Board 8 > Rate the VG Story Day 41: Mass Effect 2

(+) Yeah! (+)

Come on guys, lets get a higher number of ratings here, its Mass Effect 2. How would you rate the story on a scale of 1-10?

Previous Results:
Outer Wilds - 9.63 (20 votes)
Omori - 9.6 (5 votes)
Nier Automata - 9.25 (31 votes)
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - 9.1 (14 votes)
Xenogears - 8.71 (23 votes)
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty 8.67 (31 votes)
Metal Gear Solid - 8.67 (27 votes)
Final Fantasy Tactics - 8.65 (23 votes)
Disco Elysium - 8.58 (12 votes)
Undertale - 8.53 (40 votes)
Yakuza: Like a Dragon - 8.4 (5 votes)
Final Fantasy X - 8.38 (54 votes)
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective 8.35 (18 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - 8.13 (39 votes)
The Last of Us - 8.1 (34 votes)
Life is Strange - 7.85 (30 votes)
Doki Doki Literature Club - 7.8 (21 votes)
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair - 7.67 (27 votes)
Bioshock - 7.64 (23 votes)
Celeste - 7.5 (23 votes)
Mass Effect - 7.35 (28 votes)
Tales of the Abyss - 7.34 (27 votes)
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - 7.26 (29 votes)
Hotel Dusk: Room 215 - 7.25 (12 votes)
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony - 7.17 (23 votes)
Super Paper Mario - 7 (20 votes)
Hollow Knight - 6.98 (20 votes)
Death Stranding - 6.73 (13 votes)
Chrono Cross - 6.69 (16 votes)
Dark Souls - 6.62 (20 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All - 6.66 (30 votes)
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc - 6.6 (27 votes)
Valkyria Chronicles - 6.5 (16 votes)
DOOM (2016) - 6.25 (12 votes)
Professor Layton and the Curious Village - 6.1 (13 votes)
Final Fantasy IV - 5.72 (29 votes)
Uncharted: Drakes Fortune - 5.26 (28 votes)
Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright - 4.91 (11 votes)
Final Fantasy XIII - 4.91 (27 votes)
Fallout 4 - 4.39 (14 votes)
Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest - 3.64 (14 votes)
Fire Emblem Fates (overall) - 3.45 (10 votes)
Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation - 2.38 (8 votes)

You can still rate previous days games if you missed them, just write <game name> <rating>. If you want to change your rating you can just specify that you are changing your rating. Nominations for future days are also welcome, nominate as many games as you like and I will get to all of them.

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9/10

Loyalty missions alone give this a high score. It's a fantastic concept. I detract a point because it's clearly a bridge to the last game so the main plot doesn't feel like it accomplishes that much.

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Yakuza 0 would've gotten at least three times as many ratings! Going for 7 already was a weird choice.

ME2 - 8.5

loyalty missions are great and I'm happy that you can romance cool characters. Sovereign is also great. ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL too good.
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Lightning Strikes, do you keep track of who has rated which games? Can't recall if I rated Tales of the Abyss and Celeste.

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9.5/10

Fantastic use of characters, extremely tense sci-fi storytelling with high stakes, dark atmosphere, and horrific outcomes, and a driving sense of pace that make each mission an absolute pulse-pounder as new developments are revealed constantly. Much improved dialogue selections, voice work, and direction. It only isn't 10 because it doesn't really have much of a conclusion on its own.

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8

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9.25

Sidequests: The Game have a track record of being A++

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9

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8

A big improvement over ME1, especially in terms of having nuanced characters and interesting situations. What lets it down a little is a mostly-generic main plot and dull bad guy.

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9

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Kenri posted...

Lightning Strikes, do you keep track of who has rated which games? Can't recall if I rated Tales of the Abyss and Celeste.

Yep. You did not!

Everybody, I have a table on the back end so just ask if you want to know what you did or didnt rate or a whole list.

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Thanks!

Tales of the Abyss 4.5/10
Celeste 8/10

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7.5 / 10

The characters carry it, but the main story is too weak for me to rate it higher.

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Never played that Yakuza game; would've rated if I could

8.5/10

Having just replayed the trilogy, it solidifies its status as the best ME game. Really good characters and adds a little bit of edge to the world established in ME1. It sacrifices a bit of that "hard sci-fi" flavor it flirted with in the original though. I would've liked to have seen more non-humanoid races around, and it doesn't have as good of a hub world as the original citadel.

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8.5/10

Main quest is too skinny like others have said, but the characters are undeniably awesome.

Lightning Strikes posted...

Yep. You did not!

Everybody, I have a table on the back end so just ask if you want to know what you did or didnt rate or a whole list.

Thanks for all you do. I look forward to these topics every night.

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10

9

Carried on the strength of its characters/loyalty missions

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Nominate Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

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Nominate KotOR and KotOR 2
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9

The overarching plot of Mass Effect 2 in the grand scheme of the trilogy is the least consequential which is why I would give it a 9. The loyalty missions however is the best part of the trilogy and character interaction is at its most consistent and strongest.

9

ME2 feels like they just took the framework of ME1 and spent most of their effort working on the story. Boy did it payoff.

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This is tough because whether loyalty missions count or not would have a fairly large impact on my thoughts here. Without them it's not exactly barebones but it's a lot weaker. With them it's improved significantly.

Eh, I'll lean a bit more towards the former and say 7.5

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8/10
As others have mentioned, carried by the great characters.

I used to be a fiend for Mass Effect, and this was one of my all time favourite games. But writingwise it has dated quite a bit for me. The characters are fun, the world is great, but the game is not as nuanced as it thinks and it reinforces the writers' own militaristic worldview way more than I previously realised. The individual loyalty missions are usually great but the main story is weak and the pacing is pretty clunky in spots. Still the best game in the trilogy, the atmosphere is terrific but the cracks are much more visible these days imo.

7/10

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8/10

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9

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9

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6/10

ME2 is a game of extremes, with the central plot being absolutely awful while everything else averages out to great

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9.5

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Panthera posted...

6/10

ME2 is a game of extremes, with the central plot being absolutely awful while everything else averages out to great

it explains so much that 6/10 rates as great for you

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I'm not sure how you think 6/10 being the summary of a mixture of awful and great means that 6/10 is great

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"everything else averages out to great" can be read like you're saying the whole package balances out to be great in the end

it was meant to be a joke but it probably only rates as a good 3/10

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8.5

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