Got it last week, and I'm slowly making my way through it (finished all but one loyalty mission, and am about to get IFF). It really feels like the perfect sequel. They kept what was smart, and fixed every complaint. Deeper character involvement, better combat, and no Mako sections really push it up into that "great" area for me.

What really excites me though is the idea of creating a character that creates a ripple in a realized universe (pun, kinda). I thought the whole character transfer idea would just mean I'd run into a character who'd thank me in the sequel, but your choices in Mass Effect 1 affect characters in the sequel, make rewards, and keep a great sense of continuity in the series. It makes me want to play Mass Effect 3, so I can keep exploring the new world, and seeing what I've done to/for it.

How about anyone else? I'm personally trying to see if I can get more weapons. It's boring to have only two choices now (Though a vast improvement over the super-bloated inventory system in the last game).

LowEndLem wrote:

When I get it, i'm totally going to pick Tali.

It seemed like the only decent choice, because (as a male character), you can only choose between Tali (a good character), a bitch, and a bigger bitch, and I could only bring myself to choose Tali because Miranda and Jack seemed so one-dimensional. It's also worth it to see Tali's response when you choose her.

P.S.: It's nice to see that Scott Blum now officially has two voices now.

nihilisticglee wrote:

Greg the White wrote: It seemed like the only decent choice, because (as a male character), you can only choose between Tali (a good character), a bitch, and a bigger bitch, and I could only bring myself to choose Tali because Miranda and Jack seemed so one-dimensional. It's also worth it to see Tali's response when you choose her. I liked the first game, but not enough to buy an Xbox over a PS3**. I am sure this one is fun too, but a bit overrated from what I have been hearing from review sites. The way I have been hearing about this game, it is like the second coming of Christ in video game form. Still, I really hope it gets ported over at some point.

Really, I bought ME2 due to a surplus of entertainment funds and boredom. It's not the greatest game ever, but was able to take what made ME1 great, and polish it to a mirror shine. The story is much better, the moral choices are much less formulaic or obvious, and the gameplay is fun. I have a feeling if I followed the game and thought it would be awesome, then I think I would only be mildly impressed, but I didn't follow any story trailers and bought it on a whim, and I love it.

SoldierHawk wrote:

Okay, question (and answers semi-spoiler free please, since I haven't picked up the game yet.) I know I'm the only one in the world who liked the Mako, but I did. More accurately, I loved scouting and exploring new planets. I felt like I really was exploring and charting them. I know those sections got eliminated in ME2, but do they still have SOMETHING like that, where you can discover and explore uncharted worlds? I hope so. It'll be a big loss for me if they don't.

Not really. The planet missions and mineral extraction this time around revolve around using a scanner to find radio signals and minerals (the minerals then are used to buy upgrades). It's a definite improvement. To clarify, though, I didn't mind the action Mako sections. What I did dislike was traveling with nothing to really see. It was just really obnoxious to land on a barren planet, travel for 2 miles over buggy terrain (Nodacrux was a fucking crime against humanity) just so when I arrive, I get an assault rifle that I obtained about five hours earlier in the game. I like exploring in games like Fallout, but without any sort of real reward or feeling of exploring a grand universe, it all just feels really dull. On the other hand, charging my light space tank over a mile-high bridge while fighting robot tanks was awesome.

ODS wrote:

Tali seems like a real character. She has a cool mask. Doesn't seem like that hard of a choice. If not, then choose Grunt, hahahaha. He can show you some Krogan lovin.

I thought that Grunt was so well-voiced, that I decided to look up his voice actor, and it was actually Steve Blum, of all people. I guess he officially has two voices, now.