second squad. Jack was my biotic shield-person, and got Mordin to take Dr. Chakwas back to the Normandy. Kelly died in the tank, and was the first casualty. I didn't know about the GO THROUGH THE OMEGA-4 RELAY IMMEDIATELY thing, I had a few planets still to scan so I did that first and apparently those few game minutes mean weeks in the events of the game...no big loss though, I never went all the way with her, that was a pleasure for Tali only. Tali remained in the Shepard team for most of this mission, and I chose Thane to make the distraction. He died. I was so gutted. I didn't think it actually mattered who I picked, since no one had died so far from my previous picks and Thane can look after himself, or so I thought. Everyone else survived the 'hold the line' and final boss. Shepard, Tali and Jack took down the boss. Well, Shepard the sniper took it down I should say, while the other two focused on the collectors.

I went back tonight and did the final mission again, choosing Jacob instead of Thane to be the distraction. No one died.

My list of squadmates, from favourite to least favourite:

Legion

Tali

Jack

Samara

Thane

Garrus

Mordin

Grunt

Zaeed

Miranda

Jacob

It's great fun having Tali and Legion as your main back-up. Says everything about my Shepard. I'm Soldier-class, so I'm lucky that my favourites compliment my Shepard.

I highly recommend playing Mass Effect before even touching this game. BioWare went all-out to make references to decisions made in Mass Effect, it was like a new reference around every corner, I love that kind of game. I also liked that you get a bunch of e-mails about past events. Makes being paragon worth it.

I was disappointed with the Citadel (not much to do) and the boring planet scanning. I was hoping the scanner upgrade would be a LOT faster. And with the previously mentioned Kelly thing in the spoilers.

Think I'll start a new game and carry over the stats, maybe try to romance Samara or Jack. Miranda doesn't appeal to me. Mass Effect 2 is so much better overall than Mass Effect, bring on Mass Effect 3!

[wolves]

The planet scanning goes incredibly fast if you get the upgrade and just tap the shoulder button instead of holding it down while you scan.

[GhostMachine]

Definitely recommend playing ME before ME2, because you miss out on a lot of stuff if you don't and the default (non-imported) decisions are all slanted toward Renegade otherwise. And in most cases, that's not a good thing.

I think it goes without saying that if you even go through the Omega 4 relay without the shields, guns and armor mods for the Normandy-2, you're an idiot. But here's how to do the suicide mission without anyone dying - though it may not work out that way every time, but it should:

First of all, you have to do the suicide mission right away after doing the Reaper IFF and Legion loyalty missions unless you want something bad to happen. You can scan planets and go buy stuff, but you can't do anything pegged as a mission of any type.

Second, you want everyone - or at least everyone taking a handpicked role in the mission - loyal. Getting Miranda and Jack both loyal may be a problem if your Paragon and/or Renegade scores aren't good. (I've heard you have to have Paragon or Renegade maxxed to keep both loyal, but that's bullshit. I've managed to do it with both Paragon and Renegade scores close together, both around 75-80%, though I was only able to use the Renegade option to keep them loyal)

If your scores aren't good enough to keep both loyal, side with Miranda unless you're romancing Jack. Because Miranda is more useful than Jack on the suicide mission. (Miranda is a good team leader)

For the trip through the ventilation ducts, send either Legion or Tali.

For the two different backup teams during the mission, use either Jacob, Miranda or Garrus as the leader. (You'd think Zaeed would be a good leader due to his experience, but he isn't) You can use the same character to lead both teams, if you want, but I like to mix it up (I usually have Garrus lead the second team).

Samara, Jack and Jacob are probably the best choices to project the biotic field. If you have someone not loyal projecting the field, one of the two characters backing you up will likely die.

To lead the surviving crew back to the Normandy-2, I believe you can use anyone who is loyal. I'd suggest using someone not great in combat for this part. Like Mordin or Tali.

Now, this part I *may* be completely wrong about, but for holding off the enemy while Shepard goes to kick ass, you want your best combatants available. If you can get through the final part without the need for your best asskickers with you, I'd suggest taking one weaker combatant with you for this part. (I actually had Jack survive this part - helping with holding off the enemy, that is, not going with Shepard - when she wasn't loyal once)

And remember one thing....

I'M COMMANDER SHEPARD, AND THIS IS MY FAVORITE STORE ON THE CITADEL!

[Darnez FC Forever]

Only Samara/Morinth and Jack are good choices for the biotic field. If you pick anyone else, you'll lose one of your squadmates, regardless of whether the field user was loyal or not.

[Ruki]

Got the game, and I just wanted to say: The Blood Dragon Armor looks BAD ASS.

[GhostMachine]

The thing with all the special armors (except for the Cerberus Assault armor, maybe) is that they're only useful early on. Once you get access to a few upgrades, those armors aren't worth using.

[mystikz]

and you can't take the helmets off, and I'd rather see my characters face

[Ruki]

and you can't take the helmets off, and I'd rather see my characters face

I agree with this, which made it awkward when

I was wearing the Blood Dragon Armor, and yet Tali recognized who I was.

Question regarding achievements/trophies: The stuff like burning armor, using overload or warp however many times...I read somewhere that you have to hotkey them and can't use the scroll wheel. Is this true?

[SRN]

I never hotkey'd anything in my playthroughs of either ME or ME2. I just opened the power menu to get combat to pause and give me an overview so I know nothing about that.