Quote Originally Posted by Zevox View Post

Not actually sure what you're talking about. The only invisible timer I can think of is the kidnapped crew members dying if you do extra missions before going on the suicide mission, which I can't say bothers me in the slightest.
There are actually a bunch of invisible gates and timers in ME2 that stop you from getting your followers in the originally planned order, due to restrictions on the console if I remember right. Legion had been recorded, programmed, and animated as joining you several stages earlier, for example, before they sent him off to the ass end of the game. Other followers have that issue to varying degrees, but he's the most obvious example. The reaper IFF also has an invisible timer set to it so you can only do a set number of missions before it runs out and you have to lose your crew. Combined with your order for taking followers after the Omega-4 Relay and it means the whole game looks freeform on the surface, but it'll easily screw you over if you go off an unwritten script.

If you play the base game and nothing else you'd probably never notice it. But if you get all the DLC then suddenly you have more events than the timer can handle unadjusted. Which only gets worse since Overlord and Shadowbroker take up about four spots each, while recruitment and loyalty missions are one each. So if you do one at the wrong moment whoops, suddenly half your squad is disloyal and the collectors are attacking!