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GAF Plays: Mass Effect series (unmarked spoilers)

I loved Operation Overlord. Minus the shitty "Mako" sections, and the leadup to the end the end was worth it. Gave me a System Shock 2 vibe in addition to questioning Cerebus' experiments and "furthering humans and the war against humans in space."

I hope the choice I made (taking David from his brother and then pistol whipping him and saying "you come near him and this bullet is for you. The Illusive Man can fire me for all I care (which is hilarious in retrospect because I destroyed the Collector base before this so the Illusive Man is already pissed with me), but I'm taking him away from you and Cerebus.") comes into ME3.
 
Is ME1 okay to get on Steam? I was a little put off by this on the store page:
* WINDOWS VISTA OR WINDOWS 7 USERS: Launching “Mass Effect” from Steam requires the setting “Run as Administrator”. If the User Account Control feature of Windows Vista is enabled, launching “Mass Effect” from Steam will result in failure. For users with User Account Control enabled, launch Steam using the “Run as Administrator” option or launch from the windows shortcut.
 
electroshockwave said:
Is ME1 okay to get on Steam? I was a little put off by this on the store page:
* WINDOWS VISTA OR WINDOWS 7 USERS: Launching “Mass Effect” from Steam requires the setting “Run as Administrator”. If the User Account Control feature of Windows Vista is enabled, launching “Mass Effect” from Steam will result in failure. For users with User Account Control enabled, launch Steam using the “Run as Administrator” option or launch from the windows shortcut.
Click to expand...
I played it on Steam without problem, you should be fine.
 
TheSeks said:
I loved Operation Overlord. Minus the shitty "Mako" sections, and the leadup to the end the end was worth it. Gave me a System Shock 2 vibe in addition to questioning Cerebus' experiments and "furthering humans and the war against humans in space."

I hope the choice I made (taking David from his brother and then pistol whipping him and saying "you come near him and this bullet is for you. The Illusive Man can fire me for all I care (which is hilarious in retrospect because I destroyed the Collector base before this so the Illusive Man is already pissed with me), but I'm taking him away from you and Cerebus.") comes into ME3.
Click to expand...

I gave David to Cerberus because even in the ascension program, they have moles. But I gave him a good pimpslap for Gaider. I really don't understand the lenght some of those people would drop just to please the Illusive Man.

<T.I.M doesn't accept failures!> Yet Miranda pretends they didn't most of what is going on, so much BS since in the books he's knee deep in all of it.
 
Shepard: "What type of hotel is this!?"
Liara: "(blah blah blah)... Azure is also slang for part of the Asari body."
Shepard: "Where?"
Liara: "Down low, near the bottom."
Shepard: "I meant on the Asari body..."
Liara: "So did I..."

(Hostage situation)
>Throw thermal clips
>Wound hostage.

(Me: Fuck that, I'll wound the hostage so long as she dies.)

Shepard: "Taking a hostage. Smart move, given a Spectre is meant to get the job done. But you forget (since I got it reinstated) I'm a Spectre as well! *shoots hostage in room/hitting Tela through her*"
Hostage that is a mother: "AH! MY ARM!"
Shepard: "You'll live. *BLAM BLAM BLAM at Tela*"

(Me: BADASS! *Moe.jpg*)

This dude is writing for ME3? Maybe the leaked script plot won't be so bad after all!
 
BabeSlayer said:
wait are you saying Asari appear different to everyone???
Click to expand...
They still look primarily human, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to wear human armor.

Their visual appearance only changes slightly to emphasize things they have in common with other races. Also, it only really starts working on Shepard if he’s drunk. Go to Illium, get drunk, and talk to that Asari bartender, if you wanna see for yourself. Her facial features will change (she’ll have pink lips instead of blue ones, etc.).
 
Fimbulvetr said:
They still look primarily human, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to wear human armor.

Their visual appearance only changes slightly to emphasize things they have in common with other races. Also, it only really starts working on Shepard if he’s drunk. Go to Illium, get drunk, and talk to that Asari bartender, if you wanna see for yourself. Her facial features will change (she’ll have pink lips instead of blue ones, etc.).
Click to expand...

This is honestly blowing my mind here. If nothing else this is the last push I needed to replay the games before March :p
 
Ya'll are crazy, Asari aren't psychic-ing everyone into thinking they look similar to them. There are pictures and videos. Psychic bullshit does not work through pictures and videos. End of story.

I find it utter fucking ridiculous that the characters gossiping WITHIN the goddamn fiction managed to somehow convince people in the real world of all this. Ya'll are crazy.
 
Fimbulvetr said:
They still look primarily human, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to wear human armor.

Their visual appearance only changes slightly to emphasize things they have in common with other races. Also, it only really starts working on Shepard if he’s drunk. Go to Illium, get drunk, and talk to that Asari bartender, if you wanna see for yourself. Her facial features will change (she’ll have pink lips instead of blue ones, etc.).
Click to expand...
wait, WHAT
 
Ciastek3214 said:
Wait so if Asari are different to everyone, how do they wear armor they wear?
Click to expand...

They're NOT different to everyone. What is THE MATTER with you people?!

There are rumors within the universe (because from a writer's perspective it's a funny idea and explains the OMG sexy aliens thing) that the Asari are great psychic manipulators and no one know what they REALLY look like. This bullshit gossip is being spoken by drunks in a bar. It is NOT RELIABLE. Plus there's technology within this universe that allows for the precise replication of appearance and is unaffected by psychic bullshit. It's called a camera.

Seriously, you crazy internet people take a funny one-off comment meant to break the fourth wall and poke fun at the sexy-alien thing and do what with it? TAKE IT SERIOUSLY.

Ya'll are crazy. UGH.
 
"Will it work?"
"I dunno, I've never cracked into the Shadow Brokers base before. At least, not this one."
"But will it work!?"
"I dunno. I've never used it before. It's illegal even on Illim. Didn't come with a warrenty."
"But you did test it right? Please tell me you did!"
"No time for talking!"

:lol I'm loving the writing in this little episode.

"You know their attacks would be more effective if they all came at once."
"Don't get the merc any ideas, Liara."
"Next wave incoming! Looks like a big one!"
"You just had to give them advice, didn't you?"
"But on the bright side there will be less inside!"
"Keep dreaming, T'soni!"
...
"How many of them are there!?"
"I told you!"
 
ThusZarathustra said:
They're NOT different to everyone. What is THE MATTER with you people?!

There are rumors within the universe (because from a writer's perspective it's a funny idea and explains the OMG sexy aliens thing) that the Asari are great psychic manipulators and no one know what they REALLY look like. This bullshit gossip is being spoken by drunks in a bar. It is NOT RELIABLE. Plus there's technology within this universe that allows for the precise replication of appearance and is unaffected by psychic bullshit. It's called a camera.

Seriously, you crazy internet people take a funny one-off comment meant to break the fourth wall and poke fun at the sexy-alien thing and do what with it? TAKE IT SERIOUSLY.

Ya'll are crazy. UGH.
Click to expand...

Then explain why the bartender's appearance changes when you take that drink.
 
Patryn said:
Then explain why the bartender's appearance changes when you take that drink.
Click to expand...

It's science-fiction. What stop people from making a drink that changes people apparence to what you want? It's probably what those drunk dudes used.
 
Patryn said:
Then explain why the bartender's appearance changes when you take that drink.
Click to expand...

Because visual hallucinations while "drunk" are a staple of video games. And because it's an old joke that people look more attractive when you drink.

But no, forget reason and logic. Let's go with the explanation not informed by anything except an obviously parodic in-universe bar conversation.
 
Patryn said:
Then explain why the bartender's appearance changes when you take that drink.
Click to expand...

nUV1r.jpg


Edit: beaten :(
But I have an image!
 
Shadow Broker was awesome. Better than most everything in ME2 in terms of banter and writing.

I had Liara come up to the ship, give me my old dogtags. Please tell me I didn't start a relationship for just hugging her and making sure she was okay. >_>

In any case, that's the bar that Bioware has to meet for ME3 for me.

Now to do Arrival in a little bit.
 
Shadow Broker had some great looking locations. They definitely stepped it up from the base game (which still looked impressive in certain areas). The area
outside of the Shadowbroker's ship
is one of the most awesome looking spots in either game.

Overlord had some great environments, too, love this shot:

8c4be67bcbd8af8cf9469a67f97cc3a81f635490.jpg
 
How long are all the DLC episodes? I adored ME2, but still haven't played any of them (except for the free Cerberus Network stuff). Gotta make sure I finish them before 3, although right now my main focus is finishing Dark Souls.
 
SteeloDMZ said:
How long are all the DLC episodes? I adored ME2, but still haven't played any of them (except for the free Cerberus Network stuff). Gotta make sure I finish them before 3, although right now my main focus is finishing Dark Souls.
Click to expand...

Depends on difficulty setting. 1-5 hours each. They're all mostly short, but Shadow Broker so far is the longest one.
 
SteeloDMZ said:
How long are all the DLC episodes? I adored ME2, but still haven't played any of them (except for the free Cerberus Network stuff). Gotta make sure I finish them before 3, although right now my main focus is finishing Dark Souls.
Click to expand...

It depends. Shadow Broker is about 1.5 - 2 hours long (if you count reading and watching stuff on Shadow Broker's computers - totally worth it :D); Kasumi's and Zaeed's mission are about 0.5-1 hours long each. So is The Arrival.

Can't comment on Overlord since I haven't played it yet.

TheSeks said:
Now to do Arrival in a little bit.
Click to expand...
For Arrival lower your expectations, especially since you're gonna play it right after LotSB. It's of much lesser quality and the story is so forced it's not even funny :(
 
Mr_Zombie said:
It depends. Shadow Broker is about 1.5 - 2 hours long (if you count reading and watching stuff on Shadow Broker's computers - totally worth it :D); Kasumi's and Zaeed's mission are about 0.5-1 hours long each. So is The Arrival.

Can't comment on Overlord since I haven't played it yet.
Click to expand...

I reckon Overlord is about as long as Lair of the Shadow Broker, maybe a little shorter.
 
Balphon said:
As for importing a ME2 character back into ME2, morality will be reset, but you'll get some experience/money/resource bonuses and keep your experience level.
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Keeping your experience level is about the only good thing about importing an ME2 profile into a fresh new game. You get better bonuses from importing a high level ME1 file. The loss of paragon/renegade points is a huge bummer in my opinion.

If you completed ME2 with an ME1 import that gave bonuses, those bonuses will be lost upon create a "new game +" save file in ME2.
 
Arrival is disappointing yeah. Basically "lol Harbinger ASSUMES DIRECT CONTROL of the person you were meant to save."

Also what happens if I don't Renegade interrupt her when she shows her bomb trigger?

I got like 612 exp left from hitting level 30. Gotta do some more sidequests. Ugh.
 
Reluctant-Hero said:
Keeping your experience level is about the only good thing about importing an ME2 profile into a fresh new game. You get better bonuses from importing a high level ME1 file. The loss of paragon/renegade points is a huge bummer in my opinion.

If you completed ME2 with an ME1 import that gave bonuses, those bonuses will be lost upon create a "new game +" save file in ME2.
Click to expand...

Keeping your level actually works against you in this case, as you lose all your researched stuff. So the enemies will scale up to your level, and will generally be balanced in such a fashion as it expects you to have researched some bonuses, but you won't have those bonuses. The end result can be a frustratingly difficult experience.
 
Patryn said:
Keeping your level actually works against you in this case, as you lose all your researched stuff. So the enemies will scale up to your level, and will generally be balanced in such a fashion as it expects you to have researched some bonuses, but you won't have those bonuses. The end result can be a frustratingly difficult experience.
Click to expand...

So basically, the best way to start off any new ME2 game is to import a high level ME1 save file.

It's a bummer that our PS3 brothers & sisters are denied this option.
 
I've never done a NG+ from a previous ME2 file. I always import a ME1 file, so I guess I am not really missing out much.
 
Apologies if this has already been posted, but I just wanted to mention how the timing of the Shadow Broker DLC for ME2 totally ruined my relationship with Liara. Meeting her again in the vanilla game, she was just so cold. So distant. My Shepard couldn't help but branch out, and decided to turn his attention to Tali.

And then. Well. Returning to the save to play through the Shadow Broker mission, and getting told off by her for being unfaithful, jeez.

I'll have to play through 2 again with the original game's save file to fix that - maybe go for the Insanity achievement.

...not keen on 3.
 
Reluctant-Hero said:
So basically, the best way to start off any new ME2 game is to import a high level ME1 save file.

It's a bummer that our PS3 brothers & sisters are denied this option.
Click to expand...

It's not a big deal. I just did level 1-30 Insanity. Finished the story at level 24. Only annoyance is the high damage rate and low shields for a bit. Get some upgrades for your chosen class and you can breeze through. Save some points for Warp Ammo of Jack's loyalty and get it as a bonus skill. Boom, done.

Got N7 Elite/Platinum/1000gs. So I'm done with ME2. Waiting on ME3. Hopefully it's on the level of LotSB's writing as ME2's writing was mostly eh...
 
I know Mass Effect 2 gets pegged for having a Generic Orchestra™ soundtrack, but there's a few tracks from it and the DLC I really liked.

For the main game I love the opening track for The Illusive Man, and especially Tali's theme that plays on her recruit mission.

And from the DLC I liked Overlord - Combat Troops and Shadow Broker - Final Combat. Both were really great backing tracks to the fight. The bridge around 1:30 is great.
 
willooi said:
Apologies if this has already been posted, but I just wanted to mention how the timing of the Shadow Broker DLC for ME2 totally ruined my relationship with Liara. Meeting her again in the vanilla game, she was just so cold. So distant. My Shepard couldn't help but branch out, and decided to turn his attention to Tali.

And then. Well. Returning to the save to play through the Shadow Broker mission, and getting told off by her for being unfaithful, jeez.

I'll have to play through 2 again with the original game's save file to fix that - maybe go for the Insanity achievement.

...not keen on 3.
Click to expand...

Agreed. On my first ME2 playthrough with my ME1 "perfect save" import, I cheated on Liara with Miranda. Then the DLC came out and Liara ripped me a new one.

As soon as finish my "B" run this week, I'll be replaying my "perfect save" import and doing the romance with Liara right.

It'll be interesting see how ME3 handles faithful romance imports and unfaithful imports. My wife ditched Kaiden for Jacob in her ME2 playthrough and she's just as curious to see what'll happen as I am.
 
EatChildren said:
I know Mass Effect 2 gets pegged for having a Generic Orchestra™ soundtrack, but there's a few tracks from it and the DLC I really liked.

For the main game I love the opening track for The Illusive Man, and especially Tali's theme that plays on her recruit mission.

And from the DLC I liked Overlord - Combat Troops and Shadow Broker - Final Combat. Both were really great backing tracks to the fight. The bridge around 1:30 is great.
Click to expand...

The overlord tracks were great. The stars of the original game were the aforementioned Tali and I always really liked Grunt.
 
TheSeks said:
Also what happens if I don't Renegade interrupt her when she shows her bomb trigger
Click to expand...

I don't remember, but the outcome doesn't change much (if at all). That's also why the DLC sucks - while it seems you have some "choices" to do, actually you have none. No matter what you do, nothing in the story will change.
 
MrTroubleMaker said:
Strange, I've never had that many options, only the config gave me all the settings on my dual monitor setup.
Click to expand...

Unless your dual monitor setup is causing it to fuck up, they're there. It's really easy to miss. Even my last play through I sat there for a good minute spinning my mouse wheel to no avail. It only responds to you clicking the arrows that are super easy to not notice.
 
Just finished my final playthrough of ME2 before the third one gets released. I always pick these games apart for their flaws, but then I just end up preordering the next one anyway.
 
SmartBase said:
Just finished my final playthrough of ME2 before the third one gets released. I always pick these games apart for their flaws, but then I just end up preordering the next one anyway.
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The pros of this series FAR outweigh any flaws you can find. I am just about done with ME1 again and ready to dive right into ME2. I am going for a 100% completion and perfect save (Well perfect for me anyway) to import into ME3.
 
x-Lundz-x said:
The pros of this series FAR outweigh any flaws you can find. I am just about done with ME1 again and ready to dive right into ME2. I am going for a 100% completion and perfect save (Well perfect for me anyway) to import into ME3.
Click to expand...

Don't get me wrong I do enjoy the games, I'm just a picky bastard.

I really want to see how Bioware handles the ending(s) and there are still some characters from ME2 that haven't been shown yet in ME3 which I'd like to see.
 
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