Nepenthe

Well, I believe that their purpose wasn't to so much to "destroydestroydestroy" as to create the new Reaper. The reason for their "peaceful" dealings was that they were buying up individuals with (genetic) particularities (a dozen humans with heterochromia, 15 pairs of batarian twins etc.) and paying for these with super-advanced tech. Supposedly they were testing the suitableness of the genetic material with a view to creating the new Reaper - the comparisons to their own race might be to find out why they failed, or to make sure they wouldn't fail again. They were not "exchanging" technologies, they were just paying outrageous prices to slavers for some very esoteric shopping lists. Not all of this was answered in the game, indeed, Mass Effect: Ascension provided more background info on collectors. And Cerberus.

You're talking about the oversimplification you make here, right? Or is this just one of those moments when you are crushed by a mountain of irony?

ME2 has multiple ways to complete quests? Yep. Most of those are dialogue/interrupt based, though.

... that looks incredibly dodgy. Well, I have them, anyway.

Aww, corporations are people too!* *At least that's what the USSC tells me. Or should I call it scotus? It's almost a homonym of the word I'm thinking.

I'm pretty sure I didn't have enough cash for all the upgrades on my first run, even with a lvl 60 "rich" imported ME1 character. The extra long service cash might result in this, but I dunno. I can see your point, but I have nothing against this system - it would probably just call for more variety in the guns.

The Official Word is that any post-game-completion save game can be used as an import. So no special "end-game" saves, just a magic flag that gets ticked off when the suicide mission is complete. Makes me wonder what they have set up in the way of expansions before the launch of ME3. Also, pretty much agree with Purkake on the improvements and deficiencies in combat. To the point that I think anybody who claims me1 combat was better or smarter is smoking crack or freebasing on nostalgia - or just confused and rolls having a bazillion cosmetically different assault rifles into "combat".

I'm pretty sure the production time for Max Payne was at least as long.

^^ Yep. But then again, the best action cues from ME1 were also left outside the soundtrack - and in that case, they were by Wall & Hulick. A lot of the club tracks are from previous EA games (upper Afterlife, I've heard that Dark Star lounge music is as well), so I'm guessing this one could be as well. Nobody seems to have spotted it yet...

Neverwinter Nights 2. Case proven. Master of Orion 2, Baldurs Gate 2, X-Com 2, Jagged Alliance 2, Heroes of Might and Magic 2, Ultima II, Elite 2, Quake 2, Sim City 2, Star Control 2, Populous 2, Dune 2, System Shock 2, Lord of Midnight 2, Star Wars: Tie Fighter, Kick Off 2, Deus Ex 2, Silent Hill 2, Delta Force 2, Grand Theft Auto 2, Guitar Hero 2, Mortal Kombat 2, Europe Universalis II, Hearts of Iron II, Dungeon Master II, Speedball II, Xenon 2, Age of Empires II, Lotus Eesprit Turbo Challenge II, Eye of the Beholder II, Another World II, etc. The second game in a franchise isn't always a letdown You're the first (and hopefully last) person I've encoutered who claims Deus Ex 2 wasn't a letdown. I thought Red Alert 2 was also better than the original.

Too bad the shotgun only has 16 rounds. Better 16 useful shots than a bazillion useless ones. Or 10 like the Claymore.

What class and special power did you select for your insanity run, Nepenthe? All my selections so far play out an exercise in duck-and-cover. Soldier w. Fortification. So far the only two places where I've had actual trouble were the very first recruitment mission (Mordin) and the end of Horizon. Not looking forward to the Collector ship or Derelict Reaper. Fortification gives somewhat enhanced survival, and having access to the full weapons trove is useful (especially now that the Eviscerator is out). Generally Miri and Mordin to debuff when no party members are forced. I'll give it a shot. Even if mooks can beat you down on insanity, the instant recharge ability has to be useful. Also, new wep Eviscerator!? Tell more! A new armor (Cerberus assault armor or something like that) and the Eviscerator shotgun (longer range, better AP) were released to people with the Cerberus Network last week (for free, in case some whiner feels the urge to jump in and attack the Evil EA and their poorly failing marketing attempts - again). Haven't tried the armor yet, but the shotgun seemed a bit less useless than the others on insanity.

Does that mess up any of your romances with other characters? No. Not sure if it interferes with continuing ME1 romances, but does not interfere with ME2 ones. You can always check the status of the ME1 romances by going to the captain's quarters and looking at the picture frame. If it lies on the table then your ME1 romance is over or at least suspended. If it shows your ME1 LI then the romance with that LI is still active. Yeah - I can't remember the exact point where the pic got tipped over, so that's why I wasn't commenting on it.

Does that mess up any of your romances with other characters? No. Not sure if it interferes with continuing ME1 romances, but does not interfere with ME2 ones.

What class and special power did you select for your insanity run, Nepenthe? All my selections so far play out an exercise in duck-and-cover. Soldier w. Fortification. So far the only two places where I've had actual trouble were the very first recruitment mission (Mordin) and the end of Horizon. Not looking forward to the Collector ship or Derelict Reaper. Fortification gives somewhat enhanced survival, and having access to the full weapons trove is useful (especially now that the Eviscerator is out). Generally Miri and Mordin to debuff when no party members are forced.

I think even more people just don't like him and his voice in general, and try to objectify their subjective preferences by claiming he's not good.

You mean , right? Yeah, that makes sense. That's indeed what I meant. And if you check out the novels, it becomes pretty apparent that there have never been any "rogue splinter groups", and "any means necessary" tends to actually lean towards "the most brutal option", anyway.

ME2, insanity run in small bits and pieces. It's kind of a tedious grind, but I've been catching up with some tv series on blu-ray, so it's as good a time as any to play for 30mins-2hours.

That's the real reason for romancing Miranda... seducing her away from Cerberus to loyalty to you.. yeah, and well, it's pretty clear from the dialogues that she's been getting the "Fox News" version of Cerberus activities while working on the science side. When , it becomes pretty apparent that it's not just "splinter groups" within Cerberus that are, well, downright evil.

Just checked. Everyone loyal, Legion tech specialist, Zaeed 2nd fireteam leader. Result: Legion gets acquainted with a Collector missile. =/ Funny, because when you pick him, Miranda says "well, at least he knows what he's doing" - Zaeed is discreetly mute... I'm pretty sure that Miranda's feedback to the choice at that stage is basically inverse to how good the picked leader is. I know she's critical of Jacob, who can get the job done for sure. Well, apart from the fact that she suggests herself for the position first, being one of the good choices. Guess there's a reason Shepard's the leader and not Lawson.

Me too. Hope they fix this with dlc. My guess is we'll be hearing of something big(ger) after Awakening hits.

I actually think that she's a reasonably well-crafted NPC (given the short time she has to develop and the amount of development she does - no pun intended), a fairly interesting character with top-notch voice acting - especially considering that Strahotski is not a professional VO artist like Jennifer Hale. The fact that the love of my life is a hot-bodied brunette scientist may also have something to do with my opinion.

Yeah, "we'll write it and let Obsidian handle the technical design." That's like "we'll let Infinity Ward handle the story and do the actual game design in-house."

The only numbers I'm seeing is 200 000 units for mass effect 1 and 2 000 000 units for mass effect 2. So, yeah. 95,3 % of statistics is made up on the spot? Edit: more official data. ME1 had sold ~1 million units after the first three weeks. http://nexgenwars.com/gaming-news/general/...-3-at-5-million So... Yeah!