Sorry to derail this thread with the first game talk, but I spent about two hours on it already and I'm a fan.

Just a quick question: I understand how to map and use your abilities for Shepard, but what about your squad members? I'm assuming that whatever I have clicked for each member, they use automatically when needed. When I'm on the attack, I always forget to pay attention to what they are doing and can't tell if they automatically use them or you have to instruct them to use them.

Theres a setting that either has them do stuff automatically or wait for you to issue commands. I think by default they're on auto. I kept it on auto but I would pause the fights frequently to issue new commands.

basically yea, on default they will use their own powers, you can also bring up the wheel to select one of their powers manually (which is what I do often). Their might be a way to bind some of their powers to a quick button, but I've never done it.

I can't find a thread for the first game so I'm just posting in here.

I just took command of the Normandy and gave an inspirational speech for the ages to my crew about doing our part for humanity. I guess I'm playing as a paragon now, but I wanna play it again and be a total asshole just to see what happens.

thats where i am now...good shit.

Do characters only get XP if they are in your active squad? I feel like I'm neglecting the other characters in my party because I've mainly been using Williams and Garrus. If the other characters aren't getting the XP, I will have to find a way to use them.

Yeah, they do. Just use who you like, you should be able to switch pretty easy later on if you have to. The only thing that sucks is re-equipping your new characters.

Yea, pretty much. Everyone gets the same experience regardless of whether or not they are in your party. That's always nice. Equiping them can be a pain in the ass but you can use the lockers on the lower decks to help facilitate that.

Sweet, thanks for the info. This game rocks and I already did a shit ton of side quests.

Did anyone do the one with the guy who asks for your autograph? My answer was angry and I turned him down,but when I looked in the journal, it said I had to go find him. I've looked everywhere and I can't find this idiot. I don't even want to give him my autograph, I just want to yell at him some more. I survived a massacre while the rest of my squad died. I am no hero.

I gave him the Autograph but in my journal it says...Whats the harm in an autograph? I hope it doesnt bite me on the ass. I also made them give the indian guys wifes body back.

You can find him in the market place again once you do one of the main story quests. You'll actually meet him about 3 times through this process. First time he wants an autograph, the second he wants a picture, and the third time he wants to become a Spectre.

Anyhow, just go back to the lower markets in the Wards after you finish Feros, Noveria or Liara's Dig Site.

I did the same thing with the body and I also helped some guy test his Quasar cheat device.

If you guys dont mind paying $5 or whatever it is now, the 'Bring Down the Sky' DLC rewards you with some of the best armor/weapons in the game.

Not sure how I feel about that, not because of the price, but it seems like cheating. Can you earn them later in the game?

No you can only get them by completing the Bring Down the Sky mission. I'm not sure I consider it cheating, it's content Bioware created to be played at any level. The mission is fun and you'll probably get some decent XP out of it too.

OH! I didn't realize it was a mission, I thought you were just buying the weapons.

oh haha yeah now I see. Yeah you download the mission and then you get a new signal on your Galaxy Map. You fly out there and the mission starts.

I hope you guys play ME2 after you beat the first one. I'm playing it right now and it's blowing my mind. It's pretty much the game I wish the first one was, although there could be a bit more exploration on the individual planets. Everything else is amazing. I love the ice and fire ammo. Watching a Krogan freeze mid-stride and fall over stiff is hilarious.

The odd part is that a lot of fans of ME1 complained about having to explore planets that's why they cut it out. I kind of miss the MAKO but at the same time I don't miss the whole trying to drive through mountain ranges thing haha.

That piece of shit MAKO is why I stopped playing the game.

Theres a new and improved MAKO coming via free DLC in a few weeks, along with some new planets to explore with it. Theres also some new armor coming out tomorrow for free.

I wonder if they left the Mako out of the retail game because they didn't want to risk lower review scores...

From what they said on the 1up podcast it sounded like some features just weren't ready at launch so they decided to release them as free DLC instead. I didn't mind the Mako that much in the first game, in fact I actually enjoyed fighting the big ass Geth with it. I think there was lots of room for improvement though, so hopefully we'll see that when they release it.

The Cerberus Armor and Shotgun are up on the Cerberus Network to download.

hahaha, I agree, but I kind of liked tearing through mobs of enemies with the mako. The cannon was awesome.

I got to Ilium last night, and I gotta say, I was pretty bummed that Liara doesn't want to come back to the ship. In fact, pretty much every time I find an old crewmate, it's a bummer. I'm really looking forward to getting Tali back. It seems like no one in this game trusts me. I guess things will change once I start doing my crew's personal missions.