Mass Effect 2: Shepard’s Initial Stats
As always with a game that spans many hours, I like to geek out and share my initial stats and early progress status; details such as character class, level, hours spanned, and anything else worth mentioning.
With Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, there is only one character you can command as the story’s protagonist, and that character is Lieutenant Commander Shepard (with varying degrees of customisation available). Thanks to the efficient devs at Bioware, Mass Effect 2 easily enables you to import a previous character from Mass Effect, with all previous plot and dialogue choices having been cached. I ported my second character, Chris Shepard, which in return gave me a nice boost to my stats. Thanks, Bioware!
On to the intel…
Chris Shepard is a level 8 Adept, an apathetic bastard who, given the choice, will usually go for the Renegade option in both dialogue and action. He was level 53 in my original playthrough of Mass Effect, which rounded his stats at Level 3 when I ported him to Mass Effect 2. A nice boost for jumping in on Insanity difficulty (which, so far, hasn’t been too insane).
Adepts specialise in biotics, though I do find Shepard is handy enough with a pistol to be competent in firearm usage. I think my favourite Biotic power is Warp, but I do like to use Throw if an enemy gets too close. Pull is also handy if an enemy is dangerously near a steep drop. Unfortunately Adepts only boast light armour, however as I had played Dragon Age: Origins, I’m able to equip Shepard with badass Blood Dragon Armour. It means I won’t see his face during cutscenes, but at this moment in time (i.e. early on in the game on Insanity difficulty with a low level character) I feel it’s a worthy trade-off.
Pre-service history wise, I opted for Shepard to be Earthborn, which means he had a rough childhood in the slums of Earth before joining the Alliance, and he has a perfectly justifiable gritty edge to his personality. It seems only natural that I play Shepard as Renegade, not Paragon.
Psychologically, I opted for Shepard to be a War Hero, meaning he risked his life early in his military career to spare the lives of his fellow soldiers by single handedly repelling what was considered an impossible attack. Shepard does his job and does it well. Without going into spoiler territory, though I have uploaded a video of the opening sequence for those who are curious, Shepard’s pride in his work is exhibited very early on in Mass Effect 2.
Since I’ve not been playing for a tremendous amount of time, I’ve yet to recruit all party members. I’ll also refrain from sharing who I have recruited as I don’t want to prematurely uncover any spoilers (you can always have a nosey at my Achievements if you wish to see how far I’ve got). However, Miranda, who joins your party at an early stage, is one of my firm favourites. Okay, so it’s possibly down to her tight body, good looks and the fact she is more than capable of looking after herself, but I am hoping she is a love interest for Shepard. If there’s a love plot on the cards, I’ll be pursuing her and swiftly sharing graphic stories on my blog, similar to a high school jock in the shower room who’s not long lost his virginity.
What are your stats?
I don’t have anything derogatory to say about Alan Wake. My advice to you? Spend a night in Bright Falls and soak up the eerie atmosphere. Alan Wake excels at thrilling you psychologically. Which is why it’s called a psychological thriller, I guess…
Tim