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GAF Plays: Mass Effect series (unmarked spoilers)

I have an urge to buy the games on Origin, is there any way to get your 360 saves and use them in the PC version?
Im pretty sure the Gibbed save editor would let you open your 360 saves then let you save them in the PC format, assuming you can move the files across to your computer.
 
Finished ME1! Did a lot of it... I thought I was playing on Hardcore but was playing on Veteran. Goddam... wondered why it was so easy. Kind of burned me out, not in the mood to start up ME2 again. I'll muster up the strength!
 
Has anyone actually tried playing ME2 (or ME1 for that matter) not as polar Paragon or Renegade but as a mixture, answering as you (or your RPG character) would answer?

I never did this .. it was always one of the other to maximize the chances I receive the Charm/Intimidate options in conversations. If I just answered how I would, I feel I would miss out on a lot of the conversation opportunities, losing loyalties, etc.
 
Has anyone actually tried playing ME2 (or ME1 for that matter) not as polar Paragon or Renegade but as a mixture, answering as you (or your RPG character) would answer?

I never did this .. it was always one of the other to maximize the chances I receive the Charm/Intimidate options in conversations. If I just answered how I would, I feel I would miss out on a lot of the conversation opportunities, losing loyalties, etc.

Depends, are you a nice guy or a dick in real life? But my main character I generally answer the way I would, which is generally more paragon. But if someone is being a dick or someones life is at stake ect. I'll go renegade to make my point.

And my 3rd playthrough of the series is a neutral guy and I'm sort of rping the way HE would answer. He does miss out on a lot of the Paragon/Renegade respones tho
 
I didn't really feel like replaying the first Mass Effect again, I've played it too many times, plus, I was pretty happy with the last savegame from that aside from one Conrad Verner response, so I replayed Mass Effect 2 a few weeks ago. So I'll throw all my impressions in here in case anyone is interested.

Now, I know many people hate it and think it a huge step back compared to the original, but I loved Mass Effect 2 the first time I played through it and I love it still. Of course I'm not a die-hard RPG fan so I don't mind the fact that those elements were toned down, I especially liked the fact that you no longer have to sort through a million barely distinguishable rifles and ammo upgrades and lord knows what else. It also helps that the shooting is so much better than it is in the first Mass Effect, I even slightly prefer the thermal clips over the overheating in the first game. I do think that they still have to work on rebalancing the powers though so that more are useful, there are a few now that are far more useful than others. Warp in particular is basically essential.

There are other large improvements as well. For one thing, the sidequests are much more varied and more entertaining than in the first game. I got unbelievably tired of the handful of environments you got to go through in ME1 sidequests, always the same rooms with a billion boxes. It's a shame however that in improving that, they also took out the Mako, and with it the real feel of exploration you got from the first game. In fact, that feeling of exploration was one of my favourite things about the first game, even if there really was nothing going on on those planets. I just wonder why they couldn't have done both, both sidequests where you land with the shuttle thing and sidequests where you are in the Mako. And no, the Firewalker DLC is in no way a replacement, because it's absolutely terrible and boring. The ship in the Firewalker DLC just isn't nearly as fun to use as the Mako, and the levels made around it seem like busywork more than anything. Not to mention, even there you're not exploring at all, they're just bigger environments than you would explore on foot, and that's it.

Another step backwards is the story, it just meanders. The problem, as everyone in this thread I'm sure knows, is the focus on recruiting a team. There are only a few missions where you are actually working towards your goal of defeating the Collectors. That's not the only flaw though, because the Collectors themselves are just not that great as an enemy, nor is Harbinger. You never really have a nemesis in the way you do in the first Mass Effect. Saren was a great villain, the Sovereign reveal only made things better. There is nothing like that in the second game, and it's certainly far worse off for it.

That said, while on the whole the recruitment focus is detrimental to the main storyline experience, I did really enjoy most recruitment and loyalty missions. While there are a few weak ones in there (Miranda's loyalty mission for instance), most are excellent. I particularly enjoyed the ones that really deviated from the norm in terms of gameplay, like Samara's loyalty mission and Kasumi's. They really change up the experience and make it seem like less of a pure shooter. My favourite of the recruitment/loyalty missions however was Mordin's loyalty mission, the genophage question really makes you think, one of the few times in a Bioware game where not everything is black or white (red or blue, to be accurate).

In terms of the characters, the game is pretty much all over the place. There are some great new characters, Mordin, Legion and Thane in particular, who all have interesting back stories that I was interested in learning more about. I agree with sentiments earlier in this thread though that there are too many, and they should have axed/merged some of them. The one I could've done without the most is without a shadow of a doubt Jack, who is just annoying more than anything, to the point where I considered not upgrading the Normandy's armour. Samara, Miranda and Jacob are other weak characters that I could have done without in their current form. It isn't even just the fact that they are weak characters though, the fact that you can only take two characters with you out of such a large group means many characters will often go unused. If not axing characters, perhaps they should have allowed you to take three squadmates with you. I found myself using basically exclusively Miranda (Area Overload/Heavy Warp) with either Garrus (Area Overload/Squad Armor Piercing Rounds) or Grunt (Squad Inferno Ammo) depending on the type of enemies.

As far as the DLC goes, I loved Lair of the Shadowbroker, except for the final reveal which was a bit disappointing and anti-climactic. Liara is also still, like all Asari, a weak character. Reading all the profiles on squad mates and other characters afterwards was fun though. Kasumi and Zaeed are both good, just wish they had recruitment missions along with their excellent loyalty missions. Overlord I thought had its moments, but on the whole I didn't like it as much as some did, especially the vehicle bits of it were a bore. Arrival was less interesting still, particularly since it sort of came out of nowhere, suddenly the Reapers are coming? Really?

Anyway, to sum up I really enjoyed playing through Mass Effect 2 again and I still think it's an enjoyable game. It certainly has some major flaws, flaws I hope Bioware addresses in ME3, but they didn't stop me from enjoying the game.
 
I really enjoy the beginning of ME2. The discovery of the Illusive Man and the Collectors are both my favorite parts of any game. It's the middle part of the game that really drags for me.
 
Diveos said:
Exactly. I never got the hate about ME2. Right from the get go, the ENTIRE marketing program was about "Gather your Team".
Which becomes jarring when you realize how disconnected from/ incidental to everything most of them are. They don’t even interact much with each other outside of a few pairs. They don’t give off the sense of caring about anything other than their own backstories or Shep, and they’re barely a team.

The problem isn’t that the story is character focused(the fact that this is a big deal shouldn’t even be a thing; most stories are character focused already); it’s that, while individually their stories are compelling, they’re shoved haphazardly into the narrative(which is the exact opposite of what a character-driven story is supposed to do).
 
Just started ME1 for the first time since the game came out on PC. Damn are these textures ugly.

As someone who loved ME2, I get why people hate on it so much after my brief time with the original. This one just feels completely different. I don't mean mechanics wise, but the tone and feel of it all. Feels much closer to Star Trek in vibe then part two does. I don't know how else to explain it, so I'll stop there. I'm sure I'll still love two when I get to it, though. But, I understand the hate/disappointment more.
 
Has anyone actually tried playing ME2 (or ME1 for that matter) not as polar Paragon or Renegade but as a mixture, answering as you (or your RPG character) would answer?

I never did this .. it was always one of the other to maximize the chances I receive the Charm/Intimidate options in conversations. If I just answered how I would, I feel I would miss out on a lot of the conversation opportunities, losing loyalties, etc.

This is what I did in what is so far my only ME2 run. If you do every quest in the game you'll still eventually get enough charm and intimidate points to resolve all the conflicts that require those options.

In my last 100% ME1 playthrough I actually ended up with 100% paragon and about 80% renegade. I've never gone polar paragon or renegade in either game actually.
 
Playing through ME1 now, for some reason I like the combat a lot more than I did before. It controls like a shooter, but you can still tell what you're playing is an RPG about abilities and stats more than shooting.

So before this thread came up I started to replay Mass Effect 1 as a FemShep because my main is a Male. Decided to see why everyone likes FemShep more. I love her because I've made her into this complete hard ass that doesn't give a fuck about anyone except Liara. I always send Kaiden to die on Virmire, and when I did it this time I chose the option that was completely cold and Kaiden was just like "Uh yeah, ok". I loved it.

Also, I skipped through the dialogue with Wrex too quickly and then Ashely killed him. I never realized through all of my playthroughs that that can happen. I was in complete shock. Had to reload that save immediately.

I went ahead and started a FemShep character as well, but only because I got interested in the idea of a female special forces leader in a sci-fi setting, which is rare as hell. But then I started trying to think up her character and the only strong bases I could come up with were Captain Janeway and Motoko Kusanagi. That's more or less what I'm going with now
 
Just started ME1 for the first time since the game came out on PC. Damn are these textures ugly.

As someone who loved ME2, I get why people hate on it so much after my brief time with the original. This one just feels completely different. I don't mean mechanics wise, but the tone and feel of it all. Feels much closer to Star Trek in vibe then part two does. I don't know how else to explain it, so I'll stop there. I'm sure I'll still love two when I get to it, though. But, I understand the hate/disappointment more.

The ambiental music makes all the diference to me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1kiuT38kxY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x0fnlqLTaQ&feature=related

So good. In comparison every HUB-world in ME2 feels so flat.

It's good to know that the Citadel in ME3 will have ambiental music again.
 
^

The music was one of the first things that jumped out at me. Definitely helps set the vibe and fits perfectly.

EDIT: Just watched the ME3 cast trailer. What the fuck at Jessica Chobot? Don't mind her, but her character looking 100% like her is pretty stupid. That shit takes me right out of the game. Hope her character isn't around much, 'casue that's lame. Also, have they said what will happen if you import a ME2 save that has a dead Shepard?
 
About to start new play throughs. How does new game + work for ME1? Do I choose "existing ID"? Can I change stats and play through as a different class, as well as do renegade this time on the the new game but keep my level? I'm confusing myself.

Edit: Looking like no editing of stats? Bummer.
 
I just finished Mass Effect 2 on Insanity and played Arrival for the first time. Arrival was pretty good overall; just a bit short for my liking considering how many points it was.
 
^

The music was one of the first things that jumped out at me. Definitely helps set the vibe and fits perfectly.

EDIT: Just watched the ME3 cast trailer. What the fuck at Jessica Chobot? Don't mind her, but her character looking 100% like her is pretty stupid. That shit takes me right out of the game. Hope her character isn't around much, 'casue that's lame. Also, have they said what will happen if you import a ME2 save that has a dead Shepard?
Cant import a dead Shepard.
 
About to start new play throughs. How does new game + work for ME1? Do I choose "existing ID"? Can I change stats and play through as a different class, as well as do renegade this time on the the new game but keep my level? I'm confusing myself.
Yes, no, no, yes, yes.
Choose existing ID.
You can not respec.
You can not change class.
You can change your alignment.
You can progress your character.

I got help. Looks like I will be getting one more playthrough after all. I get to play all the hard parts :) It will be really handy to have an XBOX 3606 import Sheppard on a USB stick.
 
Yes, no, no, yes, yes.
Choose existing ID.
You can not respec.
You can not change class.
You can change your alignment.
You can progress your character.

Lame. So, using the same game is probably best for harder modes and continuation of leveling?

I think I'll start a new one.
 
Hmmm... Tali explains her hate of Cerebus a bit more when you recruit her. But it still isn't enough.

Her "boss" battle to recruit her wasn't too bad. Just getting across one of the bridge(s) was the PITA part. Her teammate died in action while being a distraction for the boss while Grunt, Garrus, and I rushed the left-most bridge to get up there. After that the Arc Rifle seemed to make quick work of the boss after taking out Tali's teammate. Didn't even regen it's shields. Easy peasy.

Jack, Jacob, Miranda want me to do their loyalty missions now. I still have two members to recruit (and Legion, how do you recruit him?) but Garrus and Mordin haven't opened up "I don't like to force these talks, Shepard"-ish for like 3-4 missions now. Are they glitched? Did I fuck something up? Am I screwed?
 
Cant import a dead Shepard.

Makes sense. Must have realized how big of a bitch it would be to make the game with a possible different main chracter. No way that's what they had in mind, or at least the story they were selling when ME2 came out, though. Reality of production budgets must have set in.
 
Makes sense. Must have realized how big of a bitch it would be to make the game with a possible different main chracter.

HiImDaisyMGS3BigBosseditto

Bioware: QUICKLY! WE NEED A NEW CHARACTER FOR MASS EFFECT 3 IF SHEPARD DIES!
Piece of paper: John Shepard
Bioware: :|
Piece of paper: John Shepard GenericLastNameHere Anderson
Bioware: :O!!!!!!!!!

.jpg
 
(and Legion, how do you recruit him?) but Garrus and Mordin haven't opened up "I don't like to force these talks, Shepard"-ish for like 3-4 missions now. Are they glitched? Did I fuck something up? Am I screwed?
You'll get him during a story mission. Just make sure you do everything you can before that happens, you'll know what mission it is if the game gives you the option to proceed with it or build up your team. I'd leave Tali's loyalty mission undone so you can bring Legion along.

They'll say more crap after you do their loyalty missions.
 
You'll get him during a story mission. Just make sure you do everything you can before that happens, you'll know what mission it is if the game gives you the option to proceed with it or build up your team. I'd leave Tali's loyalty mission undone so you can bring Legion along.

They'll say more crap after you do their loyalty missions.

That's the thing though: Mordin isn't talking and hasn't wanted me to do his loyalty mission at all.

Garrus isn't talking either, I got an e-mail after talking to him about being Archangel but other than that no mention about me wanting to do something for him.

Jacob, Miranda and Jack want me to do something for them. Zaeed and Kasumi want me to do their missions but they were already open.

Leaves Tali (who just joined), Garrus (who isn't talking/letting me know), and Mordin (not talking/letting me know) in addition to the two other members I haven't recruited yet. :/

Oh, and Legion. Who I don't have a dossier for...
 
That's the thing though: Mordin isn't talking and hasn't wanted me to do his loyalty mission at all.

Garrus isn't talking either, I got an e-mail after talking to him about being Archangel but other than that no mention about me wanting to do something for him.

Jacob, Miranda and Jack want me to do something for them. Zaeed and Kasumi want me to do their missions but they were already open.

Leaves Tali (who just joined), Garrus (who isn't talking/letting me know), and Mordin (not talking/letting me know) in addition to the two other members I haven't recruited yet. :/

Oh, and Legion. Who I don't have a dossier for...
You won't receive a dossier for Legion, he is part of a story mission. Just do other character's loyalty missions for now (Miranda, Jacob, Jack, Zaeed, Kasumi) and the others will unlock as you complete them.
 
That's the thing though: Mordin isn't talking and hasn't wanted me to do his loyalty mission at all.

Garrus isn't talking either, I got an e-mail after talking to him about being Archangel but other than that no mention about me wanting to do something for him.

Jacob, Miranda and Jack want me to do something for them. Zaeed and Kasumi want me to do their missions but they were already open.

Leaves Tali (who just joined), Garrus (who isn't talking/letting me know), and Mordin (not talking/letting me know) in addition to the two other members I haven't recruited yet. :/

Oh, and Legion. Who I don't have a dossier for...

Complete more missions and side missions and they will unlock.
 
Yeah, just keep on trucking with other loyalty missions and the locked ones will eventually open.

Legion is the last of your recruited. You acquire him during the next major story mission. Which, might I add, I seriously advise you leave until you've done everybody else's loyalty missions.
 
Legion is the last of your recruited. You acquire him during the next major story mission. Which, might I add, I seriously advise you leave until you've done everybody else's loyalty missions.

Honestly. I'm fucking sick of party members that you acquire in the endgame. Why should I use or care about them? It ruins both the story and the gameplay.
 
Especially when they're the best party members.

Looks like BioWare is doing an 'Alliance News Network' thingo every Friday leading up to Mass Effect 3. They can be found here, and this is the first;

ANN-1024x576.png


From: Alliance News Network Information Partners

August 24, 2186

Leak questions geth role in Citadel battle

By Amita Qasid



VANCOUVER, EARTH – A leaked report has cast doubt on key facts in the Battle of the Citadel, backing up controversial claims by the long-marginalized “Citadel Conspiracy” movement.

In the report, acquired by the free-information group TruthHax, a top-secret emergency defense committee admits that the powerful dreadnought at the center of the battle may not have been of geth construction.

Key to the report is testimony by Commander Shepard, hero of the Alliance Navy and a decorated veteran. Shepard insists Saren Arterius’s flagship was actually one of many artificial intelligences separate from the geth and hostile to organic life.

Shepard’s credibility has declined in recent years amid reports of abetting the human supremacist group Cerberus. But in the leaked document, the defense committee appears to treat the Commander’s claims as a genuine possibility.

Shepard could not be reached for comment, having been relieved of duty by the committee.

Prime Minister Shastri was confronted with questions about the report today at a routine press conference, but waved them off, saying only: “It’s a big galaxy. The geth are one of many threats we talk about, and rest assured, the Alliance will be prepared for whatever comes our way.”

Amita Qasid is a political correspondent for ANN’s “Earth Standard” and a frequent contributor to ANN Magazine.
 
Just finished my Renegade run-through of Mass Effect 2.

Everyone except Kasumi survived. I gave the Base to Cerberus, blew up the Geth base, exposed Tali's father (which was freaking brutal), saved the Normandy crew, killed Samara, let Garrus kill his former partner, let Mordin kill his former student and convinced him to delete the data, killed the Politician Thane's son was trying to assassinate, slept with Miranda and told her not to say hello to her sister, had a quickie with Jack and told her to kill the other person from her biotic camp, had Jacob's father kill himself and just acted like an asshole throughout.

Good times.
 
Right from the get go, the ENTIRE marketing program was about "Gather your Team".

The problem is the team barely cares about the mission. Miranda and Jacob do, of course. So does Mordin. But the rest of the cast? Garrus, Tali and Legion are in the team because they want to get into Shepard's pants (well, Legion is just a huge fan of Shepard). Jack is there because Shepard helped her escape the prison. Grunt just wants to smash shit. For Kasumi, Samara, Thane and Zaeed it's just another mission.

ME2 overall story would be much better if all those people were somehow connected to the threat they are dealing with instead of being just recruited mercenaries that don't really give a shit about the whole suicide mission.
 
Just finished my Renegade run-through of Mass Effect 2.

Everyone except Kasumi survived. I gave the Base to Cerberus, blew up the Geth base, exposed Tali's father (which was freaking brutal), saved the Normandy crew, killed Samara, let Garrus kill his former partner, let Mordin kill his former student and convinced him to delete the data, killed the Politician Thane's son was trying to assassinate, slept with Miranda and told her not to say hello to her sister, had a quickie with Jack and told her to kill the other person from her biotic camp, had Jacob's father kill himself and just acted like an asshole throughout.

Good times.

You sir, are my hero.
 
I got around to reading Mass Effect: Conviction. It taught me nothing except that James Vega has, unsurprisingly, a broken past he can't let go.
 
Honestly ME2's biggest problem was the lack of M4 Part II.

Don't disappoint me again, Bioware.

I got around to reading Mass Effect: Conviction. It taught me nothing except that James Vega has, unsurprisingly, a broken past he can't let go.

Does he have daddy issues like my ME2 squad?
 
I'm halfway trough Deception, the mistakes mentioned before are annoying and really dumb, but i have to say, so far it's been an enjoyable read.
 
The problem is the team barely cares about the mission. Miranda and Jacob do, of course. So does Mordin. But the rest of the cast? Garrus, Tali and Legion are in the team because they want to get into Shepard's pants (well, Legion is just a huge fan of Shepard). Jack is there because Shepard helped her escape the prison. Grunt just wants to smash shit. For Kasumi, Samara, Thane and Zaeed it's just another mission.

ME2 overall story would be much better if all those people were somehow connected to the threat they are dealing with instead of being just recruited mercenaries that don't really give a shit about the whole suicide mission.

But who else other than Shepard would give a damn about going into a mission to die? Hence, why they hired mercenaries.
 
Okay, recruited the Justicar. The whole mission was lol-able. The high criminal being told "CHARGE!" by Shepard with the dick/Renegade option made my laugh for a good five minutes. Just the way Shepard emotes it: "Charge! *waves hand*" and then the criminal fizzles out a mass-effect field only to be killed by the boss... who dies to me in five minutes when Grunt/Shotgun, Garrus/Sniper Rifle go in and out of cover while I dodge the toxin and buff my powers with it to take her shield and armor out with them and then mop up the two-three clan members with her after.

Also killed the "newbie gangster" that was there in the mission. She was about to pull a gun on me so I pulled the trigger/R2 and killed her in cold blood. Apparently she can explain something according to the wiki but I guess that's nothing more than a Codex entry. Missed out on anything?

Also you guys are right: Just do missions to unlock Garrus and Mordin's loyalty mission: Mordin wanted to talk to me right after that mission. Now to recruit Thane and get Garrus' loyalty mission I guess.

Do I still have time to get Thane, Samara, and Tali's loyalty quests before the end? Do I have to do side missions for them to unlock because I'm holding off to do the Loyalties one after another to be done with them all after I recruit the full party but I hear there is a time limit after a certain point and if you don't finish the game you kill everyone. :/
 
Just started ME1 for the first time since the game came out on PC. Damn are these textures ugly.

As someone who loved ME2, I get why people hate on it so much after my brief time with the original. This one just feels completely different. I don't mean mechanics wise, but the tone and feel of it all. Feels much closer to Star Trek in vibe then part two does. I don't know how else to explain it, so I'll stop there. I'm sure I'll still love two when I get to it, though. But, I understand the hate/disappointment more.

I'm using a texture mod, which makes at least a few things a little nicer: http://social.bioware.com/project/5275/#details

Apparantly the guy is still working on it with the same approach like on those ME2 texture mods.

Just started ME1 for the first time myself.
 
Missed out on anything?
No, she was a murderer

Also you guys are right: Just do missions to unlock Garrus and Mordin's loyalty mission: Mordin wanted to talk to me right after that mission. Now to recruit Thane and get Garrus' loyalty mission I guess.

Do I still have time to get Thane, Samara, and Tali's loyalty quests before the end? Do I have to do side missions for them to unlock because I'm holding off to do the Loyalties one after another to be done with them all after I recruit the full party but I hear there is a time limit after a certain point and if you don't finish the game you kill everyone. :/

Do the loyalty mission as soon as they unlock. Get them to talk because some of them mission are on the same planet like Garrus and Thane.
 
Starting ME1 on New Game+, highest difficulty. Just became a Spectre.

I forgot how much I love this series. If ME3 isn't as good as I'm hoping, I may cry.
 
Recruited Thane. No timed mission yet, so I'm going to rush through the loyalty missions, starting with Miranda since I'm already there.
 
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