smallfry on 11/2/2010 at 18:10
Quote Posted by Andarthiel
I gotta say though I am rather disappointed with the lack of Liara in ME2,
One of my biggest disappointments with ME2 was that Ashley wasn't recruitable. Not only that, she's apparently pissed off at me for some reason. I took Ash on almost every mission in ME1, and I know not many people like her, but she was definitely my favorite teammate.
Phatose on 11/2/2010 at 20:28
Quote Posted by smallfry
One of my biggest disappointments with ME2 was that Ashley wasn't recruitable. Not only that, she's apparently pissed off at me for some reason. I took Ash on almost every mission in ME1, and I know not many people like her, but she was definitely my favorite teammate.
Check your email. The encounter itself is a little on the bitter side - which it should be, all things considered, but I figure mostly serves as a way out for people who want to romance another in ME2. Afterwards though, she does send a far more reconciliatory email.
For the people with Liara issues, did you hit the conversation where she tells you exactly why she's so pissed at the shadow broker? It's extremely easy to miss and one time only, but it pretty much lays out what she's mad about.
Jokerman on 11/2/2010 at 21:01
Quote Posted by Phatose
For the people with Liara issues, did you hit the conversation where she tells you exactly why she's so pissed at the shadow broker? It's extremely easy to miss and one time only, but it pretty much lays out what she's mad about.
What people? It seems I'm the only problematic one..
:D
I know why she's pissed and well..
I always thought of her as having a forgiving, not a revengeful nature. But that wasn't what bothered me- it was HOW she was going to exact her revenge and WHAT has become of her in the process- in merely 2 years, she has become the all powerful head of a tentacle-like organization, located in the New-York City of the milky way, no less. Hacking, hiring informants, Snuffing people who stand in her way... The girl who could barely look in me in the eye unless to probe my mind for Prothean info, now has a secretary? Come on! Phatose on 11/2/2010 at 21:19
Well, consider the last 2 years for her plus ME1. She was the equivalent of a recent college grad in Asari, but up until then she was a child, then an archeologist on a peaceful little planet with theories that no one took seriously. Then, in the course of 2 years she gets the knowledge of impending Galatic doom firsthand from Shephard's brain, gets shot at by pretty much every race in the galaxy, gets to kill her own mother, has her captain (and possibly her lover) killed on the ship she was on, manages to get her new best friend killed or worse by the shadow broker, and then has to turn over Shepard to an organization which could politely be described as evil and anti-alien.
Even totally discarding everything in between ME1 and ME2, the events of ME1 would be enough to harden anyone.
Jason Moyer on 11/2/2010 at 23:09
Quote Posted by smallfry
Not only that, she's apparently pissed off at me for some reason.
For some reason? You mean, besides the one she tells you when you see her?
Jokerman on 12/2/2010 at 01:28
@Phatose
Hardening up is one thing, a 180 degree turn in personality is quite another. I could hardly recognize her. While what you said makes sense, this kind of metamorphosis is quite rare in RL, and in fiction usually indicates sensationalist, sub-par writing.
At the very least, I'd expected my Shep to express dismay or concern or any kind of indication that she acknowledge this extreme change in her former lover. Then maybe I could have swallowed it better
mothra on 12/2/2010 at 01:40
come on, they even let her repeat the "ever faced a asari commando before" as a in-joke, it's more that she uses what she learned, not that she has a new-found evilness. I did never doubted her "change" which is more on the outside than on the inside if you follow up your conversations and the email and it certainly looks like its building up to me3
Jokerman on 12/2/2010 at 02:40
OK, I'm tired of the unnecessary whispering, I don't think we spoil much by discussing Liara. If someone thinks otherwise, I'll edit it for spoil tags.
Quote Posted by mothra
it's more that she uses what she learned, not that she has a new-found evilness. I did never doubted her "change" which is more on the outside than on the inside if you follow up your conversations and the email and it certainly looks like its building up to me3
Hey, I never taught her to be a head of a shady organization! I played a paragon- the most she could have learned from our time together is how to kill Geth and how to help complete strangers with crucial decisions in their lives.
I don't think she's evil now, but running a semi-legit quasi-espionage agency is akin to politics, organized crime and business- you got to have a knack for it- something which either you're born with or not. Youv'e got to know people, know where their buttons are, to establish connections, to have a kind of charisma, humor, resourcefulness, a knack for small talk, money.. lots of it...
Are you familiar with ASOIaF? Can you imagine GRRM turning Sansa into Varys the spider in a span of two years? (with or without Littlefinger as a mentor)
Can you imagine that chubby guy in Shawshank Redemption who didn't last his first night in, surviving and replacing Red as the guy-who-can-get-it-for-you?
That's what I mean by "out of character".
Aerothorn on 12/2/2010 at 03:08
Finished ME2 today.
I throughly enjoyed it at the beginning but as I progressed it really started to wear on me. Some of the typical Bioware things are, at this point, so formulaic as to be a cliche (the companion dialogs/romances), which is really disappointing - Baldur's Gate was a breath of fresh air in the face of the stagnation of JRPGs, but now Bioware games are evolving about as quickly as Final Fantasy.
The plot, while initially promising, doesn't really go anywhere. I wasn't a huge fan of Mass Effect but it at least had a driving force for the plot in the form of Saren - this doesn't, and the villain is so without character that it's a waste of space. Combine that with massive predicatability (again, particularly in companion sidequests and stuff like that) and it's throughly underwhelming.
On the upside, at least some of the moral quandaries were interesting (though the genophage thing is thoroughly played out at this point), and Mordin was so delightful that I started to suspect he was being written by a different person than the lead writers. Or maybe they just do humor a lot better than drama. I'm not sure. And while the gunplay was simplistic and easy it never really bothered me and I was happy to engage with it throughout.
Overall, 7/10 - completely playable and at time compelling experience sullied by a big mountain of cliches and the typical shit ending that Bioware seems so fond of.
mothra on 12/2/2010 at 08:58
"my techs will tear you apart/assuming control" is classic imo. I loved the "one-liner" bad guy. and while they did use cliches I found them much better presented and incorporated into the overall story than usual. I was heartbroken by the Samara loyalty mission with Morinth, loved the arena (we are better than Borderlands) Tuchanka fight and so on, each mission had diversity, sometimes no combat at all. the loyalty and recruit missions fleshed out the universe while still providing connections to the main threat (mordins story with the plague, Talis stor(ies), legion(s)) or with cerberus (Jack, Jacob). I had great fun fighting Harbinger and his minions. Normally I would post what you have written - only much harsher - but not this time. they hit bullseye with me.
