I do try to show off a game in its opening image, but I must admit that this isn't exactly the best depiction of BioWare's stellar space RPG sequel, Mass Effect 2, and there's a good reason for it - I'm still yet to play through Mass Effect.
Gutting what didn't work from the first game and cramming the space left over with hours and hours more dialogue between you and the many characters you'll meet across the galaxy, Mass Effect 2 is introduced to us in the 1001 list as the streamlined, story-lead game of science fiction adventuring.
Is streamlining an epic RPG possible? Have we lost anything in the decision to focus on what's important? Is there enough room in the galaxy for all of these characters to coexist? Let's get stuck in already.
Frustrations
As mentioned above, however, I've yet to play through Mass Effect to have any meaningful save data to import into Mass Effect 2, and I very much want to have meaningful save data imported into subsequent epic space RPGs.
There is something called Mass Effect 2: Genesis that allows you to make key choices from the first game as you learn the backstory and see what you would have gotten up to, but I don't actually know what it is. It's only looking it up now that I see it was, at one point, paid DLC. Steam tells me I have both ME2 and the Digital Deluxe Edition. I should really be smart enough to work it out, shouldn't I?
Fun Times
A long, long, long time ago it feels, I watched a playthrough of ME2. I'll tell you what I remember: The start. So that's good. Nice to know these games are simply too big for me to remember anything from unless I'm directly invested or it causes controversy on the Internet.
I know of Miranda and the Illusive Man here. I know of his fancy office for sure, one of the best looking sci-fi setups in video gaming. I also know what Commander Shepard is about to do next...
The Normandy has found itself in a bit of a tight spot, that being right in line with some devasting weaponry that has torn through the hull and set the ship on fire. Abandon ship, everyone. This one is going down.
Ashley has clearly stuck around from the first game, so I guess we don't have to worry about anything that happens to her when we go back and play Mass Effect, and Joker in the cockpit can't move too much anyway if memory serves, but we would like him to move out of the Normandy in a hurry, if at all possible.
Again, I'm playing the PC version of ME2, and again, it looks mighty impressive. What isn't so impressive is the sensitivity of the right stick to swing the camera around and look at what should be the roof of the ship, now an almighty open-air view of the planet nearby. The scale is incredible, even if you only get to glimpse at it.
For me, the controller support was bad enough to demand an immediate switch back to the keyboard and mouse. Funny how something so simple can render something so grand in scale a pain in the arse.
There isn't much time for chatting in this situation, and after shoving Joker into an escape pod and sending him on his way, Shepard finds there isn't much time for life, either, as it seems his air supply has failed and he's spiralling towards the planet, unconscious or worse.
It turns out to be 'or worse', as we are only saved by the Lazarus Project which has literally brought us back from the dead after years of effort and an awful lot of investment. It is here where you can finally alter your appearance from an idiot into someone a little less generic. Of course, knowing that I'm not going to be using this save file as soon as I finish playing in half an hour, I go for the default Johnny boy.
The facility we eventually awake in is under attack from its own robotic defences. Have they been hacked? Is it an inside job? Grabbing a pistol and whatever ammo we can find, we get stuck into the action and I'm very much in favour of what I'm feeling.
The visual feedback I'm getting from this weapon is some kind of awesome. It feels so damn satisfying to shoot, though I'm not sure why. Is it because the game looks good? Is it because the sensitivity settings are spot on? Am I just having a lucky time with these headshots? I don't know and I don't care, I just know I want to spend a fair bit of time in ME2, let's just say that much.
Your escape route is nice and linear, and you practically trip over the environmental storytelling that fills you in on some of the details. Someone spent 4 billion credits making sure you came back from the dead. Who? Why? Do I have to repay them?
Spying a safe on the wall I eventually work out how to gain access to the credits found within it. I think it was only 900 or so. I think it's going to take a while to reach 4 billion.
Two skilled warriors hiding behind a sci-fi chest-high glass wall seem quite capable of having a chat, so that's what we do. Part of me wants to zip through the dialogue trees to move the game along, but assuming I'll forget the details by the time I get around to actually playing ME2, I dip a toe into the odd point of interest here and there.
Conversations in RPGs are usually where the meat of the story is to be found, but sometimes it's probably best to play it as though it were actually happening. Would you sit and interrogate someone for twenty minutes in the middle of an escape? Would you care about all the subject matters than pop up on the dialogue wheel there and then?
ME2 is - I know, and I'm sure - going to be chock full of conversations to the point where you can and probably will miss things. Many things. Maybe even entire people. Do you want to see 100% of this game? Do you have time? Is it even necessary?
I guess I'll answer those questions on my own, as and when the many characters of the series enter and exit my life.
I mean, it's just clicking an icon and a target. How hard could that get? It'll be when and where to use all of these abilities that will screw me up - and that's assuming I remember them in the first place.
Robots sent packing, Jacob fills me in on a little of what he knows about us before an incoming transmission diverts our attention back towards the whole 'escape' thing we've been working towards.
Another log that just happens to have been left open on our route out of the facility states that the plan was to rebuild us into the exact same spearhead that we were before the attack on the Normandy, and I can't help but think that this escape is actually an elaborate training exercising to prove our readiness.
Will that turn out to be the case, or am I just being paranoid or delusional? We push on regardless.
I told you I had trouble with these abilities. ME2 wants me to overload something to cause an explosion to quickly deal with the problem, but I'm sat here with a grenade launcher thinking "Well, can't I do the same?"
Overloading is the smarter choice in the end, though I feel like I accidentally triggered it by the time I saw where it was, rather than deliberately selected it to come into play. Still, I'm having fun, aren't I? ME2 looks great, sounds great, plays great. I know that when I eventually get around to playing it properly that I'm going to have a good time, and I'm going to question my younger self for not getting on board sooner.
But I know my time with this taster is coming to an end. Maybe I should have played the demo instead. Jacob has revealed to me that he works for Cerberus. It's a name that is familiar to me only insofar as I know it has something to do with the Mass Effect series. To Shepard in the here and now, it means nothing.
Did I encounter the name in my first hour with Mass Effect? It doesn't ring any bells. Chalk one up for roleplaying the situation, and not metagaming the dialogue trees.
Hoping I'm close to escaping, I decide to play ME2 until I am clear of this facility, and it's not too far away now.
Quickly learning that cover is my friend, I also accidentally find - but don't seem able to make use of - the ability to point my companions towards something of note. Having them soak up the incoming attacks while I cower at the back isn't a heroic action, per se, but it sure is strategic.
Knowing how deep and involved you get with your crew will likely change my views towards certain tactics later on in the game, as will getting to know their strengths and weaknesses, as well as how to actually use everyone's fancy abilities, but I'm simply not there yet.
As I probably mentioned for ME, the series' lore is rich and thick, and these games are like diving into a novel that branches off into yet more novels. It's not going to be a quick ride, this one, and I'm getting more and more interested in finally tackling the galaxy of content that I'm lead to believe exists.
Ah, perfect. There's the cliffhanger I'm looking for. Miranda has just killed Wilson at point-blank. Was he the traitor that turned the robots against us? Was he an unfortunate pawn in the much bigger game of 4D chess that the Illusive Man is playing? I want to know. Oh boy, do I want to know.
Final Word
When I wrote about Mass Effect, the Legendary Edition was still in the finishing stages, bringing together all three games, sprucing them up a little for modern hardware, and unleashing them onto a new audience like me.
Unfortunately, as the march of technology continues, new titles don't play on old hardware. This rig of mine has done its job of taking me through 1001 games remarkably well, but according to hardware minimums, its CPU is not good enough for the Mass Effect Legendary Edition.
Do I opt for playing the games individually, with or without mod support? Do I get the Legendary Edition on a console instead? Do I upgrade this gaming PC to try and keep pace?
I think the answer is to enjoy and appreciate what I have and not worry about what I don't. I have the first two Mass Effect games. They run fine. Mass Effect 3 is one sale away from a purchase too, that's no big deal. I do not need flashy graphics and promotional DLC to enjoy a damn good story - that part, the part we come to play Mass Effect for, is already done.
Technically, of course, I have absolutely no idea what that story is, and that goes for the entire trilogy. I know of the hype, I know of the disappointment and controversy, but importantly, even after an hour, I can see first-hand that these games are stellar, and that I want to sink some time into them at last.
I'm reminded of the Thrawn Trilogy of Star Wars books here. I had heard of them but had zero interest in reading any Star Wars novels until something possessed me to take a chance on them. P2 bought me the second book for Christmas one year. Just the second book. I had to buy the others later that week myself.
Anyway, cover to cover from one to the next to the next I read that trilogy and loved it. Then I read the other Thrawn books, including the more recent ones, and didn't love them at all. Kind of like Mass Effect: Andromeda, come to think of it.
The point I'm making is that the Thrawn trilogy gave me a well-written sci-fi adventure full of characters I like that entertained me for hours, and Mass Effect has set itself up to promise me exactly that, only this time I can see what's actually happening and have some small degree of influence over it.
How long will it take me to come back here and gush about Mass Effect 2? How many gripes will I have with it? I don't know, but I'm hoping I find out soon.
FILLING YOU IN
Thirty hours or so later, and here we are, Mass Effect 2 character save data in hand, ready to import into Mass Effect 3, as and when I get around to that. Knowing its controversial ending, I'm in no rush...
As with Mass Effect, I modded ME2 to look better and that was about it this time. Into the galaxy I went once more, in search of a ship-load of characters for a suicide mission. Sounds optimistic, doesn't it?
I bought the DLC which put even more characters and content into my adventure, and this time around it definitely felt a little more like an adventure. Again, if you take a step back and look at things, there's not a whole load to the ME2 story, but it's fleshed out by you having to recruit your team from separate corners of the galaxy. Some are familiar faces from ME, and some of those faces won't join you. That's character progression, that.
Each, though, have their own missions to bring them into your party, and then more missions to convince them that you're a commander worth going on a suicide mission for. Do you tackle all of this content as a noble hero of the Earth-clan or a bit of arsehole who shoots first and asks questions later? It's all up to you, and as your stats come with you from the first game - if you want them - you'll be able to push yourselves even further into whatever direction you fancy.
Is all of that perfect? Of course not. It's good vs bad and not much in between, but it's disguised by yet more stellar writing that will keep you invested no matter who you're talking to, or what you're talking about. I often played ME2 in stints of 3 hours, because that's just how you need to absorb it: as a novel, not a film.
It all culminates in a suicide mission, and how things go depends on how much time you've spent with your squad, getting all buddy-buddy with them and helping them out in their own stories so they can help you out in yours.
Knowing that this is where ME2 heads meant I made sure to do as much as possible to help these guys out, which includes upgrading weapons, armour, and even your ship, and after hours and hours of that, let's just say that there was room for improvement in that suicide mission...
But those are the decisions I carry forward into ME3, and they will shape who my Commander Shepherd is to me and my surviving squad members. It ain't all sunshine and lollipops, even in the shiny future of the Mass Effect series.
I don't know when I'll get around to Mass Effect 3, but I want closure to this tale, even if the consensus is that it's a let-down. I'd like to see for myself, regardless.
Fun Facts
It looks like an awful lot of change took place between ME and ME2. The HUD alone went through 8 different revisions.
Mass Effect 2, developed by BioWare, first released in 2010.
Version played: PC, 2010.