Mass Effect 2

[scarred]

Stoked about Garrus. It was me (Vanguard), him, and Wrex, all day long. Fuckyeah.

[Zombiedude]

More of a Tali/Wrex man myself

[Storm Rider]

You guys are just handicapping yourself if you don't bring Liara. She becomes some kind of fucking avatar of destruction after you put enough points into the right powers.

[Darke]

I like my characters to actually be interesting, though. Hence my three different characters always being flanked by Tali and Wrex/Garrus. Much as I love Mass Effect, the majority of Sheperd's squadmates are so terribly boring. (Aside from Ashley, who is so terribly detestable.)

[BrilliantEraser]

I was so glad when I got to kill Ashley off.

[Alex C]

You guys are just handicapping yourself if you don't bring Liara. She becomes some kind of fucking avatar of destruction after you put enough points into the right powers.

True, but a Tali-Wrex-Shepard combo is basically invulnerable due to the grotesque amount of shielding you can get whereas Liara's a pinch flimsy. I guess it depends if you prefer ending the fight ASAP or being able to text someone on your cell phone while feeling completely confident everyone will still be standing when you pick the controller back up.

[scarred]

I fucked Ashley's xenophobic brains out.

[ackblom12]

I don't know, I have never really gotten the Ashley hate. She's a hard ass and a xenophobe initially, but it's not terribly surprising considering her family history and it was kind of nice going through her story and helping her through the old vs new conflict for her character.

Wrex, Garret Garrus and Tali were definitely a hell of a lot more fun though.

[Zombiedude]

Who is Garret?

[ackblom12]

Obviously Garrus's psychotic robot clone that Wrex had manufactured for his entertainment.

That or a brain fart.

One of the two.

[Zombiedude]

I'm betting the first.

Also hey there might be a possibility that Garrus is a spectre.

Calling it.

[scarred]

Fuck that, Wrex should be a Spectre.

[Zombiedude]

But Wrex isn't a council race.

[scarred]

And that's a problem because....?

Wrex's badassery knows no bounds.

[Zombiedude]

Tali is still my favorite

[Zombiedude]

Legion, the geth ally

[LeeC]

Yeah Garrus was awesome and came off as the "best friend" archtype.

I always ran with Tali(shotgun), Garrus (assault rifle), and Me(Soldier) with my assault rifle.  Areas were cleared in 10 seconds.

Dude garrus as a spectre and a teamate would be sweet!

[LeeC]

Legion, the geth ally

I shall call him beaker...

[KvP]

Casey Hudson has confirmed that the romanceables from ME1 will not be CNPCs in ME2.

[Zombiedude]

(but they might still show up)

[KvP]

prolly

[Storm Rider]

I wonder exactly how they will handle romances this time around, considering that there are holdovers from the last game and new options. Like, will Liara get jealous if I go after Miranda and kill us both in a horrifying storm of biotics? That would actually be kind of hilarious.

Also, it's not really surprising at all that Ashley and Kaidan aren't going to be party members, since for half of the players one of them will be dead. Little bummed about Liara though, she's a fucking monster once she levels up enough.

[KvP]

I assume part of that is a new leveling system, which I'm not sure is officially there but I would be surprised if they didn't implement one. Same thing happened in the jump from BG to BG2 - spells and weapon proficiencies changed to such a degree that you basically had to remake your character if you ported it.

Has there been confirmation of any of the ME1 party members returning as CNPCs in ME2? Obviously they'll be making appearances but I want to know if they're actually going to be in the party.

[LeeC]

pardon my ignorance but does the firs C stand for in CNPC?

as long as garrus and tali are there im happy.  Be cool to see either a couple of new races or perhaps a salarian team mate.  Oh and are we ever going to see female/male characters from the races we've seen (excluding the Asari of course)

[Professor Snuggles]

controllable non player character.

[Zombiedude]

Tali has been confirmed as a companion. Maybe Garrus too

[Storm Rider]

Bioware has confirmed that every party member from the first game will appear in ME2 in some capacity, provided they survived your playthrough of course. Tali is, as far as I know, the only one who's actually been confirmed as being in the ME2 squad so far.

Gametrailers TV had a Mass Effect 2-centric episode that premiered last night, gave (very brief) reveals of both the Illusive Man character (who, if my internet sources are correct, is voiced by Martin Sheen) and the Salarian party member. It also looks like they're giving classes more unique abilities. They specifically talk about the Vanguard in the GTTV episode, which has a new biotic charge ability which basically looks like a short-range teleport/ramming ability that allows them to get up close and stun one enemy, which you can then shotgun in the face from close range. If you put enough points into the ability, you get a bullet time effect after the charge too. Looks pretty neat, I'm curious to see the spins they put on all the other classes too.

Also, I'm really impressed by how slimmed-down and slick-looking the HUD is this time around. It takes up much less of the screen and complements the new closer camera angle well.

[LeeC]

would be sweet to geta melee weapon, or batnoets.  sometimes when you get up close and personal it would just be handy.

[Bastardous Bassist]

batnoets

What are these?  I also recall hearing that there will be no increased melee capability found in the game.  Just the same if they get to close to you, you hit them instead of shooting them.

[LeeC]

haha my bad, bayonet. typos!

[David_Dovey]

(who, if my internet sources are correct, is voiced by Martin Sheen)

[Dimmukane]

Watching the video, I'm pretty damn sure it is Martin Sheen.

[Melodic]

Mark Meer, who voiced the male version of Commander Shepard, was on the CBC program "The Debaters" today, taking the pro side in a debate over whether or not androids were going to take over and kill everyone.

And he did it in his Shepard voice.

When ME2 hits I'm going to dub his rant against gynoids over top of any Geth killing in the game.

[Zombiedude]

(link please to the videos please)

[Storm Rider]

For those of you who want to hear President fuckin' Bartlet voice a cigarette-smokin' space underworld boss, look no further.

[Melodic]

(link please to the videos please)

RADIO MOTHERFUCKER

[Zombiedude]

Old man

[Zombiedude]

Salarian Squadmaaaaaate(maybe)

Fancy new Vanguard powers

[LTK]

Nice to see the interrupting mechanic in action. I like it.

Biotic Tackle? Nice! And those are new creatures too, by the look of it. I'm not too thrilled by the look of the enemy health bar, though. I liked it better the way it was in ME1.

[LeeC]

If he isnt a new squad mate, he should be.  He seems to have more personality than most you run into.

[LTK]

Unless he's a super-efficient millitary machine who only looks like someone on the verge of a nervous breakdown, I'm not confident he'd make a good fighter. Or maybe it's just a Salarian character trait we haven't gotten to know, due to the small number of Salarians we've gotten to know.

[Bastardous Bassist]

I think the way Salarians are described is as extremely impatient, extremely intelligent creatures.  He's talking very fast because their lifespan is much shorter than ours, and therefore they live much quicker.  I think he's going to be the full tech option (whichever that was).

[KvP]

Engineer. Tali was the option in ME1, but she's coming back, so who knows.

[Storm Rider]

The salarian scientist is a party member from my understanding. So the roster as revealed so far is: Tali, Jacob, Miranda, Thane, Grunt, Subject Zero, Mordin, and Legion. That means there are two reveals left, maybe only one if Garrus is a party member but they weren't totally clear on that.

[Zombiedude]

Finalized box art. I think they realized no one cares about grunt.

[LTK]

Old > New

[ackblom12]

no no, CE > All

[LTK]

Okay, but what I'm wondering is, why do they have to have the incredibly generic and unexciting box art for the regular edition on one hand, and the intristically detailed and good looking box art that says nothing whatsoever about the game for the collector's edition on the other? Why can't they do art that looks both appealing on the shelves and captures the feel of the game? Might even look pretty, too. How hard can it be? [/Clarkson]

[ackblom12]

I actually think the CE boxart is some of the best boxart I've seen for a game period. It actually manages to capture what seems like the feel they are going for in an incredibly understated manner.

The regular game's boxart is just ass.

[Blue Kitty]

Okay, but what I'm wondering is, why do they have to have the incredibly generic and unexciting box art for the regular edition on one hand, and the intristically detailed and good looking box art that says nothing whatsoever about the game for the collector's edition on the other? Why can't they do art that looks both appealing on the shelves and captures the feel of the game? Might even look pretty, too. How hard can it be? [/Clarkson]

Cause they want you to buy it.  Besides, we already know everything the box art is trying to tell us.