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Mass Effect |OT| Alien love in an elevator
- Thread starter Mr. Spinnington
- Start date
I think the scholar achievement may be bugged for me. Can anyone who has gotten this achievement list what races they have in their codex?
I finished the game at 37 hours and did pretty much EVERYTHING... everything I could find anyway. Yet I didn't get this achievement...really weird
BTW the game rules and the ending is the most epic thing I've ever seen in a game. The whole last hour or so... just holy shit.
I finished the game at 37 hours and did pretty much EVERYTHING... everything I could find anyway. Yet I didn't get this achievement...really weird
BTW the game rules and the ending is the most epic thing I've ever seen in a game. The whole last hour or so... just holy shit.
Superblatt
Member
rocK` said:
Yes, I've had it happen twice now. I don't think there is anything wrong with our systems (yet) but this seems to be the xbox's way of saying it ran into an error with the game. I'd be curious to know how many people have encountered this.
"God's Beard!"
Member
holy shit, achievement unlockables!
Next gen has almost made me forget that games used to have unlockables!
Next gen has almost made me forget that games used to have unlockables!
L0st Id3ntity
Member
How do I unlock sniper rifles and assault rifles?
My shepard is a soldier.
My shepard is a soldier.
BenjaminBirdie
Banned
God's Beard said:
What exactly unlocks and how does one get it? We got the Pistol Achievement. What should we be looking for?
BenjaminBirdie
Banned
ShinAmano said:
Oh shit, awesome! Thanks man.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
SpudBud said:
By the time I finished my first playthrough on casual, I had 5 million... My playthrough on hardcore was pretty much a piece of cake at that point, since I could just grab all the good gear.
Well I've spent a bit more time with this now (something like 15 hours) and I've got mixed feelings about it. At points, particularly the beginning (once I had learned how the combat worked properly) I loved it, but there are some things that show the game was clearly rushed out of the door, and other things that are just bad game design.
It's very cinematic, and looks excellent, but the framerate really is atrocious in places. Once you disable the motion blur, it's ok when you're inside somewhere - it'll probably be tearing a bit but it won't hamper gameplay. Outside when exploring some of the planets in the Mako though, it must have been going into single digits in places.
Their dialogue system is both great and terrible at the same time. It's a great idea that they summarise something with a couple of words for you to pick, and then elaborate on that idea when it's actually being spoken - it helps keep you interested in the dialogue. However, the time you have to choose your option usually isn't long enough to keep the conversation flowing smoothly, and I actually find myself spending more time deciding what I'm going to say sometimes, as it doesn't always get across the tone in which something is going to be said, and I find myself trying to think what the developers are going to have me say if I pick something. There's been a few times where I've just thought "I didn't want to say that" and I'm now getting into the habit of saving before what I expect to be "big" conversations.
One thing I found annoying is that, at this point, I've been trying to go for paragon points, and maxing out my charm when I level up. My only option to get more of these was to finish off a quest or two, so I headed back to the Citadel only to be greeted with a conversation I couldn't charm my way out of, despite me having it as high as possible at that point. Obviously I've missed some paragon points somewhere along the line, but it just feels like I'm wasting them if I've put in 7/8 points (fairly early on) and have barely had an opportunity to use them.
I'm really struggling with the combat in places as a result of doing this - I can deal out a lot of damage with my sniper rifle, but my pistol is almost useless, despite having one that is quite a bit more powerful than any of the vendors is selling at this time, with good mods, and I'm about halfway into the pistol skill. (I'm an Infiltrator so I'm only skilled in sniping/pistols) Most of the combat so far has been quite close-up, rendering my sniper rifle almost useless, unless I just take risks and try to aim it at point-blank range. (seeing as you have to zoom in to shoot it)
I'm also not sure I've made the right decision with my squad. To get the achievements, I hear you basically need to use that character from when you find them. So I had Wrex and Garrus to begin with, but Garrus would basically die 10 seconds into any firefight, despite me buying the best armour available for him, and maxing out any of his defensive skills. So when I found Liara I then swapped him out with her. She's really useful but now Wrex is just acting as a "tank" to use RPG terms, running up front taking all the damage (even when I tell them to stay back) and dying almost straight away! He's even got 5/6 shield bars, but they seem to get wiped out almost instantly.
What I can only assume is early on in the game, I went to get Liara (the first main quest I was given, if I remember correctly) and I was constantly dying if I took one hit from the stronger enemies. This has also got me into the habit of saving all the time now, as the auto-save is virtually useless.
I suspect this is a result of me putting points into things like charm rather than just pumping all my points into armour / shield/ health boosting abilities, but I would have thought the game was going to be more flexible than just making you have to play a "soldier" class.
I've run into some annoying bugs - I've had my character replaced with Wrex:
And I've had on-screen messages stay there no matter what, forcing me to restart the game. When exploring one planet, I got out of the Mako, and it slid me down the side of a cliff (rather than getting out onto the flat land on the other side) which got me stuck. When I finally got un-stuck, it turned out the cliff was too steep for me to climb up and get back into the Mako!
And some things are just poor design. I had a mission where I was supposed to take out a crime lord hiding on some planet (it's not a spoiler, really) and I'm told that he has a good base, with lots of defenses set up as he's expecting an attack on him. So there's me imagining this icy planet that was described with a big base to fight my way through to get to a crime lord. I arrive, and outside there are two sniper towers, and maybe one or two guys just running around with regular guns. Doesn't look like much of a base from the outside, so I head in. It's a dark tunnel / cave with some water running along the ground. (I think to myself, that's cool the heat from these guys staying here must be thawing some of the ice causing it to run in - a nice touch there) I come to a room full of crates with 4/5 enemies, obviously this is just the "entrance" to the base... and then when I wipe them out a crime lord runs out and dies with 2/3 shots from my sniper rifle. No good loot (everything is a "level" below what my squad is using) and there's just two tiny rooms - one with nothing in it and the other with a single weapons locker. No beds, or anywhere these people could have actually survived, just a big cave with some boxes and two tiny rooms off either side. Not quite what I imagined.
To add insult to injury, I go to my next side-quest which is on a desert planet. I won't go into the details of the mission, but I end up going into the exact same room only this time there are different enemies in there. Clear out the room and that's that mission done too. Terrible. Combine that with the fact that the only other side-quests I've had have been running around the Citadel talking to people, I'm starting to see why Bryan at 1up decided to skip them all, and got the game done pretty quickly. It seems they were also right about picking skills that aren't combat focused - it will maybe have a slight impact on the story, but it's not worth it for how much more difficult it makes the combat. It's not fun doing most encounters 2/3 times just to survive them.
At this point, despite putting in about 15 hours, I'm thinking of starting over, as it's just becoming very repetitive with the combat just becoming tedious.
I've been thinking about picking up the guide too - not for my first play through, but for subsequent ones (assuming I stick with it) but I noticed that there is a "Collector's Edition" strategy guide available - does anyone know what the difference is that makes it cost twice as much as the regular one? Is it just that it's a hardback book, or is there something extra included with it?
It's very cinematic, and looks excellent, but the framerate really is atrocious in places. Once you disable the motion blur, it's ok when you're inside somewhere - it'll probably be tearing a bit but it won't hamper gameplay. Outside when exploring some of the planets in the Mako though, it must have been going into single digits in places.
Their dialogue system is both great and terrible at the same time. It's a great idea that they summarise something with a couple of words for you to pick, and then elaborate on that idea when it's actually being spoken - it helps keep you interested in the dialogue. However, the time you have to choose your option usually isn't long enough to keep the conversation flowing smoothly, and I actually find myself spending more time deciding what I'm going to say sometimes, as it doesn't always get across the tone in which something is going to be said, and I find myself trying to think what the developers are going to have me say if I pick something. There's been a few times where I've just thought "I didn't want to say that" and I'm now getting into the habit of saving before what I expect to be "big" conversations.
One thing I found annoying is that, at this point, I've been trying to go for paragon points, and maxing out my charm when I level up. My only option to get more of these was to finish off a quest or two, so I headed back to the Citadel only to be greeted with a conversation I couldn't charm my way out of, despite me having it as high as possible at that point. Obviously I've missed some paragon points somewhere along the line, but it just feels like I'm wasting them if I've put in 7/8 points (fairly early on) and have barely had an opportunity to use them.
I'm really struggling with the combat in places as a result of doing this - I can deal out a lot of damage with my sniper rifle, but my pistol is almost useless, despite having one that is quite a bit more powerful than any of the vendors is selling at this time, with good mods, and I'm about halfway into the pistol skill. (I'm an Infiltrator so I'm only skilled in sniping/pistols) Most of the combat so far has been quite close-up, rendering my sniper rifle almost useless, unless I just take risks and try to aim it at point-blank range. (seeing as you have to zoom in to shoot it)
I'm also not sure I've made the right decision with my squad. To get the achievements, I hear you basically need to use that character from when you find them. So I had Wrex and Garrus to begin with, but Garrus would basically die 10 seconds into any firefight, despite me buying the best armour available for him, and maxing out any of his defensive skills. So when I found Liara I then swapped him out with her. She's really useful but now Wrex is just acting as a "tank" to use RPG terms, running up front taking all the damage (even when I tell them to stay back) and dying almost straight away! He's even got 5/6 shield bars, but they seem to get wiped out almost instantly.
What I can only assume is early on in the game, I went to get Liara (the first main quest I was given, if I remember correctly) and I was constantly dying if I took one hit from the stronger enemies. This has also got me into the habit of saving all the time now, as the auto-save is virtually useless.
I suspect this is a result of me putting points into things like charm rather than just pumping all my points into armour / shield/ health boosting abilities, but I would have thought the game was going to be more flexible than just making you have to play a "soldier" class.
I've run into some annoying bugs - I've had my character replaced with Wrex:
And I've had on-screen messages stay there no matter what, forcing me to restart the game. When exploring one planet, I got out of the Mako, and it slid me down the side of a cliff (rather than getting out onto the flat land on the other side) which got me stuck. When I finally got un-stuck, it turned out the cliff was too steep for me to climb up and get back into the Mako!
And some things are just poor design. I had a mission where I was supposed to take out a crime lord hiding on some planet (it's not a spoiler, really) and I'm told that he has a good base, with lots of defenses set up as he's expecting an attack on him. So there's me imagining this icy planet that was described with a big base to fight my way through to get to a crime lord. I arrive, and outside there are two sniper towers, and maybe one or two guys just running around with regular guns. Doesn't look like much of a base from the outside, so I head in. It's a dark tunnel / cave with some water running along the ground. (I think to myself, that's cool the heat from these guys staying here must be thawing some of the ice causing it to run in - a nice touch there) I come to a room full of crates with 4/5 enemies, obviously this is just the "entrance" to the base... and then when I wipe them out a crime lord runs out and dies with 2/3 shots from my sniper rifle. No good loot (everything is a "level" below what my squad is using) and there's just two tiny rooms - one with nothing in it and the other with a single weapons locker. No beds, or anywhere these people could have actually survived, just a big cave with some boxes and two tiny rooms off either side. Not quite what I imagined.
To add insult to injury, I go to my next side-quest which is on a desert planet. I won't go into the details of the mission, but I end up going into the exact same room only this time there are different enemies in there. Clear out the room and that's that mission done too. Terrible. Combine that with the fact that the only other side-quests I've had have been running around the Citadel talking to people, I'm starting to see why Bryan at 1up decided to skip them all, and got the game done pretty quickly. It seems they were also right about picking skills that aren't combat focused - it will maybe have a slight impact on the story, but it's not worth it for how much more difficult it makes the combat. It's not fun doing most encounters 2/3 times just to survive them.
At this point, despite putting in about 15 hours, I'm thinking of starting over, as it's just becoming very repetitive with the combat just becoming tedious.
I've been thinking about picking up the guide too - not for my first play through, but for subsequent ones (assuming I stick with it) but I noticed that there is a "Collector's Edition" strategy guide available - does anyone know what the difference is that makes it cost twice as much as the regular one? Is it just that it's a hardback book, or is there something extra included with it?
BenjaminBirdie
Banned
One more thing about Achievement bonuses. Are they for every character I create or just the one that unlocks them?
In my save he does the same thing as well...dropping like a fly in almost every combat situation I end up in...he just (against orders) charges into their midst and gets blown away. I think it's just his personality.andrewfee said:
Health Regen mods, for me.TheWolf said:
That and I take my time with the fights...despite using a shotgun, I don't rush into the battle unless I know I'll run over every foe with ease.
Superblatt
Member
andrewfee said:
I'm playing the Solider class myself (level 22 right now) and have had some trouble getting through the early portions of the game. However, once I hit 20 and was able to upgrade my gear, the game really took off. The difficulty has been just perfect so far. It doesn't seem that many people are having much luck combat wise with other classes -- like Infiltrator. Maybe this is that we don't know the correct way to level up your char yet, but it seems kinda unbalanced if that's the case.
Aren't the best rpgs flexible enough to allow most classes to be used in multiple different upgrade patterns? I thought that was the beauty of an RPG. I initially almost chose playing as an Adept, but I'm sure as hell happy I didn't now.
Superblatt
Member
ShinAmano said:
You know what would be cool? A recommended skill path for all classes except soldier. No one seems to have a fucking clue how to use these other classes.
Woo-Fu
Banned
ShinAmano said:
No. You have to do most of the game. I've done three speed runs after my initial game where I did almost everything. Only got an ally achievement for the first one. Kind of sucks.
Gattsu25 said:
He only has pistol and sniper rifle available. If he is rushing in then he must have pistol selected. Make him switch to sniper and tell him to hold back, he will.
Naeblish said:
I've got a lvl 59 character working through hardcore, haven't found anything better than Spectre Master Gear X weapons.
Jirotrom said:h'm so I guess the IGN guys were wrong, they stated you could change your class mid game
You do change class, but only to a specialized version of your base class. For instance, my infiltrator became a commando.
You can...but it's more like a class specialization than a whole class change. Only the skill with your class name changes.Jirotrom said:h'm so I guess the IGN guys were wrong, they stated you could change your class mid game
faux edit: beaten
He's my resident sniperWoo-Fu said:
real edit: also, what determines if you can or cannot zoom in with your gun (thinking shotguns, here)? I think you can't zoom in / aim when your health is in the "screen goes red" state. Is there something else?
real edit #2:
In the optional quest where you search a star cluster for geth outposts, I had a weird bug after you clear the last outpost...a cinematic event occurs where you learn of a last larger outpost that is likely their headquarters for the region...after this movie, I was suspended nearly 1/4 mile above the surface of the planet and could not see my character or party. My aiming reticle showed me that I had my shotgun out but I couldn't move...yet I could shoot. I couldn't return to my Mako (I was in the mako when I killed the last geth on that planet) I *could* shoot, however. Anyway...I paused the game, went into the map, and was able to return to the Normandy from there
I've been doing that, and have four shield bars with every character (well, Liara has 5/6, whatever the max is) and I'm still going down to about 1/4 health from a single hit at this stage. Up until recently I'd just die outright from virtually everything.TheWolf said:
That's pretty much my main problem with it - it seems like the game is only made to be playing as a soldier type class, rather than anything else, and really punishes you if you're putting points into non-combat skills. (like charm)Superblatt said:
Everything was fine at the start, but once I left the Citadel I was getting my ass kicked in every encounter.
sixteen-bit
Member
Request.
I'm making a new cover insert for the game, but neither Bioware's fansite kit nor the Xbox.com press kit contain high-res artwork or renders of Kaidan Alenko or Liara T'sori. Can anyone help me out?
I'm making a new cover insert for the game, but neither Bioware's fansite kit nor the Xbox.com press kit contain high-res artwork or renders of Kaidan Alenko or Liara T'sori. Can anyone help me out?
Woo-Fu
Banned
andrewfee said:
Wasn't my experience at all. If you're playing on normal you can always go do some exploration and gain a few levels so you're that much stronger in the story missions.
My first time through the game I pretty much exclusively used the pistol, weakest weapon in the game.
The game is easier playing as a soldier because your team does all the thinking for you while all you do is run&gun. You can do it the other way around, though. Team up with Wrex and Williams and while you're overloading shields, dampening skills and sabotaging enemy weapons they'll be shooting them full of holes.
At higher difficulty levels weapon skills start to fall behind. Shoot a regular mob on insanity with a lvl 10 pistol and notice that his health doesn't noticeably decrease, lol. My infiltrator has had to go almost exclusively sniper rifle and shield overload to kill things while also constantly telling the rest of the team to focus on my target.
forgeforsaken
Member
andrewfee said:
What difficulty are you on? Playing on normal I've really had no problems with my Infiltrator at all. In fact I've gotten through a bunch of what seem to be the tougher encounters for other people
Benizia
Superblatt said:
Infiltrator picks up after lvl 24-26. If there is no hazard on a planet, I prefer sniping outside turrets to risking the heavy armor but weak hitting Mako. Pistol isn't too bad once you got that maxed out, actually. But the game definately requires some planning. I maxed out my sniper, pistol, infiltrator and charm skills asap while Wrex has armor, fitness, assault rifles and lift maxed out. I took Garrus for the decryption/electronics department, as well as assault rifles and first aid. At this point I can just breeze through everything without it being a problem. I have done a shitload of sidemissions though. I got every sidemission done up till now (apart from the collection quests)(Noveria and Liana done) and am gonna start with the Feria planet soon.
As for my second playthrough, I'm getting a Vanguard with Kaidan and that engineering bitch.
Yes.
I literally lost a good 30 minutes of gameplay yesterday simply because I forgot to save. I can usually handle everything just fine, but if you make a mistake in the wrong place, you'll die very fast. I shut off the game for the night as a result. :\
Still enjoying the game, though. Even when things aren't well designed (side missions), I still find the atmosphere to be rather enjoyable. Certain bits that seem simple suddenly become a joy as a result of atmophere.
It certainly isn't as polished as I would have hoped, but again, I can't stress how much more solid it feels next to KOTOR and Jade Empire.
djtortilla
Member
anyone care to quickly summarize why they think this game is M-rated?