Replaying Mass Effect (3) again

[Avilan the Grey]

Quick observations:

1. I keep going back to Infiltrator. Definitely my favorite class.

2. You save a lot of money by knowing what weapons you plan to use, and only upgrade those.

3. I LOVE THE N7 VALIANT.

4. Staying away from the Typhoon this time. Having two companions with Typhoons is basically cheat mode.

5. I am staying on Hardcore; Insanity is... boring and sluggish. Hardcore is slightly too easy but SO much less frustrating.

6. Having an infiltrator with group configured Ice Ammo (don't remember the real name) I don't have to spend any points for the companions on ammo power. It's... glorious.

7. I LOVE THE N7 VALIANT.

[Psyren]

Gender? Romance? Staple squadmates? Key choices? Wrex and Mordin? Tell us the important things, man!



5. I am staying on Hardcore; Insanity is... boring and sluggish. Hardcore is slightly too easy but SO much less frustrating.

If I play below Insanity I fall asleep, especially NG+. To each his own I guess.

[Avilan the Grey]

Gender? Romance? Staple squadmates? Key choices? Wrex and Mordin? Tell us the important things, man!



If I play below Insanity I fall asleep, especially NG+. To each his own I guess.

I'm not a very twitchy person; I am rather amazed that I managed ME2 on Insanity without dying on every mission.
That said

Character is Joan Shepard, redheaded sniper girl.
Romance: Liara. In NG+ I'm going to either Garrus or Traynor I think.
Fav squadmates: EDI and Garrus shares first place, Liara and Ash second.

I deliberately had Mordin Killed because I love Padoks. Everyone else loyal and healthy.

Council killed (option 1), and the Rachni as well.


I am trying some new configurations this time; primarely having James using the Pirahna instead of an assault rifle.

Edit: Oh and for weapons:

The standardized weapon choices I am forcing on my team are:

Assault rifle: Valkyrie or Revenant
Shotgun: Piranha or Crusader
Sniper rifle: Krysae or Valiant. Widow will be made available.
Heavy Pistols: Eagle or Acolyte. Paladin will be made available.
SMG: Hurricane.

[Avilan the Grey]

One thing I have not noticed before:
The CAT-6 snipers detect you when you stealth. I don't think the Cerberus ones do, but the CAT-6 ones definitely does(!). That said, using Sabotage on the CAT-6 droids is fun! :smallamused:

[Inarius]

One thing I have not noticed before:
The CAT-6 snipers detect you when you stealth. I don't think the Cerberus ones do, but the CAT-6 ones definitely does(!). That said, using Sabotage on the CAT-6 droids is fun! :smallamused:

I'm pretty sure everything sees through invisibility in ME3, all tactical cloak does is makes you the last target in the enemies threat list. So if there's a companion in action they will ignore you, however if your companions are all down or you have none they'll just shoot at you as if they could see you.

[Avilan the Grey]

That makes sense, I guess.

...I think I have figured out why I play ME3 so much, apart from it being an excellent game:
I guess I feel like I am keeping the characters alive, somehow. I know it sounds weird, but yeah.

[Yora]

ME3 gets the Saving the World At The Last Minute right. Not just once, but several times. It's not that if you were to fail at a fight, the dark lord triggers his doomsday weapon and the universe is gone. Instead you're doing something relatively simple (like shutting down the Geth dreadnaught or disarming the Turian bomb), but if you fail the entire strategy to save the planet will collapse and you will only be able to watch as nothing can be done anymore.
The great thing about this is that it's not just for a big final battle, but you can do it multiple times in a row. And in case of a final battle to save the whole universe, you know that you won't lose because that's the end of the story. But the annihilation of a planet wouldn't mean the end of a story so the pressure is much higher. (Even when you already know that you can save everyone.)

[Psyren]

I'm pretty sure everything sees through invisibility in ME3, all tactical cloak does is makes you the last target in the enemies threat list. So if there's a companion in action they will ignore you, however if your companions are all down or you have none they'll just shoot at you as if they could see you.

Cloak also reduces your threat radius; if you're not already in combat, it allows you to hang out of cover and line up your shot, or get closer to enemies, without getting aggro. Once you take those shots though and the enemies know you're there, restealthing won't drop your aggro, so at that point you're using it primarily for the huge damage spike it provides.

For the Cat 6 folks, you want to cloak before you approach a pack, pick off the most deadly long-range ones (Engineers and Snipers) while the rest run to cover, and then trade pot-shots with the rest, prioritizing any that are rushing your position. For your bonus power I recommend Energy Drain since it will let you get some shield gate back while cloaked.

[Avilan the Grey]

Cloak also reduces your threat radius; if you're not already in combat, it allows you to hang out of cover and line up your shot, or get closer to enemies, without getting aggro. Once you take those shots though and the enemies know you're there, restealthing won't drop your aggro, so at that point you're using it primarily for the huge damage spike it provides.

For the Cat 6 folks, you want to cloak before you approach a pack, pick off the most deadly long-range ones (Engineers and Snipers) while the rest run to cover, and then trade pot-shots with the rest, prioritizing any that are rushing your position. For your bonus power I recommend Energy Drain since it will let you get some shield gate back while cloaked.

Regarding threat (aggro) radius: yeah, you can tell; you see enemies pause and stare blankly if you're far enough away when you cloak.

My point however is that the Cat 6 snipers snipe at my head when I am already cloaked and peek out of cover.
Speaking of engineers though, being an infiltrator changes basically all annoying robotic enemies into your partners in crime; be it Atlases, turrets (love watching them killing the engineer that just put it down) or the shield-zappy drones the CAT6 has. I love watching them turn around and attack their handlers :smallbiggrin:

Edit: What's your favorite enemies:

For me, my top three are, regadless of what class I am:
Rampart Mechs
Marauders
Centurions

[Psyren]

I don't really have a favorite; they're all pretty satisfying to kill if that's what you mean. As far as most dangerous, Phantoms probably get that honor for me outside of Collectors in MP.

Easiest aside from Husks are probably Geth Troopers, as they are slow, have no defenses and have no grenades to flush you out of cover.


Regarding threat (aggro) radius: yeah, you can tell; you see enemies pause and stare blankly if you're far enough away when you cloak.

My point however is that the Cat 6 snipers snipe at my head when I am already cloaked and peek out of cover.

That's because they've already aggroed, so it's usually too late by then. Sniper units have a large aggro range (see also Nemesis, Geth Rocket Trooper) so that they can, well, snipe - i.e. open fire from across the room.You can still catch them off-guard if you're careful, or just ignore them while you pick off everything else. In all three cases, the lag before they fire is significant and you should have little trouble leaving them alone until you're ready to deal with them even if they noticed you.

[Douglas]

Edit: What's your favorite enemies:

For me, my top three are, regadless of what class I am:
Rampart Mechs
Marauders
Centurions
The Thessia fight with Kai Leng was funny as an engineer. I'd just hit him with a single Overload with all the power damage bonuses I could find (even had Power Synergy from Defense Matrix), and that would instantly drop him into recharge mode - and by the time he was ready to fight again it's cooled down, so I'd just repeat. Easiest boss fight ever.

He was a lot harder to beat at Cerberus HQ, though.

[Avilan the Grey]

The Thessia fight with Kai Leng was funny as an engineer. I'd just hit him with a single Overload with all the power damage bonuses I could find (even had Power Synergy from Defense Matrix), and that would instantly drop him into recharge mode - and by the time he was ready to fight again it's cooled down, so I'd just repeat. Easiest boss fight ever.

Energy Drain (chosen bonus power) plus one shot made him recharge this time. :smallsmile:

[Anteros]

Part of me really wants to replay this series, but I just can't force myself to slog through the first one again doing every single side quest. And honestly...if you don't do that, what's the point? Mass Effect is not a game you half ***.

[Psyren]

Part of me really wants to replay this series, but I just can't force myself to slog through the first one again doing every single side quest. And honestly...if you don't do that, what's the point? Mass Effect is not a game you half ***.

You could always download a ME1 save from one of the archive sites (e.g. masseffectsaves) with all the sidequests/choices performed the way you want. There's even instructions to get them from PC onto Xbox (not sure about PSX though.)

If there isn't one with every flag set the way you want it, you can download a close enough version and manually tweak it via Gibbed.

[Anteros]

I thought about it, but I don't think it would really feel like "my" character. If all I wanted was the save, I have multiple already from my first play through...but I just don't think it would be the same experience picking the story up partway through.

[Psyren]

Well... other than the Genesis comic (which doesn't have all the possible flags in it, e.g. Conrad Verner), them's your options I'm afraid.

[Avilan the Grey]

The few times I have restarted ME1, I use a cheatcode (PC) to get immediately to lvl 50. And then focus on main quests and easy to complete sidequests. That¨s good enough for me.

Also I have save game editors for both games, so the 4 characters I have saved can be altered accordingly.

[Inarius]

The few times I have restarted ME1, I use a cheatcode (PC) to get immediately to lvl 50. And then focus on main quests and easy to complete sidequests. That¨s good enough for me.

Also I have save game editors for both games, so the 4 characters I have saved can be altered accordingly.

Yeah I used cheats to get money and xp the last time I played. I also used the maps of planets online to plan out the quickest way to do side missions. To be honest I still really like ME1 its my second favorite game in the series. The music is imo the best of the series and there's just something about how the setting is presented that is more interesting to me. The combat and inventory are a total mess though. On top of that it doesn't help that ME2 is a buggy crashing mess for me on my current computer setup.

[Douglas]

Yeah I used cheats to get money and xp the last time I played. I also used the maps of planets online to plan out the quickest way to do side missions. To be honest I still really like ME1 its my second favorite game in the series. The music is imo the best of the series and there's just something about how the setting is presented that is more interesting to me. The combat and inventory are a total mess though. On top of that it doesn't help that ME2 is a buggy crashing mess for me on my current computer setup.
ME1, money stopped meaning anything way too quickly, nearly every item soon became meaningless junk, and it was easy to become a nigh-invincible god of combat. Also, the Mako was a real pain to navigate with on all the random planets.

After playing a whole game of that (four times over for three different Shepards and one new game plus), ME2 was quite a shock. Money mattered, inventory almost didn't exist, and I had to retrain myself to run for cover first rather than shooting back first (and only, ignoring cover entirely). Overall, I rather preferred ME2's style once I got used to it, and I'm glad ME3 kept it. Now if only they'd had the sense to make "enter cover" and "exit cover" (or, even worse, "vault over cover") be different keys by default. Fortunately, mods can fix that.

[LibraryOgre]

I want to play this again, but I never get around to it. I played first time as an infiltrator, but I kind of want to go back as an engineer.

My main stumbling block is not wanting to buy all the DLC. I'm not going to spend $20 each on DLC for a game that's pushing 5 years old, much less the one before it.

[Inarius]

ME1, money stopped meaning anything way too quickly, nearly every item soon became meaningless junk, and it was easy to become a nigh-invincible god of combat. Also, the Mako was a real pain to navigate with on all the random planets.

After playing a whole game of that (four times over for three different Shepards and one new game plus), ME2 was quite a shock. Money mattered, inventory almost didn't exist, and I had to retrain myself to run for cover first rather than shooting back first (and only, ignoring cover entirely). Overall, I rather preferred ME2's style once I got used to it, and I'm glad ME3 kept it. Now if only they'd had the sense to make "enter cover" and "exit cover" (or, even worse, "vault over cover") be different keys by default. Fortunately, mods can fix that.

I don't actually disagree with everything you said, I just really prefer the atmosphere of ME1 compared to the atmosphere in the later games. The Mako doesn't really bug me anymore, though I have gotten really good at predicting how the Mako is going to bounce or land just by eyeballing the terrain.

The gameplay in ME2 is definitely better, but the thing is ME3 does everything ME2 does better. If I'm going to play a game for gameplay its going to be ME3, if I'm going to do it for the setting its ME1. ME2 sort of languishes in a middle ground for me, plus its super buggy on my current computer setup so that doesn't help me enjoy it.

[Avilan the Grey]

See, for me it's like this:
I love everything about ME1 except the gameplay. Which is not good, since it is just too annoying to play.

Come to think of it... I am looking at starting yet another character, but more renegade this time (for once). I am browsing through the savefiles online but I might actually just use the ingame ME2 comic to set up the character. I know it only gives you the barebone selections, but anyway...

[Haruspex_Pariah]

ME2 and ME3 definitely had a...tighter? design than ME1. ME1 could get pretty lulzy with biotics throwing people into space, driving off bridges or doing automobile backflips off a hillside, and guns that could be modded to fire forever.

I did miss the free-roaming nature of ME1, but I think ultimately they were right to tune the sequels as they did.

...

Damnit, now I want to get back into Mass Effect. Still have a few Shepards stuck in ME3, so I don't actually have to start from zero.

[Avilan the Grey]

Indeed, ME1 had a lot of lovely ideas, unfortunately it just became tedious. The combat, too, was well... sucky.

[Psyren]

Given the reception to DAI and the fact that ME4 is using the same engine, I have little doubt we'll be getting back to free-roaming exploration in the next game. Only this time, they'll actually be able to populate the landscape with interesting things to do.


I want to play this again, but I never get around to it. I played first time as an infiltrator, but I kind of want to go back as an engineer.

My main stumbling block is not wanting to buy all the DLC. I'm not going to spend $20 each on DLC for a game that's pushing 5 years old, much less the one before it.

ME Trilogy has most of DLC, particularly the Playstation version. You're definitely forced to pay for some of it though.

[Avilan the Grey]

Given the reception to DAI and the fact that ME4 is using the same engine, I have little doubt we'll be getting back to free-roaming exploration in the next game. Only this time, they'll actually be able to populate the landscape with interesting things to do.
.

I still don't feel any enthusiasm for ME4, and there are three reasons for it:

1. No Shepard. No Garrus. No EDI. No Garrus, No Wrex. No Garrus. What's the point?

2. The Lazy Way Out: I want to know what happens in the Milky Way. I have ZERO interest in Andromeda, especially since I KNOW the reason they do it this way is because the endings (tm) painted them into a corner.

3. I don't trust Bioware after Dragon Age. Origins was great. DA2 SUCKED ON EVERY LEVEL, DAI felt... meh (didn't get very far, admittedly). Especially hated the character models (I bought it, despite hating DA2, because I could finally play a female Qunari. Of course they had changed the art style so the female qunari looks nothing like the art, and more like sad human girls with horns. Tall sad girls). PLus the engine cannot do white hair that doesn't look awful, so suddenly all qunari has black hair...

[Psyren]

1. No Shepard. No Garrus. No EDI. No Garrus, No Wrex. No Garrus. What's the point?

New characters. Given that even in the trilogy's final installment I was still meeting new and interesting folks (Javik, Nyreen, Padok Wiks, Samantha Traynor), I have little doubt that Bioware can work that magic again.



2. The Lazy Way Out: I want to know what happens in the Milky Way. I have ZERO interest in Andromeda, especially since I KNOW the reason they do it this way is because the endings (tm) painted them into a corner.

Can't help you there; no matter what they did it would have ticked off somebody. Staying in the Milky Way would mean canonizing an ending, ticking off supporters of the other endings; going elsewhere is apparently a cop-out, and sidestepping all of it with a prequel is even more of a cop-out, plus we already know how any prequel ends. And of course, no game at all would have upset folks too. So, may as well roll the dice I say.



3. I don't trust Bioware after Dragon Age. Origins was great. DA2 SUCKED ON EVERY LEVEL, DAI felt... meh (didn't get very far, admittedly).

Different studios, but even if they weren't - if you're still so mad at DA2 that you won't even give DAI a fair shake, well... can't help you here either. All I or anyone else can say is they learned their lesson well and (at least character- and story-wise) DAI was far superior.

[Avilan the Grey]

New characters. Given that even in the trilogy's final installment I was still meeting new and interesting folks (Javik, Nyreen, Padok Wiks, Samantha Traynor), I have little doubt that Bioware can work that magic again.

---

Can't help you there; no matter what they did it would have ticked off somebody. Staying in the Milky Way would mean canonizing an ending, ticking off supporters of the other endings; going elsewhere is apparently a cop-out, and sidestepping all of it with a prequel is even more of a cop-out, plus we already know how any prequel ends. And of course, no game at all would have upset folks too. So, may as well roll the dice I say.

---

Different studios, but even if they weren't - if you're still so mad at DA2 that you won't even give DAI a fair shake, well... can't help you here either. All I or anyone else can say is they learned their lesson well and (at least character- and story-wise) DAI was far superior.

I know that they are good at creating interesting, and endearing, characters. But I want MORE ME, not different ME, dammit.

---

Oh I understand the argument about the endings, but... why would I care? Seriously? There is NOTHING compelling about the scenario, to me.

---

My main problem with DAI is the character models. As least as far as I got. Or rather the Qunari character models.

https://31.media.tumblr.com/dd8e72da52499ce5b2bd70781efbe4d9/tumblr_inline_mutykjDVhA1rqe9e5.pnghttps://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/6f/ac/55/6fac5544af5044c6720931433cbbed7e.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/wsnArbQ.png

Teenage Goth Cosplay is Teenage Goth Cosplay.

Or to summarize it:
WTH Bioware?

[Anteros]

You don't have to model your character that way. The only Bioware character in DAI that fits the "teenage goth" theme would be Morrigan, and she's in all 3 games and has actually grown up a lot in DAI. Bull certainly doesn't look Goth, and he's the only Quanari party member.

[Psyren]

I know that they are good at creating interesting, and endearing, characters. But I want MORE ME, not different ME, dammit.

I can't really see this as reasonable. All stories have to end sometime, and old characters make way for the new (unless you're in some kind of perpetual medium like comic books, and even that wouldn't work for ME because the timeline is precise instead of vague.) And ME is the setting, not Garrus and not even Shepard.



Oh I understand the argument about the endings, but... why would I care? Seriously? There is NOTHING compelling about the scenario, to me.

There's a lot riding on how they execute it, to be sure.


My main problem with DAI is the character models. As least as far as I got. Or rather the Qunari character models.




Teenage Goth Cosplay is Teenage Goth Cosplay.

Or to summarize it:
WTH Bioware?

I'm kinda with you on this one, I don't like how the female Qunari turned out either. They seem a bit too lanky and the faces too youthful. But I have no desire to play FemQunari anyway (well, scratch that - running one just so I can have Sera drool all over me does seem like a fun idea if only I had more time) so I don't care all that much. And to be frank, if that's your biggest complaint about DAI then I'd say there isn't much there that can be projected onto ME4.

[Inarius]

I know that they are good at creating interesting, and endearing, characters. But I want MORE ME, not different ME, dammit.

I can understand this. I'm pretty sad to see the old companions go. The Citdael DLC makes it even more bittersweet, but at the same time I am excited to see the new companions that Bioware is going to be making.


My main problem with DAI is the character models. As least as far as I got. Or rather the Qunari character models.

https://31.media.tumblr.com/dd8e72da52499ce5b2bd70781efbe4d9/tumblr_inline_mutykjDVhA1rqe9e5.pnghttps://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/6f/ac/55/6fac5544af5044c6720931433cbbed7e.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/wsnArbQ.png

Teenage Goth Cosplay is Teenage Goth Cosplay.

Or to summarize it:
WTH Bioware?

I agree on the Qunari looking dissapointing compared to their concept art, but when has concept art ever really matched the end product in games? I do wish they had gotten closer to their art, but I wasn't really expecting the female qunari to look like that.

[Avilan the Grey]

I can understand this. I'm pretty sad to see the old companions go. The Citdael DLC makes it even more bittersweet, but at the same time I am excited to see the new companions that Bioware is going to be making.

I know I know. I still don't trust Bioware anymore though, which makes it worse.

[Forum Explorer]

I'd rather they canonize an ending from Mass Effect 3, then move the story to Andromeda. I mean the ending royally pissed people off already, choosing one of them won't be much worse.

Regardless, I'm still interested and looking forward to it. Mass Effect 4 is the kind of sequel I really like. Just more material in the same universe, without feeling the need to keep all the old stuff, no matter how weird and awkward keeping that stuff may be.

As for Bioware, well they still have my trust. Dragon Age Origins remains the only game of their's that I really haven't enjoyed all that much. (I find the combat to be really tedious and slow, and there is so much of it.) Oh, well I haven't tried the other Dragon Age games. Do they really change up the combat styles in 2 and Inquisition?

[Psyren]

I'd rather they canonize an ending from Mass Effect 3, then move the story to Andromeda. I mean the ending royally pissed people off already, choosing one of them won't be much worse.

They probably have done so (and if I were to place a bet, it'll be some kind of "hybrid" ending with elements of the main 3) - we just won't know what they picked until we get back to the Milky Way.



As for Bioware, well they still have my trust. Dragon Age Origins remains the only game of their's that I really haven't enjoyed all that much. (I find the combat to be really tedious and slow, and there is so much of it.) Oh, well I haven't tried the other Dragon Age games. Do they really change up the combat styles in 2 and Inquisition?

To be frank, no. DA2 combat is nearly a carbon copy of DAO. DAI is a bit more dynamic (and dragon/Pride fights much more hectic), but the AI is also dumber and less controllable. In all three games I find it to be a disappointing slog and definitely the worst aspect of the series by far.

It's a little better in multiplayer when you're not babysitting AI companions - with 4 humans each focusing on one toon, the simplistic combat and cross-class combo teamwork can get pretty fun. But there's no story there apart from some banter barks from the various characters either, just a loot treadmill where the loot isn't particularly interesting because it doesn't change up the gameplay in the way that, say, the guns in Mass Effect do. They're all just stat sticks with increasing numbers.

[Avilan the Grey]

ME2 on Hardcore is way harder than ME3 on hardcore.

Also, ammo is scarcer than I remembered.

[Psyren]

ME2 on Hardcore is way harder than ME3 on hardcore.

It is. It's hard to go back to limited sprint, no dodge-roll, defense-matching, weakass casting, long cooldowns until late-game when you've done a bunch of research etc.

One thing that gives ME2 an edge though are the heavy weapons. If I had an Arc Projector in ME3, especially with Tech Bursts being a thing... *salivates*


Also, ammo is scarcer than I remembered.

In which one? ME2 was the only one where I'd routinely run out of ammo. ME3 by contrast, I could go entire missions without even firing it if I wanted to.

[Inarius]

ME2 on Hardcore is way harder than ME3 on hardcore.

Also, ammo is scarcer than I remembered.

The ammo thing really depends on the gun and class of guns. Shotguns have issues until they get the ammo mod, the vindicator has issues as well but both of them make up for it by gaining a good sized chunk of ammo per heatsink. Roughly 20% of their ammo pool fills up per heatsink. Sniper rifles on the other hand have small ammo counts and only seem to refill about 10% of their ammo per heatsink so you're constantly starved for ammo after the first fight.

[Avilan the Grey]

I'm playing a sniper (again). The difference in ammo drops between 2 and 3 is HUGE. Never realized that before. On the other hand the need for ammo is double between Normal and Hardcore in ME2, I've noticed. I went into the Okeer fight with a third of my ammo filled up and only 2 medkits, due to having burned through ammo to get to that point. Had to spam rockets to survive the wave of Krogans in the beginning.

[LibraryOgre]

You know, for all the complaining people do about ME1's gameplay, I rather like it. There's some silliness, but I enjoy pretty much all of it.

[McDouggal]

You know, for all the complaining people do about ME1's gameplay, I rather like it. There's some silliness, but I enjoy pretty much all of it.

Eh. My issue with it comes that taking cover is done automatically, so my normal lategame strat of "OK, shields are up and I have the recharge power up, let's whip around the corner and shotgun these idiots while taking no damage to my health" was so often ruined by "You just ran within five feet of cover, you must want to take cover!"

Also, scope sway. Screw scope sway. No way to avoid it at early levels, either.

Doing another playthrough of a Vanguard, just fought Kai Leng on Thessia. "There's only one way this can end" after I've just been flying into his face, nova, repeat. Aren't you supposed to be threatening in close combat, Leng? And then I apparently can't charge into him when the floor is collapsing, which would potentially knock him off the edge since I've got so much power damage modification that it's not funny (seriously, I think I have 130% bonus power damage from items).

Cutscene god, gameplay nothing. That's all he is.

Also, it's so frustrating in the Citadel attack that Thane doesn't have the gun already extended, since he <redacted> WOULD AND YOU KNOW IT WRITERS HE'D BE <redacted> CARRYING IT AND EXPECTING TROUBLE.

AND WE DON'T JUST FLIP OVER THE SKYCAR WHEN HE JUMPS ON THE ROOF WHY

AND WE DON'T SHOOT HIM/HIS DRIVER WHEN HE JUMPS OVER WHY

Ugh.

[Avilan the Grey]

Okay, who knows what the sudden update for ME2 was this week?

Oh and I admit I lowered the difficulty from Hardcore to Veteran. ME2 Hardcore is just too frustrating.

[Anteros]

Sorry, I can't answer. I don't want people to think I associate with filthy non-insanity difficulty players.

Also, cause I have no idea. :smallbiggrin:

[Inarius]

Sorry, I can't answer. I don't want people to think I associate with filthy non-insanity difficulty players.

Also, cause I have no idea. :smallbiggrin:

Ok that cracked me up haha. As for the patch thats weird I didn't have one for ME2 but I had one for ME1. I braved the toxic wasteland that is the Bioware forums to search for answers and didn't really find anything except that patch sizes were all over the board for people. Some had 50mb patches, some had 6gb patches. Mine took like 2 seconds to download so I got no clue.

[Avilan the Grey]

Last time they patched ME2 they removed the Launcher. And that was about... 1½ years ago? Way after they stopped supporting the game officially. Oh and yeah... I think there was an update for ME1 as well now when you mention it.

As for Hardcore... I can beat the game on it, it's just too annoying to be fun.

[Psyren]

If I had to guess it's Windows 10 related, all the older games seem to be getting something along those lines.


Sorry, I can't answer. I don't want people to think I associate with filthy non-insanity difficulty players.

Also, cause I have no idea. :smallbiggrin:

That's just mean :smallbiggrin:

[Avilan the Grey]

If I had to guess it's Windows 10 related, all the older games seem to be getting something along those lines.


I noticed this morning that in the loading screens there is a text now that says "Import your character into Mass Effect 3 - If you survive". Might have been there since the last unexpected update but I haven't noticed it.

[Anteros]

Last time they patched ME2 they removed the Launcher. And that was about... 1½ years ago? Way after they stopped supporting the game officially. Oh and yeah... I think there was an update for ME1 as well now when you mention it.

As for Hardcore... I can beat the game on it, it's just too annoying to be fun.

I was just making a funny. ME2 has a pretty wonky difficulty scale. The AI doesn't really get any smarter, they just add more armor/shields to everything so half the powers don't work. It's pretty anti-fun, but I mostly play soldier with the widow, so it doesn't really effect me.

[Avilan the Grey]

I was just making a funny. ME2 has a pretty wonky difficulty scale. The AI doesn't really get any smarter, they just add more armor/shields to everything so half the powers don't work. It's pretty anti-fun, but I mostly play soldier with the widow, so it doesn't really effect me.

I know you were joking :smallsmile: And I agree.

[Douglas]

I was just making a funny. ME2 has a pretty wonky difficulty scale. The AI doesn't really get any smarter, they just add more armor/shields to everything so half the powers don't work. It's pretty anti-fun, but I mostly play soldier with the widow, so it doesn't really effect me.
Yeah, throwing shields/barrier and armor on everything was a very poor design choice. It got so I pretty much just wrote off entirely any power that only worked if the enemy had nothing but health, which left me with just pure damage for the most part. Functional, but I didn't get much use out of all the interesting crowd control options. Also, it makes Thane's shredder ammo nearly useless.

And then my Insanity playthrough was on a soldier, where the Revenant and Adrenaline Rush (which has an undocumented damage bonus to make your real-time damage stay constant despite in-game time slowing down) just didn't care. Oh, the enemy has some more hp? I'll just shoot longer, then.

[Anteros]

I definitely missed Adrenaline Rush in ME3. It was a shadow of what it was in 2, to the point I almost never bothered with it.

[Inarius]

I was just making a funny. ME2 has a pretty wonky difficulty scale. The AI doesn't really get any smarter, they just add more armor/shields to everything so half the powers don't work. It's pretty anti-fun, but I mostly play soldier with the widow, so it doesn't really effect me.

Adding armor/shields to everything was a really bad call on their part. It hit crowd control abilities unfairly hard and made defense strippers the most important caster abilities. On top of that the changes to crowd control abilities made those abilities next to useless on the top two difficulties. On the other hand the soldier type classes really excel on the higher difficulties probably in part because all their signature abilities add a good chunk of survivability to the classes.

[Psyren]

Yeah, ME3 combat damn-near perfected the formula. Every class felt distinct, with some even having multiple builds (e.g. Sniper Infiltrator vs. Shotgun Infiltrator, ME2 Kroguard vs. Novaguard, Theurge Sentinel vs. Fortress Sentinel etc) and that was just Shepard. The MP took it even further by enabling combat styles we'd never seen before in the series, like support Volus, tanky Geth and high-damage melee builds like the N7 Shadow or the Batarian Brawler. I'm really looking forward to what we'll get in ME4 with all the data they collected and the shiny new engine that can give us back the exploratory feel of ME1, but with more interesting scenery.


I noticed this morning that in the loading screens there is a text now that says "Import your character into Mass Effect 3 - If you survive". Might have been there since the last unexpected update but I haven't noticed it.

I don't know about the exact wording but IIRC there was always a loading screen message about hanging on to your save for the third installment.


I definitely missed Adrenaline Rush in ME3. It was a shadow of what it was in 2, to the point I almost never bothered with it.

They had to modify it though; slow time in multiplayer is no fun for anyone but the guy using it.

[Avilan the Grey]

Btw I am replaying it from ME2 forth because I found my ME1 savefile for Morgan Shepard, my original Renegon Infiltrator (by far my favorite class), the character I went thru ME2 with when it was new, then bought ME1 and replayed it from the beginning with the same character.

So, being about 60% thru ME2 now it's time to go romance Garrus.

Oh and Cry Ammo is the one ammo type you really should pick as Squad ammo.

[Psyren]

Oh and Cry Ammo is the one ammo type you really should pick as Squad ammo.

In 2? But... it doesn't do anything until you break their defenses. Admittedly I didn't bother trying it below Insanity but...

[Avilan the Grey]

In 2? But... it doesn't do anything until you break their defenses. Admittedly I didn't bother trying it below Insanity but...

It's still better than any other ammo to have everyone use. And on Veteran there isn't that much of those things.

[Anteros]

I'm actually with Psyren for once. By the time I get their shields/armor off the fight is over anyway so cryo doesn't do me much good. I almost always run with Garrus and Miranda, and I'd rather have Garrus stripping armor with his ammo than trying to freeze people who are almost dead. Miranda doesn't shoot things anyway. I pretty much never take anything except warp ammo for Shepard.

It's probably just playstyle differences though. Cryo would be a lot better if I used a different class or different companions.

[Psyren]

I think he's playing on Veteran though, where the defenses don't really matter and therefore you can actually get some mileage out of cryo. But yeah, it's useless on Insanity and possibly Hardcore as well.

[Anteros]

I think he's playing on Veteran though, where the defenses don't really matter and therefore you can actually get some mileage out of cryo. But yeah, it's useless on Insanity and possibly Hardcore as well.

Do they freeze with armor/shields on in veteran? I'm way too lazy to boot up the game and check.

[Psyren]

Do they freeze with armor/shields on in veteran? I'm way too lazy to boot up the game and check.

It's more that very few enemies have those things, and the times you do come across them, they're so token that your shots not only drop the barrier but also immediately pierce the shieldgate, allowing the freeze effect to take hold.

For example, Husks are unarmored on Veteran or lower difficulty, thus you can blast whole packs of them with Cryo (ammo or area) or better yet just fling them about with wild abandon, because a single crowd-control effect on a husk in ME2 is an insta-kill. (i.e. Most biotics or Concussive Shot.)

[Anteros]

Right, ok that's what I thought. I suppose my line of thinking is that I'd rather just kill the things than freeze them. If they don't have armor they die in like 1 second anyway.

Husks especially die any time they leave their feet, so concussive shot, krogan charge, or almost any biotic skill one shots them anyway. I just don't see the point.

[Psyren]

Husks especially die any time they leave their feet, so concussive shot, krogan charge, or almost any biotic skill one shots them anyway. I just don't see the point.

That's what I said :smalltongue:

And yeah, that's the problem with Cryo Ammo in ME2 - even when it works (i.e. lower difficulties), things die too fast for it to matter. (One use for Squad Cryo is when you're trying to save ammo - say, with a Locust or Carnifex - your allies can use their otherwise milquetoast pea-shooters to nail enemies popping out of cover, causing them to freeze and topple, and letting you line up efficient headshots without reprisal.)

[McDouggal]

I noticed this morning that in the loading screens there is a text now that says "Import your character into Mass Effect 3 - If you survive". Might have been there since the last unexpected update but I haven't noticed it.

That wording's been around in the game since I purchased it a few years ago.


Adding armor/shields to everything was a really bad call on their part. It hit crowd control abilities unfairly hard and made defense strippers the most important caster abilities. On top of that the changes to crowd control abilities made those abilities next to useless on the top two difficulties. On the other hand the soldier type classes really excel on the higher difficulties probably in part because all their signature abilities add a good chunk of survivability to the classes.

Yeah. I think they just remembered how OP Adept was in ME1 with how strong Singularity and displacements were, and went hilariously overboard on nerfs (lift made all the boss fights hilariously easy, just slap Liara or Wrex into your party and you're golden if you don't have them yourself). That being said, engineer in ME1 was dreck because of the wack aim mechanics with your grenades and they still weren't great in ME2, so...

And yeah, I agree that slapping defenses on top of the enemies at higher difficulty was the wrong way to go. The problem was that enemy mobs already kill you so fast that it often feels like the I-frames when your shield broke lasted longer than your shields under fire. And there was no penalty to staying up when your shields broke because you'd just regen to full when you took cover and they were (usually) unable to flush you. So adding damage was a no-go.

(seriously, I played a Sentinel with max Tech Armor/Max Geth Shield Boost/max shield strength armor and was constantly having my shields popped practically instantaneously. That's not OK, I specifically sacrificed damage powers to be able to fire my weapon for longer without my shields breaking.)

[Inarius]

Yeah. I think they just remembered how OP Adept was in ME1 with how strong Singularity and displacements were, and went hilariously overboard on nerfs (lift made all the boss fights hilariously easy, just slap Liara or Wrex into your party and you're golden if you don't have them yourself). That being said, engineer in ME1 was dreck because of the wack aim mechanics with your grenades and they still weren't great in ME2, so...

I dunno they weren't that bad in ME1 once you got their tech powers maxed they packed a whallop. They were probably the worst class because no immunity or biotics but I found it enjoyable enough once I got some decent armor and my shields weren't horrible (still got one shotted by shield bypassing rockets though :smallmad:). In ME2 I thought they were in a pretty good spot. Their combat drone was a pretty good distraction and doubling or tripling up with Tali and Legion tended to stunlock several enemies at once. On top of that they could strip Shields and Armor and cryoblast was probably the best crowd control ability in the game.


(seriously, I played a Sentinel with max Tech Armor/Max Geth Shield Boost/max shield strength armor and was constantly having my shields popped practically instantaneously. That's not OK, I specifically sacrificed damage powers to be able to fire my weapon for longer without my shields breaking.)
Yeah same here, I had issues trying to play a tanky type of Sentinel in ME2. I wasn't sure if I was doing something wrong or all the people going on about how it made insanity cakewalk were exaggerating. In the end I just respecced and went with a defense stripper build.

[Avilan the Grey]

That's what I said :smalltongue:

And yeah, that's the problem with Cryo Ammo in ME2 - even when it works (i.e. lower difficulties), things die too fast for it to matter. (One use for Squad Cryo is when you're trying to save ammo - say, with a Locust or Carnifex - your allies can use their otherwise milquetoast pea-shooters to nail enemies popping out of cover, causing them to freeze and topple, and letting you line up efficient headshots without reprisal.)

As an Infiltrator you always have to try to conserve ammo.

Edit: In ME3 ammo drops are much more frequent it seems. Plus they just don't add barriers or shields to anything that moves because Lazy when upping the difficulty.

[Psyren]

As an Infiltrator you always have to try to conserve ammo.

Viper says hi :smallbiggrin:

Only kidding - yes, ME2 is much stingier with the clips. (IMO, this would have been my preferred way to distinguish the Soldier, by giving them more spares and greatly expanded magazines; ME3 did something like this but didn't go far enough.)

A useful trick here though - those gun lockers that are halfway through nearly every mission will refill all your ammo, so be sure to click on them even if you don't plan on changing your layout, and if you know you're near one, don't be afraid to empty your clips. They look like this:

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/masseffect/images/e/e4/Weapons_Locker.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100811004344

Heavy Weapon ammo boxes do the same thing - they refill all your other ammo in addition to that of the HW itself.


Edit: In ME3 ammo drops are much more frequent it seems. Plus they just don't add barriers or shields to anything that moves because Lazy when upping the difficulty.

And even if they had, barriers and armor don't stop every form of CC from working - Push can still stagger protected enemies, bubble stasis can still trap them etc. Plus, stripping multiple defenses in 3 is much easier, creating more interesting counterplay than ME2's endless cooldown waiting game.

[Avilan the Grey]

Just realized I am doing things out of order... I have everyone's loyalty mission done except Tali's, who I have not even picked up yet ( well not Legion either, of course).

Huh.

Btw, A benefit of Squad Ammo besides freezing stuff is that I can maximize squaddies other powers.

[Psyren]

That order sounds fine to me - I always do Tali and Legion last so that I can bring Legion to the Quarian fleet without having to launch the SM early.


I love cryo in ME3; I've wrecked entire rooms with chain cryo explosions.
...I really, really hope we can be N7 Paladins in ME4!

[Douglas]

That order sounds fine to me - I always do Tali and Legion last so that I can bring Legion to the Quarian fleet without having to launch the SM early.
Me too. Some of the special dialogue for Legion being on the Migrant Fleet is amusing/interesting. I really wish they'd given you a way to more emphatically address the Quarian/Geth issue on that mission, though, perhaps a persuasive speech that they should interview Legion before you leave, to get a perspective on Geth that isn't centuries old or at the end of a minority splinter faction's guns.

[Psyren]

Me too. Some of the special dialogue for Legion being on the Migrant Fleet is amusing/interesting. I really wish they'd given you a way to more emphatically address the Quarian/Geth issue on that mission, though, perhaps a persuasive speech that they should interview Legion before you leave, to get a perspective on Geth that isn't centuries old or at the end of a minority splinter faction's guns.

It's kinda hard to convince them Geth are benign though when rogue Geth are literally murdering everyone on the Alarei a few klicks from where you're standing. Quarians being as close-knit as they are, it's not hard to imagine that everyone in that room knew someone who was being butchered. You couldn't even really convince them that the Quarians were totally at fault - their mistake was simply turning the Geth on, followed by the Geth (well, Heretics) immediately doing what they do best.

[Avilan the Grey]

So, Morgan Shepard is halfway thru the "suicide" mission. I have decided not to lose anyone this time. Perfect run it is.
Funny that I was sweating having enough Renegade points as a Renegon to resolve the Tali - Legion conflict... And then it turned out that no I didn't, but my Paragon points were enough. :smallbiggrin:

[Douglas]

So, Morgan Shepard is halfway thru the "suicide" mission. I have decided not to lose anyone this time. Perfect run it is.
Funny that I was sweating having enough Renegade points as a Renegon to resolve the Tali - Legion conflict... And then it turned out that no I didn't, but my Paragon points were enough. :smallbiggrin:
Interesting trivia I just learned: The Tali/Legion argument is easier to resolve with Paragon than with Renegade. On the opposite end, the Miranda/Jack argument is easier to resolve with Renegade than with Paragon.

[Inarius]

Interesting trivia I just learned: The Tali/Legion argument is easier to resolve with Paragon than with Renegade. On the opposite end, the Miranda/Jack argument is easier to resolve with Renegade than with Paragon.

Yeah though they still both require you to either import from ME1 or play largely to one side of the meter due to the system working on percentages.

[Avilan the Grey]

Yeah though they still both require you to either import from ME1 or play largely to one side of the meter due to the system working on percentages.

Another tip: Do Zaeed as early as possible if you want to play a neutal-ish character. At least if you want to save the workers.

[Landis963]

Another tip: Do Zaeed as early as possible if you want to play a neutal-ish character. At least if you want to save the workers.

Or save him til after the suicide mission so you can fail to save him from his own stupid choices. (That's what my Shepard did. He... didn't react well to insubordinate stupidity)

[Psyren]

Or save him til after the suicide mission so you can fail to save him from his own stupid choices. (That's what my Shepard did. He... didn't react well to insubordinate stupidity)

Zaeed's a boob on that mission but the Citadel party makes up for it imo. Besides, he saves you bacon. Bacon!

[Anteros]

I'm gonna need you guys to go ahead and stop making me want to replay Mass Effect. I don't have that type of free time anymore.

[Avilan the Grey]

Zaeed's a boob on that mission but the Citadel party makes up for it imo. Besides, he saves you bacon. Bacon!

Plus he adds almost as much as Grunt to the end calculation in the suicide mission.

[LibraryOgre]

I'm gonna need you guys to go ahead and stop making me want to replay Mass Effect. I don't have that type of free time anymore.

So, I had an idea for a scenario for a Mass Effect RPG...

You stumble across a system with a thriving, mass effect based technology... but who are violently anti-contact. See, they got a WORKING Prothean beacon, and know that the Reapers are coming and they want nothing to do with the rest of the galaxy and the eventual Reaping.

[Psyren]

So, I had an idea for a scenario for a Mass Effect RPG...

You stumble across a system with a thriving, mass effect based technology... but who are violently anti-contact. See, they got a WORKING Prothean beacon, and know that the Reapers are coming and they want nothing to do with the rest of the galaxy and the eventual Reaping.

Bonus points if the last ship of visiting organics turned out to all be indoctrinated :smalltongue:

[Douglas]

So, I had an idea for a scenario for a Mass Effect RPG...

You stumble across a system with a thriving, mass effect based technology... but who are violently anti-contact. See, they got a WORKING Prothean beacon, and know that the Reapers are coming and they want nothing to do with the rest of the galaxy and the eventual Reaping.
The problem there is that they'd have to hide their very existence or ditch their technology, not just refuse contact, to avoid getting Reaped. It seems more likely to me that they would be very very aggressively military, and encourage everyone around them to follow their example. With a fully functioning, understood, and cooperative Prothean beacon, they'd have a rough estimate for when the next Reaping would occur and how powerful the enemy forces would be, and they'd dedicate their entire society to trying to meet that Reaping with thousands upon thousands of the most advanced dreadnoughts they can muster. No silly "don't build more than X dreadnoughts" treaties for them, and if you feel threatened by their massive fleet they'll be happy to help beef up yours too.

[Joran]

The problem there is that they'd have to hide their very existence or ditch their technology, not just refuse contact, to avoid getting Reaped. It seems more likely to me that they would be very very aggressively military, and encourage everyone around them to follow their example. With a fully functioning, understood, and cooperative Prothean beacon, they'd have a rough estimate for when the next Reaping would occur and how powerful the enemy forces would be, and they'd dedicate their entire society to trying to meet that Reaping with thousands upon thousands of the most advanced dreadnoughts they can muster. No silly "don't build more than X dreadnoughts" treaties for them, and if you feel threatened by their massive fleet they'll be happy to help beef up yours too.

As Mark Hall, stated, they'd probably be ridiculously xenophobic, since any organics can be indoctrinated; better to blow them up and let the Maker sort them out. They'd also have shut down the relay, because that's how the Reapers get to you quickly.

So, I can see a scenario where some humans try to reactivate their relay and getting blown out of the frackin' sky... so basically the First Contact War all over again.

I forget which writer it was but it posited that the Mirror Trek Universe, where the evil guys had beards, was a result of the events of First Contact if it gone awry. So, you have a bunch of people from the future warning about the coming invasion of cyborgs and creating a really militaristic society designed to fight the Borg. Also, it was Riker who was warning them, so beards were in vogue (I made this part up).

[McDouggal]

They'd also have shut down the relay, because that's how the Reapers get to you quickly.

Doesn't work, the Citadel has controls for literally every relay. You'd have to destroy it.

[Anteros]

Doesn't work, the Citadel has controls for literally every relay. You'd have to destroy it.

Well, Shepard shut down the Batarian one pretty good. They probably wouldn't want to blow up their planet to do it, but I'd imagine you could find a way to shut it down if you were dedicated and had time.

[Psyren]

The Alpha Relay's destruction was the product of months of research to (a) figure out how much force they'd need to do it (Relays up until that point were largely considered indestructible to known technology) and (b) even figure out which one they needed to use their resources to blow up. If there's only one relay within striking distance you can speed up the second part of that equation, but not the first.

And of course, the thing they were using to figure out which relay needed to be blown up first ended up indoctrinating everybody.

[Anteros]

The Alpha Relay's destruction was the product of months of research to (a) figure out how much force they'd need to do it (Relays up until that point were largely considered indestructible to known technology) and (b) even figure out which one they needed to use their resources to blow up. If there's only one relay within striking distance you can speed up the second part of that equation, but not the first.

And of course, the thing they were using to figure out which relay needed to be blown up first ended up indoctrinating everybody.

Months of work by a few scientists compared to thousands of years by an entire society? They could probably figure something out.

[Psyren]

Months of work by a few scientists compared to thousands of years by an entire society? They could probably figure something out.

It would depend on how far in advance they got their beacon working, and how long it took them to understand (and heed) its warning. We also had thousands of years, but didn't uncover/decipher any until very late in the cycle.

[Avilan the Grey]

For the first time ever I decided to hold out and get the achievement for delaying the whole Object Rho fight. I got spoilered on that from the beginning so I never bothered to fight, because yeah it's quite pointless. I just usually let them shoot me ASAP to get on with it.
But this time I decided to try it and it seems being a lvl 30 character makes it fairly easy. I just kept in cover and threw fireballs at everyone until Rho hits me over my brain.

[Douglas]

For the first time ever I decided to hold out and get the achievement for delaying the whole Object Rho fight. I got spoilered on that from the beginning so I never bothered to fight, because yeah it's quite pointless. I just usually let them shoot me ASAP to get on with it.
But this time I decided to try it and it seems being a lvl 30 character makes it fairly easy. I just kept in cover and threw fireballs at everyone until Rho hits me over my brain.
Did you know that there's a special ending for if you let the countdown for the Reaper arrival run out?

[Anteros]

I don't know if I'd really call it a special ending. More of an alternate game over screen.



It would depend on how far in advance they got their beacon working, and how long it took them to understand (and heed) its warning. We also had thousands of years, but didn't uncover/decipher any until very late in the cycle.

I thought the whole premise here was that they got the warning with plenty of time to prepare?

[Psyren]

I thought the whole premise here was that they got the warning with plenty of time to prepare?

The question is, "is that enough time to blow up a Relay?" Especially when, as Arrival showed us, doing that means nuking the entire system said Relay is floating inside.

[Douglas]

The question is, "is that enough time to blow up a Relay?" Especially when, as Arrival showed us, doing that means nuking the entire system said Relay is floating inside.
Well, if they've got a few thousand years after developing to spacefaring technology - quite reasonable given the Reaping cycle's interval of 50000 years - they should have plenty of time to move the relay first.

[Anteros]

Move it, disable it somehow, or trap it heavily. My point was that they have a lot more options than Shepard did.

[Douglas]

Move it, disable it somehow, or trap it heavily. My point was that they have a lot more options than Shepard did.
Speaking of traps, it's too bad Arrival doesn't have an option to precisely time the detonation to catch the Reaper fleet. You've got a literal timer counting down to the exact second of their arrival, and surely a detonation capable of wiping out an entire star system would do serious damage even to Reaper ships. Sure, you've got Indoctrinated scientists trying to stop you, but that's what the most badass Spectre in the galaxy is for!

[Anteros]

That was my first thought on playing Arrival as well. You're telling me that I have the opportunity to split the enemy forces, while simultaneously inflicting enormous damage and I'm not taking it because....?

[Psyren]

Well, if they've got a few thousand years after developing to spacefaring technology - quite reasonable given the Reaping cycle's interval of 50000 years - they should have plenty of time to move the relay first.

Literally one thing we've seen has been capable of moving a relay, and that's a supernova. Which... wouldn't exactly be much better for the star system it's in than outright blowing it up would.


Speaking of traps, it's too bad Arrival doesn't have an option to precisely time the detonation to catch the Reaper fleet. You've got a literal timer counting down to the exact second of their arrival, and surely a detonation capable of wiping out an entire star system would do serious damage even to Reaper ships. Sure, you've got Indoctrinated scientists trying to stop you, but that's what the most badass Spectre in the galaxy is for!

Unless said badass spectre can build atomic clocks without reaper technology noticing, it's the indoctrinated scientists that are the problem :smalltongue:

[Inarius]

Speaking of traps, it's too bad Arrival doesn't have an option to precisely time the detonation to catch the Reaper fleet. You've got a literal timer counting down to the exact second of their arrival, and surely a detonation capable of wiping out an entire star system would do serious damage even to Reaper ships. Sure, you've got Indoctrinated scientists trying to stop you, but that's what the most badass Spectre in the galaxy is for!

I'm glad they didn't do that because honestly it would be nearly impossible to time. Yes you have the arrival clock but you don't know the location the reapers will appear at and Harbinger has FTL communication with the asteroid. The only way it works is if the reapers are reckless and stupid and drop out of ftl right on top of the asteroid they know is going to crash into the mass relay at any moment.

[Anteros]

I'm glad they didn't do that because honestly it would be nearly impossible to time. Yes you have the arrival clock but you don't know the location the reapers will appear at and Harbinger has FTL communication with the asteroid. The only way it works is if the reapers are reckless and stupid and drop out of ftl right on top of the asteroid they know is going to crash into the mass relay at any moment.

Wasn't the entire point that they would be arriving at that relay at that time? How do you not know their arrival point?

[Inarius]

Wasn't the entire point that they would be arriving at that relay at that time? How do you not know their arrival point?

Because it would be utterly stupid for them to drop out of ftl right at the relay knowing Shepard is trying to smash an asteroid into it. They should know better for a supposed race of hyper intelligent AI's. That would be why I'm glad Bioware didn't make it an option, it would only make the reapers stupider than they already were.

[Anteros]

First of all, how would they know? They're not omniscient, and once you eliminate the indoctrinated they have no way of knowing what your plans are.

Secondly, we already know that if you let the timer run down they do arrive at that moment.

[Douglas]

Oh, there are all sorts of ways it could fail, whether from Reaper action or otherwise, but they could have at least let us try. It's such an obvious idea, and the Reapers wouldn't even need to actually be "right at the relay" for it to work - we're talking about an explosion that caused a star at literally astronomical distances to disappear.

Hmm, maybe have the Reapers send an advance vanguard in a last ditch attempt to stop you and divert the asteroid's course, and if you pull it off you destroy that advance vanguard for some extra War Assets while the main fleet survived by waiting a few extra minutes in interstellar space?

[Inarius]

First of all, how would they know? They're not omniscient, and once you eliminate the indoctrinated they have no way of knowing what your plans are.

Secondly, we already know that if you let the timer run down they do arrive at that moment.

They would know because Harbinger was talking to Shepard while flying towards the mass relay. That should be enough to make them not want to drop out right next to the giant potential bomb with the bulk of their fleet.

[Anteros]

They would know because Harbinger was talking to Shepard while flying towards the mass relay. That should be enough to make them not want to drop out right next to the giant potential bomb with the bulk of their fleet.

Well like I said, we already know they do anyway. Besides, it doesn't matter. If they don't go for the relay, they still have to fly in the old fashioned way, so you still gain the extra time as if you destroyed it. They either come in and get smashed, or they go around and lose time. They don't really have another option. They could maybe send a strike team to stop the destruction, but you can just blow it if you think that's a threat.

Plus, that way you don't have to commit genocide. That would be the best possible outcome really.

[Avilan the Grey]

Anybody but me always stuck with the same face?
I used the default face in ME2 but the default face in ME3 is just too derpy. I love the concept (redhead with freckles and a rather daring lipstick) but whoever made the headmorph not only completely failed to make it look like their concept art that people got to vote on, but also made a mouth shape that just animates very very poorly.

http://cdnl2.dynamic.facesofgaming.com/images/submissions/mass-effect-3/535a0af73d1988cb168b4abf/thumbnails/535a0b663d1988cb168b4ac0.jpg

I just alternate between Blonde and Redhead version of it.
Basically this is what the default Shepard should have looked like if you look at the concept art.

Also, if you think it looks weird... the small pictures are from the ME2 version of the headmorph.

[Anteros]

I always just use the default face. I use male Shep though. I think it looks a lot better than any of the faces you can make.

[Avilan the Grey]

I always just use the default face. I use male Shep though. I think it looks a lot better than any of the faces you can make.

The default Maleshep has always been the best default face and have never been attainable by using the character editor without cusomization. The default femshep in 1 and 2 were just generic redhead #1, made with the editor.

In 3 they did this whole thing about making the same thing with Femshep as with Maleshep, and then they screwed up quite badly. Sad but true. Part of that has to do with Maleshep being modeled after an IRL male fashion model. It seems ME3's femshep was just sculpted out of clay to look like the game art, and failing at that (the face I always use, linked above, looks far FAR closer to the concept art than the offical face ever did).

As a sidenote yeah... Part of it is that I have better guns at my disposal, and more ammo too, in 3 than in 2 (equipping Ash with the Typhoon is Easy Win mode) but I am beginning to think I'll have to switch to Insanity to get up to the same difficulty level as ME2 Veteran. Which is quite a difficulty slide since in ME2 you also have Hardcore and to go before you even reach Insanity.

[Anteros]

Insanity in 3 is a lot less frustrating at least.

Also, I just want to take this moment to remind everyone that manShep is much better than femShep and all your opinions to the contrary are wrong. :smallbiggrin:

[Avilan the Grey]

I've heard of people who play Shepard as a man. Those people are strange!

[Douglas]

I played male Paragon Shep, and female Renegade Shep. The female voice acting for all the Renegade lines gave me a very strong impression of a catty bitch, really, especially her interactions with Ashley (before she died on Virmire so I could continue romancing Kaidan).

I have very little idea of what Paragon femShep sounds like, and after three full playthroughs of the entire trilogy I don't feel like doing another just to see that.

My third playthrough was male Renegade failShep, scraping by on the bare minimum in everything unless there was a way to actively make things worse.

[Avilan the Grey]

I prefer Hale as both renegade and paragon, myself.
That said, the Renegade thing is very unfocused especially in game 1, but also in game 2.

You ARE a petty b*tch in ME1 as a renegade. Male or Female. I think the developers themselves defined a full renegade Shepard a "huge D*ckosaurus". You are basically hurting people for lulz.

This is a little annoying because now and then you get a "true" renegade moment where you decide to solve an actual problem, focused on the long play, in a renegade way. But most of the time you are a whiny b*tch hurting others AND your own chances to succeed in the endgame.

Game 2 is somewhat better at this; the moments of pure ***holiness are fewer, and you do more good as a renegade. The third game is far more focused on what I consider true renegade choices; you are more aggressive, a little more hurtful but just as focused on solving the chrisis in the best possible way most of the time. There are still choices that boils down to "screw the world I am a selfish ... and hurting you is fun".

...Which is why most people end up playing Paragade or Renegon Sheps anyway. This playthrough is my most renegade playthrough (that I decided not to restart) and even her is what? 90% renegade 75% paragon at the end of ME2.

[Avilan the Grey]

Went thru Omega being more Renegade than usual and then decided to make my Paragon Interrup at the end.
Haven't seen that dialogue before.


The way she calls me the most powerful and frustrating creature she's ever encountered sounds like (from her side) all this is a slap-slap-kiss thing. Especially if you play female I think, since Omega DLC already have different reactions on her kissing you if you are male or female.

[Psyren]

Hopefully not a hijack, but since this seems to be the de facto Mass Effect thread, we got some more Andromeda footage and goodies from E3.

New trailer:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2vgHOXeps0

New info:

- Protagonist's surname will be Ryder, and she will default to female (you can still choose to be male.) This is likely an homage to Sally Ride, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Ride) just as Shepard was an homage to Alan Shepard.

- Yes, that's her (you) waking up at the end of the trailer.

- Unlike Shepard, Ryder won't start out with a big military commendation in their history. "This is a story about becoming a hero, not starting as one." This will play into the larger theme of being a "stranger in a strange land." Shepard in the previous trilogy had a lot of experience, connections and knowledge about the current galaxy via the Alliance Military that the writers had to work around; Ryder will be coming into things being much more green.

- Romances are being tweaked to evolve more naturally. They want to move away from "check in with [squadmate] between missions X times, then cutscene." Also, some squadmates may be colder/more standoffish than others, and so require more effort. (Psy: Hopefully not Morrigan levels though.)

- Most planets will have a single biome (e.g. ice world, lava world, jungle world etc.) This is inspired by other space exploration epics like Star Wars. (Psy: And I guess Mario Galaxy if you want to be cheeky.)

- Only vehicle is the Mako (2?), probably so they can focus on it and make it a core aspect of gameplay. No ship combat. (That boost sequence in the trailer looked awesome.)

- There will be multiplayer. ME3 was a big success so it will be along those lines, but Frostbite will allow them to add more "chaos."

[McDouggal]

>Protagonist will default to female, is based off of Sally Ride

It'll be interesting to see how this goes. I was hoping that we could pick our race and gender, but I suppose I'll just have to hope that comes in a future ME game.

>Ryder has no big military commendation in her history

Not surprising, all the big heroes were getting trotted out for morale boosting in ME3. Having some of them drop off the face of the galaxy with no known reason would be suspicious. Plus, IIRC they leave for Andromeda in the middle of the Reaper invasion (which allows them to avoid canonizing an ending).

>Romances being tweaked to evolve more naturally

Great! Is fem!Ryder going to have a nice straight relationship that's with a human? Cuz that was a complaint of mine in ME3, as Kaidan's such a whiner that I can't choose him over Ashley on Virmire.

Also Kaidan's voice acting is like an order of magnitude worse than Ashley's.

>Most planets will be a single biome

That was true for most of the planets you visited in the original trilogy.

>Only vehicle is the Mako

OH THANK GOD. <redacted> THE HAMMERHEAD AND IT'S INABILITY TO TAKE ON A SINGLE GETH TROOPER FOR MORE THAN 5 SECONDS WITHOUT BURSTING INTO FLAME.

>There will be multiplayer

Eh. I'm really only playing the multiplayer for achievements at this point.

[Avilan the Grey]

Hopefully not a hijack, but since this seems to be the de facto Mass Effect thread, we got some more Andromeda footage and goodies from E3.

New trailer:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2vgHOXeps0

New info:

- Protagonist's surname will be Ryder, and she will default to female (you can still choose to be male.) This is likely an homage to Sally Ride, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Ride) just as Shepard was an homage to Alan Shepard.

- Yes, that's her (you) waking up at the end of the trailer.

- Unlike Shepard, Ryder won't start out with a big military commendation in their history. "This is a story about becoming a hero, not starting as one." This will play into the larger theme of being a "stranger in a strange land." Shepard in the previous trilogy had a lot of experience, connections and knowledge about the current galaxy via the Alliance Military that the writers had to work around; Ryder will be coming into things being much more green.

- Romances are being tweaked to evolve more naturally. They want to move away from "check in with [squadmate] between missions X times, then cutscene." Also, some squadmates may be colder/more standoffish than others, and so require more effort. (Psy: Hopefully not Morrigan levels though.)

- Most planets will have a single biome (e.g. ice world, lava world, jungle world etc.) This is inspired by other space exploration epics like Star Wars. (Psy: And I guess Mario Galaxy if you want to be cheeky.)

- Only vehicle is the Mako (2?), probably so they can focus on it and make it a core aspect of gameplay. No ship combat. (That boost sequence in the trailer looked awesome.)

- There will be multiplayer. ME3 was a big success so it will be along those lines, but Frostbite will allow them to add more "chaos."

Slightly more interested.
Still not really... doing it for me.

Edit: a male Asari?

[SlyGuyMcFly]

- Only vehicle is the Mako (2?), probably so they can focus on it and make it a core aspect of gameplay. No ship combat. (That boost sequence in the trailer looked awesome.)

But will it have those classic Mako physics? I hope it has those classic Mako physics.

[LibraryOgre]

>Most planets will be a single biome

That was true for most of the planets you visited in the original trilogy.


Really, even in ME1 (where you covered a lot more territory), it's not like you traveled far enough that you're going to run into a ton of different landscapes. World A might look like an Ice world, but that's because you're stuck in 6 square kilometers of terrain.

[Psyren]

Edit: a male Asari?

A what? Where are you getting that from? :smallconfused:


>Protagonist will default to female, is based off of Sally Ride

It'll be interesting to see how this goes. I was hoping that we could pick our race and gender, but I suppose I'll just have to hope that comes in a future ME game.

...

>There will be multiplayer

Eh. I'm really only playing the multiplayer for achievements at this point.

I'd have thought you'd be more favorable since MP also allows you to be another race. My hunch is that they'll do the Inquisition and Overwatch thing where each multiplayer kit is a specific character with their own backstory and attitude, thus letting the story guys throw in some intriguing soundbites.


Really, even in ME1 (where you covered a lot more territory), it's not like you traveled far enough that you're going to run into a ton of different landscapes. World A might look like an Ice world, but that's because you're stuck in 6 square kilometers of terrain.

Even when you were in orbit though, most planets did have just the one. Of course, it was justified in a lot of cases - if you stick a planet far enough from a star, then yeah, it's an ice world.

Note also that I wasn't calling that out as some kind of change or departure for the series - I just cobbled together a bunch of interview answers and article stuff and put it in one post.

[Douglas]

>Only vehicle is the Mako

OH THANK GOD. <redacted> THE HAMMERHEAD AND IT'S INABILITY TO TAKE ON A SINGLE GETH TROOPER FOR MORE THAN 5 SECONDS WITHOUT BURSTING INTO FLAME.
I hope they've fixed the Mako's inability to drive in anything resembling a straight line on anything but the simplest of terrain.:smallannoyed:

Sure, the Mako's much tougher in a fight, but the Hammerhead's movement handling is miles ahead, even without considering its short range flight ability.

[Psyren]

Agreed - to quote Cortez, the Mako handles like a drunk rhino. Or to quote Yahtzee, a shopping cart on bumpy terrain. And vertical-only jump jets are downright criminal.

I have high hopes though. ME3 showed they can do speed, and so bringing that to the vehicle is only sensible.

[Avilan the Grey]

A what? Where are you getting that from? :smallconfused:

The Asari in the trailer. The facial features screams male to me.

[Psyren]

The Asari in the trailer. The facial features screams male to me.

http://i.imgur.com/8EzCSMM.png

I'm not seeing it myself, but eh. We know the answer to that question already.

I am curious how the other races will look in Frostbite though.

[Landis963]

I notice that the asari seems to have actual human-style eyebrows, as opposed to the tattooed-on eyebrow like symbols a la Aria's facial markings or that tortoiseshell thing that Vasir had (which I assumed was natural coloration). Retcon or subtle character backstory hint? We shall see.

[McDouggal]

I'd have thought you'd be more favorable since MP also allows you to be another race. My hunch is that they'll do the Inquisition and Overwatch thing where each multiplayer kit is a specific character with their own backstory and attitude, thus letting the story guys throw in some intriguing soundbites.

The problem I have with ME3 multiplayer is that it's really pointless for things other than going for 100% completion or getting the special destroy/synthesis ending if you don't have any of the DLC's, and the way they had you unlock items was painful. It felt really bad to have your Avenger X doing less damage than your N7 Eagle I.


I hope they've fixed the Mako's inability to drive in anything resembling a straight line on anything but the simplest of terrain.:smallannoyed:

Sure, the Mako's much tougher in a fight, but the Hammerhead's movement handling is miles ahead, even without considering its short range flight ability.

Yeah, the hammerhead handled better, but I still preferred the Mako just because "<redacted> you, I'm a <redacted> tank" and it could run over a Geth trooper without bursting into flame. I'll take toughness over maneuverability in most situations.

[Psyren]

The problem I have with ME3 multiplayer is that it's really pointless for things other than going for 100% completion or getting the special destroy/synthesis ending if you don't have any of the DLC's, and the way they had you unlock items was painful. It felt really bad to have your Avenger X doing less damage than your N7 Eagle I.

But it doesn't have to have a "point," any more than Overwatch does. The gameplay is inherently engaging and fun; people would have played it even if it had had no impact on War Assets at all, just as many kept playing it years after they beat the game and are even playing to this day. Not to mention the novelty of playing as various ME races. (People have been dying to play as Krogan or Geth since the series began, and never mind carrying your entire team as a Volus Engineer.)

If they polish that, and then add Inquisition- or Overwatch-style characterization to the various kits, it'll be golden. There is significant demand for a good sci-fi third person shooter now that OW has scratched the FPS itch.


Yeah, the hammerhead handled better, but I still preferred the Mako just because "<redacted> you, I'm a <redacted> tank" and it could run over a Geth trooper without bursting into flame. I'll take toughness over maneuverability in most situations.

I don't see why there has to be a tradeoff. Both vehicles were deeply flawed in different ways, but if you combined the best aspects of both you'd have something truly amazing and fun to drive. Something with the Hammerhead's maneuverability and speed along with the Mako's toughness and hitscan weapons would be fantastic.

[Avilan the Grey]

http://i.imgur.com/8EzCSMM.png

I'm not seeing it myself, but eh. We know the answer to that question already.

I am curious how the other races will look in Frostbite though.

I don't like the design at all.
Yes, classic beauty might be so stereotypical, but that's what they are supposed to look like. Also, those eyebrows, as Landis pointed out, looks WAY too human (as with hair).

[Inarius]

So 1:26 in the recent trailer. Is that earth and two ark ships being readied to launch? It seems like it because you can see some human cruisers in orbit and the shuttles flying towards the nearest ark ship look similar to Kodiaks except a bit sleeker. As we all know sleeker ships are more advanced because that's just how science fiction works. So does this mean the ARK mission launches at some point after the reaper invasion or did it launch before the reapers even arrived as a sort of fail safe? If its the latter the ships looking sleeker could just be a sort of retcon or adjustment made when converting the game to frostbite I suppose. Thoughts?

[McDouggal]

It wouldn't surprise me if it was Earth; Alliance Command in general was preparing for Reaper arrival starting after the Alpha Relay incident, and they were the only ones actually taking it seriously (at least Hackett was, and he was the big gun when it came to the SA Navy). It was probably launched sometime prior to the actual Reaper invasion; this will allow Bioware to avoid canonizing a big ending.

In another note: @22 seconds, the ship is named the Tempest. This does not match Systems Alliance Navy naming systems - Frigates were named after battles in Earth's history (Normandy, Agincourt), Cruisers were named after cities (Cairo, Cape Town), and Dreadnougts were named after mountains (Everest, Kilimanjaro) - unless they're *seriously* giving them a Dreadnought named after a ****ing sand dune in Australia.

Or it's a reference to the Protoss creating a ship class that they named the Tempest.

It definitely matches the color scheme of the original Normandy exterior. But the color scheme of Systems Alliance vessels in ME3 (inclduing the SR-2) is blue and white.

My best guess is that this is a pseudo-military ship. Technically civilian owned, but run by the Systems Alliance military.

[Avilan the Grey]

I just realized why I don't really care for the art direction and faces in the trailer. It's made in the same engine Inquisition uses... And I REALLY didn't like the faces in that game. They look.. both plastic AND overly detailed at once. (The ONLY character I liked the look of in DA:I was Casandra.) Doesn't seem possible, but it's true. It also looks like it's the same people that has designed the characters as the ones doing in DA:I. I much prefer the look of the ME2 / 3 engine. Or the Skyrim / FO4 engine at that. (I KNOW it's not the same company).

Again, I don't know why, but to me the Asari looks male.

[Psyren]

So 1:26 in the recent trailer. Is that earth and two ark ships being readied to launch? It seems like it because you can see some human cruisers in orbit and the shuttles flying towards the nearest ark ship look similar to Kodiaks except a bit sleeker. As we all know sleeker ships are more advanced because that's just how science fiction works. So does this mean the ARK mission launches at some point after the reaper invasion or did it launch before the reapers even arrived as a sort of fail safe? If its the latter the ships looking sleeker could just be a sort of retcon or adjustment made when converting the game to frostbite I suppose. Thoughts?


It wouldn't surprise me if it was Earth; Alliance Command in general was preparing for Reaper arrival starting after the Alpha Relay incident, and they were the only ones actually taking it seriously (at least Hackett was, and he was the big gun when it came to the SA Navy). It was probably launched sometime prior to the actual Reaper invasion; this will allow Bioware to avoid canonizing a big ending.

We have a pretty good guess as to when this expedition was launched; right after the fall of Thessia, when the Asari councillor numbly states that there are "preparations to make; continuity of civilization to consider" before abruptly ending the call. It's possible that Hackett was working on this longer, but the Asari and Salarians would be crucial for extra-galactic travel.

Concerning the Tempest, I'm with you on the strangeness of the naming convention, but I have a feeling it's a reference - perhaps to Shakespeare, in which titular play shipwrecked survivors are forced to become strangers in a strange land by a controlling intelligence (Prospero, in the play.) It wouldn't surprise me if similar themes ended up in Andromeda, and that our arrival on that distant shore is no accident.

[Avilan the Grey]

We have a pretty good guess as to when this expedition was launched; right after the fall of Thessia, when the Asari councillor numbly states that there are "preparations to make; continuity of civilization to consider" before abruptly ending the call. It's possible that Hackett was working on this longer, but the Asari and Salarians would be crucial for extra-galactic travel.

Concerning the Tempest, I'm with you on the strangeness of the naming convention, but I have a feeling it's a reference - perhaps to Shakespeare, in which titular play shipwrecked survivors are forced to become strangers in a strange land by a controlling intelligence (Prospero, in the play.) It wouldn't surprise me if similar themes ended up in Andromeda, and that our arrival on that distant shore is no accident.

Sounds more than plausible, actually.

[Inarius]

We have a pretty good guess as to when this expedition was launched; right after the fall of Thessia, when the Asari councillor numbly states that there are "preparations to make; continuity of civilization to consider" before abruptly ending the call. It's possible that Hackett was working on this longer, but the Asari and Salarians would be crucial for extra-galactic travel.

Concerning the Tempest, I'm with you on the strangeness of the naming convention, but I have a feeling it's a reference - perhaps to Shakespeare, in which titular play shipwrecked survivors are forced to become strangers in a strange land by a controlling intelligence (Prospero, in the play.) It wouldn't surprise me if similar themes ended up in Andromeda, and that our arrival on that distant shore is no accident.

Honestly I'm not so sure about that being when the expedition leaves anymore but its all speculation until the game launches anyway. As for the name Tempest that's a good catch, and Bioware has slipped little things in like that throughout the series.

[Avilan the Grey]

SO... Not too much trouble on Insanity yet (as I said, it's easier than Hardcore in ME2). BUT there seems to be balance issues in the Leviathan DLC. More specifically, the Harversters kill me during dialogue. For example when you first reach the elevator and it doesn't go all the way down... as you click on the button, a harvester shoots me twice, and I die without ever seeing it. This happens at least four times for me on that mission.

Now if I see the harvester coming, there is no problems. But I don't.

(This is the first time I have noticed a problem though; the entire Omega DLC had no balance issues for example).

[Avilan the Grey]

Now I know why I feel so strongly the Asari is male:

That face reminds me very much of Michael J Pollard...
http://www.nndb.com/people/243/000130850/michael-j-pollard-3-sized.jpg

[Inarius]

SO... Not too much trouble on Insanity yet (as I said, it's easier than Hardcore in ME2). BUT there seems to be balance issues in the Leviathan DLC. More specifically, the Harversters kill me during dialogue. For example when you first reach the elevator and it doesn't go all the way down... as you click on the button, a harvester shoots me twice, and I die without ever seeing it. This happens at least four times for me on that mission.

Now if I see the harvester coming, there is no problems. But I don't.

(This is the first time I have noticed a problem though; the entire Omega DLC had no balance issues for example).

Yeah I've had issues there with harvesters just wrecking me without ever being able to see it coming. I'm not sure why but I got the feeling its something that happens if you stay in one place for too long. Of course it could also just be a totally random thing designed to make you gnash your teeth.

[Avilan the Grey]

Yeah I've had issues there with harvesters just wrecking me without ever being able to see it coming. I'm not sure why but I got the feeling its something that happens if you stay in one place for too long. Of course it could also just be a totally random thing designed to make you gnash your teeth.

I think it has to do with the AI being completely unshackled when it comes to power use on Insanity (according to the description text). This means that the patroling harverster(s) that are not 2D models but actually real on that level will shoot you whenever it can, instead of just shooting you at certain scripted points as it does on lower difficulties.

...That's my theory at least.

[Psyren]

SO... Not too much trouble on Insanity yet (as I said, it's easier than Hardcore in ME2). BUT there seems to be balance issues in the Leviathan DLC. More specifically, the Harversters kill me during dialogue. For example when you first reach the elevator and it doesn't go all the way down... as you click on the button, a harvester shoots me twice, and I die without ever seeing it. This happens at least four times for me on that mission.

Now if I see the harvester coming, there is no problems. But I don't.

(This is the first time I have noticed a problem though; the entire Omega DLC had no balance issues for example).

You mean the mission where you rescue the scientist, right? The Harvesters should only shoot you if you're too slow at getting through the open areas. At the very end, I think you can get down to the shuttle area and take cover before they fully land - it's been a while though.

[Avilan the Grey]

You mean the mission where you rescue the scientist, right? The Harvesters should only shoot you if you're too slow at getting through the open areas. At the very end, I think you can get down to the shuttle area and take cover before they fully land - it's been a while though.

My point exactly; since I have to pause and click the elevator button, I die.

[Inarius]

So it seems there's going to be a novel that links the ME trilogy to the upcoming Andromeda game coming out this August. Not sure if I would actually buy it, but I'm sure the plot will be splattered all over the internet well before the game comes out.

[Psyren]

My point exactly; since I have to pause and click the elevator button, I die.

I've never died at that part so not sure what to tell you. Maybe turn down the difficulty and then turn it back up later?

If I end up replaying that section I might have better advice, or you can ask on the Bioware forums/ME subreddit.


So it seems there's going to be a novel that links the ME trilogy to the upcoming Andromeda game coming out this August. Not sure if I would actually buy it, but I'm sure the plot will be splattered all over the internet well before the game comes out.

Here's hoping they learned from Deception.

[Landis963]

Here's hoping they learned from Deception.

Where is the upvote button when you need one?

[Avilan the Grey]

I've never died at that part so not sure what to tell you. Maybe turn down the difficulty and then turn it back up later?

Well it was more annoying than anything since it autosaves at that point and when you reload they remove / move enemies so you don't start being shot at.

[Rodin]

Here's hoping they learned from Deception.

Was that the one where Kai Leng demonstrated how evil he was by eating Anderson's cereal?

[Psyren]

Was that the one where Kai Leng demonstrated how evil he was by eating Anderson's cereal?

That's the one. (I'll never not link this. (http://imgur.com/a/lAVji))

[Avilan the Grey]

After patiently getting enough cash to get the Black Widow I use it for one mission and then realize what I deep down already knew: The Valiant is better, at least for me.

Also, EDI is still my favorite to bring on the "Recapture Normandy" mission. "I'm okay!" (eyes all over the place, one of them winking at Joker). And of course "I am experiencing an increased desire to kill your clone"... :smallbiggrin:

The end fight of that mission btw, is quite bugged. A LOT of times the events in it doesn't trigger when they're supposed to.

[LibraryOgre]

I'll be honest, while I really like the world, I've got relatively little desire to replay ME again, except maybe a few rounds of ME3 multiplayer. Partially, I think, because picking up the few DLC I don't have will cost me as much as a new game...

[McDouggal]

After patiently getting enough cash to get the Black Widow I use it for one mission and then realize what I deep down already knew: The Valiant is better, at least for me.

To each his own. I prefer the Black Widow because I like destroying an Atlas in two shots. And making heads explode.

My only dislike is that it feels like a liability against Banshees, which makes the Asari Monastery mission very annoying (I usually just kit out with an SMG for that one and play a CQC-style Infiltrator).

[Avilan the Grey]

To each his own. I prefer the Black Widow because I like destroying an Atlas in two shots. And making heads explode.

My only dislike is that it feels like a liability against Banshees, which makes the Asari Monastery mission very annoying (I usually just kit out with an SMG for that one and play a CQC-style Infiltrator).

My gear is about 50% power recharge time and 50% headshot damage. On top of that the Black Widow is still not powerful enough on Insanity to kill most things in one shot (and definitely can't kill and Atlas in two shots, at least not with my build). Basically 90% of what the BW need two shots to kill, the Valiant also can kill in two shots. And it is about 1000% easier to handle (including the fact that it reloads much faster so you can actually get in two shots with your tactical cloak still up).

[Avilan the Grey]

Going thru the Arena to get the Armor. Tedious.
Also, I REALLY wish they would have recolored it. I hate Cerberus colors, because it is LAZY.

[Avilan the Grey]

Found a mod that re-textures the Nightmare armor.
Unfortunately mods for ME3 seems to be a pain.

[Inarius]

Found a mod that re-textures the Nightmare armor.
Unfortunately mods for ME3 seems to be a pain.

Yeah they definitely are. Everytime I do a new playthrough I look at mods to use then look at the instructions to install those mods and just go "screw it". I'm very much spoiled by Bethesda and the earlier Bioware games when it comes to modding.

[Avilan the Grey]

Yeah they definitely are. Everytime I do a new playthrough I look at mods to use then look at the instructions to install those mods and just go "screw it". I'm very much spoiled by Bethesda and the earlier Bioware games when it comes to modding.

I will wait to install that single mod until I have donned the armor. I love the design of it, it is cool looking and dare I say it actually well... sexy (on Fem!Shep and other females). I just feel like just as I refuse to use Cerberus weaponry, Shepard would refuse to use this armor without repainting it in Alliance colors. I guess my sense of roleplaying gets in the way.

[Anteros]

I will wait to install that single mod until I have donned the armor. I love the design of it, it is cool looking and dare I say it actually well... sexy (on Fem!Shep and other females). I just feel like just as I refuse to use Cerberus weaponry, Shepard would refuse to use this armor without repainting it in Alliance colors. I guess my sense of roleplaying gets in the way.

He ran around for all of Mass Effect 2 in a Cerberus ship, full of Cerberus operatives, in clothing with the Cerberus logo on it. I don't think he's above using their equipment. Heck, half of his body is their equipment.

[Avilan the Grey]

He ran around for all of Mass Effect 2 in a Cerberus ship, full of Cerberus operatives, in clothing with the Cerberus logo on it. I don't think he's above using their equipment. Heck, half of his body is their equipment.

"...ANd then I got lose and started killing all their guys..!"
One of the best lines in the game!


...Oh and part of it, too, is that color scheme really clashes with the rest...

[Avilan the Grey]

So apparently Mirror Match on Insanity means only Shepards?

I am sorry but I am not good enough to take on three of me at the same time.
Especially with those same grenades used on the Normandy.

[Psyren]

It's the hardest one aside from Fatal Error.

[Avilan the Grey]

It's the hardest one aside from Fatal Error.

There also seems to be a bug with some followers in that mode: Grunt for example gets paralyzed and refuses to attack other than when manually told to. Vega for example works as normal.

[Psyren]

Is it? I actually did it solo - I AM THE ONE TRUE SHEP! :smallbiggrin:

Novaguard with Kaidan's Reave and an Acolyte/Eagle X chews through their armor quickly, and without enemy instakills you can zip all over the place with impunity.

[Avilan the Grey]

Is it? I actually did it solo - I AM THE ONE TRUE SHEP! :smallbiggrin:

Novaguard with Kaidan's Reave and an Acolyte/Eagle X chews through their armor quickly, and without enemy instakills you can zip all over the place with impunity.

Three infiltrators, cloaked, that somehow still sees me when I am cloaked(? it seems they can nail headshots on me despite me being invisible). I always end up dying from being shot from behind.

[Psyren]

What map are you fighting on? I mostly fight them on Armax Classic, move to the outer ring so I can see things coming before they can get behind me, and then start picking them off. Whenever you're not at the edge, don't stop moving.

Fatal Error isn't bad either - you can get them slowly trailing after you as you loop quadrant by quadrant, picking them off. That was the map I used to beat them on my Engineer.

I haven't tried them on any other maps though.

[Avilan the Grey]

What map are you fighting on? I mostly fight them on Armax Classic, move to the outer ring so I can see things coming before they can get behind me, and then start picking them off. Whenever you're not at the edge, don't stop moving.

Fatal Error isn't bad either - you can get them slowly trailing after you as you loop quadrant by quadrant, picking them off. That was the map I used to beat them on my Engineer.

I haven't tried them on any other maps though.

I always have the map on Random...

[Psyren]

I always have the map on Random...

That might help then - given the nature of their attacks, some maps are extremely hard to fight them on. For instance, Pain Train's pathways are incredibly narrow and the clones will box you in and finish you off easily.

[McDouggal]

Novaguard just wrecks mirror match. If you manage to prevent them from novaing. If you don't, you end up so staggered it's not funny.

Change in topic: Does anyone remember how the Batarians maintained order over their slaves? I'm writing a fanfic (again) and haven't found anything in the wiki for an answer.

I swear I remember there being something like a control chip that the Batarians used, but I'm not finding anything canon.

[Psyren]

I swear I remember there being something like a control chip that the Batarians used, but I'm not finding anything canon.

They use surgically implanted control chips, and usually no anesthetic. This often seriously messes up their victims' mental state; if your Shep has the Colonist background in ME1, you meet a girl named Talitha who was also from Mindoir (and not as lucky as you), who has undergone their "tender ministrations." She is suicidal and suffering from severe PTSD, Stockholm and other issues, and you have the moral choice of calming her down or getting her killed.

[McDouggal]

http://img13.deviantart.net/7e6b/i/2014/262/d/e/another_lemon_curd_incident_by_fishbone76-d7zpfdb.pngI'm trying to restrain my laughter in the break room at work.

[Avilan the Grey]

...Not getting it?

[Avilan the Grey]

Damn, I keep forgetting how much I LOVE x 1000 the tango scene. It's worth romancing Garrus for that scene alone.
I even find it genuinely sexy. Plus Shepard definitely has the legs for it.

[Landis963]

...Not getting it?

Either it's a reference to the old ME2 Vanguard bug where Shepard could get caught in the scenery after a Charge, or to getting caught on a ladder in ME3, which depending on luck might have been the cause of many a death in single-player or multiplayer.

[Psyren]

I assumed that was Shepard down below (Default FemShep with freckles + N7 Hoodie) while the dangling character is Traynor.

And yeah, I don't get it either. Is the vat supposed to be "Lemon Curry?" Or something?

[Landis963]

I assumed that was Shepard down below (Default FemShep with freckles + N7 Hoodie) while the dangling character is Traynor.

And yeah, I don't get it either. Is the vat supposed to be "Lemon Curry?" Or something?

Lemon Curd. Type of jam associated with the most British of breakfasts. Much like cucumber sandwiches are to British teatimes.

[Psyren]

That proves it's Traynor then.

Thanks, I'd have never gotten that on my own.

[Leon]

I've heard of people who play Shepard as a man. Those people are strange!

If Femshep could romance Tali i'd not have to.

[Siosilvar]

If Femshep could romance Tali i'd not have to.

This person gets it. :smallbiggrin:

[Psyren]

Whereas if MShep could bang Garrus then I'd probably never have heard Hale's dulcet tones for the whole trilogy :smalltongue:

[Avilan the Grey]

This person gets it. :smallbiggrin:

Oh that annoying girl that dies all the time? I never bring her on anything.

[Psyren]

Oh that annoying girl that dies all the time? I never bring her on anything.

Leave Ashley out of this! :smallbiggrin:

[Anteros]

I think he meant FemShep.

[Siosilvar]

Oh that annoying girl that dies all the time? I never bring her on anything.

It's called sass, and if you think it's annoying then that's pretty telling. :smallwink:

Now, she is pretty hypocritical about the whole Geth thing (like most Quarians) and is rather over-attached, but annoying?

[Lethologica]

It's called sass, and if you think it's annoying then that's pretty telling. :smallwink:

Now, she is pretty hypocritical about the whole Geth thing (like most Quarians) and is rather over-attached, but annoying?
If fanfic is anything to go by, there is definitely a subset of players who think Tali is the most annoying person who dies at the drop of a hat and just Won't. Stop. Infodumping about her culture. (That's mostly a ME1 phenomenon, though.)

[Avilan the Grey]

If fanfic is anything to go by, there is definitely a subset of players who think Tali is the most annoying person who dies at the drop of a hat and just Won't. Stop. Infodumping about her culture. (That's mostly a ME1 phenomenon, though.)

Yeah that's basically it. Though the biggest problems for me are (most from ME1):

1. The best person to bring along for hacking
2. Not good at anything else
3. Dies all the time because of it
4. I would rather bring anyone else.

In other words I was so. damn. tired. of dragging her along everywhere after ME1.

Oh and one thing from ME3:
5. Turns out they look EXACTLY like humans with Nighcrawler's hands and feet (including hair, despite WOG before ME3 says only humans have hair).
...Because Bioware suddenly remembered they needed to show her face so they spent 30 seconds on downloading a stock photo and let an intern do the photo-shopping.*


Edit:
I don't mind her on the ship. She is smart, intelligent and friendly. With hips.
But I ONLY drag her out of there if I HAVE to.

*This is part of the reason I don't have any hype for ME4. Bioware are lazy bums.

[Psyren]

1. The best person to bring along for hacking
2. Not good at anything else
3. Dies all the time because of it
4. I would rather bring anyone else.

In other words I was so. damn. tired. of dragging her along everywhere after ME1.

(1) is false - literally anyone with Electronics and Decryption can be as good at opening locks as she is, including Garrus and Kaidan. I never took Tali anywhere in ME1 except on her Geth Incursions mission, and IIRC you don't even need to bring her along for that, you can pick up the Geth (Heretic) data without her and still deliver it to her on the Normandy. If you did drag her everywhere that was purely your own choice.

As for the mind-control type of hacking, that's actually more trouble than its worth in ME1. You end up with a bad guy following you around with fully restored health and shields that can turn on you at any moment, and you can't kill them until the ability wears off. Total waste of points if you ask me.


*This is part of the reason I don't have any hype for ME4. Bioware are lazy bums.

Meh, that was EA's fault for rushing them. Inquisition showed what they're capable of when the leash isn't so tight, and I'm confident that ME4 is benefiting from that lesson too.

[Avilan the Grey]

(1) is false - literally anyone with Electronics and Decryption can be as good at opening locks as she is, including Garrus and Kaidan. I never took Tali anywhere in ME1 except on her Geth Incursions mission,

But she starts off better than they.

[Psyren]

But she starts off better than they.

If you can start the game picking Advanced locks but the only ones the party comes across for the next several levels/areas are Basic, the difference isn't relevant. By the time you start running into the harder ones, you'll have plenty of time to increase the relevant skills.

Running Garrus as my only techie, there wasn't a single lock/safe I had to backtrack for.

[LibraryOgre]

Whereas I always found Tali to be incredibly stout in the game... especially once you get the double-boost armors. Give her a good shotgun, a health regen armor mod and a shield boost armor mod, on top of the bonus from Electronics, and she'll eat damage pretty well... but I also don't play on the higher difficulties.

[Anteros]

I definitely had to backtrack a few times for locks. I never placed a huge emphasis on hacking though.

Tali really is useless on almost every mission for all 3 games though. She's made of paper and uses a shotgun. It's not a good combination. Plus, her skills are very niche.

[Avilan the Grey]

Tali, with the super-armor on (black and red one) is probably sturdiest, actually in ME1. In ME2 she's not great and in ME3 she only survives if you give her the long range shotgun (the companions actually switches AI behavior if you have it, and treat it as a rifle so they stay on medium range).

I get why we "have" to take her to the base on her homeworld, but damn how much easier it would be with two tanks (EDI and James).

[Anteros]

So, speaking of Mass Effect. I don't know if any of you read DC comics, but the recent Justice League Rebirth was basically a rip/homage to Mass Effect where the league fights off a Reaper.

[Avilan the Grey]

I'm selective. I don't care for JLA so I don't read it. Nor Bats or Supes.

Current titles I'm reading are WW, Teen Titans and Green Lanterns, the last two only because I was curious.

[Psyren]

Tali really is useless on almost every mission for all 3 games though. She's made of paper and uses a shotgun. It's not a good combination. Plus, her skills are very niche.

Strongly agree - shotgun AI and her frailty just do not go well together in all three games. But you never need to bring her anywhere in ME1 (Kaidan and Garrus can work equally well). For ME2 and ME3, you kinda just have to power through it and accept that those missions are going to be a little harder, though ME3 at least gives you her Energy Drain for some powerful tech bursts.


I definitely had to backtrack a few times for locks. I never placed a huge emphasis on hacking though.

I avoided backtracking by "maxing out" (read - getting to Master and then ignoring) Decryption and Electronics first thing on the party tech every time. Not only are they good for picking locks, both skills are also useful in combat; Electronics buffs your tech character's shields through the roof, and also gives them Overload to fry enemy shields in turn, while Decryption lets you Sabotage enemy guns to take them out of a fight while you take out their allies.

The only enemies these two skills are useless against are the fully-organic ones: Rachni, Varren and Thresher Maws. These enemies also ignore shields, rendering high Electronics even more useless. However, Kaidan has Neural Shock and biotics to counter the first two and Garrus' AI keeps his distance. All you have to do is postpone Noveria/Peak 15 until later in the game, which shouldn't be a problem since you want to go pick up Liara and bring her to that for the Benezia scenes anyway.

[Anteros]

I don't know who this Kaiden you keep talking about is, but he sounds like he always dies in game 1. :smallbiggrin:

[Avilan the Grey]

I don't know who this Kaiden you keep talking about is, but he sounds like he always dies in game 1. :smallbiggrin:

Never understood the pure loathing some people have for him (or for Ash for that matter). He suffers from being fairly normal and not a Hot Babe (tm).
As far as I can tell if you haven't played that Star Wars game the voice actor was in, there is a higher chance you keep him alive (according to statistics online. Can't find them now though).

[Rodin]

Never understood the pure loathing some people have for him (or for Ash for that matter). He suffers from being fairly normal and not a Hot Babe (tm).
As far as I can tell if you haven't played that Star Wars game the voice actor was in, there is a higher chance you keep him alive (according to statistics online. Can't find them now though).

Of the two, I've always been a Kaidan fan. Then again, I'm that weird guy that liked Jacob and thought he got really shafted by Mass Effect 3. It's nice having normal people around sometimes.

Mordin still my bestie, though. His "sorry, not my species dear" speech still cracks me up and I about died laughing on my first playthrough since my FemShep hadn't romanced anyone and I hung out with him the most.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

Again, I don't know why, but to me the Asari looks male.

Throughout the games there was a decent variety of Asari faces; Rana Thanoptis wasn't exactly a model candidate in ME1 (looks better in ME2 though). I agree that the trailer sample looks kind of off, but hey maybe she comes from a long line of rough people. And having an entire species that is attractive by human standards is weird anyway. Maybe trailer girl is real popular with Krogan, or whatever.

[Anteros]

Never understood the pure loathing some people have for him (or for Ash for that matter). He suffers from being fairly normal and not a Hot Babe (tm).
As far as I can tell if you haven't played that Star Wars game the voice actor was in, there is a higher chance you keep him alive (according to statistics online. Can't find them now though).

It's funny, I actually like Carth and hate Kaiden. Carth has legitimate reasons for his trust issues, and eventually gets past them. Kaiden questions and undermines you for no reason and openly mistrusts you until halfway through game 3 despite having every reason to trust you.

[Douglas]

It's funny, I actually like Carth and hate Kaiden. Carth has legitimate reasons for his trust issues, and eventually gets past them. Kaiden questions and undermines you for no reason and openly mistrusts you until halfway through game 3 despite having every reason to trust you.
I'd say openly working with Cerberus would be a strong reason for anyone who knows about them to distrust you. Sure, it was an alliance of convenience and necessity that you have now ended, but that's really hard to prove to anyone who wasn't actually there with you when you told the Illusive Man to **** off. Even killing Cerberus troopers in job lots doesn't really count, because Cerberus would count that a trivial cost for all sorts of longer term plots involving getting a trusted-but-actually-indoctrinated Shepard to betray people at a critical point.

[Anteros]

I'd say openly working with Cerberus would be a strong reason for anyone who knows about them to distrust you. Sure, it was an alliance of convenience and necessity that you have now ended, but that's really hard to prove to anyone who wasn't actually there with you when you told the Illusive Man to **** off. Even killing Cerberus troopers in job lots doesn't really count, because Cerberus would count that a trivial cost for all sorts of longer term plots involving getting a trusted-but-actually-indoctrinated Shepard to betray people at a critical point.

Nope. Sorry. If I've saved your life multiple times and you have personally witnessed me save entire planets, the Citadel, and the Council from destruction? You don't get to question my loyalties any more.

[Douglas]

Nope. Sorry. If I've saved your life multiple times and you have personally witnessed me save entire planets, the Citadel, and the Council from destruction? You don't get to question my loyalties any more.
All of that was before you died, and got resurrected by and worked with an organization known for brainwashing and involuntary control of its minions. How does he know that this guy walking around in Shepard's body still has Shepard's mind and priorities, paired with a free will, rather than Cerberus implants or Reaper indoctrination controlling him?

Yes, Shepard's loyalties should be nearly beyond question, but Kaidan has substantial reason to suspect that Shepard's identity or free will might be compromised.

[Psyren]

Never understood the pure loathing some people have for him (or for Ash for that matter). He suffers from being fairly normal and not a Hot Babe (tm).
As far as I can tell if you haven't played that Star Wars game the voice actor was in, there is a higher chance you keep him alive (according to statistics online. Can't find them now though).

*raises hand*

Yeah I never played KOTOR (not a huge Star Wars fan) though I did finally get both titles on a Steam Sale so I may rectify that someday.


Of the two, I've always been a Kaidan fan. Then again, I'm that weird guy that liked Jacob and thought he got really shafted by Mass Effect 3. It's nice having normal people around sometimes.

Mordin still my bestie, though. His "sorry, not my species dear" speech still cracks me up and I about died laughing on my first playthrough since my FemShep hadn't romanced anyone and I hung out with him the most.

I don't see a correlation here honestly - I love Kaidan but I dislike Jacob. (And man oh man did they bungle Jacob's romance - from FemShep being written like a total creeper in ME2, to needing DLC for a proper resolution to his philandering in ME3.)


All of that was before you died, and got resurrected by and worked with an organization known for brainwashing and involuntary control of its minions. How does he know that this guy walking around in Shepard's body still has Shepard's mind and priorities, paired with a free will, rather than Cerberus implants or Reaper indoctrination controlling him?

Yes, Shepard's loyalties should be nearly beyond question, but Kaidan has substantial reason to suspect that Shepard's identity or free will might be compromised.

All this, and besides, he comes around fairly quickly if you keep visiting him. (Or even if you don't, and save the Salarian Councillor.) You can get him to stand down on trust alone even if you never visit him and were curt to him on Mars.

[Anteros]

All this, and besides, he comes around fairly quickly if you keep visiting him. (Or even if you don't, and save the Salarian Councillor.) You can get him to stand down on trust alone even if you never visit him and were curt to him on Mars.

I don't hold his actions on the Citadel attack against him really. It's more of a gameplay thing because Ashley does it too. Besides, Cerberus was attacking the Citadel. It's understandable he'd want to verify for threats, and he does come around quickly.

What annoys me is that he continues to question your authority/decisions in every conversation you have, even after he joins the crew. It takes him far too long to come around considering the things you've been through together.