Mass Effect / Mass Effect 2

[Guynemer]

I bought it recently to check out what my Radeon 5770 could do. I have to agree with Spike: pretty good game, overall, but the side quests are boring so far. I also hate the party management system: its a ****ing pain in the ass.

Just make sure you've set it up so your party uses their powers automatically; they may not use them perfectly, but they do well enough to get by. In my most recent playthrough, I very rarely lost a battle while only actively managing my primary character's powers.

Also, certain character combinations work great. I was an engineer in my last playthrough, so adding an adept (Liara) and soldier (Ashley) worked well. Garrus and Wrex are always a good combo as well.

[Nostromo]

I meant that changing your party members is a PIA. For example, if your electronics skill is too low to decrypt a safe, you have to go back on the MAKO, return on the Normandy, select members with higher electronics skill, then return on the planet... only to discover that your electronics skill is still not high enough.

[flash9286]

Don't they have items you could buy that would decrypt safes above your electronic skill? I used to carry some of those around just in case.

[Guynemer]

Yes. Either break down some of the extra weapons/mods you're carrying around into omnigel, or keep a high electronics person around (Tali or Garrus), or have high electronics yourself.

Garrus is a terror with a sniper rifle, as is Tali with a shotgun, properly upgraded. Just keep one of them in your party all the time if you're not an engineer, or keep some omnigel handy.