Mass Effect from Bioware

[Tan]

Crap. I didn't know that Liara had a sidequest. I probably picked her up too late in the game.

Oh well. Hopefully I'll have a chance to finish my 1st playthough this weekend and maybe start the 2nd. I know I'm going to approach the 2nd playthrough much differently than the 1st...

Well it's half sidequest, half alternate reaction.

Spoiler (hover to show)

Since Benezia is Liara's mother, you get a different reaction and dialog for fighting her with Liara in your party.

[phoenix1967]

"half alternate reaction"...meaning dialogue?

[Tan]

"half alternate reaction"...meaning dialogue?

Yes. There are several dialog choices in this game that not only affect the outcome, but even gameplay as well, this is one of the minor ones. It's quite entertaining to reload a save file and try things differently for some of these encounters. I'm impressed that they went so far as to completely program both sequences.

A couple of them just blew me away they were so different and contrasting. Much more so than Jade or KOTOR ever were.

[phoenix1967]

I finished my first playthrough yesterday and started a new campaign with my current character...going renegade this time. And trying hardcore difficulty. 

I'm certain I'll be contributing a review on this game in the near future. It's awesome! There's definitely some room for improvements, but overall this is a can't-miss game.

[Zimbacca]

I just beat Benezia on my second run through.  I gotta tell ya she's a lot easier when you're level 50 instead of level 20.  Those extra thirty levels really help you with not dieing after two shots.

[phoenix1967]

^Yeah. The main "Story" planets are much tougher to take on if you go after them right away. Levelling up with sidequests and exploration will help get through the story planets more easily.

[phoenix1967]

Confirmed. A sequel is coming!

http://news.teamxbox.com/...firms-Mass-Effect-Sequel/

Glad the EA buyout isn't going to impact it. Hopefully they keep the same Bioware team on the project so EA doesn't f### it up!

[Tan]

Confirmed. A sequel is coming!

http://news.teamxbox.com/...firms-Mass-Effect-Sequel/

Glad the EA buyout isn't going to impact it. Hopefully they keep the same Bioware team on the project so EA doesn't f### it up!

That's kind of old news. When they unveiled the game 2 years ago they said it was a planned trilogy that would be completed on the X360 and that the story was written that way. That's the same unveiling where they said your character would be imported into each sequel. I'm surprised so many people had forgotten that. 

[phoenix1967]

^Hadn't forgotten it.

However, at the time of those announcements EA hadn't acquired Bioware. So it's just good to know that they're sticking to the plan.

[Zimbacca]

I was really worried when I got to the end and they left it open for a sequel because it looked like it would focus more on action than story.  But I'm glad that they had the plan to do it anyway.  I'm glad that it was something that was planned way ahead of time so as long as EA doesn't try to fuck with them it should be good.

[Tan]

You should really grab the prequel novel if you haven't already. It's the story of Captain Anderson and his dealings with Saren. Written by the game's lead writer and he has a second one coming as well.

[phoenix1967]

Getting close to the end. All star clusters and sidequests are done, all I have to do is Virmire and the endgame. Still stuck on level 58, but I'm close to 59. I'm hoping that I'll be able to get to 60 by the end of the game...I want that achievement!

No new achievements unlocked in my last session. I'm surprised I haven't unlocked First Aid yet...hard to believe that through 2 playthroughs I haven't used Medi-gel 150x yet.

[phoenix1967]

Finished my 2nd playthrough! Unlocked 4 new achievements: Turian Ally, Asari Ally, Playthrough on Hardcore, and 2 playthroughs. Unlocked the Insanity difficulty.

Chose a different path for the ending. I have a feeling that there's still at least 1 more ending that I don't know about.

I'll probably be writing a review after Christmas.

[Arrrhalomynn]

How do you people get to such high levels? I just finished it at level 45 (or something) and I did nearly all side quests I could find.

[Tan]

How do you people get to such high levels? I just finished it at level 45 (or something) and I did nearly all side quests I could find.

Did you completely explore every planet and survey everything even after the mineral quest was complete? Every planet you can land on has extra things to investigate that aren't on the maps and can only be found by use of radar and systematic searching. Don't forget the ships and asteroids that show up on the map as small twinkling stars, easy to miss in most cases. Also you get experience from using tech skills to unlock crates, lockers etc. more than you would if you use omni-gel. Plus there's also quests found by overhearing conversations and revisiting parts of the citadel more than once.

On your first run through there's a level 50 cap for players which will unlock level 60 when beaten. I reached level 50 well before the game was beaten, and I know I missed a thing or two, namely finishing the codex.