Gaming Mass Effect Series

No, you just get level 60 Shepard and squadmates, and upgraded weapons (that haven't been nerfed by patches) and mods without bowing to the Random Number God for an eon. How many folks are toting an original-strength N7 Typhoon X in MP, with weapon and power damage bonuses out the wazoo?

 

The problem I've had is on the harder settings with no shields and stuff my other two squadmates get taken out very quickly and I have to hide behind cover all the time because I can't take much damage. I order them to hide behind cover yet they always end up running about forcing me to spend 2 rounds with enemies coming at me from all sides and getting pulverised by heavy fire every time I pop up to shoot close-range smaller enemies.

On multiplayer, characters like the Krogans & Geth Juggernaut just lol at stuff like that while they shoot enemies in the face (or hit them with a massive hammer).

 

I'm fairly good at not losing squaddies in the arena, except oddly enough when Geth Primes are involved. That siege pulse they have is a biatch because of the stagger effect; squaddie gets hit, staggers back out of cover, and then gets dropped by the next two pulses. Then again, I'm only playing on Normal and the only time I mess with the damage/shield mods is for that one sidequest match.

And if you miss Krogan pwnage - put both Wrex and Grunt on your team. I usually give them both Graals or Claymores with HV barrels and omni-bayonets, then give Wrex the Executioner with a heavy barrel and melee stunner and Grunt the Striker mini-grenade launcher with an extended barrel and an omni-bayonet. They probably won't last too long against a bunch of heavies, but otherwise - just trigger Barrier and Fortification on them and let them beat the crap out of everything.

 

Soooo.... Curing the Genophage on Tuchanka.....

EPIC: The lead-up and execution, the bit through the ruins, the fights with Reaper forces and escaping Kalros

Should-have-been-epic-but-wasn't: Activating the Maw Hammers. You've the usual cruddy markers that take no account of the 3D map so you've no real idea where to go and you've a sodding reaper shooting at you. THEN you're slung into an arena with infinite enemies, said Reaper trying to stomp you - and no, seeing black on brown and knowing which way to dodge isn't that easy due to the viewpoint - and the whole time it's a battle to get your bearings and work out where those damn markers are! Decided to opt for the "screw it" option, run like hell and activate and it worked.

EPIC: Kalros versus Reaper, but had to deal with the toxicity of the previous section detracting from it.

SUPER-EPIC: Death of Mordin!

Bastards. Total fragging frakkin' bastards... But so artistically done.

 

Yep, that was one of the best-done points of the entire trilogy. When Citadel rolled around and I found the audio recording he made before the mission - well, it was hysterical until it got to the last bit where he tries his hand at singing "Amazing Grace." It's kind of sad that in order for him to survive Tuchanka you have to sacrifice Wrex in ME1, then destroy the genophage cure data in ME2 (leading to Eve's death in ME3), and rationalize screwing over the entire Krogan species mainly because Wreav is a disaster waiting to happen. If Wrex or Eve are still alive and you decide to sabotage the cure, Shepard shoots Mordin. I've never had the heart to do it, even with my jerkiest and most sociopathic renegade Shep.

The best "easy button" for the maw hammers bit is to just carry the Venom "shotgun" (read: grenade launcher) from the Groundside Resistance DLC. One charged shot takes down a Brute; I'm not sure if I managed to exhaust the supply of Brutes but I at least managed to buy myself some breathing room.

 

Thane!

Was quite a fitting exit, especially with it being clear that Kolyat is no longer on the path his father took, which helps Thane let go.

The Citadel mission was pretty good save for the elevator sequence at the end - did take out Phantoms quick too. And Udina's dead and I shot the bastard too. Very satisfying, got Kaidan back on Normandy.

Spent the last hour (!) waltzing around Citadel and Normandy accumulating a vast amount of quests!

 

If you have at least one character with overload along, the elevator sequence isn't as bad - it'll do in the power conduits just fine, meaning you only have to shoot one yourself. If you have two characters with overload, you can get through the whole section without firing a shot. I've always found all the sidequests immediately after that mission a drag, but at least it's an easy way to rack up XP, creds, and war assets. Plus there's that so-diabolical-it's-funny encounter with Conrad Verner that depends on a) not killing him earlier and b) completing four other random sidequests back in ME1.

What's next? I generally either recommend the missing Asari "colony" (heh, heh) or the Perseus Veil. The first nets you an intel upgrade that can get you an extra 5% store discount, which is useful if you got the first one earlier and then go on a shopping spree with your credit hoard. The second is another high point of the game and gets Tali back on the Normandy. If you take option 1, though ... well, let's just say my first time around there was some screaming and cursing.

 

Frustration on the lift sequence was more along the lines of:

I'm shooting that fragging power conduit and it isn't sodding registering because it isn't exactly pixel perfect and the dramatic camera is screwing it up more.

One of the sidequests was a sweet link to ME2, with the dying Krogan's message to the Asari he fell in love with.

 

I just replayed the elevator bit with my sentinel, and yeah - somehow Garrus was spot-on in zapping conduits and I wasn't. Thankfully, I had an M-7 Lancer handy to solve the issue with dakka. I did manage a nice little setup when that Phantom showed up on top of the car - had Garrus zap her with an overload, then used throw to set off a tech burst that messed the Phantom up and fried one of the conduits. Gunfire did the rest.

 

And yeah, Mordin's death is a high point of the game. Really glad that even with a different voice actor its a good performance. If I ever get around to a renegade playthrough, have to keep him alive just to see the last bit on earth.

Yeah, Char was such a sweet krogan. At least I think that was his name. Even sadder when on the Citadel, in one of those random conversations, there's an asari working at one of the kiosks, and she mentions her husband is out fighting, someone assumes its a turian, but she corrects him by saying he's a krogan.

Its a pain trying to trigger all the conversations (since you have to leave one area, wait for the other area to load, then return and wait for the first area to reload), but many of the little tidbits are worth it, just wish it wasn't so time consuming. Though the useless journal was an even bigger problem. After three games, how did they screw up that part of the game so much? I don't remember it being this much of a problem in ME1 or ME2.

I never liked Udina (who did) but kind of a stupid way to go out for him. After the beginning of the game, I thought he had finally lightened up a bit. Though its really another one of those non-choices Bioware gives (either Shepard shoots him or someone else does). As Udina put it, its really dark days when the turians are the most friendly, but the turians are the only ones really putting up a fight against the Reapers, we don't see how the salarians do (aside from acting like jerks, aside from some of the STG) and the asari were morons, or at least seemed that way to me (you can get the turians, krogans, quarians and geth all working together but the asari never bother to help much). Well, you'll understand by a certain part, just remember to bring the DLC squad member along for the best lines.

 

I've heard many people complain about the journal in ME3 and don't quite get it. You almost never need to use it, do you?

In terms of missions, you only really ever have two available to you at one time. In terms of Citadel quests, you just scan ever system and pick up anything that's not fuel. That gets you everything for whatever act of the story you're on.

Is there ever really a time when you found you needed the journal, I'm curious?

I'm not denying that they made it worse, however. Who knows why they didn't just use the one from the first two games. I'm just interested in why it's such a complaint.

 

Well, I downloaded the Citadel, but I had to start a new game since I wanted to use my Vanguard. I just completed got past Udina, started Tali's mission so I could bring her along, and returned to the Citadel so I can try out the DLC tomorrow.

Right now, my favorite weapon is the Graal, which is pretty good, especially after 3 Ultralight upgrades. Now I just need to find the last two. Too bad it's clip only holds for 3 shots. It's okay though since most of the time, my tactic is Charge, Punch, Nova, Charge, Punch, rinse and repeat (using Pull to get rid of the shields.)

 

The journal wasn't a complaint for me, although this was mainly because by that point in the series I was consulting the ME Wiki and using that as my to-do list. Given that I cut my teeth on old-school shooters with secret areas (hell, in Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight finding fiendishly hidden secret areas was the only way to rack up a lot of Force points) I consider many of the sidequests, planet scanning finds, and Spectre terminal choices as something similar. The game doesn't point a flashing "HERE IT IS!" sign; you're expected to find it either by a) being an obsessive-compulsive maniac, b) repeated playthroughs, or c) using a game guide.

Some of the random conversations are pretty good and I try and trigger them even if there's no quest attached; my three faves might be the human (French accent?) and the Batarian on the refugee docks, the salarian soldier and his human friend outside Purgatory, and the two Alliance soldiers inside Purgatory (who WOULDN'T want to hang out with Crazy Mel? )

You'll find the fourth shotgun UL materials mod in the Citadel missions. The fifth is obtained by getting a high score at one of the arcade games; I decided to just wait to pick it up in NG+ because the Relay Defense game is more of a PiB than the claw game that Zaeed so artfully criticizes. The Graal is a pretty good shotgun - probably in my top five, and it's the gun I give to Vega, Wrex, and Grunt - but as a Vanguard I prefer either the Disciple or the N7 Piranha. The former is light, about as accurate as the Graal, and packs a decent kick against most enemies; the latter just sprays flaming death at a More Dakka rate. Add a shredder mod to the Piranha and it turns Brutes into Fishdog Food Shack Fried Brute Snacks.

 

Just make sure to leave the party section of Citadel until you've finished Sanctuary, else you won't have all the available characters.

 

Yeah, I generally leave the entire Citadel DLC for after I've finished Omega, Leviathan, Thessia, and Sanctuary. That way I can just wallow in it for as long as I like before doing Cronos and Earth. If you're willing to grind through a lot of arena matches, you can pile up a crap-ton of credits to take with you into New Game+; I generally have enough to get four guns all the way to level X by the time I land on Palaven.

 

Sanctuary? Who am I missing for my team? I've got Tali from the start of her mission, and I thought she was the last one I needed. Who's left?

 

I will be doing that! Thanks.

Finally worked out the maps too.

 

You'll only get Miranda after Sanctuary. The party includes every squad member from every game still alive. Not only do you get all available content after Sanctuary, it fits best there thematically.

 

Oh well, I started it early so no Miranda, but I never liked her much anyway. I just finished the mission part of Citadel, and the fight with the clone was fun (charge vs. Charge, nova vs. Nova). Now I may try the arena for a bit. That's what I was waiting for the most.

 

Does anyone have any tips for taking out Collectors in the Citadel Arena for either Vanguard or Infiltrator. I have beaten ME3 on Insanity however I don't play multiplayer and have found the Collectors to be much more difficult than Cerberus or Reapers.

 

I got the Disciple and use that more than the Graal now because, even with the UL IV (found it, thanks!), it still slowls my cool-down. How do you get the Piranha in single player?

Oh, and one other question:
After you complete all the challenges in the Citadel DLC Arena and buy everything from the store (including the armor), is there any reason to keep playing, other than shooting things? I mean, unless I missed something, I don't even see an option to respend medals on credits, even though I'd think that'd be something you could get over and over again.

 

The Piranha is available in SP with the Groundside Resistance DLC pack. Downside is you have to pay $1.99; upside is you get the Piranha, the N7 Typhoon LMG, the Executioner pistol, the Striker "assault rifle" and the Venom "shotgun" (the latter of which are really grenade launchers). There's also the Acolyte pistol and Kishock harpoon gun, neither of which really caught my fancy. The Piranha is an eight-shot, full-auto shotgun that has horrible accuracy (even with full upgrades and a smart choke V it's probably less accurate than one of the normal, unmodded shotties like the Katana), but at close range or against a big target it dishes out a lot of damage in a hurry.

The prize terminals do have the option to exchange medals for credits; make sure you're selecting the right option (the bottom one only shows inventory and doesn't include the credit exchange). What I do is rack up a very large war chest (close to 300,000 credits after buying all mods, weapons, and armors I want) and then take that into New Game+. NG+ unlocks five more upgrade levels for the weapons. It helps that the next time you find a weapon in the game you automatically get three upgrades (i.e., if you have an M-8 Avenger V and pick the gun up again at the end of the prologue, it automatically upgrades to level VIII); but the upgrade terminal prices keep increasing. For DLC weapons that you don't find on missions, you have to pay out the snout for all five upgrades; it's easy to vaporize 100,000 credits just to get a Piranha V upgraded to X even with a 5% store discount. So what I do is end Citadel with almost 300,000 credits, pick up another 80,000 on Cronos Station (then use some of that to upgrade the M-37 Falcon), then start NG+ and pick up another 75,000 from the prologue, Mars, and the four available 10,000 credit salvage pickups on the galaxy map. Then I have over 400,000 credits and a 5% store discount from the intel scanned from Borr in the Asgard system before I start Priority: Palaven. That's enough to get my main weapons leveled up right at the start of the game.

Granted, I play on Normal, so this may not work as well on Insanity.

Collectors are a pain; even lowly Collector Captains give me fits with their seeker swarms. Generally I find it's best to prioritize killing the most problematic units. Abominations are straight at the top of the list, since the last thing you want is one blowing up in your face (especially a Possessed Abomination, which goes off like a Cain round - it's much better if you kill it among its allies, where it turns into winsauce for you). Powers or gunfire, whichever does it quickest. Praetorians and Scions are about equal; Scions are more dangerous long-range threats and are easier to kill, but Praetorians take more damage than a Banshee, move faster, and have a better ranged attack. On low-level waves you want to prioritize killing Captains before they launch seeker swarms, and if they do get those off you want to swat them before they get to you.

As an infiltrator, the maps don't always give you the time and space to snipe, so you'll want a light, high-damage automatic weapon that you'll probably be using for most of the work. The M-7 Lancer is the go-to pick; if you outfit it with the AR ultralight materials mod it's easy to carry a Lancer plus an antimateriel sniper rifle. The Harrier and Phaeston ARs and the N7 Hurricane or Blood Pack Punisher SMGs are decent alternates. Your other weapon should be a top-tier sniper rifle; my infiltrator uses the Black Widow for a balance of heavy damage and sustained fire. I selected AP ammo with headshot and piercing evolutions as my bonus power, took every weapon damage intel bonus offered, and kitted her with Armax Arsenal armor and a Kuwashii visor (30% headshot bonus, 15% weapon damage bonus, and 20% ammo capacity bonus). With that setup, I found I could rip up the little guys with the Lancer very efficiently, then switch to the Black Widow and one-shot Scions with Tactical Cloak engaged, or knock over a Praetorian with a single shot to the chestplates (the panels covering the husk heads can be blown off, exposing a weak point for extra damage).

As a vanguard, I generally went with the Lancer as a primary weapon and the Piranha as a close-range backup. You can probably get away with just using the Lancer with a magazine upgrade; with rank 6 explosive burst ammo it's a viable point-blank weapon. I had reave selected as my bonus power with the area damage evolution, and typically brought Liara and Javik along. That allowed me to save charge as a bug-out option and chain-cast biotic explosions at range rather than getting up-close and personal with Collectors.

 

As another note, I also get used to the maps and potential spawn points, and what cover is useful. That way as soon as the wave countdown starts, I hit tactical pause, find where the next wave is coming from, and get the squad ready in cover as fast as I can. Unless it's a low-level wave, it helps to get some distance. If the enemy has to cross the entire length of the map or pass through choke points, it helps you kill them at a safe distance. Getting the high ground where possible also helps. Some maps are also just bad ideas for certain enemies - "Pain Train" for example favors short-range combat, which is NOT a good idea with Collectors.

 

I DL'ed the Groundside pack and I'll try it out later.

My main tactic as a Vanguard is to position myself inside one spawn point while facing another. As soon as the enemies spawn, I activate Nova on the enemies in that spawn point before charging into the second (My allies usually pick up the pieces). If my foe survives the Charge, I follow with some shots or punches, then repeat. The only times it failed were when I couldn't charge into an opponent (for some reason, this happens a lot with Collector Generals).

 

I have to say my three favorite weapons from the Groundside Resistance Pack were the Executioner, N7 Piranha, and N7 Typhoon. The Executioner should be fitted with a scope and ultralight materials; the result is basically a sawed-off M-92 Mantis with built-in cover piercing. A weapons-heavy build can down a Brute in two shots on Normal. Using the UL mod gives you a powerful sniper weapon that's a fraction of the weight. The Piranha I've already described; it's basically a riot gun best at taking things out at close range. A vanguard rocks with it. And the Typhoon ... downsides are that it's heavy and the recoil actually increases as you upgrade the weapon, due to a bug. Upside is it's the pre-MP nerf version - that means it does double damage against armor, barriers, and shields and gets an added damage bonus after the first four "spin-up" shots. It also has built-in cover/armor plating piercing. The accuracy is better than the M-76 Revenant, as is the base damage, fire rate, and ammo capacity. Short form, it's really only a logical pick for a soldier or a weapons-focused sentinel ... but in their hands it'll gib just about anything in seconds. I've mowed down two Banshees in a single adrenaline rush. In Ashley or Garrus's hands, it's like hitting the "easy" button. James would probably do a lot of damage as well, but I prefer to keep him on a grenade launcher/shotgun combo out of habit.

There's also the Venom, which gets an honorable mention for being able to kill a Brute with one charged shot. Treat it like an ME2 heavy weapon that takes thermal clips, or a more accurate substitute for your grenades.It's fun on some Cerberus missions when you have a bunch of mooks holed up in a building; just fire charged shots through the windows and rain bomblets on them.