The Citadel question... (MINOR SPOILER)

[Whitney Spears]

What happened to the Citadel?! Why isn't it as open like it was in the first game or am I just too early in the game to go and roam around? I just finished talking to Captain Anderson expecting to be able to roam around the Presidium but instead of that I can only go to a couple of ward locations, where there's often referred to another ward which I can't even visit. The Citadel was one of my favourite locations and it seems to have been downsized very much, or am I just too early in the game and can I expect to roam around freely later like I could in Mass Effect 1?

[Kich]

Well, there might be some small extra location during completing quests, but as far as I remember all the key locations are available since early the game

[Whitney Spears]

I wonder why they decided to not have it as open as Mass Effect 1 had it. I really liked the Citadel and I loved completing the assignments... it's a shame they have pretty much taken that away. If you have played Mass Effect 3 (please avoid any spoilers as I'm currently playing through the entire trilogy and I only finished the first one yesterday), does that have the Citadel open like Mass Effect 1 did? It's really a shame...

[ositodefelpa]

The ME3 citadel is more extensive than in ME2, but probably still not as open as it was in ME1. The lifts are much quicker though!

The ME3 Citadel dlc does add some extra to it (and is well worth getting).

I've just completed the ME trilogy myself (I'd played ME2 and ME3 before, but not ME1). You're in for a treat. I'm replaying ME3 now, trying to get it as complete as possible.

[Mozek]

"The lifts are much quicker though!"
made me laugh lol

yes, it goes like ME1Citadel>ME3Citadel>ME2Citadel
still there are Omega and Illium so who cares

[Whitney Spears]

Currently in the Omega mission in ME2, but it just doesn't recapture the magic from the Citadel. :)

[Zwentibold]

It's stated that Citadel has not been entirely rebuilt, makes sense it's smaller.

I do agree that Citadel was great in the first one (except for lifts), it was actually the main focus of the game. This is not the case in the second opus.

[voehringer_nitron]

The Mass Effect Honest Trailer summed it up pretty nicely.

"Mass Effect, with faster than light ships, and slower than dirt elevators."

[Whitney Spears]

Honestly I didn't really get annoyed by the elevators that much. I am a patient man and hearing the news while being in an elevator was good enough for me lol.

[SwobyJ]

ME2 is not really about the Citadel, that's all. Its more about 'exploring' the galaxy, or at least visiting more major locations than in ME1.

ME1 - Citadel, Presidium and the nicer Wards
ME2 - Citadel (darker Wards), Illium, Omega, Tuchanka (aka underbelly of the galaxy)
ME3 - Back to Citadel, several areas of it, not as open as ME1 still but ultimately more locations.

[IPwn]

I did feel like the missions in the citadel were pretty fast and easy. The only other stuff to do around there was shopping. I don't shop in real life, so shopping in Mass Effect isn't much better...

[Whitney Spears]

I just realized, but I think I searched around yesterday and I found no place to buy ingredients for the chef on the Normandy? Where is that shop?

[Sarge]

Originally posted by LineLiar:

I just realized, but I think I searched around yesterday and I found no place to buy ingredients for the chef on the Normandy? Where is that shop?

It's either on the 27th or 28th level of the Zakera ward. There's a Turian running a cafe with the kiosk on his right. He says something along the lies of "This is the best damn food in the galaxy" to a customer. That'll be your indication that you're in the right place. The item itself is "High-end Provisions" I think.

[Whitney Spears]

Thanks! I'll look around there when I play again.

[AssKicker47]

I think it's for the better. Virtually every element of the original game has been altered and improved upon. There's enough to do outside the citadel, which is understandable as you now work for Cerberus.
I found the citadel in the original game much too large and had too much running around to do.

[TheIronicTea]

People probably didn't running around the huge area - sorry, walking. You couldn't even run in the Citadel in ME1, which made it really tedious. Even though some of the charm was lost, the ME2 Citadel is imo just as good. It's smaller, but the amount of content in it is the same.