about half way through it, i realized i'm not a sci-fi fan of games.

which is disappointing.

It's nice how they tie in smaller quests from the first game like the Rachni queen sending you a message that she's got your back if the Reapers return and some of the harder moral choices like the geonopage.

The romance story lines were stupid. You hit on the secretary at an inappropriate moment, then she apologizes.

Jack's just as bad. There's no "I'm not interested in you Jack, I just don't want you snapping and killing everyone. I wouldn't hesitate to throw you out an airlock if you hurt the engineers" response when Jack hits on you. You just get a list of Quagmire-style responses.

The Ash one really rubbed me the wrong way. She behaved like a normal person when you rescued you from the planet and sent you a realistic e-mail afterwards, but that was it. I'm just a normal guy and I can think of three sentences to say off the top of my head to easily salvage the relationship. This super-pimp Shepard who can manipulate the end villain of the first game to shoot himself int he head and solve every else's relationship questions doesn't have any option to follow common sense?

It seems obvious that they wrote her out to allow you to hit on new characters. They way the presented it is nothing but annoying.

Ghost of Forums Past fucked around with this message on 03-01-2010 at 03:01 PM.

And yes, I always disliked the romance options for one reason or another

quote:

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Steven Steve wrote this stupid crap:
Actually they intentionally gayed up the character (Ashley was shit already by the way) to tempt you to cheat, which is supposed to affect the story in the third game

And yes, I always disliked the romance options for one reason or another

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Where did you hear this? It doesn't make much sense the way it was set up.

Cheating would imply a relationship in the first place.

Despite Ash making it obvious she's still interested ("I loved you" and "Thought of you every day" and "Can't bear the thought of losing you again") and Shepard going emo over Ash's understandable emotional reaction, he makes no effort whatsoever to win her back. He just gives up. If you peruse any obvious route Shepard just shows complete apathy until he's in a helpless position. Once he's back at a helpless position, he suddenly cares again. For example, when you have dialog options regarding her to someone who can help, like the Admiral, they are all of apathy. When you have dialog options with someone who can't help, like a Cerberus secretary, they are all "I wish there was some way to get her back."

At no time did he make a reasonable attempt at salvaging the relationship like - I don't know - going after her and talking to her in person.

"Why didn't you try and contact me? Not even a letter saying you were alright."

"I tried but there weren't any dialog options."

edit:
Even Shepard's rationalizations don't make any sense... Like the losing him again on a one way mission. Let's ignore the fact that they are both soldiers and that's what they do. She's already emotionally attached to Shepard. If he dies again, she'll still be fucked up no matter what. The only difference would be that she'll have fond memories enjoying the time they have left or spiteful ones of the self-imposed drama.

Ghost of Forums Past fucked around with this message on 03-02-2010 at 09:04 AM.

The Cerberus Network thing is just a weak pseudo-piracy-protection scheme from EA. It's basically a button on the main menu that says "download some stuff". If you get it now you'll be able to download Zaeed, an extra character, the Normandy crash site, another mission, Cerberus armor and eviscerator shotgun, and the Hammerhead tank (neo-Mako) and a new heavy weapon later this month for no additional charge.

quote:

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Steven Steve had this to say about Matthew Broderick:
I think it might have been Stanley Woo or Eric Fagnan that said it on the forums, but you'll notice if you "cheat" that the picture of your LI from the first game on your desk in the cabin is turned face down, implying a flag indicating that the relationship were over.

The Cerberus Network thing is just a weak pseudo-piracy-protection scheme from EA. It's basically a button on the main menu that says "download some stuff". If you get it now you'll be able to download Zaeed, an extra character, the Normandy crash site, another mission, Cerberus armor and eviscerator shotgun, and the Hammerhead tank (neo-Mako) and a new heavy weapon later this month for no additional charge.

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So in other words, since I'm using Gamefly for the 360, I have to pay $20 for them just to allow me to access DLC? No other game does this, why does Microsoft continually allow EA to get away with this shit?

Edit: Oh, Gamefly. Nevermind. Yeah, it's Bioware's new thing to combat piracy/used games sales. I think it's pretty fair.

Tarquinn fucked around with this message on 03-02-2010 at 12:00 PM.

Hell, I have a Space Hamster in my Captain's Quarters (this obviously isn't subtle like the others, but I like it).

Ghost of Forums Past fucked around with this message on 03-02-2010 at 03:54 PM.

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Sentow, I Guess thought about the meaning of life:
Mordin is so cool =3

So! For those of you who have finished the game, how did you fare in the suicide mission?

I got everyone through alive I was thorough with upgrades, had everyone's loyalty but Zaeed, and spent a lot of time considering which characters were best suited to each assignment. If you're curious:

Legion infiltrated through the vent and Jacob was my second team leader. Samara escorted the crew, Jack provided my biotic shield, and Garrus was my diversion team leader. I had Grunt and Tali with me in each segment.

I know that Normandy upgrades, your assignments, and maybe the player's performance affects the outcome. I'm still trying to figure out when and where loyalty becomes a factor.

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Mordin is my favorite character as well.

Tali for the tech and Garus for the first fireteam. Jack for the biotic and Test-Tube-Woman for the second. Grunt and Mordin for my personal escorts

All my crew were loyal and well equipped. It wasn't a difficult mission and everyone made it out safe. I didn't even need to use my medkit.

Gotta love a fully charged neural shock.

As for crew injuries, Jeff (Joker) said he may have broken a rib, but I think he was whining and exaggerating. That's pretty much it. Zero fatalities. The Cerberus crew might have some psychological trauma from being kidnapped and almost having their souls sucked out after watching thousands get killed in front of them, but that wasn't talked about.

The only time I lost a "crew member" was mid-game. A mission automatically started before I was able to feed my fish. Actually, i was on the way to feed my fish and the door started the mission/cutscene. I rushed back to the tank once the game let me, but it was too late, my fish starved. I was rather annoyed.

Ghost of Forums Past fucked around with this message on 03-10-2010 at 01:28 PM.

I kept the Genophage. That actually wasn't as hard a choice as I thought it would be, but I did feel a tang of "I can't believe I actually just did that."

I destroyed the station because of what Legion and Nazara (Sovereign) said - how it was easy for them to manipulate us because we fell into predictive patterns caused by basing our technology off theirs. I'm aware it would give a massive short term leap, but that power would also be centralized in a terrorist organisation. Also, even with the short term victory, the Reapers would beat us in a war of attrition. I didn't want an eventual path of defeat. Besides, I've had enough of that Chtulu shit screwing with the brains of my allies.

I brainwashed the Geth, which was actually the hardest choice. Morally, it was the right thing to do as it didn't actually take away their free will, but the risk chance and risk cost of the rewrite might have been unacceptably high.

Ghost of Forums Past fucked around with this message on 03-10-2010 at 09:07 PM.

quote:

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Ghost of Forums Past had this to say about Jimmy Carter:
What about choices?
Destroy the Protean station or keep it?
Keep the Genophage or destroy it?
Brainwash the Geth or kill them?

I kept the Genophage. That actually wasn't as hard a choice as I thought it would be, but I did feel a tang of "I can't believe I actually just did that."

I destroyed the station because of what Legion and Nazara (Sovereign) said - how it was easy for them to manipulate us because we fell into predictive patterns caused by basing our technology off theirs. I'm aware it would give a massive short term leap, but that power would also be centralized in a terrorist organisation. Also, even with the short term victory, the Reapers would beat us in a war of attrition. I didn't want an eventual path of defeat. Besides, I've had enough of that Chtulu shit screwing with the brains of my allies.

I brainwashed the Geth, which was actually the hardest choice. Morally, it was the right thing to do as it didn't actually take away their free will, but the risk chance and risk cost of the rewrite might have been unacceptably high.

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I destroyed the Collector station, and it was a Collector station, not a Prothean station, because it was obviously Reaper bait, and I rewrote the Geth, and I kept the data for the genophage for after Wrex inevitably unites the clans - all easiest decisions I've ever made ever

quote:

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Steven Steve had this to say about Matthew Broderick:
I destroyed the Collector station, and it was a Collector station, not a Prothean station, because it was obviously Reaper bait, and I rewrote the Geth, and I kept the data for the genophage for after Wrex inevitably unites the clans - all easiest decisions I've ever made ever

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Qutoting this.