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Mass Effect 3 |OT| Space Jesus Returns (tag all spoilers)

Z

Zeliard

Member
Horse Armour said:
I'm really unsure whether or not to start over with a level 1 character. I'm only an hour into the game so I think I might as well as the game might be less interesting if you don't have RPG level ups to look forward too.
Click to expand...

That's the reason I changed my level 30 import to level 1.

Plus you still level up pretty quickly, at least on Insanity difficulty. Dunno if you get more XP on higher difficulties. Another benefit to starting at level 1 is that you can do 30-60 or so in a NG+.

You still end up feeling quite powerful at lower levels since ME3 Shep is much more agile and biotic powers recharge far more quickly. Not only that but the majority of enemies are highly susceptible to biotics. Even in the earlier levels I felt much more capable on the battlefield than my ME2 Vanguard on Insanity.
 
C

CosmicGroinPull

Member
Wow, multiplayer is addictive as hell. At first I didn't like how they forced you to play it to get your readiness percentage up, but now I think it's a brilliant idea. In five hours I got it up from 50% to 83%, insanely easy.
 
D

Dresden

Member
Redid Rannoch so (huge spoilers for mid/late game)
Tali wouldn't fucking kill herself.
:lol

I must say, it was still satisfying.
 
H

Horse Armour

Member
Moaradin said:
I would recommend it. It's really easy to do. Just download a program called gibbed's Save Editor:http://www.masseffectsaves.com/tools.php. Open your ME2 save with it and put the level to 1. That's it.

I love leveling up and getting new skills in RPGs so this is a big improvement in that sense.

Oh and you won't be able to max out every skill. You will probably be able to get most of the skills you want and max them out, but don't expect to max out everything. I like it this way. Makes your choices much more important and I feel this is something that makes RPGs better.
Click to expand...

Zeliard said:
That's the reason I changed my level 30 import to level 1.

Plus you still level up pretty quickly, at least on Insanity difficulty. Dunno if you get more XP on higher difficulties. Another benefit to starting at level 1 is that you can do 30-60 or so in a NG+.

You still end up feeling quite powerful at lower levels since ME3 Shep is much more agile and biotic powers recharge far more quickly. Not only that but the majority of enemies are highly susceptible to biotics. Even in the earlier levels I felt much more capable on the battlefield than my ME2 Vanguard on Insanity.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I'm starting over again. Will my maxed out paragon points from the previous game carry through as I'm on the first mission running on the rooftops with Anderson and my paragon/renegade bar is bottomed out. I can't remember if it was like this or not on my level 30 save import.
 
P

pakkit

Banned
Horse Armour said:
I'm really unsure whether or not to start over with a level 1 character. I'm only an hour into the game so I think I might as well as the game might be less interesting if you don't have RPG level ups to look forward too.
Click to expand...

There a lot more skill trees this time around and I can already tell you the jump from lvl 30 to 40 is substancial.

Personally, I'm playing on Hardcore and the difficulty is great. The AI in ME isn't the greatest, so as long as you know how to prioritize your enemies and outflank them, you'll be good. I really enjoy the challenge here, because, minus the "A button does everything," the combat is really satisfying and hasn't felt cheap yet.

As much as Bioware caught flak for making the sprint animation funny, it's still a great improvement for gameplay and allows you to reposition or get the drop on enemies much easier. Reminds me of Vanquish, in a way.

EDIT: Reading about the consequences is great. Tuchanka spoilers
I only had Mordin die in my campaign, but hearing that Eve dies if you failed to store the data and that Wreav can die as well if you don't play your diplomacy cards right is great.
There is a lot of politicking in this game, I wish it was even deeper.
 
H

hateradio

The Most Dangerous Yes Man
this guy said:
Romance spoilers:

I just had a sequence where Liara came up to my quarters to show me a time capsule device, and we shared some heavy flirting. Right after that, I called up Traynor, and we proceeded to have hot, lesbian shower sex. After that I called up Jessica Chobot, and after interviewing me she dropped some serious hint bombs that she wants to jump my character's bones. And then I called up James where we had some idle chit chat about being a soldier. . Ridiculous...ly awesome.
Click to expand...
Meanwhile on forever alone island . . .

I kinda feel bad for my Shep. Is that weird? :lol

:(

He deserves someone.

firehawk12 said:
Yeah, I was a sucker for his sad-sack romance in ME2 and it pays off very nicely in ME3.
Meet you across the sea.
:( :(
Click to expand...
Fem Sheps get all the love.
 
D

Dresden

Member
You still level up a ton even after import, btw--I typically level up once a mission. I don't intend on doing ng+ anytime soon so I don't regret going in at level 30. Having lots of tools to play around with isn't bad, either..

Dumped Cryoblast on my engineer and picked up Defensive Matrix. If I carry just a pistol and spec it properly, I suffer no deficit to my recharge timer . . . so I get 20% damage reduction/25% tech power boost with no penalties. Good stuff.
 
Z

Zeliard

Member
Don't forget that there are gear parts you can find/buy that reduce your recharge time even further. My Vanguard is carrying both an SMG and a shotgun and has a 180% recharge bonus.
 
L

lastplayed

Member
Papercuts said:
What is with bioware's love for ugly ass visors? Even if they give certain stats buffs, I refuse to use half of the shit Shep can wear on his head.
Click to expand...

They're awesome. I love my RoboShep.

6822575114_304c5fdd4a_z.jpg
 
S

See You Next Wednesday

Banned
I love the new feature where you just have to be near NPCs and listening to their conversations and sometimes you get sidequests from it. This is so much better than having to click on every single npc in the area. It feels much more natural and smooth. I hope more games do this. It also makes you want to explore areas more because there is no map with an exclamation point telling you it's a side quest there, you have to explore and listen to the convos. Great stuff. I'm also liking it better than ME1 and 2. You know what it feels like? A mesh of ME1's story and atmosphere but with ME2's gameplay. That's exactly what i wanted.
Click to expand...

You're a ****ing crazy person! Not only can you NOT skip through those long winded conversations, but to get all the dialog need for some of the quests, you will have to EXIT the zone & reenter it to hear the next phase of that conversation.
For the traumatized Asari commando, you will have to do this about 7 times to finally get an option for her quest!

And explore what? The Citadel consists of just 5 small linear strips of land all connected by a an elevator & load times.
 
Z

Zeliard

Member
See You Next Wednesday said:
You're a ****ing crazy person! Not only can you NOT skip through those long winded conversations, but to get all the dialog need for some of the quests, you will have to EXIT the zone & reenter it to hear the next phase of that conversation.
For the traumatized Asari commando, you will have to do this about 7 times to finally get an option for her quest!
Click to expand...

I don't think you're really meant to go in and out like that, lol. The idea is to come back to the Citadel on a somewhat regular basis and on your various go-arounds you stumble upon these NPCs who tell a new part of their story.
 
D

Dresden

Member
Tali spoiler:

lol, so Bioware finally delivers and it's completely unsurprising. I was hoping for anorexic Turians.

Zeliard said:
The difference is totally negligible when it gets to that point. I don't have anything that takes more than 3 seconds to recharge.
Click to expand...

It's . . . OCD? Something like that. I see it dip even 2% below 200% and it's like, nope.
 
B

Barack Lesnar

Banned
Zeliard said:
I don't think you're really meant to go in and out like that, lol. The idea is to come back to the Citadel on a somewhat regular basis and on your various go-arounds you stumble upon these NPCs who tell a new part of their story.
Click to expand...

Exactly
See You Next Wednesday you are way too harsh on this game. Saying it's terrible and worse than me1/2.
 
F

firehawk12

Subete no aware
hateradio said:
Fem Sheps get all the love.
Click to expand...
Man Shep gets Miranda, Jack, Tali, and Ashley.
lol

-----

Okay, so spending some time on this, it's actually ridiculously easy to get PC saves from Mass Effect 2 to import into the 360 version of Mass Effect 3.

Step 0: You have a USB key that has been formatted on the 360 to act as a memory device. Transfer any piece of content so that your USB key has your profile info on it. (If you transfer a throwaway Mass Effect 2 save, even better, but a save file from any game will do)
Step 1: Find a save you want from www.masseffect2saves.com
Step 2: Go to this site - http://legion.cal24.pl/me2/index.php/site/index - register (password must be at least 8 characters), login, upload the save, then download the xbox version of the save (it should end in .xbsav).
Step 3: Read this post to figure out the tools and file structure you need on your USB key. The first post has a link to Modio and some screen shots if you are lost.
Step 4: If you put a ME2 save onto your USB key, open the file and skip to step 8.
Step 5: If you don't have a ME2 save, download "John_32_Soldier_060312.zip" from here, extract the ME2 save file from the archive, and copy the file to the USB key via Modio.
Step 6: Open the file you copied onto the USB drive in step 0 in Modio. Save the Device and Profile ID in the General File Info tab.
Step 7: Open the "John_32" file and change the Device and Profile IDs to match the ones from the file above.
Step 8: Go the File Contents tab, right click to inject file, and then select the .xbsav file that you downloaded earlier.
Step 9: Go back to the General File Info tab and click "Rehash and Resign".
Step 10: Put the key back into your 360, copy the save to your hard drive, run ME3 and the save should be detected.

My instructions probably aren't that clear, but it really is easy. This way, if you want to experience some specific scenario that you missed in ME1 or 2 (Kaidan vs Ashley, Paragon vs Renegade, etc), you can do it without replaying those games or being forced to suffer through the default decisions forced onto you by the game.

Also, while this technique is probably as "kosher" as the Skyrim save transfer trick, the fact that there's a thread on Bioware's official forums means that they tacitly approve of being able to move saves around. Again, I wish they just included an official tool that let you choose the decisions you want in the game itself, but this is better than nothing.
 
F

firehawk12

Subete no aware
Black Flames said:
How does that even happen though?
I managed to save the Fleet, the Geth and Tali, just a few seconds ago.
Click to expand...
It's a hidden game mechanic.

If you don't have 5 "points" when that scene happens - based on choices in ME2 and ME3 - the option to "Paragon" your way to peace does not appear and you have to choose between the Quarians or the Geth.
 
R

reptilescorpio

Member
This is a lot better than I expected. 13 hours in and loving the shit out of it. The first 2-4 hours are pretty garbage but after that it gets better and better. Writing is top notch and the atmosphere created with the denser environments and reactive environment characters almost makes me think they played RDR or something and enjoyed the more fleshed out feeling it gives the game.

It is like a perfectly moulded sequel to ME2, having a great time.
 
H

Hypertrooper

Member
Hey,

did any Italian, German, French download the From Ashes DLC from their marketplace and can confirm if the language is English? I fear to use the code on the German Marketplace.
 
M

Maleficence

Member
Does anyone know how to import characters on PC? I think it's cause I installed to a different hard disk but I can't see my ME2 characters in the import list.
 
H

HadesGigas

Member
Fuck you, Priority: The Citidel for causing me to fail all these minor missions.

Guess I'll stop for the night and think if I want to roll back to before I got it or not...
 
C

chico

Member
Hypertrooper said:
Hey,

did any Italian, German, French download the From Ashes DLC from their marketplace and can confirm if the language is English? I fear to use the code on the German Marketplace.
Click to expand...

if you have downloaded the english vo for me3 then the from ashes dlc is also in english. ive downloaded it through the german marketplace and its all in english.
 
S

SpacePirate Ridley

Member
Its amazing that the scenes in ME3 with the ME2 characters make them likeable.
Jack for example, now im glad I leave her survive in ME2, becuase I wanted to kill her there.

And the Grunt scene
choosing the parangon of saving the rachni and losing his team, then going alone to save you, where he fights with all those rachni kids, and falls into the abysm with the awesome music. It was breathtaking because I really thought he was dead. Grunt is too tough too die now lol
 
T

Trent Strong

Banned
God damn, combat is a lot harder than it was in ME2. Enemies are bullet sponges and they move all the time and very quickly. Smoke grenades, shields, turrets, mechs shooting rocket launchers all the time. Jesus.
 
C

CuckFupertino

Banned
Moaradin said:
I think its actually really challenging, in a good way. I reset my level to 1 so I'm not sure how it is if you start at level 30, and I'm also playing on Hardcore. I've been manually managing all of my Shepard's and Companion's talent points, and micro-managing them in battle(ordering them around and also manually using their abilities to give me the best advantage)

It's a ton of fun and so far, this is one of the best game experiences I've had in a long time. The story and plots that are resolved are amazing. I'm pretty close to the end-game now. If I quit now(about 35 hours in right now) without even finishing it, I would still vastly prefer it to Mass Effect 1 and 2, and I loved those games.
Click to expand...

Dude, did you listen to what he asked? He wanted to know if it would be too easy if he started with an imported char (lvl 30 I believe) and played on normal. You've done neither of those things, lol. You're playing on hardcore and started with level one.

To answer your question, whoever had the original question, I'm playing on PC and I imported a lv30 character and chose hardcore. It is definitely the right difficulty, and not "hardcore." Some parts are certainly challenging and can get a bit annoying. A few reviews touched on this. Enemies that can one-shot you from off screen feel a bit cheap. Usually if you're running into a wall, however, you just need to step back and re-evaluate your strategy.

Having a plan for taking down turrets and shielded/armored enemies is a must, as is moving up throughout the level. In ME2 I usually bunkered down in one spot and let everyone come to me. Level design in ME3 is much better, and doing that will usually get you surrounded by dudes who will mess you up fast.

I like the fact that this game forces you to actually use its mechanics. On hardcore, you have to take advantage of your squad's powers (i.e. use them yourself, not just let the AI manage them). Smart move on Bioware's choice, as the game feels much more interesting than ME2 because of it. It is also nice that characters are more diverse. In ME2 I pretty much rolled with the same party (Samara/Thane first time, Zaeed/Kasumi second time) the whole game. In ME3 I've diversified my abilities and choose parties based on the situation.

Anyways, that was a bit of a rant. Long story short - unless you're really bad at video games, play on hardcore. Normal is really easy.

I am playing on PC however. Coming from ME1/ME2 on Xbox, the switch to PC is liberating - and also makes the game much "easier," in the sense that I can actually aim (hate using the noob sticks) and don't have to deal with the mushy buttons of the controller. Finally, I get to map all my powers for easy access, and hitting shift to pause feels much more natural than left trigger did on the Xbox.
 
M

Moaradin

Member
CuckFupertino said:
Dude, did you listen to what he asked? He wanted to know if it would be too easy if he started with an imported char (lvl 30 I believe) and played on normal. You've done neither of those things, lol. You're playing on hardcore and started with level one.
Click to expand...

Someone already told them his perspective on starting at level 30. I was just giving my perspective at modding to level 1 and why I think it's better.
 
A

accx

Member
I still can't decide which class i wanna go with.

Vanguard and sentinel feels somewhat melee (and i don't care for melee).
Engineer's drone is useless.
Infiltrator's cloak would interfere with the other characters (moving beside me while i am cloaked, getting themselves killed).
Soldier doesn't do it for me.
And i've already played an Adept in ME2.

Is advanced classes in the game like they were in ME1? Were they even in ME2? i can't remember.

Any input on how the different classes feel for someone who's gone a bit into the game would be welcomed. Just wanna play this game already!
 
H

HarryHengst

Member
accx said:
I still can't decide which class i wanna go with.

Vanguard and sentinel feels somewhat melee (and i don't care for melee).
Engineer's drone is useless.
Infiltrator's cloak would interfere with the other characters (moving beside me while i am cloaked, getting themselves killed).
Soldier doesn't do it for me.
And i've already played an Adept in ME2.

Is advanced classes in the game like they were in ME1? Were they even in ME2? i can't remember.

Any input on how the different classes feel for someone who's gone a bit into the game would be welcomed. Just wanna play this game already!
Click to expand...
Vanguard is the most awesome and manly class in the game and its a guddamn crime if you dont play it on Insanity. Always bring Liara with you and biotic explode everything by charging.
 
W

Woorloog

Banned
Blue Ninja said:
Oh shit, so (ME2 consequences)
rewriting the heretics
wasn't exactly the right thing to do after all. :lol
Click to expand...

Oh dear... Why did i read that? Ah, well, now i dread to see what happens... not necessarily a bad thing when playing.

Love this game really. Engineer is a lot of fun. Throw a turret with rocket launcer next to me, then alternate beetween Cryo Blast and Incinerate (with occasionial Overload if needed) until every enemy is dead. Very, very effective. Didn't pick Drone, not much use for it at the moment... though as i gain more talent points i can probably take it as well.
 
A

accx

Member
HarryHengst said:
Vanguard is the most awesome and manly class in the game and its a guddamn crime if you dont play it on Insanity. Always bring Liara with you and biotic explode everything by charging.
Click to expand...

Yea i'm gonna play on insanity and vanguard looks promising. I love the "high risk high reward" type of play so it should fit me. I started with an Engineer but it was such a major let down right from the start.
 
8

8bit

Knows the Score
Hypertrooper said:
Hey,

did any Italian, German, French download the From Ashes DLC from their marketplace and can confirm if the language is English? I fear to use the code on the German Marketplace.
Click to expand...

You might need to download the English language pack from the German Marketplace if the audio is German. I got the German version of the game and although the text was English, the audio was German until I switched to a Swiss German account to get the pack. It doesn't appear in the English marketplace for fairly obvious reasons. I haven't started done the From Ashes trigger mission yet although I did download it.
 
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