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[Sylar]

How far into the game do you get Liara? I just beat

Spoiler

Matriarch

and still don't have her...am I introuble?

 

[golem]

Who's the best member to accompany Tali in my squad? I really want to keep her in my team, really like her character - so is it best to get some Biotic skills? Liara or Wrex? I am just playing as Shepard the default soldier class.

i was soldier + tali + kaiden, good combo

How far into the game do you get Liara? I just beat

Spoiler

Matriarch

and still don't have her...am I introuble?

no you'll get her but you probably wont get her ally achievement

 

[affableamerican]

Changed my party to Graas or w/e (the tarian or w/e) and Wrex. Is that a good party?

Depends on what your class is. Garrus (a Turian) is a tech/combat class, while Wrex is a biotic/combat class. So you'll be heavy on combat, but you're a non-combat class (like the Engineer, Adept or Sentinel, these two will be fine).

 

[BobFromPikeCreek]

I should have given Tali that geth info. She hates me now and wont talk to me. Is there any way to make her like me again, or is that it?

 

[t0va]

Pshh...you deserve the could shoulder...ass.

 

[arhra]

Who's the best member to accompany Tali in my squad? I really want to keep her in my team, really like her character - so is it best to get some Biotic skills? Liara or Wrex? I am just playing as Shepard the default soldier class.

Tali + Liara is an awesome combo. Tali has lots of aoe effect tech skills (plus shotguns, if you skill her up properly), and Liara has lift/singularity, which groups everything nicely up together to be blown up.

 

[a Master Ninja]

What a letdown.

Spoiler

No topless Liara or female Shepard in the sex scene. Come on now, I earned it Bioware!

 

[Draft]

Ugh, what a disappointment.

Spoiler

No topless Liara in the sex scene. Come on now, I earned it Bioware!

Topless isn't classy. Little sideways ass crack, that's class.

 

[Azih]

Yeah Liara drops a Singularity, Tali unleashes Overload, Sabotage, and Damping, and then Liara can use Throw to send them all flying away , since you're a soldier you can work over the toughest enemy in that ball of suffering.

And yup I'm actually doing a third playthrough, which I've never done before.

My third character is a chick who's the nicest person you'll ever meet.... as long as you're human. Total xenophobe I made just so I could pick all the racist dialouge options that I couldn't bring myself to do with my Renegade. (especially since the Renegade tagged Liara). Plus I figure I should have at least save file for ME2 in which I haven't offed Kaidan, and picked Udina to be head instead of Anderson.

 

[∀ Narayan]

I finished my third play-through. I've been playing with the same Shepard since I bought the game. These additional plays were simply done for the sake of beating the higher difficulties.

I did everything on each play, and I clocked -- in total: about 125-hours.

I've yet to play as a female Shepard. But I'm going to do that when I get a new television. It's definitely a good thing that I'm putting this down for awhile.

 

[a Master Ninja]

So I finally beat the game for the first time. I was ultra-Renegade, explored every planet, completed every sidequest (except Scanning the Keepers), but I didn't get a single ally achievement. I intentionally used Ashley and Wrex the entire time, except for one planet. Bioware's definition of "completing the majority of the game" with a squad mate is clearly different than mine.

 

[Not a Jellyfish]

HAPPY NEW YEAR GAF sorry guys a little drunk but a couple hours ago i just started on that planet veremi or however it is spelled and man awesome very intense i am loving this game. lots of technical problems though awesome none the less.

 

[Ventrue]

So I finally beat the game for the first time. I was ultra-Renegade, explored every planet, completed every sidequest (except Scanning the Keepers), but I didn't get a single ally achievement. I intentionally used Ashley and Wrex the entire time, except for one planet. Bioware's definition of "completing the majority of the game" with a squad mate is clearly different than mine.

Which planet?

I'm afraid I'm going to have to go ahead and say you missed more than you think you did/you switched characters for a critical bit. I got all the ally achievements and they seemed pretty consistent in how they were awarded, once I knew where all the quests were.

 

[a Master Ninja]

Which planet?

Whichever one had the Asari matriarch, I used Liara instead of Ashley. I also did some Citadel quests before I got Wrex. Other than that it was Wrex and Ashley the entire time. I was probably off by one quest or something, but I swear majority is not "51%" in Mass Effect.

Can I play it again avoiding all the non-story planets and still get the Ally achievements? Otherwise screw them.

 

[Ventrue]

Can I play it again avoiding all the non-story planets and still get the Ally achievements? Otherwise screw them.

Nope. Well, I think you might be able to with Kaiden.

Whichever one had the Asari matriarch, I used Liara instead of Ashley. I also did some Citadel quests before I got Wrex. Other than that it was Wrex and Ashley the entire time. I was probably off by one quest or something, but I swear majority is not "51%" in Mass Effect.

Hrm, there is a big gap between Ashley and Wrex in completion percentage; doing some side quests in between hurts too. The main planets do count for a fair bit, so Ashley missed a fair bit. You probably missed more sidequests than you realised though, you really need to go looking for some of them. Perhaps you missed some of the clusters that opened up midway through the game, or missed the ones that you need to actually go to the system to get the quest.

But no, the majority is not 51% here. Basically, if you do all the story planets with the same characters and avoid all sidequests until you get the characters you will be using:

Kaiden - All 18 on-Citadel sidequests and all 9 main-planet sidequests. (and maybe 1 or 2 not on the main worlds?)


Ashley - Above plus a few (6ish) of the 32 uncharted world quests.
Wrex/Garrus (whichever you get first) - Above plus about 10ish uncharted world quests
Tali + Wrex/Garrus (the one you pick up later) - Above plus on the main worlds plus most of the UNC quests (20ish?)
Liara - Everything except about 2 or 3 sidequests.

Each bit of the main quest counts for a different amount. However, where you may have tripped up is that every sidequest counts the same amount. That sidequest where you went to 5 worlds to fight Geth? Counts for the same as convincing the Hannar to stop preaching. The brief hostage negotiation one? Counts for the same as the 3 planets for the crime lord. You can get all but Liara/Tali with doing mostly very quick sidequests, ignoring all the really long ones. You may also have missed the quests for Wrex/Garrus (Tali's doesn't count) that you get by talking to them between missions.

 

[Kweh]

Tali + Liara is an awesome combo. Tali has lots of aoe effect tech skills (plus shotguns, if you skill her up properly), and Liara has lift/singularity, which groups everything nicely up together to be blown up.

Nice.

What is the best weapon for Liara though, since she doesn't have talent points to spend in anything weapon based? She's untrained in everything except Pistol, so I guess I just stick with that?

My Tali has mastered Pistols so far, and she seems to hold her own with those at the moment, but I will definately check out her shotgun path aswell.

 

[PjotrStroganov]

Nice.

What is the best weapon for Liara though, since she doesn't have talent points to spend in anything weapon based? She's untrained in everything except Pistol, so I guess I just stick with that?

My Tali has mastered Pistols so far, and she seems to hold her own with those at the moment, but I will definately check out her shotgun path aswell.

The pistol can be strong. Use enemy-specific ammo and a barrel upgrade and you have a quite effective weapon.

 

[Kweh]

What does it mean when the health bar is flashing green?

 

[angelfly]

What does it mean when the health bar is flashing green?

You've been hit with a chemical round. It'll go away after a while but the quickest way to get rid of it is just to heal yourself.

 

[Sylar]

Depends on what your class is. Garrus (a Turian) is a tech/combat class, while Wrex is a biotic/combat class. So you'll be heavy on combat, but you're a non-combat class (like the Engineer, Adept or Sentinel, these two will be fine).

I'm a Vanguard.

 

[Toonami 99]

Quick question, if you do all the main quests except the last Ilos, can you still do other assignments. Iam on my 3nd run and going for Quarian and Asari. Iam only doing as many assignmets until I get thosse achievements.

 

[painey]

Hey, I beat the game but I wasnt awarded 3 achievements: Complete most of the game, and 2 complete most of the game with X achievements. When should you get them? After I beat Saren for the first time (with the bomb) my game went nuts and I kept getting disk read errors, so that may have been the problem. I want to go and play again but missing these 3 achievements has pissed me off big time

 

[angelfly]

Quick question, if you do all the main quests except the last Ilos, can you still do other assignments. Iam on my 3nd run and going for Quarian and Asari. Iam only doing as many assignmets until I get thosse achievements.

Spoiler

The only quests I know you can't do at that point is The Fan, finding that ship for the guy in the Citadel Tower (Admiral?), and finding that Asari's sister since they require you to leave the Citadel and come back. However some quest you need to get while on the Citadel that don't require you return like defeating the criminal underbosses.Also the quests on the planet where you had to save them from the Geth with those anti-thorian grenades have to be done before completing it. Other than that you can do all of them.

Hey, I beat the game but I wasnt awarded 3 achievements: Complete most of the game, and 2 complete most of the game with X achievements. When should you get them? After I beat Saren for the first time (with the bomb) my game went nuts and I kept getting disk read errors, so that may have been the problem. I want to go and play again but missing these 3 achievements has pissed me off big time

Have have to do a lot of side quest for those. Also if your going for the ally achievements it's best not to do any of the the Citadel one and save them for when you with the allies you want the achievements for. My first playthrough I got it for Ashley but not Liara since I did all Citadel quest before leaving. Liara's quest was also the first one I did after leaving and she was with me ever since.

 

[painey]

argh thats bollocks, i did lots of side quests but didnt get the achievements and then i got to the bit "of no return" which sucked because i wanted to go do more stuff on other planets. Not happy.

 

[Kadey]

I wonder when they'll release a patch for this thing. Item management is driving me crazy.

 

[a Master Ninja]

I wonder when they'll release a patch for this thing. Item management is driving me crazy.

The texture pop-in is driving me crazy. Bioshock uses UE3 and was able to patch it, so there is hope. All they really need to do is fix it so my squad is fully textured at all times and it will be less jarring.

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

Is there any reason that Film Grain is turned on by defualt other than to make the game look like crap?

I immediately turned that off. After awhile, I turned off motion blur too. Even if the frame rate was perfect, I believe I would have those two turned off.

I'm only a few hours in but I'm enjoying it.

 

[CitizenCope]

How Awesome is this game!?!!?!
Would like to go back and change my ranking for '07 to:
1. Mass Effect
2. Bioshock

 

[Chinner]

Is there any reason that Film Grain is turned on by defualt other than to make the game look like crap?

Each to their own, film grain looks great for me.

 

[Apharmd Battler]

Nope. Well, I think you might be able to with Kaiden.



Hrm, there is a big gap between Ashley and Wrex in completion percentage; doing some side quests in between hurts too. The main planets do count for a fair bit, so Ashley missed a fair bit. You probably missed more sidequests than you realised though, you really need to go looking for some of them. Perhaps you missed some of the clusters that opened up midway through the game, or missed the ones that you need to actually go to the system to get the quest.

But no, the majority is not 51% here. Basically, if you do all the story planets with the same characters and avoid all sidequests until you get the characters you will be using:

Kaiden - All 16 main-planet sidequests and all 9 on-Citadel sidequests (and maybe 1 or 2 not on the main worlds?)


Ashley - Above plus a few (6ish) of the 32 uncharted world quests.
Wrex/Garrus (whichever you get first) - Above plus about 10ish uncharted world quests
Tali + Wrex/Garrus (the one you pick up later) - Above plus on the main worlds plus most of the UNC quests (20ish?)
Liara - Everything except about 2 or 3 sidequests.

Each bit of the main quest counts for a different amount. However, where you may have tripped up is that every sidequest counts the same amount. That sidequest where you went to 5 worlds to fight Geth? Counts for the same as convincing the Hannar to stop preaching. The brief hostage negotiation one? Counts for the same as the 3 planets for the crime lord. You can get all but Liara/Tali with doing mostly very quick sidequests, ignoring all the really long ones. You may also have missed the quests for Wrex/Garrus (Tali's doesn't count) that you get by talking to them between missions.

Thanks for spelling it out, I'm on my third playthrough and have yet to get a single Ally acheivement. NOw I have a bteeer perspective on the situation. More work than it has to be though. Oh well......

 

[Mashing]

You know, something I've been wondering. When ME2 comes out it's supposedly supposed to use your ME1 save file to determine how certain events play out (for instance, I believe there's consequences regarding your choice to

Spoiler

save/kill the Racni Queen

). What I would like to know is that if you play two games with the same character (something the game calls another career), I wonder which career it will use?

Probably too early to even speculate at this point. I hope it gives us a choice.

 

[arhra]

What I would like to know is that if you play two games with the same character (something the game calls another career), I wonder which career it will use?

Probably too early to even speculate at this point. I hope it gives us a choice.

It saves seperate end-game saves for every time you complete the game, even with the same character. You can see them all on the career selection screen for new game+. I imagine that the sequel will use a similar mechanism for loading ME 1 saves. Only minor niggle is that the only way to tell them apart is by the total time played.

 

[Ghost]

You know, something I've been wondering. When ME2 comes out it's supposedly supposed to use your ME1 save file to determine how certain events play out (for instance, I believe there's consequences regarding your choice to

Spoiler

save/kill the Racni Queen

). What I would like to know is that if you play two games with the same character (something the game calls another career), I wonder which career it will use?

Probably too early to even speculate at this point. I hope it gives us a choice.

Where did you hear that?




Im not sure if I even want my Sheppard or his actions in ME2, I'll be pissed off If i have to play ME through again once ME2 comes out just because I cant access a certain quest without completing the first game a certain way.

I think I might prefer the KOTOR2 approach of letting you decide what happened in the sequel (through a conversation).

 

[Azih]

Where did you hear that?




Im not sure if I even want my Sheppard or his actions in ME2, I'll be pissed off If i have to play ME through again once ME2 comes out just because I cant access a certain quest without completing the first game a certain way.

I think I might prefer the KOTOR2 approach of letting you decide what happened in the sequel (through a conversation).

I'm sure it'll work the same way as starting a new career works in ME1. If you have a save file from a completed career then you can choose to use that or choose to start from scratch. I don't think people who haven't played ME1 will be penalized in ME2.

 

[arhra]

I'm sure it'll work the same way as starting a new career works in ME1. If you have a save file from a completed career then you can choose to use that or choose to start from scratch. I don't think people who haven't played ME1 will be penalized in ME2.

Yeah, and i imagine they'll probably have something similar to the options to select your background/service history in the sequel, to set up some details of the events of the first game, if you start a new character.

 

[Spruce Moose]

A couple hours in and man, this game is buggy as hell. I'm getting Halo 2 flashbacks with all the pop-ins. :lol

It seems like a pretty good game despite it's technical flaws (it's the only game that makes my 360 grunt and fart and generally sound like it's going to explode) and I'm enjoying it much more than Jade Empire. I'll reserve final judgment until I'm done however.

 

[Captain Glanton]

argh thats bollocks, i did lots of side quests but didnt get the achievements and then i got to the bit "of no return" which sucked because i wanted to go do more stuff on other planets. Not happy.

One of my least favorite things about Bioware games [which overall I love] is that you're hopping along, doing quests, and all of a sudden you're locked into the endgame and can't go back and tie things up. A roadsign would be nice is all.

Maybe this is common to the genre, but I don't play a whole lot of RPGs.

 

[BobFromPikeCreek]

Can anyone give me a spoiler free-ish idea of when the "point of no return" is?

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Can anyone give me a spoiler free-ish idea of when the "point of no return" is?

Landing on Ilos. Just do everything before you do that.

 

[Kill Your Masters]

Where did you hear that?




Im not sure if I even want my Sheppard or his actions in ME2, I'll be pissed off If i have to play ME through again once ME2 comes out just because I cant access a certain quest without completing the first game a certain way.

I think I might prefer the KOTOR2 approach of letting you decide what happened in the sequel (through a conversation).

Well I wouldn't. I want my decisions from any of my ME playtroughs to carry over to the second game. Technically it's possible, and I already have 2 careers with two different approaches which I want to use in ME2.

 

[Captain Glanton]

Can anyone give me a spoiler free-ish idea of when the "point of no return" is?

Spoiler

When you return to the Citadel from Virmire, you have some trouble and have to go 'finish things right away.'

iirc, of course.

 

[BobFromPikeCreek]

Landing on Ilos. Just do everything before you do that.

Thanks!

 

[arhra]

Landing on Ilos. Just do everything before you do that.

There's also the Citadel point of no return - finish anything that requires you to return to the Citadel before finishing your last major plot planet (excluding Ilos, so the last one from the set of Therum/Feros/Noveria/Virmire).

 

[CushVA]

Tali + Liara is an awesome combo. Tali has lots of aoe effect tech skills (plus shotguns, if you skill her up properly), and Liara has lift/singularity, which groups everything nicely up together to be blown up.

another fun thing to do when fighting outdoors:

When there's maybe one or two guys left, get close to one and use "LIFT" get underneath them and look straight up, wait a moment of two, then use "THROW".....timing has to be just right, but they'll go flying. I lost track of where the guy went, but Wrex just stood there blasting his assault rifle straight up.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

There's also the Citadel point of no return - finish anything that requires you to return to the Citadel before finishing your last major plot planet (excluding Ilos, so the last one from the set of Therum/Feros/Noveria/Virmire).

Right but there's a conversation you have that makes it pretty clear when that is and if you've done everything Citadel related you want to. You're not locked in with no warning like Ilos.

 

[Ventrue]

Thanks for spelling it out, I'm on my third playthrough and have yet to get a single Ally acheivement. NOw I have a bteeer perspective on the situation. More work than it has to be though. Oh well......

Just thought I'd note that I put the Citadel/main planet quests the wrong way around obviously; I've fixed it now for 18 on the Citadel and 9 on the main planets.

 

[arhra]

Right but there's a conversation you have that makes it pretty clear when that is and if you've done everything Citadel related you want to. You're not locked in with no warning like Ilos.

Not really - there's no real warning before you land on the last planet that you're hitting a point of no return, and once you finish up, you're forced straight back to the Citadel without a chance to do any more sidequests.

 

[Ventrue]

Not really - there's no real warning before you land on the last planet that you're hitting a point of no return, and once you finish up, you're forced straight back to the Citadel without a chance to do any more sidequests.

Well, you can do any sidequests that are entirely on the Citadel. Can't start any of the 4 'start at the Citadel and then go to a UNC then come back' quests though.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Not really - there's no real warning before you land on the last planet that you're hitting a point of no return, and once you finish up, you're forced straight back to the Citadel without a chance to do any more sidequests.

That's what I said. There IS a warning before you're cut off from all the Citadel sidequests. Not before you land on Ilos.

 

[arhra]

That's what I said. There IS a warning before you're cut off from all the Citadel sidequests. Not before you land on Ilos.

My point was that if you have sidequests to do that eventually require returning to the Citadel to complete (Asari Diplomacy, Missing Marines, and Privateers being the ones that come to mind most readily, can't remember if there are any others), but which you haven't yet completed to that stage, there is no warning before landing on the fourth planet that you're about to be cut off from the ability to finish them.