Mass Alex: Mass Effect 2 - Part 03

Nice to see Alex starting to get the hang of using abilities more proactively. Once you get used to using your abilities and then the squad abilities you can really start tearing through enemy groups.

I thought it was cute how Alex tried to enter Omega by using the Normandy's airlock. One of the things ME2 did that I did not like was automatically teleporting your character around using loading screens. People complained about the elevators in ME1 but I liked how you had the sense that you were moving seamlessly through the world. If this were ME1, Alex would have been able to go through the airlock and enter Omega, but now it's all done through the galaxy map. It kind of breaks the illusion of a big contiguous world imo

Get rid of the helmet.

Though he has the auto-level on. So I don't think its a guarantee he gets that option.

Just buy the health so the videos flow better, fewer game overs is good!

Just buy the health so the videos flow better, fewer game overs is good!

Edit: Follow this advice please :D
Love the series though, Mass Effect 2 is the best.

I like this.

Right around 1:25:00 when the combat starts to click for @alex is so good. Very satisfying to watch, nice work Alex.

let's see some biotic COMMMMBOOOOOOOOOS next episode

This was a lot of fun-- Alex's reaction to a certain salarian made me grin and rewind that bit a couple times.

I just wanted to say-- It is okay if Alex plays the game "wrong." Seriously--it's okay. Everyone breathe a little.

Obviously I'm not saying people are jerks here for offering bits of advice and such, but I just want us all to remember that Alex's playthrough is not our playthrough, nor will it be whatever theoretically "perfect" playthrough we have in our heads.

And, once again, that is okay. That is good and proper, in fact.

@shaanyboi: I wonder what he'll think of Jack, and if he'll change his mind on Miranda over time. I hope so.

I know that Mass Effect is very dear to Vinny and he's very excited about this video series but maybe sometimes when you feel the urge to direct Alex's thought a certain way, keep it to yourself? And I'm not just talking about preempting plot moments but saying stuff like "I know the story (of ME2) gets a lot of crap but the character writing is great". Why say that? And Alex immediately asks "Why does the story get a lot of crap?", which means you got in his head with external opinions and consensus on the game instead of letting him decide for himself.

Buy everything all the time Alex! This is not like ME 1 you will not find duplicate items. Sometimes you can only buy a certain item at one shop in the galaxy and money is rarely a problem. Better to just get everything you can while you are in the neighborhood.

I'm going to say this again

Amazing intro

Terrible title

Great series

@vinny could you remind Alex at the beginning of the next episode that he purchased the visor? He might be enthused to have some headgear that doesn't hide the TIGHT BUN. I'm loving the series, thanks!

"So there are two doors..."

Ugh, that crappy "humans have more genetic diversity" trope when they meet Mordin. Sci-fi writers, please learn to Google: https://bigthink.com/philip-perry/humans-are-less-genetically-diverse-than-wheat-what-does-that-mean-for-our-species

Nothing has given me vibes like the P4 and DP Endurance Runs until Mass Alex came along. Long may you run, @vinny and @alex

As other people have said - Buy everything, all the time! There's comparatively so little in the shops compared to ME1 and you'll soon be swimming in money.

Also, press a thumbstick (don't think it matters which one) if you're lost in an area without a map - It shows the direction of your objective.

So happy Alex noticed he had the M-490 Blackstorm Projector gun and used it. It's a good room cleaner. =)

legit thought that was vinny in the screencap

@vinny@alex One big tip to remember. When spending your level up points, you should prioritize your "Defender" class ability. My ranking that up, you get more Paragon/Renegade points per action. You'll need to have high reputation to have access to all the conversation options. Getting the bonus from the class ability will help greatly.

Every time your character stands still, I can't help but see the party member icons as some kind of bizzaro face-butts.

The dialog in this game is so much better written than Mass Effect 1. In the first Mass Effect, the district guard who talks about shooting plague victims would have been just another robotic Star Trek character. But here he's got so much fun attitude that makes sense for a mercenary to have. It's a small detail, but in aggregate, it helps bring the universe to life in a pretty significant way.

It has the worst story because there's no story. But it also has best side-stories and the characters.

@wonkersjdvn: why? The purpose of this series isn't for Alex to determine, empirically, once-and-for-all, whether ME2 is the best game ever. It's for him to play through it for the first time with one of his friends who is a huge ME fan and for us to watch it happen. Who cares if he isn't getting a perfectly balanced view of the pro/con arguments for ME2? Ultimately he's going to decide what he thinks based on his own experiences, and Vinny feeling compelled to keep his thoughts to himself would just render the whole thing sterile.

I hope Alex starts to direct his team a little more. Team mates were idiots in ME1 but they're way more useful in ME2 when you place them strategically during fights and shuffling around as the fight goes on.

@lemmox: Agreed. I'm fine with some nudges here and there from Vinny. I think it was the Two Best Friends Dark Souls playthrough I was watching that I had to quit because before every interesting part of the game the friend doing the guidance would make the player stop so he could explain every single thing about the thing he was about to do instead of letting him discover things for himself.

@smurf_in_a_blender: Yeah I don't like when Vinny gets ahead of the plot trying to explain everything at once - but he's been pretty good about laying off that since the first few episodes. But I certainly have no issues with him enthusing about the game in general, or nudging Alex towards interesting things.

I wish Alex would toggle the helmet off when he’s not in combat.

I picked up Andromeda during the last sale for like $5. And so far...it's not terrible?

Lol, three episodes in and STILL hasn't discovered the bathroom in her quarters! I think the door even opened but Alex turned the camera too fast. Also, good job on using powers a little more. I hope someone explains biotic explosions at some point. If an enemy has been Lifted or is glowing blue for any reason (Singularity), use your Warp and it will detonate. But good on you, Alex for starting to notice the difference in Warp and Throw.

And I'm sure it's been brought up, but when you hold either bumper, the minimap at the bottom right of screen shows you the red blips to check if there are still enemies and where they are, just like the first game. Also, as mentioned, hold in R or L stick and it should direct you to the main path, so if there are two doors, you can hold off on the one the arrow is pointing to and explore the "side" areas before moving on.

Very happy with this episode, was afraid that normal difficulty would be too easy for Alex and he wouldn't need to really learn his abilities to win fights. Him finally dying and Vinny coaching him has made fights much more fun to watch now though.

Vinny with the Princess Bride reference.

Man, I forgot how cold and ruthless Mordin is... I've missed that fella!

"H to the Ezo" god dammit Alex

@lemmox:

At no point did I say it’s up to Alex to determine if ME2 is the best game ever, but this is his play through and he should decide what the game means to him, not by Vinny telling him what the world already thinks about the game. You can’t just direct someone to have pre-instilled ideas about how they should feel about the story or the gameplay. To Vinny’s credit, the moment when Alex responded to Vinny by asking “why do people give ME2 crap for its story?”, Vinny didn’t reply and chose to stay silent and I think that’s the best way to go. Of course Vinny should gives his thoughts about whatever is happening on screen at the moment but there’s a difference between that and just outright selling the farm so early in the game.

@vinny at some point I think you should explain combos to Alex. Specifically that if an enemy is floating (from Pull or Singularity) that you can cause an explosion by throwing Warp on them. Throw is also much more effective on floating targets.

The ammo types only affect the entire squad at their highest level, if you choose the 'squad' specialization for them.

@wonkersjdvn: How little do you think of Alex's free will? Lol, Vinny telling Alex what a great game ME2 is not going to prevent him from making up his own mind about the game. If he thinks the game is crap, no amount of needling by Vinny is going to convince him to pull the wool over his own eyes.

Also, at the end of the day, we're talking about two buddies playing through a videogame together...of course they're going to influence each others feelings about the game to some extent. And that's fine. Enjoyment is a subjective experience.

It seems like you're very concerned about something that literally couldn't be less of a problem.

@lemmox: I think coloring someone else’s opinion is a very real thing that could affect how Alex perceives some of the story moments, and how intelligent or free-willed I think someone is has nothing to do with it.

But anyway, if it’s literally such a small problem then you probably shouldnt keep replying to me, then, making it a bigger deal than it was to begin with. That’s on you, chief.

@wonkersjdvn:

"I think coloring someone else’s opinion is a very real thing that could affect how Alex perceives some of the story moments, and how intelligent or free-willed I think someone is has nothing to do with it."

I mean, obviously. Everything that we hear and see influences our opinions. Why is this a bad thing though? It, by definition, will not hurt Alex's enjoyment of the game to hear somebody next to him enthusing about it, he's not reviewing the game - so there is no malicious impact to others - and the degree to which it influences his opinion is likely small - Vinny being enthusiastic is not enough to swing him in favour of a game he's not already predisposed to like. So why exactly should anybody worry about Vinny "colouring his opinion"? Why should Vinny worry for that matter?

"But anyway, if it’s literally such a small problem then you probably shouldnt keep replying to me, then, making it a bigger deal than it was to begin with. That’s on you, chief."

I'm taking issue with you making what I feel is a bad suggestion - that Vinny should tone down his enthusiasm and make an effort to be more neutral - to solve a problem which isn't a problem. I'm certainly not making Vinny's comments a big deal - you brought them up - and I stand by the fact that they aren't an issue.

@lemmox: but it’s not only Vinny’s opinion. When he says something like “a lot of people give ME2 crap for its story”, that is introducing a consensus opinion or what the outside world thinks of the game, I dont think that adds anything to this play through and doesn’t help it at all. What does it contextualize? Nothing, because Vinny can’t possibly explain any further without spoiling something for Alex. And you postulate that “the impact is likely small”. How do you know that? And you admit that there could be an impact, no matter the size, so already I feel vindicated. And I understand that it was an off-the-cuff moment, just an off-hand remark, and it’s not a big deal but to me further instances of it would hurt the playthroug more than it helps. In no way am I trying to curb Vinny’s enthusiasm, but in his enthusiasm sometimes he’ll overstep and pretty much obviously foreshadow upcoming moments.

And I don’t think it’s a bad suggestion to ask someone not repeat what other people think of the game during someone’s first experience with it. To me, It’s almost like reading spoilers from a stream chat. This isn’t UPF or some segment on a Play Date. It’s important to me that Alex gets as neutral a play experience as possible with Vinny there helping and making some color commentary, not reviewing/foreshadowing the game while Alex plays it.

At this point I’ve said all ive ever wanted to say about this and now it’s blown out to be something I didn’t. A small suggestion made grandiose despite my intentions. I think that’s eniugh from me either way. I hope they enjoy ME2 and I will keep enjoying this series.

@wonkersjdvn: Of course it has an impact, everything has an impact. Whether or not Alex had a good BM this morning has an impact on whether he'll enjoy a given playthrough - probably more than a one-off comment by Vinny. But you're dramatically overthinking two friends shooting the shit while playing a game. Are you this careful about what you say around your friends when they're playing a new game? Because that sounds exhausting. And it's true - people do give this game crap for it's story - I think they're crazy, but they exist and there's a fair few of them. Saying it may not "contextualize" anything, but it's just making conversation about the game they are currently playing.

@max_cherry: To do that he'd have to find an armour changing station, I feel like that would just be tedious.

Good Princess Bride quote Vinny

@vinny: I was someone who previously messaged you about the Arrival dlc activating early and I’ve got an update for you: the trigger for that mission first pops up after the mission on Horizon (which is about halfway through the game). I couldn’t find this information on the previous search I did but I found it this time. I saw a few things that make it sound like the Arrival trigger becomes a thing just before the Horizon mission but most things I read said that the trigger for the Arrival dlc doesn’t become available until after the Horizon mission.

Also, I do post in the comments much so how do you hide spoilers in comments? I ask as there’s just one other thing I’d like to give a heads up about but I’d rather not post in the open about it. It’s related to something that if the plan with Mass Alex is for Alex to eventually play through ME3 then there is something in this game that could... well, complicate that?

The voice of Patriarch the krogan also voices Winnie the Pooh and Tigger

Get a drink from the lower level of Afterlife for a fun side quest.

I'd really prefer if they ditched the helmet. It really isn't easy to see Shep Shep's face through it. Even the eye visor (which I think I wore throughout my playthrough) is much better.

Mordin is so good and his arc in ME3 is perhaps the best thing in the game. Also I recommend buying literally everything, because you'll be drowning in credits by the end.

I hate being the probably 100th person to suggest combos (to no avail) but I can't help myself.

Alex, or Vinny if you read this and can tell him, you should really try to learn the combat of Mass Effect 2. The reason is that not only do I think it will improve ME2 for you, but also future games from Bioware, because the combat in this game is the foundation for everything Bioware has done since. Combos, especially, has been a thing in every game since, even Dragon Age Inquisition. Getting the hang of ME2 will really pay off.

What a combo is exactly changes a bit from game to game, but for right now, it works by using a biotic power that works over time and then using a different biotic power that does damage to the affected enemy. One such combo is lift and throw. Another is lift and warp.

Mass Effect is an ability-based series also featuring guns, and it'll only skew more toward abilities from here on out. I suggest you choose a combo such as lift and throw and use it over and over until you get used to it. And I do mean OVER and OVER. Prioritize them over your guns. That means having to pause every few seconds in combat to select abilities, and that's OK. Shortcutting abilities can come when you are familiar with their use.