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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Gaming Mass Effect Series

Discussion in 'Community' started by Valyn, Sep 7, 2012.

  1. Clone_Cmdr_Wedge

    Clone_Cmdr_Wedge Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 18, 2006
    As someone who fits that description, I'd say at least watch some of the party stuff. If you like what you see (and don't mind some stuff), you probably won't have too many regrets getting it. And, as I believe I said before, if you have a PC, do a playthrough with MEHEM, and when the game drops you back to pre-Cronos, play Citadel and treat it as an Epilogue. It's a little weird, yes, but somehow it works.


    Shepard.
    Grunt.
    Shepard!
    Wrex.
    Commander Shepard.
    Shepard, Shepard, Shepard.
    Wrex? Grunt?
    Sheparrrrrd.
    Sheparrrrrd.
    Shepard?
    Me: [face_laugh]:_|[face_laugh]

    Still think some of my favorite stuff from the party though is between Garrus and Zaeed. :cool:
     
  2. DarthCane

    DarthCane Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 30, 2002
    Yeah, I've heard about that. Still have to do the party with the "quiet" option to get their antics. I imagine it may take me several weeks to run my other characters through this DLC, plus after I finish each one I'm going to continue on to fateful appointments at Cronos Station and Earth. Much as I'd like to just park my Sheps in a happy place, I want to get them to New Game+ so I can run through again later with my complete loadout of guns, armor, mods, and powers.
     
  3. DarthCane

    DarthCane Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 30, 2002
    Just downloaded and listened to the Citadel soundtrack. The last track title? "Farewell and Into the Inevitable." Yeah, doing Cronos and Earth will fit after that.

    And nobody spoil me on where "Shepard's Tango" comes up, even though I'm about 99.999% sure where it is and with what Turian it involves. I've got 2 1/2 more Citadel playthroughs before I hit my Garrus/femShep combo and I get the sense that will involve more squee-ing.
     
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  4. 07jonesj

    07jonesj Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 16, 2010
    Yeah, I know some people like to think of this as post-ending, but IMO it just fits so well right before Cronos. A final song and dance before the end.

    Plus, my Shepard dies so... it doesn't really make sense unless the party takes place in the afterlife. :p
     
  5. Clone_Cmdr_Wedge

    Clone_Cmdr_Wedge Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 18, 2006

    Just incase someone wanted to see it. :p (Actually, I'm just guessing, based on the title of the song, but this seems to be a pretty safe one.)

    Well, Garrus does say something about meeting him at the bar... Just sayin'. :p

    At this point though, when it comes to the ending I prefer to think of something a very wise man named Adam Savage once said. "I reject your reality and substitute my own." 8-}
     
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  6. DarthCane

    DarthCane Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 30, 2002
    ^ Fair enough.

    Beat the final "Unusual Scores" challenge with my engineer. Heh ... bad idea to send Atlas mechs and Geth Primes after her in that last wave. It was rather amusing to see those duking it out with a Banshee and a Possessed Praetorian for a little bit; certainly thinned the herd out.

    I also beat the clone with my sentinel. Those poor mooks on the bridge must have dropped bricks in their armor when the crawlspace opened up to reveal Shep in there with an N7 Typhoon at point-blank range. The battle with the clone seemed to take longer than my previous two; warp spam was annoying but with Tali and EDI in the team it was another tech, fire, cryo beatdown. Heard this gem of a taunt from realShep:

    "Conrad Verner did a better job trying to be me!"
     
  7. DarthCane

    DarthCane Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 30, 2002
    Speaking of warp spam, did "Mirror Match" with my sentinel. Figured I had the ideal "easy button" setup - Ash and Garrus, and boy was it working. I actually got one or more 3-run killstreaks; as a matter of fact until the final wave I just left Garrus with his Krysae (not sure if that made it any more fair, but hey). Since Ash was my sentinel's ex, I imagine it was a revenge fantasy for her - she was tearing clones apart with her Typhoon.

    Was doing fine until the last wave, had taken out the vanguard and done major damage to the soldier and adept, when I popped out of cover (to take a shot or escape a grenade, I forget which) and got hammered by warp and incinerate blasts from multiple clones in addition to taking heavy fire while being stagger-locked. Seemed like every time I found cover to pop a medi-gel a grenade came sailing in and sent me back out for target practice; had to burn 3 or 4 units of medigel in the space of a few seconds. Finally found a corner to hole up in, switch Garrus over to a Typhoon with AP ammo, and finish the job on the four remaining clones. Came in under 5 minutes on the match, which was a first.
     
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  8. Saintheart

    Saintheart Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2000
    Well, I've not played the new DLC, and some of what follows will probably come across as a bit rookie, but: I've finally got round to promoting at least once on each of the classes in MP. Gave me a nice perspective on the system and available classes as a whole, IMHO. Some random thoughts...

    Of them, Turian Sentinel was the class I probably felt most "secure" with on Gold, and that was with some III-level ammo, upgrades, etc. In passing, I got a Warfighter III upgrade recently, and it's probably the most advanced "armor/weapon gear" stuff I have; I've got Recoil Dampener V for the ARs, and some benevolent random number god bestowed class IV Smart Chokes and kickback dampeners for the shotgun, but unless you're dropping huge amounts of money or playing 6-8 hours a day on MP I really don't quite understand all the builds out there that depend heavily on, say, Cryo or Incendiary Ammo III. I've been trying to pick up Jumbo Equipment Packs and the odd Arsenal Pack, and you just don't get it often enough.

    See, I keep seeing "OMG this build rocks" threads on BSN, but apply the same level progression to the same character and it doesn't, in fact, rock ... until you notice the person is sporting stuff like level V Omnicapacitors and the like and has level X weapons for the build, usually rare stuff like an Argus or a Cerberus Harrier, which I've yet to see at all. (I do have Javelin, Black Widow, Lancer -- holy crap that's a nice gun even on level one, doubly so with Thermal Clip enhancements -- Valiant, Hurricane, Collector SMG, Collector Sniper Rifle, but they're all L1 weapons. No goddamn Typhoon, yet. My most levelled guns are all the basic ones, done by spamming Recruit Packs.)

    Which leads me into the only adept I've tried thus far, being the Drell. And I've not tried him on gold, because he's the original glass cannon even if built right: Pull and Reave for area effect, increased capacity for Lift Grenades, and you do well when staking out spawn points and mook mobs - he can prime and detonate Biotic Explosions, about the best I think I ever pulled was four Cerberus Assault Troopers in one hit once I'd specc'd for area effect. I also love his movement speed, if I could be bothered I'd rename him Wally West or something :D On the other hand, to pull 6/6/6 on his powers, something has to give, and it's his fitness for the most part, so he doesn't survive too well with the wrong team. You can probably run hard enough and flip around enough to get yourself out of trouble - I have a very fond recollection of doing Drell flips through two goddamn Cerberus Engineer Turrets and somehow surviving. He does decently against Dragoons, too, which is nice -- he can move quick enough to stay out the way of the Dragoon's heavy melee thing, and from range he does all right with Pull and Reave combos. It's a toss-up for me which weapon you use: orthodox theory says I should just stick with my Phalanx III for the 200% cooldown and just snipe, but a Hurricane (fitted with that very nice biotic/tech-boosting attachment that raises your damage by 10%) has lovely dakka even with its appalling recoil that leaves you looking at the ceiling. I did get my Drelldept to level 20, but it was a messy, slow affair to get there, and I promoted him out shortly after that. He's ... okay, to my mind. Best fun with him is running like a madman around the battlefield.

    On the other hand, last night I commenced what I believe will be a long and glorious love affair with the Volus Engineer. Everything about this dude is (a) funny as hell and (b) beautifully reflects the conception of the race. I've named mine "Tunnel Rat". From his avatar standing on a supply box in the "weapon selection" section through to him being short and way too close to the "camera" during powers selection, he's hilarious. And then there's his way of working in combat. I sort of took him out for a spin, and never mind the strange perspective of being shorter than everyone else on the field, I genuinely got this feeling that (against Cerberus, at least, on Bronze, level 8 thus far) the opponents were sort of going "Huh?" as this three-foot bowling ball runs in at them and kills them with a piddling Shuriken X. That aside, if you think of the volus as scheming, manipulative little buggers that survive on their wits, the sort of species that should not exist in a galaxy where "short, not mobile and in a pressurised environment suit" is synonymous with "lunch", then the engineer is just Perfect. He's sneaky: no direct confrontation, he uses mines to blow you up before you've seen him. And he makes every other member of the team love him. Put it this way, absent some late game stupidity by my colleagues who decided to get killed while doing a Rambo in the middle of an Escort mission, I found the Turian Havoc Soldier very close in proximity to me a lot after I started spamming Shield Boost. You get the point reasonably quickly even in a PUG.

    After a broad survey, I think engineers are, IMHO, the most overpowered class in the game, but the Volus seems to have the most capacity for making the whole team overpowered, simply because of Shield Recharge. I mean that. Admittedly it was on Bronze, but there was one point where my level 8, germinal engineer was letting the team go toe-to-toe, I mean, melee range, with an Atlas and its entourage. My default, I think, will be to mostly eschew the Mines in favour of just regular pinging people's Shields back up. Put this guy together with a sexbot Alliance Infiltration Unit and I think things stand a good chance of getting seriously out of hand with the Infiltrator's Defense Matrix active.

    EDIT: It's also a sobering experience when you look around at your team and realise you actually have more points towards achievements, more promotions, and more N7 points than the rest. "...I'm the most experienced guy here???"
     
  9. DarthCane

    DarthCane Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 30, 2002
    Yeah, I must say that in SP my engineer (who I intentionally had look like a sort of mousy, blond-ponytail cheerleader type - "Aww, cute little AHHH **** I'M ON FIRE/ELECTROCUTED/FROZEN!") is a surprising powerhouse. Largely this is because with my weapons-oriented classes I picked extra damage output over survivability; my soldier Shep is actually my second-squishiest character after the infiltrator. Engineer on the other hand is running around with 975 points of shielding, although I plan to trade 50 points after Cronos for an extra 10% power damage boost. Secondly, with a fast cooldown, all those tech powers, and some help from squadmates the damage output gets insane. My engineer utterly crushed the "Mirror Match" challenge, albeit with some heavy backup.

    Beat the clone with my vanguard and infiltrator and put the vanguard through the arena challenges. Vanguard was fun; for the ambush in the restaurant I had her in that black N7 cocktail dress. Had to be a little bit distracting for the mercs, although not as distracting as getting charged (or worse, reaved then charged) and then getting double-tapped in the face with a pistol. The clone wasn't nearly as competent and was entirely on the receiving end of my charges. In the arena battles I found myself using the shotgun as a backup weapon only; the Lancer was quite effective at close range.

    Infiltrator was a bit tougher; the interesting part there was that while I did get off a few sniper shots I mostly decided not to play the clone's game. Instead I cracked out the N7 Piranha with AP ammo and went hunting - started with that in the CIC; didn't even bother taking cover and just worked my way around the room wasting everything in sight. One clip was enough to destroy a Heavy's riot shield and then reduce him to red mist. Garrus brought up his list of fun places to fight through again. I did have to burn a unit of medigel during the clone fight for being a bit too aggressive. Likewise, I'm finding myself using the Lancer more often than a sniper rifle in the arena; on some of the more cluttered maps you don't get those nice, clean long-range engagements and with the pressure to get kills every five seconds to maintain a killstreak there's no time for finesse. Then again, I also started using the Black Widow V with a concentration mod and extended barrel, reasoning that I could get by with just 29 bullets instead of 44. There's a certain delight to one-shotting Ravagers, fully shielded Marauders, and very likely even Brutes.

    Quite frankly, the Lancer seems to be fast turning into an all-purpose gun. In SP at least it packs less punch than the Harrier (about 75% per shot, I think), but with double the rounds per clip, less recoil, no reloading or running out of ammo unless you overheat it, and possibly a higher fire rate. It's also lighter; practically at the top end of the SMG weight class if using the AR ultralight materials mod. About the only reason not to carry it is if you have the weight capacity and playstyle to use the Typhoon.
     
  10. Saintheart

    Saintheart Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2000
    Yeah, after running an Alliance Infiltrator Unit with a Piranha I can certainly see the close combat appeal of an Infiltrator. It's that Tactical Cloak that makes all the difference: it's already hardcore enough that it lets you get into more-or-less optimal position, but I've seen enough people just spam it for the plusses to damage for the first couple of moments after you decloak on firing.

    Sniper rifles, I think, are really situational. Some maps, at least speaking of MP, are just far better suited to close combat weapons than long range ones: I'm thinking of Firebase Glacier (N7 Cerberus Investigation?) in particular, which really doesn't have any long wide spaces to play with. If you're going to use a sniper rifle in there you'd better be good at the whole "snap to scope, crack off a round, run like hell while you reload" trick. By contrast, maps like Firebase Rio or Firebase Vancouver (and, from time to time, Firebase London) are far better because you've got long uninterrupted distances which the rifles really need. Most engagement seems to happen at the mid-to-close range, and the Lancer does shine there.

    My impression of that gun is that it's a sort of "a bit more than three shots" machine gun in effect: I despise the Valkyrie, and I'm still dumb enough to hold the trigger down too long and subject myself to a long cooldown time for the Lancer, so I had to retrain myself to sustained bursts. I do like the fact you don't have to worry about ammo boxes anymore or reloads, but given I tend to use powers a lot even on Soldier and you're always moving a lot on an MP map I'm still not entirely convinced a full machine gun like Revenant or Phaeston isn't the better option for me. If I hold the trigger down and run out of bullets I can always hit the "ammo box" button and reload, and it's always shorter than the cooldown on the Lancer. It's just a matter of different playstyles, I think.
     
  11. DarthCane

    DarthCane Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 30, 2002
    Hehe, when my infiltrator popped out of the crawlspace on the Normandy I triggered cloak and cut loose with the Piranha. I believe I took down a Heavy and a Specialist in that first burst, and then it was just a mad rampage. I think it was either Tali or Liara on a previous playthrough that dropped the "Some things in here don't react well to bullets" line from The Hunt for Red October. Trying to remember if Garrus cut loose with the Krysae; I assume he'd have to calibrate a few things afterwards.

    The Lancer depends on the upgrade level. In SP I have the Lancer at Level V, which with a Level V extended mag means 83 rounds on tap. That's a longer sustained burst than a Revenant and almost as long as a Typhoon; whatever you were shooting at is either dead, good at dodging, or really tough. Since I don't have to worry about ammo pickups I'm also less reluctant to use AP ammo or a piercing mod and just hose down enemies through cover. I've still overheated the gun and been left in a sticky situation though. Usually I either have a shotgun for a backup weapon or in the case of my infiltrator have the sniper rifle as a primary. The maps do make a difference; in the SP Armax arena Wingman and Brimstone can work well for snipers. Blasteroid depends on the setup - lots of great sniping positions, but also lots of clutter to ruin shots. Spin Zone has one or two spots you can snipe from, and Pain Train is definitely a shotguns map. On Firebase Glacier/N7: Cerberus Labs, I was actually able to camp out in the doorway next to the landing pad and just pick guys on the opposite stairs off; however I also had Vega and EDI guarding the top of the stairs to my right making life hell for the bulk of the Cerberus troops.

    The other gun in the Citadel DLC is also a surprise. Leveled up and modded the M-11 Suppressor is a beast; I was one-shotting fully shielded Centurions. Apparently if built right you can take down a Brute or Ravager with six shots.

    Just did my first Super Elite challenge with the infiltrator, used the Black Widow exclusively. With 6/6 AP ammo and cloak I was able to one-shot Brutes and Ravagers; even without cloak a headshot on a Brute took it down to one bar of armor. Banshees stripped of their barrier took one cloaked headshot.
     
  12. Saintheart

    Saintheart Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2000
    Seriously, Cane, you have to try MP at least once. You'll find it a whoooolle different world when you're back to level 1 Avengers and Mantises to do your killing :p:p
     
  13. DarthCane

    DarthCane Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 30, 2002
    It's not that I worry about - hell, my adept is downright lethal with the Mantis. The lack of tactical pause and time dilation powers/mods? That's going to be the sticking point.
     
  14. Saintheart

    Saintheart Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2000
    I can honestly tell you I had exactly the same fear - but the adjustment is very nice and quick. The learning curve is not that steep at all, if you can shoot straight in SP, you'll be able to handle Bronze fairly easily. What you lose in planning time from time dilation you make up for in combined firepower - four thinking humans individual players who have an incentive to help each other makes a massive difference. The AI is good, but it's not that good, especially if you're going after any faction other than Cerberus. Cerberus is the only one that knows how to flank effectively and knows how to force you out of cover with grenades; Geth don't flank so much as try to distract you so Geth Hunters can come up on you unannounced; Reapers and Collectors alike just tend to try and overwhelm your position with sheer firepower.

    Just give Bronze a go, if you're coming in at level one and with no points towards achievements and so on people at least will know who they're getting into the match with. I can't speak for the majority, being on PS3 rather than PC, but I've yet to encounter anyone who was a real jerk towards a new player. For me, I found MP made me feel much more like I was part of a real, functioning team of thinkin' dudes, mainly because there isn't a lot of individual glory or incentive in having the highest score: the XP and credits total is given to all party members, not just one, so highest score is just plain bragging to people you're unlikely to ever see again. You have to play as a team, or more than likely you'll get your team in trouble, particularly on higher difficulties.

    And there's really something to playing other races. Volus Engineer, for example, is never going to top the leaderboard, but that's no biggie to me since I play him firmly as support first - and I take my bragging rights from what happens in-game: if I get knocked down someone's always there to revive me literally seconds afterwards. High score does show you're an asset to the team, but people reviving you quickly shows you're a necessity. :D
     
  15. Saintheart

    Saintheart Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2000
  16. 07jonesj

    07jonesj Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 16, 2010
    That's a lucky Volus. ;)
     
  17. DarthCane

    DarthCane Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 30, 2002
    Hey, everyone loves those Volus engineers!

    Finished the "quiet" version of the party with my engineer, after racking up a ton of credits to carry over into New Game+. Note: never let Garrus and Zaeed do renovations. Runner-up had to be Tali getting hammered senseless, followed by Wrex and Grunt greeting Shep.
     
  18. Saintheart

    Saintheart Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2000
    The ladies just can't get enough of his "shield" boost. :D

    EDIT: Just ... don't ask where Tali is.
     
  19. 07jonesj

    07jonesj Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 16, 2010
    Yeah, Garrus and Zaeed were hilarious.

    Grunt died in my main Shepard's save so he wasn't at the party. :_|

    My next Shepard I intend to take through Citadel doesn't have Wrex, so I might never see that cutscene.
     
  20. Saintheart

    Saintheart Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2000
  21. DarthCane

    DarthCane Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 30, 2002
    ^ So true ...

    Finally got around to the femShep/Garrus romance bit at the bar. Shep summed it up perfectly - "Oh hell yes!"
     
  22. DarthCane

    DarthCane Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 30, 2002
    Decided to nip into New Game+ with my adept and see how much upgrading guns to Level X was ... yeah, there was a shock. Vaporizing 130,000 credits just to upgrade one of the SMGs from the Firefight DLC. Guess I should pile up some more creds in the Armax Arena for that.
     
  23. Saintheart

    Saintheart Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2000
    The irony being that you're still going to pay a lot less credits to level up your guns to X in SP than you could ever dream of in MP. :D
     
  24. Saintheart

    Saintheart Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2000
    And I've finally managed to pull off a solo in MP! On Bronze, Cerberus, Firebase Hydra - with a Geth Trooper I'd unlocked and had at level 20. Geth Pulse Rifle III, Collector Sniper Rifle. Wasn't by design - for whatever reason I had no joiners for 11 full waves, which is obviously thrilling when you're facing down Phantoms and Dragoons by yourself. It was pretty tense, but I only got knocked down once during an escort ("pizza delivery", as they put it on BSN) and wasted all my Cobra missiles on that one. Taking down all the troopers in a wave and then finding a nice "mulberry bush" to take down the last remaining Atlas was fun. Never done this before on a computer game, full stop. Small achievement, yes, but for me an achievement nonetheless! :D
     
  25. DarthCane

    DarthCane Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 30, 2002
    Yeah. I'm planning on taking my remaining five SP characters into NG+ with somewhere around 200-250,000 credits of starter funds, plus 35,000 from Mars and then the initial batch of salvage pickups. Throw in a 5% discount at the intel terminal before Palaven and that should fund some improvements to the arsenal.

    Kick-*** on the MP solo!