June Modern Playthrough - Mass Effect

[GrayGhost81]

Floyd, I was just about to PM you about checkpoints but I'll just post it here. If you've done Feros, Noveria, and Liara's dig site, you're almost halfway home if I remember correctly.

If you do a ton of the side stuff the game can take forever, but if you push through the story it can be quite short. Make sure to check your mission log and do a main mission every now and then and you'll be fine.

Also, the combat rules in this game, and so does the MAKO. This is by far the best game in the trilogy.

Anyone else playing as femshep? Jennifer Hale's voice acting in this game is possibly my favorite ever. Also femshep's ass looks amazing in the right armor. I think I'm going to go all female the whole game (with T'ali and Liara).

On my way to Peak 15 right now. Cracked the 5 million credit mark and level 45.

[Fleach]

I'm going girl power for this playthrough too. Got Femshep, Ashley, and Tali in my squad. Tomorrow I will get Liara then do some side missions.

Jennifer Hale is pretty awesome. I loved her in BioShock Infinite as the female Lutece.

[GrayGhost81]

I just remembered, as I'm about to do Feros, that I wanted to say that on that planet it is a good idea to follow MetalFRO's advice and hard save often. I remember the first and maybe even the second time playing through the game dying and having to play a huge chunk of the game over, because the autosaves can be like four hours apart depending on how you play.

Just got to level 49. I'm wondering if the cap is 50.

So, spoiler for Noveria, did you guys:

Spoiler (hover to show)

Kill or release the Rachni Queen? I released her, yet again.

It's funny, I keep trying to go full renegade on this playthrough but as usual, my conscience won't let me go total villain. Bioware's great writing is a big part of that.

[MetalFRO]

Do it Noise! This game is great. Kind of dry at times due to static delivery of non-story dialogue, but that doesn't hurt the game.

The Benazia fight only took me two tries. I wonder why you're having such a hard time with the combat. One thing I know I haven't learned yet is how to command my squad mates. Is that even possible?

I haven't found a way to do that, other than telling them when to use certain talents.  As for why I'm having such a hard time with the combat, I think it's because you can take damage VERY quickly, and if you overheat your weapon as an enemy is approaching you while you're taking cover, you're kind of screwed.  You either wait too long for the weapon to cool back down, or wait too long for your character to change weapons, and by then, you're dead.  I find that especially true when fighting asari: with their Stasis ability, they can freeze you, then you're immobile for a couple seconds, all the while they and possibly 3 or 4 others may be pumping your soon-to-be-lifeless corpse full of lead.  The aiming and the "stability" factor is also difficult when you're moving around to avoid enemy fire.  I find that in order to get off clean shots, not overheat my weapon, and actually take out enemies in a relatively timely fashion, I have to find a spot, take cover, and pop out to get off a few rounds.  If those enemies advance toward me, and I'm forced to run around to avoid fire, either they're way more accurate than I am, or I just avoid firing and run away so I can try to find another cover spot.  I have found that some enemies, if you leave a room, will NOT follow you.  I found that especially useful with the geth and rachni on Noveria.  I could open a door, blast a few rounds, then back away so the door closed again so I could regenerate health.  Rinse, repeat.  I dialed the combat down to the easiest level, which has helped, but I feel like the inaccuracy during movement hurts the game.

To contrast, I had been putting time into Medal of Honor: European Assault before this playthrough started.  Now, I know it's apples & oranges, since that's a FPS, and ME is a 3rd person action RPG, but it's a PS2 title.  The overall focus of that game is combat, but it's published by EA and is similarly glitchy.  Still, even though you take fire frequently in that game, the cover system is way better, and when you're moving around and firing, you can be confident that at least some of the shots you're firing are hitting the target when you're just shooting from the hip.  ME never feels like that to me unless the combat is real close quarter stuff, which always makes me nervous, because harder enemies tend to mow me down quickly in those situations.

@GrayGhost81: Release.  Also, HOW ON EARTH DO YOU HAVE 5 MILLION CREDITS?    I've done 2 main story missions and a bunch of side quests, and I'm only around 86,000...

[Fleach]

How did you manage to tell your team which talents to use? I hope I'm understanding what's meant by talents because there's still so much to the gameplay I haven't figured out yet.

Your approach to combat is similar to mine. If I can hide behind a door I will, but I had to change my strategy when I went to rescue Liara. Those geth armaments are tough.

I released the rachni queen also.

[MetalFRO]

On the PS3 controller, you hold down L1 to choose your weapon, and you hold R1 to choose your talents.  So if you have Liara with you, for example, you can use (assuming you've leveled them) her Stasis skill to freeze enemies, or her Lift skill to pick them up.  But you have to make sure your targeting reticle is aimed at what you want her to interact with, and likewise for your other companion, unless it's a passive skill, like Overkill or Shield Boost.  Hold R1, use the thumbstick to move to the skill, and press X.  I'm assuming on 360 it's R1, thumbstick, and A to select.  Each talent, after use, has a recharge period, so be specific about when you use them.  If both of my squad members fall in battle, and I need their help still, I'll use Shepard's "Unity" talent to resurrect them, and then often I'll use one of their talents right away to ensure they have a fighting chance of regenerating enough health not to get taken out again immediately.  Or I'll just bring them back and use Overkill on each to give them a stronger attack right out of the gate.

I've found that in close quarter combat, use of those skills becomes a major lifesaver.  In more open areas, where you're only dealing with 2-4 enemies at a time, as long as they're not overly strong or are advancing at you all at once, it's just as easy to take cover and pick them off one by one.  And especially when you're in the Mako, since it has (slowly) regenerating shields, you can drive in, pick a few units off, then back away and let your shields recharge a bit before going in for a second strike.

[Fleach]

Thank you soooo much! You just made this game so much better for me. I know L1 brought up the weapon wheel, but nothing happened when I pressed R1 (didn't know it had to be held down).

How slowly do the Mako's shields regenerate? I guess I haven't been able to do repairs since I don't have enough omni-gel.

[MetalFRO]

Thank you soooo much! You just made this game so much better for me. I know L1 brought up the weapon wheel, but nothing happened when I pressed R1 (didn't know it had to be held down).

How slowly do the Mako's shields regenerate? I guess I haven't been able to do repairs since I don't have enough omni-gel.

It's kind of slow.  If you get damaged and are nearing hull failure, back off the battle and wait a while - you'll see the shields slowly recharge.  I'm guessing that, besides the wonky control, that's another reason the Mako didn't "make-o" a comeback (sorry, pun squarely intended!) in future installments.  It's annoying that it takes so long, but at least it's an option.  After a while, you'll learn how to sort of inch up to the locations and pick the units off quicker so you don't have to keep going back and forth.

[GrayGhost81]

@GrayGhost81:  HOW ON EARTH DO YOU HAVE 5 MILLION CREDITS?    I've done 2 main story missions and a bunch of side quests, and I'm only around 86,000...

Well, It's a billion credits now...almost.

[img width=700 height=393]http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h32/grayghost81/IMG_20150613_073512_041_zpsux5fw0iw.jpg[/img]

This is my third time playing through the game with this character. Speaking of which, 50 is not the level cap. I'm at level 52 now. Basically I can one shot everything with my damn pistol, and I'm basically invincible. I'm playing the game the same way I played 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, which is to charge out and cap anything that moves!

Now that you guys have figured out the combat system, do you feel better about it? Remember, this is an action RPG, not a Gears of War 3PS. You have to spec out your character and upgrade your weapons to actually "get better" at shooting. Further, did you know that if you are out of cover you can click the left stick to crouch, increasing your accuracy? Then, aim down the sights for even better accuracy. You will notice how much your reticle changes in size between hip-firing and crouching while aiming down the sights.

***

Finished Feros this morning and for the first time I didn't get lost once! Just bumping around scenic Virmire now.

***

Got properly geared up for my weekly grocery shopping trip this morning. Damn I love this game. It may just be my favorite of all time, but wait, Persona 3, but wait Super Mario World, but wait Fallout 3. I dunno. I do have two Mass Effect t-shirts and a Mass Effect wallet (that you can see over my shoulder there) and I can't say that about any other game!

[img width=640 height=480]http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h32/grayghost81/IMG_20150613_081408_521_zpsc1yp9v5v.jpg[/img]

[MetalFRO]

Yes, Is did pick up on the fact that upgrading and increasing your stats helps you aim and shoot better. I was not aware, however, that ducking gave you accuracy! It makes sense, but I didn't realize they implemented that. I'll have to try it!  But how do you earn that many credits? Do you sell off every non-essential item and know all the dialog choices for side quests that garner the most cash?

[GrayGhost81]

I'm not sure why, perhaps it has to do with my high level, but I get 10 or 20K credits for each kill. I did sell everything I had at one point when I hit the inventory cap, but that only increased my bankroll by about one million.

Think I'm about to wrap up the game. Just finished Virmire and

Spoiler (hover to show)

sent Ashley Williams to Hell where she belongs, BWAHAHAHAHA!

[Neo]

I'm on Noviera. Trying to find the matriarch beneazia or something like that. I'm not the best speller. But I'm enjoying the mission a lot.

Grayghost - I like your shirt and wallet and stuff. That's some cool gear man.

[GrayGhost81]

Thanks man! Maybe I'll show off my other shirt next weekend.

[MetalFRO]

Aaaaand, that's game! Just finished the last main story, and had the final confrontation. Pretty sweet ending. The game glitches out on me during the major battle cut scenes, though, and all I heard was dialogue, no music or sound effects. Also, during the final pass with the Mako, it was clutching BAD. PS1 level screen tearing, the likes of which I haven't seen in years. Still, a rewarding experience overall.

[GrayGhost81]

Glad you liked it FRO! Thanks for joining and we really appreciate your well thought out contributions to the discussions as usual!

On another note, if you thought the Mako was bad (and it isn't) get used to this screen in the second game:

[img width=500 height=281]http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7hpp0OfKd1qzxvd3o1_500.gif[/img]

Probing Uranus joke aside, that's right, you have to mine your resources.

...and then there's "Galactic Readiness" in the third game.

[img width=640 height=432]https://coreyvandersleen.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/mass-effect-datapad-review-galactic-readiness-640x432.jpg[/img]

Give me the Mako over this crap any day.

I guess that makes me wonder, to MetalFRO specifically and everyone else who eventually finishes the game, are you going to continue through the trilogy?