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GAF Plays: Mass Effect series (unmarked spoilers)

shinobi602 said:
Not sure about a non-global cooldown. All I know are your power recharge times are greatly decreased the less weapons you carry, so if you only carry a pistol you can essentially chain powers together (spam them).
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Good to know. I play Sentinel and BW balanced Tech Armor in ME3 so that it greatly increases power cool down time when it's activated. Then in demo you've got like 4 weapons available. If I can strip my Sentinel Shep down to two weapons in the full games, that should enable my cool downs to decreases a little faster when tech armor is in use.

Now... do I roll with Assault Rifle & SMG or Assault Rifle & Heavy Weapon? Only seven & 1/2 days left.

Regarding ME2, I've everything including scanning every plant and N7 missions. Only thing left is to run through the Fire Walker DLC and I'll be ready for ME3.
 
Funny glitch on Noveria: There's this one SAFE guard who gets killed by Benezias henchmen while you're mixing the biotoxin cure in the lab.
Some time later when the other guards where already attacking me, I went back to that room and the dead guard attacked me too. He was still lying on the floor, but the weapon in his hand moved slightly and shot at me. The HUD also showed his health bar, but as he was already dead, I couldn't do any damage.
 
Replaying ME2 with all the DLC already in changes the story quite radically with 'The Arrival' taking place directly after Horizon narratively (forced cutscene plus implied immediate importance of said mission).I like this structure alot better. Adds another sense of urgency to finish the suicide mission before the invadion.

Also nice to see they made the Collector General show up at the end instead of Harbinger's true visage.
 
I always thought the Arrival DLC was post-game stuff, but in my new play though you can do it after Horizon. Where does the DLC best fit? After the suicide mission? Or somewhere between Horizon and before the suicide mission?
 
MNC said:
I'm completely bummed by the fact that so far, the only non DLC new squadmate is James Vega :( In ME2, they brought back the best of the team as squadmates (Garrus & Tali) and ME3 looks to revisit even more of the originals. ME2 had loads of interesting squadmates (IMO, Mordin, Legion, Thane) and seeing they're not squadmates is a big letdown.
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I think I am OK with this. ME2 had a ton of new characters. I want to see what each one is up to and how they are helping. Learning about new characters along with finishing up the story might make it to cluttered and too vast. Guess we'll see.
 
I've been playing with the texture mods Lime suggested and even though they impact performance significantly in some areas, the improvements are to good to pass up. The improvements to Shepard's armor alone makes it worth it. So far the Normandy bridge is the spot impacted most by the mod. Sub 30 fps is a little hard to swallow when you have the most powerful single gpu card on market.
 
Felix Lighter said:
I've been playing with the texture mods Lime suggested and even though they impact performance significantly in some areas, the improvements are to good to pass up. The improvements to Shepard's armor alone makes it worth it. So far the Normandy bridge is the spot impacted most by the mod. Sub 30 fps is a little hard to swallow when you have the most powerful single gpu card on market.
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Resolution/AA? I wasn't getting sub-30 with the texture pack on a GTX 570 (though the Normandy bridge was, by far, the place with the biggest framerate hit).
 
I'm 1920x1080 with 4xMSAA, and get ~40fps on Normandy bridge, give or take a few frames depending on what I'm looking at. Weird.
 
MNC said:
I'm completely bummed by the fact that so far, the only non DLC new squadmate is James Vega :( In ME2, they brought back the best of the team as squadmates (Garrus & Tali) and ME3 looks to revisit even more of the originals. ME2 had loads of interesting squadmates (IMO, Mordin, Legion, Thane) and seeing they're not squadmates is a big letdown.
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Most (all?) ME2 squad mates won't be in your squad in ME3. That was expected because of the whole suicide mission bullshit. I'm thinking that the ones that survived will help you to get support in fighting the Reapers from different races / groups but that's about it.
 
Just beat Mass Effect for the first time ever. Jamming out to the music in the credits as we speak. Definitely enjoyed the first game in the series. Will start up Mass Effect 2 tomorrow. Probably won't be done in time for the release next week but we will see. I played the first one with all of my free time and can easily see myself doing the same with the 2nd.
 
Argh. I'll deal with the performance hit for now. The textures are just soooooo much better then vanilla. Outside of the Normandy, I get 30-60 fps. Hopefully that holds up.

They better not have been blow smoke up our asses when they said Mass Effect 3 will contain high res textures on release.
 
Just curios, are the Cerebrus Network keys in new 360 copies of ME2 expired just like PS3 copies? I just lent my co-worker my copy of ME1 and I was going to tell him to just buy a new copy of ME2. But I want to sake sure those codes are still good before I do so.
 
Reluctant-Hero said:
Just curios, are the Cerebrus Network keys in new 360 copies of ME2 expired just like PS3 copies? I just lent my co-worker my copy of ME1 and I was going to tell him to just buy a new copy of ME2. But I want to sake sure those codes are still good before I do so.
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I just got ME2 version of PS3 like 1-2 weeks ago and the code worked.
 
Dresden said:
Yeah, that's how I felt. Kasumi in particular felt like a waste of money.
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Eh. Her loyalty mission is better than most and she's actually pretty useful in battle due to her Shadow Strike and her grenade.

On the other hand, Firewalker is a colossal waste of time even if it is for free.
 
Tunic said:
Just beat Mass Effect for the first time ever. Jamming out to the music in the credits as we speak. Definitely enjoyed the first game in the series. Will start up Mass Effect 2 tomorrow. Probably won't be done in time for the release next week but we will see. I played the first one with all of my free time and can easily see myself doing the same with the 2nd.
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Have you played 2 yet? Some like 1 better, but I feel that 2 is better in every way (well, not major story). If you do everything in it, it takes longer than ME1 usually, but its more fun and addictive I think. Good luck!
 
dr_rus said:
Most (all?) ME2 squad mates won't be in your squad in ME3. That was expected because of the whole suicide mission bullshit. I'm thinking that the ones that survived will help you to get support in fighting the Reapers from different races / groups but that's about it.
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As true as this is, it's such bullshit that they designed the series this way.
 
zmoney said:
As true as this is, it's such bullshit that they designed the series this way.
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Personally, I don't mind the absence of the ME2 squad mates. For me, ME2 was about throwing together a rag tag team of outcasts to go do a job that no one believed was worth doing in the first place. And your job was much easier to accomplish by helping each of them resolve their personal issues before they'd be able to focus on the task at hand. It makes sense that between 2 & 3 they'd scatter across the galaxy, with the exception of Garrus and possibly Tali.
 
Reluctant-Hero said:
Personally, I don't mind the absence of the ME2 squad mates. For me, ME2 was about throwing together a rag tag team of outcasts to go do a job that no one believed was worth doing in the first place. And your job was much easier to accomplish by helping each of them resolve their personal issues before they'd be able to focus on the task at hand. It makes sense that between 2 & 3 they'd scatter across the galaxy, with the exception of Garrus and possibly Tali.
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I was complete bros with pretty much every ME2 squad member, tho. I'mma miss those dudes.

















R.I.P. Thane.
 
Attackthebase said:
It wouldn't be as bad if 90% of Mass Effect 2 wasn't about those characters and their development.
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I feel safe in assuming ME2 will remain my favorite of the series. The character work in that game got me hook, line and sinker. I've always preferred that route in my fiction to the bombastic, high stake disaster movie story I'm expecting from ME3.
 
Just defeated Mass Effect 2 for the first time.

I really liked the direction, and from what little information has been divulged about the sequel I'm happy to see that Bioware is working to make it a more seamless action game. People often forget that Bioware made one of the best TPS ever (!), MDK2. It's sense of humor, diversity, and unforgettable boss battles made it a hoot.

The simple additions of evade and jump should make strides toward conveying the world in a way that can satisfy those looking for story and atmosphere, as well as those concerned about minute to minute gunplay.

Now, some spoiler questions regarding ME2:

I went into the suicide mission with everyone loyal except Jack, who rescinded her loyalty when I was forced to choose between her or Miranda (a flaw in Bioware's generally entertaining dialogue system). I was expecting Jack to die, but instead, only Morlin, who I placed in the vents, ended up dying.

Honestly, Morlin is one of my favorite characters from ME2. Is there any way to have the person in the vents survive? My Paragon rating is past the third rung, but I don't have any options in dialogue to remedy my friendship/loyalty with Jack, and I sense that it's this one outlier that's keeping me from returning relatively unscathed.
My God, watching the non-playable crew die was horrible.

This leads to my main, albeit considerable, criticism of the game. Bioware should have grasped that moralism isn't black and white. Obsidian was able to convey grey with great gusto in KOTOR2, and here we are, a generation later, and Bioware is still mishmashing incongruous elements like Renegade with Bad-Ass and Evil. I shouldn't feel punished for playing the game how I want, yet my kind-hearted Shepard takes no nonsense on the field and won't hesitate to take the first shot when things go sour. Why am I made to feel punished for blowing up an explosive tank as a krogan boasts of his experimentation progress on humans?

Otherwise, I was relatively impressed with the writing in ME2. Married to the vastly improved visuals over ME1, and ME2 nails the atmosphere. I honestly felt like I was playing my own space opera. That's awesome.

I hope they expand through virtual space the areas you explore in ME3 while still maintaining strong writing that draws you into the story and intrigue.
 
I assume you mean Mordin, the Salarian.

Mordin is a scientist, not a technician. For the vents you're much better off having Tali or Legion, as they're the techies. They'll survive.

Mordin is best escorting the surviving crew back to the Normandy. If he's loyal, he should survive. Since Jack isn't loyal, you'll want to avoid giving her any major roles; don't have her hold the biotic bubble, lead any fire time, and don't take her with you through to the end game (I think non-loyal crew tend to die during that).
 
pakkit said:
This leads to my main, albeit considerable, criticism of the game. Bioware should have grasped that moralism isn't black and white. Obsidian was able to convey grey with great gusto in KOTOR2, and here we are, a generation later, and Bioware is still mishmashing incongruous elements like Renegade with Bad-Ass and Evil. I shouldn't feel punished for playing the game how I want, yet my kind-hearted Shepard takes no nonsense on the field and won't hesitate to take the first shot when things go sour. Why am I made to feel punished for blowing up an explosive tank as a krogan boasts of his experimentation progress on humans?
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The only real advancement Bioware has made in morality is divorcing Paragon and Renegade (or good and evil) from one another so you don't get punished for doing something over the other.

Unfortunately you do get punished for not sticking to maxing out one or the other and the game never rewards grey/mixed morality or real roleplay (much less write any good morality to begin with).
 
I had Samara and Tali with me on the SM and let Zaeed do the escort.
Worked out very fine.

I really liked Zaeed, too bad he was a bit underdeveloped.
 
Had Legion in the vents, Grunt for the second battle group, thane for escort and samara at the biotic part. ^^ Played the hardest mode and survived with all. :)
 
Minion101 said:
Just finished Lair of the shadow broker. It's on another level compared to the other DLCs, like their A team did it.
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Not sure which team made it, I think it was the core Edmonton team, but I know they got a new writer on board to lead that project. It was his first, and he's responsible for Ashley/Kaiden's dialogue and story in ME3.
 
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