Comments on: The Best And The Worst Of Mass Effect 2 (Spoiler Safe)

By: Bret

Bret — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 08:22:13 +0000

Yeah, Tom's solid.

Just reread his ME3 review. Mentioning the ending kinda sucks without whining about it or treating as too big a deal?

Nice to see. Liked the review more on beating the game than before, and it was a good review from the get-go.

By: The Splund/trgz

The Splund/trgz — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:15:47 +0000

Well I never, I just read this after a heavy ME2 sess and thought 'what a great little article - why aren't there more quality pieces like this?' and then saw the name in the top left corner - ah-ha! explains it all. I guess quality games comments would come from being a great journalist and a passionate gamer. Keep it up. (Site bookmarked)

By: Tom C

Tom C — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:07:46 +0000

I'm playing through on PC with my previous save on an Xbox hard drive, so plenty of the things I did originally (like saving Wrex) have been overturned. As such, the whole game makes much more sense (narratively). I remember spending hours hunting Cerberus and I wouldn't work for him, but with this alt-Shepherd I can just imagine he never took those missions and so his feelings about Cerberus aren't as strong. It's a pity that they didn't have the time or resources to make sure my Shepherd (a male version of yours) was servced as well, with better reunions and a story that made more sense. A pity. Worst: I'm just before the trip through the Omega 4 relay, and what's killing me is (as a completist) the continued trips to every planet in every system to find all the extra missions, and there don't seem to be that many. So my biggest 'worst' would be too many planets, or too few missions. It's a chore to find all the missions, when that's usually the part I like most. There's either got to be more missions to make all this scanning worthwhile, or less planets, to make sure I find the missions quicker. Another worst: the problem you had with reputation, I only just realised what you're talking about and it's too late in the game for me to get any of my reputations stats up. I have so little on either wing that I can't access most of the conversation options. Time to reassign stats I guess, but I doubt I now have the time to boost any of them up to a high enough level. Best: Pretty much everything you've said, but especially the characters. Jack, love her, but apparently had sex too soon with her, so now we can't develop a relationship! I also adore the Yeoman, Garrus, Mordin, Thane, Legion... even Jacob since his personal mission was solid. Although I like Grunt since his shields are awesome, I would prefer Wrex, same with the asari, same with Miranda/Ashley. Give me my old flame back and keep Miranda. That was always going to be a problem, so it's strange that they put them on the periphery. You're always going to be more attached to the old characters, and there's no reason why Wrex couldn't have fought in a big arena, or the asari/Ashely could have tracked their daughter/sister. Only... three months until we find out how it all ends. Can't wait. (Although given how underpowered this PC is, might have to wait...)

By: sinister agent

sinister agent — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 14:09:34 +0000

Aeons too late I know, but I wasn't even past the first conversation with "the illusive man" before I was thinking "call him Tim, call him Tim, call him Tim, oh please Shepard call him Tim." It would be wonderfully, very gently belittling. It'd drive him mental.

By: Post 500, by Tom Francis

Post 500, by Tom Francis — Sun, 29 May 2011 18:31:26 +0000

[...] The Best And The Worst Of Mass Effect 2 (Spoiler Safe) Venting pent up opinion from not getting to review [...]

By: Bret

Bret — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 07:43:06 +0000

Having "your" Shep gets even weirder on replays. Tried a more Paragon run, just to see what happens.

Seeing characters call new-Shepard an old friend just felt wrong.

No, Wrex. This jerk isn't your friend. Your friend is Commander Shepard, Space Badass, not some mealy mouthed Batarian apologist.

By: Entropy

Entropy — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 19:03:13 +0000

Ugh. Cerberus.

I entirely agree about my Shep now becoming MY Shep. Then again, I use a MaleShep, so I must be insane or evil or something.

I have dabbled in Femshep, but could never top this: http://i52.tinypic.c... ...z5m64w.jpg
This. This is my Shep.

By: Jason L

Jason L — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 04:32:47 +0000

Bug report: Last Comments widget translates ellipsis as HTML "R 30;" in source code, which displays as "R 30;" I propose living with it.

By: Jason L

Jason L — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 01:48:29 +0000

Thought on relink/reread...
The Illusive Man: 'There are some who call me...TIM?'

By: Jackrabbit

Jackrabbit — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 10:57:03 +0000

I didn't deck the reporter. It just felt like she'd win if I did. Bullrushing her, as she put it, was infinitely more satisfying and probably made her look like more of a bitch to the folks back home.

By: Bret

Bret — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 00:20:07 +0000

You didn't deck the reporter?

Hell. Everyone decks the reporter. It's the right thing to do.

I like Legion. They're nice guys.

Having played Mass Effect and 2 in a week for the first time recently, I can safely say I agree with everything. Especially not being able to call Crapbag out for Akuze. Or airlock Miranda for Akuze.

What I'm saying is that my Shepard is not forgiving enough to let high ranking Cerberus operatives live, and probably not patient enough to let that slide.

Well, that and Mordin being the best. Hell, I feel I can safely say that if he was in an episode of Deep Space 9 or Next Generation or suchlike, it would be one of the best ones.

By: LeSwordfish

LeSwordfish — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 22:41:41 +0000

I got legion last, and by the time i'd done his mission, i was so much itching to finish the game that i never bothered to get to know him. In the end, legion got comprehensively SHAFTED by me.

It's all because of Tali. Tali was so fantastic that i chose her over legion in their argument (didnt even TRY to calm them both down.) and then picked legion to go into the vents, to keep Tali safe. Course, this meant legion was killed.

I actually really genuinely hope that this has big ramifications. Politically, i imagine that the death of a get representative might be big and nasty. I bloody hope so, nothing i did in ME1 was at all controvertial. Never even punched the reporter.

By: Alex Saunders

Alex Saunders — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 09:37:59 +0000

Best character is ME2 is hands down legion. I just was amazed at getting a geth team mate (the equivalent to me of getting a darkspawn teammate in dragon age origins) and actually learning that there is more to the geth than the stereotyped kill all organics that the first game leveled onto them

By: Legion

Legion — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 07:52:07 +0000

Did anyone else bring Legion to the Migrant Fleet? When the squad selection screen came up I felt it was completely in my FemShep's character to say, "Oh hey there Legion, say why don't you tag along? This should be fun."

You get a few nice dialog bits, including one very much like your Noveria entrance except more personally and politically complicated.

By: mass effect 2 | malvasia bianca

mass effect 2 | malvasia bianca — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 07:07:07 +0000

[...] Tom Francis just goes through it point by point. [...]

By: Rasmus Widengård

Rasmus Widengård — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:09:19 +0000

Oh, and Harbinger may have been a major ass during the course of the game, but he's quickly become the source of my favourite internet meme.

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 08:55:04 +0000

The Council's endless distrust of your intel, refusal to support your missions and limitless cowardice screwed you at every turn in Mass Effect, almost to the point of comedy. I think any repeat of that over-used trope just feels ridiculous and lazy in ME2. I would accept nothing less than their total obedience. If I have a lead on the Reapers, the only possible response from my superiors is "Shit, Shepard, you saved the entire galaxy and everyone who doubted you was killed by the thing you were warning them about. Here's a Normandy MK2, do what you must." I also just get nothing from this arrangement of 'Ooh, you've got to work with X, but is X really trustworthy?' - whatever you call X. Because I'm not being given the option to trust them or not: I'm not allowed to do anything about having two of their officers aboard, or about acting on their guidance even after it transpires they're lying to me. So there's no tension or uncertainty: the game is forcing me to do these things, if they backfire it's on the game. I'm not suggesting they try a branching plot, I'm just saying don't base your plot on a tension that needs one if you can't afford to do one.

By: Plasto Joe

Plasto Joe — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 03:36:27 +0000

Perhaps the root of the problem with Cerberus lies in the first game, rather than the second. In ME1, Shepard's only encounters with Cerberus came from a handful of side quests tangentially related to the main plot as an excuse to let you fight some of the more exotic monsters outside the major worlds. What Bioware could've done was introduce Cerberus in the second game and slowly reveal the more questionable parts of their history throughout the game, especially during the trust missions. They'd have to be tweaked a little to give you that little niggling of doubt, but not a whole lot. Examples: Jack's backstory and quest could be pretty much left alone; Jacob's quest could have Cerberus intentionally bringing down his father's ship on that planet; Tali's quest could have Cerberus intentionally sabotaging the Migrant Fleet after their botched run-in that's referred to but never mentioned. Their involvement wouldn't ever have to be confirmed, but maybe an artifact or bit of information found could cast a little bit of doubt. They could also have you keep a balance between your Cerberus crewmates' trust and your other allies'. It would make keeping everyone's loyalty a bit more challenging and the game (and achievement) more satisfying if you managed to complete it with everyone alive.

By: Dante

Dante — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 00:30:55 +0000

A friend and I were knocking ideas around for an alternative to Cerberus, and we hit upon the idea that you're still a Spectre, but the council wants you assigned elswhere and you have to go rogue to enter the Terminus Systems.

The Illusive Man is still around, but now he's and agent of the Shadow Broker (with the subtle implication that he may be the broker himself) and is feeding you information.

In fact most of the plot works much better if you simply replace 'Cerberus' with 'The Shadow Broker'. It gives the same unsavoury reputation, but works much better as a necessary evil, and you don't have a personal hatred of them. It could also have interesting implications with your reunion with Liara.

By: Lack_26

Lack_26 — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:55:19 +0000

@Dante, on character sexuality.

Things like that annoy me slightly, I wish Bioware would make a well made gay character, if anyone is going to do it, it'll be them. You still have to applaud them for moving towards it, I guess.

I think they got Jacks character design about right really, she was a surprisingly good character (well, from our views of her from the initial videos anyway).