Any Mass Effect fans here?

[gua543 4]

So I just finished the whole trilogy and was looking to share my experience with somebody. I've got a friend, played some ME3 multiplayer with him and decided to make my own Shepard (btw he was the one who made me a fan of Star Wars), but I was wondering if there are any people here who also saved the galaxy from the Reapers (or not, who knows).

[milestails 264]

I've beaten ME1 twice recently; one femshep renegade, one maleshep paragon.

 

Haven't played the DLCs for it yet

 

And I have yet to play ME2.  Have it in my Steam library though....

[gua543 4]

If you ask me Pinnacle Station is not worth downloading. Bringing Down the Sky is much, much better. Also, ME2 is going to be very different from ME1 and you're going to be really confused in the beginning (the vanguard class gets the most drastic changes) but after a few missions you'll find the game simpler and with much more action than the first one. Be sure to purchase the three story DLCs, they add 2 squadmates and a very interesting mission with an old friend of yours (or maybe even more ).

[milestails 264]

Thanks for the heads up about the DLCs.  My sheps were infiltrator/commando in ME1 so I haven't used a character with biotics yet.

 

What are the names of the three story DLCs for ME2?

 

Playing ME1 has prevented me from playing TSLRCM 1.8.2 lol

[gua543 4]

I remember only one - Lair of the Shadow Broker - the other two were something with the new squadmates' names - Kasumi and Zaeed. Also, be sure to visit Zaeed often, he has quite the stories to tell.

[wvsnl 3]

I love Mass Effect, i have completed part 1 5 times now and I am busy on my 5th run through mass effect 2. Only completed Mass Effect 3 once, I wanted to wait for more dlc to come out since ME 3 felt to empty without some dlc. I have recently bought the Citadel dlc but not yet played it so I hope to avoid spoilers, that is why i evade the BSN now. So yeah I really love the series, I have all the dlc for the previous two games even Pinnacle station but I bought that one only recently for my fifth run. Great games, and with the extended cut for ME 3 i feel like finally ready to replay the ending after almost a year. So yeah huge fan

[gua543 4]

Nice to see another hardcore fan here, maybe we can play the multiplayer when I buy the game.  BTW Miles, I forgot about two other story DLCs - Firewalker and Overlord.

[Allison Lightning 1]

I resisted for so long playing the games, the dialogue wheel bothered me- and in the case of Dragon Age 2, I grin and bear the VA but Jennifer Hale's awesome and so is the Mass Effect series. I've played the first two games dozens of times, cross platforms with PC/XBOX 360 and the third game, I found out what happens and I progress what seems a minute further into Priority: Earth a month in my main playthrough, hesitating to resist having to use my imagination to fill in what even the EC left cut and it's silly but once it's played DLC not withstanding, the game's all used up. I can replay but that first personal completed playthrough is priceless.  

 

My favourite DLC packs are Arrival and Bring Down the Sky. I have a lot of Shepards but my main playthrough is Female Shepard, Paragon/Adept/Sole Survivor/Earthborn. The second game, first time round was a pain as an Adept (the class got a little messed with in the second game) but I adjusted. I classify my only Vanguard playthrough as biotics on stimulants- it's a lot of fun but high risk.

 

Mass Effect 2's Story DLC: Included with brand new copy of game (Zaeed: The Price of Revenge, Firewalker and Crash Site), Kasumi: Stealing Memory, Overlord, Lair of the Shadowbroker and Arrival. You'll want to play the last two after the main mission in two is complete as they are much more fulfilling that way.

 

Be careful with the third game's multiplayer- there's a PC bug (not sure if it ever got patched) where a multiplier is scaled down to zero- making the game impossible to complete when it's played. I've never touched it for that reason- that and L4D2 is enough of a pain with my ping without adding a different game.

 

I'm practically a biotic specialist at this point so if anyone wants to play a biotic I'm more than willing to give pointers and advice. But, yes I love the Mass Effect series although KotOR I and II will always have the special place in my heart.

[gua543 4]

The very idea behind biotics was very weird, for me at least. You get irradiated with radiation of sorts and then bam - you're a jedi, space ninja or sonic (that exactly how the krogan vanguard looks). I slowly came to terms with the biotics though, since they are a major part of the ME universe. And I agree that the first playthrough is priceless. I lost Grunt and Mordin on the Collector base and I really felt bad, same goes for Padok and Dagg, even though I barely knew them. When I had to SPOILERS sacrifice Ashley on Virmire SPOILERS I just couldn't play the game, I didn't touch it for a day or two.

 

Anyway my shep is male, custom made, with the badass scar across his eye, Leonidas style, and he's a sole survivor, colonist, mostly paragon soldier. I ignored just about every love interest in the first two games, I was roleplaying this mission-comes-first soldier, but in the last game I was like "Well, I'm probably gonna die so why the hell not?" and I was a fan of Liara from the moment I saw her so yeah, I think you get the idea.

 

Just started playing on Veteran and making my way to level 60. I'm thinking about making a femshep biotic, but I'm having a hard time. I'll admit, the one that has both biotic and tech abilities sounds interesting, but maybe it has too much abilities? What's your profesional biotic expert opinion?

[Allison Lightning 1]

Cried my eyes out on Virmire. For a tech/biotic combo, the sentinel's pretty decent but it depends on how much you want to redo parts, completionist playthrough and level. At the moment I'm bringing my primary Shepard in Mass Effect up to level sixty and at fifty-nine at the moment and I'm playing Veteran. I love Kaidan but I wanted to keep both of them- I'd rather have sacrificed Liara, not as fond of her as of those two. I romanced him first game and he's my main Shepard's LI.

 

Right after that, I'm doing a Hardcore playthrough. I'd recommend normal if you want to do every mission, at least while you adjust to the playstyle and level up. I thought Grunt died in ME3 for a moment and I just started screaming at the screen, and sobbing like crazy, only for that loveable krogan to pull through for the win.

 

Definitely use the bonus talent on Assault Rifles- it feels so much more balanced to get a decent weapon. My favourite trick is to max the rifle talent, max Barrier and you're pretty much a biotic god. (That scene with the Volus in ME2, is just epic 'fear me!' and 'I began to smell my greatness) Compliment your teammates with I suggest Wrex/Ashley and Garrus. I never ended up finishing a first sentinel playthrough in ME1, so tell me when you start, I'll start at the same time and we'll see how the other goes . 

[gua543 4]

I think it will be some time before I make a biotic Shep because I'm gonna replay the whole trilogy with my soldier and try to achieve the best possible ending, with pretty much everybody surviving, including me. I'm not sure if ME4 is going to be about the post-Reaper galaxy or if it's gonna be about the human-turian war (or even before that, who knows), hell, I don't even know if there is going to be a next game, but better to be safe than sorry, right?

[Extreme110 4]

I was in the same position as milestails, with the difference being I had only played ME1 once on the Xbox, mostly skipping dialogue and just doing the main missions. A couple months back I bought ME1 and M2 DDE for about $5/$10 on Steam, and just a few days ago I decided it was a good time to finally make a serious attempt at the series.

 

Feels a little weird still not having all the DLC (Pinnacle Station for ME1, regardless of if it's good or not, and the costume packs and other stuff not included with DDE for ME2), but I'll probably get them about the same time I finally decide to get ME3 and go back and fix the very few things I realised I did wrong in ME1 (apparently forgot to intitate a romance somehow, forgot to influence Garrus one more time to get him to say he attempted to rejoin C-Sec in ME2, and a few other minor things). Of course, if ME3 was avaliable on Steam right now I'd go sell everything in my possession and get it right now, but for now I have to wait until I can either be bothered to brave Origin (I have a long history with EA and Origin, and my boycott for their Origin service is still in effect) or they finally send it out to Steam (preferably like Crysis 2 Maximum Edition, where all the DLC is automatically included).

 

I used the ME2 save editor in the wrong place, so all the ME1 errors I attempted to fix are still present, and I can't stop Conrad Verner going off at me for the gun I never pulled on him or a couple other things ME1 wrongly saves. That's pretty much the only application I have for the save editor, just to ensure all the choices I made are perfect.

 

Playing ME2 for my first time right now, I'm about 15 hours in (IIRC, I'm on break and I can't be bothered to get my HDD to check Steam). It was very disorientating at first, with how much more focus was put on combat and how a lot of things have changed, but now I'm really getting the hang of it and enjoying it. My aim is still pretty terrible, but nonetheless I still eventually press my way through. Seeing Garrus (I had a lot of chuckling with his mission) and Liara again was fantastic. I've yet to see Wrex and Tali I want to see more of. Ashley was thourghly annoying (Kaiden would have probably been less agressive, but that's for another save). The new party members are pretty cool, although still need to collect Legion, Thane and Samara (probably a few others) and I won't have Kasumi without that DLC.

 

The story and the jokes are great in both, although, as this is a paragon run, there's not as many as if I did a renegade run (cocky Shepard has a sense of humour). Also, I'm terrible with picking the right team members to get the funny dialogue. Thankfully, there's always YouTube...which I should thank, because it's the reason I'm doing this now. Spent months just watching those less than a minute videos to see some funny dialogue from the ME series. They have influenced me a little bit to try set up conversations to see those things for myself ("Don't piss in my ear and tell me it's raining"), but generally me and my Shepard for the most part do what we do.

 

One thing, though. I appreciate the removal of the Mako (it wasn't the Mako control that was the problem, it was mainly the hidden objectives and the size of the maps that irritated me), but the scanning mission is probably more annoying for me. Thankfully the wiki has a great load of tips to help. God bless you, nerds everywhere!

[gua543 4]

I didn't really have a problem with the scanning-for-minerals missions in ME1 since it was quite easy, at least for me, to find them. I mean, I just look at the map and see all those mountains and only one "low" spot. It's obvious that something is going to be there. I don't know, maybe I have a knack for it. Also, the Hammerhead dies way too faster for my tastes, I guess trying to beat Overlord on Veteran is going to be a pain, I don't even want to think about higher difficulties.

 

Btw don't try to do everything perfect the first time. My opinion is that your first playthrough of the ME series must be unique. When I think about it, that's my opinion about every game - it's much better to see the game on your own than doing some very thorough research about how to finish the mission the best way possible or where are all the easter eggs or collectibles, if there are an.

[Extreme110 4]

Btw don't try to do everything perfect the first time. My opinion is that your first playthrough of the ME series must be unique. When I think about it, that's my opinion about every game - it's much better to see the game on your own than doing some very thorough research about how to finish the mission the best way possible or where are all the easter eggs or collectibles, if there are an.

It depends on the game for me, but scanning is pretty much the only thing I've needed a guide on since I was going to waste money and probes for a while. Also, I rather regret this now, but back before I even finished ME1 on the Xbox, my friend showed me the ending to ME2. Quite pissy about that now that I'm playing it, but seeing as this isn't the first time (it's actually quite common, and the only game I'm concerned about spoilers in right now is Bioshock: Infinite), I'm not too concerned. At least I know what I need to do so I don't completely fail...

[gua543 4]

Don't worry too much about the scanning in ME2, it becomes unnecesary after some part of the game, don't remember where exactly. I had almost 50k element zero and 200k from each of the other resources even after I researched all the possible upgrades, I was basically sending 2-3 probes per system. Those resources, however, don't go to waste - you get a war asset in ME3 if you get enough in the second game, which is quite easy.

[wvsnl 3]

This asset changes btw depending on how much rescources you scanned, the value can be 10, 25 or 100. It is unknown how many rescources you need for each value, I had 800k for paladium 700k for platinum and iridium, and 200k for element zero. My war asset was 100

[gua543 4]

I don't remember what mine was, but it said that I had recovered substantial or something like that ammounts of valuable resources.

[milestails 264]

Finally downloaded and installed Bring Down the Sky for ME1 and all the free DLCs for ME2.  Haven't played yet though...

 

Slowly but surely I'm getting used to the ME universe which I'm finding to be irresistible.

[gua543 4]

You know, the other DLC for ME1, with the simulations and all, is good too. I trusted a friend of mine's opinion about it but one day I had nothing to do and said "Why not?". It's really good actually, not much of a story but a lot of shooting. It's quite easy and fun, but that may be because I'm a level 53 or so soldier with the best armor, weapons and mods possible (not bragging at all here )

[milestails 264]

You know, the other DLC for ME1, with the simulations and all, is good too. I trusted a friend of mine's opinion about it but one day I had nothing to do and said "Why not?". It's really good actually, not much of a story but a lot of shooting. It's quite easy and fun, but that may be because I'm a level 53 or so soldier with the best armor, weapons and mods possible (not bragging at all here )

 

 

You're in the minority then; the reviews regarding Pinnacle Station are overwhelmingly negative because it is focused on combat which is viewed as a weak point of ME1.

 

Speaking of ME1 mods, which are some of the best ones out there?  Is there a KotORFiles equivalent website to acquire them all?

[gua543 4]

Guess I just love to shoot things   About the mods thing - I read somewhere that ME's engine is practically unmoddable, don't remember the exact reasons. I just found a graphics enhancement mod, but you had to install a program for it and you had to change some stuff in the game files. After a very bad experience with a Crysis 2 mod, which required almost the same things, I just dropped it. The game looks good anyway.

[milestails 264]

I think I know which mod you speak of on moddb.

 

I agree that the graphics look fine out of the box.

[gua543 4]

I once searched for a way to change my armor's color or at least to choose from the already existing armor colors' in the game (almost everybody from my team wears military camouflage armor because that's the color of the Predator M something armor, which is the best) and that's how I found it.

[milestails 264]

Save Ashley or Kaidan?

 

Council lives or dies?

 

Udina or Anderson for council?

[MrPhil 58]

Save Ashley or Kaidan?

 

Depends on my mood. I usually go for Kaiden because he is more useful in a fight. Then again, if I want a paragon female Shepard and I don't want Kaidan to think that just because I am nice with him, I want to bed him, I usually go for Ash.

 

Council lives or dies?

 

Lives, always. I guess you could be renegade and want them to die. But when you kill the council, its like every other council race is pissed against you, everybody hates your face for it and you get a new council that hates you way more and is just as thickheaded. So in the end, I'd rather have an indebted council than a stronger human fleet...

 

Udina or Anderson for council?

 

Udina always pissed me off. That SOB backstabber. Ever since he backstabbed me in ME 1, I did not ever trust him for stuff. Hell, ME 3 was not even a surprise to me. So Anderson all the way. Why? Because you know that he's got your back, even if you are the worst asshat in the universe...