Gaming Mass Effect Series

Well, Charge reloaded your barrier in ME2 as well (in fact, a good strategy for ME2 and 3 is to add some shield-boosting components to your armor to get the most mileage out of that; my vanguard currently has an N7 set with a 30% shield boost). Given that both Charge and Nova can serve as combo detonators, it gets really messy. I picked Reave for my bonus power and it's murder for taking out enemy heavies; hit Reave (which recharges your barriers) and then uncork a Nova. It made hash out of the Adjutants on Omega. Same with Incendiary Ammo; hose down enemies with shotgun blasts, Nova, and observe as your opponents become flaming meat grenades.

 

Speaking of class options and heavy melee, I'm about halfway through Omega with my soldier. At one point right before entering Aria's bunker for the first time (end of the first segment) I just camped out under a ledge and face-shanked Cerberus troops one after the other as they dropped down - it was like clubbing baby seals. That was before I activated the defense guns and an Atlas landed right next to me and my squad - poor bugger. Rank 6 Overload from Nyreen, Rank 6 Flare from Aria, and then an Adrenaline Rush and 100 rounds of Explosive Burst ammo from my N7 Typhoon ensued. Didn't even bother to take cover and I'm not sure my shields were even scratched. Funny thing is the soldier is my second-most fragile character (850 health, 825 shields) because I piled almost every power tree option, intel terminal upgrade, and armor component into raw weapon or power damage. My engineer has about a hundred more points each of health and shields.

 

*staggers in, completed first Mars mission on first ME 3 runthrough, on Soldier.*

The Typhoon! My gods, the Typhoon! Okay, I can't control the recoil worth a damn yet, but this thing is a bullet hose.

 

Firing from cover drastically helps with recoil, and you can use the four-shot "spin-up" feature to fire off relatively accurate semiauto shots. I actually experimented with modding it as a scoped weapon for my infiltrator; the accuracy wasn't good enough for consistent headshots at Level V but it wasn't bad. Once you get it, the stability damper mod allows for easier firing out of cover. It has built-in 1-meter cover piercing, so for the other mod slot you can skip the piercing mod and go with an extended barrel to jack up the damage by 25%. Save the full-auto massacre for clumps of mooks or big targets - wait until you start running into Brutes, Atlases, and Banshees and you'll fall in love with that gun. I killed the Atlas on Sur'Kesh before Wrex even had time to start taunting Shepard about getting old and slow. The other thing is that gun does 50% more damage to any kind of protection (shields/barriers/armor) and damage doubles once it hits its max firing rate, so heavies go down FAST.

The Rank 6 Explosive Burst evolution for Incendiary Ammo really turns that gun into a death machine. Massive health and armor damage bonus + 50% chance of bullet igniting a 2.5-meter wide fireball + insane fire rate + 100 rounds per clip = http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KillItWithFire

 

And just in case you thought Mark Meer wasn't already cool enough...



Also, there's something of a movement on to get as many of the ME2 voice cast to cosplay in their original roles. Mark Meer obviously takes any opportunity he can get to put on an N7 set of armour, but ... but ...



EDIT: OMG, THERE'S A NEW GAMER POOP UP - FOR ME 3.

 

Most of the other guns in that pack are useful as well. Mod the Executioner with a scope and ultralight materials, and you'll have a sharpshooter's gun that rivals the Mantis for damage and can be easily carried alongside the Typhoon without crippling your cooldown. The N7 Piranha is unmatched for close-quarter killing sprees; make sure to fit it with a smart choke so it's a bit more usable at intermediate range. The Striker's pretty brutal and I typically hand it to James; I tend to think of it as more of a long-range automatic shotgun than a microgrenade launcher. Finally, the Venom deserves special mention because you can use it in one of two ways - bounce a charged shot off a wall to flush mooks out of cover, or aim charged blasts directly at heavies. The latter will one-shot a Brute on Normal, provided you have the nerve to hold your ground for a second or two.

If you want to get the Firefight Pack as well, the Cerberus Harrier delivers outrageous DPS for moderate weight, at the price of having very limited ammo. It's my preferred "anti-heavy" weapon for all classes aside from the soldier. The Krysae is the other gun of note there; it's classed as a sniper but it's more like a scoped rocket-propelled grenade launcher. Garrus cleans house with that thing.

 

You must've read my mind, because I was going to ask for more recommendations on gear for ME 3. That cooldown issue is brutal - I just did the N7 Cerberus Base mission with a Typhoon as the main weapon and a pistol as the backup ... and geez, the cooldown time was taxing. For Priority: Mars I actually crossed my fingers and ran with just the Typhoon. I'm obviously holding the trigger down too long because I ran out of ammo in both missions, but combine that with Explosive Burst and I really did just about get by with one gun, Singularities from Liara, and Carnage from Biff Slamchest Jimmy Vega.

I've only used him for the first couple of missions, of course, but I've actually got a soft spot for Mr. Protein Shake. Not sure what the internet hatedom for him is all about. I thought his move with the Kodiak on Mars was AWESOME and I've already had the "mock" "fight" in the Normandy's cargo hold with him (Paragoned it). He's three-dimensional: not the wide-eyed rookie, actually has a brain to go with the comic-book-superhero physique, and he's got a certain sense of humour, too.

 

If you level up the Typhoon and a mid-weight sniper rifle like the Raptor to Level V you can get away with a cooldown bonus of 6% - not much, but it's above baseline. Viper would be best there, since it's the lightest sniper there is (although personally I dislike its lack of killing power). Taking the Ammo Capacity evolution for any of your ammo powers and taking at least one 5% capacity bonus from the Intel Terminal will get you a total of 700 rounds on the Typhoon, which will get you through most if not all firefights (given that on Normal, 1 thermal clip pickup tends to net you 100 rounds). Short bursts are generally enough for most bad guys; you shouldn't need more than 10-20 shots unless you get a mob all in one spot or a boss-type unit. If you have the Leviathan DLC, it comes with the Pistol Ultralight Materials mod (unfortunately, due to a bug only levels I-IV are available for that mod in a single playthrough). With that, you can carry the Typhoon, an Executioner pistol, and a Disciple shotgun all at Level V while still keeping a 15% cooldown bonus. For sheer firepower in close-quarter fights you can have a decent bonus carrying a Typhoon and the N7 Piranha shotgun, which will let you rip through just about anything. I did that for the final fights on the Leviathan and Omega DLCs; the only issue I had in the latter was getting pot-shotted by those damn Nemeses that kept spawning behind me.

I don't use Vega much; typically the last "storyline" mission I use him on is Tuchanka: Bomb and then after that I just trot him out for N7 missions. That's mainly because he and Javik are the "new guys;" on most missions the longer-serving squadmates have more to say (and Javik's often great for his "in my time" rants). I think a lot of the fan animosity towards Vega is that he took the "designated tank" slot formerly held by Wrex and then Grunt, who both had quite the following. Carnage is pretty damn useful; I took that as my soldier's bonus power even though it somewhat overlaps with concussive shot. I tend to fit Vega with a Striker and a bayonet-equipped Graal Spike Thrower, which lets him do buckets of damage.

Vega does have one of my favorite lines from ME3: "Rachni? Of all the ... it's like you got the opposite of a horseshoe up your ass!"

 

I've tried out your advice on giving Jimmy the Striker and whatnot, as well as your advice on the Tyhoon. I've got From Ashes and did the Priority: Eden Prime mission last night (this is all before Priority: Palaven, so James and Liara were obviously my only squadmates). I've upgraded it to Level IV by this point, touched no other weapons other than giving the obvious SMG upgrades that I've already picked up.

I actually think I can get by without a sniper rifle, at least for now. I've got Level 6 Adrenaline Rush to steady my aim for single shot fun, and the gun as you say works as a semi-to-decent SMG or ranged weapon on the four-shot "cycling up" phase. There were a couple of occasions where I was hitting from a decent range with the Typhoon anyway - not to mention that I think given my playstyle it's more efficient to have more opponents closer to you than sniper range when you're carrying this gun because of its sheer rate of fire against groups. I was all but sniping from a fair way out while defending Javik's pod, for example, and it seemed to work out okay; largely left Liara and James to improvise while I hung back and just popped anyone silly enough to come out running.

I'm glad I took James' advice to duck into the next Cerberus building and pick up some ammo, though, because that's when the Atlas showed up. And man, wasn't the Typhoon fun there! Shoot, watch the thing's shields ripped down, casually duck behind cover when it fires one missile, then pop back up and watch it become small bits of firey destruction after another sustained burst from the Typhoon again. "I love this rifle!"

 

I usually carry a sniper on Cerberus missions, just because of all those blasted smokescreens they love to deploy. For Reaper and Geth missions the Executioner out-damages almost everything except the heavy anti-materiel rifles and is a heck of a lot lighter. Overall I like to have something scoped in the arsenal; I play ME on a laptop screen so a scope makes it much easier to spot and hit distant targets (it also vastly extends the range you can effectively launch powers at).

Priority: Eden Prime in general has a lot of choke points where you can just annihilate Cerberus troops with a sniper rifle, the Typhoon, or an AOE weapon. The Krysae is particularly brutal - since it fires proximity-fused explosive rounds, one of the nastiest things you can do is wait until you see a Cerberus shuttle open the door and then fire a round right through the hatch. If it's only assault troopers in there as opposed to Centurions, they all get turned into lasagna with one shot. A full-auto burst from the Typhoon has similar effects. The Typhoon makes bosses almost laughably easy; on the Ardat-Yakshi monastery mission I had Liara and Javik soften up the two Banshees with a biotic bombing run and then reduced both to smoking fail-heaps in a single Adrenaline Rush. I'm glad I got the Hijacker achievement in my first game, because with the Typhoon and Harrier in my arsenal now there's no way I'm going to capture an Atlas intact.

Just as a note, if you have From Ashes it's best to scan the planet Borr in the Asgard system before upgrading any weapons. There's an intel terminal upgrade there that can grant a 5% store discount, which helps free up some credits.

 

I hate the smokescreens too, but do they actually stop bullets? My response to a smokescreen is generally to just pour on the fire and wave the Typhoon around the relevant cloud, figuring he's gotta be in there somewhere.

 

Well, that works too (and in any case with the limited FOV scoping targets through smoke can be hard). I just like to conserve ammo where possible; the lowest I ever got with the Typhoon was down to 96 rounds on N7: Cerberus Attacks(!) where I had James and EDI holed up in a building getting up-close and personal with Cerberus troops while I held a flank by my lonesome. Of course, when I got to that point I switched over to my Raptor and started sniping.

 

I've only got MP expirience with the Harrier, but from what I've seen it's a pretty good assault rifle. Damage is great, and the recoil isn't too bad. Only real problem I have with it is the ammo capacity. Sucker goes through ammo pretty quick if you don't watch it. As for the Krysae, maybe it's different in SP, but I'm actually kind of dissapointed in it, considering it's more or less a scoped rocket-propelled grenade launcher. Even at level X it doesn't seem to do the damage I thought it would. *shrug* Usually for sniper rifles I go for the Widow, Black Widow, Mantis, or Valiant (for MP. Don't have it for SP).

Despite looking like he got lost on his way while going to Gears of War, and being voice by Freddie Prince Jr, I actually kinda like Vega. He's not a *favorite* per-se, but he was enjoyable in his own way, and it kind of surprised me. If there's anything "bad" that I could say about him, it's that compared to everyone else, he seems kind of "dull". Everyone else is either a returning character (Garrus, Tali, Liara, Ash/Kaidan, EDI), who you probably have some attachment to already, or the last Prothean in existence (Javik). Compared to that, an Alliance Marine seems a little... dull. I do get a kick out of him and Garrus trading "war stories" on the Normandy though.

As for the internet hatedom, my guess is that part of it is that he's taking up a space that someone else (namely Wrex or a ME2 squadie) could've filled. To be honest, if I could replace him and EDI with some combo of Zaeed, Kasumi, Miranda, or Legion, I would do it. However, it's not something I gripe about.

 

Yeah, I haven't seen it in MP but I hear that in SP the Krysae is significantly buffed; as stated one shot can instagib multiple unshielded mooks in close proximity. Using Cryo Ammo on it is nasty; it'll freeze multiple units. I love giving it to Garrus because it's like having my own personal artillery section If I had to name my two most-commonly used snipers, they would be the Valiant and Raptor. My infiltrator wreaks havoc with the Valiant; you'd think Cerberus troops would be more squeamish about advancing over a six-deep pile of headless corpses all in the same spot. My soldier and infiltrator both have the Black Widow, but I rarely bring it out because of the weight. Once I get it upgraded further in New Game+ it'll probably be a more common pick.

As for Vega, I agree - his main fault is being kind of a stock character next to the rest of your team. It's especially true given that his predecessor (Grunt) gets one of the most badass scenes in the entire game. Vega still gets some good exchanges with Cortez, not to mention getting Ash falling-down drunk. The latter was one of my favorite bits of ME3 - "Mmm, cold floor ..."

 

Interesting - played through Omega with my "gray" infiltrator (2:1 Paragon:Renegade ratio). Sided with Aria during most conversations, but also backed Nyreen a few times and went for the reroute rather than crashing the reactor and life support for a few thousand people. The end result was that Aria choked Petrovsky to death, but then expressed that she couldn't figure my femShep out - going so far to say she's the most powerful and incomprehensible being she's met in 1000 years.

Given that Carrie-Ann Moss voices Aria, I think I had to utter a Neo-esque "Whoa."

 

I haven't picked up Omega yet - I want to see what this last DLC they've got coming out is before I spring cash for it.

On the other hand, I did Priority: Palaven last night, picking up Garrus and giving him the Krysae as suggested. The Brutes were a non-event: in each case, once I spun up the Typhoon and jumped on Adrenalin Rush, they just collapsed into heaps of fail without anyone else helping out to a measurable degree. Garrus was busy making small grey chunks out of husks while I was doing that, and half the time he got his shots in and took out a target before I did. Really the Marauders were the biggest annoyance on this mission, but even then the solution was take cover, wait a second or two, then blow the hell out of them with the Typhoon.

Traynor's told me about Grissom Academy, and I'm heading over there shortly since as I understand it's the only time-sensitive mission at this stage of the game. I'm getting overwhelmed with people who want me to solve their problems for them, of course so after Grissom's dealt with I'll probably head out and do some scan-mining with, hem hem, a certain guide I picked up before doing further missions. I want a niiiice big balance of assets and stuff before I start work on probably Leviathan. I've also been conversation mining on the Normandy as I do, figuring I don't want to miss anything. Let's just say watching Gamer Poop videos before you play ME 3 makes it very hard to keep a straight face when you discover where those lines are edited from.

...Also, gee whizz, but EDI's outfit is Stripperific. I mean, really.

 

If you want my advice, take the first Leviathan assignment (meet Dr. Bryson) in order to net some XP and weapon mods (the Pistol Ultralight Materials will be very useful; the High-Velocity SMG barrel will really help out EDI and Liara with armored targets, and the SMG Mass Pulse Recoil System is a godsend if you're using the N7 Hurricane, M-9 Tempest, or M-25 Hornet). After that though, leave the rest of Leviathan until later (after the second Citadel Priority mission and re-acquiring the Virmire Survivor; I usually save it for after Priority: Rannoch and re-acquiring Tali). I suggest that because some of the fights are a bear and you'd be best off tackling them at a higher level. Also, at the end of Leviathan your LI will have some extra dialogue provided you took him/her on the final mission.

Heh, if you really want to see Typhoon devastation, follow my plan later on - put Ash and Garrus on your squad and have both of them toting that monster. Who needs biotics and tech when your squad is spitting enough bullets to cut a cruiser in half?

As far as planet scanning, I take it you found the ME Wiki guide for that? The real fun is trying to plot out what order to visit systems so you get the most efficient use of your fuel. Do it right and you'll never have to hit a fuel depot in the entire game. Also, the Normandy tanks up for free every time you dock on the Citadel. As far as Grissom, you're good so long as you do it before Priority: Tuchanka. Squadmates have some interesting interactions with Jack; I think there's a set prioritization as to who speaks with her, so depending on who you take you'll hear different exchanges. Garrus is top of the list and he has two different versions, a standard one and one if femShep romanced him in ME2. I think the order from there goes EDI, James, and then Liara. You need to take Javik and Liara in order for Liara to talk to Jack.

And yes, if EDI is the one to talk to Jack you get a great observation. "Now you look like a sexbot instead of a sex toy."

 

I might have to take EDI along on Grissom anyway - my ME 2 Soldier Paragon'd Overlord, so I want an apology out of David Archer But thanks for the advice in all forms, anyway!

 

That, and you'll really, really want someone with overload on that mission, which means unless you're a sentinel or engineer EDI and/or Garrus are must-haves.

 

Well tricked Wreav and Eve, killed Mordin, and all I got was one Salarian fleet and Kirrahe. I cured the genophage last time and I still got a Salarian fleet and Kirrahe. I feel like I should have gotten a little bit more out of that decision as painful as it was. Unless the point was 'you screwed over the Krogan and murdered your friend and for that you get nothing!'

 

Well, the Salarian Third Fleet is awarded for a) saving the council in ME1 and b) saving Councilor Valern from the Cereal Ninja, not for curing the genophage. If Eve died and you convinced Mordin to help sabotage the cure, you'd get him as a war asset as well. I think overall if you have that setup just right (Wrex dead in ME1, Council saved in ME1, destroying Maelon's data in ME2 so Eve dies in ME3, and convincing Mordin) you come out a little ahead on war assets over having Wrex and Eve alive and the genophage cured. Still, it's not something I'm going to shoot for even with my current undead-renegade adept (seriously, the facial scarring is kind of gruesome to look at - he's not entirely renegade, but he's done enough to get a bit of a red glow in the irises). Mostly because Wrex is too fun a character for me to kill off. Likewise, I think you actually come out a notch ahead on war assets if you get Kirrahe killed in ME1, but I haven't done that either.

 

Ah, haven't done Priority Citadel yet so maybe the Third Fleet will show up then. Still two fleets and Kirrahe seem a bit light. Also the Dalatras said something about sending her best scientists to help on the Crucible and I've yet to see any war asset like that show up.

I'm thinking on all future playthroughs to just side with the Krogan, the Salarians just don't seem to have that much to offer. And killing Mordin is just freaking evil, I mean Shepard just shot him in the back. I mean you couldn't try to just shoot his leg or something? Or use your biotic powers to get him away from the door for 10 seconds?

 

And on top of that, I believe the gun Shepard shoots him with is an M-6 Carnifex. Which first appeared in the series when Mordin gave one to Shepard as a "gesture of good faith" on their first meeting.

I have to agree - I'm going to be 6 for 6 on siding with the Krogan. Even my most renegade Shepard would prefer to say the hell with the Machiavellian little horned salamanders in favor of an army of giant, headbutting, four-balled bipedal tortoises.

 

Heh, speaking of my "most renegade Shepard," I'm going surprisingly mellow with him about 2/3rds of the way through ME2, call it maybe 55/65 Paragon/Renegade. Surprisingly mellow or not, this is the first time I've killed off Conrad Verner and Niftu Cal (aka the "biotic god"). As Jack said, it was mean but damn funny.

 

Grissom's done - EDI and Garrus as the crew. I did die once, but the rest of it was fairly straightforward. Students were never really in danger at any point.

Also got the hang of scanning, or I should say scavenger hunting with the ME Wiki's guidebook. I actually don't have any pangs of conscience around cheating with this guide, because just a few runs convinces me exactly how freaking annoying that mechanic can be whilst also unrealistic. If you scan, you're vulnerable, but if you're orbiting a planet, scanning the surface and dropping a probe you're not? No wonder Harbinger patiently allows the Normandy to evac the rest of your squad in the EC - he and his brothers have been doing it for you throughout the campaign, patiently allowing you to rescue valuable assets and warships from across the galaxy so long as you can get to orbit before they do. I still get a certain thrill out of weighing up the fuel costs with where I can pick up more, and with optimising my scanning so I can pick everything up without the Reapers knowing where I am. It's a thrill that would have suffered badly under randomly pulsing around a system in desperation while Reaper vessels chase you down.

Also getting quite a few fetch quests on the Citadel now ... I seem to remember there's a bit of crashing going on with Citadel missions, is there any common element or common missions on which crashes seem to happen a lot? I've run through the Hanar Diplomat mission with Kasumi now; all clean (In passing, some of her dialogue was good: "You'd enter the war effort for Jacob?" "Shepard, I'm nostalgic, not dead.") Looking into Aria's jobs at the moment, but nothing bad's happened yet. I must admit I have run into my first bug, though: James asked me to come down to Purgatory, but clicking on him doesn't trigger anything. Otherwise (touch wood) all clean; no crashes.

The options are getting a bit overwhelming, though - huge amount of potential upgrades around, though I don't seem to "get" all of it yet. I can't seem to put certain combinations of weapon modifications together - does this have anything to do with the level of the weapon, or are you just stuck with it? Also, armour - any recommendations for Soldier builds?