Yes. The dialogue shifts so you vaguely remember each other from the Citadel. Then it’s off to the races.
@Mahaloth, have you completed the Archangel mission? There’s a very funny Renegade conversational option when you meet up with him on the Normandy.
Yes, it’s pretty much where I quit today. Back on the Normandy, just finished it.
What’d you say to Garrus when he asked you how he looks? 
It just happened, but I can’t remember. Probably something like “girls like a guy with scars” or something.
Actually, it may have been one of those “accidentally chose the middle option because skip lines is the same as pick dialogue” moments. I am very careful not to slap the skip button very fast, but occasionally I don’t get a proper choice.
Heh, I choose the Renegade option when he asks how he looks; I believe the game translates it as “No worse than usual, buddy.”
What Shepard actually says is, “Hell, Garrus, you were always ugly. Slap some face paint on there, no one will even know the difference.”
He laughs heartily and says, “Ow, don’t make me laugh, dammit; my face is barely holding together as it is.”
The scanning is a bit of a slog. I did upgrade to get a mineral scan(Miranda recommended it), but it is still a bit of a grind to collect the ingredient for upgrading weapons and ship stuff.
I appreciate that surveying and mining planets was more useful than it was in ME1, where I would survey planets and then not really find much of a result from it. Connecting it directly to upgrades is great. The process is just a bit repetitive and game-slowing-downish for me.
Without spoiling the game for you, it is critical that you get all the ship upgrades before going on the last mission.
If I can make a suggestion: save your probes for Rich (and maybe Good) planets and only big deposits. There are enough Rich planets that you don’t need to bother looking for resources on Mediocre or Poor planets (IMO).
The same goes for your crew’s loyalty missions, and don’t tarry on either - if you progress the main plot past a certain point you’ll find yourself pretty much forced into the final mission whether you’re ready or not.
I did one “loyalty mission” as it seems to be called. I have some questions
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Is Kasumi only from the DLC? She’s mainstreamed into this game since it has all the DLC, but is she originally DLC only? Oh, Zaeed as well?
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I finished Kasumi’s loyalty mission and got an SMG from it. I’m a soldier; can I not use SMG’s? I use assault weapons and it is never there, but Miranda and Kasumi can both use it on my missions. Note: I am “soldier” class.
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Kasumi and Zaeed don’t enter into full conversations with me when I visit them, only talk to me about things they are thinking about. It’s like speech bubble in a comic, only without the bubble. Is this just the way they are? Should I be visiting them on my “rounds” after each mission?
Kasumi and Zaeed are DLC, yes. Kasumi, you had to pay for originally; Zaeed, you collected when you registered your game. Since I got mine used, I never did get Zaeed.
You should do all the loyalty missions you can do prior to the mission entitled Reaper IFF; once you do that mission, you’re in the endgame and can only do Legion’s loyalty mission before hitting the Omega-4 relay. I mean, you could do more, but at great cost.
This is important and something worth noting.
Earlier I believe @Mahaloth was saying only ever took the same two characters on missions. It is worth noting that a reason to take others is they will give different dialog (sometimes) and, perhaps, even different results.
There is no good way to know for sure which will provide this extra color commentary but sometimes you can guess at it (or search the internet for guides on this). This is more than just idle banter. It can be a character in your party remembering something relevant to where you are at the moment and add to the story (you can even ask questions in some cases).
While your overall game will not change in any way it can add some color commentary and story detail and fun. Also, some particular combos of teammates can get them bantering with each other on occasion (they don’t all necessarily like each other).
You can always go with the same two teammates you like but you will miss out on some story.
Yep. As I think I said upthread, stuff like this is why my playthrough count is in the double digits.
I think it’s designed in a way that you will always miss out on some of the story until you go on every mission with every person.
If the game hints that a certain mission relates to a certain character, I’d take them.
I goofed and initially went on Garrus’s mission in the first game without him. As I entered to confront the evil scientist, my squad said, “I think Garrus will be upset we did this without him.”
I reloaded and took him with us.
Yup…
But you are guaranteed to miss out on most of it if you only ever take the same two squad mates (FWIW I have done that…found the two I work best with and roll with them the whole way).
Personally, I found that in missions I am doing 90% of the work anyway so different teammates were not all that important. That said, there were a few tough missions where I found choosing the right squad with the right skills definitely helped.
That works. And sometimes you just have to intuit that where you are relates to something character-X did or has some connection to from what you know about them so far.
It’s a little hit-and-miss (on purpose).
I dispute that this is a goof. The mission works and you can complete it. Afterward you have a different conversation with Garrus than you would otherwise.
It’s not a goof. It’s just a choice.
Edit to add: Thinking forward, there are places where you probably should not do what it feels like the game is hinting the character wants you to do, because the character is wrong.
Today, I:
Was recontacted by Illusive Man, which lead to a mission where we ran into Ashley Williams again.
Recruited Tali back on the team.
I now have what appear to be called “loyalty missions” for Miranda, Jack(no personality!), and Zaeed.
Mass Effect 2 is leveled more accurately to my difficulty desires.
In the Tali mission, I was put up against a Colossus and tasked with saving another Quarian. I directed him to NOT help us and took on the battle with just me, Miranda, and Kasumi.
I died more in this mission than any so far in either of the first two games. I had to reload a few times before I got the right luck and best path forward vs. the colossus. I had to use Unity to raise both Miranda and Kasumi, but we did make it up near the Colossus and I was able to unload my entire heavy weapon(missile launcher) and use my assault weapon(the Collector one) on it and blow it up.
It was one of the best, but hardest, battles I faced in either game so far. Very worth it.
Now I have to choose if I want to take Tali with me in the future. I am a settler, though, and have had a lot of success with Kasumi and Miranda.
If you haven’t solved the mystery of the volus’s missing credit chit on the Citadel, you should bring Tali along with you for some bonus conversational content with the quarian accused of taking it.