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GAF Plays: Mass Effect series (unmarked spoilers)

That is something I agree with. Most of the N7 missions are beyond forgettable in ME2. Pretty much the only one I don't forget is the crazed VI/virus/whatever that is a string of three N7s that connect.

All the rest... meh. At least a bunch of the ME1 side missions had some personality to them.


Uhh what. ME1 side quests all take place in one of two repeated rooms over and over. It is just a copy paste job. Every single new area in ME2 is at least hand crafted, totally different environments and situations. Like landing on a broken down ship and walking around as it falls apart. Having a ton of mechs awake and having to fight your way back to your ship. Landing on a creepy bug invested planet. Having a VI take over a ship.

It is not even close, ME2s random side missions actually had effort.
 
Uhh what. ME1 side quests all take place in one of two repeated rooms over and over. It is just a copy paste job. Every single new area in ME2 is at least hand crafted, totally different environments and situations. Like landing on a broken down ship and walking around as it falls apart. Having a ton of mechs awake and having to fight your way back to your ship. Landing on a creepy bug invested planet. Having a VI take over a ship.

It is not even close, ME2s random side missions actually had effort.

While the environments and combat of a lot of the ME1 side missions were duplicated, they also had some interesting story lines and decisions to be made. I'm guessing that is the character Patryn was referring to.
 
Uhh what. ME1 side quests all take place in one of two repeated rooms over and over. It is just a copy paste job. Every single new area in ME2 is at least hand crafted, totally different environments and situations. Like landing on a broken down ship and walking around as it falls apart. Having a ton of mechs awake and having to fight your way back to your ship. Landing on a creepy bug invested planet. Having a VI take over a ship.

It is not even close, ME2s random side missions actually had effort.

Except that there's no story in them. That's what I'm talking about. The environments may be the same, but memorable stuff happens storywise in the ME1 sidequests.

This is why I'm going to save Jack's Loyality mission for last on this playthrough. By that time I should have a maxed out Paragon meter.

This can actually be counter-productive. In reality, that meter means jack shit.

The way that all the paragon and renegade options work is thus: Total Number of points accumulated/Total Number of Points Possible at that point. If you hit a high enough ratio, it lights up, otherwise it doesn't.

So if you actually do both their missions super early, your ratio could be better than later on in the game.
 
Except that there's no story in them. That's what I'm talking about. The environments may be the same, but memorable stuff happens storywise in the ME1 sidequests.



This can actually be counter-productive. In reality, that meter means jack shit.

The way that all the paragon and renegade options work is thus: Total Number of points accumulated/Total Number of Points Possible at that point. If you hit a high enough ratio, it lights up, otherwise it doesn't.

So if you actually do both their missions super early, your ratio could be better than later on in the game.

Oh you.
 
So I lent my brother ME1 and he is playing through it now. He's going to want to continue with ME2, but I was wondering is it possible to share the DLC since I have all the packs bought can he just sign in under my name and re-download them?

I was looking around online and it seems like there is some sort of license transfer thing? your DLC purchases are tied to your system and not your XBL account? he said he would buy them for himself if we can't share them, I can assume they might do some sales on the DLC packs leading up to ME3, maybe not, times kinda running out unless that's going to be next weeks weekly deal.
 
I'm about to start ME2 again and I'm considering downloading a weapons pack, but I don't know which one. Will these weapons be available regardless of what class I choose, or if I happen to pick, like, infiltrator, I won't be able to use the Geth Shotgun?

Also, is all the cerberus network stuff worth it? I used mine on my other, now dead, gamertag, so I'd have to pay for it again. I really liked the Normandy crash site mission, and I see these 5 other hammerhead missions. Is it worth the 1200 ms points?
 
I'm about to start ME2 again and I'm considering downloading a weapons pack, but I don't know which one. Will these weapons be available regardless of what class I choose, or if I happen to pick, like, infiltrator, I won't be able to use the Geth Shotgun?

That's correct. Even if you buy a weapon pack (the Firepower pack being the best), you will still only be able to use weapons your character can use.

Keep in mind, though, that you gain the ability to use a weapon type that your class normally cannot use partway through the game. It's how my Engineer uses the Mattock.

As for Cerberus Network, I love Zaeed. But I may be the only person who does.
 
That's correct. Even if you buy a weapon pack (the Firepower pack being the best), you will still only be able to use weapons your character can use.

Keep in mind, though, that you gain the ability to use a weapon type that your class normally cannot use partway through the game. It's how my Engineer uses the Mattock.

As for Cerberus Network, I love Zaeed. But I may be the only person who does.

Uh...how does that work again? I can just randomly pick a weapon that I would normally not be able to use? So if I played Vangard, I'll be able to pick the sniper?
 
Haven't touched ME2 since my one playthrough as a paragon sentinel. Bought Lair of the Shadow Broker to get me back into it for ME3, and thought it was great. Any other DLC I need to bother with?

More importantly, I was finally able to gain back Miranda's loyalty by respec'ing that specialization option. God damn, was she stubborn.
 
I'm about to start ME2 again and I'm considering downloading a weapons pack, but I don't know which one. Will these weapons be available regardless of what class I choose, or if I happen to pick, like, infiltrator, I won't be able to use the Geth Shotgun?

Also, is all the cerberus network stuff worth it? I used mine on my other, now dead, gamertag, so I'd have to pay for it again. I really liked the Normandy crash site mission, and I see these 5 other hammerhead missions. Is it worth the 1200 ms points?

There's only one proper weapons pack, the Firepower Pack, and yeah, if your class is limited to a particular style of weapon you wont be able to use anything outside of that. From memory Infiltrators are limited to heavy pistols, smgs and sniper rifles, so you'd be able to use the Phalanx and that's it (squadmates can use the other guns too).

As for the Cerberus Network stuff, if you've already experienced Zaeed and the Normandy Crash Site then no, it's not worth rebuying. The Firewalker missions are pretty dull at best. You'd be better off spending those points on Shadow Broker and Overlord.
 
That's correct. Even if you buy a weapon pack (the Firepower pack being the best), you will still only be able to use weapons your character can use.

Keep in mind, though, that you gain the ability to use a weapon type that your class normally cannot use partway through the game. It's how my Engineer uses the Mattock.

As for Cerberus Network, I love Zaeed. But I may be the only person who does.

You are not alone. Zaeed is awesome. Him and Mordin were a necessity for the end of the game when I was playing as an adept on insanity.
 
There's only one proper weapons pack, the Firepower Pack, and yeah, if your class is limited to a particular style of weapon you wont be able to use anything outside of that. From memory Infiltrators are limited to heavy pistols, smgs and sniper rifles, so you'd be able to use the Phalanx and that's it (squadmates can use the other guns too).

Well, I think I'm gonna play adept this time, but whats that about being able to use a weapon outside your class that the other guy was talking about?
 
So, no one knows the best upgrades for me to put on my weapons? I can't choose from this giant list of 150 items!

My choices were pretty much based on whatever situation I was in. I stuck to basically the boosts to Synthetic damage, or Organic damage. As for the weapon mods, I tried to use heat sinks and whatever reduced overheating, less downtime = more damage overall.
 
My choices were pretty much based on whatever situation I was in. I stuck to basically the boosts to Synthetic damage, or Organic damage. As for the weapon mods, I tried to use heat sinks and whatever reduced overheating, less downtime = more damage overall.



That sounds like what I have pretty much. Thanks!

I just want to remove most of the things I won't use instead of having to turn every new item I pick up into omnigel
 
So, no one knows the best upgrades for me to put on my weapons? I can't choose from this giant list of 150 items!

You mean mods for Mass Effect 1? It depends on the weapon really. For Snipers and Pistols you want the mod that ups accuracy. For snipers and shotguns you want the heat sinks that reduce cooldowns. For the assault rifles you want the mods that improve damage. There are also others that improve stability, so you want those if you think you are missing too many shots with either weapon. For companions you want at least one to have the combat sensors (the one that updates your radar with enemy position). They go by roman numerals, so VII is always better than V, and so on.
Also the ammo depends on your enemy, tungsten for the geth, polonium for organics, incendiary for Krogan and it is always good to have someone with cryo ammo. There are also explosive rounds, but you need to make sure your weapon has the best cooldown mods, because if not they are a one shot thing.

They are not the most intuitive thing to be changing around, but keeping at least one of each helps for either situation.
 
Personally, i always use the poison ammo in ME1. I can't be bothered switching from the synthetic and organic ones all the time depending on who im fighting against.
 
Well, I think I'm gonna play adept this time, but whats that about being able to use a weapon outside your class that the other guy was talking about?
You can gain a second weapon proficiency during the collectors ship mission about halfway through the game, right after the prothean revelation. I dont know what options the adepts get.
 
That sounds like what I have pretty much. Thanks!

I just want to remove most of the things I won't use instead of having to turn every new item I pick up into omnigel

The above posts do list more valid points such as accuracy mods for the longer range weapons, but yeah, the item limit started to drive me crazy. When I just did my replay on PC I just modded the item limit and it was a non issue.
 
You can gain a second weapon proficiency during the collectors ship mission about halfway through the game, right after the prothean revelation. I dont know what options the adepts get.

Adepts start with Pistols and SMGs, so you get the rest as options (assault riffle, sniper and shotgun). I recommend Shotgun for charging enemies.
 
That's correct. Even if you buy a weapon pack (the Firepower pack being the best), you will still only be able to use weapons your character can use.

Keep in mind, though, that you gain the ability to use a weapon type that your class normally cannot use partway through the game. It's how my Engineer uses the Mattock.

As for Cerberus Network, I love Zaeed. But I may be the only person who does.

I've been taken Zaeed along with all my mission is my current playtrough, dude is awesome, has some great lines.
 
You can gain a second weapon proficiency during the collectors ship mission about halfway through the game, right after the prothean revelation. I dont know what options the adepts get.

I just looked it up. You can choose to learn a common weapon that your class would normally be unable to use, or you get a special weapon for your class, like the widow sniper for Infiltrators. With the weapons pack, I can just get the shotgun and get the geth shotgun which is suppose to be incredibly powerful, on top of already having the powerful pistol.

Thanks for all the help. Shame about the Hammerhead missions being dull, because I too liked Zaeed and the Normandy crash mission, but they're not worth the price of admission. If only I could somehow get my old code back....ah well.
 
Adepts start with Pistols and SMGs, so you get the rest as options (assault riffle, sniper and shotgun). I recommend Shotgun for charging enemies.

I took the sniper for my adept, the smg you get from the Kasumi loyalty mission is very strong and accurate which is good enough for short and medium range, anyway i tend to keep my distance from enemies, so a shotgun is just pointless. Sniper is good for attacking from a safe distance.
 
I took the sniper for my adept, the smg you get from the Kasumi loyalty mission is very strong and accurate which is good enough for short and medium range, anyway i tend to keep my distance from enemies, so a shotgun is just pointless. Sniper is good for attacking from a safe distance.

The thing is, the Geth Plasma Shotgun has insane range. It is very much a skill shot because it is not as fast, but one shot drops an enemy shields and half their health while a SMG needs a couple of bursts to drop shields. I agree that is it more of a play style thing, but the most annoying enemies to me are the husks, and a shotgun just drops them insanely fast while a sniper is useless for close range. Also, my other character was an infiltrator, so I was very much avoiding a sniper with my adept ;P
 
The thing is, the Geth Plasma Shotgun has insane range. It is very much a skill shot because it is not as fast, but one shot drops an enemy shields and half their health while a SMG needs a couple of bursts to drop shields. I agree that is it more of a play style thing, but the most annoying enemies to me are the husks, and a shotguns just drops them insanely fast while a sniper is useless for close range. Also, my other character was an infiltrator, so I was very much avoiding a sniper ;P

Nah, Shockwave is the best thing against husks, i can kill a group of 5 with just one Shockwave lol.

Also, isnt that Geth Plasma Shotgun part of a DLC? I don't have that.
 
But Husks have armor (in the harder difficulties at least) so unless you are warping them to death, shockwave is just there to finish them off. At that point even a pistol shot kills them.

Yeah, I think the Geth shotgun might be DLC. I bought all that crap, so I forget what is not in the base game.
 
Geth plasma shotgun, Mattock rifle, and Phalanx heavy pistol are the three guns in the firepower pack. All three are stupidly powerful.
 
I'm not playing on insanity, that might be why i just spam Shockwave to kill waves of husks. Especially the IFF mission and that N7 mission with a cave filled with them. It's fun.
 
I'm not playing on insanity, that might be why i just spam Shockwave to kill waves of husks. Especially the IFF mission and that N7 mission with a cave filled with them. It's fun.

Oooh that's why playing a biotic kinda sucks on Hardcore mode. I played ME2 on normal at launch, and I remember having much more fun with shockwave. Figures.
 
Geth plasma shotgun, Mattock rifle, and Phalanx heavy pistol are the three guns in the firepower pack. All three are stupidly powerful.

The phalanx is the one with the laser pointer right? LOL, well no shit I felt overpowered then, that thing is almost a sniper rifle, lol.
 
Nah, Shockwave is the best thing against husks, i can kill a group of 5 with just one Shockwave lol.

Also, isnt that Geth Plasma Shotgun part of a DLC? I don't have that.

Cryo Blast, if you fully upgrade and go for a burst, is actually really useful against Husks as an alternate. Really easy to freeze groups of them, and a lot of times they'll just shatter on their own.
 
Oooh that's why playing a biotic kinda sucks on Hardcore mode. I played ME2 on normal at launch, and I remember having much more fun with shockwave. Figures.

Yup, biotics on the harder difficulties are really only useful for finishing off enemies. Kinda stinks, really. I still want the game to be difficult, but I don't like the fact that my Vanguard might as well be a Soldier. Hopefully this is somewhat rectified in ME3, since I've been a Vanguard since ME1 and don't want to change my Shep.
 
But Husks have armor (in the harder difficulties at least) so unless you are warping them to death, shockwave is just there to finish them off. At that point even a pistol shot kills them.

Yeah, I think the Geth shotgun might be DLC. I bought all that crap, so I forget what is not in the base game.

With my adept on Insanity I just spammed singularity on husks. It stops them if they have armor left and kills them if they don't. Shoot in between casts and it's simple.
 
OMG. Whoever translated ME2 in french, you're not funny!

How does: Jack's "Puberty? Grunt's growing up" turn into " Grunt oui-oui is getting hard?"

HOW?

Fixed

Looks like I won't be playing ME3 any time soon. Played the other 2 on the 360, and the latest Live update bricked my launch 360.

Starting a default Shepard is not an option!
 
Fixed

Looks like I won't be playing ME3 any time soon. Played the other 2 on the 360, and the latest Live update bricked my launch 360.

Starting a default Shepard is not an option!

If you get a new 360 and the hard drive transfer cable, you'd probably be able to grab all your saves files off of it and move them to the new system.

Of course, that's a fairly costly solution.
 
Or get a new 4GB and just transfer over the hard drive. Pretty easy to extricate the HDD from the caddy if you have a torx screwdriver.
 
Uhh what. ME1 side quests all take place in one of two repeated rooms over and over. It is just a copy paste job. Every single new area in ME2 is at least hand crafted, totally different environments and situations. Like landing on a broken down ship and walking around as it falls apart. Having a ton of mechs awake and having to fight your way back to your ship. Landing on a creepy bug invested planet. Having a VI take over a ship.

It is not even close, ME2s random side missions actually had effort.

Yeah, I think the ME2 N7 missions were a lot more fun to play vs. ME1 side missions for the reasons you mentioned (ME1's recycled warehouses really got monotonous). But at the same time, I can't help but feel they'd be a lot better if they included some stronger story elements and actually had some segments where Shepard and crew had some dialog, which was in some of ME1's side missions. Really hope ME3's side missions can combine both of those aspects.
 
Yeah, I think the ME2 N7 missions were a lot more fun to play vs. ME1 side missions for the reasons you mentioned (ME1's recycled warehouses really got monotonous). But at the same time, I can't help but feel they'd be a lot better if they included some stronger story elements and actually had some segments where Shepard and crew had some dialog, which was in some of ME1's side missions. Really hope ME3's side missions can combine both of those aspects.


The way I see it ME2 has way more content than ME1. All the loyalty missions are like the side missions of ME1 and those had excellent story in them, better than most anything in ME1. There wasn't much room for true side quests in ME2 as so much is part of the main storyline. Plus actual exploration yielded new locations, not the same room over and over again.

Anyway Just finished ME2 again. The Mordin sex prep talk about Tali was awesome, lol. Sadly I didnt get to see what was under the mask, booo! Strangely this time I lost Zaeed in the final mission, I am pretty sure I did the same thing as last time. He is kind of worthless so I am sure it doesn't matter. So what happens if you never upgrade your ship, how does the ship chase change. How does your choice of team members change the final mission?
 
That's correct. Even if you buy a weapon pack (the Firepower pack being the best), you will still only be able to use weapons your character can use.

Keep in mind, though, that you gain the ability to use a weapon type that your class normally cannot use partway through the game. It's how my Engineer uses the Mattock.

As for Cerberus Network, I love Zaeed. But I may be the only person who does.

You're not alone. *brofist*
 
You picked it as character creation :) Solider, Sentinel, Infiltrator, Vanguard, Adept, Engineer.

I wouldn't worry too much, playing a Solider is a fine place to start to get use to the gameplay in ME1. You can focus on your powers primarily, and slowly get a grasp on the biotics and tech talents of your party members and see when they use them.

To clarify, at the VERY beginning of the game, it asks you to login. If you pick John Shepard, you start the game without making any other choices, and you become a Soldier that is a Sole Survivor spacer.

If you choose enter other ID, you then get to pick from backgrounds and a class.

A guide to creating a character in ME1.

Thanks for the help, that makes sense. I didn't go through character customization cause I was just excited to play.
 
Invasion.

Anyone know what I have to do to kill pretty much everyone except Shepard and two party members of my choosing during the Suicide Mission? I want to have the most barebones ME3 playthrough possible just to see how Bioware deals with files like this.

Just go with the ones you want saved (loyal of course) with you when you're up to kill the Reaper Baby. Because it's surest way for them to make it out alive.

Mine went like this: No loyalty mission except Samara, Thane, and Zaeed. All of which I betrayed, I purposely let the time pass on Thane's mission so I could still get +Renegade. Got Morinth, and saved the colonist.

Only Morinth was loyal, Zaeed was not, and he was the only left when Shepard hit the platform and he made it. I don't know how, since he was all alone there. I tried with Jacob and he died. It was me, Morinth and Miranda. Miranda died from the pillar.


But yeah, I'm trying this file first, because this Shepard is fucked! I mean who is going to replace Garrus in ME3. Oh dis gonna be good!
 
After I do my perfect, super good ME3 playthrough I am going to do a super bad full series playthrough where I will attempt to kill as many teamates as possible. Cant wait to see how it turns out.
 
After I do my perfect, super good ME3 playthrough I am going to do a super bad full series playthrough where I will attempt to kill as many teamates as possible. Cant wait to see how it turns out.

So that would be:

ME1: Wrex, Kaidan/Ashley.

ME2: Two have to survive. Go ahead and pick.

ME3 has whoever survived Virmire, plus the two survivors from ME2 and Liara as the minimum number of squad members who are available from past games.
 
So that would be:

ME1: Wrex, Kaidan/Ashley.

ME2: Two have to survive. Go ahead and pick.

ME3 has whoever survived Virmire, plus the two survivors from ME2 and Liara as the minimum number of squad members who are available from past games.
ME1: You can turn down Garrus so he never joins you.
ME2: Thane survives, but he'll be dead soon because he's terminally ill.
 
Starting my Renegade Mirror Universe Shepard playthrough, (he has a goatee) My Main shep is a paragon vanguard so iv went with Renegade Infiltrator this time around.

Just left the citadel and made my way to Feros, Damn i forgot how bad the combat is in ME1 :(.

After movement in ME2/ME3 everything feels horrible in ME1. Dont know if i want to get this shepard to a level 60.

Is it possible to save everyone even with renegade in ME2 specifically the miranda/jack situation
 
Starting my Renegade Mirror Universe Shepard playthrough, (he has a goatee) My Main shep is a paragon vanguard so iv went with Renegade Infiltrator this time around.

Just left the citadel and made my way to Feros, Damn i forgot how bad the combat is in ME1 :(.

After movement in ME2/ME3 everything feels horrible in ME1. Dont know if i want to get this shepard to a level 60.

Is it possible to save everyone even with renegade in ME2 specifically the miranda/jack situation

Yes there's just renegade dialogue options.
 
Starting my Renegade Mirror Universe Shepard playthrough, (he has a goatee) My Main shep is a paragon vanguard so iv went with Renegade Infiltrator this time around.

Just left the citadel and made my way to Feros, Damn i forgot how bad the combat is in ME1 :(.

After movement in ME2/ME3 everything feels horrible in ME1. Dont know if i want to get this shepard to a level 60.

Is it possible to save everyone even with renegade in ME2 specifically the miranda/jack situation

Actually, it's easier to renegade the Miranda/Jack argument than it is to paragon it. Conversely, it's easier to paragon Tali/Legion than renegade them.
 
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