The Xbox 360 Thread Elite Edition

[David Hingtgen]

Constant rumors on the ME boards. We'll see. First DLC is rumored for Xmas. Could include fixes/patch, could be just new armor colors. Could release a patch prior to the DLC.

I saw probably my worst ever texture glitch. Shepard AND Ashley didn't have their textures when I started the game the first time tonight. And one of the longer waits ever for them to "pop in".

Anyone else ever see the Normandy lose a texture? The name "Normandy" is a separate texture over the black texture.

[yellowlightman]

Maybe we should make a stand alone Mass Effect thread?

[eugimon]

Constant rumors on the ME boards. We'll see. First DLC is rumored for Xmas. Could include fixes/patch, could be just new armor colors. Could release a patch prior to the DLC.

I saw probably my worst ever texture glitch. Shepard AND Ashley didn't have their textures when I started the game the first time tonight. And one of the longer waits ever for them to "pop in".

Anyone else ever see the Normandy lose a texture? The name "Normandy" is a separate texture over the black texture.

The docking area at feros dropped all of its texture on me, and I walked through a glowing, pulsing purple hallway. That's pretty much the worst I've seen.

[eugimon]

Guys guys, ME just came out give it a break I doubt we'd see ME 2 for a good while.

But I did start out with a Vanguard and my are they the most kick ass class ever.

Is there ever going to be a update to fix the graphical hitches though?

true true. but I'm still having fun playing as different classes. I'm still finding new quests every now and then as well. I'll move onto assassins creed sooner or later.

[David Hingtgen]

ME thread? IMHO, "too late now". A lot of us have already beat it, it'd be a pretty short-lived thread. I'm not playing it again until I get my HDTV. My 2nd run will be in high-res!

[mikeszekely]

Anyways---mwa hah hah. My "throwaway" ME character paid off, and I unlocked singularity in about an hour. My next "real" play will be a Vanguard--but with singularity. Will have all the powers of the adept, none of the weaknesses. (Well, a slower recharge time, only a true adept gets the class-specific charge time reduction bonuses)

Wait, what? Am I missing something? You started a ME character, leveled him/her up enough to get Singularity, and then quit that character? And later, you're going to start a Vanguard, and even though Vanguards don't get Singularity, yours will because of the previous character? How does that work?

[mikeszekely]

Constant rumors on the ME boards. We'll see. First DLC is rumored for Xmas. Could include fixes/patch, could be just new armor colors. Could release a patch prior to the DLC.

I saw probably my worst ever texture glitch. Shepard AND Ashley didn't have their textures when I started the game the first time tonight. And one of the longer waits ever for them to "pop in".

Anyone else ever see the Normandy lose a texture? The name "Normandy" is a separate texture over the black texture.

I've had bad texture pop-in occasionally. One time I got on an elevator, and all three characters were people (well, one Turian) shaped blobs, and as the elevator ran, one by one each texture loaded. But texture issues and the occasional pauses to load were minor nuisances. The only bug that really pissed me off was one where I'd get knocked around

fighting Benezia... I'd get knocked over by a Biotic attack just before one of those cutscenes where her power drops and more Asari and Geth rush in, and wind up stuck and misshapen on the ground. One time my head was in my butt! I'd never get back up, and couldn't even access the start menu... all I could do was semi order my party around and wait for them to die.

Oh, BTW, for those of you who finished the game, did you make it to 50 and get the Achievement that goes along with it? I'm wondering how hard it is to make it to 50. I'm at 45 right now, I've done the first three main missions after leaving the Citadel, and probably every side assignment there is, including the mining one (excluding, of course, any new side missions gained between Virmire and the end of the game). Five levels in the time left is doable, right?

Edited December 2, 2007 by mikeszekely

[eugimon]

Wait, what? Am I missing something? You started a ME character, leveled him/her up enough to get Singularity, and then quit that character? And later, you're going to start a Vanguard, and even though Vanguards don't get Singularity, yours will because of the previous character? How does that work?

if you unlock the "mastery" achievement for abilities (pistol, AR, first-aid, whatever) you can select one of those abilities for any new shepard you make from that point on. Example, I unlocked the assault rifle mastery with my soldier, so on my adpet character, I chose AR as my bonus ability. It's pretty cool.

And when I finished my game on hardcore setting, I was lvl 50 and I didn't complete any of the collect XX missions.

[David Hingtgen]

Yup, I have AR and singularity unlocked, so ANY future character can use them, regardless of class. (Can only pick one though, so even if you unlock every ability in the game, you can only have one "bonus") But singularity is the only biotic power a vanguard doesn't normally have, so it's pretty nice to do that one. (I'd go for hacking too so I could have a fully-teched infiltrator, but that one has even more restrictions on what "counts" as a use than singularity---it may take many hours and isn't worth it)

[David Hingtgen]

Awesome thing to try for your second playthrough etc (regarding Liara):

If you delay a long time before getting her (do Feros, Noveria, and Virmire first) when you finally do get her, she's gone insane from being trapped so long. Thinks she's hallucinating, etc. Doesn't seem to be permanent, but apparently is hilarious for the entire level.

As I'm going for her ally acheivement next run, I can't do this for a while. But the third time (and I'll have Wrex along)...

I personally know that a one-planet "delay" won't work.

[eugimon]

awesome, going to have to try that!

[HoveringCheesecake]

Now that you guys have played through the game once or twice, do you have any suggestions for anyone who hasn't started yet? No spoilers, just suggestions.

[eugimon]

Now that you guys have played through the game once or twice, do you have any suggestions for anyone who hasn't started yet? No spoilers, just suggestions.

I would lvl up charm/intimidate as much as possible, early on it will help you out a lot, extra exp and extra rewards.

[David Hingtgen]

1. Set your party's AI (in the main game options) to "auto". It defaults to "defense only" which sucks.

Yeah, level up charm or intimidate. Also, don't buy ANY weapons or armor for the first half of the game. You'll get more than enough "in the field". Use your money to buy health/grenade upgrades (rare but easy to find) and licenses, so that when you DO have money to blow near the end, you can get the good stuff.

In the beginning, what you find is better than what you can buy (and you're poor). At the end, you can buy way better than you find (and you're rich). But the *really* good stuff is only available if you have the right licenses, so buy them whenever you see them.

Also---pistol is supposed to be very good when levelled up, but I haven't done it yet. Assault rifle is all-around good.

Finally---the "mineral collection" quest is almost never-ending, and there's no special reward. Feel free to skip/ignore. Though in a round-about way, it leads to many other quests.

PS---the overall difficulty is fairly heavily affected by your armor. If you want your first time to be relatively easy, be a soldier to get the heavy armor. Vanguard/Infiltrator are next, with medium armor.

[eugimon]

the mineral collection is an easy way to earn money early in the game, but I agree, there seems to be little point to it.

and the pistol is an awesome weapon, it's very accurate, even early on and you can hit things beyond your scanners range, so if you have a good tv and you see something moving or glowing WAY out in the distance, you can peg it and kill it.

[David Hingtgen]

Oh, I forgot possibly the most important thing:

When in the Mako---hold down L trigger. Then click R-stick (while still holding down L-trigger). Trust me. Use it whenever possible. Fire from afar. Very far.

[JsARCLIGHT]

I *finally* beat the game tonight... but I had to cheat my difficulty back down to Normal because I just couldn't survive the last few fights. I guess my levels were too low and my stills too weak to survive on Hardcore at the end. Even so I finished the game on level 49.

I'm not sure when I'll get back to playing it again as I still have to finish Orange Box.

I fully recommend the pistol and sniper rifle. Especially at the end my sniper rifle with the crazy nuclear rounds (not their real name, I forget their real name, but the ones that gave you like a 500% damage bonus but that instantly overheated the weapon) and as much coolant as I could fit in completely obliterated anything in nearly one shot. I know others here love the hell out of that Assault Rifle but I played through 90% of the game on Hardcore the first time through using only a pistol and a sniper rifle and found those to be "the only way to go" for long range accurate fire. Everything else is a close range bullet hose.

[eugimon]

Oh, I forgot possibly the most important thing:

When in the Mako---hold down L trigger. Then click R-stick (while still holding down L-trigger). Trust me. Use it whenever possible. Fire from afar. Very far.

Towards the middle of the game, I just park the mako and take things out with my squad. After a while, your weapons pack more punch than the mako and it's way easier to dodge enemy rocket and glowing blue ball of death attacks.

[mikeszekely]

Towards the middle of the game, I just park the mako and take things out with my squad. After a while, your weapons pack more punch than the mako and it's way easier to dodge enemy rocket and glowing blue ball of death attacks.

And you get more XP if you kill stuff without the Mako.

As for the mineral quest, I don't think it's hard to complete. For it, the Asari writings, the Turian Emblems, the Signs of Battle, and the Prothean data discs, you can collect more than is required, but the quest will count as complete once you hit the minimum required. If you take time to do the other side quests, survey everything you can't land on (move the cursor slowly around asteroid belts and you'll occasionally find an asteroid you can survey), investigate everything on the map when you land on a planet (you'll come across mineral piles that don't show on the map, but will on radar as you're driving around), you'll probably complete them all anyway. It worked for me.

And about the Charm/Intimidate thing, decide early if you want to be a Paragon or Renegade, then focus only on Charm or Intimidate, not both. 9 times out of 10, if a conversation has an extra option for one, it has it for both.

Oh, yeah, almost forgot, try to take the same two people with you on every mission. If you're playing as a Soldier, I'd recommend taking either Garrus or Tali as one of them, and maxing both his/her Decryption and Electronics skills.

Edited December 3, 2007 by mikeszekely

[CoryHolmes]

Now that you guys have played through the game once or twice, do you have any suggestions for anyone who hasn't started yet? No spoilers, just suggestions.

Suggestion #1: Buy the game.

Suggestion #2: Play the game.

Suggestion #3: babble endlessly about the game with the rest of us

[David Hingtgen]

Mineral quest:

I ended up with 50% more than I needed for some things, but only 1/2 of what I needed for others. It was very lopsided. I went to EVERY system (except 1 I think), and still didn't have nearly enough rare nor heavy metals. And I spent hours driving around planets looking for more. The only way I'll try again is if someone makes a map showing all the highest concentrations. I mean--you don't get anything for beating it. It's no different than a 5-min Citadel quest, reward/plot-wise. It just takes 500 mins.

Asari writings--that was slightly annoying, in that when I only needed one more--I found a place with THREE of them within like 5 feet of each other. I could have finished long before if I'd went there earlier.

I only ever completed about half of the collection quests. There really was no incentive by the end, and I'd basically run out of places to go, other than back to some planets and drive around some more--which I was not going to do. All the other quests have some plot to them at least, however small.

[eugimon]

the mineral quest does seem quite pointless, just an incentive to spend more time in the bouncy buggie and look around.

[Ishimaru]

Its probably me but I'm so paranoid over making another character after my first one, even doubting what I picked for my first one.

I felt I should have picked the default marine statues instead of picking the default character model with vanguard event though I beat the game.

And now I'm playing through as Jane being a infiltrator, ugh this is so agonizing. And she is not even cute, should I just remake her character? (Some recommendations would be nice)

I'm still doing Eden Prime so I still got some options...

I'm thinking of playing through marine with a custom and default character, then go custom with everything else. And even when selecting a difficulty setting I can't make the choice.

Ack I'm not even sure of that either, how do you guys deal with these type of things?

Edit: Almost double posted.

Edited December 3, 2007 by Ishimaru

[mikeszekely]

Mineral quest:

I ended up with 50% more than I needed for some things, but only 1/2 of what I needed for others. It was very lopsided. I went to EVERY system (except 1 I think), and still didn't have nearly enough rare nor heavy metals. And I spent hours driving around planets looking for more. The only way I'll try again is if someone makes a map showing all the highest concentrations. I mean--you don't get anything for beating it. It's no different than a 5-min Citadel quest, reward/plot-wise. It just takes 500 mins.

Asari writings--that was slightly annoying, in that when I only needed one more--I found a place with THREE of them within like 5 feet of each other. I could have finished long before if I'd went there earlier.

I only ever completed about half of the collection quests. There really was no incentive by the end, and I'd basically run out of places to go, other than back to some planets and drive around some more--which I was not going to do. All the other quests have some plot to them at least, however small.

See, that's odd, because I ended up with extra of everything except Rare Earths and Heavy Metals, which I found right before going to Virmire. The only thing I wound up with a lot more of were Gases, which I had maybe double what I needed. Like I said, I surveyed and kept an eye out for them, but I didn't go out of my way really to get any of them.

Perhaps what and where are randomly generated?

[eugimon]

See, that's odd, because I ended up with extra of everything except Rare Earths and Heavy Metals, which I found right before going to Virmire. The only thing I wound up with a lot more of were Gases, which I had maybe double what I needed. Like I said, I surveyed and kept an eye out for them, but I didn't go out of my way really to get any of them.

Perhaps what and where are randomly generated?

no, they're in the same spot everytime... and there are more than you need, but if you don't survey worlds and you only follow the locations on the Map, you won't collect enough.

[TheLoneWolf]

No more rumors, divx/xvid support has been added to the 360. It should be out sometime this month.

http://blogs.msdn.com/xboxteam/archive/200...ayback-faq.aspx

[Apollo Leader]

No more rumors, divx/xvid support has been added to the 360. It should be out sometime this month.

http://blogs.msdn.com/xboxteam/archive/200...ayback-faq.aspx

Hey, something that isn't Mass Effect related! I think the big fall update is suppose to be out Wednesday morning.

In 360 developments for me, this weekend me and one of my friends beat Halo 3 on Heroic and we got all 13 skulls and viewed all the terminals. Last night I was playing Lone Wolves on matchmaking and drove my ranking up from 21 to 30 in less then 2 hours of play. Besides playing GHIII and Rock Band on the side, I will probably be focusing on beating COD4 on Hardened this week and start playing through on Veteran.

[HoveringCheesecake]

Its probably me but I'm so paranoid over making another character after my first one, even doubting what I picked for my first one.

I felt I should have picked the default marine statues instead of picking the default character model with vanguard event though I beat the game.

And now I'm playing through as Jane being a infiltrator, ugh this is so agonizing. And she is not even cute, should I just remake her character? (Some recommendations would be nice)

I'm still doing Eden Prime so I still got some options...

I'm thinking of playing through marine with a custom and default character, then go custom with everything else. And even when selecting a difficulty setting I can't make the choice.

Ack I'm not even sure of that either, how do you guys deal with these type of things?

Edit: Almost double posted.

You just gotta pick one thing and run with it. I ended up playing KOTOR 1 over 10 times because I wanted to see everything that happened.

[eugimon]

Awesome thing to try for your second playthrough etc (regarding Liara):

If you delay a long time before getting her (do Feros, Noveria, and Virmire first) when you finally do get her, she's gone insane from being trapped so long. Thinks she's hallucinating, etc. Doesn't seem to be permanent, but apparently is hilarious for the entire level.

As I'm going for her ally acheivement next run, I can't do this for a while. But the third time (and I'll have Wrex along)...

I personally know that a one-planet "delay" won't work.

so, if this works, I think you need to complete the other missions first, I completed all the assignments and nothing unusual happened.

[TheLoneWolf]

Hey, something that isn't Mass Effect related! I think the big fall update is suppose to be out Wednesday morning.

Awesome, December is looking to be a good month with this update and the new halo maps. Do you know if these maps will be free?

ME thread? IMHO, "too late now". A lot of us have already beat it, it'd be a pretty short-lived thread. I'm not playing it again until I get my HDTV. My 2nd run will be in high-res!

Hey David, instead of creating a Mass Effect thread, why not just rename this thread "The Mass Effect / 360 Thread Elite Edition." Sometime next year, when you guys are done talking about ME, you can change the name back.

[JsARCLIGHT]

At which point I will rename it the Grand Theft Auto 4 / Xbox 360 thread.

In all seriousness I beat ME and find myself really bored with the game. So much work for so slight of differences it seems.

[eugimon]

Awesome, December is looking to be a good month with this update and the new halo maps. Do you know if these maps will be free?

Hey David, instead of creating a Mass Effect thread, why not just rename this thread "The Mass Effect / 360 Thread Elite Edition." Sometime next year, when you guys are done talking about ME, you can change the name back.

the halo maps are not free. I think it's supposed to be 800 credits. Eventually they're supposed to be free though, in the spring of next year or something. Apparantly, it won't affect matchmaking though. There was a lot of grumbling about the price, 800 is pretty steep for 3 maps, but bungie said that they didn't get a say in the pricing. So we can all thank MS for this one.

and the fall update is scheduled for 4am december 4th.

Edited December 3, 2007 by eugimon

[eugimon]

At which point I will rename it the Grand Theft Auto 4 / Xbox 360 thread.

In all seriousness I beat ME and find myself really bored with the game. So much work for so slight of differences it seems.

I think the differences will really be felt in the next game, depending on how you end the game, you can really change the status quo.

[David Hingtgen]

Re:minerals

All collection things have "extras" AFAIK, but sometimes they're clumped. If you miss one spot, you can miss like 4 of them. As opposed to scouring a bunch of hidden ships and asteroids (I've found multiple in a single system of those) yet still coming up effectively empty. For the longest quest in the game, you'd think there'd be some kind of reward.

[CoryHolmes]

We will never tire of Mass Effect! The DLC will see to it that we don't forget about it, and then ME2 and ME3 will be on the horizon and we'll all be slobbering over them.