Intro:
Very well done. Great Job Bioware on this. It was a great way to kick start this second chapter in the ME series. It was a fantastic tool to get me right into the story from the very first second, and it worked wonders. Especially liked the area of calm. Looking up into space was amazing. An option to skip intro, however, would be nice for those of us who enjoy multiple playthroughs. I'm imagining something like KOTOR 2. 10 minutes to get to facegen is a little tedious when you're looking to make a 3rd, 4th, 5th build.
Story:
Amazing. I could just repeat this word a hundred times and I still don't think I'd get the point across. The scope and epic qualities of what you are up against was dazzling, and the idea of the illusive man rebuilding you then unleasing you on an unsuspecting universe were great. The collectors were a nice addition, and I'm glad Bioware listened to the community after ME1 when they complained that the game was too mech heavy. Great job here, and nothing negative to say about it.
Companions:
The Good: I really enjoyed the variety of characters. Many different races with unique personalities. I didn't feel like any were redundant, or duplicates of one another. Quite an amazing feat considering the amount to recruit. Loved Legion. Was a very pleasant surprise when I recruited him. Also really liked Solus. Quite a dynamic personality.
The Bad: No attachment to anyone. I thought some characters were cooler than others, but that is just a matter of personal taste. I find Shephard had no rapport with his team the way he did in ME1. There were no tear jerking moments, like having to choose between letting Williams or Alenko Martyr themselves.
No one had a very strong opinion of what you were doing or your methods, and there weren't any repercussions beyond perhaps not making a squad mate loyal. Everyone is instantly dedicated to your cause without really knowing anything about you except that you were a former spectre. More banter would have been nice, or strong stances for or against your actions would go a long way in ME3.
Help (enter squad mate's name here): I enjoyed this feature quite a bit. It was a really cool way to explore your companion's histories, and break up the main story line. The feature itself, however, is all I liked. The actual missions were lame in my opinion. These were very redundant family issues, or past grudges.
Take Jacob, for example: We've got to find a way through the Omega 4 relay to stop the collectors, to stop the Reapers, which are on their way to wipe out all life in the galaxy. Entire Human colonies are being purged, and any delay might mean another few hundred thousand humans get taken away to who knows what fate. You sure you want to make a detour to investigate a distress beacon from a ship that crashed 10 years ago that you thought your father died in? He could still be dead, for all you know. You want to go see if your daddy's ok? By all means, go ahead. Don't bother coming back, either. I'll go recruit someone else. Someone who isn't such a sissy.
The point is, I don't feel that ANY of these loyalty sidequests deserved my attention, with the exception of Legion. There simply wasn't good enough cause to divert from the suicide mission in order to complete them. Coupled with what I mentioned above, about not being attached to any of the companions, I felt hard pressed to oblige. Suffice it to say that the ONLY reason I did these on my 2nd playthrough was for the XP. And don't even get me started on Tali's. This was the lamest excuse to throw a trial into the game.
Suggestions for ME3: Make these loyalty missions matter to Shephard, like in Legion's case. The Geth were a major threat to the universe in ME1. It simply makes sense that he would want to help Legion destroy an entire base full. So, instead of mommy daddy issues, throw in more geth / collector issues. Perhaps, in a human's case, you get a tip that collectors are attacking a colony, and that is where your companion is from, and he wants to get there early and pull his family and friends out before it's too late. Shephard could relate to that.
Inventory, weapons and armor:
Inventory: I really liked where Bioware went with this. ME1 inventory was cumbersome, filled up entirely too quickly, and was a pain to manage. I never thought I'd say this about an rpg, but no inventory was a blessing. Perhaps only because it was different, but the way Bioware pulled it off, and the other ways that compensated for the lack thereof, was a great design choice.
weapons: More of them. We don't have an inventory. This should not reduce the amount of assault rifles you can get from 500 to 3.
Armor: see above. only replace 3 with 1. Luckily, I bought collector's edition, plus I have blood dragon armor from dragon age. This gave me the choice between 4 different armors. I would have been even more disappointed had I bought the regular edition.
Powers and techs:
Good: They were fun, and got to be really powerful as they were upgraded. Singularity field + push field against husks was so much fun. My first character was an adept, and I'd just drop a singularity field where the husks were were climbing up the rails, then used used Samara to push them into oblivion. Taking down their armor was really easy with submachine gun. The newer ones such as Cryoblast and flare were awesome. You could do a LOT of damage with these powers.
I also liked the way ME2 handled the ammo damage type. Different characters with different damage types was a cool twist. A great way to distribute the weight of a lacking inventory.
Bad: I didn't feel like I "needed" any particular power or tech. With the exception of a few specialized powers, I just felt like damage was damage, and that was it. You could play the whole game without using any damage oriented powers, because I felt that guns were just as good a substitute. For example, Overload damages shields and synthetics, but a sniper shot, shotgun blast, or assault rifle can do the same amount, or near enough, damage, especially with the right ammo.
Suggestions for ME3: Give powers a more important and specific roll. An example: Enemy has health/armor/shield. A power that is attuned to armor. It passes right through shields, and does no, or little, damage to health. Perhaps AI hacking could not penetrate armor, but can penetrate shields. Use the above power to drop down the armor of a synth, then bypass his shields with AI hacking. The tactical advantage to this would be great. You'd really have to put more thought into your party. As it is now, you can use anyone for any mission without much variance in difficulty.
Scanning:
I liked it. I know a lot of people didn't, but I did. *ducks and barely avoids rotten tomato flung from the crowd.
Upgrades:
Good: I enjoyed having to scan for the right materials in order to upgrade. It gave me a goal to achieve, work to do to achieve that goal, and a nice reward for achieving it (I want the upgrade---I go scan for and gather materials---I get my upgrade).
Some people said they didn't really notice much difference for the weapon upgrades. I noticed a huge difference going up just one level, making this a top priority for me in game. Damn that elusive element zero. Had to do a lot of searching for that on my first playthrough.
Bad: none in my opinion.
Suggestions for ME3: I would like to see the upgrade feature take a different approach. I would like to see upgrades in the forms of different scopes, barrels, handles, etc. (I hear that this is the case with borderlands, but I haven't played it). I guess what I'm thinking would be similar to kotor. You can have one barrel that increases range but reduces accuracy and damage, or one that increases damage, but reduces accuracy and range, etc. I like to be able to weigh my options when choosing these loadouts. At the weapons locker before missions start, you could customize your weapons thoroughly. Story driven games are really fantastic, but I feel that the mark of a great game is one that challenges your intellect, and makes you think harder than you do when you're watching Maclean take down a chopper with a flying car.
Overall: I really enjoyed this game a lot, and will be playing it a few times I think. Perhaps not all the way to the end, but long enough to explore the universe more deeply and explore the different classes as well. Great job Bioware. You really came through on this one. I had some doubts after Dragon Age, but now you're back on the golden throne (in my eyes, anyway).
The only real complaint I have about the game is the way EA handles dlc, and the clusterf**k they put me through to redeem all my codes, the hours wasted trying to get through to live chat, and the fact that this game has been out for one month and the issue still hasn't been resolved. Printing the wrong codes on the cards? There is no excuse for that and those copies should have been called back, period.
Thanks for reading
-Godeshus
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