Gaming Mass Effect Series

Reckoning trailer looks really good, this is coming out tomorrow correct?
And is that Collector controlled by Leviathan? Does that mean a Collector may be a playable character?

 

A... playable Collector?

*facepalm*

 

I don't think so, I reckon that's a new enemy - a Collector General, perhaps? Leviathan "indoctrinates" Reapers bu turning their eyes purple, not blue

Looking forward to this one, though frankly I hope they're all 'base' and unlockable fairly easily. It'll be a pain in the butt if I download this and all I see running around are the same old dudes with Best of the Best/Heartbreaker/Marksman banners, Level X weapons, and all these new toys.

Some brief field reports from me, playing mostly against Cerberus ... I've been mucking around with Infiltrator and a few new weapons I've come up with recently. Black Widow in particular is a temperamental beast: with Soldier, on Bronze, I dominate unless there's a good "caster" in the team: 75 kills in one session, which I've never done before, and with that weapon on my Turian Soldier specc'd for Marksman and Concussive Shot I hardly ever wind up using CS unless I'm caught up close with an opponent. Atlases tend to go down with about 6-9 shots all up, three reloads sure, but I've generally got enough time and space to get them away. Marksman is a viable investment even with sniper rifles.

On Silver you definitely need better ammo, even with a Black Widow. It's a bit crap that I can't put down Cerberus Assault Troopers with one shot from one of the highest-damage guns in the game, but if you're in teams especially with Engineers it gets to be insanely fun: Incendiary Ammo II or III sets up a target wonderfully for you to finish it off with a tech burst (fire explosion) from Concussive Shot. Or like I said just hang around the Engineer and CS or use Inferno Ammo. On Gold I think I need some seriously better gear, I think because the damage is too low and the enemy moves a bit too fast, though if someone's got a good suggestion for ammo I'd love to hear it.

The weird part is that Krysae feels more viable on Silver or Gold than Black Widow does. I think this is because I'm a little more used to "snap scope, fire" with that weapon than the Black Widow, and also because Krysae and CS both stagger an opponent. The biggest pains in the ass fighting Cerberus aren't the Atlases, oddly enough: it's the damn Dragoons and to a lesser extent Phantoms. (Phantoms can tank more, sure, but they also stand still a lot.) I think I've probably been faceplanted more by Dragoons than any other opponent. Either way, my survival tactic with Dragoons comes down to CS'ing a lot and getting a Krysae round away: if I can't land three I'm in trouble, but a Level 6 CS spec'd for maximum force and damage will keep a Dragoon staggered at least long enough for me to back off and hopefully get reloaded. This fitout keeps my Turian Soldier a lot more independent on Silver than he was with a Black Widow.

And then, last night, I picked up a Revenant. Stuck an Assault Rifle stability mod (V, I think) on it, extra damage, and then gave it to my N7 Destroyer on Devastator Mode. It's obviously not a Typhoon, and I was only on Bronze, but the whole GRAAAAGH CHAERG~ was back, in a big way. That gun is so stable and fires so fast it's beautiful. It's even more fun to take in close quarters than a Piranha, to be honest, mainly because I just like holding down the trigger.

 

If this is genuine, nope, not an enemy. Playable... Collector. "Awakened Collector" And, according to that screenshot, he even glows green. Oh joy.

 

...





It's genuine? Jesus, Bioware:

 

Well that if a Collector can turn good.... doesn't that now mean that ANY Reaper creature now has the potential to turn on the Reapers? And if they can and if they do gain free will and choice for their lives... that also means that you can't view them as horrible abominations that must be destroyed. And that would also mean Control and Synthesis may just have those creatures now integrate into the galactic society as a whole new species.

Why 400 years from then we might have a Husk Councilor...
Salarian Councilor: Does the Husk Councilor have anything to add to our taxation issue?
Husk Councilor: (Inaudible grunts and screeches)

 

Well, Protheans apparently don't have to breathe in space, so who the hell knows, maybe a Prothean can come back from being a Collector and start telling the primitives how their soft, fleshy skin is wholly inferior to the hard, glowing and smelly carapace they have.

 

"Your telling me humans don't have wings on their back that let them fly around? Primitives...

Though with Ex-Cerberus, Geth, and Collectors now I wonder how long until a DLC pack lets you play as a Reaper Dreadnaught.

 

And people will still be saying it's lame because you've only got one superlaser, not eight.

 

And the Banshee will still be able to one hit kill you.

 

Yeah, not necessarily keen on the Collector Adept. According to the wiki description that's up, they're Collectors that survived being cut off from Harbinger by a Leviathan thrall device.

We do have some details on the new weapons. Geth Spitfire appears to be a realoadable version of the SP heavy weapon, issued as an assault rifle in MP. It slows the player down drastically when wielded, unless the player is a Geth Juggernaut. The M-11 Suppressor is a weak, silenced pistol with a high headshot multiplier. Most intriguingly, the M-7 Lancer appears to be an old-school ME1 weapon - no heatsinks, but operating on a cooldown system with infinite ammo reserves. New weapon mods include ultralight materials for assault rifles (mutually exclusive with piercing mod), shotguns (mutually exclusive with smart choke), and sniper rifles, as well as mods for pistols and SMGs that boost power damage.

The Talon Mercenary Engineer also comes with a freakin' omnitool bow. Figure you can carry a Kishock Harpoon Gun as well and start going Hunger Games on the Reapers' asses ...

 

Don't know why everyone is annoyed by the playable Collector, the MP isn't really supposed to be 100% canon. I'm pretty sure there weren't armies of Volus defending Vancouver, for instance.

This is from someone who doesn't play the MP.

 

ME3's multiplayer is more like a fighting game caricature of actual Mass Effect.

Pictured: Leaked final multiplayer DLC class: N7 Badass

Spoiler

 

Currently taking my infiltrator through Thessia with her trusty Black Widow. Between the gun, Rank 6 AP ammo, and the crapload of weapon damage and headshot multipliers I've racked up it's brutal. I took the barrier off a Banshee with squadmate biotics and a Hurricane loaded with disruptor ammo, then switched to the big gun and tactical cloak as the thing started getting close with a bar or two of armor knocked off.

One. Freaking. Headshot.

I think the explanation for Marauder Shields is that they eventually figure out shielding doesn't help when a giant tungsten round crashes through and still has enough wallop to reduce your skull to chunky salsa.

 

What I don't get is, how would you explain a "good guy" Collector if you don't have or did the Leviathan DLC? Why not just make them thawed protheans, like Javik? It would still be kinda dumb, in my opinion, but it would make a lot more sense.

I'd play that.

 

Make sure you take six ranks in Sonic Boom (range, spin, damage); don't bother with Hair Gel, it's a wasted power, goddamn Bioware making crappy options again...

 

Hair gel skill tree ...

Also I literally just finished playing Leviathan again, and I actually ... dare I say it... enjoyed the conversation had at the end at the bottom of the abyss. I'm sort of taking the whole game more at face value than I used to and not trying to seek out lore inconsistencies and whatever, and I'm having a damn good time actually.

 

Yeah, Leviathan I actually enjoyed - the whole DLC had a certain feeling of foreboding over all of it, even to the point of being unsettling. That final conversation with Leviathan is also pretty well done: the voice is unsettling, it's got decent cinematography, and the music is impressively sinister.

 

Am I the only one who thinks that Female Shepard sounds dull in Mass Effect 1?

 

Jennifer Hale? Yes. Yes, you are the only one.

 

One can't go wrong with Spartan Sarah Palmer from Halo 4 and Anderson from Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

 

And Nalia from Baldur's Gate 2.

 

[not_trolling]She sounds a little manly.[/HONESTLY_not_trolling]

 

I honestly can't believe I didn't recognize Jennifer Hale's voice as that of Spartan Sarah Palmer. It really did sound that different to me.

 

I thought Hale was better than Meer in ME1, but that Meer was slightly better in ME2. I haven't played ME3 SP since... June, but I recall both Hale and Meer being about equal. I've also heard that Hale did a better RenagadeShep than ParagonShep, but I play mostly Paragon, so I wouldn't really know.