Poll: Mass Effect 2.

[Sanguinius- The Angel]

Okay, so. I find myself really wanting to play Mass Effect 2, except I keep hearing that you should have the first game's save there, as it influences ME2 a lot. Now, don't get me wrong, I have played through Mass Effect, except that I couldn't keep my save, because I had to format my computer.

So, Escapists, should I bother with playing through the first Mass Effect again just to get the save? Or does it even matter?

 

[UltimatheChosen]

I would definitely play through the first game, since the series is heavily plot-driven.

 

[Marowit]

I got about 90% the way through ME 1 before my girlfriend erased my saves to make room for even more Fable II saves...KHAAAAAAAN...and I couldn't bring myself to spend another 40 hours playing the game again so that I could take care of all the side quests.

That being said, I'm enjoying ME2 with my pre-fab infiltrator very much so far. Would it have been cool to connect up with some of the previous games side quests? Yes, of course; is it game breaking, no. ME2 has been great so far, and I am enjoying it even more than the first game. You can always go to youtube and catch up with the major cut scenes if you feel disconnected.

 

[Nincompoop]

Over 9000 obviously.

Addendum; Doesn't seem like anyone understood the question. It's not whether or not you want to have certain knowledge, that is acquired by playing the first, but it's the perks of having a high-level character, converted to ME2.

But I don't give a f**k, I haven't played either of the games.

 

[MetallicaRulez0]

There are quite a few references and throwbacks to the first game in ME2. There's really no reason to do EVERYTHING in ME1, just blow through the main mission on Novice. That takes somewhere around 6 hours if you know where you're going.

 

[WestMountain]

Mass effect was kind of boring because it was very repetive but the story was good but I wouldnt bother playing it through again but maybe you get a better experience with ME2 if you use an old save

 

[HK_01]

Yes, you should. They're both very story-driven so it definitely enhances the experience if you know - and, more importantly, experienced - what happened in the first game.

 

[Sahasrahla]

If you import the character, you get to start at level 2; that's about the only perk. You get a bonus 100,000 credits if your imported ME1 character was "rich," though the actual number of credits in the first game required for that isn't clear (I think there was an achievement for getting 1 million, but I'm not 100% on that). I found it useful in the opening missions to be able to purchase nice things for my FrankenShepard.

So that's one reason to do the import thing.

 

[Internet Kraken]

Yes. If you don't know anything about the first game, I imagine many of the conversations in
Mass Effect 2 will be confusing. It just won't give you the full experience. I feel bad telling you to play such an inferior game, but it seems necessary.

There's really no reason to do EVERYTHING in ME1, just blow through the main mission on Novice. That takes somewhere around 6 hours if you know where you're going.

Do this

 

[Seydaman]

If you already know what happened and having certain things be not what you really did in ME1 then it's fine, if you didn't play ME1 go play it and blow through it on novice, will be easy, but I didn't bother re-playing ME1 to bring over a save.

 

[DoctorNick]

Yes, I would.

Mainly because I heard the 'default' for Mass Effect 2 assumes you did most of the dick moves from the first one which doesn't fly for me.

 

[firehammer]

As a rabid fan of the first Mass Effect, and playing Mass Effect 2 with an imported character, all the references to the first game's characters and plot elements are really rewarding. A lot of little things show up if you're playing an import that you might not see if you're playing a fresh character too. I like playing through with the same Shepard with whom I spent numerous hours replaying the first game. It's like having an old friend with you in this new and oh so awesome universe.

So, I would play the first game. Aside from importing your decisions, it was a fantastic game in its own right, and you should at least experience the main story.

For the record, if you import a Level 60 character, you start ME2 at level 5 and with 10,000+ extra of each element. There is also a Mass Effect 1 achievement for earning 1,000,000 credits (which is what makes you "rich" enough to get the bonus credits in ME2)

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Yes, yes, yes.

The game is so story focused that you will be missing out by not playing the first.

 

[Mewick_Alex]

Yea it's worth playing it for story purposes, but it isn't essential. Apparently when you're making your character at the beginning of ME2 you can just customize the decisions you would have made in the first game to suit whatever type of character you want to be. Obviously it's nice to import a character but it won't make you miss out on anything.

If you import the character, you get to start at level 2; that's about the only perk.

There is a bonus to level but I think it depends on the level of the imported character. I hear it can be as high as level 5. Oh and there's a small bonus to your paragon/renegade bar too (depending on whether you were good or evil obviously).

 

[Sanguinius- The Angel]

Alright! Thanks for the advice, guys. Now I have to go out and purchase ME for my PC, and play through it on ez moad. x3

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

I think I've already run into situations where decisions I made in side quests have been brought up - sure, the game will have you select the major plot points, and a few of the important but less critical ones come up in a sort of 'review of your memories' session which I'm assuming was to allow people who didn't import their characters to recreate the political situation as they left it at the end of the previous game, but when Shepard brings up something he did in an optional side quest as proof of his identity for one of his old squad-mates, I'm pretty sure that's because I was using my old save.

So no, it's not going to be earth shattering, but there will probably be encounters where your dialog options differ or the situation plays out differently if the minor things you did in sidequests isn't being imported into the game. Don't even bother replaying ME1 if all you're going to do is blow through the main storyline though, as that won't really give you much beyond the major plot points they already let you specify.