Well here it is, I did it. I honestly don't remember most of it when I abandoned it halfway ages ago. I recall being very bored with it; just talking and shooting and excuses to do both. I recall it being very limited in comparison to the first even thought they improved the mechanics. But I think I figured out why I hate this one.
It's not so much the missions themselves being repetitive and some of the 12 you get on board aren't very exciting (actually most are droll at best, but nothing I didn't particularly hate, owing it to the lore and worldbuilding and voice-acting). It's more of, when you get down to it this game is just about getting 12 people and doing 12 things with them then 4 more missions of payback and some DLC icing. I get that this game tropified loyalty missions, but JRPGs were doing character-centric development way before ME2 was. It's interesting to have to explore each character to make them feel more real and immersive, but not when it's a game mechanic in itself. FF6 is a better ME2.
That said, experience was so-so. I didn't feel utterly tedious until the last few side quests so its great in that regard I guess.
EDIT: That said, I just wanna talk about something unrelated for a second. Jojo Part 8.
ME2 reminds me of Jojo Part 8 because when it comes down to it, Jojo Part 8 is a Mystery manga with Stands. Like, the entire thing could've been great but the Stands and bizarre fights feel tacked on simply because "its Jojo". Most of the battles have little to no payoff either because it was a misunderstanding or the bad guy wins anyway. And most of the battles are less "Shounen" for the lack of a better term. My theory is simply that Araki's signature is trying to mature and its not doing a good job because its holding on to the past.
I don't think every fight was lame btw. The Snail fight was an interesting cerebral experience, that could only work in Part 8 because its stands are really less fighty and more sleuthy.
If Araki wanted to do a great Mystery manga, then he should've just nixed the Stands. The story alone is honestly worth it. Or, if it was inevitable, he should've put Stands and fights into the wayside. Or. He should've done the complete opposite and gone full tilt, sacrificing a bit of sleuthing for bizzareness. My most hated example right now is that Stand who is basically the Internet. All that stand does is act like a GPS but it does nothing in fights that might perhaps need the use of an on-the-spot forensics observation or a googling of someone's personal life, likes, dislikes, habits. It doesn't go beyond anything more than "this stand just tells me where to go by 'coincidence'" and I feel like every stand is like this. Wasted potential.
Another example is our main man Josuke who the only thing he seems to steal that aren't physical objects is "friction" and "sound". The Josuke from Part 4 was way more interesting by comparison.
---
It's not so cliche anymore when it's happening to you.