ME2 360 owners prefer Grunt to Miranda

By Robert Purchese Published 7 September, 2010

Must be liz-ard abs.

Xbox 360 gamers preferred team-mate Grunt to team-mate Miranda, although the opposite was true on PC, BioWare has revealed.

"On the PC, people did Miranda's loyalty mission quite a bit, which is where she is trying to connect with her sister and it's more of a touchy-feely plot," exec producer Casey Hudson told IGN. "Not a lot of Xbox 360 players did that one. But the Xbox 360 players did do Grunt's mission a lot more than PC players."

BioWare noted that Xbox 360 owners did 10 per cent more loyalty missions than PC players.

The average time taken to finish Mass Effect 2 was recorded as 33 hours, although two people managed to clock 66 hours before finishing. PC owners took an hour longer than their console counterparts to wade through.

The most number of playthroughs was 28, which was achieved by two PC gamers. Four Xbox 360 owners completed the game 23 times. Pathetic.

By far the most played Mass Effect 2 class was the Soldier, which was picked more than any other class combined. The least popular class was the Engineer.

Only 20 per cent chose to be a female Shepard (including me), and 80 per cent tinkered with their hero's face before the game got underway. From there, half that started the game saw it through, and a further 50 per cent imported saved games from Mass Effect 1.

Finally, only 15 per cent of conversations were skipped.

How did you play yours?

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (87) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • thomaspower0 #1 1 year ago

    Miranda must look crap on the xbox 360 hehe.

  • Yossarian #2 1 year ago

    28 times?!

  • AllenSpawn #3 1 year ago

    I'm 360.... But it was Miranda.... Always Miranda!

    47 hrs on my playthru!

  • Eraysor #4 1 year ago

    Moar stats!

    And I did every mission possible...that marathon 10 hour session to finish the game from 25-35 hours I did one night is actually one of my favourite gaming experiences. Absolute masterpiece of a game.

  • RedPanda #5 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 14:31:59 28-01-2012

  • FreakyZoid #6 1 year ago

    " The average time taken to finish Mass Effect 2 was recorded as 33 hours "

    " The most number of playthroughs was 28 "

    33 x 28 = 924
    924 / 24 = 38.5

    More than a month of solid playing. Wonder how much of that time was spent on the shitty planet scanning minigame.

  • Geordiemp #7 1 year ago

    Wonder how many times I invitred Kelly up to my room for a dance .....

    hides in shame....

  • gingerlink #8 1 year ago

    @FreakyZoid

    I'm guessing once you've completed it 28 times, you're running well under the average time though

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #9 1 year ago

    Doesn't everyone do every single loyalty mission...? Miranda's was better than Grunt's, too, if I recall.

    I've still not completed it once, though, and here are some nutters who've done it 28 times!

  • CaptainQuint #10 1 year ago

    My character boned Miranda. That is all.

  • jack_klugman #11 1 year ago

    Geordiemp: Ask BioWare, they almost certainly know.

  • mrStones #12 1 year ago

    Huh, surely how many shepards survived, good/evil and how many players lost crew members would have been more interesting factoids? Seeing as this was presented as a suicide mission.

    Played it once and thoughrly enjoyed it except for the final boss who was shit gameplay/storywise.

  • galerian86 #13 1 year ago

    Say what you like about the Mako, it never made me thinks twice to replay ME1. But the planet scanning thing, dear God, remove that Bioware.

  • Deckard1 #14 1 year ago

    Its the only woman most PC gamers get to spend any time with.

  • Eraysor #15 1 year ago

    I thought the last boss was pretty cool (despite being utterly ridiculous) because if a human-shaped Reaper is generated from human DNA and material, this implies than the Reapers were once an organic squid/bug type race...

  • Lionheart #16 1 year ago

    Grunt > Mirandface

  • TheJuriel #17 1 year ago

    80 of people chose to be male Shepard, of which 80 percent chose to tinker with their face? But... custom Shepard cannot look in any way better than the custom model (based on male model) default Shepard!

    Me, I went with female Shepard, because her voice is awesome.

  • Evolution #18 1 year ago

    @TheJuriel

    "Me, I went with female Shepard, because her voice is awesome."

    She is indeed awesome.

  • kangarootoo #19 1 year ago

    @Eraysor

    Is that so unlikely, given it is an alien race we are talking about?

    Anyway, the "original" reapers might not have been the actual true form of the reapers, they could have just been reapers based on alien squid DNA. There was nothing to say what was depicted hadn't happened before.

  • ParanoidZombie #20 1 year ago

    When will EG post Shadow Broker's review, BTW?

  • Alkeno #21 1 year ago

    28 playthroughs, holly shit.

    I did 3 on ME and other 3 on ME2 and my L2 implants were already hurting badly...

  • kangarootoo #22 1 year ago

    @TheJuriel

    Speak for yourself. My custom Shephard face looked brilliant :)

  • kesouk #23 1 year ago

    Its sad that so many people went for Soldier... and even sadder that not many picked Engineer! I played through first time as an Engineer, and I loved being able to clear rooms using things such as my drone, AI hacking... Getting a Geth Prime to do your killing for you was awesome!

  • the_dudefather #24 1 year ago

    How many stops on the citadel are Shepard's favourite, in total?

    Would like to see the stats on story choices and overall paragon/renegade stuff

  • CraigMcG #25 1 year ago

    did all loyalty missions no one died in final mission took about 36 hours 1st run 30 2nd
    Edited by 1 at 07/09/10 @ 17:11

  • Alkeno #26 1 year ago

    [link url=http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/im age/article/111/1117896/crazy-mass-effect-2-stats-and-what-t heyre-used-for-20100903105831289.jpg
    ]http://xb ox360media.ign.com/xbox360/imag...[/link]

    This is the link to the IGN story. Pretty sad only 50% of the people who started the game got to finish it. Curiously, 50% of the people imported a ME save. That means that, not being too thorough, than half the people who played ME2 came from ME (and likely finished it) and the other half just bought if from hype and never got to finish it...

    Edit: Depressing fact, 50% played as soldier class. It's the only class I've never played with... it's a RPG, for god's sake, not Gears of War.
    Edited by 1 at 07/09/10 @ 16:58

  • Miths #27 1 year ago

    FemShep is the only way to play Mass Effect. Jennifer Hale rocks! :)

  • Monkey_Chops #28 1 year ago

    I did every single loyalty mission and I reckon I've found and done every sidequest, too. Nearly 50 hours on my second playthrough.

  • RexRunti #29 1 year ago

    Is that 50% of people who owned the game completed it or 50% of started playthroughs were completed?

    Either way a 50% completion rate for a game that takes 33hrs is pretty good. I wonder what the percentages of Call of Duty, Gears of War, God of War etc. are.

  • lucky_jim #30 1 year ago

    @kangarootoo

    I agree with your sentiment there. I thought the default male Shepard looked far too much like a 20 year old American jock, and didn't fit the back story at all. I made mine all ugly-rific, and he looked like a serious badass.

  • kangarootoo #31 1 year ago

    @lucky_jim

    Mine too. Looked late 40s early 50s, shaved head, thin eyes. As if you crossed Jean Luc Picard with the General blokey out of Avatar. Somebody who could save the universe without needing a packed lunch and knee pads.

  • woodnotes #32 1 year ago

    On 360. ALWAYS Miranda for me. Every mission. Every time :)

  • fiery_jackass #33 1 year ago

    female shepherd renegade, all the way. Started off looking a bit like Debbie Harry on the Rockbird cover, ended up looking a bit like a Debbie Harry on the Rockbird cover that would give you quite the spanking if you were naughty.

  • Markitron #34 1 year ago

    Just checked my primary character file, including every DLC and side mission (even the shadow broker one released today) my time was 46 hours. My other file is at 36 hours. Sidenote: Get the Shadowbroker DLC, its utterly brilliant, easily would have been one of the games highlights if it had been included on the disk

  • MattyD #35 1 year ago

    Consolve cavemen! Grunt isn't terribly useful on the higher difficulties since he has nothing to offer but the ability to take damage. Miranda, on the other hand, is the most useful party member because her Cerberus Officer power boosts everyone else's stats as well as her own, and she has Warp to take down those pesky biotic barriers and armour.

  • udat #36 1 year ago

    I have heard you guys talk about the superior voice acting of FemShep a few times and I started my second play through with a female character and I just don't click with it. She sounds bored most of the time. It's weird how different you all seem to view her voice. I want to like it too!

    It's the same voice actress as Bastilla, yes? I loved Bastilla. :(

  • Sonic_D #37 1 year ago

    Soldier? Boring. Infiltrator all the way baby, the sniper rifle was too good to miss out on, as was the camo head shot damage boost.

    Beat the game twice, first time was on normal and I did everything, clocked in at about 40 hours. Second playthrough was on insanity and I did just what I needed to beat the game in order to get the last achievment. Normal was too easy, Insanity was too cheap and exposed the game mechanics a bit. I'd say for a single playthrough go for Hardcore.

  • Badassbab #38 1 year ago

    I picked Miranda....maybe most 360 owners find Grunts hot or kept confusing it with the Grunts in Halo.

  • Morthill #39 1 year ago

    I played the game three times, tried different classes, genders, good/evil, did every loyalty mission, imported characters from ME1. I did about everything the game let's you do :D Oh, and romance with Tali and Miranda of course. The cute and hot romance-plots :-)

  • Freek #40 1 year ago

    Why would you skip any loyality mission? Those were the best parts of the game!

  • pinkio #41 1 year ago

    Tell me! Is it wrong? I ALWAYS play the female character in games..... and before you all start I am a happily(?) married father of two strapping sons.

  • fluff_the_tiger #42 1 year ago

    ^^

    Looks at name

  • Yossarian #43 1 year ago

    50% completion is well above the industry average.

    Why do you think games have become progressively shorter and easier?

  • menage #44 1 year ago

    I was a female Shepard and chose Miranda all the time. I'm still angry for them not having sex though.:p

  • pinkio #45 1 year ago

    @fluff_the_tiger

    Tee hee...... Pinkio is a nickname since my surname is Floyd ...as in Pink Floyd.... I have no prediliction for pink things. Fluffy things however.........

  • UncleLou #46 1 year ago

    This is the link to the IGN story. Pretty sad only 50% of the people who started the game got to finish it.

    That's actually a lot. You should look at the global achievement stats on Steam of various games, even great games get shockingly low "finished" percentages.

    Depressing fact, 50% played as soldier class. It's the only class I've never played with... it's a RPG, for god's sake, not Gears of War.

    Don't know about you, but I was controlling a party in the game. It's not Star Wars: Force Unleashed, after all.

  • Sunyavadin #47 1 year ago

    Miranda was the most pointless, unlikeable character in that entire game.
    Give me a woman with a real personality, not just a pair of boobs, anyday. Her loyalty mission was about the only point at which I had any interest in her, and even then I had to kick her into behaving like a real human being.

  • DjFlex52 #48 1 year ago

    Played it twice....once as a male goody-two-shoes Vanguard Shepard & then a female renegade Adept Shepard...both ME1 saves. They were great. I porked Miranda and Thane, respectively ;-)

    Now I'm playing a Paragon/Renegade male soldier Shepard on Insanity without a ME1 save and all the added DLC. Personally, I miss all the characters I met in ME1 that are not included in my game this time.

  • Torkin #49 1 year ago

    I don't understand, if you like the game, doing every loyalty mission is the least you can do. Without them, it's a short game and a very short story.

  • hiddenranbir #50 1 year ago

    I'm gonna throw the "PC gamers are more lonely pervs" card

    I played it on PC, though so that comment was totally self-deprecating.

  • darc #51 1 year ago

    Creepiest. EG thread. Evar.

  • tachometer #52 1 year ago

    How many people who played it downloaded the Cerberus pack with Zaeed?

  • Markitron #53 1 year ago

    Can you even beat the game without doing the loyalty missions? I'm a bit hazy on my first playthru but in my recent insanity playthru the various plot advancement missions from the illusive man didnt activate until I had done all of the available loyalty missions. Not that I wouldn't have done them anyway.........

  • Tangled #54 1 year ago

    @Deckard1
    >Its the only woman most PC gamers get to spend any time with.

    It's a sad thing to admit, but you're right :/ Console gamers get Lara, Bayonetta, Zelda, Dante's chick...

  • menage #55 1 year ago

    What, no Alyx Vance love?



  • orakio #56 1 year ago

    Sure, but Alyx has aged quite a bit ever since.

  • actionfitz #57 1 year ago

    I know who i'd rather do...

  • menage #58 1 year ago

    Both?

  • NegoVortex #59 1 year ago

    This proves that Xbox players are gay.

  • Kaminari #60 1 year ago

    "Half of Mass Effect 2 players imported a save"

    That stat is going to drop dramatically when us PS3 gits are going to mess the party up. Unless, of course... Naah.

  • Waffleaber #61 1 year ago

    22 hours and 10 minutes, all loyalty quests done, seduced Miranda & Kelly, did half the planet scanning missions, played through on Veteran.

    Not sure where the extra 11 hours is supposed to come from.

  • Bleemo #62 1 year ago

    I played on PC and arsed my Mass effect save which turned out to be a good thing as female shep was waaay better than male. I did all loyalty missions but failed Tali but won't say how for spoilers sake. In the end Thane and Tali died and I was glad as it made sense from a story sense, i had failed tali adding to the tragedy and Thane was a goner anyway.

  • 32768Colours #63 1 year ago

    Strange, I completed every last mission of ME2 and enjoyed the game so much it never occurred to me not to help one of my crew mates.

    @ darc

    I think the creepiest thing is how Bioware know all this stuff about how we play the game! The internet is watching us. Aggh! ;)

  • dirtysteve #64 1 year ago

    28 times = hacked serial key or account sharing.

  • r4z0rbl4d3 #65 1 year ago

    Jane Shepard for me (Jennifer Hale did a superior job again imo), I did all the loyalty missions and side-quests and it took about 45 hours... 66 hours, really? They must have spent a lot of time hanging around bars... :p

  • witchdrash #66 1 year ago

    Female, imported save, 2 play throughs, soldier then vanguard, did both grunt and miranda. That's it really

  • hiddenranbir #67 1 year ago

    Depressing fact, 50% played as soldier class. It's the only class I've never played with... it's a RPG, for god's sake, not Gears of War.

    It was the most balanced of the classes, as a soldier I could deal with ANY situation. I didn't see the need to cripple my versatility for the sake of jedi powers. That's me though.

  • Sevens #68 1 year ago

    So, 80 % suffered through Mark Meer's unique attempt at "good" voice acting. How many played a female Shepard? On a sidenote, whoever comes up with 20% (hello) is quite possibly stupid.

  • BlinkeredAxis #69 1 year ago

    Female Shep is soo cool. Mine had a cute scar on the face. Can you really complete withot doing the loyalty missions? I thought the loyalty missions were like the chapters in other games.

    Did it in about 30 hours. Enjoyed the OCD mining as well - you always know that your hard work will get you an extra advantage.

    I'm 45 - I've learned that the harder you work, the easier it gets :)

  • BlinkeredAxis #70 1 year ago

    BTW, are fanboys who have never played a game in their WHOLE LIFE still listing ME2 as one of the most overrated games ever?

    The last similar thread on this site had most of my most memorable game experiences listed as overrated... uhhh

    I really don't understand the psychology of that attitude. Could a medically qualified specialist please let us know where that stuff
    comes from. We should be told.

  • iBiZi #71 1 year ago

    Miranda is the way to go if you want to save humanity.

  • SlackMaster #72 1 year ago

    I've played it once through but did all side quests and searched every planet. Like the last one I prefer to play a half soldier have biotic character, forget the the name of the class but it's a lot more fun in combat. Must have played 35 odd hours I think.

    As to the Grunt vs Miranda... As I was a pretty powerful biotic I'd usually have Garus with Grunt/Tally or in my party depending on the mission.
    Edited by 1 at 08/09/10 @ 07:28

  • braydee89 #73 1 year ago

    I just wanted to look at her arse tbh, so I did anything I could to improve my chances of a romance scene (Which disappointed) with her.

  • Drool #74 1 year ago

    Ghe, a dude roleplaying a chick calling others pathetic, good times.

  • DDevil #75 1 year ago

    Don't forget not only did they get the voice, but they also used the likeness of Yvonne Strahovski.

    Sha-wing!.

  • muscleblade #76 1 year ago

    50% of the people playing it didnt finish it. I dont get it. Its like dont finishing reading a great book or leaving the theatre in a middle of a fantastic movie imo. It takes longer than movies and most books too finish ME2 but thats a good thing right?

  • TAPNGO #77 1 year ago

    Grunt has squad incendiary ammo, he's tough, regenerates, and is a monster against husks. Miranda runs straight into the line of fire.

  • makariel #78 1 year ago

    My squad was usually Miranda and Grunt (and Shep of course), did all loyalty missions, imported save, played through only 1 time as renegade, lost no one on the 'suicide mission' and did the skinsuit-rub with Miranda.

  • BlitzwingHaz #79 1 year ago

    I went for Tali in my first playthrough and I'm trying to seduce Garrus as fem Shep now.
    Gonna do another playthrough being faithful to Liara I think.
    When I'm on missions I tend to take Tali and Grunt. Grunt and Thane on the end mission.

  • SenorGrande #80 1 year ago

    Had a feeling Engineer would be the least played class. I love it though, I've completed the game twice as an Engineer, both male Shep but I'm halfway through a new Adept fem Shep and I still have an Infiltrator fem Shep from ME1 to import. Soldier is the only class I dont think I'd ever play.

  • RealityCheque #81 1 year ago

    My first playthrough ME2 was with a paragon femshep infiltrator who didn't bone anyone cos she was still hoping to get with Liara again.

    My 2nd (incomplete) playthrough is with a renegade femshep vanguard who has yet to decide who to bone. I'm thinking I'll tap some more Asari ass, because I love being a space lesbian.

  • comissars_handgun #82 1 year ago

    I really have no respect for anyone who didn't take Garrus and Miranda with them whenever possible. Though that might just be my crush on Yvonne Strahovsky talking.

    And yeah, everyone who is shocked by the low completion percentage- I'm actually shocked it was that high, for such a long game. 30-40 hours is more than most people are prepared to put into a game, even one as great as ME2. Which puts pressure on developers to make their games shorter.

    Man I love ME2, such a great game.

  • Turrican #83 1 year ago

    As Male Shepherd I eventually chose to dump Liara for Miranda as from a roleplaying point of view I decided they are very similar in terms of human superiority, professionalism etc. And of course Miranda like most of the characters has much more to her the more you dig into the conversation arcs.

    In terms of time spent to complete the game? Well if Bioware had given some bastard indication as to how many bastard planets I needed to bastard scan then I wouldn't have driven myself into a stupour and gotten rsi wasting hours on resources that were never necessary once the upgrades to the ship were complete. Bastards. Drop that for ME3 please!

  • Codger81 #84 1 year ago

    I think I might know one of the 4 xbox gamers who finished 23 times ... oh dear.

  • dagas #85 1 year ago

    5 times. Soldier twice then one adept, one infiltrator and vanguard. 3/5 were females. Did all loyalty missions on most play throughs.

  • JensonJet #86 1 year ago

    Played through once (hated it compared to the first game), compared to about nine times on the original. Completed all missions. Grunt went along on most for his ability to stay alive. Have never been so bored gaming as scanning those planets. Favourite character from the two games has to be Liana. All the Sheppards I created were women, and all were honest and good. The voice acting of her was superb, the male Sheppard actor needs to quit his day job and a job he may have talent for! All were different classes, except soldier - it's so boring (not to mention cliche in videogames to always play a gunslinger). Miranda had the most annoying of accents (is the actress from New Zealand? who cares?). After ME2 I won't be playing any more. ME1 was by far the superior game in story, script, presentation, RPG elements, combat, game variation and exploration.
    Edited by 1 at 08/09/10 @ 19:54

  • dorkacle #87 1 year ago

    Done every mission possible, scoured the d glaxy b4 goin through to the final mission ;)
    Only ever fully completed ME1 and ME2 once, an after importing my save wrex was already gone which i done by accident in the first game ha! Really should go back a play it, both games were brilliant, and probably the only 2 that really kept my ful attention all d way through.

    (in recent timesof course :) )
    Edited by 1 at 08/09/10 @ 20:05