After over six weeks of somewhat negative feelings every time I thought about trying to continue playing ME2, I finally mustered up enough motivation and switched it back on again. I had a saved game from just after finding two of the necessary three doors that needed to be closed in the midst of my mission. When I resumed the game I just happened to be right around the corner from the third door. Purely by chance I stumbled into it and was able to advance the game. And a damned good thing, too, because I might have been sufficiently frustrated to uninstall and forget all about the series.
My need to pursue the story was what led me to drive forward. In addition to the mod I mentioned that bypassed all the damned puzzles, I was able to install a “god mode” mod that didn’t actually seem to do much in that respect. Because I continued to die. But it did make ammo unlimited. So once I picked up a rapid-fire heavy-duty weapon, I could get through combats without too much frustration.
Without the ammo and puzzle hindrances I began to enjoy the story again, since I didn’t run into any map / quest environment issues. I enjoyed interacting with the characters I met. Dialogues were a bit handicapped though. It would’ve been nice to have the tree lit for new options, while options that had already been explored could’ve been dimmed. You lost points for that, designers, and I may have missed some options because I got tired of getting stuck replaying conversations that I’d already listened to.
I was a little unsure about how best to avoid romances. The options for gently expressing disinterest while being truly admiring of my mates was often unclear, and thus made for some discomfort on my part. Which of course subtracts from a gamer’s fun.
I was very unclear about which weapon choices were best. After some time I observed that it seemed the NPCs always equipped the latest model acquired, which I guess was OK. For my character, one heavy weapon actually killed me when I equipped it, so I reverted and stuck with the rapid-fire gun that was I think my third step in the development chain for that slot.
I never got the hang of the powers, just as in ME1, so I did my best to ignore them. Hoping that NPCs on the team used theirs on their own. I hope they did. It seemed like they did, at least sometimes. I’d rather have an AI run powers for everyone, including for me. It’s too much for me to keep track of, and I can’t turn away from the main view during a firefight.
I learned how to hold the left-shift key down, activating radar that showed enemies as well as the directional arrow. When available. Why isn’t this a normal part of the HUD like in so many other games? Just another impediment. Bad choice, designers.
There were a ton of unexplored planets to scan. Apparently this is the mechanism for gathering the “fuel” for tech research. But it was very boring, and took quite a bit of time. I ended up exploring what I think was the entire map. At least I uncovered about half a dozen mini side-quests as a result. And it was evident that the designers were using this as an opportunity to put in a few different types of quests. Although with only a little success. A few times, my character went down solo (without any choice on my part). I didn’t see a lot of meaningful quest types, but it was nice to have a little variety anyway.
I also wasn’t that thrilled with the story, and my status in it. Being a Specter wasn’t very apparent. The Council wouldn’t see me. I’m set up as working with Cerberus, to whom I’m beholden. I’m not keen on being, essentially, a clone of myself. And why do I have my ME1 memories?
Playing this game was a little different from what I’m used to. I’m not sure that my choices mean very much. As I mentioned, there are a ton of cut-scenes. In between them and the dialogue trees there are numerous combats that you get dropped into. They almost seem to be an afterthought. It’s just a very unusual experience for an RPG, something more like an Adventure story-telling game. Not sure how much I like this; I think I like the traditional RPG more.
In any case, all my teammates were loyal and I completed the main quest, along with all the side-quests I could find. It still seemed to be a fairly short game. But overall a positive rating from me. I just didn’t like the mechanical changes from ME1 to ME2, as I wrote about in my prior post.
Oh, and the weird choice at the end was a little unsatisfying.
So then I went and installed ME3 and transferred my save game over.
Once again, there are mechanical changes between ME2 and ME3. This is really getting me pissed off.
I have no mods installed (yet). But we’re back to exhausting ammo, and of course I don’t have a god mode. And I dread having a puzzle come up.
But most unsatisfying so far is the story. Yep, that’s right. The story, the reason I’m playing.
I guess I’ll put a SPOILER notice here, so I can talk about it.
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
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So I start this game back in the Human military. Except I’m disgraced and discharged (so I guess NOT in the military). Flippin’ why? I thought I was a hero! This takes away from my enjoyment of the game. And yet in spite of having been discharged, I’m being “kept” somehow in a military facility. Am I “detained?” Arrested? Incarcerated? How long have I been in here? I’ve lost “my ship” (I thought the SR-2 Normandy belonged to the Cerberus organization, how does it end up in the Human military?). But here I am on Earth as it’s getting attacked by Reapers. After ME1 and ME2, no one’s taken the Reaper threat seriously yet? This is pretty unrealistic and also very unsatisfying story-wise. And in ME2 the Humans had become dominant on the galactic Council, but Anderson is back here on Earth instead of being a Council Member on the Citadel. How’d that happen? Are Humans “out” again?
Apparently no one trusts me, not even Ashley; my love interest from ME1, to whom I stayed loyal in ME2 in spite of her rejection in that game. This is also very unsatisfying. One of the biggest reasons I played through ME2 was to get on to what I thought would be a reunion in ME3. Maybe it will come, but for now I’m not very happy.
In ME2 I was led to think that Cerberus was partially misunderstood, that it had good interests at heart, that much of what had been attributed to it wasn’t true. The organization was presented to the player as something you could morally be a part of, if maybe a little fanatical. Especially because it was supposedly the only organization that was taking the big Reaper threat seriously. The Illusive Man appeared to be rational, and not a Bad Guy. The choice you had to make at the conclusion of ME2 seemed reasonable either way, but using the advanced tech to help defend organic life from the Reapers seemed like a good choice. I’d been beaten over the head throughout ME1 and ME2 that they were incredibly advanced technologically, and that we had very little chance of survival, so finally I decided to acquire the tech.
And then the Illusive Man makes his appearance on Mars in ME3 and reveals that Cerberus really is immoral and dangerous, and he’s got the advanced tech I gave him in ME2. Lovely. I’m not going back and re-doing the end of ME2 again. I hope the designers have got a satisfying story lined up for me.
So Ashley doesn’t even trust me, let alone love me, and now she’s unconscious in the hospital. No time for love Dr Jones! I’m very disappointed. Really? I slogged through ME2 so I could resume the romance in ME3!
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END OF SPOILERS
Anyway, I’ll persevere. In spite of not understanding the weapon load-out again, and having to learn more new moves. I’ll keep you all posted.
I’d be curious to hear from readers with opinions on my ME issues. Feel free to comment below.
The Michlin Guide 
Definitely going to follow your blog!
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