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[CriscoDisco]

Use a health pack. You have a toxin.

I tried that but it didn't make it go away. Maybe it's just a small glitch.

Is there a status effect that makes the game camera shake kinda like it did in Gears of War when you did the roady run? A few nights ago the camera was doing that until I reset the game. It was making me sick.

 

[ShinAmano]

Beat the game last night

Spoiler

Anderson is now on the council, the existing council was saved from utter destruction, I talked Saren into suicide, I now have blue children, Kaiden died a hero, Wrex understood that limited krogan numbers are better than mass enslaved krogans, Ambassador Udin got knocked the fuck out and demoted...but still lives (dammit), and Ashley is craving the cock but won't make any moves since it's still got blue slime on it

Great game, will be playing it again on my current character...going even more paragon but with a constant party of

Spoiler

Wrex and Taili

(spelling?)

I LOL'D:lol

 

[Confidence Man]

Quick question..

I chose Noveria first and I am at the Matriarch at level 14

It is obviously very tough. Should I keep trying or should I leave and go somewhere else?
Is there a good order to do things?

A good order is the dig site(rescue Liara) -> Feros -> Noveria -> Virmire. Bosses scale to your level, I believe, but the Matriarch is one of the toughest fights no matter what.

 

[Haklong]

P.S. The ally achievements are seriously borked.

Pretty much. I can't think of one mission or side quest were Tali wasn't with me. She was my decryption go to gal yet I never got the achievement.

 

[NJ Shlice]

Beat the game last night

Spoiler

Anderson is now on the council, the existing council was saved from utter destruction, I talked Saren into suicide, I now have blue children, Kaiden died a hero, Wrex understood that limited krogan numbers are better than mass enslaved krogans, Ambassador Udin got knocked the fuck out and demoted...but still lives (dammit), and Ashley is craving the cock but won't make any moves since it's still got blue slime on it

Damn, Mine was quite different:

Spoiler

Anderson is on the council, the rest of the council is dead. I killed Saren and Reaper-Saren. Ashley killed Wrex cause he was all up in my grill. Ashley then died a hero. Ambassador Udin got knocked out. The only woman I banged was a whore in the Consort Chambers. Kaiden was my boy from the beginning

 

[NJ Shlice]

Quick question..

I chose Noveria first and I am at the Matriarch at level 14

It is obviously very tough. Should I keep trying or should I leave and go somewhere else?
Is there a good order to do things?

Try a couple more times.

As soon as the battle starts right to your right all the way to the end. Kill the geth there and set up shop in that corner. The Matriarch cannot hit you there and you can defend all of the geth from that corner. Take your time.

 

[Dina]

Beat the game last night

Spoiler

Anderson is now on the council, the existing council was saved from utter destruction, I talked Saren into suicide, I now have blue children, Kaiden died a hero, Wrex understood that limited krogan numbers are better than mass enslaved krogans, Ambassador Udin got knocked the fuck out and demoted...but still lives (dammit), and Ashley is craving the cock but won't make any moves since it's still got blue slime on it

Great game, will be playing it again on my current character...going even more paragon but with a constant party of

Spoiler

Wrex and Taili

(spelling?)

Wow :lol

 

[NJ Shlice]

I played Normal on my first playthrough but it was super easy. I think I died once or twice on the last 2 levels. Including Bosses. I'm level 46 Soldier.

What difficulty should I play on my next playthrough. I'm keeping my same soldier and going for achievements and more side quests??

 

[weedlewalker]

The graphics are pretty rough around the edges I will admit but I do not think I would fault bioware.

I think this entire generation of systems has been tough for the developers. I think the standards are higher than ever before and this gen more than any other gen what a developer has in his head is just beyond what the hardware can do.
This game without any v-sync, framerate and texture problems would be I think exactly what bioware had in mind when they started the project.
Sure there are developers that can really get these systems going (gears of war...etc) but in the end I think everyone is compromising this gen to what they had envisioned from the start of a project.
Look at long developing games like GT5. The GT5P demo is not running at 1080P as they wanted and it is choppy and in my opinion does not even look as good as GTHD. Those guys are working hard and are very talented but the systems are just not giving them what is in their imagination in the end.
I think something like Soul Caliber for the dreamcast is a game where they finished it and were like "Damn, that is just amazing......." or mario 64 also.
I think when Mass Effect was done they were more like "It was a great project and I think we got most of the things we wanted in visually but some of the gliches are unfortunate."

Great game though and I am glad to finally get on the board here

 

[jet1911]

Beat the game last night

Spoiler

Anderson is now on the council, the existing council was saved from utter destruction, I talked Saren into suicide, I now have blue children, Kaiden died a hero, Wrex understood that limited krogan numbers are better than mass enslaved krogans, Ambassador Udin got knocked the fuck out and demoted...but still lives (dammit), and Ashley is craving the cock but won't make any moves since it's still got blue slime on it

Great game, will be playing it again on my current character...going even more paragon but with a constant party of

Spoiler

Wrex and Taili

(spelling?)

Wow, totally different than mine. Awesome. :lol

 

[Uncle]

I found a prothean ruin on some random planet, that had some kind of a globe on it. Whe i recpvered it, it just said that there was some kind of a key hole there and that I'd likely never find it. What the hell? Did I miss something, or is this a part of some other quest?

 

[ShinAmano]

I found a prothean ruin on some random planet, that had some kind of a globe on it. Whe i recpvered it, it just said that there was some kind of a key hole there and that I'd likely never find it. What the hell? Did I miss something, or is this a part of some other quest?

Spoiler

The consort gives you the key when you complete her quests

 

[Uncle]

Spoiler

The consort gives you the key when you complete her quests

Does she have more of them? I did the one with the turian general, but I apparantely didn't get anything.

 

[jet1911]

Does she have more of them? I did the one with the turian general, but I apparantely didn't get anything.

Spoiler

You got the trinket?

 

[Uncle]

Spoiler

You got the trinket?

I'd guess no, since it didn't react to to sphere and I don't see it anywhere in my quests/inventory.

Edit: it's mentioned in my assignment summary though. Weird.

 

[NJ Shlice]

Spoiler

The consort gives you the key when you complete her quests

It would've been nice if she told you where to put it.

Now I forget what planet that globe was on??

 

[ShinAmano]

It would've been nice if she told you where to put it.

Now I forget what planet that globe was on??

She did more then tell me where to put it...wink wink nudge nudge...:lol

 

[Uncle]

It would've been nice if she told you where to put it.

Now I forget what planet that globe was on??

Spoiler

Attican Beta -> Hercules -> Eletania

 

[NJ Shlice]

She did more then tell me where to put it...wink wink nudge nudge...:lol

Hell Yes

 

[IronicallyTwisted]

She did more then tell me where to put it...wink wink nudge nudge...:lol

oh fuck

 

[Uncle]

Maybe my character is too stupid to use it. It doesn't work. Boo.

 

[sixteen-bit]

She did more then tell me where to put it...wink wink nudge nudge...:lol

say no more

 

[shifty100]

Excellent game, loving it so far.

Great atmosphere, excellent sound design in 5.1, great story and excellent graphics ( although the odd tear and slowdown does appear ).

The first game on 360 that has made me try and get as many minutes of playing in as possible.

 

[Mrbob]

Ok, so I had a funny experience with the game last night.

I decided to hit the Feros mission last after I had done practically everything else, so I was level 40 when I got there. Without spoiling too much, there is an asari clone translater for a big plant thingy (no names listed here!) which had an empassioned speech about how I had no chance of survival and pulls her gun on us. As soon as the cut scene was over, Wrex fired on her with his shotgun right away, killing her and sending her flying off the ledge in one blast. I wish I could have youtubed this!

 

[UnholySpectacle]

I just landed on Ilos last night, I'll save the end for tonight. This is my GOTY for sure. Virmire was one of my favorite video game experiences ever. The planet itself was beautiful and the combat was loads of fun. I'm at 37 hours and I'm level 49. Can anyone tell me if I can get 3000 XP on Ilos? That is all I need to max out at 50. I have done every quest I could save two.

One of the quest was the "UNC: Search for signs of battle" and I am missing a dog tag I think. The other one I am fucked on because of a glitch:

Spoiler

On Feros, where you go down into the tunnels and have to destroy the geth transmitter, I got the transmitter down to 1 point of health and then it dissapeared. It just up and vanished, no explosion, no XP. WTF? So that is permanently stuck as incomplete. It was probably worth 1000 XP too.

For those who beat the game how does New Game+ work? I am a Vangaurd right now. If I choose a new game as a soldier do I still get to keep all my cool biotic powers plus the perks a soldier has? And if I don't reach level 50 before the game is over, I assume you get to keep your level for the new game allowing me to reach 50 and beyond for New Game+? Also, do you get to redistribute your points or do you have to keep them the way they were?

 

[SeaOfMadness]

A good order is the dig site(rescue Liara) -> Feros -> Noveria -> Virmire. Bosses scale to your level, I believe, but the Matriarch is one of the toughest fights no matter what.

i did: Liara -> all kinds of side quests -> Noveria -> Virmire -> Feros.

by the time i got done with all the side quests i was like level 25 and the Benezia battle was almost too easy (on normal difficulty level).

 

[SeaOfMadness]

Ok, so I had a funny experience with the game last night.

I decided to hit the Feros mission last after I had done practically everything else, so I was level 40 when I got there. Without spoiling too much, there is an asari clone translater for a big plant thingy (no names listed here!) which had an empassioned speech about how I had no chance of survival and pulls her gun on us. As soon as the cut scene was over, Wrex fired on her with his shotgun right away, killing her and sending her flying off the ledge in one blast. I wish I could have youtubed this!

i'm not sure you're actually fighting *her* though. i just finished that mission and there were multiple 'asari clone' enemies and they were all pretty easy (i'm about level 40 as well).

but yeah, there's one other place somewhere in the game where you get threatened by someone and the battle is over in a split second. kind of amusing.

tough enemies at early levels are just a piece of cake when you get higher level, but the dialog doesn't scale up based on your level so they seem threatening but aren't

 

[hyp]

is it just me, or are grenades pretty much useless? i keep forgetting i have them.

 

[Mrbob]

Yeah this game is fun to talk about with a friend who is also playing the game, seeing what you do differently. I attacked the game in a different pattern than he did.

I went Noveria ---> side quests ---> Liara ---> Virmire ---> more side quests ---> Feros

In hindsight, it was probably stupid to tackle Noveria first. But I didn't know. I was extremely low level when I hit the Benezia fight, and it took about 5 times to finish it. The good thing though, is that fight taught me how to use all my characters abilities. I had been winging it the whole time, playing it up as a regular shooter. It wasn't until I used my tactics in this fight where I learned how to mix up my abilities with firing at enemies. It was a huge crash course in learning the ins and outs of the entire battle system.

I agree Virmire was one of the coolest sequences I've played out in a videogame.

is it just me, or are grenades pretty much useless? i keep forgetting i have them.

I thought so at first, but when you get some explosive upgrades it makes grenades much more useful. Their power and radius can rise by a huge factor. I don't use them much, but if I see a cluster of enemies huddled together I'll toss a grenade in their direction.

 

[Revengeance]

OT, but I love how the 'press start' screen's music sounds like sigur ros

 

[Mojovonio]

is it just me, or are grenades pretty much useless? i keep forgetting i have them.

I never used them either. Especially when my pistol shoots grenades.

 

[Mrbob]

i'm not sure you're actually fighting *her* though. i just finished that mission and there were multiple 'asari clone' enemies and they were all pretty easy (i'm about level 40 as well).

but yeah, there's one other place somewhere in the game where you get threatened by someone and the battle is over in a split second. kind of amusing.

tough enemies at early levels are just a piece of cake when you get higher level, but the dialog doesn't scale up based on your level so they seem threatening but aren't

Spoiler

Yeah you aren't, as Thorian keeps respawning the clone during battle. But I am trying to keep the segment as spoiler free as possible in case someone hasn't played it yet.

 

[SeaOfMadness]

is it just me, or are grenades pretty much useless? i keep forgetting i have them.

i use them. not extremely often, but they can help when there is a cluster of enemies in a hard to reach area. But don't forget to upgrade them! There are some really cool upgrades that actually make them useful.

Also, if you let the enemies come to you and wait behind a bottleneck/chokepoint, then you can stick a grenade at the entrace to it and soften them up a bit.

 

[Vyse The Legend]

I just landed on Ilos last night, I'll save the end for tonight. This is my GOTY for sure. Virmire was one of my favorite video game experiences ever. The planet itself was beautiful and the combat was loads of fun. I'm at 37 hours and I'm level 49. Can anyone tell me if I can get 3000 XP on Ilos? That is all I need to max out at 50. I have done every quest I could save two.

For those who beat the game how does New Game+ work? I am a Vangaurd right now. If I choose a new game as a soldier do I still get to keep all my cool biotic powers plus the perks a soldier has? And if I don't reach level 50 before the game is over, I assume you get to keep your level for the new game allowing me to reach 50 and beyond for New Game+? Also, do you get to redistribute your points or do you have to keep them the way they were?

Getting 3k XP on Ilos is no problem.

In new game+, you can only use your current character. You keep all your items, armor, money, levels, etc. However, you cannot redistribute points for Shephard, only the other crew members. It takes two FULL playthroughs (doing most of the side quests) and a decent one to get to level 60. I'm at level 59 myself with 180,000 XP until 60. :lol

 

[Belgorim]

Getting 3k XP on Ilos is no problem.

In new game+, you can only use your current character. You keep all your items, armor, money, levels, etc. However, you cannot redistribute points for Shephard, only the other crew members. It takes two FULL playthroughs (doing most of the side quests) and a decent one to get to level 60. I'm at level 59 myself with 180,000 XP until 60. :lol

But how do I know that I have started a new game+?

is it automatic when starting a new game after finishing one game?

 

[UnholySpectacle]

Getting 3k XP on Ilos is no problem.

In new game+, you can only use your current character. You keep all your items, armor, money, levels, etc. However, you cannot redistribute points for Shephard, only the other crew members. It takes two FULL playthroughs (doing most of the side quests) and a decent one to get to level 60. I'm at level 59 myself with 180,000 XP until 60. :lol

Holy Crap, would it not be easier to keep using new game+ and just go through the story planets a couple of times?

 

[Vyse The Legend]

But how do I know that I have started a new game+?

is it automatic when starting a new game after finishing one game?

Yeah, you click "Start a New Career" then pick the "Use Existing Shephard option." When you do, it'll show you any completed game Shephards that you have available.

 

[Arkaerial]

Question, I just got my 360 back from repairs. Now when I zoom into my characters there is no textures just what seems to be place holders and slowly the textures load up. Does this happen to everyone?

 

[Vyse The Legend]

Question, I just got my 360 back from repairs. Now when I zoom into my characters there is no textures just what seems to be place holders and slowly the textures load up. Does this happen to everyone?

Yes. It's one of the technical issues with the game. No worries.

 

[TeTr1C]

I just bought it on Wednesday and have about 8 hours logged on it. I just finished Feros and I'm going off to do some side quests. So far, this is one of the best games I've ever played. It gives me a feeling unlike any other game. I'm playing as a Vanguard, and it rules.

I'm kinda glad that I haven't played the KOTOR games because I have nothing to compare this to. It's completely new for me.

Is it just me, or is this truly the only game where it seems like every character has an actual personality? You can tell through the dialogue and their animations. It's absolutely incredible. They couldn't have done a better job with that.

 

[UnholySpectacle]

Noveria was one of the last things I did and boy does it show how fucked up the money is in this game. I love those side quests where the folks offer you 500 credits for risking your neck. 500 credits is like a penny in this universe if my other quest rewards have taught me anything :lol

 

[SeaOfMadness]

I just bought it on Wednesday and have about 8 hours logged on it. I just finished Feros and I'm going off to do some side quests. So far, this is one of the best games I've ever played. It gives me a feeling unlike any other game. I'm playing as a Vanguard, and it rules.

I'm kinda glad that I haven't played the KOTOR games because I have nothing to compare this to. It's completely new for me.

Is it just me, or is this truly the only game where it seems like every character has an actual personality? You can tell through the dialogue and their animations. It's absolutely incredible. They couldn't have done a better job with that.

Clearly you've never played Baldur's gate?

This game reminds me of BG2. I thoroughly enjoyed that game and this game is about on par with it. that's saying a lot. I can't stop playing.

 

[SeaOfMadness]

Noveria was one of the last things I did and boy does it show how fucked up the money is in this game. I love those side quests where the folks offer you 500 credits for risking your neck. 500 credits is like a penny in this universe if my other quest rewards have taught me anything :lol

yeah that was pretty funny. i have over 2 million credits now. you get money every time you kill anything. once you get all the best weapons, there's nothing else you can do with your money. oh well. at least there's an achievement tied to it

 

[Walshicus]

I'd be far more inclined to point to similarities with David Brin's Uplift saga (humanity as a newcomer to an established multi-species galactic civilization; it's even mentioned briefly that the Krogan were 'uplifted' by the Salarians, which i thought was a nice nod to an obvious influence), along with Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space series (ancient machine race periodically wiping out advanced civilizations; although the concept was hardly original when he wrote about it).

Overall i'd say they've done an excellent job of creating their own, reasonably unique SF universe, though. Most of the elements have been done before in SF literature (the same could be said for most SF stories, though; truly original ideas are few and far between), but it's a fantastically well-executed combination.

So shall we list the obvious sources of inspiration for the game's story?

1) Battlestar Galactica: Geth = Cylons, Quarians = Colonials, Migrant Fleet = Rag Tag Fleet.

I'm rather hoping we get to visit the Migrant Fleet at some point in the series; have it move from system to system for the ultimate win.

 

[SeaOfMadness]

heh.. i thought this quote was appropriate:

All in all,

Spoiler

Baldur's Gate II

is a towering achievement in the history of role-playing games, giving you a huge world to explore, plenty of well-drawn NPCs to argue with or get romantic with, and an engaging story that's simultaneously epic and personal.

got you! you would think they were talking about mass effect

(from here: Gamespot)

 

[hyp]

i use them. not extremely often, but they can help when there is a cluster of enemies in a hard to reach area. But don't forget to upgrade them! There are some really cool upgrades that actually make them useful.

Also, if you let the enemies come to you and wait behind a bottleneck/chokepoint, then you can stick a grenade at the entrace to it and soften them up a bit.

the only place i've really needed them were

Spoiler

on the feros mission w/ the anti-gas upgrade. i wanted to save all the colonists.

even with an upgraded blast radius, i'm finding them difficult to use. are they thrown like discs with the other character classes (i'm a vanguard)? i think that's partly why i'm not using them, it's hard to judge distance.

 

[VibratingDonkey]

The only bug I've noticed. Oh wait, there was this one time where Kaidan got stuck crouching beneath a desk or something. So all the bugs have been positive so far.

 

[traveler]

Getting 3k XP on Ilos is no problem.

In new game+, you can only use your current character. You keep all your items, armor, money, levels, etc. However, you cannot redistribute points for Shephard, only the other crew members. It takes two FULL playthroughs (doing most of the side quests) and a decent one to get to level 60. I'm at level 59 myself with 180,000 XP until 60. :lol

Really? On my first run through, I finished the game around lvl 50. I'm hoping I won't have to go through the entire game again just to get 10 levels.

 

[Revengeance]

I use grenades all the time, to the extent that I'm always running out. Upgrades make them worthwhile.

I even finished off the

Spoiler

matriarch

with a well placed grenade. (ok, honestly it was a last ditch wild throw that happened to get lucky - my party members were dead and I was blinking red).

 

[GreekWolf]

The only bug I've noticed.

Makes me homesick for Tennessee.