Mass Effect 2 mini rant...

[Souplex]

Class balance in the Space Wizards franchise is a funny thing.
In Space Wizards 1 Soldiers and Adepts were amazing, Vanguards and Infiltrators were pretty good, and Sentinels and Engineers were completely worthless.
In Space Wizards 2 Infiltrators and Soldiers are amazing, Sentinels and Engineers are good, adepts are okay, and vanguards are useless.
In 3 Vanguards are godlike forces of destruction, Infiltrators and Adepts are great, Sentinels, Engineers, and Soldiers are decent.
If you keep your class when transferring from 2 to 3 you get to keep your level, so it's something to take under consideration.

 

[The Enquirer]

Class balance in the Space Wizards franchise is a funny thing.
In Space Wizards 1 Soldiers and Adepts were amazing, Vanguards and Infiltrators were pretty good, and Sentinels and Engineers were completely worthless.
In Space Wizards 2 Infiltrators and Soldiers are amazing, Sentinels and Engineers are good, adepts are okay, and vanguards are useless.
In 3 Vanguards are godlike forces of destruction, Infiltrators and Adepts are great, Sentinels, Engineers, and Soldiers are decent.
If you keep your class when transferring from 2 to 3 you get to keep your level, so it's something to take under consideration.

As everyone has been saying the vanguard is good, just its very specific about how you need to use it. Using charge and pull to deal with multiple people and offset the enemy is pretty much a must. Works great if you use someone else to take down shields like Garrus.

 

[RJ 17]

I've never played Mass Effect before, so I thought I'd give it a go. I borrowed ME2 from a friend.

I start up the game, sit through the opening, watch the little comic, and get to create my character. I forget the name of the class I chose, but it was one that specialized in shotguns, since I tend to favor them in other TPSs. I escape the med-bay, watch a couple more cutscenes, and start my first mission. Unfortunately, this is when I find out that shotguns in this game fire confetti, have a microscopic ammo pool, and that most enemies are hiding waaaay off in the horizon. Evidently, I should have chosen assault/sniper rifles. But now, I can't, because I'm locked in to the class I knew nothing about when I chose it. Now, my only option is to do the two-and-a-half hour intro over again, about 2/3 of which is unskippable dialogue I JUST heard. So, I gave up on Mass Effect.

From the sound of other comments it looks like you've gotten your answers about what class you picked (Vanguard) and what that class is all about. The key to that class is the Biotic Charge ability, though personally I never liked the Vanguard in ME2.

Just in case no one has mentioned it yet, ME2 is all about having a squad that compensates for the areas the main character is lacking in. For a Vanguard, I'd say keeping Miranda and Jacob as your squadmates on missions would be pretty good, that or Garrus.

Here's a big tip though: make sure someone on your team has Warp and someone on your team has Overload. Warp is fantastic against taking down Barriers and Armor while Overload works against Shields. ME2's combat is all about dealing with the defenses an enemy has (armor, barrier, or shields) so having people that can quickly take those down is a big help.

Also, don't worry about the shotgun too much. About halfway through the game you actually get to pick a new weapon-class to specialize in (or you can pick up a super-version of your class' primary weapon, so in your case it'd be a shotgun). So if you want, you can get the ability to use sniper rifles or assault rifles.

 

[Yuuki]

Two and a half hour intro? Are you...are you serious? I have all the DLC's (including the Genesis one which gives you the intro comic) and I can clear the intro in ~10 minutes tops.
Trust me I've made a shit-ton of characters, didn't like how they looked, deleted them, created a new one, didn't like the name/class, deleted, created a new one, etc. Done the intro like 20 times, it's really not that long. The comic especially allows you to just spam-skip through all the slides (except the decision-making slides, you wanna be careful there).

actually its the most overpowered class in the game (vanguard) and it takes a bit more skill to master it completely.
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you may have the ability to do a charge that can, combined with your shotgun, transform your sheppard into a giant fist of flaming fuck you to the enemy.

IMO at higher difficulties the room for error with that class comes down to almost nothing, on several levels the charge setup will just get you killed more than anything. Too much planning required.

I would say the best class for ME2 is Infiltrator + full Sniper upgrades (+50% armor damage, +50% headshot damage). Assuming you play on PC, back-to-back headshots should be fairly easy to pull off...not sure how well it works on consoles.
For most missions I kept my trusty M-97 Viper and absolutely wrecked standard enemies with insta-kill headshots from across the map. It's almost impossible to run out of ammo with Viper due to being so efficient with kills and ammo pickups.
I kept M-92 Mantis (or M-98 Widow for later levels) to literally EXPLODE even the toughest enemies, anything from the big mechs to bosses. Mantis and Widow do such an insane amount of damage with 1 bullet to the head it's not even funny...armor, shields, barriers, doesn't matter.
All while you're completely safe behind cover on the other side of the map
It's just that you need to be good with consistent headshots.

 

[VoidOfOne]

First off, to answer your question, OP...

Skyrim. I came to the point where I had to start choosing between aiding the Empire, or aiding the Stormcloaks. I dislike both of them, but can't come to hate as I see both viewpoints. I couldn't decide. Haven't picked up the game since. Great game, but just couldn't get past this point.

Final Fantasy 12. When I heard that the direction of the game was to be more Western, or rather European in design, I gave up on it. Looks like a great game. But not a fan of it. Then again, I hold Final Fantasy 10 as my favorite of the series, and couldn't stand Final Fantasy 7. So take what I type with a grain of salt, as that viewpoint is certainly in the minority.

And I feel your pain on using shotguns, especially since this is your first entry into the Mass Effect series. It took me a while to get used to the system, and eventually the Vanguard (which is the name of the class in case you haven't heard) became my favorite class.

 

[TheMigrantSoldier]

Learning to be resourceful with what few heat sinks I had was immensely satisfying on Insanity. Just learn to use the almighty charge skill and you'll do fine.

 

[LetalisK]

Final Fantasy 12. When I heard that the direction of the game was to be more Western, or rather European in design, I gave up on it. Looks like a great game. But not a fan of it. Then again, I hold Final Fantasy 10 as my favorite of the series, and couldn't stand Final Fantasy 7. So take what I type with a grain of salt, as that viewpoint is certainly in the minority.

I'll add this game as well. I enjoyed most of the Final Fantasy games I've played(even FFX-2), but the deeper I got into FF12, the more I thought "I've heard of homage or inspiration, but this is just insulting now" and eventually just stopped playing it.

 

[spartan231490]

I've never played Mass Effect before, so I thought I'd give it a go. I borrowed ME2 from a friend.

I start up the game, sit through the opening, watch the little comic, and get to create my character. I forget the name of the class I chose, but it was one that specialized in shotguns, since I tend to favor them in other TPSs. I escape the med-bay, watch a couple more cutscenes, and start my first mission. Unfortunately, this is when I find out that shotguns in this game fire confetti, have a microscopic ammo pool, and that most enemies are hiding waaaay off in the horizon. Evidently, I should have chosen assault/sniper rifles. But now, I can't, because I'm locked in to the class I knew nothing about when I chose it. Now, my only option is to do the two-and-a-half hour intro over again, about 2/3 of which is unskippable dialogue I JUST heard. So, I gave up on Mass Effect.

annoyed exhale

Anyway, anyone else have something spoil a game for you?

edit: I slept on it and calmed down, so I think I'll give it another shot. Thanks to those who gave friendly advice on how to play the class, not-so-thanks to those who just told me I should have known better. I mean, I've never played this game before. I didn't know in class creation what powers did what. It'd be cool if they had you play the first mission then commit to a class after you find out what you like. Or maybe offer some kind of VR mission in the main menu that lets you try them out before you start the game. Or, at the very least, let you skip the intro...

Judging from the edit, you may have heard this already, but I'm pretty sure the classes that get shotguns also get pistols. Been a long time Since I've played ME2.

But yeah, ME2 was widely regarded the worst of the three by a large margin, so I'm not really surprised it has such a heavy flaw. Anyway, good luck and happy playing.

 

[VulakAerr]

But yeah, ME2 was widely regarded the BEST of the three by a large margin, so I'm not really surprised it has such a heavy flaw. Anyway, good luck and happy playing.

Fixed that for you.

No way is ME2 the worst. It's got the best dialogue, what many argue is the best characters and one of the best games of 2010. ME1 was the worst DESPITE the amazing story. I only get through that game because of the amazing world and story. The gameplay is horrible.

OP: Stick with the Vanguard. It is ridiculously fun. All points go to Charge, then to Shockwave. There are enemies later in the game who will simple disintegrate in the face of a heavy shockwave. Enjoy!