Thinking of trying ME2

[Kinokohatake]

So I played Mass Effect shortly after it came out and honestly disliked it. The classes were difficult to figure out at the beginning and as such ended up replaying the beginning several times. I also disliked the combat. The initial shootout in the strip club killed me 10 times until the 11th time when I did nothing different and somehow won. The auto saves were very disappointing and checking out the planets I found tedious and dumb.

The storyline I found good and enjoyed the characters but the execution was just unpleasant to me. I have heard that ME2 is different in many areas.

So my question. Is ME2 worth picking up? Did anyone else dislike Mass Effect and then like Mass Effect 2?

 

[Zhukov]

Isn't there a demo of ME2 out there?

You could give that a try. At the very least it would give you a feel for the combat.

As for your various concerns...
- The classes in ME2 are mostly unchanged. Soldier uses all the guns, Infiltrator snipes, Vanguard is up close, Sentinel gets varied powers but hardly any weapons etc etc.
- The combat is smoother, faster and more 'action-y'. I don't know if that's your thing of not.
- Not sure about auto-saves. I always just used quicksave a lot.
- The planet exploration is gone. Instead you scan them from orbit. It's really boring, but also a lot quicker and you don't have to do it as often.
- Storyline, well... opinions differ. I thought it wasn't as good conceptually as ME1's, but was way better presented.
- There are more characters and most of them are better (IMO, anyway). A couple of the ones from ME1 rejoin your squad and the rest make appearances.

Personally, I loved ME2 despite being ambivalent about ME1. But I have no idea if you'd enjoy it.

 

[Dragonmaster3]

So I played Mass Effect shortly after it came out and honestly disliked it. The classes were difficult to figure out at the beginning and as such ended up replaying the beginning several times. I also disliked the combat. The initial shootout in the strip club killed me 10 times until the 11th time when I did nothing different and somehow won. The auto saves were very disappointing and checking out the planets I found tedious and dumb.

The storyline I found good and enjoyed the characters but the execution was just unpleasant to me. I have heard that ME2 is different in many areas.

So my question. Is ME2 worth picking up? Did anyone else dislike Mass Effect and then like Mass Effect 2?

Me! I found the first Mass Effect very boring, and only got a couple of hours into it before my friend took it back because I wasn't playing it anymore. I had to force myself to keep on playing, and it was a chore. However, I do have ME2, and it was just on my computer. So a couple of weeks ago I finally decide to play it even though I had it for a couple of months, and to my surprise I'm really loving it. It's wonderful, and I'm around 11 hours into the game, and I can't get enough of it. It's a huge difference.

So yeah, I did have the same feelings as you, such as exploring the planets really boring, but I would suggest checking out Mass Effect 2.

In Mass Effect, I didn't know you could change classes, so I was a soldier by default. In Mass Effect 2, I went vanguard because I love having powers, and that also adds to why I'm loving it. Happy gaming!

 

[Kinokohatake]

Thanks. Good to see someone in my boat here. I will go check it out. Thanks.