Mass Effect

[David Hingtgen]

Hard to combo powers when there's a slow universal cooldown, and every enemy has resistance to 3/4 of all biotic powers at any given time... And of course, the one thing that can be comboed more than any other power---is warp! Nearly every combo that exists is "something, followed by warp". It's still warp-warp-warp-warp gameplay.

Plus, combo'd powers still suck. For how rarely you can successfully employ them, they should do a heck of a lot more damage.

PS---in ME1, I mixed it up a ton. Nothing was spammed. That's what made it fun. There were no formal combos with special effects/bonuses, but making your own combos was great. Of course singularity+anything was good, but there were a bunch of things that worked well.

[eugimon]

Hard to combo powers when there's a slow universal cooldown, and every enemy has resistance to 3/4 of all biotic powers at any given time... And of course, the one thing that can be comboed more than any other power---is warp! Nearly every combo that exists is "something, followed by warp". It's still warp-warp-warp-warp gameplay.

Plus, combo'd powers still suck. For how rarely you can successfully employ them, they should do a heck of a lot more damage.

PS---in ME1, I mixed it up a ton. Nothing was spammed. That's what made it fun. There were no formal combos with special effects/bonuses, but making your own combos was great. Of course singularity+anything was good, but there were a bunch of things that worked well.

that's because one of the ideas is to do the combos with squad mates, not by your lonesome. Plus, shockwave is all sorts of fun.

Warp comes into play a lot, sure, but if your got a tech guy on your squad, singularity + reave is fun

[David Hingtgen]

Cooldown for biotics is still simply too long, bitoics are too weak, combo biotics are too weak. I did a combo with Jacob in the opening mission, and that was about it. I can fight much more effectively by myself, than waiting for the AI to stop WASTING powers/cooldown periods. Want to combo? Well, *you* may be ready to throw a biotic, but the AI just decided to waste its turn by selecting disruptor ammo, so you can either wait 10 seconds for the AI to be ready again, or do something alone. All the while, any other class would be firing away, averaging about 10x higher damage per second when the battle's over.

[eugimon]

can't really say I've had the timing problems with juggling the cooldowns. But singularity + warp, or reaver, does pretty significant mob damage and that means I'm able to take guys out with the smg or pistol without having to waste the big guns ammo.

[Ghost Train]

I finished my first playthrough.... interesting results. I had 2 loyalty missions offered but not completed when Normandy is attacked. Because I desperately wanted to save my secretary , I jumped through Omega immediately. In the end:

No one dies during the space-battle, had armor, shield, and weapon upgrade for Normandy.

Now the ground battle:

Shepard: Alive

Miranda: Alive / Loyal (also love interest, not sure if this impacts survival lol)

Samara: Alive / Not Loyal, but mission offered

Garrus: Alive / Loyal

Thane: Alive / Not Loyal, failed loyalty mission

Jacob: Alive / Loyal

Mordin: Alive / Loyal

Tali: KIA / Not Loyal, failed loyalty mission

Grunt: KIA / Loyal

Jack: KIA / Loyal

Legion: KIA / Not Loyal, but mission offered

Secretary: ALIVE yes!

Some other choices:

- I sent Tali through the ducts.

- Samara held up the biotic field for my squad, and Miranda for the other one

- I sent Mordin to escort my crew back

Edited July 24, 2010 by Ghost Train

[Chowser]

finished one playthrough already. everyone but zaeed was loyal so i never used him for anything. the only biotic powers i bothered to use was the ammo ones. i never tried to combo anything. took too long. easier for me to just snipe or duck and shoot.

playing through again on the hard level. ouch!

[Wanzerfan]

I am not a happy camper. I had to start my second Mass Effect playthrough completely over. It's not that I screwed up on any quest or anything like that, but something else. It seems that to be able to access the Bring Down the Sky content for ME1 you have to have it installed in every game profile, not like Mass Effect 2 where all profiles have access to the DLC; it's not a problem on that front, since we have the Platinum Hits version, though; I just had to install the content on my profile.

I hope Pinnacle Station doesn't fall into the same category. That would be a waste of around 800 Microsoft Points.

What a waste of 20 hours of gameplay . Oh well, time to build another Vanguard.

Edited July 27, 2010 by Wanzerfan

[Ghost Train]

I am doing another playthrough, as Vanguard this time. At first I was a bit annoyed by the ridiculous global cooldowns, but I actually enjoy using my team members to combo with my own biotic skills.

My favorite combo is Pull > Charge . Not a combo, but I like to freeze enemies with SMG + cyro ammo then Charge for a nasty shatter effect.

I think if there weren't any cooldowns, my Vanguard would just be pretty much unstoppable.

[Wanzerfan]

Jesus, did I forget how much a f*cking bitch that third bunker on Luna was in Mass Effect 1 was. If you think it bad when you're a Soldier, try doing it when you're a level 20-something Vanguard. After dying about 10 f*cking times, I had to run like a little bitch (I raised my Barrier beforehand, so I wouldn't get squeegeed),after taking a few of them out, with Garrus and Tali in tow, praying to all that was holy that we wouldn't eat a rocket, to the area at the back where the VI relays were. Luckily the drones didn't follow, so I only had to worry about the three that show up when I blow the first relay. I went ahead and took the rest of the relays out because I didn't want to deal with those rocket tossing cocksuckers. I'll take the XP hit for not taking those drones out the old-fashioned way. I decided to take the Survivor specialization route (I think that's what it's called).

Well the good thing about that mission is that I got my First Aid, Barrier, and Shotgun Achievements out of the way.

I think I'll now go take out the crimelord missions.

[eugimon]

Jesus, did I forget how much a f*cking bitch that third bunker on Luna was in Mass Effect 1 was. If you think it bad when you're a Soldier, try doing it when you're a level 20-something Vanguard. After dying about 10 f*cking times, I had to run like a little bitch (I raised my Barrier beforehand, so I wouldn't get squeegeed),after taking a few of them out, with Garrus and Tali in tow, praying to all that was holy that we wouldn't eat a rocket, to the area at the back where the VI relays were. Luckily the drones didn't follow, so I only had to worry about the three that show up when I blow the first relay. I went ahead and took the rest of the relays out because I didn't want to deal with those rocket tossing cocksuckers. I'll take the XP hit for not taking those drones out the old-fashioned way. I decided to take the Survivor specialization route (I think that's what it's called).

Well the good thing about that mission is that I got my First Aid, Barrier, and Shotgun Achievements out of the way.

I think I'll now go take out the crimelord missions.

AI hack the drones, especially the rocket drones.

[Ghost Train]

Just fight the drones at the chokepoints between the entrance and the main room. Charging in risks getting flanked.

[Wanzerfan]

AI hack the drones, especially the rocket drones.

I'll do that when I make either an Engineer or a Infiltrator character, since when I takled that mission Tali's Hacking wasn't up to snuff (I think she was tier 1 at the time). Besides, this is my second playthough of the game; I have the Achievement that grants me the experience point bonus for everything I do, so I'm not too worried about XP.

[eugimon]

bought and downloaded the new weapons pack and started a new game... you get the download gear as soon as you start start working for cerberus... kinda makes the game a little too easy.

[Wanzerfan]

Good lord, I now have a new love.

Whoever in the Mass Effect Universe came up with the Colossus armor, I'll kiss his ass in the middle of the Citadel Council chambers. God, from what I've seen, it's the best armor of the game. I first saw the line when I chose the Quarian armor as my reward for Bring Down the Sky adventure (I had the chance of taking the leader's omni-tool, but I was more intrigued by the armor) and fell in love with it. After I saw the stats for the Human version of the light armor, I quit shooting for being able to equip medium armor.

Right now I'm at the Citadel on a final shopping spree before I go off to Vermire. I also want to get whatever crew banter out of the way before I start the endgame sequence.

[kaiotheforsaken]

Yeah the Colossus armor was my favorite in ME1, I think by the time I put ME1 down, every character had Colossus armor (that it was made for) and I had Spectre X weapon sets for everyone that would live through the story. Needless to say I spent ages with ME1.

Part of what I love in ME2 is the ability to at least replicate the Colossus look within 10-15 minutes of starting the game.

[Wanzerfan]

I just imported my Vanguard character into Mass Effect 2 and found something strange, I recieve 7 Renegade points for importing my character (I went the pure Paragon path). That confused me for a while until I realized something: When I became a Spectre in the First Game, I recieved a Skill point in Intimidate, and since that skill is tied to the Renegade path, I guess that's where those points came from.

We too went ahead and got the new Kestral and weapon packs; my brother loves the new sniper rifle, and that laser-sighted heavy pistol is also very cool.

[eugimon]

yup, that new heavy pistol is a freaking laser sighted hand cannon of DOOM! Almost single handedly unbalances the entire combat mechanic.

[Wanzerfan]

yup, that new heavy pistol is a freaking laser sighted hand cannon of DOOM! Almost single handedly unbalances the entire combat mechanic.

Maybe not on the Insanity setting, I'll wager.

[eugimon]

Maybe not on the Insanity setting, I'll wager.

Yeah, even on insanity. Incendiary ammo + head shots = much fun. My favorite way to take down armored targets.

[one_klump]

Well I pissed off Miranda by taking up for Jack, and now she is the only person not loyal to me. Turned into quite a bitch too.

the game came with the Cerebus DLC, and I spent $5 on the Kestral and Firepower packs. The Kestral armor is boss, love the helmet design, and the Geth shotgun is sick. I haven't really tried using the pistol yet, but it sounds fun. Playing through as a paragon soldier for my first time.

[Ghost Train]

Well I pissed off Miranda by taking up for Jack, and now she is the only person not loyal to me. Turned into quite a bitch too.

That happened to me too, just the reverse, I pissed off Jack, I like the Cerberus cheerleader better, Jack just looks like a nasty crackwhore.... anyways, on my second playthrough, Jack was the only one who did not survive no matter how many combos I tried. You can turn Jack (or Miranda) back but you just need very high paragon/renegade.

[one_klump]

Finished my first play through last night, only lost grunt. Made him a fireteam leader. He died valiantly, and with no regrets. Tali likes to get her super freak on with Shepard tho

[Duke Togo]

Mass Effect 2 out on PS3 January 2011

[Wanzerfan]

Well I pissed off Miranda by taking up for Jack, and now she is the only person not loyal to me. Turned into quite a bitch too.

the game came with the Cerberus DLC, and I spent $5 on the Kestral and Firepower packs. The Kestral armor is boss, love the helmet design, and the Geth shotgun is sick. I haven't really tried using the pistol yet, but it sounds fun. Playing through as a paragon soldier for my first time.

The only way to have both people loyal to you is to have either your Paragon or Renegade level maxed out; it's best to leave Jack's loyalty mission for last (before you go for Legion, that is).

I found out something about the glitch involving Grunt. It wasn't that my brother couldn't pump points into his loyalty skill, it's that he couldn't use Advanced Training to give Shepard the Fortification Skill. When he told me that, I went ahead and checked on my original Mass Effect 2 career (Jethro; I'm an N.C.I.S. fan, what can I say) and tried it out. It worked. All I can say is that if you get Grunt's loyalty on your first playthrough, make sure that you can have Shepard learn his skill through advanced Training. Once you have the Grunt's Achievement, you don't need to worry about it.

I'm not worried, since as my bonus power this time around I chose Geth Shield and have it mapped to the left bumper (I want the weapon boost when I reach level 4 with that skill). Trust me, that skill will save your ass.

About the M-5 pistol, Christ, that thing rocks. My only problem with it is the low max ammo count for your thermal mags, though; also having the equivalent number of shots per thermal mag as a revolver doesn't help matters any either.

[kaiotheforsaken]

Slam is still far and away my favorite bonus power, fast recharge time and even on insanity it 1 shots husks once they have their armor (or shield, cant remember) gone. There are some scary parts where you just get rushed by those damn things, especially at the end. I did like the Geth Shield ability a lot though.

[eugimon]

Slam is still far and away my favorite bonus power, fast recharge time and even on insanity it 1 shots husks once they have their armor (or shield, cant remember) gone. There are some scary parts where you just get rushed by those damn things, especially at the end. I did like the Geth Shield ability a lot though.

My prime shep is a vanguard and shockwave is pretty efficient at clearing out the rushing husks so it was Geth Shield for me.

And I can't wait for the new DLC!

[kaiotheforsaken]

New DLC should be the best yet, so I'm really looking forward to that. I really hope they record additional character dialogue for all (or most) of the crew. I'd like to see them actually interact with the story in the new DLC as well as have some new things to say (especially if it's post final battle) on the ship.

[eugimon]

New DLC should be the best yet, so I'm really looking forward to that. I really hope they record additional character dialogue for all (or most) of the crew. I'd like to see them actually interact with the story in the new DLC as well as have some new things to say (especially if it's post final battle) on the ship.

I'm sure they will. Even the thief had new main plot dialog added in and she's nowhere near as important a character as liara.

[one_klump]

Downloading the overlord pack now, sounds like its really worth it. Still really bummed that I won't be able to use Grunt, he was my favorite berserker

[CoryHolmes]

Feast.

[one_klump]

wow... just... wow...

That chick is hardcore lol. The Miranda cosplay was just a body suit and a hairstyle, Jack is, well, hardcore.

I'm having trouble telling if that is a body stocking or a lot of magic marker.

Edited September 1, 2010 by one_klump

[David Hingtgen]

It's both---marker on body stocking.

[BeyondTheGrave]

Apparently Bioware is watching

And

[David Hingtgen]

Wow, 80% male Shep, and Soldier is more than every class combined? Not at all what I'd expect from the Bioware forums (which is full of Femsheps and vanguard/infiltrators).

Also, not really a good sign IMHO---they're already going more and more "default male soldier shep is canon shep, and we can ignore/skip/gloss over other options"---this just gives them even more incentive to continue.

Of course, I think they actually made adept/vanguard LESS fun in ME2 than ME1, and may explain so much emphasis on soldier, especially for 2nd/3rd plays. (Engineer NEVER had anyone play it, and never will).

[eugimon]

My play through as a soldier was easily the most boring and most tedious of any class. If people are playing the game that way... I feel sorry for them, I think they're really missing out on a lot of the fun of the game.