Board 8 > Mass effect 2 on Insanity is so much harder than ME1 on insanity wtf

(+) Yeah! (+)

So I somehow had never played the mass effect games, and being a fairly experienced third person shooter fan (Returnal still might be my GoTY) for some reason I thought trying for the insanity achievement was a good idea.

Im not mad its hard, but I was not expecting the insane difficulty jump between games. Wtf. Picked Adapt in 1, found it kind of boring, and switched to Infiltrator in 2. Did I accidentally pick the worst class or something

---

Depends on what you're struggling with. The spike isn't really there until you head to Horizon imo, and then the game just defecates in your face. It's also a thing of knowing what the good weapons are and knowing your abilities and those of your squad.

Infiltrator is also a pretty hard class, just because you're generally sniping, so you have to keep distance or you have a problem. Soldier and Sentinel are probably the best classes for Insanity with Vanguard coming after. Infiltrator, Adept, and Engineer are the tougher ones.

---

survive until you get the widowmaker sniper rifle then it's EZ mode

---

I had a blast with Insanity ME2 Infiltrator. It definitely gets easier once you get the Widowmaker but there's still a handful of super tough fights.

And yes, it's way harder than ME1 Insanity because ME1 is so easy to break and is also not a hard game at all anyway.

---

I cheesed me2 by going soldier/sniper. The slow motion ability turned it into a point and click adventure game.

The infiltrator's powers power is to turn invisible, right? That sounds harder to aim with for sure

---

Soldier's adrenaline rush is so broken with its 3 second cooldown which made my ME2 Insanity Run a cakewalk. Now ME3 Insanity was the hardest one in the series but even that can be broken apart completely with some of Shep's abilities.

I reset some of the rooms in the ArcAngel fight so many times. Some of those blast doors was like learning speed running routes, hitting invisible at just the right time.

its hard as hell but Im liking it a lot more than ME1

---

banananor posted...

I cheesed me2 by going soldier/sniper. The slow motion ability turned it into a point and click adventure game.

The infiltrator's powers power is to turn invisible, right? That sounds harder to aim with for sure

Tactical Cloak gives a slowdown if you go into scope while it's active iirc.

masterplum posted...

I reset some of the rooms in the ArcAngel fight so many times. Some of those blast doors was like learning speed running routes, hitting invisible at just the right time.

Also, fair play, I do remember this section also being a major pain in the ass. The timing, flamethrowers, armor, krogan, and varren make this section a huge clusterfuck.

---

Wait until you get to Arrival, that shit is rough.

---

RyoCaliente posted...

Soldier and Sentinel are probably the best classes for Insanity with Vanguard coming after.

The catch with Vanguard in ME2 is that a lot of sections partially or completely prevent you from using Charge. So the difficulty is kinda all over the place. (Lack of Nova as an i-frame buffer can be rough too even in the sections that don't screw you.)
---

Kasumi is busted against a certain enemy type because her Flashbang Grenade completely shuts down their best unit. You can take that as a bonus power but it's not as good as her version because you have to aim yours and it has a delay whereas hers is instant.

Trying not to spoil things but taking her to a certain midgame mission makes it much, much easier.

Best bonus power for Infil is probably Energy Drain. Having the ability to refill shields while cloaked without breaking it makes Insanity a breeze in ME2 and 3.

ChaosTonyV4 posted...

Wait until you get to Arrival, that shit is rough.

The only real rough part is the part you don't have to beat. Also LE doesn't even have an achievement for doing it.
---

Oh and cloak's cooldown is tied to the amount of time you spend cloaked. The longer you cloak the longer the cooldown. Minimum time is always 3 seconds.

Kasumi is pretty cool. I think she is going to be in the party for a while unless someone really wows me.

And of course Garrus is still my man. Seriously considering romancing him.

I'm curious what playing the game as a male would be like, because playing it as a Renegade leaning FemShep in ME1 felt really correct.

I've read a bit that renegade gets more evil as the game goes on which makes me sad. Renegade Fem shep was such a badass in ME1

---

Murphiroth posted...

Oh and cloak's cooldown is tied to the amount of time you spend cloaked. The longer you cloak the longer the cooldown. Minimum time is always 3 seconds.

You're mixing up ME2 and ME3 specific mechanics, I think.
---

Yeah scratch most of what I said, it's ME3 stuff.

ME2 doesn't even have bonus damage on anything but weapons IIRC.

Energy Drain is still probably your best bonus power though.

One of the shield powers gives you some weapon damage bonus and is definitely better than Energy Drain in ME2, but it's the one you get super late in the game.
---

Hmm... I don't think I've ever done an Insanity run as my initial playthrough - I've always done it as a NG+ run, which obviously makes things much easier. In fact, Infiltrator is probably the easiest ME2 class when you're starting fully spec'd and packin a Widowmaker.

But generally speaking, Miranda and Kasumi are considered the best squadmates. Miranda is, IIRC, the only character who can buff the entire squad's weapon damage, and Kasumi has Frag Grenade and Shadow Strike, both of which can be broken. I'd stick with them for... pretty much every main mission.

I'd also do Kasumi's loyalty mission asap to hook her (and yourself) up with the game's best submachine gun.

---

CaptainOfCrush posted...

I'd also do Kasumi's loyalty mission asap to hook her (and yourself) up with the game's best submachine gun.

This is good advice, though the mission itself can be pretty hard on Insanity especially early on.

The SMG is a fantastic back-up weapon for an Infil.

Murphiroth posted...

This is good advice, though the mission itself can be pretty hard on Insanity especially early on.

The SMG is a fantastic back-up weapon for an Infil.

I honestly thought her loyalty mission wasn't nearly as bad as Garus. Shadow strike felt broken as hell. I could just hide while she killed things

---

Well Shadow Strike doesn't have much use at the end of either of those, for the exact same reason.
---

Are they using drones. I wish someone would tell me

---

Nonzero chance lair of the shadow broker took me more time than all of mass effect 1


---

That sentence makes me worry that Wrex isn't alive in your game.
---

kevwaffles posted...

That sentence makes me worry that Wrex isn't alive in your game.

He should be? Was he supposed to be in lair or the shadow broker?

I just had some of those segments take me hours. The rooftop fight after the crash was brutal

---

No, he isn't in that, but if you rushed ME1 the odds he's alive are much lower.
---

kevwaffles posted...

No, he isn't in that, but if you rushed ME1 the odds he's alive are much lower.

If you rush it too much (and make some odd choices), the odds he's alive though are much greater.

If you only have 4 party members, Wrex survives Virmire no matter what. You just have to pass up recruiting Garrus and save Liara for last.

---

Amusingly I probably would have rushed it more if I knew ME2 was so good.

The side quests are so much more interesting in this game

---

ya go my me2

best game in the trilogy

---

Random aside,

I kind of want to see what would be different if I played it differently, but Renegade Female Shepard seems even more extremely correct in ME2. I clicked a paragon quick time button once because of how nauseatingly out of place it was.

Shooting the hostage in the shadow broker quest line was one of the most badass moments of the series so far.

---

Dancedreamer posted...

If you rush it too much (and make some odd choices), the odds he's alive though are much greater.

If you only have 4 party members, Wrex survives Virmire no matter what. You just have to pass up recruiting Garrus and save Liara for last.

Very odd choices indeed. If you miss the standard recruiting moment for Garrus or Wrex (you can't miss both), they'll show up before you can leave the Citadel to join your party. You can choose to deny here, but you can't miss the opportunity.
---

Widow sniper rifle did make a big difference. Sometimes I dont even save between battles now!

---