[360, PS3] Mass Effect 2 *(Spoiler Warning)

[Arwin]

ME2 has been available for $10 on PC and 360 for a while, and as I understand it all PS3 gamers also have a strong gaming PC, something that they like to remind everyone anytime a 360 game that is also on PC is called an exclusive. So the logical conclusion to me is that they have all played this on their gaming pc for $10, and got a much better looking version than on consoles in the process.

Yes, well, obviously!

Anyway, I expect ME2 will do pretty decent throughout the year, especially as the hype builds up towards ME3, people with PS3s who never played ME2 will start picking it up.

It's interesting that they also sell the full game from PSN by the way in the US and the UK. Pricing isn't great though, you'd need two PS3s like patsu to benefit from it, or share it somehow with a friend if that is even possible ...But I applaud any full game PSN release, because I personally like the option to install games on HDD, though perhaps an offline game like ME2 isn't as high on my priority list as any game that does have online functionality. The more online a game is, the more I like to have it on my HDD and not need to put a disc in.

 

[patsu]

ME2 has been available for $10 on PC and 360 for a while, and as I understand it all PS3 gamers also have a strong gaming PC, something that they like to remind everyone anytime a 360 game that is also on PC is called an exclusive. So the logical conclusion to me is that they have all played this on their gaming pc for $10, and got a much better looking version than on consoles in the process.

Huh ? Whose posts have you been reading ? I don't have a gaming PC. But yes, many core gamers have already played ME2 on PC and 360s.

Some posters may highlight a PC version over a PS3 or Xbox 360 version. It's not just 360 only.
Then again, they have a separate PC game forum to post, but they like to join us since the bulk of the gamers seem to be here.

 

[Arwin]

Huh ? Whose posts have you been reading ? I don't have a gaming PC. But yes, many core gamers have already played ME2 on PC and 360s.

He was making a joke ...

 

[patsu]

Gah… can't see the punch line.

If Sony makes more full game PSN releases, they should let us install HDD bigger than 500Gb (if not done already).

I want to try DC Universe Online, but the game takes up 16Gb. My Home setup takes 12Gb. Time to upgrade my HDD in my office PS3.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Gah… can't see the punch line.

There is no punchline, but the argument against 360, that all its exclusives are not really exclusives, because they are also on the PC and in better form has been heard quite often. Not so much anymore, but 2-3 years ago whenever a MS exclusive came out someone pointed out lighting fast that they are not really interested and if they were they rather play it on their PC. I've certainly read that gazillion times.

 

[patsu]

Well… why are they all PS3 gamers ? ^_^

Shouldn't they be PC gamers ?

It's the same for cross platform games that made it to PS3 and PC. Some people will prefer/advocate for the PC version anyway -- coz it does look better there. Except that I don't have a PC connected to my HDTV. And I don't want to maintain another computer (Kid already messes up his laptop).

Back on topic…

The side missions and mini-games in ME2 are varied and integrated into the main story. It's going to take me even longer to complete. ^_^
Any mining tips ? Is Palladium valuable at all ? I've got a lot of these now.
The upgrades don't seem to need it.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Shouldn't they be PC gamers ?

Not when that context is the only time PC is brought up :smile:

Mining is pretty boring. I've heard that they have patched it to be less pain in the ass. In the original it was really worthwhile to get a scanner upgrade that made the scanning reticule go faster. It's been a while since I played it, but I think in order to get the upgrades that matter the most, you will need good, but not crazy amounts of all minerals.

The major hotspots will cause the scanner to respond from reasonable distance, so you don't need to move the scanner to every pixel to get most minerals, but you probably already knew that.

 

[patsu]

Not when that context is the only time PC is brought up :smile:

Ah… I haven't seen any here.

Mining is pretty boring. I've heard that they have patched it to be less pain in the ass. In the original it was really worthwhile to get a scanner upgrade that made the scanning reticule go faster. It's been a while since I played it, but I think in order to get the upgrades that matter the most, you will need good, but not crazy amounts of all minerals.

The major hotspots will cause the scanner to respond from reasonable distance, so you don't need to move the scanner to every pixel to get most minerals, but you probably already knew that.

Yea… I just want to upgrade the crews and ship asap. But too lazy to read up.

So far it looks like Iridium is the mineral to mine for upgrades.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Yea… I just want to upgrade the crews and ship asap. But too lazy to read up.

So far it looks like Iridium is the mineral to mine for upgrades.

It takes time for lot of the upgrades to become available, talking to crew members is a good way to get some upgrades available. Palladium is also required for many ship upgrades.

 

[patsu]

Yeah, I toured the ship last night. Spoke to cook, engineers, and Miranda. Started assorted upgrades. If there is no useless mineral, I'll just grab everything, as much as I could afford or carry.

 

[AlNom]

Yeah, after the patch on PC/360, they increased the size and speed of the mining reticle/cursor. A thorough way to scan an entire planet would be to move the cursor as far right as possible and also rotate the planet whilst scanning. Then after every ~360 degrees of rotation, move the cursor down to scan the next bar around the planet. Otherwise, just furiously tap the mining function whilst moving the cursor around the planet really fast. Only go after the mining spots that shoot up your scanner or make your controller vibrate incessantly. Lady players may or may not enjoy. Regarding mineral types, just get what you can. If you're over 100K, you should be good for anything if you plan on stocking up. You'll be needing a bunch for various weapon etc upgrades beyond the Normandy-specific ones. You can get a decent chunk of change while on various missions as well.

FWIW, you can get by with only mining the planets you visit for missions including sidequests. Of course, if you're looking for the sidequests and have no idea which planets to visit in the first place, you can see the problem there... But it's not like Shepard has to be scouring the galaxy and reaping all the planets for resources. You can use the wikia to get a list of the side missions and which planets you have to visit, but it's up to you on how much you want to spend (both time and credits) just visiting planets that get EDI to say "anomaly detected".

I know I spent a fair bit of time on my first playthrough visiting every planet and reading the descriptions (and of course comparing the planet stats to Earth ). If BioWare is going to go through all that trouble writing up the lore or background, I want to get my money's worth.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

If there is no useless mineral, I'll just grab everything, as much as I could afford or carry.

Remember it's been a year since I played it. I seem to remember that each mineral had atleast some use, but don't kill me in my sleep if that doesn't turn out to be the case :smile:

 

[joker454]

Any mining tips ? Is Palladium valuable at all ? I've got a lot of these now.

Element zero is really important. Honestly for the mining I would just cheat. There's a link out there that shows which planets are rich in element zero, I would just go and mine those. That way you get plenty of everything and it shouldn't take you more than 60 minutes of mining or so to get everything you need. I don't have the link handy, but should be easy to google.

 

[AlNom]

Trust me, there is no useless mineral. Element Zero is the scarcest, so if you find a planet that has lots, by all means, reap it.

It would definitely be worth your time to complete the Shadowbroker DLC if you want to stay away from the walkthroughs completely. That's all I say about that.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Element zero is really important.

On second playthrough, you start with 50K On Insanity I use it to retrain my sentinel's skills for almost every other mission, it's just 2500.

Honestly for the mining I would just cheat. There's a link out there that shows which planets are rich in element zero, I would just go and mine those.

The Mass Effect Wiki lists planets based on what mineral is the most common on them, nut just the EZero rich ones. If you need, say, palladium, you do a quick search and get the stuff, I don't consider it cheating compared to browsing through 5 planets with no palladium at all
Of course the other option means you can stumble upon side missions which is a lot of fun on first playthroughs.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Also, Shadow Broker allows you to retrain squad members too, which is especially cool for one thing - everyone automatically spends 1 point on the loyalty power, keeping you from builds where you can max out all but the loyalty power (some may be useless depending on play style). LotSB allows you to redistribute that point as well.

 

[patsu]

But it's not like Shepard has to be scouring the galaxy and reaping all the planets for resources.

Yeah, I have veered off the main mission. Going places and mining all over the galaxy (Have a somewhat long sidequest list). I think my Shepard will register an LLC and go IPO with his mining venture soon. The universe can wait.

 

[AlphaWolf]

Also, Shadow Broker allows you to retrain squad members too, which is especially cool for one thing - everyone automatically spends 1 point on the loyalty power, keeping you from builds where you can max out all but the loyalty power (some may be useless depending on play style). LotSB allows you to redistribute that point as well.

Doesn't really help miranda and jacob who have the extra point, but ya it always bothered me having spare points for characters that they couldn't spend.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Miranda is already like the best squadmate ever, helping her further would be cheating.
Besides, retrain powers is cool in that if you have enough Eezo, you don't have to balance skills for barriers/shields or organics/mechs, you can choose one path based on the enemies you expect on the given mission. It might mean the difference between rank 3 and 4 and only for what, 2500 units? When you start with 50.000 which you simply can't spend any other way.

 

[AlNom]

Yeah, the retraining was really nice for my first character, particularly when I still had some left over missions to do after the end of the game and I knew the abilities I had picked for everyone was just utter crap or non-optimal. It took me awhile on later playthroughs with different Shepards when I figured out which abilities suited my playstyle best with the squadmates.