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[RSTEIN]

Mejilan Haha, Spectre, not scepter

I have Wrex. I didn't go to the medical facility to get Garrus. I went there after becoming a SPECTRE but he's not there. In my journal it says "he may be helpful, you may want to invite him to your team if you happen to run into him again."

 

[arhra]

I think he'll accost you when you try to leave the station - that's what wrex does if you don't pick him up immediately (he hangs out at the elevator down to the docking bay in C-Sec, and you can't go down without triggering the conversation).

 

[Mejilan]

This game is so fucking glitchy! I just wound up with well over 2000 Paragon points!! Isn't the "cap" supposed to be 100? :lol

Ah, at least I got an achievement for it! :lol

 

[Mejilan]

And now that I've gained the Rich achievement, I can start REALLY blowing money. Looks like acquiring all those licenses along the way has paid off. Just blew half my money on a nice pistol and shotgun!

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

And now that I've gained the Rich achievement, I can start REALLY blowing money. Looks like acquiring all those licenses along the way has paid off. Just blew half my money on a nice pistol and shotgun!

Speaking of which, is there Spectre ARMOR unlocked by the Rich-chievement?

 

[Mejilan]

Oh, what's this? Hmmm, I don't know!

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Oh, what's this? Hmmm, I don't know!

Yeah, I figured. It's an open question.

;D

 

[Kittonwy]

Am I wrong to

Spoiler

kill off teh fucking rachni? I hate bugs. Why are they doing this stupid star trek thing where I'm supposed to feel bad about killing off a species? You never know when these things will turn on you, better kill them all before they get the chance.

 

[The Lamonster]

:lol :lol :lol

scepter

 

[RSTEIN]

:lol :lol :lol

scepter

Shut up you!

OK... it's 2:00am here... and I'm finally going to bed. I did like 10 missions already... scan all the insect bug things, get a guy's dead wife home, solve an argument over religious freedom, destroy a wonky AI program that's stealing money, etc. etc.

I just got on the Normandy... can't wait to visit all the planets!!

 

[Mejilan]

I just got on the Normandy... can't wait to visit all the planets!!

Oh, you're going to be positively thrilled!

 

[Kittonwy]

Oh, you're going to be positively thrilled!

Surveying is fun.

 

[Mejilan]

Surveying planets from orbit isn't too bad, if a bit of a waste. But that's not exploration. That's hitting a button over a map point.

Exploring the seemingly-randomly-generated maps of those few planets you CAN land on, only to find them empty of enemy encounters, or any interesting or rewarding exploration, is NOT fun. The Mako also controls horrifically, and these are the segments that typically feature the worst framerates as well.

 

[The Lamonster]

The Mako also controls horrifically, and these are the segments that typically feature the worst framerates as well.

Yet later in the game there are main quest Mako sections that are totally awesome. Although I never minded the controls so you may not enjoy those sections as much as I did.

 

[Mejilan]

Themos' Mako segment was pretty fun, and a great break from the square-shaped non-maps that the empty, bullshit planets have. I imagine all of the story Mako segments will be at least decent.

 

[Mejilan]

What the hell. I found THREE Asari Matriarch writings in one freakin' location. I don't mean scattered around 1 planet. I mean 3 contained at one specific location of interest on a planet! What, did they get as bored populating random non-planets with these bullshit collectathon items as I got of scouring this "huge universe" for them? Conveniently, they were the last 3 I needed to complete this quest! :lol

 

[Mejilan]

Remember that talisman, or whatever, that the Asari Consort gives to Shepard early in the game? Well, I finally found a use for it. But it seemed a rather randomly useless implementation. Is there more to it later, or was that poorly narrated flashback sequence it?

 

[Phthisis]

Remember that talisman, or whatever, that the Asari Consort gives to Shepard early in the game? Well, I finally found a use for it. But it seemed a rather randomly useless implementation. Is there more to it later, or was that poorly narrated flashback sequence it?

The second one.

 

[Mejilan]

It seemed like there should and would be more to it than that. The hell...

 

[RSTEIN]

I vote that Mejilan be removed from this thread!

He's ruining the Christmas spirit!!

 

[urk]

Eh, to be fair, the game does fall short in the places he's noting. It's really the final couple hours of story that sold the game for me. The exploration stuff was pretty poorly implemented in most cases and more than a touch repetitive.

 

[Apharmd Battler]

Eh, to be fair, the game does fall short in the places he's noting. It's really the final couple hours of story that sold the game for me. The exploration stuff was pretty poorly implemented in most cases and more than a touch repetitive.

I can agree with that statement, but Mass Effect does so many things right I absolutely love it. I just finished my second play through this morning (continued with my previous uber Paragon character and got to Level 59....DOH! Just shy of the Lvl 60 achievement), but I just started a new game with a female Renegade and hope to have some fun. I love the new dialogue with the renegade responses. My first play through was 45 hours and I did the majority of the side quests. My continued game rounded out at about 60 hours. But the sad thing is I played my new character for like 2 hours last night. This game is a lot of fun.Being an adult with a family the length is perfect for me.

I also agree with he statement above that the combat has some of a learning curve, but it I think it rocks, and I absolutely LOVE the customization! I must be the ONLY gamer who likes the inventory system, the management aspect could be tweaked (i.e. moving throught e list to buy/sell), but equipping/modifying/customization is VERY well done. I also love how you can preview inventory beofre fitting (and use the RB to see how it will look on you). I also love how you can toggle you helmet on and off (for in-game character as well) with the LB. Mass Effect is far from perfect...but the story and dialogue was absolutely outstanding. I enjoy it more with each play through.

Still torn on my GOTY.....Bioshock, Mass Effect, CoD4, VF5:Arena, Crackdown, GoW2, GRAW2, Oragne Box, Halo3....darn so many, but Mass Effect keeps calling me like crack!

 

[Solo]

Speaking of Rachni, probably the most fun sidequest in the game was the very Starship Troopers inspired one involving fighting off wave after wave of Rachni.

 

[PedroLumpy]

So after it was all said and done, I cannot get the Asari ally achievement because either I missed ONE quest in the citadel, or the achievement is just fucking broken.

I can't believe I spent all that time to be shut down like that.

 

[CajoleJuice]

Just opened this game up this morning and played around with the character creation screen for a while. So fucking insane. Then I played for about 15 minutes or so. Game looks absolutely incredible. Holy crap.

 

[Solo]

Good man, Juice! Keep at er. GOTY for me.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Just finished my first play through. At first I was going to finish off all my side quests but the hunger became too great. Had to jet to Ilos.

Totally fucking kick ass finish, but I was hoping

Spoiler

The Ancient Protheans would have emerged from the Citadel like Reginald Val Johnson in Die Hard and shot Sovereign to death with a single bullet from the Super Gun they'd been building for 8,000 years.

Maybe in Mass Effect 2?

That being said, after all the elevators in the game, it was so fucking dope to see

Spoiler

ELEVATOR REDEMPTION!!! "Let's go outside."

Absolutely stunning visuals in the closing conflict. So fucking epic.

Also, the last two minutes of fallout (

Spoiler

Picking the new council, you on the prowl in a dangerous new universe

) could've been a touch more epic, but thanks to the awesome score, I was actually choked up

Spoiler

when Anderson was rooting through the wreckage

.

Anywho. Definitely going to play through it again. There are so many options for playstyle and so many opportunities to take things in different directions that the game absolutely shrieks for another go around, more than any that I've played, at least.

Also go the Tactician Achievement. Dumb luck that. Missed out on the Asari and the Krogan ones though. Sadness.

 

[Kittonwy]

How many sidequests are there? I'm trying to do as many of them as I can but they all look like they're made with the same "make your own planet kit" with the option to pick among three dungeon choices. Driving the mako is definitely getting stale. I just finished

Spoiler

feros

and so far the combat isn't really that interesting, I like storyline so far but character-wise there are too many, I'm almost hoping in the next game they would just scratch the soldier class so the player character will always have tech, as it makes it much easier to mix up the crew because the need to always carry a tech makes it difficult to be a soldier and have Ash in the party, which I'm doing with every mission.

 

[Mejilan]

I vote that Mejilan be removed from this thread!

He's ruining the Christmas spirit!!

I'm not Christian, so it's not my job to nurture that particular spirit.

That said, the big disillusionment I felt a page or three back had to do with how the sidequests are shoved down your throat gung-ho style once you get to the Citadel. And how poorly they're implemented. Seriously, amongst the worst sidequests I've ever played through in an RPG.

Problem is, I'm that obsessive type that HAS to do ALL of the optional stuff as it opens up, before proceeding along with the core story. Almost non-stop 18+ hours of JUST sidequesting almost broke the game for me, and I'd argue, could potentially ruin it for most.

But, I stuck through it, and now that I've got Themos and Feros under my belt, I'm much happier. Man, the Thorian encounter was just all kinds of awesome. And it seems like I'll only have 5-6 sidequests between Feros and Noveria, so I think I'll be in good shape for the rest of the game.

I still have my gripes about the gameplay (a lot of it is REALLY half-baked), but I think I got over the nasty hump, and it should be smoother sailing going forward. This is a very rare thing for me. I'm moderately enjoying an RPG that, in my opinion, features gimped combat, exploration, and questing! :lol

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

How many sidequests are there? I'm trying to do as many of them as I can but they all look like they're made with the same "make your own planet kit" with the option to pick among three dungeon choices. Driving the mako is definitely getting stale. I just finished

Spoiler

feros

and so far the combat isn't really that interesting, I like storyline so far but character-wise there are too many, I'm almost hoping in the next game they would just scratch the soldier class so the player character will always have tech, as it makes it much easier to mix up the crew because the need to always carry a tech makes it difficult to be a soldier and have Ash in the party, which I'm doing with every mission.

I played the whole game without decryption. You miss out on loot but it's not unplayable. What level are you at? It wasn't until halfway through that the combat got really awesome. When you've got your team flinging motherfuckers around and you're taking down Geth Troopers in a single shotgun blast? It gets fun as hell.

 

[Azih]

I played the whole game without decryption.

Sure but Sabotage, Overload etc. are just extremely useful combat skills to not have.

 

[Kittonwy]

I played the whole game without decryption. You miss out on loot but it's not unplayable. What level are you at? It wasn't until halfway through that the combat got really awesome. When you've got your team flinging motherfuckers around and you're taking down Geth Troopers in a single shotgun blast? It gets fun as hell.

Kittonwy Sheppard (male/standard face) is at Level 41 right now.

I'm the type who has to open every single fucking crate and the fact that I have to decrypt 80% of those is a bit frustrating, it's not that I can't do the stupid 5 button press, it's having to do the stupid 5 button press, pick up a bunch of stuff, and have to manage my inventory which is poorly organized, when they could have designed it so that I can just open the damn crate and at least the inventory is better organized.

Yeah they're dying with a single shotgun blast, at least from up-close. Not using much biotics though other than when I had Liara on the team which fucks up my crate hunting because Ash doesn't have tech and neither does Liara, so I usually have Kaiden in the party.

Correction. I HATE DRIVING THE MAKO. FUCKING HATE IT. At first it was like "cool I can go places", but then it's just fucking inching up a fucking mountain dropping down and going up again, it's just the damn mako in the environment going after stupid probes and shit.

I like carnage though, too bad it doesn't do as much damage as I wanted it to and I can't use it all that often even with adrenaline burst maxed.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Kittonwy Sheppard is at Level 41 right now.

I'm the type who has to open every single fucking crate and the fact that I have to decrypt 80% of those is a bit frustrating, it's not that I can't do the stupid 5 button press, it's having to do the stupid 5 button press, pick up a bunch of stuff, and have to manage my inventory which is poorly organized, when they could have designed it so that I can just open the damn crate and at least the inventory is better organized.

Yeah they're dying with a single shotgun blast, at least from up-close. Not using much biotics though other than when I had Liara on the team which fucks up my crate hunting because Ash doesn't have tech and neither does Liara, so I usually have Kaiden in the party.

Yeah, even without decryption and 50% of the loot, inventory is absolute shit. I personally got the most fun out of the combat thanks to the use of biotics. At first they look really dumb on paper (Lift? Warp? Heh, yeah, next.) but when you suddenly see this hugely lethal Geth Prime or something floating softly through the air just waiting for you to decimate it, it proves its worth.

My party was Wrex and Liara, but once I get their achievements next playthrough I'll be swapping them out with Ashley and Garrus (Cover Team FTW) and then after that, Kaiden and Tali (The Losers).

I didn't really miss the swag in the closing hours of the game though, as I was still completely wrecking shit and barely ever dying. I think I might start a harder difficulty playthrough as well, with the OG Shepard. We shall see.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Sure but Sabotage, Overload etc. are just extremely useful combat skills to not have.

I had Overload with Liara. Hugely necessary and awesome.

WARNING: DO NOT EVER FUCKING GIVE LIARA STASIS OR YOU WILL LOSE OVERLOAD AND DIE INSIDE.

 

[Mejilan]

Woohoo. You think 5-button sequences are bad? Wait til they start throwing 8+ sequences at you.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Woohoo. You think 5-button sequences are bad? Wait til they start throwing 8+ sequences at you.

Wait until you get the story/quest-based decoding puzzles.

AAUUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHH

*Death Synth Theme*

(bwaw-waw-waw-waw-waw-waw-waw-WEHN-wehn-waw-waw)

 

[Kittonwy]

Yeah, even without decryption and 50% of the loot, inventory is absolute shit. I personally got the most fun out of the combat thanks to the use of biotics. At first they look really dumb on paper (Lift? Warp? Heh, yeah, next.) but when you suddenly see this hugely lethal Geth Prime or something floating softly through the air just waiting for you to decimate it, it proves its worth.

My party was Wrex and Liara, but once I get their achievements next playthrough I'll be swapping them out with Ashley and Garrus (Cover Team FTW) and then after that, Kaiden and Tali (The Losers).

I didn't really miss the swag in the closing hours of the game though, as I was still completely wrecking shit and barely ever dying. I think I might start a harder difficulty playthrough as well, with the OG Shepard. We shall see.

What difficulty are you playing on? I'm playing on veteran.

So far HALO3 is still my favorite 360 game this year.

 

[Mejilan]

Wait until you get the story/quest-based decoding puzzles.

AAUUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHH

*Death Synth Theme*

(bwaw-waw-waw-waw-waw-waw-waw-WEHN-wehn-waw-waw)

Yeah, I had a nuke I had to disarm at one point. 3 consecutive sequences of what had to have been at least 12 button presses.

Each. :/

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

What difficulty are you playing on? I'm playing on veteran.

So far HALO3 is still my favorite 360 game this year.

I played it on normal. Probably going to try one plot-centric one on hardcore.

 

[Ventrue]

So after it was all said and done, I cannot get the Asari ally achievement because either I missed ONE quest in the citadel, or the achievement is just fucking broken.

I can't believe I spent all that time to be shut down like that.

Maybe the collection quests do count. I got the Asari achievement just before Virmire by doing every single side quest.

 

[Mejilan]

I haven't even hit up Noveria yet (let alone Virmire), and I've managed to finish (without trying) all of the collection quests save for the League of One collection, and that's almost done too.

Man, this game's economy is TOTALLY broken! :lol

 

[TheDuce22]

Can someone tell me how you replenish your grenade supply? Ive been playing through again as an infiltrator. Picking off enemys with the sniper never gets old. While I can dominate things at range, I need to rely on Wrex and Ashley when we get in close combat. I think with a steady supply of grenades I would be unstoppable.

 

[underfooter]

This may be a bit off topic but....

Well I got Gears of War and Skate for xmas, and plan on beefing up my 360 collection in the coming months. I'm somewhat of a 360 n00b having only picked it up a few months ago.


I'm planning on trading a few games in soon to get a new 360 game and....



I'm torn on two games. What should I get folks? Mass Effect or Orange Box?

-I couldn't stand KOTOR for the load times/framerate
-I already own HL2 on PC and really enjoy it
-I'm somewhat sick of shooters and games in first person at the moment
-Portals looks genius
-I like exploring
-I like killing innocent NPCs in games
-I don't have Xbox Live or use my 360 online at all

 

[DY_nasty]

You can't really buy grenades. You just gotta kill stuff and hope they drop it. Occasionally you'll pick some up in a crate. The best advice I can give you is to go to shops and buy grenade limit upgrades. If you can old around 7 or 8 you should be okay through the bulk of the game. Its kinda clear that the designers don't want you to spam grenades the whole time.

All I can say about the Infiltrator is that you gotta get good with that pistol and learn how to make the best out of those other skills, then just hold tight until you get explosive rounds for the sniper rifle.

This may be a bit off topic but....

Well I got Gears of War and Skate for xmas, and plan on beefing up my 360 collection in the coming months. I'm somewhat of a 360 n00b having only picked it up a few months ago.


I'm planning on trading a few games in soon to get a new 360 game and....



I'm torn on two games. What should I get folks? Mass Effect or Orange Box?

-I couldn't stand KOTOR for the load times/framerate
-I already own HL2 on PC and really enjoy it
-I'm somewhat sick of shooters and games in first person at the moment
-Portals looks genius
-I like exploring
-I like killing innocent NPCs in games
-I don't have Xbox Live or use my 360 online at all

You want Mass Effect.

 

[Phthisis]

This may be a bit off topic but....

Well I got Gears of War and Skate for xmas, and plan on beefing up my 360 collection in the coming months. I'm somewhat of a 360 n00b having only picked it up a few months ago.


I'm planning on trading a few games in soon to get a new 360 game and....



I'm torn on two games. What should I get folks? Mass Effect or Orange Box?

-I couldn't stand KOTOR for the load times/framerate
-I already own HL2 on PC and really enjoy it
-I'm somewhat sick of shooters and games in first person at the moment
-Portals looks genius
-I like exploring
-I like killing innocent NPCs in games
-I don't have Xbox Live or use my 360 online at all

Mass Effect and Portal were my 2 favorite games this year (in that order) but if you've already played HL2 and don't use XBL, you can't play TF2, which kind of defeats the purpose of the Orange Box, IMO.

Go for Mass Effect. That said, you need to play Portal at some point.

 

[Domino Theory]

I'm getting close to

Spoiler

fighting Saren again, but on Hardcore

and was wondering if there are any tips anyone can offer to make it easier or smoother to fight him?

 

[Mejilan]

Mass Effect also has load time and framerate issues, FYI.

If you're really interested in The Orange Box, get the PC version. It's better, and probably cheaper. Just buy it on Steam now that they've got a good discount going (up until New Year's, IIRC).

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

I bought this game on ebay recently. Is there any character creation pitfalls I need to look out for? I don't want to go for something useless/broken.

 

[Phthisis]

I'm getting close to

Spoiler

fighting Saren again, but on Hardcore

and was wondering if there are any tips anyone can offer to make it easier or smoother to fight him?

Singularity (Liara, of if you're a biotic, use it yourself), carnage, fire shotgun, adrenaline boost, repeat. That should be like half his life right there, if not more.

 

[JeremyR]

I'm torn on two games. What should I get folks? Mass Effect or Orange Box?

-I couldn't stand KOTOR for the load times/framerate
-I already own HL2 on PC and really enjoy it
-I'm somewhat sick of shooters and games in first person at the moment
-Portals looks genius
-I like exploring
-I like killing innocent NPCs in games
-I don't have Xbox Live or use my 360 online at all

Most of the loading in ME is masked by elevators (lots and lots of elevators), but the frame rate is a lot like KOTOR - good most of the time, but can get really choppy in combat when biotics (basically ME's version of the force) gets used. There were only a few battles that were really bad though, mostly just one where you fought a bunch of biotic *********.

There's also not a ton of exploration, the only big place you get to wander around is the Citadel, a giant space station, but that's an amazing experience. It's the first game to truly capture the majesty of an enmorous space spation since the very old Rendezvious with Rama graphics/text adventure on the C64.