Mass Effect

[Jice Virago]

Insane is basically impossible unless you are playing a biotic or using an existing character, mainly because some of the initial fights have enemies you literally cannot harm without tossing them off a cliff if you are a starting character. I have done three playthroughs (working on my fourth) and I am of the opinion that if you unlock the XP boosters and some ally achievements, getting 60 should be no problem on the second play with the same character (I am almost 55 with just side missions). One recommendation I have to make is this: Try and unlock the Shotgun achievement on your first play through. Its the best weapon at all points in the game and being able to use one as a biotic is simply broken, especially once you get warp and singularity leveled up.

[Funkmasterr]

I actually think the assault rifles are better. I have all of the Specter X weapons on all of my characters, and the only time I switch to my shotgun is when fighting krogen, and not because it does more damage, just because it knocks them down before they can start meleeing the living shit out of me.

If I play through the game on insane it will be strictly to get the achievement, and I won't do a single side quest.

[Winnow]

I just started playing again.

Liara and Tali on Active AI plus me (female Vanguard/Shotgun) = fun

I did go to this site for tips because I was concerned about how effective my allies would be with tech/bio weapons. I'm still pretty early in the game but my ally tech/bio peeps seem to be doing OK.

http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/35984

The site above has several pages of non spoiler hints/tips for Mass Effect. Some are pretty basic but others you may not know:

When you are on the galaxy map looking around a solar system waive your 'cursor' over asteroid fields. Occasionally you will find ships or asteroids you can survey/land.

I'm finding the game more enjoyable after leaving the citadel. Going full Paragon route (upper right response) for my first time through. I kept doing side quests so it took me a long time to finally get out and see the galaxy.

There's always room for improvement which hopefully will come with ME2.

They must have recorded a ton of dialog for this game considering the various response options and that you only have two of the six possible allies with you at any one time and they contribute to the conversations so the game has to cover for the combo you choose.

[Winnow]

Finished the game. Random thoughts:

Mass Effect Rocks. It has plenty of room for improvement but it was a very fun game.

I spent around 25 hours and ended up level 40 doing a few side quests along the way.

As Arb mentioned, the various environments are diverse and rich. My favorite mission was Virmire on the tropical planet. Beautiful stuff. The MAKO was a blast to run around in (especially after maxing out Taly's electronics talent)

I somehow found the Conduit before completing the three main missions by randomly landing on the planet.

I thought the dialog between the "threesome" was interesting. Took forever to get any action. I thought I screwed it up somehow.

Played full paragon and didn't have it maxed out until the final battle.

For ME2, I hope they improve the inventory. Additional customization and more varied looks for armor would be nice. I'd also be in favor of adding one or two additional main missions and cutting down on Citadel running around.

Final end game sequence was nice and lengthy and well done. Satisfying ending. While most like to bitch and point out the flaws, I appreciate all the work that went into this game.

Although I stuck with Liara and Taly, Wrex was my favorite NPC ally for dialog.

----

This is for potential new players. Nothing new here for veterans of the game:

Although you can do the three main missions in any order, I'd recommend doing the (Therum/Find Liara) mission first and the Novaria mission last.

For new players, I'd also recommend doing at least one of the main missions before running all over the Citadel. It might give the game a little more direction in the beginning. I ran all over the Citadel doing quests which some can be interesting and others not, but it can make a new player feel like they're not really getting anywhere.

I played on easy as I always do with games. While this was OK in the beginning, I became way too overpowered by the last mission and end game.

If you use Liara and Taly as your team, you're in good shape. Taly's electronics skill does wonders for keeping the Mako shields hold up and makes decryption very easy, while Liara (skip warp and Throw and max out everything else), especially Singularity. WIth Liara and your main character equipped with Shotguns and Taly with a Pistol, you'll have a hard time losing battles. Liara and Taly work well if Allys are set on "Active use of talents".

While easy is the most fun for me, not having to stress over aiming the weapons as precisely, if you do side quests and get the million credit Spectral weapon unlock, the game becomes way too easy once you have Spectral weapons (on easy). I think you can move the difficulty level up if that happens. I cruised through the game mostly for the story which I enjoyed.

Spectral Shotgun with level VII Rail upgrade and Level VII Shredder ammo is nasty. Your gun may overheat but its worth it for the raw one shot kill power.

I'm looking forward to Fallout if it's an improvement on this model.

[*~*stragi*~*]

I just started playing again.

Liara and Tali on Active AI plus me (female Vanguard/Shotgun) = fun

I did go to this site for tips because I was concerned about how effective my allies would be with tech/bio weapons. I'm still pretty early in the game but my ally tech/bio peeps seem to be doing OK.

http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/35984

The site above has several pages of non spoiler hints/tips for Mass Effect. Some are pretty basic but others you may not know:

When you are on the galaxy map looking around a solar system waive your 'cursor' over asteroid fields. Occasionally you will find ships or asteroids you can survey/land.

I'm finding the game more enjoyable after leaving the citadel. Going full Paragon route (upper right response) for my first time through. I kept doing side quests so it took me a long time to finally get out and see the galaxy.

There's always room for improvement which hopefully will come with ME2.

They must have recorded a ton of dialog for this game considering the various response options and that you only have two of the six possible allies with you at any one time and they contribute to the conversations so the game has to cover for the combo you choose.

it really doesn't matter what route you go you can max both paragon and renegade and the only real bonus is more money selling and less money buying

once you goto the planet with all the science labs on it and you do the quest to convince the guy to testify, keep talking to him over and over convincing him to testify either using charm or intimidation and you can max both in about 5 minutes

[Winnow]

it really doesn't matter what route you go you can max both paragon and renegade and the only real bonus is more money selling and less money buying

once you goto the planet with all the science labs on it and you do the quest to convince the guy to testify, keep talking to him over and over convincing him to testify either using charm or intimidation and you can max both in about 5 minutes

Cheater! Damn, I should have done some of both.

I was going to bag the blue alien again but thought I might screw up my paragon rating. Paragon was cool but I might play a little renegade to see how different the dialog is...plus it would be fun to blast everyone in my path as a change.

[Funkmasterr]

Renegade isn't all that different, nothing changes much, not even the ending. The only real difference is like you said, you can just kill everyone/everything that you have the option to kill. /yawn

[Winnow]

Renegade isn't all that different, nothing changes much, not even the ending. The only real difference is like you said, you can just kill everyone/everything that you have the option to kill. /yawn

This might not be your kind of game but lots of people enjoyed it.

[Funkmasterr]

Renegade isn't all that different, nothing changes much, not even the ending. The only real difference is like you said, you can just kill everyone/everything that you have the option to kill. /yawn

This might not be your kind of game but lots of people enjoyed it.

That doesn't mean I have any less right to voice my opinion on it, whether people want to hear it or not is most certainly not my problem. Plus, I don't feel the need to make a comment every time you beat a thread to death, do I?

Edit: I find it to be pathetic and honestly disappointing that people actually liked the game, especially to the degree that some people here are stating.. I find the "minor issues" or however you put it to be major unacceptable fuck ups, I'm sick of game developers getting away with that shit and people just accepting it or ignoring it completely.

[Winnow]

It's fine that you hate the game yet have played it through three times for some gay achievement points.

These days there isn't a game on the planet that everyone likes. Myself, and at least Arb for one that I recall on the thread, found it a very entertaining game.

I treated it like an interactive novel and enjoyed the story along the way. I like to move slowly through games.

Appreciating their efforts so far, I hope they improve upon them for the next two releases in the trilogy. I also hope you don't buy them just to play them through three times, bitching all the way now that you know you don't like these kind of games.

[Funkmasterr]

It's fine that you hate the game yet have played it through three times for some gay achievement points.

These days there isn't a game on the planet that everyone likes. Myself, and at least Arb for one that I recall on the thread, found it a very entertaining game.

I treated it like an interactive novel and enjoyed the story along the way. I like to move slowly through games.

Appreciating their efforts so far, I hope they improve upon them for the next two releases in the trilogy. I also hope you don't buy them just to play them through three times, bitching all the way now that you know you don't like these kind of games.

IF they don't make stupid achievements that require you to play through the game 75 times I won't have to, but I don't have faith in them getting that right either. I like RPG's, I've spent an absurd amount of my life playing them, but this game was not an RPG (it fails the #1 requirement that I think damn near every other RPG I have ever played has met, which is playtime, even with the sidequests it's lacking.) But if they addressed all of the issues I mentioned in my earlier posts I would think of it as a great game. I won't rule out the possibility of that happening, but I doubt it.

I am just amused by you bitching about me being negative about it and continuing to post when that is what you are known for. Get over it.

[Winnow]

I'll admit that you didn't just bitch, you typed out all of the issues you had with the game which is a lot more than most people do.

I've said this before. I don't bitch. It's bitching when you don't try and provide a solution to the problem. Constructive criticism is what I aim for. A lot of times I'll even give multiple ratings on a movie depending on viewing mood and intelligence of the viewer since one size does not fit all. It's the same with games. I didn't particularly enjoy running all over the citadel in the beginning of the game but offered up a solution to people that might play ME in the future to make the game flow a little better and be more enjoyable for them.

Although you can do the three main missions in any order, I'd recommend doing the (Therum/Find Liara) mission first and the Novaria mission last.

For new players, I'd also recommend doing at least one of the main missions before running all over the Citadel. It might give the game a little more direction in the beginning. I ran all over the Citadel doing quests which some can be interesting and others not, but it can make a new player feel like they're not really getting anywhere.

[Funkmasterr]

I'll admit that you didn't just bitch, you typed out all of the issues you had with the game which is a lot more than most people do.

I've said this before. I don't bitch. It's bitching when you don't try and provide a solution to the problem. Constructive criticism is what I aim for. A lot of times I'll even give multiple ratings on a movie depending on viewing mood and intelligence of the viewer since one size does not fit all. It's the same with games. I didn't particularly enjoy running all over the citadel in the beginning of the game but offered up a solution to people that might play ME in the future to make the game flow a little better and be more enjoyable for them.

Although you can do the three main missions in any order, I'd recommend doing the (Therum/Find Liara) mission first and the Novaria mission last.

For new players, I'd also recommend doing at least one of the main missions before running all over the Citadel. It might give the game a little more direction in the beginning. I ran all over the Citadel doing quests which some can be interesting and others not, but it can make a new player feel like they're not really getting anywhere.

Kinda what I was getting at, I didn't just say "fuck this game, it was stupid, im going back to halo lolz".. I listed out every single thing I disliked about the game and explained why.The reason I am so pissed off about it is this game could have really kicked ass in my opinion, but there were just too many things I felt needed to be better/different.

For example, you mentioned turning your squad AI to active, which I did almost immediately because if I wanted to plot out my every move for each person in my party I would play a RTS. I will say that turning that on did make them a little more useful, they used their abilities / weapons fairly effectively, but they still went out of their way to fucking stand directly in front of me every damn time I fired my weapon.. There were many times where I wished I could just shoot them both and finish the fight by myself, it would have been easier.

[Winnow]

I didn't realize that if you used an existing character to play again, you not only keep your level (which I knew about), but all of your equipment including what your allies had equipped at the end of the last game. In addition, the ally characters will be the same level as you but their talent points are reset, allowing you to redistribute all of their points. On top of all that, the drops start off immediately at level VI-VII range at the beginning of the game.

Why do you even need money after buying spectral weapons? Basically you need to make 1,000,000 which will unlock the spectral weapons and be enough to buy three or four of the weapons depending on your paragon level...after that, I don't see what you'd buy and the only thing I bought the entire game before that was a level VI shotgun that happened to be a lot higher than what I had at the time.

I didn't convert anything into gel the entire game yet had enough med and omni gel...so basically, no need for gel and money is only needed one time to buy spectral weapons. Everything else is obtained from drops.

I wanted to check out the game as a renegade so restarted with my existing level 40 character. I already owned two spectral shotguns and a spectral pistol. You also keep all weapon and armor upgrades.

I must admit, although completely overpowered, it's kind of fun going the renegade route the second time around. My shotgun does ~400 points of damage with the upgrades and talent points. I'm not in it for the challenge this time around, just want to see the different reactions for playing the renegade which has been interesting. Punching out the scientist that had gone mad at the beginning of the game cracked me up. Ultimately, you end up going through the same basic story but at least you do get a little variance in cut scenes and a ton of new dialog from your main character.

ME is well worth the initial first time through the game and also worth at least an overpowered second quick trip to experience a different angle on the story while speeding through some of the mutual renegade/paragon dialog.

[Funkmasterr]

I didn't realize that if you used an existing character to play again, you not only keep your level (which I knew about), but all of your equipment including what your allies had equipped at the end of the last game. In addition, the ally characters will be the same level as you but their talent points are reset, allowing you to redistribute all of their points. On top of all that, the drops start off immediately at level VI-VII range at the beginning of the game.

Why do you even need money after buying spectral weapons? Basically you need to make 1,000,000 which will unlock the spectral weapons and be enough to buy three or four of the weapons depending on your paragon level...after that, I don't see what you'd buy and the only thing I bought the entire game before that was a level VI shotgun that happened to be a lot higher than what I had at the time.

I didn't convert anything into gel the entire game yet had enough med and omni gel...so basically, no need for gel and money is only needed one time to buy spectral weapons. Everything else is obtained from drops.

I wanted to check out the game as a renegade so restarted with my existing level 40 character. I already owned two spectral shotguns and a spectral pistol. You also keep all weapon and armor upgrades.

I must admit, although completely overpowered, it's kind of fun going the renegade route the second time around. My shotgun does ~400 points of damage with the upgrades and talent points. I'm not in it for the challenge this time around, just want to see the different reactions for playing the renegade which has been interesting. Punching out the scientist that had gone mad at the beginning of the game cracked me up. Ultimately, you end up going through the same basic story but at least you do get a little variance in cut scenes and a ton of new dialog from your main character.

ME is well worth the initial first time through the game and also worth at least an overpowered second quick trip to experience a different angle on the story while speeding through some of the mutual renegade/paragon dialog.

Yeah, after my first playthrough I had like max credits and 1k omni gel left over, after my second same. One correction I will make is that (at least to my knowledge) paragon/renegade has nothing to do with selling/buying prices, that is determined by how many points you have put into charm/intimidate.. And even if renegade/paragon does effect it, it's much less than the charm/intimidate points.

[cadalano]

if youre still not understanding why mass effect is bad, you need to play KOTOR. If you've already played KOTOR then you need to go play it again

[Winnow]

I don't need to do anything gimp. ME is far from a bad game. I had a great time playing it, taking note of the things that could be improved. They didn't stop it from being one of the best games released in 2007 for RPGs, which is what I was looking for, not an FPS shoot'em up for people that suffer from ADD.

[Winnow]

Nice!

http://kotaku.com/348187/ea-calls-fox-o ... accuracies

Dipshit reporters need to get their facts straight.

There it about 2 seconds worth of a side shot (no frontal nudity) of a blue ass in the game. Glas EA took the time to make a statement about retarded people like Hillary Clinton (er, people who don't understand or actually play video games, making claims about them)

The above is in response to this bitch:

http://kotaku.com/347350/keighley-sets- ... r-tries-to

[miir]

Nice!

http://kotaku.com/348187/ea-calls-fox-o ... accuracies

Dipshit reporters need to get their facts straight.

There it about 2 seconds worth of a side shot (no frontal nudity) of a blue ass in the game. Glas EA took the time to make a statement about retarded people like Hillary Clinton (er, people who don't understand or actually play video games, making claims about them)

The above is in response to this bitch:

http://kotaku.com/347350/keighley-sets- ... r-tries-to

FOX, what do you expect?

[Winnow]

FOX, what do you expect?

Porn star looking reporters which didn't show up?

http://www.radaronline.com/quiz/2007/10 ... n_star.php

[Fairweather Pure]

FOX, what do you expect?

Fair and Balanced?