The mining doesn't bother me at all. I did most of my mining before I found the upgrade, so if anything, I like it more.

The Jack stuff is fantastic.

My favorite was right off the bat....

My favorite line so far was when Jacob compared doing something to

so who do i have to fuck to get my Normandy scanners upgraded? i've upgraded the shields and it's armor and weapons, but no scanner yet.

How does the loyalty system work? I see that Zaeed right now is loyal and everyone else is just normal. Does how often I bring squad members on missions affect loyalty?

I think Jacob? Not sure. It makes the cursor move faster when in "Scan Mode".

Zaeed is easy, his loyalty mission is open from the get-go. Everyone else will come to you in time. You can either check in with them, check your mission log if they're ready to be talked to, or constantly check in with Yeoman Chambers (by the Galaxy Map)>

Yeah I laughed my ass off after that one. I don't remember much cursing at all in the first game. It's a nice change IMO.

Infiltrator is awesome with the improved sniping. I've been using Jack with either Garrus, Mordin, or Miranda but will probably use Grunt instead of those 3 since I need someone for close range combat.

One little cool thing I've found is when you talk to Joker about the crew, he'll comment on the last two squadmates you used on a mission. I've only done this once but I assume he'll do this every time.

Regarding scanning. My buddy gave me a tip that he does and so far it's been working for me.

Instead of holding down LT looking for stuff, we tap it rapidly and keep an eye (and ear) on the graph. It moves much faster, but isn't a continuous scan. Will you miss things? Probably, but if you tap it enough to get a good coverage as you move, you'll see all the interesting points and you can fine-tune it slowly.

I'm getting about the same results as I was before, but in maybe a third of the time.

I think I read you get it from Miranda. I'm trying to find this out for myself too. Scanning sucks but it's nice racking up resources knowing you'll be able to get some upgrades with them.

Question about the collector's edition (for the 360).

I got mine the day it came out at Fry's (they just had one), and I told my friend that's the version he should pick up since the extra $10 is totally worth it in this case but he can't find it anywhere. The only place it seems to be available is amazon marketplace for over $100.

Is it limited, OOP? Do any stores, online or B&M have any, or getting more?

I installed both discs to the hard-drive and the load times are pretty quick.

I didn't know about this, I keep going up to everyone after each mission, this sounds like a must better way to check. What should I be looking for specifically in the mission log?

It'll start with their name

Unemployment helps with that. I put in around 8 the first day, then around 10 or so the next two.

I saw about 20-30 copies in my local Best Buy Tuesday.

In terms of controls, gameplay, and direction is ME2 close or the same as ME1? Like I mentioned before my ME1 game (used) didn't have a guide and I just went ahead and picked up ME2. I'm still trying to get a grip on how the power wheel works and which parts of your character (guns, armor, soldier, bio, etc) you should concentrate your points on the most.

Minor quibble...

Might as well have spoilered that, Wolf. Way too much information already.

The inventory/skill system is greatly simplified. You'll be using the power wheel much more frequently since you'll need a mix of powers to take out a group of enemies and some of the more complicated enemies. There's always a mix of shields, barriers, armor, synthetic, and flesh at any given time and different skills are applicable to each.

It's ok, though, because the recharge rate on the skills is insanely fast.

I've been doing that from the start. All you have to do is watch for small movements on the graph. When you see one, you're near a deposit. Sometimes it's obvious with a huge spike, sometimes not.

If you say so....

Well you narrowed it down pretty significantly. And if you'd been reading this thread, I'm pretty liberal on what I would consider a spoiler. That, I most definitely would.

"Loyalty" is kind of a misnomer in this game. This of it more as "Focused" or "Committed".

The quests you do to gain their loyalty are things that are bugging them personally, but they realize isn't part of the overall mission. You taking time to help them resolve those things allows them to focus on the task at hand. That's made pretty clear in the mission epilogues.

As far as Archangel is concerned, that character most definitely has something in the galaxy to attend to.

I'm absolutely loving the character development in the game! I can't wait for the inevitable rug to be pulled from under my feet when I most likely have to make some difficult decision down the road.

He's right, you should spoiler it.